I will be crowned king

The moment the screams approached, Anson, who remained calm-faced, still chewed his pipe and looked at the map attentively; Louis, whose pupils shrank suddenly, turned around suddenly and rushed towards the front yard of the farm amid shouts and screams.

"clang--!!!!"

Translucent water vapor passed by and exploded with a thunderous sound under the clear sky; the staff and logistics officers who were still panicking in the command post and hurriedly hiding suddenly stopped and turned to look at the figure with flying clothes.

"What are you doing standing there? The battle isn't over yet."

Holding the saber he swung tightly, Louis glanced sideways and pointed at the mess on the ground: "Hurry up and clean it up, and sort out all the intelligence sent from the front as soon as possible!"

Powerful words echoed in the smoke-rich air, and everyone began to clean up the scene in embarrassment; five minutes later, the command headquarters, which was almost blown up by a cannon, resumed operation.

Almost at the same time, the bullet marks across the dome began to become sparse; the young knight suppressed the uneasiness in his heart and looked toward the city wall.

There was only one reason for Ludwig to issue an order to stop the bombardment-soldiers on both sides had already engaged the enemy, and he wanted to avoid accidental damage.

“Thirteen Colonies—!!!!”

Sky-shaking roars and bugles exploded outside the first line of defense of the Crusaders. The Shooting Corps on the right wing, along with the messy colonies, unsurprisingly failed to comply with the pre-war arrangements and rushed into position ahead of the Storm Legion.

Fabian, who was in charge of forward command, was confused on the spot and quickly ordered the Storm Legion to slow down. At the same time, he sent hussars to send orders to the Sail City Legion, warning them not to be dragged up and rush forward together.

The deputy commander on the opposite side was a cuirass knight originally under Bernard. After receiving the news, he immediately understood and slowed down the advancement of the Sail City Legion - attacking heavily defended positions relies on concentrated breakthroughs, and pressing the entire line is worried. The enemy's guns were not accurate enough.

The originally cone-shaped New World Army's front became a trapezoid with high west and low east, and at the same time, it gradually approached the position where the colonial militia broke in.

Roaring through the acrid smoke, the colonial militiamen carrying a variety of rifles proudly planted the eleven-three-ring flag on their position, trampling on the enemies and their corpses and pouring into the gap just opened by grenades and howitzers; Behind them, there were continuous figures climbing the slope, coming like waves.

Although there was only one night, and the manpower was not very rich, Ludwig still tried his best to repair a shooting slope in front of the position, and used sandbags to build a high outer perimeter of the trench; despite the rush of time, It may not really cause many casualties to the opponent, but it can at least limit the frequency of enemy attacks.

When the soldiers of the New World Army concentrated fire after round of volleys of guns, and finally rushed into the position through the gap, they soon discovered to their horror that before the reinforcements behind them could catch up, they had already been trapped in the position. The defenders here are surrounded on three sides!

Drawing on the experience of the Battle of Eagle Point, Ludwig, who wasted a lot of time on the first line of defense, changed the second line of defense into relatively independent small strongholds. The soldiers were organized into platoons and companies. The staggered, slanted firepower covered the entire area; it was not a straight line, but an almost semicircular trapezoid - similar to a hollow square array with only half of one side.

As long as the New World Legion soldiers who break through the first line of defense climb out of the trench, they will immediately be "warmly welcomed" by the firepower of at least two infantry companies, and two-thirds of the scattered queue will fall in an instant.

Of course, the extremely high firepower density resulted in low frequency; but the New World Army, whose attack speed was limited by the first line of defense and shooting slopes, could not immediately invest a large number of troops to break through quickly.

What's more, there are ten forts specially prepared by Ludwig behind the defense line... The screaming shells continue to explode on the position, causing air waves that can tear flesh and blood, and a noise that pierces the eardrums.

Every explosion is like a "red rain" of blood and flesh flying everywhere, and every round of gunfire is the last cry of the dying.

After several rounds of attacks ended with more than a dozen or dozens of corpses thrown away, the fanatical colonial militia finally gave up the idea of ​​a quick breakthrough and instead tried to gain a foothold on the first front and concentrate enough troops. Try attacking again.

