June was a peaceful and peaceful day for Claude. The 1st Ranger Battalion was stationed in this forgotten area and no trace of the enemy was found. Even if the scout cavalry went deep into the Karnas Prairie for three days and three nights, there would be no trace of the enemy. It is impossible to detect and detect signs of enemy troop movements.
The three leading troops, the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Battalion and 4th Battalion, which entered the Kannas Prairie from the northeastern border of the Eskiline Principality, also found nothing. The three battalions have now penetrated one-third of the prairie. Apart from sweeping away some scattered herdsmen's tents in this area, they didn't even encounter any larger nomadic tribes.
After this news was passed on, everyone in the frontline command breathed a sigh of relief. Judging from this situation, the Principality of Karrnath is very likely to concentrate all its forces in the Beibu Gulf, intending to protect the most important, economically developed and income-rich areas of their principality.
Beibu Gulf is the principality of Karnas and the largest natural bay in the eastern part of the mainland. It is a natural excellent military port and rich in fishery products. The Principality of Karnas has four large cities along the coast of the North Gulf. The capital of the Principality, Canpast City, is also located there. It can be said that it is the essence of the Principality of Karnars. From this aspect, it is very likely that the Principality of Karrnath will concentrate its forces in the Gulf of Tonkin to prepare for defensive operations.
Ever since the last time Major Skerry took Claude's hand while drunk and confided his feelings, Claude always felt a little embarrassed when he saw Major Skerry. On the contrary, Major Skerry looked calm and seemed to have forgotten what he had done that night. But this time Major Skerry came to Landes Castle to bring good news to Claude and the others. The Grand Duke of the Eskiline Principality surrendered, and the Eskiline Principality became the second country to be defeated in this war. The second country to perish.
Speaking of the war going on so far, Grand Duke Eskiline has become the most important prisoner captured by the Kingdom of Overas, and the biggest unlucky guy among the anti-Austrian alliance countries. After several temporarily formed legions counterattacked the three southern counties but were unable to break through the defensive position of the second-line legion in the Kingdom of Ovelas, Grand Duke Eskilin felt that the situation was not good, but he had a delusional idea and decided to go there in person. Go to the front line to boost morale and inspire soldiers to serve the country.
It was only when they arrived at the front line that they discovered that these temporarily formed legionnaires had no fighting spirit, and even the officers who served as nobles had not practiced battle formations for a long time. Although they relied on the superiority of their troops to lay down two or three enemy defense lines, the casualties were extremely heavy. , the soldiers were no longer able to break through the enemy's last defensive position.
Then the temporary passage in the Picklate Mountains was completed, and more and more enemy troops rushed to the three southern counties for reinforcements. Seeing this, Grand Duke Eskiline could only order to switch from offense to defense, and let the temporarily formed legions set up defensive fronts to prepare for a long-lasting defensive battle with the enemy, while he returned to Braviso, the capital of the principality. The Dagongbao takes charge of the overall situation.
What Grand Duke Eskiline didn't expect was that just two days after he left the front line, the army of the Kingdom of Ovilas launched a counterattack, and several temporary legions on the front line quickly collapsed. The enemy marched straight in. On the second day after the Grand Duke of Eskiline returned to the capital, the scout cavalry of the Kingdom of Ovilas had already appeared under the Grand Duke's Fort of Braviso. In this way, Grand Duke Eskiline was trapped in the city, and he didn't even have time to pack up his belongings and run away.
With the arrival of the two second-line armies of the Kingdom of Ovelas and completely surrounding the Grand Duke's Fort of Braviso, Grand Duke Eskilin had no choice but to give up his desire to break out. In fact, it's not that he has no chance to run away, but he still has a large family and a few warehouses of property. It would be very simple for him to run out alone, but the problem is that he will abandon his family and belongings, and he will have to live in the begging life of relying on others. Therefore, Grand Duke Eskiline gave up and prepared to carry out a stubborn resistance with the strong walls and defense facilities of Grand Duke Castle of Braviso.
But to his surprise, the two second-line legions of the Kingdom of Ovelas did not launch an attack immediately, but stationed themselves down, tightly trapping the entire Fort Braviso. Grand Duke Eskiline thought that the enemy wanted to trap him until he had no food before surrendering. He did not panic about this, because the city had enough food for everyone to eat for two years, and he was not afraid of the enemy's siege.
