Volume 1: The Rise of Elanhill Chapter 0027 Absurd Battle
He even thought that the cavalry from Ailan Hill were here to delay and tire out his cavalry. So he simply stopped bothering with these cavalry scouts and led his troops south to charge towards Ailan Hill's main force, which was completely composed of infantry.
Dong Bran, who was already feeling frustrated to the point of being annoying, had been completely annoyed by the rangers of Elanhill on his way south. All he wanted now was to have a good fight with the enemy so that he could take advantage of his cavalry's speed and impact.
Although he had heard about the strange defeat of the Maine army in the eastern forest area, he felt that his troops could use their speed advantage to immediately approach the Elanhill troops and render any of the opponent's long-range weapons ineffective.
In fact, he did achieve his plan and completed his tactical arrangements: when his troops appeared on the horizon, Chris, who hastily learned that the enemy cavalry had arrived, was completely unprepared for the battle.
On the front battlefield, his three battalions of infantry had just formed their formations. The 30 cannons in the rear had no firing positions, and the camp was in chaos. Wagron personally restrained these new recruits, and only then did the entire 1st Regiment stabilize.
However, the 1st Regiment, which had just stabilized its position, discovered that the enemy cavalry had already deployed their formation and was crushing towards them from the front.
Then, whether it was Chris, Wagron, or even the other side's commander, Dong Bran, they all found that the battle situation before them was completely beyond their imagination. Even when the battle began, the commanders of both sides were so shocked that they did not issue a single effective order.
On this side, the infantry, who were supposed to dig trenches according to the drill manual, were completely unprepared for the battle. So, under the control of all the officers, the entire infantry defense followed their previous habits and launched their own defense against the enemy cavalry in their own way.
Wageron rode his horse between the three huge infantry phalanxes, urging everyone not to retreat, because once the rout began, the mobility of the troops behind would be low, and the artillery that was preparing to fire would be completely exposed to the enemy's blade.
As a result, in the next second, the first row of prepared grenadiers began to attack the enemy cavalry about 150 meters away from them.
The battlefield was in chaos, and the consequences of insufficient training of the recruits almost caused Chris to lose this most crucial battle. However, just a moment later, the situation on the battlefield changed dramatically.
Seeing the enemy cavalrymen a hundred meters away falling to the ground, being swept down by 300 modern rifles at once. What was even more despairing was that the grenadiers of Ailan Hill were not holding ancient flintlock rifles.
After firing a round and hearing a series of crackling gunshots, the recruits who had undergone live-fire training twice finally remembered what they were supposed to do. They got into their own rhythm, and the gunshots gave them courage.
The soldiers in the first row did not stop at all. They immediately released their right hand that was holding the trigger, mechanically pulled the bolt on the side, and pushed a new bullet into the chamber.
"Bang!" Before the enemy cavalry, who were thrown to the ground on their horses, realized that doomsday was coming, the second infantry volley had already completely determined the outcome - about half of the enemy cavalry's manpower had been wiped out before they even got within 100 meters.
From beginning to end, the cavalry of the earthen fort were not able to get within the attacking distance of the bows and arrows they carried - the enemy soldiers who seemed to have no armor protection seemed as far away as the horizon to them at this moment.
No matter how hard they tried, the distance of several dozen meters seemed like a chasm that they could not cross. It was a feeling of powerlessness from the bottom of their hearts, a despair that went deep into their bones.
Chris was really amused by the scene before him: he gave these soldiers advanced weapons and equipment, as well as tactics to crush their opponents, but in this war environment, an army at the level of the First World War was able to create a battle scene from the Napoleonic era.
Wagron deployed the cannons at the rear of the phalanx, trying to use the range advantage to destroy the enemy's cavalry before the enemy attacked. However, due to the temporary engagement, these artillery units have not played their due role until now.
Then, the soldiers equipped with Mauser 98K rifles began to stand in place, forming square formations, holding up their weapons, and pouring their already limited ammunition at the opponents in the distance.
Dense bullets were fired at the enemy in the distance, and the bullets penetrated the enemy's armor. When the enemy suffered heavy losses, the soldiers who were originally in the back row of the square phalanx strode forward, passed the front row soldiers who reloaded five bullets, and started a new round of shooting...
