Night of October 27, 1914.
Over fifty hours had passed since Lelouch transmigrated into this world.
Inside the city of Ostend, the former temporary palace of King Albert I of Belgin had been hastily cleared out and partitioned into several zones to serve as the division headquarters for several divisions of the Demania 6th Army.
All traces of the Belgin army's former presence had been roughly wiped away.
Shortly after nightfall, Major General Karl Luitpold, commander of the 12th Division, arrived, covered in the dust of his journey.
This era had no mobile phones, so Colonel List couldn't track his superior's itinerary. Only when Major General Karl's car parked downstairs did he rush out to greet him. "Division Commander! The 16th Regiment has not failed its mission! We held Nieuwpoort and assisted the main force in completely annihilating the Belgin army! We've captured over twenty thousand prisoners in total!"
Karl nodded in deep appreciation and patted List on the shoulder. "You are the great hero here. With such a glorious victory, you will soon become a general, and then you can be a division commander too. If you can hold off five divisions with just a single regiment, why shouldn't you be a division commander!"
However, promoting a general required a recommendation from the General Staff and the Emperor's final decision, so Karl was just speaking off the cuff for now.
After some brief pleasantries, Karl swiftly shifted the topic to someone else. "I'm very curious. Just what kind of person could astutely predict that the Belgins would blow the dikes to block our army, foresee that the Britannians would try to extract Albert I, and even come up with the vicious scheme to 'ruin the reputations of those who resist to the end,' completely disintegrating the Belgin army?"
Colonel List immediately glanced around, only just realizing that Lelouch had not yet arrived. He quickly asked the men beside him, "Where is Lelouch?""Reporting to the commander, someone has already gone to call him. He might be groggy from sleep, but he should be on his way," a regimental officer nearby smoothed things over in a low voice.
Fearing the division commander's blame, List hurriedly spoke up for him. "He must be exhausted from overworking his mind these past two days. But rest assured, Division Commander, he will certainly be right here. Would you like a cup of coffee to refresh yourself first?"
Major General Karl, however, was in a rare good mood and didn't mind. "It's fine. Just lead the way. I'll go see for myself exactly what kind of rare genius he is."
List couldn't help but be shocked by his superior's willingness to humble himself for a subordinate. He knew the division commander was of royal birth, the second son of Ludwig III, the current King of the Kingdom of Bavaria.
Even though he wasn't the eldest son and wouldn't inherit the throne in the future, for a prince and major general to willingly go meet a sergeant major who had just graduated from university showed an extraordinary level of regard.
Before long, the group turned down a few corridors and arrived before a row of rooms temporarily serving as officer dormitories.
Just then, the door to one of the rooms swung open. An unkempt young man dashed out, adjusting his military cap as he walked. It was none other than Lelouch.
Lelouch rubbed his sleepy eyes. Seeing Colonel List approaching with a general beside him, he hastily snapped to attention and saluted.
"You are Lelouch... the sergeant major? So young. List just told me all about your exploits."
Major General Karl's first reaction upon seeing Lelouch was to reach out and flip his collar, then lift his arm to check the insignia on his sleeve to confirm his rank, feeling a deep sense of amazement.
"My apologies, sir. I must have been sleeping too heavily," Lelouch explained politely. He didn't offer any superfluous excuses, appearing neither overly humble nor arrogant.
"I can imagine. Coming up with so many brilliant strategies and schemes must take a tremendous toll on the mind." Major General Karl nodded, smiling with a slightly playful expression. "Having rendered such a great merit for the Empire, have you thought about what kind of reward you want?"
Lelouch scratched his head. "I just woke up. I haven't figured it out yet..."
Major General Karl asked, "Then did you not think about this question while you were fighting earlier?"
Lelouch answered truthfully, without any concealment: "Please don't laugh when I say this, but at the time, I was just fighting to survive. I knew that if we didn't wipe out the Belgins, it would be our Nieuwpoort garrison getting wiped out instead.
"Back then, I only had one thought: to survive by any means necessary. After the fighting ended, I didn't even have time to think about anything else. I just wanted a good sleep—I only slept on the night of the 25th, and I couldn't sleep at all from the 26th onward.
"These past two days, I've seen too many gruesome sights of dead and wounded comrades. As soon as I closed my eyes, I couldn't help but feel that while my brain was dormant and unable to devise strategies, countless comrades were using their lives to buy my brain the time it needed to cool down."
Lelouch's tone and expression were incredibly earnest, much like a seagull that didn't want any rewards, but just wanted to hurry to the pier and grab some fries once everything was over.
Looking into his eyes, Major General Karl couldn't help but feel even more amazed. He could tell this young man wasn't lying.
This was the detachment of a true doer, driven to fight by the most primal will to survive.
"Excellent. The Empire needs focused men like you. List mentioned just now that you are acting as the wire-laying platoon leader of the communications battalion with the rank of sergeant major, right? Then I hereby officially promote you to lieutenant.
"This is not the final promotion decision; it's merely to match your rank to your position. The paperwork will be filed shortly. As long as you perform well, there will be plenty more opportunities for rapid promotion later on."
