Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 447: Unexpected Situations of War

Looking at a box of firearms and ammunition produced by the Kingdom of Hicks stored in the armoury, which was removed and loaded onto a four-wheeler carriage and transported to Rodex Bay City, Colonel Berklin grabbed his head, looked around and quietly moved to Claude's side, lowering his voice and asked:

“General, I don't understand. The entire United Kingdom Army of the Fox Islands does not have more than one regiment and, taken together, less than 60,000 troops. Why would these local administrators in Rodex Bay City dare to buy weapons and equipment for more than 200,000 people? This is a million gold kroner deal. Can they do it, Lord? ”

Claude actually had no idea that these local officials in Rodex Bay City would be so bold that he was just trying to sell some of the weapons and equipment he had captured to the local guard camp in Rodex Bay City to replace some cash.

Anyway, it's all about burning things. It doesn't matter how much you sell, it's mainly about adding a little blockage to the five Hicks Standing Regiments that will come later. Not a single Hicks soldier would feel comfortable seeing the captured Hicks weapons and equipment bought from Claude in the hands of the local guard battalion in Rodex Bay City...

But when local officials in Rodex Bay City heard Claude ask Lieutenant Colonel Lemando, they glanced at him, pulling Lieutenant Colonel Lemando's clothes aside, and after a brief discussion, they gave an unexpected response from Claude.

If Claude really wants to sell the weapons and equipment of the seized Kingdom of Hicks, then how much do they want, and as far as money is not an issue, there is a joint bank in town that can guarantee this arms deal as a loan.

Of course, the loan was not to Claude, but to these local administrators and Lieutenant Colonel Lemando. Claude was surprised by this answer, but after a brain spin, Claude understood what these local administrators were up to, not least to make a fortune, and Kay naturally had five more standing legions that had not arrived in the Hicks Kingdom of the Rodex Bay colony.

Weapons and equipment are always consumables in war, and the Kingdom of Hicks has stockpiled them in this General Logistics Base battalion with enough weapons and ammunition to compensate for their consumption and loss on the battlefield. Perhaps this is the quantity of weapons and ammunition consumed by the entire colonial war, more than 600,000 troops, more than 200,000 men and horses of weapons and equipment consumed, and a third of the loss rate is very normal...

The fact that the General Logistics Base battalion is now being attacked by the Thunder Corps in the Overseas Territories of the Kingdom of Ovieras at night means that all of the weapons and ammunition stockpiled in the Kingdom of Hicks have been seized by the enemy and can be removed from their own warehouse lists.

Then, after the arrival of the next five Standing Regiments of the Kingdom of Hicks in the colony of the Gulf of Rhodes, the Kingdom of Hicks will also have to dispose of such approved weapons and equipment to be lost on the battlefield, which will be transported thousands of miles to the continent of Nubicia, during which time the human, material and financial resources, as well as transportation capacity, will even exceed the original value of this shipment of weapons and equipment...

And that's the idea now with the local administrators in Rodex Bay City, buying the seized stock of arms and ammunition from Claude at a low price, selling it back to the Hicks at a high price after the arrival of the next five Standing Legions of the Hicks, earning a lot of money and doubling the profits.

They have no fear that the Hicks will not pay the bill, and it would be more economical for the Kingdom of Hicks to buy these weapons and equipment back from these local administrators in Rodex Bay City at a higher price than to reproduce them in the Kingdom and ship them back. The first is to save time and money, without the need for the Neptune fleet and the Combined Fleet to travel again in order to transport these weapons and equipment.

The second reason is more difficult to say, and everyone's mind is silent. If the Kingdom of the Sixers does not buy it, then the people of the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands pledge to sell these weapons and equipment all over the continent, and then all the countries of the continent will know the glorious achievements of the Sixers, who will once again be the great joke of another country.

And some small principalities without arms production capacity will certainly be interested in the weapons and equipment of these advanced Hicks kingdoms. For the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands, these weapons and equipment will not be sold, they will only take a little longer to find a buyer.

For both Claude and the local administrators in Rodex Bay City, it was a huge arms deal, worth millions of gold kroner, and a variety of armaments, including guns and ammunition, that could be equipped for over 200,000 people, all sold to these bold local administrators by Claude with a 40-50 discount.

Anyway, for Claude, the weapons and equipment produced by the Kingdom of Hicks are of no use to the direct territorial battlefield, and the sale of real gold and silver accounts is no small complement to the military costs incurred in the direct territorial battlefield. The so-called artillery strikes, the gold tens of thousands of taels, is either a big profit or a huge loss. Claude didn't want the war to be won in the immediate war zone, and he owed a huge military expense, which he earned a little more than two days here.

A local administrator from Rodex Bay City came to Claude, who had met the chief financial officer of Rodex Bay City, aged 54, one of the leaders of the arms deal.

Gold and silver coins shipped from United Bank in the city were handed over by him to the chief of finance of the logistics department of Claude, but now that military materiel, such as weapons and equipment, in the arms warehouse have been transported, Claude should be here to say goodbye.

