Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 445: The Spectator of Night Warfare

As captain of the local guard battalion in Rodex Bay City, Lieutenant Colonel Lemando was pleased with his position. This is a really good place to retire, beautiful scenery and lovely climate. He even intends to write to his relatives to relocate them from their homeland to set up a farm or something to make the family a place of fame and fame in the colony.

Lieutenant Colonel Lemando is 43 years old and has served 25 years of dedicated service in the fleet of the Goddess of Verona in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. From a small trainee sailor to a major naval officer in the kingdom, he became the captain of the ocean carrier Fathead Fish. It has been a remarkable achievement for a naval officer of civilian origin. In his hometown, a small fishing village, Mr. Lemando has become a legend.

However, Mr. Lemando was unlucky and had to be discharged from the Navy after his left wrist had been amputated in a small-scale battle against a pirate attack two years ago. The United Kingdom Navy Department of the Fox Islands, in an effort to appease the long-suffering Navy Major, transferred him to the local guard force and appointed Mr. Lemando to the position of battalion commander of the local guard battalion in Rodex Bay City, where he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the Army.

Only Lieutenant Colonel Lemando did not understand why the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands was involved in this colonial war between the Kingdom of Hicks and the Kingdom of Ovilas. The Kingdom of Hicks is a regional dominant power in the northern part of the Farea continent, and the Kingdom of Ovieras is a regional power in the eastern part of the continent. Even if the kingdom of Ovieras has been deposed and dismayed by a five-year war in the eastern part of the country, it is not an easy country for the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands to offend.

Perhaps you can only blame the Golden Glow of the Kingdom of Hicks' Kingshield on the fact that the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands has set a precedent for leasing the entire colony. Good thing it says in the lease agreement, except for Rodex Bay City, which is not under the jurisdiction of the Hicks, otherwise Lieutenant Colonel Lemando, the commander of the local guard battalion, will be unemployed for less than a year.

Because the leasing of colonies was a precedent, Lieutenant Colonel Lemando, like other local administrators, had to deal with the Hicks every day. Although Rodex Bay City still falls under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands, most of the city's inhabitants live outside the city, inevitably intersecting with the soldiers of the Kingdom of Hicks. There are endless disputes between the two sides over chicken and garlic, and local administrators are exhausted to mediate these conflicts...

And Lieutenant Colonel Lemando's errand was much simpler, and he was only responsible for policing the city and protecting Rodex Bay City. Even if the Hicks get drunk in town, all he has to do is throw these drunk uniforms in the wagon and send them back to base camp. In his opinion, these Hicks are very nice men, surrounded by money. Since their arrival, the wind and moon in Rodex Bay City has become much more lively, and prices have risen.

It is still a normal evening for Lieutenant Colonel Lemando. He was used to visiting the walls before he fell asleep, a habit he had developed on his warships. In the uncertain ocean, the captain's night patrols will shake the spirit of the night guards and refrain from paralyzing carelessness, while also bringing courage and confidence to the night guards in the face of this endless night at sea.

At about the time of the patrol, Lieutenant Colonel Lemando was about to walk down the city wall, and suddenly he heard gunshots. The noise was not loud. Which Hicks soldier should have drunk the guns and gone off, something like this had happened several times before. Lieutenant Colonel Lemando looked at the Hicks' General Logistics Base camp in the distance, and then he stood there...

The sound of gunfire and explosions in the general logistics base camp of the Hicks, where the lights of the bonfire had always been ablaze, made it clear that successive servants had fallen on the ground and fled in panic. Outside the camp in the dark wilderness, countless shadows appear to be approaching the camp, with gunshots, explosions, cries and screams coming from across the camp.

Lieutenant Colonel Lemando was surprised that the assailants' raids had gone unmanned. Through the campfire at the main entrance of the camp, you can see an orthodontic figure rushing into the camp, shooting on one knee or stabbing a runaway with a shiny bayonet. The Hicks in the camp, however, did not seem to have organized an effective counterattack, but saw gunshots and explosions quickly coming from the outside towards the deep end of the camp.

Night attack! I can't believe I saw a real night attack... Lieutenant Colonel Lemando's body trembling on the city wall, it's not fear, it's excitement, nothing is more shocking than witnessing a real battle, it's not a drill, there's a real war going on in the camp, countless lives are passing away, blood is flowing on the ground...

“Colonel, me, what do we do? Yes, are they attacked too?” A shaky voice awakened Lieutenant Colonel Lemando.

“Quick! Close the gate! No one shall be allowed into the city, no one shall be allowed out!” Colonel Lemando shouted, "The city is about to light more bonfires, no firewood? Then hurry up and collect it! Place more of our Fox Islands UK flag so people can see it all under the city! Why, fool, I'm protecting everyone's lives, remember we're neutral, not on any side of this war! Hurry up!”

