The war was not over yet.
In most noble wars of this era, the moment Cecil's army won the war in the north and the west, and the allied noble army in the south was routed, the war should have come to an end. Next, Cecil's army would use the captives to negotiate with the families in the south, and use ransom and land to divide the benefits. However, these were the wishful thinking of the nobles who started the war.
The war could start because of their ridiculous reasons, but it would never end because of a battle or a surrender.
The main force of the allied army that fled was Hosman's main force in the north. In that battle, less than 10,000 of the allied noble army of 50,000 were killed or wounded. Their long and messy formation, the rugged mountain path, and the messy marching route were the reasons why they were routed instantly when they were bombarded by the cannons. But on the other hand, most of them survived. The first round of cannons only destroyed the vanguard of the allied army (including the entire division led by Count Hosman). In the next half a day, the allied army lost as many people as they were killed by the cannons because they were trampled, killed by Knight, and fell off the cliff when they retreated.
After that, the forty thousand survivors began to flee day and night in a sorry state.
In addition to leaving behind the necessary troops to ensure the safety of Kant, Knight Philip and Knight Walter Perry led the first and second divisions, totaling more than 3,000 people, to chase after the fleeing enemy from afar.
It sounded like a joke when 3,000 people chased after 40,000 people, but it really happened.
In the hills in the west of Calore, Knight Philip hurriedly ate a few mouthfuls of dry rations, then came to the middle of the army to check the arrangement of the cannons.
Specially designed horse-drawn chariots were parked in the open space in the center of the army. Soldiers ran around the chariots, fixing the chassis of each chariot and checking the small railgun.
The wheels of the chariots were reinforced with steel, and the sleeves of the wheels were welded with strong steel frames. The miniaturized "Persuader" railgun was fixed on the steel frames.
This was the "artillery chariot" designed by the lord for mobile warfare. The miniaturized "Persuader" railgun could be easily installed on the horse-drawn chariot. When it entered combat mode, the chariot's harness would be removed. At the same time, the chariot's body would be fixed to the ground with thick steel pillars. The recoil of the railgun would be buffered and transmitted to the ground through the strong steel frame and a specially designed "retractor". Relying on this exquisite design, these powerful weapons could finally be separated from their fixed turrets and become terrifying weapons that could move with the army.
And in order to ensure the operation of these artillery battle vehicles, each artillery battle vehicle was equipped with two auxiliary battle vehicles. One of them was filled with cannonballs while the other was equipped with large Magic Capacitors and Magic Nets. The former provided the ammunition while the latter provided the energy. Three of these battle vehicles would form a "Mobile Artillery Unit". And in the pursuing army, there were a total of twenty of these artillery units.
These artillery units were the source of nightmares for the nobles who were still fleeing.
These advanced and powerful weapons were already incredible equipment in the eyes of the young Knight, but Philip knew that these things were just "transitional products" in the lord's words. The legendary hero seemed to have a more powerful and incredible idea than the mobile artillery units. But for the mission at hand, those things that only existed in the imagination were not important. These magic crystal railguns were the real power of Cecil's combat corps.
The well-trained soldiers completed the construction of the artillery positions as quickly as possible and then began to wait for the commander's orders. Knight Philip looked up and saw the old Knight Walter Perry walking towards him.
"The sentinel saw smoke. The enemy is at the predetermined position."
The old Knight from Kant reported meticulously. He then looked at the artillery units with awe. Philip looked up at the sun in the sky and silently estimated the time.
A few minutes later, the young Knight said softly, "They should have started eating."
Then he turned his head and ordered the messengers nearby, "Start firing, three volleys!"
Upon receiving the order, the gunners pulled the lever of the cannons one after another. Accompanied by a series of air explosions and sharp whistling sounds, twenty Magic Crystal Rail Shells that were wrapped in a pale green radiance of magic had already rushed out of the cannons with a destructive momentum, drawing faint arcs in the clear sky.
Continuous huge explosions began to come from afar. The explosions happened far away from the smoke, but everyone knew that the nobles were scared out of their wits by the cannoneers. Even if the cannoneers landed a thousand meters away from them, they would immediately flee when they heard the sound.
After three volleys, the artillery positions stopped firing, and the messengers ran around the positions to deliver new orders. "Chariots ready!" "Light infantry first battalion, second battalion, move out!" "Grenade throwers, move out with the chariots!"
