I will be crowned king

"If you want to capture the fortress, you must not fight in the daytime!"

Facing Ludwig and a group of levied officers, Anson, standing in front of the Thunder Castle sand table, used these words as his opening remarks.

Although according to the brigadier general himself, this was just an "informal" military meeting, and the purpose was only to reach a consensus among the entire army, and it was far from the time to make a battle plan.

But all the officers present, including Ludwig himself, knew very well that this was the final mobilization before the war began - the Thunder Castle levy force had its supply line cut off, and there was no more time to make adequate preparations.

"According to the information we have now, the current defenders in the fortress include three hundred elite imperial cavalry, about two to three full regiments of infantry and artillery, more than fifty light and heavy artillery, and less than thirty people. Knightly Officer Corps.”

As he spoke, Anson pulled out the bayonet sheath from his waist and pointed to the model of Thunder Castle marked on the sand table: "So without considering the presence of reinforcements, we can temporarily assume that the enemy's strength should be around two thousand."

Ludwig, who put his hands on the table, stared at the location of Thunder Castle without saying a word, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

"In contrast, our strength is nearly three times that of the defenders of Thunder Castle." Anson looked at the people in front of him, and moved the bayonet in his right hand to the position of the siege position:

"We have six missing private regiments, a full grenadier regiment, fourteen light and heavy artillery pieces, and a full cavalry company, with a total strength of nearly 6,000 men; but..."

"First, the private regiment stationed in Oak Town was completely wiped out by the unidentified imperial cavalry; at the same time, the most combat-effective Grenadier Regiment, led by Lieutenant Colonel Roman, also went to Oak Town to stabilize order and restore the supply line; therefore, the current actual situation The number of troops is only about five thousand, barely more than twice the number of defenders."

"If such a comparison of strength is a head-on confrontation, facing the defenders with superior artillery fire and city wall cover, our army will be at an absolute disadvantage in terms of form; it can be predicted that thirty minutes before the war begins, casualties will reach four or even three-thirds One, morale will completely collapse."

Hearing this, many officers had pessimistic expressions on their faces.

"Therefore, since it is almost impossible to capture Thunder Castle by launching an attack during the day, and it will definitely suffer huge casualties." Taking a deep breath, Anson's mind was racing:

"So...why don't we move the attack time to night?"

The officers looked at each other.

"Attack at night... it's simple." An officer sitting next to the sand table stood up and snorted to Anson:

"Right now, just because of the lack of supplies, the morale of the army has been severely damaged. If the soldiers are still allowed to brave the cold wind to launch an attack in the middle of the night..."

"It is precisely because morale has reached an extremely low level that it is even more important to change the attack time from day to night." Anson interrupted unceremoniously:

"No matter how cold it gets at midnight in Thunder Castle, it's still better than warming up next to the blast point of a cannonball!"

"Then where is the direction of attack?" The officer who was blocked turned red and said reluctantly: "The weather has been very bad in the past few days. At night, not only is the wind blowing, but the moon is rarely seen! You want to Let us determine the direction of attack on a pitch-black battlefield..."

"Cannon fire!"

Anson, who stole the ball again, hit the bayonet of his right hand on the position of the artillery fort on the sand table: "Once the war begins, the artillery fort will be responsible for blasting open the gates of Thunder Castle with artillery; as long as you still have your ears, it will not be difficult." Find out which way the attack is coming – anything else to ask?”

Following Anson's sweeping gaze, there was silence in the camp. Only the officer who was gagged twice by Anson turned blue and had a somewhat unconvinced look in his eyes.

No one who can sit here is a fool. Everyone understands that although Anson Bach is presiding over the military council, the fact that he can stand here means that Brigadier General Ludwig has made a decision. The rest is up to everyone. attitude, just "by the way" to reach a consensus.

In the quiet tent, you can even hear the howling of the cold wind outside.

"last question……"

The livid-faced officer once again spoke unwillingly: "If you choose to start the war at midnight, how can you ensure that the enemy will not fire artillery from the imperial defenders in the fortress before our army launches an attack? You must know that this is night, and everything will be safe." The point where the shell exploded was exactly in the direction of our main attack..."

"There's no need to discuss this!"

The person who raised his hand to stop him this time was Ludwig, who had always remained silent: "I can assure you that before our army officially launches an attack, the enemies in the fortress will never make any move."

After the words fell, Ansen, who was standing on the other side of the sand table, nodded slightly in agreement.

Um? !

Their eyes turned to the two men with determined expressions at the same time, and all the officers present were stunned.

You must know that the greatest threat to the levy force is the occasional bombardment of the Thunder Castle Fortress. It is obvious that the imperial defenders in the city are not fools or blind. As long as they detect any movement in the siege position, they will fire at the established target. .

The biggest threat of this targeted bombardment is not casualties, but a blow to morale. At the same time, the siege positions are afraid to easily gather troops; it is precisely because of this that the advancement of the siege positions has become extremely slow.

Now Ludwig actually told them that the imperial defenders would remain silent until the levy force took action...

But since this was Ludwig's decision, others had nothing to say - anyway, after the siege failed, they would definitely not be the ones to take the blame.

Ludwig, who was stared at by pairs of eyes that were either shocked or puzzled, always focused on Anson.

It wasn't until this moment that he finally figured out this guy's entire plan!

The purpose of using trenches to advance the position is to shorten the distance of the attack and at the same time make the defenders in the city relax their vigilance;

They returned the prisoners and deliberately stated that it would take three days to make the other party mistakenly think that the conscripted army intended to use these three days to speed up the advancement of fortifications and launch an attack on the fourth day.

But his real purpose was just to get the upper hand.

As long as the fortress defenders do not use artillery to suppress the line of troops immediately during the general attack, the forwards will be able to quickly rush through the two hundred meters at the forefront and enter the blind spot of the heavy artillery, and the enemy's greatest advantage will no longer exist!

After encountering various accidents such as cavalry raids, setbacks in position advancement, and cutoffs in supply lines, Anson Bach... this guy still allowed the entire battle to proceed according to his pre-set plan...

Can win, really can win!

Ludwig, who was trying his best to suppress his inner excitement, looked at Anson with more and more eager eyes.

"Lieutenant Colonel Anson Bach, continue with your plan."

"Uh...Okay." Anson was stunned for a moment, his eyes flickering, and Ludwig was staring at him, which made him feel a little nervous.

What did I just say to get him so excited?

"First, we need to divide our army into three parts; four regiments are assembled at the two artillery positions at the forefront, and the rest of the army and cavalry are responsible for defending the artillery positions;"

"The battle should start around one o'clock in the morning. The two regiments at the front of the position launch a charge, and then the artillery position will continue to bombard the city gate, assisting the other two artillery positions to achieve fire suppression and cover in the direction of the main gate..."

"boom----!"

Just before Ansen finished speaking, a sudden loud noise suddenly came from outside the camp.

The expressions of everyone in the camp changed.

The atmosphere became tense.

With a raised brow, Anson casually placed the bayonet on the sand table and walked out of the tent.

Almost at the same time as he opened the door curtain, there was another thunderous bang.

"boom----!"

Pale white light exploded in the dark cloud-covered sky.

Anson instinctively raised his head and looked at the sky, and an inconspicuous drop of water hit his cheek; in the blink of an eye, the small drop of water began to drip and float all over the sky.

It's raining.