The wooden rafts that were originally inserted in the ditch as a partition had been pulled up and erected over the ditch to form a solid wooden bridge before the water came. If the generals of the defending Principality of Forondo knew that the idea of using wooden rafts to cut off the trenches was just the idea of a heavy armored soldier, they would not know whether they would vomit blood with anger. His Royal Highness ordered the soldiers who occupied the forward position to transport these wooden rafts up, just to let them build a simple camp to be stationed at night, and also meant to demolish the camp when the trench was flooded and quickly use these wooden rafts to build a wooden bridge across the trench. .
The captain of a White Lion Legion who was ordered to garrison had a headache looking at the trenches extending in all directions. The situation at that time was that the attacking side belonged to the daytime, and the defending side belonged to the night. The captain thinks that if these ditches are not blocked, even if a temporary camp is built with wooden rafts, it will still be unavoidable to be attacked by the native rats of the Principality at night. If you pour some kerosene and shoot rockets, everyone can spend a sleepless night. Burning night. However, the order of His Highness the Second Highness was very clear, and no action should be taken to block the traffic in the trench.
Although the captain didn't know that His Royal Highness was planning to flood the trenches, he still didn't want his soldiers to lose their lives in the night attack. In distress, he summoned his squadron leaders and squad leaders to discuss a good way to deal with the night raids and sneak attacks by the local tyrants of the Principality. Just as a large group of people scratched their heads and had no idea what to do, a vigilant soldier standing next to them interjected, the width of these wooden rafts was about the same as the width of the trench, why not insert the wooden rafts into the trench as a partition
The captain was overjoyed, and after the reward, he asked the soldier how he came up with this idea. The soldier said with embarrassment that something went wrong when he was carrying the rafts, and the pack horses hauling the rafts were startled. As a result, the rafts all fell into the ditch, and it took a long time to pull them up again. So the squad leader punished him and made him stand guard here. Just now the captain brought so many squadron leaders and small captains to inspect the position to discuss how to deal with the night attacks of the principality's local rats. He remembered the difficulty of pulling the wooden rafts up the ditch. Some of the rafts were stuck in the ditch, so he Inserted such a sentence.
This is the wooden platoon tactic that caused headaches and stress to the defending Generals of the Principality of Forondo, so that they ignored the water attack strategy that threatened the trench defense position the most. If they are not confused, as long as they step up their scouting, they will find out what the Second Highness is planning. After all, whether it is Lorist recruiting the poor to build a small reservoir or dig a trench four or five miles long, these are not small moves. , No matter how strict the precautions are, some movements can be heard. It's a pity that they were all misled by this wooden platoon tactic.
It was already daylight, and along the flooded ditch, the soldiers of the White Lions had successfully arrived at the place where the Second Garrison Army of the Principality of Forondo was preparing to launch a counterattack last night. Here they captured more than 10,000 soulless soldiers Wet the soldiers of the Second Garrison Corps who survived the disaster. Almost all of these soldiers were unarmed. Even with weapons, they lost the will to resist. The corpses of the companions who were drowned in the ditch were presented in front of them, and the dividing line between life and death was the top and bottom, the difference was only half a meter...
After receiving the report, the Second Highness, Lorist and Grand Duke Fessabrunn had already arrived here, and everyone was surprised by the big trench full of dead bodies. Even if the trenches were flooded, they only thought they would drive the defending principality's rats to the ground, but the drowning of nearly ten thousand soldiers was an unexpected result.
However, when they heard the report that the Second Defense Army of the Principality of Forondo was preparing to launch a major counterattack in the early hours of the morning, everyone suddenly realized that this was really a coincidence, and they could only blame the enemy for pointing their backs, and they happened to release water on their side. Nearly 20,000 soldiers were stationed in eight trench squares that were now like ponds. Almost half of the soldiers were drowned except for one trench square with a slightly higher terrain. The worst thing was the ditch square where Viscount Sanskro, Chapter of the Legion, was located. Only 524 of the 3,000 soldiers escaped.
The body of Viscount Sanskro who committed suicide and fell into the water has been salvaged. In order to express his condolences and respect, His Royal Highness ordered to prepare a good coffin for the enemy commander, so that he can send it back to his relatives in the future There. Now the soldiers of the White Lions are still searching for survivors on the side of the trench squares and preparing to organize the captured garrison soldiers to salvage the bodies of the drowned.
On the other side of the camp, four-wheeled carriages loaded with wooden rafts staggered along a wooden raft road formed by two wooden rafts juxtaposed side by side. space, so that the wheels of the wagon with the heavy load do not sink in. These rafts will be sent to the front to continue the raft road into the distance...
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..." A commander of the White Lion Legion hurried over and gave a knight salute: "The water ahead has stopped..."
