"How is this possible?" Major Leedfunk jumped up from his chair. What he was holding was the success report that Claude had just sent through the carrier pigeon. It said that more than 4,000 enemies had been wiped out, and the invading Kannas
The allied forces of the territorial nobles of the Principality and the Eskiline Principality only managed to escape with hundreds of remnants. They also captured six territorial nobles, more than 200 prisoners, and captured countless... On their side, eight soldiers were sacrificed and 19 were injured.
people……
No matter who sees such a good news, it is impossible to believe it, especially Major Lederfunk. He knows very well that Claude only has three squadrons and three artillery groups that are not enough, and the total number of people is less than 170.
Ten. Although the private soldiers of the territorial nobles are not strong in combat effectiveness, the ants can kill the elephant. A regiment and a battalion have nearly 5,000 troops. Against Claude's garrison strength of less than 170 people, Led
Major Fang Ke could only pray that Claude could hold on in Squirrel Village longer. It would be a very good result to consume the logistical supplies of the coalition of nobles from the two principalities and force them to retreat.
It had only been a few days. Major Liederfunk counted on his fingers. Less than ten days later, Claude sent a good news saying that more than 4,000 enemies had been eliminated and more than 200 captured. This is really shocking.
It's unbelievable. Could it be that the territorial nobles of the two principalities came to attack with about 5,000 cattle and sheep? But even if there are more than 5,000 cattle and sheep, it is not that easy to kill more than 400 people a day with Claude's manpower.
!
After calming down, Major Leedfunk picked up the report of victory and read it carefully. Fortunately, although the pigeon communication requires that the content of the report must be concise and clear, Claude still briefly mentioned it at the end of the letter.
How did he do it? Lure the enemy into stationing in Squirrel Village, and he purchased a large number of fire starters in Squirrel Village, and then held a barbecue party...
Major Leedfunk immediately ordered the clerks and staff of the battalion, as well as the officers in charge of the gendarmerie team, to immediately lead a squadron with him to Squirrel Village. Such a great victory must be confirmed and confirmed. I believe that when the battle report reaches the top,
If you go, the higher-ups will definitely be surprised. Such a successful battle will greatly enhance the morale of the Kingdom's troops on the front line. As Claude's immediate superior, Major Liederfunk will naturally get a share of this military success.
Claude is very uncomfortable now. In fact, it is not just him, all the soldiers are the same as him, their faces are pale. Several soldiers have vomited and are unable to walk. Markchi even vowed never to eat barbecue again in his life. Stationed in the camp
There is a strange smell of meat filling the sky above Squirrel Village, which can arouse people's appetite. But for Claude and his soldiers who know the source of this meat smell, they only feel disgusted.
And want to vomit...
No one wanted to step into Squirrel Village, which had been burned to ashes. The fire in the middle of the night last night was so violent that it was beyond Claude's expectation. Especially when there was a strong wind, which helped the fire.
In addition, the territorial nobles ordered the conscripted citizens to cut down a large number of trees to make wooden carts and use the wooden carts to block the village entrance. This almost added fuel to the fire and blocked the private soldiers and conscripted citizens stationed in the village.
way of escape.
No enemy would think of Claude attacking with fire, because in the eyes of the territorial nobles, this is simply impossible. The enemies guarding Squirrel Village have retreated into their camp and built the camp like
It was a small fortress, which actually blocked their way out.
The camp is nearly a hundred meters away from Squirrel Village, with a flat open space in the middle. If the enemy wants to burn the wooden carts, they will easily be discovered by the noble private soldiers guarding the village entrance. Even if the muskets in the hands of the noble private soldiers are old-fashioned, they are not burning fires.
Enemies who come to sneak attack with sticks and random guns will never come back. For enemies with insufficient garrison strength, it is impossible for them to engage in such a loss-making business.
Claude had already set up a fire strategy in Squirrel Village. He originally wanted to use it to deal with the nobles of the Principality of Eskilen. Unexpectedly, the nobles of the Principality of Karnas were unable to move forward because they were blocked at the bend of the mountain road.
, actually joined forces with the nobles of the Eskiline Principality. This forced Claude to set up a defensive position on the hillside behind Squirrel Village to reduce the enemy's strength. Because the nobles of the two principalities joined forces, so
If more troops invaded Squirrel Village, Claude could not guarantee that his tricks in the village would not be discovered.