It is true that this Brampt came to bid farewell to Claude, and the smooth conduct of the arms deal made both sides feel comfortable. Claude's side is thunderous, and these local administrators in Rodex Bay City have no idea, they've bought so much weapons and equipment from Claude's side at a low price, and obviously they can make a lot of money, and all the participants can earn a lot of money, so they know each other, and they don't want to make any cheaper money from Claude's side.

But Brampt was still a little immortal, asking Claude if he could reconsider selling them another batch of the type of throwers and iron pumpkins produced by the Kingdom of Hicks, and even if they were willing to buy them at a high price.

Claude shook his head and rejected this old man's request again. The only items of military materiel produced by the Kingdom of Hicks are firearms and three types of artillery, ammunition bayonets, uniforms, leather boots, kettles, etc. Claude sold only ten throwers and a hundred iron pumpkins to Lieutenant Colonel Lemando to strengthen the defense against the city walls in Rodex Bay City, and the rest of the throwers and iron pumpkins were all loaded in vehicles ready to be taken away.

The United Kingdom of the Fox Islands, while well known for its strong navy, is not advanced in its military industry and produces mostly naval weapons and equipment, with well-developed shipbuilding techniques. When the countries of the Farea continent imitated projectiles, the United Kingdom Department of the Navy had found them to be an advanced weapon for land, sea and sea use, confined only to the backwardness of their military industries, and the production of projectiles was clearly less distant and powerful than that produced by other countries.

Blampt, the chief financial officer of Rodex Bay City, obviously wanted to go further, so he hit the throwers and projectiles produced by the Kingdom of Hicks. If this deal can be reached, his name and credit will be brought to the UK's powerful decision makers. Unfortunately, he went from low to market, then high, and Claude was not motivated and had to go home disappointed.

Colonel Berklin had understood the details of the arms deal, and he looked at the old man who had left Blampot, skipping his lips and spitting on the ground: “Traitor! ”

Claude wondered, “Have you heard anything from Muriel in the last few days? ”

Colonel Berklin replied, "No. ”

Strangely, yesterday, according to logic, a message should have come back, because, according to calculations, the presence of the three divisions of the Hicks on the northern mountain border would have sent at least one division to rescue them after learning of the attack on the General Logistics Base. In the ambush circles of the Muried and Diaved regiments two days before the trip, has the enemy not heard of the call for help, or does it not yet know why the battalion has been attacked?

Claude had something to lose.

“We'll leave after lunch, as planned, and one of your regiments is ahead, with Colonel Jedwalk's four regiments in charge of transporting prisoners and logistics convoys..." Claude said.

Claude was supposed to leave the camp tomorrow morning, and now that the local administrators in Rodex Bay City are so helpful, they've already moved all the arms they traded, Claude decided to evacuate half a day in advance.

“What about the wounded prisoners?” Colonel Berklin asked.

The night raid killed and wounded about 8,000 Hicks and captured more than 20,000 Hicks soldiers. It was only after the capture of the battalion that the prisoners of trial soldiers discovered that not all of the Hicks guards guarding the General Logistics Base were veterans who had been captured for hard labour, a guard of more than 30,000 horses, most of whom were armed from places redeployed from within the Kingdom of the Hicks, and were originally attributed to the territorial guards of the rebel nobles.

In fact, the 300,000 prisoners of Hicks, who were regarded by the kingdom's emerging business nobles as the main labourers in the development of the new occupation, had lost 300,000 after their release, of whom tens of thousands had died and been maimed as a result of labour. So much so that when the Hicks kingdom took over these vengeful captive veterans, the reconfiguration of the five regiments was short of a division.

Machid III then sent the private forces of those aristocratic territories that had surrendered during the internal rebellion to the integrated division. Since these privately armed soldiers, originally belonging to noble territories, consider themselves to be first-class, despise those veterans who have been prisoners, which leads to many contradictions in the barracks, they can only send this division to the General Logistics Base battalion to be guarded and armed, blind and clear, lest they embarrass themselves by fighting on the front lines...

It has to be said that Claude's luck was good. The surprise soldier ran into such a crowd during the night attack. In just over an hour, he defeated this 30,000 guard with minor casualties and captured the entire battalion. If they were guarded by veterans of the hard-working Hicks, the soldiers of the Claude and Thunder Legions would probably face a bitter war and a vicious war, or even several times as many casualties.

In the aftermath of the night raids, more than 6,000 Hicks wounded were healed, and fewer than 2,000 were killed and bombed. The rest of them surrendered early with their hands up, leaving more than 23,000 prisoners intact.

Now Colonel Berklin's asking Hicks what to do with the wounded actually means two things: either let the prisoners, with their hands and feet intact, take the wounded with them on the road, or simply cut their throats off so that they don't have to die alive to suffer. Injured enemy soldiers do not need to spend precious cures to heal, which is a normal idea for soldiers in this day and age.

