nashuaworldcup Chapter 35 Battle
Chapter 35 Battle
"Your Highness, are you really going to...?"
“Smedley, I have to do this. Crossing the northern section of the Trembling Mountains requires extraordinary organizational skills, not to mention that we can only carry light weapons.”
Alice changed into her military uniform, put on her overcoat, picked up her revolver, and stood outside. The 1st Infantry Division was fully prepared, having trained repeatedly on the Trembling Mountains for the past month, all in anticipation of this day.
"Soldiers!"
Alice walked out of the barracks and onto the platform in the parade ground. Tens of thousands of soldiers from the First Infantry Division held Minié rifles, wore blue-gray uniforms and cotton hats, and behind them was a high mountain.
"From this moment forward, we are about to face a war! A war that will determine where our lives are headed! In the past year, we have built the life we have today with our own hands. Our factories have sprung up, our land is full of food, we have built new houses, and we are working hard to make life better for more people!"
“But our enemies, those despicable, high-ranking nobles! They want to end all of this. They've colluded with the usurper. They're trying to turn us all into slaves! Do you want to see your families, your children, return to poverty and be sold into slavery?”
"I don't want to!"
The soldiers below the stage roared in unison, their voices filled with intense anger.
"We refuse! It is precisely because we refuse, precisely because we want to control our own destiny, that we have taken up arms! And now! It is time for us to defend our gains! For our country and our people!"
"Arise, brave sons and daughters of our motherland! The great moment has arrived!"
"A vicious tyrant has appeared before us; his blood-stained banner has been raised!"
Row after row of soldiers followed behind Alice, their goal being to cross the mountain range, the highest and longest mountain range in the demon territory.
"The temperature is getting lower and lower... We're almost at the snow line."
The Trembling Mountains have an average altitude of over four thousand meters. Alice looked at the mountains in front of her. The vampires' endurance was enough for her to cross this mountain, but her soldiers needed to rest.
"Rest for fifteen minutes! Let the troops behind you hurry up!"
Meanwhile, Grant stood in the town of Saxony, which had been turned into a large mercenary camp, with swaggering mercenaries everywhere. Most residents dared not go out, let alone let women wander around.
"None of the scouts we sent out returned. The only one who did return pointed out the enemy's deployment: there were enemy lines in the Trembling Mountains and along the Rhine River, and more troops were attacking us from the Rhine River."
"There's nothing to say. We mobilized our troops, and the other side couldn't possibly be unaware of it... Now that the Empress is gone, I didn't expect the little princess... to dare to fight us. Like mother, like daughter."
"Yes, the little princess has been confirmed to be at the front lines, but her exact location is still unknown."
Grant thought for a moment, then ordered his subordinates: Now that the battle's intentions have been exposed, let's see who has the bigger fist. He mobilized several thousand-man regiments to attack the Rhine River line, while the Trembling Mountains adopted a feigned attack.
After all, attacking from high ground is a losing proposition. Although Grant didn't know the joke, he always understood that attacking high ground would not be advantageous. The Rhine River was all plains and forests, which allowed for complex transportation by riverboats and facilitated cavalry maneuverability.
“Send Kester! Take the Knights with you. As long as we break through the enemy's defenses in one fell swoop, we can threaten Hilla Port along the Rhine.”
"Yes!"
The Rhine River is a well-known river among the demons. It runs through the entire northern territory of the demons, and it and its tributaries have nurtured several cities, including Hira, Trian, and Saxony, all located in its basin.
At dawn, just as the sun rose and the thin mist had not yet dissipated, the sound of hooves thundered like lightning. Horses of all colors—saffron, white, black—pierced through the thin veil as the 6th Cavalry Division of the Amerlane Vanguard Army advanced eastward along the river.
On their right side of the river, two steamships followed far behind, the 037-class ships 3001 and 3002, which were sailing along the river. Their mission was to support the 6th Cavalry Division with the 75mm Dalgren and 30mm Hotchkiss rifles they carried.
