Chapter 406 Three Battles and Three Victories
A magic crystal cannon weighs about four tons, plus the heavy alloy gun carriage, the total weight of a magic crystal cannon exceeds 5.6 tons.
The magic crystal cannon is so heavy that it is very dependent on logistics and it is difficult to move away from the official road.
In order to make the magic crystal cannon have field combat capabilities, the strength of the artillery squadron must be strengthened. The three field artillery squadrons organized this time have more than 230 people.
The artillery crew of a magic crystal cannon has as many as 35 people.
In addition to the 35 soldiers, a gun crew is also equipped with two iron-horned horses pulling gun carriages, twelve draft horses pulling four four-wheeled artillery carts, and 20 camels carrying food and supplies.
In a gun crew, the number of professional officers is as high as five.
Professionals are all strongmen. One person can carry objects weighing more than 1,000 kilograms. Five professional officers plus a dozen strong soldiers can even lift the magic crystal cannon to march when encountering ditches and bumps.
In order to form three artillery squadrons, Richard selected 100 professional officers, more than 300 veterans with combat experience, more than 10 excellent middle school students who mastered parabola calculation, and more than 200 young students with a certain level of education. The human resources alone cost a lot.
Because of the huge investment in manpower and material resources, the field artillery squadron, although a newly formed unit, has already become very powerful. In fact, although the number of artillery is small, the tactical position is already the core. Now many tactics of Harland are centered on field artillery.
Although the squadron leaders of these three field artillery squadrons are officers with rich experience, the actual commanders of the operations are newcomers who are proficient in ballistic calculations.
After Richard led his troops to the Salon Castle, he immediately ordered the construction of artillery positions, and the elite infantry was on standby, waiting for the artillery to blow down the city wall and start the siege.
Harland's army appeared near the Salon Castle like a god, which surprised Duke Isaac.
Salon Castle is a big city with 14,000 defenders. The city's defense line is relatively complete. Not only is it surrounded by rivers, which is conducive to building a defense line, but a small and sturdy castle has also been built outside the city, which is mutually supportive with the main city of Salon. Although Duke Isaac is very afraid of Harland's soldiers, he does not think that Richard can conquer Salon City in a short time.
After Richard led his troops to the vicinity of Salon Castle, Isaac had already commanded the soldiers to return to the sturdy fortress.
In the last war, Richard had already been the victim of the two dukes, Hubble and Isaac. If it were not for the reinforcements from the East Coast United Kingdom, the two dukes of the Delong Kingdom would have been doomed.
Because he was deeply impressed by the combat effectiveness of Harland's army, Duke Isaac naturally did not want to fight a field battle with Harland's soldiers. Therefore, the battle plan was formulated very conservatively, and he only wanted to defend the city.
Seeing that the defenders of Salon Castle had retreated, Richard immediately ordered to camp forward.
Although camping forward was dangerous, it shortened the attack distance and made it more convenient to attack the city. Especially the elite soldiers and generals, they all like to camp in front, close to the range of the defenders' long-range projectile weapons, and launch an attack.
After preparing for the siege, Richard began to wait for the artillery to build positions. By dusk, the artillery was ready and began to attack the Salon Castle.
Three magic crystal cannons fired together, and a sharp whistle came from the sky in an instant.
Dozens of kilograms of alchemical bombs hit near the Salon City, and a fierce explosion was heard in an instant. Although the siege infantry was hundreds of meters away from the explosion point, the soul still felt trembling, as if they were in the end of the world.
This is just the artillery unit testing. After calibration by the artillery observer, the artillery position will fire in unison and throw a large amount of ammunition on the enemy's head.
Above the artillery position, two magic hot air balloons responsible for reconnaissance and calibration have been launched.
The observer on the magic hot air balloon, holding a telescope, observed the landing point of the shells at a height of five kilometers outside the Salon Castle, and then used the flag to notify the artillery below.
Several artillery commanders who were proficient in mathematics recalculated the trajectory through the calibration above, adjusted the angle of the magic crystal cannon, and started the next round of artillery fire.
After two calibrations, three field artillery squadrons launched a volley, and eighteen heavy alchemical bombs landed in the Salon Castle in an instant.
In just one round of artillery fire, the enemy's casualties exceeded 100.
The defenders of Salon Castle had not undergone anti-artillery training, so it was naturally impossible to build anti-artillery fortifications, and they had no anti-artillery experience. They still lined up in a dense military formation. After the shells fell, the casualties were extremely heavy.
The emergence of artillery has changed the mode of war. The army of the Delong Kingdom could not adapt to this new type of war at all.
