“Yes, sir. They hurt us,” he said frankly. “We didn’t really expect another strong sally, not when they were thrown back with loss yesterday. It was worrisome out there for a while, when they came close to turning our flank. But we were steady, and we made them pay for coming out of their works.”
“So you’ve already reported, your Excellency,” Hesmucet replied. “I’m glad to learn you did so well.”
Doubting George said, “Taking it all in all, they must have left a third of their men on the field the last two days. And they didn’t have that many to begin with.”
He might not have been aggressive enough to suit Hesmucet, but he’d done sums in his head, too. And the answer he reached wasn’t far different from the one that had formed in the commanding general’s mind. Hesmucet said, “It’s only a matter of time now.”
“I think you’re right, sir,” George said, nodding. “Now we can push to the east of Marthasville or to the west, go up north of the place on either side just as we choose, and Bell won’t be able to stop us. The most he can do with what he has left, as I see it, is sit tight and stand siege.”
“If he does that, he’s mine, and so is his whole fornicating army,” Hesmucet said. “I’ll take it clean off the board, the same as Marshal Bart took Camphorville on the Great River and its defending host last year.”
“I don’t believe Bell will do that,” Logan the Black said. “He’s a swinger, a puncher. He’ll keep trying to hit us for as long as he can.”
“Good,” Hesmucet said. “The more he wastes his force, the sooner he won’t be able to strike with it at all. I always worried about Joseph the Gamecock. He held his men in. If I’d made a mistake against him, he kept the wherewithal to make me pay for it. But Bell? Bell’s thrown away as many good men the past two days as Joseph did during the whole campaign from Borders all the way up to here.”
His subordinates nodded. Not even Fighting Joseph could disagree with that. George said, “Bell’s a first-rate man to command a brigade. Point him at the foe, turn him loose, and he’ll hit hard. But put him in command of an army? Of an army trying to hold off a bigger army? I don’t know what false King Geoffrey was drinking when he thought of that, but I hope they serve him more of it.”
Logan the Black nodded. “Well said. Our foes’ mistakes go a long way toward making this an easy fight for us.”
“They can’t afford to make mistakes, not any more,” Doubting George agreed. “We have the luxury of greater strength, which lets us make our errors good.” He dipped his head to Hesmucet. “Not that we’ve made many on this campaign.”
“For which I thank you,” Hesmucet replied. If George said a thing like that, he had to mean it, which made the compliment doubly pleasing. Hesmucet went on, “Now there is one other bit of business that wants doing. Brigadier Logan, I am grateful for how well you fought James’ wing, but I do not intend that you keep command of it.”
“And why not, if I fought it well?” Logan demanded. He was a proud man, and he had done his duty and more than his duty. Hesmucet would have to handle him carefully.
He said, “My main reason, Brigadier, is that you are not a professional. Meaning you no disrespect, but I find it easier to deal with men who have been through Annasville, as I have.”
“Plenty of them, on both sides of this war, have proved themselves to be idiots,” Logan said tartly.
“True enough, your Excellency, but you could also say the same for officers who haven’t been through the military collegium,” Hesmucet replied. “I am pleased to have you as a brigade or division commander. As a wing commander… I’m sorry, Brigadier, but no, not permanently.”
However proud he was, Logan took it like a man. “It’s your army, General. You will have your way here. If you think I’m going to tell you I’m happy about it, you’re mistaken. And now, sir, if you’ll excuse me…” Saluting, he spun on his heel and strode out of the headquarters.
“You did the right thing, sir,” Fighting Joseph said. Approval from him was the last thing Hesmucet wanted. Striking a pose, Fighting Joseph went on, “Now you can consolidate your forces. An army of only two wings-led by your two senior commanders-would surely be more efficient than one of three.”
And it would double the size of the force you command, which is what you’ve got in mind, Hesmucet thought. Aloud, he said, “I find myself reasonably satisfied with the command arrangements as they exist at present.”
“Do you indeed, sir? Do you indeed?” From Fighting Joseph’s tone, Hesmucet might have expressed a fondness for scratching his backside in public or eating with his fingers. More scornfully still, Fighting Joseph said, “And who could possibly replace James the Bird’s Eye?” Who but me? he all but shouted.
“If you must know, I had in mind Brigadier Oliver,” Hesmucet replied.
Now Fighting Joseph frankly stared. “Oliver? You must be joking… sir. I hope you’re joking. Oliver the blond-lover? Oliver the gods-drunk? Oliver with his right arm gone? Lion God’s twitching tail, it’d be like putting a cross between Bell and Leonidas the Priest in charge of a wing.”
“No.” Hesmucet shook his head. “Oliver’s pious, but he knows soldiering as well as he knows the gods. And he’s not brash and rash, the way Bell is. He thinks before he moves.”
“I agree,” Doubting George said. “Before the war, I thought Oliver was a horrible windbag, and I wished he would quit blathering on about loosing the blonds from the soil. But that is King Avram’s policy now, so we all needs must follow it. And Brigadier Oliver is a more than capable soldier, as the commanding general said.”
“Giving that wing to such an untried man-and a junior untried man-is an outrage when senior officers are available,” Fighting Joseph insisted. “Not only an outrage, but also a gross injustice.”
“I’m sorry, General, but I don’t agree,” Hesmucet said. “Brigadier Oliver will have that wing.”
“Disgraceful.” Fighting Joseph drew himself up to his full height, which was perhaps an inch less than Hesmucet’s. In a voice like thunder, he said, “If that is your final decision, I cannot abide the insult, and must offer my resignation from King Avram’s service and from this, his host.”
Without a doubt, he thought Hesmucet would find him indispensable and would knuckle under to that threat. Without a doubt, he had never so badly misjudged a situation-which, with Viziersville on his record, was saying a great deal. Hesmucet had all he could do not to chortle with glee. “Lieutenant General George, you are my witness,” he said. “Fighting Joseph has tendered his resignation.”
“Yes, sir,” Doubting George agreed. “I heard him do it.”
“And you shall also be my witness that I accept the said resignation, effective immediately,” Hesmucet went on.
“Yes, sir,” George repeated. “I will so testify, at need.”
Fighting Joseph first looked as if he didn’t believe his ears, then as if he didn’t want to. “How-how dare you?” he spluttered. “How do you think you can manage this army without me?”
“I expect I’ll manage,” Hesmucet answered. “And, since you’ve resigned, it’s not your concern anyway. A good evening to you, General. I trust you will make a splendid success of yourself in civilian life.”
Still looking as if he’d been hit in the head with a rock, Fighting Joseph, having fought for the last time, stumbled out of Hesmucet’s headquarters. Hesmucet found a jar of spirits and poured a mug for himself and one for Doubting George. Though he’d lost James the Bird’s Eye, his men had held Bell’s, and he was rid of Fighting Joseph. He wondered which of those would prove the bigger victory.