Two gunshots rang out, and the two Hicks soldiers landed on the ground. Their bodies twitched a few times and then stopped moving. After a while, three Thunder Legion soldiers carefully crossed the broken wall. They first searched the surroundings and found that there was no danger, and then they appeared next to the corpse. A noncommissioned officer leaned down and inspected the two corpses, and then pulled off a cloth bag carried by one corpse. When he opened it, he found several gold and silver tableware.
"It's just two idiots trying to escape for a little property..." the sergeant muttered, "I don't even think about where they can go when the entire Western District is blocked. Surrendering earlier can save their lives..." ..”
After the fierce artillery fire the night before stunned the more than 100,000 alliance army officers and soldiers gathered in the Royal Square of Nasseri, the entire battle in the western part of the Royal City of Polyvisia entered the battle between the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion. Control the pace. The half-hour artillery bombardment directly plowed the entire square three or four times. It is estimated that no less than 50,000 to 60,000 Union army officers and soldiers were killed and injured on the spot, and only a small half of them escaped.
The third prince of the Nasseri Kingdom, Prince Darklind, who was about to become the new king of Nasseri after regaining the Royal City of Polyvisia, was sent to the sky by a cannonball that fell next to him. If he hadn't been wearing a gorgeous general's uniform, when cleaning the battlefield afterwards, he wouldn't have discovered that the corpse with only half a head and half a shoulder was that of the noble prince. In order to identify the half of the body, almost a group of captured and surrendered Nasseri officers and soldiers came over to confirm, only to find that the prince was very unlucky to be killed at the beginning of the shelling.
It took nearly half a month to clean up the square. The main reason was that no matter the victors or the losers who were captured or surrendered, they all vomited when they were first ordered to clean the square. It was so miserable, it was a real swamp of flesh and blood, the kind where your whole foot would sink in if you stepped on it, with broken limbs and broken corpses, a real miserable scene of hell...
The only good thing is that it is the end of November and the weather is cold, so the flesh and blood corpses in the square will not rot so quickly for the time being. But also because of this, these flesh and blood will condense together, and the entire tragic situation will be presented to the people who are cleaning and cleaning. In the end, both the winner and the loser will regard the task of cleaning up the square as the most important means of punishing officers and soldiers who violate disciplines. Anyone who has been there once will be honest for a while.
General Albert went there once and was unable to eat for three days after he came back. He insisted on being a vegetarian for half a year and became nauseated when he saw meat...
The noble Prince Darklind was not the only one who was unlucky. The commander of the light cavalry regiment of the Principality of Karnars, the Marquis Archeborg Wei Chalkes, who came from behind, was also injured by the shelling. He offended Bidak. Prince Linde is even more tragic. Because he was rescued by his loyal men, and in the next eight days, he was led by his loyal soldiers to hide in the west area of the royal city, with the intention of breaking through the siege and escaping from the royal city.
However, the entire Western District was blocked, and the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion also launched a counterattack early the next morning to clean up the remaining Union army officers and soldiers in the Western District. More than 100,000 soldiers from the Kingdom of Hicks, the Kingdom of Nasseri, and the Principality of Kannas entered the city like headless flies, unable to organize effective resistance at all. Especially under the fierce bombardment, even if some grassroots officers organized their subordinates to defend, they were quickly eliminated. The remaining soldiers either ran around and were beaten to death, or they dropped their weapons and surrendered in despair... .
Marquis Archburgh Wei Chalkes was unlucky because his men were too loyal. If he had surrendered earlier, he would have received good treatment from the Thunder Legion. But his loyal subordinates wanted to take him out of the royal city. Unfortunately, the entire western district was tightly sealed, and the western city wall and gate were recaptured and occupied by the Thunder Legion.
The men of Marquis Archibald Wei Chalkes organized manpower to attack the city gate twice without success. Instead, they attracted the attention of the Thunder Legion and sent a large group of soldiers to chase after them, forcing the Marquis to attack the city gate. The men fled with the seriously injured Marquis. On the eighth day, the last loyal subordinate of the Marquis, who finally had no way to escape, died next to his stretcher. The victorious soldiers of the Thunder Legion lifted the blanket from the Marquis, only to find that the Marquis had already passed away due to excessive blood loss...
