Crossing the border between Tulucas and the Negru Republic, the fugitive 3rd Guards Division found part of the 2nd Corps, the 4th and 5th Divisions of the 2nd Corps, to be precise, near Longfordford, probably more than 10,000 men. These men were camped near Longford, established contact with the Eighth Combat Readiness Army, which was in charge of Longfordford's management, and were building a defensive line.

After clarifying the basic situation, Prince Eliot took Dieter Schubert to negotiate with the commander of the Eighth Combat Reserve Army, handed over his team to Vincent Navlay, the chief of staff, and fled all the way. Navre divided the remaining light cavalry of the 3rd Guards Division and the 6th Army into two camps and stationed them on the south side of the rout of the 4th and 5th Divisions of the 2nd Army Corps and on the east side of Longfordford. The headquarters of the 8th Combat Readiness Army was on the west side of the two armies, near the border.

"Why is there an Eighth Combat Readiness Army? I don't think there's such an organization in the Western Theater, right? ”

Gastens and Erica Russell, along with a group of staff officers, were ordered by Nelson to disperse to the camp where the Second Army had been routed. Erica, who got along well on weekdays, walked to the 2nd Corps on the northwest side, without riding a horse.

"It is estimated that it is a newly formed army, before the news was broken, I heard that His Majesty the Emperor was expanding the army on a large scale, and the forced conscription of serfs you mentioned is likely to have something to do with this."

In that case, would his father be in the Eighth Combat Army? Gastens suppressed his curiosity and began to focus on the task in front of him. According to the information provided by the Cheka, his father and two brothers were supposed to be in the death squad of the Fourth Legion, while his little brother followed the Sixth Legion into Green Pine Mountain, and then fled and disappeared. Trying to find your relatives in Longford is indeed a bit wishful thinking.

Approaching the camp of the Second Legion, Gastens began to realize the impact of the defeat on his own troops. In his impression, the camp management at the level of the first-line division of the corps is strict, and the entry and exit of the camp will be carefully checked to eliminate potential safety hazards. But now there is no camp wall or obvious camp entrance in this camp. One by one, tents were scattered scattered on a small hillside, disorganized. Occasionally, a few soldiers could be seen sitting in front of the tent, looking around.

"There don't seem to be guards here?" Erica put away the letter of introduction from Navrei in her hand, "Let's go straight in." ”

Gastens nodded and entered the camp. After entering the camp, it was found that the environment here was very bad, and the soldiers obviously had no interest in digging wartime pits for themselves. They defecate around the tent at will, and then simply take the soil and bury it, and forget it. The air was filled with a lingering smell of urine and stench. It took a while for Gastens to get used to it, and he could barely breathe. He and Erica walked about two hundred meters deep into the camp before they met a man who came forward to interrogate him.

"Hey, you guys, where did you come from, who are you?"

The questioner's face was dark, his uniform was shabby, and Anken Rui was wearing a rag because of the red military uniform, which was originally a symbol of bravery. On his shoulder, the lieutenant's epaulette, which remained on one side, indicated his identity.

"I'm Captain Gastens Warren, and this is my companion, Captain Erica Russell, and we're from the 3rd Guards Division, just camped on your southeast flank. We fled back from Tulucas, and we died a lot along the way, and I heard that you didn't have a good fight, so we want to talk to our brothers. ”

"That's not going well, it's hell!" Another soldier came out from behind the questioning soldier and stretched out his hand to throw two cured meats to Gastens, "Come and sit down and say, you guys have come all the way, are you hungry?" ”

Gastens and Erica were really hungry, and they were urged to come out to inquire about the situation after they were stationed, and Prince Elliot was trying to clarify the battle situation through various means, and he didn't have time to eat properly. He thanked the two officers, introduced himself, and devoured Erica.

“…… You don't know", Gastens and Erica began to complain as Francesco Casas, a lieutenant among the two officers, began to complain, "we have been miserable for a long time, when we fought Scatt Province before, it was barely smooth, but then the enemy suddenly seemed to want no money, and I heard from my brothers in the General Staff that at the most, the spies counted seven divisions, a total of three corps, and more than 70,000 Iron Tortoises!" ”

"But no, there are so many iron turtles, how can we fight? The Type 27 rifle is so bad, and the range is not half as far as the enemy! At first we charged with skirmishers, but we couldn't beat the enemy at all, and when we rushed up, we were beaten back by the enemy's platoon guns, and then we rushed up, and then we were beaten back, and after a few fights, the death squads ran out, and the commander let us go on our own—", Second Lieutenant Mario Casas and Francesco Casas were brothers, and he took his brother's words and continued to complain.

