I will be crowned king

Thick smoke billowed over the battlefield, gradually settling down and dissipating.

Thousands of Clovis soldiers maintained an orderly team. Under the sound of military flags and orders, they stepped into the devastated positions ravaged by artillery fire. They pulled out the fleur-de-lis flags that were about to burn to ashes and replaced them with the Clovis Kingdom. unicorn.

The cavalry wielding sabers wandered back and forth among the corpses on the ground, looking for enemies who were lucky enough to survive the carpet bombardment, and searching for any potentially valuable trophies.

But these have nothing to do with Anson and the entire First Infantry Regiment.

More than two hundred people formed a phalanx in three rows. A thousand private soldiers wearing black and red military uniforms and armed with live ammunition surrounded them in the center with the most standard hollow phalanx.

The restless soldiers' eyes were tense and alert, and the detainees would yell at them if they made the slightest move, but none of them beat them.

However, Anson had no doubt that if they dared to be uncooperative, these "friendly troops" would never mind shooting at their own people.

The atmosphere in the quiet fort position was solemn and depressing.

"The Grenadier Regiment, the general's elite." Carl Bain gasped on the side, and there was still no trace of blood on his pale face: "You said... he specially asked his guards to come and guard us, so it wouldn't happen Are you going to kill us too?"

Anson, who frowned slightly, was about to say something when a pair of cold eyes immediately glared in this direction.

“Everyone—silence!”

Officer Clovis, who was at the front of the queue, said coldly, looking at Carl and Anson with a gloomy expression: "If you don't want to die, just shut up, you scum, and wait to be dealt with."

After saying that, the officer who didn't even bother to look at them suddenly stamped his feet and turned his straight figure behind him:

"Commander of the First Recruitment Corps of Thunderburg, Brigadier General Ludwig Franz is here!"

The rapid sound of horse hoofbeats made Anson look up. The private soldiers who were maintaining a column formation in the position suddenly wanted to spread out on both sides to make way for a group of cavalry.

The first knight, wearing a black general's uniform, walked toward the fort surrounded by people behind him; he was not too old, with dark brown curly hair and a slightly grown beard, paired with a dark military uniform and a shawl draped over his right shoulder. The cloak still shows some elegance.

But all of this was completely destroyed by a pair of cold and slightly crazy eyes.

The moment he appeared, the already oppressive atmosphere in the fort became a bit colder than before.

Not only the frightened First Infantry Regiment, but also the elite grenadiers responsible for guarding them were nervous and motionless.

Among a group of trembling guys, Anson even had the illusion that he could hear everyone's heartbeats.

The moment he stepped into the fort, the opponent suddenly raised his head alertly, and his cold gaze quickly locked on Anson's face.

Anson immediately withdrew his gaze without changing his expression and stared straight ahead as if nothing had happened.

"I'm very curious." The knight in black said coldly:

"At five-thirty in the morning, ten minutes after the enemy launched the surprise attack, I issued an order to every infantry regiment in the army to evacuate their positions urgently within thirty minutes."

"But you... members of the First Infantry Regiment, you did not retreat."

The knight in black put his hands behind his back, and his eyes swept over the frightened faces of each soldier following his pace; his steady and loud voice accurately conveyed to their trembling and uneasy hearts:

"On the contrary, you chose to stand by and rely on the artillery position to repel at least three times the number of enemies and survive the enemy's retaliatory bombardment - I must admit that you fought well."

The knight in black with cold eyes changed the topic, making everyone present stunned.

"So I'm curious, who has the courage and determination to lead you to hold your position?" The black knight stopped and looked at all of them:

"stand out."

After the words fell, the soldiers of the First Infantry Regiment breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking at the tense expression of the knight in black, Anson felt something strange.

"Uh... General! The situation is like this, our First Infantry Regiment did not receive you..."

"arrive!"

Carl Bain, who was also a little uneasy, was about to explain something when a sonorous and powerful voice suddenly interrupted him and took the initiative to stand up.

In an instant, everyone's eyes were attracted.

The speaker was a person Anson had never seen before - a fat figure stretched his military uniform tightly, and under the hair that was about to fall out was a simple and harmless face, with only slits of eyes left to fight. Show a determined look.

"Fort Thunder's First Recruitment Corps, Commander of the First Regiment, Army Lieutenant Colonel, Waylon Small—hold your position, that's exactly what I ordered!"

The fat officer was impassioned and his whole body was shaking: "It was when I was retreating that I suddenly realized that once the artillery fort was captured by the empire, it would cause an irreparable blow to the siege, so I ordered the entire regiment to stay put and wait for reinforcements, and to fight with the surprise attack. The enemy forces fight to the death!"

