The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military - Chapter 163

Iron immediately went to where his troops were resting after choosing the Southeast as his new field army’s Command.

He could see them chatting with each other after taking a proper rest, something that they had not done in a long time. He did not interfere with them and just called for Ariel and his other key officers separately.

“Are you done talking with the Commander?”

Iron nodded lightly in answer to Ariel’s question.

The other officers looked at Iron seriously after Ariel immediately returned to her position as her officer, an attitude that was completely unlike when they just went down the airship.

“Hoo… There’s a lot of things that we need to discuss and I don’t know what to say first, but let me tell you the most important thing.”

Iron let out a long breath. He organized his thoughts for a while before opening his mouth again.

“The Empire will establish a field army.”

The officers’ eyes widened after hearing his words.

“By any chance is the General going to be the commander…?”

“That’s right.”

All of the people present nodded their heads heavily.

They all thought that this was just a matter of time. They knew that Iron would not be able to remain in the brigade forever after he became a captain. And since they were part of the Northeastern Army, they believed that they would not be able to go with Iron, who was leaving to establish a new field army.

Iron chuckled when he saw their expressions.

“I will take all of you with me too.”

“Is… that even possible?”

“Commander Crimson has given his definite answer, do you think it’s possible?”

Everyone looked at Iron in surprise.

“The problem is that there are no brigadier general and higher-level individuals.”

The officers tilted their heads at his words.

“Is that even possible?”

“It’s possible. After all, Commander Crimson is the one who said it, right?”

“But…”

Is it really possible to have an army without a brigadier general and higher-level individuals?

It was only possible since they were in a war. With all of the commanding officers dead, the next best person would temporarily fill in their vacated position and perform. This was also a scenario that was possible for any troops below the division-level. But this was a newly established field army not a corps.

“First of all, I intend to give all of my officers the best temporary position.”

Iron looked around as he said so.

He would promote the key figures that made up his brigade including Ariel, Cardro, Carl, Nyx, Jon Powell, Vic Hart, and Dominic Stone. Since all of them had already made contributions in the field, he would promote them temporarily to the field army officers’ highest position that he could grant.

“The Wizard Towers said that they would send a number of their elite wizards and each Command promised to send some of their elite officers.”

“But…”

“Yeah. They will all be rookies. Their experiences and skill are not comparable to the real commanding officer-level and elite field army officer-level individuals.”

Iron nodded as he acknowledged Carl’s worried gaze.

No matter how much of a genius they were, they were still rookies right now, their power and force was something that they could only look forward to in the future.

Even if the Lion Family sent their young lions and the other Northern Family sent their precious children to Iron’s army, it would take a lot of time for them to grow. They might have suffered a lot during the Northern War but they still needed to experience more battles for them to be useful. In fact, even Iron’s troops had a lot of shortcomings that Iron’s eyes weren’t enough to catch them despite fighting numerous wars against the Death Corps.

In addition to the lacking numbers, they also lacked force. Aside from the Northeast’s standard where they only accepted knights at 4th Stage or higher, the rest of the Empire accepted those at the 3rd Stage or higher. Even if they were selected carefully, their troops alone were not comparable to a regular brigade-level unit.

Perhaps this was something that would not change even if they became a field army and had been promoted as field army officers.

“I will temporarily make you all become regiment leaders.”

“Uhm…”

“That’s not all. We’ll have all the rookies who are at the 5th Stage or close to the 5th Stage take over a regiment.”

But there weren’t that many. Only the future of Temphet 0, the young lions and the two elites from the Wizard Towers were qualified for this.

“We will start training as soon as our troops are formed. Also, we are going to the Southeast.”

Then, Iron explained his plans to them with a solemn look on his face.

1 Create units.

2 Do the minimal training the same way when he first took charge of the brigade.

3 Move immediately to start building the Command in the Southeast.

“The most important thing is the fourth one. We…”

Iron’s words tapered off as he looked at his officers.

“We’re going to move after training for two months. We will move as soon as we finish that and fight in actual battles.”

Everyone turned nervous when they heard his words.

“Can we really do that?”

Iron nodded in answer to Cardro’s question.

However, no matter how hard Iron would train them, it was impossible for him to create an elite field army in a short amount of time. In the end, they would probably be a mess in an actual battle and make huge sacrifices.

Iron was fully aware of this. They weren’t company or battalion-level troops, they were a full-on field army and they were bound to make sacrifices once they went out on the field. But they had no choice but to make these sacrifices. However, he planned to train them to his utmost with the basics to reduce the damage to the minimum.

“We’ll just train them with the basics. There’s no way the Command would be built for free, right? Even if we hire workers, can we even borrow other’s to protect them?”

“Uhm… There will be huge sacrifices.”

“But we have no choice but to go.”

Iron firmly spoke as he looked at Cardro, who couldn’t answer his questions immediately.

“We’re going to minimize the damage. I’ll make you do that, so be prepared.”

Everyone pondered over Iron’s words. Hearing him say those words meant that he would roll them until he couldn’t roll them anymore.

Iron smiled as he opened his mouth again.

“There are important things to do there too. The first thing we need to do is to block the monsters that would constantly flock at us until the Command is fully built. It’s only natural, right?”

Iron folded his hands.

“The second thing that we need to do is to conquer the entire Southeastern region of the Empire. It is important for us to push everything back until we can see the sea and the river.”

It was essential for them to push back the beings of the void and the monsters back in the jungle but it was a must for them to push them back until they saw the sea and the river before they created their defenses and barriers. They needed to exterminate every being that threatened the safety of their Command.

“What should we do once we create a barrier between the Empire and the Southern Kingdoms?”

Carl spoke carefully after hearing Iron’s question.

“It’s important for us to maintain it.”

