Even though Eiblont's 2nd Folk failed in their attack on the three Shiksan folk at the northern border and suffered heavy casualties, Claude still found an opportunity.
It was simple. 2nd Folk had suffered more than ten thousand casualties and even the nikancha suffered heavy casualties. How many Shiksan soldiers did they lose?
Claude believed that it was because the Shiksans didn't have enough manpower to deal with a pincer attack from the front and could only deal heavy damage to 2nd Folk and recover the lost ground before turning back to deal with 1st Folk.
Claude believed that the Shiksans didn't have enough manpower to deal with a pincer attack from the front when Thundercrash's 1st Folk approached, so they could only deal heavy damage to 2nd Folk and recover their lost ground before turning back to deal with Claude's 1st Folk.
According to Eiblont's estimations, the Shiksan casualties in the camp amounted to a folk's worth of casualties, which proved that 2nd Folk had collected more than eight thousand Shiksan veteran badges from the corpses of their comrades.
Based on the two-to-one casualty ratio, the Shiksans in the camp had lost a folk's worth.
If there were still two corps and four folk left in the camp, Claude might have to reconsider whether he should lead 1st Folk in a frontal assault. But since there was only one corps and two folk left, there wasn't much to worry about. Claude decided to stick to his original plan and wipe out the Shiksans there first.
Just as Eiblont said, the first line of defence fell into 1st Folk's hands with ease, along with the first and second trenches. It was only when they continued their advance that they met stubborn resistance from the Shiksans in the third trench.
The Shiksan veterans would always lay in ambush in the trenches until Thundercrash approached. Only then would they charge out and engage in melee combat.
Apart from that, the Shiksans also set up a dozen light infantry field cannons on the third trench and camouflaged them meticulously.
Due to the difference in height, most of the second trench could be seen from the third trench. The two trenches were about fifty metres apart.
According to Eiblont, the Shiksans had used the height difference of the trenches to threaten 2nd Folk with accurate fire. Only when 2nd Folk used a layer of earth beneath their feet did they manage to solve the problem of being unable to hit the enemy while the enemy could hit them.
Claude was already prepared for that. He had the attacking soldiers bring some wooden planks into the trenches to build footing.
However, he didn't think the Shiksans wouldn't fire back at him.
For a moment, the soldiers in the trenches forgot about the danger. As a result, when the troops gathered at the second trench to attack the third, the Shiksans had hidden a few light infantry field cannons in the third trench fired at the assembled troops. Berklin's 1st Line lost more than 200 soldiers on the spot.
Claude could only sigh when he received the report of the setback. The enemy was improving as well. They were also improving their defenses.
Claude immediately ordered his men to stop attacking the third trench and focus on defending the second.
Since the enemy was going to use this place as their main battlefield, they would definitely be well-prepared. 1st Folk didn't have to sacrifice their forces just to occupy the third trench.
Claude had Berklin's 1st Line attack on the left and Moriad's 2nd Line attack on the right. They wanted to occupy the first line of defense and the two trenches in front of the camp so that their flanks wouldn't be ambushed.
That would also allow them to join in the attack. While Eiblont's 2nd Folk only had two lines left, the addition of ten thousand men would be a great help to Claude's 1st Folk.
Additionally, Claude wanted to test how many Shiksans they had left. The camp was huge. Even if Claude had Thundercrash occupy the first defensive wall and the two trenches in front of it, it would be equivalent to splitting his forces to the other positions and giving the Shiksans an opportunity to regroup and launch a surprise attack.
However, that was Claude's goal. He wanted to give up on fighting the Shiksans in the prepared third trench and instead wait for the Shiksans to show up at the first and second trenches or even the first defensive wall, waiting for the Shiksans to come knocking on his door.
Even though his forces were scattered and many of the second trenches were only guarded by a small unit, it was still a huge net. As long as the Shiksans launched a surprise attack, they wouldn't be able to go back.
The Shiksans were confused by Claude's move. They didn't understand why Claude would split his forces in those positions. Was he trying to trap them to death?
As a result, they launched a few probing attacks. However, contrary to their expectations, when the Thundercrash soldiers in the second trench saw their attacks, they didn't resist resolutely. Instead, they resolutely retreated. The position fell into their hands just like that.
So, the Shiksans continued to attack the first trench, only to find that it was the same situation.
They continued to attack the first defensive wall, and the first defensive wall was easily occupied by them.
However, the enemy didn't notice that they couldn't go back. Thundercrash's soldiers on the left and right flanks of the second trench had already launched a counterattack and quickly reclaimed their positions. The Shiksans who occupied the first trench and the first defensive wall were like turtles in a jar. They put up a brave resistance but ended up becoming martyrs.
At first, the Shiksans thought that they didn't have enough men to attack and that Thundercrash's counterattack was too quick. So, they increased the number of troops they sent to attack the two sides of the trench until they occupied the entire area.