It was not until the end of June that the Grand Duke Eskiline finally understood what the enemy was planning. Two huge and heavy siege guns were dragged by countless civilians, cattle and horses and moved to the gate of the Grand Duke Castle of Braviso. What pained Grand Duke Eskiline was that these two huge siege cannons were masterpieces of his own principality. After the war broke out, the three southern counties known for their military industry gathered a large number of craftsmen to cast these two siege guns to show the power of the principality and the invincibility of the anti-Austrian alliance.
Then these two huge siege cannons were thrown into the three southern counties for display. Because they were too big and heavy to move, everyone regarded these two huge siege cannons as sculptures and left them alone. It was beaten by wind and rain. After the Blue Feather Legion raided the three southern counties, these two siege cannons became the trophies of the Overas Kingdom army.
After Prince Hansback arrived in the three southern counties, he quickly became interested in these two huge siege artillery. He once again recruited mechanics to overhaul the two giant siege artillery. The report he received was that the two siege artillery pieces were The giant cannon can still be used, exerting unparalleled power.
In this way, the Grand Duke's Castle of Braviso, the capital of the Eskiline Principality, became the target of these two siege cannons designated by the Grand Prince. Moving these two giant cannons there is indeed a project that consumes a lot of manpower and material resources. But the army of the Kingdom of Ovilas does not care about this. This is an enemy country. There are a large number of free civilians who can be forcibly requisitioned, and a large number of cattle, horses and livestock that can be requisitioned. Even if the eldest prince orders compensation, the cost will not be much. At the same time, when moving these two giant cannons, the roads from the three southern counties to the Grand Duke Castle of Braviso can also be strengthened. This is a good thing that kills two birds with one stone.
In fact, Grand Duke Eskiline almost collapsed when he saw the shadow of these two huge siege artillery. He knew very well the power of these two huge cannons. For example, they fired solid iron pellet shells as big as a basin. Weighing more than a hundred kilograms, no matter how strong the walls of this castle are, they cannot withstand the bombardment of these two giant cannons. The Grand Duke Castle of Braviso will be in ruins in a few days.
Therefore, after sending personnel to contact and obtain a letter of guarantee written by the Grand Prince Hansback, guaranteeing the immediate protection of Grand Duke Eskilin, his family and private property from infringement, Grand Duke Eskilin simply started The city surrendered, and the Eskiline Principality was destroyed.
The demise of the Eskiline Principality has greatly eased the somewhat nervous military strength of the Kingdom of Ovelas. At present, the balance of the war situation in the entire eastern region of the continent has tilted significantly towards the Kingdom of Ovelas. The two principalities were destroyed, and the destruction of the Rimodra Principality, which was hit from two sides, was also imminent. In particular, the largest reinforcements in the Principality of Rimodra are the four armed legions from the Principality of Eskiline. Now that the Principality of Eskiline has been destroyed, these four legions have become the largest indispensable forces in the coalition forces of the Principality of Rimodra. stabilizing factor.
The high-ranking officials of the anti-Austrian alliance naturally wanted to maintain the four legions of the Eskiline Principality in the coalition. They gave money and women to the high-ranking noble officers of the legions, and talked a lot about defeating the Kingdom of Ovelas and rebuilding the Ais. Regarding the topic of the Principality of Keeling, to be fair, the noble officers of these legions are many enthusiastic people, and they are also in favor of the rebuilding of the Principality of Eskilne.
The problem is that the surrendered Grand Duke Eskiline cooperated very well with Prince Hansback's instructions. He immediately ordered his cronies to go to the camps where the four principalities' armed regiments were located, and loudly preached that the Grand Duke had surrendered and the war was over. You can go home and don't have to fight anymore. These remarks instruct these legionnaires to lay down their weapons and surrender to the army of the Kingdom of Ovelas. So when the noble officers of the legion were undecided, most of the soldiers from the four legions ran away, and in the end, less than one legion was gathered.
The soldiers ran away, but the position they defended was also lost to the Army of the Kingdom of Ovilas, so the relatively solid defensive line was suddenly broken through two large holes, and the enemy came to the city. The senior officials of the Principality of Rimodra and the senior officers of the Allied Forces Command understood that the situation was over, and urgently ordered the anti-Austrian alliance's combined fleet to come to help and protect the three seaport cities of the Principality of Rimodra. This was the only way for the alliance and coalition forces to escape the desperate situation. Three sea lanes.
The front line was progressing smoothly and good news came frequently, but the 1st Ranger Battalion encountered an embarrassing reality. That is, the cross-mountain road in the southern mountainous area hinders the transportation of logistical supplies. The mountain road from the three southern counties to Squirrel Village has been repaired by the prisoners sent by Claude, and can barely pass a four-wheeled freight carriage. Still catchable. However, on the mountain road from Squirrel Village to Karnas Prairie, only pack horses can be used to transport supplies.
