I will be crowned king

Chapter 364 Carl Bain’s “Luck”

"On the 31st day of the eighth month of the 100th year of the Saint's Calendar, it was cloudy and drizzling in Iron Bell Castle."

"Today is my forty-second day as the Logistics Director of the Hantu General Staff... I have to admit that the workload brought by this position exceeds my expectations, so that I have to reduce my sleep time from six hours to five. Half."

"This scares me a little because a new study was recently published in a church newspaper, proving that there is a connection between height and life expectancy and the number of hours I sleep every day...Am I going to stop growing taller because I stay up too late?"

"Having said that, my height seems to have not changed much in the past year, or in the past four years; people around me always look at me like a ten-year-old, even though I am almost fifteen years old... "

"But fortunately, this won't affect my daily work... Well, let's try the salmon from Iron Bell Castle for dinner today. I heard it's good for my hair."

"Yesterday morning, His Excellency Leon François left the office privately again. It seems that he listened to the whimsical plan of a nobleman in the staff department and wanted to go to the Deserted Stone Castle in person."

"After learning more about it, it seems that it was because he found that he was too idle; especially after Lord Anson Bach advanced southward and Claude Francois took away all the troops, he, the nominal Han, The 'second commander-in-chief' of the Turkish army began to become idle."

"He asked me if there was anything I needed him to take care of, and I told him... yes and no."

"Yes, there are things he can do, there are things he should do, there are things people want him to do...but there is nothing he, the heir to the kingdom, must do."

"Looking back now, it seems that I am also responsible for this result."

"In order to make up for my mistakes, I carefully prepared a 'Hantu Industrial Construction Plan' for him, as well as the 'All Hantu Road Construction Plan' attached to it."

"By applying for technology from the church and the assistance of the Kingdom of Clovis, it will take ten to twenty years to build a light industrial center in Thun, and by improving roads to reduce the cost of raw materials and transportation, Hantu can export additional products to surrounding countries. Processed products with higher value – completing the transition from exporting iron ore to exporting sewing needles.”

"He showed a completely unsurprising ecstasy about this, and immediately put his previous complaints behind him... Then I was able to continue to handle all the affairs of the staff in his name with peace of mind."

"But what is gratifying is that this unexpectedly difficult Hantu War seems to be coming to an end soon - the Imperial advance army and fleet entrenched in Carindia Port have been wiped out, and the entire Ayden has gathered An army of more than 100,000 people has formed an absolute advantage over the Imperial Expeditionary Force."

"The only thing that is a little disappointing is that I may not be destined to witness the highlight moment when Lord Anson Bach led Clovis and the Hantu army to defeat the empire."

"Sigh... This is probably my fate. As a humble secretary, I am destined to be insulated from such publicity."

"I heard that Lord Carl Bain has been appointed as the general person in charge of the defense of Wild Stone Castle. He is safe and can appear on the front line. He is really lucky to participate in this war that is destined to be recorded in history... "

………………

"Lucky? Lucky ass!"

After finally understanding the entire situation, the desperate Carl Bain pulled the collar of the messenger in front of him, and let out the most hysterical roar in his life with a ferocious face.

The grand battle that attracted everyone's attention and was said to "determine the fate of the entire land" only lasted for one day and came to an end.

Claude Francois, failed miserably!

A complete fiasco!

Facing the Imperial Expeditionary Force, they quickly wrote "I am a trap" on their faces. As half of Hantu's elite Central Garrison Corps, they ate it without hesitation, and were not surprised at all by being hooked to death. .

Twenty thousand Hantu soldiers were surrounded by 10,000 imperial line infantrymen and artillery fire in the middle of the road surrounded by the valley... The result can be imagined.

Claude François, who had lost half of his troops, faced the enemy's artillery superiority behind him and was surrounded both front and rear. He led the Royal Legion and the Imperial Expeditionary Force in a bloody battle...

The fierce battle lasted for five hours, with heavy casualties. The exhausted Royal Army was finally overwhelmed. Of course, it can also be said that the Central Guard Army, which persisted for five hours, was finally killed by the Imperial Expeditionary Force!

