His horse whimpered and leaped into the air. Its front hooves kicked wildly in the air before it fell to the ground and struggled.
The big guy, Gum, could not help but run over to take a look. He quickly ran back. "Sir, that shot of yours was amazing. You pierced through the enemy's body and hit the back of the horse's head, taking down a man and a horse with one shot."
It was probably just a coincidence. Claude didn't think he'd be able to hit the enemy's horse.
Given the distance of forty to fifty meters, it was only natural for the aubass mark 3 to pierce through the enemy's body.
All the soldiers were anxiously reloading their guns. Myjack was the one who handled Claude's.
The three of them brought five guns. Gum usually carried three on her back when she went into battle. That way, Claude could fire three times in a row.
After the soldiers reloaded their guns, Claude gave the order to clean up the battlefield.
They had just ambushed a small group of Canasian cavalry scouts. Not a single one of them was harmed. That was a rare accomplishment for 1st Ranger Tribe.
Over the past half a month, 1st Ranger Tribe had suffered quite a number of casualties in order to ambush the Canasian cavalry scouts.
That wasn't Claude's fault. Most of the casualties came from 2nd, 3rd and 4th Bands.
The reason was simple. Most of the soldiers in those bands were new recruits. Even the officers were transferred over. They hadn't experienced the ambushing of the enemy cavalry scouts when they were first formed.
The only ones left in 1st Ranger Tribe were Claude, Myjack, Gum, Moriad, Dyavid and Maqki.
Almost all the soldiers who had participated in the ambush against the enemy cavalry were forced to line up neatly in the first row by that damned Rosler during the capture of Wilf Hill and march towards the enemy's position.
They suffered heavy casualties, and only a small portion of them survived. After the war, Hansbach ordered the formation of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Rangers.
If it wasn't for Moriad, Dyavid, and Makci being injured in the infirmary, they wouldn't have stayed in 1st Ranger Tribe.
There were also a few soldiers who stayed in 1st Ranger Tribe due to their injuries, but they were transferred away when frontline command sent a batch of officers and veterans to Bluefeather.
So, the only ones in 1st Ranger Tribe who could lead the soldiers to set up an ambush were Claude and a few others. Mazik wasn't up to the mark yet.
He didn't go with Claude to ambush the enemy back in Ranger Camp. He only managed to kill two enemy scouts on the battlefield out of sheer luck.
He had no choice but to send Moriad and Dyavid to be instructors for 2nd and 3rd Clan. As for 4th Clan, they would have to wait for now.
This was because the 2nd and 3rd Brigades had received Major Skree's request for them to take the initiative and ambush the enemy's scouts. The two brigades obeyed the order and sent out their soldiers.
However, the results of the ambush weren't that great. Not many of the enemy were killed, but they suffered heavy casualties.
2nd Clan attacked four times, only to be ambushed by the enemy scouts and lost close to a whole platoon.
Claude could only shake his head and sigh at the blockhead of 2nd Clan, Captain Hemklin, who didn't know how to be flexible.
He thought that ambushing was just finding a place for the soldiers to hide and open fire when the enemy appeared.
If it were that simple, Ranger Tribe wouldn't have been recruiting so many times.
The scouts sent out by Canas were all veterans who had fought for a few years. They had rich experience on the battlefield.
As a scout, the slightest mistake would easily lead to an ambush, not to mention the fact that the Aueran army was clad in bright red uniforms. Hiding in the bushes would allow them to be discovered by the enemy from afar.
For Claude, he had to come up with a detailed plan every time he went out to ambush the enemy. He had to consider where the enemy would be interested, where the terrain would be suitable for an ambush, how to disguise himself so that the enemy wouldn't be able to detect him, and how to deal with unexpected situations.
He also had to pay attention to who would fire first when the enemy appeared. If they encountered the enemy scouts in battle, how to deal with them and how to ensure the safety of the soldiers under him were all questions that a commander had to consider.
Much to Claude's surprise, the more they were ambushed by 1st Ranger Tribe at the border of the plains, the more interested Canas' light cavalry became in the area.
