"Compared to Robisto's capital, Port Patres, Balingana is in a much more critical situation. The capital, Brikaman, has been besieged by the Shiksan colonial army, Krado, for almost three months and the other four towns have fallen.
"According to the captives, the enemy believes that Brikaman will be taken in a month or so.
"Once Brikaman falls, Balingana will fall into Shiksan's hands.
"Robisto's situation is much better than Balingana's. The capital, Port Patres, is heavily defended. Pancry, the Shiksan colonial army, has launched a few attacks but was repelled every time. It's said that they suffered heavy casualties.
Of the five towns in the colony, apart from the three on the other side of the Dorinibla River, the other two behind Port Patres were still in our hands.
"However, Robisto's crisis isn't on land, but at sea.
"Seaking sent a fleet to assist Pancry in attacking Port Patres and used its heavy cannons to bombard the port's cannons.
"The enemy captives said that their fleet lost two warships and three more were damaged, so they had to retreat to Port Vebator for repairs.
"Even though they won the battle, Port Patres suffered heavy losses. The port was practically in ruins and half of its cannons were lost.
"From the looks of it, Robisto won't fall for the time being and the situation looks good.
"But if Balingana falls, the enemy's Krado will follow the river and join forces with Pancry. Coupled with the fact that the fleet from Port Vebator will return after repairs, Port Patres won't be able to replenish its cannons. We won't be able to hold out for long."
This was what Tribe 131's scouting party had discovered over the past 20 days after infiltrating the colonies of Gana and Robisto.
The audacious Berklin personally led a small group through the enemy blockade into Port Patres, the capital of Robisto Colony, and had a warm and cordial meeting with the governor, Count Falvat, and Colonel Tristram.
They needed cannons, the more the merrier. That way, they would have the confidence to hold on for as long as possible.
The problem was, where was Claude going to get his hands on cannons? They were much heavier than the medium field cannons that Ranger was equipped with and were usually placed on the cannons of the city walls as support points for defensive firepower.
Even the capital of Anfiston, Grinosburg, had four gates. Other towns didn't have any.
Even if he had the cannons, he wouldn't be able to transport them to Port Patres.
They wouldn't be able to break through the enemy blockade by land and the heavy cannons would be slow to move. Even if the road was clear, it would take a long time to transport them.
It was more convenient to travel by sea. For example, the 16 city defense cannons in Port Patres were sent by sea to prevent pirates from attacking Port Patres.
Of course, it was said that there were only seven cannons left at the port.
However, Seaking was the one showing off its might at sea, and they only sent a flotilla of around 20 warships to attack Port Patres.
Even though the flotilla didn't meet a good end, they had no choice but to return to Port Vebator to recuperate.
However, there were still two or three light patrol warships patrolling the waters off Port Patres day and night to prevent the colonies from sending supplies and reinforcements to Port Patres.
Claude didn't understand what the two fleets of the kingdom were doing. Storm used the excuse that they couldn't head north to defend the new sea route.
But what about the other Dreadnaught?
There wasn't even a trace of it, allowing the dozen or so broken ships of Shiks to roam freely in the kingdom's waters as if there was no one there.
Alright, Claude's mind wandered off somewhere again.
Sevict, on the other hand, looked around and asked, "Lieutenant Colonel Claude, you mean we should set up our defensive line here?"
Claude snapped out of his daze and nodded. "This is the border between the two colonies. Balingana is located in the Albator Plains, while Anfiston is a mountainous region that focuses on mining.
That's why we set up our defensive line here in Mosiraga. We can use the terrain to defend against the enemy's superior numbers.
Once we set up our defensive line here, we won't have to worry about the enemy coming from the Albator Plains.
"As for the border between Robisto and Anfiston, the main reason is that it's more than five kilometres of flat land that allows the enemy's main corps to pass through easily.
"We need to set up trenches, defensive walls and fortresses on that flat land to connect with the defensive line here and completely protect Anfiston's southern rear.
That way, even if both Balingana and Robisto fall into Shiksan hands, we can still use the defensive line to drag out the enemy. "
Colonel Sevict looked at the map and looked up at the surrounding terrain from time to time. Finally, he nodded. "The terrain of the defensive line you've chosen is not bad, but the amount of work may be a little too large, and it will take a long time …"
Claude smiled. "It doesn't matter if it's a lot of work or a lot of time. We have plenty of manpower anyway. The nikancha youths locked up in the towns will be used as coolies for the defensive line.
Also, didn't our scouts from Tribe 131 capture an entire company of Shiksan's colonial troops as captives? You can use them as coolies too.
Trust me, their numbers will increase very soon. "
Claude wasn't joking. It was the truth.
For Moriad and the other young officers, the war was an opportunity for them to earn merit. After suppressing the nikancha rebellion in the towns and forming a new garrison force, they sent their scouts into the war zone for scouting missions.
They originally thought that Shiks, as the hegemon of Northern Freia, would have a powerful army.
But after a small skirmish with the enemy scouts, an unbelievable truth was presented to the soldiers of Tribe 131.
Nobody could've imagined that the Shiksan colonial force would be so weak. Apart from their commendable bravery, there was nothing else about them.
To put it bluntly, they were even weaker than the local garrison of the kingdom.
The light cavalry captain, Berklin, told Claude about his first encounter with an enemy cavalry scout. He was leading a squad of four light cavalry that split up into three groups and marched towards Robisto from a distance of about a hundred metres.
As soon as they turned a corner in a mangrove forest, they encountered a Shiksan light cavalry unit from the other side.
The moment they saw Berklin's group of four, the twelve Shiksan scouts were emboldened. They drew their swords and charged at them.
Berklin said that they panicked at the time. The enemy was charging at them ferociously and they wanted to turn tail and run.
