“Then let’s move immediately.”
“That would be best. What more can that trench line be now than a grave?”
“I agree.”
Once the generals made their decision, action followed swiftly.
Bwoooo~ Baaaaa~. Flutter! Flutter!
Trumpets blared loudly from the barbican above the city gate, and signal flags fluttered. At the commotion, the gazes of the soldiers and officers in the trenches turned to their rear.
“It’s the signal to retreat!”
“Retreat!”
“We’re retreating!”
“We’re saved!”
The moment they heard the word ‘retreat,’ the faces of the soldiers remaining in the trench line brightened. Watching the enemy approach, ignoring their cannons and hwachas, they had been expecting death. The soldiers slung their long guns over their shoulders and hastily scrambled up the trench walls.
“Halt!”
“Maintain order!”
“We are withdrawing, not fleeing!”
“Uphold the pride of the French army!”
The officers commanding the soldiers in the trench line desperately tried to calm their men and conduct an orderly withdrawal.
If this turns into a rout, it will be impossible to control the soldiers!
If we don’t rally their morale here, it will be difficult to raise it ever again!
Even in retreat, we must maintain discipline and morale!
With that judgment, the officers went so far as to punch the soldiers in the face to try and force an orderly retreat. And whether that attempt worked or not, the soldiers came to their senses and began to withdraw while maintaining order.
***
“Hoh~. That’s unexpected.”
Lee Si-ae, who had climbed a watchtower erected on the front line to survey the situation, was genuinely impressed. “To maintain order even while routing. That’s quite something.”
The staff officers, nodding at Lee Si-ae’s favorable assessment, added their own thoughts.
“It might be possible because there was no battle other than the artillery duel.”
“That’s right. They might be thinking to themselves, ‘We are withdrawing because the situation is unfavorable, not because we were defeated.’”
Lee Si-ae nodded at his staff’s words. Military textbooks also made a clear distinction between a retreat and a rout.
- —To withdraw after quickly and accurately judging the terrain of the battlefield and the advantages and disadvantages of the combat situation is a retreat. To be pushed back after suffering great losses due to a misjudgment is a rout.
- —A retreat allows one to aim for the next opportunity, but with a rout, it is difficult to seize the next opportunity at all.
Some military texts went even further, distinguishing between a tactical ‘withdrawal’ (hutoe) and a strategic ‘retrograde’ (hujin). In any case, it was certain that soldiers who could retreat with such discipline would be formidable opponents in the next battle.
Lee Si-ae put the telescope to his eye, surveyed the situation, and continued to let out sounds of admiration. “Hoh! This battle is certainly a series of surprises. Men who were busy chasing women’s skirts are suddenly volunteering to stand at the vanguard. And European commanders, who I thought only got their positions through the power of their noble families, are judging the situation with surprising speed and making appropriate decisions. Ha!”
His staff officers nodded at Lee Si-ae’s words, unable to tell if his admiration was genuine or sarcastic.
***
In the Battle of Milan, which took place before this battle for Pavia, the behavior of the Florentine army had been truly pathetic. Since the Imperial artillery had handled the battle from start to finish, the infantry had almost nothing to do. Nevertheless, when the allied Imperial army entered the surrendered city of Milan, the behavior displayed by the Florentine army was a spectacle to behold.
They strutted through the city streets with their shoulders squared back, throwing flirtatious glances at every woman they saw, regardless of age. The Imperial and Swiss armies couldn’t hide their pathetic expressions at the sight of the Florentine army.
“Anyone would think they were battle-hardened veterans…”
The funny thing was that despite all their strutting, the results were lackluster. The citizens of Milan, mainly the women, knew full well who the real protagonists of this war were. Thanks to this, even the courtesans in the taverns treated the Imperial and Swiss soldiers better than the Florentines.
Because of this continued experience, the Florentine army had ‘voluntarily,’ ‘on their own initiative,’ volunteered to stand at the vanguard in this battle.
Lee Si-ae, who learned of the circumstances after accepting their request, had shaken his head. “I feel this once again, but these Italians…”
Meanwhile, the surprising turn shown by the French army was one of the butterfly effects of Hyang’s intervention.
The end of the Hundred Years’ War.
Charles VII, having acquired Imperial weapons through Cosimo de’ Medici, had used these weapons to further strengthen the King’s army, the Compagnies d’ordonnance. His successor, Louis XI, had done the same. It was Louis XI who had used the capital acquired through the Suez to increase the size of the Compagnies d’ordonnance and refine the system into a perfect standing army.
Because this army was forged as the ‘King’s Sword’ to check and overwhelm the power of the nobles, most of its commanders were not from traditional noble families, but were men who had risen from the bottom through actual combat.
As time passed and the commanders from the Hundred Years’ War and the Suez War retired, and as the Compagnies d’ordonnance changed into the ‘French Army,’ the commanders had slowly begun to take on a noble air. However, because their starting point was different, the army was commanded by officers with a ‘realistic and flexible’ mindset, instead of an ‘aristocratic and rigid’ one.
Above all, the biggest reason was that while its name was the ‘French Army,’ it was not the ‘army of France,’ but the ‘army of the King of France.’ No matter how much of a noble air it took on, it could not be aristocratic, or rather, it could not become the possession of the aristocracy.
***
“Hmm… that’s enough admiration. A message to the following Florentine army. ‘Surpass the Assault Troops and enter the fortress of Pavia.’”
“You are going to give the Florentines the honor of being the first to enter the fortress?”
At his staff officer’s question about his intentions, Lee Si-ae grinned and answered, “That’s the plan. They volunteered for the vanguard, so we should at least concede that much.”
“But you already yielded to them in Milan.”
