“The usage of both the carrot and the stick is crucial for keeping things in order. Too much of the carrot and nothing would get done properly, while too much of the stick would just result in nothing getting done at all. A balance between both is needed for optimal results.” - Angar Lowenschild, on training donkeys.
“This is pretty useful. When we win this war your cooperation will be recorded as a merit and rewarded, Miss Kang,” said Nestor thoughtfully after he had Hua-Li detail the way to discern the rank of the various enemy officers from the armor they wore. Unlike the armies in Posuin where those of higher rank typically had far better armor and likely rode horses while their troops walked on foot, the Al-Shanians had a more rigid military structure, and the armor worn by their officers did not differ much from those worn by most of the footsoldiers.
Until one tried to stab them, at least. The officer’s armor might look similar but they were made of better material, which conferred more protection. The footsoldier’s armor was mostly made of boiled, hardened leather, which gave some protection, but was far from the best. Their armor were also typically made to “standard” sizes instead of being fitted to their bodies, so most had slight size mismatches with the armor they wore.
On the other hand, despite the extremely similar design, the officers had metal armor, with small insignias that defined their rank placed at several inconspicuous locations. It made them easy enough to identify for their own soldiers, but enemies unfamiliar with the Imperial army would have a hard time differentiating them at a glance.
Of course, the higher ranked officers had even better armor that had a similar style but slightly different design and rode horses, which made them much easier to identify. It was how Reinhardt pinpointed Hua-Li’s superior as a capture target, after all. Even so, apparently in the Imperial army all the officers from the thousand-man commander and above, all the way to the general wore such a style of armor, which again, made it difficult to find out which of them was the highest rank and thus the priority target.
With Hua-Li’s help the coalition army finally learned how to differentiate between them, though it would still require a rather close inspection to do so. Every one of them admitted that it was a clever bit of subterfuge, to hide the needle in the haystack. It made identifying the important commanders on the enemy side far harder than it should be.
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“Uh… Thank you. Milord,” she replied, probably a bit unsure about Nestor’s boast about winning the war. No matter how one cut it, the Al-Shan Empire still possessed a far greater army, at least in terms of number of soldiers, and the former Posuin territories were still reeling from the civil war they had recently themselves.
“Come, now, it’s already nearing noon, we should show you some of the benefits and privileges cooperation brings,” said Nestor kindly to the girl as he invited her to follow them. The fighting had been raging for several hours already by then, but the situation at the defense lines were stable as usual, so there was no particular need for them to personally take command of the situation.
If there were any emergencies, someone would have informed the nobles immediately, as Nestor was still the overall commander of the coalition forces. Since the Imperials took a more steady approach however, there had been less need for the defenders to do anything particularly special other than just to defend their assigned positions, which made things easier.
Nestor led the small group – just him and his lady wife Griselda, old Duke Banitu, as well as Reinhardt and Elfriede, along with Hua-Li – towards one of the larger tents in the main base, situated not far from where some cooks labored over cauldrons and cooking fires to prepare meal for the soldiers. Since the fighting was focused on the defense line and the area couldn’t accommodate all that many soldiers, it was easy enough for them to have their meal in shifts even while the fighting raged on.
The group seated themselves under the tent, which had a couple large tables set in it, with seats surrounding them. Each table had enough room for a good six to eight people or so, and from the way the people eating inside were dressed, it was obvious that it was where the officers of higher rank ate. All of them stood up and saluted the Dukes on sight, though Nestor waved them down and told them to go back to eating.
Soon after they were seated, one of the cook’s assistants brought over bowls of thick stew, ones that still steamed as they were freshly scooped out of the cauldron, with a fragrant, meaty aroma, as well as loaves of still-warm bread, likely freshly baked just recently. Hua-Li was surprised to see that she was given a portion of the same food, and doubly so when Nestor invited her to dine along with him, at the same table.
It was a small trick on Nestor’s part. From Hua-Li’s story he learned that people from the Al-Shan Empire saw the difference in class and status as a very important thing. To be fair, Posuin itself was not much different in that regard in most places, but amongst the Border Duchies, such lines were far looser due to the experience of fighting for their lives alongside their people.
Nestor himself was a particularly carefree one with such things, and never really gave much of a damn about his status as a Duke. He knew very well on how to take advantage of that status, however, hence the little trick he played on Hua-Li. For someone of her status, it was unthinkable for a high noble – something she understood Nestor to be – to deign to eat on the same table with her.
Such small gestures were often the ones that touched someone’s heart the most, and Nestor wasn’t shy about making full use of them when he had the chance to do so.