"What are you doing here?"
Claude asked with a smile as he looked at the dusty General Eiblont. He called for the orderlies outside the tent to get him a basin of water to clean his sweaty and dusty face.
Eiblont seemed a little annoyed. "I rushed over with my men because I heard you were up against Canas's light cavalry. I thought you wouldn't be able to take them down so I came to reinforce you and get a share of the spoils.
I didn't think you'd be able to take them all out in just 20 days. That's a little too fast, isn't it? "
Claude shook his head. "Aaron, I appreciate your goodwill, but you have to look at your own situation.
Thundercrash has four legs. If we can't take them down, we can still run a thousand kilometres away. If we can't win, we can still run.
Your 3rd Monolith Regiment is traveling on two legs. If we fail to take care of this volunteer light cavalry regiment, and our Thunderclap Regiment escapes, and you end up bumping into them, wouldn't that be the same as delivering yourself to your doorstep? "
Claude didn't mean anything by that. He knew that General Eiblont had good intentions for coming to reinforce Thundercrash.
Compared to the so-called pig squads in history that watched their allies get trapped, they were as steady as a fishing fisherman when they were dozens of miles away, and when their allies were surrounded and destroyed by the enemy, they immediately ran away.
But as the highest commander of the war theatre, he didn't approve of that. The reason was simple: equipment and mounts.
There wasn't a single intact town left in the Balingana colony because of Marshal Michelic's strategy of fortifying the walls and clearing the fields. It was an extremely dangerous move for the 3rd Monolith Regiment to rush into the war zone without knowing the enemy's situation.
If it really was as he said, and the volunteer light cavalry didn't fall for the trap and didn't dismount and dig trenches, and instead used light cavalry assault tactics to confront him, then they would quickly discover the Monolith Third Division's movements into the Albatto Plains.
If they used a small number of troops to tie down the Thunderclap Division while the majority secretly moved to launch a sneak attack on the Monolith 3rd Division, then General Eiblont and his troops would suffer a crushing defeat.
On the prairie, the power of the light cavalry could be fully unleashed. Even if the infantry wanted to form a defensive formation, they would not have the time to build fortifications. At the same time, they would not be able to defend against sudden attacks from all directions …
Eiblont knew what Claude was referring to. He shook his head and wiped his face with a wet towel. "I've already considered all that. Actually, I'd rather you didn't take down the light cavalry and have them come to me. That way, I can test out the power of my formation.
After all, you also know that we don't have much confidence in just training, and we can't see the results. Whether or not this vehicle formation can be used depends on the battlefield … "
Claude finally understood what General Eiblont was relying on.
Speaking of which, it was also Claude's doing. Half a year ago, Claude and the four other men were in the mood to do some simulations and were unlucky enough to draw the battle on the Canas Plains.
Claude was the commander of the annihilated Bluefeather, while Bolonik was the commander of the light cavalry of Canas.
Everyone knew the outcome of that battle, so they believed that all Claude could do was to prevent Bluefeather from being completely annihilated and allow a few more units to escape.
None of them expected Claude to come up with such a plan. He used the carriages to form a defensive wall and used light infantry cannons to deal a heavy blow to the Canasian light cavalry.
Had it not been for Bolonik noticing that the situation wasn't looking good and ordering the light cavalry to hold back, Claude might have been able to turn the tables on Bluefeather.
The outcome of that simulation was an eye-opener for all the high-ranking officers. In the end, Claude still managed to use carriages to force Bluefeather and the two second line corps to retreat and the two sides ended in a draw.
It was then that Claude introduced the carriages to everyone. They were simple to assemble and easy to disassemble. They could be used to build a reliable barrier for infantry in the short time it took for an enemy cavalry to ambush them.
He didn't think that Eiblont would really come up with something like that. It was a pity that he was born at the wrong time. The light cavalry of Canas was wiped out by Claude and the minivan was no longer useful.
However, Claude was still curious. "Allen, where did you get so many pack horses?
Didn't you say that the war theatre lacks pack horses the most? "
General Eiblont had a bitter look on his face. "Don't mention it. I begged my grandma and grandpa and sold all my face to borrow all the pack horses from Senior Bolonik's 1st Monolith Division and Senior Sevict's 2nd Monolith Division. Together with those from our division and the logistics department of the war zone, we have a total of 2000 pack horses.