“This is the realm of politics. Small changes like Milan and Pavia can just be given away. If it were Rome, it would be a different story…”
“Even so…”
Seeing the expressions of his staff officers, who understood on one hand but couldn’t hide their disappointment on the other, Lee Si-ae added, “As I said, this is the realm of politics. And it is an order given by His Majesty the Emperor Emeritus.”
“I will call a messenger.”
The moment Hyang was mentioned, the staff officers began to relay Lee Si-ae’s orders without another word. Watching them, Lee Si-ae muttered under his breath, “Like a bolt of lightning…”
***
“An order from the Commander-in-Chief!”
“Give it to me!”
The commander of the Florentine army read the order brought by the messenger and turned to his staff officers with a bright face. “It’s the order to charge! ‘The Florentine army will surpass the Assault Troops and charge into the fortress of Pavia!’”
“Waaaah!”
“Yes!”
The staff officers clenched their fists and cheered at their commander’s words.
“Send a messenger to the front at once! Tell them to charge!”
“Yes, sir!”
The commander, having given the order to his staff, re-buckled the belt he had loosened and called for his adjutant. “Bring me my sword! And prepare my horse!”
“Yes, sir!”
A moment later, the commander of the Florentine army, a magnificently decorated military sword at his waist, mounted the white horse that had been brought and shouted, “We are going to the front as well!”
“Yes, sir!”
Following their commander, the staff officers and other officers of the command headquarters mounted their horses and began to gallop toward the front.
“The nickname ‘Parade Ground Army’ ends today!” someone in the group shouted, and everyone around him nodded in agreement.
***
“‘Halt’?”
“Yes, sir. That is correct.”
The commander of the Assault Troops, commanding his unit from the second echelon of assault vehicles, frowned slightly. But he soon relaxed his expression and nodded. “The order is sooner than expected, but I understand. Adjutant, relay the order! Occupy the trench line, then halt!”
“Yes, sir!”
A moment later, flags fluttered and signal lamps flashed from the signal towers erected on all four sides of the command assault vehicle’s cargo compartment. The officers, who were standing next to the signalmen confirming that the order was being received correctly, commanded the signalmen.
“There’s no reply confirming receipt over there. Send it again.”
“Yes, sir.”
Watching the soldiers vigorously waving the flags and operating the signal lamps again, the officers shook their heads and grumbled.
“It’s more convenient than messengers, mounted couriers, or carrier pigeons, but it’s still inconvenient. Isn’t there a more reliable method?”
They were words that, had the soldiers of any other country heard them, they would have been cursed at for ‘complaining with a full stomach,’ but these officers said them casually, and the soldiers next to them nodded as if it were a matter of course.
***
The Assault Troops, having captured the French trench line, halted in place and went on the defensive. The Type A assault vehicles, which had stopped in the direction of the Imperial side of the French trench line, all raised their muzzles and aimed at the walls of the Pavia fortress. The Type B assault vehicles, carrying the Assault Troop soldiers, crossed the trench line and then stopped.
While the byeongsik hwachas mounted on the Type B cargo compartments aimed at the walls of the Pavia fortress, the two rear doors on both sides of the cargo compartments opened.
“Get in the trench!”
“Disembark!”
“Disembark!”
The Assault Troop soldiers, coming down the stairs connected to the rear doors, ran as if flying and jumped into the trench.
“Aigoo! Medic!”
Of course, in the process, some soldiers twisted their ankles and called for medics. And those soldiers received rebukes from their surrounding comrades.
“Nice job, you are~.”
Amidst such minor farces, the Assault Troop soldiers who entered the trench aimed their muzzles at the collapsed walls of the Pavia fortress. Seeing that all the walls except the one facing the Ticino River had collapsed into piles of rubble, but that the gate and the barbican above it were perfectly intact, the Assault Troop soldiers muttered to themselves.
“They say the scariest bastards in the Imperial army are the artillerymen…”
“Hee-ya, look at how they left just the gate.”
“But why did they leave the gate?”
“It’s easier to go through a gate than to climb over a wall.”
“And how do you open the gate?”
“Are the cannons on the assault vehicles just for decoration?”
“Ah…”
While they were engaged in such idle chatter, the loud sound of trumpets and drums came from behind them.
Pa-pa-pa-pa-bam! Dum-dum-dum-dum!
Watching the Florentine army’s military band, blowing trumpets and beating large and small drums as they ran, the Assault Troop soldiers all muttered the same thing.
“Don’t those guys ever get out of breath?”
A moment later, the Florentine army, led by their military band, surpassed the Assault Troops and charged toward the Pavia fortress. While the military band, which had stopped in front of the walls, played their military music even more fervently, the Florentine soldiers began to climb over the collapsed walls.
Not long after the Florentine soldiers crossed the walls, the faint sound of gunfire began to erupt from inside the city. As the sound of gunfire began, the Assault Troop soldiers, who had been relaxed until just a moment ago, began to tense up again.
Amidst the soldiers staring at the fortress with tense faces, a middle-aged Enforcement Officer muttered to himself, “Those lechers… of all the things they could have chosen, they had to choose urban warfare?”
“Sir? Is urban warfare that difficult?”
“It is.”
At the question of a new recruit, who still had a youthful air about him, the Enforcement Officer answered resolutely.
“Why is that, sir?”
Seeing that not only the new recruit who was asking the question but also the surrounding soldiers were all pricking up their ears, the Enforcement Officer continued. “A long time ago, when I had just become a squad leader, I participated in the conquest of the New Frontier. At that time, I experienced the battle to capture the capital of the Mexica, and it was absolute hell.”
Recalling that time, the Enforcement Officer shuddered lightly. “The trouble we had against men armed with nothing but stone swords and stone spears… The scariest thing in urban warfare is not the enemy’s weapons. It’s the buildings and streets that make up the city.”
“Ah…”