Souma’s target had been the main force of the Amidonian army from the very beginning. This was why he had told Gaius the target of their attack, something that should normally be kept secret.
By first saying he would attack Van, he would lie in wait for the principality’s forces to rush there, and then he would destroy them.
It was a plan that fell under Thirty-Six Stratagems’s sixth stratagem, “Make a sound in the east, then strike in the west,” but he was also reenacting the Battle of Maling, from which the words of the second stratagem, “Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao,” came.
This was the strategy that the second Sun Tzu, Sun Bin, had used to defeat his rival Pang Juan. Gaius had never stood a chance of seeing through it.
While he did have 25,000 troops at his command, in comparison to those exhausted troops which had lost most of their supply wagons, the kingdom’s forces had enough rations from Poncho to feed the whole army, and had spent the day resting on the field and waiting, so they were eager to fight.
55,000 kingdom soldiers in top condition vs. 25,000 exhausted principality soldiers.
The battle had been decided before it even began.
In the main camp in the center of the Elfrieden Kingdom’s forces which had taken the crane wing formation, Souma rose from his camp stool, raised his right arm high, then swung it down towards the forces of the principality.
“““Yeahhhhhhh!””” A victory cry rose up from the forces of the kingdom.
With that as the signal, the final battle between the Elfrieden Kingdom and the Principality of Amidonia began.
Elfrieden Historical Idiom Lessons: Number 4
“Let them attack the countryside to take the capital.”
Type: Proverb
Meaning: To accomplish something with minimal effort.
Origin: During the One Week War, Souma used the country town of Altomura as bait, then used the opening that created to enable an attack on the capital of the Principality of Amidonia.
Synonyms: “Lose the battle to win the war.”
Chapter 9: The Final Battle
It seems that in later years, many dramatizations of this era have depicted Souma Kazuya as a wise and courageous ruler. They depict him as a ruler who took to the battlefield, as slaying many powerful opponents in single combat, as having confounded enemy armies with his ingenuity, and as having brought happiness to the people with his excellent policies.
However, the historians dispute that appraisal of him.
To begin with, in all his life, Souma only fought enough foreign wars to be counted on one hand. He had very few opportunities to show that sort of military prowess. Nearly all of the achievements he is remembered for were actually accomplished by those who served under him.
As for the ingenuity that let him toy with his enemies, there is no proof that he came up with any of those ideas himself. In the era in which he lived, there were many people, foremost among them being the prime minister, Hakuya, who were masters of such ingenuity, so Souma may only have been implementing the best plans offered by such people.
Certainly, he had many excellent policies, but it is questionable whether he led all of his people to happiness.
From time to time, there were signs that Souma’s position caused him suffering. If all of his policies had been having their intended effects, he likely wouldn’t have suffered so. Thus, Souma’s abilities were not so great as the dramatizations depict. That was the consensus reached by historians.
…However.
Even with that said, there are few who claim Souma was not a great ruler.
Another point of consensus among historians is that “Souma was good at gathering people and using them well.” Souma had no great abilities himself, but he was a genius in how he placed capable people where they were needed, and could deploy the necessary number of troops to where they were required.
The event that first spread Souma’s name across the continent, his victory in the war with the Principality of Amidonia, was largely a result of this gift. He had a firm grasp of what he was and was not capable of, and was able to delegate the things he couldn’t do himself to others.
It could be that this is the most important quality for a ruler.
“They’re more stubborn than I expected…”
As I watched the battle develop from the main camp of the Elfrieden Kingdom’s army, I was surprised by how good a fight the forces of the principality of Amidonia were putting up.
It was 55,000 kingdom soldiers in high spirits vs. 25,000 exhausted principality soldiers. The outcome should have been apparent to anyone, but the forces of the principality were holding out well. No, maybe it was that our forces weren’t fully able to attack.
First, the kingdom’s and principality’s wyverns were dogfighting in the skies above. Because they hadn’t been hit by the ambush at Goldoa Valley, the Principality of Amidonia’s wyvern unit was the most energetic unit in the principality’s army.
There were fewer than 500 knights, but if they stayed on the defensive, even the Elfrieden Wyvern Cavalry, who boasted twice their numbers, would struggle to attack them. If we could seize air supremacy, that would decide the outcome of the battle, but it didn’t look like that would happen for a while.
In the end, the battle had been left for the forces on the ground to decide.
The kingdom’s army had deployed in the crane wing formation. In the center was the Royal Guard led by Ludwin, plus a total of 20,000 troops, including 10,000 from the troops that reported directly to me in the Forbidden Army and 10,000 from the Army. In the left wing there were roughly 15,000 Army troops led by Glaive (Halbert and Kaede were in this unit as well). Lastly, in the right wing there was a force of roughly 15,000 troops led by Liscia which consisted of Army troops and auxiliaries from the dark elf village.
I wanted Liscia to stay in the main camp, but she said, “This is the final battle. Let me do what I can, too,” and forced me to let her have her way.
Partly because she was currently the only person who could still keep the confused forces of the Army together, I hesitantly accepted it.
She had been something like an idol during her time with the Army, after all. Thanks to Georg’s training, there was also no issue with her ability to command troops. I made the decision figuring that she would meet little resistance.
I did, at least, send Aisha with her as a bodyguard, though. She was a princess, after all, and I didn’t want her being too reckless.
Anyway, since I was in the main camp, to the rear of the central force led by Ludwin, the only person I had to talk to was Carla, who I was keeping close at hand as a hostage.
While Carla was a hostage, her hands and feet weren’t bound with chains. She was wearing a slave collar, so it would strangle her the moment she attempted to flee or harm her master. It was supposedly safe leaving her like this. It seemed to me that if she just seized a sword from one of the guards or stabbed me with those sharp claws of hers, she could kill me pretty easily, but… I guess that was just how the collar worked. Then again, Carla didn’t seem to have any intention of harming me anymore.
I tried talking to her. “So, what do you think? I thought they’d break more easily.”
“…No one goes to war wanting to lose,” she said. “They’ll desperately try to avoid defeat.”