It’s been several days since I found out Leaf was pregnant. I taught the remaining men over a few days and they’ve been being trained by Lance since then. He was surprised by my ability to teach but was more surprised by a few of my suggestions.
First, that all of the prisoners be given the white mage class. This way they would make up for the fact that they’ve done wrong in their life and they wouldn’t gain a class that they could potentially use for nefarious reasons after the war.
Second, all of their training should be dedicated to getting better at fighting using the method of constant fighting and healing their own injuries. Using this method they should be able to scale their fighting power far quicker than everyone else. The white mage prisoners could fight for almost an entire hour if every time they were starting to take more damage they would stop and heal themselves.
I thought of this method a very long time ago with our healers. Lance was still around when I did and he most likely saw the power that gave my white mages but didn’t understand how they became so powerful compared to my other troops. My white mages are on the same level of fighting strength as a normal warrior class and that’s because of the grueling training they’ve been put through.
Finally, I recommended him to look for the hundred archers I trained from Shienta. They’ve already got a lot of experience and most likely no one has taken them as soldiers for the upcoming war.
The men outside the city are only Lance’s men and Wayne’s men. Everyone else has set out to make it to the fortified mountain area where we will make our defense at. I’m starting to get even more nervous about this war now. I have a plan to put into play but anything can go wrong with it before then.
I’ve sent the black dragon to get into position. Even if things go south that threat might be enough to deter some of their troops from trying to breach the castle walls. We should still have a few days left until we need to go through the portals to meet up with the other troops to put my plan into play. Until then we’ve spent most of that trying to get Lance’s troops ready.
Lance is the leader of only a small portion of the majority of the army. His commander leads a group almost ten times the size of that which is the majority of our troops. If he were to die Lance would become the leader of the bulk of the army. Within a few months of Lance becoming a member of the army he’s worked up to being the second most powerful man in it.
That being said, Lance now has the strongest troops in that army without question. I’ve had my tailors and enchanters working overtime to finish the sets of gear for Lance’s men. We’ll finish them just as the war starts. I’ve been sort of filling in as a second in command since Lance’s staff are in short supply since they’ve also been training.
We finish up for the day. Tomorrow we’ll start preparing to go through the portals, I wont be able to hold Lance’s men to secrecy so I had to make three more teleportation pads to lie about our actual power. They’re located in the black dragon currently so we didn’t have to transport them to the castle. With three portals available we might be able to get it all done within a day but it will most likely take two or three.
I’ve already had my men go through, the only ones left at the fortress are guards and non-combatant members of the army. I’ve been taking it slower since Leaf’s confession. I’ve made many changes already but I’m doing it slowly and methodically.
First was the walls, it was time to fix up the inside of the fortress anyways. I had most of the miners stop working on gathering materials and more time expanding the hallways. I made them about three times as wide and twice as tall then I cemented them in.
I then spent a good portion of time adding in an escape route for the women and children if someone was to assault the fortress they could all easily make it outside the castle. I also made a change to the hot springs. Once again I expanded it then I filled it in with cement it in removing all of the rough and sharp edges from it.
The main reason I’m doing all this is because this is my home. I don’t know why it took me so long to get around to it but making everything safer and more practical will help us in the long run. I guess along the way I lost focus on upgrading this place because of the constant threats. The moment one would end another would just replace it… I think after the fact, the two stones I had enchanted with light and air to place on the walls every ten feet (3 meters) was a little overkill. It also put us slightly behind on enchanting the armor for Lance’s troops so we could only enchant around three thousand sets. With the one thousand sets Lance has already purchased we only need to make a few more to get him completely outfitted for the war.
Tomorrow, I’ll go through the portal scroll and help setup the ambush in the swamp. Compared to the past, I have toned down what I do everyday and I’ve started putting other generals in charge of some of the things I’ve been doing myself. Gobber, Zergnar and Green all lead my men currently so I can more easily prepare other strategies and oversee the entirety of the army. With this surprise attack I'll have all of my stealthy troops take part and all of my archers and Zergnar's aerial unit as well.
Enemy general’s point of view
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I’ve spent most of the night working on the upcoming plans and I’m woken up for this?
“S-sorry aghas. The conscripts are getting restless because of the swamp we’re about to enter. Scouts have come back and reported that there are no enemies within the swamp right now so the main forces arriving tomorrow can pass unimpeded.”
“Then why bother me? Does this situation need the attention of an aghas? Couldn’t one of my bashi’s handle it?”
“The conscripts get beaten when they make a fuss to anyone else besides you.”
“Fine… I’ll go calm them down.”
The conscripts were recruited from most of the slums of the cities. Very few of the noble families will ever see the fight. Almost eighty percent of our population was sent to finish this war as quickly as possible. We must at all costs finish this battle by steamrolling the enemy and crushing their spirit. I leave and see a group of conscripts near my tent. About half of the conscripts are wearing ragged clothing while the rest must be from the middle class. I speak up.
“Alright so what are you all afraid of exactly?”
“The swamp we’re about to enter. We’ve been forced into this army already and most of us think that if the battle does start it will be there… Some of us are afraid that if that does happen you will throw us at the enemy as fodder while you fire at us with the cannons.”
“Listen here! You commoners are the lifeblood of our country. If we used you as fodder the second that we’re in a bad position then you will turn on us. Plus I would never let that happen.”
