I will be crowned king

At 14:45, thirty minutes after the failure of the Knights' siege of the White Whale Port headquarters, the Storm Legion attacking from the southeast, the Sail City Legion advancing on the east flank, and the defenders in the Shooting Army camp, The Fernando Legion of the Jihad Army has been completely surrounded and firmly locked in the middle of a slightly undulating slope.

The goal is extremely clear, Fernando's legion must surrender or die.

With such a clear attitude, the Clovis Jihad Army, which was also besieging the August Military Factory and the Supreme Council, decisively withdrew from the battle, leaving behind their "comrades" fighting side by side without looking back, to prepare for the upcoming fight. Both sides made ample space.

Before Arthur Herred, who was thinking about a duel with Louis Bernard, could get closer, he was blocked by the Storm Legion, whose columns were quickly passing through. He was stuck at the bottom of the hillside and in the middle of the road leading to Long Lake Town; The Sail City Legion took the opportunity to break into the battlefield, and the Storm Legion, which cooperated with the column's attack, blocked the Fernando Legion's retreat.

Behind them, the remaining colonial militia and shooting troops also moved slowly under the mobilization of the staff, detouring to the west to set up their front lines - while opening up the encirclement net, beware that the jihadi army might attack from the direction of Changhu Town at any time. Reinforcements are coming.

Under the continuous sound of gunfire, the earth was shaking slightly.

Facing a siege with almost twice its own strength, Fernando's army was caught off guard and could only curse the Clovis people for being ruthless and ruthless, while organizing the army to defend on the spot like headless chickens, waiting for reinforcements from the direction of the town behind them.

The problem is that the location they occupy is just a gentle slope and farmland, without any natural bunkers or protection at all. The entire army is exposed to the artillery fire of the New World Legion.

In the shooting army camp, Louis Bernard, who had just arrived with the army, stood on a temporary observation deck and had a panoramic view of the entire battlefield.

On the north side, there are 6,000 shooting troops who have just withstood the siege and started a full-scale counterattack, 1,000 Sail City hussars and 4,000 line infantry. They are running through the messy slopes at the fastest speed, crashing like a wave. Looking at the already dilapidated defense line on the opposite side.

As given by the Fernando Legion the task of cutting off the rear and blocking the pursuing troops, these companies destined to confront several or even ten times the enemy are undoubtedly composed of elite veterans; in the face of a collapsing situation, only they can turn the tide. Avoid the worst outcome.

But unfortunately, what they encountered this time was not a familiar opponent, nor a suburban bandit who could be manipulated at will, but a shooting army who dared to rush in front of the enemy and then fire, or even not fire, just kill them with their axes!

Continuous gunfire swept through the billowing smoke, and the soldiers of the shooting army fell almost instantly.

However, the fierce and dense volleys of the Imperial Line soldiers could not stop their footsteps. They were still trotting on the corpses of their companions, maintaining the scattered formation until they were close to two hundred meters - the distance of a bayonet charge. .

"Ugh wow wow wow wow wow...!!!!"

Amidst the loud shouts of killing, the blood-soaked Shooting Army soldiers brandished battle axes that tore through the smoke, and rushed straight in front of the shocked imperial line soldiers.

And behind them, the four thousand line infantry from Sail City were still approaching unhurriedly.

Realizing that the situation was not good, the Jihadi soldiers tried to get out of the battle, but they had no chance... The sound of iron hooves like war drums played on both sides of them, and a thousand hussars came with flags!

In normal times, these elite veterans would quickly change their formations, from line formations to hollow targets to contain the cavalry, but now they can't do it... The desperate charging shooting army directly disrupted the entire formation, and the big and heavy battle Not to mention the head, even the body of the gun can be easily split into two pieces.

In just the blink of an eye, the seemingly solid blocking line was completely overwhelmed. The fiercely advancing sabers were like the wind sweeping away fallen leaves, harvesting the flesh and blood of the defeated soldiers wantonly.

On the eastern half of the battlefield, the Storm Legion, which had successfully blocked Arthur Herred, had built a complete line of defense. Scattered six-pound howitzers were organized into companies to provide fire support for each infantry regiment.