On November 7, the first year of the Holy Light Calendar, 600, the Alliance army arrived at the Royal City of Polivisia. There were five standing legions from the Kingdom of Hicks, a light cavalry legion from the Principality of Karnas, and two troops from the Kingdom of Nasseri. A legion with a total strength of more than 500,000. In addition, there are many local garrison troops and noble private armed forces from the Kingdom of Nasseri who came to serve the king, as well as some remnants of the regular troops of the Kingdom of Nasseri who were defeated by the Thunder Legion, totaling about 40,000 to 50,000 people.
After three days of rest, the commander-in-chief of the alliance army, the Duke of Hicks Kingdom, Marshal Pirag Hi Ferriott, sent those who were always clamoring to regain the royal city as soon as possible and eliminate the Kingdom of Ovelas The garrison commander and the private armed forces of the nobles were sent to attack the defensive line set up by the Thunder Legion on the outside of the royal city, and the military law enforcement force of the Hicks Legion was used to act as a supervising team, strictly ordering those who retreated to be killed.
Three days of exploratory attacks caused these miscellaneous troops to suffer heavy casualties and complain endlessly. No one could make any boasts in front of Marshal Pilago Ferriot. Because the Marshal will take your bragging seriously and send you to the battlefield to serve the country loyally, and if you retreat without orders or deserter, the Marshal will directly order you to be shot, so as to serve as a warning to the monkeys...
The 40,000 to 50,000 miscellaneous troops suffered more than 30,000 casualties in three days. Even the Hicks Military Enforcement Team, which supervised the battle, suffered more than 1,000 casualties. The price they paid was to let Marshal Pyrag Hi Ferriault ascertain the strength of the Thunder Legion in the forward position. In the subsequent attack, they invested five standing legions of the Kingdom of Hicks. Two days and one night of fierce fighting severely damaged the defending Thunder Legion, forcing them to abandon their forward defensive positions and withdraw to the royal city.
Next, Marshal Pirag Xi Ferriot deliberately delayed for five days, hoping that the Thunder Legion and Rock Legion entrenched in the royal city could evacuate on their own initiative. He did not want to fight these two legions until both sides would lose. Although the alliance army had an advantage in strength, it was far inferior to the enemy in terms of combat power. In two days and one night of offensive and defensive battles at the forward positions, Hicks's five standing legions went into battle and suffered as many as 60,000 to 70,000 casualties, which was equivalent to the loss of one standing legion.
Therefore, if the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion in the royal city refuse to withdraw, they will inevitably suffer heavy damage if they attempt to break through the royal city. After all, the enemy has the city wall and the protective facilities above it as a defensive bonus. If you are not willing to devote all your troops to attack the royal city in one fell swoop, then delaying it or using refueling tactics will only cause greater casualties to the troops involved in the attack...
After much thought, Marshal Pilago Ferriot finally made up his mind and decided to invest all his offensive forces on the first day to break the city in one fell swoop. He just asked the light cavalry regiment of the Principality of Karrnath to serve as a reserve force to prevent the enemy from jumping over the wall and launching a counterattack to disrupt the rhythm of the attack. At the same time, a death order was issued, and no one was allowed to retreat. Those who retreated would directly implement wartime military law without asking the reason.
Fortunately, the alliance army relied on its superior strength to capture and occupy the western wall of the royal city on the first day. The enemy had no choice but to retreat, which can be seen from their subsequent struggles. The enemy tried to launch a counterattack from the north and south walls to recapture the west wall, but they were repelled by the Union soldiers who sacrificed their lives regardless of life and death.
Even without statistics, Marshal Pyrag Syferriot knew that this siege had cost huge casualties. The two Nasseri regiments that he ordered to attack in the first wave and serve as cannon fodder, after breaking through the royal city They all withdrew to the coalition camp, but the number of troops who came back was only a little more than one legion, and almost half of the battle was lost. Prince Darklind was very dissatisfied. However, the Kingdom of Hicks also suffered heavy casualties. It was estimated that the loss was no less than one legion. Even Prince Darklind had to hold back his dissatisfaction and could only excuse that the casualties were too great and did not want to enter the city to participate in the war again.
After the remaining three Hicks standing legions occupied the city wall and entered the western area of the royal city, they discovered that the enemies in the city were still resisting tenaciously. After hearing the news, Marshal Pyrag Syferriot felt very strange. He didn't know why the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion continued to fight to the death. In this era, basically as long as the city wall was broken through and entered, the defenders would not have to evacuate. They would surrender and admit defeat instead of continuing to resist in the city like the enemy did.
