Munitions Empire

"Strauss and Bolton, those little rascals, they're doing so well in the south that I'm under a lot of pressure here," Redman, clad in a dusty military uniform threw his gloves to a nearby orderly soldier, striding past the bodies on the ground, and complained to an officer beside him.

"General!" Although they did not have formal ranks from the Leite Kingdom, soldiers from Northern Ridge still habitually referred to Redman as General, "Our troops are too dispersed; we should regroup and take some time to reorganize."

"The 2nd Battalion of the 1st Regiment is still at Canze, the 1st Battalion just arrived at Xi Mei, and we have already reached close to the Royal Palace of the Germelin Kingdom," this Northern Ridge staff officer had also studied at a military academy, so his analysis of the battlefield was very professional.

If one looked at the previous course of the war, the Northern Ridge Legion seemed to be spread too thin, their two infantry regiments dispersed over a vast area, even to the point where they could not take care of each other's fronts and rears.

The caravan of horse-drawn and motorized vehicles transporting heavy artillery was now crowded on the roads, and these mule-drawn units, because they were transporting large amounts of ammunition and heavy artillery, were not moving any faster than the other friendly forces.

Following these mule-drawn units were other military forces of the Leite Kingdom; more than ten thousand troops were advancing, with another ten thousand or more following behind.

The Leite Kingdom had rallied more than twenty thousand troops, which, together with the two infantry regiments of the Northern Ridge Legion and a strengthened artillery battalion, had invaded the Kingdom of Germelin.

However, due to the Northern Ridge Legion's rapid advance, these follow-up troops had already been left behind, approximately ninety kilometers away from the actual frontline.

King Leite VII of the Leite Kingdom had not anticipated that the Northern Ridge Legion, under Redman's command, would push forward with such terrifying speed.

Along the way, he only saw captives of the defeated Germelin soldiers who had failed to retreat in time. Most of the time, his troops were merely occupied with taking over the land and cities, as well as guarding the prisoners.

He was genuinely very happy with the way the war was going—he was expanding his territory without expending much effort, starting another round of conquest and colonization.

Under his reign, the Leite Kingdom had already tripled in size compared to when his father was in charge; this achievement had somewhat gone to his head.

The ability of the Northern Ridge Legion to control such a vast area while being so dispersed was partly due to their commanders being more flexible, with higher initiative, able to make independent judgments, and quickly respond to potential crises.

On the other hand, it was also because their weapons and equipment were indeed far superior to those of their opponents.

They had hand grenades, these new weapons could clear out houses and trenches, and they could also combat enemies attempting to engage at close range.

They were also equipped with some mortars developed by the Great Tang Group that had never appeared on the battlefield before—these mortars were always non-sale items of the Great Tang Group, allocated only to a portion of the Northern Ridge Legion.

With such light and portable artillery, the Northern Ridge troops had a certain degree of artillery support when facing defensive structures like castles.

After all, the mortars could keep up with the troops, they were simple to operate, and their ammunition was sufficiently powerful.

This time, it was a mortar from the Northern Ridge Legion that had blasted open the city gates; following infantry with their KAR98K rifles, also known as the K3 rifle, taught a lesson to the soldiers of the Germelin Kingdom who were only equipped with Shireck Flintlock Guns.

The weaponry of the two sides was not from the same era; the Shireck Flintlock Gun's accuracy was unreliable beyond a few tens of meters, while the 98K rifle could easily hit targets at a combat range of 300 meters.

In a street fight, or to be more accurate, an engagement that could hardly be called a street fight, Redman managed to secure control of this location with just over 500 soldiers from one battalion.

Under the pressure from the Battle of Dorne, Redman had to quicken the pace of his advance; he had to amass some capital for himself in the Germelin battlefield, otherwise, his rank of Major General would soon fail to hold sway.

Being a teacher and yet not fighting as well as his students was, for Redman, a downright disgrace.

"Where is the city lord?" Redman looked towards a prisoner kneeling on the ground, guarded by soldiers, and asked.

"Sir... the city lord... he, he is right under your foot!" Overcome with fear, the prisoner was gasping and could barely get his words out smoothly.

He stammered, afraid that speaking too slowly would get him shot, which only made him stutter more: "He, he has been, been… shot dead with a single bullet!"

Redman looked down at his feet and indeed saw a man in opulent clothing lying on the ground, shot clean through the forehead, his blood already dried.

"The position of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment! Where are they now?" Redman irritably moved to avoid the thoroughly dead city lord Earl and glanced at the staff officer beside him for an update.

The staff officer signaled for two cadet officers to help spread out the map and pointed to a location explaining, "The 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment was here two hours ago, now they could only have advanced to about 20 kilometers behind us..."

