novelraw Chapter 116: Revolution Defense War - Collapse (3)
Chapter 116: Revolution Defense War - Collapse (3)
Two weeks after the Battle of Valois, Metz, Germania Empire Army Garrison.
“It’s the Revolutionary Army, Your Highness! An estimated 60,000 troops are approaching Metz!”
“So, they’ve finally come.”
Grand Duke Leopold, having received the report from his Chief of Staff, Duke Heinrich, sighed softly and rose from his seat.
The Imperial Army had 50,000 troops.
It was a force scraped together from the stragglers of the last battle and the garrisons in the Lorraine Region, but the soldiers' morale was at rock bottom, and now the enemy's forces even outnumbered their own.
Grand Duke Leopold gazed at the order lying on his desk.
An order simply stating that the Imperial Diet was in session and under discussion, instructing them to defend the occupied territory and wait.
He hadn't expected the Empire to immediately negotiate for peace.
Naturally, the Empire would be in chaos, and peace negotiations would likely begin only after the chaos subsided and responsibility was assigned.He knew. He knew it.
Nevertheless, he desperately didn't want to accept the reality that his subordinates, with despair on their faces, had to take up arms and die fighting the Revolutionary Army.
A death for those who, far away, couldn't even fathom the war, blaming the Imperial Army's weakness and his incompetence in armchair debates.
“……Perhaps I should send an emissary?”
“Pardon?”
“What if we send an emissary to the Revolutionary Army and request a temporary ceasefire, stating that discussions for peace negotiations are already underway in our homeland?”
“B-But, Your Highness.”
At Duke Heinrich’s hesitant reaction, the Grand Duke raised a hand to cover his eyes.
In the first place, discussions were underway, not confirmed.
Unless the entire remaining Imperial Army evaporated now, the Empire still had the capacity to continue the war by mobilizing additional troops if it chose to.
The Grand Duke believed the war situation was already extremely unfavorable and that even mobilizing more troops now would lead to certain defeat, but those feudal lords in the rear, ignorant of the atmosphere on the front lines, would be fixated on sunk costs.
Therefore, Marquis Lafayette would not accept.
Even the Grand Duke himself couldn't be sure if the Empire would actually end the war, so how could the Marquis possibly believe it and halt the war?
Even if peace negotiations were decided upon after discussions, the terms would be determined by how cornered the Empire was at that point.
Whether they considered it a deception or genuine, the Revolutionary Army had no reason to relinquish the victory they had already grasped and wait.
“No, it’s nothing. I… seem to be tired.”
“Your Highness……”
The Grand Duke gave Duke Heinrich a bitter smile and stood up.
Could they win?
A force of 50,000 was by no means small.
The enemy had a precedent of admirably conducting a defensive war against them with an even greater disparity in numbers.
However, an army that was originally 50,000 strong could not be compared to an army that had dwindled from 110,000 to 50,000.
Most units were hastily consolidated due to heavy losses, mixing soldiers unfamiliar with each other, so there was no chance for a sense of belonging or organizational strength to develop.
Nevertheless, there was only one option.
The Grand Duke spoke softly.
“……Let us prepare to meet the enemy.”
Even if they could hardly expect victory.
Even if there was no meaning to the soldiers dying here, even if his honor, which had to bear the responsibility for defeat, fell to the ground.
Still, at the very least, the Imperial Army must not collapse so futilely as to shake the Empire itself.
For that, until peace negotiations were decided, the Grand Duke had to defend the territory occupied by the Empire, no matter the cost.
Only that was how Grand Duke Johann Leopold, who had dedicated his loyalty to the Empire and the Kaiser as a soldier, could prove his commitment.
*
Metz, Revolutionary Army garrison near the Imperial Army defense line.
I opened my mouth, observing the distant Imperial Army camp through a telescope.
“I don’t know if this will work.”
“Your Excellency Marquis Lafayette, do you really think something like that will work?”
Louis Desaix, somewhat anxious.
“Ahem, ahem. Since it’s something His Excellency Marquis Lafayette is doing, wouldn’t it naturally be effective?”
Damien De Millbeau, who says that, yet cannot erase the disbelief from his expression.
“Speaking as Chief of Staff, frankly, there is no precedent for attempting such a thing against the army of another nation. If it goes wrong and fails……”
Hearing the words of the still skeptical Chief of Staff Berthier, I chuckled, turned my head, and looked at Eris, who had been quiet.