“That’s right. Maintain. And to do that, we need to build fortresses in major areas. This is everything that we need to do in the Southeast.”

Everyone sighed after hearing Iron’s words. It did not seem to be easy. However, it was a must. Only after they did that would they be able to move properly in their newly established Command.

Their Command needed to be safe for them to become the only mobile field army in the Empire that Iron had envisioned.

Only after they had ensured their safety could they be able to assist the Southern Command. If they made sure that it was safe, they could just ask some troops from the Southern Army to protect the Field Army Command so they could move out.

“Gather up. I’ll explain everything in detail.”

Everyone gathered together when they saw Iron pressing his fingers together. Iron began to draw a line on the map spread out on the desk as he explained to his officers.

First of all, they needed to create the Southeast Command. Then, they needed to expand and stabilize the area. After that, they would help the Southern Command and create a new front.

It was obviously not an easy task but if they carried this out then the entirety of the Southeast would be completely in Iron’s palms. Only after that was made possible would a variety of options be available to them.

They would literally have a lot of options. They could go and help the Southern Kingdoms, they could help the Southern Command restore their collapsed front or go beyond any of these two choices.

However, Iron had no intention of only playing around in the South.

“Once we’re done with that then… our main force will go to the West.”

“The…West?”

Cardro frowned as he asked Iron.

“That’s right. The South will be alright to some extent once we help the Southern Army. That means that all that will be left is the West.”

Everyone fell silent at Iron’s answer. Their expressions screamed ‘We probably will have a hard time in the South but you also want to go to the West?’.

But Iron was thinking about his army’s identity.

“Our goal is to become a mobile army. When the Imperial Commanders established this field army, what they had in mind was a special mobile army in the Empire. If you think about it, we can’t just be tied to the Southeast forever.”

“But… is that even possible? Common sense says that we will take years to stabilize our Command and create a supply line that will send supplies to each fortress.”

“The defense will be difficult too.”

“That’s right. Considering the troops needed to defend the Southeast, the size of our mobile army is considered to be small.”

Everyone was saying that Iron’s plans were unrealistic. Carl, who was in charge of the defense and logistics, and Ariel, who came from the knight order and was transferred to Iron’s unit, were all speaking negatively.

What they said was not wrong. But Iron had his own thoughts and ideas.

“It’s not impossible as long as the Southeast is stabilized.”

Iron said that as he wrote down his ideas and thoughts on paper.

1 Assign troops that will protect the Command and the fortresses.

2 Continue receiving help from the East and the South.

3 The remaining troops in the Southeast will continue to go around.

“My army will operate like this in the future. Of course, it’s only natural there should be special departments that specialize on each mission, right?”

Iron looked at Carl as if he did not need to worry at all.

It was also necessary to have departments that specialize in administration and logistics.

“First, we will form three corps. The core of my field army will be around these three corps, the Maneuver Corps, Command Defense, and the Training and Maintenance.”

“Uhm…”

Everyone looked worried after hearing Iron’s words.

It seemed possible as they listened.

It was probably possible to protect the Southeast with just one corps with the help of the East and the South. Then, one of the other corps would be sent outside. The corps that were dispatched outside would then switch to rest, train and do maintenance. In case of an emergency, the two corps could be sent outside. If that was still not enough, then they would leave the Southeastern Command in the hands of the Southern Commander so all the troops could move out.

“The troops under Command will basically be composed of knight orders, magic corps, rangers and logistics division. However, we will split them all and divide them into those that will protect Command, those who will be dispatched on missions and those who will train.”

Everyone nodded after hearing Iron’s explanation.

“The most important thing to do is the rotation of these three corps. Our army is the only mobile army in the Empire. Our army will be the first to move when foreign countries request for support.”

Iron looked at his men as he continued to speak.

“There are no more threats inside the Empire. All of the enemies threatening the West and the South are coming from the outside.”

The officers nodded their heads at Iron’s words.

“That means, we will fight outside of the Empire in the future. Everything will depend on how quickly we can go and help our allies. And, one more thing.”

Iron spread his fingers.

“There should be no more war inside the Empire. The Empire is already at its limits. Our best scenario is to somehow be able to end the war outside. This is the reason why we exist.”

All of the people present bowed their heads at Iron’s heavy words.

“Right now, the armies of the Empire are trying to stick to their original mission. We have to do well and block the enemies from the outside to make sure that each Command can focus on what they are doing.”

They realized that this field army was not just established for Iron. All of their mouths were glued shut after knowing that the field army was given heavier missions than what they had initially assumed.

The original mission of each Command.

The mobile army had to move around busily so each Command, the presence created to stabilize each region, could fulfill their original missions. They had to become a complete mobile army even if they had to receive help from the armies in the nearby areas.

“Let’s all do our best. Do you think you can do this?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Good. Three days, you can take a good rest for three days. Then, start training the soldiers as soon as they arrive here. You have trained the Central Army so I believe that you can do this well.”

Everyone replied loudly at Iron’s words as they busily moved around. Even though they were told to take a break, they knew that they had no time to waste. They needed to prepare from now on.

Iron smiled as he watched his men leave urgently. Then, he looked down at the paper where he wrote down his plans. To be honest, Iron was not sure if they could do this. However, he was sure that he would make it work no matter the cost.

The threat from the void was not yet over and from what Crimson had said, there was also something unusual beyond the Northeastern mountain ranges. Perhaps, a threat that was far greater than the threat that they had experienced and fought in the capital would come.

In order to prepare for that, he and his troops had to become stronger.

‘The Imperial Army’s 1st Special Mobile Field Army.’

This was the official name that Iron had thought of. The reason why he attached the ‘1st’ to the name was because he hoped that his army would be the catalyst for the creation of more mobile field armies in the future.

“Hoo… I will be busy from now on.”