The Kingdom of Hicks is not easy to fight, and Claude knows this very well. But now he feels that he has to fight because this kingdom is too disgusting. It's like a mangy dog staring at you. You give it a few kicks and beat it away. But after a while, it runs over again, far away, still staring at you, making you uneasy. Maybe if you are careless, it will pounce on you and bite you, and you won't even have time to cry.
This is a rogue country, especially King Melchid III of the Kingdom of Hicks, who is even more lunatic and paranoid. You can't say that he governs the country unethically. His method of dealing with the territorial nobles of the Hicks Kingdom is extraordinary. The four colonial wars consumed the strength of the territorial nobles. However, apart from being defeated and ridiculed by others, the Hicks royal family's strength was not damaged at all, so that Melchid III could act arbitrarily and no one could compete with him.
In the northern part of the Farea continent, the Kingdom of Hicks can be called a giant country, with an area almost as large as the Kingdom of Ovilas plus the Nasseri region. It has a population of nearly 30 million and eight standing legions. The surrounding countries are all vassals and look up to it. The kingdom is rich in mineral resources, and the refining and forging industry is very developed. In other words, what the Hicks are best at is prospecting for minerals and mining. They are natural miners.
This is the reason why in the Nubisian continent, other countries like to develop colonies in the coastal areas, but the Kingdom of Hicks only knows how to develop into the inland mountains. They like to mine, especially gold and silver mineral resources, which can become huge wealth. Decades of mining and excavation in the inland colonies of the Nubisia continent have caused countless gold and silver mineral resources to flow into the Kingdom of Hicks.
If other countries had spent so much military funds, lost seventeen or eight legions, and lost four colonial wars, the country's finances would have gone bankrupt and the people would have revolted and the royal family would have perished. However, the Hicks Kingdom remained unchanged. Instead, the Hicks royal family expanded its power within the kingdom. The reasons for the failure of the colonial war were pushed to the nobles of the kingdom's territories, and they became the best scapegoats.
Then the Kingdom of Hicks intervened in the eastern part of the Farea continent. In the name of helping the Principality of Sidings and the Principality of Rimodra to regain their kingdoms, they sent troops to capture the newly occupied territory of the Kingdom of Overas and established it as the Kingdom of Hicks. Gained an enclave and gained a wave of reputation. Then an alliance of countries in the eastern region of the mainland was formed to target the Kingdom of Ovelas and prepare to retaliate for the failure of the colonial war on the Kingdom of Ovelas itself.
Through the debt war between the Kingdom of Nasseri and the Kingdom of Ovelas, the Kingdom of Hicks successfully formed a coalition of countries in the Eastern Region, invaded the Kingdom of Ovelas, and occupied the royal capital. Mechid III arrived specially. The royal capital held a grand military parade and announced that it would eliminate the Kingdom of Ovelas and completely resolve this birthplace of war that prevented peace and tranquility in the eastern region of Falea continent.
In fact, the speech of Melchid III almost became a reality. If the Kingdom of Ovilas did not receive reinforcements from overseas autonomous territories, then the Kingdom of Ovilas might really cease to exist. However, when the Thunder Legion and Rock Legion from the overseas autonomous territories returned to the Kingdom, the balance of the war tilted towards the Kingdom of Overas.
The Rock Legion captured the Great Eyes of Ambriz County, and the armies of the Kingdom of Nasseri and the Kingdom of Hicks suffered heavy losses. They retreated for hundreds of miles in one breath to stabilize their position, while the Thunder Legion retreated from Florik in the Principality of Rimodra. Landing at the seaport, it swept through the Eskiline area, the enclave occupied by the Kingdom of Hicks in the eastern part of the mainland, as well as the Principality of Rimodra and the Principality of Sidings. These two principalities, which relied on the Kingdom of Hicks for their restoration, were completely destroyed. The grand dukes and their families of the two principalities were all caught in the trap, and none of them escaped.
