I will be crowned king

In the short history of Clovina - compared to the empire - the Elf Kingdom of Ysel is quite a special country; in most cases, her presence is not as strong as the fragmented Hantu and the Three Kingdoms of the North Sea. All the Clovis people were convinced that they could easily defeat it.

But under such circumstances, Clovis, who relied on his strength, never targeted this foreign-ruled kingdom as he had done when he conquered the south. Even if it hadn't been for Israel's collusion with the empire later, in order to To avoid having to worry about backstabbing while resisting the Emperor's army, Clovis couldn't even bear the slightest desire to use force against her.

Even if the Elf Kingdom of Ysel later took control of Eagle Point City and showed its desire for the south of Clovis, the armed war group headed by the Osteria royal family always maintained great restraint on this country; even in One hundred years after the Saints' Calendar, after the Yser Royal Court was captured, Clovis's legion still withdrew from the opponent's territory in an orderly manner, which can be said to be a perfect autumn.

Anson once had doubts about this, but he just thought that Clovis was not an empire after all, and he did not dare to easily break the balance of the world of order. But if he thought about it more seriously, he would find the problem: even the fragmented land can be unified, and even After retaking the colony controlled by the Yither elves in Hantu, why couldn't Clovis take a few pieces of cake from the Yither elves?

It wasn't until he returned from the New World and had the experience of conducting a "kingdom-level" war in the colony, fighting all the way from the westernmost side of the colony to the easternmost side, that Anson finally understood the root cause.

Without it, because there is no way to actually control it.

"The entire Elf Kingdom of Yser can be seen as a kettle. The Dawn Mountains are the stopper of this kettle, and the Eagle Point City that connects Yser, Hantu and Yser is the only thing on this bottle stopper. gap."

In the temporary camp heading south, Leon Francois, as the "allies representative", personally introduced the geographical situation of the Elf Kingdom of Yser to the officers of the Ranger Corps:

"Therefore, no matter who wants to expand outward, Eagle Point City is the top priority; only by controlling this place can the logistics of the large corps be possible; and apart from Eagle Point City, Yisel and Crowe There are also three roads in the hilly areas bordering Wei, one is the Qiaowang Trail in the north, the other is the dense forest path in the northwest, and the Soldier Pass to the west."

"Leave aside the Qiaowang Trail, which requires climbing a mountain and is too narrow for carriages and large baggage. The dense forest path needs to pass through a large area of ​​virgin forest. As for Soldier Pass... the place is as its name suggests. It was said in the past that 'one soldier can do it'" Blocking an army's place, once the enemy sets up an ambush in advance between this narrow mountain passage, the army will not even have the possibility of escaping."

"In the past few hundred years, when Clovis's forces reached the Dawn Mountains in the south and the Turbulent Sea in the north, they immediately became a thorn in the side of the empire. A large number of troops were concentrated on the western border. Of course, It would be impossible to invest too much force in controlling the 'gap' of Eagle Point City; even if it were possible, the manpower and material resources consumed in maintaining so many troops in the south would far exceed the benefits of occupation."

The officers in the audience listened attentively. As a standing regiment consisting mainly of light infantry and cavalry, they had extremely little understanding and concept of this kind of terrain with high mountains and dense forests. They could only look at the map and imagine while listening. They had no idea at all. Any energy for asking or even retorting.

"But the situation is different now. Eagle Point City has completely fallen under the control of Clovis, Hantu has been unified, and has become an ally fighting side by side with Clovis." The corners of Little Leon's mouth raised naturally:

"Under the coordination of Clovis, Hantu's Jinshi City can continuously transport a large amount of supplies northward, ensuring that even if the enemy annexes and clears the country, it can still provide absolutely sufficient logistical support for five to one hundred thousand soldiers. .”

"And the terrain of Yser's basin also determines that as long as our army can break through the outermost defense line and break inward step by step, the elves have no countermeasures in the open mountains and plains and can surprise us. With the supply lines behind us, the war will become completely one-sided!"

