Volume 1: The Rise of Elanhill Chapter 0026: Ailan Hill Grenadiers
The shadow of war had actually been hovering over the earthen fort for a long time. After learning that Maine had been breached, the lord of the earthen fort, Dong Bran, had become wary of his neighbors.
The nearly sixty-year-old Tubao City Lord was also a powerful figure, not comparable to the two incompetent city lords of Maine and Ferry. Tubao was also a rich territory with many mineral deposits, and life was good.
The fortress had 1,000 cavalrymen, which was the most proud thing about the fortress. These cavalrymen had the best war horses, were well-trained, and were good at fighting. Even when facing the nomadic peoples in the north, they were a powerful force with more victories than defeats.
Moreover, he had formed an alliance with his eastern neighbors Beijun and Hanhai half a year ago in order to target the Principality of Ailanhill, which had already acquired three places.
On the other hand, he also raised the price of steel sold to the Principality of Elanhill, strictly limited the total amount of steel sold, and extorted more than 150,000 gold coins, strengthening himself while also weakening Elanhill to a certain extent.
As a result, just this morning, this city lord, who was quite capable, received a declaration of war from Ailan Hill. After the messenger from Ailan Hill handed the letter of war to the minister of the earth fort, he left here quickly without looking back.
"Notify the two city lords of Beijun and Hanhai to gather their troops! I want to show that idiot Chris how powerful an army of 2,500 cavalrymen is!" Lord Dongbulan waved his fist and ordered his men.
"Blow the horn! Assemble the cavalry! We will first attack the territory of Ireland Hill and burn, kill and loot, so that those wimps in Ireland Hill can see what a real war is like!" He said as he stood up from his seat and stretched out his hands.
The waiters on both sides came forward and put his armor on him. The heavy cavalry of the earthen fortress was well-known in Alante, and a frontal charge was enough to break through anyone's defense.
"Should we wait for the cavalry from Beijun and Hanhai to arrive?" a minister asked in a low voice.
Dong Bran waved his hand and said, "Speed is of the essence in war! If I don't take this opportunity to fight back, the infantry of Elanhill will be at the gates of the city. No matter how hard we fight, our earthen fortress will have to pay a heavy price. This is not worth it."
As he spoke, he put on his armor: "I will use the mobility of the cavalry to block the enemy layer by layer, and wear down those clumsy infantry on the plains! ... You don't have to worry, I am all cavalry. If I can't win, I can still retreat."
On the other side, on the border line where the original city of Seris and the earthen fortress bordered each other, Chris's soldiers crossed the boundary marker and marched towards the distance in a mighty manner.
"I can't believe that our soldiers don't even have armor... and they go to the battlefield like this." Standing next to Chris, Wagron said with a wry smile.
Before the war, he had been reporting to Chris about the problem of the army having too little armor, but until today, this problem has not been completely solved.
Among the entire 1st Regiment that participated in the battle, only the officers were equipped with breastplates, while the other soldiers were only wearing the new military uniforms that were issued to them.
These new uniforms consisted of regular uniforms and armed belts, and each soldier carried 10 rifle bullets in a bullet bag on his waist. This was the maximum number that the arsenal had worked overtime to gather before the expedition.
Each soldier was equipped with a long bayonet. The three-edged bayonet could maintain the length while ensuring the strength of the bayonet - and this design was the least technology-dependent, and could be said to be the cheapest and most labor-saving design.
However, the bayonet is not without its shortcomings. That is, this weapon can only be used for stabbing actions, and has no chopping or other functions. This is also an important reason why the bayonet was completely eliminated in modern times.
But now Chris doesn't care about these. What he wants is the length of the bayonet, so that the soldiers can have more sense of security and increase the advantage of the troops in close combat: he wants to use the length of the bayonet to make up for the length deficiency of the Mauser 98K rifle.
On the other side of the waist, there is a grenade ammunition bag hanging on it: this thing is Chris's "improvisation". It comes from the creative invention of the Chinese army and to some extent solves the problem of having no place to carry wooden-handled grenades.
This thing is still very practical. On the one hand, it makes use of the unused space in the ammunition bag on one side of the waist due to the shortage of bullets in the early days of the Irish Hill Army. On the other hand, it also has a little protective function. The three wooden handles standing upright in front of the chest can play a little defensive role.
In order to increase the marching speed of the troops, each soldier was distributed with specially designed long leather boots. This kind of shoes were previously only issued to officers, but now, because of the cost consideration, it has become the standard configuration of the Irish Hill army.
