Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 938

Episode 938: The Imperial March 2 – Assault return, running on the ground. (26)

Although the first entry into the city of Pavia was given over to the Florentine army, Lee Si-ae did not rest.

“Move the bhikkhu further to the outskirts! “How much longer will it take?”

“It won’t take long if we move the monks who are on standby.”

“Then move immediately to the left and right flanks of Pavia and hold on to the Florentine cavalry well, right?”

“yep!”

“Then divide the Florentine cavalry and the imperial cavalry into two and move them to the left and right of Fabia City.”

“On which side would it be better to place the Florentine cavalry?”

“After combining, divide in two. It is dangerous to operate or give command to the Florentine cavalry alone. I also came from a cavalry unit, but cavalry soldiers are guys whose bodies move before their heads. But it’s even worse for Florentines, or Europeans.”

The staff members all nodded at Lee Si-ae’s complaints.

From the time of the past skirmishes with the Jurchen tribe, the cavalry had a strong characteristic of being an independent unit that moved independently. When a large rotation occurred, it was always the cavalry’s responsibility to take losses and push toward the enemy.

Thanks to this, cavalry commanders had very independent and warlike tendencies.

In addition, as the Jurchen tribe was completely absorbed, the cavalry became more warlike.

As Joseon grew into an empire and faced a formidable opponent called the Ming Dynasty, the imperial cavalry commanders became more cautious.

This was because they realized that if they made even the slightest mistake, a war would immediately break out.

When Lee Si-ae arrived in Italy and saw the Florentine cavalry and the European cavalry, she shook her head.

“You guys like the Jurchen tribe!”

Therefore, Lee Si-ae did not want to give independent operational authority to the Florentine cavalry.

“You have to rein it in properly!”

After confirming Lee Si-ae’s intentions, the staff diligently organized the cavalry formation and wrote orders.

“messenger!”

The combined cavalry of the Empire and Florence, which received the order through a messenger, divided into two and headed to the left and right of Pavia Castle.

“Bhikkhu preparations are complete! “As soon as the cavalry arrives at its destination, we will send it off.”

“good! Let the main artillery unit and the waiting reserve unit depart immediately! The cavalry drives the wedge they put in properly! As soon as the main artillery unit and reserve unit depart, the units deployed to the trench line change their duties to the reserve unit!”

“yep!”

“Are you going to leave the assault force alone?”

In response to the staff member’s question, Lee Si-ae lifted the telescope and looked at Pavia Castle and answered.

“Stand by at current location, ready to enter Fabia City. It is certain that in a little while a messenger from the Florentine army will come complaining. They seem to have been well trained for rotation, but they have little training in trench warfare or urban warfare. And since they are wearing the same black military uniform, there will be less confusion.”

“All right.”

Hearing Lee Si-ae’s words, the staff wrote down the order without a second thought.

* * *

The main training that the assault force received was to reliably penetrate the enemy’s defense lines and trench lines. The meaning of reliably penetrating was to enable subsequent units to safely transcend and continue to advance. To achieve this, the assault force had to thoroughly clean the trench line or defense line they had breached.

Thanks to this, the assault troops were specialized in close combat, starting with their weapons. A large number of armored fire trucks and armored light vehicles were deployed, and each soldier carried a large amount of throwing bombs.

And these characteristics of the armament allowed it to have a clear advantage even in urban battles.

The assault car also played a role. The armor of the assault vehicle provided reliable cover in urban warfare. And the artillery mounted on the armored vehicle was for siege use.

* * *

About an hour later (about 2 hours), the flood of reports began to flood in once again.

“This is a report from the cavalry that advanced on the left wing. ‘Arrived at the destination! We are preparing for the Battle of Hippo!’”

“The cavalry advanced to the right wing and made a sudden attack! ‘We are under enemy fire! We are preparing for an artillery battle!’”

After confirming the report received from the cavalry, Lee Si-ae immediately issued an order.

“Order the cavalry advancing to the left wing! ‘Prepare for enemy artillery fire!’”

“Yep!”

“Send the same order to the units following on the left wing! Even if you turn a little, move out of the enemy’s artillery range! “It hurts the most to get hit while moving!”

“yep!”

“Order the cavalry advancing on the right wing! ‘Make full use of the strengths of our artillery! Hold the enemy back while reducing losses as much as possible! That’s the most important thing! Repeat! The most important thing is to stop the enemy!’”

“Yep!”

“Order the right wing follow-up unit! ‘Join the right-wing cavalry while watching out for enemy artillery fire!’”

“Yep!”

While the staff who received Lee Si-ae’s orders diligently wrote the orders and delivered them to the messenger, Lee Si-ae looked at the map and muttered.

“I was planning on getting out as expected.”

* * *

Looking at the geographical environment of the city of Pavia, the Ticino River flows in the southern direction. Looking at the political environment, Milan’s sphere of influence was the city of Fabia.

As the first fortress to defend Milan from the French and Genoese, the walls of the city of Fabia had a unique structure.

The side facing Milan had only a single layer of walls, but the southern side facing the Ticino River had two layers of walls.

The reason Lee Si-ae became convinced that the French army was trying to escape was because the cavalry advancing to the right was attacked.

From the empire’s perspective, the right wing, that is, the northwest side of Pavia Castle, had bridges and ferry crossings across the Ticino River.

