I will be crowned king

At 14:55, after struggling for nearly two hours and still failing to achieve any results, Fernando's army, which was finally no longer stubborn, began to shrink its troops and concentrated most of its forces to break through to the west.

At the same time, Fernando Herred, who was sitting in the basement of the Beluga Harbor Council and was fretting, finally got the news. At this time, he was no longer as tough as he was at the beginning, and began to actively request and even beg Fellers to mobilize. The remaining Jihadi Army, or even the sailors in the port fleet, could be reinforcements, even an infantry division or an infantry regiment.

But all he got was silence, deathly silence.

On the one hand, Philes himself does not have much capital at hand. Most of the Jihad Army under his command is still with the Hantu Army and is on its way to Changhu Town. Without an army, he naturally does not have much confidence to command others; on the other hand, Although the interests of the Holy See and the imperial royal family are the same, to a certain extent, the more the strength of the royal family is damaged, the more in line with the interests of the Holy See.

After all, the empire is the nominal leader of the world of order. The weaker the royal family is, the more it needs the power of the Holy See to control the princes within the country and deter foreign countries, the greater the chance of the Holy See interfering with the secular world.

The rest...whether they were the Dukaski or Wolf families from the south, or the Clovis behind Ludwig Franz, they were obviously happy to see the imperial family's strength weakened.

"The messenger came to report that the Fernando Jihad Army has abandoned their temporary headquarters, and the entire army is quickly moving eastward."

On the position where guns and artillery roared, Fabian pointed to the road leading to Changhu Town with a serious face: "The first phase of the combat mission has been completed!"

Standing on the edge of the slope, Anson looked at the distant battlefield with a monocular, the corners of his mouth slightly raised uncontrollably.

In sight, the vanguard of the Storm Legion had already overwhelmingly taken over the last position previously controlled by Fernando's Legion, and began to pursue the defeated deserters; the cuirassiers and Storm Legion hussars in Sailing City were quickly maneuvering around to the south, trying to Cut off the enemy who breaks through the encirclement, and gradually encircle and annihilate them.

According to the current momentum, even if the opponent cannot be completely annihilated, it should not be a dream to break through four digits and achieve five digits by injuring, killing, and capturing.

In order to do all this, he almost put all the cards he could bet on - conquering the Beluga Port headquarters to attract the attention of the Jihadi Army, quickly interspersing to block Arthur Herred's reinforcements, and specifically finding Bernard. De Merwes obtained crucial information by offering him his freedom after the war in return.

Even just in case, Anson added an extra layer of insurance: he ordered the Faithless Knights, that is, Ian Clemens's gang, to infiltrate Fernando's army to ensure that they can influence the enemy's decision-making at the last moment. .

The cost of each of these preparations and trump cards is not small, and the risk is not low; in comparison, it is far inferior to letting Rune come forward during the Battle of Red Hand Bay and directly sending the entire Jihad Army to the sky.

But that result is undoubtedly what the Holy See wants most - the Holy War Army is completely annihilated. There are indeed apostles of the Old God Sect in the New World, which is enough for them to arouse fear in the entire Order World and directly recruit fanatical people beyond the lords and kings. Followers of the Ring of Order launch an infinite holy war against the new world.

"Instruct the entire army, including the 2nd and 4th Infantry Regiments, to press forward on the entire front, and don't give Fernando's legion a moment's breathing time!"

"yes!"

Fabian nodded slightly: "Then Arthur Herrid Legion..."

"Let Louis Bernard handle it by himself!" Anson waved his hand directly: "It is clear that they are coming for him. This is an internal grudge between the wealthy families in the north of the empire. We outsiders should not get too involved."

The deputy commander of the legion raised his eyebrows. The war has been underestimated so far. There are already so many forces behind the Storm Legion that may be wooing or interfering: Clovis's Rune, Fukangci, Sersi, Hantu's Francois and Ai Manuel, the Empire's Levent, Morweis, Bernard, Dukaski, Roland, and behind the scenes there are the Truth Society, the Faithless Knights, the peace faction within the Holy See, and local separatist forces...

