XXI

August 6, 1666 (MDay+127) Jena

Danika didn't sleep all night. She was also sure that she would not be able to fall asleep again, so she simply cheered up and finished her morning meditation and magic exercises, and even took a bath like a big lady.

There was so much bloodshot in his eyes that he was about to overflow.

She had to use a little magic to adjust the color of her eyes to make herself look less tired. When she had done everything, she lay bored in bed, waiting for the maid to bring the news of what was bound to come into her tent.

"It's good that I still don't know about some things. ”

The main army was subjected to a strong volley during the advance and could not advance. Sid Nasser was about to arrive and take over all the fighting on the far left. The Far Left will reorganize with the Overseer Brigade at its core, which has arrived overnight, and launch an all-out offensive today, so that the enemies of Jena and Blenheim do not have a chance to merge. Even Duke Figota's main camp could move to the far left.

Each one was enough news to make her insomnia.

Theoretically, it would have been impossible for Denika to know in advance of the decision made by the main legion command. The Emergency Courier System controlled by the Ministry of Security has always been known for its secrecy, and this troop movement order is the highest level of secrecy for both enemy and friendly forces. The Legion Headquarters calculated that since the Free Army had sent a hidden ace magician to ensure that the defense of the southern front was secure, they would not have imagined that the Imperial Army would build a remedial offensive on the far left flank overnight in such an embarrassing situation.

But she just knows.

Yesterday, the doppelganger that Magia Veri had left by her side suddenly became active, and she could even see Sid's gaze directly. Usual magic efficiency can't do that. She humbly consulted the great spiritual mage about this, but Magia didn't seem to understand the mystery either: "Maybe it's the Free Army's efforts to build a circle of destruction that improves the efficiency of magic." ”

In short, if the Free Army interferes with the blessing of magic, as long as Danika wants to, she can know as much as Sid, the Minister of Security.

For example, she knew that in the past day, the headquarters had lost nearly 300 officers.

In order to prevent the attack of the Enigmatic Witch, all the surviving officers were stripped of their ranks, but this would not improve the effectiveness of the command. The barely recovered chain of command also did not bring any good news.

The process of rebuilding the road was unusually slow, and accidents occurred from time to time during the reconstruction process. It was not only the main road to the north, King Avenue, that was cut off, but also the three parallel auxiliary roads. One of the most devastated along the river was the dam, the dam collapsed, and the flood water washed into the road on both banks, turning the rammed earth gravel road into a muddy road. The remaining three roads were not badly damaged, but the roads made it impossible for horse-drawn carts and mule carts to pass. The dangerous Mystery Magical Maiden is still roaming the vicinity, unable to confirm its whereabouts, but from time to time several companies have been reported to have been wiped out.

All the staff officers gathered together, bowed their heads, and repeated again and again, "Please give the Duke the order to stop the attack", and the result only angered the barbarian king of Figota even more.

Danika just asked Magia to start visual sharing and witnessed the scene completely.

"The 35,000-strong army of the Empire has stopped its advance because of the deterrence of a single female magician! You don't even know how many people and how many troops the enemy has!

Duke Loren von Figota, Minister of War, split the sturdy mahogany table in the headquarters in two with a sword and cursed loudly. Despite his age, the duke was still skilled with the sword. Over the years, the Minister of War has accumulated so much power that no one dares to confront it head-on - except for "someone".

Sid Nasser's left hand scribbled meaninglessly invisible symbols on a stack of reports, and continued with the words: "Based on the results of the sightings, maybe she's a twin or a quintuplet or something." ”

Denika, who was eavesdropping, was the only one amused by the joke. In the General Headquarters, the effect of this cold joke was only to interrupt the Duke's anger, and no one dared to laugh.

