King of The Wall

2021-10-15

Chapter 671 stake all on one throw

"Sir, stay or fight?"

It didn't take a while for the generals of the various armies to rush to send someone to inquire.

Stay or fight? This is a good question.

The West Expedition Force already has the advantage of the quality of soldiers and advanced weapons. If they still stick to the camp without stacking a defensive buff, even if the Reach people send millions of armies to attack in turn, they can only be striking a stone with an egg. However, the problem facing Igor now is this: he has been in a "find the enemy's main force decisive battle" all the way through the western expedition. If he doesn't fight when the enemy comes to his door, the morale he has accumulated in recent months will be vented. And the possibility of being empty; if the enemy's storming camp is repelled, it's okay to say, I'm afraid that if the Reach coalition forces are besieged and do not attack, it will drag on for three or five days until the ammunition and food are exhausted...

Stick to the camp and win Even if it doesn't work, it won't get any results. Once it fails, it will have a catastrophic ending. This is a very simple choice of pros and cons. Igor made a decision without hesitation for a second.

"Release the air observation post, the logistics will continue to pull out the battalion, the combat troops will set off first, and the rolling formation will be completed according to the second set of plans!"

......

low The mourning bugles, the shrill golden drums, the shouts of officers, and the curses and murmurs of the soldiers rose and fell in the camp. Cloth and carry out boxes of propellants and shells, Skinchangers who can control birds control large and small birds to fly into the sky...

In the land-grant army backbone + Night's Watch military academy graduates Under the control of the basic command system of the frame, the whole army quickly and methodically dressed, assembled and poured out of the gate, and began to form a formation on the plain outside the camp, next to Mander, to arrange the formation specially designed by Igor for the Westward Expedition Reach.

The Reach coalition has a large number of soldiers, and the average combat experience and quality are slightly worse, but it is not a mob, and there is a home field advantage in local operations. It can be said that the cards that Aegon and Tyrell can play are not very strong, but they are very numerous, and there is a lot of trial and error costs. In the face of such an opponent, wanting to see tricks and demolition tricks to resolve their each step chess perfectly is nothing short of a dream. Therefore, Igor's strategy of tactics specially designed for this battle is highly consistent with the strategic concept of the West Expedition, that is : Discharge a panacea formation, so that you can adapt to changes without change.

The water vapor floating in the air was dispersed and evaporated by the rising sun, and the magnificent rainbow gradually faded and disappeared. In the morning light that gradually increased in brightness, the army of the Westward Expedition led by Hand of the Queen Igor West was like a flower of steel, slowly blooming centered on the camp that was stationed last night.

Having already expected to be besieged by groups after going deep into the hinterland of Reach, and to avoid being hit by a half-cross when crossing the river when approaching Highgarden, the West Expedition Force led by Igor took New Barrel with lightning strikes. Before the Reach could react, he made a sharp turn south and crossed the river to the south of Mander in a smooth area, and then marched along the river to Highgarden without veering off the road. At this moment, the West Expedition Force is unfolding close to the river bank as usual—in addition to the fact that this move can effectively curb the fluke of the soldiers by cutting off the escape route, the most direct and important benefit and purpose are: The water blocked one of the enemy's flanking directions, allowing one's own energies to focus on threats from other directions.

If the Reach people have mastered the means of flying reconnaissance at this moment and can overlook the West Expedition Force from above, they will be surprised to find: the sparkling Mander side, the West Expedition Force grandiosely listed a... unheard -of unprecedented, incomprehensible formation: the total army of about 20,000 infantry is neatly and tidy divided into countless battallion squads, and the countless teams are roughly evenly spaced to form nine evenly spaced large phalanxes - of which, There are at most four near the river bank; a little farther away from the river bank—the first four squares are separated by three spaces and there are three more squares 100 meters to the south, and the two spaces between these three squares are separated by the last two to the south. phalanx. In the case of 4+3+2, there are a total of 9 square arrays, like three "pin" characters stacked in the form of two positives and one negative, forming an isosceles trapezoid with the river bank as the base as a whole.

In the gaps between the three large square arrays, seemingly random, in fact, there are other troops with a slightly smaller number, but stronger and more critical actual battle strength. among which is included: the Chinese army headquarters + reserve is located in the middle of the gap between the first and second columns, enjoying the protection and protection of a total of seven infantry phalanxes of 4 + 3; artillery and those assigned to protect the artillery mission Unsullied detachment, located a full phalanx distance to the west of the headquarters, facing the direction of advance near Highgarden; Boundary and forage detachment located symmetrically east, in the center of the three phalanx at the rear of the line; a total of less than 5,000 cavalry (Most of them are from the Westerlands) located between the second and third columns, surrounded by a total of 3+2 five square arrays, which are defensive properties for flexibility.

