When they entered the conference hall, a sand table was already set up on the table.
The Regent of the Kingdom, Duke Lauen of Connet, Duke Berchemund of Bastogne, Duke Bodrick of Bordero, Duke Adehard of Lyonasser, Duke Laing of Musillon, and Duke François of Vanford were all standing together in the conference room. Seeing Laing enter, Duke Bodrick, who was the closest to Laing, greeted him, "Have you solved the problem?"
"You can say so. What's this?" Laing looked at the sand table on the table, "Aren't you going to introduce it? You're playing this in my conference room without my permission? "
"Hahaha, someone has already agreed. We all know whose words are more important in this duke's castle." Duke Lauen had already gotten rid of the gloominess brought about by the Matthew Bard Rebellion and became humorous and cheerful again. He patted Laing's shoulder and said, "It's your Suria. She agreed."
"Alright, since she agreed, I have nothing to say." Laing immediately shrugged and said that his wife was the boss. There was a burst of laughter in the conference room. It was obvious that Laing's image of a henpecked husband had already spread. "Alright, who's going to tell me about this war? Why are you all paying attention to this?"
"Let me tell you." Duke Berchemund began to talk about the Winter War, "Everything started with the death of the previous Tsar Boris Boris-Bokhar in the Great Purge Campaign and your killing of Egil Redeye."
"Hmm." The six dukes surrounded the sand table. The sand table was a topographic map of the northern part of Kislöw. The northernmost city of Kislöw was one of the three cities of Kislöw. Pullinger was located in the southernmost part of the map. North of Pullinger was the Troll Kingdom, and further north was the Mourning Mountains. Past the Mourning Mountains was Norska and the Chaos Wastelands in the north.
Kislöw's army was marked with a red flag and a red line, while Norska's Beursonlin Tribe was marked with a black flag and a black line.
"Boris Boris-Bokhar died in the Troll Kingdom north of the Rinsk River at the end of the Great Purge Campaign. This had a serious impact on Kislöw's strategy and future direction of the kingdom.. Mrs. Kiesler had already built several fortresses and castles in the north of the Trolls Kingdom near the Mourning Mountains. Tsar's death caused these important strongholds had no choice but to abandon them.. and Kislöw's borders once again had shrunk to the south of the Rinsk River," Berchemund explained, "This is a serious threat to Kislöw's defense line.. this is a serious threat to the north of the Trolls Kingdom.. Mrs. at that time.
"Laing, look. Between Prague and the Beursonlin Tribe and the Aslin Tribe in the north, there are only a few strongholds guarded by Poillé nobles. If the Barbarian Army suddenly came south, they could almost instantly reach Prague City. The Poillé and their hundred or so subordinates wouldn't be able to stop the Barbarians."
"Yes, indeed. There's no strategic depth to speak of." Laing nodded in agreement.
"Therefore, ever since Mrs. Tsar of Kislöw ascended to the throne, she had always wanted to take back the two important strongholds in the Troll Kingdom. They are Oszorsk Fortress in the center of the Troll Kingdom, and Slaghov Fortress in the north of the Troll Kingdom, near the mountain pass." Berchemund's finger pointed to the north of the Troll Kingdom.
"If we can take back these two fortresses and use them again, the Barbarian Army won't be able to reach Prague City so easily. Kislöw's strategic depth will be greatly expanded, and the north of the Linsk River will also become safe," Bodric continued. "More importantly, if we can take back these two fortresses, Kislöw will be able to open up a path to the Norsk Dwarves. The jewelry, weapons, and ores of the Lone Dragon City's Dwarves will continuously enter Kislöw and be sold to the Empire, the Knight King's Kingdom, and other places."
"I understand. Kislöw wasn't able to send out troops previously because they were restrained by the Skalinsians in the west?" Laing also laid down in front of the sand table.
