Descending On France 1780
Chapter 103 - 097 How to solve four times the enemy quickly, efficiently, and economically

Chapter 103: 097 How to solve four times the enemy quickly, efficiently, and economically

Anning immediately ordered the vanguard to become the rearguard and bolted as soon as he realized he had entered enemy territory.

Christina, puzzled and anxious, hurriedly asked, "Why are you running so resolutely? Shouldn’t we take advantage of our recent victory and crush the enemy in one fell swoop?"

The real reason Anning turned tail and ran was that he didn’t want to face the enemy head-on without certainty of victory.

After all, his force of fewer than two thousand could handle three thousand unprepared enemy troops, but if both were prepared, the situation would be different.

However, Anning couldn’t say it so bluntly, as admitting to being cowardly would be somewhat embarrassing.

So Anning responded like this: "You don’t understand. In areas where the population supports us, they will inform us of the enemy’s movements while concealing ours from them. It’s as if the battlefield is transparent to us, but only in one direction.

"But in places where the populace tends to be conservative, the situation is reversed. So we can’t fight the enemy in areas where we lack local support."

In fact, Anning’s words weren’t his own creation, but rather he had borrowed from the summary of experiences mentioned by a great person.

After listening, Christina’s face showed admiration, "You’re actually so cautious. I apologize for my shortsightedness. But the enemy has been scared off by us, do we really need to worry about this?"

Anning: "They haven’t disappeared; they’re gathering together, huddling up. If I’m not mistaken, there should be a large number of them at the heart of the rebellion. It would be very dangerous if they caught us in open battle."

Christina chuckled: "Don’t worry, with our reconnaissance, you won’t suddenly encounter a large enemy force in the open."

Anning: "I’m counting on you."

Christina gave a thumbs up: "Leave it to me."

**

A day had passed.

Colonel Donald suddenly pulled the reins, bringing his horse to an abrupt stop.

The horse neighed, tossing its head and clattered its hooves before finally stopping.

Donald dismounted directly from the horse to carefully inspect the wheel tracks on the road.

The Captain following behind him asked in confusion, "What’s the matter, Colonel?"

"These narrower wheel tracks, what do you think they are?" the Colonel pointed to the tracks on the ground and asked.

The Captain looked down and, struggling to discern, said, "I... can’t really tell."

"It’s Artillery. Only the trails of the cannons would be this close, because cannons are narrower than the carts farmers use to transport grain. The tracks are also fresh; the enemy just left!"

The Colonel mounted his horse: "Order the troops to speed up, we’re about to catch up with them! If we can catch them before their artillery is set up, we can achieve a complete victory."

As soon as he finished speaking, his subordinate, the Captain, shouted loudly, "Colonel, look over there!"

Colonel Donald turned his head and saw a Cavalry squad circling out from the bushes in the distance.

The first two cavalrymen had no flags, but the third who turned past the bushes was carrying a tricolor flag.

Donald cursed: "Damn it! Anyway, the enemy Commander, that Noble Killer, is knowledgeable, knowing to disperse Cavalry for reconnaissance."

The Cavalry squad that came from behind the bushes also halted their advance upon seeing the army on this side, and the lead rider stood up on his horse, straightened his back, and looked toward them.

The subordinate, a Captain, asked, "They don’t have many people; a few of us on horseback could go and wipe them out."

"Don’t be foolish, although they are just a bunch of young ladies, but at the end of the day, they have trained under Briena’s Cavalry, and they showed no mercy while cutting down our forces outside the apple orchards," the Colonel shook his head.

By then, the small Cavalry unit in the distance had turned around and was running back along the way they came without looking back.

The Colonel: "Now that we’ve lost the element of surprise, tell the troops to pick up the pace! March at a run! The reconnoitring cavalry won’t be too far from the main force. I reckon the enemy is only a few miles away from us. Let’s run. As long as the enemy doesn’t abandon their Artillery and baggage, we’ll definitely catch up!"

**

Moments earlier, Christina had ridden past the edge of the shrubbery, and as she turned her horse’s head, she saw a troop marching in the distance.

"Oh my God." She muttered, gathering the reins to halt her horse.

The female cavalry behind her pulled the reins as well, causing a momentary chaos in the cavalry squad.

Christina stopped her horse, stood up on her saddle, straightened herself, and raised her monocular.

"Christina, what should we do?" her subordinate asked nervously, "The enemy is in marching formation, if we charge now we could reap great results!"

"You’re insane! Right now, the key is to immediately bring back the intelligence. Andy’s main force hasn’t gone far yet, and they still have those cumbersome cannon carts! If the enemy starts to accelerate now, they’ll quickly catch up!"

After saying that, Christina stood up while pulling the reins, turned the horse’s head, and then whipped the horse on the backside.

The horse immediately broke into a run.