After only six rounds of artillery fire, a section of the city wall collapsed, and the casualties of the defenders in the city were close to a thousand.
The gaps in the collapsed city walls became larger and larger, and the shells exploded on the solid stone walls, and the rubble flew everywhere, and it was almost impossible for people to stand on the city walls.
After waiting for the magic crystal cannon barrel to turn red and cool down for half an hour, the defenders just took a breath, and rounds of shells fell on their heads again.
In an instant, many weak-willed soldiers were frightened crazy by the shells.
Seeing that the enemy's siege infantry had not yet launched, the defenders were about to fall into disarray. Seeing this scene, Duke Isaac decisively opened the south gate with the soldiers who could be organized and chose to abandon the castle and escape.
Duke Isaac had just escaped and didn't even have time to take his family with him, and Harland led the infantry to launch an attack.
Under the cover of the magic crystal cannon, this time the infantry and artillery coordinated very successfully, and almost no casualties were caused, and the city of Salon was captured.
As for the escaped Duke Isaac, he could not save his life either.
Harland led the army with a large number of flying troops, gryphon cavalry, bipedal dragons, and magic hot air balloon troops. They constantly harassed the enemy at high altitudes, making it impossible for Duke Isaac to withdraw his troops smoothly.
Sylph gathered 1,500 Warcraft cavalry, crossed the moat and launched a pursuit, and soon caught up with the enemy.
With the cooperation of flying units, Harland leader easily annihilated this enemy force.
Even Duke Isaac, the ninth-level epic knight of the Kingdom of Delon, lost his life in Sylph's sneak attack.
After conquering Saron Castle, Richard seized a lot of loot, first of all, eight thousand tons of grain. Enough for the Haaland Corps for half a month.
In large-scale wars, capturing the enemy's food can greatly reduce one's own transportation costs.
In order to ensure victory in this war, the Grant Kingdom mobilized almost all fronts. Some of the military rations were even shipped from northern Xinjiang. Over a thousand kilometers of transportation lines, every pound transported to the front line would be lost on the way.
The Grant Kingdom dispatched 320,000 regular troops, 200,000 auxiliary troops, and hundreds of thousands of large livestock for this southern expedition. The frontline soldiers needed to consume up to 2,000 tons of military rations every day. The amount of food lost on the transportation road is close to 10,000 tons every day.
Even if the Grant Kingdom had 30 million people, it would still be difficult to sustain such a huge loss.
The royal family and the great nobles had been hoarding food for several years, but it could only last three months. Unable to defeat the enemy for three months, logistical pressure forced Grant's Kingdom to withdraw.
In addition to food, hundreds of thousands of Delong Kingdom gold coins were also seized in this battle, which was better than nothing and could supplement the logistics. The most useful trophies for the Harland Territory are about two hundred iron horned horses and three hundred collar enchanted armors, which can expand two squadrons of Warcraft Cavalry.
The number of prisoners in this battle also exceeded 8,000.
After conquering Saron Castle and killing Duke Isaac, Richard led Harland and his soldiers to garrison Saron City overnight.
"Order the 26th Brigade and the 41st Brigade to form a left-behind detachment, responsible for collecting food, guarding prisoners, capturing slaves, and guarding this food road for the army.
One hundred and sixty soldiers were transferred from the 1st and 6th infantry brigades, and 40 backbones were transferred from the 2nd Warcraft Cavalry Brigade to form two Warcraft Cavalry squadrons and formed into the left-behind detachment.
Levin was appointed captain of the left-behind detachment. "
Levin is Martin's eldest son. He is only twenty-eight years old this year and his professional level has been promoted to level five. His qualifications are among the best among those led by Harland. Like Jennings, he is a legendary seed, a few points ahead of William, Soros and the like.
After Lord Martin retired from active service, Levine's position was promoted last year and now serves as the deputy captain of the first brigade. This time, he was appointed by Richard as the captain of the left-behind detachment, which was obviously an unusual reuse.
After giving the order, Richard thought for a moment, and then issued the order: "Order the First Battalion to send troops to meet the artillery unit. The magic crystal cannon must not be damaged. After everyone enters the city, take the time to sleep, march early tomorrow morning, and continue to conquer Jinshan. Castle, destroy the enemy's left wing."
At about nine o'clock in the evening, the artillery troops entered Saron City. Harland led the soldiers to stay in Salon City for one night, leaving more than 3,000 soldiers behind, and the rest of the army rushed towards Jinshan Castle in a mighty manner.
