If the "Battle of Dunkirk" was lost because of the carelessness of the Shang League, then the battle that took place in the Verdun area of the Manning Kingdom of the Shang League can be called tragic. This time, all tricks and skills were abandoned, and it was completely a test of the willpower of the soldiers of the two countries.

Even the mercenaries of the Shang Alliance know that behind them is Manning City, which is unsafe to defend, and if they retreat, they will not even be able to eat the mercenary's bowl of rice.

And the Desiks, led by Edward VI, a radical new emperor, were fully committed to annexing the Shang League.

Many people don't understand why Desik, who is already one of the two major powers on the mainland, wants to start this inexplicable war. An important argument has been debated by later scholars that the Duke of Edward (Note 1) was a complete madman, and judging from the plans that have been handed down to later generations, this man has been planning this war since he was young until he ascended the throne and really had the right to carry out his plan.

July 16 of the first five years, midsummer.

The Nine-Nation Business Alliance occupies the western part of the mainland, and Manning occupies the eastern part of the Business Alliance, so geographically, Manning is almost in the west-central part of the continent. When midsummer comes, the red sun is in the sky, the astronomy of the continent will appear strange, and the red sun running closer to the astronomical position will completely obscure the blue sun behind it in the strong light behind it, and the magic elements of the continent will become more and more calm because of the disappearance of the blue sun.

During the Magic Empire's era, the nobles of the empire held a grand celebration in the middle of summer to call for the return of the Blue Sun (Note 2). At that time, the "Midsummer Festival" was a particularly grand festival.

Of course, with the collapse of the Magic Empire, magic declined on the mainland, and Midsummer Festival was no longer celebrated by the people of the continent. Only the heat and heat were left, which made everyone uncomfortable.

The Verdun region, on the west Verdons, is a continuous group of mountains, not too high, but very long. On the hill were the soldiers of the newly formed 12th Army of the Shang League. This army was originally stationed on the border of the Grand Canyon in northern Xinjiang, but after the Dunkirk Bridge was lost, the canyon defense line lost its meaning. After burning several bridges and leaving a small number of guards on the edge of the gorge, the Twelfth Army, along with the nearby Thirteenth Army, retreated all the way back to the Verdun area of the Manning Kingdom.

On the orders of the commander-in-chief, Commander Etienne, they were to guard the west Verdeen section of the western part of the Lens Mountains. More than 20,000 soldiers, hulala, poured up the hill, and within a few days, a large number of fortifications were built, and a large number of bows and crossbows transferred from Manning have been sent to the fortifications. There are also various condolence foods given by the owner of the business alliance ~ Xi Hui, which are piled up in the camp.

A few soldiers lazily looked at the plain below the mountain, where there were once several farms of the Manning Kingdom, and patches of wheat fields were connected together, and on them were crops that had not had time to be harvested. The Desiks came so fast that the farmers of these farms and their noble lords had to evacuate before they could harvest the grain.

A few wild dogs, looking for food in an abandoned farmhouse, sniffed and smelled. Suddenly, several wild dogs pricked up their ears at the same time, stood still for a moment, and then fled, kicking up a large cloud of dust.

A young soldier gently patted the middle-aged soldier beside him, "Captain, look, what's wrong with those wild dogs? ”

The captain, squinting carefully, "It's not quite right, I didn't see a beast behind them, did it?"

At this moment, there was a slight vibration sound on the ground, and before the captain's words fell, the wooden cup beside him actually began to beat gently. The two soldiers, one old and one young, glanced at each other, and then suddenly looked up at the north horizon.

There, a large black shadow is coming from the sky!

"Blow, whistle!", the captain was also a little panicked, stammering to the young soldiers beside him, and then feeling that it was not enough, he suddenly got up and shouted, "The Desik!

At the same time, the entire West Verdeen hill was full of terrible whistles, and all the soldiers spotted the Desik army that appeared in the distance.

And the whistle is not only the western section of Verdon Mountain, the entire plain in front of Lens Mountain, there are also a large number of Desik troops, the beginning of the Second Continental War, the most brutal Verdun meat grinder, officially kicked off.

The Desik, with five regiments of the Western Frontier Army at the forefront, under the command of Alvin, a battalion under General Florian, struck down Mount Lance. These five regiments include the most elite "One-Eyed" Regiment and the "Giant Regiment" in the Western Frontier Army of Desik, which are two frontier regiments that have been continued since the founding of Desik and have always been the absolute main force of the Western Frontier Army.

More than 30 days ago, they were the ones who broke through the defense line of the Dunkirk Bridge in one fell swoop and killed all the lax defenders of 3,000. This time, the two regiments at the head and the 10,000 men behind them, their common goal, was the main peak of Lens, the most heavily defended in the Verdun area.

Before Alvin, Sebastian, the captain of the Dersik Army, had already led his men to defeat the Scouts of the Merchant Alliance. Leaving behind a pile of corpses, the merchant alliance scouts fled back to the main peak of Lens in disarray.