"Concentrate all the elite forces and attack the enemy's heavy grouping at Jena and Blenheim from the far left. As soon as the battle showed signs of defeat, all forces on the far left flank were abandoned, and the remaining forces were withdrawn to Lenny as a last resort. Sid's tone was calm, "In intelligence we call this cutting. I know you'll have an opinion, so the Far Left will be under my own command, with the Overseer Brigade as the core. If it can't be undone, you don't have to worry about me. ”

Someone wanted to ease the atmosphere: "Then how can you be, you are an important minister of Your Majesty, and you can't be in danger." "Moreover, the road on the far left flank is not wide, and it is too dangerous to be able to transport two brigades in one day at full duty. ”

It will take a week to transport all fifteen brigades of the main army. This simple arithmetic can be calculated even by Danica, who is not familiar with military affairs, which means that the far left is only a lone army no matter what.

Sid waved his right hand unappreciatively and interrupted these people: "No need, I'm mentally prepared for the price." A real army can be rebuilt again, even if there is only one man left. ”

His right sleeve was empty. No one wanted to continue to discuss the cost with him, including the old Duke of Figota. The matter was settled: the Overseer Brigade pursued the Seventh and Figota Brigades on the far left flank overnight, and launched an offensive on the morning of the 6th.

It's August 6th. Although the security minister's troops do not have precise timekeeping, he himself must be very punctual-

Thinking that this was the end, the curtain opened.

"Good morning, Miss Dainica. Scout cavalry with a seal came from the south, claiming to be the vanguard of the Overseer brigade, and asked our brigade to guide them to the camping area. ”

A little different from what you expected?

Danika sat up, snatched the uniform from the maid's hand and put it on herself: "I didn't go to the 7th Brigade in charge of the avant-garde, but came to us...... Sid's idea is indeed very interesting. Let's go, let's go and tell the Overseer to get up. ”

The tent of the "Lord Overseer" is next door. As Sid's actions emphasized, this brigade was different: the Figota Brigade was so important that the Overseer was personally appointed by First Princess Olia Hugh Corman. Of course, both she and Danika knew that in fact, this position only meant that the two of them were compatible, and His Majesty's War Cabinet could also accept it.

When Danika arrived, Miss Mara, the silver dragon, sleeping in the outer tent, was snoring in her human form. The snoring wasn't really loud, it was a very ladylike, slightly sexy, slightly provocative snoring, but dangerous: the uncontrolled silver dragon flame, about the thickness of an arm, was spitting incessantly. The maid guard seemed to be used to it, and she took Danika to carefully pick an angle that would not be affected, and felt into Olya's inner tent.

“...... So, Sid will be here in an hour. Do you have any thoughts?"

Olya stretched out her hands indifferently, allowing several maids around her to dress herself in military uniforms, and it looked like she had lived a life of service by others for many years.

"So what? Now that Sid is here, he must be in command of the battle. Don't worry about this, he is my nominal boss, but he will not issue orders through me. Are you ready? Sid is likely to mobilize your army this time. ”

Danica sighed, "I'm afraid I don't have a choice. He came so quickly, and he was still at night, and he must have not brought artillery. ”

"I don't know much about military affairs, but if the squad fights, I know a little bit about it. If you don't want to lose too much, just remember that 'the Figota army can only be mobilized by the Figota family'. Olya smiled bitterly, "I can understand the thoughts of the nobles, no one wants to see their troops lose too much. ”

"Ah, I said, how could my cheap brothers be so active in transferring people to me. Danika turned to the maids around her, "You still have the responsibility of rebuilding the Figota Army when things change, right?" ”

Several maids' faces froze, and at the same time, they lifted their skirts and knelt on one knee: "I'm sorry to disappoint you." We will prove ourselves on the battlefield. ”

Danika was stunned, and the rest of the joke was out of her mind. She touched the back of her head and said solemnly, "Let's all stand up." Rest assured, I will not let your precious lives be wasted in a futile war. ”

"We will definitely fight until the last moment for the family and the eldest lady. ”

Danica shrugged her shoulders, accepted the oath of allegiance, and pulled Olya out the door. Mara in the Outer Tent had woken up and was rinsing her mouth in the open space at the door. Seeing the silver dragon, Danika suddenly had an idea.

"Olya, shall we surprise Sid? I'm going back to change my clothes. ”

So, when Sid Nasser received the command sword of the Major General with his left hand in the camp of the 7th Brigade, the silver dragon swooped down and landed beside him.

What catches people's eyes is a rich and gorgeous purple.