"That's right. Therefore, after Egil Redeye's death, the Skalinsians took five years to recover. This gave Mrs. Kiesler time to accumulate her strength. In September of this year, under the orders of Mrs. Tsar Katarina, Marshal Voroshilov of the Kislöw Bear Cavalry led an army of more than twenty thousand equipped with firearms and cannons to take back Oszorsk Fortress and Slaghov Fortress." Berchemund continued, "Marshal Voroshilov sent out troops from Prague City in the 10th month and went straight for the Bezonlin Tribe in the north of the Troll Kingdom."
"Wait … Kislöw has more than twenty thousand troops and more than twenty thousand casualties?" Laing suddenly realized that something was wrong.
"Don't be anxious. Let us introduce the course of this war first." Berchemund coughed a few times and gestured for Laing to listen first.
After receiving orders from Mrs. Tsar Katarina, Marshal Voroshilov immediately began to gather a large army in Prague City. Moreover, he immediately set off in the 10th month. It could be said that he was in a hurry. According to Laun and François's speculations, one of the reasons was that Marshal Voroshilov was in a hurry to make contributions. After all, after the great purge, he didn't have any more contributions to show and didn't serve the Empire like the Winged Cavalry. On the other hand, Kislöw's lack of resources was one of the reasons for his hurry to send out troops.
The war was divided into the first and second phases.
The first phase was from the beginning of October to the middle of November. After Marshal Voroshilov learned that the Bezonlin Tribe only had five thousand people, he took the initiative to attack. He used the Ugor Archers as scouts and the Bear Cavalry as the main offensive force to storm Oszorsk Fortress in the middle of the Troll Kingdom. The war started relatively smoothly. The vanguard formed by the Bear Cavalry quickly broke into the depths of the Troll Kingdom.
The War Chief of the Bezonlin Tribe, the Chaos Champion Olaf Simason, knew that Mrs. Kiesler was coming with a vengeance. He didn't choose to fight the powerful Bear Cavalry head-on. Instead, he used the cold environment of the Troll Kingdom to make it difficult for the Kislöw's army to advance. This was to cover the narrow mountain passes, hills, and cedar forests in the Troll Kingdom. After that, he led small groups of marauders to attack Kislöw's rear and supply lines, causing the Kislöw's army to be exhausted.
When Kislöw's army approached Oszorsk Fortress, the Bezonlin Tribe gathered a dozen barbarian tribes and formed three barbarian regiments. There were more than three thousand barbarian tribes in total to defend the fortress. Voroshilov still believed in the power of the Bear Cavalry. He sent people to cut off the Bezonlin Tribe's path of retreat and surrounded the fortress with his superior numbers. He also relied on the Empire's imported cannons and mortars to attack the fortress. However, since the barbarians knew how to hide and didn't rely on the walls to defend, the barbarians' firepower didn't have much effect.
During the month of October, the Troll Kingdom had less than five hours of daylight every day. Under the night sky, the ferocious and violent barbarians immediately used the Evil God's blessing and the dangerous environment to launch a counterattack. The low temperature, strong winds, and snow brought a severe test. No matter how tenacious Mrs. Kiesler was, she couldn't compete with the barbarians who had lived their entire lives in the extreme cold. The barbarians could even cross ice lakes and cliffs on foot under the leadership of some Chaos Champions and Chaos Warriors. Kislöw's supply lines were constantly attacked and harassed. Several Kislöw legions were separated, surrounded, and their supplies were cut off. They lacked food and clothing, and countless of them died from the cold or starvation. In just a month, they lost nearly ten thousand men. After paying a huge price, they only managed to reclaim Oszorsk Fortress. Marshal Voroshilov was forced to turn to local defense and ask for reinforcements.
The war had entered its second phase.
His request for reinforcements was quickly answered by Prague. Kislöw sent another ten thousand men from Prague as reinforcements. They also brought a large number of firearms and siege weapons.