“What does Your Majesty think?”
Of course, if it were Eris—
“Will it… work out?”
“……”
Even Eris herself sounds anxious.
This is rather anticlimactic.
“It was Your Majesty who claimed they could do the same as us if given the chance. Have you lost your romanticism already?”
You called me a petty, paranoid skeptic for denying it, didn't you?
If it weren’t for Eris, I would never have even conceived of such an idea.
To me, a soldier, enemy soldiers of another country are targets to be efficiently killed and destroyed; would I have ever thought to understand their situation as human beings and exploit their emotions?
“Th-That’s true.”
Eris looked a little sheepish, then clenched her fists and said,
“Good luck, Marquis. Please do your best to save everyone in both armies who would be sacrificed if a battle occurs.”
“As Your Majesty commands.”
I turned my gaze, met eyes with Desaix, Millbeau, and Berthier one by one, and spoke.
“Well then, I’ll trust you with the rest. I expect a proper response.”
Their expressions were still ambiguous, so I chuckled and added,
“Don’t look so worried. If it fails, I’ll just lose a bit of face, and then we’ll fight conventionally.”
“Understood, Your Excellency Marquis.”
“Leave it to me! I, Damien De Millbeau, will absolutely not disappoint Your Excellency Marquis!”
I chuckled, turned my back, spurred my horse, and rode towards the Imperial Army’s camp.
Of course, it’s not like I’m doing this solely for the romanticism Eris spoke of.
I’m trusting in the people Christine must have planted within that Imperial Army, which is so patchwork and assembled due to losses and prisoners of war that they can’t even properly manage their own troops.
Shall we call it calculated romanticism?
*
The Revolutionary Army was arrayed at some distance from the Imperial Army encamped in the Metz urban area.
A lone rider emerged from the Revolutionary Army.
“Hmm, an emissary?”
Grand Duke Leopold slowly raised his telescope and observed the person approaching.
“……Marquis Lafayette?”
With a battle clearly imminent, the enemy Commander-in-Chief was approaching alone on horseback.
Though the Marquis wasn’t holding a white flag, no one in the Imperial Army attempted to attack him.
Logically, he wouldn’t be approaching alone to commit a hostile act.
“Hmm, bring me a horse for now.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
Even the Grand Duke himself thought the Marquis had come as an emissary and was looking for a horse to respond.
The Marquis’s shout, as he approached the Imperial Army camp, resounded throughout the entire Imperial formation, imbued with mana.
[Pierre de Lafayette, Commander-in-Chief of the Francia Revolutionary Army, declares! Soldiers of the Germania Empire, listen!]
The eyes and ears of every Imperial soldier, tense on the defense line, facing the large Revolutionary Army force before the battle, instantly focused on Marquis Lafayette.
“What the……?”
While Grand Duke Leopold and Chief of Staff Duke Heinrich were dumbfounded, Marquis Lafayette’s words continued.
[As Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Army, I pay tribute to your courage and resolve, standing once again on the battlefield despite countless battles and sacrifices!
However, as one who stands on the same battlefield, as one who leads men who bleed just like you, I wish to ask you. Soldiers of the Imperial Army, for what are you fighting now?
As you fight, shedding blood and sweat, confronting the fear of death, have you ever once thought about the reason? Have you ever received an answer to that?
If not, are you not just fighting on the battlefield because the Empire, the feudal lords, your superiors, ordered you to?]
“No, what on earth is that man blabbering about……”
Duke Heinrich muttered, frowning.
However, the Grand Duke felt his every nerve standing on end.
“St-Stop him.”
“Pardon?”
The moment Duke Heinrich asked, puzzled by the desperate words, a scream-like cry burst from the Grand Duke’s lips.
“Stop him!”
[Once, we Francians were in the same position as you.
This is not the first war between Francia and the Empire.
And perhaps, it will not be the last.
The fathers and grandfathers of my soldiers here fought on the same battlefields as your fathers and grandfathers. Because their motherland commanded! Because their monarch commanded!
Just as you now stand on the battlefield, having overcome countless defeats and despair, your fathers, your grandfathers must have shed blood and fought, following the orders of their motherland.
But with that devotion, with that courage, what has changed? What has changed, soldiers of the Imperial Army!