Immediately afterwards, the Thunder Legion penetrated into the Royal City of Polyvisia of the Kingdom of Nasseri, destroyed the city, and captured the Nasseri royal family alive. A series of combination punches made the alliance army dizzy. The crisis in the rear made the frontline troops unstable. In desperation, The Alliance army had no choice but to withdraw from the mainland of the Kingdom of Ovelas, and headed straight towards the Royal City of Polyvisia, intending to deal with the enemies behind them, the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion of the Overseas Dominion.
Finally, there was the Battle of Polyvisia, in which the alliance army and the two legions of the overseas dominions launched a desperate battle in the Royal City of Polyvisia. As a result, although the Alliance army was outnumbered, it unfortunately fell into the trap set by the enemy. The Alliance soldiers were driven to destruction by greed. Only the commander of the alliance army, Marshal Piraghi Ferriot, Duke of Northland of the Kingdom of Hicks, was keenly aware that the war situation was not good, and fled back to the Kingdom of Hicks with more than 100,000 remaining troops.
It can be said that the alliance of countries in the eastern region of the continent formed by the Kingdom of Hicks once again became a loser in the second eastern region war with the Kingdom of Overas. The Principality of Sidings and the Principality of Rimodra were completely destroyed, and the Kingdom of Nasseri also became the territory of the Kingdom of Overas. The Karnas Prairie was occupied by the Thunder Legion. The Grand Duke of Karnas ran fast and escaped with his family. By the Kingdom of Hicks, the entire eastern region was included in the territory of the Kingdom of Ovilas.
Under normal circumstances, the Kingdom of Hicks should have signed an armistice and peace agreement with the Kingdom of Overas. After all, the two countries are not adjacent to each other, and there are two kingdoms in between. From the Colonial War to the Second Eastern Region War, the Kingdom of Hicks was the losing party, and there was no need to continue to struggle with the Kingdom of Ovilas. As long as they are willing to admit defeat, the Kingdom of Ovelas will not make any excessive demands, and the two countries can easily end the war and reach a peace agreement.
But there was a paranoid King Melchid III in the Kingdom of Hicks. He refused to admit that he was a loser. Even if he lost three or four standing legions and a powerful sailing fleet, he was still unwilling to take the initiative to send envoys there. The Kingdom of Ovilas sued for peace, preferring that the state of war between the two countries continue to exist and the stalemate continue like this.
In addition to refusing to admit defeat, Melchid III also supported Prince Vedario, the only escapee from the destroyed Kingdom of Nasseri, to become the new King of Nasseri, and Kanner, who fled to the Kingdom of Hicks. The Grand Duke Si formed his own royal court in exile, claiming that the Second War in the Eastern Region was not over yet, and that the Hicks Kingdom would help its allies regain their country and destroy the Ovelas Kingdom.
I have to admit, this feeling is really disgusting. It's like no matter what you are doing, there is a malicious gaze staring at your back from behind or in the shadow, seeming to be looking for an opportunity to give you cruelty. It's normal to hit hard. Claude received some news about the Kingdom of Hicks while in the Overseas Dominion. The hereditary family territories of the kingdom's nobles who were granted the title of Nasseri were often attacked and robbed by bandits from the Menbamark Kingdom. Behind the scenes, these bandits All are involved in the activities of Agent Hicks.
Claude was originally feeling a little gloating, thinking that it would not be a bad thing to have the Hicks Kingdom to add some trouble to the royal capital, so that the big guys in the royal court would not always focus on the overseas autonomous territories. Especially for King Frederic I, who used the method of granting hereditary family territories without any capital and profit, and took out huge gold crowns from the nobles of the kingdom with promotion fees and land selection fees, solving the kingdom's financial crisis in one fell swoop. envy, jealousy, hate.
Not to mention anything else, just the 30 million gold crowns in cash collected from overseas dominions, 400,000 new rifles, 30 million rounds of ammunition, and 16 armored battleships made Claude feel extremely painful. . It's just that he alone can't object. After all, all the members of the Overseas Dominion Parliament, the honorary nobles, and the promoted generals are satisfied with this. Using money and materials to exchange for a hereditary family territory can be said to be the pinnacle of their lives and worthy of the infinite admiration of future generations.
