41 Conquest of the Steppe

Yesterday's battle had been a huge shock to the soldiers of the Western territory.

That the barbarians who had plagued the West for centuries could be annihilated so easily.

And that they themselves possessed such firepower.

Among the Western Army soldiers, no one was left dissatisfied with the Southern Army officers' command.

And so, about three days later.

Before news of the Aikamad Tribe's destruction had even reached the tribal council, the allied army arrived at the place where the remaining two tribes had gathered.

For the Borkan Tribe and the Serelkis Tribe, it was an utterly absurd situation.

"What in the world is going on? How did they reach the heart of the steppe so quickly, and why is there no word from the Aikamad Tribe?"

The two tribes had also heard about the Southern-Western Allied Army's invasion of the steppe.

So, as usual, they said to gather the three tribes and discuss how to resist.

But none of the envoys sent to the Aikamad Tribe's settlement came back.

In truth, they had been discovered and killed by the Western Army, but for the tribes, who didn't know that, it was maddening.

"First, summon the tribes."

But one thing was clear.

The Imperial Army had stormed into the center of the steppe, and there was no contact from the Aikamad Tribe... which meant they had been dealt with somehow.

"It's only been a few days since contact was cut off. No matter how strong the Imperial Army is, they couldn't have killed all of the Aikamad warriors at once."

"Then?"

"We'll hold out here. Summon every tribe on the steppe."

For enemies who didn't know the Southern Army's new weapons, it was a plausible judgment.

"Some Imperial Army forces are probably still fighting the Aikamad Tribe. If we attack them now and open up a second front, we can drive them out."

"Then we'll send envoys and buy time."

The Empire the barbarians had known was always a timid foe.

A weak foe that tried to avoid conflict as much as possible while still securing territory.

The Empire didn't have the power to conquer the steppe. That was why they always tried to placate the barbarian tribes.

"It will be no different this time."

The tribes thought that and prepared to send envoys.

To buy time and gather their troops while pretending to make a proper treaty as usual.

But this time, there was no need.

Before the envoys had even mounted their horses.

-Kugugugung!

Because thunder had sounded from beyond the ridge.

It was a faster answer than any envoy.

A little while later.

The temporary settlement where the two tribes had gathered for the meeting was engulfed in bombardment.

***

The enmity between the West and the nomadic tribes ran deep.

That grudge became the driving force that allowed the West to somehow keep going even after the Empire's conscription system collapsed.

In the peaceful, corrupt Empire, conscription had become nothing more than an empty formality. Anyone with even a little money could pay off the conscription officers and brazenly dodge the draft.

As a result, the current Imperial Army had become a place where only the penniless lower classes gathered.

And an army with no money and no proper education didn't know how to fight properly.

But the West was a little different.

The people living in the western borderlands had a deep grudge against the barbarian tribes. Nearly one in every two people in the western borderlands had suffered at their hands.

They volunteered for the army to protect their families and because of personal grudges.

And this expedition's allied army had many people who bore grudges against the barbarians.

That was because the recruits were gathered mainly from volunteers during the enlistment process.

Soldiers with families did not want to take part in a dangerous expedition if they didn't have to.

The soldiers who had joined the expeditionary force on their own were mostly people who had something to repay the barbarians for.

They were so eager to join the battle that the bombardment hadn't even ended yet.

"Haha, just look at those barbarian settlements. They're burning bright and hot!"

"When they were burning our villages, they never imagined their own settlements would burn, right?"

"It's great and all... but at this rate, won't the artillery take all our kills?"

The bombardment kept crashing down one after another, to the point that even the Western-born soldiers worried they might be killing the enemy too quickly.

The artillery under the combined command of eight divisions and 40,000 troops had been bombarding them nonstop since noon for thirty minutes.

No intact buildings were visible anymore.

Only after the settlement had been completely reduced to rubble did the army receive its orders.

"3rd and 4th Divisions, clear out the interior. And the rest of the army, prepare to fight the barbarians who will be rushing in soon."

There was a reason they weren't launching a night raid like last time and instead chose to start the battle in broad daylight.