Gold mines were discovered on the hills near Jinshan Castle, so it was named Jinshan Castle. Because of the gold mine, this castle has always been garrisoned. However, before the support of the United Kingdom army from the east coast, the defenders here only had about 3,000 second-line troops.
Now it is the focus of defense, with a legion of soldiers from the United Kingdom on the east coast stationed.
As soon as Richard led his troops from Saron Castle, Valencia, the commander of the 19th Legion of the United Kingdom on the East Coast, received military information about the defeat of Saron Castle.
Following the report of the defeated troops who had escaped from Salon Castle, Valencia already knew that Salon Castle had been lost and Duke Isaac was killed in the battle.
After receiving the news, Valencia's eyes widened and she couldn't believe it. He thought to himself: "Although the garrison of Saron Castle is weaker than Jinshan Castle, why can't it be defended for a day? Duke Isaac's command is not weak, and his soldiers are not able to collapse at the first touch."
He suppressed the doubts in his heart and continued to interrogate the defeated soldiers. From the information reported by the defeated soldiers, he gradually restored the details of the battle. Hearing that a terrifying magic item appeared in Harland's army, Valencia immediately became worried.
In the war five years ago, the United Kingdom Army on the East Coast saw heavy trebuchets for the first time. They suffered a lot in the battle. They finally copied the heavy trebuchets, but the enemy actually came up with a more powerful invention.
After realizing the seriousness of the situation, Valencia immediately wrote an order to retreat to his superiors. If Commander-in-Chief Mark Dean does not allow a retreat, additional reinforcements must be sent.
Harland led the army to leave Salon Castle in the early morning. At about four o'clock in the afternoon, they marched forty kilometers to the vicinity of Jinshan Castle.
This time, Richard repeated his old trick and arranged for the artillery troops to build positions first, while the infantry rested one kilometer outside the city.
Valencia had already figured out the process of last night's battle through the rout, and naturally did not allow Harland to prepare to attack the city.
Despite the lack of strength, Valencia still hopes to win a victory first and destroy the enemy's artillery while Richard is still on a weak footing.
The gates of Jinshan Castle were wide open, and the 19th Legion of the United Kingdom from the East Coast came out of the city to form an array.
Seeing that the enemy's army was very dense, Richard decisively released a starlight bomb. A thick white light fell into the enemy's army formation. In an instant, there was a bang in the sky and earth. The commander of the 19th Legion, Valencia, died in the explosion. More than 1,500 people were killed and injured by the starlight bomb.
Taking advantage of the chaos caused by the starlight bomb to the 19th Legion, Richard led Harland's elite soldiers to decisively launch an attack. With just one charge, the enemy was defeated.
After all, the East Coast United Kingdom Legion's combat effectiveness is not as good as the orcs, and Harland's army has a numerical advantage. The combat effectiveness of both sides is not equal. In addition, the starlight bomb directly hit the command agency of the 19th Legion of the East Coast United Kingdom, and one attack killed 1,500 people, causing great chaos to the army.
The most important thing is that Harland's army has as many as 42,000 people, almost twice the number of the enemy. After this battle, Harland's casualties were less than 200 people.
In two battles, 34,000 enemy troops were annihilated, while Harland's army had about 100 casualties and only 200 injured, which was almost unscathed.
After taking down Jinshan Castle, Harland seized a lot of spoils, and seized more than ten tons of gold alone. After cleaning the battlefield, more than 400 intact enchanted armors and more than 300 damaged enchanted armors were counted, more than 100 flame horses, more than 3,000 military horses were captured, and more than 10,000 prisoners were captured.
After completely annihilating the 19th Legion of the East Coast United Kingdom, Richard stationed in Jinshan Castle for one night. Once again, he drew troops from the main force to form a Warcraft Squadron, leaving the 16th Battalion to guard Jinshan City. Richard appointed Sox as the commander of the garrison.
Like Levin, Sox is a second-generation officer of Harland. His father is Roland, and the two generations of father and son have served Harland for 20 years. Their merits are already close to being knighted.
After leaving behind the Sox tribe, Richard led Harland's army with seven days of rations and turned around to march eastward to attack the heart of Hubble's territory.
Shortly after leaving the city, the Wyvern Knight discovered the enemy.
An army of 30,000 people was heading towards Jinshan Fort. This army was the last elite of Hubble's territory and the reinforcements sent by Mark Dean to the 19th Legion.
As a result, the reinforcements were still on the way, and Jinshan Fort had already fallen.
This army was exposed in the wild and immediately became the fat meat on the lips of Harland's army, ushering in the fate of defeat.