I will be crowned king

Amidst the sound of bugles that pierced the sky and stretched across the entire western horizon of Black Reef Port, the Holy War Legion with tens of thousands of troops marched to the fierce drumbeats and walked towards the hill position in the distance with the eleven three-ringed flag flying.

Almost at the same time, on the sea on the right wing of their front, a fleet of more than a dozen light and heavy cruisers lined up, firing at the Black Reef Port city and defenses in sequence; long parabolas screamed across the sea, and in Large swaths of smoke and dust exploded in the positions and towns, and countless rubbles were carried by the air waves and flew into the sky. The thick smoke rolled up was more than ten meters high.

Relying on the fleet to provide fire cover, and the headquarters also has a total of sixteen eight-pounders and twenty four-pounders, relying on the rugged terrain around Black Reef Port to build temporary forts to form a powerful firepower network, which is theoretically sufficient. Fight against the outer defense line of Black Reef Port without falling behind.

Despite this, Bernard Molwes, who fully learned the lesson from the last failure, still chose an extremely conservative style of play. He only sent a small number of elites to form a skirmish line to lure the enemy and attract firepower. The main force was only far away. Trailing behind, in no rush to advance.

Although both the Free Confederacy and the Holy War Legion have a small number of heavy artillery, the eight-pound, six-pound, and twelve-pound field infantry cannons that can really play a role in battle are the eight-pound, six-pound, and twelve-pound field infantry guns.

Although their theoretical range is two kilometers, unless there is a high-level artillery commander's bonus, the effective damage will not exceed 800 meters. Taking into account factors such as terrain, climate, wind direction, and bunkers, it can reach 600 meters. Meters are fine.

In addition, there were naval guns at sea to provide fire suppression. Bernard Morweis calmly and slowly advanced within the range of the artillery shells, covering his own artillery positions as they moved forward. At the same time, he continued to expand the surrounding bomb craters and bunkers dug by skirmishers. Form a shallow trench to provide cover for the following troops.

Of course, such a safe tactic also has its fatal flaw, that is, it is slow, extremely slow.

The battle has been going on for almost a morning, and the landing Jihadi Legion still has not engaged the enemy at the outer positions of Black Reef Port. The casualties on both sides are basically zero, and even the ammunition consumption is not much - only Borre Levent's on the sea level. The fleet spared no effort to bombard the ports and positions.

Although such an overly cautious style reduced casualties, it also made many officers feel uneasy: "Master Supervisor, the Borei Corps on the opposite side is still waiting for us to attack. Isn't it a bit too deliberate to delay like this..."

"Deliberately delaying? Why are we delaying and deliberately delaying?!"

Looking at the uneasy and even a little embarrassed looks of the officers, Bernard snorted disdainfully: "Black Reef Port is a frontline base camp where a large number of the enemy's elite troops are stationed and focused on defense; the fortifications are strong. The firepower is strong, we remain cautious and don’t underestimate the enemy’s advance, what’s wrong with this?!”

"Some of you have participated in the previous battle at Black Reef Port. Even if you haven't, you should know that the last battle failed because I was too reckless and pursued speed. As a result, not only could I not win the battle quickly, but I also fell into the enemy's path. trap."

Bernard suddenly changed the topic again, and inexplicably began to blame himself: "Nearly ten thousand troops were almost destroyed. This is a bloody lesson!"

"So this time we must not be reckless, we must be prudent, and we must not launch an attack unless absolutely necessary; without my order, not even a battalion or a platoon is allowed to attack the enemy's fortifications!"

Seeing Bernard's anger, self-blame, and seriousness at one moment, his exaggerated expressions and rich body language like a drama, the knight officers could only nod in agreement, but their pale faces obviously did not really Relax.

After all, it was an aboveboard attempt to increase sales of teammates, and no matter how many reasons there were, it didn't seem to be justified; and if the opponent was accused of not being pious enough to the Ring of Order due to a disadvantage in combat, wouldn't there be a risk of being burned at the stake.

"You guys..." Bernard couldn't help but sigh. He didn't know whether he should say that these people were too cowardly or too brave: "Do you still remember what our mission is in this battle?"

