Chapter 318 Preparations Before the Decisive Battle

Just after noon, the battlefield has been cleaned up, and Richard has received the accurate casualty figures sent by the staff officer.

In this battle, more than 1,400 enemy soldiers were killed and more than 3,200 prisoners were captured. About 500 enemies fled the battlefield and became rogue soldiers.

The casualties of our side added up to less than 400 people, among which the first battalion suffered the heaviest casualties, with 67 killed in the battle, 136 seriously injured, and more than 200 casualties. The 13th and 14th newly formed battalions did not bear the heavy responsibility of attacking the enemy, and the total casualties were 160 people, and the remaining casualties mainly came from the cavalry that pursued and annihilated them.

"Settle the prisoners, interrogate the enemy officers as soon as possible, and find out the enemy's intelligence. Only with intelligence can we take the next step."

Richard turned his head and said to the staff officer in charge of the interrogation. The staff of Harland's headquarters is already very complete, with staff officers responsible for combat, staff officers responsible for intelligence, and staff officers responsible for logistics. With enough staff officers, Richard doesn't need to worry about many things. Compared to more than ten years ago, Richard found that it was getting easier to lead troops now.

Among the staff officers in charge of intelligence, there were people who were proficient in the language of the East Coast United Kingdom and could communicate without obstacles.

Looking at the casualty figures sent up, Richard thought to himself: "Although the casualty figures were less than ten to one, the enemy was not a weak brigade. The unexpectedness was also an important reason for such a great victory. In the next few days, we must carefully observe the emotions of the soldiers and suppress the idea of ​​underestimating the enemy. According to the performance on the battlefield, the quality of this enemy army is slightly better than that of the Southern Earl Corps."

Richard knew that the First Battalion of Harland was a first-class strong army in the Grant Kingdom, and its weapons and equipment and the quality of its soldiers far exceeded those of the enemy. Even the infantry battalion of the Northern Legion with excellent soldiers was far from being a match for the First Battalion of Harland.

Winning this battle was already in Richard's estimation.

After completely annihilating the enemy's vanguard, Richard increased the range of the reconnaissance cavalry. With the intelligence provided by the aerial reconnaissance soldiers, the efficiency of the reconnaissance cavalry of Harland was far superior to that of the enemy.

Moreover, Richard also dispersed 300 Warcraft cavalry to cooperate with the reconnaissance cavalry.

The powerful reconnaissance cavalry covered the battlefield of more than 100 kilometers nearby, and immediately made the Sixth Army of the East Coast United Kingdom deaf and blind.

Because the scouts' actions were almost transparent, more than 100 people died or disappeared in just half a day.

The unclear intelligence immediately made the main force of the Sixth Army of the East Coast United Kingdom dare not move.

The main camp of the Sixth Army of the East Coast United Kingdom has just entered the Duke of Hubble, located in the Rat Castle on the eastern border of the Duke of Hubble. Listening to the discussion of the officers at the Officers' Headquarters, Caesar, the Sixth Army of the East Coast United Kingdom, frowned and looked worried.

Caesar was born in the Duke family of the East Coast United Kingdom and had a very good background. He had undergone many years of aristocratic military education and was experienced and strong in the East Coast United Kingdom, so he could command this elite infantry with a relatively high number.

However, compared with the officers of the Grant Kingdom, Caesar had less combat experience. When he was on the battlefield, he was not as decisive as Richard. Once the situation on the front line became complicated, he immediately fell into indecision.

"Captain Caesar, we can't go on. In just one day, we lost a squadron of scouts. The vanguard has lost news. From the gathered defeated soldiers, we learned that the vanguard has been annihilated. The enemy must have set a trap for us in front. I am against stretching the front line and continuing to move forward."

The officer who spoke was the captain of the reconnaissance brigade, Parron. At this time, he had a sad face and kept persuading Caesar to stop moving forward. Build a defense line on the spot and request reinforcements from the rear.

"The most troublesome thing now is that the intelligence is unclear. The reconnaissance troops are suppressed by the enemy, and we are blind and deaf. I think we should strengthen the reconnaissance force and disperse the Warcraft Cavalry among the reconnaissance cavalry so that the reconnaissance troops will not be afraid of sacrifice. Only by detecting the detailed intelligence of the enemy can we formulate the next action. I agree with Captain Parron's opinion to build a defense line first and strengthen the strength of the reconnaissance troops."

Captain of the Warcraft Cavalry, Bullwin, is also a cautious person, and he agrees with Parron's opinion. After the loss of the three infantry battalions in the vanguard, the two have become more prominent in the Sixth Legion of the United Kingdom on the East Coast. The opinions they put forward must be carefully considered by the commander of the Caesar Legion.

