The sky and the earth were dark, and goose-feather-like snowflakes were falling from the sky. Looking from the window, one could vaguely see that the houses and fields in the distance were covered with a thick white quilt.
The Alice White House in Fort Afena was still brightly lit with candles, and attendants and officers in military uniforms were coming in and out in an endless stream. For many people, this situation is very common. Not to mention it is snowing heavily outside, they will be so busy even if the world is going under the knife, because this is the location of the frontline headquarters and logistics department of His Highness the Grand Prince Hansback. Every order issued from here is carried out by countless soldiers of the kingdom, even if it costs lives and blood.
In a luxuriously decorated conference room on the second floor, more than a dozen generals and princes were having a meeting about strategic discussions.
"Although my father gave a victory speech at the Harvest Festival, the generals should know that the facts are not as inspiring as he said. At present, the Principality of Rimodra, the Principality of Eskilen and the Principality of Karnas The army insisted on the defensive strategy of resisting layer by layer and fortifying step by step, and refused to engage in a general battle with us. As a result, our plan to attack the Principality of Rimodra came to nothing, and the outcome could not be decided in one battle.
Last month my father wrote me a letter in which he expressed his worries about the prospect of war. Our treasury has been mostly empty for more than twenty years after the outbreak of this war. In terms of military strength, twelve second-line corps have been formed and committed to this war. The kingdom now needs to form eight new legions. Guard battalions in all places have been mobilized to the front line, and the total strength has reached more than 1.2 million. This is a very heavy burden for our kingdom to bear.
My father asked me in the letter if I could end this war as soon as possible so as not to affect the people's livelihood and subsequent development of the kingdom. Of course, he does not mean that we should just give up, but he hopes that we can achieve a breakthrough on the stalemate battlefield, complete our pre-war strategic deployment, and incorporate the Principality of Rimodra and the Principality of Eskiline into the territory of the Kingdom. and forced the Kingdom of Nasseri and the Principality of Karrnath to surrender to us.
Although we have completed the first small goal and annexed the Principality of Sidings, this victory was greatly compromised. Because our seizures were very few and all we obtained was a territory in ruins, the kingdom still doesn’t know how much money it will need to invest to restore the people’s livelihood in this territory. After we destroyed the Principality of Sidings, the enemy sent their combined fleet to bombard the two port cities that we had occupied, and even set fire to the residences, turning most of the two port cities into ashes and unable to become our kingdom. The fleet's new base.
On the mainland of Nubisia, the field legion of the Kingdom of Hicks was stationed in the colony of the Kingdom of Nasseri and refused to leave, so that we were unable to capture the territory of the Kingdom of Nasseri. At the same time, you need to exercise restraint in the face of the provocative behavior of the Hicks Kingdom army. You can only set up defensive positions on the borders of your own territory and deploy troops for monitoring. The Port of Vibato in the colony of the Kingdom of Nasseri has become a logistics supply base for pirates. After the pirate gangs of the Nubisian continent received sufficient supply support from the Port of Vibato, they attacked the seven ships of our Kingdom in the Nubisian continent. This overseas territory has posed a very big threat.
The dilemma we are currently facing is that we cannot quickly break through the enemy's defensive positions, forming a fatal threat and forcing the enemy to engage in a major battle with us. We can only gradually conquer those defensive positions on the front line and attack step by step. The problem is that after we conquered one defensive position, the enemy was able to build two more behind it. The dilemma this brought us was that it delayed time and depleted the morale of our soldiers, and at the same time caused us a lot of casualties."
Prince Hansback picked up two documents and threw them on the table: "Look, this is the comparison. As the vanguard, the Guards Corps takes about four to five days on average to conquer a defensive position, at the cost of five to six hundred soldier casualties. The cost. Now they have been fighting continuously for nearly three months, with more than half of the casualties, weak follow-up, and in urgent need of rest. The report said that the soldiers have become war-weary and their morale is very low.