Once the army arrives, it can attack.

At the same time, General Florian, who would not let go of the West Verdons and the Little Lance, also arranged a Desik attack group of more than 10,000 men on the two lines of defense on the east and west sides.

The Great War is on the verge of breaking out.

If there is anything to describe the Lens Hill Defence, it is a ladder with three sections. The two legs of the ladder were positions along the sides of Mount Lens, where the mercenary regiments were garrisoned by a regiment of soldiers. And between the "two legs of the ladder" were three fortifications built by mercenary regiments.

Due to the topography of the Lens Mountains, the Desik had to choose between two vertical lines of defense to storm and break through the fortifications of the three merchant alliances.

Fortunately, it was only a hand-built wall and tunnel on the hillside, not the stone walls of the big city.

One of the major problems faced by the Desik people was the defense line of the merchant alliance on both sides. The two sides of the defense line are about two miles apart. Desik has three options to attack, take the left side and attack the middle of the line from the left, or attack the right side of the line similar to the left, or directly from the center to force the three mercenary lines.

Whether you start from the left or the right, it's the same way of thinking, first knock out the flanks of the merchant alliances. The hill on the left is a bit slower, so it's also a little easier. The question is how much it will cost, after all, the soldiers of the European and American merchant alliances after the three fortifications on the middle road are not vegetarians.

If you choose to attack the middle lane directly, it is another way of thinking, directly killing the main force of the Shang Alliance. But there is also a problem with this method, the existence of the defense line on both sides, their bows and crossbows can cover about half of the width of the attack, and the rest of the Desik army, if it is to be spread out in a frontal area less than a mile wide, the entire attack surface will appear a little small.

The Merchant Alliance, this time they were fully prepared, and at the request of Captain Etienne, the nearest three kingdoms, Manning, White Harbor and Carlin, all transported all the gods they could collect to the Lens Mountain Defense Line and placed them on the fortifications of the defense line.

The stout crossbow bolts that glowed with cold light were always aimed at the road down the mountain.

The Desik did not hesitate for too long at the foot of the mountain, their rangers had already figured out the layout of the defense line on the mountain, and Alvin's battalion did not hesitate for too long, so they mobilized the leading "Giant Regiment" to attack the left defense line on the west side, that is, the Lens Mountain, and Alvin himself took the rest of the troops to wait in the middle for a while. The rest of the troops began to camp at the foot of the mountain.

The Giants Regiment is the number one main force of the Desik Western Frontier Army, with more than 3,000 soldiers in the regiment, all veterans of more than five years in the army, and the whole regiment is equipped with leather armor, steel knives, and tower shields (Note 3).

The reason why it is called the Giant Regiment is because this regiment likes to choose tall soldiers, so that they can resist the tower shield made of black iron, which is the first-class armor in siege warfare.

A tower shield that is more than one person high and two people wide can be connected to form a black "turtle shell", which can not be pierced by any arrows and crossbows.

Approaching the vicinity of 200 grams in front of the defensive line, the soldiers of the Giants stopped and connected the three hundred tower shields, and then, holding these shields, began to charge towards the eastern defense line of Lens.

The mercenaries behind the line were not to be outdone. Compared with the new formation of the Shang Alliance, the weapons of the mercenary corps are much more luxurious, and without waiting for the commander's order, rows of crossbow arrows flew out like rain, "poof" into the tower shield needle, the arrow feathers were nailed to the shield, and the tail was still shaking slightly. And some of the lucky crossbow arrows actually passed through the gap between the tower shields, bringing the screams behind the shields.

After paying only a few dozen casualties, the tower shield array advanced a distance of about 100 grams, and it completely entered the best shooting range of the positional bow and crossbow.

The Desik warrior who carried the shield in the front row let out a roar and began to accelerate, and in the invisible place behind the shield, the archers who also had Desik began to counterattack. The feathered arrows were thrown from above, beginning to inflict some damage on the defenders.

On the main peak of Lens, General Etienne watched as the vanguard of the Desiks began to attack the left-hand defensive line, and turned to order the herald behind him, "Don't act rashly with all the troops, this is only a tentative attack, they will definitely wait for the main force to arrive." ”

As if to confirm General Etienne's words, the sky, in exchange for the sound of "woo woo" horns on the side, more De Syk troops, began to appear.

Note 1: Some scholars are reluctant to recognize Edward VI's title before he ascends the throne, so they still refer to him as dukes.

Note 2: The Blue Sun, since the Age of Magic, has been recognized as the aid of the Magic Element, and the Magic Element will change somewhat with the operation of the Blue Sun.

Note 3: The tower shield is an infantry shield, generally made of black iron, which is hard and malleable. Huge in size, most of the tower shields are more than a person tall, and are generally used to provide shelter for subsequent infantry when charging in the field.