As a soldier, he has been on the battlefield for a long time. When he was young, he followed the emperor and distinguished himself in the war with the Belis people. In addition to his noble background, he rose in the army not slowly at his age.
If he hadn't been unruly, outspoken and often offended his colleagues, he would have become a marshal long ago.
This is a very tough guy on the battlefield and in officialdom. But this tough guy is now in trouble.
He has about 20,000 troops under his command, the most effective of which is one division with a total of 12,000 troops, called the 1st Unity Division, which has 3 infantry brigades, each with a small number of artillery and cavalry companies.
General Guante also served as the division commander himself.
In addition, there are 2 directly affiliated artillery regiments and 1 directly affiliated cavalry regiment.
This configuration was not bad for dealing with domestic rebellions. He was very confident that he would fight a big battle in San Nuve and completely eliminate the main force of the rebels.
But since November, all kinds of bad news have come.
First, newspapers accused him of failing in the battle. Instead of wiping out the rebels in the province of Saint Nuvet, he instead spread the war to Guinepoli. Of course he wanted to keep the rebels in Saint Nuvet, and then encircle and suppress the rebels in the winter.
, this plan was jointly formulated by the crown prince and senior staff, and he executed it perfectly for a time.
But the rebels were not stupid. They gave up their existing territory, jumped directly outside the encirclement, and ran a few miles away.
Of course, the accusations from public opinion are just to accuse the crown prince. Some forces are targeting the crown prince. General Schmidt does not care about politics and does not care. These matters are left to the crown prince's staff to worry about. He is only responsible for fighting the war.
The supply interval between the cabinet and the army is getting longer and longer. Although the winter in Guineapolis is not too cold for a northerner like him, some of his soldiers still wear thin uniforms to fight.
This is an unforgivable mistake. If possible, he would want those inefficient civil servants to be shot.
What is even more frightening is that a plague suddenly broke out in the army. Dysentery led to a large reduction in the number of troops and low morale in the army.
At this time, the rebels changed their tactics. They frequently sent out small troops to harass the supply lines and marching routes of the government troops. They frequently killed small groups of troops, adding up to a small amount. After a month, Schmidt had already lost a considerable amount of troops.
number of troops. Of course, most of the troops that suffered losses were auxiliary troops.
The rebels got a breather and became stronger as they fought. The wealthy Guinepolis allowed the rebels to receive a large amount of supplies. They even obtained a complete arsenal from the Guinepolis.
Unlike elsewhere, in the core areas ruled by the rebels, because they had sufficient resources, they gave local residents very generous treatment - no taxes or levies, and distributed the land of the nobility, church and rich people to the poor.
The "tempted" locals provided the rebels with ample conveniences. During the day, they were peaceful subjects of the empire, but at night they became part of the rebels.
Therefore, General Schmidt was caught in the quagmire of the security war, and if his subordinates' military discipline was slightly lax, it would often cause a bigger disturbance or even a murder.
General Schmidt realized this problem, so he could only strictly control military discipline. For this reason, he shot many of his subordinates, including several lieutenants, but the effect was not good.
Because the source of his subordinates is also very complicated. The general-level officers are basically from the Guards, and the sources of troops are from the garrison of various places. Some are local patrol police, some are local militia, and some are recruited locally.
Forcibly bringing them together inevitably caused some intrigues. Those who came from the Guards looked down on those who came from the local garrison, northerners looked down on southerners, and locals looked down on outsiders.
But General Schmidt was not a mediocre general. Although the accompanying troops could not fight a tough battle, they could still build roads and build forts. He took measures to encircle and advance layer by layer with iron walls and paid a heavy price, finally compressing the rebels in
An area of one hundred kilometers with Daguerre as the center.
It was under this situation that Sean led the Civil Defense Force to arrive at General Schmidt's base camp.
The Civil Defense Force is relatively active. It is a small but well-organized army with high morale. This is in sharp contrast to the government forces, including the so-called 1st Unity Division.
They do not have bright military uniforms, but they are definitely warm and practical. They are uniformly equipped with the new Bess 1831 rifled rifle. Because the production of this rifle cannot keep up and there is a lack of funds, the elite troops of the empire have just begun to change their equipment.
It is said to be a local militia, but it is equipped with an artillery company, and because it is equipped with enough draft horses, it can even keep up with the speed of the infantry. This is really a luxury.
General Schmidt's base camp was located in a small town called Longa. After Sean settled his troops, he brought his two main deputies, Wells and Perosa, to visit General Schmidt, including
Lieutenant Frank.
Many officers came in and out of the Longa base camp. Some of them were wearing imperial uniforms, while others were imitation military uniforms, but all of them were more ornate.
This makes the three chief officers of the Genoa Civil Defense Force more eye-catching.
At this time, General Schmidt was furious. His originally red facial skin became even redder due to his high emotion, as if he had drunk too much.