"Cooperate with the Borre Corps to contain the enemy's outer defense line and give them a chance to land - containment!" Bernard, who was dumbfounded, shouted loudly:

"Instead of cooperating with the fleet and rushing directly into the Black Reef Port from the western defense line; in other words, as long as we can keep an eye on the enemy's troops on the defense line to ensure that they will not directly ignore us and run to the beach to block the landing of Borre Levent, and contain them The mission is considered completed, understand?!"

Oh... The knight officers suddenly understood and looked at the well-intentioned and hard-working Lord Supervisor with eyes as if they were looking at a savior.

Under Bernard's reminder, everyone who was still worried suddenly became clear-headed, as if they had discovered a new world: Since it is just a containment and there is no need to fight the enemy head-on, why bother to launch an attack from the western front alone?

Black Reef Port is surrounded by mountains on three sides and faces the sea on one side. If you want to besiege it, you should besiege the northwest flanks at the same time, and send mobile troops to cut off the eastern channel at the same time.

Oh, by the way, we have to send another strong force to guard against the northwest direction. Gray Pigeon Castle may send additional reinforcements, and then occupy the surrounding high ground, dig deep trenches, and form a confrontation with the defenders. Only then can we be foolproof.

After all this effort, the jihadist army of more than 10,000 people was obviously not enough; the number of troops spread out in each position was pitifully small; it was not a mobile defense, but it was the same as nothing.

But that's okay! Each of our jihadi army can be used as one as ten, and ten thousand people can be used as an army of one hundred thousand. There is no problem at all!

"Well, that's good." Seeing the knight officers finally enlightened after his reminder, and actively volunteering to fight one by one, Bernard showed a very pleased expression on his face.

He originally did not support the Holy War Legion's hasty offensive against the Free Confederacy before it was fully assembled; not to mention that the other side was waiting for work, and there was still a large strategic space for detours. A battle that could not kill the enemy in one blow was meaningless.

Since this guy Borei is so proactive in trying to seize military glory and occupy territory, let him fight it by himself. Anyway, the people who died are the vassals and private soldiers of their Levent family; the Herid royal family and the Bernard family They all extended an olive branch to themselves, and there was no need for the Molwes family to continue to follow Levent to seek death.

So the defenders of Black Reef Port and the Borre Corps still floating on the sea saw a shocking scene: Bernard Morwes' Corps, which was still advancing at a turtle speed, stopped advancing, and then the formation suddenly "disintegrated" at the speed of light. , running around as if he didn't know who had defeated him.

Because of the naval gun cover and the unprecision artillery fire from both sides, the entire battlefield was filled with thick smoke. Only the military flags could be vaguely seen moving randomly in the wilderness outside Black Reef Port. At a glance, it seemed that they were fleeing in disarray. Exactly the same, they can no longer even organize a decent attack.

Could it be that Bernard Morweis has been killed by the defenders of Black Reef Port? Impossible, right?

Could it be that Bernard Molwes was accidentally killed by us? Isn't that possible?

Big question marks popped up in the heads of the frontline commanders on both sides at the same time. However, because they were unable to make a judgment, the defenders of Black Reef Port could only continue to fire at the "fleeing" jihadist forces on the battlefield. The fleets at sea were still moving towards the port uninterruptedly. and fire coverage on the position, but they all cooperated quite tacitly to slow down the frequency a lot.

A full hour passed, and it was only at noon that the "defeated" Bernard's Army completely exposed its front line - an army of just over 10,000 people, and at the same time, temporary forts and siege positions were deployed on both sides of the northwest. "Occupy" the two main traffic routes leading to the northwest and east, and fully expand the line, spreading the soldiers out like pepper noodles.

Even in order to avoid misunderstandings by the defenders of Black Reef Port, the army that "blocked" the eastern road did not even build fortifications. Instead, they laid out line formations on both sides of the road, which was also outside the effective range of the defenders' artillery. It was completely unreal. To cut off the road.

Then the defenders of Black Reef Port and the Borre Corps floating on the sea understood everything at once.

"Bernard Molwes, you son of a bitch!"

On the deck of the fleet flagship, the furious Borre Levent cursed loudly in the direction of Black Reef Port, and the gold-plated telescope in his hand broke into pieces on the deck: "Who gave you the courage to play tricks on me like this?!"

Dozens of knight officers gathered around him, and their expressions were extremely ugly. They wished they could swim directly to the land and cut into pieces the corpses of these "friendly troops" who had done nothing but openly and openly.

