Blood tax

Chapter 298

"How's the situation?" Griffith quietly asked Berthier who was standing aside.

"Pierfon can't hold it, if there is no strong reinforcements," Berthier replied softly, "I made the brigade prepare for the dispatch, but the prince still prefers to dispatch the regular army."

After saying this, Berthier seemed to feel that it was inappropriate to say these things in the camp, so he took Griffith and the others outside.

According to the urgent report received by the headquarters, Pierre Feng's problem is not whether the defenders can hold on.There is a town there. Although it is not big, it is completely possible for the defenders to build fortifications and persist for a period of time.

The real problem is resupply.Trapped there are not only the Anjou girl and the [-] border guards around her, but also tens of thousands of refugees.These people consume a lot of food and drinking water every day.The originally small supplies will collapse in the blink of an eye under the consumption of several times.Even if it persists, the refugees will suffer misfortune by the thousands.

The nearby mobile troops of the regular army have been concentrated near the neck, and the other troops have their own defense zones, which are difficult to mobilize.

"Will we attack?" Sonia asked. "It seems that the regular army is difficult to mobilize. Our auxiliary army should still be able to move."

"The prince will worry about our lack of strength," Griffith said, "It is nearly [-] miles from here to the town of Pierrefond. After a quick march, we must immediately go into battle. Most of the soldiers in the auxiliary legion are very difficult to do it..."

At this moment, the prince's roar came from the military tent, which could be heard clearly outside the tent.

"I order you to attack, Moderes. In the name of the future king, I order the Ninth Legion to go at once!"

Everyone hurriedly looked into the tent and found that the staff officers and generals looked at the excited prince indifferently. General Moderes, the commander of the Ninth Army, was very calm:

"Your Highness, I must point out that the task given by the Senate to the Ninth and No.12 Legions is to arrive at Teutoburg and join the Sixteenth Legion within the specified time limit. According to the plan, the Ninth Legion must also leave today, and we have no strength Support. My suggestion is to mobilize a support army from Varna to go north."

"It will take at least half a month!" Prince Commodus knocked heavily on the table, "Maximus is not here, I am your commander, I want you to carry out the order!"

"Forgive me, Your Highness," the legion chief shook his head, "We have not received an order from the Senate to change the commander-in-chief."

"You!" The prince stretched out his hand to draw his sword, and a group of guards and staff rushed forward to stop him.

Griffith left the command post, there was no point in listening to them continue arguing.

This General Moderes is also a senator, and he is one of the heads of the military department of the Senate like Earl Chalon.Without the cooperation of the Senate, the king of Byerland is just a hanger holding the crown.

The reaction of General Moderes was expected, and it is easy to predict the attitude of the regular army towards the order to rush for help.

First of all, the Saintess system of the Church of the Holy Light has been abolished for many years.Her identity is very sensitive. If the spokesperson of the Holy See of Light is allowed to expand her influence, other parties in the mysterious world will be very dissatisfied.

Secondly, the command of the regular legion is under the name of the Senate. If the prince is allowed to reach out to change the appointment and plans of the Senate, it would be more enjoyable to hang himself with a rope for all the seniors.

The only choice for Prince Commodus, and the inevitable choice, is to dispatch an auxiliary army composed of the king's vassals.The army starting from Odessa needs to march more than 600 miles in less than a week, otherwise the saintess will probably be finished when they arrive at the destination; even if the saintess is still alive at the destination, the reinforcements cannot collapse due to exhaustion.

This means that the reinforcements of the Auxiliary Legion must be strong enough...

Ever since King Hadrian was murdered by the person who was punished for obliterating records, the vassals directly under the king began to get closer and closer to the Senate. They held various public and military positions, but the auxiliary legion became weaker and weaker.

Counts directly subordinate to the king, such as Earl Lamour, have now become veterans. A certain general who participated in the mysterious meeting in Homonwarts could not even produce half a squadron, so how strong is the auxiliary army?

After getting the news, Griffith immediately started to act.The infantry squadrons of Berthier and Dedius who arrived together are in good condition and are likely to be the main force going together.The prince has no choice, no matter how much trouble there is, there is only one choice in the end.

……

Sure enough, the prince, who could not get the support of the regular army, ordered the auxiliary army to support Pierrefont.

Many troops in the Auxiliary Legion are knight lords and poorly trained infantry or light infantry. Although they are not without combat effectiveness, they do not have the discipline and organization to execute long-distance raids.

The only ones to count on were Sonia's Storm Squadron, Berthier's and Dedius' nine infantry squadrons. A small group of people from the 603rd Technical Test Squadron under the leadership of Bernard also insisted on participating.They must maintain a daily marching speed of more than 100 miles, and start fighting immediately after arriving at the place before the saint, her followers, and militia armed forces are wiped out.

Griffith first confirmed with the three of them whether they were ready to carry out the prince's order for support, received a positive answer, and then started preparations for the urgent march with Berthier.

They face many problems.

