Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 468 Surprise Plan

“... I don't approve of you taking this risk, Claude. We now have the advantage, and we have wiped out three standing legions of the Hicks, including the heaviest Shame First Regiment and the Royal Cavalier Reserve. The remaining four Standing Regiments deployed in the colony of Rodex Bay, besides the Shameful Second Regiment, are overwhelmed by three other Standing Regiments, and we can defeat them in the field of offensive defense..."

General Bolognick persuaded Claude to hang his bladder, General Scully looked at them with concern, and General Albert made a request to replace Claude in this marvellous mission.

In late January 594, according to information received from General Bitchcline on the front line and agents lurking in Rodex Bay City, Claude proposed a plan to surprise Rodex Bay and prepare to lead the first division of the Thunder Legion by waterway to Rodex Bay, beating the Hicks from behind. However, after the plan was put forward, it was strongly opposed by General Bolognick, because the waterway transport was too risky.

Claude, in particular, decided to lead the troops himself, and if a cruise ship in the Kingdom of Hicks detects it, none of the more than 30,000 elites in the first division will escape. Even offshore carriers are a few hundred meters from the coast, but the weather falls into the sea with only one dead end, and even if you can swim, you will be taken away by the cold water...

Now the five giants of the war zone, General Bolognick and Claude, of the five kingdoms under the direct authority of the Kingdom of Orvilas, are lieutenants in the kingdom and rank highest. General Bolognick represents the Commander-in-Chief of the theatre, whose duties have been biased in administrative matters and whose military focus is on the Claude. The three remaining Major Generals, General Skerry, are the logistics chief in the direct territorial theatre, while General Albert and General Bitchcline are both deputies to Claude.

So General Bolognick was categorically opposed to Claude's own adventure, and he didn't want anything to happen to Claude. Just as he led two regiments in Langhu City to resist the attack of the three Hicks Standing Army Regiments, more than 13,000 people were killed or injured and more than 9,000 troops were unable to resist the enemy. But when Claude's Legion of Thunder arrived, close to 100,000 Hicks were wiped out by the Legion of Thunder.

And General Bolognick thinks Claude doesn't have to take that risk at all. Next, pulling the Thunder Corps to that northern coastal mountainous area, even if the casualties are greater, will capture the border camp where the Hicks have only one standing army, then the two standing divisions on the eastern mountainous border, and the prolongation will slowly wipe out all the troops of the Hicks stationed in the colony of the Gulf of Rhodes, for the final victory of this colonial war...

Claude shook his head and laughed, "No, the sooner this colonial war ends, the better it will be for our immediate war zone. I would like to launch this surprise attack in order to buy time so that the Kingdom of Hicks will no longer be able to continue this colonial war. ”

“Can we end this colonial war by defeating the four standing legions of the Kingdom of Hicks in the colony of the Gulf of Rodex, and can the Kingdom of Hicks continue this colonial war after we have destroyed the ten standing legions?” General Albert asked with some surprise.

“It's hard to say...” Claude walked to the wall, pointing out the location of the four Rodex Bay colonies manned by the Standing Army of the Kingdom of Hicks, as marked by the map on the wall: “You see, now that all four regiments are in a state of defense, it shows that the Hicks have a deep understanding of the difference in power between the two sides, and that their 256,000 horses, although dominant in strength, are not our opponents, so they are afraid to continue their offensive.

I suspect that they are now defensively waiting for reinforcements, and the claim by the Kingdom of Hicks to form 10 standing regiments to continue this colonial war does not mean that they have only invested in these 10 standing regiments. Now that their ten standing legions have been wiped out by our theatre, the four remaining legions are no longer rivals in our theatre. In order to reverse the disadvantages of this colonial war, the Kingdom of Hicks is likely to continue to send additional reinforcements...

After the collapse of all three Hicks Standing Army regiments deep inside our theatre landing in the fishing port town, the Kingdom of Hicks' naval fleet and joint fleet also roamed the waters under our direct jurisdiction for more than a month before returning to the Farea continent at the end of last year. However, according to undercover agents in Rodex Bay City, the combined fleet was stationed in Rodex Bay, where sailors and crew were ashore for a new night at the General Logistics Base battalion.

Why the United Fleet did not return to the Kingdom of the Hicks was clearly due to the unexpected development of the situation in this colonial war, which is now also a dilemma for the Hicks. Ten Standing Regiments were annihilated by our theatre. Six were killed, leaving four to defend themselves. Therefore, they can only leave the United Fleet in the Gulf of Rodex, fearing that those four standing regiments will surrender with white flags under attack in our theatre, thus causing the Kingdom of Hicks to lose face.

