Road To The Crown 231 Before The Attack

17th July 1574 

"We will drop the people off the s.h.i.+ps about six kilometres before reaching the marketplace and make our way there on foot. Only when the signal will be given will the s.h.i.+ps reach the sh.o.r.e and support us from the coast. Is that clear?"

Standing in front of the small crowd of people neatly packed on the board of one of my paddlers, I could see some of the people relaying the orders back to the next boat in the long line of transports that were rus.h.i.+ng south.

With the leading s.h.i.+p and every third of the boats armed with torches on the long sticks, avoiding any crashes should be possible, especially with how relatively short distance we had to cover.

"As soon as we recover or at least confirm that the marketplace is free from the enemy troops, we will begin unloading all the cargo. Not even a single s.h.i.+p can hold a single weapon, a single piece of ammunition or a pack with food. After all, there is no point in moving anything back to Sandomir."

With one of my men bringing up a simple map and putting it at the small, holding rack, I picked up the torch and held it close enough to showcase the marked points without actually letting the paper that the map was made with set on fire.

"Our first target is to secure the market, yet we only need to do so to make the unloading of the boats easier. As such, we won't really care whether there will be any enemies that will manage to escape. Truth be told, I would even be happy if they managed to reach Tarnow before us, so that the enemies would have enough time to form up rather than intensifying the siege. After all, with the advantage that our weapons give us, there is no point fighting a prolonged battle."

Moving my torch that also served as the pointing device to the part of the map highlighting the area around the city, I brought the attention of the officers gathered on the deck to the small hill and river that separated the Tarnowian castle hill from the proper town.

"This is where we will strike first. The river, as small as it is, will give us some sort of cover from potential cavalry flanking, while the hill will s.h.i.+eld us from any form of artillery strike that the sieging forces might have on them. As for the other flank at the front itself, we will use the bags."

In the end, when it came to modern firearms, outside of the range advantage that my rifles had, the fact that they could be loaded on a sitting and even lying position would force certain decisions on our enemies.

After all, in the current time, if the fight was a cultured one, then two lines of men would stand in front of each other, shoot a volley each, and then go to attack with their bayonets, sabres and all different kinds of cold weapons. Yet this wasn't the scenario that I pictured in my head!

Rather than following this indeed smart idea and putting my men on the risk, I could only hope that enemy general had any idea how the war should look like. By forcing him to attack by letting some of the enemy soldiers escape from the market, he would have no other choice than to follow the traditional way of waging war.

Yet rather than giving him the chance to do so, I already came up with the proper countermeasures!

"Remember guys. It's not our point to enter a long and drawn-out fight. We don't want to decimate our enemies either completely. As much as I hate them for branding us as traitors only to strike in the source of our gold, it doesn't change the fact that they are still soldiers. And as you might already know from our earlier talks, we need every man we could get to repel the Russian invasion later. That's why, as soon as the enemy will start to panic and scatter, all we want is to take back the city, destroy their sieging encampments and make sure no one will be able to lay the siege on Tarnow without starting everything from scratch!"

As much as artillery and firearms changed the world of sieges, so did the fortifications that were built to counteract them. Back in the older, medieval ages sieges were all about either starving the enemy or putting a hole big enough in their walls to attempt charge. Yet in the current times, it was all about the attacking side reaching the point where defending the city no longer had any sense. 

After all, no one wanted to die heroic death just for the sake of his home and family being robbed, killed and burned down to the ground!

"As for our deployments, I will hold all of you personally responsible for all your men preparing and carrying their own bags. I know it will be annoying to carry them all this distance, but in the off-chance that our enemy will manage to react a bit faster than we expect, those bags will be our trump card over their attempt to scatter our counterattack before it even begins!"

Feeling one of the sailors tapping me on the shoulder, I realised that the time for motivational or organisational speeches was over. Shaking my head to get rid of all the lingering doubts and hesitation, I raised my face back to the officers in front of me. 

"This day, and today's battle, will decide not only the fate of our lands and wealth but also the fate of the entire country. I won't feed you bullc.r.a.p about being heroes. We are not. But don't forget. What we are fighting for is not as small as the common skirmishes between neighbours. What we are fighting for, is our families, our lands, and most importantly, our freedom!"

Shouting those words was as embarra.s.sing as it could get. Yet, by seeing the heated looks on my officer's faces despite almost complete lack of lighting in the area, I had to admit that contrary to my expectations, those words still achieved what I hoped they would. After all, without years of watching television series and dramas about last stands and heroic battles, telling those men that they would be responsible for the future of the entire country was bound to have a far more significant effect than doing the same to someone who understood just what kind of bullc.r.a.p those words in fact were!

Yet as much as I would like to revel in this moment of achievement and authentic leaders.h.i.+p, there was simply no time to do so. As I couldn't control the course of the s.h.i.+ps at the same time as giving a speech to my men, it was all up to sailors to inform me when we would reach close enough to the sh.o.r.e for the troops to start jumping out.

And feeling yet another tap on my shoulder, I realised that the time to start the war finally came.

"Men! I wish you all the best, and I hope we will return to the mining town with the same number as we departed with! Without further ado, let's go!"

Despite being a n.o.ble and having the chance just to oversee the entire conflict from a safe spot, I threw it all back to my head and after grabbing the railing of the boat, jumped out directly to the shallow waters of the local river.

It was time to start the bloodshed!