After careful calculations, the logistics staff of the frontline headquarters came to the conclusion that they could no longer send troops into the area abandoned by the nobles of the Principality of Karnas because there was no way to requisition materials on the spot and no manpower to requisition. As long as If an extra battalion of troops goes to this area, the result will be that supplies cannot keep up, so this area can only rely on a battalion of rangers to defend the area.
However, the staff at the frontline headquarters were not worried about this, because the Second Ranger Battalion on the other side only needed to advance one-third further into the prairie to be in contact with the First Ranger Battalion. As for the remaining troops of the Principality of Karnas, there is no need to worry. The enemy should have concentrated all its troops to protect the Beibu Gulf area, so no trace of the enemy can be found on the prairie.
At present, the logistics supplies of the 1st Ranger Battalion are completely dependent on transportation from the rear. A local security battalion that takes over the defense of the 1st Ranger Battalion is also responsible for providing logistical support to the Ranger Battalion. However, soon, this local security battalion began to complain incessantly. During the month, seven soldiers and 11 packhorses were lost on the mountain road leading to Karnas Prairie from Squirrel Village, as well as a large amount of food and other supplies. The reason was that the packhorses rolled down into the valley, taking the soldiers leading them with them. Go down.
There were many reasons for the accident, but it also had a lot to do with the First Ranger Battalion urging them to deliver supplies as soon as possible. Fortunately, the supply transportation three times a month has initially met the material needs of the First Ranger Battalion. In the future, it can be reduced to logistics supply transportation twice a month and once a month.
The most important thing lacking is food. This area has been abandoned by the territorial nobles for nearly more than a year. The fields are covered with weeds and there is no harvest. The first ranger battalion has a total of 1,356 people, plus more than 1,000 old, weak, women and children gathered here, and more than 400 young and strong prisoners brought later, there are nearly 3,000 people. When it was impossible to collect food on the spot, the only way to fill their stomachs was to rely on material transportation from the rear.
A pack horse can only transport more than 400 kilograms of grain on a mountain road, and 3,000 people need at least 5,000 kilograms of grain a day. The soldiers cannot fill their stomachs... Although more than 100 pack horses are responsible for transportation at a time Fifty thousand kilograms of grain can be transported, but even if we save more, it will only be enough for half a month at most.
Major Skerry asked the prisoners and the gathered young men to open up wasteland and plant potatoes and melons, hoping that these short-growing crops would be of great help. Claude organized the soldiers to fish in the rivers and ponds in this area, and took people to hunt in the mountains. Together with the sheep collected from the captured herdsmen some days ago, he finally managed to accumulate enough to last half a year. months of food reserves.
There was no shortage of ammunition. The one battalion of rangers brought it by themselves could last for more than a month. However, Claude was still not satisfied. He discussed with Major Skerry that at least three months' worth of ammunition should be stored. food and other military supplies. If the local security battalion over there cannot maintain long-term transportation of supply lines, Claude is ready to let the ranger battalion organize its own troops to transport supplies.
Major Skerry was also troubled by the shortage of supplies. The main reason was that nearly a thousand old, weak, women and children who had been recruited could not eat or work, which added a heavy burden to the first ranger battalion. But we can't drive away these old, weak, women and children. After all, after guarding this area, these people are also considered as citizens of the kingdom and cannot ignore death.
"Do you think the enemy will come?" Major Skerry looked at Claude in surprise: "Didn't the staff at the frontline headquarters say that the enemy is likely to be huddled in the Beibu Gulf area and prepare for defensive operations?"
"I don't know." Claude shook his head: "I also hope that the staff at the frontline headquarters are telling the truth, but I always have an intuition that the enemy will definitely come. I feel that the current situation is very strange. , I don’t know why the enemy is huddled in the Beibu Gulf area. You must know that defensive operations also require sending reconnaissance cavalry to detect the enemy’s situation, but now almost all the reconnaissance cavalry that goes deep into the prairie has not found any trace of the enemy. This situation is too suspicious.
I always feel that the enemy seems to be holding back some big move, otherwise they would not let us drive so far into the prairie. This is their territory. It is military common sense to send light cavalry to destroy our scout cavalry and cover our eyes and ears, whether it is offensive or defensive, but they did not do this... So I suggest taking advantage of these quiet days to stock up on more food, grass, ammunition and supplies. You can be prepared. "
"You're right, we need to be well prepared so as not to regret it when something happens." Captain Skerry nodded. See more! Prestige official account: hhxs665