Enlightened Empire

Chapter 326: Stuck in the Mud

Several days after he had made his decision on Rapra Castle's balcony, Dedrick arrived near Yua Island together with a new batch of ships. Because of the complex terrain and low visibility around the island's north, a large fleet couldn’t move through the area safely, which was why their enemies had focused on securing the southern coast first. Though because of the bad terrain, it was also easy for Dedrick's ships to move into range of Atau's swimming fortress before they could be intercepted by their enemies.

As soon as they had moored at the temporary dock Saniya's soldiers had built, the general went ashore. While the men he had brought were starting to load the materials off the ship, he was led to the center of the camp by guards, where he met with General Paec in his command tent.

During normal times, Paec's personal appearance mirrored his attitude. Proper and precise, he took very good care of his outward appearance. At the same time though, he was somewhat boring in private, and always too serious, which was reflected in his ordinary clothing and stiff posture. Now however, he had taken this ordinary streak to a whole new level.

Rather than his general's outfit, he wore a simple soldier's uniform. Even stranger, his hair was a bit messy, and his clothes were ruffled and dusty. Only his posture was still as straight and proper as always. The 'command tent' was strangely tiny as well. Although it still contained all the tools and maps Dedrick would expect, the tent itself was crammed, with barely any room to stand, almost like a simple soldier's tent. At least it would protect them from the drizzle outside.

“What happened to you?” Unlike he had with Fadelio, this time Dedrick sounded genuinely worried. After all, Paec was his understudy, a real talent he had cultivated himself. As his best pupil here in Saniya, the mercenary captain didn't want to see the young general suffer.

“It's a disguise, of course,” Paec replied in a matter-of-factly tone, as if right from the start, it had been the only possible explanation for his sloppy look. “I invite you to do the same, master. Unless you want to be shot down out of the blue, it's best to hide in the crowd.”

“Is the other side using snipers to kill off officers?” Dedrick asked in shock. Now that their weapons had reached a certain level of quality, this was a tactic that he himself had planned to use in the near future. With long-range, high precision rifles, they could target enemy commanders across the battlefield and cause chaos in the enemy ranks during battle. However, Dedrick didn't even get a chance to try out his plans before their enemies had stolen his idea.

“It's our own fault, really. We started it,” Paec corrected Dedrick's thoughts. “Since we failed to break through their defenses in the first few days after our landing, I devised the plan based on your own ideas, master. By targeting their commanders, we thought we could either weaken their cohesion or, in the best case, force them to retreat off the island in order to protect their nobles.”

“Didn't work so well?” Dedrick guessed even though he didn’t need to.

“That would be correct. The first day, everything still went as planned. We managed to confirm kills on two officers, and we injured another five. But then the next day, they started to fire back. I thought our guns were the best in the world, but it seems we were wrong. Their weapons seem to be in no way inferior to ours, both in terms of range and in terms of accuracy. At this point, we are still trying to find out where they got all those high quality rifles from.”

“Well, our guns are the best in the world, that's probably still true,” Dedrick said. “But it depends on how you measure quality we're talking about. Our biggest advantage lies with the average flintlock rifle built for the average soldier. That's where our main focus is: Making the mass-produced guns for our average soldiers better, since that has the best overall effect on a war’s outcome. They're probably not using average rifles to snipe you though.”

“Of course not. They wouldn't hit a thing,” Paec said with disdain in his voice, possibly thinking about the crude matchlock guns the Arcavians were still running around with. Indeed, they were only vaguely accurate even within ten meters or so. Any hit beyond that would be pure luck. However, Dedrick had a good idea where the better weapons came from.

“If I had to guess, they're shooting you with the private hunting rifles of the nobles in their team. Their Arcavian commanders probably brought some from home, because they wanted to have a nice time shooting wildlife on the exotic islands of the Occident or whatever. Probably looking for some unique prey they can shoot, so they can show off to their fat friends back home. I've seen some great hunting rifles back in Arcavia, so that wouldn't surprise me. In the first place, our technology comes from Arcavia anyways, so the level of their weapons isn't quite as bad as you think. Especially if we're talking about the high end. It's not that their guns are bad, just that their good guns are too precious to leave with a normal soldier. But cornered, they won't mind using their precious guns for a special purpose like this one.”

