I will be crowned king

On May 16, after experiencing an inexplicable "fiasco", Louis Bernard made a comeback and quickly organized another round of attack on Eagle Point City.

This time he fully learned the lesson from before - the artillery of the Southern Legion defending the city is far better than that of the Guards. The only consequence of dispersed formations is to be knocked out one by one by the enemy; it is better to concentrate all the heavy artillery and fortress Counterattack to contain its firepower.

In addition, the military power of Aldabert, who was previously afraid of fighting, was taken away and placed under the direct control of Her Royal Highness Princess Freya, the "real commander" of the Guards Corps. Of course, Her Highness herself could not personally attend the battle, so she appointed a The imperial instructor whom Louis trusted was temporarily in charge of the frontline command.

This seemingly harmless approach left all the elven nobles speechless, especially when Her Royal Highness Freya fully supported Louis' decision. Their "blood level" was lower than that of the royal family and they had no way of resisting. He can hold a grudge temporarily and wait for Louis to lose power before counterattacking.

No matter how innocent he is, Louis can see what these elves are thinking in their eyes, but he doesn't care - anyway, the title of commander of the Guards Corps was forced on him by the Elf King, and there is no regret in losing it.

At 5:30, 16,000 Yser elves still followed the previously formulated battle plan, divided into four echelons and launched an attack on the Eagle Point City position one by one.

The sixty artillery pieces that were assembled were bombarding the walls of Eagle Point City regardless of cost. The solid city walls were shaking under the hot shells. The heavy artillery in the fortress had no choice but to aim at the artillery positions of the Guards Corps. , the artillery shells that could have consumed the elves' strength were used in meaningless exchanges of fire.

In the choking smoke, the artillerymen on both sides kept rushing back and forth between the artillery and ammunition boxes. The constant roar in their ears made them unable to hear anything. The bursts of dust and fire simultaneously closed their vision.

Even the best gunner could not judge the situation of the battle in this situation. He could only determine from the still fierce firepower that the opponent still had sufficient ammunition and artillery, and frantically urged the gunner and ammunition hand to continue to fight back, regardless of the muzzle of the gun. Already hot enough to be slightly red, the twenty-four-pound and forty-eight-pound solid bullets were shot from one minute to half a minute.

The Southern Army, which had lost its heavy artillery cover, could only rely on the twelve-pound and six-pound field infantry cannons on the position to do its best to curb the attack of the Yser elves.

At 6:30, that is, one hour after the bombardment began, relying on the position that had been baptized by several rounds of artillery by the Iser army and completely changed beyond recognition, the Clovis soldiers began to resist the wave-like onslaught of the Guards.

In the first round of offensive, the Yiser army achieved amazing results.

Although the soldiers of the Southern Legion fought hard and repelled two consecutive attacks, the Ysel elves still noticed that the firepower of the defense line was much weaker than before, so they immediately accelerated their pace, and the three lines of columns surged forward like one body. Eagle Point City Position.

At the far right end of the position, which is also the most forward position of the entire defense line, Roman and the Grenadier Regiment holding the artillery base were attacked from both front and sides at the same time almost from the beginning of the war; when the golden and red colors all over the mountains and fields poured into the position, the high tower Ludwig even thought that the fort had been lost.

At 6:55, when a fort was lost in the frontal position, Ludwig gave the order to shrink the front without any hesitation. The Southern Army began to retreat in an orderly manner, leaving the messy outermost position to The elves of Yser.

At 7:20, the right-wing position was breached. After destroying the artillery and the remaining artillery shells, Lieutenant Colonel Roman, who led the Grenadier Regiment, calmly withdrew from the position before he was outflanked.

Amidst the cheers, the Yser elves who had achieved initial victory continued to advance triumphantly. They did not care that their formation had been torn apart by the terrain in the disorderly charge. They did not even notice that the southern army had been organized in advance before retreating. A new line of defense.

So the Guards immediately paid the price for their complacency.

"Plop!"

A young half-elf followed his companions out of breath. When climbing over the trench, he didn't pay attention to his feet and fell directly into the trench - face first.

