The Kingdom of Hicks is difficult to fight, and Claude knows this very well. But now he feels that he has to fight, because this kingdom is really disgusting. It's like a mangy dog that has set its sights on you and you give it a few kicks.
, and beat it away. But after a while, it ran over again, far away, still staring at you, making you uneasy. Maybe if you are careless, it will pounce on you and bite you.
It's too late to cry.
This is a rogue country, especially the King of the Kingdom of Hicks, King Medid III, who is even more lunatic and paranoid. You can’t say that he governs the country without justice, just because of his methods in dealing with the territorial nobles of the Kingdom of Hicks.
It's unusual. The four colonial wars consumed the strength of the territorial nobles. However, apart from being defeated and ridiculed by others, the Hicks royal family's strength was not damaged at all. So much so that Melchid III could act arbitrarily and no one could compete with him.
.
In the northern part of the Farea continent, the Kingdom of Hicks can be called a giant country. Its area is almost as large as the Kingdom of Ovelas plus the Nasseri area. It has a population of nearly 30 million, and eight
A standing army, the surrounding countries are all vassals, and they look up to them. The kingdom is rich in mineral resources, and the refining and forging industry is very developed. In other words, the Hicks are best at mineral exploration and mining. They are born with it.
miner.
This is the reason why other countries in the Nubisian continent like to develop colonies in the coastal areas, but the Kingdom of Hicks only knows how to develop into the inland mountains. They like to mine, especially gold and silver mineral resources, and they can become huge if they get their hands on them.
The wealth. Decades of mining and excavation in the inland colonies of the Nubisian continent have caused countless gold and silver mineral resources to flow into the Kingdom of Hicks.
If other countries had spent so much military funds, lost seventeen or eight legions, and lost four colonial wars, the country's finances would have gone bankrupt long ago, and the people would riot and the royal family would perish. But the Kingdom of Hicks remains unchanged.
Generally speaking, it allowed the Hicks royal family to expand its power in the kingdom. The reasons for the failure of the colonial war were pushed to the nobles of the kingdom's territories, and they became the best scapegoats.
Then the Kingdom of Hicks intervened in the eastern part of the Farea continent. In the name of helping the Principality of Sidings and the Principality of Rimodra to regain their kingdoms, they sent troops to capture the newly occupied territory of the Kingdom of Overas and established it as the Kingdom of Hicks.
Obtained an enclave and harvested a wave of reputation. Then he formed an alliance of countries in the eastern region of the continent, targeting the Kingdom of Ovelas, and preparing to retaliate for the failure of the colonial war on the Kingdom of Ovelas itself...
.
Through the debt war between the Kingdom of Nasseri and the Kingdom of Ovelas, the Kingdom of Hicks successfully formed a coalition of countries in the Eastern Region, invaded the Kingdom of Ovelas, and occupied the royal capital. King Mechid III arrived specially.
In the royal capital, a grand military parade was held, announcing that they would eliminate the Kingdom of Ovelas and completely resolve this birthplace of war that has prevented peace and tranquility in the eastern region of Farea.
In fact, the speech of Melchid III almost became a reality. If the Kingdom of Ovilas does not receive reinforcements from the overseas autonomous territories, then maybe the Kingdom of Ovilas will really not exist. It will just be the Thunder Legion of the overseas autonomous territories.
After returning to the kingdom with the Rock Legion, the balance of the war tilted towards the Kingdom of Ovelas.
The Rock Legion captured the Great Eyes of Ambriz County, and the armies of the Kingdom of Nasseri and the Kingdom of Hicks suffered heavy losses. They retreated for hundreds of miles in one breath to stabilize their position, while the Thunder Legion retreated from Florik in the Principality of Rimodra.
The landing at the seaport swept through the Eskiline area, the enclave occupied by the Kingdom of Hicks in the eastern part of the mainland, as well as the Principality of Rimodra and the Principality of Sidings. These two principalities relied on the Kingdom of Hicks to recover.
In the face of complete destruction, the grand dukes and their families of the two principalities were all caught in the trap, and not one of them escaped.