At the last moment, the Royal Army, which was besieged from both sides, relied on artillery and cavalry charges, and finally opened a gap in the enemy's eastern encirclement network. Two-thirds of the troops successfully broke through and retreated in the direction of Huangshi Fort.

As to whether this was because the Hantu soldiers were brave enough, or because the Imperial Expeditionary Force was not strong enough to annihilate and defeat the counterattack of the Central Garrison Corps while encircling the Wang Family Corps, which had abandoned half of its friendly troops and fled desperately... That is a matter of opinion.

Not only that... because the Royal Legion was not a planned and organized retreat, but a forced breakout when morale, combat effectiveness, and organization dropped to freezing point.

To put it harshly, this is not much different from a "rout".

The result of the disorderly retreat was the complete collapse of the entire legion's structure. Tens of thousands of elite Royal Legion soldiers became defeated troops with no combat effectiveness at all, and could no longer pose the slightest threat to the Imperial Expeditionary Force that was pursuing them.

Even...even Claude Francois himself has no news at the moment - looking at the panicked look on the face of the messenger who rushed back to report, it is obvious that he thought he had died!

Of course, these things are not important to Carl Bain now.

What is really important is that the 20,000 Imperial Expeditionary Forces have followed behind the defeated troops of the Royal Army and are heading towards the Wild Stone Castle!

In one day at the earliest and three days at the latest, tens of thousands of defeated troops will flee to the Wild Stone Castle one after another; and the Imperial Expeditionary Force will definitely follow these unopposed troops in one fell swoop. Go down to the deserted stone castle.

Once this fortress is captured, regardless of whether Claude Francois is still alive or not, half of the country will definitely not be saved, and most of Carindia will not be saved either - even if the other legions can turn around after one or two battles The battle will not change the result that the battle line will be defeated all the way to the front line of Mist Iron Bell Castle.

The reason is simple. There is no strong enough fortress on this entire front, let alone a supply point that can provide the army with long-term combat consumption.

The Imperial Expeditionary Force, which has received supplies from the Wild Stone Castle, will be able to use this as their base of advancement and choose their attack route at will - Mist or Carindia. If you win either one, you will have to face the other. Besieged on two sides.

"And you idiots are still here rejoicing, thinking that you are so lucky to be driven to the reserve army to defend the position?!" Looking at the confused Hantu officers in front of them, who didn't know why they were so excited, Karl... Bain simply wants to die:

"Do you think you... just us, a bunch of rotten fish and shrimps, can stop the offensive of the Imperial Expeditionary Force?!"

"Can……"

The astonished Hantu officers looked at each other, as if they were taking some chances: "Are there still Wang Family Legions? It's enough as long as they are here, we just need to follow behind for a while..."

"Snapped!"

The Chief of Staff of the Storm Division, who was about to cry without tears, slapped himself in the face.

"The Royal Army you are talking about... was defeated just now... and even the most basic organization is gone..." Karl slowly raised his right hand and pointed at the officer who just spoke, his voice and soul were trembling violently:

"Throwing away their armor... morale is completely lost... Even how many people can survive and how many can successfully retreat to the Deserted Stone Castle is still unknown... You... still expect them..."

They... they may still be counting on you!

Before he finished speaking, the Hantu officers, who seemed to have finally reacted, finally showed a somewhat panicked expression. The luck of "surviving" was instantly replaced by the fear of impending disaster.

At this moment, Carl Bain once again deeply felt how much fate liked to "joke" with him... Every time he felt that he was finally getting lucky, there would soon be greater misfortune waiting to stab him in the back.

He wants to run away now, but he is currently the highest-ranking commander in the Wild Stone Fort. If he runs away, the 20,000 reserve troops who have little morale to speak of will probably disperse on the spot, and the entire defense line of the Wild Stone Castle will instantly collapse. will collapse.

He must stay here.

Not only must they stay, but they must also lead them to defend the fortress of Wild Stone Castle and block the attack of the Imperial Expeditionary Force!