The youngest of the crowd is speaking. This is most likely a defense mechanism they put into place because of my subordinates. My bashi’s have all punished them when they’ve asked questions so far. They force the younger ones to ask questions now.
“Some of the men are also confused why we were given sacks and told to fill them with sand. Many don’t want to carry them and many more say that if we go through the swamp we will put the few mana cannons our army has in danger of sinking and becoming stuck. Wouldn’t it be safer to just go around the swamp.”
“No, it would be safer but it would take us over a week of walking to go around it. Here, look at this map.”
I walk over to the conscripts and one of my guards puts his hand on his sword and I grab his hand and stare him down from doing something stupid. I point out why that wouldn’t work.
“You see here, the swamp is very thin and long. While it’s only about 3 miles wide while it is a few hundred miles long. The mountain’s water drains off here and it just so happens to be a natural barrier that people have to go through. If the men are fine with going days without food because we haven’t secured the swamp for our supply line to go through then I am fine with going around but that would heavily weaken our army going forwards.”
I can see that it starts to click in their heads that no matter what we need to go through the swamp now. As dangerous as it is, of course any army with a decent general would be setting up a surprise attack in it but from the knowledge our spies have leaked it seems that their aren’t any on that level… Even so I do have some countermeasures planned in the case we do get ambushed.
Even so I still plan to protect these conscripts as best as I can. With just my bashi’s and even the men that graduated from the military college will not be nearly enough to win this war. It will be a problem later on if we can’t gain the conscripts trust before our reinforcements catch up to us. One of the elderly men of the group walks forwards now.
“It’s good to see you agha. Would you mind if we speak in private?”
One of my guards speaks up.
“Old man! Don’t take such a familiar tone with the aghas or we’ll have to put you in your place.”
He starts moving forward now with his hand ready to draw his weapon and I once again, I stop him before he escalates the situation.
“Yes, that is fine elder. Please lead the way.”
I put my hands behind my back and follow one step behind him. This surprises the conscripts and my body guards. No other high ranking official in the army would lower themselves to talk evenly with a commoner. Even so I do wish that we didn’t need to bring even the elderly here to fight these battles. We walk through the ratty and rundown tents the conscripts have set up to sleep in. He continues the questions that the younger man asked.
“It’s good to see that our agha has such a good head on his shoulders. Your bash should learn some respect for the elderly. So now to begin speaking about what I actually wanted to speak about.”
He stops walking, we’re in the center of the conscript tents but no one seems to be paying any attention to us. At least that is what it would look like on the outside. I can tell that the people on the outskirts of this conversation are only feigning disinterest and are actually listening intently.
“There has been some talk amongst my men, some rumors if you will that the sultan plans to thin us out during the war so there will be less of a chance that we will rebel against him in the future. That is why you conscripted us into joining the army.”
The old man whispered his part but I speak loudly enough that everyone can hear me.
“That is not true in the slightest. You should know that every sultan is given another title based on how his people see him. It normally isn’t done until their death but what would you call him right now? Would you call him Suliman the cruel? Suliman the mad… No, if it was my choice. It would be Suliman the magnificent or kind or just or wise, I could go on all day.”
I pause for a moment to catch my breath.
“The only cruel act Suliman did was killing his father who planned to ruin our country by starting an unjust war with both the country to our east and south at the same time. Do you think our country could have handled a war with two countries at once? No, we barely managed to tame the wilds of the east. Our nation would have been turned to rubble if he didn’t slay his father and become the next sultan.”
“That isn’t what I mean. Some of the other men under you, your basha if you will have been causing problems with us conscripts. I need your word that they will not force us into an unwinnable situation. No, even before that I need your word that they wont kill us with their stupidity. If the sultan only has you as a trustworthy general he must be a poor judge of character.”
He just used the negative term for the bashi underneath me. I can see that these conscripts look up to him. He must have been the elder of a village or even a city and it shows in how much these men trust and respect him. Him openly speaking about how much he dislikes my other men shows that he could change the minds of many of these men and if we betray his trust we might have to fight against our conscripts.
“This is the last time I’ll have you speak ill of the sultan. I was a bashi for his father and I watched him grow from a brilliant child to a wise ruler. If you think the sultan would put everyones lives in danger for no reason than I will put you to the sword myself. You should know why we’re fighting this war.”
“...Indeed… I have one last question now.”
He leans in and whispers.
“What do you think the odds of us winning are? I know that all the other bash think we will be victories no matter what but I want to ask you.”
“If you asked me six months ago I would have agreed with you. Since then we’ve lost our naval advantage and it will most likely be used against us. Even so that wouldn’t be enough to think we still have a chance of losing.”
I lean in even closer.
“You haven’t heard this from me but our spies continue to bring back very interesting reports about a mercenary group that will be taking place in the war… They only number a few thousand but even so they’ve got a terrifying leader and the men are said to be five times the strength of an average soldier.”
“That is very troubling if it’s true. I’m sorry for taking up so much of your time. I’ll be on my way aghas.”
He slowly walks away leaving me in the middle of the conscript tents. As he does about a dozen other much younger conscripts come up and start bombarding me with questions. I’ll deal with as many as I can while I head back to my tent and start packing up for the last day of travel before we reach the swamp.