The Rural Officer Who Was Once a General

Part 1, Chapter 21

“Hm, so they’ve finally arrived….”

Fade frowned as he watched the fireworks light up the sky.

He was certain that the one leading the army this time was Rakula.

There was no way she’d send Turg with his arm cut off, and send inexperienced centurions or someone from another unit? Nonsense.

The only viable option was for Rakula to come herself.

“There’s nothing we can do just yet.”

To fight properly, two things were necessary:

Analysis and communication.

Knowing where and how many enemies were pouring in, and being able to move friendly forces with ease—those were absolute prerequisites for battle.

But both of those tasks were handled by the rangers, so there was nothing Fade could do at the moment.

“Centurion!”

Before long, a ranger came galloping in on horseback.

“You’re here.”

Fade narrowed his eyes.

Recalling the prearranged operation, Fade gave orders to the soldiers.

“Arm yourselves! Hey, Karun! Get the men into heavy armor!”

“Yes, sir!”

As Karun ran around the camp shouting, the soldiers began putting on heavy armor one by one.

“You look worn out. Bring some water.”

Fade approached the ranger with a few soldiers in tow.

A lightly armored soldier hurriedly brought a bucket of water, which the Ranger gulped down to catch his breath.

“What about the mid-point contact?”

“They left at the same time, so they should’ve reached position by now.”

“I see. What’s the status of Team 2?”

“If there are any survivors, they’ll send a signal within the day. If not, it’ll take two days at most.”

“Who was the team leader today?”

“Hughes.”

“Tsk.”

Fade clicked his tongue.

‘That’s dangerous.’

In his estimation, there were at least thousands of enemy soldiers.

Even Blathyun would have a hard time holding out.

He might even be dead, or barely alive.

Team 2 had to charge in, rescue any survivors, and relay the information.

Identifying the enemy’s type and strength was simple.

It could be conveyed through the type and number of signal kites they’d agreed upon in advance.

All they had to do was release the kite.

Of course, there was a risk of having their position discovered, but their feet moved faster than the time it took for a kite to reach visible height, so that wasn’t a real concern.

But relying on a single horse to approach the Khanate army and then escape—that was a whole different level of difficulty.

The horse would tire, the terrain was forested, and thousands of enemy troops would be chasing them.

On top of that, their opponents were from the Khanate—proud of their cavalry and mounted archers. How hard would it be to escape on horseback against that kind of force?

'Good grief, I was thinking useless thoughts.'

Hughes or whoever—it didn’t matter. All the rangers were part of Fade’s hundred-man unit.

They were all his soldiers, and it was Fade who had made the decision to give them that near-impossible task.

Rather than worry about those already deployed, his concern had to be on those who would be sent next.

No one understood better than Fade how the weight of human life in battle became infinitely low once deployed.

“Stand by, and report immediately if you receive any signal. Also, be ready to contact the senior as well.”

“Yes, sir!”

Fade turned around.

Inside the fort—surprisingly large for something built in under a month—soldiers stood in formation, brimming with fighting spirit.

Fade stared at them coldly.

‘Fifteen cavalry, forty infantry.’

That was the full strength of this fort.

Ted and Karun had also been promoted to sub-officer roles, but Ted could barely ride a horse, and Karun wasn’t in condition for mounted combat either.

Niss, fifteen infantry, and the rest of the original Aide soldiers had all been stationed at the main camp to handle supplies and protect civilians. The archers, who had arrived much later than the others, had been moved to the second fort.

Even if Senior Tryaev’s line broke, the enemy had to be held off at the second fort. For that, archers capable of fully utilizing the high ground were essential.

As a result, they were short on troops.

Despite already being severely outnumbered, they’d divided their forces, so this was an unavoidable outcome.

“Huh, maybe I should’ve asked for more men.”

Fade gave a bitter smile.

He’d met with Pippin a few times since their first encounter, but had never requested reinforcements.

That man was desperate to gain something politically by helping Fade.

No way he could casually ask for more soldiers on top of that.

Besides, a few more soldiers here wouldn’t change much anyway.

If he deployed too many troops, command might be taken away from him under military regulations.

‘I can win with this force anyway.’

Thinking that, Fade moved toward the table where the military map was spread out.

A map of the forest, its corners held down with thick books, lay on the table—notes and markers were scattered across its surface

The markers were mostly shaped like chess pieces—infantry as pawns, cavalry as knights.

Some half-hearted ones were just flag-shaped, a style he used back when he was Terbior.

Seriously, they even carved these things just to make military pieces?

Tsk, these youngsters...

Of course, even those ‘carvings’ were minimal—cavalry with a curved shape, infantry straight—just enough to distinguish types, but still, it felt like a waste of effort.

So how were troop types identified before?

Come on, people used to just memorize them.

Tch, pathetic.

