If Prince Wedrick was a decisive and resolute person who wasn't playful or undisciplined, then the army's ideal scythe plan might have been realized.
Aueras would have been able to sweep through the eastern part of the continent in the shortest amount of time possible and send the five anti-Aueras alliance into the abyss. That way, there wouldn't have been three years of war and so many incidents that shocked the continent of Freia would have happened.
Perhaps only with the passage of time would the conspiracy be revealed to the world, but right now, Bluefeather's only complaint was that they had chosen a prince who wasn't suited for the frontlines to oversee the army.
They had to endure the prince's procrastination and unreliable playfulness as they watched the battle slip away from their grasp.
Crimson Dragon and Griffon were still slowly advancing on the Nasrian border, using cannons to break through the defensive structures. The battle was intense and they suffered heavy losses.
While the eastern front had already occupied two-thirds of Sidins' territory, Prince Wedrick's procrastination and delay meant that Bluefeather's subsequent plans were completely ruined.
With the arrival of reinforcements from Askilin, Rimodra, and Canas, Bluefeather would most likely engage the enemy in a battle that would decide the fate of Sidins Principality at Efenasburg.
However, this was only one of the few backup plans that the Ministry of War had come up with. The original plan was for Bluefeather to cross the Odin Mountains through a secret passage and force the Sidins Duchy's defenders to land on the two defensive lines. Then, they would sweep through the entire Sidins Duchy at lightning speed, occupy two port cities, approach the capital, Efenasburg, and destroy the Sidins Duchy.
After that, Bluefeather immediately invaded Nasri from Sidins. That was the back of the Nasri Kingdom, a place without any defenses.
Nasri didn't expect Sidins to fall so quickly. The border between the two countries was a flat plain. Bluefeather was like a scythe, sweeping through Nasri's defenceless flanks and their strategic rear.
Together with Reddragon and Gryphon, they had disrupted the Nasri Kingdom's battle plans, causing them to lose the ability to defend themselves against the three ace corps and the secondary corps that came after them.
As long as Nasri surrendered or was destroyed, the remaining three duchies would no longer be able to resist Aueras. The flames of war that engulfed the eastern part of the continent would soon be extinguished and Aueras would become a regional power that unified the eastern part of Freia.
Of course, this was only under the most ideal circumstances. Bluefeather's attack on Sidins Principality was smooth without any hiccups.
However, the situation had been disrupted. Although the Bluefeather Legion had arrived at Efenath Castle, they were unable to launch an attack. They could only watch as the enemy's reinforcements continued to arrive …
However, this was not out of their expectations. Since this was the case, Bluefeather retreated another thirty to forty miles and prepared to execute their second backup plan, which was to defeat the last armed forces of Sidins and the reinforcements of the other three duchies in one fell swoop at Efenasburg. They would then annihilate Sidins and show the other three duchies what they were capable of.
That was why Bluefeather didn't urge Prince Wedrick to hurry up. Bluefeather's forces alone weren't enough for such a large battle. They had to deploy two secondary corps from the rear.
So far, the duchies of Askilin, Rimodra, and Canas had each sent a corps of reinforcements to Sidins. Together with the remaining forces of Sidins, the duchy had over 220,000 soldiers.
If it wasn't for the fact that the enemy's reinforcements had yet to arrive at Efenath Castle and that there were still some unresolved issues in terms of logistics and frontline command, Bluefeather would've already been surrounded.
The current situation was that Bluefeather's 2nd Field Division was setting up a defensive line in a mountainous area about 40 miles away from Efenasburg. The battlefield for the upcoming battle would be here, and they were waiting for the other two second-line corps to arrive at the frontline.
The higher-ups of Bluefeather were optimistic that as long as the two secondary corps arrived, the 160,000 to 170,000 Aueras Kingdom's army would be able to crush the 200,000 enemy soldiers and obtain victory. Wiping out Sidins was an undeniable fact.
Quite a number of higher-ups even believed that Prince Wedrick's delay wasn't a bad thing for Bluefeather. After all, Bluefeather would be in charge of the battle and it would be much better than carrying out Operation Scythe and joining forces with Reddragon and Gryphon.
So, Prince Wedrick's journey wasn't all that urgent. It wasn't until mid-August, two and a half months after the war broke out that he finally arrived at Emis. He rested for another three days before getting down to business. After presiding over the surrender ceremony and handing over the captives, Bluefeather's 1st Field Division was finally able to head to the frontlines.
Because the weather was starting to heat up, Prince Wedrick stayed in his mansion in Emis and didn't want to leave. He sent two honorary generals to the two port cities of the Sidinese Duchy to be in charge of the handover. Accompanying them were two divisions of the second-line legion stationed in Emis.
Claude's 11th Field Division had become the only combat unit of Bluefeather stationed in Emis. Naturally, their job was to protect Prince Wedrick's safety. Like the royal guard division, they spent their days idling around the camp.
The main reason for that was because the second prince was rather concerned about his own safety. He stayed in the manor protected by the royal guard division and never left it, which saved everyone a lot of trouble.