"At that time, Clovis and Hantu can completely divide this fertile territory according to the north and south boundaries; as long as the open plains north of Yser are fully developed, supplying an army of 20,000 to 30,000 people will not be a problem at all! Looting the elven nobles The wealth accumulated over hundreds of years is enough to offset the expenses of war and army maintenance, and even fill the national treasury!"

"In one or two years, Clovis will be able to build this land into a more solid logistics base that does not have to worry about being harassed by the empire. It can provide food and labor to the western front line, greatly alleviate the pressure at home, and at the same time get rid of the With a harmless threat, it can be said that it kills multiple birds with one stone and solves the problem once and for all..."

...While young Leon continued to promote to the officers the difficulty of invading Yser and the beautiful vision after success, the expressions of Anson and Carl, who had finally completed the recruitment of the entire legion, were not so good-looking.

"...two grenadier regiments of 1,000 men, 17 infantry regiments, each with an average of about 600 to 700 men, plus four cavalry regiments of 3,000 men, and an artillery regiment of 1,000 men... "

Looking at the roster and list in his hand, Carl Bain's expression twitched: "In total, there are indeed nearly 20,000 people, reaching the level of a standard standing army, but..."

"But there are more than 10,000 infantrymen, but only 8,000 Leyden rifles, many of which are from previous years; although the artillery regiment has artillery, it only has ten six-pound field guns and fifty rounds of shells." Anson also felt that he could not say it. Say something:

"The cavalry is fully manned and well-equipped, but the eastern fortress has detained the horses, leaving us with only 600 horses. It is difficult to maintain a regiment of hussars."

"That's not all. These cavalry have not received their salary for almost two months. We have to find a way to solve their salary problem first."

"Well, two months, that doesn't seem to be a lot. Let the War Department think of a way to turn it around, right?"

"The turnover can definitely be turned around, but the question is whether to start this thing - the salary subsidy for these three thousand people is in place, do you want to make up for the losses of the remaining legions in the Eastern Fortress? There is a lot of salary arrears there. Even though it may not seem like many days, tens of thousands of people together are not a small number.”

His Excellency the Chief of General Staff kept scratching his head: "Due to the war with the empire in the past two years, the Eastern Fortress has lost a lot of money in subsidies. Several garrison regiments are extremely poor from top to bottom. Otherwise, Jason Ford Major Ruhauf wouldn’t engage in smuggling secretly, so he didn’t even need to be organized and ran to Eagle Point City to join the Storm Division, which was still a levy corps at that time.”

"Then in my name as the leader, I will apply to the Ministry of War for a 'departure fee' and an additional amount of funds to purchase war horses to compensate the remaining cavalry." Anson finally made a decision:

"It's no different now than when we were in Hantu and when we first arrived in the new world. Money is not a problem for us at all!"

"That's right, so the issue is much more than just money."

Carl Bain sighed and spread the roster directly in front of Anson: "Remember that the Ranger Corps was previously a regiment stationed in the east?"

"Remember, what happened?"

"In the past few years, due to fighting against the empire, a large amount of fresh blood has been added to the Western Front. The eastern legion has hardly added a single soldier, so almost all of the legions are veterans, and the youngest has served for two years. That’s all.”

"Well... this can be considered a good thing in a sense, right?" Anson said a little uncertainly: "The legion is all composed of experienced veterans, and the combat effectiveness and quality can be more guaranteed."

"That's right, but these veterans can't be the kind who start counting the days until their term of service is about to expire and wait to go home."

"..."

"When I heard that Ludwig tried every means to win over this legion to you, I probably guessed that there must be something fishy. There was either a logistical problem or there was something wrong with the soldiers."

Karl closed the roster with a speechless face: "It turns out that the guess was absolutely correct. The veterans of the Ranger Corps are huge, accounting for almost one-fifth; these people have all served for ten or even fifteen years. You're an old guy, now you're just counting the days until you can go home, don't expect them to die for you on the battlefield."

"One-fifth..." Anson's mouth twitched slightly: "That's... three thousand people?"

"And they are the three thousand most combat-effective people, veterans of the Grenadier Regiment, captains of each infantry battalion, deputy platoon commanders, division chiefs, and flag bearers..."

