The war games between the brothers were played for more than three hours in an atmosphere without the smell of gunpowder. Weiss unsurprisingly lost, and there was no suspense in the loss, and the onlookers all looked serious. In the face of the menacing attack of the Normans, they were already under pressure, and they were even ready to fight the enemy to the end in the situation of the enemy's superior strength - even if the final result was that the Federation army did not hold this line at a heavy price, they still hoped to replicate the Battle of Austria in the previous war, so as to achieve the purpose of exchanging time for space and delaying the enemy's offensive with sacrifice.

After the war games, Ze told Weiss that if the attacking commander was not Field Marshal Sedlinz, the defending side still had a chance to win.

"How could it not be him?" Weiss asked rhetorically, "The scale of this battle is not particularly large, but the strategic significance is very important. Unless something special happens, there's no reason why he shouldn't be here in command. ”

At this point, he suddenly realized why Ze would say that assumption, so he asked further: "The relationship between the top leaders of the Norman Empire has not been completely stabilized until now?" ”

"The biggest variable is the physical condition of those in power." Ze was referring to Crown Prince Albert, Crown Prince Albert, the elder brother of Barras and the actual ruler of the Norman Empire. It is no secret that he has not been in good health - it is said to be an incurable family genetic disease, which has been suffered by many members of the royal family in the history of the Norman Empire, and with the current level of medical care, no one has been able to get rid of it. With the death of the crown prince and the serious illness of the emperor, he went from an unpopular corner to a prominent position as a regent. In the process, there was a great deal of controversy within the Norman Empire, so much so that he had to work with Barras to suppress his opponents by force and bloodbath, and to achieve a smooth transition of power. Perhaps due to physical reasons, Albert has no heirs, and after him, the second in line to the throne is de facto Ballas. Once Albert is unable to fulfill his duties, then Barras will take his place as regent; If he dies violently, Barras will become the crown prince and eventually inherit the .......

Perhaps, his desire is to achieve unprecedented feats in his limited life - to defeat all enemies and become the sole overlord on this planet. As for who will inherit the royal family later, perhaps he and Barras have already agreed. Ze speculated.

In this way, the alliance between the two brothers is strong and reliable, unless something unexpected happens...... For example, when Albert's health improves, or he suddenly has a legal successor, new conflicts will arise. Weiss analyzed.

"You're just talking about one aspect." Ze took over, "On the way from the Norman Empire to the Free Confederation, we heard rumors that Crown Prince Albert was not doing well lately, and even fainted at a royal council. Many people know about this, and the credibility is still relatively high. If his health deteriorates sharply, Ballas will definitely do his best to not allow any mistakes, and Sedrintz, as Ballas's right-hand man, may urgently return to the capital to assist Ballas in taking power. ”

"If Seidlinz returns to the rear, will there be a temporary stagnation in the offensive of the Norman army on the front?" Weiss asked.

Ze shook his head slowly: "With my understanding of the Norman army, there is a high probability that this will not happen." They are loyal to the empire and to the imperial power, not to a specific person, and they don't really care so much about who is in charge. As long as those in power are ambitious and wise enough to make decisions at the strategic level, then the execution at the tactical level is for the military to put into practice. Unless the struggle for power in the rear requires the intervention of the army, and orders are sent to the army, the army will still move according to the original plan and rhythm. ”

This information is indeed of high reference value, but as a commander, you must not pin your hopes on uncertain things. Weiss returned to the table of the wargame deduction to think about countermeasures, and Ze stood silently aside. He arrived in the morning, and by this time it had been almost a day, and he had not rested beyond his normal diet, and he looked a little tired. Weiss did not send him to the Lord and his wife until the final decision of the three-member committee was made, on the one hand, the hidden worries could not be completely ruled out, and on the other hand, whether he could meet Kemp Jr. like this still needed to be considered in the long run.

After dinner, Weiss asked the adjutant to take Ze back to his room, and repeatedly told him to pay sufficient attention to his diet and daily life, implying that his every move must be monitored before new instructions were given, and there should be no mistakes. Of course, Ze could hear the implication of the words, and in the current situation, he came in such an unexpected way, and the caution of the federal army was understandable and acceptable.

After Ze left, the two partners approached and asked Weiss what he thought. Weisin said that he felt that his brother had come here after a lot of hardship, and he had abandoned the darkness and turned to the light according to his own heart. With his character, it is unlikely that he will use bitter tactics to seek benefits. However, for security reasons, he felt it necessary to observe for a further period of time, preferably after the conclusion of the Battle of Somsonas. As for the various intelligence and information he provided, especially about the layout of the battlefield, it is necessary to think carefully and ponder, but it is not possible to believe it - even if he returns sincerely, it will be several years since he left the command of the Norman army, and the military way of thinking may be outdated.

