"How is the situation?" Griffith quietly asked Berthier who was standing aside.
"Pierrefonds cannot hold it without strong reinforcements," Berthier replied softly, "I have made preparations for the dispatch of the brigade, but the prince still prefers to dispatch the regular army."
After saying this, Berthier seemed to feel that it was inappropriate to say this in the camp, so he took Griffith and the others outside.
According to the emergency report received by the headquarters, the problem of Piefeng's defenders is not whether they can hold on. There is a town there. Although it is not big, it is completely possible for the defenders to hold on for a period of time after building fortifications.
The real problem lies in supplies. It is not just the girl from Anjou and the 3,000 border soldiers who are trapped there, but also tens of thousands of refugees. These people consume a lot of food and drinking water every day. There are not many supplies in the first place.
Under several times the consumption, it will collapse in an instant. Even if it persists, thousands of refugees will suffer misfortune.
The nearby regular army mobile units have been concentrated near Jingze, and other armies each have their own defense areas, making it difficult to mobilize.
"Will we be allowed to attack?" Sonia asked, "It seems that it is difficult to mobilize the regular army. Our auxiliary army should still be able to move."
"The prince will take into account our lack of strength," Griffith said. "It's nearly six hundred miles from here to the town of Pierrefonds. After a rapid march, we must immediately go into battle. Most of the soldiers in the auxiliary legion will be difficult to do..."
At this moment, the prince's roar came from the military tent, and it could be heard clearly outside the tent.
"I order you to attack, Modres. In the name of the future king, I order the Ninth Legion to set off immediately!"
Everyone hurriedly looked into the tent and found that the staff and generals were looking at the excited prince indifferently. General Modres, the commander of the Ninth Army, was very calm:
"Your Highness, I must point out that the mission given by the Senate to the Ninth and Twelfth Legions is to arrive at Teutoburg within the designated time limit to join the Sixteenth Legion. According to the plan, the Ninth Legion must also set off today. We do not have the strength.
Carry out support. My suggestion is to mobilize a support army from the direction of Varna and go north."
"That will take at least half a month!" Prince Commodus banged the table hard, "Maximus is not here, I am your commander-in-chief, and I want you to execute the order!"
"With all due respect, Your Highness," the legion commander shook his head, "We have not received an order from the Senate regarding the change of commander."
"You!" The prince reached out to draw his sword, but a group of guards and staff rushed to stop him.
Griffith left the command post, there was no point in listening to them continue arguing.
General Modres is also a senator, and is one of the heads of the Senate's military department along with Count Chalon. Without the cooperation of the Senate, the king of Beyeland is just a clothes hanger holding a crown.
General Modres expected it, and it was easy to predict what attitude the regular army would take towards the order to rush for reinforcements.
First of all, the saintly system of the Holy Light Church has been abolished for many years. Her identity is very sensitive. If the spokesperson of the Holy Light Holy See is allowed to expand its influence, other parties in the mysterious world will be very dissatisfied.
Secondly, the command of the regular army is under the name of the Senate. If the prince is allowed to reach out and change the appointments and plans of the Senate, it would be better to hang himself with a rope than to hang himself.
Prince Commodus' only choice, and the inevitable choice, was to dispatch an auxiliary legion composed of the king's vassals. The army starting from Odessa needed to march more than 600 miles in less than a week, otherwise it would not reach its destination when it arrived.
The Saint is most likely dead; even if the Saint is still alive at the destination, the reinforcements cannot collapse due to exhaustion.
This means that the reinforcements of the auxiliary legions must be strong enough...
Since King Hadrian was killed by the man who had the records erased, the king's direct vassals have begun to get closer and closer to the Senate. They hold various public and military positions, but the auxiliary legions have also become weaker and weaker.
Counts such as Earl Larmore, who were directly under the king's command, have now become elders. A certain general who attended the mysterious meeting in Homonworth could not even produce half a squadron. How strong an auxiliary legion could he expect?
After getting the news, Griffith immediately took action. The infantry squadrons of Berthier and Dedeus who arrived together were in good condition and were probably the main force going together. The prince had no choice. No matter how much trouble he made, in the end
There is only one choice.
…
Sure enough, the prince, who could not get the support of the regular legion, issued an order to the auxiliary legion to support Pierrefond.
Many of the troops in the auxiliary legions are knights and poorly trained infantry or light infantry. Although they are not without combat effectiveness, they do not have the discipline and organization to carry out long-distance raids.
The only ones that can be counted on are Sonia's Storm Squadron, Berthier and Dedeus' nine infantry squadrons. A small group of the 603 Technical Experiment Squadron, led by Bernard, also insisted on participating. They must maintain daily
With a marching speed of more than 100 miles, they arrived at the local area before the saint, her followers, and the militia were wiped out and immediately started fighting.
Griffith first confirmed with the three of them whether they were prepared to carry out the prince's order to provide support. After receiving a positive reply, Griffith and Berthier began preparations for a rapid march.
They face many problems.
