I will be crowned king

"Artillery! Everyone take cover! Take cover, take cover!"

Lenore's horrified screams rang out in the heavy rain, but by the time he realized it, it was too late.

Accompanied by a soul-shaking roar, three shrapnel shells exploded in front of the sweeping Hantu Army, accompanied by screams coming from the depths of Hell.

The next second, gunpowder smoke replaced the dark clouds, and a "heavy rain" of thousands of tiny lead bullets fell on the heads of the stunned and unaware Hantu soldiers.

In an instant, the soldiers in the front row melted like ice and snow under the horrified gaze of their companions behind them - their skin and flesh were torn, their bones were crushed, and the blood splashed by the rain turned into dark red flowing freely under their feet. It became the only trace that proved their existence.

But the "lucky ones" who witnessed all this with their own eyes soon encountered their own curse: the remaining lead bullets mixed in the rain were still enough to break their limbs and penetrate their chests.

"Stop artillery fire, line soldiers - all in position!"

Looking at the repulsed Hantu Army, Luther Igor sneered and waved the saber in his hand. The rain splashed by the tip of the saber made him feel like an artist.

Play with explosions and paint with smoke.

Beside him, three infantry regiments quickly spread out to the left and right, forming nine equal-sized, dense and compact shooting squares behind the barricades; the expressionless line soldiers mechanically raised their weapons in response to the knight officer's roar. rifle.

“Everyone prepare—fire!”

"boom--!!!!"

Rows and rows of volleys rang out from behind the barricades, belching gunfire into the rain.

I don't know if the visibility was too low due to the heavy rain and the command system failed. The Imperial soldiers guarding the square could only remain in order during the first salvo. Starting from the second row, they threw all the orders behind them and were so busy. Shoot the lead bullet out of the barrel.

Thick white gunpowder smoke enveloped the entire battlefield. No one from the soldiers to the officers knew what was happening on the other side. They could judge by the sound of gunshots that the enemy was still attacking; so the infantrymen in each square continued to mechanically load, raise guns, and shoot. ; The knights wielding sabers shouted and clamored to launch a counterattack.

Facing the infantry lines that were gradually "out of control", Luther Igor and a group of officers did not take it seriously - the empire's attitude towards infantry has always been that as long as these people can fill the battle line, they can rely on salvos to deter the enemy. , that's enough... As for killing and defeating enemy troops, that is the task of artillery and cavalry.

Therefore, even if there are one or two "small problems" in the line, it does not matter at all. It is impossible for the weak Hantu people to break through the barricades guarded by artillery and heavy troops... By the time the North City Gate arrives, these thousands of people will be the turtles in the urn, and they will be wiped out. They are just a matter of time.

And Luther Igor, who clung to the front and nailed the enemy to the square, would become the hero of this battle to defend Carindia Port, second only to General Lawrence.

Internally calculating how much benefit he could gain from this war, the satisfied Luther pushed up the monocle on his face again; cold calculations reflected on the rain-wet lenses.

It wasn't just the square in front of him and the main force of the Hantu Army... As the imperial advance army gradually regained its composure from the initial panic and stood firm, the originally one-sided battle began to be reversed.

On the battlefields on both sides of the North City Gate, although thousands of soldiers responsible for the feint attack broke through the positions and forts of the imperial defenders, facing the forts with complete defense systems and heavy artillery, their rudimentary equipment gave them an absolutely invincible advantage over the enemy. Competable mobility, but useless for conquering positions.

And the more they engage in this kind of tough battle that is destined to pay a certain price, the problem of the Hantu army's lack of discipline and training becomes more and more obvious - empty and bloody thugs cannot be called an army, just like a pile of firewood cannot be called an army. Call it a house.

Facing the impregnable fort, these disorderly, chaotic, and charging Mister and Aiden people are almost the best moving target shooting training for artillery. Combined with close-range volley fire, the corpses can be clogged in a few minutes. Attack channel.

And because they lacked experience in dealing with heavy firepower, they had already been attacked by artillery fire. The first thing these small lords and officers with noble backgrounds thought of was to maintain a dense formation and use concentrated fire and volleys of guns to embolden their own people.

