Chapter Seventy-Five: Tragedy Predestined

It was October 1741. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info autumn and will soon enter winter. In this era, things like global warming caused by human activities are still a fantasy. Winters are very cold and summers are not so hot. The use of troops in the cold winter was a great headache - of course, more important than the winter climate, was the fact that the Imperial army ran headlong into the preset line of defense set by the Britons.

Many years ago, the Empire was at its most intense during the Civil War. The Britons feared that the empire would continue to advance north after unification, annexing the northern part of Lotyrnia under their control, as well as the rich lands of Frisia.

So the Britons began to build fortresses in southern Loterania. The latest bastions have risen from the ground, forming an artificial line of defense.

According to the convention of the Black Powder Weapons era, the defensive power of this fortress is so amazing that it is not an exaggeration to say that it is impregnable - of course, with the efforts of siege experts from all walks of life in the human world, the war technology to break the fortress is not without ...... But it took a long time, months of careful preparation, a lot of artillery cover, and preparation to sacrifice a large number of soldiers.

And even more crucially, or even worse, it would be useless to breach one of these fortresses. For the defenders, they can build dozens of bastions, and then resist the attacks of the attackers one by one. Delay until the opponent's troops, morale, logistics can not afford it, and then launch a counteroffensive......

In fact, at a time when Frisia was still an independent kingdom, Frisia was plagued by wars from Visigothic, Briton, and Ostrogothic states. At the same time, it also created a strong, tenacious character of the Frisians...... and the fortresses scattered throughout the Frisian perilous areas, which became the biggest obstacle to the imperial army.

Luckily, or perhaps very self-aware, Emperor Kalman IV did not even think to attack the enemy's heavily fortified defenses, which was the most stupid tactic.

This is also the reason why he deployed only a small number of troops on the Frisia front. Kalman IV decided to add "Jutland" to his occupation zone section before the end of winter.

He wanted to destroy the Duchy of Jutland and permanently add it to the Emperor's domain. In the face of the Emperor's army of 60,000 troops, which was advancing step by step, steadily, slowly, but unswervingly, towards his own front, Grand Duke Christian had no choice but to pray to God and Buddha, and to desperately beg for help from the Britons.

And the Bretons are not calm about the situation in Jutland. On the one hand, they really didn't want the Emperor to occupy it. But on the other hand, they felt that there was no need to fight hard with the emperor's army for a second-rate character like Archduke Christian, which was really not cost-effective.

In this case, the best way the Britons could think of to help Archduke Christian and Jutland was for the Hereford family to intervene in the war. With the help and containment of the 50,000 troops of the Hereford family, the emperor will definitely send the main force to fight the Hereford family in a decisive battle. Wouldn't that Grand Duke be safe then?

Of course, the idea is good, but it also requires a little premise, and the premise is that the Hereford family is willing to cooperate.

And it is also a matter of course that neither William nor King Otto had any intention of taking a chestnut in the fire for a Christian Grand Duke. William insisted that the Hereford army could not be dispatched until the beginning of spring, when everything recovered, and when the weather warmed up. And there was a very, very important precondition that the Hereford family needed to see the cut-out fee, which was a low-interest loan from the Britons. Two conditions are indispensable.

Victoria had a long discussion with William about this, and William did not budge against it. Strongly disagree.

Victoria somewhat understood what William meant, and William especially wanted to sit idly by, and especially wanted Archduke Christian to be destroyed by the emperor. He especially wanted Jutland to be full of smoke and countless displaced people - and William was just as understandable why he did so.

Because that's not his thing. And Victoria also wanted to support the Archduke and become a bridgehead against William and Hereford after the war. In this case, the worse Jutland and the weaker the chicken, the better it will be for the Hereford family.

In response to this matter, Victoria also had nothing to bargain with William. She didn't want to get into trouble with William over such a "little thing" or anything. I turned my face with William before, and it was for the core interests of Briton, the mainland faction, and the Normandy family to which she belonged, so she did this. And the Archduke Christian, he is not qualified enough.

