I will be crowned king

Xiaolong City, the Royal Palace.

"My lords, your emperor demands an answer."

The scepter in his hand struck the floor tiles with heavy echoes. Even through the heavy shadows, one could feel the anger of Emperor Joseph III on the throne: "The Clovis...their army has crossed the border and has invaded." To the Empire."

"Our border guards and patrol sentries... actually delayed for three full days to get the information, and took another two full days to send such important news to Xiaolong City; and those Clovis thugs and them The Hantu lackeys have been trampling on the territory of the golden iris for a week."

"If Bram's Fire Knights hadn't warned you in time, your emperor would have been deceived for who knows how long!"

The furious shouts echoed through the vaults and columns, and dissipated in the dark air and silence, like a tomb.

Among the shadows, countless figures moved slightly: six grand dukes, palace nobles, royal branches, free territories and autonomous city lords... everyone was holding their breath and waiting for the emperor on the throne to calm down his anger.

"I need an answer, an answer that won't let me down." The emperor's voice was full of chills: "Tell me, where are the knights of the empire, and why do they allow the Clovis people to cross the border and do nothing?!"

"Because the Clovis are moving in more than one direction from Red Moon, Your Majesty."

Bernard Maulvius stood up from his seat and bowed respectfully to the emperor. As a court minister, it was his duty to step out to rescue the emperor when everyone was silent. It was also his duty to avoid an awkward atmosphere:

"Starting from late July, many fortresses on the Clovis border have taken action. They have recruited troops to fill the fortresses. The total number of troops along the entire defense line has reached close to 300,000, which is much higher than before."

"According to the intelligence we have obtained, the other party has lowered the conscription age to fifteen in many border towns. Beigang and Clovis City have increased the procurement scale of steel and coal mines, and the taxes in the eastern and southern provinces have increased. One-quarter, and mainly in-kind taxes...The trend of comprehensive mobilization is very obvious.”

"Generally speaking, it takes at least one to two months from preparation to formal declaration of war. In addition, the other party is a thug who rebelled against the king and will inevitably be spurned by the subjects loyal to the king throughout the country. It will only take longer, but ..." Bernard paused slightly:

"Based on the current situation, it seems that we have misjudged... In order to maintain the authority they gained by usurping the throne, the thugs have used cruel exploitation and bottomless means at all costs to force the army to make all preparations in advance and implement a plan. A military operation with huge risks."

"It was our fault that we failed to anticipate the enemy's madness, Your Majesty."

"Yes, and it is a very serious mistake!" Joseph III said coldly: "Where are Sir Garland and the Royal Legion under his command? I remember that they should have retreated to the Grand Duchy of Brahm for a while, why didn't they attack immediately? Enemy, avenging shame?"

"They took action, but..."

"but what?"

"Your Majesty, Sir Garland is currently only the acting commander-in-chief. He has not received full authorization. His prestige in the army is far from enough to convince the army commanders." Bernard sighed:

"If you want to mobilize this royal army, you may have to choose a suitable commander again."

"...You're right, Bernard."

After a moment of silence, Joseph III's anger obviously subsided a lot: "I will choose a suitable commander to replace him as soon as possible. Before that, I ordered Sir Gloria to immediately stationed in the border fortresses to delay the enemy's offensive!"

"He has already done this, Your Majesty." There was a wry smile on Bernard's lips: "Because he could not convince the crowd, Sir Gloria had to order the commanders of each legion to station themselves in different fortresses, and at the same time led his own legions to block Clovis as much as possible. An army of thugs.”

"Very well, may he fulfill his oath of loyalty to the Empire."

Joseph III nodded slightly: "So...where is the first fortress that stands in front of Clovis' thugs?"

"It's the Tongmen Fort, Your Majesty."

Marquis Pavel Dukaski approached the steps in front of the throne, raised his chest and saluted: "That is the east gate of the Grand Duchy of Brahm, and it is also the direct territory of the Dukaski family. It is guarded by 3,800 people. Corps, twenty-five cannons are stationed there.”

