I will be crowned king

Deafening screams lit up plumes of smoke in the wilderness outside Beluga Port City; under the aftermath that shook the earth, battle flags were flying everywhere.

At seven o'clock in the morning, just as the sun rose from the horizon, 43,000 New World legions gathered from the Shooting Army Camp, the Supreme Council, and the August Military Factory to attack at the same time, with the Storm Legion as the forerunner and the Sail City Legion as the left wing. , the Shooting Army and 10,000 colonial militia formed the right wing, and attacked the White Whale Port with a sweeping force.

Forty-three thousand soldiers gathered on the same battlefield at the same time... This is something that the colonists of the New World have never seen, let alone experienced, and absolutely dare not imagine; looking down from the dome, the majestic The army is like a torrent that bursts from a dam.

It is quite a coincidence, or perhaps intentional, that the main defenders and the commander-in-chief of the battlefield on the Crusaders side happen to be the Clovis Crusaders and Ludwig Franz himself.

For the heir of the Franz family who was always on guard but could never find anything to do with it, Sir Ferrers gave him full courtesy - first of all, not only himself, but also the other representatives of the Thirteen Collegiate were ordered not to interfere. Battlefield command authority.

The only second-in-command, Arthur Herred, is a Dragon Roar Knight who is known to say "Ludwig is a good guy".

Even Ludwig has nominal command over the Judgment Knights and the fleet anchored in the port; four-fifths of the current combat power in Beluga Port has been placed under his command.

Of course, this is definitely not out of trust, but a real threat and flattery - if Beluga Port falls in the end, he will naturally be the first person responsible, and Philus and the Holy See behind him will have enough reasons. Attack the Diocese of Clovis.

On the contrary, if the Crusaders win, Clovis will still have to pay a heavy price; at least the Beluga Port Colony, an important base of cheap raw materials, will be lost. The strength that is already much inferior to the Empire will lose another important card. , but also to completely destroy the Storm Legion, a legion that the Franz family spent a lot of money to build.

Regardless of victory or defeat, the Franz family will never die... This is the death situation that Philus prepared for Ludwig.

But he accepted it anyway.

Not only because there is no way out, but also because he hopes to seize a little initiative and guide the war in the direction he most wants to see... Ludwig may not have no serious thoughts deep in his heart.

The commander-in-chief of the colonial rebels was Louis Bernard, but the actual leader was Anson Bach; for this friend and subordinate (once), he repeatedly performed miracles and knew the truth better than himself, the heir to the Franz family. There are more. It is impossible to say that he is not entangled at all.

In the Battle of Yser, Ansen, who was part of the first brigade, won a complete victory and even repelled the empire's Hantu Intervention Army; but he ended up with a defeat. Without timely reinforcements, what would have been the final outcome of the Battle of Yser Royal Court? an unknown number;

In the Battle of Sailing City, he was taken away from the headquarters despite having all the advantages, and his retreat was cut off, which almost led to the tragedy of the entire army being defeated. However, he still managed to win Sailing City through negotiation.

Three times... If you include the Battle of Eagle Point City, he lost to Anson Bach three times in total.

Now, although the Holy See has purely malicious intentions, since there is a chance for a fair duel with him, Ludwig does not intend to let it go - even if the final result is destined, Anson Bach must be convinced to lose to him once.

With this little entanglement in his heart, Ludwig raised his monocular with an expressionless face and looked at the front line of the New World Army.

The first "big gift" he prepared for Anson Bach was artillery coverage comparable to the catastrophe of Red Hand Bay.

Six warships and ten forts, all of which were dismantled from the warships, had heavy guns with a caliber of no less than 18 pounds, pouring flames symbolizing death onto the battlefield, and howling bullet marks passed over the town over and over again.

Although the accuracy of these artillery fires is very worrying - after all, across the entire town, the warships cannot aim accurately, and they have to prevent the shells from falling on their own positions - but the large-scale artillery fire still caused trouble to the New World Army's attack Not a small impact.