In the original plan, Bernard led an army of 10,000 to contain them. They used naval guns to cover them, took the opportunity to attack the port, and captured Black Reef Port in one fell swoop; now, even if the defenders of Black Reef Port are all fools, they know that these 10,000 people The people would not launch an attack at all. The Borre Corps had to storm the port, and the bayonet of the main force of the defenders was red.

Even with reinforcement cover and artillery support, beach landing is a highly risky military operation that will almost certainly result in heavy casualties; landing ships and soldiers with half their bodies immersed in seawater are all excellent living targets. ; The Free Confederacy also destroyed the docks of Black Reef Port, preventing warships from approaching to provide cover...

Just thinking about that kind of battle with no room for change of hands makes people shudder, not to mention having to face the enemy's main force, as well as the muzzles of large and small guns aimed at the beach... it is simply massacre.

Staring at the nearby Black Reef Port, Borre Levent's eyes were full of resentment. The flags of the Ring of Order fluttering in the distance seemed to be ruthlessly laughing at his own stupidity.

At first, he hoped to use the initiative to take on the "active" mission and provide naval gun cover as bait to allow Bernard to attack the outer positions of Black Reef Port. When the two sides were fighting to the point where they were completely indistinguishable, he would then raid the port and attack the port in one breath. Capture colonies and pick peaches.

After all calculations, I just didn't expect that this Lord Supervisor was still offline before me. He didn't even act anymore, and simply put on an attitude of "What can you do to me?"

Should we simply retreat, leave Bernard and his 10,000 people to those pagans, and return to Sailing City first?

This idea flashed through Bo Lei's mind, and then he gave up decisively.

Although Bernard had blatantly let himself go, he and his 10,000 men did not retreat, but were still performing the task of containment - although it was the same as nothing - if he ran away, he would be the one who broke the agreement. Wouldn’t you just become yourself?

What's more, the real leader of this battle is himself. If he fails, how will he gain a foothold in the Jihadi Army in the future, let alone become a part of the cake after the war and get his own territory.

Therefore, this battle must be fought. Even if everyone gives up, and there are only 20,000 people in our own legion, we must fight it, and we must win it!

"Send the order - let the vanguard troops begin to assemble and prepare for landing." Borre Levent gritted his teeth and said: "Don't pay attention to that coward Bernard anymore. We will attack alone and conquer Black Reef Port in one go!"

"I don't believe it. Tens of thousands of troops and a dozen warships can't even take down a small colony; with the Ring of Order above, the Holy War Legion is invincible!"

"The Crusaders are invincible——!!!!"

The knights with the same angry faces burst into uniform shouts, and orders began to be passed quickly among the warships. It took less than half an hour to quickly complete the preparations for the landing battle.

This is of course not because the anger towards the friendly forces makes the legion more efficient, but because all preparations have been completed long ago, and they will be implemented immediately when the friendly forces and enemies on the shore are in progress... so it is just ahead of schedule.

The stern-faced Beaure Levent stood on the edge of the flagship, personally directing the actions of the landing troops to stabilize the morale of the troops, but he was actually quite uneasy; but he could not trust other people without directing them personally - who could guarantee that there would only be friendly forces? Are you a coward, letting yourself go when it comes to acting, but your subordinates can't?

At this moment, a very confusing message came from the lookout on the flagship.

"The main force of the defenders of Black Reef Port...are still stationed on the defense line outside the city. There is no sign of returning to the city. There are only less than a thousand skirmishers and five field guns near the port?"

Borre Levent, who was furious just now, was suddenly startled, with a rather strange expression on his face: "This...why is this? Bernard's army is like that, do they think this guy will launch an attack?"

"Or is it that the defenders of Black Reef Port are all blind, or that bastard Bernard really has some special method to blind all the defenders?!"

Borre Levent was extremely puzzled, and the situation in Black Reef Port City was equally chaotic.

Looking at Bernard Morweis, who was lying outside the area where the defenders' artillery fire was firing, pretending to be dead, but refused to run into him and take the initiative to attack, Carl Bain, who was personally guarding the front line, was so anxious that he wished he could rush out and attack him personally. The bait lures the opponent to attack:

"Bernard Morweis... you are a complete coward, why do you just refuse to attack?!"

"If you don't attack... If you don't attack, how can I set up a trap and kill you without anyone noticing during the battle?"