On October 23, at the Mosilaga Mountains on the border between the Amphiston Territory and the Beringana Territory, Claude and Colonel Sevict, who had arrived three days ago, were stationed on the hills.
"...Compared with Port Patres, the capital of the Robidos Territory, the situation in the Beringana Territory is more critical. The capital, Bricaman City, has been besieged by the Krado Army of the Colonial Garrison of the Kingdom of Hicks for nearly three months. , the remaining four towns have fallen. According to the confessions of the prisoners, the enemy believes that they can capture Brikaman City in a few months. And once Brikaman City falls, the entire Beringana Territory will also fall to Shik The Kingdom of Sri Lanka is under control...
The situation in the Robisto Territory is much better than that in the Beringana Territory. The capital, Port Patres, is well-defended. The Hicks Kingdom’s Colonial Garrison Panclair Corps has launched several attacks, but they were all repelled. It is said that the casualties were somewhat heavy. As for the five towns in the direct territory, in addition to the three towns on the other side of the Dolinibara River that were captured by the enemy, the two towns located behind Port Patres are still in our hands...
But the crisis in the Robisto Territory does not come from the land, but from the sea. The Sea King Fleet of the Hicks Kingdom dispatched a squadron to cooperate with the Panclair Army in attacking the capital Patres Port, using ship-borne heavy artillery to bombard the city defense artillery position in the port. Enemy prisoners confessed that their squadron had lost two battleships and had three more damaged, and had to retreat to the port of Vibato for repairs. Although the battle was won, the Port of Patres also suffered heavy losses. The port was almost in ruins, and half of the city's defense artillery was lost...
Now it seems that the direct jurisdiction of Robisto will not be in danger of falling in a short time, and the war situation is very good. But if the Beringana Direct Territory falls, the enemy's Krado Army will flow down the river and join forces with the Panklei Army. In addition, the squadron in Vibato Port will finish its repairs and make a comeback, and Patras If the city's defense artillery in Sri Lanka is not replenished, it is likely that it will not be able to hold on for long under the enemy's attack... "
This is the real battle situation that the reconnaissance cavalry team of the 131st Ranger Battalion spent more than 20 days in the two direct jurisdictions of White Collar Ghana and Robisto. The daring Belklin also personally led a small team through the enemy's blockade into the Port of Patres, the capital of the Robisto Territory, and had a warm and cordial meeting with the Governor, Count Falvat, and the Admiral, Colonel Trested. meeting. They came back and conveyed the urgent request of these two people to Claude: they need city defense artillery, the more the better, so that they can have the confidence to hold on...
The question is where did Claude get them city anti-fire artillery. These are heavier than the medium-sized infantry field artillery equipped by the Ranger Division. They are usually placed on the forts of the city wall as a support point for defensive firepower. Come and use. Not to mention anything else, the entire Amphiston demesne, that is, the capital of Greno Castle, has four gates at the top of the city, and other towns have no layout.
In addition, even if Claude had city defense artillery on hand, he would not be able to transport it to Port Patres. There is no way to break through the enemy's blockade by land. Such heavy city defense artillery moves slowly. Even if the road is clear, it will take an unknown amount of time to arrive. It is convenient to take the sea route. For example, the sixteen city anti-artillery guns deployed at the port artillery position in Port Patres were transported by sea to prevent sudden attacks by pirates on Port Patres. Of course, it is now said that the only remaining artillery positions in the port are the Qimen City anti-aircraft guns...
But now the Sea King Fleet of the Kingdom of Hicks was showing off its power at sea, and it only sent a fleet of about twenty warships to attack Port Patres. Even though the squadron's visit did not end well, Shen's second and third were injured and had to return to Vibato Port to rest. However, there are still two or three enemy light patrol warships patrolling the waters off Patres Port day and night, preventing other territories directly under the Kingdom from transporting supplies and replenishing troops to Patres Port via sea routes.
Claude has never understood what the Kingdom's two maritime fleets do for food. The Storm Fleet cannot go north to resist the enemy under the pretext of protecting the safety of the new route. But what about the other fearless fleet? There was no trace at all, and a dozen broken ships from the Kingdom of Hicks were allowed to wander around in the waters directly under the Kingdom's jurisdiction, as if they were in a deserted land...
Well, Claude was distracted again and didn't know where he went.
On the other hand, Colonel Sevicit looked around and asked: "Lieutenant Colonel Claude, do you mean that we will set up the defensive front here?"
Claude came back to his senses and nodded: "This is the border area between the two direct territories. The Beringana Direct Territory is located in the Albato Prairie, but the Amphiston Direct Territory is in a mountainous area and is mainly engaged in mineral development. Therefore, we set up a defensive position in the Mosilaga Mountains, and we can completely rely on the terrain to withstand the attack of the enemy's superior forces. As long as this defensive front is set up, we do not need to consider the enemies coming from the direction of the Albato Prairie.
