Chapter 13: War Council
Zanack Dugall Xavos gazed at his mirror while he adjusted his rank insignia on his uniform before straightening his collar and checking that his uniform was clean.
Although it was expected for a member of the Violet Army to have perfect uniform, Zanack especially took care to make sure that his appearance was perfect.
It was because Zanack was currently one of the five brigadiers of the Violet Army. The third highest rank within the army's hierarchy and of course, Zanack was very proud of this fact.
Zanack was the brigadier in charge of the 3rd Violet Battalion which composed of the 5th and 6th army regiments.
This puts Zanack in command of 1000 Dunnwal soldiers by proxy.
1000 of the best soldiers the world has every seen.
Although none of these soldiers could ever hope to match up to the trained men-at-arms or mercenaries of any other army in a one on one duel, this minor detail does not matter considering the overall fighting strength of the Violet Army.
Their strength lies in their combined will, efficiency and discipline.
The individual strength of Dunnwal soldiers does not matter as much as the overwhelming combined power they can display when they fought together as one.
It would be better to think of the Dunnwal soldiers as cogs within a machine.
This machine would be an infantry regiment.
And while the individual Dunnwal soldier may not compare to a regular man-at-arms, in reality this doesn't matter when hundreds of Dunnwal soldiers formed up to create a single 'machine.'
Like a machine, the soldiers of a Dunnwal regiment move as one and they act as one. They will not hesitate to carry out orders and are easily able to maximise the output of their firearms.
Even their basic conduct is comparable to that of a machine.
This all goes back to the drilling that the soldiers have been put through.
In essence, all that drilling is, is the repetition of the same set of actions over and over until it is literally 'drilled' into their mind.
As such, the reason why they could quickly, efficently and seamlessly change formation, perform tasks in unison or reload and fire their weapons in a volley was because they have literally done nothing but those things, 11 hours a day, 6 days a week for the past three months.
The result was this unstoppable 'machine' that no other army could ever hope to contend with, at least not with equal numbers anyway.
But what is a machine without an operator?
And the operators of these machines were the colonels of the army. Trained to access the 'small picture' and command their respective regiments as the situation demands it, the colonels were the lowest rung of the violet army's command structure. Colonels were only concerned with the completion of whatever objective they were given and the survival of their regiment.
The rank above the colonels would be Zanack's rank, the brigadiers.
While brigadiers and colonels hailed from the same set of vassal families and were educated the same, their actual capabilities and authority within the army couldn't be any farther apart.
Entrusted with the overall flow of the battle, the brigadiers consist of those nobles who particularly distinguished themselves as very capable during their examination tests.
With a good mind for battle, the brigadiers can be considered to be the most talented young nobles that hail from Dunnwal territories, excluding the lieutenants and the Dunnwals themselves of course.
While the colonels are in charge of their own respective regiments, they are still subordinate to the brigadiers of their respective Battalions. This means that a brigadier is allowed to supersede the command of any colonel, if they believed that the respective colonel's actions are against the interests of the army.
As such, there was no way Zanack would allow his pride as a brigadier to be tarnished by being sloppy with his appearance.
After he finished ensuring that his appearance is perfect, Zanack moved to enter the largest tent within the encampment.
"Brigadier Xavos! Sir!"
The two soldiers guarding the tent's doors immediately saluted as Zanack approached them. The first thing Zanack did was silently nod at them, telling them to be at ease.
After the soldiers returned to their neutral stance, the one to the left opened the tent's doors, allowing Zanack entrance.
The first sound that Zanack heard was the other brigadiers arguing amongst each other on how to deal with the Panish threat.
"Our best course of action is to retreat to Maximinus and fortify the city walls!"
"And spend the next couple of months slowly starving to death?! Are you mad! We should set out and ambush the Paniards while they are still unaware of our army!"
Zanack silently moved across the tent and took his seat at the table. After taking his seat, Zanack glanced around the table.
The one at the head of the table was the leader of this army; Maxwell Galnus Dunnwal. Standing by his side was his first lieutenant; the grey-haired and blue-eyed Erika Bismark Pollorov. Maxwell seemed completely uninterested in the brigadiers debates as he drunk wine from his glass while Erika stood silently by his side with her back straight.
The ones occupying the seats closest to Maxwell were his siblings, Keizwell Garno Dunnwal and Sicilia Gella Dunnwal. Keizwell was eating what looked to be a gourmet steak while Sicilia was applying makeup on her face.