"En? What's going on?" Second Highness asked.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, the front ditch has come to an end, the water is no longer flowing forward, and the water has begun to overflow in some low-lying places. According to the reconnaissance of the scouts, there is an open flat land in front of this ditch area, with a length of three miles. How wide is it, but after passing it is a large defensive trench." The commander replied.
Oh, everyone understands that the trench defense zone set up by the Principality of Forendo is not connected back and forth, or that there is no time and energy to dig traffic trenches. It is also possible that the flat land was used for training or troop assembly.
"Let's go and have a look." The Second Highness waved the whip in his hand and spurred the horse to gallop along the wooden raft road, followed by Lorist, Grand Duke Feisabrun and others.
"What should we do?" His Highness Second asked after watching the formation.
"Hehe, it is still possible to dig trenches to connect them, but we must first block the small reservoir in the back, so as not to turn the position we occupy into a swamp. We will continue to attack the front position, and when the trench is dug and the water is released, the position is equivalent to falling into us. It’s just that now that the enemy is on guard, it’s impossible to see nearly ten thousand people being drowned like last night.” Lorist replied with a smile.
"Haha..." Grand Duke Fessabrun burst into laughter: "They used to dig trenches and built so many earth walls, but now they are busy tearing down the earth walls to fill the trenches to prevent them from being flooded by us. .If I had known this before, what was the fuss? It’s ridiculous to think of it in vain! I believe they will regret it now... Haha... "
All the people present laughed. The changes in the world were amazing. Originally, the attacking side was desperately filling the trenches, while the defending Duchy of Forondo was desperately digging trenches. Now it's all reversed. The attacking side digs trenches to divert water, while the defensive side has to fill up the trenches to set up a water barrier. The transition between offense and defense is really ridiculous.
His Royal Highness nodded: "Okay, let's do it like this. Duke Kenmes, ask your family's two heavy armored regiments to continue to cooperate with the White Lions to attack the front trench defense position this afternoon, and first occupy the front trenches. .By the way, the tactic that the soldiers of the heavy armored regiment of your family came up with to block the trenches with wooden rafts is very effective against those principality rats scurrying in the trenches. It deserves a lot of rewards... "
The Duke of Kenmes had a smile on his face: "Of course, I have ordered to go down and give credit to that soldier, and the family will promote and reuse him."
His Royal Highness nodded and continued to order the guards around him: "Order the logistics staff to speed up the delivery of supplies and wooden platoons, and build a temporary camp in this open space while the soldiers attack the front trench defense area, to prepare for the white The Lion Legion and the Heavy Armored Corps take turns to rest. At the same time, we must strengthen our defenses to prevent the enemy from mobilizing troops to counterattack us like a dying struggle."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
…
The Duke of Volunteer stared at the palace-style castle with a century-old vicissitudes and moss-covered corners in front of him for a long time. This is the family castle built by his ancestors in seventeen years. It was named the Summer Palace. In the era of the Krissen Empire, the Summer Palace was one of the ten most famous palaces in the empire. He has lived here since he was a child, and every corner and secret place of the Summer Palace and its affiliated castles and gardens have left his figure and laughter...
"Your Highness, it's time for us to go..." the head guard beside him reminded.
The Duke of Forondo withdrew his reluctant gaze, and sighed: "I must be the most unworthy descendant of the Forondo family. I would give up the family territory and glory that lasted for two or three hundred years and go to Handela Duchy. If my ancestors knew, they would have cursed and roared at me in the kingdom of the God of War."
"No, Your Highness, it's not your fault. If you want to blame it, you can only blame the king of the Antinac Kingdom for being too cunning to divert water to submerge the defense line of the trench we set up, so that all the trenches dug by our whole country are lost. The effect of blocking the enemy..." The chief guard felt that he was really clumsy, and he obviously wanted to comfort the Duke of Foron, but he didn't know where to go.
The Duke of Flanders smiled wryly: "Rickel, don't talk about it, everyone now knows that we spent three months recruiting all the citizens of the Principality and digging so many trenches for defense. It has become a big joke. Back then Why didn't we think that a simple water attack strategy would make all our efforts in vain? It's a pity Sanscorro, he should understand that I don't blame him for his idea of digging a trench , he shouldn't have committed suicide."
"Your Highness..."
The Duke of Forenda waved his hand, signaling his chief guard to stop talking, turned around and looked at the summer palace which had become empty and quiet without the bustling scene of people coming and going in the past, sighed again, withdrew his nostalgic gaze, and looked at his chief guard Said: "Let's go, Rikel, I don't know if I can return to this summer palace built by my ancestors in my lifetime..."