In other words, only by using this method of "reporting to the group to keep warm" can their army not be immediately disintegrated amidst the explosions and screams; as for the so-called "skirmishing array", "column insertion"... even They themselves were completely confused about Clovis tactics, let alone their soldiers who were peasants a few weeks ago and didn't even know where the gun was and who should be pointed at.

So the Hantu soldiers who were attacked head-on began to retreat. On one side, they maintained the siege of these forts and strongholds. On the other side, more troops began to pour into the city from the breached north gate, burning, killing and looting - invisibly. The breakout pressure on the Imperial defenders on the outer positions was once again reduced.

Seizing this opportunity, the commander of the advance army, Lawrence Igor, decisively dispatched the four infantry regiments that had just suppressed the riot in the noble district. More than 2,000 imperial line soldiers covered in blood took over the lost North in just one raid. city ​​gate.

However, it was called a "raid", but in reality it was just for the soldiers to march in the rain - except for a few unlucky guys who got lost, the empty city gate had no defenders at all.

This once again deepened Lawrence's prediction that his enemy was a group of thug-like troops and a young man who did not understand what war was. He did not consider the consequences when making decisions, let alone what would happen if he failed. How to end.

Therefore, he gave up his plan to organize the defenders of the outer positions to break out, and instead began to annihilate the Hantu Army who were still surrounding the positions.

To the commander of the advance army, he was deeply gratified that even though he suffered heavy losses without warning, none of the positions and forts were captured by the enemy and they stubbornly defended their positions.

Even when they noticed that the enemy's offensive was weakening and they were suspected of being demoralized and fleeing, many of them tried to use artillery to tear open the encirclement net and organize commandos to break out and reconnect with the rear... Although they failed due to the disparity in strength, these commandos were Surrounded layer by layer, they still fought to the death with the enemy until they were completely submerged.

Their desperate efforts attracted the last attention of the Hantu Legion, and to a certain extent, it was one of the reasons why Lawrence could easily regain the North City Gate.

As the general offensive order was issued, the four infantry regiments immediately broke into pieces and formed twelve small column formations in battalion units. They launched a bayonet charge towards the flanks and rear of the Hantu Corps on both wings, firing rows of lead bullets. Attacked from behind, screams and wails surged through the flying flesh and blood.

When the imperial soldiers who stood firm in the position noticed the reinforcements, they immediately began to launch an offensive. The originally not strong siege network was immediately torn apart under the attack from the front and rear, and their morale dropped off a cliff.

Soon, as the first unit collapsed, the surrounding Hantu soldiers began to scramble to either escape or kneel down to surrender, and the entire military line disappeared in an instant.

During this period, many defeated armies regrouped at an astonishing speed, trying to break through the position again and regain control of the North City Gate; but the Hantu Army, which had lost the advantage of surprise attacks, was unable to even open an effective breakthrough in the face of the impregnable position. , could only watch helplessly as he was expelled from the position.

The few troops who took advantage of the enemy's counterattack and rushed into the positions and forts were also strangled by the two levels inside and outside, and were quickly annihilated.

Half an hour later, there was no longer any François thorn flag erected on the entire outer battlefield of Carindia Port, and the imperial iris bloomed again in the heavy rain at the northern city gate.

Regarding these broken troops, Lawrence had no intention of wasting artillery shells on them. He slowly began to reorganize the scattered troops under his command, restore the organization lost in the fierce battle, and at the same time redirect the artillery in the positions and forts into the city.

Now that it has been confirmed that the enemy has no reinforcements, it would be a waste to aim the artillery outside the city.

As for the Hantu soldiers who were currently wreaking havoc in the city, burning, killing, looting and even gradually causing another round of riots, Lawrence did not take these scumbags to heart, let alone what they could become... No matter how bad the army is, it is still an army. , no matter how strong the thugs are, they are still thugs; facing an army with absolute order, it is meaningless no matter how many of these scum are there.

