Sunday, October 22, 2023

The Long March - Raising the Stakes

(Source)
The Major looked out of the tent, the sky was getting lighter. He shivered as he thought back on the ambush last year, on the first time that the regulars had been opposed by the militia in the field. He remembered shooting the man who had refused his orders. The day had started bloody and became bloodier still. He remembered the long retreat, the bivouac, then the turning back into the forest and that nasty hill fight. It felt like it had been just yesterday ...

"Major?"

He shook himself, "Sorry Joshua, woolgathering, some of those memories are painful. What might have been solved by talking, wound up becoming a bigger mess with dead on both sides. But here we are ..."

At that moment a man poked his head into the tent, "Sir, I've just come from brigade. We're to hold here for the moment, do you want to go and speak with the Colonel? He thought you might ..."

"Yes, I reckon I better."

Nodding his thanks to Joshua, the Major followed the corporal. Near the brigade headquarters tent he saw the Brigadier, talking with the Major's regimental commander. His colonel spotted him and waved him over.

Saluting the Brigadier and then the Colonel, the Major spoke, "Morning, Sirs. New orders?"

The Brigadier nodded to the Colonel, who answered, "Yes Major, we've been ordered to hold here and await reinforcements from the capital."

"The provincial capital?"

The brigadier answered that one, "No Major, from the capital."

Looking puzzled, the Major pointed out, "It would take them a week of hard marching to get here."

"Yes, but they left three days ago," the Colonel answered the Major's puzzled look.

"Who are they, how many?" the Major was still trying to get his head around this. Why would they have set off without waiting at camp for the reinforcements? Then it struck him, show the enemy one thing, then do something else.

"We're getting a cohort of Imperials, the Fourth, Feroces Victores.¹"

"Imperials, away from the Ruler?"

"The Ruler's son is coming with them, the General Staff has indicated a need for the boy to have experience in the field."

"Ah, Sir, the man is ..."

"Yes, he's a drunkard and a wastrel, but those are the orders," the Brigadier left no room for debate, but the Major spoke up anyway. Something the Colonel often mentioned in their meetings together.

"The Fourth has never been in combat, as a unit, they have veterans in the ranks, but they're mostly people from the constabulary. Police, not soldiers." The Major was thoroughly confused now, an Imperial unit, unbloodied in combat, led by a fool, what sort of reinforcements were those?

"I know, but that's that. You're dismissed, gentlemen." The Brigadier ended the discussion with a crisp nod.


Five days later, the Imperial Fourth Cohort marched into camp. Their equipment and uniforms were immaculate, it looked as though they had spent at least a day cleaning themselves up before making their grand entrance.

"Parade ground soldiers, good for parades and attacking unarmed civilians," the Sergeant spat on the ground after saying that. She came from the hill peoples in the south of the Empire. A people who had no tolerance for pretense and show.

"Easy Sarge, perhaps they will be of some use. They certainly look pretty."

"Sure, Major, they'll attract rebel fire. There's no love lost for those bastards among the militia."

"It's a cynic you are, Esther," the Major offered with a grin.

"Nossir, I'm a realist, those pretty boys won't stand up in a fight where the other side is shooting back, mark my words."

The Major wondered if her disdain for the Fourth had anything to do with the lack of females in their ranks. The commander of the Fourth had shed all of the women under his command when he had received word of their assignment.

"You think the Prince cares that there are no women in his little command?" The Major said, looking carefully at his Sergeant

The Sergeant spat again, "Yeah, no skirt to chase after hours. At least it might keep the bastard from embarrassing himself. Maybe he'll stay drunk enough to not mess up this operation."

The Major shook his head and turned to watch the Fourth fall out and proceed to set up their encampment. Things were starting to get interesting, he had a bad feeling about this campaign, a very bad feeling.

"Sir?"

"Yes, Sergeant?"

"Try not to look too worried, it upsets the troops when they see you pouting," the Sergeant had a smile on her face when she said that, though it didn't extend to her eyes.

"If you weren't so good at your job, I might take offense to that, Sergeant. But I'll behave, no use upsetting the troops is there?"

"No Sir, that wouldn't do at all."




¹ "Fierce Victors." Imperial regiments, those directly under the Ruler's command, were called cohorts.

36 comments:

  1. The Ruler, Imperials, the Prince.......hoo boy, my "We The People" sympathies are shifting Sarge.

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    1. There might be numerous factions at play here, the Muse hasn't decided yet. But yeah, the capital is looking decidedly too big for its britches.

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  2. This leaves me thinking of the Romans..

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    1. Which does play a factor in my thinking. The fall of Rome is never far from my mind these days.

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  3. This is NOT looking good - for anyone. Likely gonna be more evil than it already was shaping up to be.
    My We The People sympathies are bedded on solid rock; course I can't count many regular enlistments or even commissions in my line.
    Boat Guy

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    1. It's not looking great. Pampered aristocrats have never been any good at running things.

