Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 450 The great alliance moves forward (twenty-two)

The    spears staggered, the smoke gushed, and the phalanx ruthlessly crushed the flesh.

   "Hold tight!" Colonel Sirku shouted with all his strength: "Hold tight!"

  In hand-to-hand combat, soldiers in a neat formation will surely be able to defeat soldiers in a scattered formation.

   This simple and crude principle, which has been proven time and time again in the long history of human warfare, was first learned by Skool Mecklen in the classroom.

  At that time, he probably would not have imagined that one day, he would personally verify the nonsense printed on the book in the cruelest way.

   "Hold tight!" Skool leaned against the flagpole to support his body, and repeated the command sharply: "Hold tight!"

   But it's too hard to "close up": the noise is dizzying, the smoke of gunpowder makes people unable to open their eyes, the greasy intestines drag people down like tripwires, and the soldiers who can still stand have nowhere to go. ·

   "Puchi", the drummer standing in front of Skool was thrown off the back of his head without warning. Skeleton was splashed with broken bones and brain contents, and the drummer fell heavily at Skool's feet.

   "Drum!" Skull, still as if nothing, shouted hoarsely: "Come tight!"

   In fact, there is no need for the colonel to order his subordinates to get closer, and everyone unconsciously wants to be closer to their comrades, because only in this way can they survive.

  The requirement of "keeping an arm's length at all times" in the exercise dictionary has become a literal "talking on paper".

   With advancing, retreating, and squeezing each other, every square that could still be maintained has shrunk to the point that it cannot be smaller. Elbow to elbow, shoulder to shoulder, the formation has long since ceased to exist.

The spearmen at the back of the    side kept filling in the front, and finally only a thin column remained, making the original square formation facing the enemy almost reduced to a "front line".

   And all the phalanxes of the two armies together formed a larger front, fighting fiercely under the earthen mound where the parliamentary army set up artillery.

At the northernmost point of the    front, the coalition forces of Leiqun County and Bianjiang County were desperate to outflank the enemy.

   Propelled by blood and life, the battle line spins slowly and uncontrollably, getting thinner and narrower.

Skool Meckron watched the brown-clothed soldiers in front of him lose in the battle and were forced to retreat step by step by the coalition spearmen, so that the flag officer at the rear of the front line rolled up the flag and carried it on his shoulders— That's a pause signal.

   As expected, the drum beat suddenly changed, and the parliamentary army brigade that was fighting with Skool's phalanx took the initiative to retreat and regroup.

   The brown-clothed soldiers stumbled and retreated away from the enemy, exposing a gap in the front of the parliamentary army.

   Every battle example learned from the books was shouting at Skool, telling him that he must pursue the victory and turn the enemy's retreat into a rout.

   However, Colonel Skool was no longer able to mobilize his troops as fast as he could when the war began.

   His soldiers were exhausted, his officers and sergeants suffered heavy casualties, and even he didn’t know if his troops would fall apart in the next second.

  School also doesn't have a reserve team that can be used to widen the gap, because both sides have already scraped out the last chips in their pockets and bet on the table.

   Without even taking a breath, Skool ordered his phalanx to push forward without hesitation, attacking the enemy on the right side of the friendly army.

   It was at this time of the reorganization and advance that the brown-clothed soldiers who had taken the initiative to retreat were driven up again and entangled in the phalanx where Skool was.

   At the same time, Colonel Chloe Toril, commanding the right flank of the Parliamentary Army, stared at the silver-sided flag that stood still in the center of the enemy's front.

   He stared so hard that his eyes were almost bleeding.

   The people standing under that flag are Chloe's classmates and old friends, but at this moment, there is only anger, resentment and despair in Chloe Toril's chest.

   "Why are you coming?!" Chloe yelled in his heart like madness: "Why can't you admit defeat?!"

   He wanted to grab the other person's throat, questioning, scolding... crying.

  There is nothing more brutal and **** than a close battle, and a one-sided victory appears benevolent compared to it.

Now that the battle of    has been fought, both the combined forces of Bianjiang County and Leiqun County, and the reorganized New Reclamation Army under Chloe's command have all been pushed to their limits.

  School can’t keep a reserve team, and Chloe has no reserve team;

  Cool's soldiers were exhausted, and Chloe's subordinates were only more tired than the coalition soldiers who were waiting for work;

   Skool realized that the fighter jets were unable to take advantage of the victory, and Chloe watched as the enemy continued to retreat and regroup.

