"Order Line 1301 to open up the passage and let the enemy reinforcements arrive.
Once the enemy passes through, we'll seal off their retreat and set up a chain of tripwires to prevent them from escaping.
Also, have the division officers come for a pre-battle meeting. "Claude finally made up his mind to use the enemy's camp to deal with the enemy's reinforcements and wipe them out in one fell swoop.
It was a rare opportunity, as the enemy had already left the fortified defenses of Vebator Colony and entered deep into Balingana.
Even though Claude didn't know why the enemy would leave their tortoiseshell and hunt the bison herds out of greed, it was no doubt a good opportunity to deal a heavy blow or wipe them out.
Claude was confident in leading Thundercrash to wipe out the enemy. The only reason he was hesitant was because he was worried that the casualties would be too high.
This so-called volunteer light cavalry formed from retired soldiers of Canas was actually a regular army of Canas. That was something everyone was well aware of.
Claude had to admit that they were a formidable force. Compared to the regular corps of Shiks, they were a cut above them in terms of combat power.
Not to mention, the Albatto Plains was a very suitable terrain for the Canas light cavalry to fight in.
Claude didn't want Thundercrash to suffer heavy losses just to wipe out the enemy.
However, the enemy's reinforcements were already on their way and Thundercrash could bide their time. They could even use the enemy's camp to defend themselves. That was a geographical advantage.
On top of that, they had already wiped out four enemy lines, which was equivalent to wiping out an enemy folk.
Meanwhile, the enemy's corps only had a little over sixty thousand people. After subtracting twenty-four thousand, the remaining force was only thirty thousand or so. It was nothing more than four field regiments, as well as the division's direct guards and logisticians. In terms of military strength, they didn't have much more than the Thunderclap Division.
What was important to note was that the Thundercrash Regiment had already won two battles, annihilating four enemy regiments and capturing two camps. In total, they had only suffered a thousand casualties, so the morale of the soldiers was high.
Coupled with the equipment they had, Claude felt that they had the upper hand in terms of manpower and manpower.
He had the advantage of time, location, and manpower. That was also the reason why he decided to face the enemy head-on.
The main force of Canas's light cavalry only arrived at nine at night. When the vanguard saw that Thundercrash had already occupied the camp, they hurriedly stopped and retreated five kilometres away to set up a perimeter.
From this, it could be seen that the commander of this volunteer light cavalry regiment was an experienced and steady officer. He had already anticipated that the camp might be lost, so the vanguard troops did not rush to attack.
There were more than thirty thousand soldiers, and when they spread out, it felt boundless. Looking down from the walls of the encampment, the black crows gave off a sense of oppression.
Compared to the liveliness of the enemy's camp, the campsite here was very quiet. It was like a silent beast lying on the grassland. It looked quiet but it was very threatening.
The enemy must have thought so too. A large group of people stopped at a place a kilometer away and looked at the camp. However, they only found that there were a few more trenches in front of the camp and a few mud walls that were half their bodies high. Between the trenches, there were piles of cow dung bonfires, and the air was filled with the smell of burnt meat.
This kind of defense could only be considered very ordinary. It was just that the enemy troops stayed a kilometer away for a very long time. They did not order their troops to launch a probing night attack. Instead, after an hour, they retreated back to the camp that had already begun to take shape.
Claude shook his head. They were unlucky to have met such an experienced commander. He tried his best to show weakness, but the enemy still didn't launch a night attack.
Their plans for the night were all for naught.
"Let Line 1302 retreat and rest. There's no need to continue lying in ambush. The enemy won't launch a night attack."
Claude told Anders to pass on the order before he went down the wall and headed for the tent in the middle of the camp.
It seemed that the rest of the light cavalry corps wanted to have a proper battle with Thundercrash. Claude hated such battles.
In this day and age, no one could be certain of victory by relying on matchlocks and cannons that fired solid pellets and grapeshot.
Not to mention, the volunteer corps formed by retired soldiers from Canas was a light cavalry corps. As long as they were willing to pay the price of casualties, they could use their cavalry to quickly break through the defensive line and turn the battle into a melee.
Therefore, the casualties in positional battles had always been relatively heavy, whether it was the attacking side or the defending side. This had already been proven in the five years of war in the eastern region.
