I Will Be The Crowned King

Outside Eagle Point City, the headquarters of the Imperial Guard Corps.

When the offensive on the southern front completely collapsed and the right-wing artillery base raised the King Clovis flag again, the entire command fell into a strange silence.

All the officers had pale faces, and they looked at each other in despair, hoping to get a little bit different, but what they saw was themselves with another face.

Louis Bernard leaned on his saber and stood motionless, unaware that he was supported by Freya's petite body on his shoulders.

Lose, lose yourself.

The 5,000 defenders of the road were completely wiped out by Thun's cavalry and skirmishers, the 8,000 troops attacking the southern city wall were besieged from front and back, the central army was fully covered by the artillery of Eagle Point City, and the command system completely collapsed... Without reinforcements, the distance It is only a matter of time before it is wiped out.

So can you send reinforcements yourself?

The Eastern Front Army had already been entangled by the Southern Army, and could only draw a reserve force of less than 2,000 people, and had to be harassed by Thun cavalry and skirmishers; even if they could be driven away, they had to be captured before rescue. The right-wing artillery base recaptured by the Thun...or die.

With two thousand soldiers, it is absolutely impossible to retake the artillery base in a short period of time.

The rest of the troops were only the 5,000 reservists who were sent to garrison the eastern front, and the 2,000 reservists who were responsible for the security of the headquarters—or 1,500, because too many messengers were sent, plus The adventure of trying to retake the fort by himself lost part of it when he was harassed by the Thun cavalry.

Even if he now sends messengers to force the Iser elf army on the southern front to break through the siege, they would not be able to receive their orders accurately at all when they were taken away from the headquarters.

The so-called "breakthrough" will almost inevitably turn into a collapse across the board.

Watching their meticulously trained army smashed in one round of the Thun cavalry charge; watching them be outflanked by Thun and the Clovis people, interspersed, one company by one company was annihilated, into pieces. Falling down like an ear of rice run over by a wheel...

Louis, who was in a trance, was breathing rapidly, as if he was unaware of everything around him.

The current situation can't be more obvious... The eight thousand Iser elves on the southern front, along with the five thousand soldiers in the path, are destined to be annihilated.

And once the position was completely occupied, 18,000 Thun soldiers would turn their spearheads and defeat the 12,000 Iser elves who were fighting the Clovis on the eastern front.

At the same time, their vanguard, skirmishers and cavalry will cooperate with the artillery of Eagle Point City to attack the positions of the Guard Corps stationed in the east.

Either completely block the retreat, or force the Janissaries to flee eastward.

And no matter which one, the Guard Corps that was besieging Eagle Point City a few hours ago has now become the target of siege... And this time, there will be no more "Prince Guard Corps" to save him. .

This battle of Eagle Horn City was his own defeat, and it was a complete fiasco.

Where did you lose?

Is it too confident in capturing Eagle Horn City, or too trusting that the Principality of Thun will not betray the Iser Elf? Is it because these noble elf nobles are unwilling to obey their orders completely, or is it because they are too embarrassing for them from the beginning?

Maybe... it's because from the beginning, he didn't have the ability of a brother, nor the charm enough to conquer everyone?

Louis Bernard sighed deeply.

"The troops fighting on the Eastern Front are ordered to immediately stop the attack and prepare to withdraw." Louis said calmly: "Let the artillery position make another round in ten minutes to cover the retreat of the front line; and then order the 5,000 reserve troops stationed in the position to prepare for the response. preparations to stop the pursuers of Thun and the Clovis."

"Sir, let's rush again!" An officer dressed as an imperial knight roared anxiously, his eyes full of unwillingness:

"We still have 5,000 reserve troops and artillery shells! I am willing to lead the army to regain the artillery base on the right flank and open the passage for the troops on the southern front. Let's try it again!"

"It's useless, Eagle Point City has not stopped shelling until now, which proves that their shells and artillery reserves are extremely abundant - those 5,000 soldiers are the last reserve soldiers, I can't let them fill the cannon fodder, let alone let them change. live target."

