I will be crowned king

Fernando, who gave up on himself, was ready to sacrifice his life for the friendly forces, but his "comrades" were completely unappreciative - Borre Levent, who had been beaten into a sieve, was confronting Louis Bernard at Red Hand Bay. Arthur Herred, however, had no idea of ​​a quick victory at all, and all he could think about was continuing the duel with Louis.

A commander who dares to lead the charge can arouse the courage of the soldiers, but if this commander commits suicide again and again, even if his combat effectiveness is really strong, strong enough to kill the enemy alone, this kind of abandonment of the army will only take care of the enemy. His cheerful behavior has no meaning at all except reducing the combat efficiency of the army.

With the gradual rise of Clovis, especially the reform of the new military system and the basic completion of the "Iron Cross" railway network, more troops can be put into the battlefield in the same area, and the encounters of one, two thousand, three or four thousand people gradually Disappeared, positional warfare with nearly ten thousand people began to become the mainstream...The enemy changed, no matter how reluctant the empire was, it had to make changes, strengthened the centralization of power against the dissatisfaction of the princes of all parties, and resorted to war to suppress the momentum of Clovis's rise. .

The fact is that the empire’s system is dominated by feudal noble knights, and the logic of emphasizing the personal bravery of the leader is contradictory to the battle of large corps. Not to mention fighting with tens of thousands of people, even daily marches require a lot of preparation and planning work. Countless matters require the commander's decision, but his personal prestige and chivalry require that he must always appear in the sight of the soldiers and lead the charge in order to arouse everyone's will to fight.

Of course, as time went by, the Imperial Knights gradually adapted to this war logic that made them very uncomfortable. Staff officers dedicated to logistics and planning like Bernard Morvis also continued to emerge, and commanders with high prestige He also began to bid farewell to the front line and run his regiment through messengers, bugles, and flags instead of shouting loudly.

But adapting to adapting, the commander's example can still win him the love of a large number of soldiers - even if the commander-in-chief makes his staff and logistics anxious to curse, and in order to ensure his safety, the entire army is forced to take the initiative to expose the attack target. The planning was chaotic and extremely inefficient, and it remains that way.

At this moment, Arthur Herred is basically in such a state.

His insistence on going his own way almost caused the entire Holy War Legion to come to a complete halt. All plans revolved around the legion leader who had completely ignored him; whether he could break through the enemy's positions and conquer several strongholds and fortresses that could give the legion an advantage was secondary. , making sure he can go head-to-head with Louis Bernard is key.

If there was Bernard who could give orders in the past, since he lost this supervisor and Arthur Herred, who had no bottom line support from Ludwig, completely let go, no one can stop this. A "dragon roar" fights as he pleases on the battlefield.

Louis Bernard, who is on the disadvantaged side, is naturally happy to do this. Although he feels sorry for his close friends by doing this, as the commander of the New World Army, his most important mission now is to curb the pace of the Jihadist Army's attack - losing the Red Hand Bay. Changhu Town, which had been operating a barrier for several months without investing many resources, could not stop the Jihadi Army. The Free Confederacy, which retreated again and again, could only huddle in Winter Torch City, praying that the cold winter ice and snow would deter the Jihadi Army. .

At the same time, Ludwig, who was responsible for reinforcing Arthur Hered - not only blocked the young regiment commander's reckless behavior, but also praised him and took the initiative to defend him for his delay. The reasons and difficulties of conquering Red Hand Bay even praised him as a paladin who truly fought for the Ring of Order.

The most important thing is that although this kind of nonsense has been unanimously recognized by the bottom of the Jihad Army, Arthur Herred, who was already famous, has become thousands of people because of this irresponsible behavior. A hero to the Jihadi soldiers.

The method is very simple and not new at all: Ludwig knew how his biological sister Sophia "hyped" Anson Bach and became well-known in Clovis City with a book "The Battle of Eagle Point" , used the same method to raise the value of Arthur Herred within the Holy War Army.

