I will be crowned king

"boom--!!!!"

The deafening explosion echoed on the sea surface, and the burning Hantu Fleet flagship rose into the sky like a "lighthouse" under the night, which was spectacular.

As the only three-masted cruiser in the entire fleet, she naturally has the most artillery and the most abundant ammunition reserves; coupled with her "unique" appearance that is different from others, she has received the most care from the artillery positions.

The Hantu Fleet had actually collapsed. No matter the imperial soldiers who tried to suppress the rebellion or the Carindia sailors who resisted desperately, in the current situation of being passively beaten, they no longer had any resistance to escape and surrender.

But the question is how to escape?

Not to mention that Fleet Commander Tashien and thousands of troops were still on the shore, completely ignoring the objective situation that the shore artillery continued to cover the firepower, and frantically issued counterattack orders to them. The imperial soldiers had nowhere to escape.

The same goes for the sailors. Carindia has been destroyed. The only port of Carindia that can be used for them to dock and repair is the territory of the imperial people. There is nowhere to go.

As for surrender... they didn't know who was attacking them, and the artillery positions on the shore showed no signs of stopping fire. When the explosive shells were used up, they fired solid shells, and when the gun bore overheated, they slowed down the rate of fire, but never stopped. It's really not possible to continue the rotation, since there are more than fifty cannons anyway.

First, the flagship exploded, and then two merchant ships close to the flagship were set on fire... The fleet sailors who watched the ship sinking desperately climbed onto the deck and raised a white flag on the crumbling main mast.

At first, it was just a crazy lookout on a merchant ship who climbed up the mast to escape. As a result, he hung himself on the top of the mast and his white coat turned into a "flag"; but soon other ships followed suit and desperately climbed up. A white flag was raised.

After another five minutes, the coalition forces, which had repeatedly confirmed that the fleet had stopped resisting...or that they had exhausted all their artillery shell stocks, finally stopped shelling.

At this point, the "Strongest Fleet in Hantu", which had rebelled and disappeared, gave up resistance without firing a shot and announced its surrender.

Looking at the white flag rising on the sea of ​​flames, Tashien's heart was bleeding in despair.

To be fair, he did not think there was anything wrong with his strategic deployment, and even considered that the "sneak attack" launched by the Clovis was probably a carefully prepared trap to annihilate the empire's mobile forces.

If there is any mistake, he should not try to make a big deal out of a small gain, and plan to annihilate the coalition forces assembled by Clovis and Hantu with only 4,000 men and a fleet; so much so that in order to lure the enemy into stepping into his carefully prepared The naval guns covered the trap and were deliberately "attacked".

In his opinion, the whole plan is perfect... Even if the enemy is two or three times more than himself, if he wants to use superior forces to fight a battle of annihilation, he will not be able to break through his position immediately in a short time.

And all he has to wait for is the sun... When the sun crosses the horizon, dozens or hundreds of naval guns are enough to kill a mere few thousand Clovis mercenaries, plus the Hantu people who are worthy of fighting against robbers and bandits. The armies fighting for wits and courage exploded into the sky together.

Because of its support and arms sales to the Elf Kingdom of Yser, the empire has a thorough understanding of the "Seven Cities Alliance" sandwiched in the middle; it knows what their "three hundred thousand troops" are; let alone artillery, it can There is no guarantee that it will be difficult for everyone to have a gun in wartime.

As for Clovis...the main force of their southern expedition is in the Elf Kingdom of Yser, not to mention the pressure from the Western Front. It is impossible to have more spare power to support Hantu.

Obviously, the empire still underestimated Clovis's industrial potential in the face of war, or in the face of wealth; it also underestimated the determination of the vast land to cut flesh and blood and build a nation.

Therefore, Tashien never expected that the enemy could actually gather so many artillery pieces - and even have the ability to concentrate these artillery pieces into an army, so that it could cause substantial damage to the fleet when caught off guard. Strike!

"What the hell, those staff officers and officers at the headquarters, didn't they say that Hantu's Clovis is just a small force - a small force, this is the strength that a small force should have?!"

On a battlefield with roaring guns and loud killings, the fleet commander, standing in a mud pit and trench, looked up to the sky and cursed at the headquarters behind him for collecting intelligence.

