On the third Monday of September, the battle for Besancon began.
More than 2,200 soldiers of the Liberation Army's forward corps, left-wing corps, and right-wing corps attacked simultaneously from the upper, middle and lower routes east of Besançon, clearing the five castles and fortresses outside the city of Besançon; at the same time, the Longxia Army of the Chinese Imperial Guard also departed from the Black Iron Castle and went south to directly attack the basic and important strongholds from the Black Iron Castle to Besançon.
The old and new factions, which were in conflict, friction and testing each other, fell into a melee in one day.
In the national war with the Swabians a few years ago, the Count of Burgundy invested only 2,000 troops (excluding handymen) in addition to the standing border corps in the east. However, this battle of successors set off a melee of 5,000 troops (including 3,000 new troops) in one day.
The two count provinces of East and West plus the count of Longxia belonging to Flanders, and the territory of less than three provinces was able to piece together an army of 5,000, which was considered to be an exhaustive effort.
It is not difficult to understand that this is the opening battle of the succession war, and it can also determine the outcome. Since Robert and Flanders each announced the establishment of a palace as the heirs of the Iron Throne, Codor, Lucesne, the autonomous cities of the county, and the direct fiefdoms of the marquis have all chosen neutrality. Even the Principality of Burgundy and several surrounding principalities have declared that this battle is a civil war in the Principality of Burgundy, and have expressed their inconvenience to intervene.
However, any fool can see that all forces are waiting and watching. They need to wait for the old and new forces to show their strength before they take a stand. Of course, they will stand on the side with the upper hand. It is precisely for this reason that the old and new factions tried their best in the opening battle. In order to gain a strength advantage over the Western Army, Flanders and Baldwin even removed one-third of their elite troops from the Eastern Border Army stationed on the Eastern border to defend the Swabians to join the Liberation Army.
· The war broke out, and Art's treatment slowly "heated up" under the flames of war.
On the third Thursday of September, which was the third day of the battle for Besancon, the Wells Army received an order from the central command camp of the Liberation Army. The Wells Army would detour to the Lucese border, sneak into the south of Besançon from the border and attack several castles on the southern line of Besançon, forming a north-south pincer attack with the Longchal Army to reduce the pressure on the eastern attacking army.
After receiving the order, the Wells Army quickly prepared. While letting the adjutants Odo and Angus lead a group of officers to discuss the march route and simulate the battle progress and tactics, they took the baggage officer Spencer to Bomdalem to ask for weapons, armor and baggage provisions from the Chinese army command camp. Although the Liberation Army was not rich in weapons and equipment, Art, with the mentality of taking as much as he could ask for, prepared weapons and armor for thirty soldiers and 3,500 pounds of shelled wheat.
The Welsh Army has completed its war preparations in two days. After being "idle" for more than twenty days, the Welsh Army is finally going to the war zone. The army is also excited. This group of people is used to war. It feels really uncomfortable to watch others fight while being a soldier behind them.
At noon of the same day, Art handed over the city of Saint Lyon to a conscripted peasant soldier from Bomdalem, and then led all the Welsh Army southward. They would go southwest from the southern city of Vaal, following the mountainous border line of Lucesne and detour south of Besançon.
However, three days later, the Welsh Army's commanding camp messengers, who had just set off from Vaal City with two cavalry chasing from Bomdalem, intercepted Yate.
An urgent letter was delivered to Art. After opening the letter, Art glanced at it and immediately ordered the army to turn around immediately and return to Bomdalem...
...
Just when the Liberation Army began to launch a fierce offensive on the outer defenses of Besancon City, five northern castles and fortresses on the eastern border of Jona Province, including Wallonia Castle, were suddenly attacked. It was the Swabians who raided these border towns. They captured two castles in one day, and the villages and manors near the remaining three castles and fortresses were also ravaged by war. The eastern border, which had just recovered after the last war with Swabia, was once again massacred by foreign enemies. Most of the people stationed at the border were peasant soldiers who were subject to conscription and private soldiers of local lords (most of the elite border troops were transferred to the Liberation Army to participate in the battle for Besançon).
