According to Claude's calculations, one of the two folks under him would have to stay in the capital to maintain order, watch over the captives and defend the walls.
That was why he only had a folk of mobility troops while the enemy was coming from two directions, the northeast and the southwest. No matter which direction Claude directed his folk in, he wouldn't be able to stop the enemy from approaching the city from the other direction and separate the two folk.
That was the real reason why Claude couldn't make a final decision. Regardless of which direction the folk came from, they wouldn't be able to defeat or defeat the enemy.
After all, the enemy had hundreds of thousands of soldiers each. While they could restrain the enemy, they wouldn't be able to wipe them out and might even put themselves in a difficult situation.
This was Nasri territory after all. Terrain and manpower were never on Thundercrash's side.
Berklin did suggest to Claude to emulate what Misierc did in Cromwell and Balingana to deal with the five standing corps of Shiks.
They used Thundercrash's light cavalry's agility and ambush ability to obscure the enemy's view of the battlefield and force them into a corner. In the end, they were forced to put down their weapons and surrender.
However, Claude quickly rejected that plan. It was simple. The battlefield environment was different.
Back then, Cromwell and Balingana were fortified by Misierci's orders. For the five Shiksan corps, entering the two colonies meant stepping into Misierci's trap. They didn't even have the chance to fight them head-on and were led around by the nose.
Thundercrash was the real invader. The territory belonged to the enemy. As Aueras' mortal enemy, the people of Nasri rebelled fiercely.
Claude suspected that if the light cavalry scouts weren't vigilant enough, they would be ambushed by the people of Nasri.
As long as the enemy found a town or village, they could easily obtain supplies and intelligence. It would be impossible to obscure their view of the battlefield.
If Berklin led the First Division to attack, all they could do was harass and engage in guerrilla warfare. They could ambush the logistical supply channels of the enemy's main camp, but they also had to be careful of the enemy setting up traps to ambush their own light cavalry.
The reason Dyavid's 2nd Folk weren't allowed to attack was because he was worried that Dyavid would recklessly choose to fight the enemy head-on without any regard for his own safety.
Claude wanted victory, but he didn't want to pay a heavy price.
In the enemy's territory, every soldier was a fighting force. Their lives were very precious and worth cherishing.
However, Claude didn't quite understand the situation on the battlefield. First, the 400,000-strong army that retreated to Nasri from the southwest was approaching the capital of Polivisia. On the other hand, the 300,000-strong army from the five northeastern prefectures didn't make a move and didn't join forces with the enemy from the southwest.
Prince Vedario, who had just escaped, appeared in the southwest of the alliance army and gained the support of the three Nasrian corps. At the same time, the 400,000-strong alliance army stopped advancing and set up camp on the spot.
Claude had no choice but to stop Berklin's 1st Folk. He really didn't understand what the alliance was up to. Why would they give up such a good opportunity?
Five or six days later, Wolf Fang captured a Nasrian logistics major from the northeast. After interrogating him, they finally understood what was going on.
The reason why the 300,000-strong army in the five northeastern prefectures didn't make a move was thanks to Moriad's armoured fleet. They had destroyed Seaking's fleet and captured nearly a hundred cargo ships.
The cargo escorted by Seaking's fleet was Shiks' military aid to Nasri. As a result, the two newly formed Nasrian corps in the five northeastern prefectures were mostly unarmed. Only a small portion of their 120,000 men were armed and they had to wait for Shiks' reinforcements.
Had it not been for the two Shiksan corps coming ashore as reinforcements and the light cavalry corps from Canas to ensure the safety of the two Nasrian corps, the weaponless Nasrian corps would have disbanded long ago.
The reason they stayed put in the five northeastern prefectures was because Shiks was preparing to send another batch of supplies over to arm the two corps before they went to war.
However, Shiks couldn't transport them by sea anymore. Seaking's fleet was already crippled and a transport fleet without an escort would be no different from sending food to Moriad's fleet. So, they had to go by land.
To reach Nasri by land, they had to pass through Bleyotte and Mambamark.
That was why Shiks needed time to negotiate with the two kingdoms to open up the land route. Only then would they be able to send supplies to Nasri to support the alliance in the war.
What was worth noting was that the commander of the two newly formed corps was the third prince of Nasri, Prince Daklind, the son of Nasri VII's consort.
According to reports, the prince wasn't really loved by Nasri VII, but his uncle was the grand duke of Nasri and the minister of the army. He was also the marshal of the kingdom.
However, the marshal was currently trapped in the palace with the king as a high-ranking captive of Thundercrash and was under strict supervision.
