In the words of Paul Gibson about Charlie Ronin after hearing the news, this man has no son, and he has no reason. Geographically, Ronninger sits on a vast territory in the eastern part of the Ankenrein Empire, and although the economy is backward, the strategic environment is relatively safe, and if there are no accidents with the glacial defenses, he only needs to deal with the pressure exerted by the empire from the west. For Ankenrein, the strategic environment is quite complicated not only to deal with the rebellion in Roninger in the east, but also to deal with the possible retaliation of the Negru Republic in the west, and the third Republic of Fern and the Alonte empire in the south. For Ronninger, if Charlie Ronin really wants to win, he should launch a limited military attack in the provinces of Lux and Carangliot, close to the west, to maintain the strategic balance of power. As long as he can drag on until the Negru Republic ends the civil strife and re-attacks Ankenrein, his rebellion will be half won.

However, Charlie Ronin did not choose the safest path, on the contrary, he suddenly attacked from the province of Lukes, near the north, just after the end of winter and before the beginning of spring, as if time was on Paul Gibson's side, not Roninger's. This puzzled Paul Gibson and Henry Claflin, Grand Duke of the Golden Lion, who served as his adviser. However, the two still reacted to Charlie Ronin's sudden attack. They ordered the 2nd and 3rd Corps of the Central Military District, which had been assembled near the province of Lukes, to come forward to meet the attack, and to make sure that the invading enemy was completely annihilated and the first shot fired since the beginning of the year.

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By the time the order for the counterattack reached the headquarters of the Central Military District, Wenfeng Gibson had already gone to the front. As a last resort, the soldiers who gave the order to Barry McCartney, the commander of the Central Military District, who was stationed at the headquarters of the Central Military District.

"Don't worry, please report to Your Majesty, as soon as the enemy attacked, we started a counterattack, and we will definitely not let Charlie Ronin get his wish."

Barry McCartney said this in front of the herald, and although his words and attitude were sincere, they did not satisfy the herald. The herald repeatedly told him that he must send the order to Prince Wenfeng, and then he took his leave and left, leaving only General McCartney alone, who was contemplative.

Barry McCartney, unlike his colleague Paul Chung, the commander of the Western Theater, was personally selected by His Majesty the Emperor, and did not have much family background, but had deep military knowledge and was sure that he had nothing to do with the Mage Tower. Before becoming the commander of the Central Military District, he was only the commander of the Fifth Guards Division, and the number of people under his command did not exceed 20,000. At present, the entire Central Military District's six regiments, with a full strength of more than 360,000 people, are on standby under his banner, and as long as he gives an order, he will be invincible and invincible.

In the beginning, Barry McCartney was also worried, worried that he would not be able to do the job. But His Majesty the Emperor dispelled his doubts with a word.

"I haven't fought a war in eight hundred years, how different do you think those generals are from you? I know your achievements in the Fifth Guards Division, do a good job, I believe you will not let me down. ”

"I won't let your majesty down!"

Barry McCartney reaffirmed his ideals in his mind. He knew that His Majesty the Emperor had promoted him to such a high level because of his loyalty. And he, naturally, can not let his greatest merits, have any stains.

"Let's go, prepare the horses, let's go directly to Muenze, now that the enemy is present, the big war has begun, and it is not the responsibility of our officers to hide in the headquarters in the rear!"

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Muenze is a large city in the immediate vicinity of the province of Luks and belongs to the province of Milumia. In Charlie Ronin's sudden attack, she was the undisguised first target of the Grand Duke of Glacier. And the second prince, Wenfeng Gibson, and the Second Army and the Third Army Corps of the Central Military Region under his command, will face the enemy's charge.

On the eastern side of the city of Muenze, on a vast plain, the two sides that have already made contact are forming their own formations. Wenfeng Gibson stood on his command car, watching the dense red-clothed soldiers in front of him fill the gap between the two armies like flowing water, and nodded with satisfaction.

"Yes, although you are a new recruit, you are very well trained, and you have done a good job."

