Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 279: Withdrawal

“You're lucky.” Claude said.

Major Skerry left the castle with three squadron soldiers to rescue the slaughtered old and weak women and children for three main reasons: to be able to fight the enemy in the village day and night. First, the light cavalry of the Principality of Kanas did not expect the guards who shrunk in the castle to launch an attack. They were annihilated from the outset by a team that varied considerably in strength.

Second, the old lord, what's his name? Count Ba Krillaus is supposed to be a man of conscience who built the village less than a hundred metres from the castle and is likely prepared to upgrade it to a city in the future. So the enemy's light cavalry was unable to use its speed to penetrate between the village and the castle, cutting Major Skerry off their way back. Because of this distance, within the precise range of the target fire of the city wall guard, the enemy, who had lost four or five bodies twice, abandoned the intention.

The last reason is that the old Count Lord was one of the most powerful of the aristocracy in the territory, so as a doorway, the villages under the castle were not as shattered houses and shacks as the rest of the territory. Instead, some planning was carried out, and both sides of the street were fairly neat and well constructed houses.

Major Scully, after rushing into the village, it was under the cover of these houses that they raided the light cavalry, who were committing atrocities, and then engaged in alley warfare with them in the village, using these houses to render the enemy's light mounting raids ineffective, which persisted until now, while also freeing a number of weak and old women and children.

Claude, they saw black smoke in Castle Landers yesterday afternoon, and it was those light cavalry soldiers who found themselves taking Major Scully, and they couldn't help but set fire to the villages' houses and farmland outside. The gunfire was naturally heard between the two sides, while the gunfire was heard by the guards on the walls in response to the rescued old and weak women and children entering the castle firing shotguns blocking both sides of the road from the village to the castle in order to prevent the enemy's light cavalry from raiding the castle at this time.

“Actually, you're taking a real risk this time. The enemy can't break through the castle, but it's no problem to haunt people like you in the village. They can burn down a house until you have nowhere to hide. When you are ready to retreat from the castle, suddenly kill out, gather with you, and you will be abandoned to the city walls to receive your artillery…" Claude looks at the bodies scattered throughout the village, at the light cavalry of the Principality of Kanas, at the soldier battalion of the Rangers and, more importantly, at the beheaded bodies in civilian clothes, these are the old and weak women and children who were slaughtered.

“I know I did get a little impulsive.” Major Skerry laughed bitterly, "but I can't bear the fact that those animals slaughtered old and weak women and children and bullied those women in front of us. You know, these are the people of their own principality. How could they do that? Coupled with those strong pleadings, the soldiers' battle, we are no different from the enemy's forces, how can I bear to hide in the castle as a shrugged turtle..."

Claude would have fought in such a situation, otherwise he would not have been able to lead the soldiers below, especially under conditions of comparable strength, and would have lost his prestige if he had not fought under the title of cowardice. Even after that, he would be held accountable for the massacre of his own people by his enemies, so Major Skerry would have to venture out of the castle with his soldiers.

Fortunately, Major Skerry was sober and did not rush into the village to allow soldiers to strike at the enemy, but took possession of houses on both sides of the street for the first time, using windows and doors to snipe at the enemy's lightweight cavalry on the street, forcing the enemy not to muster forces on the street to launch an attack, while at the same time erecting roadblocks on the street and driving the enemy out of the street with dense rifles.

Nor did the enemy expect the guards in the castle to launch an attack, and they had to withdraw from the village. Light cavalry is not good in villages and can only be a target in alley warfare. Around the empty space behind the village, they were shot by the city wall guard again. If they could not help themselves, they could only get off in the village and Major Scully. They fought over one house and one alley. To be honest, they shot at each other across a distance, but they ate a lot of losses on the weapon. Finally, they simply set the house on fire...

“This is all my fault, and I shouldn't have suggested that the four castles be scattered. If we gather our forces together, there is no way that the enemy will dare to be aggressive in front of us.” Claude was honest and wrong. His four battalions have proven their defensive tactics against each other by stationing four castles, and the enemy can simply ignore those three castles and force the Castle of Count Krillauss here in the barracks.

Claude, on the other hand, if they reinforce their troops, they give the enemy a chance to surround themselves. Most of all, the one battalion of guerrillas in terms of engine power is not comparable to the enemy. This is a flat ground and is where the light cavalry uses its weapons. This time, the enemy is just a large group of light riders, so they make the first battalion of the Rangers so lame. If it is also the strength of a battalion, we are afraid that this time there will be no good results for everyone.

If it were in the mountains, perhaps Claude was right to have such a detachment stationed and the enemy would be hit back by four castles at any point of the attack. But this is the meadow, and the enemy can hold a castle's guard with just a small group of riders. Had it not been for the Claude Night Assault, which wiped out the squad that was watching Landers Castle, the enemy would have been able to assemble a squad of light riders against Claude to reinforce the squad when he deployed to the Rescue Battalion. Even if Claude brought four light infantry artillery, the enemy could have killed and wounded them with all his heart, and the light cavalry would have a very serious consequence if it had been able to break into the infantry's formation.

No wonder Claude, after all, has never attended a military academy in his past life or his entire life. He was only trained at the grassroots level to enlist in the Blue Feather Regiment, and his strategy for guarding four castles, like this detachment, was only to take for granted. If an old officer had more than a decade of experience in the military, he would naturally understand that this defensive programme was an undesirable tactic on the grasslands for troops without manoeuvres.