As for the border area between the Robisto Territory and the Amphiston Territory, the main reason is that the more than ten miles of flat land is easy for the enemy's large legions to pass. We need to set up trenches, cover walls and fortresses on that flat land to connect with the defensive front here and completely protect the southern rear of the entire Anphiston Territory. That way, even if the two direct territories of Beringana and Robistoe fall into the hands of the Hicks Kingdom, we can still use this defensive front to drag down the enemy... "
Colonel Severit looked at the map, raised his head from time to time to look at the surrounding terrain, and finally nodded: "The terrain for setting up the defensive front you chose is good, but the amount of work may be too large, and it takes too much time. Also long…”
Claude laughed: "It doesn't matter if the workload is heavy and the time is long. Anyway, we have plenty of manpower. The young and strong Nikancha people imprisoned in the towns are used as coolies for this defensive front. In addition, we visited some time ago. Didn’t the reconnaissance cavalry of the 131st Battalion capture more than one brigade of Hicks Kingdom’s colonial garrison? You can also use them as coolies. Believe me, their number will soon be increasing... "
This is not a joke by Claude, it is a fact. For young officers like his subordinates, Muriel, this war is all about gaining merit. Following Claude's orders, they suppressed the Nikancha rebellion in the town and reorganized new local garrison forces. They sent their scout cavalry into the war zone to perform reconnaissance missions.
It was originally thought that the Kingdom of Hicks was the dominant power in the northern region of Farea continent, and its army must be very powerful. But after encountering the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry team and having a small-scale contact battle, an unbelievable fact was placed in front of the officers and soldiers of the 131st Ranger Battalion. No one expected that the combat power of the colonial garrison of the Kingdom of Hicks was so poor, with nothing but commendable courage. To put it bluntly, this combat power is simply worse than the kingdom’s local security battalion...
Just like what Belklin, the captain of the light cavalry, told Claude about the first time he encountered the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry squad, he led a light cavalry squad of four people into three groups of arrows one hundred meters apart. Come to Mi and head towards the Robidos demesne. As a result, as soon as they turned around a mangrove forest, they met a small group of light cavalry from the Hicks Kingdom coming from the opposite direction. Seeing that there were only four people in Belklin, the twelve Hicks Kingdom's scout cavalry opposite them became more courageous. They drew their swords and shouted, galloping towards them.
Belklin said that they were also very panicked at the time. The enemy was coming very menacingly and violently, and they wanted to turn around and run away immediately. However, seeing that the enemy was only waving their sabers and not picking up their muskets, the four of Belklin calmed down, raised their muskets and took aim. When the enemy approached a distance of 70 or 80 meters, they opened fire and turned around without looking at the outcome. Just run away...
But after running for nearly a hundred meters, I didn't hear any movement behind me. When I turned around, I realized that the enemies had stopped. After careful calculation, the four people with four shots just hit the three in the front, probably two were killed and one was injured. As a result, the remaining nine enemies stopped chasing and picked up their muskets and charged at Belklin. People and horses were scattered around, and it was obvious that the guns had no idea where they were shot. Then the enemy packed up the corpses and wounded and ran away, leaving the four people of Belklin stunned...
Since the enemy was about to run away, of course the four men from Belklin had to pursue them. At the same time, they motioned for the two groups of people following behind to pass by from the left and right sides. He reloaded his musket at the same spot and rode in pursuit. The enemy's nine cavalrymen were furious when they saw the four men of Belklin chasing after them from behind. They separated their six cavalrymen and rushed over. The four of Belklin reined up their horses and raised their guns, hitting three of them again, then drew their swords and faced them...
There was no fighting, and there was no close combat on horseback, because the remaining six enemies still on horseback had turned their horses and fled in unison, even ignoring the wounded and corpses of their companions who were originally tied to the backs of their mounts. However, none of them escaped. The two groups of cavalry who moved forward from both sides had blocked their escape and raised their muskets.
So the remaining six reconnaissance cavalry from the Kingdom of Hicks all reined in their mounts, jumped off, and at the same time raised their hands and became prisoners obediently. This result almost made Berklin hurt his jaw, because he was so surprised that he didn't believe what he saw, and his mouth opened too wide...
"Sir, I think the enemy is really vulnerable," Belklin reported: "The tactics are old-fashioned, and even the muskets equipped are old-fashioned. You can't even imagine that we only discovered when we attacked a transport convoy. The soldiers escorting the convoy were still equipped with old-fashioned muskets with bell mouths, obsolete items that couldn't even be inserted into the bayonet. And when they found out that we were attacking the transport convoy, they immediately blew the whistle and lined up, preparing to fire a salvo. Resist our raid. I was shocked..."