"Including the Dmitri Corps that rushed for reinforcements, the total strength is close to 12,000 men and 60 cannons." Bernard immediately added: "At the same time, Sir Garland and his direct corps are ambushing nearby. As long as the Clovis thugs try to capture the fortress, they will immediately be attacked from two sides."

"Very good." Joseph III nodded slightly. Although he was caught off guard, the situation looked much better than he had imagined.

It would be a bit rude to be counter-invaded by the target that originally wanted to invade, but if the scope of the war can be limited to the border, at least...

"but……"

Before the emperor could breathe a sigh of relief, Bernard suddenly changed the subject, causing everyone present to tense up.

"But..." Joseph III narrowed his eyes with a bad expression:

"What?"

……………………

"…However, although our march route will definitely pass through these fortresses, it does not necessarily require them to be captured."

In the Red Moon Town Fortress, Anson raised his sword and knocked hard on the location of the "Bronze Gate Fort": "Yes, we can even bypass them directly, ignore them, and march towards the direction of Xiaolong City!"

"Gentlemen, I see the expressions of surprise and disbelief on your faces; yes, this sounds like nonsense. If the fortress is not captured, where will the supplies come from, the security of the logistics and marching routes, and even when the army retreats? How to ensure the safety of the people?”

"But before you ask these questions, please allow me to ask you, what is the significance of the existence of the fortress?"

"It is to control or protect an area at the minimum cost, to block or restrict the enemy's marching route, and to make the enemy retreat in spite of difficulties. These... are all correct." With a contemptuous smile, Anson shook his head:

"It's just that it was the past."

"In the past, a small fortress could block the offensive momentum of a large army. To conquer a fortress with three thousand defenders, it would take at least ten thousand people. This was the reason why 'defense is better than offense'."

"But... what if the attacking army's army is not ten thousand or fifty thousand, but... one hundred and fifty thousand?"

"A large army composed of 150,000 troops marched in a unified direction from the same direction. There were only two options left before the defenders: hold on or retreat."

"If the enemy does not send reinforcements, then unless the defenders are pure fools, they will never continue to hide in the fortress and actively think about it; or they abandon the fortress, then control of the entire area will immediately fall into our hands."

"But what if the defenders really refuse to retreat?"

Young Leon stood up and asked: "According to you, Commander-in-Chief, we don't need to capture any forts in this combat operation?"

"Dear His Highness Leon, you have found the key to this battle." Anson's eyes showed a little more approval: "Yes, what if the enemy still refuses to withdraw from the fortress? Do we have to stop?" Are you going to capture the fortress?"

"Of course not! There is only one thing we have to do, and that is to surround the fortress, then organize the army to eliminate the resistance forces town by town, purchase food from them, and control the local warehouses."

"If my prediction is correct, the enemy will definitely think that we will attack the fortress at the beginning of the war and make every move, so holding on to the fortress is their best choice; in this way, the imperial garrison of the border fortress will greatly exceed their original capacity, and the army's Supplies will need to be provided by local towns.”

"There is no need to disturb the innocent local people at all. As long as the local military warehouses are seized and the logistics carriages responsible for transporting food to the fortresses are intercepted, internal strife will soon break out in these unsustainable fortresses themselves, and then they will return to what I said at the beginning. The dilemma: retreat or reinforce."

"But in fact, they only have one choice: to gather as many troops as possible and start a decisive battle with us on the road we must pass, but..." The corner of Anson's mouth rose:

"Can they do it?"

…………………………

"Unfortunately, no."

In the dim palace hall, Bernard's heavy words echoed in the air: "Sir Gloria does not have the reputation of Commander Fernando Herred. After the failure of the fortress containment strategy, the only choice left for him was All that's left is retreat."