However, the Shiksans weren't able to defend against Thundercrash's flanks at all and the area they occupied would quickly fall back into Thundercrash's hands.
Only when a battalion of Shiksans was surrounded and wiped out in the area between the first trench and the first defensive wall did the Shiksans realize that it was a trap set by Thundercrash. They didn't take the initiative to attack again.
However, they lost nearly a full line just to learn that lesson.
"The Shiksans really don't have enough men. Otherwise, they wouldn't have only sent a single battalion for their last attack.
If we send in a full line of Shiksans veterans, they'll be able to retreat at least half of their men, "Claude said to Eiblont.
Eiblont nodded. He believed that Claude's analysis made sense.
If the Shiksans had enough men, they wouldn't have to be so petty and send in a full line of troops for their first attack.
That way, when Thundercrash attacked from the flanks, they would be able to evacuate their men from the first defensive wall and the first trench faster. That way, they wouldn't be surrounded so quickly.
Perhaps the Shiksan commander would be able to figure out Thundercrash's trap after the soldiers who managed to escape described the process of the attack.
The Thundercrash troops that attacked from the flanks were Dyavid's 3rd Line, which was equipped with the new rifles. 3rd Line was split into four battalions and each occupied a key point. Whenever an enemy attacked an area between the four points, the two battalions on either side would immediately attack from the flanks and surround the enemy.
Compared to the matchlock that could only fire one shot and had to go through the tedious process of reloading, the new rifle's six-shot continuous firing gave it an advantage in trench warfare.
The four battalions of 3rd Line managed to wipe out five thousand Shiksans with less than 400 casualties in the two days of battle.
That was especially true for the Shiksan veterans. They were prepared for a melee to the death, but they were shot down one after another and died with their eyes wide open.
Since the Shiksans were no longer attacking Thundercrash, Claude took the initiative and directed Dyavid's 3rd Line to start sniping with their new rifles. Any Shiksans who poked their heads out to observe the situation within a 200-metre radius became their targets.
The ten sniper rifles developed before the battle became the main force of the sniping. Even Shiksans who were exposed three to four hundred metres away would be killed with a single shot.
While blinding the Shiksans with the new rifles and sniper rifles, Claude had 4th Line escort a large number of captives into the camp and expand the first and second trenches. The excavated soil was piled on top of the trenches to form a half-tall wall, completely blocking the Shiksans' line of sight and preventing them from seeing what was going on in the first and second trenches.
The Shiksan veterans defending the camp were furious. The ones working in the camp were all their fellow captives and they couldn't fire their cannons or stop the construction. Apart from cursing out loud, they could only order the captives to try and escape.
During that time, they organized two attacks to rescue some of the Shiksan captives, but they failed. Even the captives who escaped with them were killed in the trenches.
From then on, all the Shiksan captives worked obediently and no longer tried to escape.
Claude used the Shiksan captives to expand the first and second trenches to house the Shiksan throwers. He was going to use the Shiksan pumpkins to bombard the Shiksan trenches.
Claude planned to use the five thousand pumpkins he got from the Shiksan main supply base on the Shiksan camp. He didn't believe he wouldn't be able to blast open the Shiksans' tortoiseshell.
Due to the new rifles and sniper rifles blocking the Shiksans' line of sight and the mud wall built on top of the trenches, Claude had the Shiksan captives dig deep communication trenches from the first trench to the first wall and beyond, the Shiksans didn't know that Thundercrash had already pushed more than a hundred catapult-like throwers into position in the first and second trenches.
When nearly a hundred iron pumpkins were thrown into the air at the third trench, the Shiksan veterans defending the third trench met their doom.
Claude ordered all the communication points between the third and fourth trenches to be heavily bombarded, causing the walls on both sides to collapse and lose their cover.
As a result, the Shiksan veterans defending the third trench had to either retreat through the communication trenches or climb out of the trenches to escape from the top.
Whichever they chose, they would become targets for the new rifles and sniper rifles.
As it turned out, not even one out of a hundred Shiksan veterans could make it to the fourth trench, but that didn't mean they were out of danger. Claude then ordered the throwers in the second trench to throw iron pumpkins into the fourth trench.
The Shiksan throwers could throw iron pumpkins up to a hundred and thirty metres away and could even adjust the distance to be a hundred metres away.
The third trench was roughly a hundred and ten metres away from the first, within the range of the throwers.
Of course, there was a huge deviation in the throwers and they couldn't throw it anywhere they wanted to.
Claude ordered the throwers to throw seven hundred iron pumpkins into the third trench eight times. Only a third of them actually made it into the trenches, but that was enough to clear out most of the Shiksan veterans defending there.
By the time the twenty or so throwers in the second trench started throwing iron pumpkins into the fourth trench, Thundercrash had already charged into the third trench and successfully occupied it.
Large numbers of Shiksan captives were brought over to begin the reconstruction and expansion of the third trench.
