The Shiksans finally made their move on the 3rd of the 9th month. They sent out a corps to attack the eastern border and also used the new weapon they had just delivered, a huge cantilever thrower that looked like the catapults of ancient times.
However, this kind of cantilevered thrower could throw a projectile twice the size of an iron pumpkin to a distance of 350 meters. Its explosive power was extremely shocking.
Even though the first defensive position to come into contact with the enemy was immediately bombarded with three light infantry cannons and successfully destroyed one of them, the Shiksans reacted quickly and used thirty or so wooden carts to surround the remaining four throwers.
Even so, the Shiksans reacted quickly and used thirty or so wooden carts to surround the remaining four throwers.
The light infantry cannons were rendered useless unless a solid projectile hit the huge cantilever. However, that would require luck. From a distance of 600 metres, the cannoneers could see that the cannoneers weren't much thicker than chopsticks.
Perhaps the only drawback of this huge cantilever thrower was that it was very cumbersome and moved very slowly.
The Shiksans spent the entire day moving the four throwers to the front of the first defensive position and tried to lob a few huge projectiles.
The veterans in the defensive position looked at the huge craters the projectiles created on the mountainside with ashen faces. Everyone knew that the moment the Shiksans moved the four throwers to their positions, the defensive position would be bombarded by the enemy.
The worst part was that the defenders had no way of retaliating and could only take the bombardment passively.
The veterans in the defensive position were prepared to launch a night attack and take the initiative to destroy the four huge throwers.
However, the Shiksans were prepared and the perimeter was tight. They were discovered the moment they approached the outer perimeter.
Following that, the two sides engaged in a fierce exchange of fire, both using their own grenades.
When the Shiksans' reinforcements arrived, half of the veterans in the night attack returned empty-handed.
At noon the next day, the first thrower that had been moved and adjusted to lob a huge projectile at the defensive position. The officer in the defensive position had no choice but to give the order to retreat.
The news was immediately sent to the defense line command. Claude immediately rushed to the front of the mountain, ready to see the enemy's giant thrower with his own eyes.
Claude, Beechlin, and Eiblont were relieved when they received reports of the Meckian attack.
Soon after, news of the Shiksans dispatching five huge cantilevered catapults made Claude and the others believe that the reason the Shiksans hadn't attacked yet was because they were waiting for the catapults to arrive.
Then, the first defensive position at the front line was reported to have been lost. When he read that the Shiksans' huge thrower could throw projectiles twice the size of a pumpkin more than 300 metres away, he felt like cursing.
From the looks of it, the Shiksans were focusing on the development of their new weapon. According to the game, they had already maxed out the technology required for the projectile.
To be able to hurl a grenade twice the weight of a pumpkin more than 300 meters away, Claude hated it so much that his teeth hurt.
The defensive thrower that he had spent so much effort on could only throw the lightest projectile 300 metres away.
Compared to the Shiksans' huge thrower, the distance was still a long way off.
It wasn't hard to imagine that if the Shiksans were to use the huge thrower to throw the pumpkins, they would be able to increase the distance and the defensive position would be one-sided.
There was only one piece of good news that made Claude feel slightly better. The Shiksans' huge thrower's range and speed were truly unbearable.
Claude took three days to reach the front line and found that the Shiksans hadn't reached the second defensive position even after three days had passed. He estimated that they would need another day.
The reason was that the Shiksans had to repair the road before they could move the four catapults to the front of the camp. Otherwise, the catapults wouldn't be able to reach the front and the Shiksans would lose their weapon of choice. If they tried to attack again, they would definitely end up badly injured.
For the sake of their own lives, the Shiksans devoted themselves to repairing the road.
Claude felt like laughing when he saw that. It was as if the Shiksans were there to do good deeds and help the theatre build a road to Cape Loducus in the eastern mountains.
Based on their construction speed, it was estimated that it would take more than three months to reach the three defensive lines set up by General Birkin in the central mountains. By then, this rugged mountain road could pass four-wheeled freight carriages, which would greatly facilitate logistics transportation and personnel travel …
Perhaps we can use the time to build a road to Port Vebator and connect the two roads after the war is over. That was what Claude thought. He pulled the captain with him over and asked, "Did the Shiksans just build the road like that and slowly move the four throwers over? Didn't they launch a surprise attack or ambush the defensive position?"
"No, General," the captain replied.
The captain replied, "Apart from repairing the road and moving the gigantic throwers, the Shiksans also set up a tight defensive perimeter around the area where the road is being repaired.
