Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 345: The Coming of Sisters and Brothers

“You did a great job, unexpectedly for all of us.” General Michelch, the head of the Ranger Corps, greeted Claude with a group of senior officers at the Division Command: "In view of your service to the Kingdom and your supreme responsibility for the Ranger Corps, I hereby announce your promotion to the rank of Colonel. Congratulations, Colonel Claude, from this moment on, you are the youngest Colonel officer in the history of the Kingdom...”

Everyone in the room applauded, and no one questioned Claude's promotion. The battlefield performance of the Battalion and the battle effort it has unleashed in Bering Ghana and Robisto have long been astonishing, not to mention the more than 15,000 prisoners of the Hicks kingdom who are burying their heads on that Claude defensive line. You know, there are only 1,800 people in the 1,311 Range Battalion, and they've captured almost ten times as many prisoners...

General Michelch switched Colonel Claude's shoulder badge for three silver moons on the spot, while telling Claude some good news. The first concerns the Ranger 113 Battalion, where all officers and soldiers are promoted to the first level. The second is the on-site expansion of the Range One Thirty-One battalion into a regiment, which became an independent reinforcement field regiment, officially numbered Range One Thirty-One.

The last piece of good news was personal to Claude, who, because of the outstanding results of his command of the Range One, Three One battalion, General Michelch had, on his own behalf, requested the Crown of Sterling to grant him the title of Lord Claude. Claude should be able to get the Baron's seal if it's no surprise. Of course, the Baron's title is not hereditary, it belongs to Claude himself.

There are three kinds of titles bestowed on the kingdom of Auvellas, the first being hereditary titles, which can be inherited all the time, which is also the hardest to obtain. The Sterling royal family also grants estates according to the size of the title when they seal the hereditary title, and the estate's output is exempt from taxes on the kingdom.

The second kind of title ends with III, which is that it can be passed down to three generations, and then each generation is reduced to none. For example, when your ancestors received the title of Earl, and it was three generations since your grandfather's birth, your father could only become a Viscount, and when he passed it on to you, it was the Baron. Your son's generation of titles is gone, only his national identity, and your grandson is the most miserable, he is a civilian, and he has to work on his own to climb up.

Generally, the winners of the Third Century title will receive a seal from the Kingdom's estate, although the estate is the same as the title and will not have to pay taxes to the Kingdom for less than three generations. But three generations later, all the estate's output was taxed. There is, however, an option to sell the estate back to the Sterling royal family and find another way to secure a large sum of money for their family.

The final title, also known as the title of honor, belongs to individuals and cannot be handed down to future generations, as General Michelchi did in the five years of war in the eastern part of the continent. When a man is in the throne, the man is gone, and the throne is gone. The benefit for the family was the advancement of their status, so that their sons could acquire national status without effort.

The title of honor is not bestowed by any manor, but it is a fine pension. Like Claude, if he could get the Baron title, he would earn an annuity of nearly 100 kilograms a year until his death. Also his wife, Kevin, could be called the Baroness, and Claude's family estate could benefit from tax concessions and relief.

Essentially, hereditary and III titles are rarely granted by the Sterling royal family, except for many successful ministers who received numerous seals at the time of the founding of the Kingdom of Ovilas and after the Battle of the Revival of the Kingdom of Sterling IX. When the kingdom is founded, the enclosed hereditary nobles also need to seal their respective territories, so that in future generations there will be a terrible scourge on the kingdom.

Sterling IX's battle to revive the kingdom eliminated a large number of territorial nobles, strengthened the centralization of the kingdom and reformed the system of title-granting. Sterling IX gave a large number of hereditary titles and III titles to the men who gave credit, mainly to exemplify the reformed title-sealing system, no longer to seal territories, but to seal estates. By Sterling X, few had been granted the hereditary title and the third title.

Claude's deceased father, Mr. Morsan, and his friends had planned a new route by which he wanted to be awarded the title of Kingdom and make the Fields family a member of the three county aristocratic classes in the southwest. Unfortunately, they took the wrong step, which resulted in a tragedy. But Claude has now earned his application for the title of a knight in battle. He was originally a knight, the status of a lord. If not surprisingly, becoming a baron is a matter of stability.

