"Can we go back now?" Eiblont entered Claude's tent excitedly.
Even though he didn't make it to the battle between Thundercrash and Canas' light cavalry, Monolith's 3rd Folk played a significant role in the siege of Wickhamsburg and Nasri's field corps. Claude agreed to rebrand his folk as 2nd Folk.
So, Eiblont was in a good mood for the past ten days.
All he wanted to do now was to escort the captives back and show them off in front of Bolonik and the others.
Claude shook his head. "No, we'll have to wait for another month or so."
Eiblont was taken aback. "Another month or so?
Haven't things been taken care of already? Why are we still wasting so much time here? "
In the ten days since the capture of Wickhamsburg, all the captives, supplies and wounded on both sides had been accounted for. The way Eiblont saw it, there was nothing else to deal with apart from a triumphant return.
Claude handed him a folder. "Take a look at this."
Eiblont took the folder and flipped it open. It contained the testimonies of the high-ranking officers of Nasri. He flipped through it quickly and didn't find anything out of the ordinary. He asked curiously, "Claude, do you think there's anything special about these testimonies?"
"Haha, there's nothing special about them. Take a look at page 14," Claude replied.
"Page 14?" Eiblont hurriedly flipped to page 14 and looked at it carefully, only to be disappointed.
This was because it recorded the confession of a captured officer, and it was also about the daily life of the volunteer field corps.
It mentioned the frequent fights between the corps and the two Shiksan soldiers, but they were all trivial disputes. The only thing of value was the officer's evaluation of the two Shiksan corps' combat prowess. He said that they only had the appearance but not the substance.
"Take a look at page 21," Claude said.
Page 21 also contained the confession of a captive officer. However, he was a Nasrian captain who used to be the instructor of Shiks' new standing corps.
He believed that the Shiksan soldiers were a decent source of soldiers and that they would become qualified soldiers with a bit of training.
However, they had never been on the battlefield and were still far from becoming elite soldiers.
As for the lower-ranking officers, the captive officer believed that they were courageous and unreasonable. They weren't calm and easily blinded by passion. However, they were willing to shoulder heavy responsibilities and weren't afraid of sacrificing themselves.
He had a very low opinion of the high-ranking officers of Shiks, saying that they were inflexible, prideful, clinging to their so-called nobility and didn't know how to judge the situation.
To some extent, they were more like politicians or bureaucrats, but not like a soldier.
In the end, the captured Nasri officer concluded that Shiks had first-rate soldiers, second-rate officers and third-rate commanders.
Without a complete change in the military, Shiks would remain a mud-footed giant.
"Mud-Footed giant?
Hahaha! "Eiblont guffawed." I've never seen such an analogy before. But when I think about the performance of the Shiksan corps in the last two colonial wars, I think it's quite fitting. "
"Hehe, I think so too."
Claude nodded. "It's a fitting analogy. But what do you see from the testimony?"
Eiblont's expression turned serious. "I feel that you're eyeing the two corps."
"Not bad. You have sharp senses.
"Take a look at page 28 and you'll understand why Nasri's volunteer corps went to Wickhamsburg to build a logistics base."
Eiblont hurriedly flipped the document to page 28. It was the testimony of the chief logistics officer of the corps. It recorded the infighting between the corps and the higher-ups of the two Shiksan corps that arrived later, as well as the conflict of interests between the high-ranking officers of the corps.
There was also the main reason why the two corps were forced into Cromwell's territory and occupied Wickhamsburg to build a logistics base.
After their defeat in the second colonial war, Shiks hired the retired soldiers of Nasri and Canas to form two corps and stabilized the situation in Vebator. It was quite a brilliant move.
That forced Ranger to give up on taking Port Vebator, allowing Shiks to keep the only good port in Nubissia.
Similarly, the destruction of the five corps stripped Shiks of its pretense of being a powerful nation in front of the other countries of Freia. The Shiksan Kings, who hadn't experienced war for more than four decades, were no longer a force feared by the neighbouring countries.
That was why Shiks suggested hiring instructors from Canas and Nasri, who had just finished the five-year war, to train the ten corps in preparation for the third colonial war.
However, the instructors of the two nations who went to Shiks to help them with their training noticed that they were treated rather strangely.
Their training and tactics were well received by the lower-ranking soldiers and officers. After all, it was a life-saving measure on the battlefield and no one would take it lightly.
However, their tactics and training were always questioned and criticized by the high-ranking officers and corps commanders of Shiks.
Quite a number of high-ranking officers bluntly criticized them for being too wretched and lacking in courage. They would rather his men face death with their heads held high than have them cower in the trenches and live like rats.
Therefore, when these instructors finished training the soldiers and basic officers of the two newly formed standing corps, their mission was also over.
After that, the two standing corps were transported to Port Vebator and joined the volunteer corps of the two countries.
Following the arrival of the instructors, the stupid jokes of the Shiksan higher-ups spread to the two corps. The retired soldiers started to look down on the Shiksan army even more. None of them looked favorably upon the two newly formed corps.
Originally, the garrison of Port Vebator was taken over by Nasri's field corps and the border garrison of Vebator was taken over by Canas's light cavalry corps.
Now, the two newly formed Shiksan standing corps caused the colony a food crisis. Once the crisis was over, the two corps were ordered to capture nikancha in large numbers along the coast.
Some of them were handed over to the mining owners in the colony as mining slaves, while the rest of the nikancha, women, and children were forced to open up wastelands outside Port Vebator to grow potatoes. In just half a year, the number of nikancha who were killed or forced to work to death by the two standing corps was close to ten thousand.
While the retired soldiers of Nasri and Canas looked down on the nikancha, they wouldn't treat them so cruelly as slaves, especially since they liked to vent their excess energy on nikancha women.
