I will be crowned king

For a full minute, no one spoke.

Compared to Alexei's shock or surprise, Carl Bain's expression was one of surprise, and what followed turned out to be...

fear.

He really knows Anson too well, at least he thinks so; this guy has some abilities, some ideas, and a broader vision than many people. He is also very practical in doing things and can always be flexible according to the actual situation. Adjustments, maximum flexibility... and there is a certain moral bottom line.

Most of the time, Anson Bach behaves like a diligent, hard-working "worker" who is always based on reality. He deals with investors or various "bosses" who are weird and unimaginably harsh. The order is to unite the people as much as possible, be as fair as possible to the best of our ability, and ensure that the cake drawn can really be eaten by everyone in the end.

To be honest, based on the standard of "project manager", this guy's level is really unmatched - otherwise the Storm Legion should have been disbanded when it was in Hantu, and it would have been impossible for it to become bigger and stronger today. The levy corps was mixed into a standing corps to defend the capital, and the entire army had 100% trust in him as commander-in-chief.

But Karl knew that Anson Bach... he had always been very ambitious.

An officer with no idea at all would never be able to openly disobey orders on the front line of Hantu and refuse to obey Ludwig's request for reinforcements. It would never be possible for him to seize the opportunity of unrest in the empire's colonies to directly expand his power to the entire New World and openly confront him. The Holy War Legion forcefully snatched a bone from the Holy See's mouth.

If he really just wanted to be an ordinary officer like he showed, serve step by step, be promoted and finally retire, the citizen riots in Clovis City, and even the subsequent events of the National Assembly, the compilation of the code, and the departure of the royal family would not matter. He should be there.

He actually has ambitions, but he hides them very well.

And what does it mean when a person who has concealed his ambitions so well suddenly stops pretending and takes the initiative to confess his thoughts?

It means that he thinks the time is ripe...the more he endures his desire, the more terrifying it will be when it is released.

Anson Bach's goal is not just as simple as becoming a king. His ambition far exceeds that of Ludwig Franz. The latter is absolutely unattainable, and he cannot see the end of his existence.

So Karl was afraid, frightened by an ambition that he could not imagine at all, and felt from the bottom of his heart fearful of the familiar Anson Bach, who was somewhat unfamiliar, or had never really understood him at all, and who he was loyal to.

But beyond the fear, there was still so much anticipation.

Without the privileges of the king and nobles, without the so-called eternal order established by the church, what would a new and completely different country of freedom and equality look like?

He has already glimpsed the tip of the iceberg in the new world. Ansen Bach and Louis Bernard have proved with practical actions that it is not impossible to have a country without aristocrats without abiding by the rules of the Circle of Order. It is even completely logical and self-consistent. It is better than being ruled by aristocrats. The period was more prosperous.

As for now... Anson Bach has only confessed his ambitions, but has not announced his true thoughts.

But Carl was already looking forward to it.

………………………………

Three days later, Anson, together with a large number of officers of the Ranger Corps, as well as Leon Francois and many Hantu knights, formed a mighty delegation of four to five hundred people and arrived at the Western Front base camp.

After more than two months of construction, the base camp has begun to take shape: passing through the straight Sifang Avenue, the view suddenly opens up as if opening a new world; under the clear sky, countless black unicorn flags flutter in the wind.

In the past, the royal palace served as the central axis, and the entire "base camp" was divided into areas of different sizes by twelve crisscrossing roads: munitions warehouse, bakery, gun repair shop, soldier camp, officer dormitory, training ground... nothing. It is no exaggeration to say that this is a well-functioning, prosperous and wealthy city.

Not only that, the base camp built by Ludwig also had a very special "innovation": as the highest headquarters in name on the Western Front battlefield, the base camp did not have a magnificent city wall, but was surrounded by thirteen diamond-shaped bunkers. Guarded by a fortress.

