Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 385 Changes in Position

Cromwell Direct, Wickham Castle.

Wickham Castle has once again become a major construction site, with more than 50,000 surrendered officers and soldiers of the Toffed Standing Army of the former Kingdom of Hicks becoming diligent labourers, playing their part in the light and heat of building a new Wickham Castle with countless sweats and tears of blood.

There is only one reason why they work so hard, is that Major General Claude of the Kingdom, the Supreme Commander of the Overseas Departments War Zone in the mainland of Nubicia in the Kingdom of Orvilas. Baron Emeritus Han Field does not consider it appropriate to follow the firm wall clearing strategy developed by Marshal Michel in the present circumstances.

As the Nikantha rioted in the hinterland colonies of the Kingdom of Six and continued to occupy slightly more and more territory, the Thunder Division must have a good launch base near the colonial county of Port Vibato in the Kingdom of Six to facilitate its role as a response to the Nikantha riots in the war against colonial riots in the Kingdom of Six. So Claude also chose Wickham Castle as his new location for the Thunder Division.

In Claude's plan, the completion of the construction of Castle Wickham will also drive the more than 50,000 prisoners to continue the construction of four solid castles in the Cromwell and Beringana territories, forming an improved logistical supply route from Castle Wickham to the Dolinibara River and strengthening control over the Cromwell and Beringana territories, while laying a solid foundation for future economic development and town-building in the two territories following the truce and peace.

While busy building, Claude also forgot to go out and sweep the Port Vibato Colony County. From Castle Wickham to beneath the walls of Port Wibateau, this vast area has become a crossroads for the Light Riders of the Thunder Division. The situation in the Hicks kingdom on the Nubian mainland is very bad, they can only hold on to the point of Port Vibato. The hillsides along the northern coast of the Port Vibato colonial county have become occupied by the Nikans, and the road traffic from the vast inland colonies to Port Vibato has been cut off by the Thunder Division...

Claude has not returned to the town of Lake Lan for nearly eight months, from July 589, when the Holy Light struck the Alberto Plains under the direct authority of Bailingana, to March, when the Holy Light was now five hundred and ninety years old. He has been sitting on the front line of the town, and all the business of the rear battlefield command can only be communicated and negotiated through the Eagle Message.

Three months after the end of the third colonial war, in which the Thunder Division took the initiative to attack and exterminate the three main regiments of the Hicks kingdom, prompted Claude to decide to lead the guards back to Battle District Command in Lake Lan.

Major General Bolonik, the head of the Rock First Division responsible for the Dolinibara River Defense Line, deliberately crossed the river to greet Claude, the two hugged each other, and then returned to the pontoon bridge, to Major General Bolonik's camp, where Claude took a bath, went to the wind and dust all the way, changed his new uniform and then accepted General Bolonik's hospitality.

General Bolognick's banquet was very rich, but neither General Claude nor General Bolognick thought to enjoy the food, and the grass filled his stomach and began to exchange information in private. It took three months for a definitive reply to be received from the Royal Army Ministry after the Third Colonial War newspaper had been published. Minus the one-month journey, the Royal Army Department wasted more than two months responding to this shortcut, which was incredibly slow.

Nevertheless, the message General Bolognick knew came from the Mining and Commerce Association, which had offices in the King and was better informed. After receiving the information, it was sent by hawk mail to White Deer City. Messengers boarded the ship and arrived in Tyrsim, which was then sent by hawk mail to the headquarters of the Mining and Commerce Association under Amphiston. With the exception of the half-month journey across the sea, the news actually went from Wang Du to the headquarters of the association, which took less than twenty days in total.

“The Royal Army Department agreed to subordinate the Rock Third Division of Allen to the Thunder Division Corps, but not to the Thunder Second Division Corps, but to the Thunder Division Corps. You have been promoted to Lieutenant General of the Kingdom in recognition of your efforts to exterminate the three main regiments of the Kingdom of Hicks. And because you annihilated the two volunteer regiments of the Kingdom of Nasseri and the Principality of Kanas, your title of honor also rose to the next level and was declared the Viscount of Honor of the Kingdom. ”

General Bolonik shouted: "You did a good job of wiping out the two main armies of our kingdom's dead enemies. It was only this time that the kingdom's reward was so stingy that you were promoted to the first rank and the first title of honor, and Allen was only remembered once. According to the news, the restructured Legion of Thunder is headed by you, and Alan is the Legion's Chief of General Staff.