Caesar pointed to the simple map on the table and said, "Since most people are in favor of stability, I decided to build a defense line on the spot, but don't hold too high hopes for reinforcements. According to the gossip from Kanas Castle. The Council of Nobles does not want a full-scale war with the Kingdom of Grant. The Kingdom of Grant has dispatched seven legions, and we have also dispatched seven legions to participate in the war.

If a civil war breaks out with the Kingdom of Grant, the only one who will benefit will be the Orc Empire. The Kingdom of Grant is a good shield for us. If this shield breaks, then we will have to resist the orcs."

Caesar and others had just made a decision to strengthen the reconnaissance force, and a tragic reconnaissance war broke out on the battlefield 100 kilometers away from the two armies.

After annihilating the enemy's vanguard, Richard ordered the four-province noble coalition to assemble while sending reconnaissance cavalry to suppress the enemy.

As the enemy's Warcraft cavalry began to participate in reconnaissance operations, the scouts led by Harland also suffered a small loss, and the enemy gradually detected some battlefield intelligence.

However, Harland's reconnaissance cavalry had telescopes in their hands, and there were also lion-duck cavalry and magic hot air balloons observing the enemy's every move from high in the sky.

With the intelligence advantage, of course, it is easy to mobilize forces to encircle and annihilate the enemy's scouts who ambushed the enemy.

In the reconnaissance operations of more than ten days, Harland's scout cavalry lost no more than a hundred soldiers and annihilated more than 600 enemy scouts.

Under the personal command of Soros, Harland's cavalry successfully ambushed the enemy's reconnaissance troops six times, killed and wounded more than 200 enemy Warcraft cavalry, and seized hundreds of flame horses, achieving a brilliant victory in the reconnaissance operations.

The Warcraft cavalry mounts of the Grant Kingdom are mainly iron-horned horses, which are common Warcraft in the Eagle Mountains. The Grant Kingdom relies on the mountains to eat the mountains, so it naturally chooses iron-horned horses as Warcraft cavalry. However, the number of iron-horned horses in the East Coast United Kingdom is scarce, and if you want to cultivate Warcraft cavalry, you can only tame the more flame horses in the country.

There are large grasslands on the border of the Holy Glorious Empire. Many flame horses live on this vast grassland, and nearby countries have trained Warcraft cavalry with flame horses.

Compared with the iron-horned horse, the flame horse has a very explosive temper and a dumber IQ. Not only is it difficult to tame, but once the flame horse is castrated, the male flame horse will spit fire and bite people crazily, and it is impossible to use the gelding to ride. Training a flame horse magic cavalry is 50% to 60% more difficult than training an iron-horned horse magic cavalry.

The first six legions of the East Coast United Kingdom have only 400 magic cavalry trained internally. The legions with later numbers have only 200 to 300 magic cavalry trained.

The entire East Coast United Kingdom has 23 legions, and the number of magic cavalry does not exceed 6,000. More than 75% of the flame horses ridden by the East Coast United Kingdom's magic cavalry are mares. Although the flame horse can spit flames and has a combat effectiveness higher than the iron-horned horse, the overall number is small. The magic cavalry of the East Coast United Kingdom is actually not as strong as the Grant Kingdom.

After all, the total number of Grant Kingdom's magic cavalry, including the nobles of all sizes, exceeds 20,000. Jonathan, Edward and other great nobles in the northern border have trained two to three thousand monster cavalry.

The Harland family has a shallow foundation and occupies the favorable terrain in the northern border. So far, it has also organized 700 monster cavalry.

The loss of 200 monster cavalry made Caesar, the commander of the legion, dare not act rashly. After several battles, they finally noticed the aerial reconnaissance troops led by Harland and found the traces of the lion cavalry.

Faced with this kind of aerial reconnaissance force, Caesar and others had no good way at all. They could only write letters to the rear, hoping to mobilize high-level magicians to accompany the army and find ways to deal with the enemy's aerial reconnaissance troops.

After losing a large number of monster cavalry, the Sixth Legion of the United Kingdom on the East Coast shrank again. During this period, Richard had completed the assembly of troops and prepared to encircle and annihilate this enemy in one fell swoop.

After winning the battle, Richard immediately sent the battle report to Steven, the commander-in-chief of the intervention army, and reported to Steven his next ideas, asking Steven to approve the annihilation of this enemy army.

Steven is also a veteran of the Grant Kingdom. His most famous battle was to quell the rebellion of the Venus family, cooperate with the Roger Kingdom to annihilate the coalition of the three southern earls in one fell swoop, and win three southern provinces for the Grant family.

