I will be crowned king

August 23, the hundredth year of the Saint's Calendar, in the west of Aiden, in the earldom of Wildstone Castle.

In the dimly lit wilderness of the morning, a "torrent" carrying billowing smoke and dust flows quietly: thousands of cavalry, baggage trains and artillery carts block the simple sandy dirt road, and even the sides of the road are full of rocks and bushes The fields were also filled with dense infantry phalanxes.

Thousands of military boots, horse hooves, and wheels made endless sounds, raising choking smoke and dust, and gathered into an unprecedented military momentum in the entire Hantu.

If you stand on the top of the Dawn Ice Peak and look down, you can see a huge "fan" that can fill the entire horizon, like a prehistoric beast struggling to move its huge figure, stupid and chaotic.

Although Hantu claims that "an army of 150,000 can emerge by stamping your feet," when this army actually appeared, Hantu's nobles-especially Claude Francois and his two grand dukes ——Only then did he realize that Hantu, which had been at peace for more than half a century, had forgotten how to fight a war.

The most intuitive manifestation is in marching.

Although the "three hundred thousand army" was really assembled, it had to be divided into five due to the weak logistics system, otherwise the soldiers would starve to death in droves; low organizational capabilities and uneven Due to Qi's training level, even though they were still "within the national borders", everything from the marching route to the coordination between the various legions was still chaotic.

Aiden, which is spread over hills and wilderness swamps, has magnified this problem countless times.

In the land known for its rich and fertile land, Ayden is definitely a special case; the poorer life may have shaped the strong character of the Ayden people, but for an army that requires a lot of supplies, this is definitely not a paradise.

Compared with Carindia, which is rich in delicious seafood, Mist, which is known as the "bread basket of the earth", and Thun, which is full of plantations, Ayden's specialty is...well...ibex.

So the soldiers who walked on the harsh sandy dirt road, wore tattered military uniforms, carried weapons and luggage, drank sour beer, and ate hard goat meat, quickly changed from majestic to arrogant after four days of hard march. All of them had dull eyes and dull expressions, like the undead army of the legendary blood magic apostles.

Seeing the unbearable looks of the non-Aiden soldiers around him, the still energetic Grand Duke Aiden showed a flash of disdain on his face.

Sure enough...except for the brave and capable Aiden people, the rest of the Hantu army was all weak and useless.

Thinking of this, Grand Duke Ayden raised his head and looked at the blue horizon in the distance. Even the bad mood he felt after receiving the news of the collapse of the summit tower a few days ago became much better.

Unlike Claude Francois, who was still "confident", as the only leader of a principality bordering the empire in the entire Han Dynasty, Grand Duke Aiden believed that no one in the entire Han Dynasty understood the empire better than him.

This is a terrifying opponent that cannot be measured by numbers. Her strength is not just as simple as a vast territory and a huge army... In the face of absolute strength, numbers are often not even the most important factor.

Of course, if Claude was not so confident and planned to wait and see or had any idea of ​​retreating, Archduke Aiden would decisively rebel and challenge the throne occupied by him.

He was not as shocked as the other Hantu nobles by the fall of the summit tower; it was simple, the harsh words he uttered could definitely come true. If he said he could conquer it in three days, he could conquer it in three days. This is the strength and appearance of the empire. .

On the contrary, it is the "harsh words" that failed to come true that are truly surprising.

Clovis is one example - it was precisely because the empire spent nearly half a year and was still unable to advance on the Clovis border that prompted Archduke Ayden to choose to abide by the agreement with Anson during the Battle of Green Shade Valley, and later see Clovis spared no effort to help, and reached an alliance with the Francois family.

Otherwise... At that time, he would rather die together than remain indifferent to the port of Carindia that is right in front of him; or he would have defected to the empire as soon as possible, be a loyal leader, and follow the current imperial expeditionary force. The whole land has been leveled.

Because of this, when he received the news that his heir, Renault Francois, had "disastrously defeated" Carindia Port, Archduke Ayden was not surprised at all, let alone felt it was a pity - after all, Renault's soldiers were basically He was from Mist, and he wouldn't feel bad if they all died.