At the urging of Lieutenant Colonel Lemando, the soldiers of the local guard regiment on the wall for less than an hour had arranged everything, and immediately after all the soldiers of the local guard battalion resting in the barracks were woken up, hurried up to the wall with guns and prepared all kinds of defensive artillery on the wall, finally calming Colonel Lemando's mind.

I wonder if these local guard battalions against pirate attacks can withstand the attacks of those night attackers... Colonel Lemando is thinking about this life-and-death issue in his mind. At this time, apart from crying and screaming, only occasional gunshots and explosions were heard in the battalion 2,000 metres away. Obviously, the Hicks' General Logistics Base battalion had been captured by the attackers and should now be at the end of the day...

That was quick, it took just over an hour to capture such a large camp, and there was a Hicks division of the guard... Colonel Lemando had to marvel at the power of the night raiders, is that the troops of the so-called Overseas Territories of the Kingdom of Orvilas? Didn't they say they had only two local second-line regiments? If the battle power of the two second-line local regiments in the Kingdom of Auvellas were so strong, it would be really hard to tell who won this colonial war between the Hicks and Auvellas kingdoms.

Lt. Col. Lemando, not that he had never seen a Hicks regiment, was not worth mentioning in his eyes. The logistics chiefs and senior officers of the regiment are all vulgar and corrupt generations who are even enriching themselves with this colonial war by scratching their own backpacks. Don't think Lieutenant Colonel Lemando doesn't know that all they spend every night in the city is public money, but he also happens to increase the cost in nominal terms so that they can reap a profit from it.

Sometimes Lieutenant Colonel Lemando thought that the city's inhabitants had already offered excessively high prices for the goods sold to the Hicks. But what he didn't expect was that the Hicks in charge of procurement went even further, doubling or tripling the purchase price as a rebate, and the result was that a sheep sold a cow's price...

Even with all the contempt in his heart for the senior officers of the Hicks kingdom, Lieutenant Colonel Lemando had to admire the strength of those Hicks veterans. In his view, the soldiers of the Hicks kingdom were the best, but older and less talkative. But they obeyed orders, and the tactical training exercises were perfect, and in any country such soldiers could be called elite soldiers...

So Lt. Col. Lemando believed that no matter how incompetent the high-ranking Hicks officers were, such a strong and elite soldier could still easily win the colonial war. After all, the Kingdom of Hicks has prepared ten standing legions, more than 600,000 armies, which are powerful enough to destroy some small kingdoms and principalities on the Farea continent.

But the night attack that I witnessed with my own eyes brought Colonel Lemando to light that the news of the frustration of the Front Line Battle revealed the other day by senior Hicks officers at the banquet was true, not that they were making falsehoods and covering up the truth, and that the forces in that Overseas Territory of the Kingdom of Orvilas were stronger than the Hicks...

A noisy quarrel came from behind.

“What's going on?” Lieutenant Colonel Lemando turned a little angry to discover that a large group of high-ranking Hicks officers who were looking for joy in the city had not known where they had been attacked at their General Logistics Base battalion and came to the walls to see if they had been deceived and joked. Several drunk high-ranking officers continued to yell at the soldiers of the local guard battalion to open the gates and try to get out of town to go back to the battalion for a look.

“Take off their uniforms and put them on the walls.” Lieutenant Colonel Lemando thought that he felt that his side was still working with the Hicks and that it would be better to give them a face and put them on the walls, but not put them in the uniform of the Kingdom of Hicks.

“Lemando! What's that supposed to mean?” A high-ranking Hicks officer who knew Lemando had been stripped of his uniform before releasing him to the city wall, he was so angry that even Lieutenant Colonel Lemando's rank was no longer named, it was actually very rude and insulting that it could even lead to a duel between life and death.

But Colonel Lemando didn't compare to them, he just gauged him with a pitiful look: "I'm saving your lives, you idiot! Your enemies have captured your General Logistics Base battalion, and if you still stand on the walls of the city in the uniforms of the Kingdom of Hicks, I assure you that those who attack the battalion will turn their heads and attack our city pool. Do you think we in Rodex Bay City, a place of fewer than a thousand men, can resist their attacks? ”

The high-ranking officers of the Hicks kingdom who climbed the walls of the city were silent and greedy, but they were not foolish, they all knew Lieutenant Colonel Lemando was telling the truth, they just looked up in the direction of the battalion, and some of them were carrying single-barreled telescopes.

“Did I, our battalion, really get attacked?” A fat Hicks head of logistics asked with a trembling voice. The battalion now appears to be calm, only occasionally shooting once, and the explosion is gone, although there are still cries and screams coming. The fire in the camp was brighter as well, unlike the old rules, several tents were supposed to burn, but nobody seemed to care and nobody went to fight the fire...

The distance of more than 2,000 metres, even though the fire in the camp was bright, was still poorly visible in single-barrel telescopes. Many people come and go at the main entrance of the battalion, and high-ranking Hicks officers who stand on the walls of the city almost stick single binoculars in their eyes, or can't see what military uniforms they're wearing on their shadows.