Major Skerry, who graduated from the Juvenile Military Academy, did not specialize in strategic command, but in administration and management, and later became a close deputy to Prince Hansburg for six years, also responsible for intelligence and personnel information counselling. Although a qualified soldier, the strategic vision is not much better than Claude's. Moreover, because of his guilt towards Claude as battalion manager and his belief that he was no match for Claude in battle command, his advice to Claude was almost entirely obedient and he did not hesitate to adopt Claude's advice.

It wasn't until now that the two men realized that the tactic of stationing the detachment was wrong, so that they still had the opportunity to correct the mistake.

“I don't blame you, and I don't see the mistake.” Major Skerry sighed: “Now that we have really come into contact with the light cavalry of the Principality of Kanas, we realize that the description previously seen in the report is not an exaggerated description of the officers and soldiers below, but that above we are too self-conscious, too simple and stupid to think of the enemy, too powerful to think on our side...”

Claude laughed bitterly: "This battalion of light cavalry sent by the enemy is veteran, elite, and should have been transferred back from the Principality of Rimodra. I can't imagine why the enemy attaches so much importance to this remote area and uses such an elite force to conduct reconnaissance..."

The captain of the fourth battalion arrived, and Claude remembered that he was transferred from the rear, Cordwalk, as if he were a noble son. He came to report casualties.

Old and weak women and children living in villages were slaughtered in half, with more than 460 people remaining, and more than 20 young women were abducted. Major Skerry attacked yesterday afternoon with three squadrons, causing 61 casualties, 43 deaths, two disabilities and the rest minor injuries. It is noteworthy that all but a dozen of the casualties were killed or injured in the melee and all of them were killed or injured in house-to-house shooting with the enemy.

The enemy, on the other hand, left behind 89 bodies, including 27 bodies left behind by shotguns and shooting at Claude when they found him reinforced. In other words, Major Scully, they fought with these light cavalry men all day and night in the village, and the casualty ratio was almost one-on-one. This proves that Claude was right that the enemy of this battalion was ridden by elite veterans.

Fortunately, in the village, there were houses to cover, fighting again in alley warfare. If you encounter this battalion of light cavalry in the wilderness, only Major Scully, who attacked from the castle, they will not be able to return, and fortunately the enemy has only one battalion, and one more battalion, you can imagine the result.

“I wonder why such an elite light cavalry would do so harshly to their own people in the Principality, how they could have slaughtered these old and weak women and children with such indifference..." Major Skerry muttered.

Claude also didn't understand, but the captain of the fourth battalion, Captain Codwalk, answered the question: "Sir, I used to enjoy reading idle books, and once I read a journey about the Principality of Kanas, which contained some interesting chapters. The book says that the Principality of Kanas does not rule by territorial nobility as other nations, but by tribal chiefs. Truly speaking, the Grand Duke of Kanas is only the largest nomadic tribal chief. Only then did he seize the richest northern Gulf region after winning the inter-tribal war and begin to settle for statehood before he became the Principality of Kanas.

After the establishment of the Principality, Grand Duke Kanas introduced a number of policies in neighbouring countries, prepared to reform the Principality, divide territorial nobility and quell the war between nomadic tribes. However, his actions were unanimously opposed by many nomadic tribal leaders who believed that the Kanas prairie was a treasure that God had given to all nomadic tribes and could not be divided. So Grand Duke Kanas couldn't help but divide the area at the foot of the Great Green Mountains where we are now, encapsulate it to the leaders of the tribes willing to settle, and give them the title.

The rest of the nomadic tribes still roam the grasslands for their livelihoods, and there are often small-scale wars between tribes and tribes to compete for grasslands, where the winners plunder young livestock and kill the elderly and the weak, because they believe that old and weak are useless and that living is just a waste of food. So against the old and weak of other tribes, it was very harsh... ”

Perhaps this is the custom between the citizens of Kanas, where Claude and Major Skerry meet face to face, the most barbaric folk custom they have ever heard. Half a day later, Major Scully asked, "What are we going to do? ”

Claude thought about it: "We have to assemble four battalions here and abandon the three manned castles. Count Krillause Castle is large enough to accommodate our entire battalion. However, I think it would be better to send a squadron to defend the entrance to the hillside, which is our way out and our way to rear reinforcements, which must be in our hands.

I've seen the terrain at the entrance of the highway. It's dangerous and the highway is narrow. One infantry squadron plus four light infantry artillery guns is enough to hold off enemy offenders. The only trouble is that it's still in the wilderness, and we need to build defenses, not knowing if the enemy will give us this time. Just guard the entrance to the hill and the castle, so we don't have to worry about even a regiment of enemies.

Another problem is that we need to send away these prisoners and the young men and women and children who have come together, so that they can no longer be left here. If the enemy comes back to life, they will only increase our material consumption, but they will also become a factor of instability in our defense, and the other is very insecure for them to stay here. ”

“Okay, that's it. Major Skerry nodded:" Send a reconnaissance cavalry first to confirm whether the enemy's light cavalry has left. If the enemy has already left, we must hurry, gather our troops and return the supplies of grass and ammunition stored in those three castles. By the way, Claude, which squadron do you think would be better off defending the entrance? ”

“Let Muried, the squadron, do his job safely. He has led a squadron to Blackstone Village alone before, just equip him with four artillery units this time.” Claude thought about it and felt more comfortable giving it to his own dick. If he leads this old soldier, Markie, maybe he'll sneak away when he sees the enemy. As for the 2nd 3rd 4th Battalion, to be honest, Claude doesn't know the new Squadron Leaders below, which is just a familiar face at best.

Soon, the scout cavalry arrived in return, and the enemy had indeed left.

Claude said to Major Scully, "You take everyone back to the castle, give me a squadron, as many carriages as I want. I will leave immediately for the 2nd Battalion and retrieve the personnel and supplies there first...”