Nothing! Nothing has changed.
You are still mere soldiers of the Empire, dragged into a war desired by a monarch, shedding blood and fighting!
Even if this war ends in your victory, or in defeat, nothing will change. Your sons, your grandsons will be dragged into wars they do not want and shed blood for their monarch.]
“H-How—”
“Tch……!”
Grand Duke Leopold immediately mounted the warhorse his adjutant brought, his elderly body sweating as he frantically rode.
That man was not merely his rival.
Nor was he just an enemy general.
[How long will this repeat?
Forever!
If you do nothing, if you merely obey as you have until now, the tears and blood you have shed will not even leave a single line of record in history!
Behold, soldiers of the Imperial Army.
Look at us, who once shared the same fate, the same circumstances as you.
Now, we do not fight for wars we do not want.
We stand here, with the freedom to decide our own destiny, yet united in heart and mind, regardless of status, to protect our revolution from the Empire’s invasion.
Both we and you know that I, your Commander-in-Chief, have led from the front, shedding blood and fighting, and that our Queen, Her Majesty, has stood not on a throne but beside her soldiers, protecting them with all her might.
But what about you?
While you shed blood and tears in this war, have you ever fought knowing, even for a moment, what you are fighting for?
The oppressor who drove you to this unwanted battlefield, who started this war for power and is scattering blood that need not have been shed, where is he now!]
The Grand Duke, having galloped furiously, dismounted as soon as he reached the artillery position, panting for breath.
“Y-Your Highness!”
“Fire immediately!”
“Ye-Yes?”
“At Marquis Lafayette, fire at that man!”
[As Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Army, I cannot help but feel pity for your circumstances. For what is this courage, for what is this devotion?
If any among you were captured by us as prisoners of war, do you know why we treated you generously? It is because we know that we too were once no different from you.
It is because we know well that you are not our enemy, that our enemy is merely the master of that Empire who drove you to the battlefield and reigns over you.
We are not your enemies! Our enemies are the oppressors of the Empire who started this war, and they are also your true enemies!
Face it! Your true enemy—]
The moment Marquis Lafayette fired his gun, captivating the attention of all Imperial soldiers within rifle range, a series of cannon roars erupted.
As the Marquis’s words paused, several cannonballs, soaring with a deafening sound, flew towards him.
An act close to a desperate struggle, devoid of honor, of respect as a nobleman.
However, just before the cannonballs reached the Marquis.
Before him, a golden barrier unfolded, one that all in the Imperial Army would never forget.
Everyone here witnessed the cannonballs crash against the barrier with a deafening roar, then fall helplessly to the ground.
Amidst the general silence, the Marquis’s unstoppable cry echoed once more.
[Behold, soldiers of the Imperial Army!
You who, like us, should be free and equal, yet are denied any rights whatsoever!
The oppressors of the Empire fear your eyes and ears opening more than they fear you shedding blood meaninglessly in battle!
They want your sons, your grandsons, to suffer the same fate as you, your fathers, and your grandfathers did!
Will you submit to that miserable fate?
Behold, our revolution!
This is the first freedom, equality, and fraternity gained by the people!
If you do not wish to repeat the fate you have experienced, the only path lies here!
This is the first and last chance not to pass on to your descendants the shackles your ancestors could not remove!
Obey no more!
Stop the meaningless sacrifices, the meaningless fight!
Only resist!
For your freedom!
Rise and seize it with your own hands!
Your equality!
Join us!
And we shall embrace you with fraternity!]
The Marquis’s cry, laden with mana, resonated as if to engulf the entire Metz region, and Marquis Lafayette drew his sword and raised it high.
“Waaaaah-!”
Even as the Revolutionary Army charged in unison, as if responding to him, only silence flowed through the Imperial Army’s camp.
And, at that moment.
“Uh, uhhh!”
“H-Hold your positions!”
Among the Imperial soldiers, some threw down their guns, raised their hands, and ran towards the Revolutionary Army.
Only a few.
A surrender initiated by Christine’s spies, disguised as Imperial soldiers from the start.
However, it took less than a few minutes for the Imperial soldiers who saw this to sequentially throw down their weapons and run towards the Revolutionary Army.
From the lips of Grand Duke Leopold, who watched the scene with a dumbfounded face, a sigh filled with despair escaped.
“Was that man… the ruin of the Empire?”