However, everything changed with the arrival of the two standing corps. The nikancha settlements along the coast of the Shiksan colonies were destroyed and all nikancha were captured. Be it the elders, leaders or labourers, anyone with red skin was an unforgivable sinner.
They were captured and enslaved. The Shiksan government's propaganda was to purify the colony and build a new homeland for the white race on Freia.
That was why the soldiers of the two standing corps who carried out the order were looked down upon and ridiculed by the soldiers of the two mercenary corps, because no regular army would do such a heinous thing.
The soldiers of the two corps cursed the Shiksan soldiers for being slave masters' thugs. They felt that their actions tarnished the honour of regular soldiers of the kingdom by doing such despicable things that only the local garrison would do. They felt that it was beneath them to acknowledge their status as soldiers.
As a result, Port Vebator entered a period of chaos. Whenever soldiers from both sides met, a brawl was unavoidable.
In the end, the two Shiksan corps soldiers weren't a match for the mercenaries. They were stuck in their barracks every day and couldn't fight back against the mercenaries who liked to provoke them outside.
Things got out of hand and the higher-ups of Shiks couldn't back down, so they decided to deploy the two corps to the frontlines.
Since they were the ones paying for it, they had no choice but to obey. In the end, they ordered Nasri's field corps and Canas's light-cavalry corps to attack Cromwell's colony and occupy it as a frontline barrier.
If the two corps obeyed Shiks' orders and stayed in Cromwell's colony, Claude would be in a lot of trouble.
With Nasri's field corps defending Wickhamsburg and Canas' light-cavalry providing guerrilla support, forget Thundercrash, even if Claude brought all five folk of the theatre, he wouldn't be able to wipe out the two corps. Both sides might even suffer heavy losses.
Fortunately, Canas' light-cavalry didn't take Shiks' orders seriously. After leaving Vebator, they let loose and went hunting the migrating buffaloes to earn some extra income.
Perhaps that had something to do with the fact that the two corps couldn't reach a unified command.
Canas had been an ally of Nasri during the five years of war in the east. They were the leader of the alliance.
But now that both nations were employed by Shiks, the two corps were on equal footing.
Perhaps Canas's light cavalry had left Cromwell because they didn't want to listen to Nasri's orders. It wasn't like the five years of war in the east anymore. No one wanted to be a lackey unconditionally, so hunting the migrating bison for some extra income was just an excuse.
However, that gave Claude an opportunity to take them down one by one. With his grenades and ingenious planning, the two mercenary corps were reduced to dust.
Claude spread out a large map on his desk. It was a map of the Vibator Colony of Shiks.
He turned to General Eiblont and said, "Come here and take a look at this captured map. It shows the 27 important defensive points along the border of the Vebator Colony.
"Thirteen days ago, I ordered the scouts to split up and infiltrate enemy territory to verify the authenticity of the defensive lines marked on this map.
"In the past two days, the scouts' eagles have sent word that all the defensive points on this map are as marked.
"By the way, this map was taken from the Canas light-cavalry's main camp.
"You should know that Canas' light-cavalry used to be in charge of defending the Vebator Colony, but they've been replaced by Toferd's newly formed standing corps.
However, I was glad that the volunteer light cavalry corps that left the Vebator Colony didn't hand over this map to the Topfid standing corps that replaced them. Instead, it fell into my hands.
According to the scouts who infiltrated the enemy's territory, Toferd didn't make any changes after taking over the task of defending the border. Instead, they reorganized their troops according to the original arrangements of the light cavalry corps.
"In the end, I discovered their biggest oversight. They forgot that the light-cavalry corps are different from them. They're the elite light-cavalry corps of Canas, while they're just infantry corps."
Claude pointed at the coloured markings beside the defensive points on the map. "Allen, look. There are 21 important defensive points along the border that form a defensive line.
Canas's light-cavalry corps stationed a battalion at each of the important points. At the same time, three mobile light cavalry lines were stationed at the back to provide support according to the situation at the frontlines.
The other three blue strongholds were logistical warehouses, which were used to replenish food and ammunition for the 21 important strongholds at the frontline, as well as to treat the wounded. As for the golden stronghold in the rear, it was their command center.
"If Canas' light-cavalry corps were to defend this defensive line, it would indeed cause a lot of trouble for the attackers.
No matter which defensive point the attackers attacked, as long as the defenders held on for a quarter of an hour, they'd be able to receive endless reinforcements and supplies from the rear.
"But now that it's Toferd's turn to defend this defensive line, they don't have the mobility to do so.
"I don't think a single battalion of theirs can hold on for an hour against Thundercrash's attack.
"The biggest weakness of this defensive line is that as long as one point is taken, the rest of the so-called important points will be rendered useless.
If the enemy were to circle to the back of this border defense line, then the defenders of the twenty or so important strongholds in front of them would have no choice but to surrender when their escape route was cut off.
"Canas' light-cavalry corps can make up for this weakness with their mobility, but Toferd's taking over this defensive line is the same as jumping into the trap dug by the light-cavalry corps!"
Eiblont looked at the important defensive points on the map and agreed that Claude's words made sense. However, he was still worried. "We have less than five main corps that can fight at the moment. We still have to leave some behind to watch over the captives and defend Wickhamsburg."
Claude smiled. "We don't need that many troops. Thundercrash will send one line and Guerrilla Tribe 131. You only need to take two more lines.
The rest of the troops will stay at Wickhamsburg.
We'll only be dealing with the newly formed Shiksan corps, not the elites of Nasri and Canas. "
On the 23rd of the 10th Month, Year 589, Claude led Thundercrash to attack Shiksan's Vebator colony.