I will be crowned king

Fernando Herred died quietly.

According to the senior imperial officers and knights in the legion, after reading Sir Gloria's letter, their beloved commander-in-chief Fernando suddenly came to his senses and realized how serious his sin was. He could die to apologize and restore his dignity as a knight.

The Clovis people showed respect for the fact that the matter had nothing to do with them, and they did hear the gunshots. However, some officers in the Flag Mountain camp had some objections when they saw the scene of Fernando's body being carried out because of their condescending position - suicide can be Understandable, but shooting yourself in the back of the head is a bit puzzling.

However, not many people paid attention to this insignificant detail. With the death of Fernando, the Battle of Red Moon Province, which lasted for ten days—actually far longer than that—finally came to a happy ending for both sides.

The officers and soldiers of the empire formally surrendered to the Ranger Corps, but they could keep the military flag and personal belongings. On the surface, the two parties could be regarded as resolving misunderstandings and conflicts, but they could not continue to hold weapons because they were still in Clovis; at the same time, Anson Bach also made a promise that when the other party leaves the country, what can be returned will be returned.

Of course, it’s unclear what “can be returned” means and how much it needs to be returned.

At the same time, because Fernando is dead, Sir Gloria, who is the highest-ranking among the captured Imperial knights and the only legion commander, naturally became the nominal commander-in-chief, and the first job he did after taking over this responsibility was to unite All the officers wrote a letter imitating the tone of Fernando Hered, asking the remaining four legions to immediately give up resistance and surrender to Clovis' army.

This also involves a small objection, that is, the concept of "legion" is slightly different between Clovis and the Imperial people: in Clovis, a legion is an organization, which is composed of approximately two to four divisions. The scale is around 20,000 to 30,000 people, and they can directly undertake the defense or offensive tasks of an area.

In the eyes of the empire—or the vast majority of people in the world of order—legion is just a pure noun. In theory, any independent fighting army is deliberately called this name, and it may only have a few thousand people. , there may be tens of thousands, and there is no definite scale.

The only universal organization in the world of today's order is the regiment. Although there are differences in whether there are three hundred, six hundred or one thousand people in different places, the difference is generally not big; on the contrary, it is Clovis who establishes a large standing army. The country is the outlier, and common sense still regards the military as a "winter fireplace" that is only put away when needed.

However, as the intensity of the war gradually intensified after the ninety-fifth year of the Saint's Calendar, Clovis successfully blocked the empire's offensives again and again. This "common sense" was gradually being broken, and the large-scale standing army began to receive the attention of all parties; Many armies in the empire also began to appear in numbers modeled after Clovis's First Division and the First Army.

But most of these were just temporary establishments, and there were still no consistent guidelines. It was not until the Holy War in the New World that the emperor finally made up his mind to transform the military system.

Fernando Herred's army was exactly the change the empire made to deal with Clovis.

Unlike Clovis, the Empire - or the Emperor himself - limited the size of the legions to tens of thousands, and roughly classified these legions: support legions, mainly line infantry, engineers and artillery. , a hunting corps mainly composed of cavalry, and a leaping corps with a large number of skirmishers.

In the eyes of the emperor himself, this functional division has at least two benefits: first, corresponding legions can be arranged according to the needs of different battlefields, and if large-scale troops are needed for a certain aspect, multiple legions of different types can also be combined Work together to form a "grand army" with comprehensive combat capabilities.

As a sample of the imperial military reform, it can be said that the Fernando Legion also plays a role in demonstrating. But now that this pioneering legion has been completely wiped out in Clovis, one can imagine what a heavy blow it will have to the emperor's subsequent plans. .

It's just that Sir Garland, who is full of pragmatism, doesn't care about this, but he doesn't mind using the "staff" system established due to the military reform and based on the Clovis people.

The empire has never been as large as the Clovis people. It systematically cultivates officers with "professional background". Therefore, the staff officers at all levels are more similar to the boss's mouthpiece, ensuring that the lower-level officers will unswervingly carry out the orders of the highest officer. -No matter how stupid it sounds.