Immediately afterwards, the Thunder Legion penetrated into the Royal City of Polyvisia of the Kingdom of Nasseri, destroyed the city, and captured the Nasseri royal family alive. A series of combined punches made the alliance army dizzy. The crisis in the rear made the frontline troops unstable. In desperation,
The Alliance army had no choice but to withdraw from the mainland of the Kingdom of Ovelas and head straight towards the Royal City of Polyvisia, intending to deal with the enemies behind them, the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion of the overseas autonomous territories...
Finally, there was the Battle of Polyvisia. The alliance army and the two legions from the overseas dominions launched a desperate battle in the Royal City of Polyvisia. As a result, although the alliance army was outnumbered, it unfortunately fell into the trap set by the enemy.
The soldiers were driven to destruction by greed. Only the commander of the alliance army, Marshal Pirag Ferriot, Duke of the North of the Kingdom of Hicks, was keenly aware that the war situation was not good, and led more than 100,000 remnants of the army.
Escaped back to the Kingdom of Hicks.
It can be said that the alliance of countries in the eastern region of the mainland formed by the Kingdom of Hicks once again became a loser in the second eastern region war with the Kingdom of Overas. The Principality of Sidings and the Principality of Rimodra were completely destroyed.
, the Kingdom of Nasseri also became the territory of the Kingdom of Orvilas, the Karnas Prairie was occupied by the Thunder Legion, the Grand Duke of Karnas ran fast, and fled with his family to the Kingdom of Hicks, and the entire eastern region was included
Established the territorial scope of the Kingdom of Ovilas.
Under normal circumstances, the Kingdom of Hicks should have signed an armistice and peace agreement with the Kingdom of Ovilas. After all, the two countries are not adjacent to each other, and there are two kingdoms separated in between. From the colonial war to the second eastern region war, Hicks Kingdom
The Kingdom of Kes is the losing party, and there is no need to continue to struggle with the Kingdom of Ovelas. As long as they are willing to admit defeat, the Kingdom of Ovelas will not make any excessive demands, and the two countries can easily end the war and reach a peace agreement.
.
But there was a paranoid King Melchid III in the Hicks Kingdom. He refused to admit that he was a loser. Even if he lost three or four standing legions and a powerful sailing fleet, he was still unwilling to take the initiative to send envoys there.
The Kingdom of Orvelas sued for peace, preferring that the state of war between the two countries continue to exist, and the stalemate continues like this.
In addition to refusing to admit defeat, Melchid III also supported Prince Vedario, the only escapee from the destroyed Kingdom of Nasseri, to become the new King of Nasseri, and Kanner, who fled to the Kingdom of Hicks.
The Grand Duke Si formed his own royal court in exile, claiming that the Second War in the Eastern Region was not over yet, and that the Hicks Kingdom would help its allies regain their country and destroy the Ovelas Kingdom...
I have to admit, this feeling is really disgusting. It's like no matter what you are doing, there is a malicious gaze staring at your back from behind or in the shadow, seeming to be looking for an opportunity to hurt you.
It's like being ruthless. Claude received some news about the Hicks Kingdom in the overseas autonomous territories. The hereditary family territories of the kingdom's nobles who were granted the title of Nasseri area were often attacked and robbed by bandits from the Menbamark Kingdom.
, behind these gangsters are the activities of Agent Hicks.
Claude originally felt a little gloating, thinking that it would not be a bad thing to have the Hicks Kingdom to add some trouble to the royal capital, so that the big guys in the royal court would not always focus on the overseas autonomous territories. Especially the king.
Frederic I used the method of granting hereditary family territories without capital and profit, and took out huge gold crowns from the nobles of the kingdom through promotion fees and land selection fees, solving the financial crisis of the kingdom in one fell swoop, which made him envious and jealous.
.
Not to mention anything else, just the 30 million gold crowns in cash collected from overseas dominions, 400,000 new rifles, 30 million rounds of ammunition, and 16 armored battleships made Claude feel extremely painful.
. But he alone could not express his objection. After all, all the members of the Overseas Dominion Parliament, the honorary nobles, and the promoted generals were satisfied with this. It can be said that a piece of hereditary family territory can be exchanged for money and materials.
