Chapter 625

After hours of discussion and deliberation with his staff, Ludwig managed to refine my half-baked troop transport plan into something “feasible.”

The plan involved using carriages—no, more like wheeled planks—stripped down to the bare minimum, carrying unarmed infantry to various points along the barrier.

Using disarmed soldiers for defensive warfare? Sounds insane, right? I thought so too.

“How are they supposed to fight without armor or weapons? Throw rocks?”

It was a natural question.

“No need to worry about that. Each point along the barrier has supplies and equipment stockpiled for emergencies. Once they arrive, they can rearm themselves with the gear stored there.”

Of course, as always, Ludwig had it all figured out.

According to Ludwig, the dozen or so fortresses and twenty barracks scattered along the barrier were stocked with emergency supplies and military equipment.

Originally, these were reserves in case supply lines were cut. Thanks to Landenburg’s thorough preparation, a major hurdle had been cleared.

—

It took a considerable amount of time to put the refined plan into action.

First, the Imperial Army, under Ludwig’s orders, mobilized every piece of wood they could find to create makeshift transport carriages.

The troops to be deployed along the barrier numbered 14,000, including both infantry and archers.

To transport this massive number, they had to requisition every carriage in Landenburg and cut down every available tree.

The resulting “human carts” looked anything but safe or comfortable—more like the distance between a divorced couple in a headwind.

“…Is it really safe to ride this?”

“As long as you don’t roll off, it should be fine… probably.”

The Imperial infantry, faced with the sight of these carts, muttered with a mix of skepticism and unease.

A natural reaction, really.

A flat wooden plank with an axle and wheels, covered with a single sheet of leather, didn’t exactly inspire confidence. There were no walls or roofs for weight reduction, and the suspension was laughably crude.

To prevent soldiers from being flung out, they even had to tie them down with ropes. The ride quality was probably on par with a slave ship.

Well, field equipment is always like that, right?

Anyway, thus was born the Imperial Army’s first mechanized infantry.

If you call this mechanized infantry, a historian could bash my head in with a stack of papers and get away with it… but hey, a carriage is technically a vehicle, right?

—

“Ka`har’s goal is to find weak points in our defenses and break through with multiple Thousand-Man Units. To stop them, we need to deceive their eyes and ears.”

After completing the transport preparations, Ludwig gathered the commanders of the defensive forces heading to various points along the barrier and gave them a few instructions.

– When you have few troops, make noise; when you have many, stay silent.

– During the day, raise as many flags as possible; at night, light as many torches as possible.

– Each time new troops arrive, reduce the number of flags and torches.

– After three battles, do the opposite of all the above.

These were all deception tactics to mislead the enemy about the size of the defensive forces.

From Ka`har’s perspective, they could only gauge the size of the defending forces by the number of flags, the noise of the soldiers, and the number of torches on the barrier.

So, the plan was to make a small force appear large and a large force appear small, tricking the enemy into attacking the most heavily defended areas.

[Indeed. Most warriors are short-sighted, reckless, and foolish. It shouldn’t be too hard to deceive them.]

Hersela also seemed to approve of Ludwig’s deception tactics. Or rather, she was underestimating the average intelligence of Ka`har’s warriors.

‘That’s a harsh assessment. Aren’t you a Ka`har warrior yourself?’

[Do not equate me with those fools who can’t even write their own names. If anyone else had said that, I would have taken it as an insult and cut them down.]

So, don’t lump her in with them.

What a complicated personality. She despises and looks down on most of Ka`har’s warriors, including Or-han, yet takes pride in her own heritage as a descendant of Ai-shan Gi-or and a Ka`har warrior.

‘Right, right. The descendant of the Grand Sorcerer “Heavenly Demon” and the earthly incarnation of the Heavenly Wolf couldn’t possibly be on the same level as those idiots. My bad.’

[Ugh…!]

Perhaps my joke reminded her of her embarrassing teenage years. Hersela let out a strange groan and clenched her mouth shut.

