Chapter 318 – Preparations for the Final Battle

Chapter 318 – Preparation Before the Final Battle
Just after noon, the battlefield had been cleaned up and Richard had received accurate casualty figures from the staff officers.

This battle had decimated more than 1,400 enemy soldiers, captured more than 3,200, and there were about 500 enemies who had fled the battlefield and were reduced to routed soldiers.

The casualties on their own side added up to less than four hundred, of which the first brigade suffered the heaviest, with sixty-seven killed in action, one hundred and thirty-six slightly and seriously wounded, and more than two hundred casualties. The two new brigades, the thirteenth and fourteenth, which did not bear the burden of the attack, suffered a combined casualty of one hundred and sixty men, the remaining casualties coming mainly from the pursuing cavalry.

“Settle the prisoners, interrogate the enemy officers as soon as possible, and make out the enemy’s intelligence, with which the next step can be taken.”

Richard turned his head and said to the staff officer in charge of interrogation. The Harland Collar headquarters staff officers were already very complete, there were staff officers in charge of combat, staff officers in charge of intelligence, and staff officers in charge of logistics. With enough staff officers, many things did not need Richard to worry about. Compared to more than ten years ago, Richard realized that it was getting easier and easier to lead soldiers nowadays.

Among the staff responsible for intelligence, there were people who were proficient in the language of the United Kingdom on the East Coast, so they could communicate without any barriers.

Looking at the casualty figures sent up, Richard thought in his heart: “Although the casualty figures are less than ten to one, the enemy is not a weak brigade, and surprise is also an important reason for achieving such great results. In the next few days, we need to carefully observe the soldiers’ emotions and suppress the idea of taking the enemy lightly. Based on the performance on the battlefield, the quality of this enemy army is slightly stronger than the Southern Counts Legion.”

Richard was clear in his heart that the 1st Brigade of Harland’s Collar, placed in the Grant Kingdom, was a first class strong soldier, with weapons, equipment, and soldier quality far exceeding the enemy. Even the infantry brigade of the Northern Legion, which had excellent soldier quality, was far from the Harland Collar 1st Brigade’s opponent.

Achieving victory in this battle was originally in Richard’s estimation.

After wiping out the enemy’s front line, Richard increased the range of the scout cavalry’s activities. With the air scouts providing information, the efficiency of Harland’s scout cavalry far exceeded that of the enemy.

Moreover, Richard also spread out the three hundred Wraith Cavalry to match the scout cavalry’s activities.

The powerful scout cavalry obscured more than a hundred kilometers of the nearby battlefield, immediately making the Sixth Legion of the United Kingdom on the East Coast deaf and blind.

Because the scout cavalry’s actions were almost transparent, more than a hundred people were killed and missing in action in just half a day.

The lack of information immediately prevented the main force of the Sixth East Coast Corps from moving.

The main battalion of the Sixth East Coast Legion had just entered the Duke of Harbor Territory and was located in the Rath Castle on the eastern border of the Duke of Harbor Territory. Listening to the discussion of the officers at the officer headquarters, the East Coast United Kingdom Sixth Legion corps in Caesar immediately frowned with a worried face.

Caesar came from the East Coast United Kingdom’s ducal family and possessed a very good birth, he had undergone many years of aristocratic military education, and in the East Coast United Kingdom, he was said to be experienced and strong in years, so he was able to command this elite infantry with a relatively forward number.

But compared to the officers of the Kingdom of Grant, Caesar has less experience in actual combat, and when it comes to the actual battlefield, it is not as decisive as Richard, and once the situation on the front line is complicated, he suddenly falls into indecision.

“Legionnaire Caesar, we can’t continue to move forward, in just one day, we lost a squadron of scouts. The forward troops have already lost the news, and from the mouths of the collected routed soldiers, we know that the forward troops have been completely destroyed. The enemy must have laid traps for us in front, and I am opposed to lengthening the line of battle and going on.”

The officer who spoke was the scouting brigade brigadier Pallon, who at this time had a worried look on his face and kept persuading Caesar to stop advancing. Construct a defense line on the spot and ask for reinforcements from the rear.

“The most troublesome thing right now is that the intelligence is unknown, the scouting force is being suppressed by the enemy, and we have become deaf and blind. I think we should strengthen the reconnaissance force, spread the Wraith Cavalry amongst the reconnaissance cavalry, and let the reconnaissance force not be afraid of sacrifices. Only by scouting the enemy’s detailed information can we formulate our next move. I agree with Senior Captain Pallon’s opinion to first construct a defense line and strengthen the scouting force.”

Wraith Cavalry Brigadier Bulwyn was also a person with a cautious character, and agreed more with Pallon’s opinion. After the loss of the three infantry brigades in the vanguard, the two men’s position in the Sixth Legion of the United Kingdom on the East Coast had become even more prominent, and the opinions they put forward were something that Legion Commander Caesar had to consider carefully.