There is no need to think about artillery support. With such a huge disparity, as long as the colonial artillery dares to expose its target, it will be blasted into the sky by concentrated fire in the next second. Therefore, the soldiers who initially shelled the colonial soldiers could only endure it silently, waiting for the moment of final charge.

Originally, the troops and firepower were at a disadvantage, and the siege battle had to go through a large open area. Of course, it was best to rely on civil work to keep getting closer to the enemy. However, the New World Army, which originally relied on sneak attacks to gain a little chance of victory, certainly did not have this. If there is an opportunity, we can only advance quickly against the explosive point.

The Storm Legion can also rely on skirmishing tactics to reduce the probability of being bombed into the sky. The colonial militia and the Sail City Legion are in dire straits... The screaming shells fall into either a messy or neat team, and in an instant there is a column. Fall down, scream and cover your severed limbs and torso, or never feel pain again.

The companion who was stained with plasma on the side looked pale, but still had to stand upright amidst the orders and angry shouts of the superior, and was not even allowed to look aside.

So the phalanx that was blown apart by the artillery fire passed through the thick smoke rolled up by the artillery shells, reappeared at the end of the horizon, and continued to approach Beluga Harbor in an orderly manner.

"Wouldn't this be too passive?"

Looking at the getting closer and closer to the military line, Arthur Herred couldn't help but said: "With such poor accuracy, no matter how many shells are used, it will be difficult to have any effect, right?"

"On the contrary." Ludwig said solemnly, silently putting down the telescope:

"Suppressing the enemy's artillery fire has never had anything to do with accuracy. Speed ​​and quantity are the first priority; firing five shells in one minute that will definitely not hit is better than firing only one shell in one minute that has a half chance of hitting. Better results."

"Hey, why is this?"

"Why... the reasons are a little complicated, but in short, the purpose is different." Looking at Arthur's curious eyes, Ludwig rarely had the patience to explain: "If your purpose is To kill the enemy, of course the priority is to increase the hit rate as much as possible."

"But the purpose of our fire coverage is not to kill, but to repel and restrict; it is to make the enemy disorganized. The soldiers are afraid of the oncoming air waves and the solid bullets that just smashed their comrades in two. Their Morale and the will to fight will be shaken."

"No matter how powerful the army is, it is composed of one individual. Then, like the ancient fable, its strength is completely determined by the shortest piece of wood; all we have to do is to smash the shortest piece of wood."

"As long as we can curb the speed of the rebels' attack here and delay the battle until the remaining two jihadist legions arrive, we will be able to defeat them effortlessly with a two-line attack, and we will not repeat the mistakes of yesterday."

"Oh...that's it, that's it..."

Looking at Arthur's suddenly enlightened look, Ludwig sighed lightly; the reason why he insisted on using covering bombardment was of course not only to slow down the offensive rhythm of the New World Army, but also to test Anson Bach's trump card. .

Even William Cecil is willing to help him delay. The two holy war legions coming from Long Lake Town will arrive by tonight at the latest. Anson Bach... he really only has one day.

No matter what he thought, Ludwig could not find the possibility of breaking through the peripheral defense lines and forts he had deployed in one day; even if he took the initiative to expose his flaws and lose the battle, unless the tens of thousands of Jihadi troops on site were all captured Brainwash yourself into a fool, otherwise everyone will know you did it on purpose.

Could it be that he was really ready to give it a go without any assurance?

The ridiculous idea only stayed in Ludwig's consciousness for less than a moment before he was thrown out of his mind; this kind of thing can happen to anyone, but it can't be that guy.

"Remaining calm when the enemy's actions are uncertain, and never changing pre-arranged arrangements easily. The worst plan is better than improvising on the spot. These are the minimum principles of war..." Ludwig murmured to himself:

"Anson Bach, let me see what cards you have prepared."

…………………………………………

"...Is this what you're sure of?"

The deafening sound of artillery echoed over the battlefield, but it still could not stop the young knight's shocked expression: "Ludwig will never take the initiative to attack before officially joining the enemy... Why?"

