Tanya's Third Life as a Barbarian Queen, Chapter XXXVII

I will have the chapter as links to download at the bottom of the post. As well as a link to the Google Document page.

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Kontia.

Tanya, Queen of the Tanaoi.

With the Saderans pushed back for now, I had an opportunity to reform and re-organise the battle lines. The Saderans had attacked only a very small part of the defence network, likely spurred on by the explosions from the hostages. That meant that, while the vast majority of the line was untouched, the area that had seen battle had been almost entirely dismantled or bypassed. 

Bodies needed to be collected, trenches re-dug, ammunition stockpiles replenished, and many hundreds of other tasks needed to be completed, all as soon as possible. While my forces did have limited night vision capability, it was just that, limited. It was better to use what sunlight we still had left to see to the reinforcing of our position.

There was also the matter of the, largely, Irregular and untrained forces who had taken part in the battle. My higher-quality soldiers had only been engaged around the fort itself and in the final moments of the first assault when the Saderans were pulling back away from our line. 

The Irregular companies deployed had suffered more casualties than I would prefer, owing to their general lack of armour and only limited amount of training compared to my Regulars. I quickly ordered every Irregular company which had engaged in the battle be pulled back to the city to rest and recover. I had been forced to justify this with 'Allowing other companies the chance to seek the glory of battle.' Even a company that had suffered fifty three casualties, over half of their number dead or wounded, had been eager to maintain their position in the trench line.

Battle Maniacs, the whole lot of them!

While I was busy with the many thousands of tasks required of me in reforming the defences, the battle itself had offered a great insight into what combat against a dedicated legion force would actually represent. The men who I had personally fought were clearly starving and weak, yet the legion fought with near-superhuman discipline and bravery. Moreover, I had grown used to rapidly moving and dynamic combat environments, something that was utterly at odds with what I had experienced in the assault.

It had been a slow, long, and grinding affair I had not sufficiently prepared for. While cannons could be devastating, and were a weapon system that offered unparalleled capabilities to any military formation in this time, they had struggled with the sheer number of Legionaries arrayed against us. Each shot might kill dozens, or it might kill just two or three. But even in the best case situation, the limited number of cannons available to me only served to encourage the enemy to close the gaps as soon as they could.

When a commander, and the men under his command, became aware they were within range of my weapon systems, they would feel pressure to engage even if the damage that can be done with my cannons was limited. While this was an invaluable capability, allowing me to shape the course of an engagement, it would not win the battle alone.

I had planned on deploying smaller, handheld one-pounder cannons to each company in my army. The ultimate plan was the deployment of one of these cannons to each squad, thus getting every company equipped with ten dedicated anti-personnel cannons. With how this battle had gone, I would need to redouble my efforts to accomplish that capability.

I would also need to have each member of the squad carry some ammunition for that cannon to counter the ludicrous size of Saderan Legions. The more potent and longer-ranged four-pounder cannons I had now were effective in bypassing fortifications and, obviously, striking at a distance, but I needed the capacity to kill more men faster and more effectively.

Smaller, more numerous cannons were the way forward. I had considered muskets, but they simply did not have any real advantages over slings, which were easy for Lepus to learn to use and cheap to make. Packing a lot of firepower into a tight formation made muskets effective, but that tight formation was necessitated by the existence of cavalry formations. I did not need to maintain close-in formations that would be effective with muskets, as a smaller number of Lepus with spears could resist a cavalry charge that would sweep away a much larger number of humans with the same weapons.

Muskets would just be a waste of metal and man hours for no real benefit, while a one-pounder cannon could effectively disrupt Saderan formations. The more I considered the problems an actual Saderan Legion represented, the more frustrated I became. 

I had not made enough cannons. I had not deployed enough sling-stones. I had not kept enough reserves and had to quickly pull companies off of other parts of the trench line. Instead I needed to redeploy them here, in case the Saderans had broken through and pushed towards Kontia itself.

I had failed! Despite 'winning', the sheer number of mistakes and faulty assumptions I had committed were made manifest, with every Lepus corpse being laid out by her companions who wept and laughed and kissed the faces of their departed friends. 