That's it, and in the next step, the Bretons made some feints. They sent a small number of troops, massed on the eastern border of Frisia, and then made the decision to attack the main force of Kalman IV from the flank, in order to counter the army of Archduke Christian.

It's just a pity that this strategic deception of theirs has not been able to play any role. The treacherous and cunning Emperor Kalman IV was not fooled at all. He ignored the infantry regiment, the feint unit that could be crushed to death with any little finger. Continue into the depths of Jutland. He was so cautious that neither the Bretons nor the Archduke Christian, who was about to be scared to death, could find a single flaw.

This is very rare. Yes, very rare - Jutland is a peninsular country, on the west side of Jutland is the North Sea, on the east side of the two Belt Straits, and in the middle of the strait is the island of Africa surrounded by the sea.

A large number of fragmented harbors, excellent natural harbor cities, and a large number of fork roads...... There are many places to land.

In this case, Victoria easily thought of William's leapfrog tactics when he fought in the New World last year. Transporting army forces with the navy and landing on the flanks of the enemy to achieve the tactical effect of surprise attacks and flanking frontal troops.

But it was a pity - and there were two things wrong here - one of them was the hussars under the command of the Emperor, and these hussars roamed around the main force to reconnoiter the surrounding situation. Another point is the number of the emperor's army.

It has an army of 60,000 and a large number of experienced generals who can command the legion-level soldiers. As long as he wants, he can divide several detachments in the shortest possible time. Then divide out and quickly form a defensive front to the left and right of the main forces. And then there will be no problem.

Therefore, the key point is the military...... The number of troops is not as large as that of the other side, and any tactics are empty.

Of course, when discussing this matter with William, William also came up with a solution for Victoria.

"You can wait for him to go deep into Jutland, land in the south of the peninsula, send troops to recapture the Holstein area, and then block the enemy's troops in Jutland~ Jutland simply can't support the daily needs of tens of thousands of troops. As long as they wait for a while, they will be exhausted, and then they will attack, and they can be easily defeated~ After losing 60,000 troops, the emperor will no longer have the strength to fight. We will be able to win this war very easily~"

At first, after hearing William's words, Victoria felt that what William said made a lot of sense. But after thinking about it carefully, she understood that what William said was a pitfall.

-- If this tactic is successful, then the war can indeed be won -- but can this tactic be successful at all?

Very difficult.

What happens when tens of thousands of strong, elite troops are trapped in Jutland?

The first is that these guys panic, then mess up, get messy and then collapse.

And the other situation is that these guys fall into a state of rage in order to survive, and then desperately hit the bastards who block their way home and keep them from living.

And those bastards, rightfully so, are the army of the Britons.

Victoria pondered Kalman IV's prestige, his ability to dominate, and his control over the army. She felt that the second scenario was more likely.

"We don't have more than 30,000 troops at our disposal at the moment. With less than half of the army, it blocked the return of the army of 60,000 who were in a hurry to return home...... This...... There's a great chance you'll lose. Victoria thought about it. If you really follow William's tactics, then the most likely thing is that the Imperial Army will counterattack, and then beat like a tide, and finally overturn the 30,000 Briton troops that blocked it, and then won another victory.

Their own power was greatly weakened, while the enemy continued to survive.

...... Even if you take a step back, Briton's army is very powerful, really holding the opponent back, and then winning the victory. Victoria didn't think it was a good choice either.

Because before it is completely finished, the emperor's army of 60,000 will definitely let the whole of Jutland die first. Without the support of the millions of people in Jutland, the Grand Duchy of Jutland could not afford to stop the Hereford family with a series of half-sized islands such as Fieng, Loran, West, and Morne. In this way, Victoria's major post-war arrangement, the trump card against the Hereford family, was finished.

Either the Brithorns suffered a big loss, and the Jutlanders suffered a small loss. Either the Brithorns suffer a small loss, and the Jutlanders suffer a big loss. Whatever the result, William will be happy to hear it. He didn't feel sorry for any of them.