I will be crowned king

Although Fabian still tried his best to object, or expressed dissatisfaction to the deputy commander on behalf of the attitude of most of the officers of the Storm Division, and kept implying that the so-called "Vissenian Ancestral Tomb" was probably nothing, and was destroyed by Ruco Visser. Nia used it as bait to fool people.

But this time Anson was uncharacteristically ignoring the opinions and ideas of his subordinates, and almost insisted on launching an attack on Tiezhong Fort - and it was not a test, not a gradual encroachment, but a full-scale attack.

Conquer Iron Bell Fort in one day!

Under this bloody slogan, the entire Storm Division, plus Aiden and Thun's servant army, also began to be mobilized to prepare for the next day's battle.

So at exactly six o'clock in the morning on the 11th day of the seventh month of the 100th year of the Saint's Calendar, a thunderous roar rang out from the Storm Division's artillery position on time.

Accompanied by a scream that tore through the air, the solid bullets burned by the gunfire hit the walls and towers of Iron Bell Castle hard. The bursting smoke instantly enveloped the entire wall, and countless rubbles were mixed with the tragic death of the soldiers. There were screams as large areas collapsed.

When the smoke and dust dissipated slightly, obvious cracks and damage were revealed on the impregnable city wall, and the four towers on the front were crumbling like candles in the wind.

As a representative of the old castle, the fragility of the Tiezhong Fort was fully exposed in the face of the new artillery - the straight up and down design, the simple masonry structure, and the thickness of the rammed earth that was weakened in order to increase the usable area of ​​the castle all made the city wall unable to withstand it at all. Direct bombardment.

Small-caliber field artillery may be able to barely fight, but if it is replaced by a twelve-pound cannon or a large-caliber mortar specially prepared for siege... Under the uninterrupted repeated bombardment, it will collapse at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Accompanied by the choking smoke and explosions at any time, the Mist defenders on the city wall once again demonstrated their decisive style; they withdrew from the city wall in full, allowing the Storm Division's artillery positions to bombard them indiscriminately, without organizing any counterattack at all.

This was actually a helpless move - the defenders of Tiezhong Fort did not have many artillery pieces. The very limited number of guns they had were either too small and meaningless, or they were too heavy and had too strong recoil to be placed on the city wall.

As for going out of the city to fight back? The battle a day ago had proved with bloody facts that in the face of a complete siege position and an absolute military disadvantage, taking the initiative to attack was tantamount to courting death.

Therefore, the best way seems to be to hope that the Clovis people are just a deterrent as before and still have no intention of launching a general attack on Iron Bell Castle.

But this time they guessed wrong.

With a series of deafening explosions, several crumbling towers collapsed amid the cheers in the siege position, and along with them, several gaps were made in the city wall that was already full of bullet marks.

The shrill sound of bugles sounded over the suburbs at the same time. Thousands of coalition soldiers quickly assembled at the forward position, formed a dense offensive column, and slowly advanced towards the city wall one by one.

Under the "ulterior motives" arrangement of a certain deputy commander and chief of staff, Ruco Visenya's supporters, who were the most poorly equipped and least disciplined, were placed in the first row of the attack sequence; and those with the highest morale , the Aiden Legion, which is the largest and most likely to get out of control, follows closely behind.

The purpose is very simple and sinister, which is to use these Mysters as human shields to attract firepower and cover the attack of the coalition soldiers.

It doesn't matter even if their morale collapses or they rebel. The Aiden people, who are extremely good at mad dog bayonet charges, will teach them that dying in the hands of the enemy is ten thousand times better than being "war trampled" by a group of howling friendly forces.

The mixed line of Storm Division and Thun was placed in the third row as the main force of the formation; the Thun people who had received the same military training were better able to adapt to Clovis-style tactics; although the Battle of Green Valley proved The advantage of the Clovis line in street fighting is greatly reduced, and it is especially not suitable for surprise battles and encounters, but it is still capable of quickly controlling positions and suppressing firepower.

Of course, Anson would not specifically tell Thun and Leon Francois that the reason why they were not good at it was because the "Elite Storm Division" was also a miscellaneous force; they could still fight with rigid tactics. , when it comes to complex and changeable battles that require flexible response, the gap between it and a real standing army is obvious.