On the contrary, Anson Bach deliberately bypassed the Francois family and directly supported the reconstruction of Carindia Port, which aroused his great interest.

Claude Francois and Anson Bach, who were originally like a family, seemed to have cracks in their originally close relationship as one of them was crowned king.

Maybe, this is a good opportunity to take advantage of...

Just when Archduke Ayden was thinking about whether to rebel, a panting messenger suddenly interrupted his ambitious fantasy.

"Urgent report, the Mist Army ahead encountered a large enemy ambush, suspected to be the main force of the Imperial Expeditionary Force! Right now, Justice Ruko Vesenia is leading a fierce battle with the enemy, please send support as soon as possible!"

"What?!"

Grand Duke Aiden, whose pupils were trembling slightly, had a drop of cold sweat slipping from his temples and fell to the dust at his feet.

"Boom!!!! Boom!!!! Boom!!!!"

Among the plumes of smoke rising into the sky, the explosions of shells falling to the ground came one after another.

On the smoke-filled battlefield, the loud shouts of killing even replaced the roar of guns and artillery. One after another, the Imperial Line private companies holding high the fleur-de-lis flag drove Hantu soldiers who were twice or even three times their strength in the open field. advance rapidly on the battlefield.

On both wings of the battlefield, the imperial cuirassiers and hussars, who were covered by their own artillery blasts, had also completed their detour and began to pursue the defeated troops. They happily hunted their prey with sabers and carbines, and at the same time, they The officers and supervisory teams who were still trying to resist carried out targeted encirclement and annihilation.

The excellent imperial artillery constantly adjusted its direction based on the data continuously reported by these cavalry, constantly attacking the enemy's lines and the artillery positions that had been blown to pieces - if they had ever tried to build artillery positions.

Because they were tasked with reconnaissance and mopping up, and more importantly, they never considered that the Imperial Expeditionary Force would leave the Summit Tower Fortress and launch an attack on their own initiative, the Mist Legion led by Archduke Ruco Visenia was extremely loose. One legion even extended the marching width of two legions.

This is of course not what Grand Duke Mist wants. It is purely because this legion is almost entirely composed of the troops of the Grand Duchy of Mist. The original training level is the worst among the armies of the three principalities. In addition, Mist has just gone through a civil war. Although he was put down, it was not Archduke Mist himself, but the Storm Master.

As a result, the Grand Duke Ruco Visenya was almost useless; even after forming a legion, the Mist nobles, including his three heirs, had no respect for him and each supported his own troops.

Even if he realizes that this is not good and wants to take care of it, he can't take care of anyone at all... What's more, as a qualified puppet, he is very conscious in this regard and knows very well that as long as he doesn't interfere in anything, no one will take care of him. He was driven from his seat as Grand Duke.

Faced with the Imperial Expeditionary Force's all-out, merciless offensive, less than half an hour into the battle, the Mist Legion was caught off guard and suffered an almost devastating blow.

"Why, why is this happening? Didn't Claude say that the empire would defend... the summit tower?! Ah!"

In the rear position of the Mist Army, Archduke Ruko Visenya was slumped in a chair, his face was bloodless, like a hysterical little girl, shaking his gray beard and letting out a piercing scream.

On the battlefield in front of him, an infantry division that had desperately assembled its only remaining troops was hit by an indiscriminate bombardment by the Imperial artillery before it could launch a counterattack, and then two companies of Imperial cuirassiers stepped on the explosive spot. An attack on their flank was followed by a bayonet charge from the Imperial line infantry.

In less than fifteen minutes, this stubbornly resisting infantry division was beaten back steadily, and it had to keep shrinking its front line to barely gain a foothold.

This was even good. The Mist Legions on the left and right flanks had already been defeated. They were like a group of frightened rabbits scrambling to escape, destroying the lines behind them, and the entire regiment was crushed by the empire. The hussars were driven in all directions, surrounded and annihilated.

Flags and rifles were thrown so everywhere that Imperial soldiers could pick up their weapons and shoot them in the back without reloading.