"Any tribe that comes here after seeing this is an enemy who can never coexist with us. Those who think only of plunder are not human, but demons."

It was, in effect, an order not to accept surrender.

It was also an order the Western Army soldiers, who had a lot bottled up against the barbarians, really liked.

"Three o'clock! Large enemy cavalry force!"

The anger that had built up from being raided all this time.

And the frustration they felt watching an entire hour of bombardment, itching to get out there and fight.

The unspent emotions of the Western-born soldiers were directed at the tribes that dared to openly resist the Empire.

And this time, the Southern Army officers also had no intention of restraining the Western Army.

"All units, fire!"

"Pay them back for everything we've suffered!"

With so much pent-up resentment, the Western Army pulled the machine guns' triggers without the slightest hesitation.

At that, the cavalry charging in so confidently collapsed.

The shamans' spells, the barbarian cavalry charges, the swords they swung. None of it was frightening anymore.

The shamans' spells had no meaning. Even if they couldn't feel pain, there was no way to resist once their bodies were physically destroyed.

A cavalry charge? Before the cavalry could even reach the line, the machine guns' overwhelming firepower had melted them all away.

There was no hit-and-run tactic or drive-and-hunt tactic either.

Because before firearms boasting an overwhelming effective range of 2 km, cavalry tactics were nothing more than a flashy way to die.

"The enemy is retreating!"

That day, the Western-born soldiers saw the barbarian cavalry running away for the first time.

"Victory... was this easy?"

"It feels like we barely did anything..."

"The South's new weapons are insane."

It was an incomparably easier victory than back when they had to swing hammers with their lives on the line, fighting barbarians who would still charge even with spears through their heads.

No matter how heavy the machine guns were, how strong their recoil was, or how loud they were.

Pulling a trigger while sitting down was overwhelmingly easier than using their bodies directly.

And then there was the overwhelming firepower of the artillery units sweeping away the barbarian settlements.

It was far too much firepower to believe it was being handled by people who couldn't use magic.

To think that a few ordinary people operating a machine could produce the firepower of a 4th- or 5th-tier mage every ten seconds.

"Just what principle could produce firepower this strong..."

It was hard for ordinary Western-born soldiers, whose modernization had only progressed little by little, to understand.

And awe toward what they couldn't understand soon turned into admiration.

It was a feeling a little different from the one they had toward mages.

Mages are chosen beings.

If you can't handle mana, if you have no talent for magic, you can't become a mage. It was a tower belonging only to them, one that no amount of later effort could ever reach.

But the artillery units were a little different.

The fact that it was power wielded by ordinary humans no different from themselves caught the Western-born soldiers' attention.

'An era where ordinary people can become great.'

The ordinary Western-born soldiers quickly fell for the South's catchphrase.

When they returned home carrying what they had seen and experienced on the steppe, they would become better spokespeople for advocating annexation by the South than anyone else.

It was the moment the true purpose of the western expedition was achieved.

***

It didn't take long for all of the tribes on the steppe to submit.

The Borkan, Aikamad, and Serelkis Tribes were all wiped out, and the places where they had stood were left behind on the steppe as piles of ash.

A few tribes that refused to submit to the very end?

"This is for my family!"

"This is for my friends who died at your hands!"

They were wiped out completely by the vengeance-filled Western soldiers.

After witnessing that horrific scene with their own eyes, the chieftains of each tribe no longer dared to think of opposing the Empire, that blazing sun.

From here on, the plan was to assimilate these tribes into the Empire through imperial culture indoctrination, marriages between influential families, and the like.

So that they would never again dream of challenging the Empire.

Before a new chain of hatred could begin, the goal was to quickly assimilate them into the Empire, even if it meant using somewhat forceful means.

Now, several months after the suppression of the steppe.

Once the railroad was completed and factories were built, public opinion in the West had changed completely.

"Lucilla, what is the public opinion in the West like now?"

"It's quite good. The results of modernization are starting to show, and the barbarian problem that had been troubling the Westerners is also being resolved."

"Then... it should be about time to prepare."

A declaration to end the fake peace that hadn't even lasted a full year.

"Annex the West."