The most elite grenadiers, skirmishers and coalition cavalry were in the third echelon as reserves, ready to be raided by the enemy and responsible for the final general attack.

The most elite troops are responsible for the simplest battles and get the greatest military exploits. This "hidden rule" can be regarded as one of the few "common points" among the armies of various countries in this era - even Carl Bain, who once hated it deeply , and they are also unavoidable in combat arrangements.

As the artillery began to stop firing due to overheating of the gun barrels, the Mist soldiers who were arranged in the front row as cannon fodder couldn't wait for the smoke and fire of the explosion to dissipate, and launched an attack impatiently.

There were no slogans or exchanges of fire. The moment more than a thousand Mysterians approached the 300-meter position of the city wall, they roared hoarsely from their throats as if they were collectively electrocuted, and then launched a bayonet charge across the board!

The Mist soldiers with their bayonets pointed out faced rounds of volleys from the defenders' volleys. After paying the price of hundreds of corpses, they stepped on the gap created by the shells and rushed through the city wall, fighting hand-to-hand with the defenders. .

Although the defenders in the city have been completely reduced to a state of passive defense, in order to cope with the general attack that the coalition forces may launch at any time, they have made many arrangements; not only have they built barricades and various defensive fortifications behind the city wall, they have even built Artillery was placed in the center of the road in the fort and full preparations were made for street fighting.

But now at least half of these arrangements have lost their meaning - they never expected that in addition to direct-firing cannons, the coalition also prepared mortars and other deflection-firing cannons, turning all the fortifications and collapsed towers behind the city walls into ruins.

Even the defenders in the fortifications were buried alive underneath!

When the chaotic Mist army rushed into the city wall, what greeted them was not the defenders who were armed to the teeth and hiding behind various traps and complex fortifications, but a panicked mess that had not fully recovered from the bombardment.

As a result, the Mysterians, who suffered heavy casualties, directly broke through the lines that the defenders had organized in a hurry, and strangled themselves into a mass with their compatriots.

Under wave after wave of offensives, the defenders, who were originally in a mess under the cover of artillery fire, were quickly opened one after another. Although the casualties did not increase, the command system was on the verge of collapse, and the soldiers fighting on their own were no longer It is also impossible to organize effective defense forces.

At the same time, the suicide charge of the Mist army not only greatly shocked the enemy, but also completely disrupted the offensive rhythm of the coalition forces.

First, a small group of Aiden soldiers were "coerced" by the charging Mysterians to launch an attack. Soon, the remaining Aiden soldiers discovered in shock that they were completely out of touch with the vanguard, and the "friendly forces" were still very close. The situation was successfully opened.

The Aiden people couldn't help it immediately, shouting "For Aiden!" "Long live the coalition forces!" "Long live the Hantu!" and other slogans, followed closely behind, and rushed forward desperately like in the Green Valley. .

The Mist soldiers who had received reinforcements were full of morale on the spot, and under the cover of the Aiden people behind them - or coerced - they continued to attack the city; the scattered defenders faced these crazy dog-like enemies, not to mention organizing a defense. Even if he ran away for his life, he would feel that he was running too slowly.

Therefore, less than thirty minutes after the battle officially started, and before the soldiers of the Storm Division line were even engaged in the battle, the defenders of Tiezhong Fort under the city wall had already been defeated, and the peripheral defenses completely collapsed.

Thousands of coalition soldiers began to closely follow the footsteps of the defeated troops, pouring into the castle like a torrent; the two sides truly began to engage in the bloodiest street fighting around streets and buildings.

The beacon smoke that marked the coming end of the Hantu War began over the Tiezhong Fort.

"I originally thought that no matter how hard the Mist people failed, they could at least hold on to the city for a while."

In the trench of the forward position, Lenore Emmanuel, holding a monocular, stared at the smoke-filled battlefield of the city wall, with a hint of contempt in his expression:

"Even the majestic Grand Duke's castle can't hold out for more than a day in front of the besieging army... The cowardly Mysterians really don't deserve to have such a vast territory."

"Not worthy? That seems too much to say."

A voice full of sunshine rang in his ears. Renault, who had a sneer on his lips just a second ago, was instantly shaken. His expression was extremely ugly, as if he was being stared at by some kind of terrifying existence, and he twisted his neck stiffly. Look at the figure walking in behind you.