Fortunately, the territorial nobles decided to use wooden carts as a means of attack. During those three days, they were very busy cutting down trees to make wooden carts. Claude simply postponed the fire attack for three days. Waiting for the territorial nobles' coalition to use wooden carts.
The queue of cars blocked the entrance to the village and filled the open space in the village. In Claude's opinion, this was simply suicidal.
Using red-hot iron pellet cannonballs to attack the enemy is mostly a method used by warships in sea battles. No one would do this on land. The reason is very simple. Battleships are made of wood and use red-hot iron pellet cannonballs.
Attacking the enemy, with good luck, will set the enemy's warships on fire. However, most of the enemy's defense facilities on land are earth and stone structures. In this case, using red-hot iron pellet shells to attack the enemy is just more troublesome, and it also reduces the effectiveness of the shelling.
efficiency.
Claude used red-hot iron pellet shells to start the fire, and there was no need to send soldiers out to take risks. The intermittent bombardment that lasted for nearly half a day had already made the enemy slack, and no one would pay attention to the enemy stationed in the camp.
Attack of wooden carts. Anyway, the territorial nobles have said that even if the twenty dozen wooden carts at the entrance of the village are destroyed, the worst thing is to replace them tomorrow morning to see whether the enemy has more gunpowder or our wooden carts.
…
So in the middle of the night, most of the well-fed and well-fed aristocratic private soldiers found a shabby shack to sleep, and did not care about the shelling outside. Those who were recruited to lead the people rested early after having a full meal.
After three days of busy work, most of them were exhausted. Cutting down trees and carrying them back to Squirrel Village was not an easy job, so most of them slept deeply after taking such an early rest. After all, they all knew that they would have to attack the enemy's camp tomorrow morning. No.
Speaking of other things, the job of pushing those wooden carts forward must be those of them who were recruited as subjects.
When the first red-hot cannonball passed through the sky above Squirrel Village, the vigilant noble private soldiers only raised their heads and glanced at it, thinking that it had missed the target and wondered whether it would hit some unlucky guy behind the village. They did not
Knowing that the first few shells fired by Claude and others were aimed at the ditch and wall log fence behind the village, they were concerned about whether the enemies stationed in the camp a hundred meters ahead would come out for a sneak attack.
When the ditch behind the village and the log fence on the dilapidated wall began to burn, the noble private soldiers on guard in front of the village did not notice it. Instead, they were surprised that the shelling did not hit the wooden cart, making a familiar collision.
The sound. It was only when the fire intensified behind the village that the sleeping conscripts woke up from their dreams and began to scream: "It's on fire..." When people rushed everywhere, Claude and his artillery began to aim at the village.
They fired at the dilapidated shacks, using red-hot iron pellets and cannonballs to ignite the thatched roofs covering the shacks, spreading the fire into a single fire. Only then did the noble private soldiers and conscripted citizens stationed in Squirrel Village realize that something was wrong.
The wind was very strong at night in the mountains, and the thatch on the roofs of the shacks that were on fire fluttered in the wind, igniting more places that were not on fire. There were almost no houses made of stone in Squirrel Village. They were all shacks made of branches and broken wood.
It has been nearly two months since the rainy season in March, and there was only a small burst of rain a dozen days ago. These shacks were so dry that they almost caught fire at once. In addition, the trees were cut down to make wooden rafts.
There were large piles of sawdust and small pieces of wood left over from making wheels, as well as the wheat straw and piles of dead firewood scattered throughout the village, as well as the kerosene and gunpowder powder that Claude and the others had sprinkled three days ago.
Squirrel Village turned into a big fire in a short period of time.
It was not that the private soldiers of the nobles and the conscripted citizens had not thought about putting out the fire. They also attacked the burning places around them or doused a few burning logs with water. However, they did not expect that the wind helped the fire to spread quickly.
The entire Squirrel Village was burning. By the time they discovered that there were fires everywhere and were desperate to find a way out, it was too late. Even the twenty-odd wooden carts lined up at the entrance of the village began to burn, destroying the entire village.
People are trapped inside...
If the noble private soldiers who were on guard at the entrance of the village rushed out of the village as soon as the fire broke out, their worst end would be to become prisoners. But unfortunately, they only remembered that the enemy's camp was in front of them, and most of the village was on fire.