Caesar pointed to the simple map on the table and said: ”Since most of the opinions are to stabilize for a while, I have decided to construct a defense line on the spot, but everyone should not hold too much hope for reinforcements. According to the gossip coming from Kanas Castle. The Noble Council doesn’t want an all-out war to break out with the Grant Kingdom, which has deployed seven legions, and we have similarly deployed seven legions to participate in the war.

If a civil war breaks out with Grant Kingdom, the one who will get a bargain will only be the Orc Empire. Grant Kingdom is a good shield for us, and if that shield shatters, it will be us resisting the orcs when the time comes.”

Caesar and the others had just made a decision to strengthen their reconnaissance forces, and a miserable reconnaissance war broke out on the battlefield a hundred kilometers near the two armies.

After annihilating the enemy vanguard, Richard ordered the allied armies of the four provincial nobles to rally while dispatching scout cavalry to suppress the enemy.

As the enemy’s magical beast cavalry began to participate in the scouting war, the Harland Collar’s scouts also suffered a small amount of losses, and were also gradually scouted by the enemy for some battlefield intelligence.

Only the Harland Collar scout cavalry had binoculars in their hands, and there were also Lion Rash Cavalry and magic hot air balloons observing the enemy army’s every move at high altitude.

Armed with the intelligence advantage, of course, they could easily mobilize their forces and surround and destroy the ambushed enemy scouts.

In the ten days of scouting operations, the Harland Leader Scout Cavalry lost no more than a hundred soldiers and annihilated more than six hundred enemy scouts.

Under Soros’ personal command, the Harland’s Leader’s cavalry successfully ambushed the enemy scout troops six times, killing and wounding more than two hundred enemy magic beast cavalrymen, capturing hundreds of Flame Horses, and achieving a brilliant victory in the scouting operations.

Grant Kingdom’s magical beast cavalry mounts were dominated by Iron Horned Horses, Iron Horned Horses were common magical beasts in the Eagle Mountain Range, and Grant Kingdom relied on the mountains to eat the mountains, so it naturally chose the Iron Horned Horses as its magical beast cavalry. The number of Iron Horn Horses in the East Coast United Kingdom is scarce, so if you want to cultivate magical beast cavalry, you can only tame the Flame Horses that are more common in the country.

The border of the Sacred Glory Empire has a large area of grassland, and there are a lot of Flame Horses living in this vast grassland, so the nearby countries have all used the Flame Horses to organize and train their magical beast cavalry.

Compared to the Iron Horned Horse, the Flame Horse’s temperament was very explosive, and its intelligence was even more foolish. Not only is it difficult to domesticate, but once a Flame Horse is de-tempered and a male Flame Horse is castrated, this magical beast will madly spit fire and bite, making it impossible to ride with a gelding. The difficulty of training a Flame Horse Magical Beast Cavalry is fifty to sixty percent greater than training an Iron Horned Horse Magical Beast Cavalry.

The first six legions of the East Coast United Kingdom had only four hundred Wraith Cavalrymen in their ranks. The legions with lower numbers only had two to three hundred Wraith Cavalrymen in their ranks. In the entire East Coast United Kingdom’s twenty-three corps, the number of beast cavalry did not exceed six thousand. More than seventy-five percent of the flaming horses ridden by the East Coast United Kingdom’s magical beast cavalry were mares. Although the flaming horses could spit flames, and their combat power exceeded that of the Iron Horn Horses, the overall number of them was on the low side, so the East Coast United Kingdom’s magical beast cavalry was not as strong as that of the Kingdom of Grant.

After all, the number of Magical Beast Cavalry in Grant Kingdom added up to more than 20,000 people counting large and small nobles. Jonathan, Edward and other big nobles in the northern border, the compiled beast cavalry can easily have two to three thousand people.

The Harland family had a relatively shallow heritage, occupying the favorable terrain in the northern border, and had formed seven hundred magical beast cavalry by now.

The loss of two hundred Wraith Cavalry made Caesar’s Legion Commander even more afraid to act rashly. Through several battles, they finally detected the aerial scouts of Harland’s domain and discovered the Lion Rash Cavalry.

Facing this aerial scouting force, Caesar and the others had no good solution at all, and could only write to the rear, hoping to mobilize higher magicians to accompany the army and find a way to deal with the enemy’s aerial scouts.

After losing a large number of magical beast cavalry, the Sixth Legion of the United Kingdom on the East Coast once again contracted, taking advantage of this time Richard had already completed his troop buildup, preparing to encircle this enemy in one fell swoop.

After winning the battle, Richard immediately sent the battle report to Steven, the commander-in-chief of the interfering army, and reported the next idea to Steven, requesting Steven’s approval to annihilate this enemy force.