It happened that there were branches of the "Moby-Dick Harbor Good Man" newspaper in several colonies that the Jihadist Army had occupied. Ludwig took advantage of them and edited the newspaper as supplies for distribution to the front line; although this squeezed out a lot of supplies. The transportation space did not cause dissatisfaction among the frontline soldiers, but was quite popular.

The only shortcoming is probably that Ludwig lacks writers with literary talents like a certain novelist. In addition, he is preparing to stuff these newspapers with private goods, so he can only do it himself, and compile all kinds of stories about Arthur. Herred's "heroic deeds" were compiled into a serious battle report and published.

So when the high command discovered that there was something wrong with the battle situation on the front line and tried to investigate and prosecute, it was discovered that Arthur Herred, who was the main person in charge of the Battle of Red Hand Bay, was not only not at fault, but also became the hero of the entire Jihad Army!

"...June 30th, cloudy with light rain.

The defeat in the battle the day before yesterday had left an impression on the morale of the army. The number of maintenance equipment and medicines on the chief's report list was one-third more than before, which gave an advance preview of the casualty figures given by each battalion five hours later.

At 13:55 p.m., an 18-pounder cannon shell fell in an open-air kitchen on the front line. There was some loss of fuel and kitchen utensils. Two people in the kitchen were killed and six were slightly or seriously injured. Not too many people, still within the tolerance range.

The real impact will wait until after the battle... The soldiers who were severely exhausted returned to their tents, but they only had water and cold food to satisfy their hunger. The hot soup that warmed people's hearts had long since been wiped out in the flames of war.

Cemetery, a huge cemetery... When the orderer returned, he described the scene he saw in the military camp like this; the soldiers with livid and numb faces looked like mourners, and the angry officers and knights seemed like relatives who could not accept the reality. Trying desperately to suppress the nameless anger arising from grief.

The enemy is not as weak and timid as imagined; the heroic holy warriors are not able to conquer this land covered with ice and snow just by relying on the boots under their feet and the horseshoes of their horses; frustration and cold food have hit their hearts hard. Confidence and courage.

It was also at this time that Arthur Herred...he came to the camp.

Looking at the scarred legion commander who held the broken hair tightly in his hand, the soldiers lowered their heads in shame and did not dare to look at him; the battle during the day was vivid in their minds, and everyone still remembered the lightning-like lightning. The figure single-handedly broke through the pagan blockade and rampaged through the enemy's impregnable defense line.

Although the soldiers tried their best to keep up, they still failed to seize the opportunity created by the legion commander who risked his life, allowing the enemy to fill the vacancies on the front line in time; Arthur Herred, alone, had broken through the front line and could only Be able to withdraw silently and accept the reality of falling short.

Facing the self-reproaching and annoyed soldiers, he neither yelled nor punished them for their incompetence. Instead, he silently picked up the fallen military flag in the trench, erected it and planted it on the position.

One after another... Arthur Herred, who crossed most of the position, held up at least a hundred flags and silently gave the tired soldiers a warm smile without resorting to any words.

Hundreds of military flags were on the battlefield, and the soldiers who were originally depressed stood up one after another. The sound of heavy breathing was like continuous artillery fire echoing in the trenches. The pain and loss disappeared, replaced by a more noble and noble spirit. The power of self-explanation.

That power has many names, including responsibility, courage, confidence, and perseverance... It was given to the entire Holy War Army by the unyielding Arthur Herred, a soul that would not be defeated or destroyed.

Yes, tomorrow's jihadi army may still be unable to win, but they will not be defeated by the enemy's despicability. Instead, they will become more and more courageous, falling down and getting up again and again, until they fall down and get up again. Victory, until the glory of the Ring of Order truly conquers this land covered by ice and snow..."

"Snapped--!"

Grand Master Grad Manfred of the Judgment Knights, who casually slapped the report on the dining table and enjoyed navy biscuits for breakfast, breathed a sigh of relief and glanced across the way: "What do you think, Philus?"

"Major General Ludwig Franz...is really an underachiever."

The named young man sighed with a smile, holding a steaming cup of coffee in his right hand holding a cigarette: "Such a good writing style... He should become a litterateur or a professional editor, definitely not a soldier."

