Chapter XXX: The War Council at Appenrode

Early February 1112 VTE. Appenrode, Archduchy of Eliria

The love between Emylia and Pomerlane had finally been rekindled during the previous month. At Royal Estate at Appenrode, the two were able to in private talk things over in bed in the morning after a night of rough angry sex that stemmed from yet another argument that the two had earlier the previous day. After the love making was finished, they both opened up about their own feelings finally towards each other.

Emylia did not truly grasp her husband's own private mental trauma that haunted him throughout the previous year. Pomerlane explained to her that he really did feel betrayed by everyone around him, but that with her love, care and understanding, that he believed he could turn the tide of the war in their favor. All he wanted was his wife to support him in every way she could and be understanding of his own shortcomings with love.

It was then that Emylia revealed that this whole time she had, indeed, been trying her hardest to pull strings behind the scenes for his cause. She told him of all of the letters she sent and meetings that she had with Magnus and the King of Pomerania; How she set aside her own hatred of both of them and tried to charm both of them with everything she had to stop the war to no avail. When Pomerlane asked why she never told him, she said it was because she completely forgot and was overly paranoid about spies catching wind of it. She vowed to him she would never leave him in the dark again about these things, so long as he promised to be more open to her about his own pains and sufferings that he never told her. The two embraced and cried together before their honeymoon was interrupted by a courier.

The courier knocks on the door and opens it quickly, immediately regretted his decision. "M-My M-My Apologies..." and shuts the door. Pomerlane shouts at him "Never mind us, you clearly have important news and I need to hear it. Is Quedlinburg here?"

Keeping the door shut out of fear for his own life, he says muffled by the door "Yes, the Marschall has arrived, your highness"

Pomerlane opens the door himself without putting on any clothes "Please repeat what you said."

"Graf Quedlinburg, he has arrived with his generals and staff and is waiting for you as we speak your highness." the courier gets on his knees to apologize but Pomerlane just tells him "Don't worry about it, I am not going to have you punished for bringing important news because you walked in on us. Thank you."

The courier scammers away, thankful he isn't going to be punished for what he had seen. Pomerlane goes back into the room and gets dressed with Emylia's help. The two kiss and Pomerlane walks out of the bedroom to finally discuss the plan he had devised with Quedlinburg in December. Taking the map with him, he departs and heads downstairs.

Entering the dining room now turned war room, he is met with bows and salutes from all before he quickly waves them off. "No need for the royal flatteries, boys. What we are discussing here today is far more important." unrolling a map of Northern Elira, he asks for game pieces to be brought on to the board and placed on it. Turning to Quedlinburg, he says "Herr Marschall, before we discuss the plan, I must know the state of the Archducal army in your eyes. How confident are you in them on the field?"

Scratching his chin, the old man replies "It takes years to properly drill an army to perfection... but great progress has been made in the short time I have been with them, which I thank in part to the Freiherr von Eppingen's hard drilling he gave them during the two months prior to me. It seems that the problem was just as we both thought that their command was holding back the abilities of these men. I would say with confidence that these men will fight long and hard with discipline in any engagement... They may not be Pomeranians yet in their drill, but they will more than suffice for the coming year... Combat will drill them ever harder than what we can do on the parade ground."

Nodding, Pomerlane says "Excellent, let us then begin." Clearly his throat he continues "The biggest mistake I made last year was underestimating Pomulius and his abilities as a commander. I did not expect him to be able to recover his army that fast and lead them to victory in this region while I was down in Drachin. Pomulius has proven himself in my eyes to be an energetic commander that has the organizational skills and aggressiveness required to perform such actions that he has previously. We must not make this same mistake twice and reply with a level of audacity and aggression that will bring us victory over him." Pomerlane stops to take a drink of beer "It has been thus decided that we will defeat his army and the army of the Count of Mansfeld in detail." Pointing to the map "They are both several days' march from each other at the moment, so this course of action has been decided" pushing the game pieces forward "We will both divide our armies into three separate columns, one for each division and travel lightly to maximize our marching speed. Our cavalry will screen our movements and cause disruption between the two armies. We will aim to surround Mansfeld with 5 of our division, either pushing him further away or forcing him into battle before Pomulius can arrive." Pushing another piece forward "Pomulius must be feinted and delayed by one division to prevent him from combining his force with Mansfeld."

Looking towards Quedlinburg's eldest son Heinrich-Pomu "Heinrich, you will be the one assigned to this task along with Theophylact's cavalry division. You must and I repeat MUST not allow Pomulius to reach Mansfeld. You will be outnumbered 3 to 1 but do not commit yourself fully to battle and slow his march as much as possible"

Heinrich nods and replies "You can trust a Quedlinburg to accomplish this task, your Majesty"

"Very well, if Pomulius does manage to break through, alert us at all haste." Taking another sip of beer, he continues "The reason we are attacking Mansfeld is simple. Mansfeld, while being a good competent commander, is rather slow and lacks the aggressiveness that would allow him to escape from this trap. His great fault is that he is overly through with how he conducts himself. He does not take risks and will only take decisive action when he feels victory is certain. This is perfectly fine in most situations; indeed, you would want such a commander when facing a dangerous opponent, but a clever opponent can play this against him and that's what we are going to do." Pointing to the map again "Mansfeld will likely seek to fall back towards Pomulius when he figures out what is going on. Therefore, two of the columns will march towards this juncture between the two at Hainfeld. Hainfeld as you can see is roughly in the center between the two armies. I fully expect an enemy force to be located there and we will overrun this important waypoint with speed and firepower. We must not care about the casualties inflicted upon us, so long as the enemy is driven from there. By this point, both of them will certainly being moving from their encampments at Bergwitz and Torgau to stop us." Pointing at the 3rd Division of Freiherr von Hackenberg "That Hackenberg's division engage Mansfeld before he gets too far from his base as Bergwitz." turning towards Hackenberg "Phillipp, you must delay Mansfeld and try to deceive the Count into thinking your force is much larger than it is. If you are able to do this, I have no doubt that he will halt to face you." Hackenberg nods and Pomerlane continues "This should also be around the point that delaying actions against Pomulius should begin too. But moving on, the 2nd and 3rd divisions of the Archducal army should be shortly after Hainfeld is taken be able to assume the positions of the 1st and 2nd Division of the Black Army which will march to cut off his escape from the North." Pushing pieces forward again "This is when I want to drive Mansfeld either away from the road to Hainfeld and back to Bergwitz or allow him to be surrounded on three sides by our forces at wherever along this road he ended up." Looking up at all of his men "Gentlemen, whatever course he takes, we will force him into a situation where he will be forced to either give battle that we will gladly seek, fall further away from Pomulius and his supplylines, or surrender. I would prefer if he did not fall further back then Bergwitz, so the cavalry division of Lichtenstein will prevent him from going any further to the west. His army must be destroyed by the ides of march, otherwise it will be hard for us to stop Pomulius from breaking through to him."

Pomerlane takes a step back from the table and surveys the room "I expect each one of you show the skills I know you all have. Failure is not acceptable in this operation, for I believe that not taking advantage of the opportunity laid before us will lead to our defeat in the war itself. Once we destroy Mansfeld, we will invade Pomerania and there we will destroy Pomulius with the help of the Count of Glückstadt-Schwerin. You will be informed of those plans once this operation has ended. Prepare your men to march within a week, I will see you all soon enough."