"Yes! General, I will continue to work hard!" Lelouch replied.
With Major General Karl's authority at the division level, he could theoretically promote someone as high as captain.
However, Major General Karl couldn't directly adjust Lelouch's post, because Lelouch belonged to the communications battalion directly under the army, not the 12th Division. Therefore, promoting him to lieutenant was already sufficient to match his duties.
Since that was the case, Major General Karl wanted to hold onto the bargaining chip of a captaincy rather than throwing it out in a rush. Perhaps after speaking with Lelouch face-to-face today, this young man might give him even more surprises.
Moreover, Lelouch was being promoted far too quickly.
Only three hours after transmigrating to this world, he had skipped ranks from corporal straight to sergeant major.
Now, three days after his transmigration, he was skipping ranks again from sergeant major to lieutenant—extrapolating from this pace, wouldn't he reach a field officer rank in three months and become a general within three years? That was far too absurd; where would one ever find such a young general who wasn't of noble birth?
The issue of seniority was deeply entrenched within the Demanian Army. Rising too fast could easily draw hostility, especially since Lelouch was also a foreigner. These were all obstacles, and extra resistance would have to be overcome to resolve them in the future.
...
After handling the matter of the promotion, Major General Karl was in high spirits and wanted to pull Lelouch aside to chat further about the outlook for the ensuing war situation.
Lelouch knew very well that having just received a benefit, it was exactly the right time to drop some valuable insights to prove his worth, so he answered essentially every question asked.
He thought for a brief moment, then, based on his understanding of the enemy, put forward some suggestions to check for gaps and plug any holes:
"Division Commander, I believe that even though the Belgin army at Ostend has been completely annihilated, this battle cannot be considered entirely over. There are still some seemingly inconspicuous mopping-up tasks that must be taken seriously.
"For instance, I think our army should swiftly and proactively withdraw from Nieuwpoort, having the remaining local garrison close in on Ostend to avoid greater losses."
Hearing this suggestion, Major General Karl immediately turned to Colonel List beside him. "How many men did you leave behind in Nieuwpoort?"
List responded with a report: "At noon, upon learning that the Belgins intended to surrender, I transferred two relatively intact, highly mobile battalions and rushed them here to Ostend to handle the turnover. The remaining two exhausted battalions, which took heavier losses earlier, were left in Nieuwpoort to hold off the Frankish army to the west for a while longer.
"However... sir, I believe that as long as we wish to hold, even with just those two battalions, provided they have ample backup and supplies, they could easily hold off the Frankish army for a few more days! Even if the Franks commit two divisions, or even three divisions to an attack in the future, so what?
"The terrain there is very cramped right now. To the south is a flooded zone, to the north is the sea, and the front for an attack is extremely narrow. Our army has now secured our rear, and long-range heavy artillery of 150mm and above will soon be pouring in as reinforcements.
"If the Frankish army dares to launch a hard assault on a flat coastal road zone merely a few hundred meters wide, they'd simply be courting death! I can guarantee that on this twenty-kilometer stretch of road from Nieuwpoort to Ostend, we will make the enemy bleed thousands, even tens of thousands of men for every kilometer!"
Major General Karl nodded noncommittally. He also felt that List's perspective was correct in principle.
After more than three months of bloody combat, both sides in this world war had vaguely grasped a core truth: in trench warfare, the attacking side suffered far greater disadvantages, while the defending side held all the advantages.
If the attacking side wanted to avoid heavy losses, they had to rely on mobile warfare and flanking maneuvers, finding the defenders' weak points, then surrounding and cutting off reinforcements to the defenders' strongholds.
But in scenarios where there was no space for flanking or outmaneuvering, leaving only frontal assaults as an option, the attacking side was bound to suffer massive casualties.
The current Dunkirk-De Panne-Nieuwpoort-Ostend line was the most typical "whoever attacks suffers" scenario. Hemmed in by the floodwaters and the North Sea, there was only one road for an entire forty kilometers, leaving absolutely no room for operational maneuvers.
With such an advantageous battlefield, even if an orderly retreat was necessary, shouldn't they at least make the Franks leave behind another 100,000 lives?
"Lieutenant Lelouch, how do you view this issue? Do you still insist that our army should abandon Nieuwpoort?"
Major General Karl felt this was the perfect opportunity to test Lelouch's mettle, so he wasn't in a rush to outright reject the suggestion, instead giving him a chance to elaborate on his reasoning in detail.
Lelouch had anticipated this would happen. His previously miraculous strategic planning had all been displayed in front of Colonel List. Since General Karl hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would naturally harbor some doubts.
He certainly needed to take this opportunity to show the general some real substance and awe him.
Only then would he be able to secure a more stable environment for his future development.
Thus, Lelouch calmly organized his thoughts and spoke with assurance: "Utilizing terrain that cannot be flanked to inflict heavy casualties on an enemy forced into a hard assault is, of course, a proper principle of war. But this line of thinking might be missing one calculation..."