The mules, horses and animals of the Stormtrooper Squadron are relatively strong, but no matter how good the horses are, it is impossible to maneuver at high speed for several days in a row.War horses are not like infantry, and the forced march will cause a large number of horses to die.

In order to complete the 5-mile march in 6-600 days, the cavalry unit must also abandon all the horses.According to the arrangement of Griffith and Berthier, the whole army marched rapidly on foot and by car.Sonia and Dedius stayed in the headquarters to ensure safety, and at the same time, in the name of the prince and the army headquarters, coordinated in advance with Extraordinary, officials, and merchants in the towns along the way to provide meals and carriages for the troops.

The local carriages can allow the soldiers to rest for a period of time during the daily march to recover their physical strength, but they cannot keep up with the speed of the march, and there is absolutely no way to find enough in a hurry.

Therefore, the foot cavalry and infantry could only rest in limited carriages in rotation, relying on towns and villages for supplies along the way, and only carrying combat equipment.

After the reinforcements of 1200 arrived in Pierrefond, they had to go into battle immediately to rescue the saint and civilians.The nearby friendly forces are either pinned down on the border or militias with little combat effectiveness.Therefore, not only must there not be a large number of laggards along the way, but the entire army must also maintain strong combat effectiveness and morale.

Such a thing can only be done by a very small number of elite soldiers in history.

After the operation started, Griffith and Berthier led a few people to take a step ahead by relying on the horses at the post station.It is naturally impossible for Prince Commodus to lead troops to perform reinforcement missions, but he also gave a lot of support.

Most of the small and medium-sized towns and villages along the way have received the reception arrangements arranged by the army, and prepared barracks, hot food and drinking water for the infantry in advance.After Griffith arrived, while checking the preparations, he asked them to prepare hot water for all soldiers to wash their feet.

The march on the first day was amazingly fast. Relying on the carriage provided by Odessa and the cooperation along the way, the whole army walked a full 150 miles.When Nona, Lien, Bernard and the officers of the various squadrons brought the soldiers to the camping village, the villagers had already prepared bread, bacon, vegetable soup and large pots of honey.

After everyone washed their hands and faces with hot water, each team was given two large buckets.One of the buckets contained solid black bread.In rural areas, white bread is still rare.This kind of hard bread is similar to what Griffith ate when he left the Eastern Front a year ago. If you accidentally bite it, your teeth may be knocked off.

Another vat contained a sizzling thick soup of chopped radishes, cabbage, and tomatoes, simmered with generous amounts of butter, meat cubes, and potatoes.Everyone from officers to soldiers can scoop up a large bowl of vegetable soup, and soak the black bread in the hot soup to soften it.

Paxiu and Desai were also lining up, eagerly watching when it would be their turn to eat.In one day today, they first took a carriage and then switched to walking. They walked back and forth for 150 miles, as fast as flying.After arriving at the village where they camped, almost everyone was going crazy with hunger.

Seeing the black bread that could be used as a shield swell in the thick soup, Paxiu immediately took a big bite.The incomparably pleasant sense of fullness immediately seized the soul.The entire army gnawed like a nest of mice.There is a lot of butter in the soup, which is very greasy, but it is very helpful for the troops who are forced to march to restore their strength.If anyone can't bear it, they can also ask for a large spoonful of honey to spread on the bread.

Desai ate faster than Paxiu, stuffing the bread and soup into his stomach in the blink of an eye.He took a deep breath, and lay down on the haystack with the dried meat in his mouth.

"Ah, not bad~"

His second sentence was: "Is this girl really a huntress? It's fake!"

What?Paxiu raised his head from the soup in surprise, looked at his companion, and then followed his gaze to look ahead, and found that he was staring at Karen.

"Yeah, why ask this? Kallen is amazing."

"No, no, no, I've seen a huntress." Desai shook his head, gestured to his chest, and said seriously, "A real huntress has big breasts. Look at her, flat and anvil." Same, fake..."

……

"What's going on outside? Camp roar?" Berthier, who was eating dinner, heard the screams and crackling fighting, jumped up immediately, and asked Griffith who came in with a surprised face.When he was a child, he often heard stories from his parents about military riots. He was very nervous when he led the army for the first time.

"No, it's just some fights." Griffith shook his head. "Desai and Paxiu of my squadron were injured. Fortunately, the injuries are not serious, so we don't need to take the car tomorrow."

"That's good," the eldest son of the Earl's family felt relieved, "more information has been sent. The orcs are building a double line of defense around Pierfon. The fortifications. Even if we arrived in time, it would be difficult to clear the siege in a short time. Things are not easy to handle."

"It's expected," Griffith nodded, walked to the door and waved, "This army of orcs appeared very suddenly, and there are many abnormalities. They are obviously coming for the saint of Anjou. Rin The lieutenant and Lieutenant Bernard brought us the equipment and tactics in the test of the 603 squadron, please introduce it, both of you."

(End of this chapter)