Colonel Bode Gates looked at the battlefield with his eyebrows locked.

The smoke screen released by the enemy before the battle was already blown away by the wind. Looking down from the top of the church bell tower, bridges, villages, roads, fields, gushing smoke, flashing fire, spears hanging with pieces of meat and blood foam, and frightened horses dragging the rider's body to run wildly... Every detail of the battlefield was exposed nakedly.

The sound of gunfire was endless, and the messengers who were on standby in the stairwell could not help but be curious. They stood on tiptoe and looked out on the window.

Through the smoke of gunpowder, he saw thousands of human beings being placed in a fold of the vast land, fighting with sacrificiality, amazing—but that's all.

In Bord Gates' eyes, the battlefield is a book that is spread out.

By identifying the flag, observing the color of clothes, and even distinguishing the differences between cavalry hats and feathers, he outlined lines along the spear tips and hooves, separated the two intertwined and mixed troops, abstracting the bloody battles of tens of thousands of soldiers into offense and defense between a few square arrays.

The colonel carefully evaluated the strength and morale of each phalanx, and calmly deduced the battle trend and enemy strategies.

Standing on the top of the bell tower and looking north, five light brown squares scattered in a row on the golden fields, pushing forward fiercely.

The left wing of the coalition forces, which had retreated to avoid artillery, took the initiative to fight. The five square formations of Leiqun County and Bianjiang County were also arranged in a single line, and moved forward quickly under the guidance of Skur Mecklen's silver border flag.

In the North Division battlefield where the two armies faced head-on, the battle began in a traditional way:

The hedgehog-like square formation kept approaching each other. While the distance between the two sides was shortened, streams of white smoke emerged from the inside of the spikes - the musketeers retreating into the inside of the square formation were shooting; the cavalry of the two armies with similar costumes circled around the "hedgehog" and fought like snakes. Both sides spared no effort to drive the opponent away from the battlefield, and at the same time tried their best to lure the opponent to the side of the "hedgehog".

Some were injured, driven away, or panic, and cavalry kept falling into the slowly narrowing gap between the "heedgehogs" and the "heedgehogs", and were shot to death by people and horses.

Colonel Bode turned his sight to the hills on the other side of the battlefield in the north, and the cannons set up there had been turned around the guns to aim at the left wing of the coalition forces.

Among the crowd of gunners with chest and back exposed, Colonel Bode easily found the commander of the enemy artillery. The artillery officer in the uniform of the school officer seemed to notice the colonel's gaze, turned around and looked at the church tower, taking off his hat from afar.

Colonel Bode quickly sieved all artillery officers with major rank or above in the old Paratu Army system, but never could identify the other party's identity.

Combined with the enemy situation report sent by Winters Montane this morning, the colonel has made a judgment - if the other party is not a captain promoted after the Battle of the Great Wilderness, then he must also come from the United Republic of the Eighteen Provinces, which is "focused on friendly countries".

Bode felt a stinging pain, no matter how many excuses he made, from the moment the United Provincial soldiers appeared on the battlefield, the civil war was no longer limited to Paratu, but essentially became a civil war of the alliance.

The colonel saw the six-sided horse-patterned battle flag flying in front of the artillery position, which meant that the enemy's right-wing commander had a squadron of infantry that had not yet been put into combat.

But even if the six hundred-man teams guarding artillery positions were added, there was always an infantry brigade of the "Reorganized New Reclamation Legion" not exposed.

Colonel Bode stared at the hills where the enemy artillery positions were located, as if he was about to penetrate the soil covered with grass and find out the truth on the other side of the ridgeline.

If he guessed correctly, the backscene of the short hill was hidden with a full squadron.

In this way, all eight infantry brigades dispatched by the "Reorganized Xinkendi Legion" appeared on the enemy's right wing.

那么中央和敌军左翼又如何?

Colonel Bode's eyes went down the hillside, and he turned his eyes to the center of the battlefield:

On the river bank opposite the village, the flags of the brigades with white-bottomed cross-patterned gangs were rushing; the baggage carriages went straight to the front line along the provincial avenue, and the auxiliary soldiers and civilians unloaded small-caliber rotating cannons and a whole box of ammunition from the carriage, and then loaded the wounded into the carriage and sent back to the rear; the two infantry gangs that were retracted were reorganized, and the two infantry gangs that were in the subsequent position seemed to be ready to launch a new round of attacks.

Sanel Karoy's new land dispatched troops—the four most powerful brigades of the Grand Parliamentary Army—all members appeared in the front of the village and in the center of the battlefield.

