I will be crowned king

Dusk Coast, Reef Town.

On the map of the Republic of Carindia, this place is marked as a "port town", but in fact it is just a small fishing village where merchant ships or smuggling ships occasionally dock.

Although it has a relatively short coastline, the rugged Dusk Coast does not have many excellent harbors. Apart from Carindia Port, there is not even a second qualified natural deep-water port.

This not only created the prosperity of the Carindia Port, but also caused the commercial resources of the entire Carindia to be infinitely tilted towards a seaport city; the residents of Reef Town faced the barren land and the turbulent sea day after day. Except for the fish and shrimps that barely feed them and the occasional passing sailboat, this blue world has never brought any surprises to their difficult life.

But today... when a group of dark-skinned fishermen were preparing to go fishing as usual, they were all stunned on the dock.

Under the clear sky, a large fleet appeared on the sea level.

Although most of them are ordinary commercial cargo ships, the most "luxurious" one is just a three-masted cruiser equipped with more than 20 naval guns... But in the eyes of the fishermen, this is already a behemoth that they cannot imagine.

While they were still in amazement, little lights started to light up on the misty sea level.

“Boom——!!!”

With the roar that echoed in the air, the peaceful Reef Town instantly turned into a sea of ​​fire.

Facing an unheard-of "natural disaster", the horrified townspeople had no room for resistance other than screaming and fleeing; fishing boats and docks were set ablaze by fire, and houses made of mud and thatch were reduced to nothing...everywhere was burning. , Wails could be heard everywhere, and the burnt smell even overshadowed the smell of fish, filling the hot air.

Hundreds of Imperial line soldiers began to board landing boats and swarmed into the small fishing village that had been reduced to ruins; they carried out the final "finishing work".

Facing the menacing Imperial advance army, the surviving villagers put up only minimal resistance; the battle soon changed from a one-sided massacre to a hunting activity for the Imperial soldiers to have fun.

Twenty minutes later, the fleur-de-lis flag of the Empire was raised among the still-burning ruins.

The soldiers who landed began to carry out clearing and reconnaissance activities around fishing villages in company units - villages and towns like this usually have a very wide range, and the farthest boundary can often reach a distance that ordinary people can hike for a day.

Is this my first battle in Hantu?

Looking at the cheering soldiers on the shore under the flag, Fleet Commander Tasien was extremely depressed.

He has four full line infantry regiments under his command, including nearly 4,000 sailors and dozens of naval guns... The mission assigned to him by that old guy Casper is actually to land quickly and then "cooperate" with Kasper. The vanguard of Lindia Port?

what is this? !

As an army general, Tasheen was pushed to the shelf and appointed as "Fleet Commander". He was originally very angry - it was not that he disliked the navy, but that the navy had not much to gain in this battle except for logistics and support. .

Finally, a landing mission was given to the advance army. As the fleet commander, he could only take the entire Hantu fleet to a small fishing village to land and "show off his power" to a group of fishermen.

So why did you come to Hantu?

Tasien, who became more and more depressed as he thought about it, shook his head, threw the monocular in his hand to the adjutant behind him, stood on the deck and leaned against the mast with his eyes closed, waiting for this farce to end.

at this time……

"Lord Tashien!"

The adjutant holding a monocular suddenly spoke, staring intently at the soldiers dancing under the flag on the shore:

"Soldiers who logged in reported that there were traces of enemy activity nearby... they were Clovis!"

"Um?!"

Startled, Tasheen opened his eyes suddenly.

……………………

"The position has been confirmed. The empire's fleet is ahead."

He raised his hand and stabbed the throat of the screaming imperial soldier with a knife. Fabian, who was covered in blood, said to Anson Bach: "There are about four thousand people on the other side, eleven commercial cargo ships and a three-masted small cruiser—— It happens to be the composition of the 'missing' commercial fleet in Carindia Port."

Behind him, the soldiers of the Grenadier Regiment were cleaning the battlefield as quickly as possible; all actions were carried out in groups of three: one person was responsible for picking up the loot, one person was responsible for checking the corpses with a bayonet, and one person was responsible for maintaining vigilance; because of time constraints, simply not Left alive.