Thirteen forts occupying the surrounding highlands are scattered and staggered, like arrows pointing to the outside, and they can cross and block a road between three and two; each fort has at least fifteen large forts, thick and low. There are countless shooting holes on the wall, close to hundreds on one side alone; the outer perimeter of the fortress is layered with layers of trench fortifications. The structure is so complex that from a distance it looks like a multi-layered cake, or something gorgeous. champagne tower.

"This is what city defenses should look like in the future."

Looking at the base camp at the foot of the mountain, Karl couldn't help but sigh: "The large and bulky fortresses and thin masonry walls are outdated and cannot stop an army with sufficient artillery range or strong maneuverability; they want to protect important cities. and strongholds, the best way is to build complex fortress groups and use artillery with wider range and greater power to block the enemy's attack."

"That's right." Anson nodded in agreement and raised his hand to point to a fort on the distant fort:

"As long as a large enough fortress group can be built based on the terrain, rivers and traffic roads, there are only two options left before the enemy: either give up this direction of attack, or they can only garrison troops for confrontation and use it again and again. The offensive with huge casualties gradually destroyed this complex and tight defense system - it was no longer possible to bypass the fortress and directly attack the undefended villages and towns in the rear."

Although Ludwig, an old boss, has been complained about more than once, in fact many of his military concepts are of great merit: the large army system that determines victory in one battle, and advocates that artillery fire should be used concentratedly to attack difficult situations. and the perspective of mass destruction...and the fortress complex in front of us instead of traditional city walls, or building a new defense system of large fortresses in the center of the city or next to it.

"But wouldn't it be better if we connected the fortresses with city walls?"

Leon Francois on the side also joined in excitedly: "This not only takes into account the common advantages of both, but also provides residents in the city with more security and additional protection. ?”

Regarding this question, Anson and Karl looked at each other and smiled in unison.

"You are right, but..." The chief of general staff turned his head with a raised corner of his mouth:

"Let's ignore the cost issue for now and simply connect the forts with protective walls. Compared with its protective capabilities, it may actually lead to a decrease in protection strength."

"Oh?" Little Leon raised his eyebrows: "I would like to hear the details."

"The reason is very simple. As long as the city wall is built, it cannot be regarded as a pure decoration. It will inevitably require the deployment of additional troops, which will invisibly weaken the power of the fortress itself." Karl raised his right hand and pointed to the road ahead:

"And tall walls will also limit the mobility of your army, not just the enemy's, but your own as well."

"So if we ignore this part, can the city wall itself share part of the pressure of the fortress? The answer is no... As long as there is sufficient ammunition, the city wall itself will be within the coverage of artillery fire, and the excess protection will actually affect the location of the artillery fire. To put forward more stringent requirements from different angles is tantamount to seeking the last at the expense of the basics.”

"I see……"

Little Leon nodded slightly: "That is to say, even if it is time to temporarily need some protection, digging trenches between the fortress groups and building breast walls with sandbags would be a more appropriate and low-cost option?"

"Yes, because the power and range of artillery fire are gradually increasing, simple city wall defense can no longer keep up with the times." Karl explained with a chuckle:

"In future offensive and defensive battles, the fortress group will be the core of the defense. If the attacker wants to break through head-on, it must bulldoze all the peripheral defenses and capture all the fortresses one by one before they can march straight in and continue to advance."

And such a battle will become a hell for the offensive side, and the offense and defense are likely to fall into a long-term sit-down confrontation; a siege battle is likely to last half a year, a year or even longer, and the idea of ​​a quick victory will completely turn into a lasting one. The nightmare of war.

It will not be possible to break the deadlock until there is a decisive turning point in the direction of a secondary battlefield, or the inability to build such a strong and tight defense.

That's right, this brand new defense system in front of you is the result, or a by-product, of Ludwig's "Grand Corps Tactics" theory.

Use a complex and tight defense system to block the possibility of enemy attack, use a small number of troops to ensure that the defense line is foolproof, and then assemble heavy troops to launch an unprecedented decisive battle with the enemy, and determine the outcome as quickly as possible.

