At about three o'clock in the afternoon, north of the mountain city of Slyen, in a sentry box outside the Norman army station, the Norman soldiers on duty looked boredly at the mountains ahead. Late autumn has passed, the cold winter is coming, and the mountains and forests are bleak. Soon, everything here will be covered in snow, and the mountain roads will be difficult to navigate, and large-scale logistics will have to rely on air transportation. As a rule of thumb, the exchange of fire between the two armies will be greatly reduced, and the next few months, as long as they are not transferred to the front, are likely to be monotonous and boring day after day - no fighting, no casualties, no sadness, and this seems to be a good state.

Boom...... Boom......

Two unusual gunshots broke the tranquility of the mountains and the reverie of the Norman soldiers. The two bullets pierced through the sentry box in an instant, and a scream rang out from inside.

Hearing the gunshots, Norman soldiers on duty in other directions quickly ran to check on the situation. Then there were two dull and powerful gunshots, and one of the Norman soldiers on the run was shot, and the scene was even horrific - this man was blasted open in the front chest with a bloody gap, and he fell to the ground and struggled a few times before he stopped moving.

Realizing that this was a premeditated attack by the enemy, the guns used were extremely powerful, long-range, and highly targeted, and the remaining Norman soldiers quickly fell to their stomachs or sought shelter. In the barracks, the shrill whistle sounded one after another, and the sound of hurried footsteps was incessant, followed by the roar of the engine. At this moment, the sharp-eyed Norman soldiers spotted the anomaly in the northeast direction and hurriedly shouted loudly to guide their companions to counterattack, but before the Normans could use machine guns and light artillery to launch retaliatory fire, the three attackers had quickly evacuated on horseback.

A short time later, a squad of wheeled armored fighting vehicles rushed out of the Norman barracks and pursued them violently in the direction of the attackers' retreat......

In the woods more than twenty miles away, Weiss picked a tall and stout sandalwood tree, stood on a high branch, and watched intently in the direction of the city of Slien. Seeing the dust billowing up at the end of the road, he raised his brow and whistled.

In the woods, the soldiers of the second reserve of the city of Somsonas returned to their combat positions. Since the fall of the city of Somsonas, they have escaped into the mountains under the leadership of Weiss, thus avoiding the advance of the Norman army. When the Union forces everywhere tried to resist the Norman invasion, they did not launch a moth-to-fire raid from behind the enemy's flank, but carried out the transfer of personnel and materials in a low-key and cautious manner, and tried to inform the Union combat units of the detected enemy situation - but with little success. Within 20 days, most of the federal states of Lorraine had fallen into the hands of the federal army, and the situation of the federal army on the Western Front was becoming more and more difficult. Unless the tide of battle is miraculously turned around, or an epic "Crossfire Retreat" is staged, or the regular forces are broken into pieces to fight the enemy in a guerrilla fight, the doom that awaits them is a collective capture.

The tragedy at the strategic level stems from the decay under the surface of freedom, and the high-ranking President Leibold has worked hard to no avail, and with Weiss's current status, it is also in vain to sacrifice his life to accompany him, so he simply adjusts his mentality and strategy, does what he can, and does what he can, and fights a vigorous guerrilla war in the occupied area where the Normans think they are at ease......

Deep in the woods, 4 light armored vehicles covered with foliage "Burning Horses" were already ready to go. In addition to the 5PIR caliber "Vespa" cannon, they each carried a 15PIR caliber mortar. In the early guerrilla training, Weiss had familiarized the soldiers with the capabilities of the new weapon. Their absolute range is much shorter than that of field guns and their power is weaker than that of field guns of the same caliber, but their special ballistics are suitable for attacking or ambushing the enemy in complex environments, and future battles will fully prove this.

The "Liema" light armored vehicle is a wheeled combat vehicle, which can hardly withstand the recoil of a 15PIR caliber field gun, and it is appropriate to match it with a "Vespa" machine gun and mortar. After the fall of Somsonas, Weiss strengthened the Burning Horse with equipment transferred from the Clumberg-Heisen plant, simplified the tire installation structure, reduced the tire change time from 10-15 minutes to about 5 minutes, and used deep-grain tires to enhance the traction of mountainous terrain.

At the edge of the woods, 46 soldiers of two detachments were prostrate behind improvised shooting bunkers, and the machine gunners set up 1.4PIR or 9mm caliber water-cooled machine guns, and the riflemen used KT semi-automatic rifles of the same caliber, both of which used the same type of bullets, which not only simplified the logistical burden, but also facilitated tactical coordination on the battlefield.

Everything is about preparing for this tailor-made guerrilla warfare.

The three Lorraine guerrillas who had gone to lure the enemy were good riders and used the best horses, but even so, after running for more than twenty miles, they were gradually narrowed by the pursuers behind them—as long as the fuel was sufficient, the enemy's chariots would not get tired!

