Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 467 Thunder Strike

Perhaps for the Hicks, the floating stack bridge in Fishing Harbor Town was the backdrop of their confrontation with the Legion of Thunder outside Langhu City. As long as there is that floating stack bridge, both the subsequent reinforcements and the replenishment of armaments will be delivered far and wide. So when they learned that the fishing port town had been burned down and the floating stack bridge burned down, the Hicks in the camp outside Langhu City began to riot, and everyone knew they had lost their way back.

Nearly 100,000 of these Hicks have been burned to the ground and have lost their threat to the immediate territorial war zone. In particular, their senior officers and command did not know what to think and wanted to withdraw to Mormary territory. Claude later questioned several high-ranking prisoners to find out why the Hicks wanted to retreat from Mormary and build a floating bridge from the coastal sandy beach to the deep sea to find a way out for the 890,000 trapped horses.

One of the two local guard regiments under Mormary was deployed to fight in the eastern frontier mountains under General Bitchclin. Another received an urgent transfer from Claude to Port Cobichous, under the direct authority of Tyrsim, to assist in the city's defense. There is no longer a single defensive army in Mormari territory, and the Hicks successfully occupied the entire territory by sending only two light field regiments, perhaps that is why the Hicks decided to withdraw the entire army to Mormari territory.

Claude could only grieve for the nearly 100,000 Hicks, and if he was the Hicks' front-line commander-in-chief, there was only one option: to withdraw troops to the fishing port town and rebuild a floating stack bridge to allow troops to escape. Moreover, the fishing port town is much closer than the coastal town under Mormary's direct administration. Even if it is burned to white ground, there are mountainous forests surrounding the village, and it is possible to build a temporary floating bridge.

However, senior Hicks officers decided to withdraw to the coastal town of Mormary, where a floating bridge was erected on the beach, without regard for reality and blind command. Simply put, when the Thunder Corps arrived in Lake Lang City, the Hicks had no further possibility of leaving the camp, and the whirring Light Rider of Thunder Corps had taken ownership of the entire battlefield.

Especially at night, for the Hicks in the camp, the Legion of Thunder has become a nightmare for almost every Hicks officer and soldier. They attacked the camp in all directions, bombarded the camp with projectiles, and the Hicks were tired of putting out fire and resisting, so they didn't let the Thunder Legion break the camp. Many Hicks officers and soldiers have not slept in peace since the Thunder Corps arrived in Lake Lan City, and two black orbits have become their most visible symbols.

As for the light cavalry of the Royal Cavalier Reserve Corps, it was killed by the Thunder Corps, and even during the day, it was impossible to leave the barracks outside the bouncing range. Countless light cavalry troops sent out for reconnaissance were the object of ambushes by the Legion of Thunder as soon as they left the camp. A crisp gunshot meant that a Hicks light cavalry was planted on horseback.

If Claude hadn't discovered that the Hicks were wary, attacking the camp would have caused more casualties among the soldiers of the Thunder Legion, and he would have broken through the Hicks camp. Now that the war is in its own hands and rhythm, Claude doesn't mind letting these Hicks breathe for a while longer, until their food morale is exhausted and the battle is over from time to time, making it easier and less costly.

So after McJackie and Browick led the 131st Battalion and the Wolftooth Squadron in captivity and returned to life, Claude ordered the release of a few officer captives and the news that they had been cut off from behind the Hicks in the camp to speed up the desperate hearts and minds of those Hicks, and to see what those Hicks who stood firm in the camp would do. There is only one way to stay in the camp, but leaving the camp will bring more fighters to the Legion of Thunder...

Claude did not expect that the Hicks in the camp would decide to evacuate to Mormary territory, perhaps the towns they occupied gave the Hicks a false sense of security and thought it was their territory. Perhaps because of the availability of adequate grain supplies in Mormari territory, on the third day of the news that the fishing port town had been burned to white space, the Hicks pulled out their entire army and retreated to Mormari territory.

Tens of thousands of people are endless, and the Hicks, the 780,000 men who guarded the camp, were very loud when they left. As pioneers in the road, the remaining five light cavalry regiments broke through the peripheral ambush line set up by the Legion of Thunder in spite of the casualties, leaving behind the bodies of nearly a thousand horses and opening the way to Mormari's direct command for subsequent infantry units. The Hicks' Light Cavalry then turned their heads, escorting them on both wings of the evacuation force, and engaging in a deadly fight with the Light Cavalry troops who came to reinforce the Thunder Legion...