We launched a few night raids, but we couldn't get within three hundred metres of them.
The moment we expose ourselves, the Shiksans will use the catapults to lob powerful grenades at our hiding spot. That's how we lost most of our brethren. "
Claude took out his binoculars again and observed the Shiksans repairing the road. He found that their defensive measures were indeed perfect. Three rows of shield carts and wooden carts surrounded the four throwers and the soldiers repairing the road.
There were two light infantry field cannons firing at the catapults on the hilltop not far from him, but with a distance of more than six hundred meters between them, the solid projectiles either landed on the wooden trucks or brushed past the cantilevers …
"Is it useful?" Claude pointed at the two light infantry field cannons.
The lieutenant shook his head. "It's not useful. It only gives the enemy a little trouble and causes very few casualties. It's not even as good as the grenades we lob at night.
Also, destroying the wooden carts isn't very effective. If we destroy ten of them at night, they'll drag another twenty or thirty over the next day.
"We can't get close to the throwers. The enemy uses the wooden carts and shield carts as cover against our night raid troops.
They make it so we can't break through the perimeter. When the battle gets intense, they even use the old throwers to cover the area they're attacking, causing a lot of casualties. "
"Did you try anything else?" Claude asked.
The lieutenant nodded. "We used landmines. The first two times we tried, the enemy suffered quite a bit. There were more than ten casualties and two wooden carts were destroyed.
However, they quickly came up with a countermeasure. General, look over there. That's a minesweeper made by the enemy. "
Claude raised his binoculars and looked in the direction the lieutenant was pointing. He saw the so-called minesweeper.
It was actually a wooden cart with three-metre-long arms protruding from both sides. The arms held a piece of wood on the ground.
When the Shiksan soldiers pushed the cart forward, the piece of wood in front of the cart would roll on the ground and detonate the landmines.
The shrapnel from the explosion would be blocked by the cart.
It could be considered the ancestor of minesweepers. It was rather crude and primitive, but it was enough to deal with the first generation of landmines produced in the colonies.
Even though it was a single-use one, they would have to replace it if it was destroyed.
However, the Shiksans didn't care about speed, so the minesweeper suited their needs perfectly.
Claude couldn't help but praise the Shiksan soldiers' intelligence for coming up with a way to deal with the landmines so easily.
Even though the soldiers were there to repair the roads, Claude wasn't willing to let them continue doing good deeds.
He gave the order for the defensive positions at the front to continue firing normally and only retreat to the rear when the Shiksan's catapults threatened their position.
Claude wouldn't let his soldiers be bombed for nothing, but he wasn't willing to let the Shiksans easily reach the defensive line in the central mountains either.
While the defensive positions at the front wouldn't be able to stop the enemy's advance, they could delay the enemy's progress.
The Shiksans had to use the catapults to threaten the defensive positions and force the defenders to retreat. That would cost them more time and effort in repairing the roads to get rid of the defensive positions along the way.
Claude had to find a more suitable spot to eliminate the threat of the catapults. The Shiksans knew that the key to their victory lay in the catapults, so they paid a lot of attention to the hills along the way. They would send men to guard every defensive position they got rid of. At the same time, they would set up old-fashioned catapults and iron pumpkins, as well as three or four light infantry field cannons.
However, while Claude was looking for a suitable spot to ambush the Shiksans' catapults, he couldn't help but feel a little confused.
Wasn't it said that the new Shiksan frontline commander-in-chief, the young Marquis Klario de Sirios, was known for his offensive prowess? Could this be his method of attack?
They pinned their hopes on these new throwers and steadily advanced slowly. That was why they had stored three months' worth of rations and military supplies in the camp at the border of the mountains. Fighting a war of attrition that would waste time and resources?
It seemed more like the style of the old frontline commander-in-chief who was said to have been removed from his post and returned to his homeland. It felt rather contradictory to the young Shiksan general who was said to be the best at attacking.
"I think this place is fine."
Eiblont pointed at the surrounding terrain and said, "It's a valley surrounded by three mountains. The mountain path goes around the bottom of the valley.
The peaks of the three mountains are connected, so we can set up a series of defensive positions there.
Also, we can dig trenches from the middle of the mountain to the top. Even if the Shiksans have those huge catapults, they won't be able to throw their projectiles at the top of the mountain.
Our projectiles, on the other hand, can use the difference in height to cover the entire mountain path in the valley.
