I will be crowned king

Ayden, Barren Stone Castle, outer position.

Negative.

On the gray horizon, many figures appeared very suddenly.

"They're coming!"

A sharp-eyed Thun officer shouted, pointing to the slowly floating smoke and dust on the opposite side, and the chaotic and disorderly figure in the smoke, like surging magma: "It's the soldiers of the Royal Army and the Central Garrison Army. They The whole army was not wiped out - I saw the numbers on their flags!"

Looking at the surviving friendly troops in the distance, there was a small cheer on the battlefield, and everyone's face showed a bit of joy.

Except for a certain hapless Army Major.

"Yes, they are coming..."

Carl Bain's cheeks twitched involuntarily as he lay on the trench, and whispered to himself: "There are also...the Imperial Expeditionary Force following them."

Through the brass telescope in his hand, he saw the rustling golden iris military flag and the rows of lines below, which made his pupils shrink.

Nine column formations, at least more than 10,000 imperial soldiers, followed the fleeing Hantu soldiers unhurriedly, maintaining a distance that was almost the straight-line range of a six-pounder gun, and walked along the road towards the defense line of Huangshi Fort. approaching.

"These foolish knight masters have been saints for a hundred years, and they still cling to the Phalanx. Can they make some progress?"

Looking at the oppressive "black line" on the horizon, Carl Bain, who was cursing, tried his best to restrain his trembling body. The telescope picture attached to his face shook violently as if it had been torn apart.

He secretly glanced behind him from the corner of his eye. The soldiers in the trench were still looking happy, talking to each other in whispers, and laughing from time to time...

They had no idea how serious the situation had become.

Of course, in a sense, this may still be a good thing... If they understand that these "friendly troops" are actually tools and "hostages" deliberately released by the enemy to attack the city, Karl doubts whether this motley crew can still be as calm and composed as they are now. .

"Boom...boom...boom..."

Dense and messy footsteps were coming, and the smoke and dust rolled up by the running soldiers were rushing towards the defense line, and the speed was getting faster and faster.

"Soldiers in position - stay calm!" Karl, who threw away the telescope in his hand and looked around, roared to the people around him:

"Put your guns on your shoulders! Unfold them in order and wait for orders!"

The brisk drum beat sounded, and the Thun and Ayden soldiers waving the thorn flower flag quickly entered the front row of the position and took off the brand new Leyden rifles from their shoulders.

Compared to the chaotic organization of small lords and private soldiers of city-states, Karl still has a better impression of the armies of Thune and Aiden - their combat effectiveness is no different from other rotten fish and shrimps, but at least they are roughly unified in organization. of.

The 4,000-man Thun Army and the 3,000-man Ayden Army can be roughly divided into ten infantry regiments. The command alone is much simpler than other armies; at least there is no need to face more than 10,000 mutually exclusive infantry regiments. Under the leadership, the organization is chaotic, with one person giving orders to dozens of companies and hundreds of platoons.

As a very self-aware ordinary person, Carl Bain did not think that he had such superb "micro-management" skills - so he arranged these troops inside the fortress to defend the independent strongholds and fortresses.

Such a rigid arrangement would definitely cause problems once a war started. It would be easy for the enemy to find a weakly defended breach, and the surrounding troops would not be able to separate for rescue due to orders... But Karl really couldn't control that much.

"Order the artillerymen in the fortress to move the muzzles...forget it. Let them fill the propellant and shells as soon as possible. When they get the signal, they will fire immediately to cover the retreat of the broken troops."

Looking at the menacing and oppressive golden iris flowers in the distance, and then looking at the defeated soldiers who were already close at hand, running across the mountains and plains, Carl gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and shouted to the surroundings:

"The messengers - and all the guys who think they have a loud enough voice, send signals to the 'friendly forces' and ask them to move towards the two wings of the position. We will open a gap where they can safely retreat to the fortress!"

The order soldiers who received the order immediately began to take action. Hundreds of order soldiers scattered along the entire defense line leaned out of the trenches and waved flags to the defeated soldiers in the distance.

This is also the reason why Karl gathered the troops of Thun and Ayden - almost all the "elites" taken away by Claude Francois came from these two principalities. Even if there is a difference in combat effectiveness, at least there are various signals It is definitely consistent with the semaphore.

but……

"no respond!"