The pinnacle of their lives in this life deserves the infinite admiration of future generations...
The current situation in the kingdom is very good and prosperous. With sufficient funds and less influence from the kingdom's established aristocratic families in the royal court, the prime minister of the kingdom, Marquis Blancart, has been implementing his economic plan in the kingdom with great fanfare.
One year later, the revival plan has begun to bear fruit, and there are signs of revival in the kingdom.
Therefore, Claude was happy to see the various small-scale armed conflicts that occurred on the border between the Nasseri area and the Monbamark Kingdom. Although the Nasseri area has been granted to the kingdom's territorial nobles, these territories can be used
The nobles formed family armed forces to deal with these bandit attacks. But as the king, Frederic I also needed to make decisions for the territorial nobles of his kingdom, and it was his obligation to send special envoys to negotiate with the Monbarmac Kingdom.
What Claude didn't expect was that the Dominion Military Region's wildfire plan in the eight colonies on the west coast actually attracted the attention of the paranoid King Melchid III of the Kingdom of Hicks, who sent a special envoy to contact the Hicks Volunteer Division.
.This was by no means an intolerable situation for Claude, so he could only order the two Hicks divisions to quietly withdraw to the Dominion.
Just as Claude said to General Derivic and General Xibelos, in case those Hicks Kingdom spies lurk into the overseas autonomous territories, contact the Hicks released prisoners and use the conditions to return home to reunite with their families or
If the safety of their families is used to coerce these Hicks to release prisoners, it will really bring chaos to the overseas autonomous territories...
If the two Hicks volunteer divisions are allowed to continue to implement the wildfire plan on the west coast, then if they are instigated by the special envoys sent by the Hicks Kingdom later, with the combat strength of the two Hicks volunteer divisions, they can still easily
It was easy to obtain a colony from the indigenous people. Then the Kingdom of Hicks once again sent troops to the Nubisian continent. With the nature of the paranoid King Melchid III, the overseas autonomous territories would have to fight the fifth colonial war.
.
This is the main reason why Claude is determined to solve the Kingdom of Hicks once and for all. He must completely defeat this rogue country and put another foot on it so that it can never cause trouble behind its back. Only in this way, the Kingdom
Only the local area can carry out economic construction with peace of mind, and overseas autonomous territories can continue to implement wildfire plans without worries.
For Claude, now is the best time to defeat the Kingdom of Hicks. First, the Kingdom of Hicks has just retreated from the second war in the eastern region. No matter how stubborn Melchid III is, he cannot change the eastern region.
The fact that the regional country alliance was destroyed and the participating countries were destroyed. Even though there are still two exiled royal courts in the Hicks Kingdom, trying to maintain the alliance's framework, they have lost their territory in the eastern region and are currently at a low ebb.
The second point is that the overseas autonomous territories and the Kingdom of Overas still maintain a military advantage over the Kingdom of Hicks. They are almost nearly ahead of the Hicks army in terms of advanced performance of weapons and equipment, as well as in technical and tactical training.
A gap of several decades.
A Thunder Legion can defeat the two standing legions of the Kingdom of Hicks with one against two. If Claude does not show this advantage on the battlefield as soon as possible, but waits for the Kingdom of Hicks to slowly improve its military
To catch up, that is the biggest fool...
The third advantage is that Claude now has no shortage of leading parties. The eight Hicks Returning Divisions are the best puppet troops. They do not belong to the Hicks royal family, but are the enemies of Melchid III.
Those subordinates of the territorial nobles of the Kingdom of Hicks. Now they hate Melchid III very much because he treats them as garbage and abandons them in the overseas autonomous territories. He does not care about their life and death, and even hinders and refuses them to return to the country to reunite with their families.
.
In Claude's eyes, he has regarded these more than 500,000 Hicks captives as his own. The only difficulty is how to get them to return home and willingly immigrate to overseas autonomous territories. Therefore, bringing them
They fought back to the Kingdom of Hicks, and the only best option was for them to take their families and relatives to emigrate to overseas autonomous territories.