"The scale and efficiency of the Clovis march are far greater than before. According to reports from the front line, at least one hundred thousand troops are moving simultaneously. Even if Sir Gloria can organize his troops to block the road, the enemy's flanking troops can easily send out Piao Cavalry, surround and cut off his rear.”

"Yes, this time the Clovis people not only sent more troops than before, but the logistics and equipment are also unprecedented. The total number of cavalry is probably not less than 10,000 people."

"Ten thousand people? This is impossible!"

An exclamation came from the palace nobles on the steps: "One hundred thousand troops, tens of thousands of cavalry... Even if their later baggage is not included, such a bloated army must be slow to move. How can it be possible like you said, even Easily cut off our army’s retreat?!”

"But he did it, sir." Bernard smiled wryly and shrugged:

"Yes... Anson Bach, he just did it, allowing the army of 100,000 to have an extraordinary marching speed, and even made Sir Garland dare not stop to fight, otherwise there would be a risk of being cut off from the retreat immediately."

"How did he do it?!"

"That's a good question. It's easy to say - we, or our army, helped him do it."

Bernard spread his hands: "In order to cope with Clovis's counterattack and launch an invasion plan against Clovis, the empire built a large number of transit warehouses on the border to form a logistics network to provide sufficient military supplies for the border troops at any time. "

"But now because the enemy appears too quickly, our army can only hold on to the fortress in a hurry, causing all these warehouses to fall under the control of Anson Bach; now his soldiers and cavalry no longer need to carry a large amount of baggage. You only need to carry a small amount of supplies and you can travel unhindered in the empire’s territory!”

For a moment, the hall fell into silence.

In order to facilitate the invasion of Clovis, the emperor himself vigorously promoted the construction of a logistics network on the border. Of course, in addition to facilitating the army, he also took the opportunity to extend his hands into the territories of other Grand Duchys and intervene in the internal affairs of the duchy.

Now this system has changed from the emperor's great achievements to a weapon for the enemy to attack the empire... Many non-palace nobles at the scene secretly applauded, but they were also nervous and did not dare to say another word for fear of arousing the emperor's anger.

However, unlike what they imagined, Joseph III did not show any signs of violence. On the contrary, there was a trace of curiosity in his eyes:

"Anson...Bach, Sir Bernard, are you talking about...the same person in the New World?"

"It's him, Your Majesty." Bernard nodded slightly: "Now, this guy who once betrayed Clovis has become one of the three most powerful rulers in Clovis, or with their The title for talking to oneself is... ruling."

"Governing..."

Joseph III chewed on this word: "So where is our 'ruler' now?"

"Unfortunately, Your Majesty, my answer will disappoint you." Bernard said solemnly:

"According to the latest intelligence, in the past five days, Anson Bach and his 100,000 troops are about to cross the entire Grand Duchy of Brahm, and are only one step away from the border of the Duchy of Snapdragon; if we don't stop him as soon as possible, the war will I’m afraid it will spread outside this Xiaolong City.”

"Five days?" Joseph III's pupils shrank suddenly: "He... only took five days?"

"Yes, five days." Bernard gritted his teeth, and every word seemed to be torn apart:

"It only took him five days to break through the defenses at the empire's border."

……………………

"Five days! Within five days, the main force of our army must reach the border of Xiaolong Principality!" Anson said solemnly:

"Only in this way can we leave the enemy with no time to think and no room for concessions... There is no need to carry any extra baggage, throw away all the equipment that hinders the marching speed, and rush to Xiaolong City on a hasty march!"

"Please remember that although we defeated the Empire at the Red Moon Fortress, it does not mean that Clovis's strength has truly reached the point where he can compete fairly with the Empire; the longer the delay, the more unfavorable the situation will be for us; Speed, only unprecedented marching speed that makes the enemy tremble with fear, and quick victory are the keys to victory in this war."

"I emphasize again, maybe some of you think that the victory of the war depends on conquering a certain city, a certain fortress, winning a certain battle... No, it depends on it being much simpler and more difficult than that. A rapid march."

"March...is war!"