Black Corporation: Joseon Chapter 943

Episode 943: Ijei (以夷制夷) – Regional appraisal. (3)

Of course, not all of the Spanish military command agreed.

“This must be their trap! These guys have already ambushed you on the mountain path! So you knew we were coming, but you emptied everything and disappeared? “It must be a trap!”

Seeing the commanders shouting that it was clearly a trap, the other commanders responded with bitter smiles.

“Don’t we know that? “Is there any other alternative than entering that fortress?”

The commanders who claimed it was a trap remained silent. Considering the troops and equipment lost while passing through the mountain path, turns had to be avoided.

However, it was too late to withdraw troops right away. There was insufficient supplies, including food, to make a detour.

As those who argued for a trap remained silent, other commanders pointed out the reality.

“It is impossible to rotate in our current situation. The best thing to do is to go into that fortress and hold a sit-in. The reason they left it blank like that is probably because they are confident in their cannons. But wouldn’t it be better for us to have at least a fortress to rely on than nothing at all? If we do our best, we can hold out until reinforcements arrive. If that happens, I will have something to say when I return to Toledo later. Still, shouldn’t we go in because it’s a trap?”

“… Let’s go in.”

In the end, the Spanish military command chose to stage a sit-in at Fortress Alexandria.

* * *

The Spanish military command, who arrived at Fort Alexandria and inspected the surrounding villages and the interior of the fortress, could not help but smile bitterly once again.

“I cleaned it up once.”

Not only the inside of the fortress but also the surrounding villages were completely emptied. On the other hand, the moat surrounding the fortress was meticulously filled. It was not simply filled with soil and stones and gravel, but even plaster was covered on top of it.

Other than that, it seemed like they had left in a hurry, and the interior and exterior of the fortress and surrounding village houses were littered with large and small furniture and clothes that they had not yet taken with them.

However, none of the important things such as food and gunpowder were visible.

“Was the purpose of the ambush on the mountain path also to buy time? “I don’t know who the enemy commander is, but he is truly cunning.”

Thanks to this, everything was lacking, but the morale of the soldiers, who had fallen to rock bottom, recovered rather quickly.

“But there is a wall…”

Even though the value of the fortress has decreased significantly as cannons have become the core of military power, the fortress wall was a reassurance to the soldiers.

Although they had to survive the day with soup as thin as plain water, a few pieces of dried bread, and a few pieces of salted meat, the soldiers worked even harder to climb up and down the walls and dig trenches outside the moat.

“If you’re going to come, come!” “This time it’s our turn to show our true worth!”

However, the Imperial Allied Forces, which seemed likely to appear tomorrow, did not appear.

After confirming the information brought by the scouts, Yu Eung-bu looked at his subordinate commanders and staff and spoke his thoughts.

“The enemy will have regained their morale. Attacking at a time like this can result in greater losses than expected. Wait a little longer. “Time is your best ally.”

The commander and staff all nodded at Yu Eung-bu’s words.

As Yu Eung-bu said, as time passed, the morale of the Spanish army began to drop again.

The biggest cause was lack of food. I ate as sparingly as I could, but food ran out quickly. The soldiers, exhausted from hunger, once again went around the surrounding villages and searched the houses.

But there was no luck, and at some point the number of Spanish troops coming out began to decrease.

After receiving the report, Yu Eung-bu smiled in remorse and gave orders to his subordinate commanders.

“Let’s start slowly. Please check the status again.”

“ancient!”

And about ten days after the Spanish army began its sit-in, the imperial allied forces appeared in front of Fort Alexandria.

“come!”

The Spanish cavalry marched from Fortress Alexandria to see the imperial allied forces moving leisurely.

“Let’s hit them hard before they finish preparing!”

“Let’s get some food!”

“Supplies! Supplies!”

The Spanish cavalry, blinded by their survival instinct rather than their assigned mission, ran towards the imperial allied forces like a gale.

The Imperial Allied Forces, who saw the charge of the Spanish cavalry, responded calmly.

The military wagons that were waiting in advance at the outermost part of the line – the side closest to the fortress – immediately finished preparing to fire, and the gunners and assistant gunners of the armored light wagons also took their positions around the military wagons.

“Bangpo!”

Ta-ta-ta-ta-tang!

At the command’s command, the wagons burst into flames and the Spanish cavalry fell in vain.

The Imperial Allied Forces, which began by annihilating the Spanish cavalry, got straight to the point.

“Bangpo!”

bang! Quack! bang!

The heavy guns of the imperial army’s heavy artillery, which had finished dissipating, began pounding on the walls of Alexandria, and the walls of the fortress began to collapse helplessly.

The walls began to collapse, but the damage to the Spanish army was surprisingly small.

This was because the Spanish military command, expecting that the imperial army would collapse the walls with artillery fire, hid its troops as much as possible in basements and temporary shelters.

-Anyway, the end of the siege is the deployment of infantry. Hold on until then!

-Even if the castle wall collapses, the remains become a great defense! Take advantage of this!

The expectations and responses of the Spanish military commanders were reasonable. The only problem was that the Imperial army’s heavy artillery had more firepower than they had expected.

The imperial army’s heavy artillery collapsed the walls of Alexandria faster and more fatally than expected.

The imperial army’s heavy artillery, which tore down the walls, opened fire on the buildings and temporary shelters built within the fortress.

The temporary shelters, which were built based on the firepower of the artillery of the country’s army, were powerless against the shells of heavy artillery.