  Both sides have now lost the ability to scale fleeting fighters into unstoppable victories, and can only wait for the other to sink into total collapse on their own.

The    battle turned into a game of endurance to see who could hold out for an extra minute, yet every second it stretched, more Platoons fell in a pool of blood.

   Amid the shouting, drum horns, and gunfire, Chloe heard some unusual sounds.

  The sound was very weak at first, like a wisp of green smoke mixed in the morning mist, making it difficult for people to perceive. Then it suddenly became high-pitched, as if stepping from the abyss to the clouds, turning into rolling thunder.

   is the sound of hooves, a deafening sound of hooves.

  Chloe Toril sighed deeply. It's coming -- or rather, it's finally coming.

   At this moment, the cavalry that can appear from the direction of the sound of the hooves can only be the cavalry unit of the New Reclamation Army under Sanel.

   "Sannell is finally willing to send cavalry to support me." Chloe thought sadly: "But it's too late."

  Chloe turned around, but saw the blood-stained Leiqun County battle flag fluttering in the wind.

Along the causeway bombed by the cannons of the parliamentary army, soldiers holding high the flags of Baishan County and Leiqun County rushed to the east bank. pounce.

   More and more realizing what happened, the soldiers of the reorganization of the New Reclamation Corps turned their heads, and the supervising team could not stop the soldiers from looking at the direction where the hoofs came from.

   Even the officers and sergeants who were trying their best to keep the troops intact were in a panic.

   The lieutenant commander of the phalanx where Chloe was at the first time came to Chloe's side. The lieutenant's pupils were trembling and his lips were bloodless, but he still tried his best to maintain his composure, and asked, "Colonel, why..."

   No need to explain, Chloe understood what his subordinates wanted to say. Their front was too thin, and most of the spearmen were packed in front, making it impossible to resist a charge from behind.

   As he spoke, the Leiqun County cavalry, who had taken off their armor, had already jumped over the provincial highway, and at the end the distance of less than a mile would disappear in a matter of seconds.

  Chloe closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, there was no more sadness in his eyes, but a little more relief.

   "Run, kid." Chloe patted the lieutenant's shoulder: "Live."

   Having said that, the colonel sorted his clothes, walked out of the phalanx, and met the blade that shone with cold light.

  …

  When the Leiqun County cavalry broke into the right flank of the parliamentary army, at the southernmost point of the battlefield, the Baishan County Army fell into a great crisis.

   The new army that appeared on the horizon neither displayed its flag nor actively dispatched reconnaissance and cavalry communications, but went straight to the battlefield at the fastest speed.

   "How many people?" Gaisa asked the detective.

   "There should be four brigades."

   "Four brigades!" Gisa's eyes widened angrily: "How did you find out now?"

   "They came from the south." The scout looked pale and tried to explain: "As soon as they found them, the sergeant immediately sent me to report."

   "From the south, the four brigades." Second Lieutenant Worthington frowned: "Winters Montagne's men?"

  Gisa turned his head sharply and asked sharply, "Then why didn't they identify themselves?"

   Just in front of Colonel Geisa, the river crossing troops in Hakusan County were fighting fiercely with the left-wing troops of the Parliamentary Army under the banner of the Sixth Legion.

   As soon as they fought, the soldiers of Baishan County immediately felt the contrast - the combat power of the three battalions deployed in the rear and the two battalions defending the river bank was simply worlds apart.

  The enemy defending the river bank was crushed at a touch, but the enemy sitting in the rear did not lose in the bloodiest phalanx battle.

   "Find out their identities!" Geisa made a quick decision and ordered: "Go to Colonel Bode for help!"

   He glanced at the stationary enemy formation, gritted his teeth and gave the last instruction: "Withdraw!"

The    bell blew, the musketeers covered and fired, the sword and shield fighters dragged the lightly wounded out of the spear forest, and the three phalanxes of the Baishan County River Crossing Force slowly distanced themselves from the enemy, intending to withdraw to the west bank.

   However, the "Sixth Army" as the defender changed the previous passive avoidance and launched a counterattack mercilessly.

  The two battalions of infantry guarding the river bank that had been repelled earlier were also reorganized, and they scrambled around the phalanx of the Baishan County Army and rushed to the river bank again.

