I Will Be The Crowned King

The 100th year of the saint's calendar, on May 14, Eagle Point City.

In the desolate wilderness, a few vultures in the mountains circled under the clear sky, making a desolate neigh; the gray-white gunpowder smoke filled around the broken gun fort; Under a blood-colored unicorn banner in the fort, sparks can still be seen on the unburned banner.

Weapons and flags were scattered all over the **** in front of the cannon, and the bones were spread out like a carpet: some were elves, some were human, some were still intact, and some had changed beyond recognition...

A hasty and endless battle ended just a few minutes ago.

Ysel elves in golden and red military uniforms lined up neatly and charged towards the outer forts of Eagle Point on the rugged wilderness and hills; relying on the cross fire between the forts and the trenches, the defenders of the Southern Legion were easily defeated. Repel enemy attacks.

The unscathed Clovis soldiers did not see any joy in their faces; they just mechanically carried out the orders of the officers, cleaned the battlefield and counted the spoils, repaired fortifications, and buried the bones... just like the past few days. Same day.

At the top of the tower of Eagle Point City, Ludwig Franz, who also had a solemn expression, held the city wall with both hands and looked in the direction of the rising sun.

The rolling hills that are clearly visible in the field of vision, the open fields that are not flat, the long lanes, and the unreachable horizon hidden behind all of this... They are all an extremely dazzling golden red!

Louis Bernard, he was faster than he expected.

In just two days, 10,000 vanguard troops had arrived in the eastern area of ​​Eagle Point City and seized the favorable terrain, so that the southern army could not pose any threat to his line of communication.

In just two days, Ludwig has not even completed the construction of the defensive positions outside Eagle Point City; because the stall is too large, the entire defense line is long and narrow and extremely lacking in depth, like a road blocking Eagle Point City. The slender line to the east.

For the next two days, the Wan Iser vanguard continued to attack the defense line, and the southern army also built positions while fighting; fortunately, the enemy had few troops and no artillery at all, so all the offensive was beaten back.

But Ludwig couldn't laugh at all.

The completely unexpected attack completely exposed his firepower deployment in the defensive position; and the southern army had to step up the construction offensive, and the communication line to the east was completely controlled by the Guards, so he couldn't figure out the Guards at all. The specifics of the assembly.

When he saw the golden red color of the mountains and plains to the east of Eagle Point City, Ludwig realized that the enemy's 40,000 army had been assembled and had been deployed for the defensive positions of Eagle Point City.

Such a prudent and relaxed style of play, if not for what Roman had seen with his own eyes, it would have made it hard for Ludwig to believe that the supreme commander of this Guard Corps was a man who first came to the battlefield a few months ago. The imperial knights who do not command well.

This made Ludwig nervous.

Not only him, but the entire southern legion is very nervous - it's one thing to hear it, but it's another thing to actually see the 40,000-strong army of the Guards; as a conscription-based regiment, the best thing is to bully the soft and be afraid of the hard The southern legion of the army was afraid when seeing an enemy whose strength was three or four times his own. That was the minimum professional quality.

In the following days, Louis Bernard did not rush to attack before he was ready, as he did when he encountered Romain; instead, he continued to harass uninterruptedly, testing and consuming the firepower of the southern legion.

At the same time, by virtue of his absolute superiority in military strength, he completely spread out the front before Ludwig's fortifications were perfected, and controlled a large number of highlands that were far away from the defense line of Eaglehorn City; and sent a large number of small units to scout and search for surrounding areas. Every terrain, especially the troops sent by the Southern Legion, trying to attack their supply lines from behind.

On May 12, Lieutenant Colonel Roman, who led a 500-man skirmisher, took advantage of the darkness to try to cross the position of the Guard Corps from the southernmost hills of the defense line. The troops collided head-on.

A fierce battle broke out between the two sides in the mountains and forests where the five fingers could not be seen, and the position of the enemy and the enemy was determined entirely by gunfire and sound; because the enemy's firepower was too dense, and the sky was too dark to see the terrain, the cautious Lieutenant Colonel Roman only Can lead the skirmishers to shoot while advancing, trying to find an opportunity to break through the center.

