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墨書 Inktalez
At this moment, Knight D6 was in the midst of one of the most chaotic times in nearly a thousand years. Outside Dragon Glory City, the Three Kingdoms Alliance, consisting of 1.55 million troops, was laying siege, and it was Second Prince Shangguan Junpeng who was responsible for defending Dragon Glory City. Although Shangguan Junpeng had lived in the military for many years and held a high reputation, he had never experienced war firsthand.
The largest battle he had participated in involved only a thousand-strong bandit group, which he had easily defeated with his 50,000 elite soldiers. However, the situation was different now; he was leading 550,000 imperial troops and 50,000 private soldiers against an enemy force of over 150,000.
Currently attacking was the Northern Bear Empire. The Grand Marshal of the Northern Bear Empire knew that he was the first to lay siege and had prepared thoroughly. Despite lacking blacksmiths for logistical support, he was determined to capture Dragon Glory City in the shortest time possible to maximize his country's interests.
For days, the elite forces of the Northern Bear Empire launched intense assaults for ten consecutive days. In the earlier days, they attacked twice daily, each assault lasting over three hours. Recently, however, they changed their tactics to small-scale harassment attacks. While these posed little threat to the soldiers inside Dragon Glory City, the continuous assaults left them with almost no opportunity for proper rest.
Whenever a larger number of soldiers inside Dragon Glory City attempted to rest, the Northern Bear Empire would immediately launch a large-scale assault, and on several occasions, many soldiers managed to scale the city walls. Fortunately, the defenders quickly organized a counterattack and pushed them back.
As a result, the morale of the soldiers within Dragon Glory City had plummeted, and casualties were steadily increasing.
Now, after thirteen consecutive days of attacks from the Northern Bear Empire, everything unfolded as Guo Huai had anticipated. Over these thirteen days, the Northern Bear Empire lost 150,000 troops and suffered another 100,000 wounded. This meant that they had lost a total combat capability of over 250,000 soldiers during these thirteen days; their remaining forces now numbered only 550,000, with nearly 400,000 lightly injured.
On the defending side, the Eastern Dragon Empire had also lost nearly 200,000 combatants and could now muster only 200,000 soldiers capable of continuing the defense; all others were injured.
The primary reason for injuries among Eastern Dragon Empire soldiers was due to surprise attacks from their opponents. Continuous harassment meant many soldiers could not concentrate; often they only realized an attack was underway when enemies were already at their gates. This naturally increased casualties on the defending side.
Inside a tent belonging to the Northern Bear Empire, Grand Marshal Feski and Vice Marshal Kivi were discussing siege strategies with a group of Advanced Knights. Both Grand Marshals wore furrowed brows as Feski finally spoke up: "Gentlemen, today marks our thirteenth day attacking Dragon Glory City. According to the timeline provided by the Imperial Envoy, we have two days left for our assault. Do any of you have good ideas on how we can take Dragon Glory City?"
"Grand Marshal, our troops have suffered significant casualties. Perhaps we should let our soldiers rest and leave it to those two nations," one Advanced Knight suggested worriedly.
Hearing this, Feski's eyes narrowed and his expression turned cold: "Sveil, I hope this is the last time I hear such words; otherwise I can easily execute you for demoralizing our troops."
At this moment, Vice Marshal stepped in to mediate: "Grand Marshal, please calm down. Sveil is also thinking of what’s best for the empire. However, we must remember that we are from the Northern Bear Empire; we are tough men raised in icy conditions. These injuries are nothing compared to what our enemies are facing. Therefore, we still have a chance to capture Dragon Glory City."
"Grand Marshal," said a man around forty years old. "I have a plan that may or may not work."
"Speak freely."
"Grand Marshal," he continued, "our harassment tactics have been quite successful in recent days; after several days of harassment, the Eastern Dragon Empire is on the verge of collapse. Tomorrow we should continue our harassment but make it more thorough this time. We will send out 20,000 soldiers equipped with siege ladders and battering rams each time. This way they will surely think we are preparing for an assault; we will push our soldiers just beyond their archers' range before retreating. We will repeat this throughout tomorrow until nightfall when we can secretly send soldiers under cover to their gates and fire arrows into their city to create panic while employing our daytime tactics again. This way they won’t be able to relax at all."
On the last day, we continued to employ this tactic in the morning, believing it would surely numb the enemy. By the afternoon, all the generals changed into ordinary soldiers' gear and moved forward with the troops, planning to launch a full-scale attack while they were unprepared. I thought that with our group of Advanced Knights leading the way, it should be easy to scale the walls. This way, our chances of winning this battle would be significantly increased.
After the general finished explaining his plan, everyone in the Tent fell into deep thought. Finally, Feski slammed his hand on the table and stood up: "This plan is good and can be implemented. I want to show the people of the Eastern Dragon Empire just how formidable we Northern Bears are, and I also want those fools from the Southern Tiger to see what an elite force looks like. If we can capture Dragon Glory City the day after tomorrow, I will commend you and report it truthfully to His Majesty."
"Thank you, Grand Marshal."