Gloria hated this thing when he was in Red Moon Town, because it had to support Fernando who fell into the trap; but now this thing has also done him a big favor, as long as it imitates Fernando Hered's autograph letter, The few legions that were still resisting had to surrender immediately, unless their legion commander also wanted to experience a fate similar to Fernando's, where everyone rebelled against their relatives.

The result was not unexpected: Although two legion commanders did try to refuse execution, the knights and soldiers under their command immediately mutinied. Before the two legion commanders could react, they were put under house arrest and controlled by " The officers of the "riot" sent representatives to surrender to the Clovis army on the opposite side.

Of course, this is not just because of how successful Sir Garland's imitation handwriting is, but more importantly, these legions have been cut off from supplies for more than ten days.

After running out of ammunition and food for more than ten days, and unexpectedly learning that the commander-in-chief had surrendered, and even the retreat was cut off by the Clovis people, it was not particularly difficult to imagine what choices these soldiers would make.

The time was postponed to July 16, and the armies of both sides scattered throughout the Red Moon Province began to converge on Junqi Mountain; news from various units of the Ranger Corps also began to reach Anson.

The first one to rush back was Alexei Dukasky. He and his dissatisfied Second Infantry Division blocked Fernando's two corps on the southern front. The gap in strength was close to five to one, and the gap in firepower was even greater. The disparity was huge, and it was almost impossible to defend. An important high ground was taken away at the beginning of the battle.

Even so, the commander of the 2nd Infantry Division still "stubbornly" insisted on frontal blocking and fought offensive and defensive battles with the enemy from high ground to high ground. However, the operational thinking slightly changed from purely blocking the road to forming a fire network with multiple fortresses, forcing The enemy cannot advance.

As an officer who had followed Anson since the Hantu War, Alexei could not always understand what was most critical in Anson's plans, but he could always clearly understand what his core mission was.

Therefore, during the war in the Iser Elf Kingdom, we ran thousands of miles, risking the entire army to collapse and the organization to collapse. We quickly marched in the enemy's territory and reached the Antler Fortress, which was considered a victory; and the battle in the Red Moon Province before us was No matter what method is used, we must try our best to delay the enemy from heading to Junqi Mountain.

There was a huge gap in strength between the enemy and ourselves. The 2nd Infantry Division, which had an inevitable head-on confrontation, paid a price of 1,800 casualties. If minor injuries were included, this number would increase by another two-thirds, and the ratio of serious injuries to casualties was almost the same. Two to one, the organization of an infantry regiment was almost disintegrated.

In comparison, the luck of the 1st Infantry Division Commander Locke Faye was obviously much better. Not only did he rely on his familiar network to win a lot of local reinforcements, he also had to face only a Demeter force of 10,000 people. In the army, the pressure is much less.

But in the previous battle in the Elf Kingdom of Yser, the First Infantry Division actually collapsed after a long and urgent march. It still relied on Alexei to reluctantly gather the troops. After that, it acted like a non-existent transparent person throughout the whole process, and was surrounded by all the people involved in the battle. Fang completely ignored it.

This almost humiliating result was very unacceptable to Colonel Locke Faye, and he was determined to defeat the Dmitri Corps, which had more strength than him, with a shameful mentality; and the young Count Dmitri was also inexperienced and keen on " The madman who experienced the war in person on the front line made the commander of the 1st Infantry Division feel that he had hope.

It's just a pity... After several days of fierce battles, although Dmitri's army suffered heavy losses, relying on the morale inspired by the chief's charge and the good luck of Count Dmitri himself never being injured, this The imperial army withstood the pressure without collapsing, and it was not until "Fernando"'s personal letter was sent that they announced their surrender.

Colonel Locke Faye obviously couldn't accept this, but he could only silently lead the surrendered "prisoners" and the 1st Infantry Division, which was obviously winning but was not happy at all, towards the direction of Flag Mountain.

