Chapter 1357 - 1275: Battle of Bin River (End)

Chapter 1357: Chapter 1275: Battle of Bin River (End)

The Battle of Bin River was a grand battle on the Shattered Stone Plain in October.

In this battle, at least ten thousand Vampire Army troops were surrounded and annihilated, and another ten thousand Vampire Army troops were scattered and unable to regroup for the time being.

After this battle, André immediately began his offensive, forcing the Royal Court to dispatch troops from the regions.

As for the northern battlefield of the Royal Court’s side, it also changed from offensive to defensive.

Everywhere the Holy Alliance Army was advancing triumphantly, and the nobles were rising in revolt.

This battle was most important for shattering the myth of the vampires’ invincibility in grand battles.

As soon as the Truth newspaper was released that day, it was madly printed, and the spirit of the entire empire’s populace was greatly uplifted.

It is said that Charles, inspired, immediately launched a grand battle trying to replicate the Shattered Stone Plain operation, but he was quickly defeated.

With such a huge blunder, even if he was covered in dirt, with constant emergencies everywhere, the Northern army and the Royal Palace Imperial Guard fighting away from home surely had to review the battle.

Or it could also be called the blame-shifting conference.

Ogre Commander Shan Ruan was the last to arrive because he needed to confirm information about Serafe.

Outside the blue-roofed hall of Fat Cow Castle, he had just taken off his coat and heard the bustling noise inside the hall before he even entered.

Sighing, Shan Ruan pushed open the door, and the roar of voices came rushing in, shaking the candles on the porch columns outside the door.

"Stop arguing! Where is your unit? Mark it out!"

"Right here."

"It’s just a few dozen miles away, you can’t attack over, you’re just trying to preserve your troops."

"Nonsense, my unit faced at least twenty thousand Holy Alliance Army troops, I saw we were at a disadvantage, so to preserve the strength of the Royal Court, I had no choice but to retreat."

"Ha, my unit also faced at least twenty thousand Holy Alliance Army troops gathered nearby, and I held on for a whole day!"

"Those were two thousand human troops, my scouting knights told me!"

"It was initially two thousand, but they gathered more later, didn’t you initially only encounter a few thousand?"

"Isn’t it the same?"

"Speaking of which, it’s strange." A vampire commander suddenly raised his voice, "I don’t know what you all think, but it seems like every time we fight the Holy Alliance, the more they fight, the more people they have?"

The hall fell into an eerie silence for a while, and then many vampires chimed in.

"Right, right, it’s always human armies luring us."

"We saw a few thousand human troops, thinking of eating them, but more and more gathered, making it too late to support the scene..."

"You find the Holy Alliance Army grows larger the more they fight, and you also find the Holy Alliance Army grows larger the more they fight?" With a bang, Samuji’s face darkened, slamming the table, "Surely the Holy Alliance hasn’t deployed a hundred thousand troops on the Shattered Stone Plain?"

In this battle, he was genuinely chased nearly a hundred miles by twenty thousand Holy Alliance Army troops, finally abandoning a large number of supplies and spoils to barely cross the river and escape.

In his view, it was clearly the fault of the allied forces!

Even though they were so close, they didn’t come to support, even concocting lies about facing tens of thousands of Holy Alliance troops to cover up their mistakes.

The Holy Alliance only had a hundred thousand troops in total, deploying a hundred thousand on the Shattered Stone Plain, what about other places? Is there no way out?

Several vampire commanders who were defeated or didn’t have time to support looked at each other, silent for a few seconds, before engaging in more intense verbal sparring.

"Surely they’re lying to cover up their incompetence!"

"Your troop strength plainly had surplus, reverse-engineer it, you were only facing a few thousand, I don’t believe it, you got entangled by a few thousand humans for so long?"

"Then I ask you, where are your troops? You’re so close to me, why didn’t you come to support?"

"I won’t argue, I was blocked by nearly ten thousand Holy Alliance Army troops."

"Bullshit, nearly ten thousand Holy Alliance troops would have to come through me to support you, at most two or three thousand!"

"Do you dare to swear before Lilith? If you only saw three thousand, your clan will perish completely!"

"Alright, if it wasn’t three thousand, your clan will perish completely..."

"Enough!" Shan Ruan suddenly slapped the table, "Is this a food market street? Are you human women bickering like this?"

With Shan Ruan’s remarks, the vampires finally quieted down a bit.

At this moment, Lakunio, who had been silently marking positions on the map, finally raised his head: "Everyone come and have a look."

Led by Shan Ruan, the vampire commanders raised their heads and looked at the map on the wall.

Just before, when he was silent, Lakunio had annotated the map based on the time points and locations the commanders described, and a plan for troop movements and deployments had vividly leapt onto the map.

