“Naturally, Welman was furious at the Moreland company commander, and we’ll see that he is never again put in a command position. However, Welman also thinks they were surprised by how fast the officer taking Erdelin’s place reacted. We thought the Narthani would be hesitant to act after the assassination, but whoever this new person is, he showed far too much initiative.”
Well, shit, Yozef thought. I hope in our . . . my . . . wish for revenge or teaching the Narthani a lesson, whichever it was, that we didn’t end up with a more competent officer taking Erdelin’s place. That would really be a pisser.
Culich raised an eyebrow at Yozef. “Stent’s angry at himself for violating several of the principles in your On War. He believes his emotional desire to cause as much damage as possible led him to let his companies get too far apart, so they couldn’t all support one another. I think your stature with him has gone up quite a bit, now that he saw what could happen when he didn’t follow your advice.
“I suspect the same can be said for Denes Vegga. He sent several long reports ahead by riders. He thinks he has you to thank for On War and his talks with you helping him get his mind around these complex ways of fighting. He told me it was almost like having you with him, giving advice. Even when he took the Preddi slaves, he says he knew it violated several principles about staying focused on the objectives, but he also remembered that a leader has to use On War only for general principles and that it was up to the leader to make decisions for any given circumstance.”
The return trip to Caernford had given Yozef ample time to think about the Narthani and his own roles. He recognized that the attack on the birthday party had changed him in ways he didn’t fully understand, yet he was changed. What he was about to say, and he hoped to set in motion, was proof of a Yozef Kolsko he would not have recognized three years earlier.
“I would thank Denes and Hetman Stent for their opinions, but we have something more important to consider. The Narthani attack on Swavebroke has been devastating for that clan. Although most of the people are still alive, they’ve lost their main city and all the history and cultural artifacts it contained.
“The Narthani killed two hetmen and almost a third hetman here in Keelan. They must want to hold the clans in place. I don’t believe the Narthani are satisfied to simply maintain control of Preddi and the other two provinces. They must know the clans are getting stronger. Our counterattacks into Eywell and over the Preddi border, along with killing one of their top commanders, had to have convinced them that their time might be running out.
“I cannot imagine any scenario where the current situation, what my people would call the ‘status quo,’ can last. We have to do something permanent about the Narthani. It’s untenable to leave the situation as it is. Even if our responses inhibit the Narthani from future attacks, the clans would be under potential threat as long as the Narthani are on Caedellium. I’ve also become more convinced the Narthani might want Caedellium so much, they’ll send more troops. The fact that they’ve settled so many of their noncombatants on Caedellium indicates how serious they are.
“Right now, we estimate there are eight to ten thousand Narthani soldiers on the island. What would happen if they send another twenty thousand? Forty thousand? There’s nothing we could do to stop them from landing while they have Preddi Province as a safe base. However, if they didn’t have the Preddi infrastructure, the harbor, farms and ranches, and a supporting population, any more troops would have a much more difficult time. So much so, that the Narthani might be forced to reconsider, even abandon, attempts to incorporate Caedellium into their empire.”
“That’s what you’re going to propose, isn’t it, Yozef?” asked Maera. “That the clans must eject the Narthani from Caedellium, before they have a chance to land more troops.”
Yozef hadn’t told Maera of his thinking, but she’d known him long enough and was bright enough to fill in the blanks.
“He’s right, Father,” she told Culich. “We have to settle with the Narthani, once and for all. No more reacting to what they do.”
Culich shifted his leg, wincing until he found a more comfortable spot on the cushion. He smiled the smile of a predator, an expression that seemed appropriate for the agony he felt.
“It will be painful for the clans,” Culich said. “Pain in the losses of life that will ensue. But I believe, for the first time, that the clans will finally unite in a campaign against the Narthani.”
He turned to Yozef. “You may not have heard, but besides Hetman Skouks being killed by assassins, Hetman Swavebroke died with four hundred of his men, as they slowed the Narthani enough to let the people of Shullick escape inland. His son is the new hetman, and, from semaphore messages, it sounds like he’ll be a fervent supporter of any effort to eliminate the Narthani.
“I wonder if the Narthani will ever realize what a mistake these attacks were? Swavebroke and Skouks were two of the clans least interested in making coordinated efforts against the Narthani. Bevans is also now a believer. Although their hetman survived, he and his clan are furious. Pawell was shocked by the Skouks attack, and even Nyvaks, who we suspect of colluding with the Narthani, now seems less likely to resist any coordination.
“I’ve been communicating with other hetmen, especially Orosz, Stent, and Farkesh. We’re calling a mandatory All-Clan Conclave for one month from now.”
Yozef groaned. “Another—”
Culich cut him off. “I know, I know. Another conclave, but this time I think we’ll get real results. The formal topic will be a united and coordinated effort against the Narthani. What you need to do, Yozef, is work with Denes and Vortig on exactly what action is feasible. This needs to be done quickly, so I can have input and then discuss it with key hetmen before the conclave.”
“I’ve already been thinking, Culich,” said Yozef. “I have to warn you that what I’ll propose will be on a scale that dwarfs anything we’ve done, or considered doing, before.”
