Time flies so fast, and it’s mid-April in a blink of an eye.
Claude has currently deployed and inspected defensive positions in the northern coastal mountainous area. Since he gave the three Nikancha envoys the conditions for ceding land and paying money more than a month ago, those Nikancha envoys said that they should go back
After some discussion, there was no further news.
However, Claude was not too anxious. The first thing he did after returning to the front line was to withdraw the three local garrison regiments originally deployed in key positions in the eastern frontier mountains, so that the eastern mountainous border reached the Nikancha country.
The territory is unimpeded all the way.
In addition, Claude also gave an order to General Buechlin to take three withdrawn local garrison regiments and one division of the Rock Army to continue inward along the defensive front in the middle of the northern mountainous area.
Three defensive fronts were built on the mainland, which almost separated a large area from the eastern mountainous area to the inland territory of the Nikancha people country, and set up a solid defense line like a copper wall and an iron wall for the Vibato Port Direct Territory behind it.
During this period, it was not that there were no neighboring Nikancha settlements coming to protest and seek benefits. It was just that General Bichklin went against the friendly and tolerant attitude towards the Nikancha people in the last war and ordered all Nikanchas close to the defensive line to be moved.
The Nikancha people were driven away, and no Nikancha people were allowed to stay within two hundred meters of the perimeter of the defensive line.
The first time he fired a warning shot, the second time he shot at the ground, and the third time he shot directly to death. There was a nearby Nikancha settlement that probably got a lot of benefits in the transportation of logistics supplies in the past, and this time was no exception. They wanted to rely on
To get away with it, or because they wanted to bet that General Beachlin would not dare to actually order the shooting, more than a hundred young men and women gathered and walked towards the defensive position in the name of protest.
The men shouted that this is the land of our settlement, and you cannot build anything here! The women flirted and seduced the soldiers on guard in the trenches. However, after the first two gunshots, no one was injured, so these Nikancha men and women
Mistakenly thinking that it was just to scare them, they became even more arrogant. Then, none of them really could go back...
...We want to declare war...We want revenge...Hand over the murderer...The Nikancha people are really going to explode. They have gathered together.
Thousands of Nikancha people who saw a settlement stayed obediently two hundred meters away. They even drew a line with lime powder to prevent them from accidentally crossing the line when they were emotional. Then they stood outside the white line and shouted slogans loudly.
, protesting the massacre of their brothers and sisters by garrison soldiers in defensive positions.
In order to avoid another conflict with the troops in the war zone, the leaders and elders of the settlements did not even allow the protesting crowd to carry any weapons, whether it was muskets, their primitive bows and arrows, spears, or daggers and handaxes.
As a result, the angry and bare-handed Nikancha protestors could only grab some rocks and branches from the ground and throw them...
"General, we, the Nikancha people, raise the most severe protest against you! Not only did you forcibly occupy our territory, but you also shot and killed our innocent people! You must make the most sincere apology to us, the Nikancha people.
Apologize, compensate for the losses, and punish the murderer! Otherwise, we Nikancha people will reserve the right to retaliate and terminate our alliance with your directly governed war zone!"
The two Nikancha elders who came in a hurry to deal with this tragedy were frothing in front of Claude and waved their arms angrily to vent their indignation.
"Wait, did you make a mistake?" Claude was surprised: "When did our direct territorial war zone and you Nikancha people still maintain an alliance? Why didn't I know? It wasn't after the last war.
Has it been lifted? This time it is true that we deliberately invaded your territory to build a defensive front, but this is an active defense to resist the coming Hicks and has nothing to do with you Nikancha people.
If you are here to declare war, then I am very happy. There is no need to reserve the right to retaliate. You can directly organize tens of thousands of people to attack our defensive front to see if there are any shortcomings. I promise not to take the initiative to counterattack.
, will not capture more territory. I believe you also know that it is useless to occupy more of your territory now. We only need to defend the small area of the front, and you will be fine if you don't get close."
"That's our land, and you let your soldiers kill hundreds of us!" Claude's downplaying attitude completely angered the two Nikancha elders, the shorter one
The Nikancha elders roared loudly.
"Bang!" Claude also slapped his palm on the table angrily: "Nonsense! Where are the hundreds of people? There are only eighty-four! Do you Nikancha people count like this? Next time
Will the number increase to thousands, and next time I will massacre tens of thousands of you Nikancha people? It’s not that we didn’t warn them, but they just didn’t listen. They deserved to be shot!
I know that is the land of you Nikancha people, but our directly controlled war zone is only temporarily borrowed. Anyway, in two or three months, this territory will be of no use to you Nikancha people. The Eastern Front
There is no one in the large area in the mountainous area. Since you have given up the land there, why bother with us about this small piece of land that we have seized.