In other words, from the perspective of the French army, which had decided to retreat, these bridges and ferry ports were precious facilities that must be protected.

Therefore, as soon as the cavalry of the combined Empire-Florence army approached, the surviving cannons of the French army opened fire.

* * *

“I don’t like the idea of making them move according to their plans… Hmm…”

Si-ae Lee, who was looking at the map and thinking about something, lifted the telescope and looked at the collapsed walls of Pavia.

“If we push in the assault vehicle right now and there is confusion, it will be a headache…”

It was an assault force with the mindset that ‘the road is where the assault vehicle goes.’ It was clear that if the Florentine army and the assault army, which had a big difference in fighting style and speed, were mixed, they would become completely entangled and become no match for life.

“But I don’t like just waiting… Then I guess I’ll have to make an excuse, right?”

Lee Si-ae muttered meaningful words and gave orders to her staff.

“Delivery to the Florentine army that has entered the city of Pavia! ‘Conquer the southeast with Visconti Castle as a border! The assault force will rush in from the northwest!’”

The staff members who were examining the map immediately responded with meaningful smiles to Lee Si-ae’s order.

“ancient! “We will deliver it as quickly as possible!”

“Pass it to the assault troops too! ‘Pass through Pavaasi as quickly as possible and capture the bridge and ferry port!’”

“Yep!”

After a while, the messengers with Lee Si-ae’s orders in their arms rode towards Fabiasi with all their might.

* * *

Pavia City Gate.

The Florentine military command center was built inside the wide open castle gate.

“…This is an order from the Commander-in-Chief.”

“Give it to me. Hmm….”

Giuseppe, the Florentine military commander who checked the order while stroking his mustache, nodded.

“Hmm… It’s good if we do this, the burden will be lessened. “Report to the commander-in-chief that you will carry out the same.”

“The document…”

Hearing the messenger’s words, Giuseppe turned his head and looked at the staff. Giuseppe signed the document written by the staff and handed it to the messenger.

“It’s here.”

“yep!”

The messenger who received the document gave a military salute and left the Florentine military command center.

“Gather together.”

Giuseppe gathered his staff and told them about the orders given by Lee Si-ae.

“…So we are ordered to take control of the southeastern part of Pavia. “It was a pain in the ass, but it worked out well.”

The staff all nodded at Giuseppe’s words.

It was just around noon when the Florentine army entered Pavia Castle.

Because it was a much smaller city compared to Florence or Milan, it was expected that its fall would only be a matter of time, but even as the sun slowly set to the west, less than 1/3 of the area had been controlled.

As Lee Si-ae expected, the Florentine army was not accustomed to street fighting. Because of this, the Florentine army was unable to properly use the weapons they had.

The combat wagon, which could be said to be the most core force, was an extremely inconvenient object in urban warfare where it had to be constantly fired and moved.

It wasn’t easy having to search through the complicated alleyways one by one.

Thanks to this, the situation was sluggish even though nearly 10,000 infantrymen, including the first and second lines, were deployed.

Giuseppe continued, pointing at the map with his baton.

“The Empire’s idea is simple. The goal here is to capture this bridge and ferry port as quickly as possible. If that happens, the French army will either be frantically routed or resist and be destroyed. “For us, all we have to do is watch.”

Giuseppe, who noticed Lee Si-ae’s thoughts, smiled. Seeing him like that, one of his staff pointed out a problem.

“Aren’t we handing over too many military honors to the empire?”

“I’ve already taken care of what I need to take care of. And there are many battles left. Troop losses should not be ignored.”

“According to the rumors I’m hearing now, there are a lot of applicants.”

“What do you think will happen if coffins rush past these guys who show up with such courage?”

The staff’s mouths were firmly shut in response to Giuseppe’s question. Applicants were flocking to the area due to their passion for victory and adventure, as well as the unique bravado of Italians. But bravado was bravado and reality was reality. It was certain that as more people died on the battlefield, the number of volunteers would plummet.

“If we think about future battles and the aftermath of unification, we cannot afford to lose troops foolishly. It’s unfortunate, but it should be enough to take care of what you need as you are now. It would be a shame that soldiers would have less things to brag about in front of women.”

The staff nodded silently at Giuseppe’s cynical words.

“Then let’s write an order and send it out.”

“All right.”

Ppaaeak!

At that moment, the sound of the assault vehicles’ whistles echoed loudly in the sky.

Giuseppe lightly shook his head and grumbled at the sound of the assault car’s whistle.

“It’s so urgent… We Italians are also famous for being in a hurry, so it’s fun to see people who are even more in a hurry.”

After a while, the assault troops, led by the assault vehicles A, began to pass through the gate and enter.

The expressions of the assault troops riding on or moving around the assault vehicles were very confident

– they would penetrate the northwest area of the city of Pavia at the ‘shortest distance’ and seize the bridges and ferry ports.

It was the type of mission they were most confident in.

In particular, they were assault troops who really liked the word ‘shortest distance’ written in their orders.

“The assault vehicles will make a very nice road.”

“I wish there were more expensive houses.”

There was a saying passed down among the soldiers after the street fighting in Liaodong Province in the past.

-If you destroy a thatched house, you will be criticized and say, ‘Even if you are a citizen of an enemy country, blah blah blah.’ But if you destroy a tile house, you will not be criticized.