Belklin said they dropped to the ground and began shooting at the array of human-shaped targets. In fact, it was only a squadron of light cavalry that launched the attack, less than sixty men. What they attacked was a logistics transport convoy escorted by a large group of more than 200 soldiers from the Kingdom of Hicks. They should be preparing to go to the enemy's military camp outside the city of Porto Patres, the capital of the Robisto Territory. They happened to be attacked by Belklin's team. The searching squadron of light cavalry was encountered.
Originally, Belklin didn't want to encircle or annihilate them. He just wanted to harass them, kill some enemies, and then ride away. But he didn't expect that when the enemy encountered a surprise attack, they would be lined up with human-shaped targets, and the most important thing was that the transport convoy did not carry light artillery as defensive firepower. There's nothing to say now, let's just take aim. Then there were two rounds of fighting, especially the enemy officer who was standing next to the formation and giving the command. He should be a captain. After being shot to death by Belklin, the enemy collapsed. He escaped and could not outrun the light cavalry. Four legs, so more than 130 people who were still alive put down their weapons and became prisoners.
The number of reconnaissance cavalry, patrols, and transport troops of the Hicks Kingdom captured by the 131st Ranger Battalion is almost 300. Not only were the light cavalry brigade captured, but the four reconnaissance teams dispatched by the direct field brigade each brought back prisoners. The only answers they reported about the combat strength of the Hicks Kingdom's colonial garrison were the same. Vulnerable. Just as Murield said, whether it is the Crado Army besieging the city of Brickaman or the Panclair Army besieging the city of Patres, they are all the same...
Claude decided to lead the 131st Ranger Battalion into the White Collar Ghana Territory to resolve the crisis of the siege of Bricaman City. Although Port Patres, the capital of the Robisto Territory, is also besieged by enemies, their situation is much better than that of Bricaman City. If the Kingdom of Hicks does not continue to increase its troops, it would be wishful thinking to rely on the sparse combat power of the Panclair Army to capture this port city with complete defense facilities and strong defenses.
Colonel Severit has led the 034th Ranger Regiment to the Amphiston Territory, just in time to take over the defense and garrison duties of the entire territory. In more than a month, Claude's 131st Ranger Battalion has laid a very good foundation for Colonel Severit to take over. Not only did they learn about the war situation in the two territorial jurisdictions of Beringana and Robisto, but they also reorganized the local garrison force of the Amphiston territory. At the same time, they imprisoned nearly 10,000 Nikancha people who participated in the riot and were young and strong. The first batch of labor was provided for the defense front that was about to start construction.
In addition, Claude also personally led a team to survey the entire border area between the Amphiston Territory and Beringana and Robisto, and initially drew and designed the plane of the entire defensive front. Schematic diagram of the layout and construction of various defense facilities. Colonel Sevicit only needed to construct according to the drawings to complete the task of the first batch of reinforcements assigned to them by the division headquarters.
"When are you leaving?" Colonel Severit asked with concern. Compared with the tasks of building defensive lines and training reserve forces that he had to perform, the tasks that Claude's 131st Ranger Battalion took on were life-and-death tasks. It is necessary to go deep into the enemy's rear and conduct raids to destroy the enemy's logistics and transportation camps, cut off the enemy's command and material supply transportation, and become like a sharp knife inserted into the enemy's heart. Time guarantee.
Even though the combat power of the Hicks Kingdom's colonial garrison is not as powerful as everyone imagined, it can even be called unworthy of mention. But Claude's battalion has too few people after all, less than 2,000 people. It has to deal with the enemy's two legions with more than 100,000 people. This mission of breaking into the enemy's rear can be regarded as a mission. Dancing on the tip of a knife can easily injure yourself.
"Two days later," Claude replied: "I have ordered all the battalion groups to gather in the mountain town of Rosas, which is the mountain town closest to the Beringana Direct Territory, and use it as a starting base."
Two days later, Claude led the 131st Ranger Battalion into the Beringana Territory.
At the same time, Colonel Sevicit had already led his men and the young labor force of the indigenous mixed-race residents to start construction of a defensive front on the border.
"Sir, what should we call this defensive line?" Colonel Sevict's adjutant asked, holding the construction drawings. According to regulations, a defensive front like this needs to have a name, which will also facilitate the approval of documents and construction funds.
Colonel Sevict thought for a while and replied: "The survey and design work of this defensive line was completed by Lieutenant Colonel Claude. Let's name it Claude's Defense Line after him."