Medieval Knight System: Building the Strongest Empire Ever!-Chapter 73: Europe’s Strongest Army

Leaving Feuzen, our army marched north. With the majestic Beren Lance Cavalry at the front, the Rosenheim forces I led were positioned at the rear. From here to Count Euz’s territory would take about half a day, but the forest path slowed the march considerably. It might take even longer.

As we set off, I asked August about Baron Constance and my father while we rode side by side. Fortunately, August answered without reservation.

"What kind of person was Baron Constance?"

"The Baron was a knight among knights. He honored justice and practiced chivalry. As a minor knight from Feuzen, I admired him and volunteered for many of his battles."

"A knight among knights. Baron Constance sounds like an admirable man."

"Sir Streit’s father was an admirable knight as well."

Hearing about my father from someone else, when I had no memories of him myself, was a strange and fascinating experience. If Baron Constance was a knight among knights who honored justice and chivalry, my father could be described as a knight who lived and died by loyalty. Apparently, my father, Aseldorf, had been treated with considerable regard by Baron Constance.

And most importantly—the war five years ago.

I didn’t know the full details, but a local conflict had broken out when Burgundian guerrillas appeared in Belfort County, which became the battlefield. The problem was that Montferrand and Belfort lay too close together. The trigger was Belfort’s guerrillas accidentally setting fire to Montferrand’s granary region.

As it happened, the Duke of Burgundy was visiting Besançon at the time. When the news reached him, the Duke flew into a rage and mobilized a large army, rapidly escalating the conflict into a major war. But assigning blame for the trigger was meaningless. Burgundy would have invaded regardless of whether the granary had burned.

The crown prince at the time also participated in this war—the current Grand Duke Karlus.

Grand Duke Karlus had ascended the throne three years ago. Back then, as Crown Prince Karlus, he had joined forces with the western princes, the Duchy of Roden, and even hired Swiss mercenaries to face the Burgundians, but they couldn’t withstand Burgundy, widely regarded as Europe’s strongest army. Burgundy’s suzerain was nominally France, but in practice, the duchy was effectively independent.

In the third battle of this war, Baron Constance and my father, along with several duchy knights under the Baron’s command, stayed behind to buy time for the retreating allies and Crown Prince Karlus, and died in battle. What ultimately defeated Burgundy was the rise of anti-Burgundy forces within France.

I didn’t know exactly why the internal rebellion occurred, but Burgundy’s forces ended up divided, and after stubborn resistance in the Belfort region, the Burgundians withdrew of their own accord, ending the war. The more I heard from August about the conflict five years ago, the more I grasped just how formidable Burgundy truly was.

The fact that the Duchy of Beren had held out all this time showed we had been blessed with considerable luck. Twenty years ago, Burgundy had been forced to withdraw due to Saint Joan of Arc’s campaigns, and five years ago, they withdrew because an internal rebellion made continuing the war untenable.

So how would this northwestern invasion turn out?

Fortunately, civil war had broken out between France and Burgundy, so the conflict would likely remain a local one. But the danger was still grave. Burgundy coveted both the northern Duchy of Roden and the Duchy of Beren. If we couldn’t stop Burgundy, I would eventually have no choice but to pledge loyalty to them.

Yet Burgundy was making too many enemies on all sides, trusting in its overwhelming power, which made siding with them a risky proposition. For now, strategic choices on that scale were beyond my reach, so all I could do was give my best in the circumstances at hand.

And I asked August the question that had been weighing on me most.

Since he had been Baron Constance’s vassal knight, wouldn’t he know something about the tensions between the royal family and the Baron’s family?

"Sir Einbeck. Was there some problem between the Constance family and the Altringen royal family?"

"As far as I know, the Baron was a close confidant of His Highness the Crown Prince—that is, the current Grand Duke. But for some reason, he stepped down from that position and wasn’t summoned to the royal castle for quite some time."

"Was there some falling-out?"

"The Baron hardly ever spoke of such things."