In front of him, the trench, which was originally regarded as a "bait" and was crude to a certain level, experienced the initial shelling and repeated attacks of the Storm Division, and the step-by-step offensive, the defense system had basically collapsed.

The entire battlefield is like a huge quagmire, constantly trapping the influx of soldiers from both sides, while forcing those behind to quickly reinforce...and so on, swallowing everyone.

Of course, in a sense, this is also part of Tashien's "plan" - only by turning the position into a quagmire can the Clovis offensive be firmly contained, so that they cannot hide when covered by naval gunfire. , turning an orderly retreat into a full-scale rout, destroying their structure.

But because the fleet surrendered, the bait has become a fatal weakness that can send them to hell!

If they can carefully build a position before the Storm Division launches an attack and complete all defensive facilities as much as possible, with the advantage of the terrain, four thousand people will definitely be able to block or even repel the Storm Division's frontal attack - of course, after the fleet surrenders They have no way out. Once surrounded, it is only a matter of time before they are completely annihilated or forced to surrender.

At this moment, the Imperial soldiers who were trapped in the quagmire had no way out, and even the position under their feet was leaking from all sides amid the Storm Division's constant probing, feints, and penetrations.

The battle front has lost its meaning because there are enemies everywhere and fighting is happening everywhere!

Although desperate, Tasien still had no intention of giving up completely. He was still tenaciously commanding the remaining mobile forces on hand, desperately filling the line torn apart by the Storm Division, and making a final desperate struggle.

It wasn't because after the fleet surrendered, Tasheen still thought he could make a comeback; he was betting, or had to bet, that the opponent started the war in a hurry and did not build a complete encirclement network.

As long as they can repel the Storm Division's frontal attack and gain a moment of respite, there will still be a chance to break through.

What's more important is that the army is an organization maintained by "morale". At present, most of the soldiers are red-eyed and have not noticed that the fleet has stopped resisting and surrendered to the Clovis; once they calm down, I found that the situation was actually extremely bad...

As for where to break out, and where to go after breaking out...that is a question that should be considered after surviving!

Relying on the relatively abundant troops on hand, the narrow battlefield and the excellent knightly officer corps, Tasheen quickly re-strengthened the military line, and even defeated the Storm Division's attack at one point and recaptured the captured trenches - although the mud was Retaking the pit-like position doesn't mean much, but at least it slightly boosts morale.

At this moment, a rapid and loud bugle sounded on the distant horizon.

The general attack began.

Thousands of Thun and Aiden soldiers had just rushed to the battlefield. They didn't even have time to rest. They were driven out of the camp and trenches by Karl and Fabian without stopping. They unloaded their bags, picked up their rifles and fired at the messy battlefield. Pounce on the battlefield.

"God bless the earth——!!!!"

"Kill all the imperial dogs——!!!"

"Long live François-!!!!"

Chaotic shouts of killing echoed through the night sky with the charging pace of the coalition soldiers.

Although the coalition soldiers are generally poorly equipped - of course compared to the Empire and the Clovis regular army - except for rifles with a few bullets and a broken bayonet, there is no spare equipment, and the quality of individual soldiers is even the same. Compared with the empire that "does not pay attention to infantry", it is far inferior.

But on such a chaotic battlefield, quantity is also an advantage; no matter how poor their combat quality is, they are still very qualified to fill the battle line and attract firepower, and to follow behind to expand the breakthrough when the Storm Division concentrates its forces.

Facing the mad dog-like wave of attacks by the coalition soldiers, the defenders who originally thought they were only Clovis people were caught off guard. Several gaps were made in the defense line one after another, and they had to retreat step by step.

The Imperial Line soldiers stared dumbfoundedly at the enemies facing them who were firing volleys of guns and trying to pounce on the bodies of their robes. They felt huge confusion in their hearts - why are these Clovis people suddenly not afraid of death?

Tasien gritted his teeth while reorganizing the defense line, while constantly trying to organize a counterattack; the more difficult the battle became, the more he dared not give up easily, and huddled and defended.

The Clovis forts are on the left and right wings of the battlefield in Reef Town. If they really give up the attack... On such a narrow battlefield, with the opponent's firepower, they can really send themselves and a few thousand soldiers to the sky!

