On the eleventh day of the Federation's entry into the war, Weiss, wearing an army hat on his head and carrying a standard steel helmet in his hand, leaned alone on a boundary post on the border between the Free Federation of Ulster and the Kingdom of Wessex, silently watching the steppes to the north. It is a place where you can see the first frontier defenses built and operated by the Wessex army, which were later occupied by the Norman army. The Union army plowed the Norman defense area with heavy artillery fire before launching a counterattack with the Wessex forces, and at this time the north of the border was full of charred craters, and even the wind blew, mixed with the smell of scorching.

It is said that the heavy artillery units of the Federal Army bombarded for four hours that day, and they used artillery fire to open a safe passage in the enemy's minefield. The big guys of the 2nd Fleet also went into battle, using powerful high-explosive shells to uproot watchtowers, artillery forts, warehouses, barracks and other targets on the enemy's defense line one by one. With artillery bombardment of this magnitude, the Alster-Wessex coalition was able to break through the enemy's border defenses in one fell swoop, and won a morale-boosting start to this massive counterattack.

With the victory of the border battle, the federal army with the 3rd and 7th Army Corps as the main force and the Wessex troops who withdrew into the territory of the Federation, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses fought deep into the territory of Wessex under the cover of the 2nd and 4th fleets of the Federation. During this period, although the Normans dispatched flying warships equipped with new weapons, they did not get the opportunity to destroy the main warships of the Federation - the Federal Air Force sacrificed the tactical strategy of long-range artillery bombardment of the capital ships + high-speed dogfight of light ships, repelled the attacks of the Norman Empire flying forces several times, and successfully covered the combat operations of the ground forces.

Lacking combat experience, the Baston Student Regiment did not follow the main force all the way north, but remained along the border to take on patrol and guard duties. The "gap" between the main forces and the national border was filled by three well-armed and well-equipped reserve regiments.

War is an unavoidable opportunity for soldiers who are determined to make meritorious contributions and show themselves. It has been more than three months since the Norman army entered the North Friesian region, and it has been more than a month since the Baston student regiment was reorganized. It is also more interesting to feel the majestic atmosphere of war than to stay in the depths hundreds of miles from the front line all the time.

Experience determines vision, and character determines thinking. Unlike his companions, who were expecting to defeat the Norman army, Weiss had been watching the situation change with a cold eye, substituting the situation of the various sides into a virtual war game. Jumping out of the battlefield and looking at the battlefield, it is not difficult to find that the decline of the Normans in the southeast of Wessex is just a strategic trade-off - they were not carried away by the brilliant results in the early stage, and when the overall strength was inferior to the Alster-Wessex coalition, they took a defensive position in the Monamolin Mountains, fought and retreated in the southeast of Wessex, and threw heavy troops into the front line of Wessex's capital Tick City, and their strategic intentions were very clear: to occupy the political, economic, scientific and educational center of the Kingdom of Wessex, Strike at the prestige of the Wessex royal family, weaken Wessex's war potential, and shake the will of the Wessex army and people to resist, and then use Tik City as a strategic base to control the situation in central Wessex, and then free up their hands to deal with the federal army and the insignificant remnants of Wessex...... At this stage, the federal army seems to have the initiative to attack, but the overall rhythm of the battlefield is still firmly in the hands of the Norman Empire, and from the perspective of the overall situation of the war, the combat deployment of the federal army is still not decisive enough. If you want to turn the situation around, it is not enough to use strength on the battlefield of Wessex, you should be like a boxer in the ring, open the bow left and right, use both hands and feet, and work together with ruthlessness and skill, so as to have a chance to disrupt the strategic deployment of the Norman army.

Some things are the mystery of the bystanders; Some things are easier said than done; There are still some things that everyone understands, but they just can't do it. For the current battle situation, although Wei Si has a clear idea, he is not sure of victory, and the walls he has encountered and the losses he has suffered have made him clearly realize that as an ordinary character, without Su Qin and Zhang Yi's vertical and horizontal skills, he will not be able to do great things, so he did not try to persuade higher-level commanders as before, but silently observed, calculated, and brewed......

"Sir! Sir! There is your letter! ”

The regimental communications corpsman, reserve soldier Rosen-Turnster, rode a brown horse and carried a black satchel along the road to the south, and then dismounted and walked to Weiss.

"My letter? Private letters? Weiss was surprised, knowing that it had only been a week since the Baston student group arrived at the new station, how could there be a letter delivered? According to the instructors who participated in the last war, it often took two or three months or even half a year for letters from the rear to be delivered to the front at that time, but in the past 20 years, the means of letter delivery have not undergone essential changes.

"Yes, your private letters." The Signal Soldier only answered the literal meaning of Weiss's interrogative sentence. He gave Weiss a military salute, then pulled out a yellow brown paper envelope from his satchel.