"That slow?" Redman asked disdainfully—although the advance speed of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment was exemplary by past standards.

"There's no way around it, General," the staff officer explained to Redman. "They have to look after the heavy artillery behind them. If they're too far away, accidents can easily happen."

Redman nodded in slight resignation, then pointing to a mark on the map, he asked, "So this is the Royal Palace of Germelin, right? Are we still 30 kilometers away from there?"

"Yes, 30 kilometers away... However, sir, we've been marching for a whole day and night. If the soldiers don't rest, their condition will be very poor," the staff officer seemed to know what Redman was thinking. He nervously reminded his superior that the troops had their limits.

"Why are you so nervous? I never planned on taking the entire company of officers and soldiers to their Royal Palace," Redman said with a sheepish smile, trying to give some reassurance.

However, the staff officer obviously heard something strange in Redman's words, "You're not taking 'the whole' 'company' 'of' 'officers' 'and soldiers'...?"

"Right! Just the scout unit, 1st platoon, I'll only take around 200 men," Redman patted the other's shoulder, with a kind of "see how reasonable I am" look.

"General! I must be responsible for your safety!" the staff officer glanced at the few military officers around him and emphasized in a very serious tone, "We cannot divide our forces like this!"

"Then 1st and 2nd platoon will come with me, and I'll leave the scout unit with you," Redman smoothly offered a more "prudent" solution.

"..." The staff officer was completely speechless. He stared at Redman and emphasized, "General! It's not about whether you take one platoon or two! This is the Kingdom of Germelin! We're already in the enemy's territory! Dividing our forces like this is absolutely taboo in military strategy!"

"It doesn't matter! We'll seize the opportunity before the enemy can fully mobilize the surrounding troops and make a direct assault. If we break into the Royal Palace, the enemy will be completely defeated!" Redman's idea was the exact opposite of the staff officer's, "The more chaotic it is, the more it works in our favor.

In the chaos, our troops can fight more bravely, whereas the enemy can only passively take a beating!"

Redman was extremely confident in the Northern Ridge troops trained by the Great Tang Group; he even believed they were the most elite troops in the world.

Apart from combat with the security forces of the Great Tang Group, the Northern Ridge troops should crush any opponent they face.

"But, General! Two platoons are really too few! Wait for two days, or at least one day, for the follow-up troops to catch up. Even if it's just our company, we can then continue the attack!" At this moment, the commander of the 3rd company of the 1st battalion, who was also the company commander where Redman was, spoke up to persuade.

"I'll give you 2 hours! Rest for 2 hours! Afterwards, the whole army will continue to advance. Attack the Royal Palace of Germelin! Leave behind... 20 men, to wait for the follow-up troops to take over here," Redman said, looking at the streets of the distant city still slightly smoking.

Clenching his teeth, the commander of the 3rd company stood at attention, saluted, and agreed, "Yes, General!"

Seeing that the commander of the 3rd company was also reluctant to give up the credit of capturing the enemy's Royal Palace, the staff officer could only sigh, "Let's do it this way then. But... give them three hours, General! One more hour for the soldiers!"

"Hahaha!" Seeing that his order for an immediate attack went unopposed, Redman was in high spirits and nodded, "Then three hours it is! After resting for three hours, leave behind 20 soldiers to guard this place, and the rest... continue to advance! The target... Royal Palace of Germelin!"

"Yes!" The two officers hurried away to convey the orders, making sure to give the troops time to rest.

The Royal Palace of Germelin was at this moment unaware that an enemy force was less than 30 kilometers away.

This ancient and massive city sprawled across the horizon, looking both solemn and solemn.

Inside the city, within the Royal Palace, the King of Germelin paced anxiously in front of his throne.

The knights he had sent out for information had brought back various pieces of confusing intelligence, and as a result, the high command of the Kingdom of Germelin had been unable to make the most effective response.

Hence, there was no choice. Some knights said the enemy army was still near the border; others claimed the enemy had already crossed the Germelin River, encircling the King City on both sides.

In short, there was every kind of news.

But even the King of Germelin himself did not believe the enemy would attack so quickly. In just under a month, they had advanced from within the borders of the Leite Kingdom to the upper reaches of the Germelin River.

So, everyone was waiting for these rumors and pieces of intelligence to converge, to form a clearer picture of the situation before issuing orders to respond.

At that moment, a knight stumbled into the gates of the Royal Palace, pushing past the soldiers blocking his way while running forward and shouting loudly, "The enemy army! They have taken Hesha Fortress... less than 30 kilometers from the King City now!"

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Dragon Spirit was staying up late again... indeed, the second update will be a bit late, everyone can watch it tomorrow morning...