Mistake after mistake. I had to correct that, adapt my expectations and my understanding of Saderan doctrine. I could not be caught so flat-footed again. If this Legion had been fully rested and able, they would have swept my defences away. 

"I want to apologise." Rory suddenly approached me as I sent away a trio of runners to Kontia to instruct a number of Cadets to begin sourcing and producing more sling-stones. I turned about and looked again at the number of Majors and Lieutenants around us, before suppressing a sigh at how annoyingly public Rory was about these conversations. I looked at her, hands held together at the small of her back and one of her feet kicking at the earth as she stole glances at me.

"I would ask what for." I took a gentle tact with the woman. She was unpredictable and it would be impossible to navigate this situation without eeking out more information.

"Well," she sighed, for a moment her expression turning unusually serious, "t's been a while since I have had a... been part of a battle so large. Normally I try to approach after the fact. It's not so bad when I am personally fighting, but it was not... right. It was not right of me to depend on you when you are fighting. I am merely here as an observer. I will endeavour to ensure that I am no longer immobilised when a battle is taking place." She finished with a nod, meeting me as I considered her words.

"Oh, you meant when I was carrying you?" I asked.

"Yes, I will attempt to prevent that from happening again," she said with a faint blush.

"Yes, I can imagine that when you are acting as an observer, you might not expect to be injured during a battle. But I can assure you, if it happens again, I am more than willing to carry you to safety just as I respect your desire to remain neutral in this conflict." She blinked as I smiled at her.

"Now, just- what do you think was happening?" She asked slowly, a smile forming on her face. "Well, regardless of that," she quickly added before I could respond to her question, "I want to thank you for this." She reached into her dress at the neckline and produced a neatly-folded handkerchief stained red with blood and bashfully held it out to me.

I kept my expression neutral as I looked at the ruined cloth, thinking about how I would have to carry the thing somewhere until I could throw it away.

"You can keep it, if you would like," I offered, hoping she would understand that I would not be able to find a cesspit anytime soon with a battle to conduct. In response, she glanced to the ground and held the bloodstained cloth close to her chest and nodded.

"I will," she said softly, quiet enough so only I could hear.

With that resolved, I turned to a Runner. The fourteen year old took only a moment to catch her breath before bowing respectfully to Rory, who gave the girl a nod and a smile in return. She turned back to me to deliver her report.

"There have been no signs of any of the hostages returning," she said, earning an audible tut from me.

"They have gone to Emroy's embrace," Rory said from behind me, causing me to turn about and look at the woman as she stood with an expression of total sincerity. 

"Are you sure of this?" I probed, unsure of how exactly she would be aware of that. If she had some ability to detect when people died, that would be valuable information. 

"I am, I felt their souls pass through me while the Saderans began their assault. They slew many men before they passed from this mortal coil." I looked at her a moment longer before nodding. Civility had broken down, it seemed. I would be unable to get a clean peace here. But I was still unsettled by the sheer dogmatic discipline of the Legionaries. I needed a way, any way, to further deplete their morale. 

"Have the Saderan hostages executed, cleanly, then display their corpses to the enemy." I looked out at the vast carpet of dead men before the trench as hundreds of Lepus stalked out into the battlefield to loot the dead of armour, weapons, or the odd coin or bauble carried on the Legonary themselves. 

We had an abundance of human corpses, perhaps it was best to use them...

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Imperial Campsite. North of Kontia.

Zorzal El Caesar, Tribune of Sadera and Heir to the Imperial Throne.

The probing attack had exposed the Tanaoi's secret weapon, the very thing that had been confounding my subordinates for months. While stupid and ignorant men might fear an explosion and babble about blood magic, I was an educated man of Sadera. I knew well the danger that goods such as flour presented when exposed to a spark. It was not outside of the realm of possibility that magic was involved in the destruction of their own fort. 

The Tanaoi had created the conditions that had allowed them to destroy the fort. Aggravating, certainly, but I had lost just a few thousand men in that assault and now possessed information on how they intended to hold back my legion from Kontia: Their strategy was dependent entirely upon the forts.