This is the standard envelope used by the Federal Army, with the Union coat of arms and a simple frame on the front and the Army's emblem and the motto "Bravery, Loyalty, and Dedication" on the back. Seeing that it was such an envelope, Weiss's previous doubts were immediately answered: it turned out to be a letter from a colleague in the army. Who is it?

The handwriting on the envelope is the answer.

Long time gone, Nikolai!

"Thanks, Lawson, get busy!" Weiss hastily dispatched the communications corps and busily opened the envelope.

There was a piece of stationery inside, as well as a photograph.

Nikolai in the photo is still the same as in his impression. Wearing a fur hat, scarf and leather jacket, he sat in the open cockpit of an airplane, giving a thumbs up and exuding confidence.

Looks like this guy is a pretty good mix! Weiss muttered to himself and unfolded the letter. This guy is very stingy, he hasn't heard from him for a long time, and he only wrote a few lines, and the signature of the dragon flying and phoenix dance takes up a lot of space.

In the letter, Nikolai did not reveal what others were doing there, nor did he reminisce about friendship and pour out his heart, but told Weiss lightly that although he regretted leaving Gaston Military Academy without finishing his studies, he was one step closer to realizing his dream. The outbreak of the war gave him the opportunity to return to the army, but he was not grateful for the war, but looked forward to its early end. At the end of the letter, he reminded Weiss to protect himself, and that perhaps the two would meet again soon, and if Weiss was injured and hung up, he would not only not pity and sympathize, but would laugh at him.

After reading the letter, Weiss smiled, and he hadn't been in such a happy mood for a long time. After laughing, he suddenly realized that those relaxed and happy times had become memories with Nikolai's departure. Without Nikolai gags next to him, he was obsessed with his studies and practice, and his life at the military school became calm and monotonous. The contrast between the front and back, one is colorful, the other is boring.

Sure enough, it's still a lot of fun for young people...... Weiss shook his head with a smile, put away the letter and the photo, put his hands in his trouser pockets, and looked into the distance. If the Wessex army and civilians can be more powerful, firmly hold back the main army of the Norman Empire in Tik City, and buy as much time as possible for the coalition army, this battle may be as Nicolas wishes, and it will be over as soon as possible!

Four days later, in the early morning, Weiss was summoned to a meeting at the regiment headquarters as soon as he got up, and as soon as he entered the door, he found that the atmosphere was not right. After the battalion officers had arrived, Colonel Capes, in a heavy tone, informed the crowd that the garrison of Tik City, the capital of Wessex, had surrendered to the Norman army late the night before.

As soon as this remark came out, the audience was in an uproar.

said that he would defend the capital to the death, and fight to the last man, why did he surrender?

After this information, Colonel Capes briefly analyzed the situation on the battlefield of Wessex: with the fall of the national capital, the center of resistance of the Kingdom of Wessex shifted from the city of Tik in the center to the "northern ice city" of Narlac, thousands of miles away. It is unlikely that the Norman army will climb over the snowy mountains and go to the bitter cold of the north to strangle the royal family and government of Wessex, and then they will inevitably turn around and fight the coalition forces with the main force of the Union army, which will be the real test of the Union army.

A competent commander should not only be able to see what the problem is, but also come up with the right response. Colonel Capes's response was to get the Basston Student Corps to train and prepare for war, and at the same time, he said that he had made a proposal to his superiors to reuse the border defenses in Wessex and integrate them with the border defenses in the Union to build a new line of defense with greater depth in case of emergency. If possible, the Baseton Student Corps and the several reserve divisions currently stationed in this defense should be fixed, and the backbone forces of the Bathton Student Corps should be drawn from the Baseton Student Corps to assist these reserve divisions in organizing training and conducting small-scale confrontation exercises at different times, so as to raise their combat effectiveness as soon as possible.

The officers brought by Colonel Capes had no objection to the arrangement for the Baston Student Regiment to remain on the border and to support the training and preparation of friendly reserve divisions, but several cadets who served as regimental staff officers and battalion commanders did not feel that it was appropriate. Otto Lunders and Joffen Grund proposed that with the current personnel and equipment configuration of the Basston Student Regiment, it should be the regiment-level unit with the strongest combat effectiveness of the Union Army, and that the best way to give full play to the combat capability and operational characteristics of this unit is to use flying ships to deliver them to the rear of the enemy's defense line. If the Bathton Student Corps had been stuck here, not to mention whether this line of defense was of practical significance, the students would certainly not have been able to gain and accumulate experience through actual combat. In cases where they are unable to change the decisions of their superiors, they will consider applying for a transfer to join those units that can participate in the fight.

After listening to the opinions of the cadets, Colonel Capes was neither annoyed nor indifferent, but said in a serious tone that since the three great powers had all participated in the war and were fully mobilized, the opportunity to fight was certainly indispensable. Training exercises, once failed, you can come again, but the real battlefield will not give people the opportunity to grow calmly.