Struggle in the Steam Age

Except for the fact that Lawrence showed up when he joined the group of people from Vieques Island, Lawrence spent most of the entire journey in the cabin and worked with his subordinates on the specific design of the field hospital. So that the hospital can be established as soon as it arrives at the destination.

Although this job is not difficult, it is very complicated. After all, compared to ordinary hospitals or temporary hospitals established during the plague. The field hospital should not only consider how to facilitate medical treatment, but also take into account the issue of guarding against enemy attacks during the war.

Theoretically speaking, this field hospital is actually set up behind the battle line, and there is a defense line in front to stop the enemy's attack.

However, considering the surrounding mountainous terrain, everyone with military common sense realized that although it would be difficult for the enemy to break through directly to the field hospital with a large force, the infiltration and harassment of a small force is absolutely inevitable.

Not to mention that according to the information provided by the previous command, the territories of these targeted wilderness races are likely to have entrances and exits from the Underdark. So as long as the opponent is willing to pay the cost, it is possible to launch a short raid on the rear through the newly dug underground passage.

Although everyone present didn't think that the other party would target Lawrence's field hospital, they considered that Pine Tree Valley, where the field hospital was located, was an important transportation hub between the front line and the rear. Lawrence and the others felt that the possibility of being affected by the enemy's military operations during the war was not small.

Therefore, in addition to medical-related buildings, various defense facilities are also an indispensable part of the entire field hospital system.

Considering that the area of ​​the platform on the mountainside allocated to the field hospital is not very large, it is not too easy to accurately allocate the area of ​​each function of the field hospital.

Especially after the fleet entered the territorial waters of the White Eagle Federation, Lawrence and his wireless telegraphs received information from countless military and civilization expeditions, and when they docked for supplies, they were able to obtain more accurate information about the current situation from the local government. Announcements or news about the situation on the front line.

After collecting and summarizing this information, they have a deeper understanding of the enemies they will face after participating in this civilization expedition.

"It seems that the first step of this war has basically achieved the expected goal." After reading the summed up information, Nora quickly came to a conclusion. "The coalition forces of the civilized races have successfully broken through the enemy's defense line in the hilly plains at the foot of the mountain."

"This is expected." Lawrence replied with a slight nod after hearing what the little puppet said. "Those wilderness races may have a higher proportion of Transcendents than us, but under the cover of modern firepower, I don't think they can last long on the plains in terms of numbers and weapons."

As we all know, it is not a simple matter to develop industry, especially heavy industry. There are a series of relatively demanding requirements from population to technology. And the ability to develop high-level handicrafts at the level of those wilderness races is already the limit.

Although it is not difficult to obtain certain technical products in this world with extraordinary power, especially some extraordinary people who have mastered the ability of alchemy or magic item manufacturing can even make hand-steaming machines. But in terms of cost, it is completely uneconomical to do so.

For example, the gray dwarves can make firearms and even artillery in the manual factories in the dungeon, but each of these things is a unique product. Although these weapons are indeed better than human weapons, they basically cannot be mass-produced and popularized.

So now the main weapons of those wilderness creatures are still ancient cold weapons. Generally, only the elite troops can be equipped with various weapons and ammunition obtained through seizure, robbery or some kind of smuggling. Even so, the weapons and ammunition of those troops still lack uniformity. It is very likely that 100 people have seven or eight types of weapons.

In terms of heavy weapons, the level of these wilderness races is even worse. After all, compared with smuggling firearms, smuggling artillery is really too difficult. So even if the wilderness race is willing to spend a lot of money, they can only buy some small-caliber artillery that have been eliminated from a few powerful smugglers.

Although races like gray dwarves can also produce some cannons by hand, each of these cannons is a handicraft in the hands of those wilderness races full of craftsman spirit. Or to put it another way, no two of those guns they produced were alike.

The intelligent race has seized some of this type of artillery. Compared with human cannons, the lethality, range and accuracy of these cannons are not inferior, even under the influence of magic, there are some.

But the problem is that these cannons are far more expensive than human cannons in terms of production cost and use cost, and there is no way to equip them on a large scale.

In addition to this, each of these guns has unique ballistic characteristics. Therefore, not only does each artillery need to be equipped with its own artillery, but it is also basically impossible to fire salvos to certain places like the mass-produced artillery of humans.

In other words, it is basically impossible for the opponent to cover or cover fire like humans or other intelligent races.

This directly leads to the fact that in small-scale battles, those wilderness races may also be able to win the battle through their bodies stronger than humans and the practice of concentrating technical weapons.

However, in frontal battles on the plains where the number of people on both sides is almost the same, the wilderness race that lacks sufficient fire support basically has not won a few times since entering the era of hot weapons.

And this war is no exception. According to intelligence, although the coalition forces of humans and dwarves suffered a small loss during the outpost contact, they were even blocked by the defense line established by the wilderness race for two or three days in the hilly area of ​​the remaining mountains. But as the civilized race's heavy weapons were gradually put in place, the wilderness race had to abandon the outer line of defense and retreat to the mountains.

"I think—we are here at the right time." Looking at the summarized information, Lawrence looked at the little doll floating in front of him and said. "I think you should know that if the other party wants to fight a guerrilla war with us in a mountainous area with sufficient supplies, this war is likely to last for a long time."

"Indeed, think about the famous imperial cemetery." Nora said seriously with a small face. "Not to mention that in this early spring season, the climate in the northern mountainous areas where we will be fighting is actually no different from winter. I am worried that non-combat attrition may be more than everyone expected."

"Don't worry, I think the command should have taken this issue into consideration, because this is not the first time we have launched a civilization expedition this season." Lawrence thought for a while with a relaxed expression on his face. "For example, they prepared winter clothes and antifreeze oil for us troops who came from the south."

In fact, if the early intelligent races took the initiative to launch an attack, they often chose after the autumn harvest, and consolidated their occupation or retreated before the winter temperature dropped, so as to ensure sufficient supplies and ensure that the army would not be reduced due to the low temperature in winter.

However, with the development of industrial technology of civilized races, productivity has naturally been significantly improved. Therefore, the time for military operations is much less restricted by seasonality.

And because those wilderness races are still in the traditional production mode, they can only launch large-scale actions in late autumn. So an attack like this in winter and spring can catch them by surprise.

More importantly, this season's attack can destroy the spring plowing of the northern wilderness races, and have a long-lasting impact on these wilderness races in the second year or even longer.