When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist

"Three, two, one, pull!"

"Three, two, one, pull—"

"Put some muscle into it, you lazy little devils!"

"I’m pulling so hard, I’m about to poop my pants!"

With a soft pop, Falan’s spring cannon finally crawled up the hill outside the city of Gewu.

The artillerymen pushing the carts breathed a huge sigh of relief, some changing pants, others collapsing onto the grass.

The Falan artillery officer from Thousand River Valley who had defected from the Holy Alliance and Leia, Ceau, wiped the sweat off his forehead and stood at the forefront.

Even though he had left the Holy Alliance long ago, he subconsciously followed the "Holy Alliance Artillery Manual" in his operations.

The most essential qualities for an artillery commander are a broad view and battlefield judgment.

The harsh sunlight pierced through the trees, casting mottled shadows that made everyone itch all over.

Penetrating the leaves and sunlight were the thunderous drums and horns in the distance, accompanied by the sound of marching footsteps.

Screams bounced between horse hooves, and whizzing wails flew past the saddles.

Carefully parting the brush and vines, Ceau peered down the hill.

Their location was fifty miles south of Gewu, in an open field.

It was near the vampires’ area of control, yet Ceau had never expected them to appear here at this moment.

The sky was blue, the grass lush and green, the air full of birdsong and the scent of flowers.

But in this serene and idyllic field, there were no bees or butterflies, only the thick smell of blood.

The bloody stench was visible to the naked eye.

It wasn’t Ceau’s first time witnessing it, but every time he saw the blood cloud hovering over the battlefield, his heart raced uncontrollably.

Clearly just a red mist, yet it seemed to absorb all the sunlight, leaving rows of soldiers clad in red.

These vampiric soldiers were mostly composed of low-level vampires.

They couldn’t handle the heavy blood-pact gun, using only the more delicate light blood-pact gun instead.

Unlike the Holy Alliance, who always wore black, gray, or blue, or the sea-blue uniforms of the Falan, the court soldiers preferred crimson uniforms.

It’s said this red uniform was personally designed by the Great Priest King Serafe, with rolled cuffs and a tight waist.

The buttons were aligned vertically from the collar to the waist, and with the leather tall hat, it was especially eye-catching.

Alongside them, copper basins bubbled, spewing forth blood mist clinging to their bodies.

They were arranged in horizontal lines about a hundred to two hundred meters wide, appearing to Ceau’s naked eye like red lines of blood on the green ground.

This tactic bore some resemblance to the Holy Alliance’s previous Gallar horizontal formation.

Turning his head, Ceau saw the formations slowly unfolding on his side as well.

Opposite the vampires, both the Falan Legion and the Leia Army, still using large square formations, employed horizontal tactics too.

The Falan Legion, due to the strong support of the Holy Favor Seeds from the Holy Alliance, successfully assembled a ten-thousand-strong force of spring gunners.

This nearly twenty-thousand-strong spring gunner force could form three new legions of ten thousand each, namely the Second Corps and the Fifth Imperial Guard Corps of Storm Cape.

At this moment, besides the Fifth Imperial Guard holding the rear, it was the Storm Cape Second Corps advancing up front.

They marched in orderly lines of bright blue, moving forward in sync with the drumbeats.

In their ranks, both spring gunners on the flanks and long spearmen and other assault infantry in the center could be seen.

On the other side, pulling the attention, were the 12,000 soldiers of Leia’s four Extraordinary Arrays.

Though still called the Deng Jia’er Array, they had practically replaced archers with spring gunners.

However, unlike Falan and the court, who viewed gunners as main assault troops, Leia’s gunners were only projectile troops.

Witnessing this scene left Ceau feeling innumerable emotions but speechless.

Thousand River Valley, Mande County, his homeland, his Knight Manor, he could never return.

Yet the spring guns produced in Thousand River Valley became the rage of the Empire over the past two decades.

Two wars in Thousand River Valley, coupled with minor skirmishes between the Holy Alliance and neighboring countries, had already familiarized outsiders with the might of the spring gun.

With the increasing frequency of wars across the Empire, both Leia and Falan were under immense military pressure.

Pressure breeds reform, and reform creates demand.

Empire’s three major kingdoms, including many of its knight territories and free cities, embarked on spring gun unit reforms.

Falan was relatively ahead in this regard, while Leia stumbled forward, still held back by old powers.

Once a frontier of civilization, Thousand River Valley in recent years became a hot topic in the Empire.

Each time he thought of this, Ceau felt both like crying and laughing.

He once wished for Thousand River Valley to be an indispensable province in the Empire, and now that wish was realized.

But this honor, he could not share.

"Fate plays such tricks on us..." Ceau sighed.

"Mr. Ceau, what did you say?"

"Nothing, have you rested enough? Once you’re ready, I’ll issue new orders." Ceau glanced around, and the knowledge he learned from Saint Dangji Military Academy instantly gave him battlefield insight.

"Your orders, sir."

"Disperse the cannons, conceal them well, and don’t group them in one location." Ceau clasped his hands behind his back. "High-level vampires can fly, be cautious, and concentrate your fire on the left flank."

"Yes, sir." The artillery lieutenants received the order and immediately began to relay it.

His young adjutant and nephew, Little Biz Ez, sidled up. "Uncle, why aim for the left flank?"

"Because that’s the direction of the infantry attack."

"How did you know?"

"You don’t understand. It used to be easy to defeat those garbage Leia arrays without traditional wisdom.

Now, facing elite vampiric soldiers, traditional troop allocation tactics come in handy."

What Ceau referred to was, essentially, an oblique assault tactic.

Though all formations were horizontal, the Falan Legion’s horizontal formations weren’t evenly distributed.

Look closely, and you’ll notice Falan Legion’s most elite squadron (500 men) stood nine ranks deep with full armor.

To their right, the next best elite squad stood six ranks but only in half armor.

Further right, there were six ranks unarmored, and the farthest right had only three ranks unarmored.

Simply put, it was an oblique assault tactic in its spring gun version.

A battalion of 4,000, consisting of eight squadrons, formed two offensive lines in succession.

The left line was the elite line leading the charge, with the left-most nine-rank squadron advancing first, followed by subsequent squadrons in order.

The advantage here was the most elite nine ranks of spring gunners provided continuous fire, covering the advance of close combat troops.

Once the combat troops reached their positions, they would immediately charge, crushing the enemy in front.

At this point, the second squad engaged their enemy, allowing the first squad to flank or even side-charge.

Falan’s new-style legions had used this maneuver effectively against the court’s blood pact gunners on the Xilan Islands.

Clearly, at a tactical level, the left flank was the attacking front.

Strategically, the left flank of the Falan Legion was the offensive front, while the right flank was only leading the Leia Array’s containment—

Ha-ha.

"Test fire!"

Once the artillery position was set, Ceau put away his pocket watch and gave the order.

The springs whirred to life, and an iron sphere the size of a grapefruit pierced the sky, screaming as it landed on the battlefield.

A thatched cottage on the battlefield immediately exploded, sending wood, straw, and assorted debris high into the air.

The sand fell like rain, and then the Falan commander issued his orders—

"Begin the assault!"