Without this combined fleet moored in Rodex Bay, our theatre would be perfectly free to slowly clean up the four Hicks Standing Regiments stationed in the colony of Rodex Bay, because they really had nowhere to run and could even force the senior officers of these four Standing Regiments to surrender to us on their own initiative. Just like the senior officers of the three Standing Regiments who surrendered to us in the town of Bobia, as long as we promised them that they could return home with ransom...

But the mooring of this combined fleet in the Gulf of Rodex is tantamount to warfare oversight, forcing the senior officers of those four standing regiments to resist resolutely the offensive launched by our theatre forces. Because they have a way out, and even if the lower ranks die more, these senior officers will still be able to get on board and leave, which will result in even more unnecessary casualties for our offensive forces.

Whether we attack a defensive Hicks camp from the northern mountain border or the eastern mountain border, the enemy can use defensive positions to persevere in layers of resistance and step back. At the end of the day, the remaining troops could either board and leave or wait for reinforcements from the Kingdom of Hicks to continue to prolong the colonial war. Both outcomes have been detrimental to our theatre, so ending this colonial war as soon as possible is the only option in our theatre. ”

General Albert slapped himself on the forehead: “Yes, the Kingdom of Hicks announced the formation of ten standing legions to continue this colonial war, not to mention that the ten standing legions would be over without this colonial war, and it could well continue to form and send ten more standing legions as long as they had this military expense..."

“The logic is that you want to take an unexpected trail of the Hicks by waterway, cut off their hopes of boarding the ship, force the four previous Hicks Standing Army Regiments to lay down their weapons and surrender and reduce the casualties of our theatre troops. That's a good idea, but it's too risky, and I don't recommend you do it yourself.” General Bolognick still shook his head against it, but his attitude was less resolute than before.

“Why don't I take Claude's place?” General Albert is courageous.

Claude shook his head: “I'm not saying you can't, Alan, I'm just worried that I'm not going to go to those bastards and I'm not going to put you in my eyes, I'm going to make up my mind, and that's a bad thing to do. This surprise mission can only be assigned to the first division, as they are all trained in such surprise attacks. And your second division suffered a lot of casualties in the last war, as well as Magic, Blovik, and Berklin, a few of whom were difficult, and I don't go to these bastards to make a mistake. ”

That is true, the first division of the Legion of Thunder is recognized as the first of all troops in the theatre, while arrogance is the first. Except for Claude, it's a question of whether someone else can direct the movement. Although General Albert is the chief of staff of the Legion of Thunder, and he is usually familiar with Berklin, Mac, Muriel, and others, and he has backpacked to the pub for drinks and everything, only Claude's orders will allow the first division's officers and soldiers to obey him at the critical moment.

It is not surprising that each of the five generals in theatre has its own direct unit. Claude is Thundering 1st Division and General Albert is Thundering 2nd Division. General Bolognick is the first division of the rock, and General Bitchklin is the second division of the rock. General Skerry did not have his own unit, but his division was dispersed after General Sevicht was assassinated by the Grey Tower Mage, and General Skerry integrated two of the main field regiments into the immediate unit of the Zone Logistics Department.

This time, General Bolognick led two regiments to defend Langhu City, one of which was General Skerry's guard corps in charge of the theatre's logistics department, which was originally responsible for guarding the various warehouses in the theatre, and was pulled out of the state of emergency on the defensive front line, almost entirely at the end of the war. A regiment of five and a half hundred survived the war, killing General Scully...

This is not the privatization of the immediate units of the five generals, but the legacy of the formation of the five reinforced divisions for the theatre prior to the return of Marshal Michel to the kingdom itself. With the exception of General Scully's immediate units in the Department of Logistics, which are composed of eliminated soldiers, all five reinforced divisions are under the sole responsibility of their division leaders. Like Claude, at the time he was recommended by Marshal Michel as the commander-in-chief of the theatre, but his immediate unit had only one Thunder Division.

Subsequently, an army was formed in theatre, and General Albert joined the Legion of Thunder with his immediate unit, the Rock Third Division, renamed the Second Division of Thunder, to assume the post of Chief of Staff of the Legion. But Claude, as Commander of the Legion, would still have to command the Second Division through General Albert, who, after all, was originally his unit, and Claude would have to respect General Albert's command.