He almost fainted and didn't even have time to spit out the sand in his mouth. He was scrambling to crawl out of the trench; he was just a "blood descendant" half-elf, with only sixty-fourths of the blood of an elf noble. If If the commander realizes that he has fallen behind...

"boom--!!!!"

The next second, a thunderous roar sounded in his ears with his whole face buried in the soil.

Along with the falling sand and gravel from the sky, the unkempt half-elf's head emerged from the trench. The moment his eyes were stung by the light, his pupils instantly dilated.

In those eyes filled with fear, at this moment the entire battlefield has completely turned into a sea of ​​golden fire; countless sparks bloomed one after another on the rugged mountainous land; the air waves of the explosion raged like a hurricane The entire battlefield will tear everything it touches into pieces.

The charging Guards Corps had just crossed the front line and was immediately destroyed. The moment the fire exploded, they were devoured in an instant while they were still unaware. The half-elves whose eyes were stabbed by the flames could not see their companions clearly. Their figures could only be heard one after another, almost covering the screams and wails of the cannons and explosions.

The shattered torso and residual limbs were swept into the air by air waves in the explosion, and scattered like raindrops along with the bursting sand and gravel, exploding everywhere.

The half-elf, whose face was sprayed with plasma and minced meat, was completely frozen in place. It took a full minute to understand what had just happened.

Landmines, Ludwig Franz laid mines between the first and second lines of defense.

From the very beginning, the commander of the Southern Army did not expect that the thin line of defense at the forefront could block the Yser elves for long, so he specially placed the mine array on the second layer of the defense line.

Due to the rush of preparations and the fact that there is not much soil on the ground around Eagle Point City, even if landmines are to be filled, they cannot be buried deep enough. Many of them are even directly exposed on the surface without even bothering to cover them up.

But with such a sloppy fortification, the Yser elves who attacked rashly were almost completely devoured - the front row of the offensive sequence was almost wiped out, and the troops, from officers to soldiers, reorganized and reorganized the bombed city. Nothing left.

Ludwig never expected that the mines he casually used to delay time would actually yield greater rewards than the carefully prepared artillery positions; the casualties incurred by this round of attack alone were almost the same as the entire Guards Corps in the previous ten days. Sum.

Not only that, because the randomly buried landmines are of different depths, they are not detonated simultaneously in one round, but after the shallow explosion, the ones below are also blown out... The successive explosions form an approximate arc. A shaped "flame wall" divided the battlefield into two.

Facing the raging sea of ​​​​fire in front of them, after spending a lot of effort to regroup the scattered troops, the Ysel elves immediately stopped the attack and began to consolidate the positions they had occupied.

There is nothing that can be done about it... After all, it is one thing to brave the enemy's artillery attack, but it is another thing to rush into the minefield proactively, and it is still a minefield that is constantly exploding; fanatical belief can make Israel The elves are brave and fearless, but not to the point where they actively seek death.

On the other hand, the sudden explosion of the minefield not only caused considerable losses to the Guards Corps, but also cost the retreating Southern Corps a small price; some of the troops who were bitten by the Ysel Elf pursuers had no time to withdraw, and similarly In flames.

But compared with the casualties of the Yser Elf Army, this price is not worth mentioning at all.

The fire divided the battlefield, and except for the exchange of fire between the artillery positions of both sides, all attacks had to be temporarily suspended. After confirming the casualties on the front line, Louis Bernard immediately began to mobilize the remaining 20,000 troops to execute the original plan in advance. Make a plan and unhurriedly deploy the front to the south.

At 11:25, after the fire lasted for three hours, the Guards Corps had surrounded the north and south sides of Eagle Point City at the same time; after completely controlling the position, Louis Bernard once again divided the remaining army into three parts, two The column totaled 10,000 troops to reinforce the front line, and 3,000 troops stayed in the eastern barracks to protect the supply lines and artillery positions just in case.

Five thousand troops were deployed along the south side of Eagle Point City - the same location where Anson had previously "sieged" Eagle Point City - preparing to meet the approaching Thun army; the remaining three infantry regiments, with a total of less than 2,000 soldiers, stayed behind. Headquarters, as a last resort when necessary.