The messenger turned back sharply and shouted at the pale man: "No response - they didn't stop!"

"They are still approaching the front of the position!"

"Continue!" Karl, who forced himself to remain calm, stared at the golden iris flag in the distance:

"Blow the trumpet! Fire the gun! Use whatever method you can to get them out of the battlefield!"

After receiving the order, the messenger immediately turned around and continued to shout flags to the fleeing soldiers; the originally quiet trench became lively for a while, and with the smoke spewing into the sky, messy gunshots and harsh bugles continued to sound. Voice.

But...it didn't work.

The nearly 10,000 Hantu soldiers seemed to have not seen the signal from the position at all. They were still running straight towards the front. The sound of heavy footsteps even changed the sound of gunshots and bugles.

"Still no response!" the orderer shouted:

"They're still getting closer!"

The atmosphere on the battlefield finally became a little tense, and the soldiers who began to realize that something was not quite right showed a bit of panic.

What's going on with these guys? Have their brains been damaged by the Empire? A hint of urgency appeared on Carl Bain's pale face.

"Five hundred meters—!"

The messenger, who was desperately shouting flags, loudly reported behind him.

"Everyone is in position!" Carl, who was extremely anxious, shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Load!"

The nervous soldiers took out the cylindrical paper shells from the ammunition boxes at their waists, bit off the end of the paper shells and loaded the gunpowder into the gun. Then they stuffed the remaining propellant and lead bullets into the barrel and pressed them with a purge bar. Real gun chamber.

Although Karl had already "retrained" collectively when equipping the weapons, no less than a quarter of the soldiers still made mistakes - either spilled the gunpowder or stuffed the purge strip into the barrel of the gun. .

"Raise the gun!"

Regardless of whether the ammunition was loaded successfully or the barrels were completely blocked with purge bars, all the muzzles of the guns were still pointed outwards, which was very gratifying.

"Three hundred meters -" But Karl couldn't feel the slightest joy now. He slowly raised his right hand with open fingers towards the surroundings, shouting at the top of his lungs with a little trembling:

"Solvo in line—fire!"

For a moment, everything around him suddenly became quiet.

The soldiers who raised their rifles mechanically were stunned in place, and there was a brief commotion in the position.

"grown ups……"

The pale-faced messenger slowly turned his head, his voice and expression filled with a hint of disbelief: "You, you just said... said..."

"I said fire!" Carl Bain's pale face became more ferocious:

"Everyone is in position, fire in line, gather fire and fire in a salvo - didn't you hear that clearly?!"

"Listen, I heard it clearly, but..."

He originally wanted to explain that the defeated troops on the opposite side were almost all Thun people, but Karl did not give him a chance to explain: "There is no but, there is only death or life!"

"Ah...ah?"

"Ah what?!" Karl grabbed him by the collar, angrily dragged the messenger into the trench, raised his hand, drew his gun and stabbed him in the head:

"Death or life?!"

"Live!" The messenger who had been hesitant just now suddenly became more articulate: "Live! Live, live..."

"Follow orders if you want to live!"

Karl stuffed the gun into the chest of the orderer, raised his hand to grab the rifle from another soldier, rushed to the front of the line, and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Everyone who doesn't want to die, fire in line - fire!"

The moment he finished speaking, the barrel of the gun in his hand erupted with a loud roar, firing the hot lead bullets into the billowing smoke from the opposite side.

White gunpowder smoke rose, and a figure on the other side who was still running for his life in a panic didn't have time to react. He fell to the ground with the severe pain in his chest, and scarlet plasma spread under his body.

Since these defeated troops cannot be withdrawn from the battle in a "safe" way, the only option is to use "a little more drastic" means to expel them.

As Carl Bain fired the first shot, the Thun soldiers who were still hesitant subconsciously fired their triggers; followed closely by the Aiden Infantry Regiment on both sides of them, and then the Aiden Regiment The Thun group next to...

The golden-red gun flames started from the center of the position and quickly spread to the two wings. Finally, the entire position began to fire rows and rows of volleys at the fleeing "friendly troops", and messy gunfire like a violent storm exploded on the position. .