More and more enemy scouts came to scout the area, going from groups of three to four at the start to small squads in the end.
After losing two to three platoons of scouts to Claude's ambush, Canas finally sent out a light cavalry clan to scout the area. They split into four platoons and entered the area from four different directions.
Under such circumstances, Claude couldn't go out to ambush the enemy anymore. He could only let the two to three hundred enemy scouts scout the area.
If the terrain was too dangerous, Claude would have to fight them out in the open.
However, the terrain was flat and light cavalry could move about freely, so 1st Ranger Tribe could only defend the castle.
In just two days, the Canas light cavalry found out that there was only a single tribe stationed in the area. They sent a light cavalry squad to keep an eye on Landes Castle, Viscount Viktor Castle, and Baron Kraft Castle from afar. The rest of the squad turned to sweep through Count Krilaus Castle.
Claude could see black smoke rising into the clouds from afar and the sounds of gunfire and cannons could be heard from time to time.
Claude wasn't too worried about whether the enemy could take down the castle. After all, 4th Clan was stationed in the castle. It would be strange if enemy light cavalry, which wasn't even a full clan, could take down such a sturdy castle.
As long as the enemy wasn't that stupid, they wouldn't ask for trouble by attacking the castle. But what was with the sounds of gunfire and cannons?
In September, Claude led his men out to ambush the enemy scouts and managed to seize around 30 warhorses. Together with the warhorses they had, they could barely form a platoon of cavalry.
However, the enemy had sent a light cavalry squad to keep an eye on Landes Castle from afar. If Claude were to make a move, he would be discovered.
If he were to run into an enemy light cavalry squad on his way to reinforce the camp, he wasn't confident that he would be able to escape.
At the end of the day, his men were field infantry and they weren't a match for the Canas light cavalry.
It was only then that Claude realized his mistake when he suggested for the four castles to guard the area in a rhombus formation. First, the ranger tribe was field infantry and didn't have much mobility.
There was no way for the other three castles to provide effective reinforcements when the enemy attacked one of the castles.
The main reason for that was because they didn't have enough manpower. Without a powerful fist, they wouldn't be able to threaten the enemy.
Second, the four castles seemed to control a large portion of the territory, but it also split up their forces.
Actually, he and 2nd and 3rd Clan were only defending empty territory and didn't need to guard the castles.
Back then, Claude was thinking of defending the four castles so that when the enemy attacked, they would have to split up their forces to attack the four castles. However, he forgot that the enemy weren't fools. They could totally ignore the three castles and only attack Count Krylaus' castle.
Currently, the enemy only had 200 to 300 light cavalry and their mobility was enough to limit the reinforcements they could send. Claude couldn't even figure out what was happening at the camp.
If something unexpected happened at the camp and they lost Count Krylaus' castle, it would be the same as cutting off the path of retreat for the three clans. What awaited them was only surrender and destruction.
The more Claude thought about it, the more frustrated he became. He wanted nothing more than to give himself two tight slaps.
However, there was nothing he could do at the moment. All he could do was stare at the enemy's light cavalry and wait anxiously for the sky to turn dark.
As Claude expected, the enemy light cavalry didn't leave even after the sky turned dark. Instead, they lit a campfire in the distance. Every half an hour, two to three riders would ride over and circle around the small mound where Landes Castle was located. It was obvious that they were there to check on the situation inside the castle.
Claude knew that the enemy's main focus was on the wooden drawbridge over the moat. The people in the castle had to go through the drawbridge if they wanted to leave. Lowering the drawbridge would cause a huge commotion and they would be able to notice it from afar.
However, the enemy scouts wouldn't have expected that the moat they viewed as a natural barrier was actually a path that Claude had long prepared for his attack.
Seven or eight selected soldiers were already prepared. Each of them carried a sheepskin pouch that had been blown full of air and gently placed it in the moat. Then, they crawled along the river bank and quietly floated towards the bonfire that the enemy had lit.