So he really didn't understand what the Commander-in-Chief, who was jumping left and right on dozens or dozens of eggs at the same time, meant by "don't get too involved"?

Of course, confusion turned into confusion. Fabian would never delay the task that needed to be completed... He issued the order to attack across the entire front as quickly as possible. The deputy commander of the legion and the commander of the grenadiers took the lead in attacking without leaving any reserves.

At fifteen o'clock sharp, the Fernando Army, which had completely defeated the last line of defense, abandoned the illusion of "reinforcements" and launched an offensive against the colonial Army blocking the way, as if holding a life-saving straw.

Inspired by the courage to fight to the death in Changhu Town, the New World Army, which was responsible for the final mission of taking out the truth, held weapons that the Jihadi Army did not even look at, and relied on their passion to contain the attack of the enemy with twice their strength. The middle of the road with no cover at all.

But the Fernando Legion also put everything on the line. Their origins determined that there was no option to "retreat"; while blocking the Storm Legion from behind, they continued to invest more troops in an attempt to tear apart the New World Legion's defense line. Make a gap.

The two sides continued to pour out gun flames symbolizing death at each other, and thick white gunpowder smoke had covered most of the battlefield. Neither the Holy War Army nor the headquarters of the New World Army could see the entire battlefield. They could only rely on a dozen or so lines. Information from dozens of minutes ago, experience plus what can be observed with the naked eye can be used to make reliable or outrageous arrangements.

At 16:30, the colonial militiamen who had been supporting them for more than an hour gradually began to fail; as more and more jihadists took the risk of being attacked from both sides and fought, there were more and more gaps in the defense line.

At the same time, thousands of cavalrymen of the New World Army had already overrun the flanks of Fernando's Army. They were killing each other as if they were in no man's land among the panicked phalanxes, cutting the 20,000-man army into two pieces.

Even so, the Jihadi Army is still advancing desperately. After being completely defeated, they have only one idea left in their minds - breakout!

Even if the enemy has rushed behind them, even if their companions fall down one after another, even if they die in the next second, they will still smash through the encirclement network of the New World Legion and escape.

Holding a telescope, Louis Bernard stared at the battlefield shrouded in gunpowder smoke. Even though he was very confident in someone's plan, he still didn't dare to be distracted for a moment, for fear of any accidents happening again; Bernard Molwes, who was aloof, also tensed up his nerves and waited with all his concentration for the moment to witness the "miracle".

The atmosphere, which was so heavy that it seemed like deathly silence, lasted for an unknown amount of time, and was finally broken by a cry of surprise.

"Stopped?!"

The cuirass knight who received the urgent report from the messenger lost his voice. He paused for a moment and then immediately turned to look at Louis, with a look of disbelief on his face: "Sir, the attack of Fernando's legion... has been stopped!"

"Yeah, I got it." The calm and composed Marshal of the New World Army did not show any excitement. He put down the telescope in his hand reservedly and handed it to Bernard: "Send the order to the artillery position and start taking action."

"Don't worry about ammunition reserves, bombard Fernando's Legion's offensive line as quickly as possible, and completely destroy their morale!"

"Ah...obey, obey!"

Looking at the cuirass knight rushing out with joy, Bernard took a deep look at the monocular telescope in his hand. At some point, there were two dents on the brass casing.

"How on earth is it done?"

"Um?"

"You... no, I should say some colonial militias. There is no way they can be the opponent of Fernando's army. It is a miracle that they can hold on for an hour."

Bernard's expression was completely frozen: "Why on earth did these soldiers, who had not received much training at all, block the attack of Fernando's legion?!"

……………………

"math."

In the smoking room of the Long Lake Town Council, William Gottfried said without looking back, sitting among mountains of scrap papers.

"Mathematics...you mean the numbers connected by those weird symbols?"

Thalia, who blinked her emerald eyes, stood behind him and put down a cup of espresso without sugar or milk.