Swabia's invasion of the border was too sudden, and the Jonah court and the Liberation Army were caught off guard.
While the warning horses from all over the East were pouring into the city of Bomledam, the commander-in-chief of the Liberation Army, Flanders, was personally directing the frontline troops to fight, and the commander-in-chief, Earl Baldwin, was somewhat at a loss after receiving the order.
The three-pronged regiment of the Liberation Army, which has been engaged in a fierce battle with the Western Army, cannot escape. Once they lose power on the battlefield of Besancon, they may lose the support of the entire world. Those "neutral parties" who are waiting eagerly will inevitably tend to the court of Besancon.
But the Province of Jonah is not only the border of the County of Burgundy, but also the direct territory of Count Baldwin. He cannot sit back and watch the fall of the Province of Jonah. Once the Province of Jonah is occupied by the Swabians, the Liberation Army who has lost its backup area will also be drained of everything.
In times of great difficulty, Flanders and Baldwin thought of the Welsh Army, which had not yet gone far.
Bomledame, a city depleted by the battle for Besançon.
Last month, the city where a large number of troops gathered suddenly turned into an "empty city". Except for the 200 guards belonging to the command camp of the Liberation Army, less than 100 city defenders, and the labor convoys that collected grain, grass and baggage from the hinterland of Yona Province, there were not many troops visible here. They were all food scraps, bonfire ashes, tattered clothes, and excrement and urine beaches left behind after the army left...
The Welsh Legion was still on its way back to Bomledam, and Art led the guards to drive back first. As soon as he entered the city, he was called to the city lord's hall by Earl Baldwin's bodyguard.
In the official room of Lord Bomledam's hall, Art met Earl Baldwin, who looked haggard, thin, and had a gray beard.
Baldwin has aged a lot. Since the bloody incident at the funeral of the Marquis of Ivrea, and since Baldwin left Besançon, he has been under high stress and fatigue.
It turns out that although you are the deputy prime minister and military deputy minister of the country, you still have the marquis and the prime minister holding the sky above you, and you have all the important ministers in the palace beside you. Below you also have deputy ministers, officials and governors of various places. Although the affairs are complicated, you can handle them with ease. Even during the national war with the Swabians a few years ago, he did not feel physically or mentally exhausted.
However, when Flanders announced that he would move the county court to the city of Jonah, Baldwin became the one who was pushed to the forefront. He needed to manage the palace, take care of the territory, and negotiate with external forces. The most important thing was that he was responsible for recruiting soldiers to train the army, collecting food and baggage, formulating battle plans, and personally commanding the army to fight.
The old bald man with a broad body turned into the lean old man in front of him with a tired face.
As soon as Art entered the door, he knelt down and saluted Baldwin who was standing in front of the terrain map.
Baldwin turned around and raised his hand to signal Art to stand up, "Art, Lord Flanders set off overnight to the Principality of Burgundy to seek rescue last night. I think you just asked and heard the guard give you a general introduction to the crisis in the east."
Baldwin pointed to the terrain map hanging on the wall, "Look, the Liberation Army has been trapped in a war situation and cannot escape. It is impossible for us to transfer the troops in the Besançon theater back to the east to aid the east, otherwise we may lose the battle. After my discussion with Mr. Flanders, I plan to transfer the Wells Army to the east to rescue the border troops and resist the Swabians. Are you willing to lead the army to fight?" Baldwin said "Flanders" very seriously, and Art's previous guess was not unreasonable.
"The Wells Army is at the disposal of the two adults!" Art immediately expressed his stance, his tone was firm, without any hesitation.
Baldwin raised his head and stared into Art's eyes. Art focused his gaze on the forehead between Baldwin's eyes, and the two of them "looked at each other" for ten heartbeats.
"Very good!" Baldwin's eyes suddenly became much warmer, and his tone became softer.
Baldwin took a few steps forward and led Art to the terrain map, pointing to the area around the city of Besançon where many heraldic maps had been pasted. "In less than a week, the surrounding area of Besançon has turned into a purgatory, and the enemy and us have been stalemate on the front line of a hundred miles from north to south. Damn it, the forward army lost more than a hundred elite soldiers in yesterday's battle alone. A small castle that the left wing army occupied the day before was taken back by the enemy early this morning. The right wing army also suffered heavy casualties when its attack on the northern front was blocked. I really can't send you more men~"
Hunter heard what Baldwin wanted, not only would he not send men, but he also wanted to draw some men from the Welsh Army to fill the frontline theater.
