"You're quite lucky," Claude said.
Skree led three companies of soldiers out of the castle to save the elderly and children. There were three main reasons they were able to hold out against the enemy for a day and a night.
Firstly, the Canasian light cavalry didn't expect the defenders to take the initiative to attack.
They had already lost one of their squads at the start and the difference in numbers between the two sides wasn't that great.
Secondly, the original lord, Count Leucaide Ba Krylaus, was probably someone with ulterior motives. He built the village less than a hundred meters away from the castle, most likely intending to link the castle and the village together and upgrade it to a city in the future.
So the enemy's light cavalry could not use their speed to get between the village and the castle and cut off Major Skri's retreat.
That distance was within the firing range of the guards on the walls. After two attempts, the enemy lost four to five corpses and gave up on the idea.
The last reason was that the original count was one of the nobles with the greatest influence in the fief. So, as a facade, the village beneath the castle wasn't filled with run-down houses and shacks like the other fiefs. Instead, it was well-planned. Both sides of the street were neatly lined with well-built houses made of wood and stone.
After Major Skree and his men had rushed into the village, they had used these houses as cover to launch a surprise attack on the light cavalry who were carrying out their atrocities. After that, they had started a street battle with them in the village, using these houses to make the enemy's surprise attack useless. This had allowed them to hold on until now, and at the same time, they had also saved many old and weak women and children.
The black smoke they saw from Landes Castle was the result of the light cavalry burning down the houses and farms outside when they realized they couldn't do anything to Skree's men.
The sound of gunfire was naturally from the exchange of fire between the two sides, while the sound of cannons was from the guards on the city walls, who were welcoming the rescued old, weak, women, and children into the castle. They blocked both sides of the road from the village to the castle, in order to prevent the enemy's light cavalry from taking advantage of this opportunity to attack the castle.
"You've really taken a huge risk this time. The enemy can't break into the castle, but it shouldn't be a problem for them to keep you people busy in the village.
They can burn house by house until you have nowhere to hide.
When you're about to retreat to the castle, I'll suddenly charge out and regroup with you. That way, I'll be able to use the cannons on the castle walls … "Claude looked at the corpses strewn all over the village. Some belonged to the light cavalry of Canas, while others belonged to 1st Ranger Tribe. Most of them were headless corpses dressed in civilian clothes. They were the elderly, women, and children who had been slaughtered.
"I know I was a little impulsive."
Major Skri laughed bitterly, "But I really couldn't stand the fact that those beasts would slaughter the old, weak, women and children, and even bully them in front of us.
One had to know that these were the citizens of their own duchy. How could they do such a thing?
Coupled with the pleas of the strong men and the soldiers' requests to fight, how could I bear to hide in the castle like a coward when we are about the same number of soldiers as the enemy? "
If Claude had been in that position, he would have gone out to fight as well. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to lead his men, especially when they were evenly matched. If he didn't go out to fight, he would only be labeled a coward and lose his reputation.
In fact, the higher-ups might even blame him for watching the enemy slaughter his own citizens, so Major Skri had no choice but to take the risk and attack from the castle.
Fortunately, Major Skri was still clear-headed. He didn't rashly order his men to attack the enemy after they charged into the village. Instead, he occupied the houses on both sides of the street and used the windows and doors to snipe at the enemy cavalry on the street. That way, the enemy wouldn't be able to gather their forces for a charge. At the same time, he set up barricades on the street and used a volley of gunfire to drive the enemy out.
The enemy didn't expect the defenders to take the initiative to attack, so they had no choice but to retreat from the village.
Light cavalry wasn't very useful in the village and would only become easy targets in urban warfare.
When they circled to the empty space behind the village, they were fired upon by the defenders on the walls. Left with no choice, they dismounted from their horses and fought with Major Skri's men from house to house. In other words, they were shooting at each other from a distance, but they were at a disadvantage in terms of weapons. In the end, they set the houses on fire.
"It's all my fault. I shouldn't have suggested splitting up the four castles.
If we had gathered our forces together, the enemy wouldn't have dared to act so brazenly before us, "Claude admitted his mistake.
Reality had proven that his strategy of having four castles watch out for each other was a mistake. The enemy could have ignored the three castles and gone straight for Count Krylaus' castle.
If Claude and the rest sent reinforcements, they would have given the enemy an opportunity to surround them and attack them. The worst part was that 1st Ranger Tribe couldn't compare to the enemy in terms of mobility. The terrain here was flat, making it a good place for light cavalry.
The enemy had only sent a company of light cavalry to make 1st Ranger Tribe look so pathetic. If it had been a full tribe, they probably wouldn't have had a good ending.
If they were in the mountains, Claude's strategy of splitting up the troops would have been correct. The enemy would have been met with the counterattack of the four castles no matter which point they attacked.
But they were in the plains and the enemy only needed a small group of light cavalry to hold back the defenders of a castle.
Had it not been for Claude's night ambush to wipe out the light cavalry watching Landes Castle, the enemy would have been able to assemble their main force to deal with Claude's reinforcements.
Even though Claude had brought four light infantry cannons, the enemy could have easily wiped them out if they were ruthless enough. If the light cavalry could break into the infantry formation, the consequences would be dire.
Claude couldn't be blamed for that. After all, be it in his previous life or this one, he had never been to a military academy or received a complete military education.
When he joined Bluefeather, he only received the most basic training. The strategy of splitting up the troops to defend the four castles was only something he took for granted.
If it was an old officer with more than ten years of military experience, he would naturally understand that this defensive plan was undesirable for an army that did not have organic mobility on the grassland.