This time it is no longer Thunder Castle, and he is no longer a small army captain who only needs to take the blame for Shangguan... If he escapes from battle, he will be burdened not only with dereliction of duty, but also with human lives.

Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands... millions of lives.

These people will exist or lose because of a small, bold or cautious, cowardly or brave decision of their own.

"What are we going to do, Lord Kal Bain?!"

The officers of Hantu finally panicked and looked at the chief of staff who looked desperate: "Can't we just sit back and wait for death?!"

You asked me what to do, and I still want to know what to do... Resisting the urge to curse, Karl gritted his teeth and his pupils kept trembling.

There are only 20,000 people in the entire reserve army, and they are 20,000 people who are like rotten shrimps in the true sense - they have not received sufficient training, their weapons are in a mess, more than 4,000 people don't even have guns, and their organization is in a mess. The minimum combat unit is the "regiment" level of about 500 people, and artillery is a no-brainer...

How can such an army withstand the attack of the Imperial Expeditionary Force?

How can we hold the Wild Stone Castle and the entire army’s supply line? !

In the center of a pair of panicked eyes, Carl Bain held his head and panted rapidly.

"Immediately...send messengers immediately, the more the better, the sooner the better." He gritted his teeth and looked at the panicked Hantu officers around him who were holding their breath and looking like they wanted to eat people:

"The messengers are divided into two teams and go to Tiezhong Fort and the Storm Division who are rushing here. Tell them that our side can only hold on for...seven days at most! Seven days at most. Within seven days, they must send reinforcements to take over the defense of the fortress. !”

"Seven, seven days?"

The officers looked at each other, swallowed their saliva and asked, "Why seven days?"

Obviously, they had no confidence that they could last seven days.

"Because it will take seven days at the earliest for the army to set off from Iron Bell Castle!" Carl Bain rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to be hysterical - he did not have that luxury now:

"Of course, this is for the reinforcements from Tiezhong Fort; the Storm Division is already marching towards us... At the fastest, they should be able to arrive in a day or two."

In order to prevent the officers from breaking down before the soldiers, Karl felt it necessary to calm them down first.

Sure enough...almost the moment he finished speaking, the officers present breathed a sigh of relief and suddenly seemed less scared.

Although this group of people is different from the "elites" of the Royal Legion, and they are very self-conscious about being rotten fish, but they are still confident that they can hold off the Imperial Expeditionary Force for a day or two by relying on the Deserted Stone Castle and the eastern position.

After all, as long as you can't hold on and use your "sincerity" to the extreme, no matter how invincible the enemy is, they can't take down such a strong barren stone castle in one breath... Just digging trenches for sieges will take several days. Woolen cloth.

Looking at these guys who seemed to have finally found a savior, Carl Bain couldn't help but show some pity in his eyes.

According to his own experience, although the reinforcements from Iron Bell Castle can theoretically arrive within seven days, if they really do this, it will be no different than sending someone to death - gathering the few remaining elites, collecting everyone's weapons, and counting Required materials, and send a commander who everyone can trust and who is of sufficient level...

Well, if I'm lucky this time, I might be able to see the reinforcements from Iron Bell Castle on the 28th or 29th day.

As for the Stormcaster...

"The reinforcements have come to an end for the time being. The most important thing now is to organize defenses as soon as possible and be ready for battle!" Karl said nervously:

"In addition to the Imperial Expeditionary Force, there are tens of thousands of broken troops from the Royal Legion coming here; we must cover their retreat, but at the same time we cannot allow their retreating troops to affect the defenses of the Wild Stone Castle and the eastern positions."

"What should we do?" an officer asked:

"We can't just ignore them and keep them out of the city, right?"

"Of course not - since we can't keep them out of the city, we must take the initiative to go out of the city to greet them." Karl said loudly:

"We must leave the protection of the position and build a new line of defense outside the Castle of Wasteland to block the Castle and the eastern positions. We must cover the remnants of the retreating Royal Army and face the Imperial Expeditionary Force at the same time!"

"We...the reserve army is going to face the Imperial Expeditionary Force!"