Seventy-Six

"It's not the way to go on like this..." Waggron took the loss report in his hand, looked at Chris who came all the way south from Serris City, and said worriedly: "Our field troops, eat Not a small loss."

Two days have passed since the Battle of Mariza, and Bourgeois telegraphed the news of their great victory. The entire anti-aircraft artillery unit, plus the main infantry regiment, slaughtered at the cost of 192 killed and 33 wounded. 11 dragons.

This record is quite brilliant. Facts have proved that the dragon knights of the Holy Demon Empire who came to participate in the exhibition are unable to directly shake the main force of Alan Hill and the key defensive cities that are closely guarded.

However, the remaining dragon knights then attacked another garrison infantry regiment, wiping out the regiment's two infantry battalions at the cost of only losing two dragon knights and two dragons.

Counting the two battalions of the 16th Regiment, Elland Hill's field troops have lost more than 2,400 people - 4 battalions have been eliminated as an organization, and there are not even wounded. This number is a bit overwhelming. .

In the past, Ailan Hill's victories were all unscathed, or victories that were achieved only by losing a few soldiers. Now this victory has completely changed its flavor, the war is not over, and the losses are already in the thousands.

If we count the loss of arms, it is even more terrifying: more than 1,700 rifles alone have been lost, and 20 of the 75 infantry guns equipped with field artillery have also been destroyed - the losses are mainly concentrated in the garrison, these The troops basically had no decent anti-aircraft firepower.

"The anti-aircraft artillery is still not enough..." Chris also had to sigh. He took the guards south to prepare for a decisive battle with the Dragon Knights of the Holy Demon Empire, but after the opponent smashed his head and broke blood in Maricha, immediately Changed tactics.

Under the premise of being unable to attack the big city, the commander of the other side decisively started to attack the field troops of Ailan Hill, causing the field troops of Ailan Hill to suffer huge losses. The war has now gone from a quick-fix to a guerrilla war that consumes each other.

"The grassland empire's losses are even greater than ours. They are generally responsible for searching the enemy's troops in the wild, so the losses they provide are simply incomprehensible." Vagron pulled out another report and said in embarrassment. : "This time we're almost doubling the commission we're offering."

"About 7,000 steppe cavalrymen were slaughtered unscathed by the dragon knights. Compared with our garrison, the dragon knights seem to prefer to attack these steppe cavalrymen who are not even capable of fighting back." Vagron smiled bitterly.

He pointed to the numbers on the report and said, "To fight our garrison recklessly, they have to take one or even two giant dragons to fight the grassland cavalry, and the other party doesn't need to pay any price."

"Obviously, they regard the cavalry of the Prairie Empire as ours. They are venting their hatred, they are just killing one-sidedly." Chris looked at the loss report provided by the Prairie Empire and smiled bitterly.

This report was sent two days ago, and the number must be rising. After all, the speed of the dragon is faster than that of the steppe cavalry. You can’t run without being able to run, and you can’t fight without hitting—when facing the dragon knight, the cavalry, which is known for its mobility, is really powerless to fight back.

Now, we can only count on these dragon knights to exhaust their mana replenishment, retreat by themselves, or accidentally bump into the main force of Alan Hill and send them to their heads. But both of these situations take time, and he can't be in a hurry now.

"According to the situation, Naru City is definitely not in danger. According to the information provided by the intelligence, the other party has only a few giant dragons left, and they will not easily risk attacking our big city." Vagron felt You can draw some from Naru City

Unlike the modern air force, the use of dragon troops is more flexible. For example, the voyage of these dragons,

It is incomparable to the modern air force: the modern air force relies on the airport, is limited by its own fuel, and can only fight within the combat radius.

But these dragon knights are different. As long as they ruthlessly slaughter villages or towns, and feed their dragons with livestock or civilians, they can continue to fight and even go deep behind enemy lines.

They can land without relying on airfields, and their endurance can be replenished behind enemy lines, allowing them to have an almost infinite combat radius: they can fight all the way to Serris City alone if they want.

However, because of a head-breaking blow in Maricha, the possibility of the opponent driving straight to attack Seris was infinitely reduced.

"The army of the Arrant Empire going north seems to have slowed down its advance. They should be waiting for the ground troops of the Holy Demon Empire... I'll go south as planned!" .

The other side just plundered villages and slaughtered civilians. Attacking the second-line garrison of Ireland Hill, which has no air defense capability, Chris has no good way - relying on his infantry to chase those dragon knights, unless he has a brain.