When he had nothing to do, he would occasionally go out for a stroll. Even though Emis was the fourth largest city in Sidinske Duchy after Effenasburg and the two other port cities and was known for its mountain produce and distribution center in Odin Mountain Range, the city's market had become rather bleak after it was taken over by the kingdom. Even the residents of the city had shut their doors and shut their doors, unwilling to go out.
Apart from going to the shrine to pray or buy food, it was rare to see the locals strolling about.
Claude walked quite a distance before he found a shop that was still open. He wanted to buy a few bottles of fruit wine to share with the four nobles back at camp.
However, the shopkeeper shook his head violently to indicate that he didn't have any alcohol for sale.
Claude paid a thale and the shopkeeper looked around to make sure there was nothing out of the ordinary before he took out four bottles of unlabelled fruit wine from under the counter and handed them to Claude.
On the way back to camp, Claude found out why the shopkeeper was so nervous. A group of fully armed men led by two honorary lieutenants were knocking on doors and breaking locks as they searched the houses.
When he asked around, he found out that it was Prince Wedrick's tax team. They were there to carry out the prince's orders and collect war taxes from the residents of Emis. Those who didn't have money could use their valuables to pay for it.
Generally speaking, it was normal for an occupier to impose a war tax on the residents of the occupied territory. The only difference was that Prince Wedrick had tripled the amount of this war tax, and the tax had been applied to every resident, not even newborn babies.
It was obvious that he was using the war tax as an opportunity to make a fortune for himself.
Claude didn't have the right to care about that. He could only hurry back to camp. Out of sight, out of mind.
By the end of the ninth month, the preparations for the war were completed. The two second-line corps arrived at the frontlines and entered their designated positions. Be it the Aueran army or the four-nation alliance led by Sidins, they all tacitly agreed to the battlefield and were prepared to do their best to achieve victory.
Only the 11th Battalion, who had nothing to do, remained in Emis. Some of the officers who wanted to make a name for themselves on the battlefield cursed their battalion for being given such an unlucky assignment. They couldn't participate in the war that would decide the fate of a duchy or even the eastern part of the continent. It was obvious that this was a battle that would go down in history and it would be a shame to miss it.
Claude, on the other hand, often went to talk to Perunt when he had nothing better to do. Perunt's days in Amis were more than enough for him. The 11th Battalion, which wasn't in charge of guarding the city or collecting taxes, didn't have many sick or wounded. Only two unlucky ones who ate too much and had diarrhea and vomited. A medic was enough to take care of them.
So, the two of them would often look at the map of Sidins and think about it. What puzzled Claude was that Askilin, Rimodra and Canas hadn't been affected by the war yet. Given their strength, they should be able to form four corps with ease. So, why did they only send one corps to reinforce Sidins?
There was also the Kingdom of Nasri. They should have taken action after receiving news of the attack on Sidins. They should have sent one or two corps as reinforcements without delay. Why hadn't there been any news of Nasri sending reinforcements to Sidins?
The Kingdom of Nasri only had four standing corps. After the war broke out, they announced that they would be recruiting eight second-rate corps. Currently, there were only three standing corps defending against Reddragon and Gryphon on the western front. They could easily send two corps to support Sidins.
As Claude and Perunt made wild guesses, an inescapable net had already been laid over Bluefeather and the two second-line corps.
The strategists of the Aueran army once again made the mistake of overestimating themselves and underestimating the enemy when they came up with their plans.
In their minds, a single corps of the kingdom could defeat two or three corps of the enemy. Even the second-line corps would be able to defeat the enemy's standing corps with ease.
Moreover, as soon as the kingdom's army began to attack, the enemy could only defend or retreat desperately. When they had nowhere to retreat, they would be forced to engage in a decisive battle on the battlefield. After being defeated by the kingdom's invincible army, the enemy would beg the kingdom to stop the war and sue for peace.
Therefore, in the minds of these staff officers, they only needed to come up with a plan to attack continuously. No one had ever thought that the enemy would be driven to desperate measures and launch a counterattack …
No one expected the alliance to set their sights on Bluefeather. Nasri would rather retreat on the western front and eliminate Bluefeather that had infiltrated deep into Sidins first to get rid of this threat.
They secretly transferred two standing corps from the western front and replaced them with three second-line corps to defend against Reddragon and Gryphon.
Then, he would secretly move the two standing corps to the border of the Sidins Duchy and sneak into the duchy. When the battle began, he would surround Bluefeather and the two second-line corps from the back and annihilate the enemy.
The anti-Aueras alliance had made up their minds to completely sever the claw that Aueras had extended into the Sidins Duchy.
In fact, Bluefeather and the two second-line corps didn't just have to face two hundred thousand enemies. The other three duchies didn't send one corps to support Sidins, but two. Behind the two hundred thousand enemies that Bluefeather was facing, there was another hidden corps.
Behind them were two standing corps from the Kingdom of Nasri, and flanked by the combined fleet of the five anti-Aueran countries. The two corps were ready to land at the port cities of the occupied Sidins Duchy and cut off Bluefeather's escape route to the two port cities.