The current situation in the kingdom is very good, and it is a prosperous scene. With sufficient funds and less influence from the kingdom's established aristocratic families in the royal court, the kingdom's prime minister, Marquis Blancart, has implemented his economic revitalization plan in the kingdom with great fanfare. One year later, it can be said that it has achieved initial results. There were signs of revival in the kingdom.
Therefore, Claude was happy to see the various small-scale armed conflicts that occurred on the border between the Nasseri region and the Monbamark Kingdom. Although the Nasseri area has been granted to the territorial nobles of the kingdom, it is entirely possible for these territorial nobles to form family armed forces to deal with these bandit attacks. But as a king, Frederic I also needed to make decisions for the territorial nobles of his kingdom, and it was his obligation to send special envoys to negotiate with the Monbamark Kingdom.
What Claude didn't expect was that the Dominion Military Region's wildfire plan in the eight colonies on the west coast actually attracted the attention of the paranoid King Melchid III of the Hicks Kingdom, who sent a special envoy to contact the Hicks Volunteer Division. . This was by no means an intolerable situation for Claude, and he could only order the two Hicks divisions to quietly withdraw to the Dominion.
Just as Claude said to General Derivic and General Xibelos, in case those Hicks Kingdom spies lurk into the overseas autonomous territories, contact the Hicks released prisoners and use the conditions to return to the country to reunite with their families or If the safety of their families is used to coerce these Hicks to release prisoners, it will really bring chaos to the overseas autonomous territories.
If the two Hicks volunteer divisions are allowed to continue to implement the wildfire plan on the west coast, if they are instigated by the special envoys sent by the Hicks Kingdom later, the combat strength of the two Hicks volunteer divisions can still be very strong. Easily obtain a colony from the indigenous people. Then the Kingdom of Hicks once again sent troops to the mainland of Nubisia. With the nature of the paranoid King Melchid III, the overseas autonomous territories would have to fight the fifth colonial war.
This is the main reason why Claude is determined to solve the Kingdom of Hicks once and for all. This rogue country must be completely defeated and put on another foot so that it can never cause trouble behind its back. Only in this way can the kingdom's mainland be able to carry out economic construction with peace of mind, and the overseas autonomous territories can continue to implement the wildfire plan without worries.
For Claude, now is the best time to defeat the Kingdom of Hicks. First, the Kingdom of Hicks has just retreated from the second war in the eastern region. No matter how tough Melchid III is, he cannot change the eastern region. The fact that the regional alliance of countries was destroyed and the participating countries were destroyed. Even though there are still two exiled royal courts in the Kingdom of Hicks, trying hard to maintain the alliance, they have lost their territory in the eastern region and are currently at a low ebb.
The second point is that the overseas autonomous territories and the Kingdom of Overas still maintain a military advantage over the Kingdom of Hicks. They are almost nearly ahead of the Hicks army in terms of advanced performance of weapons and equipment, as well as technical and tactical training. A gap of several decades.
A Thunder Legion can defeat the two standing legions of the Kingdom of Hicks with one against two. If Claude doesn't show this advantage on the battlefield as soon as possible, but waits for the Hicks Kingdom to catch up militarily, he would be the biggest fool.
The third advantage is that Claude now has no shortage of leading parties. The eight Hicks Returning Divisions are the best puppet troops. They do not belong to the Hicks royal family, but are the enemies of Melchid III. Those subordinates of the territorial nobles of the Hicks Kingdom. Now they hate Melchid III very much because he treats them as trash and abandons them in overseas autonomous territories. He does not care about their life and death, and even hinders and refuses them to return home to reunite with their families.
In Claude's eyes, he has regarded these more than 500,000 Hicks captives as his own. The only difficulty is how to get them to return home and willingly immigrate to overseas autonomous territories. Therefore, taking them back to the Kingdom of Hicks and letting them immigrate to overseas autonomous territories with their families and relatives became the only best option.
This is a win-win situation for the overseas autonomous territories. The overseas autonomous territories have more new immigrants that they lack, not just a few thousand people a year like in the Kingdom, but millions. If more than half a million Hicks prisoners and their families and relatives were to immigrate to overseas autonomous territories, the number of immigrants would be at least two to three million.