Immediately after General Michelch's promotion of Claude as Colonel, a military conference was convened. Now that the Rangers have all arrived under Amphiston, the first reinforcements have accomplished well. Needless to say, Colonel Sevicht's Ranger 034 regiment has completed most of the construction of the Claude Line of Defense, while integrating local guard armaments under Amphiston.

As for Colonel Bolognick's Ranger 033 regiment, nine integrated local guard regiments have been formed in the three rear governorates of Tyrsim, Arturas and Mormary, all of which have been brought to Amphiston, plus two local guard regiments under Amphiston, sufficient to form a local guard regiment and surplus troops.

At the military conference, General Michelch had decided to use these local guard regiments to form the first field regiment under the Kingdom's direct overseas administration, and had sent a large number of officers from the Rangers' regiment to become an affiliate of the Rangers' regiment to carry out counter-attacks against the invading colonial garrison of the Kingdom of Hicks.

The two goals now before the Rangers are the Pancrat Regiment under Robisto and the Clado Regiment under Bering Ghana. The Command's staff officers engaged in intense debate over which regiment became the first target of the Rangers' regiment, culminating in General Michelch's slate decision to target the Pancrats' regiment.

Claude had some confusion that the Pancrat Corps outperformed the Claudeau Corps in terms of strength, and even the supply of that transport fleet from the Kingdom of the Hicks after the March rainy season was very cheap for the Pancrat Corps. They supplemented the strength of a division, one of which was the Light Cavalry Regiment. The Corps of Carado, on the other hand, replenished only two infantry regiments and had no light cavalry that could be used as a scout.

Persimmons should pick a soft pinch, and Claude thinks they should attack the Claudio Legion first, then fight back against the Pancrat Legion. Obviously, however, General Michelch did not think so, explaining that the purpose of destroying the Pancrats first was to buy time and strengthen the city's fire protection in Port Patres. The arrival of the Ranger Regiment at Amphiston's direct command of the twelve heavy field artillery guns was intended to serve as city artillery cannons in Port Patres.

With these twelve heavy field artillery, the port of Patres will be able to seal off the sea entrances and rivers across the Dolinibara River, and the shipping fleet of the Kingdom of Hicks will no longer be able to provide supplies of armaments through the Dolinibara River to the Krado Regiment under the direct jurisdiction of Bering Ghana. Even if the Krador Regiment learns of the demise of the Pancrat Regiment, they will not be able to cross the Dolinibara River for a while.

Instead, destroy the Carado regiment first, so that the Pancrat regiment that besieged the port of Patres would be prepared, and perhaps inform the convoy to help them evacuate when they perceive a massive attack by the Rangers. Failure to completely destroy the Pancrat regiment will affect General Michelch's subsequent plans to cross the Dolinibara River to recover the rest of the lost ground.

Before attacking the Pancrat Regiment, the 131th Battalion will have to continue to enter the direct administration of Robisto to implement the battlefield shelter plan, which is to set up a blockade line so that the reconnaissance cavalry of the Pancrat Regiment does not detect the imminent arrival of the Grand Troop of the Rangers and Affiliated Regiments, so as to pre-empt the retrenchment of its strength and prepare it for defense, thereby creating an obstacle to the forthcoming attack by the Rangers and increasing the risk of casualties.

This was an easy task for Claude, and even though the Pancrat Corps was reinforced by a new Light Cavalry Corps, the Ranger Battalion's Light Cavalry Battalion maintained a repressive battlefield posture against their reconnaissance cavalry. Enemy dispatched team reconnaissance light rides still have no return, while the light riders attacked by large teams are often lured into the ambush circle by soldiers from the Battalion 113. The end result is that the casualties have fled and returned...

Now that the Pancrats are within 30 miles of each other, there is room for their light cavalry activities, out of which they will encounter the light rides of the 131th Battalion anytime, anywhere. Within a 30-mile radius, the Pancrat Regiment's Reconnaissance Light Ride still has 50 percent certainty that it will be able to flee back to its cantonment camp when it meets the Rangers of the 131st Battalion. Beyond the 30-mile limit, it's really going to die.

All Claude had to do was gradually increase the repression of the Pancrat Regiment Reconnaissance Ride, compressing the 30-mile range to within 10 miles, so that it could effectively cover the Knights Regiment's forces close to the enemy's cantonment sites and then launch raids on the enemy. And when the Pancrats, busy attacking Port Patres, discovered that they had been raided by the Rangers, the end of their defeat was inevitable...