It was simply the "three-stage shot" version of World War II weapons, and Chris was almost in tears: the weapons and equipment he provided had evolved into such a weird and incongruous formation under the ravages of the times.
"Bang!" Another round of volleys began while Chris was daydreaming. Thousands of soldiers rolled forward like rolling wheels, crushing the cavalry in the distance. A miracle appeared in human history. The infantry phalanx moved forward little by little and rushed towards the enemy cavalry in the distance...
The battle was not over yet. Just when Dongbrand finally realized that the enemy's weapons were no match for his cavalry, the 30 cannons behind Wageron were ready for battle.
Lord Dongbulan saw that his cavalry had been defeated and he had no courage to continue fighting. However, he still wanted to restrain his cavalry so that they could retreat back to the heart of the earthen fortress intact, so that he would have a chance to wait for reinforcements and make a final struggle.
However, the 30 shells that fell from the sky did not leave Dong Bran any chance. Just as he was waving his sword, hoping to stabilize his defeated cavalry, a round of horrific explosions kicked off near him.
It took only about half an hour for the encounter between the 1st Regiment of Ireland Hill and the main force of the Earthen Fort Cavalry to be decided - Chris didn't even give a decent order, and the Earthen Fort Cavalry lost at least 500 people, completely damaging their combat capability.
The goddess of luck visited Elanhill. Although a round of artillery fire did not kill too many of the scattered and fleeing Earthen Fort cavalry, a cannonball directly killed the Earthen Fort Lord Dongbrand in the crowd.
This capable lord lost his life in a skirmish without even a chance to retreat. Sadly, he had only intended to gather his forces to test the forces of Elanhill, but he accidentally turned the test into a final battle.
Chris couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the Tubao cavalry dismounting and surrendering, the ground littered with horses and human corpses, wounded enemy soldiers lying on the ground wailing, and wounded horses struggling and neighing.
"We...we can be considered to have won the battle, right?" Chris asked Wagron, who had just returned to him, with some uncertainty.
Wageron was also very embarrassed. After watching the soldiers' drills, he knew that the army he was leading was almost invincible in the mortal country. But he never thought that this army could be so powerful.
He almost wiped out all the 800 cavalrymen in the earthen fort, and he didn't even have a single wounded soldier. Such an army was completely beyond his imagination, because such a record had only occurred when the magic empire attacked mortal countries in the past.
Now he felt that he was not leading an army of mortals, but a magical army! This gave him an unreal feeling, floating and very comfortable.
However... Wagron was really not satisfied with the performance of this unit just now: although the combat effectiveness was shown to be extremely strong, the nervousness and panic exposed by these recruits proved that this unit still had great potential to be tapped.
Wageron couldn't even imagine how terrifying this army would be if it truly reached its full form. He spat, rode his horse to stand beside Chris, and said, "Yes... we won, Your Majesty."
"Let the troops rest, count the ammunition! Collect all the shells..." Chris felt it was embarrassing that he was commanding a battle without giving a single order. He could only reluctantly give an order to clean up the battlefield to save his face.
Little did he know that Wageron was in an awkward situation. He had only given two orders to defeat the main cavalry of the earthen fort: one order was for the infantry to "advance"; the other order was for the artillery to "fire"...
"All soldiers! Collect the shells!" On the battlefield, squad leaders and platoon leaders loudly urged their soldiers one after another. Hundreds of soldiers lowered their heads, searching for the shells that fell on the ground as if they were looking for money in the wild.
"Alas..." Carrying their weapons and holding the grenades hanging in front of them, the infantrymen of Ailan Hill began to do the complicated work of cleaning up the battlefield with complaints. In their opinion, defeating the enemy was not a difficult task, but picking up bullet shells was more uncomfortable than killing the enemy.
Many of these bullet shells are made of copper, which is a very scarce resource. If they are sent back to the rear factory, they can be processed into reloaded bullets, so that they can be used several times... There is no other way. Chris is now fighting this kind of poor man's war, and every detail must be calculated carefully.
On the other side, the earthen cavalrymen who were being guarded by the grenadiers stared with wide eyes at the opponents who were looking down to "make money" in the distance, with incredible expressions on their faces - they simply couldn't believe that it was those stupid-looking guys in the distance who defeated them...