High on a tree branch, Weiss lowered his binoculars and squinted at the enemy ahead. After a while, he bowed his head to the herald under the tree and said, "The enemy has sent nine chariots, three in front and six in the rear, not far apart, and we will fight the enemy when we are closer...... Tell everyone to calm down, no one is allowed to fire until they see a green flare! ”

The herald was a young man who had just turned 18 years old, with a thin build, but he was a fast runner and a clever man, and he was the right person to play this role.

The three riders entered the woods and were guided by their companions to Weiss's location. They turned over and dismounted, and one of them hurried under the tree, looked up and reported: "Captain, the operation is going well, we have shot 3 Norman soldiers and drawn out the enemy's mobile troops." ”

The battle is about to begin, and while staying in the trees will provide a good view of the situation, it will also increase the chance of being shot. Weiss immediately got out of the tree and said to the wrinkled "old" reservist, "Thank you for your hard work! ”

"As long as you can beat the Norman dog, no matter how tired and bitter it is, it's worth it!"

Nine times out of ten, any Union soldier who participated in the last major war would disparatively refer to the Norman army as "Norman dogs", and this veteran, who was over fifty years old, was indeed a witness to that war, but he was a little unlucky - the war lasted five years, and he also spent five years in the Union army, and he went to war very few times, and he was neither wounded nor meritorious, so he was conscripted into the army as a big soldier, and was honorably demobilized unscathed at the end of the war. In his five-year service career, he received formal and rigorous training exercises, mastered all the military skills that infantry should have, and had such a solid foundation that he was fully qualified for the role of a non-commissioned officer, but because of his age, he was kicked into the second-class reserve, which is really laughable. In the three-man team sent to lure the enemy, the veteran was the observer commander, and although he had a share of the credit for shooting three Norman soldiers, he did not do it himself, so his number of kills remained at a pitiful zero record.

But soldiers' contribution to the war should not be limited to cold kill figures.

Weiss said to him word by word: "If this battle is won, you should be the first to take the credit!" ”

The veteran was not complacent because of the superior's praise, and his expression and tone could not hide the worry in his heart: "The victory or defeat of such a skirmish is insignificant to the overall situation. I hope that our efforts will not be in vain in the end. ”

"It won't be in vain." Weiss replied firmly.

Joining the veterans were two stocky young soldiers. The weapon they used to kill enemy soldiers from a distance was a single anti-materiel rifle made from 5-pir caliber cannon parts, which Weiss named the "Halberd". In addition to the fact that it could only shoot a single shot, there were almost no significant drawbacks. Too much recoil? Not easy to carry? On the planet Orens, in the Free Confederation of Ulster, in the federal state of Lorraine, in Weiss, a guerrilla force that seems to consist of the old, weak, sick and disabled, this is not a problem! In fact, the two shooters had no physical or mental impairments other than being physically up to the rigid standards of a federal combat unit.

The enemy was getting closer and closer, but Weiss did not panic at all, he stooped to the firing line at the edge of the woods, knelt on one knee beside the tree, and calmly observed the enemy's movements with a telescope. Finally, the herald returned to his side: "Captain, your order has been delivered. ”

"Thank you!" Weiss sent a "little red flower" in his hand, then observed for a while, took out the small notebook and pen he carried with him, quickly wrote down a set of shelling coordinates and marked "three rapid fires", tore off this piece of paper, and asked the herald to bring it to Godin, the commander of the fire support group, who was not originally in the reserve force, but an artillery engineer hired by the Clumberg-Heisen factory, who was very familiar with the ballistic performance of various artillery, and in the process of contacting Weiss, he became interested in the guerrilla warfare model he designed. Voluntarily joined this group of "Lorraine guerrilla fighters".

In a short time, the three Norman chariots leading the formation approached the woods, and they had traveled from Slane to here, essentially along an established dirt road. The road does not extend into the woods, but bypasses it. The Normans, apparently seeing the attackers riding into the woods, slowed down outside the woods and fired into the woods with the machine guns on their vehicles.

Weiss lowered his body to avoid being hit by a stray bullet, and whispered to the soldiers to "calm down." At this moment, although the three Norman chariots have entered the effective firing range, but the big fish behind them have not yet entered the net, if they fire in advance, it will be difficult to achieve the expected ambush effect, not only can not catch the big fish, but also be bitten by the other party.

After a random strafing of the woods, seeing that there was no movement in the woods, the Normans decided to continue along the road, bypassing the woods and pursuing eastward, and when the three chariots were sideways in the woods, the six chariots that followed finally came to the front of the woods and entered the area where Weiss marked the coordinates of the shelling. Weiss decisively pulled out his flare gun, turned on the safe, and fired a green flare into the sky.

As the flares rose into the air, gunfire erupted in the woods. The tough and strong guerrilla fighters of Lorraine finally sang their impassioned and surging song of bravery!