Marshal Pyrag Sy Ferriot actually knew very well that through reconnaissance, casualty assessments on the battlefield, and reports from secret agents lurking in the Kingdom of Nasseri, he believed that the enemy's total number of troops that could still fight was less than one. Legion. The Thunder Legion has been entangled with the alliance army since Durmel County. Until now, only about one division of troops can still fight. Coupled with the reinforcements from a division of the Panshi Legion, after experiencing forward offensive and defensive battles and city wall defense battles, they also suffered many casualties. Only 30,000 to 40,000 troops persisted in resisting...
Now that the city wall has been breached, there are 150,000 or 60,000 Hicks troops entering the city, a force advantage of nearly four to five times. No matter how hard the enemy resists, they are unable to make a comeback. Therefore, even though he felt a little uneasy, Marshal Pyrrha Ferriot still had full confidence in his kingdom's troops and patiently waited in the coalition camp for detailed battle reports from the city.
It's just that Marshal Pyrrha Ferriot focused all his attention on the enemy's new rifles and new artillery, ignoring the enemy's most inconspicuous steel helmet. He was once confused as to why the officers and soldiers of the Thunder Legion wore heavy iron helmets, but soon a report from a Nasseri spy made him think he understood the truth about the enemy's iron helmets.
The Nasseri spy reported that he saw the soldiers of the Thunder Legion putting dry food and water in their iron helmets and placing them on the fire during their lunch break, and soon cooked a steaming bowl of meat porridge. Then Marshal Pyrag Sy Ferriot suddenly realized that it was obvious that the enemy had penetrated deeply into the Kingdom of Nasseri and knew that this was the enemy's territory. It was difficult to ensure that there was a complete logistical meal supply for every meal, and it was just for the soldiers to eat it. Military dry food is difficult to maintain long-term morale.
For the sake of the health and morale of the soldiers, the main purpose of equipping them with iron helmets is to allow the soldiers to eat hot food anytime and anywhere, thereby reducing injuries and low morale. An iron helmet is equivalent to a person's iron pot, which is easy to carry and clean. As long as there is a clean water source and a fire can be lit, you can eat hot food or drink hot water at any time during your break.
So Marshal Pyrag H. Ferriot ignored the other functions of the iron helmet. When calculating the enemy's casualties, he also multiplied it by three according to the normal battle losses, thinking that the enemy's combat power was that of the Hicks Legion. Three times, the casualties were also calculated in the same way, and it was concluded that the remaining combat strength of the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion in the royal city was only 30,000 to 40,000.
The fact is that Claude has more than 70,000 troops, which is twice as many as Marshal Pyrrha Ferriott estimated. The reason why the civilian officers of the Logistics Department were organized to fight in battle was to confuse the enemy and lure them into a trap. In both regiments of the Overseas Dominions, administrative and logistical civilian officers also learned military skills. Claude has always believed that soldiers are soldiers, there is no distinction between civilian and military positions, and they have to step up at critical moments.
When Marshal Pyrrha Xi Ferriot found out that the reason why the enemy refused to retreat was because of the looted property accumulated in the royal city, he immediately adjusted his evaluation of the enemy a few times lower. grade. It is believed that the enemy's combat power mainly relies on new weapons and is not good at strategy. It is too greedy and does not know how to give up and advance or retreat.
Later, the Karrnath light cavalry army dismounted and entered the royal city. It was said to be an attack, but in fact it was to rob the property warehouses. After this behavior made Prince Darklind also bring his remaining legion into the city to participate in the battle, Marshal Pyrrha Ferriot also sent several groups of messengers into the city, hoping to make Archibald Wei... The Marquis of Chalkes and Prince Darklind presided over the attack and command of the alliance army in the royal city.
But the first few groups of messengers all left and never returned. Only the last messenger was unlucky and couldn't find any opportunities to make a fortune in the city. He waited for more than an hour before running back. The report said that the city was so chaotic that no one could be found at all, even if they asked others, they would not know. Many soldiers could not even find their commanders, and some commanders became bachelor commanders with no idea where their subordinates had gone.
The enemies in the city are still resisting, but the gunfire is becoming less and less frequent. There are corpses on the roads and on both sides of the streets, and there are also many wounded among our own people. It's just that the night is too dark to see clearly whether the corpses on the ground are Alliance soldiers or enemies. It's probably both. Because the area controlled by the alliance army is getting larger and larger, many soldiers are even running to places where gunfire is intensive...
After listening to the messenger's report, Marshal Pyrrha Ferriot finally felt relieved and believed that the overall situation was decided. The troops entering the royal city now include Prince Darklind's legion and the Karrnath Light Cavalry Legion. There are a total of more than 200,000 and nearly 300,000 horses in the royal city. With such a large number of troops, no matter how hard the enemy struggles to the death, they can't stand up...