Every soldier had to carry a bag. The carefully designed backpack was very convenient. It contained bedding for rest and some important personal items. In the past year or so, almost all the gadgets produced by the industrial production line of Ailan Hill were in this bag.
It includes a small piece of soap for washing hands, a printed manual on the use and maintenance of weapons, a small round mirror that looks pretty good, a small candle that can be used in the field, two boxes of matches, a wooden comb and a shaving knife...
It can be seen from the things these soldiers carry that Ireland Hill’s products are quietly changing the world and the lives of the civilians in Ireland Hill.
What was funny was that, although they were not equipped with armor, each soldier in this army was issued a steel helmet, a defensive tool that looked very impressive but was very simple to manufacture. Wagron did not understand Chris's approach at all. He felt that it would be more appropriate to issue a breastplate to each soldier.
This M42 helmet is easier to process and provides better service. What's more interesting is that this helmet instantly makes the ordinary Elanhill soldiers more energetic and look handsome.
After such modification, the image of an early grenadier of Elanhill that was famous in later generations was ready to emerge: wearing a Y-shaped armed belt, an ammunition bag and a long bayonet sheath hanging around his waist, three wooden-handled grenades hanging on one side of his chest, a bag on his back, a water bottle and a ration bag hanging behind his buttocks, an M42 helmet on his head, and a pair of long leather boots on his feet...
From any perspective, this unit already has the charm of modern infantry. From a certain perspective, their weapons and equipment are even as good as those of German soldiers in the early days of World War II.
It's a pity that this unit is a typical example of being strong on the outside but weak on the inside, just like the well-equipped German-equipped Chinese divisions during the Battle of Shanghai - they did not have enough ammunition, and their logistical supplies could only be described as shabby.
This time, the troops mobilized by Seris were not the originally expected 1,500 men for a full regiment, but a full 2,400 men, almost the main force of two regiments.
Because Chris found out before the expedition that the original force could not guarantee the reconnaissance and logistical support for the entire campaign, he had to draw some troops from other units to ensure the normal operation of the entire unit.
He drew 500 cavalrymen from the 2nd Regiment, the Cavalry Regiment, as reconnaissance troops and alert troops to avoid being attacked by enemy cavalry in the field. These cavalrymen did not need to fight the enemy head-on, they only needed to provide early warning of the troops.
The other 400 people were the artillery and transport detachments that were reinforced for him. Two hundred of them were the actual transport troops, responsible for transporting the supplies and materials for this expedition to the earthen fort. They were drawn from the cavalry and were responsible for driving the carriages to ensure the supply of the troops.
There are also 200 people in a reinforced artillery team of 10 artillery pieces, which were also drawn from the artillery of the 2nd Regiment. They are equipped with old-fashioned 90mm caliber howitzers that were brought up to make up the numbers. These are the old-fashioned artillery that Chris used earlier when he conquered Maine and the ferry.
In fact, in this way, the 30 cannons actually have two calibers, which makes Chris's supply of shells more complicated. However, the problem is not prominent, because the number of shells is not large, and all the shells are carried with the large troops, so there is no trouble of logistical supply difficulties.
Therefore, the first battle of Ailan Hill's active attack was launched very abruptly during the autumn harvest season. The reason for choosing this season was mainly because of the unexpectedness and Ailan Hill's own industrial needs - Chris believed that he had the ability to win a quick victory, so he was not worried about dragging the war into winter.
Similarly, Lord Dongbrand, who believed that his troops had the advantage of mobility and was ambitious to eliminate his opponent before the main force of Elanhill arrived at the core area of the earth fort, headed south with more than 800 temporarily assembled cavalry at almost the same time.
The wily Dong Bran never thought that his opponent, the cavalry of the Principality of Elanhill, would become rangers and resolutely refused to clash with his main cavalry. After the other side learned that his cavalry was heading south, they did not even harass him and immediately retreated.
Those cavalrymen who fell in the distance were like ghosts. They did not fight with Dong Bran at all. They turned around and left without waiting for contact. This made Dong Bran feel very bad. He had also sent cavalrymen to fight with the enemy on a small scale, but the effect was not ideal.
On the one hand, the enemy had no intention of fighting and was not equipped with any armor. They collapsed at the first blow and had no intention of fighting. On the other hand, after more than a dozen small-scale conflicts, he only killed more than 30 Elanhill cavalrymen, but made more than 100 cavalrymen on his side exhausted and almost lost their combat effectiveness.
