ocean-life Book 3: Chapter 7-2: Tactics
Book 3: Chapter 7-2: Tactics
Book 3: Chapter 7-2: Tactics
Even if you say that, those bastards will bring plenty of food right? They have lots of villages like ours that provide them with food. So with all that, they should have a lot right?
Roleau unexpectedly brought up a good point. It was true that the Empire would bring as much food as they could. They would bring enough that they might not even need to collect food from the villages along the way.
Yeah, the Empire does have plenty of food. The issue is, whether they are able to carry all that food at once. Lets calculate what a single soldier needs per day.
I said and turned to write Food, Water, Clothes on the board.
First lets talk about food. Soldiers marching from dawn til dusk will get very hungry. At the very least they will need bread, dried meat, and vegetables. To feed a soldier there needs to be 500 grams of food minimum for a meal, then the minimum number of meals in a day should be set at two. So food for each day will weigh 1 kg per soldier.
This was the minimum, in reality they would carry more for sure.
Next is water. This is a necessity for marching. A male human needs 2 liters of water a day when marching or they will collapse. Due to the numbers they will have difficulties resupplying on the way. The areas where they can refill their water is quite limited. Even if they refill at some villages, rivers, or lakes they will have to take enough for at least five days or they run the risk of running out of water.
The construction of supply lines are the greatest military issue in this day and age. Once civilization and technology progresses to some degree the required human labor will decrease and the amount of goods will increase. However, in this age it required human labor and could be considered a great headache.
I doubt they will create a trailing supply line behind them. I suspect, that instead that a solid 30% of their forces will consist only of people transporting food and goods. They will carry the armor and items. Normal soldiers would carry their own goods and once they ran out they would accept food from the porters. From my point of view, their water supply should only last them 10 days even if we assume they refill at a village.
At that point they will have 10 days to travel 100km before reaching a supply base within distance of Erucy before aiming for us. Forcing an army of 5,000 to travel 100km in 10 dayswas unreasonable but not impossible.
Arriving at they relay station they would pick up their arms and armor. Without they weight of their equipment they would be able to carry more supplies and with some additional planning they should have enough supplies.
They wouldnt need to wait for their supply team to catch up since after the battle with Erucy they could wait for them or return to meet them. Also, this method would allow them to only bring enough goods for a one way trip.
Im sure they thought that, if by any chance they ran out of supplies part way, then all they needed to do was wait for a delivery from the relay point. Once the battle was over they could calmly wait for enough supplies to make the return trip.
The Empires marching plans should basically turn out like that.