I will be crowned king

Compared with the Central Province in the north, although there is no heavy snowfall in Thunder Castle at the end of the year, the howling cold wind is equally biting; dim and gloomy dark clouds dominate the sky, making the already cold weather even more oppressive.

Generally speaking, no commander would be willing to march in this kind of weather, let alone start a war in this kind of weather: the rapid consumption of food and warmth supplies caused by the severe cold, and the rapid increase in injuries and illnesses will make his army grow in size. of attrition.

The icy muddy roads and the icy mud that make it difficult to build fortifications will double the difficulty; even an elite army with high morale and the ability to endure so many difficulties will face cold, hunger, and everyone suffering from illness. The cold wind builds fortifications and camps, and they have to be ready to fight at any time... It's hard to say how much combat effectiveness they can retain.

But amidst the gusts of cold wind and morning fog, a team of thousands of people was struggling along the muddy Kingdom Road towards the Thunder Castle siege position.

The creaking wheels of the four-wheeled carriage filled with supply boxes sank into the mud again and again; the scolding coachman picked up his whip and whipped the already overwhelmed packhorse.

Carrying rifles and only wearing thin military uniforms, the soldiers shivered and breathed in the heat, with their cheeks and backs of hands turning blue and blue from the cold; under the surveillance of officers wearing lapel coats, they dragged their lead-filled legs and managed to maintain a decent balance. Neat formation;

Due to the serious shortage of pack horses, many soldiers had to shoulder the transportation work - two disobedient recruits can be used as one pack horse, and most of them will die from exhaustion; after the logistics officer who taught himself addition and subtraction discovered this, He also found a way to make the soldiers more obedient.

Relying on the constant "consumption" of new recruits, this team, fully loaded with weapons, ammunition and various supplies, finally arrived at the siege position on the fourteenth day of the siege of Thunder Castle.

On a parapet of the position, a stern-faced Ludwig Franz looked at the team slowly entering the camp. He had his hands behind his back, his figure motionless in the cold wind, like an upright rifle.

Under his calm appearance, only Roman behind him could see that the brigadier's hands behind his back were clenched into trembling fists, and every vein on the back of his hands was exposed under the white joints.

Ludwig, at this moment, was a thousand times more excited than he showed.

After fourteen days that lasted like a year, plus two humiliations in which the entire army was almost defeated, the rear support he had been waiting for finally arrived!

Since the establishment of the Thunder Castle levy force, the army who wanted to see his joke did not give him any useful information. The so-called "levy army" collapsed at the first touch, even worse than the scum soldiers of the empire.

It was obviously a siege battle, but in the end, he was assigned an artillery battery with only eight artillery pieces, and only one heavy artillery piece. The rest were all light field infantry artillery pieces; as a result, he, as the siege party, was actually killed. The firepower of the defenders was completely overwhelmed, leaving no room for even a counterattack!

But even so, he still established a firm foothold outside Thunder Castle; a siege position that was strong enough and gradually advanced towards the fortress was slowly unfolding.

Although there was an "interlude" a few days ago where the Imperial Cavalry almost collapsed after a single attack, but that was in the past; the rebuilt trenches already had quite complete defenses, and the trenches were deep enough to ensure that the cavalry could not attack them at all. The position poses a threat.

Relying on the power of the Franz family and the Church of Order, and after spending a lot of money, Ludwig finally got all the supplies and reserve troops he desperately needed.

In particular, four twelve-pound cannons and two twenty-four-pound mortars were a treasure for Ludwig, a general with an artillery background. With these six cannons, he could build a cannon at the front of the position. The artillery position is up!

Although it still cannot reverse the firepower gap between the two sides - as a regiment-level logistics warehouse and depot, Thunder Fort has dozens of light and heavy artillery reserves - but at the same time there are two to three artillery forts with heavy artillery deterrents, and then face the fortress There was finally room for counterattack during the bombardment.

