A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 413 Disturbed

After spring arrived, the Valois region experienced frequent rainfall, which was obviously a disadvantage for the war effort, greatly slowing down the marching troops.

"Hurry up!" Urging voices could be heard everywhere. The Imperial Army was making tense deployments. Heavy artillery pieces were stuck in the muddy ground. Pack horses alone were not enough to pull them out of the ditch they had been pressed out of. Soldiers had to pull and push them.

The rainy season brought many inconveniences, leaving everyone exhausted, and the musty smell of the tents and sleeping bags made it difficult to sleep soundly.

In truth, the past three months of fighting had dulled the blade; the Imperial Army's main force had accumulated considerable fatigue and injuries. Only a series of victories had boosted morale, masking the underlying problems. Now, their invincible facade had been shattered.

"Isn't there anyone among you mages who can change this damn weather?" the young officer traveling with Richard joked, lighting a cigarette for himself and offering it to Richard.

Richard declined, and the young officer pointed to his mouth and made a striking motion with a match.

A fine drizzle still hung in the sky. Richard rubbed his hands together, lit a cigarette for his colleague out of thin air, and then a glint of light flashed in his eye: "Now your cigarette isn't afraid of water."

"So if I swallow it, it'll keep burning?" Besides the cold joke, smoke billowed from the other person's mouth and nostrils. Richard didn't flinch, letting himself be engulfed by secondhand smoke. He heard the other person continue, "Not bad at all. I'm a little reluctant to part with you, Colonel Richard."

"We are now in one division, so we will move together in the next battle." The military finally got it. Instead of organizing their precious mages together, they changed all the special costumes and let the spellcasters hide in the ranks.

Under the cover of rain, Richard attended the pre-battle mobilization meeting, but he was distracted and vaguely heard the general on the stage shouting incoherently under the amplification effect.

The enemy was approaching, and this battle determined the entire situation on the Valois battlefield; victory was imperative.

In a daze, he recalled his graduation speech, and just like now, Richard was absent-minded.

However, the general's words were not unfounded. The Imperial army's unstoppable advance, besides exhausting the first wave of troops, brought an even more fatal problem—the main force's defensive line was left undefended. The Imperial army's left and right flanks, along with the Kingdom's First and Third Legions, were locked in combat. Because they were not the main force and did not receive sufficient supplies, their progress was not as smooth as expected, and the southern and northwestern coasts of the Kingdom remained in the hands of the Valois.

Now, facing the National Guard, an army assembled from various regions and composed of "outsiders," the main force has failed to make a breakthrough. The command had not anticipated this situation from the beginning. Behind the main Imperial Army were fragile, poorly constructed defensive lines and thin supply lines that stretched all the way to the capital of the Condi region.

Intelligence indicates that the National Guard is still expanding, and the rebel forces from the south who missed the defense of the capital have also successfully arrived, forming eight new legions with at least 20 armed men, giving them an overwhelming advantage over the current main force of the Imperial Army.

Therefore, this battle in northern Valuana had to be won, or it would result in an unimaginable and unacceptable rout. In order to reverse the numerical advantage, the military abandoned the rotation and chose to keep the vanguard at the front, merging it with the follow-up troops.

"Deploy them in front of the first trench to coordinate with the engineers. Hurry, even faster!" The frontline commander issued a new gadget.

Richard saw truckloads of iron products, the main body of which was thick iron wire with loops and spikes wrapped around it. It was very difficult to set them up. The sappers wore thick leather or cotton gloves, but because the loops of the thick iron wire were very tight, they could easily cut their hands when they tried to bend them.

With great difficulty, a barbed wire fence was erected in front of the trench. Richard carefully examined this novel contraption and found that each section of the wire had a nameplate hanging on it: "Kempson Steel Works." along with the production date and batch number.

I remember Kempson was in Byrne, right? Could it be that the Valois army could order from them after capturing something? For some reason, Richard suddenly had this absurd idea.

Originally, the Imperial Army only built trenches when attacking cities, but now, in order to protect the front-line camp, the front-line commanders have also begun to build trenches and defensive fortifications, which is quite unusual.

Radical officers and soldiers were deeply dissatisfied with this "cowardly behavior," and the most resentful were the engineers who had to dig through the mud in the rain. Amidst the cursing and swearing, the cautious commander earned the nickname "Richard the Turtle."

It had nothing to do with Colonel Richard, the military magistrate. The commander just happened to share his name, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hench, commander of the Engineer Regiment of the New 1st Division of the Southern Army. He was the guy who shared a tent with him, read him books, and lit his cigarettes.

Other commanders did not believe that tortoise-like behavior was the optimal solution. They jointly devised a proactive defense plan at headquarters and began to occupy high ground and set up positions.

The rain grew heavier, and with it came the enemy.

The artillery barrage signaled the start of the war, with both sides exchanging fire. The Imperial artillery had a longer range, but the National Guard's artillery appeared to be more mobile and fired more intensely. After confirming that the Imperial army's first rank had been broken up by the artillery fire, the Valois army decisively launched an attack.

Richard and other officers had already experienced the fearless column charge, so the general chose to reinforce the firepower on the left and right flanks and use all the cavalry to break up the column.

During the pre-battle meeting, "Richard the Turtle" slammed his fist on the table and shouted, "Trenches, use more trenches to stop them!" He was kicked out of the tent for disrupting order.

"Deploy the cavalry battalion; prepare the reserves."

Upon receiving the order, the Imperial cavalry began to accelerate, attempting to break into the flank of the enemy column. However, the National Guard infantry began to change formation, spreading out to avoid the artillery fire and cavalry ahead, and quickly approaching the Imperial infantry while braving the bullets from the front.

Richard, the spellcaster, stood on high ground, observing the entire enemy movement through his binoculars. His mission was to carry out the decapitation strike. General Karl's idea was approved, and some mages were tasked with assaulting high-value enemy targets, such as artillery positions and commanders. Of course, the Valois army also had mages, and the enemy's vital points would inevitably be guarded by spellcasters.

So Richard patiently observed, waiting for the right moment to strike. Beside him was a hunter from the Byrne Legion. The Byrne Legion was passive and slow-moving, finally "forced" to dawdle to the front lines after the Imperial vanguard's defeat. The Byrne army seemed to have a large number of mountain hunter units.

Richard's hunter was also observing, then took out his own gun and set it up. The gun was wrapped in cloth, so Richard couldn't see what it looked like, but he could tell from its length that the Byrne hunters were not using standard Imperial weapons.

No, he was too distracted. Even on the battlefield, Richard couldn't focus his mind. He forced himself to concentrate and finally locked onto a valuable target through his binoculars.

(End of this chapter)