Several quartermasters were lowering their heads to accept his roar:
"A bunch of vultures, moths, where are my cannons, rifles, and gunpowder? Also, my soldiers are starving. They cannot brave the cold wind to fight the enemy on an hungry stomach. This is an insult to the warriors of the empire.
They sat in a warm room with a fireplace, threw my military report into the stove with a wave of their hands, and I will send them to a court-martial to be tried, the country's worms!"
"General, under the pressure of His Highness, the representatives of the Military Command Department promised to remove 20 field guns from other troops, as well as gunpowder for 2,000 people, as well as some military boots and military coats. But it will take time..." someone said
.
"Time, time, I don't have time to talk nonsense with these bureaucrats. What did the two old fools, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of Finance, say? There will always be arms and supplies. I hope the Crown Prince will understand the country's difficulties and overcome the difficulties together.
, and said that the counter-rebellion army must also show its due capabilities. This is so fucking ridiculous. They not only want me to fight bravely, but also tie my hands, and blame me for having to eat every day!"
The quartermasters who were being scolded did not dare to answer the question. In fact, they were just resisting the wrath of General Schmidt on behalf of the big shots in the Holy City. The general's wrath was not directed at them.
Seeing the adjutant appear at the door, Schmidt waved his hand, and the quartermasters fled as if they had been granted amnesty.
"General, His Excellency Viscount Sean Connery, Commander of the Genoa Civil Defense Force, has arrived!" the adjutant announced loudly.
"Come in!"
Schmidt came around from behind the desk and greeted him warmly.
"Report to the general!" Sean raised his hands in a military salute, "I am..."
"No, no, I know you, Viscount Sean Connery!" Schmidt said with a smile, "I have been looking forward to your arrival, otherwise I can only hear about your victory from the battle report. Sure enough, you are young
Youwei. The battle to regain Moorish City greatly improved the morale of our army and greatly reduced the arrogance of the enemy. This created favorable external conditions for our army to march to Daguerre."
Schmidt patted Sean's arm very forcefully. He spoke highly of him and showed great enthusiasm, which surprised Sean.
Sean knew a lot about General Schmidt's unique and extremely distinctive style and personality. For example, once someone had a bad relationship with him, he would have to endure his most vicious verbal attacks, just like a petty shrew.
——He doesn’t care about his identity and reputation at all.
In other words, this person is both aggressive and difficult to deal with. Some people gave him the nickname "shrew", while others said he was a "lion".
But this man is a fierce general, known for his tough fighting style. He has defeated many with less many times. He never accepts prisoners. He once organized a execution team on the battlefield and pointed the gun at the back of his own soldiers. If anyone dared to retreat,
In the last step, the execution team would shoot. Often after a battle, more people would die by their own guns than by the enemy.
This brought him mixed reviews.
Even though he was demoted several times for various things, and even almost expelled from the army once because he once called the emperor a son of a bitch to his face, Schmidt still became a general.
Such a person must never be offended.
Therefore, Sean will not be complacent because of his praise:
"Your Excellency General, the honor belongs to His Majesty and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. As a member of the empire, we Genoese just did what we should do. We are honored to be here and accept the command of a general with an outstanding record."
Sean's answer was modest and complimented Schmidt very well. Schmidt was delighted:
"Very good. I'm also looking forward to fighting side by side with you. I heard that although you only have a little more than two regiments of troops, you are well-equipped?"
Out of some considerations, Sean replied: "Report to the general, because the Genoese people are loyal to the empire and the royal family. After receiving the order from the Holy City, we scrimped on food and clothing and barely established a civil defense force. You must know that we suffered at the end of last year
Devastated by earthquakes and tsunamis.”
Schmidt's eyes moved around wildly, not knowing what he was thinking.
"Your Majesty General, please allow me to introduce to you my deputy commander, Colonel Herbert Wells, and chief of staff, Colonel Villar Perosa." Sean said.
"Your Excellency General, your humble rank is Herbert Wells!"
"Your Excellency, General, I am humbled by Villar Perosa!"
Schmidt returned the salute one by one, pointed at Franco Frank and said: "You don't have to salute me, boy of the Frank family! By the way, how many sets of pajamas do you have in your suitcase?"
Frank said awkwardly: "Two sets."
He underreported one thing.
Schmidt curled his lips and muttered. It was unclear what he was saying, but it must not be something nice.
The Frank family is a wealthy family and a major faction in the army. They have several marshals and generals, but Schmidt doesn't care about him at all, because he even dares to call the emperor a son of a bitch, which shows how unruly he is.
.
"I have arranged a dinner. The three of you and Franco must attend. I will introduce you to my colleagues by the way, because we will have a big battle next, and of course we need time to prepare. You are the last army to arrive.
, I need you to get familiar with your colleagues as soon as possible." Schmidt said.