Descending On France 1780
Chapter 101 - 095 After Victory

Chapter 101: 095 After Victory

At this moment, Anning encountered the same problem as when he played Mount and Blade: the knife was too short, he couldn’t reach anyone from horseback.

He charged towards the fleeing enemy with the girls, and the girls swiftly passed behind the enemy, hacking them down with ease, but as he passed behind the enemy, they continued to run as if nothing had happened.

He ran past several people from behind, but failed to bring down a single one, which finally made him furious, and he tried to knock someone down with his horse. However, the horse reared up when it was about to hit someone, almost throwing him to the ground.

Anning, still shaken, calmed his horse and watched the girls slashing wildly at the fleeing enemies, cursing, "Damn it."

If this were in Mount and Blade, he would have already picked up his usual long crescent moon knife.

Because he really couldn’t hit anyone, Anning didn’t urge his horse to gallop wildly but let it trot freely, wandering around the battlefield.

He saw the blue-clad Self-Defense Army soldiers driving the soldiers in black like herding sheep, stabbing them to death in the fields with their bayonets.

Some soldiers in black raised their hands to surrender, yet they were still stabbed to death by the enraged blue-clad soldiers.

Clearly, the sight of the hanged Patriots had filled every Self-Defense Army soldier with rage.

This was a revenge; the Self-Defense Army soldiers wanted to repay the enemy’s brutality with slaughter.

Christina and Clarice then circled back to Anning.

Christina smiled and said, "Congratulations, you’ve won a clean victory."

Anning nodded, "It’s nothing, the enemy had no Artillery or Cavalry, it was natural for us to win."

Clarice: "Although there was a slight mishap."

That slight mishap naturally referred to Anning not designating a Commander for the attack, resulting in his troops not firing before charging.

Anning: "A minor issue, we just need to improve next time."

Just then, Lieutenant Russell ran over, saluted Anning: "Captain, sir, we’ve won! We defeated an enemy far larger than us!"

Anning: "Yes, we have won, now what you need to do is to order our troops to stop chasing the enemy, regroup, and prevent anyone from straying."

"Understood, Captain, sir, I’ll regroup the troops now. Actually, many of them can’t run anymore; look, many have already stopped to rest," Russell said, pointing to nearby resting blue-clad soldiers.

"I’ve seen them. Go quickly, regroup our forces." After saying this, Anning saluted Russell, then turned to Christina, "Continue driving the enemy with the Cavalry, I need to make sure these enemies can’t regroup ever again, disperse them thoroughly!"

Christina saluted, "As you command, Captain."

After saying this, she kicked her horse’s belly and galloped towards the Cavalry nearby.

Clarice didn’t immediately follow her captain but moved her horse a few steps closer to Anning and laughed, "I can feel that Christina is very happy today, unlike us, most of us joined the army because our families couldn’t afford a dowry, but she genuinely wants to be someone like Joan."

Anning: "Joan, huh? Fitting she is the Duke of Orleans’ daughter, and indeed a maiden of Orleans."

Clarice: "It’s just a pity that she didn’t command this victory, most of the glory will go to you. Congratulations."

Anning: "I merely launched an attack at the enemy’s weakest moment."

Clarice smiled broadly, didn’t reply, but galloped towards the Cavalry.

After Clarice and the Cavalry united, Anning’s female troops turned around and continued chasing the dispersing enemy.

Anning remained where he was, watching them disappear into the distance.

At this moment, Russell ran over and reported: "Captain, sir, we found a lot of wealth on the enemies, should we seize these assets?"

Anning thought for a few seconds and made a decision: "This wealth was plundered by the enemy from the local people, we should return it to the local National Assembly. You, go get a wagon, gather all the plundered wealth and pile it on the wagon."

Russell: "What if they refuse to turn it over?"

"If they refuse, let it be. Can we really force them?" Anning replied.

We cannot hold too high expectations for the consciousness of soldiers in this timeline.

But rampant robbery, killing, and capturing of prisoners is definitely unacceptable, such a military discipline must be exceptionally poor.

So Anning’s approach is to make a show of it, telling the soldiers it is for the army, but not delve deeper.

It was also a kind of helpless compromise.

"After assembling the troops, leave one platoon to clean up the battlefield, we’ll camp in the village ahead and have a celebratory feast tonight."

**

The news of the National Guard’s great victory spread throughout the Conte Region in an instant with the fleeing soldiers.

For a time, in every tavern in the Conte Region, one or two purportedly from the Black Army defectors could be found, vividly describing the scene of the blue demons sweeping across the Church Court’s holy warriors.

"Let me tell you, they took a drug called ’Freedom Sugar’ that made them impervious to swords and guns. We kept firing, and the white smoke from the shooting clouded our vision, but they were unscathed!

"They moved through the gun smoke, pouncing on us like hungry wolves, their eyes emitting an evil red glow!"

As for the number of the Self-Defense Army, it was exaggerated more than tenfold.

"We were walking on the main road, just over a hill, when we saw flags flying everywhere, under each flag there was a camp, no, a battalion!

"Thousands of National Guards, hundreds of Cannons, when they fired, the whole earth trembled!

"And the blue Cavalry, when the Cavalry started running, the entire wilderness was filled with the sound of horse hooves!"

In a few days, the whole Conte Region knew that the main force of Paris’ National Guard had come to quell the rebellion, and small groups of Black Army scattered everywhere had all fled without a trace.

A large number of Black Army gathered around Conte City, trembling with fear.

After all, Anning’s small troop had traveled to less than twenty miles from Conte and had not encountered the Black Army.

**

That day, Anning arrived at a small village. The farmers working in the fields at the entrance of the village ran back to the village like flying upon seeing the tricolor flag.

Anning puzzled, spurred his horse forward, and was the first to enter the village.

The villagers hurriedly shut their doors, with only a half-grown boy standing by the roadside sucking on his finger.

Anning: "Child, why are people so scared?"

The child, while sucking on his finger and speaking in a babyish tone, replied: "Because One-eyed John came back, saying the demons with the tricolor flags are coming to retaliate against us. Are you a demon?"

Anning looked back at Christina who had caught up, as the captain of the Cavalry, she usually had a flag-bearer and a bugler with her.

The flag-bearer waved the gleaming tricolor flag.

"Uh, although we are flying the tricolor flag," Anning said to the child, "but we are not demons."

At this moment, a dirt-covered peasant woman wearing a patched linen dress burst out, picked up the child and ran.

The child still told his mother: "Mom, they say they are not demons..."

"Shush!" The peasant woman, frightened, looked back, "They are Patriots, we hanged a Patriot lord in our village before, they are coming for revenge!"

Saying this, the peasant woman took the child and hid in the house.

Christina: "It seems we are not welcome here."

Anning smirked, "It seems the people of this town participated in hanging the Patriots, meaning they are not Patriots. We have ventured deep into enemy territory, which is not good."

Saying this, he turned his horse around and galloped out of the village.

Christina immediately followed: "What happened?"

"We might have ventured too far in, we should retreat to the last city that supported us and play it by ear."