The first girl to jump off the silver dragon was wearing a lilac major general's gown, which was decorated with golden tassels, which was extraordinarily gorgeous. The purple alfalfa coat of arms adorns the chest, and the cloak spreads backwards, striking the audience by hunting and fluttering in the wind brought by the dragon's wings.

"That's ...... The big dress of the Figota family?"

The soldiers, who had never seen such formal clothes, whispered. Due to the large number of changes in the flags of the southern principalities during the First Freedom War, from then on the families in the service of His Majesty the Emperor no longer used their own exclusive color uniforms on a large scale, and replaced them with epaulettes, armbands, and chest identification badges in the family colors. Only when fighting in their own territory or holding a council of nobles will the armies of the principalities appear in their own colors.

"'Purple Sativa'. Purple is the main color, and green is the border, ending the rule of the Elven Empire. ”

This bold gesture has led to a reassessment of how much the Figota family attaches importance to this adopted daughter. What's more, she still came on a silver dragon with Princess Olya......

"The far left flank of the main Imperial Legion, the commander of the Figota Special Brigade, Danika Viren von Figota, reports to you, Your Excellency Deputy Commander. I am willing to provide unreserved and full support in the offensive with my magic artillery. ”

Danika said the lines that she had been preparing for a long time, expressing what she meant. With the strength of the Figota Brigade and its position here, she would not have been qualified to make such a request.

Although it is claimed to be a brigade, it has only about three battalions with a strength of no more than 1,500 people. The basic combat unit of the Imperial Army was the battalion, a word that originally meant "a phalanx". In wartime, these battalions are organized into brigades according to strategic needs, which is quite different from the Free Army's division with independent numbers as the basic strategic unit. The main corps consisted of sixteen brigades, but there were several special units such as the Figota Brigade that had been organized for political reasons. This kind of political expression is also the capital of her statement.

The reason why a person is powerful is often because he or she seems to be powerful. Sid understands this, and so does Danica.

Our relationship is equal. If you need my cooperation, it must be an equal ally. I will provide you with my artillery, but I will not allow you to get in the command of the troops.

"Miss Duchess, you have been looking more beautiful lately. Oh, and of course Her Royal Highness the princess is even more beautiful. ”

Sid smiled and held out his left hand to Danica. He wore the same rarely used Grand Governor's gown. The pure black background and red secondary colors create a scarring atmosphere, and the official coat of arms of the Royal Department of Security (RSA), consisting of a golden sword, a silver vulture shield, and a red diagonal cross, is also prominently displayed on the chest.

Instead of rushing to shake hands, Danika asked the question she already knew the answer to: "Did you hurt your right hand?"

"Oh, a little injury, don't mind. Sid raised his right hand and waved it casually, "Even if you use healing magic to temporarily recreate limbs, you can't cast spells flexibly, so I found someone to deal with it." ”

Everyone froze, including Danica, who had seen Sid's empty sleeves.

The sleeve of the Minister of Security is not empty, but there is no hand there either-

Instead, a bladed staff embedded with black opals and rubies connected directly to the nerve from the wound in the arm. The outer blade of the staff shone with a cold light, reflecting the blood color of the muscle section, and the blood vessels trembled slightly on the blade surface. It seems that the Minister of Security has deliberately chosen the installation method that appears to be the most deterrent.

Danika took half a step back, almost falling, and Olya simply fell into the arms of the maid beside her.

That's Sid, the emperor's most terrible courtier, what he wants to show other people, to make cracks in other people's hearts. Danika hesitated for a moment, then stretched out her right hand.

"Since it's just a small injury, I don't think it will affect traditional etiquette, right?"

She could hear the gasps of the people around her.

Sid Nasser's eyes flashed with appreciation. He stretched out his right arm and placed the black gem on the tip of the staff into Danica's palm. Unwilling to fall behind in front of him, Danika took the black gem in her hand.

She immediately felt a chill to her bones, as if there were endless negative feelings hidden in that jewel, and she couldn't help but close her eyes.

Fear, malice, death, greed climb up the blood vessels, nerves, and magical circuits of the arm, like countless ants crawling upwards inside oneself. But somehow it feels comfortable – there's a wonderful thrill.

