I will be crowned king

Facts have proven that Commander Fernando Herred's head is neither made of some kind of metal, nor is he a coward.

After detecting the abnormal movements in Beluga Port and intercepting the letter sent deliberately by Fabian, he first suspected that it might be a trap. He did not immediately attack with all his strength, but only sent a small number of ships to roam freely outside the fjord. Open fire and challenge Fabian.

At the same time, he sent information non-stop to Ludwig, urged supplies again, and sent the situation to the headquarters that had just arrived in Sailing City, asking the envoys of the Holy See and the Empire to make a decision.

Fabian, whose conspiracy failed, was not in a hurry. He held the information provided by Louis and knew that the person opposite him was an extremely obedient and honest man - as long as the headquarters gave an order, he would definitely step up the organization of the attack.

Sure enough... just one day later, Fernando, who had not received the supplies, received complaints from Ludwig, accusing him of asking for excessive prices, not caring that he was responsible for the logistics of two fronts at the same time and would give him whatever he asked for.

At the same time, the messenger sent by Fernando was also successfully intercepted by Ludwig. The Clovis messenger who set out at the same time complained bitterly to the headquarters - Fernando refused to station troops and had to wait for supplies to arrive before launching an attack. He refused to attack. How do we know how much supplies to give him? !

Moreover, it was originally agreed that the Clovis Crusaders only need to conquer Sailing City, but now we are doing extra things. What qualifications does Fernando Hered have to be picky?

Faced with the tearful accusations from the Clovis people, the troubled high command could only mediate between the two parties: Ludwig immediately distributed supplies to Fernando according to the standards of Arthur's Legion, and Fernando must also immediately organize an attack to not let him down. Empire and Church trust.

After going back and forth like this, Fernando, who had been waiting for three days, did not get the naval gun shells he wanted, especially shrapnel shells and large-caliber solid bullets, but boxes and boxes of rifles, military uniforms, boots...all kinds of mess. , being picked over the remaining infantry equipment, plus a personal letter from Ludwig himself:

“To His Excellency, Commander of the Invincible Legion Fernando Herred:

I heard that you have complained a lot about our army recently. You think that the Clovis people deliberately delayed logistics, making it impossible for you to carry out your mission smoothly and you could only do superficial work.

On behalf of all the officers and soldiers of the Clovis Jihad Army, I would like to clarify this matter to you:

Yes, you guessed it.

Although our jihadi army has more than 100,000 people, it is limited by geography and material supply, so it is impossible to cover everything and fight in every direction without worries.

Sir Arthur Herred joined forces with me to fight against the main force of the pagans at Red Hand Bay; we are both inexperienced juniors and we must avoid making mistakes as much as possible. Of course, we hope that the supplies here will be more abundant.

And you... Fernando Herred, a famous general in the empire, is famous for being defeated in front of my Clovis standing army many times, but he can always save his life, and then continue to lead the emperor's army to attack the fortress and die, With rich experience, even if materials are scarce, they should know better than us how to overcome problems and face difficulties head on.

Therefore, I never expected that you would directly reject my good intention to communicate and discuss, directly complain to the headquarters, and forcefully change the battle plan.

In this case, I have no choice but to fulfill your wish and collect all the supplies I can find and send them to you.

I can use the reputation of the Franz family to guarantee that the materials given to you are no different from those of Arthur Herred; what he has, you have.

May you cherish these hard-won precious materials that you have worked hard for, conquer Beluga Port in the shortest time, seize the Ice Dragon Fjord, and fulfill your promise to the church and the emperor - I will definitely stay in Red Hand Bay next time, sincerely I sincerely pray for you to the Circle of Order.

Of course, it doesn’t matter if you lose - failure is the mother of success. With your failure, it will definitely be transformed into our success, dragging the enemy’s elite army in Beluga Harbor and paving the way for us to win the Red Hand Bay. .

Thank you, Fernando Herred.

Your loyal friend, junior, and colleague, Major-General Clovis, Ludwig Franz. "

boom--

He slammed the letter to the ground and stepped on it dozens of times until the delicate parchment turned into a puddle of mud. The furious Fernando gritted his teeth and raised his head, like a wounded beast.