Although the current battle situation did not require the deployment of reserve troops, out of caution or habit, Louis still kept this army by his side in case of unexpected events.

At this moment, although the battle situation in Eagle Point City is still tense, the atmosphere in the headquarters is no longer as tense as it was at the beginning, and every officer's face can't help but show a slightly relaxed look.

After all, as long as they control the weakest south side of Eagle Point City, there is no longer any suspense about victory; all that remains is the question of when they can win and how much losses they have to pay.

Even Her Royal Highness Princess Freya, who was nervous at the beginning, is now standing in high spirits under the banner of the Golden Ring of Order, stretching her waist, enjoying the praise of the surrounding officers, although the outcome of this battle is not at all with her. There is no relationship either.

But Freya is just happy!

As long as Eagle Point City is captured and the Clovis are pushed back, Louis Bernard will be Israel's savior and hero; no matter how reluctant those old-fashioned old men are, they can't stop his father from giving him a promotion. Enter the lordship.

Ah...should I propose to him in Eagle Point City? Although being a princess and proposing to a foreign race is a bit...but who makes him Louis, who makes him the hero who saved Israel? As a royal family, you are forced to make a little "sacrifice" for the country occasionally.

By the way, he seems to be the heir to the Principality of Edland. He will definitely inherit the title and become the Duke of Edland in the future. In this case, wouldn’t he be able to stay in Iser? Or should he say that he wants to go with him? Edland? I heard that it is a dark red castle on the seaside. It must be very beautiful, right? But then I can't be with my father...

Just when Her Royal Highness the Princess was worried about a bright future, Louis Bernard still stood motionless, looking coldly at the battlefield divided by the wall of fire, his calm face looking calm.

It wasn't until a certain messenger ran back panting and delivered the latest news to his ears that the commander of the Imperial Guard frowned slightly.

"you sure?"

The messenger pursed his lips tightly, breathing heavily while nodding vigorously with a solemn expression.

After receiving a positive answer, Louis took a deep breath and looked back at the vast horizon to the south with a slightly stunned gaze.

The Thun army... actually arrived so quickly?

He had clearly handed over the letter and plan to Lord Henares. Could it be that he had not handed it over to the Grand Duke of Thun, or that the Grand Duke of Thun did not intend to cooperate with him, but had other ideas?

Thinking of this, Louis Bernard suddenly had a bad premonition.

In any case, since Thun's army arrived so quickly, the plan he had made before could no longer continue; the Clovis must not be allowed to retreat to the fortress and turn this battle into a long-term tug-of-war.

Time passed minute by minute... At 13:40, as the flames gradually extinguished, the assembled Guards Corps once again burst into passionate cheers, stepping on the scorched earth that had not yet burned out, and launched an attack on the waiting Southern Legion. Another round of attack.

Almost at the same time, Louis narrowed his eyes slightly when he noticed something - south of the Dawn Mountains, on the unobstructed broad horizon, countless figures appeared like leaps and bounds.

The silhouette of a cavalryman.

A cuirassier who wears a bright silver breastplate, a tall felt hat, holds a two-meter lance in his hand, carries a silver-plated saber and carbine at his waist, and rides a tall horse.

They maintained a neat formation, their fierce mounts rode with the sound of rolling iron hooves, and their red cloaks draped over their right shoulders fluttered in the wind. Like a rushing molten stream, they headed towards Eagle Point City unstoppably.

Louis looked at this scene with his eyes slightly dazed.

Even though the elves have lived in Yser for several months, even though they have become the commander of the legion above ten thousand people...the moment he saw this scene in front of him, it still brought back infinite memories for Louis.

The next second, those dazed eyes suddenly widened.

At the front of the cavalry formation, a knight dressed as a flag officer held high a red thorn flag... Louis knew that it was the coat of arms of the Francois family, and its history could be traced back to this ancient family tradition hundreds of years ago. It was an era when all the territories south of the Yuchenxi Mountains were regarded as kings by the Hantu people.

but……

But next to the red thorn flower flag, why is there a black background with a bloody unicorn painted on it... King Clovis's flag? !