This is a win-win situation for the overseas dominions. The overseas dominions have more new immigrants that they lack. It is not like the kingdom's mainland, which only has a thousand people a year, but millions. More than half a million Hicks prisoners
, if their families and relatives also want to immigrate to overseas autonomous territories, the number of immigrants will be at least two to three million.
Claude does not need these eight Hicks returning regiments to be the vanguard and cannon fodder, even though the Hicks prisoners in these returning regiments hate King Melchid III very much. At the same time, these eight returning regiments
The Hicks prisoners in the division also resented their original owners. The nobles of the Hicks Kingdom ignored their life and death and left them to serve in the overseas autonomous territories without being able to return home. No one came to visit them...
.
Claude only needs these eight Hicks Returning Divisions to defend these territories after the Thunder Legion captures the territory of the Hicks Kingdom. They are originally Hicks people and will not arouse the Hicks residents.
They resisted and even used their experiences to arouse the sympathy of the people of Hicks. As long as there was no trouble in the rear, the Thunder Legion in the front would naturally be able to attack forward without any scruples, becoming invincible.
On January 16, 604 in the Holy Light Calendar, Claude boarded the new flagship of the Ironclad Fleet, the Ironclad Cruiser Saint Hugh Linde, and headed for the Kingdom's mainland.
"...For our Dominion Military Region, the three elements of an armored battleship are structure, speed, and artillery fire. In this era, there is no armored battleship in the Faslan world that can compare with our Dominion Military Region. Basically,
Other countries are still at the stage of exploring how to use mechanical power to propel ships. We are already far ahead of them, so for us, the first element is how to design and manufacture iron-clad ships that are more suitable for cruising and combat, and optimize
Improving their long-distance navigation performance is the most important thing.
Regarding maritime operations, I have always believed that the speed of armored battleships is the most critical. Only with high speed can we catch up with the enemy. Even if we are at a numerical disadvantage, we can still use maritime guerrilla methods, hit and run, or assault and break through.
The enemy's fleet formation creates a chaotic situation for them, and then they are divided and surrounded, eating up the enemy's fleet one by one.
Artillery fire is also very important. This is the third element. In fact, our iron-clad battleships do not need to consider defense issues at the current stage, because the enemy's front-loading artillery hardly poses a threat to our iron-clad battleships. Unless it is that kind of
Only heavy naval guns, which fire huge solid iron projectiles, can cause certain damage to our armored warships.
As for our naval guns, judging from the current equipment situation, they are still not very good. Look at the six turrets installed in the front, one turret and one barrel. When can two barrels in one turret be fired in salvo, it will be considered a passing standard.
Of course, our naval guns are now considered the best because other countries cannot compare with us. After all, our naval guns have a range of 2,500 meters, which is already a great improvement.
..."
During this voyage, Claude and his younger brother, Admiral General Murield of the Ironclad Fleet, had been discussing the tactical issues of ironclad battleships in naval battles, as well as Claude's views and opinions on ironclad battleships.
It was only after he emptied all the inventory in his stomach that General Murray was satisfied and let him go. More than 20 years later, the retired General Murray wrote a "Summary of Naval Warfare". In the book, he
He praised Claude as the founder of a new era of naval warfare.
After sixteen days of sailing, the armored fleet appeared at Sharkou Bay outside Bailu City, the kingdom's homeland. Two armored warships came up in the distance with their whistles. In the monocular, the armored destroyer on the left was on the command deck.
, a sailor was waving two small flags of different colors in his hands.
"The flag says that Lord Blancart, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom, has been waiting in White Deer City for a long time. He welcomes Lord Claude, the Marshal of the Kingdom, to return to his hometown..." General Muriel read out the meaning of the flag.
"Why did Prime Minister Blancart come here?" Claude was a little confused: "Shouldn't the last six armored warships transferred this time be received by General Placik, the head of the Kingdom's Navy Department?"
"Obviously, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom is here for you, boss. After all, you are also the Marshal of the Kingdom. Only when he acts as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom does he appear to have equal status. As for what he wants to do, you will have to meet him to find out.
...." General Murray said with a smile.
"Damn it, I still want to go directly to Beibu Gulf..." Claude murmured in a low voice: "Forget it, let's go to port first. I'll meet him and see what he has to say."