The Storm Cavalry Squadron has sufficient mules and horses, but no matter how good the war horses are, it is impossible for them to maneuver at high speed for several days. War horses are not like infantry, and forced marches will cause a large number of horses to die from exhaustion.
In order to complete the 600-mile march in 5-6 days, the cavalry troops also had to abandon all their horses. According to the arrangements of Griffith and Berthier, the entire army marched on foot or in vehicles. Sonia and De
Dius stayed in the headquarters to ensure safety. At the same time, in the name of the prince and the army headquarters, he coordinated in advance with the Beyonders, officials and merchants in the towns along the way to provide meals and carriages for the troops.
The local carriages could allow the soldiers to rest for a period of time to recover during the daily march, but they could not keep up with the speed of the march, and they would never be able to find enough in a hurry.
Therefore, the foot cavalry and infantry could only rest in limited carriages in rotation. They relied on towns and villages for supplies along the way and only carried combat equipment.
After the reinforcements of 1,200 people arrived at Pierrefond, they must immediately go into battle to rescue the Saint and the civilians. The nearby friendly forces were either held back on the border or were militiamen with little combat effectiveness. Therefore, not only could there not be a large number of stragglers along the way, the entire army also
Strong combat effectiveness and morale must be maintained.
Only a very small number of elite soldiers in history can do such a thing.
After the operation began, Griffith and Berthier took a small number of people and relied on the horses at the inn to go ahead. Prince Commodus was naturally unable to lead the troops on a reinforcement mission, but he also gave a lot of support.
Many small and medium-sized towns and villages along the way have received reception arrangements arranged by the army, preparing barracks, hot food and drinking water for the infantry in advance. After Griffith arrived, while checking the preparations, he asked them to prepare for all the soldiers.
Wash your feet with hot water.
The march on the first day was surprisingly fast. Relying on the carriages provided by Odessa and the cooperation along the way, the entire army traveled a full 150 miles. Nona, Lien, Bernard and officers from each squadron led the soldiers to the camp.
When we arrived at the village, the villagers had already prepared bread, bacon, vegetable soup and large jars of honey.
After everyone washed their hands and faces with hot water, each team was assigned two large buckets. One of the buckets contained solid black bread. In rural areas, white bread is still very rare. This kind of hard bread
The bread was similar to what Griffith had eaten when he left the Eastern Front a year ago. You might knock your teeth out if you accidentally bite into it.
In the other vat is a boiling thick soup, mixed with chopped radish, cabbage and tomatoes. A large amount of butter, meat and potatoes are also added during the cooking. From officers to soldiers, everyone can scoop up a large bowl.
For vegetable soup, soak brown bread in hot soup until soft and eat it.
Paxiu and Desai were also lining up, waiting eagerly to see when it would be their turn. Today, they first took a carriage and then walked, walking 150 miles back and forth, as fast as flying. Wait
After arriving at the village where we camped, almost everyone was going crazy with hunger.
Watching the black bread that could be used as a shield swell in the thick soup, Paxiu immediately took a big bite. The extremely pleasant feeling of fullness immediately captured his brain. The entire army was gnawing like a nest of rats.
There is a lot of butter in the soup, which is very greasy, but it is very helpful for the troops on forced march to restore their strength. If anyone can't stand it, you can also ask for a large spoonful of honey to spread on the bread.
Desai ate faster than Paxiu, stuffing the bread and soup into his stomach in a blink of an eye. He took a heavy breath and lay down on the haystack with the dried meat in his mouth.
"Ah, not bad~"
His second sentence was: "Is this girl really a huntress? She must be fake!"
What? Paxiu raised his head from the soup in surprise, looked at his companion, then followed his line of sight and looked ahead, and found that he was staring at Karen.
"Really, why do you ask this? Karen is very powerful."
"No, no, no, I have seen a huntress," Desai shook his head, made a gesture on his chest, and said seriously, "A real huntress has big breasts. Look at her, she is as flat as an anvil.
Same, false..."
…
"What happened outside? Is the camp roaring?" Berthier, who was having dinner, heard the screams and crackling sounds of fighting. He immediately jumped up and asked Griffiths who walked in with a surprised look on his face. He was a child.
I often heard stories from my fathers about military riots. It was the first time I led an army on a forced march and I was extremely nervous.
"No, it's just some fighting," Griffith shook his head, "Desai and Paxiu of my squadron were injured. Fortunately, they are not serious and they don't need to take the bus tomorrow."
"That's good," the eldest son of the Earl's family felt relieved, "more information has been sent. The orcs are building a double-layered defense line around Pierre Feng, with one layer surrounding the town and one layer facing the outside world, following our example.
The fortifications. Even if we arrive in time, it will be difficult to rescue the siege in a short time. Things will be difficult to handle."
"It's expected." Griffith nodded and walked to the door to wave. "This orc army appeared very suddenly. There were many abnormalities. It was obviously coming for the Saint of Anjou. Lien
Lieutenant Lieutenant and Lieutenant Bernard brought us the equipment and tactics tested by the 603 Squadron, please introduce them to us."