These were just the beginning: after thoroughly accepting Anson's "Trench Plan", Ludwig was no longer obsessed with capturing the fortress quickly, but was ready to slowly accumulate strength and even be ready for a long-term siege.

After all, the ammunition and material reserves in the fortress are limited, but as long as the steam train is still running on the kingdom's railway tracks, his supplies will continue to be transported from the rear.

The only thing that surprised him was that the Army didn't do anything to stop the supplies and the recruits, and allowed them to reach their destination easily.

Obviously, these guys who are ready to see their own jokes also know that once the battle at Thunder Castle is delayed for too long, the blow to the legions still fighting the empire in the south will be devastating.

No matter how stupid they are, they know they can't afford such a risk.

Facing the biting cold wind, Ludwig tried his best to control his emotions and raised the corners of his mouth slightly.

"General, the logistics officer responsible for escorting supplies is already waiting at your camp." Roman, who was standing behind him, took a step forward and said calmly:

"There is also a messenger sent by your father. I hope you can come back as soon as possible if possible..."

"Don't be so anxious." Ludwig, whose good mood was ruined, frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, and then turned to look at Roman: "How long has he been waiting?"

"Two days." Roman looked at the brigadier calmly, but his eyes were serious.

"Tell him I will finish it at noon and ask him to leave as soon as possible in the afternoon."

With a helpless sigh, Ludwig turned around and walked towards the camp, changing the topic: "It took fourteen days for the first batch of supplies to be delivered. Is there any way to improve efficiency?"

"It's difficult. Our supply lines completely depend on the capacity of the steam trains and road conditions." Roman followed closely:

"Even if the Privy Council and the Railway Board are willing to consider increasing the number of commutes, the road conditions from Oaktown, where the train platform is located, to the siege positions are not optimistic; coupled with our serious shortage of heavy carriages and pack horses for transportation, it is difficult to improve efficiency in a short period of time .”

"Then when will the next supply arrive at the earliest?"

"Ten days later." Roman replied:

"According to your order, I placed orders with two artillery foundries near the royal capital; the war had just broken out, and they both still had a lot of inventory - ten days later, eight heavy artillery pieces and 1,500 fully armed men were ordered. The new recruits will arrive at the same time."

Ludwig nodded.

Ten days are enough for the siege position to advance outside the walls of Thunder Castle; another three to five days will be spent training and integrating new recruits and strengthening the artillery forts.

Fifteen days... Fifteen days at most, he will be able to capture Thunder Castle in one fell swoop!

The excited Ludwig suddenly stopped, turned his head and looked at Roman thoughtfully, and whispered in a very low tone:

"Is there any progress in the matter you mentioned before?"

Roman, with twinkling eyes, was silent for a few seconds and frowned slightly:

"...There are only some doubts."

"Doubtful?"

"I privately interrogated Sir Louis Bernard who was captured by Lieutenant Colonel Anson - although he encountered some resistance, he still asked for a lot of information." Roman said solemnly:

"He seems to really...know nothing about the situation of the Imperial defenders in the fortress."

The confused Ludwig was stunned for a moment, and then said in a speculative tone: "This is also possible, right? After all, the other party is still very young, and he was probably just brought out by his brother for training..."

"No, that's not the case!" Roman interrupted loudly:

"Louis Bernard is by no means an ordinary person. He is the only descendant of this generation of the Bernard family who has inherited the power of the 'Sea Knight' bloodline!"

What? !

Ludwig's eyes widened in shock - as the son of the church's archbishop, he knew very well the significance of inheriting the power of blood.

"Although it is strange, the intelligence shows that it is indeed the case; among the descendants of the Bernard family, only Louis has inherited the power of this blood." Roman's voice trembled slightly:

"If Anson's information is correct, then the army commanders at the beginning of this raid should be Louis and his uncle; they temporarily sent the heirs of his family and the only inheritors of the power of blood to a dangerous place with an extremely low survival rate. Low in action…”

"The empire...the Bernard family...or the people who made this decision behind the scenes...what do they want to do?"