Chapter 1461 Southern Beacon (Ⅱ)

If the imperial authorities really sent troops to reinforce Alfheim, there would be little spare power to provide military assistance to the Midgard area. Thanks to the containment of the sea blue people in the south, the cunning Fiends would get a chance to march into Midgard. Best timing for Degarde.

Going back from this angle, it is not difficult for Joan to imagine that if General Louis Jumonville's operations in the south were hindered and did not play a restraining role, then Master Fei might not really dare to send troops to invade Midgard.

Whether it is for the sake of Midgard or his hometown of Alfheim, Joan hopes that the Jumonville Corps will be defeated in the south, and those who throw away their armor and armor will flee back to Muspelheim, so that the two sides of the New World will be separated. The people of the land were able to get rid of the disaster of swords and soldiers.

Joan paid attention to the newspaper's follow-up reports on the battle in the south, hoping to see the good news of the defeat of the Jumonville Corps.

Unfortunately, things backfired.

At the beginning of January 1622, General Charles Gates, the commander of the garrison in Yalfheim, led his troops south to stop the Jumonville Corps. A fierce battle broke out between the two sides in the Brass Mountains.

According to reports from the front line, General Gates took the lead in this battle and commanded well, successfully stopping the advance of the sea blue people.

After the week-long battle ended, both the enemy and the enemy suffered heavy casualties, and the battle situation also fell into a stalemate.

However, in a battle on January 6, General Gates was unfortunately seriously injured and was sent back to Port Leiden overnight to receive first aid. Command of the front was handed over to General Gates' second-in-command, Lieutenant Colonel George Vassar of the Cavalry.

Perhaps it was because the commander-in-chief's accidental injury hit the morale of the officers and soldiers under his command. In a battle that broke out two days later, the Alfheim Corps was defeated and forced to abandon its position.

Lieutenant Colonel Vasa led the defeated army to retreat all the way north, while General Jumonville led his troops in pursuit.

From the first ten days of January to the end of January, the two sides broke out five battles in succession, all of which ended in the defeat of the Vasa Corps. The battle line was transferred from the Brass Pass to the Delin River Valley. Hard to find any highlights.

The war reporters sent by the "Midgard Tribune" to the south still had to take into account the feelings of their compatriots. In the battle reports they sent back, they did everything possible to justify the failure of Lieutenant Colonel Vasa.

For example, objectively speaking, the regular army of the Alfheim Corps is very small, and more than 70% of them are militias. Regardless of the number or quality of soldiers, they are far inferior to the coalition formed by the Sea Blue Regular Army and the Jackals.

For example, although Lieutenant Colonel Vassar suffered successive defeats, this lieutenant colonel has two magical specialties.

One is that they have unparalleled prestige in the army, and they can hold the scene. Even if they are defeated, they will not collapse. The troops can always retreat in an orderly manner, regroup quickly, and the number of casualties is not large.

As long as Lieutenant Colonel Vasa is in command, the combat effectiveness and cohesion of the troops will not be seriously weakened by successive failures.

To put it bluntly, although Lieutenant Colonel Vasa was unable to defeat an overly powerful opponent, his loss was not ugly, and he still retained the capital to turn defeat into victory.

Lieutenant Colonel Vassar's second specialty is unparalleled bravery and good luck. Mr. Commander, always stands at the forefront of the battlefield, taking the lead in fighting hard, which greatly boosts the morale of the frontline officers and soldiers.

However, the bad luck suffered by General Gates did not repeat itself on Lieutenant Colonel Vassar. Mr. Lieutenant Colonel seemed to be protected by a god. He rode a white horse through the rain of guns and bullets. After several fierce battles, he suffered many defeats, but he didn't even have a scar on his body. It's like turning automatically...

After Joan read these reports about the war in the south, the only consolation was that Lieutenant Colonel Vasa was still so lucky. No matter how tragic the battle was and how many casualties he suffered, at least he himself remained unscathed as before.

Unfortunately, these two advantages of Lieutenant Colonel Vassar pale in comparison with his failures.

In the school, especially in the "Skeleton Club" gathering, the young and vigorous students didn't care how difficult the situation of Lieutenant Colonel Vassar was, and sneeredly called him "the general who is often defeated".

In addition, George Vassar had ordered the massacre of the Hailan diplomatic mission and signed a very disreputable surrender document, which made him the laughing stock of young people's ridicule.

Arnold Laval even bet the poor Lieutenant Colonel Vassar with the members of the society whether the Vassar Corps would win the next battle?

Joan has a deep personal friendship with Lieutenant Colonel Vassar, and has always regarded Mr. Lieutenant Colonel as his elder brother. He is very unhappy with Arnold and the others' words and deeds that publicly belittled Lieutenant Colonel Vassar, but he also has to admit that from a rational point of view Starting out, beating Lieutenant Colonel Vasa on the gambling table will continue to suffer losses in the future, and the winning rate will be relatively high.

Lieutenant Colonel Vassar really seldom disappoints when it comes to losing battles.

Looking back, Joan clearly remembered the offensive and defensive battle that broke out at the Brass Mountain Pass a year ago. Lieutenant Colonel Vasa's opponent was General Jumonville. He was also defeated in the end and had to raise the white flag to surrender.

Now, as if history is repeating itself, Lieutenant Colonel Vassar once again meets his nemesis Louis Jumonville, loses again and again, and falls into a difficult situation.

By late January, the northern public opinion gradually lost patience with Lieutenant Colonel Vasa.

They no longer cared about why Lieutenant Colonel Vasa always lost battles, and instead discussed why such a general who is good at defeating battles can still stay in the position of commander of the Alfheim Corps. Isn't it more suitable for the job of the lieutenant colonel?

In fact, not only the people of Midgard had such thoughts, but the imperial cabinet and His Majesty the Emperor who were far away on the other side of the Meteorite Ocean were also worried about the rotten war situation in the Yalfheim area.

The Holy Ashan Empire has always had two "granaries" rich in grain, one is the Far East Province, and the other is the Alfheim Colony.

Now that the Far East Province has established itself as an independent country, it is out of the control of the empire, and the domestic grain market has become more dependent on the grain imported from the colonies.

If Alfheim falls to the hands of the sea blue people, there will inevitably be a food crisis in the empire. I don’t know how many people will go hungry because of it, and it may even lead to social unrest.

If only considering the interests of the empire itself, the importance of the Alfheim colony even surpassed that of Midgard. The imperial authorities could ignore the threat of the Fidels to the Midgard colony, but they could not sit back and watch the Jumonville Corps advance triumphantly in Yalfheim.

On February 4, 1622, under the order of His Majesty the Emperor, General Edward Bled, a veteran of the empire, led a force to the port of Leiden by warship, and immediately took over the command of the Yalfheim Corps from Lieutenant Colonel Vasa. Fully responsible for the southern war.