The other document was a merit report from the First Ranger Battalion. They successfully captured Black Maple Castle with only twenty-seven casualties. But it took them fifty-four days to force the defenders of Black Maple Castle to surrender. I don't know whether to reward them or punish them now. They did complete the task, but it took too long. If we attack the enemy like them, then I will doubt if my grandson will have a family and start a business, and I will still be here planning how to carry out this war."
The dozen generals present all laughed. The battle report sent by the 1st Ranger Battalion really shocked most of the officers in the headquarters. They thought that the 1st Ranger Battalion had missed a zero in the number of casualties. However, after repeated verification and reading the detailed combat report, it was confirmed that this battle report was authentic and credible. For this reason, most of the officers in the command headquarters were involved in a discussion about whether the tactics of the 1st Ranger Battalion should be worthy of imitation by the frontline regiments.
Many officers believed that the tactics of the 1st Ranger Battalion were not advisable, because they took advantage of the loophole in the order that did not limit the date for the capture of Black Maple Castle, and were able to complete the mission with such minor casualties. In the current war, all the troops are racing against time to attack the enemy's defensive positions, because they know that defeating the enemy in front of them as early as possible will prevent the enemy from having enough time to make more adequate defense preparations.
If the 1st Ranger Battalion were not in charge of the remote Picklet Mountains on the flanks of the main army, then they would not have had enough time to capture a Black Maple Castle guarding the entrance to the mountain road. If we change the rules between them and the Guards, and let them capture a defensive position in four or five days like the Guards, then the casualty price they pay will definitely be higher than that of the Guards. Because they are all formed by new recruits, rather than having rich combat experience and strong sense of honor like the veterans of the Guards Corps.
Prince Hansback waved his hand to stop the chattering among the generals attending the meeting: "Although many people disdain the military exploits of the 1st Ranger Battalion, they completed the mission after all, and they also obtained the victory with such slight casualties. The rewards they deserve for victory must still be given to them. However, I decided to postpone it for a while. Since it took them fifty-four days to conquer Black Maple Castle, I will reward them for their military exploits after fifty-four days. "Go down"
The generals burst into laughter and complimented each other: "Your Highness is wise."
This was just a harmless joke, nothing more than delaying time, and expressing dissatisfaction with the Ranger Battalion for taking so long to complete the task. Fortunately, this is in a remote corner of the Picklet Mountains and does not affect the overall situation. Otherwise, the Imperial Guards on the front line would follow suit, and the kingdom would have to pay a huge price. The national treasury has been mostly empty, and the millions of troops on both fronts are spending an astronomical amount every day. No one can bear that this war will drag on endlessly.
"Back to business," Prince Hansback said: "Now the Blue Feather Legion has completed the task of rebuilding, and the last two second-line legions have also been trained. The Ministry of War has a big dispute over the deployment of the three legions. They proposed Two plans were drawn up and handed over to our frontline headquarters so that we can consider which plan can win the war faster."
The two attendant officers brought over a large stack of documents and distributed them to the generals present.
After everyone had read the documents in their hands, Prince Hansback said: "It's all clear, these senior staff officers of the War Department didn't put forward any refreshing suggestions, just like what we said last time In that way, one is to take over the Imperial Guard Corps and continue the attack, allowing the Imperial Guard Corps to come down for rest and replenishment, and then let the Imperial Guard Corps take over after the Blue Feather Legion's attack is weak. Use this wheel tactics to crush the resistance of all enemies in front of you. Until the final victory is achieved.
There is nothing new in this wheel warfare method. We all know that even if we can win in this way, it will still bring us a lot of casualties and delay time, which will not achieve the goal of deciding the victory of the battle in one battle. At the same time, it also gives the enemy enough time to pack up their belongings and leave, leaving us with a mess, just like the Principality of Sidings that was reduced to ruins.
