Chapter 13: Dealing with the unexpected
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POV of Wilhelm
'I am pleased, everything was going very well'.
The resistance is minimal, even in my most optimistic calculations, I had never foreseen that it would be so easy, just as our guides/spies told us, the number of forces that were to protect these territories is minimal
The locals surrender without a fight the moment they are completely outnumbered, they prefer to surrender than to be victims of our soldiers, which was great, our casualties have remained minimal while we continued our advance to the south without any organized resistance, only a handful of patrols left by their lords to protect their properties from bandits nothing more
The food problem had been solved the moment we seized most of the northern granaries and huge quantities of cattle and other livestock, finally letting that growing problem that I always carried on my back disappear
I was able to distribute food among my men and give them double rations so that they could resist with the forced march to the south, which had been at an impressive speed and in only a week, we had already captured more than half of the territories of the Reach.
Charles had completed his task with only one major castle in his way, he is ready to rally us and attack the tyrell castle of Highgarden our vanguard should be taking the last castle between us and that fortress, so probably in two or three days that castle will be under my control if our plan works or if we must besiege that castle it will all depend on whether its walls are in good condition to resist a siege.
But with gold filling my coffers with which I can acquire supplies, be it food, metals and tools to continue our war effort and at the same time pay the soldiers' salaries, there is nothing to worry about at the moment regarding the administrative area of our army for the time being, although according to what my logistics officers say everything is quite expensive.
Lothar had already secured the north of the reach and begun building fortifications at ashford so that when the Tyrell tried to return home, they will find themselves blocked by a fortified area on their way home where fighting will be quite difficult for them.
Though I sincerely doubt they will fight. Rare are the men who have enough willpower to face someone who has captured their loved ones, and if Highgarden falls I will have the lord's family in my control and with a little threatening I could bend their will and defeat the greatest army of the royalists without even having to face them.
'The best victory is the one you don't have to fight for, and that is our aim, to take everything with as few casualties as possible.'
The Prussian monarch was smiling, he was full of happiness when he read the reports issued by his military officers about their actions and conquests, more and more sure that their conquest of this strange territory was going in the right direction and that nothing could stop them for the moment.
Reviewing the latest report, I finally relaxed and put my hands to my face.
This is crazy, it's the first time I've faced something like this, even in my many other reincarnations I've never had anything like this happen, something like transporting everyone to this strange place.
I know where we are, and I don't like it very much because the reality is that my knowledge is relative, and I don't know much about what will happen, I understand a little of the politics of everything, but it was never my forte the fact that I could negotiate a decent deal was already good, but the next time I must take a diplomat with me'.
'These situations where the slightest failure can cause the collapse of everything get on my nerves, it is not at all pleasant a single mistake of mine and not only will I pay for it with my life but of all the men who accompany me they will all fall with me due to the Prussian culture of their blind faith to their leaders and their almost unbreakable will'
'It was something that always tormented me, whether I can be worthy of that trust, whether I can give them what they deserve, whether I am worthy to rule them, I am committed to giving my all for them, but my own weaknesses inherent in my humanity is what I fear, what happens if I fall ill I would leave the Prussians without leadership'
'If I die, it could trigger a civil war among my followers, which would leave them weak to any foreign power, as they would not be united, since by my bad luck I have no direct family or blood ties to me'
'I must be careful with myself, but at the same time we must continue to maintain the aggressiveness of our conquest, but if all goes according to plan we should collapse the lords of the area by the end of this moon.'
A few minutes passed when, but I finally managed to calm my worries, I was thinking of going back to check the accounting books to make sure that everything was in order, but I was interrupted.
A knock came at the door of the office of the former lord of the castle, and a Teutonic knight entered and quickly knelt down before me.
''My king, I beg your pardon for interrupting you while you are working, but one of your field masters requested an urgent meeting, he considers that the information he brings is vital for you'' said the knight.
''Who is requesting this meeting?'', I said, regaining my composure.
''Friedrich von Roon and he comes with a companion'' replied the knight.
'What does he want now?', last time he was requesting to continue with the vanguard operations with his tercio''.
''Let him pass, let two of my bodyguards enter in the meantime'', I said to my knight.
''At your orders my king'' said the knight as he stood up and left the room.
Two knights came in and stood at my sides, and we waited patiently for the meeting with one of my officers.
After waiting about five minutes, the officer and his companion entered the room where the young monarch was waiting to receive the information.
Von Roon immediately knelt down, but his companion looked stunned.
''Kneel, you idiot'' von Roon whispered to his companion.
The soldier also knelt down when he heard his officer's order
''your majesty, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for you granting us some of your valuable time, but we have found some rather terrible information that you must know to continue making decisions'' said von Roon getting up.
''I see, I appreciate your initiative, please deliver your report'' I said, looking at the officer.
''Tell him what you told me and what we discovered along the way'' said von Roon to his companion.
The soldier stood up, but he was pale, so much so that I thought he was sick.
''My...my...my...my...my ..king...eeee..well...''' said the soldier who was very nervous.
Von Roon hit him on the head with the palm of his hand.
''speak well, show the determination I have taught you''said von Roon with a serious tone.
''My king..... while making use...of my spare time...we discovered that the locals...earn much more than a Prussian soldier....after asking a few questions.... with our officer, we discovered that this is true, between sixteen and twenty-two silver coins is what the locals earn in comparison to the eight coins that a Prussian soldier earns in the same period of time, this almost caused a fight between our men and some business owners when they tried to exchange goods for coins'' said the soldier fighting his nervousness.