The Grant royal family trains excellent officers, who are basically of the same lineage. After reaching a certain level, they are dispatched to the four provinces in the northern border and serve as squadron leaders and deputy battalion leaders in several main legions. If you have strong ability, you will be promoted further, and if you have weak ability, you will be eliminated in the cruel war.

Roger and Steven both have such experience. Steven served in the Mad Lion Legion for 23 years, and served as squadron leader, deputy battalion leader, battalion, and deputy legion leader. Finally, he was transferred to the commander of the Royal Guards of the King's Capital and became an important general of the Grant family.

When Richard just entered the Mad Lion Legion, Steven had just been promoted to deputy legion commander of the Mad Lion Legion, but more than ten years ago, the two had different statuses. Although they served in the same legion, they actually had no friendship.

Although this southern expedition is easier than resisting the invasion of orcs, it is a large-scale war after all. Since war is bound to cause casualties, the commander must be smart, capable, and brave.

If the commander is not chosen well, victory or defeat will be difficult to determine.

If Steven is not capable enough and has low influence, he will not even pass the noble parliament. The dukes of Harland, Gis, Duran and others will not invest in a war with a bleak prospect.

It is precisely because Steven has proved himself in the war that he is a qualified general, and he is also a ninth-level epic knight with very strong combat power that Richard, Duran, Gis and other dukes are willing to be supporting roles and obey his orders.

After receiving the information from Richard, Steven's mood suddenly became heavy. Although Richard won the battle and sent good news, the situation has changed to the disadvantage of the Grant Kingdom, which makes Steven worried.

Although the Delong Kingdom is already corrupt, it is a country with an area of ​​1.6 million square kilometers and a population of more than 50 million.

If we talk about comprehensive national strength, it is a few points higher than the Grant Kingdom.

Although the southern expedition was very smooth, in just over a month, 100,000 enemy troops were annihilated, and one and a half duchies and three and a half border provinces of the Kingdom of Delong were occupied. However, the southern expedition intervention army was already at the end of its strength. Now it was confronting the 400,000 troops of the Kingdom of Delong on the front line, and it was difficult to draw reinforcements from the front line.

Although the Kingdom of Grant was good at fighting, it was in a place where four wars were fought. Once the war with the Kingdom of Delong dragged on too long, when the orcs invaded, it would inevitably be caught in a two-front war, and would be strategically passive.

Besides, the East Coast United Kingdom has joined the war, and the Grant Kingdom is caught in three-way warfare. If it is not careful, it may be destroyed.

After realizing this, Steven also secretly regretted it.

In recent years, the Grant family has expanded smoothly, taking over four central provinces from south to north, and the branch members have also divided out an earldom. The army has also expanded a central corps, equipped with alchemical bombs, and trained lion-duck cavalry.

Not only the royal family, but also the Jonathan family and the Harland family have been growing rapidly in recent years. Because of the continuous victory in the war, the nobles of the Grant Kingdom have become more and more warlike. Like the Harland family, they have taken advantage of every opportunity to provoke various wars.

After provoking the war, they immediately fell into the trouble of fighting on three sides.

The East Coast United Kingdom sent a corps to cut off the retreat of the Southern Expedition Army, which immediately alerted Steven.

The East Coast United Kingdom is not weak. If a few corps are deployed in the direction of the Duke of Hubble, it will be difficult to support it by relying on the noble coalition of the four provinces in the northern border. In order to ensure his retreat, Steven decided to write to King Roger immediately, asking for the mobilization of a noble corps to station in the Ilia Province, so that he could reinforce Richard's troops at any time to prevent the retreat from being cut off and the situation from collapsing.

Steven's letter for help was sent to King Roger in an expedited manner. King Roger looked at the letter and fell into deep thought.

Before the war, the people of Grant Kingdom were excited and thought that they could easily subdue the Kingdom of Delong and obtain a large piece of land. Unexpectedly, after the outbreak of the war, the Kingdom of Delong did not surrender easily and also involved the East Coast United Kingdom in the war.

Now that the Kingdom of Grant is in trouble, King Roger has thought carefully and decided to communicate in detail with the great nobles in the country to see if everyone is willing to stop while they are ahead, give up part of the occupied territory, shorten the front line, and sign a ceasefire agreement with the Kingdom of Delong.

If the great nobles do not agree to the ceasefire, they will need to continue to invest their strength to defeat the 500,000 troops of the Kingdom of Delong. The royal family has already deployed three main legions in this battle. If they are unwilling to give up the meat in their mouths, the great nobles will need to take on greater responsibilities.