And even if the battlefield is defeated, this hedgehog-like defense system can become an important barrier to dispel the enemy's desire to attack... In this regard, Ludwig is indeed working hard to improve his theory, not just on paper. Empty talk.

In comparison, someone's "skirmishing line tactics" seemed to have really disappeared... Carl couldn't help but turned his head and glanced at Anson, who seemed as if nothing had happened.

After passing through the outer city fortifications, the vast delegation finally officially arrived at the base camp. It was Colonel Roman who came to greet them, along with a group of mid-level officers from the base camp staff group.

Originally, according to the standards of Anson and Léon Francois as "the ruler of a country and the king and prince of an alliance", the base camp that wanted to receive the same standard of reception should have been welcomed by Ludwig himself.

But considering the impact of doing so...especially Ansen, who deliberately roped in the Hantu Crown Prince and seemed a bit aggressive, he still maintained the original reception specifications and just summoned all the war committee members that could be summoned at the first time. Members are waiting in the royal palace hall.

Anson also knew that he was not favored by the war committee, so he just smiled indifferently and followed Roman with the entire delegation.

In the majestic and solemn hall, the senior officers from the Western Front all had straight faces. They sat in their seats and ignored their colleagues from the Ranger Corps who walked in; it was not until Anson and Leon entered the hall side by side that Ludwig Under the leadership of Xi, he reluctantly stood up and took off his hat to salute his allies.

Just being polite, before everyone could sit down, Ludwig directly asked when the Ranger Corps and the Hantu Corps planned to evacuate Red Moon Town and return the fortress to the War Council.

"Regarding the Red Moon Town Fortress, our views are slightly different from those of our colleagues on the War Council." Anson interrupted with a chuckle:

"Although we recaptured the fortress, the empire's vitality was not harmed. In the end, we just retreated and evacuated. We may come back at any time."

"The successive losses of Red Moon Town are enough to prove that the old defense system of this fortress is no longer enough to resist the enemy's attack. The transportation network of Red Moon Province may have been sufficient in the past, but if the scale of future wars increases from tens of thousands to It is difficult for a large corps of hundreds of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people to assume the function of an advance base."

"If we want to improve the situation in Hongyue Town, reconstruction projects are urgent."

As he spoke, Anson waved his hand to Karl. The loyal chief of staff immediately understood and handed Roman a drawing: "As for the general plan of the entire project, the cost, the manpower and even the time required, I have already reported it to the Army. Ministry, just waiting for approval.”

"You mean, we are going to rebuild the Red Moon Town Fortress?" Ludwig, who narrowed his eyes, found the drawings handed over by Roman, but did not open them.

"The Ranger Corps will not leave Red Moon Town until the reconstruction project is completed, right?"

"On the contrary, one of the purposes of my coming here is to officially hand over Red Moon Town to the War Council, so that you can take over the responsibility of defending and rebuilding the fortress after taking over."

Anson shook his head: "The battle to retake the Red Moon Town Fortress was so smooth this time because the War Committee also contributed a lot; without you guys holding on to the confrontation at various border fortresses, so that the empire did not dare to act rashly, our battle would never have gone so smoothly. "

As soon as the words fell, the originally silent atmosphere suddenly became...weird.

The officers of the War Council had wandering eyes... Although they were quite disgusted with the Ranger Corps who stole the limelight and made themselves look very shameless, they were not so shameless that they just took credit for others' work without doing anything - the whole In the battle of the Red Moon Province, the 200,000 troops on the Western Front really did not send a single soldier to participate in the battle.

"In that case, let me tell you frankly, when do you plan to evacuate?" Ludwig did not hesitate to say: "Clovis City has sent someone to inform you that the National Assembly has officially passed the plan prepared for you. Triumphal ceremony..."

"No, we will not withdraw to the southern fortress or Clovis City."

"That you……"

"We will work with Hantu's friendly forces..." While speaking, Anson glanced at Leon:

"Counterattack against the Empire!"