There was silence in the crowded cabin. It was obviously so crowded that there was no room to twist the body, and no one dared to come within three meters of the legion commander; even though their bodies were close to each other, they could not even detect the sound of a person's breathing.

In the oppressive air, the only thing that came from the depths of Fernando's throat was a deep, dull growl as if it were a volcano about to erupt.

After a full minute, the frosty-faced Fernando stood up straight and ordered in a rich voice:

"attack!"

………………………………

"Boom!!!! Boom!!!! Boom!!!!"

The dull loud noise ignited the horizon of Red Hand Bay, so that the entire wilderness trembled like chaff; the artillery shells dragging their tail flames began to streak across the sky non-stop, igniting the positions on the north side of Red Hand Bay. Large expanses of fireworks.

The northern position that had been ravaged by artillery bombardment was now in a mess - the rapidly falling "black spots" made a piercing cry in the wilderness, fell before everyone could react, and bloomed gorgeously on the muddy ground; large areas The earth and rocks collapsed into the sky, and were carried by the air waves and fell like heavy rain.

Fences, curtain walls, sandbags...the defensive facilities piled on the position were instantly crushed into powder. Stones weighing half a ton were lifted high like toys, and then fell heavily, rolling around on the position until they hit the ground. He finally stopped until he got stuck in a ditch.

Accompanied by the constant collapse of earth and gravel and the screams that ravaged the eardrums, Louis, who was lying in the fortification, tried to raise his head and look in the direction of the artillery fire.

Thanks to the strong enough fortifications built by Carl Bain and Wilhelm Gottfried, so far, he has not received any reports of the death of any troops, only a few unlucky soldiers. Injured by stones, or temporarily deafened.

But Louis did not dare to neglect this at all - the empire's artillery was so good that the cavalry could attack at the explosive point, and the infantry could certainly do the same; the real danger was not the artillery fire in front of him, but the army that followed it. .

The New World Legion, which has been suppressed in its ability to fight back, must face the Clovis-Imperial Crusade Army, which is twice as well-trained as itself.

Soon, the shelling that lasted for nearly five minutes suddenly slowed down in frequency. Large swaths of smoke and dust suddenly rose from the Jihadi Army's position. From a distance, you could see those dense figures forming a square formation and beginning to advance towards the position.

It's starting... Louis, with a shiver in his heart, immediately issued an order to fight back, asking the forts on the high ground on the left and right wings of the position to start fighting back.

The screaming artillery shells drew exquisite parabolas, and most of them landed in the open space between the phalanxes, but a few fell into the formations - the hot solid bullets easily crushed the flesh and blood of the advancing formations. The body, mixed with the soldiers' wails and the sound of broken bones and flesh, continued to leap back, directly tearing the tight formation into two pieces.

The Jihadi Army was also obviously aware of the high ground on both sides of the battlefield. The cavalry cannons moved quickly under the cover of the phalanx and fired rapidly close to the artillery forts; but they soon discovered that they were doing a useless job - the artillery forts. The location was not on the front slope of the highland close to them, but on the side and back. The New World Army was harassing and attacking them with cannons.

Almost at the same time that the cavalry artillery fired back, the highland artillery batteries on both sides paused firing at the same time, and half a minute later began a minute of rapid fire at the same time.

Target, Mujahideen cavalry artillery position.

By the time the artillerymen of the Jihadi Army realized the problem, it was already too late... The rapid artillery fire lit up the battlefield and directly submerged the two hastily assembled artillery positions.

In the loud noise, the desperate artillerymen were directly torn to pieces by the explosion and air waves, and they did not even have time to scream; a total of eight cavalry cannons, together with the gun carriages, ammunition trucks and trailer horses, were wiped out together.

The imperial line infantry responsible for covering the artillery retreated hastily under the firelight, almost disrupting the flanks of the Crusaders.

"Precise shooting...and a curved shot?"

In the headquarters of the forward position, an imperial cuirassier looked at the artillery fort on the high ground in the distance in surprise: "I remember that the artillery level of the Clovis people is always poor, and they can't even control the range - how could this be possible?" Master such superb technology?!"

"Simply because they don't really have a grasp."

Louis said lightly: "Anson's adjutant, Chief of Staff Carl Bain, once mentioned to me before leaving that their technical advisor William Gottfried popularized a brand new howitzer on the Storm Legion's new equipment. scale."

