I will be crowned king

The heavy rain that started in the early morning showed no signs of stopping until the evening, and instead showed signs of getting worse.

When it was dinner time, the heavy rain continued; the orderlies carrying lunch boxes walked into the camp and placed dinner directly on the table in front of everyone.

In the silent camp, the hungry officers twitched their throats and glanced at the delicacies on the plates in front of them with the corner of their eyes, but no one dared to move; all eyes were nervously looking at the silent Ludwig. Hope, let the hot soup become colder little by little.

Ludwig Franz was in a bad mood.

Very bad!

He gave up almost everything he had for this moment of fighting, grabbing every life-saving straw, not letting go of any chance, and even willing to endure the enemy's humiliation...but he just didn't take into account the weather.

There is no snow falling all over the sky in Thunder Castle in winter, but there is freezing rain.

Heavy rain... and it was a heavy rain in winter, which had an unprecedented and terrible impact on the morale of an army preparing to attack.

Thousands of soldiers stood in trenches that had turned into puddles due to rainwater, struggling to pull their bodies out of the mud while keeping their guns and ammunition boxes from getting wet; After coming down, they had to complete their assembly in the heavy rain, launch a charge in the water-soaked muddy ground, and drag their soaked bodies forward with difficulty;

Under the pouring rain, except for the flash of artillery fire and the silhouettes of teammates, there will be no markers on the battlefield that can tell them the direction of the attack. Apart from the attack order, they will no longer be able to get any effective instructions;

At the same time, due to the obstruction of the rain curtain, all artillery will lose the possibility of aiming, and they can only fire in the direction marked before the war begins, and they must be prepared to accidentally damage friendly forces;

What they have to face are imperial soldiers who are huddled in the fortress, whose bodies and clothes are dry and clean, who have sufficient physical strength and rich combat experience. They can probably maintain their morale before their commanders are killed.

Thinking of these, it is not difficult for Ludwig to predict the upcoming battle and what kind of situation he and his Thunder Castle levy force will encounter.

A disastrous failure... At the moment when the heavy rain fell from the sky, this seemed to be an established fact.

Ludwig, who was shivering all over, clenched his fists tightly, and his tired eyes suddenly stopped the moment he raised them.

At the end of his sight, the figure on the other side of the sand table, was enjoying his dinner as if nothing had happened.

Although logistics were tight at the moment, each officer was still provided with steaming hot vegetable broth, freshly baked bread with salt and pepper, a glass of wine, a small piece of cheese and two garlic sausages.

Anson picked up the cup and drank the slightly sour wine in one gulp. He then carefully broke open the bread and piled it with the crumbs on the soup bowl. Then he inserted a piece of garlic sausage with a fork. He placed it between two pieces of bread and chewed it.

Ludwig was stunned.

Anson Bach...this guy...he...has he given up on himself?

The officers who noticed the brigadier general's expression also turned their heads to the other end of the sand table, and were stunned one after another.

In the deathly silent camp, the only sounds were the sound of rain outside and Anson enjoying his dinner.

A full minute later, Ludwig, who seemed to have recovered from the shock, silently picked up the wine glass in front of him; the officers who saw the brigadier general's action seemed to have been turned on by some kind of switch, and they also started to shout. He ate without saying a word.

At this moment, a young non-commissioned officer who was soaked all over suddenly broke into the camp, wearing a single-compartment backpack used to hold letters.

Raising his hand to stop the guard, Ludwig stood up silently and walked up to the young sergeant himself and took the letter from the other man's hand.

The moment he opened the letter, Ludwig's hands suddenly trembled and then stopped abruptly, so hard that the young sergeant in front of him was startled, thinking that the brigadier general was going to tear the letter apart.

After standing there for a moment, he said without raising his head:

"Thank you for your hard work, let's get down."

"yes!"

The young noncommissioned officer, whose face was covered with rain and sweat, suddenly became excited, saluted the brigadier in a panic, and then left quickly.

Turning around on the spot, the expressionless Ludwig pursed his lips and glanced around at the anxious faces outside Anson:

"Everyone—except Lieutenant Colonel Anson Bach—get out, now."

"yes--!!!!"

All the officers replied in unison, threw down the messy dinner plates, and disappeared from the camp in an orderly manner.

Fifteen seconds later, only Ludwig, standing with his hands behind his hands, was left in front of the sand table, and Anson, who was still enjoying his dinner.

It wasn't until Anson swallowed the last piece of bread down his throat and let out a long sigh of relief that he raised his eyes and looked at Ludwig, who was still standing there and hesitated to speak:

"bad news?"

"...An order from the Privy Council." Ludwig paused, and his whole body was trembling slightly as he spoke:

"Order me to lead the army to withdraw from Thunder Castle within two days, do my best to maintain and rectify the order of Oak Town, repair the train tracks as soon as possible, and ensure that the surrounding... traffic is smooth!"

The implication was that Ludwig was asked to give up the siege of Thunderburg and be regarded as "peacefully dismissed".

Anson nodded slightly: "Then what's next...what should we do about Thunder Castle?"

"I don't know. Maybe we really need to transfer a gunner who has fought hard battles from the western battlefield?"

Ludwig was calm and even a little unusual, and said calmly: "The letter did not mention the besieging troops, haha... It seems that they really want to drive me away from the battlefield completely."

"Army?" Anson whispered.

"No, it's not the Army's fault this time." Twitching the corners of his stiff mouth, Ludwig smiled at Anson for the first time:

"It's my father, the Archbishop of the Church of Order in the Clovis Kingdom, the great Luther Franz."

"It was he who wrote the letter himself, requesting the Privy Council to capture Thunder Castle as soon as possible and open up the supply line to the southern fortress; and it is precisely because of him that this letter appeared in my hands so quickly instead of two days later."

"Thanks to my father who is meticulous and cautious, I have the opportunity to save a bit of face and retreat voluntarily, instead of getting out of the siege position under the scolding of the special envoy sent by the Privy Council."

After saying that, the smiling Ludwig closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and suddenly held the corner of the table with his right hand.

When he opened his eyes again, Anson was already standing in front of him with his hands behind his back:

"What about you?"

"What?" Ludwig was startled.

"I'm asking you, Brigadier General Ludwig." Anson's eyes were extremely calm: "Are you ready to get out of the siege position?"

"you……"

"I'm not ready yet. In the plan I gave you, I didn't make any plans to retreat... It's a mistake." Anson rushed forward and got in front of Ludwig:

"But I am ready to take back Thunder Castle from the Empire!"

"But we have no time!" Ludwig's expression tightened instantly: "The Privy Council's order is two days later. If we can't do it tomorrow..."

Anson stole the ball again: "Then we will capture Thunder Castle tonight!"

"Just tonight?!"

"That's tonight!"

"tonight……"

Ludwig, whose voice was trembling, looked at Anson in disbelief, the veins on his forehead completely exposed: "Are you crazy - braving such heavy rain in winter to attack a well-prepared fortress?!"

"No, General, I'm very calm now." Anson shook his head and said calmly:

"Because of the heavy rain, the enemy will never think that we can launch an attack at this time - so what we have to attack is an unprepared fortress with a completely blocked view."

Ludwig was speechless for a moment.

Yes, the heavy rain has the same impact on both sides. The defenders in the city will also involuntarily relax their vigilance in such bad weather.

In this case, why should he withdraw from this battle in which he has devoted all his efforts when there is still hope of victory?

Why would he give up a fortress that had been besieged by him for more than ten days and was about to be captured to some scum sent by the army?

Why? !

Why! ! ! !