"Enemy detected, Colonel!"
Ralph, the cavalry captain of the 6th Cavalry Division who led the Autumn Campaign, is now on horseback. The entire cavalry division has undergone modernization reforms and is now equipped not only with sabers, but also with a Minié carbine rifle on their saddles and a revolver on each rider.
They were more like dragoons than cavalry.
"Calm down, Sergeant, tell me what's going on?"
"Yes, sir! The enemy is about 1 kilometer ahead of us, roughly 4000 cavalry and 9000 infantry."
The 6th Cavalry Division was a mobile unit equipped with 7000 cavalrymen and 2,000 logistics troops. On paper, it even had three horse-drawn 12-pound mountain howitzers.
"The enemy wants a hard fight with us! Get your sabers and carbines ready! Tell the navy to cover our flanks!"
Ralph left half of his cavalry to set up camp, knowing they had a range advantage. The demon cavalry were mainly fully armored, usually carrying lances and longswords, while the Emerald cavalry were mainly dragoons, carrying carbines, revolvers and sabers.
As the sun rose directly overhead, the two cavalry units finally met. Thanks to the hunters, the mercenary formations were unable to obtain information about the vanguard's location, even though the vanguard always knew their own position.
Therefore, Ralph is currently in the dominant position.
"Brothers, get your weapons ready! Let's go!"
Ralph brandished his saber, and a cavalry of over a thousand men emerged from the woods and charged forward. The mercenary knights quickly reacted, pulling on their reins and charging forward as well.
"kill!"
The next second, they saw their opponent stand up straight from his horse and raise a strange weapon in his hand. Some of them realized that Lord Kurt had been defeated by this very weapon.
It was too late. White smoke billowed from the gun barrels as the dragoons fired a volley, instantly felling many of the mercenary knights. The gun barrels were short but easy to operate. Ralph aimed at a knight with a fabric decoration on his head and pulled the trigger.
boom!
The knight fell from his horse; whether the bullet killed him or not, the collateral damage from the fall would have been fatal. Ralph holstered his rifle, drew his revolver, and raised his saber.
"change!"
In melee combat, the breastplate of a dragoon is ultimately inferior to that of a fully armored knight. However, precisely because of this, dragoons are much faster than fully armored heavy knights, and with six revolvers and one Minié bullet, they have more opportunities.
The entire caravan began to turn, and the mercenary heavy cavalry tried to pursue them. However, the problem was that they had more equipment, their horses were under greater burden, and they were still taking bullets, yet they couldn't kill a single dragoon.
boom!boom!
Revolvers fired intermittently, and thousands of bullets were fired at a time. The knights had never fought a battle like this before. How could they fight like this? Some people cursed the dragoons as a bunch of cowards, a despicable gang without any sense of honor, but the only response they received was .45 lead bullets.
After one round, the seemingly well-equipped mercenary knights suffered thousands of casualties. These were all fully armored knights, and a full set of plate armor was very expensive. The knights themselves were also valuable assets.
The dragoons swaggered away, their mobility making them fearless. The mercenary knights continued their charge towards the dragoons when they suddenly spotted two strange boats billowing black smoke on the river.
"Load grapeshot! Prepare direct fire!"
"Load the machine guns with grenades!"
"Ready! Awaiting firing command!"
"put!"
Like an avalanche, the two 75mm Dahlgren guns opened fire, loaded with "grape shells," also known as shrapnel shells. The turrets flew over the Knights and fell, exploding a few meters above the ground. Steel balls rained down, piercing through steel plate armor and human bodies, breaking longswords and horse legs.
"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!!!!"
"My legs! My legs!"
"......"
Wherever the shrapnel hit, there was a cacophony of screams. Thousands of steel balls sliced through anything in their path. Then, the hand-cranked Hotchkiss cannons began to fire. The two ships were on the side of the Knights, and the horses' large cross-sectional area made it easier for the gunners to aim.
A hand cranked the handle, and the dark blue cannon barrel slowly turned—