“Well, now it's too late for regrets,” Paec said with a bitter smile. “All our officers are plainclothed now. We even had to move our command tent to an ordinary soldiers' tent hidden in the middle of the camp, because the original one kept being pelted by lead.”

Reminded of the imminent danger, the experienced Dedrick lowered his head on instinct, before he caught himself. Annoyed, he looked around to find that the tent didn't have any holes in its sides. It seemed like their camouflage had been successful so far.

“Well, fuck,” Dedrick summarized their situation with all his eloquence. “But if we’re doing the same thing, at least both sides are suffering, huh?”

“They're probably suffering more than us, actually. It's hard to confirm kills in operations like that, but from their reactions, it seems like they don't want to continue this game. Two days ago, we agreed on a ceasefire during the night, because there used to be constant incidents after sundown every day. No one could get proper rest anymore. At least now we can sleep in peace, somewhat.”

“Wouldn't trust something like that. What if they see our defenses slipping and just change their minds?” As always, Dedrick was dismissive of promises and paper. He himself had nothing but bad experiences with contracts... apart from his deal with Corco of course, which had been the best contract he had ever signed. Though of course, when he had signed that deal he had fully intended to insist on his proper pay through the force of his men.

“That's why we're still in soldier's uniform, master,” Paec replied. It seemed that this general’s master was a smart man who had taught him well. “We've also set up extensive guards during the night, as has the other side. Still, our people are working hard to identify the rest of their officers, both their appearances and their tents, to take them all down at once in a surprise attack. Although chances are a bit slim, since the operation would require a lot of coordination and some healthy dose of luck, that's our best chance for a quick victory at this point.”

“Wait, you don't have any other plans? You have more firepower than their side, right? Isn't that what all the fancy flintlocks are for? How come you can't even storm some half-finished wall from its back side?”

Despite Dedrick's scathing tone, Paec remained calm and replied in his usual matter-of-fact tone.

“The defender's advantage is too big. The cannons they've put on their wall are our biggest problem, but that's not even half of it. Follow me master, I'll be easier if I show you what I mean.”

Since the camp had been built quite compact, they didn't have to walk for long before they reached the palisades at its edge. Here, Dedrick saw several cannons placed in a row behind the wall, with wooden flaps in front of their muzzles that protected the cannons from suppression whenever they didn't fire.

Paec walked past one of the cannons, before he opened the flap in the wall and motioned Dedrick to look through. After landing on the island, the mercenary captain finally saw the full extent of the battlefield he had decided to take charge of. It didn't look encouraging.

Far off in the distance, he could see the entrenched position of his enemies. Although the wall was built to protect against attacks from sea, their enemies had been busy extending the inland defenses, adding temporary barriers and even a second, lower wall to protect the center from charges. It really looked a lot more solid than he had assumed at first, with no obvious weaknesses he could discover from here.

However, the fortifications were far from the biggest problem. What really soured Dedrick's mood was the space in between the two camps.

At this point, the captain could only imagine how the entire battlefield may have looked like a few days ago. He imagined a simple, flat plains. With absolutely no cover, it must have been an absolute nightmare to cross while under ftre from the defensive position on the other side. Now however, it had become even worse. The entire field was covered in craters, the earth had been thrown up by constant cannon and musket fire, and the marching armies hadn't helped either.

Even worse, after being softened up from combat, the ground had started to accept all the water the Verdant Isles had to offer. Constant rain had turned the earth into mud. At this point, the soldiers wouldn't just have to cross an open field without cover to get within firing range of the enemy wall. Rather, they would have to wade through a swamp filled with deep craters, while under constant fire that only made the path more difficult every time they tried.