What's more, in a certain sense, these thugs are not a force that cannot be used - since the empire has no idea of ​​establishing rule in Carindia Port, of course it should be as chaotic as possible, preferably as chaotic as possible. After the empire retreats, it will be at a point where it will not be able to recover for several years.

The territory of the Igor family, where Lawrence was born, is in the south of the empire. It owns large plantations. The industrial structure is very similar to that of Hantu. It is basically based on coffee and wine. It has a lot of similarities with Carindia, which can rely on its scale and output to sell large quantities of goods. Strong conflict of interest.

Therefore, even though he knew how unreliable and dangerous this operation was, Lawrence still insisted on accepting the emperor's appointment and became the commander of the advance army.

Prior to this, whether they bombarded the port, allowed riots and bloody suppression, or raided the Carindia nobles, it was all out of family interests and doing everything possible to weaken Carindia's commercial rival.

Use this gang of thugs to completely destroy the Carindia Port so that cheap coffee beans and wine from Hantu cannot appear in the market in the southern part of the empire... This is basically what Lawrence is really thinking now.

After confirming this, when I saw the houses in the city that were set alight by the thugs and the thick smoke that covered the sky, I felt much better.

Seeing that the battle on the city wall was over, Lawrence, who was finally able to breathe a little easier, slowly put down the telescope in his hand and turned his gaze to the Iser Elf beside him, his expression becoming slightly complicated.

To be honest, although he very much agrees with His Majesty Herred's measures to contain the Kingdom of Clovis in Hantu, this does not mean that Lawrence also supports the Ysel elves, especially now that these pointed ears have revealed themselves to be the Old God sect.

Even if the empire could survive the current crisis and defeat Hantu's Seven Cities Alliance - he didn't know that Hantu had already established a country - the gap between the Kingdom of Clovis and the Church of Order would inevitably spread to the entire world. It is very likely to cause another war that will affect the entire world of order.

You must know that the last time something like this happened was a sectarian schism war. The cause was the disagreement between the church and the royal family.

And if there was some truth in that time, in order to complete the separation of religious authority and secular authority, then this time, at least in terms of faith, the emperor's support for the Yser elves is untenable.

As an imperial knight, Lawrence could not blame the emperor, so he could only express his resentment on the uninvited Ambassador Mattias.

This person was extremely downcast when he appeared, and revealed a strangeness from beginning to end. He claimed to be the Elf King and the representative of the Thirteen Councils, the "Elf Ambassador of Yser". Lawrence discovered his identity as the Old God Sect as soon as he showed up.

The reason why he was not driven away immediately was not only due to the identity of the other party's "Elf Ambassador", but also because of the intelligence he had - although the authenticity is very questionable, there is indeed no more information about the currently isolated advance army. channel.

And this Ambassador Mattias was not empty-handed... On the second day after he arrived, three Carindia nobles who had resisted the most strongly against the advance army died collectively at home: one drank too much, and the other died in broad daylight. He took the initiative to commit suicide by jumping into the sea, and was strangled to death by his son who was greedy for the inheritance.

All of them have nothing to do with the Imperial Advance Army and are very clean.

"It seems that there is no suspense in this battle." Mattias, with a cold expression, took the lead in breaking the silence between the two and said in a complimentary tone:

"Congratulations, Lord Lawrence Igor."

"You are too polite, Lord Mattias...but the battle is not over yet." Lawrence said in a deep voice:

"Not to mention the thugs in the city who are more numerous than cockroaches, the main force of the enemy army alone consists of at least several thousand people. Once they break through the barricades in the square and march straight in to seize the port, the expeditionary force will be finished."

"But it's impossible for them to break through the square." Mattias smiled slightly:

"Otherwise, you wouldn't be sitting here chatting with me...right?"

Lawrence snorted coldly, hiding his inner pride.

"And you are right. Whether they are the thugs in the city or the scum of thousands of Aiden and Thun, they are all insignificant. They are just rotten fish and shrimps that are not worth mentioning." The elf ambassador suddenly said seriously:

"Anson Bach is the enemy you need to pay attention to."

I've been suffering from a cold recently, and I'm still moving, so my update is late again today, sorry.