Sometimes I really don’t understand what you Nikancha people think. To be honest, the three standing legions of the Hicks will arrive in a few days. How can you still have the time to argue with us about such a trivial matter? If I were you
, it will allow those energetic protestors to go to the eastern frontier mountains to prepare to resist the Hicks' attack, and maybe it will allow you to live for ten and a half days longer.
You go, we did occupy your territory, but this is to protect the demesne behind us from the Hicks, so we don't care whether it is a mistake or aggression, whether we will become your enemy
.If you want to declare war, then declare war. For the sake of our past friendship, I still treat you as friends and will avenge you in the future."
The two Nikancha elders left in dejection, without declaring war or making any big talk of revenge. They also knew very well that they could never get back the territory behind the defensive line occupied by the war zone, and Claude did not
They don't care if they have one more enemy, but the Nikancha people know that if they declare war with the war zone, they won't even have an ally...
"The conditions you set for the Nikancha people are too harsh." General Bichklin next to him said with emotion: "Not only do you want them to cede such a large piece of territory, but you also ask them to pay two million gold crowns. If I
You are their commander. I would rather fight for my life with the Hicks than agree to your request. There are five million Nikancha people, even if they are ten to one, they can kill the Hicks..."
"They don't have the courage." General Albert, who was sitting on the chair, commented sharply: "Otherwise they would not have proposed handing over the two areas of the northern coastal mountainous area and the eastern frontier mountainous area to our theater.
Isn't it just that they want us in the theater to withstand the Hicks' attack for them? If you don't even have the courage to go into battle to defend yourself against the enemy, don't act like a big-tailed wolf in front of us.
In fact, I am praying to the Nikancha people not to agree to Claude's conditions. If they do not agree to Claude's conditions at the last moment, it will be the most beneficial to the war zone. As Claude said, the Hicks people came from the eastern mountainous area.
They drove straight into the inland territory of the Nikancha people, burned, killed, looted, and committed all kinds of evil. Finally, the Hicks destroyed the country of the Nikancha people. We then sent troops to eliminate the Hicks and occupied the Nikancha country.
Territory, that's what we call real development..."
Claude smiled bitterly: "I was just trying to scare the Nikancha people. If such a war situation were to be more unfavorable to us, cutting off food routes is just our wishful thinking. Five million Nikancha people, I hope
As long as the Xiks attack those Nikancha settlements, they will be able to harvest enough military rations. Even if they just eat potatoes, the Siks will be able to provide food to the enemy without the need for rear transportation.
Another is that the inland territory occupied by the Nikancha people is too large. Once the Hicks enter, we will lose the initiative on the battlefield. The advantage of the Hicks is that they have several times more troops than us.
Such a large territory is enough for them to make strategic arrangements and adjustments to deal with the surprise night attack launched by us sending troops deep inside.
The large territory is both an advantage and a disadvantage for us. The advantage is that our infiltration troops have enough space to move and are not easily surrounded by the enemy. The disadvantage is that we cannot occupy the enemy's base for rest and recuperation. The real calculation of this large territory is
We need clean and hygienic drinking water sources, camps for soldiers to rest and relax, and we also need to ensure the supply of logistical military supplies...
If I were a Hicks, then as long as I defended the settlements of the Nikanchas and the former mineral development bases of the Hicks, it would be enough to deal with the troops we sneaked in. Because the more troops we sneak in, the more troops we can sneak in.
This means that the greater the difficulties we encounter. Small troops cannot capture the enemy's camp, and more troops will bring more problems. Such a natural environment can completely drag down our morale and the physical health of our soldiers, and increase our losses greatly.
trouble."
General Albert Lund and General Beach Green can fully understand the meaning of what Claude said. No army can fight against the harsh natural environment while fighting an enemy who is waiting for work and still win.
Of course, the legendary army that carried out the 25,000-mile Long March in Claude's previous life cannot be counted. It was an army that had never appeared in human history, and it was the greatest army. Why?
It's no exaggeration to boast.
Of course, the two generals didn't know what Claude was thinking at this moment. What they lamented was that the inland territory of the Nikancha country was too large and remote. However, the Hicks had enough advantages.
The military strength can completely garrison those key points with heavy troops and occupy important water sources. If the troops sneaking into the night raid cannot have clean water sources, it will bring inexplicable diseases, injuries and attrition to the troops.
The water source used will reduce the energy of the soldiers, increase fatigue, and affect combat efficiency...
So despite Claude's indifferent appearance in front of the Nikancha people, when the Hicks actually come, there is no need for the Nikancha people to cede territory and pocket rewards. Claude will still command his troops to stick to the northern coast.