Unless the Shiksans take all three mountains in one fell swoop, they won't be able to get past the defensive line here. "
The terrain was rather good. It was easy to defend and hard to attack.
In the past, it wasn't taken seriously because it was too close to the central mountains.
But now, the valley and the surrounding mountains were indeed the best choice to deal with the Shiksans' catapults.
Claude nodded. "Alright, we'll set up a defensive line here and have a good fight with the Shiksans.
I just don't know if the Shiksans will be able to build the road here in two to three months and fight us here for another half a year. I really don't know if they have enough rations for them to use. "
As long as it wasn't a battle of casualties, Claude didn't really care about the consumption of resources. He would definitely be more than happy to fight the Shiksans for two to three years.
It was simple. The war theatre was fighting on its own. If the nikancha controlled the mountainous region, it wouldn't affect the economic stability and development of the other eight colonies at all. In fact, it would even boost the economy of the colonies due to the demands of the war.
In comparison, Shiks had three times as many troops as the war theatre. Renting Cape Loducus Colony alone cost them a lot, not to mention food, drinks, and all sorts of military supplies. They had to pay a higher price to purchase them.
Shiks had already spent an astronomical amount of money on the colonial war. Now that they were riding a tiger, they couldn't back down, so they could only try their best to keep up appearances.
If the seven standing corps of Shiks were really entangled with the war theatre in the mountainous region for two to three years, Majid III would definitely devour all the officers at the frontline.
Supplying four hundred thousand men with supplies for three years on Nubissia, a continent thousands of kilometres away … Shiks' national treasury would be starving to death, if nothing else.
That was why Claude felt that the Shiksans' method of attack wasn't quite right. If the Shiksans attacked while building roads, who knew how long it would take them to break through the mountainous region and reach Port Vebator.
However, Claude couldn't pinpoint where the problem lay. The Shiksans weren't feigning an attack, but were advancing step by step to occupy the frontline.
Birkin came looking for him with an eagle message from theatre command. The message stated that Seaking and the Alliance hadn't returned to Shiks and had instead arrived at the coast of the war theatre to harass Port Vebator. However, they didn't cause too much damage to the port.
After the cannons at the docks retaliated, the enemy ships didn't continue firing and instead left.
The commander of Monolith's main force at Port Vebator reported that the enemy fleets consisted mostly of warships. There weren't many transports in sight. Their objective was probably to harass the colonies' coastal regions.
They were also heading south to Port Patres in Robisto to warn the garrison there not to be ambushed by Seaking and the Alliance.
Since the two Shiksan fleets were mostly warships and didn't bring many transport ships, they were definitely there to harass the garrison.
Claude, Beechlin and Eiblont didn't really care. The three deep-water ports under the war theatre, Port Vebator, Port Patres in Robisto and Port Cobicus in Tyrrsim, were all guarded by Monolith's main field division and a garrison division. Coupled with the cannons, they were more than capable of withstanding Seaking's and the Alliance's attacks.
Apart from these three deep-water harbors, the coastal areas of the colonies were all shallow waters and reefs. Warships couldn't approach them at all unless they were beached or boarded by lifeboats. However, the war zone command had already set up sentry posts along the coastline. If the enemy wanted to land on the coastline, they would summon the nearby garrisons, which would be enough to wipe out the enemy on the beaches.
That was why the warzone command had sent an Eagle Hawk message stating that the three generals on the frontline did not need to worry about this matter. The warzone command had already prepared a plan to deal with the harassment of the enemy warships along the coast. They would not allow the enemy warships to cause any damage or damage to the warzone.
On the 21st of the 9th September, Claude received a report from a spy in Bay Loducus that the royal knight corps that was stationed at the eastern border had suddenly returned to the logistics base to rest and reorganize. It was said that it was normal training and they would return in two days.
Three days later, Claude received another report from the spy that the light cavalry corps in the logistics base, the royal knight corps, had disappeared without anyone noticing.
The spy had probably returned to the eastern border that very night. As residents of Bay Loducus weren't allowed to leave the city at night, the spy didn't see where the light cavalry had gone.
Even though Claude thought that, he still took out his notebook and jotted down the name of the light cavalry corps. Any unit that could go on such a long distance training was a decent one. It wasn't easy for the entire corps to finish their preparations and leave in one night.
Two days later, on the 27th of the 9th September, Claude received an urgent request for help from theatre command. The Shiksans had landed at the fishing town of Anfiston and occupied the entire town.