Then, they fell into Ludwig's second "trap."

The seemingly solid trench is definitely not spacious. It is an easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack position suitable for a Jedi counterattack. It happens to be within the coverage of the four central forts - and it happens to be able to land the artillery shells in the position. It will never The range of "harming innocent people".

"Boom-boom-boom-!!!"

The thunderous sound of artillery shook the ground, and the golden-red "Wall of Death" suddenly rose in front of the slope, suddenly interrupting the attack of the New World Legion.

And that's not all... Just as the bombardment started, the "defeated" Jihadi Army attacked from the rear of the line again. The soldiers stepping on the explosive spots cooperated with each other to cover, regained control of multiple positions, and continued to move towards The enemy hiding under the slope pulled the trigger.

After driving all the New World Army down the slope, the mortars hiding at the back of the position finally began to fire...Shrapnel exploding in the air rained down fire on the heads of the soldiers; thousands of hot lead bullets penetrated a body. With wailing flesh and blood, the soldiers of the New World Legion could not calm down and had to continue to retreat.

Once they retreated, they immediately entered the firing range of the Jihadi Army's position and fort; the huge number of six-pounders and eighteen-pounders could bombard the columns and lines of the New World Army without any scruples.

The fighting lasted until nine o'clock in the morning. Seeing that the right wing was about to collapse, Fabian immediately sent Norton Crosell to take over the shooting army there in the name of Commander-in-Chief Anson Bach, and at the same time beware of the movements of the colonial militias - continue Fighting means reinforcements. If you dare to flee, you can also supervise the battle team.

At the same time, in order to share more pressure on the right wing, Fabian, who received the attack order, immediately issued the attack order. More than 5,000 Storm Legion began to advance towards the first line of defense of the Jihad Army under artillery fire.

Although the strength of the Jihadi Army in Beluga Port is actually comparable to that of the New World Army, or even slightly overwhelmed, it was dispersed by Ludwig on three lines of defense and forts, as well as the troops in the town responsible for suppressing the riots. They suddenly had to deal with different situations. Attacking in different directions will inevitably bring some pressure.

However, this level of change was not beyond Ludwig's expectations.

"Since they plan to break through the center, let's give these traitors a chance."

Observing the Storm Legion's attack route through the telescope, Ludwig's expression remained unchanged, and he even felt a little bored: "Let the defenders on the first line of defense quickly assemble to both sides, give way to the artillery, and give them A little surprise.”

"This... what if the enemy is just feigning an attack, but is actually trying to cover the attack of the main force on the west side?"

Arthur Herred said worriedly, or rather eagerly: "Do you want me to bring a reserve army to follow, just in case?"

"It's not necessary." Ludwig directly rejected it without thinking: "If it is a feint attack, the opposite side will definitely spread out columns and attack us with skirmishing tactics to reduce the casualties caused by the shelling - but they still keep the column moving forward quickly. , they are truly ready to conquer the defense line!"

"The purpose is not difficult to guess. Since the flank attack is not going well, let's try to break through the center, then turn around to cover the flanks to open up the situation. This is one of the more common Clovis column offensive tactics."

The fact is more than that... Ludwig guessed that Anson Bach originally planned to break through from the center, but the militia was out of control and took the lead in attacking, so it had to become a "slash tactic".

But even this is too strange...normal tactics, normal configuration, and even the problems that occur are "normal" - it is not surprising that this kind of thing happens to others, but Anson Bach?

Does he have anything to do with the word "normal"?

The most important thing is that as long as you are a rational commander, you should be aware of such "normal" tactics and never think about breaking through your carefully arranged defense line in a few hours or even a day.

So what does he want to do?

With mediocre tactics, the best result would be to fall into repeated back-and-forth fights with oneself. In addition to the constant waste of ammunition by both sides, there is no way to imagine what the outcome will be.

etc! result?

Ludwig was startled... What if, what if, from the beginning, Anson Bach never expected to break through the outer defense line of Beluga Port head-on?

The reason why they staged a full-scale offensive, even retaking the Beluga Port headquarters at all costs, and encircling the Fernando Legion was to convince the Jihadi Army and the Holy See that the colonial rebels wanted to defeat the Jihadi Army from the front and take revenge. gesture to win freedom and independence?