Even though they can be pulled, we still need soldiers to push them from time to time. That's why we came so slowly. "
Claude laughed heartily. "Alright, don't be upset. Thundercrash wiped out the entire light cavalry corps and got plenty of warhorses and pack horses.
I'm going to send people to bring the pack horses back to the market to alleviate the lack of transportation in the war theatre. You can use the warhorses to pull the carriages. Two warhorses to pull one carriage will guarantee high speed. "
"That's right!"
Eiblont's worry turned to joy. "How did I forget about that? No, I have to get them to unload the pack horses and replace them with two warhorses to test the speed of the carriage."
General Eiblont didn't say goodbye and ran out with a "swish".
Helpless, he had no choice but to summon his adjutant, Major Anders, and have him follow Eiblont to help him solve some problems to prevent any accidents from happening.
They were two folk, after all, and the spoils belonged to Thundercrash. Without Claude's order, Eiblont might be rebuffed by the soldiers on duty.
But soon, Eiblont returned. Claude was in the middle of going through some of Thundercrash's official documents and checking on the process and results of certain matters. There were also the accounts and statistics of the logistics department's allocation of resources. Those documents had to be reviewed and signed by Claude before they could be kept.
If Claude wasn't satisfied with the outcome of a certain matter, he had to write down his opinion and send it back to the department in charge of the folk to handle it again.
General Eiblont was well aware of the process. He was also a regiment commander, so he quietly brewed a cup of black tea and enjoyed it slowly.
Claude handled the documents quickly and was very satisfied with the process and results. He wrote the word "read" on the document, signed his name, and stamped it with the jarl's seal. That was all.
Only the accounts of the logistics department had to be calculated mentally, which took a little longer.
When Claude was done reviewing the documents, he looked up and saw Eiblont sitting at the side in a daze. His eyes were fixed on something.
Looking at the time, Claude rang the bell and Anders came in to await orders. Claude told him to get some food and wine from the canteen. He wanted to entertain Eiblont in the main tent.
Eiblont had already snapped out of his daze and didn't object to Claude's suggestion.
Claude smiled and asked him what he was spacing out about. Eiblont said he was reminiscing about the formation of the overseas field corps a few years ago.
Claude didn't know much about the field corps. All he knew was that Michaelci had sent Eiblont and Birkin, who were still colonels at the time, to lead a group of Ranger officers selected from the local garrisons to form Ranger's reserve force and reinforcements.
But now that the two overseas field corps had been disbanded, the selected soldiers of suitable age had already joined the five enhanced divisions.
So, he asked Eiblont with a smile if he had any good memories to share with him. Most likely, it was the banquets he received from influential figures and the beautiful ladies under the moonlight, right?
Eiblont smiled bitterly and replied that it wasn't that exaggerated. Even he didn't think it would be that dangerous when he was ordered to form the overseas field corps.
He had encountered Birkin quite a few times during the assassination attempt. Birkin was rather unlucky and had to recuperate for half a year before he could recover.
From this, it could be seen that the colonies on Nubissia were far away from the kingdom's mainland and had long since become a lawless land outside the kingdom's laws.
After that, he listened to Eiblont ramble on about the past.
From a certain point of view, the kingdom's jurisdiction over the colonies was rather inappropriate. While the viceroy and admiral system separated the military and the government, it was easy for the two factions to go against each other. As a result, the powerful people in the colonies could only stay neutral and protect themselves.
If either viceroy or admiral had a clear head, the colonies could still develop.
What he was afraid of was that the viceroy and admiral would treat their appointment as a send-off and ignore the development of the colonies for money. That would be a huge mess.
That was the reason Eiblont and Birkin were assassinated. The viceroy and admiral seemed to be on good terms, but on the inside, they weren't. They treated the capital city as a battleground and gave up on managing the other towns. As long as the taxes were collected, they wouldn't care about anything else.
As a result, the towns fell under the control of the local tycoons. Even the local garrisons became their private forces.
Marshal Michelic ordered General Eiblont and General Birkin to reorganize the local garrisons in various places to form an overseas field army. As a result, some local tyrants who didn't understand the situation thought that this was an attempt to suppress them. They contacted in private and prepared to teach these two royal military officers a lesson. When they failed to bribe them, they decided to assassinate them.