Walking out of the gate of the Summer Palace and stepping on the white steed that was already waiting at the gate, a sound of galloping hooves was heard. A guard arrived on a galloping horse, jumped off the horse and knelt down on one knee in front of the Duke of Flandre's horse: " Your Highness, Master Noori refused to lead the Mountain Army to retreat to the Principality of Handra. He asked me to tell His Highness that in the hills and mountains of Petrona, the army of the Kingdom of Antinac could not do anything to the Mountain Army. He said that he had made up his mind Continue to resist and guerrilla in the hills and mountains of Petrona, let all the people of the principality know that His Highness has not given up on them, and the legions of the principality are still resisting the enemy's invasion... "
The Duke of Forendo waved his hand as if not surprised, and signaled the guards who came to report to get up: "I don't think it's strange for Noori to have such a temper, forget it, it will be winter in ten days, Second Highness wants to go It is impossible to attack the mountain army stationed in the hills and mountains of Petrona. Even next year, Noori will have enough space for him to deal with, and the mountain army has sufficient armaments and supplies. He is not convinced by the Principality of Handela, so let him go."
"Rickel, are the others gone?" Duke Volendo turned around and asked his chief guard.
"Yes, Your Highness." The head of the guard replied respectfully: "The eldest prince was the first group to escort the supplies with his family and set off seven days ago to guard the First Army. The Three Legions are waiting to join His Highness in Kud Town ahead. Now there are only guards of our brigade left in the city."
"Okay, let's go. By the way, is there a messenger from Belias?"
"No, didn't Master Belias send a messenger yesterday? He said that he could only hold out for two more days at most. The soldiers of the Antinak Kingdom are unstoppable. It was impossible to resist the enemy's attack, and the casualties were heavy. Lord Belias suppressed the soldiers' attempts to flee by adopting the military law of the supervising team and the harsh continuous sitting. That's why he wants you to leave the city of Pedro as soon as possible and go to The Principality of Handra... ”
The Duke of Forendo smiled wryly and shook his head: "Okay, Rikel, let's set off now. I just hope that Belias can come back safe and sound..."
Out of the gate of the castle is the central street of Pedro City, the principality's capital. With the echo of horseshoes, more and more city residents began to gather on both sides of the central street. Now everyone knows that the army of the Antinak Kingdom is about to attack the city. The defensive positions of trenches dug and proudly dug in a month's time could not stop the enemy's attack at all. In the past 20 days, almost every day, there have been letters from urgent envoys asking for help. In order to avoid harming the people of Pedro City, the Duke of Volendo decided to give up sticking to the city and leave for the Principality of Handela.
Some residents gathered on both sides of the street began to wipe their tears. The atmosphere in the crowd was extremely depressing and desolate. More residents just silently watched the figure of the Duke of Florida and his guards leaving...
When approaching the south gate of the city of Pedro, Duke Volendo finally pulled the reins and stopped the mount under him. A fat figure came out from the crowd on the right side of the street, and came to the side of the mount of the Duke of Volendo.
The Duke of Volendo smiled and nodded at the fat man in his fifties: "Marit, my friend, this city will be handed over to you after I leave. I hope you can keep the wealth of the residents of this city Be safe and hope to see you again in the near future."
"Your Highness, I will definitely do my best." The fat man named Marit replied with a bow. He is a businessman, has dealt with the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce, and also visited the Duke of Kenmes. The Duke of Volendo asked him to surrender on behalf of the residents of the city to the army from the Kingdom of Antinac, hoping to maintain military discipline and not harm the residents of Pedro City.
"Marit, two-thirds of the grain reserves are left in the warehouse area behind the Summer Palace, and you can take the army of the Antinac Kingdom to receive them," said the Duke of Flanders.
Marit was taken aback: "His Royal Highness, what are you...?"
The Duke of Forendo smiled wryly and said: "Marit, the Antinac Kingdom's attack force is as high as 300,000 people. If they don't get enough food and grass, they will plunder the farmers of the Principality. With these grain and grass reserves, they It will not cause great harm to the citizens of our principality... "
Marit bowed again: "Thank you, His Royal Highness."
…
At the same time, on the southern outskirts of the capital of the Principality of Falker, the eyes of Grand Duke Fakel were filled with blood red: "The people have already been driven out, why don't you do it, set fire to it, and burn this place to nothingness!" I will never allow that damned Second Highness to enter my city and my palace! Burn, set fire to it!"
The wind helped the fire, and soon the entire city of Falaimersy was engulfed in flames. The tens of thousands of residents who were driven out of the city looked at their burning homes and cried loudly...
Grand Duke Faker turned his horse's head indifferently and ordered: "Let's go to the Principality of Handra. We still have a large army at hand. When we arrive in the Principality of Handra, we will slowly compete with that nasty Second Highness, trying to destroy us It's not that easy for the four principalities in the middle!"
…