Saner's personal flag was erected behind the front line, on the low hill at the end of the wheat field, facing Colonel Bode's flag from afar.

Colonel Bode believes that the bargaining chips he exchanged for his own body are already very cost-effective.

Although the enemy did not send heavy troops to siege Hegu Village, as long as the opponent's most elite troops were temporarily restrained, his plan would be possible.

However, Colonel Bode's most concerned battlefield was not on the front, and the enemy he cared about the most was not the Xinkendi Expeditionary Army.

The colonel turned to look south, and half of the "Sixth Legion" appeared in his sight.

Unlike the Hegu Village branch battlefield and the North branch battlefield, which have been close to each other, the South branch battlefield is extremely quiet.

On the east bank of the Wuming River, the five infantry brigades holding the "Seven Kings" military flag did not occupy the width of the battlefield as much as possible, but instead formed a strange double-line array:

Two brigades are in front and control the river bank; three brigades are in the back and are ready to fight; the three cavalry squadrons are merged into a large column, which is even more back than the infantry. There are no people on the saddle, and the riders are all off and are resting.

The formation of the "Sixth Army" shows that they have no intention of attacking, and the Baishan County troops in front of them are already on the defensive.

The musketeers on both sides shot with the river embankment as a bunker, and the water was filled with smoke. However, the right wing of the coalition forces and the left wing of the Grand Parliament Army stopped on the river bank, and no one took the initiative to cross the river.

When fierce battle broke out between Hegu Village and the North Branch battlefield, the South Branch battlefield quickly consumed the gunpowder, lead bullets and patience of the two armies during the stalemate.

Colonel Bode took a deep breath. He could see Saner's deployment clearly.

Looking at the overall situation, the enemy's right wing is mainly composed of "Reorganized Xinkendi Legion" and is equipped with three cavalry squadrons and all heavy artillery; the five infantry brigades of the enemy's "Sixth Legion" were sent to the left wing, and are equipped with the remaining three cavalry squadrons; Finally, Saner placed the four direct infantry brigades of the "Xinkendi Dispatch Army" in the center of the battlefield - the most valuable spoils, which he left for himself.

The battlefield can therefore be divided into three parts: south, north and village.

The North Branch battlefield is fighting fiercely at this moment, and the winner is still undecided; the middle section of the Hegu Village is full of corpses, and a new round of competition is about to break out; the South Branch battlefield is still in the confrontation stage, and both sides occupy one side of the river bank, and no one takes the initiative to attack.

However, the battlefields of each branch are by no means isolated islands, and Colonel Bode's sight is brought back to the vicinity:

When the "heedgehogs" crushed each other on the wheat fields in the north, a brigade on the right wing of the enemy took the opportunity to break into the connecting area between the northern division battlefield and the Hegu Village, attempting to divide the left wing and the central army of the coalition forces.

The only bridge on the river has been blown up and burned by the defenders, causing considerable trouble to the enemy unit.

The brown-clothed soldiers had to wade through the river and climbed the steep river bank with their bare hands, and the speed of crossing the river was severely slowed down.

The two hundred men who were leading the way on the west bank boldly launched a charge towards Hegu Village.

However, they were repelled by the Second Infantry Battalion of Leiqun County who retreated to Hegu Village. On the road, they dropped more than twenty bodies in the farmhouse.

Colonel Bode witnessed the soldiers of Leiqunshire who had repelled the enemy hiding behind the wall and fired guns with the brown-clothed soldiers hiding under the embankment on the other side of the avenue. A burst of unspeakable sadness surged in his heart.

If it were any captain of the former Palatou standing army, even the most mediocre one, would not defend so passively. They would definitely seize the opportunity of the enemy's offensive being frustrated, take the initiative to attack, and drive the reckless and reckless enemy off the bank.

"Go and ask Lieutenant Zoboyao!" Colonel Bode pulled up the commander and pointed at the provincial avenue outside the village with his broken arm and limbs, suppressing his anger and shouting: "Go and ask him! Ask him what he is waiting for? Wait for the enemy to arrive?!"

The messenger did not dare to be negligent, so he turned around and squeezed past another messenger in the stairwell, running down the tower "thump" with a "thump".

"Go and find Captain Luosong!" Colonel Bode pulled up another messenger and waved between the cavalry on standby in the west of the village and the enemy in the north with his broken arms: "If the enemy troops outside the village are repelled, he will send cavalry from Bianjiang County to support him, but he must not cross the river to pursue him!"

The second messenger raised his hand to salute, and disappeared at the end of the stairs in the blink of an eye.