Marshal Voroshilov, who had received ten thousand reinforcements, once again gathered his troops and headed north to attack the Slaghov Fortress. After more than ten days of fierce fighting, the barbarians were forced to give up on the Slaghov Fortress due to their absolute disadvantage in numbers. They gradually retreated towards the mountain pass. At this time, Kislev's troops were completely exhausted and exhausted. Their logistics were all used up.
However, Marshal Voroshilov wasn't willing to give up. He once again sent a request for reinforcements to Tsar Katarina. Kislöw's palace sent another ten thousand reinforcements from Kislöw's capital. Tsar even sent a few ice witches and Tsar's personal guards, the Karim Guards, to join the battle.
After receiving enough reinforcements, Voroshilov led the Bear Cavalry and Ugor Mounted Archers as the vanguard. The infantry followed behind and forced their way through the Mourning Mountains to catch up with the Bell tribe on Lake Korvoze.
The two sides engaged in a fierce battle on the lake. The tenacious Mrs. Kiesler relied on the elite infantry regiment sent by Tsar Katarina and Tsar's personal guards, as well as a large number of cannons and muskets. After paying ten thousand casualties, Kislöw fought a bloody battle on the lake for an entire day. Finally, they completely defeated the remaining three thousand Bell tribe members. Apart from one to two hundred barbarians who managed to escape, the rest of the Bell tribe members were completely annihilated. Chieftain Olaf Simason was killed by a volley of muskets.
For this victory, Mrs. Kiesler paid a heavy price. Of the forty thousand troops that participated in the entire battle, less than twenty thousand were left after the battle. Marshal Voroshilov was demoted to Major General by the furious Tsar. His position as Marshal of the Bear Cavalry was taken over by General Konstantin- Rokossovsky.
"Twenty thousand. I remember that Kislöw had less than eighty thousand troops at most. They only managed to drive the barbarians back to the other side of the mountains. What a loss." After listening to the review of the battle, Laing could imagine the intensity of the battle. "The elite troops left behind by the former Tsar Boris Bokhar were almost completely wiped out in this battle."
"After this defeat, the Kingdom of Kislöw sent us and the Empire a detailed account of the battle. They also admitted the huge losses." Laing looked at the war sand table. "Obviously, this Tsar is showing weakness. She means …"
"She's asking for our support." François also frowned. "I really don't know how Kislöw managed to hold on to the two new fortresses after such heavy losses. Why would the Tsar allow this kind of military operation? Why would she send reinforcements again and again when the battle was unfavorable? In the end, it was a pyrrhic victory. "
"They lost twenty thousand men to eliminate five thousand barbarians. This battle was really stupid!" Berchemund said. "It was a completely head-on battle!"
"The reason is simple." Laing waved his hand. "Everyone, have you forgotten that Katarina is a witch, not a general. She's not good at war. You can't expect an ice witch to be as good at commanding as the military nobles of the Empire and knights like us. There are wizards who are good at war, but that's an exception. Most wizards are not good at war."
As soon as this was said, everyone nodded in agreement.
"Katarina is not like her father, Boris Bokhar, who likes to command at the frontlines. She rarely leaves the palace and likes to do research behind closed doors. This war shows that Kislöw's army's combat power is declining year by year, and it also lacks excellent commanders." Laing frowned. "Kislöw has suffered such a huge loss. This is bad news. As the northernmost country of Order in the Old World, if Kislöw falls, we and the Empire will face the threat of Chaos."
"So we're going to form a knight's army?" Laing was eager to try hearing this.
"No, there's still the Empire before us. Karl-Franz will be more anxious than us, and we're too far away from Kislöw. At least before Kislöw is attacked to the capital, it won't be our turn to act. Don't forget, this is at least a victory. Why would we send reinforcements if we win?" Laing indicated that there was no need. He was still paying close attention to the sand table. "Everyone, have you noticed that the barbarians in the north are becoming more active?"
"That's right." Duke Adahad of Lyonasser finally found an opportunity. "Now, Noska's ships are everywhere in the Chaos Sea and the Claw Sea."
"There's something wrong with the situation."
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