Although it was an unexpected ambush battle, and although the enemy only had one infantry company, Anson still used the entire storm regiment - the skirmisher company to ambush, the line private company and the grenadier company to encircle and suppress, plus the division's direct cavalry company to take charge of the perimeter, ensuring Foolproof.

The battle lasted only ten minutes. Faced with a disparity of more than five to one in strength, the Empire's knight officers chose to stand firm and wait for reinforcements after several unsuccessful breakthroughs. They still did not collapse under volleys of gunfire and repeated bombardments with grenades.

It wasn't until the knight seemed to be trying to use the power of his blood to make a comeback that Fabian decisively ordered him to focus fire. After being shot to death indiscriminately, the remaining imperial soldiers dispersed one after another and were shot down one after another by skirmishers. One fell in a pool of his own blood.

"I said, how do you know that the empire's fleet will land here?"

Karl, who was holding a monocular, tried to stand up straight and looked at the sea level that might exist in the distance: "There are so many fishing villages in Carindia, why do they have to go ashore here?"

"There are so many fishing villages, but not many are close to Carindia Port." Anson hugged his shoulders and looked quite proud:

"Controlling a fleet means controlling the right to launch attacks at any time and anywhere along the entire coastline of Hantu."

"If I were the commander of the empire, I would definitely find ways to let this force gain a foothold in our weakest position, cooperate with the defenders of Carindia Port, and conquer the Green Valley plus one third of Carindia. Territory, open the channel to Aiden!”

"So...it's not so much that I guessed it right, but it just proves that the commander-in-chief of the opposite empire is not Louis...I mean, a fool who doesn't know how to adapt, but a smart man like me!"

Facing Anson's boasting, Carl Bain, who was completely uninterested, silently took out the cigarette box from his arms, stuffed one into his mouth, lit it, and the smell of inferior cigarettes began to spread around.

On August 8, the 100th year of the Saint's Calendar, in order to implement the strategic plan of "defeat one by one, surround and annihilate" formulated by Anson Bach - of course, in his words, this was just a "suggestion", and the real executor was Lai Chief of General Staff Ang, the newly created Hantu Supreme Staff, began to mobilize all the troops and resources at hand to get this brand new war machine turning.

Of course, there is always an unbridgeable gap between ideal and reality; although the machines are new, all the equipment is second-hand from the flea market; Anson, the little secretary and other "junk guys" stuff After piecing it together and assembling it by myself, I could only barely get the machine to move without it falling apart on the spot.

After countless command confusions and wrangling over the distribution of logistics supplies, the exhausted little Leon and the little secretary reluctantly came up with a plan, allowing Anson to lead the Storm Division and the coalition forces to set off immediately and rush to the Principality of Ayden to support the front line.

The configuration is still the same as when the Iron Bell Castle was besieged. Five thousand Thun Legion, eight thousand Aiden Legion plus the Storm Division's own 5,000 people, the total force is close to 20,000.

Because Hantu has been unified, the armies of the various principalities are no longer separated from each other and are "as close as one family". Naturally, the little secretary in charge of the logistics department was unceremonious and directly approved a note from little Leon and went to Lu En Representatives of the arms dealers directly took away 20,000 muzzle-loading rifles and 30 artillery pieces, and re-equipped the 20,000 people.

In this way, excluding reserves, the 20,000-strong coalition can not only ensure that the weapons are basically unified, but the artillery ratio has once again reached the point where there is one artillery for every 500 people.

Although this level is not as high as the empire's four artillery pieces per 1,000 people, it is twice as high as the Clovis regular army, which does not pay much attention to artillery, and it is far beyond the other Hantu armies, which are like rotten fish and shrimps.

Even better is that all the above expenses, including subsequent logistics, will be paid for by the Hantu Kingdom. This is another reason why Anson insisted on establishing a general staff - there is no need to blackmail the Hantu nobles one by one, with Claude I and little Leon did it for him.

