I was a knight in the Middle Ages

Chapter 267: The Battle of Ideas

"Pursue the victory and attack with all your force!" Darlo has already given the order to attack.

Darlo's knights fought their way to the edge of the city wall, but the enemy actually lowered the city gate, not caring about the knights who had not yet entered. This made Darlo's plan to follow the enemy into the city fail.

In an instant, Darlo's cavalry became targets of the enemy, suffering heavy casualties.

"Beat the drums and retreat!" At this moment, Alpha asked William to withdraw his troops.

Williams stood in the center of the battlefield, looking at the devastated scene around him, feeling a lot of emotion in his heart. He knew that this victory (of course everyone thought that driving the enemy into the city was a victory) was only temporary, and there would be more challenges waiting for them in the future. But he also firmly believed that as long as everyone united as one and moved forward courageously, they would be able to overcome all difficulties and challenges.

At this moment, Gris had to admit the strength and courage of Williams and his Knights. He walked up to Williams, bowed deeply, and said, "Your Highness, I was wrong. You and your Knights do have great strength and firm beliefs. I am willing to apologize for my previous rudeness."

Williams smiled slightly, waved his hand and said, "Mr. Gris, the war has made us see many truths clearly. The most important thing now is to unite and fight against foreign enemies together. Let the past be the past, we have more important things to do."

After saying this, Williams turned and left the battlefield, and began to arrange the post-war reconstruction work. His knights also became heroes and legends in the hearts of the people of the imperial capital.

However, all this seemed a bit confusing to Alpha. He looked at Williams's departing back and couldn't help but sigh in his heart: This world is so unpredictable!

At this moment, Alpha deeply realized the cruelty of war, and even the cruelty of this era. It is sad that at such a moment, people's first reaction is not to save people, but to celebrate. The wounded on the battlefield can only fend for themselves, which is undoubtedly a disregard for life.

However, this is a tradition, a cruel reality caused by the medical limitations of the time. After the battle, people chose to let the wounded wait for the judgment of fate. Only after a period of time, if the wounded have not died, they will be treated. This practice is undoubtedly to screen out the seriously injured and save limited medical resources.

"Governor Alpha, why are you unhappy? We have successfully repelled the enemy's charge. This is our first victory!" Prince Williams was as excited as a child.

"Did we really win? Look at the casualties ratio. Our casualties are more than the enemy's, and the enemy still has the advantage of the high walls." Alpha looked at the corpses on the ground with heartache.

"Isn't this common sense in combat? This is how combat works. As long as we can repel the enemy, we win." William did not realize the seriousness of the problem.

"No, victory should be judged by the final result, not the process. We didn't take down Bull and suffered such heavy losses. To me, this is not a victory, but a failure." Alpha was not satisfied with this so-called victory.

"So, if it were you, how would you command this battle?" Williams gradually regained his composure. He realized that as a battlefield commander, he should not be satisfied with just a little victory in front of him.

"If it were me, under the same conditions, I would besiege Buhl but not launch an attack. At the same time, I would send troops to Berlin. If the enemy sends troops to stop us, we will retreat. This will not only ease the crisis in the imperial capital, but also achieve our goal." This was originally Alpha's plan. His goal was to attack Wei to save Zhao and avoid a head-on battle with the enemy.

At this moment, Alpha also realized the cruelty of war, no, it was the cruelty of this era. At this time, instead of rushing to save people, everyone celebrated and let the wounded on the battlefield fend for themselves.

However, this is a tradition. Due to the limitations of medical care in this era, after the battle, instead of rescuing people, the wounded were left to fend for themselves. After waiting for a period of time, if they were not dead yet, they would be treated. This way, most of the seriously injured could be excluded.

"Governor Alpha, why are you unhappy? We have successfully repelled the enemy's charge and we won the first battle." Prince Williams was as excited as a child.

"What have we won? Our casualties are greater than the enemy's, and the enemy still maintains the advantage of high walls." Because of the final madness, the death toll on their side increased sharply, and Alpha felt heartbroken when he saw it.

"Isn't this common sense in combat? Isn't this how a battle is fought? As long as you defeat the enemy, you win." William didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

"No, victory is about the result rather than the process. We didn't take down Bull and suffered heavy losses. To me, this is not a victory but a failure." Alpha was not optimistic about this so-called victory.

"Governor Alpha, if it were you, how would you command the battle?" Williams regained his composure and knew that as a battlefield commander he should not only focus on this battle.