The well-trained first battalion of Cecil immediately began to carry out the orders, and the second battalion from Kant was infected by the atmosphere and also moved out. Walter Perry looked at Knight Philip with a look of admiration. "I didn't expect you to be so experienced in battle at such a young age. Are all Cecil people so good at fighting?"
Knight Philip showed an uneasy smile on his face. The old knight's praise was a little awkward to him. "This … In fact, I was just following the orders and hints of the lord. I didn't expect these methods to be so useful."
As he said this, Philip couldn't help but recall the orders given to him by Gwen.
After the battle, pursue the fleeing nobles' allied army, continuously pursue them, and use long-range light artillery and continuous harassment to exhaust the enemy to the limit. Tail the allied army along the way and attack every station they stopped at, try to drive them out of the station before they could get supplies, and use the enemy's food supply as the source of their own food. If possible, open the granaries of every noble along the way, except for the rations for the troops, distribute all the food to the nearby residents in the name of Cecil. The well-trained and well-equipped first battalion of Cecil would be the main force, followed by the second battalion of Kant. They would capture enemy captives and send them to the rear. During this process, they would exercise the strictest military control.
This would be a competition of endurance and the limit of psychological endurance. The first to collapse would inevitably be the allied army of nobles who were panicking under the sound of the cannons.
Since that decisive victory, this fated to be a long pursuit had been going on for three days. Although it was only three days, Philip felt more and more that the lord's orders were effective and … terrifying.
The lord seemed to have predicted the direction of this war, and even predicted the direction and most of the reactions of the enemy after their defeat. Cecil's army was like hunting a flock of weak sheep. In this process, the war became something that had nothing to do with honor, but there was an increasingly strong smell of blood and cruelty emerging.
As an orthodox Knight who adhered to the spirit of Knight, Philip still chose to carry out these orders. It was not only because of his loyalty, but also because of his rationality. His rationality told him that this seemingly cruel operation was actually the way to restore peace to the south as soon as possible. Only when those foolish nobles were completely defeated would he not have to launch another bombardment of Brokenstone Ridge a few years later.
As the army set out, the seemingly endless chase and escape once again played out in the vast lands of the southern border. Equipped with heat ray guns, the Cecil soldiers were full of energy and fighting spirit as they continued to chase after the remnants of the nobles' army that were like birds startled by the twang of a bow.
After the earth-shattering bombardment three days ago, the allied army of nobles had long been scared out of their wits by the similar whistling and explosions of the cannons. In the process of fleeing, they did not spare any extra effort to think of a way to deal with it. Even if there were a few who still had the ability to think rationally, they would still be surrounded by tens of thousands of fleeing soldiers. Under such circumstances, Cecil's soldiers almost did not encounter any decent resistance from the enemy.
In the early stages of the pursuit, a few of the remnants of the nobles who still had the ability to fight had launched a counterattack. However, these troops who turned back to resist quickly became the victims of the heat ray guns. The few survivors among them became the first batch of prisoners of war for the pursuing troops. As the pursuit continued, these resistance became fewer and fewer, and more and more powerless.
Just like panic, hunger was gradually devouring the stamina and will of everyone in the noble alliance army.
In order to escape, the allied army of nobles had to abandon a large number of supplies, including most of their food. No one had thought that Cecil's people would pursue such a terrifying and ruthless pursuit. In this endless escape, they had almost exhausted all the dry rations they had brought with them. The almost endless bombardment and harassment of Cecil's people gave them no time to stop and eat normally.
The fleeing nobles tried to retreat to the high walls of Calor for shelter, but Cecil's people destroyed the walls right in front of them with 'cannons'. Then, the allied army was forced to flee to the west like a flock of sheep. They tried to get supplies from the encampments and farmsteads along the way, but the 'cannonballs' of Cecil's people would always fall on them like a shadow. After running into their farmsteads and granaries, the noble soldiers would not even have time to eat a bite of bread before they were chased to the next location in panic. Their rations would then become the rations of Cecil's people.
The fleeing nobles gradually began to understand that the Cecil's people had no intention of ending the war. They did not intend to stop and negotiate, and they did not intend to quit while they were ahead. The ancient Legend who had never followed the rules of the nobles also did not intend to follow the rules this time. This war was not a game for the nobles, and its purpose was to fight to the death.
However, the nobles who had woken up had no choice but to continue fleeing. They did not dare to stop until they died of exhaustion.
As they fled day after day, their strength and will began to hit rock bottom.
(Damn!!)
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