Claude did not need these eight Hicks returning regiments to be the vanguard and cannon fodder, even if the Hicks prisoners of these returning regiments hated King Melchid III very much. At the same time, the eight Hicks prisoners of the returning division also resented their original owners. The nobles of the Hicks Kingdom ignored their life and death and allowed them to serve in the overseas autonomous territories without being able to return home, and no one came to visit them. them
Claude only needs these eight Hicks Returning Divisions to defend these territories after the Thunder Legion captures the territories of the Hicks Kingdom. They are originally Hicks people and will not arouse resistance from the Hicks residents. They will even use their experiences to arouse the sympathy of the Hicks people. As long as there is no trouble in the rear, the Thunder Legion in the front will naturally be able to attack forward without any scruples, becoming invincible.
On January 16, 604 in the Holy Light Calendar, Claude boarded the new flagship of the Ironclad Fleet, the Ironclad Cruiser Saint Hugh Linde, and headed for the Kingdom's mainland.
"For our Dominion Military Region, the three elements of an armored battleship are structure, speed, and artillery fire. In this era, there is no armored warship in the Faslan world that can compare with our Dominion Military Region. Basically, other countries are still in the same state. They are exploring and researching how to use mechanical power to propel ships to sail. We are already far ahead of them, so for us, the first element is how to design and manufacture ironclad ships that are more suitable for cruising and combat, and optimize and improve their long-distance voyage performance. is the most important.
Regarding maritime operations, I have always believed that the speed of armored battleships is the most critical. Only by speed can we catch up with the enemy. Even if we are at a numerical disadvantage, we can still use maritime guerrilla methods, hit and run, or assault and break through. The enemy's fleet formation creates a chaotic situation for them, and then they are divided and surrounded, eating up the enemy's fleet one by one.
Artillery fire is also very important, this is the third element. In fact, our armored warships do not need to consider defense issues at the current stage, because the enemy's muzzle-loading artillery hardly poses a threat to our armored warships. Unless it is a heavy naval gun that fires huge solid iron projectiles, it will cause certain damage to our iron-clad warships.
As for our naval guns, judging from the current equipment situation, they are still not very good. Look at the six turrets installed in the front, one turret and one barrel. When can a turret with two barrels fire a salvo be considered a passing standard? Of course, our naval guns are now considered to be the best because other countries cannot compare with us. After all, our naval guns have a range of 2,500 meters, which is already a great improvement. "
During this voyage, Claude and his younger brother, Admiral General Muriel of the Ironclad Fleet, had been discussing the tactical issues of ironclad battleships in naval battles, as well as Claude's views and opinions on ironclad battleships. It was only after he emptied all the inventory in his stomach that General Murray was satisfied and let him go. More than twenty years later, retired General Murield wrote a review of naval warfare. In the book, he praised Claude as the founder of a new era of naval warfare.
After sixteen days of sailing, the armored fleet appeared at Sharkou Bay outside the Kingdom's mainland Bailu City. Two armored warships came up to them in the distance with their whistles blowing. Through the monocular, on the command platform deck of the armored destroyer on the left, a sailor was waving two small flags of different colors in his hands.
"The flag says that Lord Blancart, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom, has been waiting in White Deer City for a long time. He welcomes Lord Claude, the Marshal of the Kingdom, to return to his hometown." General Murray Ed read out the meaning of the flag.
"Why did Prime Minister Blancart come here?" Claude was a little confused. "Shouldn't the last six armored warships transferred this time be received by General Placik, the head of the Kingdom's Navy Department?"
"Obviously, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom is here for you, boss. After all, you are also the Marshal of the Kingdom. As the Prime Minister of the Kingdom, he shows equal status. As for what he wants to do, you will have to meet him to know." Mo Mo General Ried said with a smile.
"Damn it, I want to go directly to Beibu Gulf." Claude muttered in a low voice. "Forget it, let's go to port first. I'll meet him and see what he has to say."