"These officials don't care if we live or die! In that case, whoever goes up dies! Francesco stretched out his hand and handed Gastens and Erica two pieces of black bread, and continued, "Later, we heard that the platoon gun tactics were very useful, and we started practicing, but it was too late. The enemy's iron turtle rushed this way as if he didn't want money, and we fought and retreated at first, and then ran away in a swarm! ”

"Then we repaired at Strongwood, and this time the commanders were ruthless and forced us to practice our gun platoon tactics. Then we heard that the prince's troops, some artillery cavalry, thought they were here to help us, but they went to help you. We bitter haha just take the two-seven style and line up to let people shoot! Fuck my eighty or so brothers, and only fifty of them died after two fights, and after two more fights, they ran away. If we hadn't been pointing to earning money and getting land, we would have run away a long time ago! ”

"Take the land?" It was the first time Gastens had heard this, and he repeated it, swallowing a large mouthful of wild vegetable soup.

"It's a military merit, don't you know?" , Francesco was a little surprised, "The reason why we brothers are desperate is not because the emperor promised us that as long as we can win the battle and get the land, every surviving soldier can get two acres of land for free as long as they get military merits!" If you don't have military merits, you can also buy two acres at the price of 1 crown per acre, which is very cheap! ”

"No, if it weren't for the land and money, who the would want to work for their lives!"

Mario grumbled a few more times before remembering that the person in front of him hadn't spoken much. He watched Gastens and Erica eat hayce, and the pace of the meal slowed down, so he threw the topic to them.

"Hey, what about you, from the Sixth Legion, right? I heard that you guys played well, why did you run back? ”

Gastens and Erica looked at each other with a wry smile, roughly describing their battle along the way. The Fransesco and Mario brothers listened attentively to their speeches, expressing their anger at the soldiers and weapons of the Negro Republic. Gastens then asked about Tulukas's battle.

"We've been out of touch with the Tulucas line for a long time, didn't your second legion be in charge of defending the Tulucas line, how did you get to Longfordford? Is the line of defense okay? ”

"Hey, how can there be any line of defense, those iron turtles were honest for a while, and suddenly began to attack without their lives, Lao Tzu has never seen such a miserable battle! Dead people can be piled up into hills! ”

"But no, we fought for two days, and we didn't give an inch for two days! Later, there were so many corpses on the border that they couldn't get their feet! But even then, we didn't win......"

"It's not that I didn't win! It's a complete loss! Francesco's tone didn't sound much regret or sadness except for sighing, "So many fucking people died, and I still didn't win." Later, everyone ran and scattered. I heard that part of the Third Army retreated, and went to look for the Fifth Army, which was new, and I don't know what happened to it. ”

"We didn't care about them, our division commander had a good relationship with the division commander of the Fifth Division, so we discussed going to Longford Ford. I heard that the First Army of Anta Province is here, and there is also the Eighth Army of War Readiness, and the strength is not bad. The commanders may still be thinking about fighting back or something, but the brothers have long been scared. Of the more than 14,000 people who survived the two divisions, there were only more than 11,000 left in Longford, and the rest were gone. ”

"We want to run too, but aren't we reluctant to give up that piece of land......"

The two officers seemed to be very talkative and wanted to talk more, they talked a lot, and Gastens and Erica roughly sorted out the situation. The defensive line built on the border between the Republic of Negro and the Principality of Tulucas had collapsed, and the Second and Third Legions, which were in charge of the defensive line, were scattered. Together with the 6th Corps, which entered the province of Anta, the 1st Corps, which was repairing in the rear because of the great losses, also lost contact, and it is not known what the situation was. The Fourth Army, which was in charge of Scat Province, was also said to have been broken up by the enemy and suffered heavy casualties. At present, the only combat capability in the entire Tulucas is the last formed corps in the Western Theater, the Fifth Army, which was drawn from the rear some time ago.

It is said that the defensive line of the Fifth Army was east of Strongwood, near the Thorny Hills area of the middle line of the Duchy of Tulucas. Relying on the Lufenin River and two small towns, they had established a second line of defense against enemy attacks and were gathering their routs in preparation for another battle.