It seemed that a voice in her ear said, "Steady!", sounding like Magia. According to the previous agreement, as a soul, it is not possible to risk contacting her in person......

Danika woke up from her comfort, alerted to the danger lurking within, and took a deep breath and let go of all her fingers.

She shook her head and commented, "Interesting staffs. You're going to use the magic attached to this staff to break through the enemy line today, right?"

"I hope so, thanks for the compliment. Just ask the two ......" Sid glanced at the silver dragon that had changed back into human form, "No, the artillery of the three young ladies will guide us to victory." The Overseer Brigade begins preparations for the attack. ”

The soldiers of the Overseer Brigade let out a low shout, as neat as a man. Under the pretext of going back to command the artillery, Danika fled from the ally that made her nervous.

Back in her unit, she stood at the top of a lookout and watched the changing situation.

Even through the four lenses of a high-powered telescope, Jena's perimeter defense looks tedious. Compared to Lenny, who grew up, it was a small city. What was once a center of wine trade is now made up of barracks, houses that have been turned into barracks, houses that will be turned into barracks, and fort walls that protect them.

The Warlords' black uniforms mingled with the gray uniforms of the Imperial Army, marching towards those lines. Artillery rumbled, and enemy fire began to counterattack.

After the first and second rounds of attacks were tested by each other, the firepower of both sides was exposed. Denika showed two-thirds of her firepower and finally gained the upper hand in the artillery battle. The Freikor's batteries closer to the wall fell silent, and only the artillery behind the flanks continued to fire. Some of the points of fire seem to be shifting.

The fortifications were very simple: a gentle slope, a trench more than a man deep, a counter-shelling parapet wall deep in the trench, a steep slope, a cement breast wall at the top of the steep slope, and a line of infantry behind the parapet and the breastwork. In contrast to the outrageously naïve design of the Pentateon, all shell strikes with accurate impact points can inflict a decent level of casualties on the defenders. Blucher's maid artillerymen, most of whom had studied ballistics, fired their shells accurately into enemy infantry and artillery, turning the freedmen into corpses as they fought to the death.

However, the results of the first two attacks were shocking. The wreckage covered every point of attack, and the trenches at each point were filled with hundreds of corpses on both sides.

Danika was able to count more than one officer commando team, and these spellcasters braved the hail of enemy bullets, their magic cutting through enemy trenches. Even so, these attacks did not change the outcome of the defeat, only made the sacrifice a little more significant.

Olya couldn't stand it anymore, "We still have artillery, Danica, why don't you use it?"

"Wait, the last group of artillery is not yet exposed, and the other side may still have hidden heavy firepower. Danika waved her hand, "Have you ever played cards, Your Highness Princess? Some people especially like to leave secret weapons to plot against others. ”

"You say yes, yes. The first princess of the empire looked at the battlefield and said, "It's just such an ugly thing...... The gray mounds of dirt that lay haphazardly across the fields, a scrooked furrow that had no beauty to speak of, were like slime left behind by gray slimes as they crawled past. It's this kind of thing, why can't it be broken?"

Jena is not Steelburg, nor is Lennie. The parapet of Jena consisted only of the simplest brick walls, plus watchtowers, and even the forts were improvised mounds of earth, all dependent on the simple trenches. However, Fort Steele was taken by a surprise attack, Lennie's five-story wall has been dug down in two, and Jena stands tall in front of the Empire's best troops.

"You are being mean, Your Highness. "As she walked over to the military map, she looked at the line of enemy trenches with undried ink on them and explained, "That's the Vauban trench, the simplest and most effective fortification in the world, which a good army can build in a day." Its power does not come from traps or bunkers, but from the defenders. ”

On the 4th of August, Jena was reduced to a battlefield for the first time, and by the 6th two days were enough time for the defenders to build the city into a fortress. Danica only remembered that Clad had often complained about the inefficiency of the construction of the engineering troops, but he did not expect that the efficiency of the Free Army during the war would become extremely high. She thought fiercely: if she had expected it, she should have brought a little more ammunition for attacking.

