Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 442 Night Assault and Ambush

The so-called intelligent must have lost something, and now Claude finally understands the true meaning of the old saying. Claude found himself drilling horn tips and pursuing lightweight and maneuverable flexibility in comparison to shotguns equipped in theatre and shotguns equipped by the Kingdom of the Hicks, resulting in shotguns being dropped at half the size of iron pumpkins equipped by the Kingdom of the Hicks and suppressed by iron pumpkins.

Perhaps the Hicks kingdom's heavy-handed catapult-style throwers, coupled with triple weight iron pumpkin throwers, do pose a great deal of trouble for troop trans-shipment and offense. At the same time, it is easy to make bomb throwing crews the most visible targets on the battlefield, suffering targeted enemy casualties and causing significant casualties.

But one hundred and thirty-four metres of throwing distance and more explosive power compensated for those shortcomings, after all, the military's mission was to destroy the enemy, not to preserve its own life on the battlefield. Especially for Ironstone commanders, soldiers' lives are consumables on the battlefield, and nothing more than whether their injuries cost the enemy more.

Claude committed a soft-hearted problem, and fortunately, his soft-hearted was directed at his soldiers, not at his enemies. The theatre was equipped with projectiles that Claude had originally invented and were only seventy metres away. Such projectiles and throwers, while having great concealment, mobility, ease of manoeuvre and other effects on soldiers when attacking, can all be obscured by the disadvantage of a short throwing distance when defending.

Knowing that in defense, soldiers stay in defensive positions without the need for manoeuvrability or anything, the distance thrown is the greatest need, as is the best weapon against projectiles. This has been demonstrated in previous practice exercises organized in the theatre, where defensive projectiles suppress offensive projectile attacks and cause significant damage.

But Claude's stubbornness caused an unnecessary loss to this division of the Rock Corps, when his sisters, Anna and Lady Sonia, were not throwers that had never been tested and had successfully thrown projectiles more than 200 metres away. However, Claude refused to equip his troops with such throwers, arguing that most of them were manipulators and that they were vulnerable to enemy defensive artillery fire during the attack, causing too many casualties.

That's why Claude realized how much mistake he had made when General Beechlin said that these seized Hicks catapult-style throwers had become defensive rifles on the ground. He could have built two different kinds of throwers, one for offense and one for defense, so that the Hicks' thrower and the Iron Pumpkin wouldn't have that much of a crushing advantage on the defensive front.

Claude has always wanted to replace projectiles with projectiles or mortars, knowing that they were invented as grenades. As a result, because there is no way to produce nitroglycerine safely on a large scale to make safe explosives, only to fill black powder, and because the explosive power is not enough to increase the load of black powder, making grenades clumsy and not far to throw, finally, there is no way to create a thrower to throw it 70 meters away...

This is also why Claude does not value bomb throwing and easily sells his production license to representatives of the military industries of the old noble families from the mainland of the kingdom. The advent of this projectile was unexpectedly followed by a vigorous emulation by all the countries of the Farea continent, and the Kingdom of the Hicks caused a great deal of damage to the defensive front with the type of thrower that made Claude obnoxious.

The theatre, on the other hand, is equipped with only half the range of projectiles that cannot be countered and suppressed. As for the projectiles and mortars that Claude had high hopes for, technical reasons prevented the trial from succeeding. Perhaps now equipped with projectiles, the theatre has become one of the shortest and least explosive of all the equipment replicated by the countries of the Farea continent.

Fortunately, General Beechlin did not really blame Claude for this, and no general could fully anticipate the future changes in the enemy. Claude was most pleased to bring the local guard regiment stationed at Castle Monconade to him. Originally, his old men were veterans of the late military service of the Rock Regiment. They were easily integrated into his command, entrenched the entire Eastern Mountain Defense Front and increased the certainty of securing the Second Defense Front.

And Claude brought in the Thunderbolt 113 Battalion and the Thunderbolt 1303 Regiment equipped with the new rifle, so General Bitchklin proposed a plan to rebel against the first defensive front, trying to recapture the defensive front that had fallen into the hands of the enemy. After careful consideration, however, Claude rejected General Bitchcline's counter-attack plan and even allowed General Bitchcline to continue to organize the Nikancha youth behind him to build several more deep defensive fronts.

Claude's reason is simple: like fishing, fish rush to pull the hook and often let the fish escape. At this point, you have to be patient and let the fish swallow deeper to really catch the fish. And now the first defensive front is the bait that has just been swallowed up by the big fish of the three Hicks Standing Army. The immediate counter-attack to reclaim the position is likely to alert their cunning commander-in-chief, who may be de-linked.