The end result was, of course, the extermination of their families. No matter who went against the kingdom's army, they wouldn't be able to gain anything from it.
Eiblont told Claude emotionally that he had to keep one eye open even when he slept to prevent himself from falling into a trap.
Fortunately, he managed to endure it and the formation of the overseas field corps went much smoother.
The promotion of himself and Birkin to the rank of Major-General of the kingdom was not so much due to the establishment of the overseas field army, but rather to the king's city for rectifying the local order, suppressing those local tyrants and ambitious people, and strengthening the kingdom's jurisdiction and prestige in these overseas colonies. These merits were the reward given by the king …
Claude finally understood why Eiblont and Birkin, two unknown seniors of Ranger, could be promoted to major-general along with him.
If General Eiblont hadn't told him this, he might have thought that the two seniors, Eiblont and Birkin, had used the connections of a certain kingdom's big shots to become one of the five enhanced divisions.
The dishes were served at that moment. Claude invited Eiblont to take a seat and the two of them started eating.
After the main course was over, the orderlies poured wine for the two generals. Claude told him to step back and asked Eiblont if using two warhorses to pull the carriage would increase the speed of the journey.
Eiblont shook his head and said that he didn't use the warhorses to test the carriage.
He didn't think it was necessary.
The purpose of making the wagon was to deal with the light cavalry of Canas, but now that they were wiped out by Claude, the wagon was no longer of much use.
At most, it could be used by the logisticians to deliver supplies. It could be used as a form of defense against small groups of enemy cavalry, but it wouldn't be of much use to a larger force.
So, Eiblont turned his attention to the warhorses Claude captured. He hoped that Claude, as the field marshal, would distribute the warhorses to his folk and make it the second folk of Thundercrash. That way, it wouldn't be used as a backup for Monolith's first and second folk.
That was the same idea Claude had in mind. Claude frankly said that he did have plans to form a second folk, but it was a matter of great importance. He had to return to the theatre and gather all his deputies to discuss which folk would be Thundercrash's second folk. They would then fight together under his command and suppress the enemy.
Eiblont was overjoyed and told Claude that there was no need for discussion. Thundercrash's second folk was his for sure.
The reason was simple. Whether it was General Bolonik, General Sevict, or General Beechlin, they were all good at defense.
Apart from Claude, he was the only one left on the offensive.
That wasn't bragging. It was the truth. The three men admitted it on the sand table.
It could be said that Eiblont was the one who learned offensive tactics the fastest from Claude.
Seeing that Claude was a little tempted, Eiblont struck while the iron was hot and said that he and Claude had gone through so many sand table simulations.
Even though he had lost countless times, he had a certain understanding of Claude's offensive tactics and would definitely be able to work well with him on the battlefield.
At the same time, he would listen to Claude's commands and wouldn't act on his own.
No matter how he looked at it, Monolith's third folk was the most suitable choice.
Bolonik's first and Sevict's second folk were responsible for the defense of Dorinibla River and Claude's defense lines, so they couldn't be formed into Thundercrash's second folk.
At the same time, those two seniors were steady and reliable. They were good at defense but bad at offense, so giving them warhorses wouldn't be of much use.
As for Beechlin's fourth folk, it only had ten thousand men and was an empty folk.
The kingdom hadn't sent the last batch of twenty thousand immigrants over yet, so Monolith's fourth folk wasn't at full strength. There was no way they could form Thundercrash's second folk.
In summary, General Eiblont felt that there was no one more suitable than his 3rd Monolith Regiment to be reorganized into the 2nd Thunderbolt Division.
As the highest commander of the war theatre, Claude could give the order directly. Since Monolith's third folk was there, he could use the opportunity to reorganize and didn't have to send the warhorses back to the theatre.
Claude smiled. "How about this? I'll give you a chance. Send two folk back to Robisto to escort the captives and supplies. The rest will be converted to light cavalry and follow Thundercrash's folk to Cromwell.
I heard that Nasri's volunteer field corps is doing a lot of work on the ruins of Wickhamsburg to build a logistics base there.
I'm going to pull this nail out. If your folk can cooperate well in this battle, I think I can make you the second Thundercrash's folk … "