"If I were the commander-in-chief of the Jihadi Army now, I would never let you get close to the positions outside the town easily and give up the last initiative in vain - even a cavalry company or a cavalry battalion would have to fight in the wilderness. The New World Army repeatedly pulled and used the position as a last resort, not the entire defense!”

"That's right, so you are Louis Bernard, not Ludwig Franz." Anson agreed deeply:

"In your eyes, keeping the initiative firmly in your own hands is always the most important, but not everyone thinks so; besides, it's not like you haven't fought against our Major General, and you should be very familiar with his character and habits. It’s clear.”

"Of course I know this, but if the information is correct, Arthur Herred is also one of the commanders. I know his character better. He is definitely not the type who can endure loneliness and wait for the enemy to come to his door!"

"Perhaps, but I have full confidence in the Major General. He is the kind of strong person who always speaks his mind. When he disagrees with others, even Archbishop Luther Franz cannot easily sway him. "

Anson, who was chewing his pipe, said no more and returned his gaze to the center of the map on the table.

Although there will definitely be a lot of casualties, under the current situation, it should be no problem to suppress the front line to the outskirts of the town of Beluga Harbor; with Ludwig's character, as long as the "ambushes" in the headquarters fortress do not act, he should also There will be no action.

As for the naval guns in the port... No matter how squandering the Crusaders are, the shells cannot be unlimited; in Ludwig's style, the naval guns can last for five minutes at most, and there will be no more for the time being.

And that is the time for the New World Army to break through the first line of defense - turning the entire town into a battlefield, and at the same time the artillery positions begin to bombard the town, which will effectively attack some of the little ideas of the Jihadi Army in the town, making them dare not act rashly - such as Massacre the city.

Gamblers have no bottom line when they are losing. It is hard to say whether the Holy See will do something that no one wants to see because they fail to achieve their goals.

The colony is no better than the Old World, and the population growth rate is very slow. It took decades to achieve the goal of 40,000 people in a Beluga Port; if they were all destroyed by the Jihadist Army, there would be little point in recapturing the Beluga Port. Halfway through, that’s when you really feel like crying without tears.

That's right, what Anson cares about most now is no longer whether he can defeat the Jihadi Army, but how complete he can be after victory, and try to accept a Beluga Port without too much loss or casualties.

However, the young knight was not as confident as him. He was still waiting anxiously for the latest information from the front line. He was silently calculating the number of casualties that had been reported and estimated by himself. His frown had not relaxed since the war started. .

Like the Fernando Legion before, the two used an abandoned farm as a temporary headquarters. After all, it was no longer a battle involving thousands or nearly ten thousand people. A large army of tens of thousands was no longer visible with the naked eye. Visual inspection of the level of command; without the operations of nearly a thousand staff and logistics personnel, the two of them would not be much more effective than an infantry regiment commander.

"Even if Ludwig's behavior is perfectly in line with your prediction, then how on earth are we going to break through three lines of defense and have at least ten forts?" Louis knocked on the location of the Beluga Port city gate on the map:

"We only have two hours, can we really do it?"

"Of course not." Anson said without raising his head: "Two hours is enough for us to gain a foothold on the first line of defense at most; not to mention that even if we can break through them all, there is still the wall of Beluga Harbor behind us. ——It’s not enough no matter what.”

"Then what are you..."

"When the outer perimeter of the fortress is unimaginably strong, its interior must be extremely fragile." Anson interrupted him directly and pressed his open right hand to the center of the town: "The Jihadist Army concentrated all its strength. On the periphery, I hope that the three forces of Clovis, the Empire, and the Colonies will strangle each other and eventually reap the results."

"But they haven't thought about why we must attack with such a big fanfare and show off the momentum of storming Beluga Port even though we are clearly at an absolute disadvantage in terms of military strength."

"They can't figure it out because they know nothing about military affairs; but some people have already figured it out, so they will use practical actions to join our side at the most critical moment."

Louis' pupils widened slightly: "So, you have really..."

Before he finished speaking, a piercing scream came from under the dome outside the house...

And it’s getting louder and louder!