Mountainous areas and eastern mountainous areas. The reason is very simple. The terrain in these two places is no more suitable for blocking. The main reason why Claude opened his mouth wide is to scare the Nikancha people and see if he can get
What's the benefit?
"It would be great if we could occupy the territory of the Nikancha people. It would be enough to add four direct territories to our war zone, as well as so many gold and silver mines. It is a pity that such a resource-rich place is occupied by these Nikancha people.
It can produce gold and silver mines worth seven to eight million every year!" General Albert muttered unwillingly.
This was just General Albert’s opinion. Claude didn’t think so. He drank some red tea and said: “If our war zone really occupies the territory of the Nikancha people, it will be very bad for our war zone.
.There are indeed many gold and silver mines there, but the real shortage in our war zone now is not gold and silver, but human resources.
Even though we relocated more than two million family members and relatives of legionnaires in the two direct territories of Cromwell and Beringana, the combined population of the nine overseas territories is only over 4.8 million.
With the exception of the Amphiston Direct Territory, the other seven territories have about 30,000 to 400,000 people. Except for a few concentrated towns, most of the territory has not been developed.
Nowadays, the war zone's economy is developing rapidly, but it is very short of manpower. And we are facing a war. In addition, the war zone has established a reserve army. More than one-third of the young people of the right age in the entire war zone have been conscripted into the army. This has actually been
It is a dangerous critical number, which is likely to affect the stable development of the war zone economy.
Everyone has a chance to get rich overnight. If we occupy the territory of the Nikancha people, people who want to dig gold and silver mines to get rich will flock in. When the war zone arrives, no one will plant food and herd cattle and sheep.
If we open a workshop, we may be like the previous inland colonies of the Hicks, where all daily necessities and military supplies must be imported from outside.
From then on, the war zone will no longer be so peaceful. What can we do if we have too much gold and silver? We can’t eat it or use it. Using it to buy supplies will only lead to skyrocketing prices. Moreover, the relationship between our war zone and the kingdom’s mainland has not yet been clarified.
That is another big trouble. This gold and silver will only bring us trouble, and may even become evidence to frame us.
Having the resource-rich territory of the Nikancha people will only attract more wolves to us. Our Thunder Legion and Rock Legion will even become a thorn in the side of the powerful people in the royal capital. They will do everything possible to control these two
The legion protects their plans to make a fortune. In the end, the final winner will force us to capture slaves to mine like the nobles of the Kingdom of Hicks, in order to reduce costs and bring greater profits.
Therefore, I would rather this territory be in the hands of the Nikancha people. If we need gold and silver, we can exchange it with the Nikancha people with the products of the direct jurisdictions in our war zone. This is tantamount to letting the Nikancha people mine it for us in disguise.
Gold and silver mines. If the Nikancha people agree to the conditions I proposed, then from now on this Nikancha country will only border on our war zone.
No matter what kind of transactions the Nikancha people want to make, they can only do it with our war zone. We can definitely obtain stable and lucrative profits from them. This is better than if we occupy their territory and organize our own manpower or let those directly under the direct jurisdiction do what they do.
People who dream of getting rich come to dig for gold and silver with less trouble and worry..."
This is what Claude really thinks. Occupying the territory of the Nikancha people is harmful to the war zone. There is already a lack of manpower. If this territory is added to attract people from the direct jurisdiction to dig gold and silver mines, it will be more difficult to farm and herd sheep.
Who will do it? If you don’t let people mine, then why occupy this territory if you have enough to eat? Keeping these Nikancha people will allow the products of each direct-controlled territory under the jurisdiction of the war zone to have a product dumping ground, the war zone
You can also buy and sell in it and make huge profits, which can completely cover all military expenditures. Why not...
Because Claude mentioned the relationship between the territorial war zone and the kingdom's mainland, both General Albert and General Beach Kerin sighed in unison. If the trip goes smoothly, Colonel Boquear will already be taking that one with him.
The guards of the squadron arrived at the royal capital escorting the gifts presented to the king from the war zone, and they didn't know what kind of explanation Prince Widrik, oh no, King Sterling XI would give to the war zone.
On April 19, the 593rd year of the Holy Light Calendar, the Sea King Fleet and the United Fleet of the Hicks Kingdom were delayed for three days, and the Hicks Kingdom promised to deliver supplies to the Hicks Kingdom for free every year during the five-year lease period.
The two fleets of the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands escorted countless ocean-going transport ships and finally arrived at the Rodex Bay Colony.
The last three standing legions of the Hicks Kingdom have also arrived. This is the biggest war test for all the officers and soldiers in the directly-administered war zone and Claude. Because they are facing the seven standing legions of the Hicks Kingdom.
With more than 400,000 troops, this is the enemy with the largest number of troops they have ever encountered...