It was best to set up camp next to a water source in the plains. That way, it would be more convenient for the herdsmen and livestock.
The small group of Canas light cavalry found a place to set up camp next to the river about six hundred metres away from Landes Castle.
They were veterans and were rather cautious. Half of them were resting while the other half were on night duty. Every twenty to thirty minutes, two of them would approach the castle on horseback to check on the situation.
The ones on night duty by the campfire also kept their eyes on the drawbridge over the moat. However, they didn't think to pay attention to the river on the other side.
For light cavalry who didn't know how to swim, the river was their natural barrier.
Claude led the small group to the shore around fifty meters away from the enemy's campfire. Any closer and they might be noticed by the enemy.
However, everyone maintained their silence and used the bushes by the shore as cover. They slowly checked the tarpaulin wrapped muskets on their backs and lit the match to prepare to fire.
The sound of galloping hooves could be heard in the distance. Two light cavalrymen who had circled the area returned to the campfire and chatted loudly. The gist of it was that there wasn't much movement and the enemy was hiding inside the castle. There wasn't anyone near the drawbridge either.
One of the cavalrymen on horseback looked in the direction of Claude's group. "Strange, why are there fireflies by the shore at this time of the year?"
He mistook the match lit by Claude and the others for the glow of a firefly.
"Open fire!" Claude said.
As the gunshots rang out, the six enemy light cavalrymen who were either standing, sitting or riding on their horses fell to the ground almost at the same time. Meanwhile, the other six enemy light cavalrymen who were sleeping woke up with a start. They crawled up one after another and immediately went to grab their weapons.
However, they were a step too late. The soldiers who fired had already leapt up and charged towards the campfire with their bayonets.
It only took a few seconds for them to cross fifty meters of distance. The enemies didn't even know what was going on before they were stabbed to the ground.
"Bang!"
Claude fired again and the last enemy who wanted to run fell to the ground. The small group of light cavalrymen had been wiped out.
"Clean up the battlefield and dry our clothes. We'll return to the castle and rest early. We'll go to reinforce the camp tomorrow morning."
Claude breathed a sigh of relief. After wiping out the light cavalrymen responsible for monitoring them, they would be able to catch the enemy off guard when they sent reinforcements the next day.
That was indeed the case. On the afternoon of the second day, Claude suddenly appeared at the foot of Count Krylaus' castle with two companies and four carts, catching the Canasian light cavalrymen off guard. The enemy organized two waves of attacks in an attempt to use the speed of the light cavalrymen to crush the reinforcements.
However, Claude used the four carts to protect his flanks and pushed out two light infantry cannons. With two shots of grapeshot, the light cavalrymen in front of his formation were left with the bodies of around thirty men and horses.
Seeing that he wouldn't be able to gain any advantage, Claude pushed out another two light infantry cannons that hadn't been fired yet. The two cannons that had already been fired were also reloaded.
The enemy tactfully blew the horn to retreat and in the blink of an eye, they regrouped and left.
Claude found the injured Major Skri in the village. He was hanging on an arm and said that he was grazed by a stray bullet, but it wasn't a big deal.
"Why aren't you defending the castle?" Claude asked angrily.
Major Skri shook his head as tears rolled down his cheeks. He said with grief and indignation, "I can't stand it anymore …"
It was simple. When the enemy light cavalrymen attacked, Major Skri gathered the men of the fourth band and the young captives into the castle. However, the old, women and children were left in the village.
Skri thought that since they were citizens of Canas, they would be fine.
He didn't think that the light cavalrymen would raise their butcher's knives against them and kill anyone they saw.
They even pressed some of the female refugees to the ground in front of the castle and publicly humiliated them. It must be known that some of the old, weak, women, and children were the family members of the young and strong. Those young and strong people who entered the castle knelt on the ground and begged Major Skri to send troops to rescue their loved ones. The soldiers who could not bear to see these atrocities were also very angry and requested to go to battle. So Major Skri impulsively fought with the light cavalry in the village.