And his real method is actually in Beluga Port City? !

The more he thought about it, the more he thought it was possible. Ludwig's eyes narrowed and he fixed his sights on the explosion point where the shells fell in the distance; if nothing else happened, Anson Bach's headquarters should be nearby.

That's right, just because he was not prepared to break through from the front, this guy stayed quietly at the headquarters and let his subordinates do whatever they wanted - the target was not difficult, and he nailed himself to this position and could not move. Will suffice.

Thinking along this line of thinking, it seems that it is not unreasonable: the Dukaski family seems to have reached some private agreement with him, ruling that the Knights' previous inexplicable truce in Red Hand Bay was not banned by themselves. The destroyed League of Promise Keepers...

If these overt or covert forces are mobilized, they may indeed help Anson Bach seize Beluga Harbor.

But if that's all, it still seems a little insufficient... The Holy See is not a fool, and the Pavel Dukaski family is even less likely to openly betray the Holy See and the Crusaders; there is also the Alliance of the Promise Keepers, a group of unarmed people gathered purely by faith It is really doubtful how much power the thugs can have...

"What's wrong?"

"nothing!"

Ludwig, who was interrupted from thinking, suddenly woke up and looked at the curious Dragon Roar Knight with an extremely solemn expression: "I just suddenly thought that your suggestion is indeed reasonable - in case the enemy is really feigning an attack. , First, there is indeed a possibility that the second position will be breached!"

"To prevent accidents, please lead two infantry regiments to station on the west side of the position as soon as possible. This may be safer."

"West side?"

Arthur scratched his head in surprise and pointed at the Sail City Legion that also started to advance in the northeast: "Isn't it better to be over there? There is also the Beluga Port Headquarters. What if they attack the flanks of our position at the same time?"

"Don't worry about this, we have made the most adequate preparations." Ludwig held his shoulders, his face full of sincerity: "Five of the ten turrets are aimed at the headquarters. Direction, and the Knights of Caioujue are on standby."

"If the rebels are really stupid enough to break through from the Eastern Front, they will be greeted by endless bombings, and after the bombings, the Knights of Judgment and three thousand Jihadi Army line infantry will jointly attack - they will not be given any room to breathe. of!"

"On the Western Front... we don't know if the remaining two legions are suitable before they arrive. If the enemy really prepares to attack from here, the risk of being broken through cannot be said to be completely gone. Therefore, it is urgent for you, as the deputy commander, to sit in and ensure that Soldiers can fight with peace of mind without risk to morale."

It seemed that he was really moved by Ludwig's sincerity. After a brief struggle, Arthur finally nodded heavily: "I understand, just feel free to leave it to me!"

Ludwig, who forced a smile, also nodded slightly and watched the Dragon Roar Knight stride away.

He actually doesn't care whether the other party will keep his promise, or whether he will still go to the east side of the position to find trouble with Louis Bernard; as long as he ensures that at the important moment when he must "retreat", no one will appear to interfere with his decision. That's it.

Ludwig, who saw through Anson Bach's "trump card", began to raise the corners of his mouth uncontrollably, and couldn't help but look in the direction of Chang Lake Town.

Since the key to this battle lies in internal blasting, as long as you ensure that your position is not lost before reinforcements arrive or the guy reveals his trump card, then in a sense, when your troop strength and pre-war preparations are almost the same, Blocked Anson Bach's attack.

That's right, the person who won the attack and defense of Beluga Harbor was Ludwig Franz... himself!

"boom---!!!!"

The deafening sound of artillery shelling suddenly came from the direction in front of him. Ludwig was stunned and his smile froze on his face, while his eyes were fixed on the artillery flames that lit up in the opposite position.

A full three and a half hours after the war began, the New World Army finally revealed the location of its artillery position and launched a fierce bombardment toward the center of the battle line.

However, this was just the beginning. Fifteen minutes later, a more violent message was delivered to Ludwig.

"Report, the colonial rebels have broken through our first line of defense, captured multiple strongholds on the second line of defense, and are attacking towards the headquarters!"