146 Episode 18 Equestrian Tactics After




 If you resist, I'll kill you. If you remain calm, I will not take your life.

 Nia declared in the Bulgarian village.  
 Nia's words were immediately translated by his second-in-command who could speak Bulgarian.

 The Bulgurons obeyed Nia meekly and raised their hands, as there were no more forces in the village to resist.
 Nia gathered the inhabitants in one place and had the soldiers watch them.

 He then selected some of them to show them around the village.

 "Where are the sheep and horses?
 "Why do I have to tell you ......?
 "If you don't answer, I'll kill you one by one every three seconds. Three, two, .......
 Come on, come on! Follow me, follow me, follow me!

 Nia and her men are led by the Bulgurons to a place where they are herding sheep and horses.
 Nia orders his men.

 "Kill all the sheep. Kill all the horses, leaving the best ones alive.
 "No, no, no, no, no! Sheep and horses are ......
 Shut up!

 Nia put her fist in the Bulgaran's stomach and killed all the livestock with poisoned arrows, leaving only a few horses.
 Nia leads the drooping Bulgaron man back to the village where Yurt stands.

 Next, Nia orders the gathered inhabitants.

 Take off your clothes and remove all ornaments. Anyone who does not strip completely naked within 30 seconds will be killed. Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight. ......

 At Nia's command, the Bulgurons hurriedly began to take off their clothes.
 After watching with satisfaction as the Bulgurons hid their naked bodies, Nia gathered the clothes she had taken from them into one place.

 "Set fire to it.

 Nia's men set the stolen clothes on fire with torches.
 The fire burns bright red.

 Nia also sets fire to all the yurts in the village.

 The naked Bulgurons can only watch the scene.
 In the meantime, his men, who had once parted ways with him, came back with the prisoners.

 They were all disarmed and stripped naked.

 We will release all the prisoners. However, ...... we've cut off their fingers so they can't fight anymore.

 Nia said, and released the men.
 He then mounted his horse and gave the order to his men.

 'Come on, let's get to the next settlement. What? Distribute the loot? We can decide that on the march! Act quickly! Come on, let's go!

 Nia hurried her men away from the village in a flash.
 The remaining residents muttered to themselves as they watched the village go up in flames.

 "...... How will we live from now on?

 No one could answer that question.





 Within a week, more than 20 villages were burned by Nia and Jebe. ......
 More than twenty settlements were burned and looted by Nia and Jebe.





 "Your Majesty, we have just returned.
 "Good, well done. How did it go?

 Hercule nodded in satisfaction as he heard the results of the battle from Nia and Jebe.
 It seems that they succeeded in burning the defenseless Bulgaron settlements, especially those of the Krom clan.

 Let's retreat. There is no reason for us to stay here any longer.

 With that, Hercule ordered the entire army to retreat.
 For the past week, Hercule had been deploying a large force of about 80000 troops near the border with Bulgalon. ......
 Now that Nia and Jebe have succeeded in their mission, there is no need to deploy any more troops.

 "Your Majesty.
 What is it? Nia.
 I was wondering if you could tell me the purpose of this operation?

 Nia asked Hercule.
 Hercule smiles wryly.

 "Hmm ......, just so I understand, do you know why I've deployed a large force?
 Yes. It's a diversion, right? The two of us, Jebe and I, will quietly invade the Bulgaron Kingdom and attack the defenseless Bulgaron settlements.

 When war breaks out, the Bulgurons move their settlements closer to the battlefield.
 When war breaks out, the Bulgurons move their settlements closer to the battlefield, and the Bulgurons' settlements serve as logistics bases.

 Hercule's goal is to create a diversion with a large army, and while the Bulgurons' men are out of the way, ......
 I'm sure you'll be able to understand why.

 But I don't understand the intent of the order to kill as few of the inhabitants as possible and burn all their property to the ground ....... No killing of prisoners, only cutting off their fingers. ......
 "Jebe is a nomad, so he'll understand.

 Hercule said. ......
 Jebe gave a small nod.

 Nia frowned blatantly.


 It's frustrating that Jebe knows what he's doing and I don't.

 It's not that he's inferior to Jebe. 
 This is not to say that Nia is inferior to Jebe.
 But Nia wants to win all the battles.

 For us nomads, sheep, horses, easy-to-carry cloths and precious metals are our most precious possessions. To be deprived of all that would mean starving to death.
 "That's right, Jebe. Nia, do you understand?
 ...... So your goal is to starve the Bulgurons to death?

 When Nia asked this, ......
 Hercule shook his head from side to side.

 No, not exactly.
 "...... different?
 What, you were wrong, too?

 When Nia found out that Jebe was wrong, she looked blatantly happy.
 Jebe frowned a little uncomfortably at the sight of Nia's expression.

 You were wrong, too, weren't you?
 What, what are you trying to say?
 "Don't fight.

 When Hercule blamed them, they apologized to Hercule.
 When Hercule blamed them, they apologized to Hercule, who inwardly thought that he was the wrong person to apologize to.

 No one wants to starve to death. No one wants to starve to death, so they're going to do something before they do. That means help. We've got to get food from somewhere. Especially the hard-hit Krom and the smaller clans with weaker economic bases.

 The Krom clan has lost enough food to feed a total of 30,000 people.
 The Chromes have lost a total of 30,000 people's worth of food, and the small and medium-sized clans, which originally had little reserves, have been hit hard.

 If this were Lemuria, we could all help each other out. ...... Now, what about the Bulgurons?

 Hercule smiled.







 "This is a bad idea, Alicia.
 "Yes, father .......

 When Alicia and the Crom Chief returned from the battlefield, they were met by their own people, who had been deprived of food.
 Alicia and the Chrome-Chief had no choice but to redistribute the food: ......

 "There was originally only enough food for 400,000 people. We lost another 30,000 people's food and many sheep. ......

 The population of the Chrom clan is 450,000.
 In other words, the Chromes were already in a situation where more than 50,000 people were running out of food.

 On top of that, they lost another 30,000 people.

 Especially painful was the loss of many sheep, goats, and horses.
 Livestock could not be increased so easily, and it became difficult to obtain milk, a valuable source of nutrition.

 This year is good. This year is good, but we have to think about the future. ......

 Even if we manage to make it through this year, ......
 Even if we manage to survive this year, we don't know what next year will bring.

 Even if we manage to survive this year, we don't know what will happen next year. If we're not careful, more than half of our population may starve to death.

 "Clan leader! We're in trouble!
 What's wrong?
 The settlement to the west has been attacked!
 What is it? Lemurian forces?
 No, no, no. ...... It was the Tulum Clan!

 The Tulum Clan.
 They are the most powerful clan in the Kingdom of Bulgaron.

 It's hard to believe they would attack the Chromes.  
 At least not on their own.

 So ......

 "You've turned to Lemuria!

 The Chrome Chief clenched his fists in frustration.
 The economic base of the clan was weak to begin with.
 They must have succumbed to the Lemurian Empire's economic blockade early on.

 The Lemurian army knew the exact location of our village because they were guided from within. ......

 Although nomads have an image of moving about freely, there is actually a certain order to their movement.
 There are only a few places where you can find water, sunshine, ...... and, if possible, fuel wood.

 Such places are limited.

 For a stranger with no geographical advantage, it is hard to know where the nomads are now. ......
 For the nomads, they have a rough idea of where they are.

 "First, we should have an audience with King Bulgalon. Then we will have to ask for food aid. ...... I am Master Telerig's fiancee. I'm sure he'll make it easy for us.
 "Yes, yes, I will. The Tulum clan can wait. Let's fix the ...... food problem first.