"Your Highness has praised it falsely", Harris Jenkins, the commander of the Second Army Corps of the Central Military District, was dressed in a military uniform, and the badge on his chest shone in the sun, "This is all a wise decision of His Majesty."

"General Jenkins is right," Tyrell Roland, commander of the Third Army Corps of the Central Military Region, took over, "Our Second and Third Army Corps are the first elite units of the Central Military Region to be equipped and trained in accordance with His Majesty's orders and the combat experience of the Western Theater. For the time being, the other divisions were still using Type 27 rifles. However, as far as we know, the opposite side is also using the 27 style, everyone is half a catty and eight taels, and there is no advantage or disadvantage in weapons. ”

"I still have to tell the rear that the supply of Glory rifles should be accelerated", Prince Wen Feng listened to the sound of horns in the air, looked at the green soldiers who were also unfolding opposite his red soldiers, and said seriously, "After all, a good rifle can make the soldiers suffer fewer casualties." ”

"Your Highness has mercy."

Harris Jenkins and Tyrrell Roland bowed in unison, and then asked about the situation of the combat staff officers on the command platform, and watched the war with Prince Wenfeng.

In this era, communication was inconvenient, and it was difficult to change tactics at the corps level after they were formulated before the war, and division commanders and commanders at the lower level had the power to arbitrarily act on the spot. Therefore, when the two sides have entered the final confrontation before the battle, these people standing on the command platform, except for deciding when to increase troops and when to withdraw troops and other major decisions, what they can do is actually not much different from the audience of a ball game.

The loud drums echoed in the air, and their own soldiers were basically in place. The plains to the east of the city of Muenze are known as the three-leaf clover, which grows a long, endemic clover that can reach the knees in the summer. But in this late winter and early spring, the prairie looks more like a black-gray swamp. In the eyes of Prince Wenfeng, the red and green soldiers on both sides had become the most dazzling color on this gray-black swamp, constantly expanding, and seemed to engulf the entire grassland.

Amazingly, it seems to be unanimous, the troops of both sides controlled a distance of about five hundred meters between each other. By the time both sides had basically completed their formations, the 500-meter interval had turned into an almost straight gray-black ruler, dividing the troops of both sides. In the array of troops on both sides parallel to the long ruler, thin gray-black lines much thinner than the long ruler were fluctuating and advancing synchronously as the soldiers advanced. It was the gap between the rows of gun soldiers, about twenty meters or so, and from the perspective of Prince Wenfeng, it looked like the crest of a wave on the undulating sea.

The drums in the air spun and stopped. Stopping along with the drums was an array of both sides pushing forward. Almost at the same time, the red and blue soldiers stopped in unison, and the dense and faint sound of steam rifles pierced through the place where the two lines met.

"Started?"

Prince Wenfeng tiptoed a little uneasily, hoping to see more clearly. But no matter how hard he tried, the two sides in the distance who were fighting looked like the color puzzles he played as a child, and no matter how he looked at it, it felt unreal.

"Your Highness, it has begun", according to the pre-battle arrangement, the second legion undertook the main task of this engagement, and the corps commander Harris Jenkins also naturally served as an adviser to His Royal Highness the prince, "In terms of corps-level command, in order to prevent the headquarters from being raided by the enemy's cavalry, it is generally placed relatively backward, so from our distance, it is indeed difficult to see the details." It's still a sunny day, and if the weather is worse, we may not be able to see the enemy and the battlefield at all. ”

"How do you command this? Or do you rely on division commanders and more junior officers? So how do I know if I've lost or won? Prince Wenfeng has just assumed the position of leader, and he doesn't understand many things. But since his father pushed him to this position, he will still do these two things, learning and asking.

"The main thing is that you haven't commanded many battles before, so you may not have found a pattern for the time being. After a few battles, you can see the advantages and disadvantages of both sides on the battlefield. Take today's battle as an example, because the costumes of the two sides are different, you only need to look at the neatness of the lines of the two sides and find out who is the first to mess up, and you can roughly guess who has the advantage. ”

Wen Feng had studied these contents before, but when he really went to the battlefield, he always felt that he would be more down-to-earth if he asked again. He followed the experience imparted by General Jenkins to observe, but found that both sides were in relatively good formation, so he asked another question.

