Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 295 Weakened

   Twenty-six years ago, a sultry afternoon.

  In the auditorium of the Military Academy, an old soldier is giving a lecture.

  Theoretically, the auditorium, which can accommodate all military students and faculty members, was packed. Not only did the Lu Yuan gather together, but many commissioned officers also came to listen to the lecture.

The identity of the    veteran soldier is self-evident, it is Ned Smith - the Union Field Marshal, the founder of the Union Army, and the principal of the Army Officers Academy.

"...Today people think that the 11th slashing is a barbaric military law. But in the ancient empire, slaughtering was only harsh, not barbaric." Principal Ned paused for a moment: "Different times and societies have different moral standards for war. Judge the past by today's standards, let alone use the moral standards of the past to justify today's behavior."

   Might disappoint some people who meet for the first time, Ned Smith does not have the so-called "famous style".

   On the contrary, he looked more like an old blacksmith in a dim shop: with thick knuckles, dark palms, and a little hunchback, because his eyes were a little blurry, he always leaned back slightly unconsciously.

   Principal Ned looked at the immature faces: "War is moral, and war is unfair. It seeks to bully the weak, use the crowd to attack the few, and use the more to win the less..."

  In the silent auditorium, a young man stood up abruptly, with the rebelliousness and stubbornness unique to his age in his eyes, and asked loudly and unconvinced, "What if we can't bully the weak?"

   The faculty and staff sitting in the front row all turned their heads to see which daring fellow was.

   Friend of the questioner—another tall, thin lad with big eyes tugged him hard, trying to make him sit down.

   But he insisted not to sit, stalked his neck, and stared directly at the Union Marshal on the stage.

   "If the enemy is strong and I am weak." Principal Ned signaled that the faculty and staff should not be nervous, and answered sincerely: "Then we must weaken the enemy, accumulate strength, and fight when the strong can bully the weak."

   Years later, some people still remember this scene in the auditorium, some people forget it, and some people mistake the questioner for another person.

   We bring this up because twenty-six years later, the young man's son is facing the critical situation of "the enemy is strong and we are weak, and we have to fight".

  …

  What strategy should we adopt when the enemy is strong and we are weak? Winters doesn't know, because the Army Officers Academy doesn't teach strategy.

When Marshal    Ned set up the curriculum of the Union Army Officers Academy, he divided all the courses into two categories: "military science" and "general science".

   If the class hours for general education such as mathematics and grammar are [ten], then the tactical class time is [six], the content of war history is only [one], and the courses related to strategy are [zero].

   In fact, Luyuan originally had a "strategy" class, but it was conducted in the form of a "Principal's Lecture". After the death of Marshal Ned, this "course" was naturally withdrawn from the curriculum.

   To be precise, because of the limited scale of the war, no one has so far been able to clearly define "strategy", "tactics" and "grand tactics".

  It is difficult to distinguish the subtle differences between strategy, tactics and grand tactics when a battle can decide the outcome of the war.

   Winters' cognition of strategy is not perfect, and naturally there is no strategy at all.

   But facing the full cavalry of the Teltowns, Winters formulated the basic principles of warfare.

  He distilled it into three words: [weakening, limiting, eradicating]—that is, "storm".

   turned the hour hand back to the time when Winters had just learned that Turtletown was coming to threw the grassy valley.

   "I recalled all the battles I know." He explained the stormy battle to his company commanders in this way: "With few attacking the crowd, with the few wins the many, there is no one that does not rely on the terrain."

"Our side also has the advantage of terrain. The Dajiao River is a natural city wall, while the river channels in Xia Tiefeng County are like screens. The combat power of each of them will be weakened once. For every kilometer traveled, the Teltown division will divide its troops and **** the ground."

"Whether it can defend Iron Peak County, or even annihilate the main force of the Teltown army, success or failure depends on whether it can force the Teltown people to change their offensive direction, force the Teltown people to follow the route we have set for them, and force the Teltown people People enter the battlefield that we have chosen for them."

   "Weaken, restrain, annihilate, this is the battle of the storm."

  …

  The big hourglass flipped for the twenty-sixth time, and Charles woke Winters by the fire.

   "The Seventh Company has also arrived." Ciel said softly.

"time."

   "A quarter past one in the morning."

  …

  Time, time, every second is precious.

  The road conditions are suitable, and the infantry can walk 24 kilometers a day. Forcibly marching without all the baggage can double this distance.

   At first glance it sounds like 24km is close, and 48km is not too far.

  However, there are many victorious generals in the world who died on this short one-day journey, resulting in the loss of their teachers and humiliation and ruin.

  The battle that took place in Zhongtiefeng County was basically a competition for time.

The strategy of   Telltown's detour was to take advantage of the fact that the defenders were attracted to the banks of the Bighorn River, and went around Winters' back to attack from both sides.

This is where the    fighters appear.

  Winters seized the time difference and stabbed the opponent in the chest with a sword when the fire roaster hit a right uppercut, repelling the scattered Teltown people who were about twenty cavalry in total.

   Although it was not a defeat, let alone an annihilation, it temporarily relieved the threat from the west wing and gave the troops a chance to clench their fists again.

   At noon the day after Winters defeated the pinned enemy, the Teltown vanguard attacked the field for the first time.

   At that point in time, eight of the twelve companies of the Iron Peak Infantry Regiment were deployed along the Big Horn River. These eight companies were generally absent, exhausted, and gathering.

   One company is stationed at Xiaoshi Town, and its combat power is relatively complete.

  The remaining three companies are the general reserve team, originally stationed in Sanke Town, and are rushing to Little Rock Town and Tushe Field.