“This is a nightmare,” Dedrick commented and looked over at Paec with a shocked expression, before he caught himself. After all, he was the teacher here, and should have something more constructive to contribute. “How about digging trenches to reach their wall? I know it'll be tough to keep some structure in the mud, but you can reinforce with wood, and it'll work just fine. Get close enough and you can storm the wall or collapse it, whatever you want.”

“We tried that, master,” Paec said. “But things are more difficult than they seem. To be fair, you cannot see the whole picture even from here. The earth looks like a swamp, but in truth it's only a thin ground layer. Once we dug away at the earth, we found a solid rock foundation right underneath. Not quite impossible to dig through, but not an option when our enemies are eyeing us at all times. We can't dig through rock while being shelled by cannon fire.”

“So how deep is the ground? A shallow trench is better than no trench at all.”

“No luck there either. Seems like most of the earth is maybe knee-deep. That's just deep enough to be a nuisance during our advance, but not nearly deep enough for a trench. We still have scouts checking the battlefield at nights, in hopes that we can find a deeper path through the mud, but I'm not optimistic about the trench strategy anyways, even if we can find a path through the battlefield.”

“Why not?” At first Dedrick was confused, but when he saw Paec's grim expression, realization struck. “Don't tell me it still gets worse. How can it be worse than this?”

“It's the weather, master.” Paec looked up, around the wooden overhang that protected the cannons from moisture. Immediately, his face was covered with drops of water. Since they had left the tent, the rain had gotten worse. “In this place, it rains almost every day, and when it doesn't rain, it’s foggy. We can't advance in rain. Our powder will get wet, while the other side can use their defenses to shield their cannons and rifles. And even without the guns, they have more warriors than us. We can’t win a pure melee.”

Dedrick followed Paec's look and stared at the dark clouds overhead

“Even more of a defender's advantage. Did these people just get stupidly lucky in picking the perfect battlefield, or do they have a genius commanding them?”

“Either way won't make a difference,” Paec replied, showing rare signs of human emotion as he sighed in frustration. “As things are, we can't stay out in the open field for long even after we dig trenches, because it'll just end up raining before we can grind them down, and then we'll have to retreat anyways. We have better weapons, but they look useless on this battlefield. Our only choice at that point is a charge, but they have more proper warriors with cultivation. We can't win a prolonged melee without fire support, so we can only cower in defense here. For now, our plan is to build small bunkers from wood and carry them forward to establish an advanced position. But anything that we can carry will be too flimsy to withstand the cannon fire for long. I don't think highly of the plan.”

“Then why approve it?”

“We have to do something.” Paec shrugged. “So long as they control the southern part of the island, our forces are bound here. We can't just leave the island alone either, it's too important strategically. But what happens if they start to attack on other islands, like the Green Kingdom's main island? That's the problem. So long as we are stuck here, they hold the initiative. In fact, Admiral Atau has suggested a risky maneuver to attack their fleet with our and then pincer the wall with attacks from both sides. But if he loses, we have even less initiative. For now, I've managed to convince King Corco that the plan is too dangerous, but who knows how long everyone's patience will last. At this point, I'm really at a loss on how to continue.”

“In that case, you can simply leave things to me. General Paec, you're hereby relieved of your duties.”

Finally, Dedrick handed Paec the written orders that Corco had sent back to Saniya on Dedrick's urging. Presented with his dismissal, the young general looked lost. Maybe this was the first time he had failed at something since he had begun his career. It would be a good learning experience for him.

“Don't worry, kid. You're not in trouble,” Dedrick tried to calm him. “Rather than waste your time here, you're tasked with defending Rasacopa again. You're right, they could attack elsewhere at any moment, so we'll need our best people defending the most important places. And even more, we need to resolve this battlefield quickly. Since I pitched a decent plan to the boss, I'll take over here. I'll show you how your old master handles shit like this. At this point, my people should have already finished unloading the boats. Don't worry, this won’t take long.”