Then, after midnight, nearly the darkest period before dawn, the Royal City of Polyvisia suddenly erupted with violent artillery fire and explosions. Looking from a distance, the royal city is like a volcano erupting, with smoke, fire, explosions, and thunder. Even the occupied west wall is being ravaged by artillery fire. Even in the coalition camp, it seems that the people who were sent by the explosion can be heard. The screams of the unfortunates in mid-air...
Marshal Pyrag Sy Ferriot rushed out of his tent, picked up a monocular and kept staring at the Royal City of Polyvisia, even wearing thin pajamas and shivering in the cold night wind. Nothing feels. Even when his adjutant brought him a thick cloak and was about to help him put it on, he was pushed away by the Marshal.
The rumbling sound of artillery in the royal city lasted for half an hour before it subsided. Marshal Pyrag Sy Ferriot was stunned. When his adjutant came forward again, he found that the Marshal's face was pale, his forehead was sweating, and he only murmured one sentence: "We have been fooled..."
It took the marshal a while to recover, and he directly ordered two of his personal attendants to go and see if the west wall of the royal city was still in the hands of the alliance army.
In less than ten minutes, only one of his personal attendants ran back. He told Marshal Pyrrha Ferriot that the west wall had been occupied by the enemy again. The companion who went with him, because he did not believe in the marshal's judgment, first approached the closed city gate and shouted loudly, saying that he wanted to enter the city. As a result, a gunshot was fired from the city wall, and the attendant fell down. In front of the mount...
Marshal Pyrag Xi Ferriot was unable to speak for a long time, and his expression became even more depressed. After waving the attendant to retreat, after a while, he asked the adjutant to ask all the Hicks soldiers in the coalition camp to pack their bags and prepare to return to the Hicks Kingdom with him after dawn.
At this time, there was also a Guards Field Regiment directly under Marshal Pyrag H. Ferriott in the coalition camp. Most of them were citizens of his own territory, and there were also five members of Hicks' standing corps. The logistics department, as well as the security battalion, transportation camp and treatment department directly under the legion, add up to 50,000 to 60,000 troops.
Upon hearing this military order from the Marshal, his adjutant was shocked and hurriedly tried to dissuade the Marshal as to why he would issue such an incredible and unreasonable order. Seeing that the Royal City of Polyvisia was about to be recaptured, how could it be possible to leave the royal city so suddenly? There were so many alliance troops inside the royal city. Even if the western wall of the royal city was captured and occupied by the enemy, the alliance army would definitely capture it again... .
Marshal Pyrag Syferriot smiled bitterly. He said that if he didn't leave in the past two days, he would never be able to leave again. After the alliance troops in the royal city were dealt with, it was the turn of the alliance camp to slip through the net. And you have to go fast, otherwise even if the infantry in the camp leaves for two days, the enemy's light cavalry will still be able to catch up.
Therefore, the Marshal also summoned the commander of the Guards Field Regiment directly under him and asked him to lead his troops to immediately seize all the prairie war horses in the camp of the Principality of Karnus Light Cavalry in the coalition camp, so that all the soldiers who retreated with him could mount their horses. , if you can’t ride a horse, let the horse-drawn cart go and evacuate with him in the carriage...
After most of the alliance troops in the royal city were either wiped out or surrendered and the entire battle situation was stabilized, it was already the fifth day that the alliance troops who entered the royal city fell into the trap set by Claude. Claude mobilized two regiments. The troops were handed over to General Albert and asked to lead the team to attack the coalition camp outside the royal city.
It was only when General Albert arrived at the coalition camp that he discovered that except for the wounded and logistics department personnel from the Kingdom of Nasseri and the Principality of Karnas, no Hicks people were found in the camp. After questioning the prisoners, I found out that Marshal Pirag Hiferriot, the supreme commander of the alliance army, had brought all the Hicks and wounded four days ago, as well as Nasseri, who was willing to evacuate with him. The soldiers from the Kingdom and the Principality of Karnas left the camp saying they were going back to the Kingdom of Hicks.
They also forcibly seized nearly 80,000 Karrnath light cavalry mounts, and even took away the grooms. At the same time, they also took away all the carriages in the camp...
General Albert immediately led his army to catch up, but he gave up after three days because he chased day and night for three days before he could shorten his journey by one day. This speed could no longer be stopped at the border of the Nasseri Kingdom. There is no way out for these Hicks...