I will be crowned king

The northern suburbs of Yangfan City, the imperial siege position, early morning.

The billowing gun smoke reflected the dark dome, and the horizon under the hills in the distance had turned slightly white; the exhausted Lisa forced a few soldiers who were sleepy and wanted to die to erect the blue star-ring flag on the position, with an iron-like The fact declared that the raid that lasted all night came to an end.

Perhaps because of the victory in the Battle of Hantu and the smooth sailing after arriving in the New World, the Stormtroopers, who were initially cautious and could only be described as "cowardly", began to look down upon the colonial militia more and more, and even a little bit. The regular army of the empire has a sense of pride that "the poor become rich".

Despite this, all the officers at the top and bottom after a hard night's battle had to admit that the "militia legions" temporarily recruited by the empire were very tenacious in combat effectiveness and willpower, comparable to the imperial advance army during the Battle of Carindia.

After being stabbed in the back, the entire outer defense line collapsed, and even vast areas of positions were quickly lost. After the initial panic, the imperial soldiers did not surrender at the speed of light as the storm division expected, but instead exploded with unusual morale. , and started a fierce fight with the storm division.

When the communication trenches were lost, they hid in the cover for sneak attacks and fired cold shots at the corners of the trenches; when attacked from two sides, they simply rushed out of the position, used the cover of the night to sneak around, and tied their rifles with empty ammunition to the corpses as bait to expose the enemy's firepower position. A makeshift "bombardier" throws a powder keg...

In the end, the melee turned into the result that Anson least wanted to see - the enemy successfully hid in various bunkers, warehouses and fortresses, turning them into nails stuck in the position that could not be touched or pulled out.

In order to clear out these time bombs that could explode at any time, the Storm Division tried their best and adopted the tactic of isolating each other and focusing on taking care of them; cutting off the connection between the various "nails", targeting only one at a time, concentrating the absolute superiority of troops and all The firepower was completely eliminated.

This is a wasteful, ineffective, and very time-consuming method, but Anson, who is seriously short of heavy firepower, can only do this - there are many heavy artillery discarded by the empire on the position, but the heavy field artillery is in trench warfare. The efficiency here is really low.

As for the mortars... at a distance of two to three hundred meters or even face to face, the possibility of accidental damage is far greater than sending the enemies in the fortress to the sky collectively.

Originally thought to be a two or three-hour battle at most, the battle ended from 19 o'clock in the evening to 5:30 in the morning. The storm divisions worked continuously all night, annihilating the remaining enemies one by one, and each battalion fought an average of four battles." "Tough Battle", Guards Company Commander Lisa Bach never gave up and participated in all battles.

By daybreak, except for the surrender of most important artillery forts and key strongholds, the three arsenals and the largest granary had not been breached and were still under the control of the defenders. More than 2,000 imperial soldiers were dispersed and defended. Be prepared to fight to the end.

It's not that Anson or the Storm Division officers don't want to - in fact, they really want and covet the supplies - the problem is that the three strongholds are underground, the damage caused by artillery fire is limited, and a strong attack is bound to cause heavy casualties.

Lisa thought about letting others cover her to go in alone, but after seeing at least seven or eight grenades all over her body, Fabian, who was responsible for directing the offensive, stopped her without any explanation.

The outside couldn't be attacked, and the people inside didn't dare to rush out at all. The two sides remained in this state of sit-in and confrontation... But no matter what, at least nominally the Storm Division was the victor; they took off the golden iris and replaced it with The star-and-ring flag symbolizing the Free Confederacy.

From the beginning to the end, Yangfan City, which had witnessed the entire battle, never made any movement and was as quiet as an empty city.

There was no help or prevention, not even cavalry sent to patrol and observe the battle; it was as if nothing had happened, they were quietly doing their own thing there, mechanically preparing for the next attack... no matter who the attacker was. who.

This extremely "cold" attitude made everyone in the Storm Division extremely uncomfortable, especially now that the battle had just ended, with such an army with a very unclear attitude standing in front of them, it was like a ray of light on their backs.

