I Will Be The Crowned King

The latest website: If someone immediately asked Joseph what was the happiest day of his life, the commander of the Infantry Division of the Freedom Legion would have answered without hesitation: "It's today!"

A mere colonial militia regiment not only descended from the sky at the most critical juncture of the friendly army, but also managed to tear open the encirclement of the empire - such a fantastic experience, who would believe it!

Although sporadic gunfire can still be heard from time to time, after repelling two rounds of counterattacks by the Imperial Infantry Regiment with heavy casualties, the militiamen of Longhu Town under his command have completely controlled the position and successfully covered the breakout Alexei It regained a firm foothold on the original position, and established a stable protrusion connecting the defense line around the stronghold.

Even he himself did not expect victory to come so easily. The seemingly invincible imperial army was only a few rounds of guns, and it was over with a shelling and a bayonet charge. It was like a dream.

Next, as long as you stand firm and wait for the follow-up troops to continue to arrive, you can establish a solid front to resist the imperial attack, and even regain some positions and regain the initiative in the battle!

Backed by the main road, there are forests and hills as barriers on both sides, and there is a stream behind the stronghold that can be used as the last line of defense... If the opposing imperial army wants to continue to surround it, it must push the army deep into the forest and even climb over the hills.

If it is infantry, the lines broken up by the forest terrain have no deterrent effect. If it is cavalry... let the cavalry go deep into the forest to attack the mentally retarded operation, it is impossible for the army of the empire to happen.

As long as they don't mess themselves up and fight steadily, the Confederate army with strongholds and sufficient supplies can attack and defend; no matter what they want to do, they can do it with ease and can definitely block the first round of the empire's attack.

"So, when are we going to retreat?!"

Joseph, who was full of ingratiating expressions, couldn't wait to ask, making Alexei, who was about to thank him just now, stunned, and didn't know what to say at all.

You have a good military heart, and you came to kill with a rainbow-like aura. Before you could repel the enemy's counterattack, you actually asked me when I wanted to retreat—I should have said that, right? !

Yes, I know that you colonial militiamen are a group of stinky fish and rotten shrimp, but is it too self-aware to be so direct?

I was rescued by such a group of reinforcements whose minds were all running for their lives. I really don't know if it was lucky or unfortunate...

Alexey, who wanted to laugh and cry, took a deep breath and pointed to the grassy forest not far away in a very tangled way:

"Retreat is necessary, but before that, the enemy's siege of the stronghold must be temporarily lifted. There are a lot of materials and arms there, and they must not be thrown to the opposite imperial army; what can be taken away must be taken, and the rest must be taken away. Destroy as much as possible."

"In addition, we must ensure that the enemy cannot easily pursue when retreating, so we must not let the enemy perceive our intention to retreat, otherwise no amount of reinforcements will save the entire army from annihilation!"

"Use a feint as a cover to buy time for the destruction and removal of supplies—understand!" Joseph nodded and happily agreed:

"So next, do you want me to control the position for you, so that the Winter Torch City skirmishers can launch a few rounds of counterattacks, so that the enemy thinks that we really won't retreat?"

"Uh... yes."

Alexey raised his eyebrows. He was hesitant to say anything, and then he couldn't help but ask his curiosity, "Your Excellency Joseph, did you know the situation here from the beginning?"

If I remember correctly, Carl Bain clearly told the scout cavalry sent to look for reinforcements that the Confederate army was not allowed to tell the truth to prevent them from escaping. Could someone tell the truth in disobedience?

"of course not!"

Facing Alexei's suspicion, Joseph, who shrugged his shoulders, said: "I don't know what the specific situation is, but I know very well what I am with these guys from Long Lake Town - so even if It is support, and you have to prepare for the retreat in advance!"

Alexei: "..."

This too impeccable answer left him completely speechless. The most important thing is that if you think about it a little more, you may even think that what he said is quite reasonable.

After a minute of silence, Alexei, with a tangled face, finally gave the order to attack. Under the cover and firing of the Changhu Town Infantry Regiment, the Winter Torch City Skirmish Regiment and an infantry company of the Storm Division launched a counterattack.