Looking at the leader who suddenly ran out to "attack", Anson's expression was not anger, but relief that he had finally figured out the problem.

That's why he has no impression of his immediate superiors.

This has a lot to do with the military system of the Kingdom of Clovis - the kingdom's military categories are extremely complex, but they can be roughly divided into elite professional legions and all the rest.

A unit like the First Recruitment Army of Thunder Castle with "recruitment" in its name is absolutely a no-brainer.

They did not have a fixed source of troops, let alone military pay. Instead, each officer was given a regiment's establishment and a sum of money to recruit soldiers; this money was definitely not enough for the soldiers' salaries and weapons and equipment, and the commander had to pay for the rest.

The conditions in exchange were not to interfere with their troops easily, to acquiesce in their private plundering of enemy territory during wartime, and to have rights to distribute the spoils that far exceeded the regular army's rights.

Through this very "market" method of recruiting soldiers, the Kingdom of Clovis, which is constantly expanding its territory, has obtained, in addition to a small number of elite legions, an army of cannon fodder who are good at raiding and raiding, careful calculations in war, and desperate for money.

At the same time, there are also regiment leaders who, like the one in front of me, have falsely reported their establishment, not to mention not knowing how to fight, and will only show up when they are trying to grab military honors and trophies.

"I see."

The knight in black nodded slightly: "Lieutenant Colonel Waylon Small, you are brave and worthy of admiration."

"Where is it! This is what you, Brigadier General, teach us well on weekdays. On the battlefield, we must..."

"Roman!" The knight in black interrupted him coldly.

"exist!"

The officer standing behind him immediately puffed up his chest and beat his chest with his right hand.

"Tell me, if an officer disobeys orders on the battlefield, how should he be punished?"

"shoot to death!" the officer said coldly.

The knight in black nodded and ordered the officer behind him: "Let's do it."

"yes!"

What? !

Waylon Small, who was still impassioned just now, widened his eyes. The soldiers around him didn't react for a moment and stood there blankly.

"Plop!"

The fat figure was roughly pushed down to the ground by two grenadiers, and the black muzzle of the gun was pointed at the back of his head.

"Lieutenant Colonel Waylon Small, I sentence you to death for disobedience on the battlefield."

The knight in black with a calm expression took a revolver from the officer Roman, pointed it at the face that had not yet reacted, and clicked the hammer: "If you have any last words, you can say them now."

The soldiers who had just breathed a sigh of relief and thought they were fine suddenly trembled and stared dumbly at the regiment leader who was dragged on the ground like a dog.

"I, I, I, I... wait, wait! Wait a minute!" Willen, who was covered in cold sweat, stared at the black muzzle of the gun in front of him and stammered:

"General, I...I saved my position, General!"

"Yes, I'm very grateful for this. You did a good job." The knight in black had no expression on his face and lowered his right hand holding the gun to the side of his leg:

"But gratitude is gratitude. Military law belongs to military law - disobedience on the battlefield...is the death penalty. What else is there to say?"

With a look of disbelief, Willen opened his mouth wide, unable to make any sound.

"It's gone, that's good." The knight in black raised his gun again, this time aiming it between his eyebrows.

“Don’t, don’t don’t don’t…!!!!”

The panicked Willen shouted: "Yes! I still have it, yes!"

"What?!" the black knight growled.

"I have something to say!"

"say what?!"

"Say...I don't, I don't have the ability to disobey orders on the battlefield!"

"You didn't? But your troops are in the artillery emplacements!"

"They are here, but I am not. I ran away with you!"

"Ran?!"

"No! It's a retreat, it's a turn in!"

"You abandoned your troops and ran away?" The knight in black sneered and looked behind him angrily:

"Roman! How should the officer be punished for abandoning his troops?"

"shoot to death!"

The serious-looking officer replied without hesitation.

The knight in black nodded and looked at Willen who was shaking like chaff with a look like a dead man: "Lieutenant Colonel Willen Small, I sentence you to death for abandoning the troops."

"boom--!"

Gunfire spurted out, and Willen, who had no time to react, was hit in the head. An expression of panic, confusion and disbelief solidified on his face, and he fell headlong into the pit in front of him.

The knight in black, Ludwig Franz, put away his gun and slowly looked back. With his unique, cold and crazy eyes, he glanced at the panic-stricken 1st Infantry Regiment. His voice was elegant and easy-going:

"Now tell me, who is the person who leads your counterattack?"

"Stand up for yourself."