The Rock Corps, originally composed of General Bolognick's Rock Division I and General Sevicht's Rock Division II, was then transformed into a reserve division of the theatre only by General Bitchcline's Rock Division IV. But after General Sevicht's assassination, General Bitchklin became the second division of the Rock Regiment with his reserve regiment. The second division, formerly under General Sevicht, was taken by General Skerry and the remaining troops were disintegrated into the two regiments.

There is no alternative but to do so in times of war. This is an exceptional situation, where only one of his immediate forces is able, as an arm, to obey his own orders, and that is why General Bitchclin is unwilling to accept the troops left behind by General Sevicht.

For example, the 1st division of the Thunder Legion, the most elite divisional reinforcement battalion, Battalion One, Three and One, was led by Claude's brother-in-law, McJackie, and the special preparation of the Wolftooth Squadron was led by Claude's brother, Browick. The heads of the 1301 to 303 regiments were three younger brothers, Berklin, Muriel and Diavid, who had been recruited by Claude, and even the new 1304 regiment leader, Lieutenant Colonel Anders, a former deputy to Claude, were close associates of Claude.

So Claude offered to send Thundering's first division to carry out this marvellous waterway transport mission straight to Rodex Bay, and he had to do it himself. Having General Albert in command is really worried about the bastards below selling General Albert's face. What scared them the most was that they ended up turning good things into bad things to fight for, and then Claude couldn't even regret it.

General Bolonik is naturally aware of the details of Thunder First Division. In fact, his Rock First Division is similar, and all the troops below are his own relatives. This does not mean that the immediate units of the five generals in theatre become warlords, but rather provides a shortcut for their respective close relatives.

Just like Claude's brother Browick, only a few years into the army, the rank was promoted to captain. Though much of the reason is that Blovik himself fought for air, putting up an unquestionable military service on the battlefield. But he couldn't have gotten this far without Claude's help, and the journey from recruit to captain wouldn't have been so smooth.

“Now is the best time for our war zone to end this colonial war.” Claude ordered a few falcon messages on the table, all from a latent agent in Rodex Bay City: "Surprise attack on Rodex Bay. What we really have to deal with is this joint fleet. As you all know, the United Fleet was leased by the Kingdom of Hicks to the Kingdom of Nasserley and the Principality of Kanas to destroy the United Fleet, so the Kingdom of Hicks and the Kingdom of Nasserley, the Principality of Kanas, are all ripped off...

When the United Fleet roamed the sea, our battlefield could not help the enemy's warships. Now that these warships are docked in Rodex Bay and sailors and crew are ashore, this is truly the best sneak attack for us. Bad luck, we'll burn these ships, and if we're lucky, we'll even get half of them, and we'll be able to build our own ocean cruise fleet in the war zone.

The enemy has always thought that we would attack from the direction of the mountains, so their defense is focused on the mountains, and it was never expected that we would attack from behind them in the Gulf of Rodex by waterway. Because the sea is under the control of their fleet and there is no cruise fleet in our direct area of operations, the Hicks will only assume that the area from the Gulf of Rhodes to the area of our direct area of operations is their fleet.

As long as we destroy the coalition fleet moored in the Gulf, the four Hicks standing regiments in front will have to surrender their weapons. Without the United Fleet, the Kingdom of the Hicks could rely on the King's Fleet to escort several standing regiments to the Rodex Bay colony? More than that, it's under-fuelled, and less than that, it just sends food to our battlefield, so I think this colonial war between the battlefield and the Hicks kingdom will be over once this surprise attack succeeds! ”

“How successful do you think this surprise plan is?” General Bolognick asked.

Claude replied, "I can't guarantee 100 percent success, but I'm at least 70 percent sure. You see, Hicks' head of logistics commissioned the bison dealers to provide them with tons of grass, wheat wine, fresh beef and lamb, fruit and a variety of high-end ingredients. They are willing to purchase at twice the market price plus transportation costs. Our agent also laughed in his letter that the Hicks were insane, defeated the war and prepared so many delicious delicacies...

I think this is the material that the Hicks are prepared to raise morale and reserve for subsequent reinforcements, and it would take at least a hundred offshore carriers to complete all the cargo on this order. Our Thunder First Division can hide inside the cabin and travel to the Rodex Bay colony in the name of carrying these cargo. As soon as we get to Rodex Bay, we'll launch a surprise attack, take down the United Fleet and take over the Hicks' General Logistics Base camp again! ”