Mage? Spell Engineer!

The soldiers from Valois still hold the belief of quick victory when they set out, and they did defeat the army of the exiled nobles at the beginning of the battle. Therefore, when the order to retreat was conveyed to each company and every soldier, their reactions ranged from confusion to shock.

Many people believe that retreating at this time is a wrong and weak act, but the comrades around and behind are indeed retreating. If you do not give up the temporary position, you will be exposed to the enemy's front alone.

The result was that the retreat became sluggish and then turned into a rout when attacked.

On the battlefield, the corpses of Valois soldiers filled shallow ravines. When the commander of the Imperial Army appeared on the battlefield on horseback, he came to inspect the results of the battle. Now the imperial infantry has slowed down the charge. Under the vigilance and cover of their own cavalry, they broke through the obstacles laid by the enemy and received the artillery ammunition that had not been withdrawn in time.

"Tell me, why don't we pursue the victory?" Major General Carl Lema, commander of the Imperial Army, asked his adjutant, a tall and handsome young man.

According to the conventional configuration of the Imperial Army, the adjutant of the major general should be a colonel, and now this young man is only a captain. However, because of his prominent family background and the special spellcaster nameplate on his left chest, it indicates that this young man will soon receive an exceptional promotion.

But Carl does not dislike this "connected person". He is smart and decisive, and as a child of a great nobleman, he has enough humility and discipline. Therefore, as a "master" on the battlefield, Major General Carl will not miss the opportunity to test this young man in school. people.

Richard, the intermediate spellcaster, quickly organized his answer: "The current victory is based on our tactics - the exile army consumes the enemy's preloaded ammunition, and our army uses the enemy's loaded gap to lower the enemy's ammunition. The firepower density of the assault.

"The enemy army did not suffer a large-scale reduction in numbers, and according to my observation, this Valois army lacked cavalry, so the enemy commander placed the cavalry behind the infantry line instead of on the wings in order to allow the cavalry to maneuver quickly.

"When they organized their retreat, although the infantry discipline was poor and we achieved greater results on the front, the cavalry that was originally in the rear was now responsible for covering the rear. It was well organized and its combat effectiveness was not weakened. Therefore, our infantry phalanx should not continue Chase."

Richard's answer was not wrong, but Carl felt it was bookish. After giving the order, he explained: "You are right, but this is just tactical.

"And it's a tactic that doesn't take all factors into consideration. For example, our army has you, a relatively powerful military mage, and also has a cavalry vanguard. Can't we engage in battle with the enemy's cavalry?" Karl released the [Fireball] on Richard. The spell] was very impressive. Regardless of the actual effect, the mere appearance of the spell on the battlefield caused huge panic to the enemy and boosted the morale of one's own side.

He continued: "But war is not a battle. All actions of the military should be carried out with war objectives. Under normal circumstances, for front-line commanders, war objectives are instructions from the military staff department."

Richard knew clearly that this time his division was the vanguard of the Empire's Northern Army, but its mission was not to target the invaders, but to reorganize the Southern Army's organization, cooperate with military courts from the heart of the Empire, and purge the South who passively avoided war. Army commander.

"Qualified commanders should realize the lag between the staff and the front line, so they can go further on the original specific goals and promote the achievement of big goals at the right time, so this battle happened.

"But if we continue to advance rashly and take the second step: launching a long-distance pursuit, we will lose the cooperation and support of other troops and be in danger of being alone and losing flank cover. At the same time, do not expect the current Southern Army to respond to our encounters in a timely manner react."

Originally, the first step in reorganizing the Southern Army was to collect the remnants of the exiles from the Holy Kingdom. But Karl looked down on the stragglers of about a thousand people. After detecting the enemy's protrusion, he boldly designated a battle plan and directly dealt with the exiled servant army. He treated the exiled nobles with great courtesy and waited for them to lose their strength. They shouted "Sir, this way!".

In Karl's view, his goal has been achieved. Now that the salient of the Valois Army has been hit head-on, it has given him the space and time to reorganize the Salo State army. He only needs to wait for other regiments of the Northern Army to continue moving south, and the battle line will be An inexorable push back to the national border.

Richard knew another piece of information. The empire's north-south military trains were about to be opened to traffic. At that time, a large number of personnel and secret weapons "targeting the Holy Kingdom Church Arms" would be thrown into the battlefield. The chief garrison mage and the staff were all seeking to destroy Valois in one fell swoop. The kingdom's greatest support - the Holy Knights.

The major general made the final deployment: "Briefly count the battle situation and casualties, focusing on counting and receiving the artillery that has not been prevaricated. The vanguard cavalry units appropriately harass the enemy's rear troops and put pressure on them, and the rest of the main force moves towards the Salo garrison.

"Richard, you are responsible for the above arrangements." He did not miss the opportunity to train his juniors.

"yes!"

Major General Carr scanned the battlefield where the smoke had cleared, and turned his mount's direction without hesitation.

At noon, the enemy cavalry, which was chasing sheep, finally gave up the pursuit, and the defeated troops had a chance to breathe. Although it was not far away from other troops of the Second Army, Dillon once again issued orders to rest and build fortifications.

It seems that he is a general who likes to fight stupid battles, but he happened to be the vanguard.

It was not until evening that the frightened soldiers stopped what they were doing and took a bite of hot cereal porridge.

At this time, the soldiers survived the disaster and began to think about it.

The proud Valois people didn't understand why their own side collapsed at the first touch. Later, on the way to escape, they figured out that the root cause was that the commander issued an order to retreat!

"We were betrayed by a traitor! Someone's heart is with the exiled nobles!" This argument spread like a virus among the rout troops. They did not say who the traitor was, but they unanimously locked the same answer in their hearts—— Commander Dillon!

Completely unaware of the approaching danger, he was still writing a battle report: "Our army defeated the exile army, and then encountered a large force of imperial troops. Our army moved in in time and preserved its effective strength to the maximum extent."

He blew the wet ink, thinking that in this way he could give an explanation to the marshal and the National Assembly.

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside the temporary tent. He was startled, quickly grabbed his sword, and touched the blunderbuss.

But several bursts of gunshots were heard, and the projectiles easily passed through the canvas of the tent, and did not encounter any resistance until they submerged into Dillon's body.

When the sun was about to sink into the earth, "the great traitor, the protector of the exiled nobles, the enemy lurking in the kingdom's army", the head of the original commander was paraded on a bayonet, just like the former city consul of Valouana.

The people of Valuauna and the National Assembly did not expect this defeat. What shocked the representatives and authorities even more than "the defeat of the army and the execution of Dillon" was that all the generals and commanders on the front line chose to retreat and planned to stick to the fortresses within the kingdom. , the plan to quickly conquer the southern states of the empire completely went bankrupt.

The National Assembly lost control of the Second Corps, so whose orders did these soldiers listen to?

They were waiting for His Majesty Charles XVI, who was waiting for the imperial troops to march into Valois and dissolve the National Assembly, just as the emperor had promised in secret letters and public declarations.