"It's a very severe criticism." The Grand Commander joked, tapping the report spread out on the table with a hard biscuit: "The person who sent the letter said that this report has been circulated in the battlefield with a total of 200,000 copies. There are people urging me to work overtime to make copies!"

"And this just proves my point." Sir Philus glanced at the biscuit residue on the letter paper with some disgust, and took a sip of black coffee. The poor taste made him frown even more:

"In your opinion, which battle report is so exciting that it has been successfully published as a public book, or is it one that you are willing to read several times?"

"Uh... let me think about it, let me think about it... um... probably... probably... that's right, not even one!"

Grad shook his head: "Most of the excellent battle reports are too boring. Unless the work requires me, I wouldn't even bother to read them. As for the less excellent ones...why should I read them?"

"Exactly!"

Sir Philus smiled: "Major General Ludwig is very smart. This is simply a propaganda brochure. By the way, he complained to the headquarters of the Jihad Army - after all, they were really deceived and wanted to complain. It’s excusable.”

"Been cheated?" The leader almost laughed out loud.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm talking about ordinary soldiers."

Sir Fellers showed a serious look: "They are the real main body of the Jihad Army. There are hundreds of thousands of line infantrymen wearing cheap military uniforms, unable to afford good boots, and using crudely made weapons, and another hundreds of thousands who sent them to People who go to the battlefield, provide food, and can’t find their names on the rosters… they’ve been deceived.”

"The new world is not fertile ground, and the enemies are not weak enough to be easily defeated. On the contrary, they are very difficult to deal with. It is precisely because of the various facts that are inconsistent with imagination that this propaganda manual is so popular among the Jihadi Army. !”

"You mean, this matter should be taken seriously?" The Grand Leader suppressed the smile on his face, and nodded slightly at random: "Yes, sufficient attention must be paid to it... Arthur Herred should be brought to justice by the Holy See. A medal for him makes him a role model for the entire Jihadi Army!”

"Borey Levent and Fernando will probably not be satisfied with this result."

Sir Ferrers raised the corner of his mouth and said with emotion: "Major General Ludwig Franz...I used to think he was an unsuccessful soldier, but now it seems...all the guys named Franz should not be easily provoked." Object."

"Especially when they are so rich and have a king in their hands!" The Grand Commander expressed the same feeling: "Of the six legions, the Clovis only accounted for one-sixth, but they successfully dominated the jihad. and trend, completely isolating Borre Levent, who was originally the most promising to control the situation... It is really worthy of praise!"

"So you really think he's running this?"

"He had better be, otherwise the problem we have to deal with is not just the overly ambitious problem of a legion commander." Grad gave Sir Philus a deep look:

"The cards in the hands of the Knights of Judgment and the Holy See are very limited and can only be used for deterrence and a final word at critical moments; if half of the Holy War is against us, there is actually no chance of winning this battle."

"half?!"

Sir Ferrers was startled and almost dropped the cigarette in his hand on the table.

"This is a relatively conservative guess." Grad nodded slightly, "Click!" He took a bite of the biscuit in his hand:

"The Holy See does not have its own army. This is our biggest shortcoming. If you want to drive those soldiers, you need to pay a price, and you have to be justified. Otherwise, if they dared to split the church and establish their own sect, there is no reason why they would not be able to do it for hundreds of years. Repeat next year...Give me the coffee, this cookie is too dry."

"So we must rush to the New World as soon as possible to control the Holy War Army in the name of the headquarters. We cannot continue to be ignored by Ludwig Franz like we are now." Sir Philus pushed the cup in front of the Grand Commander:

"Then what's your next plan?"

"plan?"

Grad, who picked it up and took a big sip, also showed the same expression as Philus: "There is no plan! At this stage, it is not appropriate to interfere too much with the army commanders with ulterior motives and let them have the idea of ​​us taking away their command. .”

"Since Ludwig used this method to delay the frontline attack of Red Hand Bay, not giving supplies to Fernando who was besieging Beluga Port, and isolating Borre Levent, it proves that he really wants to slow down the attack."

"Very good, then I will do as he wishes - negotiate with the Free Confederacy!"