The main movements of Bernard and his imperial army are still unclear. The huge siege position cannot be completely controlled by the Storm Division alone with more than 4,000 people.

Once the imperial army came back, Louis Bernard decided to reconcile with the colonial minister. The isolated Storm Division was attacked from two sides without any effective support - there was no place to run if it wanted to!

Regarding this concern, the commander-in-chief, who was cautious (fearful of death), was unusually calm, which made the Storm Division officers very puzzled.

"Simple because there's nothing to worry about."

Staring with a pair of sleepy eyes, Anson was so sleepy that he wanted to die and looked angrily at his most trusted grenadier commander: "If they really wanted to attack, they could have done it last night. There is no need to wait until now."

"But it is undeniable that these people may regret at any time - especially now." Fabian emphasized his tone, and did not relax his vigilance just because of the commander-in-chief's few words:

"They were besieged by Bernard before, but now that the siege has been lifted, we have become the first target that the imperial army must eliminate; Louis Bernard... He can use this as a bargaining chip to negotiate with Bernard in exchange for him and Bernard Yangfan City has favorable conditions!”

"That's true on the surface, but what about the reality?"

Anson sighed: "The most direct point is, how can Bernard win the trust of the rebellious Sailing City? Even if a guarantee is made, why should the rebels and the liberals of Sailing City believe it?"

"If we want to cooperate with the imperial army to attack us, more than two thousand people must go out of the city to fight; and if we are wiped out, what prerequisites must be met to convince Louis Bernard that he will definitely not breach the contract?"

This question made the former Guards officer think for a moment, and the steward who quickly noticed the problem said:

"It must be a time when the imperial army suffered heavy casualties and its strength was almost the same as that of the rebels, or even...weaker?"

"Absolutely." Anson shrugged.

"So if Louis Bernard will only intervene at the last moment of the battle, or when the imperial army is about to be wiped out..." Fabian muttered to himself, suddenly seeming to notice something again.

If that is the case, as the only new force, they will indeed become a decisive force on the battlefield. The question is what benefits can they get?

If the Imperial Army suffers heavy casualties, then even if Louis Bernard can reverse the situation, he can only win the immediate victory. The returning Storm Division and the Confederate Army can still continue to besiege Sailing City.

How long can Yangfan City, which has been besieged for more than ten days and suffered heavy casualties, hold on?

If the people who are about to lose are the Stormtroopers and the Confederate Army... can the Sail City rebels, the icing on the cake, really win Bernard's forgiveness?

Obviously impossible... Fabian finally understood why Anson wasn't worried at all.

"But this is only theoretical. Moreover, there is no guarantee that the opponent will be absolutely rational and have enough information to make a judgment that is in the best interests of them." Fabian changed the subject:

"And if I remember correctly, your initial goal should be to rescue Sailing City - as long as this city is captured, the isolated imperial army will no longer have a way to escape, right?"

"Yes and no."

Anson yawned: "Winning over Yangsai City has advantages and disadvantages for us. The advantage is to end this battle as soon as possible. The disadvantage is that this battle will probably not bring much profit and water, and we will also have to add a powerful but very untrustworthy ally. ."

Of course, few of these allies can be completely trusted... Anson couldn't help but complain in his heart.

"Based on the balance, I think it is in the Storm Division's best interest to end this battle as soon as possible - if we want to cash in, we have plenty of ways to cash in on the Confederacy without having to loot the city. That would be too ugly and not in line with our current savior. character."

"But in the final analysis, we don't have to fight for the rebellion of Sailing City. As long as they maintain their current status and let us fight the imperial army alone, it will be the best result." Anson yawned again:

"The person we really have to fight for is Louis Bernard."

"That old rival of yours, the current temporary governor of Sail City?" Fabian raised his eyebrows:

"What's the difference between this and fighting for Sailing City?"

"Of course there is a difference, and it's huge!"

Anson shook his head: "According to the information we received, he became the governor of Sailing City almost overnight. It is unlikely that he had any interactions with liberals or rebels before... Why do you think this is?"

"So he was just a shield to be pushed out because the Bernard family was very influential in the New World."