  The lead flew over his head with a "swoosh", and Geisa's subordinates persuaded the colonel to leave the saddle temporarily, but Geisa still sat firmly on the horse's back, unmoved.

   It's not that Geisa wants to be a hero, but that he has to sit on horseback to see the battle.

The situation in the    South Division has turned into a race:

On the east bank of   , the "Sixth Corps" is cutting off the retreat of the troops crossing the river in Baishan County;

   On the west bank, the unidentified force was heading straight for River Valley Village.

  The two battalions that Geisa left on the west bank were also transferred by Colonel Bode, leaving the Baishan County troops crossing the river completely isolated and helpless.

  Gesar gritted his teeth and looked north, where the smoke, dust, and river valley village blocked his view. He wasn't annoyed that Colonel Bode had moved his troops without authorization, but he needed Scull to settle the enemy's right flank as soon as possible, and then call in his division immediately.

  Otherwise, he, Colonel Bode, and the children of Baishan County would all die without a place to be buried.

  …

  [Northern Division Battlefield]

   The defeat was so overwhelming that it seemed that the reorganization of the newly reclaimed army was completely wiped out after only one breath.

  Leiqun County cavalry used iron hooves to knock the first nail into the coffin of the newly reclaimed army, followed by Leiqun County and Baishan County infantry who knocked out the remaining nails.

   If we use people as an analogy, the reorganization of the newly reclaimed land army ushered in a complete death. Unless someone rebuilds it, this number will never appear again. Even if someone rebuilds it, it's just another person with the same name.

On the battlefield north of    River Valley Village, only the troops of the New Reclaimed Land Expeditionary Army remained stubbornly resisting.

   The New Reclamation Army, which came to support the right flank, had a total of two battalions. They were attacking the flank of the coalition forces. Seeing that the friendly forces were defeated, they quickly merged into a team, with their backs on the unnamed river, and formed a thousand-person phalanx on the river bank.

   Allied soldiers were chasing and capturing the fleeing enemy, and for a while, no one paid any attention to them.

   "Losong!" After the war, Colonel Skool met for the first time with his most trusted subordinate, which seemed like a lifetime.

However, Skool didn't even have time to sigh or even ask about the captain's injury. The colonel's eyes only stayed on Luo Song's left eye for a short time, and the first sentence he spoke was still an order: "Don't worry about those stubborn enemies! Gather you. Your subordinates! Go to support Colonel Geisa immediately! Bring me a horse too! Also, who are those people in the south?"

   "The subordinates are already gathering the manpower." Luo Song dismounted and raised his hand to salute meticulously: "But support Colonel Geisa's order, please reconsider."

  "Don..." Skool narrowed his eyes: "What do you mean?"

  Losson stared straight at Silku without fear with his only right eye: "Colonel Bode asked me to relay a passage for you."

  …

  [Southern Division Battlefield]

   "What?" Gisa's eyes widened angrily, and he asked the messenger who went to Hegu Village to ask for help: "What do you mean without reinforcements?"

The    messenger shuddered a bit, then got up the courage to reply: "Colonel Bode asked me to pass on a sentence for you."

  …

  [Northern Division Battlefield]

Lozon met the Colonel's gaze and repeated it word for word: "'Today I have no chance of winning, but Winters Montagne is leading the starry night to the rescue. So I am waiting today for a tragic victory. to fight, but to die to win the whole war.'"

  …

  [Southern Division Battlefield]

   "What does it mean to die to win the whole war?" Gaisa clasped the messenger's shoulders tightly and roared, "What does it mean to die to win the whole war?"

  …

  [River Valley Village]

   "I think." Woods stood behind Colonel Broad and said calmly, "I'm afraid Colonel Geisa will not be able to accept your decision."

  Bod stood at the window of the clock tower, looking at the smoke and dust appearing from the east and west at the same time, and replied bluntly: "You underestimate him, he can understand."

  …

  [Northern Division Battlefield]

   "Colonel Bode's direct order." Luo Song recounted without emotion: "Your primary task is to completely wipe out all the right flank of the puppet government army, so as to completely annihilate and defeat it, so that it will lose its ability to reorganize in the short term."

  Skull Mecklen's eyes were full of pain and struggle, he gasped hard and asked, "Then what?"

Luo Song was silent for a moment, then replied: "Then you should withdraw from the battlefield as soon as possible, retreat to Long Lake Town, and join the Winters Montagne team - Colonel Geisa, Colonel Bode, will delay as much as possible for you The left wing of the enemy army."