Nearly five thousand Shiksan corpses were brought out from the third trench. Coupled with those who were killed during the evacuation, it could be concluded that the Shiksans had lost yet another line of soldiers.
Claude was rather impressed by the tenacity of the Shiksan veterans, but he still believed that it was best to wipe out such a stubborn enemy.
During Thundercrash's occupation of the third trench, many of the Shiksan veterans were either knocked unconscious or injured, causing the careless Thundercrash soldiers to suffer unexpected injuries. In the end, Colonel Moriad had no choice but to order his men to stab the corpses of the Shiksan veterans they saw in the trench to prevent them from suddenly going on a rampage and exchanging a life for a life.
The Shiksans suffered a huge loss at the third trench, but they still didn't give up.
Claude sent a Shiksan captive to deliver a surrender letter to the Shiksan commander in the camp.
In the end, Claude's request was rejected and the Shiksan was released after a beating.
He was cursed and beaten up by the Shiksan veterans, who believed him to be a traitor for working for the enemy. Had it not been for the fact that their commander needed him to deliver the letter, he might not have been able to return.
Claude knew that the Shiksans believed they could hold out because of the second defensive wall. The throwers at the back hadn't been used yet.
Now, all they had to do was wait for Thundercrash to attack and occupy the fourth trench. When that happened, the Shiksans would be able to take revenge for their loss at the third trench.
From a high vantage point, the Shiksan throwers could hurl iron pumpkins up to 150 metres away. In other words, ten metres ahead of the third trench would be within the range of the catapults the Shiksans had set up behind the second defensive wall.
However, Claude wasn't so foolish as to send Thundercrash to attack and occupy the fourth trench. He was betting that the Shiksans had forgotten that the colonies also had throwers, and they were the first to use them.
The Shiksans knew very well how far the throwers could throw iron pumpkins, so they were completely unfazed by Thundercrash forcing the Shiksan captives to dig a new trench.
So what if Thundercrash had placed the catapults in the third trench? At most, they would only be able to throw them at the fifth trench. They would not be able to damage the second defensive wall, the catapults, and the light infantry field cannons behind it …
However, Claude didn't set up the throwers in the third trench for the purpose of throwing iron pumpkins. Instead, they were used to throw grenades.
While the grenades produced by the colonies weren't as explosive as iron pumpkins, they were light and concealed. They didn't have to be ignited to reveal where they were thrown like iron pumpkins.
All they had to do was lengthen the fuse by one centimetre and they would be able to cover a distance of 200 metres before exploding.
Back at the second defensive line in the eastern mountains, Beechlin used the Shiksan throwers to throw grenades produced by the colonies. The throw range was increased to 200 metres, allowing them to suppress the Shiksans' iron pumpkins in one fell swoop and lessen the danger of the defensive line being bombarded by iron pumpkins.
Perhaps the Shiksans stationed at the northern border didn't know about that, so they allowed Claude to set up the throwers in the third trench.
Even though the Shiksans launched a few night raids in the past three days, they were all repelled by the well-prepared Thundercrash soldiers.
Perhaps the Shiksans were truly lacking in manpower, they didn't send too many men into the night raids and their attacks weren't fierce either. They retreated after leaving only a hundred or so corpses behind, allowing Claude to successfully set up the throwers in the third trench.
Even though the Shiksans didn't set up any observation posts in the open, there were still plenty of spies in the dark.
Even though Claude had the Shiksan captives dig up soil to build a wall half the height of a person above the trench to conceal the situation inside, the Shiksans still sensed that Thundercrash was about to attack, so they made their preparations.
1st Folk still had around 1,200 grenades left. Coupled with the 300 left by 2nd Folk, Claude planned to use all 1,500 grenades on the second defensive wall a kilometer away from them to create a breach in the second defensive wall.
While Thundercrash was indeed going to attack, they weren't going to tangle with the Shiksans at the fourth and fifth trenches. Instead, they were going to break through the second defensive wall in one fell swoop.
With that order, more than a hundred grenades were launched into the sky.
The Shiksans behind the second defensive wall were rather puzzled. Isn't that a waste of iron pumpkins?
There's no one guarding the fifth trench anyway. Even if you blow it up, it would be a waste of effort.
Only when the grenades landed on the second defensive wall did the Shiksans snap out of their daze. They no longer cared about how Thundercrash was able to throw the grenades that far. Their top priority was to preserve their own lives.
The Thundercrash soldiers in the third trench cheered non-stop. Nothing boosted their morale more than watching the enemy get blown up.
Explosions and black smoke rose up from the front and back of the second defensive wall. They could even vaguely see human limbs and other objects blown into the sky.
"Nice one!"
Eiblont ordered excitedly, "Throw all the grenades there. The last two rounds of grenades will launch a full frontal assault. We'll crush the enemy defences and wipe out all the Shiksans!"