"If it were me, and if it were still this order of knights, I would besiege Buhl, but not attack. And I would send troops to march into Berlin. If the enemy sent troops to stop me, I would retreat. This would resolve the crisis in the imperial capital, and our goal would be achieved." This was Alpha's original plan, and his goal was to attack Wei to save Zhao, rather than to confront the enemy head-on.

"What about Buell? Let's divide our forces. What should we do if Buell attacks the troops we leave behind?" Darlo came over at some point.

"If they are numerous, retreat; if they are few, attack; if they are evenly matched, hold on." Alpha's explanation was simple and clear.

"What's the purpose of this? What's the significance?" Williams was still very confused.

"Our strategic goal is the Berlin crisis. The key is to attract the enemy's troops, which we have already done. Once the Berlin crisis is resolved, Bull will collapse on his own. These people are just fence-sitters." Alpha didn't even want to attack Bull.

"This is not chivalry. We must eliminate the enemy on the front battlefield." Darlo obviously disagreed with Alpha's decision.

"What we need is victory. We need to win the battle at the lowest cost, not to cripple ourselves, let alone watch our soldiers lying on the ground wailing and waiting to die." Alpha vented his dissatisfaction while looking at the battlefield in the distance.

"Chivalry tells us" Darlo wanted to continue to swear his chivalry, but recalling his past, lying on the battlefield, the despair of waiting to die made him speechless.

"When we lead the knights into battle, we must try our best to ensure their safety and avoid engaging in meaningless death battles." Alpha knew that the decisive battle at this time was still in the barbaric era. Alpha said no more and left it to them to handle on their own. After all, his strategic goal had been achieved.

Governor Alpha's plans and ideas obviously conflicted with the traditional ideas of Prince Williams and Darlow. Although the strategy he proposed could theoretically achieve victory at the lowest cost, it was full of uncertainty and risk in actual operation.

First, the strategy of besieging Boer without attacking required great patience and discipline, which was a big challenge for the Knights who were used to frontal charge. Second, although sending troops to Berlin could attract the enemy's forces, it might also expose their flanks and give the enemy an opportunity to attack. Furthermore, even if the Berlin crisis was resolved, there was a great deal of uncertainty about the possibility of Boer's collapse without attacking, after all, the enemy's reaction and decision were unpredictable.

However, Governor Alpha's philosophy also has its rationality. He emphasizes winning at the lowest cost, which is undoubtedly in line with the basic principles of war economics. With limited resources, how to effectively use these resources and minimize losses is a problem that any army must consider. In addition, he also emphasizes the respect and protection of soldiers' lives, which is also an important principle in modern warfare.

In general, Governor Alpha's plan is a more modern and humane war concept, while Prince Williams and Darlow's ideas are closer to traditional chivalry. The conflict between these two concepts actually reflects the evolution and development of war concepts. In future wars, how to better protect the lives of soldiers and reduce unnecessary sacrifices while maintaining the fighting spirit will be a problem that every military leader needs to face.

The smoke of the Boer War was still rising, and the fierce battle had lasted for three days. Darlow was anxious and desperately urged his soldiers to attack. Although they had almost succeeded in taking down the Boer, his army had also suffered heavy losses.

On the evening of the third day, the Knights attacked Boer like wolves, officially opening the prelude to Boer's most brutal street fighting.

"Governor Alpha, we urgently need your support! The fighting situation is extremely brutal and we are in urgent need of assistance!" Darlo knew that Alpha still had a thousand elite troops in his hands, but no matter how he threatened or lured them, he could not mobilize a single soldier.

"I do not support the use of force to capture Boer, and the reinforcements from Berlin have already set off. What we need to do now is to reorganize the soldiers and prepare for retreat." Alpha would never throw his elite troops into such a meaningless street fight.

"What? Then we must speed up the occupation of Bull and use it as a support to resist the enemy's attack." This is Darlo's strategy.

"If you don't provide support, then hand over your magic spears and we will attack ourselves." Darlo knew the power of the magic spear. He believed that as long as he mastered the magic spear, he would be able to easily defeat the enemy.

"We have limited bullets. It will be useless even if we give them to you." Alpha has a limited number of bullets. Now they are basically all snipers. They only shoot at enemy commanders and mutants. They basically will not use magic guns in other situations.

"Prince Williams, I ask for your support, otherwise we will never be able to capture Bull before the enemy arrives." Seeing that Alpha was unmoved, Darlo turned to Prince Williams for help.