But the Guards reacted faster than he had imagined, and after sensing the outbreak of fighting, Louis Bernard decisively ordered an artillery position to open fire.

Although it was midnight and the artillerymen on the high ground could only see the approximate position, all the shells fired were obviously not accurate, and even caused a lot of accidental injuries because they could not distinguish between the enemy and me, but Roman still gave up the idea of ​​continuing to penetrate , withdrew to Eagle Point City with the smoke and loud noises from the cannon fire.

The next day, the two sides counted the casualties. The 500-person skirmish regiment had only a dozen casualties, and the nearly 1,000-strong infantry regiment on the opposite side was reimbursed for nearly 1/10, and they were basically sent to the sky by their own artillery.

But strategically, this encounter was a disastrous defeat for Clovis—even though the casualties were minimal, the already understrength Southern Legion dared not attempt to harass the Janissary's positions.

So far, Ludwig has completely abandoned all previous contempt for Louis Bernard, and really began to take this "former defeated player" seriously.

According to the agreement between him and Anson, Thun's reinforcements would not arrive until the eighteenth or four days at the earliest.

This is not an easy job.

First of all, the east and south of Eagle Point City were originally weaker defenses, and when Anson Bach captured Eagle Point City before, in order to prevent the defenders from counterattacking, he blew up all the southern forts first, and the defense further declined. .

And Louis Bernard had 40,000 combat troops that were not inferior to the Imperial Guard Corps. The four-fold difference in strength made it easy for him to forcibly open a gap in his defense line and encircle Eagle Point City on both sides.

The most important thing is that Ludwig doesn't really believe that Anson can really persuade Claude Francois to let the army of 20,000 Thuns stand on Clovis's side.

The reason is also very simple - if you were him, how would you choose?

Of course, wait until the end of the battle of Eagle Point City, or when the dust is about to settle... That way, all benefits can be maximized.

Although he is very willing to trust this guy who "always has a lot of plans", as the commander of the Southern Army, Ludwig still has to plan for the worst - not only did the Thun army have no support, but even with Issel Join forces to attack Eagle Point City.

If that is the case, even if the casualties are increased, the two armies cannot be allowed to converge, otherwise this "Isir Punishment War" will become the "Eagle Horn City Defense War".

The hard-earned victory not only failed to bring glory and wealth, but also put Clovis in a situation where he was facing enemies on both sides—although it is fair to say that it was not himself that caused this situation, but the inner city of Clovis, those who thought they were against Iraq. The gentlemen of the Privy Council that Searle can easily win.

The cold-faced Ludwig's mouth twitched slightly, and he couldn't help sighing.

He stretched his body slightly, and his eyes turned from the direction of the Guards Corps in the distance to his side - relying on Eagle Point City as the core, twelve temporarily built forts as fulcrums, connected by dense trenches, with attached A large number of dark fortresses, wooden fences, and Juma…the defensive positions formed by layer upon layer.

Although the time is tight, this time Ludwig is not as short of resources and supplies as he was when he besieged Eagle Point; a large number of heavy artillery and howitzers are placed on the walls of the fortress, each of which has at least three 12-pounder infantry guns , the lighter six-pounder field gun was issued directly to the regiment.

Backed by the Kingdom of Clovis, Ludwig, who has established a complete supply line, doesn't care about this splurge; this time is not like the battle of Thundercastle, as long as the battle is won and the Iser Elf is severely damaged, no matter how much money is spent, I can earn it back ten times twenty times for Clovis!

"So let me see, Louis Bernard."

With narrowed eyes, Ludwig murmured softly, his hands stretched out to the sides and five fingers tightly supported on the uneven city wall, the corners of his mouth raised confidently.

"Let me see what is the difference between you now and Lei Mingbao back then!"

Ludwig, who was talking to himself, flashed a strange light in his pupils, as if he could cross the endless hills and look at a certain figure in the golden red.

But unlike what he imagined, Louis Bernard in the Guards' position not only showed no signs of excitement, but was even very quiet.