“Yes, those attackers took your camp in just over an hour.” Lieutenant Colonel Lemando's words left all the high-ranking Hicks officers standing on the walls freezing. They knew exactly what the loss of the General Logistics Base battalion would do to this colonial war, and they couldn't even describe the past with McKid III...

There was a sudden noise in the wasteland in front of the walls, and it sounded like a lot of people were coming towards the gates of the walls. Lieutenant Colonel Lemando gave the first order: "Everyone is ready to put out the fire rope and do not fire. Be careful with the artillery on the wall. Don't light the artillery! ”

In the darkness, a large group of people rushed into the light of the city walls. Colonel Lemando only discovered that a large group of Hicks had broken through, apparently escaping from the battalion. Running upside down, losing armor like a wolf, some without a hat, some with an untidy uniform, some with a bare foot, more with empty hands and no weapons at all. Running to the door of the city wall, the one with a big mouthful of tongue breathed in, his body also relaxed, and a little bit of strength has cried on it, open the door to them, let them into the city...

“Ignore them, and don't open the city!” Lieutenant Colonel Lemando gave a grudgingly hateful order.

A high-ranking Hicks officer jumped over and grabbed Colonel Lemando's collar: “Why didn't they let them into town and they escaped? We need to get the enemy's information from their mouths and tell them to open the gates! ”

The soldiers at the local guard battalion next to them were shocked, either lighting the flaming rope again and pointing the gun at senior Hicks officers on the city wall, or holding the senior officer who had captured Lieutenant Colonel Lemando with a bayonet: "Let go! Let go of me now! Back off! ”

Lieutenant Colonel Lemando waved his left hand calmly, his left palm was gone and there was only one big iron hook, indicating that his soldiers were not nervous.

“Do you know what it means to put these soldiers in front of the walls? That means that our local guard battalion in Rodex Bay City has stood with your kingdom of Hicks and has become an enemy to your enemy. And we, the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands, have made a statement that we are neutral in this colonial war between you and the Kingdom of Ovilas and that we will not intervene or interfere in it. If the enemy doesn't invade Rodex Bay City, we can't shoot back or provoke the enemy..."

Lieutenant Colonel Lemando pointed with the iron hook of his left hand at the deserters of Hicks who were crying out beneath the walls of the city: "If I let them into the city, I will say that I stand by your side and shelter the collapsed soldiers of these battalions. Your enemies are perfectly capable of attacking the Gulf City of Rodex in good faith, and we in the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands cannot accuse them of violating our commitment to neutrality first.

If I satisfy your request, it means putting the entire city of Rodex Bay at risk, and once the attackers attacking your battalion attack the city, it will not only be these crushers, but even you will die in battle or become captives. And I will also be the biggest sinner in our United Kingdom, because my entire inhabitant of the Kingdom of Rodex Bay City is in the hands of your enemies, trampled, plundered and murdered... "

The high-ranking Hicks officer who grabbed Lieutenant Colonel Lemando's collar releases his hand powerlessly and sits paralyzed on the floor, his hands covering his face and crying. Senior Hicks officers on the walls know that Lieutenant Colonel Lemando is right that they have nothing to do with this massive breakdown under the walls, leaving them to cry and mourn under the walls.

A little more than that, the masses of broken soldiers under the walls have gone from crying to shouting and biting hate curses, but the guards on the walls remain indifferent and have no intention of letting them in at all.

“Recruit, let Colonel Berklin gather the deserters. The officer in charge of the local guard battalion in Rodex Bay City was wise not to open the gates and let these crushers enter the city. If we can't find a reason to attack the city, let them go.” Claude said faintly.

“But, General, those high-ranking Hicks officers are in the city, and we just let them go?” Muried said somewhat unwillingly next to him.

“So what? The United Kingdom of the Fox Islands has long declared itself neutral in this colonial war, and it is only a business to lease colonies to the Kingdom of Hicks. We fought with the Hicks in their colonies, and they wouldn't care, but our unwarranted attack on their city of Rodex Bay meant declaring war on them, and the Hicks would be happy to die, and they couldn't help but have one more of our enemies...

Although the United Kingdom Army in the Fox Islands is not worth mentioning, their naval fleet is indeed strong and can easily add trouble to the seaports and coastal areas of our direct area of operations. We don't need to add a powerful maritime enemy to ourselves at this time, and let the senior officers of the Hicks kingdom stay in the city and escape the fate of our captives. So what, such incompetent senior officers, I am the Buddha Hicks kingdom as many as possible... "

Now that Claude has made his decision. Muried stopped persuading him, and arranged for a subpoena to notify Colonel Berklin, who was ambushed in front of the city wall.

Watching the silent and sudden appearance of the Thunder Legion soldiers in the dark, they surrounded the large group of cursing Hicks crusaders in front of the city gate and took them away despite their plea. Lieutenant Colonel Lemando on the wall felt cold on his back and reached out to find that his clothes had been wet with cold sweat...