"According to my analysis, the Holy Alliance had no reinforcements this time, there was no time. The so-called hundred thousand troops were actually just an illusion created by time scheduling..."

As Lakunio slowly explained, André’s battle strategy began to be unraveled.

In short, André seized the opportunity of this unexpected encounter battle, leveraging a time gap to block the reinforcements on one side of the Bin River.

Next, it was a competition of rallying forces, command efficiency, and marching speed.

When both sides gathered their respective scattered soldiers, several battles occurred simultaneously, culminating in a grand battle.

When a battle on one front concluded, reinforcements could then aid other fronts.

In this aspect, the Royal Court can confidently say that, until now, scarcely any force from the empire dares to engage in a grand battle with the Royal Court.

Due to Serafe’s ability to communicate over distances and observe through borrowed sight, the communication speed of vampires is undeniably faster than normal.

Coupled with the vampires’ higher command efficiency and extensive military experience, they often allocate their forces reasonably to gain a greater advantage.

But for some reason, despite nothing seemingly different this time, the Royal Court still lost.

"Do you know why?" Lakunio’s voice sounded particularly old and weary, "The problem lies..."

The problem lies in the fact that although the Holy Alliance’s communication speed was slower than the Royal Court’s, their command efficiency and marching speed were excessively fast.

André’s decision-making speed surpassed that of the vampires, not to mention the speed of planning and execution.

André himself dared to take risks, using a small force to hold off the majority of the enemy’s troops, then concentrating his main force to defeat the minority of enemy troops.

Then, using the concentrated majority of his forces, he would defeat the enemy piecemeal, ensuring that the Holy Alliance always attacked with superior numbers.

This is the capability Horn values most when selecting a military commander.

In the past, it didn’t matter what ability one had in a grand army battle.

For instance, in the past, if the empire fought the Royal Court, it was likely each side fought its own battle.

Even those with some battle management skills merely ensured that the forces at each front arrived on time and were well-arranged.

This level of multifront coordination and mutual restraint didn’t exist.

Firstly, command efficiency led to very slow operational speed, and both the Royal Court and the Empire had a habit of allies being immovable in times of distress.

Horn valued this grand battle capability, where generals like André command from the overall battle situation in a vast spatiotemporal domain.

Even in the Holy Union, with its high literacy rates and abundance of talent, finding such generals is rare.

"I don’t understand," Samuji stared seriously at this elderly human Knight for the first time, "Why is the Holy Alliance acting faster, even though their communication speed is slower?"

"It’s simple, the Holy Alliance has well-trained staff and a highly efficient officer corps." Lakunio spoke slowly, clearly thinking while speaking, "André should have completed the conception of the battle as soon as he received the news and intelligence.

He handed this conception to the staff, who rapidly transformed it into a plan, then into marching routes and military orders.

The mass of grassroots officers receiving these orders would execute them immediately, while the Senior Pastor was responsible for calming soldiers’ emotions and boosting morale."

This reason was clearly reasonable, and the several vampire generals continuously nodded, affirming this explanation.

"What about our Royal Court?" An unknown vampire thoughtlessly asked.

As soon as the words left his mouth, several envoys and commanders turned dark-faced.

They indeed received the communications, indeed held meetings promptly.

But making decisions, adjusting troop routes, and scrambling along the way took time.

Decisions, marching routes, battle plans, and troop deployments were typically completed by one general with three to five staff.

Unlike the Holy Alliance, who have dedicated staff responsible for each direction.

They even needed to temporarily send people to inquire with each legion about their troop strength, weaponry, and supplies.

Lakunio even encountered situations where inquiries couldn’t be made due to the inability to find the necessary information!

Once, when preparing for a grand battle with André, he sent a messenger to locate a stationed legion to advance to a certain position.

The messenger arrived only to find that the legion wasn’t there!

Post-battle, he learned that due to insufficient logistics in the area, the legion had moved elsewhere.

The scariest part is that, even if they obtained such information from subordinate battle groups, it might not be truthful.

The Royal Palace Imperial Guard was fine, sticking to the facts.

But other clan armies, without stable central financial allocations, with only minor subsidies, primarily relied on spoils of war as income and schemed for military funds using unfilled positions.

Unlike the Holy Alliance, which updates vital information like officer replacements, troop numbers, action records, and station areas almost every three days or even daily.

"So the forces of the Holy Alliance in this area..."

Lakunio sighed, "Two battle armies, totaling no more than forty thousand. Only one battle army participated in this battle, about twenty thousand."

After a long silence, Shanluan sighed, delivering the final summary.

"This defeat was well deserved."