In the most brutal and disastrous battle against the Principality of Rimodra, even the Imperial Guard, known for its offensive prowess, lost more than half of its troops. They had to replenish their forces several times, not to mention the other second-line legions.
In the five year war, Aueras lost more than six hundred thousand soldiers, half of which were lost to Rimodra during the battles.
But Claude's Thundercrash Folk was on the defensive side and had a slight advantage.
The Canas corps, on the other hand, could use light cavalry to negate the defenders' advantage. It all depended on how much casualties they were willing to pay.
Once the defensive line was broken through, it would depend on the morale and courage of the soldiers. The longer both sides held out, the more casualties they would suffer until one side's morale crumbled.
Claude didn't like to fight positional battles. Even if he was confident of victory, Thundercrash's casualties would be high.
That was why he used to love ambushes and sudden assaults. While the enemy was unprepared, he could deal damage to the enemy and reduce casualties on his side.
After a few times, the enemy would naturally crumble and Claude would obtain an easy victory.
But he couldn't do that this time. Time was too tight. He couldn't immediately shake off the enemy camp and carry out guerrilla tactics.
Nearly seven thousand captives and bountiful spoils of war were in the camp. He couldn't just give up on them.
The only way to leave was to slaughter the captives and burn the spoils of the camp.
But that would mean that the entire battle would be for naught. Claude knew that no one would agree to the reward for all the soldiers of Thundercrash.
Especially when everyone believed that retreating in front of an enemy weaker than oneself was the greatest humiliation for a soldier.
Everyone believed that they would be the victor who had the last laugh. They didn't believe that they would be one of the unlucky ones who fell on the battlefield.
Claude had no choice but to go with the flow and fight a tough battle with Canas's light cavalry. He knew that troops that didn't experience a tough battle would never become strong on the battlefield.
Even if they had to pay a heavy price, it would be worth it as long as they won. That kind of battle would forge the soul of a strong army!
Around eight in the morning the next day, regardless of whether it was the enemy camp thousands of meters away or the camp occupied by the Thunderclap Division, the bugle horn sounded.
The bugle call from Canas signalled the start of the attack. Light cavalry units charged out of their camps and formed into neat phalanxes a thousand and five hundred meters away from the camp.
Thundercrash's bugle call was to remind their soldiers to prepare for the enemy's attack.
Claude believed that the enemy had information on Thundercrash and could estimate the strength of both sides.
It was clear that the enemy had made the wrong choice. They believed that they had the advantage in numbers.
It was clear that the enemy commander believed that the Thunderclap regiment would similarly suffer great casualties after seizing the two camps, because he understood the strength of his four field regiments extremely well. He was certain that even if the Thunderclap regiment wiped out more than twenty thousand soldiers from his four regiments, they would still pay a great price in casualties.
When Thundercrash attacked the two camps, they surrounded them from all sides and didn't want a single enemy to escape.
The light cavalry of Canas had chosen to focus their attacks on one side, preparing to crush the enemy's will to resist with their superior numbers.
So, they placed all their forces in front of the camp and didn't split up to attack the other three sides.
That made it easier for the defenders to concentrate their forces, but if their front line was breached, the defenders' morale would plummet.
Even if they could escape in the other three directions, it would be difficult for them to escape the pursuit of light cavalry on the flat plains of Albatol.
The enemy commander seemed very confident that they could win this battle.
The four light cavalry lines lined up on the left and right, making the middle formation seem more crowded.
But very quickly, a deep bugle horn sounded, and a large group of light cavalry charged out from each of the four field regiments on the left and right, heading straight for the camp.
This was a probing attack, using a small group of people to test the strength of the defensive position in order to determine the focus of the next attack and the location of the feint attack.
From a distance, the camp occupied by Thundercrash was surrounded by a few trenches that only added up to two hundred meters in diameter.
He couldn't see clearly last night and was worried that the enemy might have set up a trap. So, the Canas light cavalry refused his subordinates' request for a night attack and decided to attack during the day when they had a better view.
The reason why each of the four field regiments sent out a large group of light cavalry to test the waters was because the corps commander wanted to test the strength of Thundercrash's defenses, as well as see if the trenches in front of the camp could obstruct the light cavalry's ambush.