In an instant, the fleeing troops were stopped.

Along with the endless gunshots, screams of curses and screams came from the ranks of nearly 10,000 defeated soldiers; the falling figures made the already chaotic soldiers even more confused.

On the other side, according to the plan formulated by Carl Bain before the war, each infantry regiment was divided into six companies, and each company fired in sequence. This ensured that the entire position could continue to deliver firepower to the opposite side.

But now as the situation has changed, the entire reserve army - including Karl himself - has completely forgotten the plan, and just numbly and mechanically repeated the shooting action, letting the choking smoke cover the position.

No matter what tactics, doctrines or strategic arrangements... they all have no meaning. Just shoot, just shoot!

Amidst the roaring volleys, the Hantu soldiers, whose casualties were rapidly increasing, finally began to move towards the two wings with slightly weaker firepower to get out of the frontal battlefield, exposing the Imperial Expeditionary Force following them to the front of the position.

"cavalry!"

Returning the gun to the soldier, Karl turned to the pale-faced messenger who was still holding his own gun and shouted: "Let the cavalry intercept the retreating troops, assemble their torsos behind the position, throw them down and carry them with you." Weapons, waiting on the spot!"

"Anyone who dares to resist will be shot to death!"

Karl, who was holding his hands behind his back, suppressed the fear in his heart and shouted in his most ferocious and confident tone.

No one knows how many famous Hantu families and famous knights there are among the tens of thousands of defeated soldiers... But even if all of Hantu were wanted by him afterwards, he would not dare to let these defeated soldiers directly enter the fortress— ——Who knows what these people are thinking, or there may be a few guys who want to compete with myself, a foreigner, for command.

In this precarious situation, neither Barren Stone Castle nor Karl can withstand any more troubles.

"As you command!"

The orderly soldier with the same pale face replied... After being frightened half to death by having a gun pointed at his head, he had become a "loyal supporter" of the Chief of Staff of the Storm Division and did not dare to disobey in the slightest.

Ten minutes later, two teams of Thun hussars rushed out of the position, quickly blocked the way of the defeated soldiers, and drove them with sabers and revolvers in their hands to gather them directly behind the position.

This is not an "outbreak of kindness" by Claude Francois. He still remembers leaving an elite force to the motley reserve army. They were just mules and pack horses that were left behind, and even the poorest knights looked down upon them. On the goods.

As for the current Deserted Stone Castle, these goods and the miscellaneous soldiers riding on their backs have become the last "Knights of Thun" who are still guarding this fortress.

Karl, who had a complicated expression, breathed in the smoke-filled air, looking across half of the battlefield that was covered with the corpses of the defeated soldiers, staring at the Imperial Expeditionary Force on the opposite side.

They were...quiet.

Compared to the garrison positions filled with roaring guns and gunpowder smoke, the Imperial Expeditionary Force's positions were simply deathly silent.

Neither did they expel the defeated troops, nor did they follow closely behind to directly attack the two wings with the weakest firepower, nor did they use artillery to indiscriminately bomb the fleeing soldiers, or directly launch an attack...

They spread out their formation in an orderly manner there, leisurely admiring the scene of Hantu and Hantu fighting each other; while they were in a hurry, just like a clown on the stage.

What did they want to do? Could it be that they planned to watch them consolidate their positions...or were they deceived again? The enemy in front of them was just a cover, and the real trump card was hidden in the defeated troops?

I...did I miss something again or forget something?

Carl Bain frowned, and all the muscles in his body were trembling unnaturally. His breathing became faster and faster, and the picture in front of him began to flicker.

"grown ups!"

The voice of the messenger sounded from behind him: "The defeated troops have basically withdrawn. Should we let the soldiers..."

"We can't stop shooting, no one can stop shooting!" Carl shouted anxiously, without even taking a breath: "Continue to maintain the current momentum, and don't stop for a moment!"

No matter what, if you want to die, die - you people in the empire can do whatever you like, and I will fight in my own way!

"Send a signal to the artillery to wait another fifteen minutes and fire immediately after fifteen minutes!"

"Cannonballs... hit me with as many cannonballs as you can!"