Volume 1: The Rise of Elanhill Chapter 0060 Spring Long-distance Running
"The enemy was able to capture all seven castles on the border within one day. This was definitely because of the red cannon!" Clark was talking in the hall. Without General Zorn's presence, he was now the most powerful minister in the entire imperial city.
Being able to serve as a powerful minister under the diligent Emperor Alante Hook, Clark is actually quite capable. However...he only has these two skills. After analyzing the general situation on the front line, he suggested: "Ilan Hill is short of troops, so they will definitely ask for reinforcements from the grassland!"
He had analyzed this matter very thoroughly. After all, these things were within the scope of common sense. Ailan Hill had a small army. If they did not form an alliance with the grassland, and if the grassland empire went south to plunder, wouldn't Ailan Hill be caught in a situation where they were attacked from all sides?
Anyway, according to common sense, there are only a few cities that Ireland Hill can attack: Wallavo in the east, Bud in the south, and Maritsa.
"Now, it's too late to reinforce us if we want to defend so many places. We'd better set up a defense line further back, and then gather our forces and prepare for a counterattack." The tactics Clark mentioned are actually the most conventional tactics.
As long as there were no accidents, this tactic would not go wrong. As the chancellor of an empire, he would be most willing to choose a plan without errors. As for the various shortcomings of this plan, that was not something he, the chancellor, needed to consider.
For example, the biggest problem with such an arrangement is that the speed of assembling troops will be very slow. By the time the cities deep in the territory are ready for the battle, Ireland Hill may have already established a foothold in Volavo, Bud and Maritsa.
However, this was not a problem at all in the eyes of Prime Minister Clark, because he believed that Ireland Hill was a small country with few soldiers. Once it fell into a long-term and exhausting stalemate war, the situation would definitely be controlled by the Alante Empire, which had vast land, a large population and strong military force.
What's more, Clark has reinforcements: the Alante Empire has just suffered a great loss in the south, and the Holy Demon Empire has just dealt a heavy blow to the Alante Empire. Now is naturally the time to give sweet rewards.
Once the Holy Demon Empire got involved in the war and stood on the side of the Alante Empire, then even if Ailan Hill had three heads and six arms, it would never be a match for the alliance of the Holy Demon Empire and the Alante Empire! At that time, let alone spitting out the cities that had been swallowed, it would be a serious question whether the country of Ailan Hill could still exist.
"But... Prime Minister! If we do this, isn't it the same as handing over the four cities to others?" As the emperor, Alante Hook did not agree with Prime Minister Clark's plan and asked, "Isn't there a better way?"
In the eyes of the emperor, the Alante Empire was his own property, and he would feel bad if any of them were broken. Allowing Ailan Hill to wreak havoc in his own country was simply a slap in his face.
"Your Majesty! As long as we hold our ground and wait for the reinforcements from the Holy Demon Empire to arrive, Ireland Hill will be wiped out." Clark glanced at Hook's face and explained with a stiff upper lip.
No matter what others think, Alante Hook felt his blood boiling when he heard the name of the Holy Demon Empire - if the Holy Demon Empire had not intervened, his army would have almost flattened the entire Dosen Empire by now!
As a result, things have become like this now. A tiny country like Ireland Hill in the north dares to blatantly challenge the powerful Alante Empire. Alante Hook feels very aggrieved, as if there is a suppressed breath in his chest that he can't get rid of.
"Wait, wait! Are all my soldiers dead? Is it possible that my great Alante Empire doesn't even have a single warrior who dares to fight?" Finally, in the silence of the hall, Alante Hook finally exploded.
He really felt that all his subordinates were useless, the kind of useless people who couldn't help him. He tried hard to revitalize his empire, but in the end he could only stare at these stupid cysts every day.
"Your Majesty, the 20 newly cast red cannons are to be deployed on the walls of the royal city. The remaining cannons have been taken to the south by General Zorn..." A general finally stood up and analyzed the current situation: "Without the red cannons, our troops will not be able to compete with the enemy's cannons..."
Speaking of this matter, Hook finally calmed down a bit. He had seen the power of the Red Cannon. Without it, it was not a wise thing to force his soldiers to face the enemy's cannon with their flesh and blood.
But he was still unwilling to just passively defend, so he gave the order: "We can't just sit there and wait for death! Pass my order! Gather 100,000 troops and divide them into two groups! Go north immediately to reinforce Maritza and Bud!"