The only thing that can be done now is to go south with the anger of being harassed by the dragon knight to find the Arante Empire troops who cannot escape. As long as the army of the Arlantean Empire heading north is wiped out, those dragon knights will have no foundation.

"Continue to guard Naaru, no matter what, Naaru is absolutely not allowed to lose." Chris looked at Wagron and ordered.

Vagron is the one person in the military who understands modern warfare the most besides him. Chris stored some theories of World War I and World War II into the magic ball of knowledge and poured them into Vagron's brain. Combined with the experience of battlefield command, he is now a battlefield commander even more powerful than Chris.

Of course, when it comes to knowledge of future weapons, Vagron is ignorant again. In terms of commanding ability, Chris reserved a hand for himself, but also because of the limited storage capacity of the knowledge magic ball.

He couldn't put all the complex war command skills into the knowledge magic ball. After all, modern warfare is a system with a very large content. Chris doesn't have that many knowledge magic balls yet to splurge on a subordinate.

"Your Majesty, why don't I go to the front line..." Vagron suggested. He knew that the field was more dangerous now, and those dragon knights didn't have the guts to attack the city and attack the field troops. It was still very possible.

"No need! The anti-aircraft guns I took, although not as many as those on the Naru city wall, are not a small number! My regiment has strengthened the anti-aircraft guns, and the troops led by General Wilkes also have a sufficient number of anti-aircraft guns. Counting the strengthening of the garrison... 22 anti-aircraft guns are definitely enough for those dragons to drink a pot." Chris was very confident in his defense.

If the opponent's dragon knight really can't think of a way to shake his main force, it is possible to solve these raging dragon knight troops once and for all. The fear is not that they will come, but the fear that they will not be fooled and will not come to trouble the main body of the Guards.

"With Wilkes to follow, I can rest assured." Vagron felt that Wilkes was also a very good general, at least he could distinguish the importance at critical moments and protect Chris from retreating.

In addition, the 3rd Division of the Reserves that Wilkes brought had 3 regiments of troops, plus Chris's Guards regiment, there were 4 regiments with more than 9,000 soldiers. If you want to defeat the nearly 10,000 army of Alan Hill, it is estimated that a few dragon knights do not have this strength.

Judging from the report of the field garrison, as long as they shrink their troops and concentrate their troops, the Dragon Knights are less willing to fight head-on. Huge losses occurred while the troops were scattered, which is one reason why there were no more losses in the past two days.

"By combining the local garrison, we can at least assemble an army of 12,000 people. This number is quite safe. There are almost 120 field guns and more than 20 anti-aircraft guns..." Chris calculated the strength in his hand, Said to Vagron: "Facing the Arante Empire, the odds of winning are still quite large."

"I'm afraid that this time the army of the Arlant Empire is going north, there are ground troops of the Holy Demon Empire... If there are magicians or beast cavalry, it may not be very smooth..." Vagron said.

"Judging from the trouble the Dragon Knights caused us, the troops of the Holy Demon Empire are not easy." Because the Dragon Knights caused a lot of trouble for him, Vagron was worried that the ground troops of the Holy Demon Empire would also cause Chriss trouble. unnecessary trouble.

"I will park the troops on the side of Maricha. The Arrant Empire is definitely going to attack Maricha, so we just need to wait here." Chris said with a smile.

His plan was to wait for the opponent to make the first move in Maricha. As long as the opponent attacked the city wall, he would approach the battlefield from the flank, flank the Arante Empire troops who were attacking the city, and wiped out this Arrant army.

This is a very complete battle plan. In order to completely wipe out the main force of the Arrant Empire, he assembled 3 main groups, 5 nearby garrison groups, and two heavy losses, a total of 10 groups (owing to being 4 battalions annihilated).

All add up to more than 20,000 Alan Hill grenadiers, more than 180 field guns, and the city as a support, the force can be said to be very strong. What they were facing were the more than 150,000 elite troops of the Arrant Empire, as well as an unknown number of ground troops reinforcements from the Holy Demon Empire.

On paper, there is a huge disparity in the strength of the troops of the two sides, but the combat effectiveness can be said to be half a catty: the Arante Empire has a numerical advantage, but their combat effectiveness is really limited. Ailan Hill's troops were powerful in combat, but for a while he couldn't judge how powerful the Holy Demon Empire's ground troops were.