Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World-Chapter 735:
TL: Rui88
Following the instructions from Lakeheart Town, Lion’s Port established a civilian armed group called the “Horn Bay Volunteer Army.”
Although it was publicly called a civilian armed group, its core land force was in fact composed of three battalions of the Alda Naval Infantry and six newly supplemented army battalions, totaling more than five thousand officers and men from Northwest Bay.
Because of the formal intervention in the Horn Bay War, and considering the possibility of future deep inland military operations, the command structure of the Horn Bay Volunteer Army was adjusted. The fleet at sea was still commanded by Fleet Admiral Quik, while the land-based military forces, including the Naval Infantry, were transferred to the command of Major General Andrew, who had been promoted from his position as commander of the former Baylding Battalion, also known as the 4th Infantry Battalion. He had arrived with the infantry battalions.
As the size of the army expanded, the Alda Army added new ranks. Senior Colonel, Major General, Lieutenant General, and General were added above the rank of Colonel. Currently, both Quik and Andrew were Major Generals.
In addition to the regular army from Northwest Bay, there were fifteen thousand local Horn Bay mercenaries serving as an auxiliary force. This mercenary force was originally established from the captured Horn Bay mercenaries from the Usurper’s War. Lakeheart Town had transported them back to Horn Bay and recruited locals to expand it to its current size.
Due to the changing situation, the mercenaries’ mission had expanded from maintaining order and protecting property to participating in combat. Their organizational structure and establishment were also changed to be identical to that of the Alda Army. To avoid holding back the regular army, their training intensity was also increased. The infantry manuals compiled by Claude and others in Crystal Shrine for the royal family’s new army provided a ready-made training template.
After assisting Fort Ness in breaking the sea blockade, the Horn Bay Volunteer Army attempted to organize an expedition to completely annihilate the retreating remnants of the Crusader Army.
However, when the soldiers of Ordo left the coastal cities and entered the interior of Horn Bay, the seemingly beautiful tropical forests suddenly revealed their ferocious and terrifying side to these guests from the north of the continent.
Vicious snakes and insects, poisonous miasma, dangerous plants… in short, the soldiers of Ordo’s difficulty in acclimatizing was greatly aggravated. Pestilence began to spread through the army. Many men suffered from vomiting and diarrhea, and even fever and unconsciousness, which severely affected their operational capabilities.
Sometimes, the power of will cannot completely overcome the difficulties of reality. General Andrew realized that his army might be consumed by the environment before they even saw the enemy. At that time, he had serious doubts about the mercenaries’ ability to fight independently. So, he withdrew the army and began acclimatization training on the edge of the forest.
At the same time, he allocated a portion of his forces to work with the navy to help the New Protestant Alliance retake the fallen coastal cities.
Attacking a city protected by thick walls from the land was difficult, even for the Alda Army equipped with cannons. Although a long siege was a good option to avoid casualties, it required a great deal of time. Therefore, the Horn Bay Volunteer Army chose a swift method for their operations against coastal cities—invading from the sea.
In the age of sail on Earth, the navy had a rule—warship cannons should not be foolish enough to engage in a duel with land-based batteries. But that did not apply here, because the Alda Navy’s opponents were not yet equipped with cannons. The active defensive equipment they could deploy at the ports was nothing more than ranged cold weapons like ballistae.
Naturally, these relatively backward “firepoints” could not stand against warship cannons that possessed advantages in both range and power. The Alda Navy sailed outside the port, adjusted their hulls, aimed their cannons, and systematically eliminated the “firepoints” one by one. Then, the Naval Infantry, rowing small boats under the cover of cannon fire, entered the port, turned the capstans to raise the chains that blocked ships from entering, which often meant the city was already theirs.
In the defensive warfare of old-era armies, if there were thick city walls for protection, the defending side could still put up a stubborn resistance. But once the city walls were breached, the morale of the defenders would immediately plummet to zero, and they would have no courage to fight in the streets. For the convenience of trade, the layout of Horn Bay’s coastal cities was often such that the port directly connected to the central urban area, with no complex obstacles in between. The defensive forces deployed there by the Crusader Army were mostly conscripted from local believers who still supported the Church. They lacked training, were poorly equipped, and because they had sided with the Crusader Army, they were viewed with suspicion by the locals. Their morale was also low. The combat effectiveness of such a group could be imagined.
It often happened that before the Naval Infantry even landed, the port’s defenders would scatter in a rout. Before long, the citizens would spontaneously tie up the officials appointed by the Crusader Army and surrender to the landing vanguard.
Overall, while the Crusader Army was busy licking its wounds, the recovery of the New Protestant Alliance’s coastal cities went relatively smoothly. Fort Ness spent nearly half a year restoring its rule over its coastal territories, finally becoming a relatively decent country again. It attempted to build a strong armed force once more, gearing up to wash away its previous shame in the next stage of the war.
The retreating Crusader Army and the Horn Bay Church and Holy See behind them were not idle.
Pope Harrington II and the high-ranking officials of the Holy See reached a consensus on the current situation. The matter of Gabella would be set aside for the time being; the priority was to extinguish the heretical fire in Horn Bay. They lifted all restrictions, and a large amount of support, including soldiers, arms, and money, arrived in Horn Bay via sea and land transport, rearming the recovering Crusader Army.
With the direct support of the Holy See, Webster, who had originally been relegated to a secondary role, was reinstated and once again took command of the Crusader Army.
Webster’s experience was quite legendary.
At the beginning of the Horn Bay War, the Crusader Army’s northern flanking strategy was met with a painful setback. In the south, the heretic army, led by the fierce Horn Bay Alliance general Basques, advanced eastward all the way to the walls of Merl Castle, not far from the City of Collins. Just as the Crusader Army and the Horn Bay Church were on the verge of collapse, the Holy See dispatched Webster to lead an army to support them. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶
He defeated the New Protestant army under Basques at Merl Castle and then pushed all the way back into the territory of the Horn Bay Alliance, the most powerful member of the New Protestant Alliance.
However, at this time, the short-sighted Horn Bay Church believed that victory was already in their grasp and advocated for splitting off a portion of the forces to attack Eton and other northern countries in order to wipe out all the heretics as quickly as possible.
The cautious Webster rejected this plan, insisting on first concentrating their forces to eliminate the Horn Bay Alliance, the ringleader of the Sacrilege Alliance. The Horn Bay Church thus held a grudge against him. After some maneuvering, they kicked Webster to a secondary role and replaced him with Edwin Cook, who had also been sent by the Holy See.
The plan to divide the forces was promoted and executed by the Horn Bay Church. Cook led half of the originally planned army to attack Fort Ness, but in the end, he failed to take it and died in a camp riot himself.