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 40: THE CLANS UNITE
The Plan
For the next month, Yozef made time each day for Aeneas and personal time for him and Maera, except for those minutes when he focused on preparing for the conclave. They continued living at Keelan Manor, with the others from their house staying in guest cottages. A room in Keelan Manor was designated for half- to full-day meetings planning an attack on Preddi, the manor site chosen to let Culich avoid moving more than necessary. They assumed the clans would finally agree to unite and the conclave would approve the plan. There were issues of command structure that Yozef didn’t have answers for, but he figured he had no control over that aspect, leaving it to Culich.
The meetings’ participants varied. Yozef, Denes, and Vortig Luwis almost always attended, with Culich, Pedr Kennrick, and Mulron Luwis taking part, depending on the topic and status of specific aspects of the plan. Maera attended most meetings, as both scribe and participant, and Owill Brell, the Adrisian in charge of the MIU, became a regular contributor.
As Yozef had predicted, the scope of his ideas initially startled the others. It took a full sixday and hours of convincing before everyone agreed this was no time for half measures. Yozef had to justify each part of what he formulated, and they modified many details. However, the three central parts remained, and Yozef summarized them at the end of the first sixday of meetings.
He stood next to a blackboard, another of his introductions, and pointed to three bullet points.
“First, we have to cut out the two allied clans, Selfcell and Eywell. This will result in the Narthani pulling all their fighting men back into Preddi Province. We also can’t leave potentially hostile forces in our rear when we go after Preddi City.
“We would send large dragoon and artillery units south southwest from Moreland Province to cut off Sellmor, the Selfcell capital, from Preddi Province. We have reason to believe the Selfcellese are not enthusiastic allies of the Narthani, so there’s a good chance they’ll capitulate without serious r
esistance, if they find themselves greatly outnumbered. It’s also likely the Narthani will pull their own men back into Preddi, rather than risk them against a large clan force. Such a withdrawal will give Selfcell more reason to surrender without fighting.
“Eywell is more difficult to predict, since they’ve appeared more eager to be Narthani allies. However, they’ve lost enough men already, at the Battle of Moreland City, and had so much of their province razed by our two raids that they might not resist. We’ve gotten reports of more and more Eywellese crossing borders into neighboring provinces and asking for asylum. But as I said, the level of Eywellese resistance is hard to predict.
“Assuming we isolate Preddi Province, we’ll pursue the next two objectives at the same time. We will amass forty thousand dragoons, all the cannon we can muster, and extensive logistics support on the Preddi border. The Narthani will want to concentrate civilians in Preddi City and the larger towns. Our forces will cut behind Preddi City, moving south and isolating the city from the rest of the province. This objective serves two purposes. It prevents the province from providing materiel and manpower support to the Narthani military, and tens of thousands of prisoners could serve during any negotiations.
“The third objective is to invest Preddi City. This means surround the city and dig fortifications, so the Narthani can’t leave. We must be prepared for a long siege, months, possibly longer. They won’t be able to bring in more food, but we assume they’ve stockpiled enough to last quite a while. We will also divert three streams that flow through the city, although there are wells, and they can try to dig more.
“After the only major Narthani forces left are behind Preddi City fortifications, we’ll start digging trenches deep enough to get closer to their defenses, while providing protection from musket and cannon fire. We’ll try to avoid a direct assault, but the trenches will let us get close enough to use the siege mortars I’ve described. The first ones are being planned for casting as we speak and should be testing in two sixdays. We’re also renewing our efforts to work out fuses for shells. I believe it will be some time before we have contact explosive shells for cannon, but the mortars have lower shot velocities, and their short barrels give the option of manually lighting the fuses before firing. We also hope to work out lighting the fuse when the flame sweeps around the projectile. I’m optimistic we can figure it all out.
“Once the mortars are close enough, we’ll start a continuous bombardment of the city. Even if the fuses are unreliable, enough should work that we’ll slowly destroy the city and fortifications. As this happens, we’ll look for opportunities to dig our trenches closer and closer to theirs. At some point, they’ll be forced to pull back in a shrinking defensive line.
“I hope that well before the city is totally leveled and everyone inside is killed, the Narthani recognize the inevitable, and we can negotiate their leaving the island. I also fervently hope it doesn’t come down to us having to storm even weakened defenses. While I understand the wish to crush them completely, we have to remember that the goal is for them to leave. The sooner they do, the fewer clansmen will be killed.
“Hetman Keelan and Vortig Luwis voiced concern that the Narthani might not sit behind walls during a siege and might sally against our entrenchments. It’s possible, but they would take casualties in any such attacks on our defensive positions. I don’t believe they have enough men to do this. They would have to use most of their men and cannon, which would leave the city vulnerable. Thirty thousand clansmen could hold off their army, while another ten thousand sack Preddi City, so I believe they’ll be stuck in the city.
“They also must know they would face a much different foe than before. They would have to factor in that we have cannon and more experience. In a few months, we might outgun them, even if they’re better at maneuvering.”