In the face of this self-defeating attack, Bernard and his imperial knight officers fully expressed their disdain - half the infantry regiment in the middle stretched out in place to block the front, plus twenty hussars detoured and harassed. flank.

It was just a fluke to tear open a line of defense. Do you really think you stinky fish and rotten shrimps can stand up to the imperial army?

The facts are basically the same as Bernard's conjecture... More than 400 Winter Torch City skirmishers did not wait to rush to the front, they were scattered by the fast-moving hussars with carbines and sabres; The Imperial Infantry was in a salvo.

One second, the Winter Torch City skirmishers, who were eager to kill the red-eyed, fled at the fastest speed in the next second, which was faster than the weather in Yangfan City.

Alexei and the infantry company of the Storm Division beside him were not ready to cover and fire when they were forced to retreat by the retreating skirmishers.

Watching this farce-like counterattack, Bernard calmly commanded the troops to surround the salient part controlled by Alexei, preparing to completely cut off the retreat from the Weed Forest stronghold.

Half an hour later, the Imperial Line established a firm foothold in the outer defense line of the wilderness grasslands, and began to press battalion by battalion to the salient points and strongholds; like a blackboard eraser, the Confederate troops were erased from the position piece by piece.

Even with reinforcements, the strength of the two sides is still a desperate four-to-one ratio, and there is a world of difference in terms of quality; it can be said that once the empire has fully taken the initiative, the outcome of the battle will be no doubt.

After a brief struggle, the helpless Karl finally gave the order to retreat; the soldiers began to burn the supplies in the settlement, while taking everything they could take with them.

Especially the eight artillery pieces of the artillery company, which was absolutely impossible to replenish in the new world; Carl finally found a way to dismantle the two six-pounder infantry cannons and stuff them into the carriage, and the rest had to be nailed to the cannons. Latch to prevent them from becoming imperial spoils.

At 16:30, a Changhu Town infantry regiment and a Winter Torch City skirmish regiment arrived at the battlefield.

Under the cover of the reinforcements, Karl immediately began to organize the two Red Hand Bay infantry regiments that had no morale to withdraw to the stream to establish a temporary defense line; Storm Division Infantry Regiment.

Looking at the billowing smoke rising from the store, Bernard, who noticed something was wrong, immediately began to order a strong attack; a line of battalions tried to pass through the forest, circled back and cut off the retreating stronghold in the stronghold, and was hit by the storm that formed along the river. The division's artillery company and two Red Hand Bay regiments blocked and quickly retreated.

But the sound of the gunfire revealed the retreating direction of the defenders of the stronghold. Bernard quickly set up a cavalry gun and aimed a burst of coverage in the direction of the stream.

Cavalry guns were generally lighter and less powerful than ordinary infantry guns; and the Empire favored four-, eight-, sixteen- and Eighteen-pounder.

Plus or blind shot. Apart from the six unfortunate ascents, and a carriage falling apart, no damage was done.

In contrast, the frontal battle is quite the same - two Confederate infantry regiments who had just arrived on the battlefield and thought that victory was in sight and could grab their exploits, were the first to ram into the attacking three imperial infantry regiments, and suffered heavy casualties under several rounds of gunfire. , almost collapsed directly.

Alexei and Joseph, who were fighting and retreating, used this "new force human shield" to successfully avoid the tragic end of being surrounded and annihilated, and successfully broke through. The enemy did not dare to pursue easily.

Fortunately, the attention of the imperial army was not on them at all, and they gave up the pursuit after driving the last stinky fish and rotten shrimp out of their positions.

At 17:00 sharp, the imperial army repelled the line of defense arranged by the Red Hand Bay Infantry Regiment along the river, all the defenders retreated to the northern suburbs, and the grassy forest stronghold officially fell.

………………

Stepping on the corpses and embers everywhere, the expressionless Bernard entered the weeds forest stronghold in a crowd amid the cheers and welcome of the soldiers.

Although it was only a trivial victory, except for a slight setback in the middle, there was no suspense to win, but it still swept away the decline of the imperial army for many days and boosted the morale of the army.