Looking through the ancient and modern military books in the world of ice and fire and even in the earth world, it is difficult to find a battle formation that is exactly the same as the formation ordered by Igor today. The reason why he took such an unusual path and took a different approach is because the situation before him at the moment has never been faced by anyone: leading a large-scale army of the cold-weapon era equipped with hot weapons to face a more powerful army. The huge cold weapon era army without hot weapons continued to attack Highgarden under the blocking of the latter until the latter was captured.

Since the "question" is an unprecedented new question, the answer that can be copied by him naturally does not exist. Although Igor is not an orthodox graduate from a military academy, he has deeply realized a truth through his not long and not short career as a soldier: there is no perfect formation, only the organization of the army, the level of equipment training, the situation of the opponent and the strategic goals of the enemy and the enemy. And adjust to the most suitable formation.

The comparison of strength in this battle is: West Expedition Force is far inferior to the opponent in terms of the number of infantry, cavalry and logistical support. The only two advantages are gunpowder and morale. On the Reach field of Ma Pingchuan, facing the enemy who hides the sky and covers the earth, even if they win countless times, the enemy can retreat calmly under the cover of the superior cavalry, and then return in a swirl with the determination and willpower of defending the earth. of dust...Instead of being exhausted in a wheel battle and being exhausted, Igor chose to follow the instructor's instructions - "you hit you, I hit mine". He gave up the luxury of defeating the enemy once and for all in the confrontation between the two armies on the plain, so that the Reach people would no longer have the luxury of fighting intent. Instead, he decided to march against the obstruction and harassment, and the enemy will be rescued - Highgarden, using the "capital fall" The sense of crisis and the psychological pressure of "unable to achieve the strategic purpose" forced the opponent to appear in a weak spot, giving him an opportunity to take advantage of.

And if you want to stand up to the enemy's obstruction or even intercept a forced march, the defense of movement—that is, the ability of the march to deal with the enemy's sneak attack at the same time is placed first, and to achieve this goal, there are at least two. It must be realized: 1. Each army can receive the military orders of oneself in time, and be under the command and management of oneself to deal with emergencies; 2. The general front line of the whole army should be as short as possible, not only to make the enemy unable to play The superiority of troops can also ensure that the various ministries can coordinate and respond to each other and protect each other.

On the basis of mathematical analysis, the semicircular array by the river is the optimal solution, but in fact, once the semicircular array is formed, it is impossible to move even a little bit, and it does not satisfy the "movement" requirement. "This article, so... the trapezoid array has become the final solution after the compromise between theory and reality. The distance between the troops on the edge of the outer third line of the trapezoid and the headquarters is similar. In addition to the convenience of sending orders and reducing the external contact surface, the trapezoid array also effectively overcomes the inherent shortcomings of the rectangular array "the most vulnerable part at right angles": if the enemy comes from the north, Mander Water is the best line of defense, and if you attack from the south, you will have to face the huge tactical depths that are waiting in layers, and if you attack from any direction other than north and south, you will have to face each square on the three sides of the trapezoid. The magic-modified slash formation formed after the cooperation between each other... is really impeccable, making it impossible for the enemy to speak.

Speaking of nowhere to go, if you turn the map upside down and look at it from the top to the south and down to the north, everything will suddenly become clear: the trapezoid leaning against the river bank looks like a huge tortoise shell? That's right, Igor is planning to command the army - like a turtle, arching along the river all the way to Highgarden city under the threat, attacking Highgarden in front of the Reach soldiers, completely destroying the will of the Reach people to resist!

The idea is very clear, but the reality is not so simple: although the tortoise shell is hard, it is not an ideal rigid body after all. The Reach people have an absolute advantage in the number of infantry and cavalry. If there are smart people in the opponent's command layer, they decide to use the infantry and cavalry separately. The absolute number of infantry is the anvil, and the superior cavalry is the hammer. The anvil and hammer tactics of the time, under the attack of 100,000 people, no matter how hard the shell is, there is a danger that it will be broken or even flattened by a hammer!
Faced with this potential threat, Igor's prepared response is: refusal.

Utilizing the huge range and deterrent advantage of artillery, strikes are launched immediately when the enemy infantry appears in the field of vision and enters the range, disrupting the rhythm of the Reach infantry's formation and letting the anvil-hammer binary structure. The "anvil" cannot be formed smoothly, and the whole set of tactics will naturally collapse and go bankrupt... Next, 30,000 infantry will face less cavalry than their own. With the cooperation of morale and battle strength advantages, the battle will be fought!
wū wū wū wū ……

In a long signal, the West Expedition Force completely completed the camping operation. The Turtle Formation slowly lifted its feet and began to move steadily westward along the river, arching another solid step towards Highgarden, its final destination in the lower reaches of the river.

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(end of this chapter)