Even though Skri graduated from the cadet military academy, he didn't specialize in strategic command. Instead, he specialized in administration and management. Later on, he served as Prince Hansbach's adjutant for six years and was in charge of intelligence and personnel consulting.
Even though he was a qualified soldier, his strategic insight wasn't much better than Claude's.
Additionally, he felt guilty towards Claude for becoming a battalion commander. He also believed that he wasn't as good as Claude in terms of commanding. So, he listened to Claude's suggestions without hesitation.
Only now did the two of them realize that the strategy of splitting up the troops wasn't right. Fortunately, they still had a chance to correct it.
"It's not your fault. I didn't notice it either," Skri sighed.
Skree sighed. "Now that I've come into contact with the light cavalry of Canas, I realise that the reports weren't exaggerated at all. We were too full of ourselves and thought too much of the enemy. We thought too highly of ourselves and thought too highly of our own side …"
Claude smiled bitterly. "The light cavalry the enemy sent this time are all veterans and elites. They should have been transferred back from Rimodra.
I really can't understand why the enemy would place so much emphasis on this remote region. They actually sent such elites to scout. "
The jarl of the fourth band arrived. Claude recalled that he was transferred over from the rear. His name was Kurdwak and he seemed to be a noble.
He was there to report on the casualties.
Half of the village's elderly, women and children had been slaughtered, leaving only 460 people. About 20 of the young women had been abducted.
Major Skri had led three platoons out yesterday afternoon and had suffered sixty-one casualties. Forty-three of them had died in battle, two of them were crippled, and the rest were only lightly injured.
What was worth noting was that among the casualties, only a dozen or so had died in melee combat. The rest were all casualties from shooting at the enemy from house to house.
The enemy, on the other hand, left behind 89 corpses, including the 27 who were shot by grapeshot and musket fire when they noticed Claude's reinforcements.
In other words, Skri's group had been fighting the light cavalry for a whole day and night and the casualty ratio was more or less one to one.
That proved that Claude was right. The enemy light cavalry was made up of elite soldiers.
Fortunately, they were in the village, and there were houses as cover, and they were fighting in the streets.
If they were to encounter such a large group of light cavalry in the wilderness, Major Skri and the others who had set out from the castle would not be able to return. Fortunately, the enemy only had one group of soldiers. If there was another group, the result would be unimaginable.
"I don't understand. Why would such an elite cavalry be so cruel to the people of their own duchy? How could they kill the old, the weak, the women, and the children without any hesitation …" Major Skri muttered.
Claude didn't understand either. Instead, it was the jarl of the fourth band, Kurdwak, who answered, "Sir, I used to like reading. I once read a travelogue about Canas and there were some interesting chapters in it.
The book said that Canas wasn't ruled by nobles like other nations. Instead, it was the tribal leaders who ruled. Technically speaking, Grand Duke Canas was only the leader of the largest nomadic tribe. It was only after he won a war between the tribes that he occupied the most fertile region of Northbay and settled there. That was how Canas came to be.
After establishing the duchy, Grand Duke Canas brought in some of the policies of the neighbouring countries and was prepared to reform the duchy. He enfeoffed the nobles and pacified the wars between the tribes.
However, his actions were unanimously opposed by many of the tribal leaders. They believed that the Great Plains of Canas was a blessed land bestowed by the heavens and shouldn't be divided or enfeoffed.
So, Grand Duke Canas had no choice but to divide the land we're currently at at the foot of the Great Green Mountain Range and enfeoffed the tribal leaders who were willing to settle down.
The rest of the nomadic tribes continued to roam the prairie and graze for a living. Small-scale battles often broke out between the tribes over the grasslands. The victors would capture the young and strong livestock and kill the old and weak, because they thought that the old and weak were useless and living was just a waste of food.
That's why they're very ruthless towards the old and weak of other tribes. "
Perhaps that was the custom of Canas. Claude and Skri looked at each other. It was the most barbaric custom they had ever heard of.
After a long while, Skri asked, "What should we do next?"
Claude had considered that question before. "We have to gather the four bands here and give up on the three castles.
Count Krylaus' castle is big enough to hold our entire battalion.
However, I think it's best to send a platoon to guard the entrance. That's our path of retreat and the way to get reinforcements from the rear. It has to be in our hands.
"I've seen the terrain at the entrance. It's dangerous and the path is narrow. One platoon and four light cannons should be enough to stop the enemy.
The only problem is that it's still in the wilderness. We need to build some defences and we don't know if the enemy will give us the time.
As long as we guard the entrance and the castle, we won't have to worry even if a full regiment of enemies comes.
Another problem is that we have to send the captives and the old and weak away. We can't let them stay here any longer.
If the enemy comes back, they'll only increase our resource consumption and become an unstable factor in our defences. It's not safe for them to stay here either. "
"Alright, let's do that."
Skri nodded. "Send scouts to confirm if the enemy's light-cavalry brigade has left.
If they have, we have to hurry up and gather our forces. We also have to transport the rations and ammunition stored in the three castles back.
By the way, Claude, which platoon do you think we should send to guard the entrance? "
"Let Moriad's platoon go. He's more reliable. He's led a platoon to defend Blackrock Village before. Just give him four cannons this time," Claude said after some thought. He felt that it was better to leave it to his lackeys.
If Mazik were to lead the platoon, he might just sneak away when he sees the enemy's strength.
As for the second, third, and fourth bands, Claude didn't know much about the new platoon jarls. At most, he only saw them as familiar faces.
Soon, the scouts returned to report that the enemy had indeed left.
Claude said to Skri, "Send everyone back to the castle and give me a platoon. I'll take as many carriages as you can get.
I'll head to the second band right away and bring back the people and supplies there. "