Chapter 67: The So-Called Trench

Following the order issued by the Emperor of the Song Empire, the Blue Shirt Army stationed in the Franconia Plain and the Fornibo region had to rack their brains to arrange defensive fortifications.

Many people might wonder why those individuals in the era of line infantry combat seemed so brainless and refused to dig trenches.

They would stubbornly stand straight and face each other in a mutual exchange of gunfire, entrusting their lives to God—oh, in this world, to the God of Light; the dwarves entrusted theirs to the God of War; and as for the Elf Empire, they had a bit too many gods, so we won't go through them one by one...

Could it really be that much fun to stand and shoot at each other for your life?

Actually, it was not as terrifying as it looked. To be honest, the casualty rates of line infantry combat were truly small potatoes compared to the First and Second World Wars.

However, this merely showed that those soldiers, driven by strict whip-training, possessed the courage to exchange fire face-to-face. What truly prevented officers and soldiers from coming up with the idea of digging trenches was primarily the firing range of the muskets of that era, and of course, the fact that muzzle-loaders of the time required soldiers to stand up to reload.

Since the maximum range of a flintlock was a pathetic hundred meters at best, beyond that distance even God himself had no idea where the bullets were flying!

Imagine if the effective firepower coverage was only a hundred meters—oh, artillery had a longer range, but that miserably small number of guns could never hold a frontline!

With a firepower coverage of a mere hundred meters, the enemy could easily strike from your flanks where there were no trenches, or from the rear—there would always be a direction without trenches, after all. You couldn't possibly dig a circular trench and enclose yourself within it... That would simply make things easier for the enemy; once they surrounded you, all they had to do was wait for you to starve to death!

Ah, and trenches were actually nothing more than pits. In an era where dense formations were necessary to generate destructive power in charges, crawling out of a pit and forming up for a charge—how on earth could you possibly reform into a dense formation?

Even the most elite troops would need several minutes to reorganize their lines. And during that exact window of time, the enemy would have already unleashed who knows how many rounds of volleys...

By the time the formation was completed, the ground would basically be littered with corpses. One wonders if the soldiers back then still had the courage to charge under such circumstances?

It was as simple as that. Deep, WWI-style trenches looked very safe, but for the line infantry era—which relied on dense formations and meticulously ordered phalanxes—they were nothing short of a death sentence!

By the way, given the pathetic range of weaponry in the line infantry era, the enemy could easily charge right up and cheerfully toss explosives into the pit of a trench. They didn't need any advanced grenades; homemade bombs, the kind that could explode, were more than enough. Being blown up a few times inside a trench, no matter how small the explosive power, was more than enough to give the soldiers huddled in that cramped space a miserable time!

Therefore, the true significance of trenches could only emerge as the weapon ranges increased. Once the effective range of rifles exceeded five hundred meters, tactical flanking attacks were reduced to enveloping maneuvers by the wings; the concept of simply moving into unprotected flanks virtually ceased to exist...

Well, that era was not entirely devoid of fortifications. If one was on the defensive side, vertical trenches did exist. The so-called vertical trench meant building a breastwork in front to shield roughly two-thirds of the body. The soldiers stood behind the breastwork, and standing to reload and fire was completely unaffected. Moreover, behind them, there were no pits or ditches—just flat ground. If they couldn't hold the line and needed to flee, it was extremely convenient... ahem, ahem. What I mean is, it was extremely convenient for preserving military strength...

However, such breastworks were somewhat cumbersome for attacking forces. While they certainly gave defenders the upper hand in a shootout—with more than half of their bodies under protection—attackers could forget about it. By the time they emerged from behind a breastwork, the enemy would have already reorganized their formations, making it far better to simply stand firm and engage in traditional line infantry duels!

Ah, this was why soldiers of that era discarded cover altogether and marched in neat rows, looking just like a ceremonial honor guard, stepping up to take enemy fire!

Only those disadvantaged defenders who lacked a permanent bastion defense system would bother to dig simple breastworks or ditches (not for soldiers to crawl into, but primarily to stop cavalry charges!), and cities might feature some rudimentary barricades.

The Blue Shirt Army of the Song Empire currently found themselves in precisely this predicament.

The soldiers of the Blue Shirt Army clearly had no intention of playing the line infantry game with the enemy. Even if the troops were high in morale, the officers were acutely aware that the coming enemy was an entire nation's regular main army!

As demonstrated in the battles against the dwarven soldiers, the Blue Shirt Army was essentially a high-morale variety of... cannon fodder.

And so, the soldiers of the Blue Shirt Army transformed into engineering infantry, casting aside their flintlocks, hoisting iron shovels, and retraining as civil construction workers...

Thanks to the vastness of the Franconia Plain, there were countless places where the Blue Shirt Army needed to dig vertical trenches...

Well, truth be told, even if the Blue Shirt Army dug for the rest of their lives, they could never carve out a permanent Maginot Line. They were digging these trenches for one sole purpose: to buy time!

Yes, exactly—to buy time!

As long as the enemy wasn't completely foolish, or rather, not recklessly unafraid of death, they could easily spend a little more time bypassing those decent-looking trenches and ditches. There were roads everywhere, and taking a detour that cost a few extra days' effort was far better than brainlessly sacrificing soldiers in a desperate fight against men standing behind breastworks.

At least, that was how the Blue Shirt Army officers saw it.

They merely wanted to force the enemy to take a detour of a few extra days, stalling for time. In the end, once the enemy finished their detour, a pitched battle would still be inevitable...

After all, there weren't that many dangerous terrain features that could be defended using trenches and fortifications...

While there was still time, they had better dig as many as they could.

Ditches might not be overwhelmingly useful against infantry, but against the vanguard of ten thousand cavalrymen from the Holy Order—the very first force dispatched—the effect would undoubtedly be magnificent.

Hu Hei, purely by virtue of his military rank, naturally assumed the role of the supreme military commander of all Blue Shirt Army forces in the Franconia Plain. He had just been appointed by the Song Empire's High Command—or rather, it was just a single word from Sun Li...

At this moment, the rest of the enemy forces had not yet arrived, but that vanguard of ten thousand cavalrymen had already crossed the border and made contact with the Blue Shirt Army's reconnaissance units. The inevitable result was that the Blue Shirt Army soldiers retreated in a rout all the way back...

Without a moment's hesitation, Hu Hei ordered simple fortifications to be dug all along the mandatory route of that ten thousand strong cavalry force. Caltrops, horse-impeding obstacles, and trenches were fully supplied. If those cavalrymen wanted to launch a frontal assault—fine by him, they could obediently dismount and become infantry!

If they didn't want to launch a frontal assault, that was fine too—they could obediently spend a few extra days making a detour for his amusement!

And once the detour was completed, barring any accidents, they would run right into a second defensive line composed of more obstacles and trenches...

Then they would be forced to make the same aggravating multiple-choice question all over again...