Claude was almost shocked when he learned of reports that the Hicks had withdrawn their entire army to Mormary territory, and he couldn't think of any reason why the Hicks had done so. Because it takes seven days on foot from a camp outside Langhu to Mormary, and the Thunder Corps is the Light Rider Corps, how are the Hicks prepared to resist a round of attacks and attacks by the Light Riders during the seven days and seven nights?

Claude ordered that the direction of the Hicks should no longer be blocked, but that the remaining light cavalry unit of the Royal Cavalier Reserve Corps should be addressed first, reducing the unnecessary hassle of subsequent attacks. The previous two days, the Hicks' evacuation forces were also more rules-based, with divisions as their unit, the first division half-day's walk to build simple defensive positions on site, digging trenches to build artillery barracks, guarding light cavalry covered on both sides, and succeeding the evacuated troops as defenders behind the palace.

The same was true the following day, when the first division to leave stopped building the defensive front half a day later, which, while delaying the withdrawal, would preserve the majority of the troops withdrawn, which was also common military knowledge in the countries of the Farea continent. At the same time, in the ranks of the evacuated infantry units, all are outside the vehicle and the troops travel there in case of an enemy raid...

Claude watched for two days and soon decided on tactics. First, the first and second divisions of the Thunder Legion were separated, and the Hicks' evacuation troops were harassed and attacked at night on a rotational basis. Secondly, the ordered forces, in battalions, attacked only on the outskirts, using projectiles and infantry light field artillery for long-range attacks, and lured the pursued enemy into the quadrant of ambushes to annihilate the pursuers. And using the wide-ranging transfer and long-range marching capabilities of light cavalry, a full-scale attack on the entire Hicks evacuation force...

Less than three days later, the Hicks faced the collapse of the entire army. While the majority of the Royal Cavalier Reserve Corps was still there, it was fairly normal for the troops to be withdrawn. After all, the lightweight cavalry of the Thunder Corps was stopped by the Hicks when they came to attack the harassment. But with fewer and fewer light cavalry in the Royal Cavalier Reserve Corps and almost one regiment remaining, the senior Hicks commanders had been forced to send them to their deaths, resulting in the withdrawal of infantry units that were constantly attacked day and night and were constantly non-existent.

Just wanting to have some hot soup while eating, the enemy came and threw a few bullets or a few solid bullets into the crowd, and when taking the lives of a few unlucky ghosts, they often made the whole queue jump with chicken dogs. Easily the enemy's light cavalry evacuated and turned around to see if the hot soup was gone. It was either poured or stained with blood or dirt. I couldn't even drink it...

Just after closing their eyes at night, where the explosion sounded again, enemy night assault troops circled around the position, hoping for a good night's sleep and some hot food. Less than three days later, every Hicks soldier still marching on the road was shaking and numb. Even the lightweight cavalry of the Thunder Corps came back to attack, hoping to be shot dead by a single shot, was better than this sleepless rush to suffer.

On the sixth day Claude gave the order of the general attack, and the Hicks infantry unit behind him had lost its resolve to resist. He stood still and watched the lightweight cavalry of the Thunder Legion jump towards the team. Even the Hicks soldiers who wanted to resist were slow to react, as if they were stumped to death by the enemy. When the lightweight cavalry of the Thunder Corps shouted that it would not kill them, more Hicks soldiers threw guns in their hands like relievers and fell asleep, for them the war was finally over.

Not all Hicks are, and the Hicks force in the Chinese Army is supposed to be the most energetic, bringing together the high command and elite guard forces of the Hicks, who were evacuated at the centre of all forces and were the least attacked and harassed. So when the Hicks reacted fastest after the Thunder Regiment launched the main offensive, they dropped all their heavy supplies, collected a large number of horses, assembled the remaining light cavalry, left those infantry behind to stop them, and then made their way to Mormary's direct territorial boundaries.

Light cavalry units of the Legion of Thunder gathered most of the Hicks captives and followed them all the way back, but they still couldn't catch up. The Hicks, who fled to Mormari territory, retrieved their guards as soon as they arrived in a town, and eventually retreated to the coastal town of Bobia, Mormari territory, where they were caught up by the lightweight cavalry of the Legion of Thunder. The Hicks had to close their doors in the town of Bobia, when all of their forces had been put together by more than 10,000 men.

The town of Bobia, though coastal, is not a harbour terrain like the town of the fishing harbour, it is 500 meters from the sea, a beautiful brown sandy beach, kilometers from the light sea to the deep sea. The battleships of the Kingdom of Hicks' fleet of kings roam the deep sea, and they can see the flag of the Kingdom of Hicks dancing over the town of Bobia and the fireworks that warn them of the need for help, but there is nothing they can do.