As for not being able to completely wipe out the enemy, it is a little regrettable, but this is not a problem in Bernard's view, and in a sense it is even a good thing-for an army composed of rabble, "fear" is the most terrifying The infectious disease of the deserters, the power of every exaggerated statement of the deserters is better than an eighteen-pound shell.

The same is true for the Clovis people... Anson Bach can urge his subordinates to go on an expedition and fight a battle of Sail City, which is hard to say how much benefit they can get, mainly because they have absolute confidence in victory.

Once you are a little frustrated, and the loot you have obtained before is already rich enough, it is easy to become tired and unwilling to serve the interests of these colonial traitors.

And this is Bernard's core goal - he simply doesn't want to have a so-called chrysanthemum show with these traitors and the Clovis people, and winning that way would be a lose-lose.

Through several small-scale but high-intensity consecutive battles, the enemy's tentative attack was thwarted and the plan to rescue Sail City was cancelled. Finally, due to pressure, the army could not maintain the supply and withdraw from Grey Pigeon Castle... Without a single soldier, let the imperial forces avoid It is the wishful thinking of the colonial governor to open this crisis, which is very likely to bring about annihilation.

Of course, winning so easily is not all good.

"According to statistics, a total of 60 rounds of artillery shells were consumed in this battle. One infantry regiment used up all the ammunition they carried, and the other two regiments carried an average of less than 30 rounds of ammunition, and the guns and bayonets were also damaged. The ratio is almost in the range of thirty to one twentieth..."

Holding the documents just sent by the logistics department and the scouts, the herald tremblingly reported to Bernard:

"In terms of casualties, two cuirassiers were severely disabled, 15 were lightly wounded; in terms of infantry, the heaviest loss was the Chlomar Infantry Regiment, with 67 of one company killed, another 55 killed, and two The company commander was cut in half by the cannonball, and the sky was smashed by the splashing stone..."

“As for the seized materials—after the emergency firefighting and rescue, almost one-tenth of the food supplies were finally recovered; apart from a few boxes of lead bullets and a dozen powder kegs, only twenty-five rifles and bayonets were left for guns and ammunition. The branches are intact, the rest are either broken or gone."

"The breech blocks of the captured Clovis infantry guns were all nailed to scrap metal. As for the prisoners... only a dozen or so militiamen from Red Hand Bay and Winter Torch City were captured, and no useful clues were found— - Don't say the main position, they don't even know where they are!"

Speaking of which, even the messenger couldn't help but get excited--even though he had won the battle, he seemed to be the one who suffered even more. What's the matter? !

"That is to say, the enemy's marching line is not uniform, and it is even very likely that it was deliberately or forced to disperse."

Bernard was unusually calm at the moment, and analyzed seriously: "It is very likely that the enemy's vanguard is planning to besiege the grassy forest stronghold while gathering the army, and finally rely on the terrain around the stronghold to start a decisive battle with us - but because the stronghold fell too fast , we counterattacked too quickly, causing the enemy to be disrupted in strategic deployment."

"Now that we have recaptured the grass forest, they have been forced to retreat in the direction of Grey Pigeon Castle, but at the same time a large number of troops are still scattered on the road on the east and north sides. It is necessary to retreat while gathering the troops to ensure that nothing is lost."

"So they must be very vulnerable now..." Bernard muttered to himself, and then suddenly looked at the herald:

"Where are the cavalry?!"

For a group of fleeing, scattered and disorderly troops, the cavalry of the empire is the most terrifying nightmare... The other party still retreats along the road, which is simply the best hunting target for the cavalry!

"Uh... is, preparing to go out to investigate!"

Hearing the words of the Minister in charge~www.readwn.com~ the herald quickly replied: "Several cavalry companies have found traces of a large number of troops passing by in the surrounding forest, and are gradually starting their search based on the confessions of the prisoners!"

search?

Bernard was stunned: "Can you confirm the number and direction of the army?"

"The most accurate thing is to wait for the cavalry's search results, but according to what we see now, there are about 4,000 to 5,000 people, mainly infantry, supplemented by a small number of cavalry and baggage carriages, and …”

"Four or five thousand?!"

With a stiff face, Bernard directly stole the herald's words: "Which direction are they going?!"

"Uh, well, it seems like..."

"like?!"

"It seems to be... the direction of Sail City!"

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