   Another musketeer was formed into a company alone, under the direct control of Winters.

   And the people of Teltown are like an arrow, the tip of the arrow has touched the heart of Zhongtiefeng County, and the follow-up troops are rushing to come.

   If the only way to cross the Dajiao River is broken, then Winters' two crossings of the Big Horn will be completely in vain.

   His scattered companies will be broken one by one by the Teldons, just as he repelled the scattered Teldons.

  The difference is that Teltown people can escape on horseback, and Winters' subordinates don't even have a chance to escape.

   It was Bard who led the refugee camp to withstand the first and second waves of the enemy's attack, gaining another day for Winters.

   Twelve companies of the Iron Peak County Regiment and all the militiamen of Niuho Valley, Little Rock Town, and Sanke Town are gathering towards the Tusher Field.

  …

The soldiers of the    5th Company marched in silence, in a single column, without drums or slogans, and even the flag was rolled up.

   The fifth company commander [Lannis] was on horseback.

  Tonight, the moon phase is complete, which is a good day for both parties to fight.

   There was a faint sound of hoofs ahead, and it seemed that cavalry was approaching the column of the 5th Company.

  Lannis raised his hand, the flag-bearer unfolded the flag, and the military police immediately took out an arrow, turned around and handed it to his comrades behind him.

   After each soldier receives the arrow, he will immediately pass it to the person behind him. At the same time, he will throw away all the extra items, and move closer to the flag with only weapons and armor.

   Without any passwords, the Fifth Company formed a phalanx in silence.

  Lannis listened intently, the hoofs were getting closer, so he was sure that the other party was coming for the fifth consecutive.

   "Drum!" Lannis broke the silence.

   A small snare drum sounded like a shower, indicating that the soldiers of the 5th Company had their positions exposed and were immediately ready to fight.

  The visitors stationed their horses in front of the phalanx, and there were only a dozen horses.

   "Who?" Lannis asked.

   "It's me," Winters replied.

  Lannis stepped out of the square and gave Winters a calm salute.

   "Can you still fight?" Winters asked.

   "It's better to rest for two hours." Lannis answered truthfully.

   "Turn the direction and go to Oxhoof Valley." For his old department, Winters doesn't need to be polite: "Tamas is building a third line of defense, you are temporarily under his command."

   "Yes." Lannis raised his hand to salute again.

   Assigned a guide to Lannis, Winters took one last look at the old subordinate and rode away.

   The 5th Company returned to the marching formation again and headed to the southwest.

  …

   If it is to set up a head-to-head battle, an open space of five kilometers by five kilometers is enough to accommodate a grand battle of 100,000 people.

The trouble with the   Tertuns, and indeed all nomadic tribes, is that they can turn five kilometers into fifty kilometers, or even a hundred and fifty kilometers, by virtue of their mobility.

  Progress when advantaged, retreat when disadvantaged, not shy to run away, sure to win before attacking, this is the big tactical advantage brought by high mobility.

  For example, in this great detour by the people of Teltown, the straight-line distance on the map alone has exceeded 150 kilometers.

   If you walk 2,000 kilometers, humans may be able to compete with horses in endurance; but if you run 200 kilometers, you can’t go faster than horses anyway.

   Winters chose Zhongtiefeng County as the battlefield from the very beginning, because Zhongtiefeng County was small enough.

The   Terdun people had to go around 150 kilometers, while the Iron Peak County troops fighting on the inside only needed to travel 50 kilometers, making up for the speed disadvantage with the advantage of travel.

   To this end, Winters abandoned Wolf Town, Black Water Town and Wu Mastiff Town.

   This decision does not sound difficult, but it is actually heavier than tens of millions of tons of rocks.

   Now, with the Teltown people trudging the 150-kilometer road and crossing five rivers, they trudged to Zhongtiefeng County.

  The first step of the Tempest operation, "nerfing" has been realized.

  …

   is different from the previous situation in which the Hurds avoided war and the Paratus sought to fight. At this moment, it is the people of Teltown who are most eager to fight with dignity.

  Tai Chi wanted to fight knife to knife and gun to gun with the two-legged man, thinking like crazy.

   A wall stopped him—two walls to be exact.

   A short wall blocks the mountain road between Doshfield and Little Rock.

   The other wall was very long and prevented the Teldons from entering the Valley of the Oxhoofs.

  The two walls are very short, almost one person tall, and adult men can climb over them without much effort.

  The problem is that people can climb over, but what about horses?

  The people of Iron Peak County call the long wall the [Shield Wall] and the short wall the [Dagger Wall].

   And Teltown people always call it the horse-blocking wall, because these two walls are not used to block people at all, but to block horses.

  The chiefs of the Terden tribe gathered together and decided that there were only three ways: breaking the wall, filling the soil, and detouring.

The    detour was immediately rejected, and the detour can only continue to go south and cross the river through Xiaoshi Town.

   Not to mention the delay, the bridge in Xiaoshi Town has also been demolished. Do we need to build another bridge when we get there?

   "Wait, don't keep your secrets, hand over your armor and sheepskin sac." Tai Chi spit out viciously: "If you don't break bones, how can you eat bone marrow?"

   [Thanks to book lovers for their collection, reading, subscription, recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, rewards and comments, thank you all]

   [Currently, as much as I write before twelve o'clock in the evening, I can send as much as I can, and I don't stay up late. So this chapter is only three thousand words, sorry]

   [In addition, as mentioned in the previous leave application, the mode of one update every two days will start today, see you on April 5th (Tuesday)]

   (end of this chapter)