There was another rushing footsteps under his feet, and a soldier covered in ashes and blood appeared at the opening of the floor: "Sir, Lieutenant... Lieutenant, please evacuate immediately."

Bode turned his head, his eyes stayed on the soldiers for a short time, and soon focused his attention again on the battleground of the North Branch: "Have the wounded withdrawn?"

The soldier thought for a while before he understood what the colonel was asking, and quickly replied: "I took them away. I took them away while the cannons didn't blow us up just now, and they were all loaded with a car."

"Let Lieutenant Woods stay at his post." Colonel Bode's eyes did not leave the fields north for a moment, and he replied coldly: "I will stay at my post too. Just tell him, go."

The soldier focused his attention and ran down the stairs while muttering the colonel's words.

Bode stood by the window and watched the soldiers leave the church and run towards the river bank. In a blink of an eye, he heard a series of horse hooves coming from outside the village.

Immediately afterwards, the muffled sound of "dongdongdongdongdongdongdong" sounded again at the colonel's feet.

This time, the person who climbed the bell tower was not the messenger, but a lieutenant. Compared with the messenger running between Hegu Village and the North Branch battlefield, the lieutenant's clothes were clean and tidy.

The lieutenant panted and raised his hand to salute, and he asked anxiously: "Sir! Colonel Geisa requested an attack."

Bode held the window frame and looked at the battlefield south of the village without saying a word.

The lieutenant dared not speak or even breathe heavily. He stood on the stairs, waiting for the colonel's decision.

"Strike." Colonel Bode chewed the word speechlessly, repeatedly weighing the pros and cons.

Sanel clenched his fists, but his fragile chest was exposed.

For this formation with two wings heavy and thin middle thin, all cavalry should be concentrated to launch an attack from the Hegu Village Highlands protruding from the front line. First defeat the Xinkendi dispatched troops in the middle of the battlefield, and then split the enemy's left and right wings. As long as you look for an opportunity to annihilate one wing, the other wing will be destroyed without attacking.

But the battle will never follow the plan, nor will it develop according to the wishes of the participants. It is like a crazy bull, not only struggling desperately to throw the rider off the back at all times, but also shattering the rider's knees and thighs.

"Candy, cannon, cannon..." Colonel Bode turned and looked at the artillery position in the northeast.

The emergence of cannons changed the balance of power, leaving the tactical advantage of the three-county coalition forces as the defensive party no longer exists - it is no exaggeration to say that it changed everything.

Saner set up the cannon on the hills on the other side, which was the second highest position on the battlefield, overlooking the fields to the east and north of the village.

If the coalition cavalry set out from Hegu Village and attacked the troops of the Xinken Land Dispatch Army, their flanks would be swept by hail-like shotguns; if the coalition cavalry appeared in the northern battlefield, they would also have to withstand the rain of death from the high ground across the river.

It is no exaggeration to say that before the enemy pushes the cannons onto the battlefield, the first task of the three counties coalition forces is to win; after the enemy pushes the cannons onto the battlefield, the urgent need of the three counties coalition forces becomes to destroy the cannons - before they are defeated by artillery fire.

The dilemma of every commander in history is also tormenting Bod Gates' heart.

When Sanel put heavy troops on the enemy's right wing, the "left hook" plan formulated before the war was already bankrupt.

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Even if Skur can defeat the enemy in front of him, it will be difficult for them to attack the artillery position even if the enemy's right wing retains reserved troops.

Contrary to the pre-war expectations, the left wing of the enemy army, which had only half of the "Sixth Corps", was the weakest link on the enemy's front line and the only sub-battlefield where the coalition forces could have the advantage of troops.

"Is my strategy wrong?" Bode thought over and over again in his mind: " Should we change the 'left hook' to 'right hook'?"

But when he remembered the smile at the corner of Sanel's eyes, the other party's past deceit and dangerous actions, he couldn't help but wonder: "Is there anything I overlook? Sanel's strategy is really as I have seen? Am I stepping into his trap?"

No one can give him an answer.

Because holding the lives of the soldiers of the three armies in their hands and taking them into an uncertain future is the mission of the military commander.

No one can bear this responsibility for Bod Gates, and Bod Gates must be responsible for everyone's life and death, for the victory or defeat of the battle here, and even for the earthquake and tsunami that will be caused by the outcome of the battle.

Take a wrong step and be crushed to pieces.

A loud noise came from the church bell, and the Baishan County Captain who was waiting for the order was shocked.

Colonel Bode turned around and clutched his broken arm tightly, with flames burning in his eyes.

"I have made a decision," said the colonel.

The lieutenant's boot heels subconsciously stood upright and stood upright.
Chapter completed!