General Chicklin's command force is therefore firmly committed to the defensive front and has a deeper intention to abandon it after inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy. That's why General Claude kept building several more defensive fronts deep, leaving the enemy exhausted without giving up hope, always believing that one more effort would succeed, but not knowing he was in a trap step by step.

Claude is ready for Lead to strike and, as planned before the war, the slope is inserted behind the enemy, disrupting the enemy's logistics corridor. If possible, he could surround these three standing legions of Hicks veterans in the mountains, let them play out their food and be prisoners again, and play their own light and heat for the construction of public facilities in the theatre...

Although General Beechlin was persuaded to do as he planned, it was not until Claude led the Thunderbolt 131 battalion deep into the enemy that it became apparent that the big fish of the Hicks was not so easy to hook. The battlefield was planning this strategic plan when it came to eating a standing army of enemies, but now Claude realizes that the strategic plan does not seem to be achievable. No other reason is that you arranged a table of wine and ended up with three tables of guests...

More than a dozen Nikancha camps set up by General Bichklin still exist in the frontier mountainous areas of the northern coastal mountains. As a result of the lessons learned from the collapse of the Nikancha battalions in those defensive positions in the eastern frontier mountains, the Rock Corps sent a squadron of army soldiers to the Nikancha battalions, whose main purpose was to train the Nikanchas to counter-throw bombs.

Claude detoured from the northern frontier of the mountains back to the eastern mountains, and the officers in charge of the Nikanca camp who were stationed reported that the Hicks had not carried out a far-reaching assault in the northern coastal mountains, although many more Hicks reconnaissance teams had been in place for some time. The Nikancha camps stationed in the frontier mountainous areas are currently dominated by reconnaissance teams against the Hicks, with some casualties on both sides.

It was only after entering the eastern frontier mountains that Claude discovered that there were Hicks observation outposts, many of which were guarded by Hicks squadrons in the high mountains. Claude could not have done more to infiltrate these Hicks' small squads if it had not been for the Thunderbolt 131 battalion, which had undergone some special training, had been heavily combated and equipped with new rifles.

Claude likewise ordered Battalion Thunder 131 to disperse and sweep the Hicks' small unit reconnaissance team and those guard posts on the hill. Since it is not possible to dive undetectable to the enemy, simply blow the snake with a big banner and scare the enemy, not knowing how many troops have arrived on his side. Only by beating the enemy in pain and fear will the enemy be able to automatically retract its troops and give up enough mountain space to move around...

Obviously, the Hicks also perceived that an enemy force had infiltrated behind them, which was an inevitable option in the area of direct jurisdiction. That was how the Hicks' five standing legions were cut off from logistical supplies by the Rangers and burned down all their stockpiles of armaments and grass stored at Wickham Castle, eventually leading to nearly 300,000 hungry troops laying down their weapons and entering the captivity camps and embarking on hard labour.

Looks like the immediate battlefield has been manipulated again, and the Hicks are well prepared, and they estimate that only one or two battalions of troops from the immediate battlefield should have infiltrated the eastern frontier mountains, so they sent two regiments to clean up the spoilers. What they did not expect, however, was the strength of the Thunderbolt 131 battalion after equipping it with a new rifle. Both regiments failed without even seeing the face of the enemy, with less than a tenth of the survivors.

Claude commanded Battalion Thunder 113 to launch a night attack and an ambush on the two cleared enemies entering the mountains. This is a great show for the Thunder Legion. Needless to say, a projectile that does not need to be ignited by a fire rope was thrown into the enemy's camp like a rain spot, and a new type of rifle was fired like a fall leaf. Any enemy soldier who ignited a fire rope in preparation for a counterattack would be the most obvious target in the night and would soon be shot.

The enemies of this regiment also wanted to wait for the support of the rear friendly forces, but under the thunderous blow they could not persist. The most painful thing was that they could hardly spot where the enemy was, because they could not see the brightness of the kinds of fire ropes that lit up like the fire of the stars, which was the basis for the anti-night attack, so they could not fight back.

The regiment's Hicks veterans only heard gunshots and bursts of projectiles, and their comrades, one by one, were knocked down and completely collapsed after only an hour and a half of resistance. Only less than one battalion of Hicks veterans escaped from their hellish camp and fell into the dark night and the mountains until the sun dawned before they waited for reinforcements to follow.

Fewer than 100 minor casualties occurred among the officers and soldiers of the 131th Battalion attacking Thunderbolt at night, mainly as a result of the shotguns fired by veteran Hicks and light field artillery carried by the battalion. Blind cats always run into dead rats. Although the gunners and crew members were shot in the first place, there were also several soldiers of the unlucky Legion of Thunder who were caught too close to the enemy's camp...