Claude immediately understood why the 400,000-strong army in the southwest suddenly set up camp halfway towards the capital. It seemed that they had Vedario to thank for that.
Only the two princes of Nasri weren't in the capital and weren't taken captive by Thundercrash.
That was why they all had their own selfish motives and hoped to advance further. Perhaps they were even grateful to Thundercrash. If it hadn't been for them, the one to inherit the throne would definitely have been their eldest brother, the eldest prince of Nasri VII.
The three Nasrian corps in the southwest supported Prince Vedario, while the two new corps in the northeast were under the control of Ducklind.
If Nasri didn't have the armies of other kingdoms, it was obvious that the two princes would imitate Aueras and start a civil war to determine who would become the new king.
Unfortunately, the Shiksan army was still around. Any Shiksan commander in their right mind wouldn't allow the two Nasri princes to fight each other.
Given that the alliance's main forces were mostly reliant on the five corps sent by Shiks, Nasri's war for the throne would soon be mediated. The ambitious Majid III might even turn Nasri into a vassal state of Shiks.
Claude had no choice but to fight the war to the end. He had to destroy Nasri to restore peace to the eastern part of Freia and allow it to enjoy a long period of peace.
Given the current situation, the two princes of Nasri had to side with Shiks in order to succeed. No matter who became the new king of Nasri, they would become Shiks' pawns.
With that stubborn and stubborn Majid III playing tricks behind the scenes, the eastern region would never be able to restore peace.
What the weakened Aueras needed the most was time to recuperate and recover.
However, Claude breathed a sigh of relief. Even with Shiks mediating between the two princes, it would still take some time for a victor to be decided. Time was of the essence for Thundercrash. At the very least, Claude would be able to move the large amount of loot and captives from the royal city without having to worry about enemy attacks from two directions.
Claude believed that neither of the two Nasri princes would be willing to rescue his father and his brothers. They would rather watch as their loved ones were sent to the Aueran royal capital to be imprisoned than for his father or his brothers to escape and become new enemies.
After some consideration, Claude didn't order Berklin to lead 1st Folk on the offensive. Apart from sending a line of light cavalry to keep an eye on the enemy from two directions, he sent the other three lines to escort the 50,000 captives and their families to Esmis in Sidins.
At the same time, Claude sent a messenger to Eiblont to set up a camp in Esmis to hold the captives and send them to the region after the war.
As long as they could drag this out for as long as they could, all of the captives in the capital of Polyvicia would be escorted away. Thundercrash would then be able to free up another hand and use both divisions in battle.
Claude was indeed taking a huge risk. If the alliance suddenly launched an attack on the capital while the captives were being transported, Thundercrash, which only had a folk left, wouldn't be able to hold off an attack of hundreds of thousands of enemies.
It would take the light cavalry at least 17 to 18 days to travel from the capital to Esmis, but it was hard to say how long it would take to transport the captives.
Even if Claude used all the carriages in the capital and the surrounding towns to transport the captives and their families, he estimated that it would take at least 25 days to make the trip back and forth.
The 400,000-strong alliance's camp in the southwest was only 15 days away from the capital. That was the estimation of the infantry. If it were the light cavalry of Canas, they would reach the city in seven days.
Fortunately, there was only one folk of Canas light cavalry among the 400,000-strong alliance army. If they dared to attack the capital, Claude was confident that he could wipe them out before they could.
It was just as Claude had predicted. Even though the two Nasri princes knew that Thundercrash was running low on manpower in the capital, they didn't make a single move.
Perhaps Ducklind could still argue that his two newly-formed corps weren't equipped and couldn't attack the capital.
Prince Vedario, on the other hand, was probably scared out of his wits by the ambush of Dyavid's two light cavalry regiments. He didn't even take a step out of his camp.
Thus, the Kingdom of Nasri fell into a strange state of peace. Thundercrash escorted all the captives and their families to Amis in an orderly manner.
The 700,000-strong alliance army remained in the southwest and northeast. The two princes of Nasri were desperately plundering food and soldiers from the surrounding prefectures. Their momentum was getting stronger and stronger, but they never advanced towards King City.
The days passed one after another. Eiblont escorted a large amount of ammunition to the capital. Another half a month later, the last batch of captives and their families were sent to Esmis.
That was when the two armies finally made their move.
But they weren't heading for the capital. Instead, they headed for Bismonk.
Bismonk was a prefecture on the northern border of Nasri and Mambamark. It was separated from the capital by the prefectures of Grastholme and Durmele.
Those three prefectures had been swept through by Thundercrash's 2nd Folk before. Now that the two armies were on the move, Claude's attention was drawn to them.