But seeing that the enemy only swung their swords and didn't pick up their muskets, Berklin and the other three calmed down and raised their muskets to take aim. When the enemy was seventy to eighty metres away, they opened fire and turned tail to run without even checking the results.
But after running for a hundred metres, they didn't hear anything behind them. When they turned around, they saw that the enemy had stopped.
Counting carefully, the four of them had only managed to hit three enemies at the very front, killing two and injuring one. As a result, the remaining nine enemies had stopped chasing and instead picked up their muskets and fired randomly at Berklin's group of four. Obviously, they didn't know where the muskets had gone.
Then, the enemy picked up the corpses and ran, leaving Berklin and the other three dumbfounded.
Since the enemy wanted to run, Berklin and the other three naturally had to give chase. At the same time, they gestured for the two groups behind them to circle around them.
He reloaded his musket on the spot and spurred his horse to give chase.
Seeing Berklin and the other three give chase, the nine enemy riders were enraged and six of them charged at them.
Berklin and the other three reined in their horses and shot three more before drawing their swords to meet the enemy.
There wasn't a fight to the death, nor was there a melee on horseback. The remaining six riders had turned their horses around and fled in unison, not even bothering to care about the injured and corpses of their comrades who were tied to their mounts.
But not a single one of them managed to escape. The two groups of cavalrymen who circled to the front and flanked them had already blocked their escape route, and raised their muskets.
So, the remaining six Shiksan scouts reined in their horses and jumped down. They raised their hands at the same time and obediently became captives.
Berklin almost broke his jaw at the result. He was so shocked that he couldn't believe what he was seeing. His mouth was wide open.
"Sir, I believe the enemy really can't withstand a single blow," Berklin reported, "Their tactics are old-fashioned. Even their muskets are old-fashioned.
You wouldn't be able to imagine that when we attacked a convoy, we only found out that the escorting soldiers were equipped with those old muskets with the muzzle of a trumpet. Even bayonets can't be inserted into them.
"Also, when they noticed us attacking the convoy, the first thing they did was blow their whistle and get into formation, ready to fire at us in unison.
At that time, I was stunned … "
Berklin said that they immediately got down on the ground and started shooting at the neatly lined up human-shaped targets.
Actually, it was only a light cavalry company that had less than sixty men that attacked.
They were attacking a convoy escorted by two hundred Shiksan soldiers. They were probably heading for the enemy camp outside Robisto's capital, Port Patres, when they ran into Berklin's light cavalry company.
Berklin hadn't intended to surround and annihilate the enemy. He only wanted to harass them and kill some of them before riding away.
However, he didn't think that the enemy would be lined up like human targets. More importantly, the convoy didn't have any light cannons to defend themselves.
There was nothing else to say and they just started shooting at the targets.
After two rounds of shooting, the enemy officer who seemed to be a brigade jarl was shot dead by Berklin. The enemy crumbled, but they couldn't outrun the light cavalry. As a result, the remaining 130 or so men put down their weapons and became captives.
The number of Shiksan scouts, patrolling soldiers and transport soldiers captured by Tribe 131 amounted to nearly three hundred.
The light cavalry brigade wasn't the only ones who managed to get their hands on the captives. The scouts sent by the four brigades also managed to get their hands on the captives. Their reports on the Shiksan colonial forces were all the same: they couldn't even withstand a single blow.
Just as Moriad said, be it Krado who besieged Brikaman or Pancry who besieged Port Patres, they were all the same.
Claude decided to bring Tribe 131 into Balingana to solve the problem of Brikaman being besieged.
Robisto's capital, Port Patres, was also besieged by enemies, but their situation was much better than Brikaman's.
If Shiks didn't send in more troops, it would be wishful thinking for Pancry to take down the well-fortified port city with its lackluster forces.
Colonel Sevict had already arrived at Anfiston with Line 034, just in time to take over the defence of the colony.
In the past month, Claude's tribe had laid a good foundation for Colonel Sevict to take over.
Not only did they get to know the situation in Balingana and Robisto, but they also reorganized the local garrison forces in Anfiston. At the same time, the tens of thousands of nikancha youths who were involved in the riot provided the first batch of labour for the defence line that was about to start.
Apart from that, he also personally led a team to survey the borders of Anfiston, Balingana and Robisto. He drew up a rough plan for the layout of the defensive line and the construction of the various defensive facilities.
Colonel Sevict only needed to follow the plans to complete the first batch of reinforcements given to him by folk command.
"When are you leaving?" Sevict asked with concern.
Compared to his task of building the defense line and training the reserve forces, Tribe 131's mission could be said to be a life-and-death one.
They had to infiltrate the enemy's rear and destroy their supply lines, cutting off the enemy's supply lines and supply lines. It was like a sharp knife stabbing into the enemy's heart and becoming a huge problem for them. That way, they could buy time for Ranger's reinforcements to arrive.
Even though the Shiksan colonial army wasn't as strong as everyone imagined and wasn't even worth mentioning, Claude's men were too few.
However, Claude's men were too few. There were less than two thousand of them and they had to deal with two corps of more than a hundred thousand men. This mission was akin to dancing on the tip of a knife and it was very easy for them to get hurt.
"Two days from now," Claude replied, "I've already ordered all the troops to gather at Rosas. That's the closest mountain town to Balingana. We'll use it as our base of operations."
Two days later, Claude led Tribe 131 into Balingana.
At the same time, Colonel Sevict led his men and the mixed-blood natives to start building the defense line at the border.
"Sir, what should we call this defense line?" Sevict's adjutant asked with the blueprints in hand.
According to regulations, a defense line like that had to have a name to facilitate the approval of documents and construction funds.
Sevict gave it some thought and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Claude was the one who surveyed and designed the defense line. Let's call it Claude Defense Line after him."