Fabian's eyes lit up and he quickly understood the commander-in-chief's thoughts: "And his thoughts may not be consistent with those of the Sail City rebels, or even conflict... But even if we win him over to our side, there will be no Does it make sense?"

"No, this is very meaningful!" The corners of Anson's mouth began to rise with a sleepy face:

"The reason why the rebels wanted Louis to serve as governor was because they were unable to convince the public and were worried that they would be counterattacked if they failed. Louis was the protection they found for themselves."

"So we must win over him and convince the heir of the Bernard family that our cause is a just cause... Even further, let the Bernard family believe that investing in us is the best choice for them - just like Roland That’s the family thing.”

Fabian suddenly realized.

"Although it is a war, his vision is not limited to war. He uses external forces to resolve the crisis invisible... He is worthy of being the commander-in-chief."

"No, it's just that it's all within the plan."

Anson chose to accept the flattery from his subordinates without hesitation: "If my guess is correct, Bernard and his army should have arrived there by this time and began to besiege the stronghold."

"Then what are we going to do now?" the grenadier commander asked.

"wait."

"wait?"

"Reinhard Roland has returned to his homeland by ship and brought the news to the Northern Chamber of Commerce and the top brass of the Roland family that the Free Confederation is about to unify the New World and that the empire is still alive. There will be a response within a month or two." Anson explained:

"At Sailing City and Louis, Thalia and Miss Polina are trying to convince them. We also have to give each other some time to think and have more opportunities to calmly think about the solution for this colony."

"As well as the Confederacy... we have to let these people contribute and fight for a few days at the Wild Grass Forest stronghold, so that they don't really think that the empire can be easily defeated, and don't take the hard work of the Storm Division seriously, even a drop of sweat. Defeating the Empire without flowing out would be too easy for them.”

Let the current situation gradually ferment, wait for all parties to react, and at the same time give the exhausted army a short rest to recharge and wait for the final decisive battle with Bernard Morweis. This is Anson's wishful thinking. .

He planned to stay in his current state, collecting intelligence and building a position while waiting quietly for three days.

Three days later, two "surprises" appeared at once.

The first is the direction of Sail City - Polina and Thalia, who were escorted back by cuirassiers, brought back the attitude of Louis and the rebels: first of all, they were grateful to the Storm Division and the Confederacy for lifting the siege for them, and secondly, they did not want to Intervene in this war between the Empire and the Confederacy, intending to watch from the other side.

Regarding this, Anson always felt that the rebels on the opposite side were probably eager to kill Bernard himself, and then they would replace him with the official identity of "The Last Imperial Knight"... Unfortunately, he had no evidence.

Louis Bernard, his attitude was more tangled. On the one hand, he did not want to betray the empire, but on the other hand, he was sympathetic to the rebellious imperial colonies. He actually tried to mediate in order to achieve a satisfactory result for all parties.

This idea that sounds contradictory at first glance, and even impossible to imagine any feasibility, is indeed very similar to what he can say... I can only say that the Storm Master is good or not bad, but I don't know that he wants to kill Bernard. What did the Imperial rebels think?

The second surprise came from the direction of Wild Grass Forest. Bernard and his army were indeed attracted there and launched an all-out siege on the stronghold.

Then... then there was no more. The stronghold that was attacked head-on could not even survive for a day. It was declared to have fallen within five hours and a large amount of supplies were lost.

Bernard also sent cavalry to sweep away the Confederate troops retreating along the road. The casualties could only be described as "tragic" - six thousand troops were chased everywhere like ducks by two to three hundred hussars, without even a decent counterattack. They were able to organize themselves and fled towards Gray Pigeon Castle.

Karl and Alexey worked hard and managed to save only the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Storm Division, the artillery company, one Long Lake Town Infantry Regiment and two Red Hand Bay Infantry Regiments, plus one hundred people left. The Winter Torch City skirmisher company... escaped the sweep of the imperial cavalry and arrived at the siege position in a state of disarray.

At the same time, Bernard's army was closely following them, heading towards Sailing City!

I have something going on today, so I’ll update it in advance~