By the time Ruco Visenya came to his senses, his Mist Army had basically lost its fighting ability and was retreating in large areas... The reason why it hadn't retreated yet was because the smoke was too heavy and it was hard to see the surrounding situation. Even though they were pushed to the ground and beaten violently by the enemy, almost no one even surrendered.

As for the reserves that had not yet engaged in the battle, they collapsed on both wings. As soon as the artillery position was destroyed, they decisively chose to run away, leaving their Grand Duke alone on the position.

Despite this, as the Grand Duke of Mist, Ruko Visenya has fulfilled his obligations as the commander of the legion to a certain extent, and sent the most "loyal" Mist knights around him to serve as standard bearers and war supervisors to various fronts. Fighting to maintain the position.

After all, no matter how backward it is, Hantu is still a country with a tradition of knights, and the most elite force is still these knights who have or at least have the qualifications of "gifted people".

Their strength, equipment, and talents allowed them to easily organize small-scale counterattacks, reorganize the panicked troops, and carry out constant resistance, thus somewhat slowing down some enemy attacks.

But their opponent is the army with the most experience in dealing with "talented people" in the world.

The Imperial Expeditionary Force, which noticed the movements of the Mist Army almost immediately, responded immediately - focusing rifle fire, blasting grenades, cavalry raids, or sending three to five "talented" knights at the same time to besiege...

When all the Mist knights discovered that fighting back like this would simply lead to death, except for a very few loyal or upright guys, most of them chose to refuse to carry out the Archduke's orders, or simply fled the battlefield.

"It's over! The Visenya family is over! Mist is over! It's all over, it's all over!"

Luko Visenya was slumped in the chair, all he could do was scream hysterically. At this moment, he, now seventy years old, felt much older, almost as old as his eighty-seven-year-old self. As old as my father.

"Don't give up yet, Grand Duke!" A knight covered in blood grabbed his shoulders and roared heartbreakingly:

"It's not over yet, so we can't sit back and wait for death so soon!"

"You, you mean..." Grand Duke Mist's eyes lit up:

"You mean you are willing to lead the army and launch another counterattack?"

"No, that's going to death!" the knight categorically objected, pouring cold water on Ruco Visenya, who had just raised a little hope:

"I just saw the escaping artillery abandoning a few horses and a baggage truck on the position. If you want to leave, it's still too late!

Ruco Visenya: "..."

So after ten seconds of persuasion from the knight, the Grand Duke of Mist finally reluctantly admitted his importance to the great people of Mist. With tears in his eyes, he climbed onto the baggage cart and followed the knight who was riding wildly. Turn to the safe rear.

As soon as the remnants of the Mist Legion who were still struggling to resist saw the Archduke himself disappearing, their already low morale collapsed instantly, and they gritted their teeth and surrendered to the Imperial Expeditionary Force who came up from the opposite side.

……………………

"This is so... so boring."

Looking at the Mist Army that was almost defeated like an avalanche on the opposite side, the eyes of Caspar Hered, commander of the Imperial Expeditionary Force, were almost full of disappointment.

Although he knew before the war started that his enemies were a bunch of rotten fish and shrimps with no fighting power. There was basically no difference between more than 20,000 people and more than 20,000 pigs. But he never expected that he actually seriously overestimated them.

It was just a tentative attack, but it turned into a full-scale attack by the Mist Army. After conquering the Summit Tower Fortress, the Imperial Knights, who thought they were about to face a fierce battle, were surprised to find that they had not finished warming up yet. The battle is actually over.

The infantry line collapsed at the first touch, the artillery position was destroyed in one blow, and the cavalry turned like the wind, completely disregarding the life and death of their own people... If the enemy didn't seem to have organized a little bit of resistance in the end, they almost regarded the opponent as a friendly army.

In Casper's memory, even the bandits in his hometown have more fighting will than these Han natives - at least before the sale price is negotiated, the bandits who know how much they are worth can still pretend to be brave. dead.

But the group of Hantu people in front of them didn't even pretend to be brave. They collapsed as soon as they were beaten and ran away as soon as they were defeated. They didn't give the brave imperial warriors a chance to show their fighting power.

"It's not interesting at all. What the hell kind of fight is this?!"