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    2. Unless you wanna consider George Washington a "pampered aristocrat"
      BG

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    3. I don't, he was an outdoorsman, surveyor, soldier, farmer, not a pampered aristocrat.

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  4. Well, some regiment needs to take the fall WHEN not IF the "Fierce Victors" fail. The promoted Sergeant *might* be facing courts martial for "Failure to Protect-Perform" over the "Fierce Victors" battlefield performance.

    Pity the Regulars and Milita have such bad blood between them. Something about being between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea comes to mind.

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    1. The regulars and the militia might yet find some common ground.

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    2. Frontline soldiers frequently have more in common with each other than with the REMF's -and especially the political officers (in both senses of the word)
      BG

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  5. For an Officer and NCO to be brutally honest with each other they must absolutely trust each other with their lives. Especially in a politically charged environment.
    -Barry

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  6. I can imagine the regulars and the militia turning on the pretty boys from the Capital. I don't think that will happen, though, absent behavior that unites those two -- who may have more in common than they expect.

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  7. OK, getting complicated and I'm thoroughly confused. Tell Muse Tare-Victor-George for me.

    Do I smell a mutiny brewing in the ranks of the regulars? Strong resentment of the Imperials...both their commander (whom I expect to try to run roughshod over the regulars because of his Blood and being an Imperial), and the troops themselves, both for their lack of experience and the "spittin' polish" look.

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    1. There are any number of ways this could go, most of them nasty and bloody. Pretty typical for after the first shots are fired, no one wants to talk at that point.

      Message passed to the Muse. 😁

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  8. Sarge, whatever the Muse is doing, encourage it. The combination of mixed modern and old language and details is delightfully confusing - and the pictures you are choosing only add to mystery of "what and when" (always with us humans, we want a what and when).

    Select troops can turn the course of battle, or can simple be pasteboards that are better at enforcing power and loyalty than military force. It sounds like the latter in this case, but we will see.

    (As a side note, have you read the military science fiction of Jerry Pournelle? Falkenberg's Legion, Prince of Mercenaries, Go Tell The Spartans, and Prince of Sparta. They are set at the crack up of what was a future (now past) imperium of the CoDominium of the US and the Soviet Union. Very good writing and deals with the crack up of civilization and the resulting chaos. In some ways similar to Hammer's Slammers, but (frankly) a little more readable among "polite company".)

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    1. Also republished as a single volume, "The Prince".

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    2. I'm a fan of Pournelle's work (The Mote in God's Eye, Lucifer's Hammer, Footfall, and some others). Looks like there are more I need to track down and devour!

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    3. Yay! Books you have not read yet from an author you like! He also wrote another series which has been compiled into Exile - And Glory!. It is about the near future of Earth reaching out into space. Also highly recommended.

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  9. I was a fan of Dr Pournelle & followed his blog. An amazing man with some interesting ideas, I do miss his writings.

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    1. Rob, much like Ol' Remus, I wonder what he would make of today's world.

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    2. Miss Ol' Remus, his postings were a breather from other readings plus I hardly ever failed to learn sumpfin. In short, his work was the reading highlight of my week.

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    3. Didn't know of him until he had passed. Felt like I missed something there.

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  10. Hmmm... Wonder if the Emperor is playing the long game with his son. Either stiffen him up under fire or an assassination covered up by a mound of bodies (like the ChiCom invasion of Korea, one of Mao's 'trusted' sons participated and was awarded a dirt-nap, covered up by the death of over 100k ChiComs. you can hide a lot of sins under that much blood.)

    As to the Cohorts, well, the nice thing is that most of the militia will focus on them, so shiny buttons and snazzy uniforms will attract a lot of fire. Which will be good for the Major's unit. On the other hand, seasoned snipers will focus on the non-shiny.

    And... saluting in the field when one's opponent has at least a rifled-musket or better? Great way to identify high-value targets for your average sniper. Of course, again, seasoned excellent snipers will wait to see who the salutee turns to talk to, and shoots that one. Or watches to see whom everyone in the camp seems to naturally go to for just about everything. The good cook who gives extras, the supply clerk who hands out the correct items, the senior NCO who actually 'runs' the unit, the dog-faced private who is the 'luck' of the unit.

    Very interesting story, and it's veered quite a bit from when you first presented it.

    I can unfortunately see, under our current political issues, an imperium being foisted on us within 10 to 20 years. Whether an actual Imperium or one in all-but-name, it will start with a strong figurehead who rules by fiat, not by law... oh, wait... I think I'll go start digging the bunker again.

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  11. With replacements, I seem to recall somewhere a commander looking over a particularly unpromising bunch and noting that he only hoped that they would frighten the enemy as much as they did him.

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