Of course, he himself knew the reason why this was the case: the Ranger Corps at this stage, or rather he himself, was not adapted to Anson Bach's highly flexible "skirmishing line tactics". Without heavy firepower reinforcements, the rigid ladder-shaped defense network and line infantry column assaults can still keep up in the battle, but it will be too difficult to achieve a great victory.

However, on the way to the rendezvous, he discovered that his "captive" Count Dmitry was not the heinous or war madman he imagined, but a young man who was so simple that he was a little stupid; although he was not very polite in dealing with others, he was Without holding grudges, the two of them became friends in one afternoon, which was a small solace in the misfortune.

In addition, there are nearly ten thousand troops responsible for the siege of Junqi Mountain. These troops are almost all new recruits who joined the Ranger Corps on the eve of the Yser Elf War. With reinforcements almost impossible, they forcefully After besieging Fernando Hered for more than ten days, Anson Bach was able to surround the Garland Army and cut off Fernando's army's retreat.

……………………

"...In short, although the results are great, the cost is also not small."

Looking at the data reported by each division and regiment, Karl, who was smoking heavily, threw the statistics sheet on the table, and the good mood of winning the battle was basically wiped away:

"In terms of the losses on the books alone, we have three to four thousand casualties, which is already a quarter of the entire army. Follow-up statistics are likely to be even more, and it is estimated that it will not be less than one-fifth. This But it’s only been a few days!”

"But it's worth it. Using a quick battle to avoid the empire's idea of ​​a quick victory, immediately mobilizing one hundred thousand, two hundred thousand or even more legions to launch a full-scale attack on Clovis can also temporarily dissuade them. Take away the possibility of Red Moon Town." Anson retorted:

"And the fact that the Rangers alone and less than 20,000 new recruits won this battle is enough to prove that the 'skirmishing line tactic' is feasible and will be more convenient for Clovis's military reform in the future."

"Maybe, but what is certain is that our old boss Ludwig and his war committee must be very uncomfortable now." Thinking of this, Karl gloated and laughed again:

"Red Moon Town was lost in their hands, but was taken back by the Rangers seemingly easily. Even ordinary people like me have a premonition of what the consequences and impact will be."

"Don't make it so easy, we haven't got Hongyue Town yet."

"What?" Karl was stunned when he heard this: "How can this matter turn around?"

Anson nodded meaningfully: "Sir Gloria surrendered, but it is still his men who occupy Red Moon Town; now that Fernando is dead, he has become the acting commander-in-chief again."

"With this guy's character, as long as he has capital in his hands, he will most likely negotiate with us. It is impossible to hand over this fortress to us for nothing."

"Isn't this... a strong attack?" Karl frowned slightly:

"The Hantu Army is already on the way. Even if they are not allowed to participate in the siege, provide some artillery support, and undertake feint attacks in other directions of the fortress, it shouldn't be difficult to capture it, right?"

"It's not difficult, but how long do you think it will take?"

"This...should take a month or two...ah!"

Karl suddenly realized: "You mean, these prisoners of Fernando Legion..."

"That's right." Anson said solemnly:

"This group of people is not truly defeated, and our restraint on them is very limited. Under such circumstances, taking tens of thousands of prisoners to attack a fortress that is still in their hands... the risk is too high. .”

Of course, one of the main reasons for the high risk is that Anson has selfish motives. He does not intend to allow the War Council on the Western Front to have a chance to get involved. After all, this war also has the purpose of promoting officers from the Skirmisher Division, so this This time, I really didn't plan to give away any extra military exploits.

"Well, since you have already made up your mind, I don't seem to need to persuade you." Karl shrugged: "Then when are you going to negotiate with this guy, or when is he going to come to you?"

"Dong dong dong——"

Before he finished speaking, there was a gentle knock on the door outside the room. Colonel Charles Sanders opened the door cautiously, and after repeatedly making sure that he was not disturbing anything, he finally said:

"The Chief of the General Staff, and the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Gloria, have requested to meet, and they have requested to meet privately."

Anson, who had no expression on his face, casually covered the statistics sheet on the table with a few books and glanced at Karl:

"Look, isn't this coming?"