This tactic is obviously far less efficient than the centralized use of artillery, but the advantage is that it is more flexible. Each regiment can execute combat orders as a relatively independent and complete combat unit, and is better at responding to emergencies and when necessary. of fighting alone.

Just like now.

Dense and messy footsteps filled the entire low hillside. Arthur Herred, who had begun to lose his patience, ordered the entire army to attack frontally, with skirmishers as the forerunners, and all infantry companies deployed in six rows of square formations. , moving quickly like waves, one after another, intending to destroy the defense line deployed by the Storm Legion with uninterrupted attacks.

Responsible for blocking them were Alexei's 2nd Infantry Regiment and Leo, the commander of the 4th Infantry Regiment.

The relationship between the two is definitely not a good one, but it is not that bad either - they are both from the Eastern Theater Command, and technically they were already comrades before joining the Storm Legion; and because of this, Alexei's feelings towards Leo The legendary "good luck" is extremely fearful, for fear of becoming a victim of the opponent's glorious record.

Therefore, without even waiting for Anson Bach's order, he spread out the defense line in front of the opponent and forced the 4th Infantry Regiment to his side and rear, turning it into a reserve force;

Leo, who was dumbfounded, could only accept this result and ordered the entire army to deploy skirmishing tactics to support the 3rd Infantry Regiment. Alexei, who was afraid that the other party would not accept it, simply ordered the entire army to assault and use counterattacks to repel Asia. The offensive of the Crusaders of Ser Hred.

So the two sides used the exact same tactics without saying any hello; figures wearing blue, white and black and red military uniforms covered the entire hillside, with countless rings of order and thirteen rings mixed in. The flag, seen from a distance, looks like thousands of flowers blooming on the burning sea.

Faced with such a situation, Arthur Herred, who originally thought he was going to fight a positional battle, was caught off guard and turned into infinite ecstasy in an instant - compared with the rigid and extremely boring line soldier volley shooting and phalanx charge, the skirmisher mode The big melee is obviously easier to open the gap quickly, allowing him to find Louis Bernard for a duel as soon as possible.

Then he discovered that the Clovis people across from him were not only brave, but also vicious.

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

Black shrapnel pierced the sky and exploded in the air on both sides of the "wave formation" of the Crusaders. Thousands of lead bullets swept through the smokeless Imperial line infantry like a violent storm, exploding with scarlet fireworks.

Different from the crazy rapid-fire power of the Clovis people that the Imperial people were familiar with in the past, this time the artillerymen of the Storm Legion chose a more precise shooting method, with a frequency of almost one shot per minute to ensure that the shrapnel can perfectly cover the enemy. location, and at the same time, it will not affect your own people.

This is of course not because the artillerymen of the Storm Legion suddenly became enlightened and all became sharpshooters, but because Wilhelm Gottfried installed a new aiming device he invented on the howitzer he developed, which can be moved by movement. The position of the cursor, select the location range to be hit.

The first to be hit were the cavalry and artillery of Arthur Herred's regiment.

By the time Arthur Herred realized something was wrong, he had very few three-pound cannons left... He could only count on the infantry to break out of the encirclement and open a gap as soon as possible despite the artillery fire.

It is very unfortunate that on the track of "skirmishing tactics", his legion is obviously at a disadvantage; the empire, which has never cared about infantry, let alone skirmishers, simply regards infantry as a "chopping block" to maintain the front and suppress the enemy. "To use it, the real ones responsible for killing and breaking through have always been artillery and cavalry.

Faced with the enemy's horrifyingly accurate bombardment, the Imperial line privates who were repeatedly harvested by shrapnel shells could only bite the bullet and continue the attack under the insults and urging of the officers and knights.

"The whole army is ready - all companies are organized into platoons, and everyone is free to fire! No matter how I fight, use the shortest possible time to shoot out all the lead bullets on my body, and there will be no bullets left!"

After shouting and howling the order, Alexey himself picked up a Leopold rifle and rushed forward; the soldiers around him were either standing, half-crouching, kneeling on one knee, or crawling on the hillside. Go up, lie down on the grass, and pour ammunition frantically at Arthur's Jihad Army.