Clicking his tongue inwardly, Fade moved toward the box containing the markers.

Inside were loads of both chess-style and flag-style pieces. Fade grabbed a handful of flag pieces, and a few chess-style ones as well.

No need to conserve what’s already there, right?

If someone went through the trouble of making them, the proper thing was to use them until they wore out.

Thinking that, Fade dragged a small table over next to the one with the map and placed the markers on it.

Then, moving a few pieces onto the map, he began simulating the upcoming operation.

Tap.

The first piece he moved was a green flag-shaped marker.

It represented Rakula’s army. Since he didn’t have specific info on their composition or strength, he used a flag.

The color?

Well, they were from the steppe, so green made sense.

Fade pictured the color of the Khanate steppe as light green, but had to settle for regular green.

He placed the marker at the swamp on the map.

“They’ve crossed. And destroyed the watchtower.”

Unless a god had descended into Blathyun and he’d singlehandedly swept through thousands of enemies like a storm, this was a given.

Ted gave Fade a look like he was watching a madman muttering to himself, but Karun’s fist quickly put an end to that look.

“We’re fighting soon. Don’t waste your strength.”

With that warning, Fade continued his simulated deployment.

“What’s the next move here?”

After narrowing things down, he figured there were about three possible routes.

West, center, and east.

To the west was a range of low mountains.

It was a short mountain chain, with everything from hills to average-sized mountains, though nothing qualified as highlands.

Locals called it a mountain range, but to someone like Fade, who had once marched across entire continents, they were nothing more than petty hills.

At most, a few mountains and hills strung together.

Between them were canyons and valleys—wide enough for an army to pass through.

If they advanced from the west, they’d probably go through there.

But that meant slower movement, and cavalry would be less effective.

No one but a fool would choose the harder path when easier ones were available.

Well, even if Rakula did choose that path for some reason, he had already prepared countermeasures, so it wasn’t a problem.

The next option was the center of the forest.

A dense, typical woodland area—and the route Fade himself would take if he were attacking.

Which meant what?

Every single step was a trap.

Over 80% of all the traps set in this forest were focused on the central path.

If they charged in head-on, he was confident he could take at least 300 lives before they even encountered his soldiers.

If he really felt like it, he could wipe them all out.

A month’s worth of trap-laying shouldn’t be underestimated.

But Rakula wasn’t a fool.

She would scout ahead, and if so, she wouldn't recklessly choose the central path.

Though maybe she’d see through that expectation and intentionally charge straight in, taking the traps head-on—that’s why the third watchtower had been built.

If they walked right into that area, they could be taken out easily.

But as he’d said earlier, Rakula would surely abandon the central route.

No reason to choose the worst option and throw away her numerical advantage.

The last route was the east—the only open space in the whole forest.

Nicknamed ‘the hole in the forest.’

It was a low-lying area with strong winds, making it a poor location to build a fort, but it was optimal for an advance.

Rakula had likely brought plenty of assassins, so she’d be well aware of that spot.

“Then she’ll come from the east.”

It was the most favorable place for the Khanate’s pride—the cavalry—to operate.

If they tried to block her, they’d fight it out in the ‘hole,’ and if they didn’t, she’d push right through and break out of the forest.

Fade moved the green flag-shaped piece representing Rakula’s forces to the hole in the forest.

There was no stopping them before that point—entering the hole was a given.

“Shooting arrows from within the forest? Not likely.”

With such a huge numerical disadvantage, bringing all the archers to face them head-on?

Nonsense. That’d just get them all killed.

If they were to use them for guerrilla tactics once the enemy entered the woods, maybe—but shooting from the forest edge would be a one-off ambush at best.

Besides, didn’t they say the enemy didn’t have archers?

Fade let out a sigh and dropped the piece in his hand.

The enemy would soon make their move, and from this point on, the real battle would begin.

As the saying goes, every war starts with the textbook approach and ends with the unorthodox.

Even a commander fond of gambles and strategies usually began with standard tactics.

But this situation was well beyond ‘usual.’

At least ten times their numbers—probably more.

And it was the Khanate, so all veterans, with plenty of mounted archers among them.

So Fade had no choice but to introduce a twist from the very start.

“Centurion! News! Captain Blatun is presumed dead! One survivor! Enemy count around 3,000—1,000 cavalry, 200 archers, and many of those cavalry are mounted archers!”

A ranger burst in and spilled the intel in one breath.

The fact all this came via signal kites was impressive in itself.

“Is that so? Then send word to Senior Traieff immediately.”

Since they couldn’t risk exposing the location of the first fort, he needed to order the middle point to launch a signal from elsewhere.

“Tell him to advance as planned.”

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*Kites - In historical or military contexts, especially in East Asia—such as Korea, China, or parts of Japan—kites were occasionally used as signal devices on the battlefield or for relaying information over long distances.