The chief of staff nodded: "Let me put it another way, the combat effectiveness of this legion on the battlefield is basically not decided by you, the ruling lord, but by these low-level military leaders."

"Speaking of which, this kind of legion is actually the norm for the Clovis Army. It is a group of old military leaders with new recruits who have just joined the army. No matter how powerful the commander-in-chief and staff are, their impact on the frontal battlefield is extremely limited. Whether they lose or not Winning depends on whether the military leaders are willing to hold on."

"As for everyone from top to bottom willing to follow the lead of a certain legion commander, he is an absolute anomaly." Karl said expressionlessly: "If not for this, we had only one person in the staff department, one person in the logistics department and two people How can a grassroots team built by a personal headquarters survive until now?"

"That's right, because the soldiers and officers of the Storm Legion know very well that they are fighting for themselves." Anson nodded slightly: "If you want the soldiers to risk their lives in a battle, you must first let them know that you are so Why do they do it? Otherwise, we can’t expect them to pay more than their allowance.”

This... Carl heard what he meant: "Are you planning to promote the Storm Legion's tactics within the Ranger Legion?"

"No, I have to do more than I did in the Storm Legion." Anson corrected:

"The Storm Legion started from the Vast Earth War. At that time, we had little capital, and all we could offer was the promise of fair distribution of spoils, plus the temptation of working hard to help them obtain establishment."

"And now, I am the ruler of Clovis, and I want them to know that under the new rule of Clovis, what they can obtain is far beyond their reach in the past."

As he spoke, Anson stood up: "For a soldier who has worked hard for ten years, the best outcome is to be discharged and return to his hometown with a stipend; but if he still has the opportunity to be promoted, he can become a platoon leader, company commander or even an infantry battalion commander. , can his military career be extended for another ten or even fifteen years?"

"Are you planning to... expand?" Karl couldn't help but raise his eyebrows: "But even if Miss Sophia is the leader of the Army Department, the help she can provide now is not unlimited... Expansion, how many people do you plan to expand, ten thousand ?”

Anson shook his head expressionlessly: "No, I plan to expand the legion to 50,000 people."

"...?!"

"I just did the math. There are now at least 3,000 veterans in the Ranger Corps who have served for more than ten years. Most of them have rich combat experience. They are definitely more than enough to serve as company commander or deputy battalion commander." Anson casually said Turn over the roster:

"Promoting them all, the legion will be expanded by 20,000 to 30,000 people, and it will be easy to form more than 30 infantry regiments; this will also free up more positions for the remaining veterans with the same experience to serve as corps commanders and corps commanders. Platoon leader, give them room to perform.”

"This...then where are we going to find these 20,000 soldiers?!"

"Of course, ask the War Department directly. Didn't the National Assembly just issue a conscription order, requiring each province to recruit at least 300,000 troops?" Anson said in a matter-of-fact tone: "We will take it along the railway. , when you arrive at a recruitment point and recruit local recruits, you should be able to make up this number quickly, right?"

"But these recruits were originally intended to be sent to the Western Front!"

"So what? Ludwig is in power, and I am also in power. He can recruit new soldiers to make up for the losses, so why can't I? What's more, I only need 30,000 people, which is only one-tenth, and the remaining nine percent Isn’t it enough to leave ten capitals to him?”

"...Well, anyway, it's not me who will cause trouble then." Karl raised his hands in surrender: "How to deal with the weapons and equipment? The baggage of 20,000 people has suddenly become 50,000. Can the Ministry of War still return it? I haven’t received any news yet.”

"That would be even simpler. Isn't little Leon currently in our military camp? Let him immediately ask for assistance from Clovis in the name of Hantu and place an order with the military factory, including the additional part we added. Wouldn’t it be enough to wait until the war starts and the materials for the new unit arrive to supply him?”

"...Isn't this going too far? You are deceiving the logistics under the guise of friendly forces."

"They are all the same army, doing the same thing, how can this be called cheating?" Anson raised his eyebrows:

"This is considered excessive consumption at best."