“It all sounds so logical, Yozef,” said Maera, pausing in her recording. “But it assumes a lot.”
“These three objectives are only the ‘strategic’ goals, as Yozef terms them,” said Culich. The ‘tactics,’ or how we actually go about achieving those three objectives, will be worked out later.”
“Even those will change with circumstances,” said Denes. “The ‘fog of war’ is another of Yozef’s favorite expressions, along with ‘No plan survives the first shot.’ Still, we have to start somewhere, and these three objectives will guide us.”
Orosz City
This time the trip to Orosz City took four days. Culich’s leg was healing, but it would be several more months before the medicants allowed him to try using a peg extension on his leg stump. A modified carriage made the trip as easy as possible for the hetman, and the driver took care to minimize jostling. Most of the rest of the Keelan delegation rode in a second carriage, with each man taking turns keeping Culich company and continuing discussions.
The All-Clan Conclave itself was almost anti-climactic. Culich had warned Yozef not to get his expectations too high, and that it might take many days of arguing and posturing before they made any major decisions. Yozef girded himself for a grueling time and multiple frustrations. Therefore, they were both caught by surprise when Hetman Orosz called the conclave to order and asked Culich for a statement. Culich was helped by Vortig Luwis and Denes Vegga to a chair on an elevated two-foot-tall platform facing the rest of the conclave, so everyone could see him clearly.
Culich only got to the sentence “I propose we commit here and now to eradicate the Narthani presence on Caedellium,” before exultations drowned out his next words. He stopped, stunned, until Orosz let the clamor die and called the hetmen to order.
The destruction of the Swavebroke capital, Shullick, the attacks on three hetmen, the two raids now viewed as successes, and the killing of a Narthani colonel swept away any remaining resistance to the idea of making a unified effort against the Narthani. Enthusiasm tempered only slightly when Yozef presented the three-objective proposal devised in Caernford.
Not that there weren’t questions, comments, and arguments, but they occurred over details, not the fundamental plan. Granted, those details took them the next three days to settle each point to the satisfaction of enough hetmen to move on to the next point, but settle they did.
At the conclusion, Yozef held out one qualm on the issue he knew would cause major problems—command. A majority of clans favored a single overall command structure, to be worked out later, but there were enough holdouts for each clan maintaining total control of their own men to block that part of Yozef’s proposal.
The vote was twelve clans to six, short of the number required by conclave rules for a compulsory decision. Culich put a hand on Yozef’s forearm, when he was about to object to the vote.
“Not now, Yozef,” he whispered. “We’ve come further than I dared hope. Wait for what comes next.”
Hetman Orosz then asserted that events might dictate the need to make decisions faster than they could achieve via conclaves. The Stent and Farkesh hetmen made strong statements in support. By a sixteen to two vote, it was approved that future votes could be held via semaphore, with the Seaborn clan’s vote to be cast by their hetman’s heir, a son who would reside in Pewitt Province and who would attempt to stay in monthly contact with his father on the Seaborn Islands off the Caedellium northwest coast.
“Now we only need to convince four clans to change their vote,” whispered Culich. “Several are already wavering or need more time to think. Once things are in motion, some of the holdouts will recognize the necessity and not want to be considered obstructionists. I think best we don’t get into too rancorous of discussions about your ideas of command, since some hetmen consider you a Keelander and already resent too much Keelan influence. Orosz, Stent, Farkesh, and I will continue working on the other hetmen.”
Yozef sat back in his chair, nursing admiration for the connivance of his father-in-law with the other hetmen and hoping Culich was right in his assessment and that the clans had enough time.
The immediate action for all
clans remained clear. Fighting men were to be organized into Yozef’s unit hierarchy. The clans that wished to would train on developing mixed-clan units. Firearms, gunpowder, and cannon production would be ramped up where already in production and expanded to other provinces wherever practical. In Yozef’s view, perhaps the most important action was that the hetmen charged him with expanding his proposed campaign plan against the Narthani. Although he had no formal authority, the charge came with the expectation that all clans would provide him with whatever assistance he required. Each hetman would review the plan, which reminded Yozef of the inability of the European Union on Earth to take almost any action, because one member could veto any decision. However, Culich’s assurance that the four hetmen conspirators would work on getting those four additional votes left Yozef no option but to trust that they would work out a central command in the next four to five months, the target date to launch the all-out attack on Preddi Province.
Preddi City
“It should be soon,” said Okan Akuyun.
He sat with his wife on a second-floor balcony of their villa, enjoying the evening and the breeze coming off the ocean. They often sat together like this, if dinner was still being prepared. The difference now, and for the last sixdays, was the increased number of guards since Memas Erdelin had been killed. Reports estimated that the assassins numbered fewer than ten, but because the Narthani strike teams had twenty members, Akuyun had ordered that all senior staff, from major on up, and Administrator Tuzere and Assessor Hizer maintain twenty guards at all times. It often made for more orchestrated movements, an unavoidable awkwardness.
“That’s what you’ve been saying for the last month,” said Rabia.
Heavier Than a Mountain (Destiny's Crucible Book 3) Page 55