Bidding farewell to the two brothers and returning to the camp, Gastens and Erica headed straight to the staff headquarters, where Prince Eliot, the Commander of the Dieter Regiment, and the chief of staff of the 3rd Guards Division were discussing their next moves.

The staff officers who had gone out to inquire about the news like the Gastens also returned, and the news they brought back was similar to that Prince Eliot had received from the leaders of the rout. Several of the principal governors deliberated for a long time and put forward their own ideas.

Collect this group of defeated troops, and then rely on the resources of Longford and the logistics of the Eighth Combat Ready Army, reorganize and establish the Third Guards Army, numbering about 20,000 men, to insert diagonally to the diagonal rear of Tulucas, and strive to join forces with the Fifth Army, strengthen and consolidate the second line of defense, and if possible, wait for an opportunity to counterattack.

The plan formulated by Prince Eliot made sense, after a big battle, even if the army of the Negru Republic wins, it will definitely suffer heavy casualties. Even if they regain Strongwood now, they will probably need to rest for a while. Previously, Anken Rein's troops had almost hollowed out Strongwood, and it was difficult for the Negru Republic to get supplies on the spot. On Anken Rein's side, the newly formed corps in the rear are still supplying the front line, and as long as they survive this period of time, there should be hope to maintain the strategic balance of power.

Gastens didn't know if it was sent from the rear, and the supply of the 3rd Guards Division kept by the 8th Combat Reserve Army gave His Royal Highness the confidence of the prince, or whether he heard that the rear had sufficient troops, which gave him the courage to fight again, or his strong offensive character, even if his own side was defeated continuously, he thought about counterattacking and biting off a piece of the enemy's flesh. But in any case, no one present could oppose the plan determined by Prince Eliot, and no one was willing to oppose it.

However, not opposing does not mean that everyone will support it. After two days of repairs at Longfordford, the new 3rd Guards Corps, which set out again, had only 16,000 men left, and more than 3,000 fled overnight and disappeared without a trace. Some companies, regiments, or even entire regiments fled, leaving only empty camps.

"They have given up the glory and glory of being a national of Anken Rein."

Prince Eliot, who learned that a large number of soldiers had fled, only gave such an evaluation. Due to the lack of numbers, the 3rd Guards Army was reduced from the originally planned three divisions to two. The 1st Division consisted of the former 3rd Guards Division of the Hand Artillery Cavalry and the Light Cavalry of the 6th Corps, about 9,000 men, half of whom were armed with steam cannons. The 2nd Division consisted of the 4th and 5th Divisions of the 3rd Army Corps, about 7,000 men. Prince Eliot finally told the Eighth Combat Reserve Army to do a good job in the defense of Longfordford, and then took the lead and left this land that had not yet experienced war.

Having received adequate provisions, the soldiers also vented at Longfordford, and their mood seemed better. Gastens knew what these men had done to the city of the Duchy of Tulucas these days, but there was nothing he could do. He continued to march with the staff, thinking of something else.

The current history is very different from the history he knows, and it seems that Ankenrein will not be able to hold the provinces of Anta and Scat, and will probably lose a part of Tulucas. If they don't do it right, maybe before the onset of winter, they will lose all of Tulucas, and the spheres of influence of both sides will return to before the war. And once it enters the depths of winter, neither side can carry out any large-scale military operations, and the war potential of the Negru Republic has three months to be fully released, and by the beginning of spring next year, Ankenrein will face an even more serious situation.

But no matter what the future holds, they need to get the current things in order first. The newly formed 3rd Guards Army made contact with the rear through the 8th Combat Reserve Army, and Prince Eliot reported to the rear that he was still alive and what he was going to do next, and marched northeast without hesitation. At the same time, he sent a small reconnaissance unit to check on the situation at Strongwood. A day after the team had started, they got a reply.

The Negro Republic has recaptured Strongwood. They stationed the 5th and 6th Armies around Strongwood, the 2nd, 3rd, 8th, and 9th Armies of the Southern Front Command, which had previously been reported to be involved in the attack, were nowhere to be found, and the troops of the Eastern Front Command completely disappeared from the territory of Tulucas.

The large number of missing enemy troops made Elliot feel even more pressure, and he began to worry about whether the Fifth Army and the crippled Third Army would be able to hold the Thorn Hills. In any case, the direction of the advance of the newly formed Third Guards Army did not change.

The silent troops marched in silence, everyone thought differently, and no one knew what tomorrow would bring. Everyone just follows the order, forward, forward.

Go to the next battlefield.