  …

  [Southern Division Battlefield]

Gaisa Adonis clenched his fists tightly, with blue veins on his forehead and arms, and his eyes were bloodshot. He questioned sternly and resentfully, as if it was not the messenger standing in front of him, but Senior Borde himself: "Why? Why do you trust that kid so much? Trust that kid instead of us? Not us?!"

The    messenger was too frightened to look directly at the colonel. He lowered his head and said with a heartbeat: "Colonel Bode said you would definitely ask this, so he asked me to tell you."

   "Tell me what?" Gisa was about to devour people.

"Yes."

   "Yes?" Gaisa was first shocked, then silent, and finally burst out laughing: "Yes?"

Colonel   's laughter was shrill and mournful, and the messenger wished he could plug his ears, but he didn't dare to move, just stared desperately at the toe of his boot.

   "Go back and tell him! Go tell him!" Gisa grabbed the messenger's collar: "Tell me! I will never forgive him for his decision today! Ever!"

After   , the colonel shoved the messenger away: "But since he has decided to do this, then come on!"

The    messenger was stunned for a moment, then quickly got on the horse's back and galloped towards Hegu Village.

  …

  [Northern Division Battlefield]

   "Does Colonel Bode have anything else to say?" Skool's voice was trembling.

   "No." Loson paused: "He said you understood."

   As if a thousand emotions hit Skul Mecklen at the same time, he turned around, leaving Loson with a blood and fire-stained back.

  …

  [Southern Division Battlefield]

"Colonel!" Second Lieutenant Worthington, who went to scout out the enemy's situation in person, rushed into the phalanx with a flying horse and reported in a strong voice: "That group of troops, unidentified troops, they raised the flag of the Sixth Legion. The coat of arms of the Seven Kings , I can see clearly, there is absolutely no mistake."

   "Yeah." Gaisa nodded lukewarmly: "I guessed it."

   "Why are there still people from the Sixth Legion?" Second Lieutenant Worthington couldn't help but ask: "Did Grove Magnus transport all the Sixth Legion to Bazenauer?"

  Gisa didn't speak, just quickly wrote something on the piece of paper.

Worthington was angry, annoyed and anxious, and suddenly he thumped his thigh, gritted his teeth and whispered: "I know! I know! It's not them! It's them! They are the detours that Captain Loshon detected. Troops! How did we not find them? How big of a circle did they go around? What the **** were they doing? They…”

   Colonel Gisa raised his head and gave the second lieutenant a stern look. Worthington, who was talking to himself, immediately fell silent.

   The second lieutenant also knew that the enemy sent such a detour, perhaps to block the coalition's retreat, perhaps to sneak up on the coalition's camp, or perhaps more simply, to launch a surprise attack on the coalition from behind.

   But those are not important anymore.

  The important thing is that they appear at this very moment on the west bank of the nameless creek, on the south side of the battlefield... at the unsuspecting rear of the coalition front.

   For Colonel Geisa, the fact that "this unit appeared behind the front line" was no longer important.

   "Send this letter to Colonel Skool, and go now." Geisa folded the paper, threw it into Worthington's hand, and said coldly, "You don't have to come back if it doesn't get it."

   "Yes!" Worthington didn't dare to ask any further questions, turned around and got on the foaming horse, and galloped out of the phalanx with his whip.

  Gisa watched the second lieutenant leave in silence, took the reins and stirrups and mounted the horse: "Drum! Send orders! Don't withdraw!"

   He solemnly put on the helmet he never liked: "Fight right here!"

  …

  [River Valley Village]

   "Looks like I guessed right." Woods raised his finger to the southwest: "Colonel."

   In the direction pointed by the lieutenant, the newly emerged army finally stepped into the real battlefield—the field of River Valley Village. They no longer concealed their identities, and showed the banner of the Sixth Army to everyone.

   "Yeah." Colonel Bode didn't look at him, but stared at the White Mountain County troops in the southeast, which were drowned in gunpowder smoke: "No matter how fast that kid Winters came, he couldn't have arrived today."

  The screams of killing broke out in the wilderness on the south bank, and the troops holding the battle flag of the Sixth Legion shouted and rushed to the river valley village in the center of the battlefield.