"No, it is a form, a human-defined existence, a tool used to describe, deduce, and solve problems... To me, it is also a part of runes."

William, who still didn't look back, raised his eyebrows: "Just like the three evolutionary paths under the Three Old Gods system, its value is to solve problems; as long as there are enough references, it can solve all problems."

"And runes are the bridge that builds all communication. As long as communication is normal enough, problems will be solved naturally."

"Like Miss Sophia Franz's arsenal, Louis Bernard's fort, the new rifles of the Shooting Corps and the new artillery of the Storm Corps - they all have questions of one kind or another, and they not only need an answer, but also need Ways to get answers.”

"Of course there are some people who already know the answer before they come to the door, and even know the solution, but at the level of 'realization', they encounter a little obstacle..."

"Such as dear Anson."

The corner of the girl holding the tray couldn't help but curl up, with a hint of pride.

"Yes, such as Anson Bach." William Gottfried picked up the coffee cup and took a few sips like drinking water:

"For a group of ordinary people who have not received sufficient training to block well-trained professional soldiers, there is only one way - fortifications."

"But ordinary fortifications cannot even out the strength gap between the two sides. Building something strong enough will take time, a lot of time, and the most important thing... no one is a fool and will actively choose to hit the wall."

"So the problem is clear: He needs to let the militiamen fight on the battlefield and build fortifications at the same time. Not only must they be stealthy, but they must be fast enough so that after the enemy realizes the trap, it is difficult to escape."

"So the solution is simple: let each soldier carry some parts, and then assemble them all at the destination."

"……that's it?"

"Of course not, or absolutely impossible." William put down the coffee cup: "First of all, the enemy is not a fool. It is incredible that such a big movement cannot be noticed; if it is a well-trained professional army, there may be hope, but a group of Ordinary people who were just armed? No way."

"Replacing the construction parts with ordinary sandbags, and then using sandbags to build earthen walls... can solve the most complex problem of how to assemble it, but it still cannot solve the problems of 'secretness' and 'efficiency'. Of course, the former can be There are countless ways, so only 'efficiency' is left, how to maximize the efficiency of 10,000 people completing the same thing..."

"This is the trouble that 'mathematics' has to solve."

"Earth wall?" Thalia tilted her head: "How many earth walls can block 20,000 soldiers?"

"Of course." William Gottfried turned his head, his slightly dull eyes flashing with absolute confidence:

"Just follow my methods and formulas."

…………………………………………

In the choking smoke, the defeated New World Legion militia quickly moved to both wings of the front like running water, displaying earthen walls built with sandbags in front of Fernando Legion.

If it were a normal battle, the Jihadist Army should close its troops as soon as possible and organize its elite forces to break through one or two gaps, or simply avoid the front and look for opportunities to bypass the front from the flanks.

But at this time, Fernando’s Legion simply couldn’t do this!

After the previous almost crazy attack, the legion's organization had completely collapsed and disintegrated. The most basic companies did not receive orders from the headquarters at all, and almost all of them were fighting alone.

At the same time, the artillery positions of the New World Army also began to project firepower frantically. The Sail City Army and the Storm Army, which followed closely behind, attacked the rear of the Fernando Army on the north and south fronts respectively, without giving them any time to reorganize.

The soldiers of the Holy War who fought bloody battles could only look at the earthen walls that were no higher than their chests in despair. However, under the messy firing of the New World Legion militiamen, they could not rush over. They could only be shot in anger and fell to the ground. In a pool of blood that had long since dried up.

Behind them, they still didn't know what was going on. They thought they would soon see the dawn of victory. They kept raising their heads until they saw the corpses on the ground and the low earth wall, as well as the rows of people hiding behind the wall. The muzzles of the platoon's guns cast deathly fire at them.

"Crack!"

Throwing the brass telescope on the ground, Bernard silently took out a pack of cigarettes that Anson had given him from his pocket. Behind the flickering firelight and the puff of smoke, a face with infinite emotion was hidden:

"Fernando Legion, it's over."