He didn't know that even if Anson wanted to do this, the coalition forces wouldn't have enough artillery shells for him to waste.

Relying on their absolute strength advantage, the coalition soldiers who cooperated with the storm division columns to attack intermittently controlled the entire peripheral defense line in a crushing manner, suppressing the thousands of imperial defenders in the small reef town.

But as the Imperial soldiers gradually recovered from being caught off guard, the defeated and disorganized companies were regrouped; although they were still retreating, the defense line became increasingly difficult to breach.

Coupled with the "quag-like trenches" full of craters, which greatly delayed the advancement of subsequent reinforcements, the originally aggressive offensive of the reinforcements began to become weak - the "fear of death" soldiers of the Storm Division did not dare to charge with volleys of guns. , the "upright" coalition soldiers could not find a gap to break through, and they could only use their own bodies to fill the trenches for the imperial defenders when they rushed forward.

When the battle reached this point, the private soldiers of the Imperial Line did not need the knight officers to risk their lives, but they could still unswervingly execute the orders, fire back in the face of the loud shouts of killing, and respond to the bayonet charge of the coalition forces with the same fearlessness of death.

Even if the red-eyed coalition soldiers paved the way with Paoze's corpse, they still could not open an effective breakthrough. At the same time, they were still entangled in rounds of counterattacks from the empire, making it impossible to move forward or retreat easily.

But this is not really because each of them is fiercely loyal to the Empire and Tasheen, or their morale is so inspired; on the contrary, this is a true reflection of the past.

Because if you are not a fool, as long as you turn your head slightly and take a look at the dazzling sea behind you, you will understand what is going on now!

But since it is a return to glory, it means that it will definitely not last long... Even the fleet has surrendered. How can these imperial soldiers with nowhere to escape swim back on their own? This is war, not revenge. Besides, how much does it cost to exterminate a group of enemies who are stubbornly resisting?

So after several false attacks without results, Carl Bain, who was determined, gave the order to stop the attack to the front line, and switched from attack to encirclement, intending to wait for the opponent to surrender voluntarily.

According to the chief of staff's opinion, as long as the siege lasts until daytime, these imperial scum will almost wake up and know what they should and should not do.

Of course, not everyone thinks so; they feel that they should be more proactive and use a more direct method to "help" the Imperial defenders regain their consciousness.

"Send a signal to the fleet!"

Looking at the Imperial defenders who had been suppressed into Reef Town as the outer perimeter was completely lost, Anson turned to Jason Fruhauf behind him and said in a deep voice:

"Tell them that they can surrender, but the condition is that they immediately launch a concentrated fire in the direction of the Reef Town Pier that lasts for at least one minute - please understand that this is a pier, not a position!"

"Ah this..."

The cavalry lieutenant who was temporarily appointed as the herald was stunned. He froze in place and hesitated, not knowing what to do:

"Is this...is this too much..."

"Excessive?" Anson glanced at him.

"no!"

The cavalry lieutenant was shocked and immediately denied: "Absolutely not! It's too dangerous - what if they are not facing the dock, but the battlefield or artillery position, or what if they are unwilling?"

"Then continue beating until they obey!"

Anson said coldly: "How many more rounds can the shells be able to fire?"

"Two rounds at most, and the twelve-pound shells we brought have been used up." After swallowing, the cavalry lieutenant reminded carefully:

"As for the mortar, it can probably fire three more rounds - but there is still a lot of propellant left, so if you don't count the shells, it will be four rounds."

"...Then fire one round first to warn them; if they delay in firing or try to disobey, fire four more rounds."

"yes!"

The cavalry lieutenant who received the order did not dare to stay where he was and immediately turned around and left.

Fifteen minutes later, the "Imperial Hantu Fleet", which had not fired a single shot before surrendering, finally slowly pushed the guns out of the cabin and out of the gun ports on both sides of the ship; the Imperial defenders in Reef Town heard the sound coming from the sea behind them. of gunfire.

But not towards the enemy, but towards themselves.

Dozens of artillery shells drew beautiful arcs over the sea, and brilliant sparks rose near the dock of Reef Town, once again turning this small fishing village into a sea of ​​burning fire.

At 3:30 in the morning on August 13th, the 100th year of the Saint's Calendar, the Empire's Hantu Fleet declared its surrender.