Another suggestion is to place the Blue Feather Legion and the two second-line legions on the side of the Griffin Legion to first force the Kingdom of Nasseri to surrender. Of course, we also know that this is just the wishful thinking of the senior staff of the Ministry of War. The Kingdom of Nasseri is not as good as the Principality of Rimodra and the Principality of Esquiline. They are the only countries that can compete with our kingdom in the eastern continent and can fight. , and still has plenty of stamina.
Although our kingdom invaded their kingdom on the western front and the southern border of the Principality of Sidings, we also annihilated three of their legions, two of which were still standing legions of their kingdom. But the current situation is that both fronts are in a stalemate, because the Nasseri Kingdom has stabilized their domestic situation and is continuously recruiting troops to expand new legions. Therefore, our Red Dragon Legion and Griffin Legion each have two second-line legions. Although they are still attacking, they are already ready for defensive operations.
We all know that the situation in the Nasseri Kingdom cannot be determined by adding three more legions. My personal opinion is to stick to the original strategy, first deal with the Principality of Rimodra, the Principality of Eskelion and the Principality of Karnas, remove the minions of the Kingdom of Nasseri, and finally concentrate our forces to give the Kingdom of Nasseri a fatal blow. A blow, and even the death of this mortal enemy kingdom. "
The generals present wanted to stand up and salute, but they were stopped by Prince Hansback: "I hope you all think carefully about where to put the Blue Feather Army and the two second-line armies to achieve the best effect. As for the combat effectiveness, I hope that we can force the enemies who are constantly building defensive facilities in front of us to step out of their turtle shells and engage in an upright battle with us to determine the future fate of the eastern part of the mainland."
There was silence, everyone was frowning and thinking hard. A major general stood up and asked: "Your Highness, is there any progress on the sea route?"
Obviously, his idea was to use sea transportation and, under the escort of the navy's fearless fleet, let the Blue Feather Legion and three other legions land in the enemy's hinterland.
However, the eldest prince's answer disappointed him: "You don't have to count on the sea route. The enemy's combined fleet is frantically looking for the fearless fleet at sea for a decisive battle, waiting for an opportunity to enter the kingdom's waters and prepare to add fire to our coastal areas. The Dreadnought Fleet is currently protecting itself flawlessly. The Kingdom has dispatched the newly formed Storm Fleet to support the eastern waters. To this end, it has also deliberately reduced the size of the transport fleet to the Nubisian continent.
It is really ridiculous to think about the battle plan formulated by the Navy Ministry. It actually believed that the outbreak of the war would not affect the situation at sea, and the enemy's combined fleet would not take the initiative to attack us. It also dreamed of peacefully accepting the enemy's fleet. Now that I think about it, that is really a pig's brain. How stupid do you have to be to make such a strategic attack plan? I really want to go back to the capital to see if the Admiral's face is swollen. hehe. "
Another middle-aged major general who looked thin and slightly sickly stood up, coughed twice and came to the large map hanging on the wall: "Your Highness, I have an idea. Maybe we can send out surprise troops to attack from here. Attack the hinterland of Eskilin Principality and outflank the enemy's retreat."
He pointed to the area on the map marked with the name of the Piclite Mountains: "As we all know, the Piclite Mountains are vast and connect the Karrnath Steppe and the three southern counties of the Eskilen Principality. But the Piclite Mountains do not connect the two. The three principalities once wanted to jointly build a national highway, but they gave up the plan due to the serious geographical environment and the difficulty of construction. Therefore, after we invaded the Principality of Rimodra, the enemy did not deploy in this mountainous area. Heavy troops, because they believed that the Picklet Mountains could not allow the army to march and there was no need to defend.
After learning that the 1st Battalion of Rangers had captured Black Maple Castle, I checked the information on Black Maple Castle and found that it was set up to prevent traders smuggling to the Principality of Eskilen and the Principality of Karnas. Since there is smuggling, there must be roads. I collected some information and found that there are indeed trails in the mountains leading to the two countries. If we let the Blue Feather Army and three other legions appear in the enemy's hinterland through the Picklet Mountains, it will definitely have a surprise effect."