"Vauban ...... It's a familiar name," Olia snapped her head, thinking, "is it Admiral Prestrele Vauban? ”

"Is he the commander of the Imperial Capital now?" was a little surprised by the fact that she understood that Vauban was through her biological father, "He was in the service of the Phaetes in his youth, and invented this somewhat ridiculous fortification during his repeated tug-of-war with the Figotas. However, any unit with a strong will to fight will be able to resist the enemy's attack after building a Vauban trench. ”

"Shall we let such a trench stop our progress?"

Hearing Olya's question, Danika fell silent.

At this time, a new assault began, and this time Sid personally led the troops, choosing a new breakthrough point. More killings, more deaths, more Vauban trenches washed in blood.

"I don't know. Danika honestly replied, "I don't understand the military." However, as long as you are willing to pay a high enough price, any fortification can be breached. I don't know how much it will cost, but the commanders must know. ”

The princess scratched her head in annoyance: "Your words sound a bit contradictory. Will we be able to break through this line of defense today?"

"It's not a contradiction. She recalled the answer she had received when she asked her father the same question, "There is no law of war. War, like life, is just a gamble. Ah, Sid hit a purple flare. ”

Without Danica issuing orders, the suppressive shelling followed in the footsteps of the Minister of Security. Sid's magic cleared a company of Free Army, and three or five mid-section mages used force field wall magic at the same time to build an invisible bridge over a section of the trench destroyed by artillery bombardment on the opposite breastwall. Shouting meaningless slogans, the assault troops rushed through the Vauban trenches and approached the camp wall in Jena.

Olya started to get nervous, her heels unconsciously spinning on the ground, "It's time to orgasm, right, Danica?"

"Inform the 3rd Artillery Corps to prepare. Danika felt uneasy, intuiting that she was in the middle of some kind of conspiracy, "Let the 1st and 2nd Artillery Brigades arrange a defense." ”

As if in response to her judgment, the music played. It's the sound of a majestic organ.

The artillery positions of the Free Army were burning, the fire was exploding, and the trenches were broken through. However, the music had already sounded, a mixture of marches and hymns, unheard of before. As the music progressed, magical energy gathered in the void, and the notes and lines flowed through the air together, and then, falling.

Half of these meteors, made of music, were fired at Denika's artillery positions, and the other half bombarded in the middle of Sid's breakthrough force.

More Free troops swept in from both sides of the breach, trying to thwart the enemy attack. There are also units that seem to have begun to regroup, beginning to line up for counterattacks.

"Like you said, some people are particularly fond of leaving secret weapons to plot against others. Even Olya, who has a powerful royal bloodline, couldn't help but be moved by this power, "Is it a magic channel, what do they want to do?"

Danika suddenly understood: the other party relied not only on the Vauban trench, but also on this powerful magic weapon. In this case, if she wanted to keep her artillery, she would have to throw more force.

"They want to raid us. The 3rd Artillery Corps opened fire! Covered all enemy artillery positions! The infantry entered the trenches and prepared to meet the enemy's countercharge!"

The magic cannons and the nets of musical notes on both sides collided in the air, like countless fireworks blooming. This offset also relieved the artillery pressure on the infantry on both sides, and the build-up and counterattack began to go smoothly.

The test is coming. She knew that her trenches were of very poor quality, just some solo trenches and sandbags. In any case, the war will enter the world of line queues, bayonets and cavalry. The previous special operations detachment led by Rasta probably failed in this kind of counterattack, right?

This is the Vauban trench with strong fire cover. It is defended by a strong-willed force that also has a lot of firepower. If it has a reserve force capable of fighting, it can even turn the tide of battle.

Jena's Free Army didn't just want a successful garrison, they deliberately showed weakness in their firepower, and they wanted a victory! Danica seemed to smell something familiar from this tactic, and somehow had a premonition that she would meet someone from her childhood friend again.

"I've got a big set of cards in my hand this time, Soleton. I'm waiting for you. ”

P.S.: It's a tradition that every year on Jihadist Day is renewed...... I originally wanted to write about the two meeting and Jena dividing the battlefield to divide the victory and defeat, but before I knew it, it was too long, and I will talk about it in the next section.

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