But three days before the Rangers left, Claude had to go back to the camp where the Battalion 113 camp was stationed and tell everyone the good news of the promotion and expansion. The cantonment camp was in Langhu town and Claude returned to the barracks shortly afterwards. But what didn't occur to him was that in the battalion he met two of his relatives, his sister Angelina and his brother Browick.

“What are you doing here? What's going on at home?” Claude asked surprised and doubtful. He held his brother, who had grown into a young man, and touched his sister's hair.

Sister Anna whispered: “Brother Er, have you forgotten the age of Booker? He is 20 years old this year and must go to military service. Mother and sister-in-law say that going to military service is naturally the best way to come to you, so that you can be cared for..."

Claude patted himself on the forehead, and he really forgot this. He was eight years older than his younger brother Browick, who was 28 years old in the New Year, and his younger brother, who was unwittingly twenty years old, had grown into an adult. In fact, his brother Blovik, 18 years old, graduated from the country and reached the age of military service. It was only five years after the war in the eastern part of the country, and the Kingdom did not need urgent conscription for the time being, which could be delayed by one or two years. But by the time I was twenty, I had to go to the military, so my sister came to Claude with her brother.

“Mike, you took Brooke to the check-in.” Claude said.

It was a good thing Claude got an expansion order. Soon after, Blovik became a member of the Rangers One, Three, One regiment. His job was to work as a soldier for Claude, and his rank as a soldier was usually with Claude.

Arranging for relatives of their conscripts to be cared for by themselves as service soldiers and guards is the prerogative and a rule of latency of those senior officers in the Royal Army. Claude doesn't have to do anything about it. In addition, he and his brother Blovik have been separated for a long time and need to get to know and observe what they can do to develop their brother.

McJackie was first instructed to find a place for his sister Anna in Langhu Town, where the women were not allowed to stay. Claude then told his men the good news about the promotion and expansion, and all the officers and soldiers of the 131th Battalion cheered with joy, except for Blovik, who had just joined the army and was overwhelmed.

While promotion and expansion are good news, the Rangers will have to maintain their battalion size until the Pancrats and Krados are eliminated. All ranks will have to remain in their original positions after being promoted to the first level, pending a full break before arrangements for expansion can be made.

At night, Claude and his brother Browick stayed together and had a good conversation, and soon he realized that his brother was also a careless guy. Similar to Claude, his brother Browick graduated first in gymnastics in the White Deer City country, not Claudena and Villicro. Blovik is the undisputed number one physician in the country.

Apart from that, Blowick has nothing to be proud of. Once his literature score collapsed, Wickham's teaching in the country hated Iron and Steel lessons. He said that Claude's gymnastics number one, his literature score can also be in the top ten in class. How can he not compete when his brother's literature score is always swinging in the countdown?

Apart from that, Blovik was also more arrogant in the country, unlike Claude, at least two teenagers, Vikro and Bok Al, who grew up together to play adventures, and then became friends with Ericsson for the opposite purpose. And Blovik is a little hegemonic king in the middle. He doesn't have any friends to know, but he takes in a lot of little brothers...

Also, Claude was with friends when he was out on adventures. Blovik, on the other hand, went on a single-handedly hunting adventure into the mountains and pristine forests, and he had no idea where he was so bold that his mother was worried about him going out day and night. But sister Anna knew very well that her brother Browick, like Claude, had begun learning magic at the age of 16 and was not officially promoted to a first-degree scribe until the age of 18.

As the seven zero-order spells of basic engraving, Browick chose magic hands, precision control, eye detection, decomposition and fusion, which he didn't learn because he didn't like to do any alchemy experiments. The four remaining basic spells he imprinted were magic flying arrows and spiritual shock, as well as Claude's vine entanglement from the Teenage Mage Sheila, and zero-order spells, thorny wreaths, restored from her sister Anna's acquisition of magic jewelry from Claude.

Well, Blovik chose all the fighting spells, and that's how he dared to storm the mountains and pristine forests alone. He said he was famous in White Deer City and was known as the King of Hunts because he had travelled alone to the Khmeda Swamp to hunt three Niros crocodiles, one of which was a little bigger than the one Claude had hunted. The reason is that he heard sister Anna say that the Niros crocodile skin film can be used to make magic scrolls and magic books. If he wants to have his own magic book, he goes hunting the Niros crocodile...