I saw Leon, who was covered in dust, carrying a hoe, walking up to Renault with a smile that seemed to be radiating from his whole body, and patted his overly stiff shoulder with a "pop!":

"It's not because the Mysterians are really too cowardly, but in the face of the modernized Clovis army, and in the face of Anson Bach's strategic plan that may completely block all their counterattacks, no amount of bravery can It’s just that we can’t bridge the gap between the two sides.”

"In the same situation, if it were replaced by Thun, Aiden or even the Yser Elf, the result would be the same and there wouldn't be any difference."

"Modernization? Strategy?"

Even though his whole body was filled with terror when he saw Leon now, Renault couldn't help but want to retort: ​​"I'm sorry, but I didn't see any modernization or strategy. There were just troops several times the size of the defenders, and several more It’s just a cannon – does this count as strategy and modernization?”

"Exactly!"

Not only was Leon not angry after being refuted, but he became excited because Leno asked about what he had just learned recently:

"There seems to be no connection between the two, but in fact there is a causal relationship - it is precisely because Clovis's army is more advanced and superior that they can mobilize more troops, larger artillery and sufficient ammunition than the enemy at the same time. Artillery shells are put into the battlefield in an orderly manner; because this not only requires strong mobilization capabilities, but also sufficient and complete logistics to ensure this."

"Because of this, the Clovis and Imperial people dared to use artillery unscrupulously on the battlefield, carrying out violent bombardments that lasted for more than ten minutes or even more than an hour; while we Hantu people often fired several rounds of volleys in a battle. , I don’t dare to fire at will anymore—this is the gap!”

"Anson once told me that steel, gunpowder and faith are the keys to the Clovis' invincibility on the battlefield."

Leon said excitedly.

"Steel, gunpowder and faith? I think it's cannon, gold and greed..." Lenore couldn't help but muttered a few words:

"What about strategy? Why do you say that the Misters' defeat was not due to cowardice, but because they were strategically suppressed?"

"This, isn't this more obvious?" Leon smiled.

Renault was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized.

He is talking about himself!

To be more precise, Aiden and Thune.

Facing Hantu, which was ignited by the battle of Eagle Point City, Anson Bach deliberately placed the scattered Mist at the end in order to completely isolate her, and then mobilize all the power of Hantu to focus on defeating this vast territory. But it is not a powerful country.

From the moment Thune joined, Carindia surrendered, and Aiden admitted defeat, the fall of Iron Bell Castle was already an established fact.

And this is Anson Bach’s strategy.

"What's next?" Renault looked at Leon, whose eyes seemed to be shining with admiration, and couldn't help but ask:

"As far as I know, Anson Bach's plan is to encircle but not attack, and let Tiezhong Fort surrender on its own initiative; why did he suddenly decide to attack now, and what direction will the situation develop next?"

"I really don't know much about this - maybe it's because of some last resort or a more noble reason?"

Leon shook his head and guessed with a somewhat puzzling look: "The situation...victory is already within our grasp. Next, Hantu will win peace again, unify and then form an alliance with Clovis?"

Renault didn't say anything, and there was a sneer on the corner of his mouth.

No, something is not quite right.

In any case, Mister and the Iron Bell Castle have long been in Anson Bach's possession. Launching a strong attack for a trophy that will be obtained sooner or later is completely against the interests of the deputy commander, and it is not consistent with his experience in the Green Valley. The style doesn’t match.

At that time, he had even guessed that his father would tear up the agreement and launch a surprise attack, but he still waited until the last moment before taking action, even risking being annihilated... It was because that battle in the Green Valley was very special in every sense. Not a worthwhile fight.

Why did he go out of his way this time and take the Iron Bell Fort as soon as possible even at a certain cost?

Lenore Emmanuel felt that he smelled some kind of conspiracy. He had a vague feeling that Anson Bach might hold some unknown secrets, and this secret forced him to do this.

Amidst little Leon's gushing, the silent Lenore narrowed his eyes.

At this moment, the bugle sounded again on the battlefield, and the lines of Thun and the Storm Division began to approach the city wall. After being silent for dozens of minutes, the artillery position became busy again.

At 7:15 on the 11th day of the seventh month in the 100th year of the Saint's Calendar, one hour and fifteen minutes after the siege, the general attack on Iron Bell Fort was about to begin.