The advantage of the breech-loading rifle's fast rate of fire is evident at this time: there are also skirmishers in Arthur's Legion, but they are equipped with front-loading rifled guns. They need to desperately stuff lead bullets into the barrel and then fire. The rate of fire is average per Can't do it for a minute.

Although Leopold has poor sealing and almost no rifling, its rate of fire can reach four rounds per minute. A skilled fast shooter can even shoot more than six rounds per minute - almost twice that of an ordinary muzzle-loading rifle. Rate of fire!

The originally small number of skirmishers were completely useless in the face of the bullets pouring in like a storm; Arthur Herred, who was completely suppressed, immediately wanted to lead the charge himself, but in the end he was shocked by everyone. The disgraced guards and knights tried their best to stop him and failed.

At this point, the last reinforcements that could assist the Fernando Army were blocked from the outside of the battlefield. At the same time, the Clovis Army had also withdrawn from the battlefield. The rest of the Jihadi Army showed no sign of coming to support, so the only way left for them to survive was There is only one left...

"Breakout to the east."

A familiar voice sounded beside the young knight: "If it were me, I would definitely do this."

"In their current state, it is absolutely impossible to tear apart the encirclement network formed by the Sail City Legion and the Storm Legion without paying a heavy enough price; but they will not do this because they are His Majesty the Emperor's standing army. , excessive losses will have an indelible impact on the emperor’s authority.”

"In the face of two evils, the seemingly largest colonial militia is the optimal solution; after all, their organization is poor, and their training and weapons levels are far below the level. Even if their morale is high, it is impossible to stop the elite. The Crusaders."

"On the premise of preserving the overall situation, they must and will only make this decision; of course, they can also choose to give up resistance and surrender to the New World Army; but the Holy War Army sent by His Majesty Emperor Hred became the only one. A legion that takes the initiative to give up resistance will have an even greater impact on the emperor's prestige!"

"From this perspective, even if they realize that there may be a trap here, they will still do it because there is no choice at all!"

The decisive words echoed in his ears. Louis Bernard turned his head, looked at the man with a smile and said: "Everything is exactly as you said, Uncle Bernard."

"No, it should be said that everything is within Anson Bach's plan."

Bernard Morweis, the former colonial minister of the empire and chief of staff of the Arthur Crusade, smiled bitterly: "This was originally his plan. The reason why he had to find me was just to make further confirmation; no matter the answer Nothing will affect his decision."

"But your affirmation has indeed increased our confidence in execution." Louis shook his head: "Anson Bach... I know him very well. If this person is not fully sure, he will never be so confident. It was never his style to take risks; of course, there were occasional exceptions.”

For example, that time at the Royal Court of Yser... He thought to himself.

"Maybe, but I prefer to believe that he has already obtained detailed information from other channels, and has even prepared an emergency plan in case the situation changes." Bernard sighed:

"Anyway, the fate of Fernando's Legion is already the setting sun in the evening - it is destined."

…………………………

"So, what else do you have to hesitate about?!"

The excited words echoed in the hut, making the officers and knights present look gloomy.

At this moment, huddled in the farm that was used as a temporary headquarters, they felt no more relaxed than their subordinates who were fighting bloody battles with the enemy outside. They were even more desperate; the entire legion had no way out, and the hope of relying on reinforcements was even greater. It's extremely slim.

"But……"

"It's nothing!"

Seeing that someone wanted to stand up and refute, the knight immediately stopped him: "Sir Antonio, I know what you want to say - breaking out to the east will only get further and further away from the town, and the hope of relying on reinforcements will become even slimmer."

"But please open your eyes and see who else we can count on now. We can only rely on ourselves!"

"boom--!!!!"

Before he finished speaking, a loud noise suddenly exploded in the thatched house - the deputy commander of the legion, who had always been silent and bowed his head without saying a word, smashed the table with his fist, and scanned every face present with his sharp eyes: "Did he mean what he said? Wrong, we can only rely on ourselves.”

"Now the whole army listens to my order, throws down all unnecessary baggage and luggage, breaks out to the east with all its strength, and tears apart the enemy's encirclement network!"

"Everything will be done as Ian Clemens says!"