Unfortunately, August didn’t know the details either.

But it was clear that Baron Constance had once been Grand Duke Karlus’s confidant before they grew distant for some reason. Yet in the war, the Baron still chose to buy time for the allies and Crown Prince Karlus to retreat—perhaps some loyalty had remained after all?

Even though his family line would end with him, perhaps he still wished to protect Crown Prince Karlus. But only the deceased himself would truly know the reason. After marching for roughly half a day, the central column came to a sudden halt. It wasn’t time for a rest, so I sent Ted ahead to find out what had happened. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

A little later, Ted came running back, out of breath.

"An envoy from Count Euz has arrived!"

"Not a messenger but an envoy?"

"It seems the Count sent his heir to welcome His Highness the Crown Prince."

Sending an heir meant Count Euz deeply welcomed the Crown Prince’s support. An heir was immensely precious, especially given that Count Euz had only one legitimate son. From the Count’s perspective, it was a profound gesture of goodwill toward the Crown Prince. The delayed march resumed shortly after.

Given the Crown Prince’s temperament, reaching Count Euz’s territory quickly would matter more to him than leisurely conversing with the envoy. The thought of Michael caught between the Crown Prince and the Count’s envoy made my heart ache in sympathy, but I was also relieved it wasn’t me.

After another half day of marching, Count Euz’s castle finally came into view. The forest path had slowed our pace, but we still arrived before sunset. Euz Castle sat atop a hill with a small plain stretching before it, surrounded by forests and low mountains.

It was mountainous terrain—ill-suited for large-scale battles.

Following Michael’s instructions, we set up camp near the castle. The Crown Prince and Michael entered under Count Euz’s escort, while I remained at the camp, attending to the details Michael couldn’t address and keeping the duchy forces in order.

"Check the supplies and watch closely for anyone skimming. Ted! Make rounds of the central column and tell the lieutenants that soldiers who disobey orders will be strictly punished! Oscar, request supply materials from the Euz official who was sent to us. We’re shortest on firewood, so tell them we’ll handle the logging ourselves if they grant permission. If they won’t cooperate, report back to me!"

Moving briskly, I took care of what needed doing. Our duchy forces hadn’t expected the operation to stretch this long, so we hadn’t prepared extra supplies. We had only managed to make it this far thanks to resupply from Rosenheim and Feuzen.

I put out the most pressing fires by securing the remaining supplies through the Euz officials. Naturally, every invoice would be forwarded to Finance. I was deeply curious about the Finance Minister’s expression when the avalanche of invoices landed on his desk, but I saved that pleasure for later. August watched me bustle about issuing orders and seemed impressed.

"Sir Streit, you’re capable not only in cavalry command but also in administration."

"I learned from watching my brother-in-law work. I was fortunate to pick up wartime administration under him."

It was true that I had learned wartime administration alongside Michael. Understanding the interconnected relationships of supplies, organization, and movement routes—and calculating them in advance while serving as an aide—was never easy. That experience had taught me how to mobilize an army when I eventually obtained a territory of my own.

And most critically: managing supplies and supply lines.

Supplies were the most fundamental element of running an army. Just as workers needed wages to work, armies needed supplies to fight. Tactical superiority was secondary. Even if you won on the tactical level, once supplies became a problem, morale would drop and you could lose battles that should have been won.

In the skirmish against Burgundy, I attributed the enemy’s low morale to insufficient supplies. Not only had they been lost, but they had brought few provisions, planning to procure what they needed locally through plunder. Their morale had been low from the start. We, by contrast, had moved with adequate supplies.

As a result, we had maintained high morale throughout.

Supplies did grow tight during the march to Count Euz’s territory, but they hadn’t run out entirely, so the soldiers’ grievances never boiled over. And having won against the Burgundian reinforcements and collected plenty of loot, morale was higher than ever.

The next day, I heard the full situation from Michael.

The forces Burgundy had mobilized numbered fifteen hundred.