The commander-in-chief of the Guards Corps in official uniform sat at the dining table under the umbrella, enjoying his dinner expressionlessly; there were constantly busy officers and soldiers rushing by, with serious faces, Or anxious, alive with murderous expression, it makes his quietness look extremely strange.

"Why are you in no hurry?"

Princess Freya, who was sitting opposite, frowned and looked at him, her eyes full of confusion and worry: "It's such a time, you can still eat something... When I was at the Eagle's Horn Pass, it was obvious that there was water every day. They seldom drink."

"Why the hurry?"

Louis, who had a calm expression, didn't lift his head and took a sip of the steaming coffee.

"Because, because..." Her Royal Highness, who didn't know anything about military affairs, was immediately dumbfounded, and her pale cheeks turned pink because of her anxiety:

"Because we have just been defeated!"

"Defeat?"

"Um!"

"It seems so." Louis raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and with a smile he inserted the beef on the plate with the knife:

"Looking back now, almost every battle in the past 12 days ended in a fiasco; neither broke through the defense line of Eagle Point City, nor did they cause many casualties; the only achievement was probably to find out the firepower of the defense line. Deploy, but that's about it."

"In addition, the lack of timely support led to the fall of Eaglehorn City, and I was deceived for three whole days at the pass... Hehe, since I became this commander, I have been defeated all the time, hehe..."

"Lu, Louis..." Looking at Louis, who was smiling and constantly blaming himself, Freya's face turned pale:

"I-I don't know, I didn't mean to..."

"I know, Your Highness Freya."

Louis interrupted her softly, his gentle eyes slowly raised: "You are concerned about me, worried that I can't bear the pressure of having to retake Eagle Point City; I know, and really appreciate it - in my memory You are the second person who really cared about me."

Freya's eyes widened slightly, her heart beating faster.

"But I'm really fine now. On the contrary, I'm in a better state than ever before. Now I can finally begin to understand some of my brother, Kroger Bernard's thoughts."

Louis looked at her quietly, with a trace of nostalgia in his eyes: "As a commander, especially a commander of 10,000, 20,000, and 40,000 soldiers, you can't easily show too much emotion, let alone because of some sudden changes. I'm panicking when I'm in a situation; my thoughts and attitudes don't just determine my own life."

"I can finally understand why Anson Bach can create miracles time and time again, even..." He paused, his tight right hand trembled slightly and put down the knife:

"Because he's too rational, he's not emotional at all, and every step is a meticulous plan; so if I want to win him, then I must at least have my own plan like him."

"So I blocked the traffic arteries in the east of Eagle Point City for two days to ensure the stability of supplies and logistics; it took four days to assemble the army, and the deployment was completed step by step to put pressure on Eagle Point City, and it took 12 days to uninterruptedly launch tentative Attacking, overwhelms them and exposes firepower, drains their stamina and morale, and fully understands the strengths and weaknesses of the defenders on all lines of defense."

"The current Southern Legion has no secrets in front of me; the Praetorian Guard is still a fog to them, and they don't even know what my deployment is."

"The rest... is to crush them in one go."

The moment the words fell, the elven princess with flushed cheeks suddenly became restless, feeling a little feverish.

"Lord Louis Bernard." A pure-blooded elf knight walked to the dining table~www.readwn.com~ kneeled on one knee respectfully and offered the general knife:

"The armies are ready and ready to be called at any time."

"What time is it now?"

"At half past four in the afternoon, there is still an hour and a half before dusk."

"Then don't wait!"

Louis grabbed the handle of the knife sharply, and the sharp blade emerged from the scabbard: "The order - the Imperial Guard Corps is pressing on the entire line of Eagle Point City..."

"Taking advantage of this twilight, the southern legion's defense line is taking a break, and it's time to eat..."

"Surprise them!"

"clang!"

The moment the voice fell, the blade cut a gap on the edge of the dining table.

The golden red that covered the mountains and plains sounded the horn of attack.

On the 14th day of the 100th year of the saint's calendar, the battle of Eagle Horn City, which decided the balance of war... officially started!