These are the good news. The bad news is that you have been removed from the post of Chief Commander of the theatre. Like us, you have become Deputy Commander of the theatre, temporarily acting as Chief Commander of the theatre, waiting for the Kingdom to send a new Chief Commander of the theatre before handing over. According to information the Association has uncovered, the new commander in chief of the battlefield is the former commander of the National Guard Corps, Admiral of the Kingdom, Algers. Count Kay Osmorin, hereditary, will bring a regiment of guards... "

Claude frowned. Is this another slap on a sweet date from the Royal Army? Promoting Lieutenant General and Viscount Emeritus into Legion Leader of the Legion of Thunder would have been a reward for yourself. General Bolognick was right. The reward was too little to say. After all, he was the two main regiments that annihilated two of the kingdom's dead enemy countries.

Although the Kingdom of Nasseri and the Principality of Kanas unanimously assert that the two volunteer regiments employed by the Kingdom of Hicks were formed by retired soldiers from both countries, they had little to do with the two countries. But it is clear to all concerned that this is only an excuse, that the so-called voluntary corps are the main standing corps of the two countries and that their fighting power is not comparable to that of the mercenaries.

In the Second Colonial War, when General Michelchi had not yet been promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Kingdom, he commanded the Rangers to destroy the five standing regiments of the Kingdom of Hicks. Upon receiving an order from the Royal Ministry of the Army to attack the port of Vibator, he found that the Voluntary Light Rider Regiment of the Principality of Kanas was stationed on the border of the two colonies, and General Michelchi immediately called a halt to the attack because he was not sure that he would defeat the Voluntary Light Rider Regiment by a Rangers Regiment, but eventually General Michelchi became the Royal Marshal by virtue of the total victory of the two colonies.

Five years of Eastern Wars have taught the Royal Ovillas Army the strength of the two main legions of dead enemy countries, so the two volunteer regiments employed by the Hicks have become the heart of the Overseas Territories battlefield. Now that Claude has wiped out the two employing volunteer regiments at the cost of nearly half of the Thunder Division's casualties, it should be no more than General Michel's credit for wiping out the five Hicks Kingdom Standing Regiments. But the Kingdom only promoted Claude to the first rank and the first honorary title. No wonder even General Bolognick reported that Claude was unhappy and thought that the Kingdom's reward was too modest this time.

More surprisingly, Claude was also dismissed from the post of Commander-in-Chief of the theatre, more like an insult to a kingdom general without making any mistakes in his work. And his superiors were a hereditary count of an old aristocratic family in the kingdom, the former head of the Guardian Corps, Algers. Admiral Kay Osmoring, this makes Claude feel strange at the same time as he's lost, when is it exodus that the highest ranking commander of the Royal Army like this would be sent to an overseas colonial war zone?

“You know this, Algers. Where did Admiral Kay Osborne come from?” Claude asked General Bolognick.

General Bolonik shook his head: “I am a civilian officer, and I was only a small major officer in the five years of the Eastern War, and I had nothing to do with a senior kingdom general like the Commander of the Guardianship Corps. But I have heard of him, who commanded the most intense, brutal, casualty and hardest offensive by the SS in the Principality of Rimodra. He is said to be the most skilled commander of the kingdom in offensive positions, whether fortifications or castles, under his command is invincible. The only downside is that every victory of his sergeant is very heavy. It is common practice for a battalion and a regiment to be cancelled due to all casualties...

The only thing I can be sure of when I hear from you is that your position as the highest commander of the battlefield has been revoked, not because of your mistakes, but because of the position that will be set aside for this new kingdom. Otherwise, subordinating a hereditary Earl to your kingdom, the Viscount of Honor, would put the army of the kingdom and the old nobleman's family in a great shame. So the Royal Army Department very easily approved the integration plan you submitted, and even went a step further, and directly converted the Thunder Division into the Thunder Corps, so that the Rock III Division of President Allen and the Thunder Division could be merged into one, and placed under your control, which is also a relief to you. ”

This explanation makes perfect sense, and while it is unclear why a senior general of a kingdom, such as the hereditary Count, would come to serve in the Overseas Territories war zone, it would indeed be embarrassing for him to accept the command of Claude. Whoever is called Claude, no matter his rank and title, is one side lower than the Admiral of this kingdom, the Heritage Count, so he has to give up this chair under his ass...