In the following days, Weiss actively helped the Federation Army to strengthen and consolidate the Somsonas Line, but he did not spend much time outside, mainly based on the information of the staff department of the three-member committee. During this time, Ze also remained at the Château de Klumber-Heissen. For the first time in decades, the two brothers have spent a few days together, which is really commendable.

The Battle of Neuchâtel had come to an end, and the Norman army had been brought in from the north to aid the battlefield of Somsonas, and even if Field Marshal Sedrinz had not yet exerted his personal influence, the defending Union forces were already under increasing pressure in terms of the superiority of forces and equipment between the two sides.

Aware of the enemy's intentions, the federal army has also actively deployed troops to the Somsonas area, but the battlefield model has already entered the era of three-dimensionalization, and simply piling up troops on the defense line is often counterproductive. The Union forces that rushed to the front were deployed in the depths, and the defense mode of elastic defense at the front and support from the rear strongholds was built to deal with the possible leapfrog attacks of the Normans.

During this period, information from the intelligence services confirmed Ze's information that the rulers of the Norman Empire had been in poor condition in recent times, and that Prince Baras, who was the chief of the general staff of the Norman army, had also returned to the capital from the front. The absence of the commander was not necessarily a bad thing, and the Norman army continued to unite with the armed forces of Wessex to put pressure on the Union forces from the northern and eastern fronts of the Western Front, especially on the Western Front, where they had gained a firm foothold and intended to advance into the depths, while on the Northern and Eastern Fronts, although the Norman offensive had not yet achieved a decisive victory, both fronts held back a large number of Union troops.

On the sixth day after Ze's return to Lorraine, the Normans finally launched an offensive in the area of Somsonas. After more than four hours of heavy artillery fire, they launched a tentative assault on the forward positions, which came to a halt and did not result in a fierce and bloody battle. The elastic defense of the Union Army also played a large role, that is, in the preparation stage of the enemy's artillery fire, only a small number of alert troops were lost on the forward positions, and the fresh force was saved.

While the Normans launched a ground attack, the fresh forces deployed by the Union Army in the second-line positions quickly moved to the forward positions, and the reserves in the large rear were also ready to respond, all in order, but apparently did not escape the eyes of the Normans - at the same time as the attack, they sent reconnaissance planes to conduct low-altitude reconnaissance, and although they were shot down by the Union forces, they still collected a lot of important information.

After the battle began, Norman shells and bombs began to rain day and night around the city of Somsonas, and the castle of Clumberg-Heisen, a relatively isolated target, was no longer safe. As the battle progressed, the three-man committee and staff officers were soon transferred to the rear positional command, where they continued to direct the Union troops against the Norman attack.

During the transfer, Weiss made an extra eye to watch out for Ze slipping away halfway, but the old man did not do this, he always followed Weiss's side, and during the battle, he made a lot of informative suggestions with the advantage of being familiar with the Normans.

In the first and second waves of the Norman offensive, the elastic defense worked well, so that the Normans were never able to cross the first line of defense under the current attack, while the reserve troops under Weiss's command were firmly on the third and fourth lines. The third line of defense, like the previous two, has a complete defensive section, and the fourth line of defense is a reserve battlefield that is connected by points and changed by lines.

The Norman offensive was like a rising tide in the sea, wave after wave, and the third wave of the offensive apparently analyzed the defensive deployment of the defenders on the basis of the previous two waves of tentative analysis, and adjusted it emphatically. In this round of attacks, the defenders began to lose their positions. The battle lasted from early morning to late afternoon, and the old town of Somsonas was occupied by the Normans. In the process, the Normans never squeezed out their aerial assault tactics, but that didn't mean they weren't going to use it, but waited for the defenders to reveal bigger flaws.

In their opinion, Somsonas is one of the symbols of Lorraine's military and civilian resistance, the hometown of the commander of the Lorraine Reserve and the administrator of Lorraine, and one of the important strongholds of the resistance in the last war. On the second night of the Norman occupation of Somsonas, the Union army launched a tactical counterattack on this area, and they beat the Normans in the night battle with their familiarity with the geography and the means reserved, and the Norman army was driven out of Somsonas by the Union army in the second half of the night.

This was an unbearable defeat for the competitive Normans, and for the rest of the day, they fought repeatedly with the Union forces for Somnas, essentially occupied by the Normans during the day and recaptured by the Union forces at night. This repeated tug-of-war annoyed the Normans, and tactically drew a considerable amount of their energy. During this period, the Lorraine Free Canal Industrial Zone was firmly in the hands of the Federal Army.