"So, you can't seem to see it, huh?"

"When there is obvious confusion in the formation, it is often already in the late stages of a big battle, and now the two sides are just starting to make contact, and the formation is maintaining well. In this case, you can count the depletion of the gun lines on both sides, or see which way the area of fire between the two sides is moving. Generally speaking, the movement of the area of exchange of fire towards us indicates that our side is at a disadvantage in the frontline and is unable to generate enough pressure to stop the other side from advancing. ”

Tyrrell Roland took over the topic and continued to explain to His Royal Highness. Prince Wenfeng felt that what he said was also reasonable, so he began to observe according to the method introduced by Roland, and it didn't matter to this observation, but he saw that there was a problem.

"Well, how do I feel that our front is retreating?"

"Ah, wouldn't it? The Second Legion is the longest-trained legion, shouldn't it? ”

Jenkins was a little unconvinced, and he began to observe the battle in the distance, and soon fell silent.

From the perspective of the command platform, the gray-black ruler that divided the soldiers on both sides had already bent in many places at this time, and it was as if the ruler had turned into a gray-black snake, which was slowly writhing. As he writhed, he was still moving slowly and slowly towards the side of the Second Legion.

"It seems...... Isn't that wonderful? ”

According to the knowledge told to him by the two generals, Prince Wenfeng felt that his side seemed to be at a disadvantage. He subconsciously asked, but did not get the expected answer. Both generals seemed to be drawn to the distant engagement, and it took a while for Jenkins to focus his attention on Prince Wenfeng.

"Your Highness, the situation seems to be a little unfavorable, which is different from what we expected, but it should still be within our control. Our troops in Anken Rein also have experience in fighting against the wind. ”

Although nominally the deputy commander of the Central Military Region, Wen Feng knew the simple truth that the art industry had a specialization, so he no longer spoke or asked questions, but looked intently at the battle ahead, trying to judge the battle situation for himself. From his point of view, the lines of spearmen advancing horizontally on his side seemed to be depleting at a faster rate than the other side, and he could even see many defeated red soldiers, sometimes gathering and sometimes falling around the long snake.

"The formation is going to be messed up."

"No way, it's too fast."

"Do you want to put it in the reserves?"

"No way, now that the formation has been deployed, the reserve team can't go up in a short time, how did they do it?"

Jenkins and Roland began to whisper and exchange views, but inadvertently left Prince Wenfeng aside, although Prince Wenfeng was a little unhappy, he also knew not to disturb each other at this time. He quieted down and continued to watch the battle ahead.

As time went on, the situation seemed to become clearer and clearer. Under the careful calculation of Prince Wenfeng, his own two rows of troops could almost only destroy one row of the opponent's lines. At this rate, the enemy will soon amass enough superior forces to determine the outcome of the battle.

The situation of the battle is like a scale, imperceptibly, already tilted to the brink of danger. When the red-clothed soldiers on their side were consumed to about one-third, it was as if someone had suddenly flipped a switch, and the soldiers who were originally neatly lined up and were about to rush up and line up on the opposite side to shoot suddenly became chaotic. They changed from neat red lines to scattered red figures and began to run towards the rear.

"Damn!"

Although he is not professional, Prince Wenfeng also knows that he seems to have lost this first battle. He looked sideways at his two men, the Second Legion Commander Harris Jenkins turned pale, and it was his troops that were now being defeated. Roland, the commander of the Third Legion, looked nervous and was talking to his herald quickly. Behind Prince Wenfeng, the combat staff officers were busy, their voices buzzing together, and they didn't know what they were talking about.

"Your Highness", Jenkins was shocked by his own defeat, but his basic responsibility was not forgotten, "I'm sorry, we're going to be ready to retreat, it's going to be unsafe here, Roland's Third Army is going to build a defensive line here, collect the rout, we have to retreat." ”

"Okay, I'll listen to you", Prince Wenfeng finally realized the cruelty of war, he nodded, and then asked the question in his heart.

"But what I want to know is, how did we lose?"