From his point of view, it was just a few roughly dug ditches, easily traversed by any light cavalryman on horseback.
However, something that left the army commander greatly shocked happened. In just a few short minutes, the close to a thousand light cavalry that had gone forward to test the waters had already rushed to the first trench. However, without prior agreement, they all forcefully reined in their mounts and stopped in front of the trench.
A dozen of them didn't rein in their horses and jumped over the trench, only to fall to the ground along with their horses.
Then, countless heads popped out of the third trench. Gunshots rang out and smoke rose into the air. A large number of light cavalry stopped in front of the first trench were instantly shot down.
"Sound the bugles!
Tell them to retreat immediately! "the Canas ordered with a steely expression.
Of the thousand light cavalry, less than a company made it back.
Those who made it back were the lucky ones. They had to explain for a long time before the Canas and the high-ranking officers finally understood why they reined in their horses in front of the trench.
They could only blame the enemy for being too cunning. The first trench was only two meters wide and two meters deep, easy for a horse to leap over.
However, behind the trench, the enemy had continuously dug trenches that were only a foot deep. They were so densely packed that it looked like a flat ground from afar. It was only when one got close that they realized that there was no place for a horse to step over.
Just like the dozen or so light cavalrymen who had forcefully leaped over, their mounts had stepped into the deep ditch after jumping over, and their bodies had rushed forward, causing them to trip and fall to the ground, half dead.
Then the enemy's soldiers hid in the third trench behind and used their muskets to fire at the light cavalrymen who stayed in front of the first trench, causing heavy casualties to nearly a thousand light cavalrymen who went to test the waters.
What pained the Canas most was that they couldn't find out where the enemy's cannons were deployed and the range of their canister shells. It was a futile probing attack.
It looked like a few simple trenches, but the enemy's ingenuity in arranging them had a special effect.
According to the light cavalry who made it back, the trenches were specially designed to counter the Canas light cavalry's specialty. The goal was to render the light cavalry useless.
"We can fill the trenches with woven straw bags," a high-ranking officer suggested the most common method of attack in the grasslands. It was specifically designed to deal with trenches.
As long as they filled in a few routes, the Canas light cavalry could charge into the enemy's trenches and cut them to pieces with their sabers.
However, the only downside of this method was the high cost of casualties. The enemy weren't idiots. Their cannons hadn't been exposed yet and they could even use multiple cannons to seal off the trenches.
The light cavalry of Canas would have to pay a heavy price if they wanted to charge into the enemy's defences through this passage.
The Warlord shook his head. "Let's return to camp first. Let's discuss how to deal with the enemy's trenches."
There was no other way. Today's battle could no longer continue. Not to mention the low morale after the probing attack, the enemy's treacherous trench layout had rendered the light cavalry's surprise attack useless. Other than withdrawing the troops back to camp, they could not continue the attack and let the troops rush to the trench and become the enemy's target.
But before they could discuss anything, they received a report from a sentry that the enemy was digging trenches in front of the camp with the captives they had captured.
The Warlord brought his men to the frontlines and used a telescope to see that they were indeed captives from their side. They were being escorted by Thundercrash to repair the trenches.
After a rough count, he saw that there were nearly a thousand captives on his side, and there were still more captives being escorted out of the camp.
The Thundercrash soldiers were extremely violent. Any movement from the captives would be met with whips and musket butts.
The Commander and his subordinates could see through their binoculars that many of the prisoners on their side were beaten by the enemy soldiers and were rolling on the ground, their faces covered in blood.
"General, we have to save them!" an officer pleaded angrily.
Save them? Easy said, but how are you going to do it?
Once you send out your men, they'll return to camp.
Even if you send out your men, they won't even be able to break through the enemy's trenches!
"I think we can dig trenches close to the enemy's trenches and link them together.
Then we'll have our men dismount and use infantry to attack! "a senior staff officer suggested.
The Warlord's eyes lit up. Indeed, the enemy's trenches were targeted at light cavalry, but they couldn't stop infantry.
Light cavalry's advantage over infantry was that they could pass through the enemy's range of fire and charge into the trenches.
Infantry, on the other hand, would suffer heavy casualties due to their slow speed. Now, they could dig trenches to avoid the enemy's fire.
He had to admit that this senior staff officer had come up with a good idea.