The army gathered in Bismonk was split into three parts. In the middle were the five standing corps of Shiks, on the left were the five corps of Nasri, and on the right were the light cavalry corps of Canas, as well as the garrison forces from the surrounding prefectures and nobles who volunteered to join the army. There were three corps in total.
After resting for ten days in Bismonk, all five corps of Nasri raised Ducklind's flag and set off for Grastholme.
At the very front were the conscripted and voluntary nobles from the surrounding prefectures of Nasri. There were about seventy to eighty thousand of them.
Behind them were the five standing corps of Nasri, followed by the five corps of Shiks.
Of Canas' three light cavalry folk, two were stationed at the flanks and one was stationed at the front. They were probably there to supervise the seventy to eighty thousand men at the front.
At this time, General Birkin rushed to the capital of Polyvicia with the Second Monolith Division, while the First Monolith Division and General Bolonik stayed in Emis to take care of the more than 100,000 captives and their families. They were ready to escort them in batches to the port of Florida and wait for the arrival of the ocean cruising fleet to transport them to the overseas dominion.
Now that Claude was free, he entrusted the defense of the capital to Birkin and had Monolith's 2nd Folk stay in the capital. He and Eiblont led Thundercrash's 1st and 2nd Folk out of the capital and headed for Durmel to take the initiative to meet the enemy's vanguard.
The prefectures of Grastholme and Durmele were flat plains with very few small hills. The waterways there were rather dense and a few of Nasri's famous rivers intersected there.
It was said that the Nasri Kingdom had a proposal decades ago to build a canal along the branches of these rivers. However, due to the fact that it violated the territorial rights of the local nobles and the fact that they were unable to raise enough funds for the project, the plan never came to fruition.
Due to the abundance of water, the land in the two prefectures was fully developed and became one of Nasri's famous food-producing bases. They were also places with many workshops.
Since the two prefectures were under the direct jurisdiction of the royal family, the people there didn't have to worry about being exploited by the local nobles. Their lives were rather comfortable and they supported the royal family's rule.
Only after entering Durmele did Thundercrash's troops truly realise that they were in an enemy country and that they were invaders.
Not a single town or village was willing to cooperate with Thundercrash. Even if they used real money to purchase resources, they would only receive hostile silence and uncooperative attitudes.
Fortunately, Dyavid's 7th Line of 2nd Folk had swept through the prefectures' garrison before and knew how to deal with the stubborn people of Durmele.
For example, if they wanted to purchase fresh fruits or vegetables, they would bring their troops to the farms and gardens they liked to harvest them themselves. Afterwards, they would hand over the money to the owners of the farms and gardens.
The people of Durmele were used to such things. Thundercrash's soldiers wouldn't go back on their word anyway, so they just stood there silently and waited for the money to be collected.
The contact with the Alliance Army occurred on the eighth day after entering the Durmel County, on the morning of the 14th day of the 10th month of the 60th year of the Holy Light Calendar. A light cavalry scout squad of the Thundercrash Corps encountered a large cavalry squad of the Alliance Army's vanguard on the main road of a town called Birdra. There were about three to four hundred cavalry, and they were squeezed together as they galloped towards Birdra in a chaotic manner.
After discovering the light cavalry scouts of the Thundercrash Corps, these cavalrymen pulled out their sabers and charged over while yelling and cursing.
The light cavalry scout team turned their horses around, firing as they fled, luring the enemy into hot pursuit.
Soon, two light cavalry brigades circled around them and a battalion of light cavalry charged at the enemy. This time, it was the enemy's turn to turn their horses around and run.
In the end, only a dozen or so enemy cavalrymen were lucky enough to run into them, and the infantry behind them managed to escape. The light cavalry battalion that won the first battle killed more than three hundred enemies, and only paid a small price of eighteen casualties and zero deaths …
The enemy immediately retreated five kilometers away and set up camp, but they didn't last the entire night.
Berklin personally led 1st Folk to launch a surprise attack that very night. With just a single round of cannon fire and 300 long-barreled rockets, the enemy camp collapsed amidst the flames and explosions.
1st Folk and 2nd Folk gave chase until the sun rose. Most of the alliance's vanguard were either killed or captured. Only about ten thousand managed to escape.
Even though it was a beautiful victory, Claude wasn't too excited.
He knew very well that this ragtag group of seventy to eighty thousand was actually cannon fodder sent by the alliance to probe Thundercrash's strength. No one cared about their life or death or victory.
What Thundercrash really had to face was the twelve corps of Shiks, Nasri and Canas.
On the 14th day of the 10th month, 600, the curtains to what would later be known as the Battle of Polyvicia finally began.