The one thing that the four had in common was that they all appeared to be surprisingly calm and content despite the seemingly dire situation.
The reason why was obvious. For some reason, they were confident of their chances of coming out of this situation unscathed.
All the while, the other brigadiers seemed to have gotten too caught up in their argument on how to deal with the Paniards that they didn't even notice the calm composure of the Dunnwals and Erika. With this in mind, Zanack could not help muttering quietly to himself.
"Good grief... and these men were supposed to be the best of the best... and here they are... arguing like a bunch of children."
While all of this was happening, the sounds of the soldiers continuing their drilling exercises outside continued to linger in the background.
It only took Zanack a couple minutes to figure out the standings between the brigadiers. There were two factions, the faction that composed of those who wanted to ambush the Paniards while they were still marching and a faction that composed of those who believed that it was best to retreat to Maximunus and fortify for a siege.
The only question left was which of the two options would Maxwell go with.
As the debates continued on, Zanack began to question if Maxwell was even going to reveal his plans. Soon enough, Zanack's question was answered.
"The walls of Maximinus is our best chance of survi-"
Bang!
The sound of a gunshot within the tent rang through everyone's ears. As everyone recovered from the shock, they turned their attention to the source of the sound.
There they saw Erika silently pointing her pistol musket at the ceiling, smoke emanating out of it. Judging from how the tent's roof remained competely unharmed, Erika probably fired a blank shot. She used her magic to simulate a gunshot while no actual bullet was loaded into the chamber.
"Thank you dearie."
Zanack saw Erika silently nod at Maxwell before she loaded her musket and returned it to her inner pocket. Although it was very subtle and seemingly unimportant, Zanack noticed something off about her musket, more particularly the way she loaded it.
[So that's the rumored breechloading musket?] Zanack noted the ease of how she loaded the bullet into the pistol by inserting the bullet at the back of the barrel after opening a small hatch instead of pushing the bullet into the barrel from the front with a ramrod.
However, as of right now, these trivial facts did not matter. Zanack cleared his mind of these thoughts as he returned his attention to Maxwell.
Once everyone's attention was directed at the head of the table, Maxwell finally spoke up.
"I have listened and considered the options that you lot have suggested..."
Maxwell paused for a short moment to take a small sip of his wine before he continued.
"And I will choose none of them."
As a look of confusion grew on the officers, Zanack was surprised to see that he was the only brigadier to keep his composed expression. [No that's not right? There's no way that these idiots are so narrow minded that they didn't foresee another outcome? Has the stress of the Panish threat gotten to them?]
Soon after the brigadier of the 2nd Battalion; Stukov Berkatoff spoke up.
"But these are our only two opt-"
"No. Those are the only two options available for a medieval army."
Maxwell took another small sip of his wine after interrupting Stukov.
"It appears that the notions of the old form of warfare are still ingrained in your minds."
With a look of slight disappointment, Maxwell turned his head to glance at all the brigadiers in the room as he said this, before stopping at Zanack.
"Everyone except you."
Zanack realised how everyone's attention has turned to him once Maxwell said this. Even Sicilia paused to glance at Zanack for a moment before casting her gaze away to continue applying makeup on her face. However, she would still periodically glance at him out of the corner of her eyes.
It was only really Keizwell who didn't really take notice to Zanack, instead continuing to cut pieces of his steak with his knife before stuffing it into his mouth with his fork. When one thought about, that was understandable.
Keizwell was only really concerned with the management of the armies' funding and supplies. He doesn't care about the exact details because he doesn't need to know. As long as his head remains attached to his body, he is fine with leaving these aspects to the professionals.
After a brief moment of silence, Maxwell continued.
"Brigadier Xavos... Or would you prefer for me to call you Zanack?"
In response to Maxwell's casual question, Zanack responded respectfully.
"You may called me whatever you wish my lord."
Maxwell kept his nonchalant tone when he continued questioning Zanack.
"And 'Zanack...' What do you think we should do?"
Zanack cleared his throat before he gave his suggestion.
"I believe that it is best that we reposition ourselves at the Vlate plains, 40km west of the city of Maximinus near the Dunnwal highway."
Zanack saw the other brigadiers show mixed feelings on their face. Even Sicilia was not exempt from this. It was only really Maxwell, Erika and weirdly Keizwell who were unsurprised by this chain of events. Soon enough Maxwell responded with relief in his voice.
"Finally... someone who knows the strength of my army."
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