Chapter 100: The Beginning Of Bulgar’s Final War

On a cold sunny morning, the dew still remained, as Fontaine soldiers marched through the soft plains of the Kreighelm territory. Dressed in green military attire, the soldiers were marching to the tune of drums and flutes. Standards fluttered in the gentle breeze, displaying the Fontaine coat of arms. It was a violet-coloured judicial scale on a field of lime green. 

The full force of the Fontaine Faction's army had crossed The Fifth Hessen Bridge unmolested and was making steady progress south to the city of Kreighelm. Grand Duke Fontaine restrained his forces from pillaging nearby villages but allowed them to cease supplies forcibly from the villagers.

Grand Duke Fontaine's army was a day's march away from Kreighelm and they were ready to besiege the city with their overwhelming force. They consisted of, 260,000 infantrymen, 30,000 cavalrymen and 700 guns. Simeon hoped to use his numerical advantage to cease an early win and put pressure on Victor to protect his southern territories.

As his army advanced, Simeon raised an eyebrow in surprise to see Luxenberg soldiers deployed in a well dug in defensive line, that spanned along the road to Kreighhelm. What was more surprising was the appearance of King Victor amongst the defenders. He postured himself in the rear alongside Marshal Lannes, Marshal Bessières and Field Marshal Schwarzenberg.

The Luxenberg defensive line was split into 2 sections. The left flank was held by General Tauentzien's 3rd Corps while General Bülow's 6th Corps positioned themselves on the right flank. Marshal Lannes's 9th Corps was split between both flanks while the royal guard which consisted of 3,000 French Imperial Guard soldiers and 420 Royal Scots Grey cavalrymen were held in reserve.

In total, the Luxenberg forces had 93,000 infantrymen, 12,420 and 320 guns. They had less than half of what the Fontaine army had, which is why Grand Duke Fontaine was surprised to see the Luxenberg forces deployed outside of the city's walls.

As Simeon stared out towards the Luxenberg defences, he astutely studied their position. General Tauentzien's left flank, was dug in well on a hill, half of their cannons rested atop the hill while the rest were deployed slightly left of the road going down the middle of the battlefield.

For the right flank, General Bülow's forces were well entrenched along a flat stretch of land. They had made use of sandbags to fortify their artillery, while also deploying sudes along the front and sides of their formation. His infantry was spread out and had a few small trenches that could fit 700 soldiers. 

The Fontaine army was about 2 kilometres away from the Luxenberg frontlines. They would have to cover a fair bit of ground to reach the defenders, all the while trying to navigate a storm of artillery shells and musket balls. A concerning issue was the cannons on the hill, they could bombard the Fontaine artillery due to their superior range and elevation.

Not wanting to rush in, Grand Duke Fontaine set his camp up an extra kilometre away from the battlefield. In the Grand Duke's lavish and large tent, the top brass of the Fontaine Faction's army met to devise a strategy.

"Gentlemen, we are faced with a precarious situation. Our enemy which we thought would prepare for a siege, is now right in front of us. They have dug in well and placed their limited amount of soldiers in optimal positions. We do have the numerical advantage by 2 to 1, however, we must not underestimate the forces before us," Simeon stated informatively.

Duke Hirschmann, the defensive specialist out of the commanders expressed his thoughts about the Luxenberg "position. "The Luxenberg forces have made use of the terrain to assert a slight edge in this battle. They have prepared well, unfortunately for us, if we wish to defeat them, we will suffer a lot of casualties, those cannons on the hill imparticular will ravage our soldiers."

All the nobles and high ranking army officers shared grim looks on their faces. Duke Hirschmann was right about the situation they were in. To get to Kreighelm, they would have to go through this well dug in force, which would result in a fierce battle, taking the lives of many soldiers.

Grand Duke Simeon had hoped not to start the war with a strong confrontation but with a quick and decisive siege victory. Nevertheless, he could not pass on this battle, especially when the young king was present on the battlefield. "Does anyone have an idea, as to how we approach this battle?" Simeone asked.

Duke Verdant raised his hand and spoke. "A standard strategy would be to use artillery to pin down the enemy while our infantry advanced. However, our cannons can not be set up properly if fired upon by the enemy cannons on the hill. I would suggest using the conscripts as cannon fodder to distract the enemy while we set up our artillery."

It was a cruel strategy, yet it was one that could prove to be effective. At the same time, it could backfire miserably and result in needless death. Simeon was reluctant to use such a strategy and invited the others to offer up viable solutions.

"Is it possible to set up the artillery while we parlay with the enemy? They would not risk firing upon us if their king or high ranking general was at the centre of the battlefield. Or we could wait until nightfall and set them up under the cover of darkness," Stetson suggested.

Everyone present nodded, Stetson had brought forth two viable options that could prove to be effective. Simeon stood at the table and weighed the pros and cons of each idea, he was more in favour of the nighttime approach, due to the lesser risks involved compared to the parlay idea.

The only issue the Grand Duke had with the plan was whether or not his artillerymen were competent enough to set their cannons up in darkness. If they used torch light to help see while performing this task, the enemy cannons could rain down cannon balls upon them. 

Scanning the room Simeon looked at each man around the table and asked, "If you are in favour of setting up our artillery under the cover of darkness raise your hands." Promptly all the advisors raised their hands with firm looks.

"So be it then, relay the orders to the artillery crews, at night they shall prepare their cannons."