Sure enough, Baldwin whispered, "I was wondering if I could divert some of your army to stay in the Western Front theater." The voice was very low, and perhaps even Baldwin himself was a little embarrassed.
Att didn’t express his position anymore, he just lowered his head in deep thought.
"Don't worry, I only leave half of the infantry, and the remaining troops do not need to be sent to the war zone. They only need to take over from the Waal City garrison to garrison in the south to prevent the enemy from attacking our southern pass. The first regiment of the Jonah Army garrisoned in Waal City will be sent to the forward army to fight." Baldwin only planned to let the Wells Army replace the Waal City garrison to garrison and defend.
"I will transport enough food, grass and baggage to Vaal City, and the lord's army around Vaal City can also be commanded and dispatched by the legion commander you left behind."
“Sir, if I have 600 men in my hands, I can barely resist in the east for a while. If you leave half of my infantry, how can I withstand the offensive of the Swabian army?” Swabia is not a small border county; A principality with strong national power would always have one or two thousand troops even if it did not declare a full-scale war on the Count of Burgundy. It was a fact that the remaining half of the infantry and cavalry crossbowmen of the Welsh Army could not stop the enemy's offensive. This was a fact that went without thinking.
Obviously, Baldwin had been prepared. He turned around and took out a piece of parchment from the official desk that was not yet dry, and handed it to Art's hand.
“This is a letter of appointment that I give you in the name of Prime Minister of the Yona Palace, Minister of Military Affairs, and Guardian of the Yona Province and the Eastern Territory. You were originally the Eastern Military Adjutant of the Burgundy Palace, and could take charge of the post of adjutant of the legion during war. From now on, Art Wood Wells is officially appointed as the Yona Provincial Border Military Officer and the Commander-in-Chief of the Yona Provincial Border Legion, with jurisdiction over the military and political affairs of the Yona Provincial Border Legion and the nine forts and twelve fortresses in the two border counties of Yona Province.”
At first glance, this letter of appointment may give rise to the illusion that it will be upgraded several levels in a row and that it will lead to a powerful person. However, if you take a closer look, you will find that it is just a hollow carrot.
The so-called Border Military Officer of Yona Province is a military position that has never appeared. In other words, it is a newly born military position. Its source of power is the temporary authorization of the feudal lord;
The so-called Commander-in-Chief of the Border Army of Yona Province is an air-like existence, and its current total strength is half of the Welsh Army; In other words, more than 20 castles and fortresses in the two counties in the eastern part of Yona Province are under the jurisdiction of lords and town governors. There are also various county soldiers and private soldiers stationed in the local areas. The power to collect grain, grass, baggage and taxes belongs to the Yona court. You can guess with your toes how much authority this kind of control over military and political affairs has.
"Of course, you need to recruit your own troops for the Yona border army. I will order the Yona court to immediately allocate 150,000 pfennigs for military pay from the internal funds and gradually supply eight hundred people with two months of food, grass and baggage. As for weapons and armor, I can squeeze out 300 sets of infantry equipment for you from arsenals across the eastern border. You have to rely on yourself for the rest."
"Two months! I need you to resist in the Eastern Territory for two months. After two months, I will definitely send troops back to support the Eastern Territory."
Baldwin saw that Art was just listening quietly without saying a word. He also knew that such a difficult task and such simple conditions were absolutely not equivalent. He walked behind the official desk again, leaned over and opened the drawer under the wooden desk, carefully took out a piece of exquisite parchment inlaid with gold wire, raised it and said with a smile: "I know it is too difficult for you to lead two or three hundred soldiers to resist the Swabian army, but As long as you can hold on to the Eastern Territory and come back alive, this document of pre-appointment of Viscount will become a document of pre-appointment of Viscount."
It is a document of pre-appointment of Viscount of the Frontier signed by both Flanders and Baldwin.