Louis shook his head and rejected the officer's proposal: "And once the Clovis seizes the opportunity and sends an infantry regiment to take the opportunity to capture the position and intercept our back road, the Guard Corps... will really be completely surrounded here. already."

"Then you can't give up so easily!"

The imperial knights still disagreed, and had good reasons: "In the current state of the Janissaries, the Clovis will definitely bite their tails and chase them all the way to the plains in Iser—that's not losing the eagle. The corner city is so simple, but a large area has to fall!"

"Because of this, we must reorganize the Guards as soon as possible, stop losses as soon as possible before the casualties further increase, and retain more troops." Louis looked at the gnashing imperial knights, and his calm eyes seemed to penetrate the heart:

"To be honest, I want to stay and fight the Clovis people to the death no less than you, or I should be higher than you; but defeat is defeat, and there is no point in denying the facts."

"There is not much time left for us! If we don't gather all the remaining troops as soon as possible and withdraw from the battle as soon as possible, it will be meaningless except for more soldiers to sacrifice their lives. In addition..."

Louis Bernard paused, then took a deep breath: "When this battle is over, I will dismiss the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guard to His Majesty."

"But until then, I'm still your commander, so the knights... carry out the orders your commander gave you!"

The imperial knight's face was startled, and Freya, who was beside him, was even paler and covered her cheeks.

Louis said no more.

Intensive gunfire continued to sound over the battlefield. After repeated tug-of-war, the Southern Legion, who realized that the Janissary Army had stopped attacking, immediately launched a counter-offensive, but was soon beaten by the Iser elf who stood firm. went back.

But this small victory did not turn the tide of the battle... As the Clovis transported twelve-pounder cannons to the right flank, the Thun army began to move eastward, and the Iser elves still in position could lose at any time. The same fate as the Southern Front comrades.

at this time…

"grown ups!"

The imperial knight spoke suddenly, and pointed to the southern battlefield with a panicked expression: "A small group of Clovis troops is trying to break through the battlefield and interspersed with the east front!"

Sure enough... Louis exhaled and said slowly: "Let the five thousand defenders in the artillery position be prepared - there is our only retreat, and we must defend it no matter what!"

"No, they are indeed interspersed eastward, but... not in the direction of our artillery positions!"

"Um?!"

…………

The Guard Corps, the Eastern Front battlefield.

On the battlefield densely covered with gunpowder smoke, the blood-colored unicorn flag wrapped in billowing smoke and dust crossed the eastern front line that was fighting without warning, turned a 90-degree arc from south to east, and suddenly entered the forbidden area. Inside the Guard Corps.

The commander of the eastern front of the Iser Elf Army, who was in a cold sweat, did not wait for Louis Bernard's order, and immediately mobilized the reserve troops and some of the front-line troops that had not yet fought, and opened the defense line behind the position to stop this army that appeared out of nowhere. coming enemy.

"The whole army is in place - form a formation in three columns to block the enemy!"

The elf knight raised his saber and shouted loudly behind him:

"Proud Isel elves sheltered by the Ring of Order, bet your life and honor for the Guard Corps, and never allow the enemy to pass through our lines of defense!"

"For Iser's glory—!!"

Accompanied by neat slogans, nearly a thousand elven line infantry quickly formed a formation, staring at the Clovis people who were rushing towards them with almost fanatical eyes, and began to reload ammunition skillfully.

Because it was on the back line of the battlefield, that is, the flat ground in the center of the two armies' positions faced the high ground, the first thing I saw was the Clovis flag fluttering in the wind.

"The whole army is in place, ready to shoot!"

"boom-!!"

White gunpowder smoke exploded up and down the hillside almost at the same time, and several figures in the front row on both sides of the line fell to the ground in response to the gunfire.

But the neat salvo failed to organize the enemy's charge... The Clovis people who crossed the hillside carried their rifles and rushed down the hillside, the neat but loose formation was astonishing.

It was clearly a shocking column, but the front was almost as wide as the three-column line of the Iser Elf!

The elf knight held his breath, the line of infantry behind him continued to shoot, and the neat firepower was densely and uninterruptedly projected, hoping to suppress the offensive momentum of the opposing Clovis in this way.