With expert skill, Christina stood on the saddle and spurred the horse into a gallop.

The other cavalry followed suit, retreating at full speed.

**

"Andy!"

Anning heard a shout from behind, turned to look, and saw Christina standing on the saddle, riding a horse at full gallop like a modern-day jockey, her body almost parallel to the horse’s to reduce wind resistance.

But because Christina had such a muscular chest, this position made her figure stand out prominently, enough so that Anning noticed the flash of white from a great distance.

— Wow, that’s really big.

Anning thought, utterly lacking any sense of urgency.

Then at that moment, Christina shouted, "The enemy isn’t far from here!"

Anning was completely dumbfounded.

What the hell, I noticed as soon as we entered enemy territory and turned tail to run immediately, so how did the enemy catch up after a whole day?

Are the enemy really that fast?

At this time, hearing the approaching enemy, the marching column got a bit disorderly, many stopped and, holding their guns, looked at Anning.

Seeing the situation, Anning simply raised one hand and shouted, "Everyone, halt!"

Lieutenant Russell immediately echoed, "Halt!"

The non-commissioned officers relayed the command: "Halt!"

The troops stopped.

Anning turned his horse around to meet Christina.

When Christina stopped her horse in front of him, it was running so wildly that it reared up, striking the same pose as Napoleon in that famous painting.

"Where’s the enemy?" Anning asked.

"They are in the direction we came from, gallop for about twenty minutes and you’ll see them."

Anning gaped, "Isn’t that very close then? Clarice should have spotted them when she set off in the morning, why wasn’t it until your departure that they were discovered?"

"I don’t know, maybe Clarice and her team have been captured." Christina swallowed hard, "What do we do?"

Anning scratched his head, looking back at his own troops.

-- The troops included artillery, moving with cannons and ammunition wagons, they definitely couldn’t escape.

It seems that this fight was inevitable.

"How many of them are there?" Anning asked.

"I don’t know, I saw their marching column was very long, if I compare it to our marching column... there might be six thousand."

Anning: "Six thousand?"

Excluding the cavalry and artillery, the infantry on his side only numbered one and a half thousand, a fourfold difference in force.

Including artillery and cavalry, a threefold difference.

At this instant, Anning really wanted to abandon the troops and flee with Christina since they had horses.

But if he fled now, the reputation he had built up over time would be gone.

However, without fleeing, there was the glaring issue of the disparity in forces.

If his troops were Napoleon’s veteran Guards from the later periods, they could try taking on four to one relying on high morale to hold their ground.

The problem was his troops, who were just a mob barely better than rabble.

Even the non-commissioned officers had been hastily promoted from rank and file just before deployment.

Anning clicked his tongue.

Having no clear strategy, he thought to check the terrain, perhaps the terrain could turn decay into magic.

He straightened his body and surveyed the terrain around him.

Speaking of which, Anning always found the terrain vaguely familiar.

-- Right, it reminded him of the badass map from the game "Hell on Earth" in Normandy, with low shrubs forming hedgerows and terrible lines of sight.

Is the French Plain really all this kind of terrain?

Anning recalled the scenes of fighting in Hell on Earth, where he liked playing as a machine gunner, laying on the ground and spraying bullets through the hedgerow, killing a lot of Allied forces...

Hmm?

Anning turned his head to look at the stretch of road where his large unit had stopped for a rest, next to it was just a hedge made up of shrubs.

Christina patted Anning on the shoulder: "Say something, what do we do? The enemy will be here soon!"

Anning: "Dear Christina, what do you think is the simplest method to take on six thousand enemies with one and a half thousand?"

Christina looked bewildered: "Huh? You’re asking me?"

Anning smiled, by now he had completely lost his panic, even leisurely dropping his gaze to glance at Christina’s pectorals--really impressive, nine years ago she used to be able to pass for a man, now how has she become so buff?

Christina was desperate: "Why are you looking at my chest? What’s the time now!"

"Don’t rush, did you think about my question just now?"

"I didn’t get it, you tell me."

"You’ll understand once you see me perform." Saying this, Anning turned around and gave orders to the Artillery, "Artillery, move the ammunition wagons and the Cannons forward, to the edge of the shrubbery, drop them in the middle of the road."

Christina: "Are you planning to abandon the baggage and run away?"

"How could that be, these cannons are my treasures, I would not give up on them. All infantry, get into the bushes! Hide behind the shrubbery, all of you lie down, don’t let anyone see you, stand when you hear the order to rise! Also, check your muskets, make sure they’re all loaded and ready to fire at any time!"

Christina opened her mouth wide: "You’re preparing to..."

Anning interrupted her: "You have a mission too, take the girls and double back, maintain visual contact with the enemy, keep moving in the distance from the enemy’s line of sight. Go now!"

Christina smiled: "Yes!"