Under the circumstances, all I knew was to wake up my comrades in the shack in front, and run together to the back of the village, intending to leave through the back door of the village.
But the ditch and log fence outside the back door of the village were the first places to catch fire. The fire had already spread into one area and could not be rushed out. In addition, there were a large number of wooden carts lined up in the open space and headless flies seemed to be scurrying around everywhere.
The people who were recruited and the shabby shacks around them started to burn. The back of the village has become a sea of fire, and there is no way to escape.
When a large group of noble private soldiers and conscripted citizens tried to escape from the village from the front, the wooden carts lined up at the entrance of the village and in the open space also began to burn, blocking the only escape route. Those
Most of the trees that were cut down to make wooden carts emitted thick smoke, which was a fatal blow to the noble private soldiers and conscripted citizens who were trapped in the fire scene...
Claude and the others did not expect that the fire would be so violent and rapid. They could feel the heat and smoke in the air even a hundred meters away. Listening to the screams and wailing from the fire scene, everyone felt uncomfortable, but this time they
Even if I wanted to save people, I couldn't do anything. There was no way to get close to the burning Squirrel Village.
Several burning wheat straws were blown by the wind and fell to the rain shelter on the log fence of the wall. Claude quickly ordered the soldiers to get water and pour it on all the buildings, not even his own camp.
Burn.
At the same time, Claude asked Marki to lead a squadron of soldiers to dismantle the wooden rafts intercepted on the way up the mountain and lay them on several undiscovered traps on the mountain road. After the soldiers poured water over the camp,
Except for the wounded soldiers, everyone set out to attack the enemy's camp. They also brought two light infantry artillery pieces and rushed toward the enemy's camp along the mountain road.
The private soldiers of the nobles at the camp also discovered that there was a fire in Squirrel Village. The fire was so big that everyone could see it, and almost half the sky was red. Except for a few territorial nobles who couldn't wake up from hangovers,
The remaining territorial nobles and their servants and bodyguards gathered at the entrance of the camp, looking in the direction of Squirrel Village.
In addition to hurriedly sending people to find out what was going on, the frightened territorial nobles were all cursing and discussing where the fire was. Although this was the location of Squirrel Village, most of the territorial nobles
They were still lucky, thinking that the wooden carts must have accidentally caught fire or been attacked by the enemy and burned down. In their view, it didn't matter even if all the wooden carts were burned. Anyway, there were many people, so it was no big deal.
It only takes a few more days to go to the mountains to cut down trees, carry them back and rebuild the wooden cart.
Only when the noble private soldiers who went to investigate came back with nearly a hundred lucky people who had escaped from the fire, did the territorial nobles learn that the entire Squirrel Village had become a fire scene, except for these less than a hundred survivors.
After running out, more than 2,000 other people were trapped in the village. The private soldiers of the nobles who went to investigate reported that they could not get close at all, the fire was very strong, and faint cries for help and screams could be heard from the village.
…
This news was like a bolt from the blue that hit all the territorial nobles directly on the head. Several territorial nobles vomited blood and passed out. The territorial nobles who did not vomit blood also felt uncomfortable. They were lost and paralyzed on the ground without saying a word. Everyone was stunned.
Knowing that their plan to rob the three southern counties this time has been completely ruined.
Before the territorial nobles at the gate of the camp could recover, Claude and the others who came from the mountain road gave the territorial nobles of the two principalities a final blow. If it hadn't been for the wooden rafts laid on top of the big trap
The movement alerted the private soldiers of the nobles guarding the camp. Maybe Claude and the others could catch all the nobles in the territory.
It was just that when the private soldiers of the nobles discovered that the enemy guarding the camp in Squirrel Village, that is, Claude and the others were laying wooden rafts on the big trap, they still performed their duties and hurriedly pulled and dragged the desperate territorial nobles.
They were brought into the camp and kept behind closed doors.
However, when Claude and the others set up two light infantry artillery pieces directly on the mountain road to attack the log fence of the camp, the noble private group defending the camp knew that the situation was over. They concentrated all the mounts and pack horses in the camp, and sent those who had already
The territorial nobles who woke up picked up their horses, tore down the other log fence of the camp and fled...
When Claude and the others opened the gate of the camp and rushed in, they only caught dozens of servants who had not escaped, about a hundred wounded soldiers, and six territorial nobles who had missed the trip and were still hungover in their tents.