“I have some concerns..." Claude said: "The annihilation of two volunteer corps and one standing corps was at the end of last year, more than three months ago. Our current battle in Port Vibato Colony County remains the same as before, the remaining standing army of the enemy guards Port Vibato, refuses to leave the city halfway, all supplies are transported by fleet, outside the city to the 1,000 miles of Castle Vikham, for our Light Riding Patrol Squad of the Thunder Division, it is simply unmanned and in our hands.

It has been so long, I think, that the Kingdom of Hicks should have known about their failure in the colonies and what strategy they had to respond to. It's just that we're in the Nubian continent, and we don't know what the next step is for the Hicks kingdom. And now we have the information that the mining and commerce association has been investigating from the King, Algers. Does the fact that Admiral Kay Osmorin will assume the post of Supreme Commander of the theatre, while also bringing in the strength of a corps of bodyguards, mean that the Royal Army has received any information specifically to reinforce the theatre in response to the next major offensive by the Kingdom of the Hicks? ”

General Bolognick also expressed his seriousness: “It may well be that you destroyed the three main regiments of the Hicks Kingdom this time, only to defend the port of Vibato, a seaport city, and to disconnect it from the hinterland colonies. For the honorable Kingdom of Hicks, it was three slaps in the face by you, counting three colonial wars that we've wiped out ten main legions of standing men.

Even if those two employing volunteer corps were not the men and women of their kingdoms, maintaining them would cost a lot, plus eight more standing corps, which would not be able to withstand such battlefield depletion, even if the Kingdom of Hicks had a great deal of national merit. In particular, every time it magnifies its story, it is beaten in the face by us, and three colonial wars have been defeated, which has become a joke for the countries around the Farea continent.

If the Kingdom of Hicks fails to recover its face in the next colonial war to win, perhaps it will have to fall back from the position of dominant power in the northern part of the Farea continent. At the very least, it can no longer suppress the ambitions of the small States around it, which it is the chief of, and perhaps there will be a regional war in the northern part of the Farea continent, where even the Kingdom of Hicks has the potential to be divided and annexed by other States.

I also doubt that the next step in the Kingdom of Hicks is likely to be a major operation on the continent of Nubian, and that the Royal Ministry of the Army is likely to receive this information before sending a general of the Kingdom to serve as the commander in chief of the theatre, while also bringing in the strength of a regiment of guards to strengthen our theatre in order to fight the Kingdom of Hicks offshore... "

According to a message from the Mining and Commerce Association, the Algers... Admiral Kay Osmoring has led a regiment of bodyguards aboard the White Deer City, and if you have a safe journey, you will be landed under Tyrsim in another ten and a half days, then it will take you more than a half months to reach the battlefield headquarters in Lake Lane Town, Amphiston, where Claude will have to take over the post. So Claude was given only a month, and he had to dispose of all the official duties currently accumulated in the theatre before the arrival of the new commander in chief of the theatre, lest the general of the kingdom wipe his ass after taking office.

The banquet ended soon after, Claude rested not well, woke up after only four or five hours of sleep, practiced a meditation technique to cheer up his spirit. After breakfast, he was accompanied by General Bolognick and drove back to Langhu Township Battle District Command in a quick three days.

Claude was pleased that the battlefield headquarters and the head of the logistics department, Major General Scully, were sitting in the town. As Claude's former boss, he was well aware of Claude's temper and proactively handled some of the backlog of trivial business in the war zone, leaving Claude with only one memorandum to look at, which relaxed Claude's fear of being buried in a stack of papers.

However, all matters concerning the Thunder Division were left to Claude, one of which was Colonel Kofisler's report to Bok Al, the head of the Division of Intelligence of theatre headquarters. As a young friend, Bok Al arrived at Claude's house and was sent by Claude to take over the bison mall for an enemy reconnaissance mission to Port Vibato. Bok Al has become an intelligence staff officer in the Thunder Division Command, which is administered by the Intelligence Service of the Sector Command.

Looks like the fat guy did a good job, Claude picked up this thank-you report for Bok Al. The report states that Bok Al has stabilized his heels in the port of Vibato by opening a branch of a bison dealership to investigate the causes of the disappearance of former Nikancha agents. This Claude has long known that all Nikancas have been captured as slaves by the army of the Kingdom of Hicks, and agents are naturally no exception. If Bok Al hadn't gone to Port Wibator to return the news, maybe the battlefield headquarters would have sent Nikantha agents there to continue sending slaves to the Hicks...