"This inconspicuous little part allows the artillery equipped with it to accurately hit the desired shooting direction - you only need to know the impact point of the artillery shell in advance, and then mark the scale on it. When the war starts, you only need to adjust the artillery to the corresponding position. By filling the same amount of propellant at the point, the shells can hit the same position without interruption."

"Whether it's direct fire or curved fire, it can be done; and as long as you can master this scale proficiently, even a novice can complete operations that only veteran artillerymen with many years of experience can do."

"What changed everything was just a small, inconspicuous ruler."

The surprised cuirassiers around them stopped talking, and there was silence in the headquarters.

Louis recalled his first battle, the siege of Thunder Castle.

With the help of elite cuirassiers, he and his brother quickly broke through the Clovis defense line and successfully captured the important town of Thunder Castle; but the Clovis people used railways and steam trains to mobilize troops, weapons and ammunition, and soon surrounded Thunder. Fort—the hand that might have been able to determine victory or defeat was forcibly cracked.

No matter how elite the knights are, how loyal the soldiers are, no matter how lucky they are, or even gain an advantage for a time, they will eventually be defeated by enemies with more powerful technology and more abundant supplies - this is the conclusion that Louis came to, and also the Clovis people. The key to being able to compete with the Empire.

But what the Free Confederation has to face this time is the coalition of the Church and the Empire - whether it is manpower or material resources, technology or military eliteness, the other side is obviously better.

Under such circumstances, even if he and Anson can win a few battles, can they really reverse the balance?

"Look!"

The exclamation of the messenger behind him interrupted the young man's thinking, and he pointed in the direction of the smoke and dust on the opposite side: "Cavalry, the Holy War Army has begun to dispatch cavalry!"

Um? !

The stunned Louis and a group of knights and officers raised their heads, picked up binoculars and looked in the direction the messenger had just pointed, and sure enough they saw those figures riding tall horses.

They wore red and black or blue and white military uniforms, exquisite helmets with reliefs and tail bristles, breastplates on their bodies and sabers in their hands. Their spears shone in the sun, and at least one carbine hung on the left and right of the saddle.

Regardless of Clovis or the Empire, this kind of fully armed cuirassiers are absolutely elite, and they have the final say at critical moments.

But both Louis and the officers at the headquarters were full of confusion.

This... my own defense line has not been breached, and the infantry lines have not even engaged. What is the point of gathering the cavalry so early?

While they were confused, more than a thousand jihadist cavalry that had been assembled were already rolling towards the blast point of the artillery shells.

The momentum is amazing.

"He, they are not going to attack from the front, right?!" The messenger lost his voice: "The cavalry without infantry cover is attacking a well-fortified position from the front. This is simply a suicidal act!"

"The commander on the other side broke through the defense line in this way. Is he a lunatic?!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Louis Bernard, who had received the reminder, was suddenly shocked.

He squeezed through the chaotic officers, raised his binoculars and tried to look at the billowing smoke and dust rolled up by the Jihadi Army cavalry. He tried to focus on the middle, or to be more precise, the front of the entire cavalry queue.

The young knight's pupils shrank suddenly.

Arthur Herred rode a pure white war horse, laughing and galloping towards the defense position; the howling wind rolled up his golden curly hair and the dragon cloak on his shoulders, like a golden lion chasing prey on the grassland. .

Soon, the blond knight, who was galloping on horseback, focused his eyes on the eleven-star ring flag at the forefront of the front line, and a pair of starry eyes suddenly lit up on his excited cheeks.

He stepped on the saddle and slowly supported his body to stand up on the horse. He held the reins with one hand and raised the cavalry spear with the other. He gradually accelerated and surpassed the cuirassiers behind him.

So in the middle of the battlefield where shells rained like rain, both armies stared dumbfounded at the wind-like figure, quickly shuttled between the explosion fire and thick smoke, running wildly while shouting something, and were surrounded by the surrounding people. Roaring and screaming drowned out.

But holding the binoculars, Louis, who was completely stunned, heard it - more accurately, he saw it from the mouth shape of the crazy guy.

He was shouting, shouting excitedly as if no one else was watching:

"Louis! Louis Bernard...here I come!"

“I’m coming for you—!!!”