  …

  [Northern Division Battlefield]

"What are you doing?" Worthington pounced on Colonel Skool, and Loson and a gendarmerie almost failed to hold him, shouting and asking: "Why are you retreating? Haven't you already defeated the enemy's right flank? Why are you retreating!"

  School read the letter sent by Worthington in silence, then shredded the paper, pointed at Worthington, and said to Loson, "He will come with us."

  Losone nodded.

   "I... go..." Worthington was stunned at first, but began to struggle desperately, yelling: "Fuck you! You bastard! Coward! Fuck! Fuck..."

  Losson couldn't help but press Worthington to the ground and tied it firmly, then threw it directly onto the back of a sergeant's horse, and then waved his hand to signal the sergeant to take the latter away.

  The phalanx formed by the two infantry battalions on the right flank supported by the New Reclamation Expeditionary Army was surrounded and attacked on all sides, and was quickly smashed.

   All the troops in Leiqun County and Bianjiang County, as well as the two infantry brigades in Baishan County, are regrouping and evacuating the battlefield at the fastest speed. Although they suffered heavy casualties, their establishment was still intact.

   "You go first." Loson said to Colonel Skool: "Sannell's pistol cavalry can still fight. I will lead the cavalry to break."

  School didn't say a single extra sentence, he just nodded: "I'll wait for you in Long Lake Town."

   "Yes." Luo Song stood at attention and saluted.

  Skull grabbed the saddle and got on the warhorse. He finally looked back in the direction of River Valley Village.

   The sound of fighting and gunfire could be heard in the distance, apparently still fighting. Nearby, Hegu Village has been surrounded by groups, and the remnants and wounded left behind in Hegu Village are doing their last resistance.

  School stared at the four-quadrant military flag still flying on the top of the bell tower, and slowly raised his hand to salute.

   At this moment, Skool heard a familiar and unfamiliar sound-a thunderous sound, followed by a terrifying wound on the tower of the church bell tower in River Valley Village, and gravel, sawdust and dust spewed out.

Colonel   Sirku looked in horror at the artillery position on the other side of the river, and saw a cloud of cotton-like white smoke spewing from the top of the mound. Looking back at River Valley Village, the church bell tower was groaning in pain, crumbling in the smoke.

   On the artillery position, Lieutenant Colonel Valet, covered in blood, threw himself at another heavy artillery, pushed the gunner away, and adjusted the shooting angle himself. You can also use three heavy artillery, all of which have been aimed at Hegu Village.

   "Aim for the church!" Valey yelled and gave himself the order: "Fire!"

   There was another thunder, and the solid shell once again smashed a huge gap in the bell tower.

  The sound of the cannon caught everyone's attention, and the fighting on the battlefield seemed to have stopped. No matter which side of the soldiers and officers, they all looked at the clock tower with the four-quadrant military flag.

   This time, the clock tower could no longer bear it. Slowly, calmly, and irrevocably, it collapsed as everyone watched, sending a cloud of smoke into the sky.

Colonel   School couldn't hold it any longer, tears welling up in his eyes.

  Gisa pursed her lips and said nothing.

   Deafening cheers suddenly erupted from the parliamentary army. The brown-clothed soldiers wept with joy, shouted loudly, and slapped their weapons and chests frantically.

   won, they won. If there is one iconic event to prove the victory of the parliamentary army today, it is now.

   However, at this moment, another voice came from the smoke, one that suppressed all the cheers and shouts.

   bells.

  The sound of the bronze cast bell being struck by a heavy object can clearly reach everyone's ears.

   bells.

   again and again.

   one after another.

   "Go!" Skool ordered.

   "Keep fighting!" Gisa yelled.

   With their backs facing the tenacious, desolate, and muffled sound of the bell, the soldiers from Leiqun County and Bianjiang County withdrew from the battlefield without looking back.

   However, at the same tough, desolate, low bell, another army marched out from the river valley south of Hegu Village.

  When the sentry of the parliamentary army stepped forward to investigate, they did not hesitate to display the dark blue military flag—the flag belonging to Iron Peak County.

   is faster than the most optimistic, pessimistic and boldest projections because they took the shortest route.

   Winters Montagne's army crossed the Silver Sparrow Mountain and entered the battlefield.

   [This chapter is to repay last week's debt Q_Q]

   [Thanks to book lovers for their collection, reading, subscription, recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, rewards and comments, thank you all]

   (end of this chapter)