—

=====[Barrier Front]=====

After the troop transport carriages set off for various points along the barrier, the Imperial Army and Ai-shan engaged in sporadic skirmishes, dragging out a meaningless war of attrition.

Even with the transport carriages, it was impossible to match the speed of Ka`har’s cavalry, so the Imperial Army was always on the defensive… but thankfully, they weren’t completely overwhelmed.

Whenever the barrier was at risk of being breached, reinforcements arrived just in time to bolster the defenses.

It was like a game of chess. Reading the enemy’s tactics and countering them, constantly moving frontline troops to engage in small-scale battles.

Somewhere along the barrier, Ka`har warriors quietly climbing the walls were met with a hail of arrows from hidden defenders, falling with curses.

Elsewhere, warriors who managed to climb up were overwhelmed by endless waves of reinforcements and forced to retreat.

Daily clashes involving thousands of troops. In the end, both Ka`har and the Empire were just piling up bodies without any significant gains.

Ka`har couldn’t breach the barrier, and the Imperial Army couldn’t annihilate Ka`har, so they were stuck enduring continuous attacks.

For Ka`har’s warriors, climbing the barrier without proper ladders was no easy task.

Even a Paladin could leap up to the top of the barrier in a few jumps, but if they were hit mid-air, they risked being flung off and falling dozens of meters.

That’s why Or-han ordered his warriors to focus their attacks on the weaker sections.

However, deceived by Ludwig’s tactics, the warriors often attacked areas heavily defended by elite troops.

“Now! For Landenburg!”

“Dammit, another trap!”

Each time, their forces were significantly depleted.

—

Thanks to Ha-shal-leur’s proposed troop transport carriages—dubbed “hipbone crushers” by their passengers—Ludwig’s deception tactics, and the bravery of the knights, the Imperial Army managed to hold off Ka`har’s attacks.

Of course, it was far from a perfect defense.

It wasn’t uncommon for dozens or hundreds of soldiers to be slaughtered by warriors who managed to climb the barrier, and even when they succeeded in repelling the enemy, they couldn’t pursue and annihilate the retreating forces, buying only a day or two of respite.

This kind of fighting continued for over ten days, during which the main forces of both sides engaged in a war of nerves without direct confrontation.

When Or-han’s army launched corpses over the barrier with catapults, Landenburg responded with Frederick’s explosive throwing spears, ballistae, and stone projectiles.

For Ludwig, it was a situation with no downside. Time was on his side.

Unlike a fortress or castle under siege, which had to rely on stockpiled supplies, the barrier could receive continuous supplies from the open rear.

Unless the enemy overwhelmed them with sheer force, cutting off their supply lines was impossible.

Of course, the attackers also had the advantage of maintaining a stable supply line, but—

‘Ka`har’s forces are mostly cavalry. Maintaining such a force consumes vast amounts of supplies, but their supply capacity is severely lacking. Without plunder, they can’t sustain their army.’

This was the fundamental limitation of a nomadic people.

In peacetime, scattered across the grasslands, they could live off modest farmland and pastures without going hungry.

But with tens of thousands of troops gathered in one place, nomadic herding couldn’t feed so many horses. Tens of thousands of horses grazing in one area would turn even lush grasslands into wastelands in no time.

Thus, Ka`har relied on plunder for half their supplies during war. Their own production capacity couldn’t sustain their army, so they took from their enemies.

‘But without breaching the barrier, plunder is impossible. And without defeating Dane’s main forces, they can’t plunder Dane for supplies.’

Or-han knew this too, so he stockpiled significant supplies in key locations like Ordos and other strongholds across the grasslands…

‘But Joshua burned all the nearby pastures and granaries, and Ordos’ stockpiles are being drained by the refugees Ha-shal-leur created. How long can Or-han sustain an army of tens of thousands while fighting an enemy he can’t plunder?’

Ludwig smiled. Time was on his side.