Temporary shelters made with materials brought from dismantled houses in nearby villages were destroyed by artillery fire, and the Spanish soldiers sheltering inside began to suffer heavy damage.

bang!

Every time a temporary shelter collapsed due to shelling, countless pieces of wood, stone, and human body pieces flew in all directions.

The imperial army’s heavy artillery, which had meticulously pounded the walls and interior of the fortress, soon turned its guns toward the trenches created outside the moat.

“Bangpo!”

bang! Kwakong! bang!

“bean?”

“misfire!”

“Holy shit!”

Sometimes unexpected things happened, but the imperial army’s heavy artillery steadily pounded the forts and trenches.

“I think I touched it appropriately. “Get the soldiers out.”

“yep!”

Following Yueungbu’s orders, the imperial allied forces, led by the Swiss and Florentine troops, began to advance toward the fortress.

The battle that followed was close to a sweep. The Spanish army suffered serious injuries both mentally and physically due to the continuous bombardment of the imperial army’s heavy artillery.

As the Swiss and Florentine troops approached, a small number of Spanish troops began to resist, but were soon overpowered.

Eventually, the fortress was captured not long after. The Spanish commanders and soldiers who managed to escape began fighting in the surrounding villages and retreating the same way they came.

The chase that followed and another ambush on the mountain path forced the Spanish army to suffer once again.

And the report delivered to Toledo through the follow-up unit that followed was brief but fatal.

-annihilation.

* * *

The French and Spanish armies, who suffered a crushing defeat from the Allied Empire, could not move easily.

The French army set up camp in Turin and the Spanish army set up camp in Nice, and sent cavalry out in all directions to find stragglers and join them.

By finding soldiers who had fallen behind and joining them, and catching and punishing deserters, the French and Spanish armies began to reorganize in earnest.

As time passed, the reorganization of France and Spain was completed, but both countries could not move easily and only watched what was seen.

A single attack against the Imperial Allied Forces, which were firmly entrenched near the Po River, was unthinkable.

Therefore, France and Spain sent messengers to each other to discuss the proper formation and operation of the Allied Forces and at the same time began to mobilize additional troops.

At the same time, messengers were sent to the Habsburgs and the Kingdom of Naples, the Roman Empire, urging them to participate in the war.

As a side note, the price of mercenaries began to rise again due to this special war, which was not a war special.

Since Switzerland had already been taken over by the Empire, most of the mercenaries were from Germany and Northern Europe, who had launched a new brand called Landsknecht.

Due to overwhelmingly greater demand than supply, the price of these mercenaries soared steeply.

“As long as you survive, you will have money to play and eat for the rest of your life!”

“Rather than living here as an apprentice or a day laborer, let’s aim for something big!”

Many Northern European youth visited the mercenary tent, hoping to make a fortune.

It was not just young people in Northern Europe. Black slaves who escaped from rural manors or ranches and lived in hiding in the city also volunteered for mercenary units.

-As long as you survive, your status and salary as a free citizen are guaranteed!

It was too sweet an offer for the slaves.

* * *

While the enemy countries were preparing once again, the empire did not sit still.

Posters soon began to be plastered in every city and village in the Florence region as well as Milan and Genoa.

The posters plastered on the walls and bulletin boards of government offices and cathedrals all had large pictures and phrases stamped on them.

There were two main types of posters.

One was a portrait of a man dressed in the attire of an ordinary Italian man. A middle-aged man who appeared to be in his 50s was raising his finger firmly and pointing at the people looking at the poster.

And above the man’s head, what he wanted to say was engraved in large letters.

-Voglio te! (I want you!)

And a more detailed sentence was written below it.

– Come for the unification of Italy!

Another picture showed a man wearing old Roman military armor standing with his back to a woman and children who were gripped by fear.

The man, who was standing with his back to the woman wearing torn clothes exposing her breasts and the child who was looking at them with frightened eyes, was staring to one side with a stern expression, tightly gripping the sword in his hand.

There was a large text engraved at the bottom of the picture.

-Descendants of Roman warriors! Come forward for Mother Italy and her children!

In addition, posters with the same picture but slightly different text began to be plastered everywhere.

As time passed, these posters began to show little by little their medicinal effect.

The young men of Genoa and Milan, who had been looking at the posters with indifferent or hostile expressions, began to move.

“Unification, unification…”

What added fuel to the movement, which was only a small ripple, was the news of the crushing defeat of the French and Spanish armies.

After hearing the news, more and more young people from Genoa and Milan began to visit military recruitment centers.

This was also Hyang’s trick.

* * *

“It is more likely that this war will become a long-term war rather than a short-term war.”

Hyang looked at the report and calmly analyzed the situation.

“And the empire should not deploy more manpower than necessary. Switzerland also has limitations. In the end…”

Hyang paused for a moment, looked at the map of Italy, and continued.

“It’s Italy’s problem, so Italians should take action. Hmm… Should it be ‘Uncle Giuseppe’ instead of ‘Uncle Sam’? Should it be ‘Mother Italy’ instead of ‘Mother Russia’?”

In this way, they began producing propaganda paintings using the images of ‘Uncle Sam’ and ‘Mother Russia’.

“Because the best artists happened to be available at the same time.”

The people the fragrance spoke of were Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who received the scent’s orders, soon began production.

The result, which went through several revisions under the guidance of Hyang, came out very well, and was soon printed in large quantities and began to be plastered on the streets.

Hyang, who was examining the sample, immediately burst into laughter and muttered.

“Propaganda paintings by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo? In a few hundred years or so, it will become an item that will cause a stir at auction houses. How many more should I pack?”