One of the first light cavalry battalions the Legion of Thunder arrived at had besieged the entire town of Bobia, and they were only responsible for monitoring the movement of the Hicks in the town, avoiding giving them time to build any floating bridges on the beach, while at the same time sending troops to burn the small fishing boats of the inhabitants of the town on the beach, depriving the besieged Hicks of the opportunity to abandon their senior officers and flee the ship...

Though the force is ten times larger than the Light Cavalry Battalion of the Thunder Legion outside the town, the Hicks who occupy the town of Bobbia are not out of town fighting minds. The flight had already consumed too much energy, and most high-ranking Hicks officers who had entered the town had eaten something and found a place to sleep backwards, placing only a few troops on defensive alert lines on the outskirts of the town.

The next day, a group of Thunder Regiment light cavalry arrived in the town of Bobia, when the high-ranking Hicks officers, who had recovered their energy, had broken their wings and stood on the walls of the town, watching the Kingdom of Hicks battleship at sea crying for nothing more desperate than the scene in front of them. Hundreds of meters from the town to the beach have become the place for them to escape. Light cavalry of the Thunder Legion set up ambush positions here and will be the target of their shooting whenever they want to go to the beach...

When General Albert led two Light Mounted Field Regiments of the Second Division of the Thunder Legion to the town of Bobia, the besieged Hicks no longer had any hope of escaping their birthdays, and after two days of negotiations, senior officers and command of the Kingdom of Hicks obtained the commitment of General Albert to allow their families to come and redeem them, they simply ordered the troops to lay down their weapons and surrender with white flags.

Then, under the watchful eye of three Six Kingdoms warships at sea, the Six Kingdoms flag fell over the town of Bobia, and the flag of the Kingdom of Auvellas and the flag of the Overseas Territories battlefield slowly rose...

The recovery of the town of Bobia means that the immediate war zone wiped out three standing regiments of the Kingdom of Hicks deep inside the war zone, crushing the strategy of the Hicks to strike back and forth. At the same time, however, the war has caused very heavy losses in the immediate war zone, with 30,000 casualties, nearly 10,000 of them among the inhabitants killed and injured by the Hicks. Property losses are in the order of 20 million gold kroner. The city of Langhu needs to be rebuilt, as well as fishing port towns, and the damage to residents and looted property of those injured by the Hicks need to be pensioned and compensated in battle zones.

Nearly 200,000 Hicks landed in the fishing port town, killing and injuring nearly half of the three Standing Army Regiments, while only about 80,000 were captured. But it's not surprising, because there's a second legion of shame, a legion of captured veterans, almost entirely overthrown. In the battle against Lan Lake City, their casualties exceeded 40,000. On the way out, it was the veterans who resisted most resolutely. They would rather die than be prisoners...

Claude finally unraveled his mystery and questioned the surrendered Hicks senior officers before realizing that Clario, who had succeeded the previous General Commander of the Front Line, When Marquis de Chirios arrived in the colony of the Gulf of Rodex, he was dissatisfied with the water and soil, and after having drawn up a plan to land in the fishing port town, he threw up and was sent back to the kingdom, not knowing if he could be saved.

Senior officers of the three Standing Legions implementing the plan received orders from Machid III to completely destroy Lake Lang, the administrative centre of the theatre and theatre headquarters, in order to vent the anger of the failure of the previous four colonial wars. Also, according to the traditional rules of warfare in the countries of the Farea continent, taking down an enemy king means winning the war, and Langhu City is quite the kings of the direct jurisdiction, so the Hicks will die in the heart of Langhu City...

But this victory does not mean the end of this colonial war, and the kingdom of Hicks' naval fleet and joint fleet are still roaming the waters of the zone of direct jurisdiction. The colony of the Gulf of Rodex also has four standing legions of the Kingdom of Hicks, and Claude's Legion of Thunder can now only remain in Mormary and Amphiston, the two ruling regimes, to maintain order and clean up the mess. The next step is to rearrange the defensive armaments along the coasts of the respective jurisdictions in order to prevent another Hicks landing attack...

When Claude was busy, it was the end of the year, and the year 593 of the Holy Lights was about to pass, but the arrival of the New Year's Eve was not much to celebrate, and the ruined city of Lake Lan showed the cruelty of war and post-war trauma. In a hawk message from General Bitchklin, the Hicks, after receiving reports of the demise of all three standing regiments landing in the fishing port town deep inside the war zone, stopped moving forward, but instead stepped down to strengthen the defenses of the forward hills and turned them into guards...