Claude did not intend to let the soldiers of Thunderbolt Battalion 131 enter the battalion to search for spoils of war and heal the wounded of his enemies after crushing the Hicks' camp. Instead, he led Thunderbolt Battalion to the rear of the camp, once again laying an ambush on the hillside of a valley. Claude ordered the entire crew to rest until all the exposed traces had been cleared after all the soldiers had completed their own wartime shelters.

The leader of the main Hicks field regiment, who finally arrived at dawn, ran into a broken army fleeing the battalion, and after learning from these frightened deserters that the regiment had collapsed after night raids in the camp, the captain of the pioneer battalion was timid and afraid to move on. If a major field regiment is crushed in the camp and only so few escape, then his battalion rushes to deliver food.

After a delay of more than two hours, he finally waited at the regiment headquarters and told them about the deserters that the commander had spoken out loudly and that the captain of the pioneer camp had been accused of being a member of the army of the Hicks Kingdom. Simply put, since the enemy used a night attack, which showed that his actual strength was not much stronger than that of the main field regiment that had been attacked at night, it was with such a despicable tactic of war as a night attack. If, as those deserters say, there are at least two or three regiments or even a division of troops, then a strong offense is perfectly possible...

It was clearly the main field regiment that carelessly and carelessly failed to be prepared at night before being emptied by vulnerable enemies. If the Pioneer Battalion were to rush to the rescue immediately, it might catch the tails of those who attacked the enemy at night. Normally, when a battle is won like this, the commander of the unit lets his soldiers search the battlefield and the dead bodies of his enemies for loot. The Pioneer Battalion would have rushed by then and might have given a fatal blow to these loosened enemies.

The more exasperated commander of the regiment, the more he dismissed the cowardly battalion commander on the spot, then ordered the entire regiment to expedite to the camp where the friendly army was stationed after the night attack. The commander ruled that after such a long time, the enemy of the night attack should have cleared the battlefield and left the camp. So it will be safe for them to make the journey and reflect his eagerness to rescue the friendly army. Whatever the assessment after the war, at least his performance is impeccable.

So the main Hicks field regiment also went into the ambush circle set up by Claude, and that's how the tragedy happened. At the time of the ambush, the leader of the main Hicks field regiment also wanted to struggle to death, as he found that the enemy's ambush circles were 100 metres away and ordered his forces to strike back on the ground. But then the captain was shot like a fire, and several bullet holes appeared...

Under the repeated suppression of the new rifle, all Hicks veterans felt intensive gunfire on all sides, knowing that the enemy's strength was not weaker than its own. They just can't fight back. A brave veteran, whether loaded or ready to aim, will attract enemy bullets, and a slight straight start will occupy a glorious battle death spot.

The gunfire seemed endless, and the larger the ambushed Hicks veterans, the stronger the ambush. They feel that the enemy alone is a regiment of troops and it is simply impossible to fire so many gunshots, because it takes time to load the gun once, but at this time the enemy's gunshots are still so dense...

On the ground, behind the rocks, those experienced Hicks veterans beneath the bodies could only bear the shooting of the enemy silently, believing that there would always be a pause in the enemy's gunfire.

And indeed, in the eyes of the officers and soldiers of Thunder Battalion 131, they have almost all emptied six or seven five-bullet magazines, and the whole regiment of 1,300 people have fired nearly 40,000 bullets, and in the battlefield, more than 5,000 people and a regiment of Hicks veterans have fallen to the ground, and no living Hicks can stand or sit there...

The gunfire finally came to a halt, and the officers and soldiers of the 131th Battalion found that there were no shooting targets, nor were they able to continue shooting at the bodies on the ground, and the cheers began to sound. Claude, however, ordered the soldiers to remain vigilant while moving the bomb squad forward and bombing three more rounds instead of ordering the soldiers to go straight down to the battlefield.

Claude's caution prevented the Thunderbolt Troops from causing a senseless injury. When the projectiles exploded on the battlefield, the Thunderbolt Troop Troop discovered in astonishment that countless people had jumped in the Hicks' body pile. These Hicks veterans, risking the bullets fired by the immediately reacting Thunderbolt Troop Troop Troop, fled to the rear like a wind, nearly a thousand people, despite the casualties, eventually two or three hundred others were lucky enough to escape the siege...

Claude was also helpless, and the new rifles behaved in the battlefield at the ruling level, although the most heavily trained officers and soldiers of the Thunderbolt 113 battalion still wasted too much ammunition. Just like the two or three hundred Hicks veterans who finally escaped the ambush circle, if they weren't on their own, would have been able to round them up and fight a perfect annihilation war...

Looking at the dead and wounded wolves and the battlefield bleeding into the river, Claude finally gave the order: "Go clean up the battlefield...”