On the vast plains south of Naru City, the black Golden Eagle King's flag is fluttering in the wind. The army commanded by Koria is advancing rapidly southward, and they are advancing more than 50 kilometers a day.
This speed is almost catching up with the speed of the mechanized troops, so Kolya has been marching at a high intensity. He did this in order to advance the front to Bud as soon as possible.
The size of Bud City is actually not as big as Naru City, which is a transportation hub and a defensive fortress. The entire city has a population of only about 300,000. Even so, it is still a very large city.
This city is close to the Kingdom of Higgs to the west, but because of the mountains and rivers, the road between it and Higgs is not easy to travel. Therefore, in the past, the trade route between the Kingdom of Higgs and the Alante Empire usually took the more northern route from Higgs to Seris and then to the Naru Trade Road.
However, Bud is still an important border town and a very important defense depth logistics base. It supports the four castles in the direction of Higgs and is considered a very important military town.
Once the tens of thousands of Alante frontier troops in the Bud direction were ready for defense, it would certainly not be easy to win with only a division of more than 5,000 people under the command of Kolya. If the enemy was delayed and equipped to fight in the field, Kolya's troops would be in danger.
After all, if the Holy Demon Empire really went into battle, relying on the city's defense and fighting a dragon in the wild would definitely be two completely different situations. Kolya also wanted to rely on the city's defense against the Holy Demon Empire's possible attack after making all preparations.
The imaginary enemy of Ailanhill's attack this time was actually the Holy Demon Empire standing behind the Alante Empire - as for the Alante Empire in front, Chris and his generals had never been worried from beginning to end.
Wageron even assured Chris that if the Holy Demon Empire did not join the war, he could advance directly to the royal city of the Alante Empire and crush all enemies he encountered along the way.
Urging his troops to move forward as quickly as possible, Kolya waited for the liaison officer on horseback. A cavalry unit carrying the royal flag came up from behind and grabbed the reins of Kolya's horses.
"Whoa!" The horses stopped in front of Kolya. The leading officer clenched his right fist and pressed it to his chest. After saluting, he reached into a document bag on his side and pulled out an order with Wageron's signature. He handed it to Kolya: "Command curtain! The general's order!"
"Teacup! The password is correct! The order came really quickly." Kolya looked at the liaison officer in front of him, then lowered his head and opened the wax-sealed command document. He saw a simple order written on it: "Do not cross the Bud line!"
"Ha! Wageron thinks we are four-legged monsters? I want to get past Bud!" Kolya folded the order and handed it to his adjutant: "Tell General Wageron! My troops are still 90 kilometers away from Bud! Only the gods can launch the attack as soon as possible!"
The officer nodded, pulled his reins, squeezed his legs against the horse's belly, and galloped back in the direction they came from. The cavalrymen behind him were still holding the black royal flag, and without even taking a break, they galloped towards the distant horizon.
Bourjois, who was closer, was also desperately advancing towards Maritza. His troops were closer to the target, but their speed of moving south was slower. So he could only start the attack the day after tomorrow, which was already the fastest result.
At this time, General Modler showed the keen sense of smell of a famous general. He abandoned the incompletely equipped 14th garrison regiment and ordered the well-equipped 4th regiment to take almost all the carriages and run at the fastest attack speed of the entire army.
When he received Wageron's order, he had already entered the territory of the city of Volavor and could launch a violent attack the next day.
The war that began in the spring was more of a rally between the armies of Ireland Hill than a war. There were almost no real battles, and all the attacks were just a matter of getting by.
Just like that, they ran all the way. While the reinforcements of the Holy Demon Empire and Alante's main force were still stranded near the Fallen Abyss River, Chris's main force had already dispersed and reached the farthest line of defense they planned to advance to.
Standing in front of the 40,000 Elanhill grenadiers and their 50,000 grassland cavalry allies were the 150,000-strong Alante Empire garrison and their reinforcements - the Alante Empire had the upper hand in terms of total troop strength between the two sides, but which side had greater combat effectiveness was another matter.
In fact, even without the grenadiers of Ailan Hill, it would not be easy to win against 50,000 grassland cavalry and 150,000 Alante garrison troops - but, in the end, for the generals of Ailan Hill, this spring long-distance race has finally come to an end...