Steven was also considered a longtime general of Grant Kingdom, and one of his most famous battles was to pacify the Venus Family rebellion, cooperating with Roger Kingdom to annihilate the Southern Three Counts alliance in one fell swoop, and take the three southern provinces for Grant Family.

The Grant royal family cultivates outstanding officers, basically a lineage, to a certain level after the transfer to the four northern provinces, into several main army corps to serve as a squadron leader, deputy captain. If the ability is strong, they will rise further, and if the ability is weak, they will be eliminated in the cruel war.

Roger and Steven both had such experiences, Steven served in the Wild Lion Legion for twenty-three years, serving as a squadron leader, deputy brigadier, brigade, deputy army chief, and finally transferring to the king’s capital forbidding army corps chief, becoming an important general of the Grant family.

When Richard just entered the Wild Lion Legion, Steven had just been promoted to the position of Deputy Chief of the Wild Lion Legion, but more than ten years ago the two men’s status was different, although they served in the same legion, in fact, they did not have any friendship.

Although this southern expedition is easier than the defense of the orc invasion, after all, is a large-scale war, since the war is bound to die, as the commander-in-chief must be smart, strong, brave and overmanned.

If the commander-in-chief is poorly chosen, it will be difficult to determine victory or defeat.

If Steven was not capable enough and had low influence, he would not even pass on the council of nobles. Duke families such as Harland, Guise, and Duran would not have committed to a war with a gray outlook.

It was because Steven had proved himself in the war and was a qualified general, and was himself a ninth-rank epic knight with very strong combat power, that dukes such as Richard, Duran, and Guise would be willing to be green and willing to follow his orders.

After receiving the information from Richard, Steven’s mood was a bit heavy, even though Richard had won the battle and sent good news, the situation had changed unfavorably to the Grant Kingdom, making Steven worried inside.

Although the Delong Kingdom was already rotten, after all, it was a country with an area of 1.6 million square kilometers and a population of over 50 million.

If we were to talk about the comprehensive national power, it exceeded even the Grant Kingdom by a few points.

This time, even though the Southern Expedition went very smoothly, in just over a month’s time, it annihilated the enemy’s 100,000-strong army and occupied one and a half Duke’s Lordships and three and a half Border Provinces of the Delong Kingdom. However, the Southern Expedition Intervention Army is already at the end of its strength, and is now facing off with 400,000 troops of the Delong Kingdom on the frontline, making it difficult to draw reinforcements from the frontline.

The Grant Kingdom, despite being a good fighter, was in a land of four wars. Once the war with Delong Kingdom is dragged on for too long, when the orcs invade, it will inevitably fall into a two-front war, and strategically fall into a passive position.

Moreover, now that the United Kingdom of the East Coast has joined the war, the Kingdom of Grant is caught in a three-direction war, which may lead to the death of the country and the destruction of the species if not careful.

After realizing this, Steven also secretly regretted it.

In these recent years, the expansion of the Grant family has gone smoothly, taking four central provinces from south to north, and the branch members have been separated out into an earl’s collar. The army had also expanded by one central legion, and was also equipped with alchemy bombs and trained Lion Rash Cavalry.

Not only the royal family, but also Jonathan’s family and the Harland family have been growing rapidly in recent years. Because of the constant victories in wars, the major nobles of the Grant Kingdom are also becoming more and more warlike, and like the Harland family, they are picking all kinds of wars as they see fit.

After provoking the war, immediately fell into the trouble of fighting on three sides.

The United Kingdom on the East Coast sent legions to cut off the Southern Expeditionary Army’s backroads, a situation that immediately caused Steven to be alerted.

The East Coast United Kingdom was not weak, and if they invested a few legions in the direction of Duke Hubble’s territory, relying on the coalition of nobles from the four northern provinces was bound to be difficult to support. In order to ensure his own back road, Steven decided to write to King Roger immediately, requesting to mobilize a noble legion into the province of Ilya, which could facilitate the reinforcement of Richard’s department at any time, preventing the back road from being broken and the situation from collapsing.

Steven’s letter of request for help was sent to King Roger by eight hundred miles. King Roger looked at the letter and fell into deep thought.

Before entering the war, the Grant Kingdom was excited, thinking that it could easily subdue the Delong Kingdom and gain a large piece of land. I didn’t expect that after the war broke out, the Delong Kingdom didn’t give in easily and even involved the East Coast United Kingdom in the war.

Now that the Grant Kingdom was in a difficult situation, King Roger, after careful consideration, decided to communicate in detail with the great nobles in the country to see if everyone was willing to give up on the good things, give up part of the occupied territories, shorten the battle line, and sign an armistice agreement with the Delong Kingdom.

If the great nobles did not agree to a truce, it would be necessary for the great nobles to continue to invest their strength in defeating the Delong Kingdom’s 500,000 strong army. The royal family has already invested three main legions in this battle, so if they are unwilling to give up the meat in their mouths, they will need the great nobles to take on a greater responsibility.

(End of chapter)