Claude shook his head, cleaning up the battlefield and disposing of the enemy's wounded, which he could not see himself, but not now: "Pack them all up with a tube of the seized cure and lift them all away from the camp. When we left, we set fire to the General Logistics Base battalion, and as for the wounded, didn't the high-ranking officers of the Hicks still hide in Rodex Bay City? We handed those wounded over to them, and anyway, they were spending a lot of money, and they deserved to spend some money on treatment. ”

At 1: 00 p.m., Lieutenant Colonel Lemando saw the soldiers of the Thunder Corps lift numerous stretchers from the battalion over the walls of the city and place them on a plain more than 500 metres from the battalion. He picked up a single-barreled viewing mirror to see what the soldiers were up to, and found that the stretchers were full of Hicks wounded, and that they were covered with a military blanket.

After these thousands of wounded stretchers were placed in the field, the Thunder Corps soldiers left. Soon, a flame began to erupt in the General Logistics Base camp set up by the Hicks in the distance. Perhaps it was because of the spilling of fire oil, the flames were even made into pieces, the camp was raging, black smoke and green smoke rose, even Lieutenant Colonel Lemando standing on the city wall seemed to feel the fierceness and heat of the fire in the distance...

No wonder they moved those wounded so far away that they were going to set fire to the battalion, which should have been evacuated... Colonel Lemando called a guard battalion soldier: "Go tell the Hicks officers in those towns that the troops of the Overseas Territories of the Kingdom of Orvilas have been evacuated. The battalions were also set ablaze, leaving them with thousands of wounded. They must deal with the wounded as soon as possible, otherwise if the weather is cold or raining at night, the wounded are dead..."

Twenty-three thousand Hicks prisoners were escorted three days before reaching the site of three ambushes by Murray Deutsche's second regiment and Diavid. Poor over 9,000 soldiers of those regiments ambushed in the wilderness for five days and five nights without waiting for enemy reinforcements. This morale is already extremely low, and there are many soldiers who suffer from bowel and stomach disease due to the difference in temperature between day and night and the fact that they eat only dry food and drink cold water for five days and five nights...

“The camp rested for two days before leaving.” Claude ordered no more ambushes, and it was clear that the enemy would no longer send reinforcements for such a long time, and the enemy knew very well that sending reinforcements would kill them, and they were not fools.

But it's really strange, isn't it too unreasonable that the enemy didn't even send reinforcements because they expected an ambush? Anyway, that was their General Logistics Base battalion, stockpiling all their armaments, ammunition, supplies and grass to be depleted on the battlefield, showing no concern after being attacked, and it was normal to send a division to rescue them. It turned out odd that there were no reinforcements.

“Have you received a message from General Albert, Hawk?” Claude had to call the chief of communications and ask.

“No, General.” The chief of communications replied and explained that they were in deep enemy territory and could only send falcon messages from this side to General Albert, who could not send falcon messages.

After all, there are certain communication restrictions on the use of messenger eagles. In their movements, the troops cannot allow the eagles to locate their messenger targets, because the eagles in the sky cannot distinguish whether the troops on the ground are enemy forces or ours, and they can only rely on special flag markings to determine their destination. And the biggest taboo of using these special flag symbols in enemy locations is that the next time a hawk flies over, it will continue to come looking for a flag on the ground, when its own troops will not be able to easily let a messenger hawk fall into the enemy's hands, thus divulging military intelligence...

So now Claude can only send General Albert a hawk message indicating progress on his side, but not on the eastern front and the northern mountain border.

“Then send General Albert another hawk message telling him where we are now setting up our camp, asking him to send someone to tell us about the changes and progress in all aspects of the current fighting.” That's the only way Claude can talk to the chief of communications.

After two days of rest, the morale of the second and third regiments was restored and most of the soldiers who had suffered minor illnesses were rehabilitated. Claude was ready to pull the barracks again back to the northern mountain border and decide whether to attack the Hicks of the three divisions stationed in that border zone.

It is expected that the three-day journey will be dragged down by more than 20,000 prisoners and numerous wagons loaded with supplies, with the possibility of a five-day walk back to the northern mountainous border. Good thing I ran into a messenger from General Albert a day later, and he told Claude two things. First, the Hicks veterans of the three divisions in the northern mountainous border area were supposed to send reinforcements, but just a half-day later sent a quick horse to recruit them back to the battalion.

The other news was about the Eastern Mountain Front, where the Hicks suddenly withdrew, causing General Bitchcline to be very lame, because he had no idea that the Hicks had just given up the first defensive front in their possession so silently. It was not until a day later that the movement of the Hicks was detected and the command forces rose to chase. As a result, the Hicks unfortunately encountered an ambush of troops after the breakdown, and the Nikancas who were chasing the front lost a great deal...

However, the current situation is that General Beechlin has commanded the Rock Regiment to bite the main Hicks force. The current battle is one in which one wants to evacuate the mountains as soon as possible and the other in a very enthusiastic position. It is indissoluble that both sides have killed a group in the eastern frontier mountains...