''Oh, this is bad, terrible, for the only reason the Prussian soldiers stand their ground in the face of Draconian training and fourteen hour marches a day is because they are paid almost double the average income in Prussia, but if we compare it to them, we are paying them a pittance which is not enough to feed themselves, there could be mutinies at worst or significant drop in morale because of this if he did not increase the pay''
''I see, von Roon you are absolutely right, this is serious, I appreciate your motivation to let me know immediately'' I said, looking at the officer.
''I am only doing my duty my king, but I remind you that Emil was the one who made the discovery, although I think he omitted it in his report he mediated, a fight of soldiers against the locals, avoiding bloodshed, if it wasn't for him, we would have the story how soldiers killed defenseless people'' said von Roon putting his hand on the soldier's shoulder
'A soldier who obediently followed the rules, even when he was affected, something noteworthy should be rewarded so that others follow his example''
''Emil, I appreciate your loyalty and controlling your comrades in that act, we want to prevent the westerosis from thinking we are monsters and something terrible almost happened, that could affect our position in these lands, so how can I reward you for this, as long as it is within my power and reasonable''I said with a kind tone.
The soldier started stammering and saying plenty of nonsense words.
''My king, in my tercio I have recently lost one of my captains within one of the attacks on a castle, a fitting reward would be to give him the position, he has shown that he has the initiative and has the ability to calm the men down, even against those who are eager to shed blood, so the position of captain with the salary is a good reward for what happened'' von Roon said pointing at the soldier
''Yes, a good reward, I will add five gold coins and an honorary knighthood in my personal order of knights'' I said in a calm tone.
The soldier opened his eyes as wide as he could
''My king.... I don't know what to say'' said Emil
''You don't have to say anything, you showed initiative and leadership in a time of need, and you should be rewarded for that, you can go talk to your quartermaster officer and give him this letter, so you can acquire the coat of arms of my house''I said handing him the letter.
Von Roon and Emil were leaving the room.
''Not you Roon, I need to talk to you'' I said with a serious tone.
Von Roon stayed in the room, looking at me with expectant eyes.
''I charge you to teach the boy everything you can, he has potential, but he must be polished properly'' I said to the officer.
''Of course, my king, but don't you think you were too generous with him?'', said the officer.
''We must encourage initiative, acting on one's own initiative is a gift that every Prussian officer should have, by the way, I will add three thousand gold coins for the reserved expenses of your tercio so that you can reward your men and yourself for the recent results'' I said with a kindly tone
''Thank you very much, my king, this faithful subject of yours, thank you for your concern for your men'' said von Roon.
I remained thoughtful for a few minutes
''We will raise the salaries to forty silver coins every moon for the soldiers without ranks the rest will be increased in the same way, I charge you to warn the rest of the commanders, take a decree with all the information'' I said while handing him a freshly signed decree
''My king, we could be wrong about all this'' said von Roon quite calmly.
''I may be confined under the protection of my knights from most of the things going on outside, but I always check the expenses of our logistics officers for mistakes or corruption attempts and I have noticed that most of the goods they have bought from merchants were quite expensive, so this information only confirms my fears we must keep the morale high, so the soldiers will keep fighting without putting up buts'' I said smiling
Von Roon nodded, and I pointed to the door, and this officer immediately left my office and also ordered the knights to leave me alone.
I began to rub my eyelids as a way of trying to calm the increasing stress I was going through.
'Well, I should get some sleep'.
As I was getting ready to sleep, a Finnish soldier entered my office with enviable speed.
''My king report from the northern front a letter from one of the knights protecting the captain general, it is urgent that you read it'' said the soldier, rather upset.
''What does it say'' I said as I took the letter.
''I don't know my king, he only told me that it is crucial that you read it'' said the Finnish soldier while trying to regulate his breathing.
I broke the seal and quickly read it.
{Lothar has ignored orders and is extorting money from the priests of the heathens searching for raising funds, the priests are making calls to take up arms against us, I await instructions}
'No way, not now'
''You are dismissed soldier, you may take the day off'' I said in the calmest tone I could.
When the soldier left my office, I almost started to curse, only the fact that many knights were outside my office that the moment I started shouting they would violently enter this room, I controlled myself from doing it.
'Why?, the von Ruppin's have been loyal followers of my family, their loyalty was fanatical, damn it, what should I do now, he is too influential, if they resist he could cause all the men under his command to revolt.'
'I can... I can order the Teutonic knights who protect him, to kill him, but I would have to purge all the other nobles under his command and thus his knights who grew up with them, there will be no shortage of typical knights who seek to avenge their fallen lord, I would lose many men in a stupid way.'
'Let's try something more diplomatic, arrest him first, but if it all goes wrong, I can always give the order to have him killed'
''AUGUST''I shouted
a knight quickly walked in
''my king what do you need'' said the knight holding the handle of his sword.
''I think we have a traitor, lothar, he is acting against my orders, I need you to take five hundred of your brothers and ride to ashford where lothar is leading the construction of fortifications and arrest him, if he refuses, just order the guards protecting him to cut his throat and I need you to kill or capture the rest of the nobles following him'' I said with a serious tone.
''lothar?, my king, are you sure that this information is correct, lothar is the man who has always been more loyal to you than anyone else in the kingdom, he promised eternal loyalty to you and your father'' said the knight, surprised.
''it has been confirmed by one of your brothers, so it must be real, so be quick and in the most private way possible,'' I said serenely
''I will fulfill your will, my king'' said the knight and quickly left the office.
I sat down again
''I hope everything goes well''
'shit, the migraines are back'
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