In his understanding, facing the salvo blocking of the line, an army has only two ways to deal with it: either to face the rapidly increasing number of casualties, and to charge desperately; Slow down the speed of advancement.

These Clovis people are eager to cross the battlefield and attack the flanks of the Eastern Front Army; so most of them will choose the first option.

Then he realized he was wrong.

"Bang-! Boom! Boom!"

The sparse gunshots rang out in the queue of the Clovis, and the deadly lead bullets rushed out of the gun barrels with the gush of gunpowder, and screamed into the line array of the Iser elves.

Almost at the same time, screams sounded one after another; although it did not immediately affect the morale of the troops, it obviously caused a little confusion in the originally neat firepower.

It was not until the messenger behind him fell that the elven knights noticed the sudden figures in the loose formation—while the front row still maintained the momentum of the charge, these Clovis people tended to crouch suddenly in the interval between their own volleys, and then Shooting without warning.

And almost as soon as the gun rang, a certain soldier was destined to fall down screaming; under the harassment of these soldiers, the Clovis army, who was clearly charging, was not as powerful as himself, but he suffered more casualties!

Before he could figure out what was going on, the Clovis soldiers holding the unicorn flag had already rammed head-on, picked up their rifles with bayonets, and roared and pulled the trigger.

"boom-!!"

At the moment when the gun flames spewed, the roaring Clovis and the elves stepped on the robes that were screaming and fell, and collided like waves hitting a reef.

The two sides fought on the open and flat ground. The Clovis people, who had always maintained a column offensive, madly attacked the thin line of the Iser elves, pushing them out of the position under their feet little by little; The elves who were desperately trying to maintain the front misunderstood that what was in front of them was actually a group of cavalry.

"Stay on the ground and don't retreat!"

Accompanied by the screams and screams of the soldiers on both sides, the elf knight desperately blocked the saber stabbing his throat, kicked the Clovis who came up to him, and raised his hand towards his eyebrows with a shot:

"We are the Guard Corps, the pride of King Iser, we... will never retreat!"

"Never step back—!!"

The cheers to cheer up the army followed, and the proud elf knight snorted in disdain, and raised his revolver at the enemy who rushed forward.

"boom!"

The screams and gunshots sounded at the same time, but it was not the Clovis who fell, but the proud Iser elf.

The frightened elf knight suddenly turned his head to look to the right, his pupils suddenly shrank.

The Clovis soldiers who had shot him coldly on the hillside had moved to the right side of his line of defense without realizing it, either crouching or lying on the ground, firing on the flanks of the line without interruption.

With the blessing of Borne and Leopold rifles, the Clovis skirmishers not only did not need to get up to reload, but also had an amazing rate of fire. The casualties of the Iser elves in the battle increased rapidly, and there were five flanks in the blink of an eye. Sixty soldiers were killed or wounded.

But that's not even the most important thing... Almost as soon as the skirmishers on the right opened fire, the elven knight had heard the exclamation from the left, followed by a neat salvo.

Another force of the Clovis had also moved to his left.

They are surrounded!

The hot-blooded elf knights instantly calmed down—they had flat ground under their feet, but undulating slopes all around them; once surrounded, he and his troops would not be able to escape, let alone blocking the enemy!

Elf Knight: "...Retreat!"

Without any hesitation, before the left flank was completely encircled, the Iser elves resolutely chose to retreat, and some companies even changed from retreating to rout, running to the east front in panic.

But to the surprise of the elf knights, the Clovis did not pursue them, but fired a few shots at them in a deterrent manner, then regrouped and continued to march eastward.

But if it wasn't to attack the troops on the Eastern Front, what exactly were these Clovis people planning to do?

Artillery positions?

The elf knight looked at the rapidly advancing Clovis flag with a bewildered expression.

No, wait.

He, they should not be...

"Stop, stop moving!"

The elf knight who suddenly understood, shouted nervously:

"The whole army turns back and catches up with the Clovis army. Be sure to stop them! They..."

"Their target is Her Royal Highness!!"