After all, in the 100th year of the Saint's Calendar, an era full of light and hope, kings and lords were the only group of legal gangsters and blackmailers in the world, much stronger than in the previous thousands of years - they were not the only ones at that time.

"So what are you going to do?"

Karl flicked the ashes of his cigarette: "We have more than 20,000 people, but the opponent has an entire fleet. If we can't fight, we can still run away - not to mention that the opponent has naval guns on the ship. How many people will die in a frontal attack?"

"You are truly worthy of being my chief of staff. You discovered the key to this battle at a glance!" Anson, with a smile on his face, gave Karl a thumbs up:

"We have to take down the fleet they snatched from the Carinthians. At the very worst, we have to burn the ship - otherwise, as long as the ship is still there, the Imperials will still have the initiative and can attack at any time. Send reinforcements to Carindia Port and attack the hinterland of Hantu!"

"Can you please not repeat the same words twice, my deputy commander?" Karl rolled his eyes:

"I'm not asking you what to do now. Everyone knows this. What I'm asking is what to do!"

"It's simple."

Anson blinked with an expression that said, "Why don't you even understand this?" "They can run away after getting on the boat, so why don't we just not let them get on the boat?"

"Nonsense! Why don't you let them get on the ship? As soon as the 20,000 coalition forces show up, do you think they might not get on the ship and run away?!"

Karl pointed behind him excitedly and said, "Not only did we run away, but our whereabouts were also exposed!"

"Well said!" Anson nodded repeatedly and continued to gesture his thumbs at him seriously:

"So we can't let them know that our army has a total of 20,000 people - in fact, there are not 20,000, only 18,000."

"My deputy commander, can you stop pretending to be crazy?!"

"I didn't. I think what you said is very right, and every sentence is what I want to say." Anson said sternly to Carl, his sincere expression making the chief of staff deeply suspicious:

"This is my plan, to wipe out the four thousand Imperial soldiers who landed, and then take down the fleet - in order to do this, we must be surprised!"

"But the enemy has discovered us. You don't think they are still so stupid that they don't know anything now, do you?"

"Yes, they knew we were coming, and they were Clovis people...then what?" Anson's eyes were burning:

"What will they do?"

How to do it... Carl Bain frowned: "Stand where you are?"

"I think so too - this army should be here to support the defenders of Carindia Port, unless they are sure to encounter the enemy's main force; with the same or even twice the strength, if it were me, I would probably stand still and wait for reinforcements. "Ansen nodded slightly:

"So we have to tell them a story."

"tell a story?"

"Yes, tell the story of a 'Clovis' army that accidentally encountered them." Anson smiled and nodded:

"And this Clovis army was originally sent to retake Carindia Port; but because they encountered them, they decided to defeat them."

"Is your story too long?"

"It doesn't matter, just make them believe that the attacking Clovis army is a Clovis army. According to the intelligence obtained by the empire, Hantu's Clovis army only has a few thousand people at most."

"Can it?" Karl said, "I don't believe it":

"That's nearly 20,000 people. Can you believe this? I'm afraid the people from the Empire across the street are not fools, right?"

"If you operate it properly, you will have a chance." The corners of Anson's mouth began to rise:

"Of course, it would be better if it turns out to be a big collapse in the end - but I have always been modest and will not make too high estimates."

"Humble...okay."

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes again, Karl's cheeks twitched: "Then how are you going to take down the fleet? There is no port nearby. The fleet's ships are parked directly on the sea. They can run away at any time as long as they lift anchor!"

"So we have to make sure that the fleet will not abandon our own people on the shore and run away as soon as they see something is wrong." Anson snorted:

"The best way is to prevent them from running away even if they want to."

"How to make sure?"

Carl Bain's head was filled with questions.

Anson smiled and did not answer him again. Instead, he turned to look at Fabian who was still supervising the cleaning of the battlefield: "How is it? Are everything ready?"

"The location has been found - the empire's fleet seems to be very confident and feels that there will never be any force around that can threaten them. The entire fleet is arranged vertically, making it very easy to position."

Fabian nodded and showed a sinister smile:

"I personally think they'll love your gift."

Gift?

Carl Bain's expression became even more confused.