The other Lepus were right, the Tanaoi were a tricky sort, but I could be far, far trickier! If I wanted to reach Kontia quickly, I needed to move the Legion past the mud wall, and the areas where it was easy to move past the mud wall were in places where the Tanaoi had placed their exploding forts. 

If I had attacked all along the line like the recently-departed Prime Centurion had advised, I would not have been able to effectively order a retreat and, perhaps, tens of thousands of my men would have died to the explosions in each different fort without my messengers able to inform the different detachments, making the assault much more difficult and dangerous.

Of course, when a person believed themselves to have a strong attack, they would use it, rely upon it, and grow complacent with it. The forts represented a danger, yes, but only if whatever means to destroy them was employed. Considering that it was the forts themselves that exploded and not the ground in front of the forts, it stood to reason that it was some magical, or perhaps alchemical, device that was difficult to store or deploy.

After all, the 'waterskins' that the Lepus hostages had used were not even close in destructive power compared to what had happened with the fort. Once I would capture the Tanaoi Queen, I would extract the secrets of that weapon from her with pleasure.

I just had to find a way to assault and gain control of a fort before they could destroy it. I would have a way to bypass their little mud wall and pits. Yes, while the forts were the strongest weapons the Tanaoi had, they were also a weakness.

I took a long drink of a rather disappointing wine, the good stuff having been drunk already, and dearly felt the absence of Tyuule. She had become a common fixture, even as annoying as she could be, and her sudden disappearance was... I would have her flogged when I got her back. I would make sure she was chained to the bed where she belonged, as I had clearly been far too permissive, far too kind to that woman.

"Tribune!" Hearing the address, I turned to the young man I had hand-picked to replace Tanitious, who looked distinctly uncomfortable in his new armour. "The men, they are... complaining about the current situation."

I grit my teeth in frustration. Why was I cursed with such insubordinate men?

"What are their complaints? That I saved them by calling them back from destruction after the Tanaoi blasted hundreds of them apart!? Did my consideration of their lives offend them?" I snapped, and the man shook his head.

"It's just... the conditions of surrender the Tanaoi offered are being discussed..." The man began.

"They believe the savages after they gave hostages weapons to attack us from behind during the negotiations? What reason would they have to abide by the words written on paper when we put down our swords? When we are weak, when we are vulnerable, when we trust them, that is when they will drive their blades into our backs!" I grabbed the boy by the shoulder and shook him so he would look me in the eye. "Do you understand!?"

"I do!" The boy offered quickly. "But the men are hungry and tired from the long march, with many of our comrades dead and being picked over by the Barbarians... it does not sit well, My Lord. It is difficult for me to keep the men... focused," he settled on at last.

"Fine," I said, glancing over to where many of my friends stood. "Then tell them, tell everyone, that it is double, no, triple rations tonight! And give out the wine, too." That should keep them happy. There was no point saving it anyway, we would be eating well in Kontia by this time tomorrow.

"Are you sure that is wise, My Lord?" One of the older men, a merchant that had joined me on the expedition north into the Steppe after having supported me in the Senate in the past, asked.

"Of course, I have learned enough from the first assault that the battle to come tomorrow will bring us an assured victory." I explained to the man as he frowned.

"May I ask how exactly you intend to win such a victory, Tribune?" The Boy asked, his hands reaching for the straps at his hip and pulling the armour back into position. 

"Did you not notice that the Tanaoi, their more capable soldiers at least, have Saderan weapons and armour?" At my words, the pair of them frowned more and looked at the other men around them. 

"I did, Tribune, but what of it? Many savages attempt to copy our superior ways of fighting after they learn of them." 

"I have a cunning plan," I explained to the men around me, a wide smile forming on my face as a lovely plan came together. "Bring me carpenters, as many as we have. These overgrown rabbits will fall before our might and my genius!" I laughed as the men looked at each other for a moment, before saluting and going about their orders.

A cunning plan indeed.

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DycSU72z6tqsVIWBIxducwZBiK5Lj6FU--BkbZq9wRI/edit?tab=t.0