Following that, Feski arranged some related matters, and the soldiers of Northern Bear began to carry out continuous harassment against Dragon Glory City in batches.
For an entire day, Shangguan Junpeng stood on the city wall, unsure of when the enemy would attack or how large their forces would be. After all, the Siege Engineers in front had a ladder; as long as ten people stood together, they could quickly form a ladder that reached over the city wall.
By nightfall, Shangguan Junpeng returned to the Tent with a weary body. He didn't wash his face or eat but collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep. However, he had barely closed his eyes when an alarm sounded outside. So, Shangguan Junpeng donned his gear once more. But when he arrived at the city wall, it was eerily silent below as if no one had ever been there.
Shangguan Junpeng called over a duty Lieutenant and asked loudly, "Tell me what just happened! Why is there not a single person down there?"
The Lieutenant was startled by Shangguan Junpeng's demeanor: "Replying to Sixth Prince, many Alliance troops came earlier. However, it was too dark for us to see their numbers clearly. When they shot arrows at us, we thought they were really going to attack under cover of night, so we immediately raised the alarm."
Shangguan Junpeng had always been very kind to his soldiers and had never acted like a prince at all. However, due to lack of sleep these past few days, he was much more irritable. Still able to restrain himself, he thought about what the Lieutenant said and patted him on the shoulder:
"You did well; my attitude was poor earlier. I hope you won't take offense."
The Lieutenant immediately knelt down and said, "I dare not offend you; I dare not."
After helping the Lieutenant up, Shangguan Junpeng said, "You continue your post. If anything happens, you must raise the alarm immediately."
"Yes, Sixth Prince." The Lieutenant quickly ran back to his position.
Shangguan Junpeng looked down from the parapet again and then told a nearby general: "Send more men tonight." He then returned to sleep.
He hadn't even stepped into the tent when he saw rockets flying through the sky. Since the military camp was near the city wall, one of the rockets landed less than ten meters away from Shangguan Junpeng.
Seeing this, Shangguan Junpeng mounted his horse again and returned to the city wall. However, it became quiet once more below. This repeated throughout the night; Shangguan Junpeng hardly slept at all. The next morning, with bloodshot eyes, he stood on the city tower when a general approached him: "Sixth Prince, you didn't rest well yesterday; you should go take a break now."
Shangguan Junpeng shook his head and said, "Forget it. I've been feeling restless these past few days, as if something is about to happen. I might as well stay here and watch."
Before long, a large number of troops gathered outside again, with the Siege Engineers at the forefront. Upon seeing these soldiers assemble, the soldiers of the Eastern Dragon Empire immediately stood up, drawing their bows and aiming at the approaching enemy.
However, when they reached a safe distance for archers, they all stopped. After standing still for about twenty minutes, they shouted in unison. A few soldiers from the Eastern Dragon Empire were startled and accidentally released their arrows. Nevertheless, those soldiers did not attack but instead turned and retreated.
As soon as this wave of soldiers left, another group came up. This back-and-forth kept the soldiers on the wall in a state of high tension. After several rounds of this, the soldiers on the wall were nearing a breaking point, with many adopting an indifferent attitude towards the repeated attacks from outside.
After more than ten attempts, the attacking army from the Northern Bear Empire no longer included any Siege Engineers, which further convinced the soldiers of the Eastern Dragon Empire that their enemies were merely bluffing.
Feski sensed that the opportunity had arrived, so he placed thirty Advanced Knights into the next attacking squad while all the Siege Engineers remained at the front line. However, this time all the Siege Engineers carried half ladders on their backs; unless one looked closely, it was impossible to notice the ladders behind them. They held shields in one hand and Steel Blades in the other, appearing no different from ordinary Shield Soldiers.
When this squad returned to the battlefield, there were almost no soldiers visible at the battlements. Many soldiers had not slept well due to events from the previous night and were exhausted from several days of fatigue; numerous soldiers on the wall had already fallen asleep.
Thus, when this time the soldiers of the Northern Bear Empire approached the archers' safety zone, not a single archer came out to sound an alarm. At that moment, the generals of the Northern Bear Empire saw their chance and quietly issued commands to "charge." All Northern Bear soldiers directly crossed into bow range without shouting; their movements appeared surprisingly light. By the time the archers of the Eastern Dragon Empire noticed their actions, these Northern Bear Empire soldiers were already less than fifty meters from the wall.
In just over ten seconds, before those on the wall could react, the Siege Engineers at the front had already reached below the wall. Following closely behind them were lines of siege ladders being placed against it. Six Siege Engineers steadily held up a ladder while four others joined hands.
The actions of the Siege Engineers were extremely swift. Just as they prepared themselves, thirty individuals burst forth from among their ranks. From their weapons, it was clear that these were not ordinary soldiers. These thirty individuals were Advanced Knights from the Northern Bear Empire. They sprinted forward with weapons in hand, stepping onto the hands of four Siege Engineers in front of them and then leaping upward with one foot. The Siege Engineers below exerted themselves to throw this Advanced Knight upward. All thirty Advanced Knights were simultaneously tossed seven or eight meters high and were about to reach the wall.
At this moment, soldiers of the Eastern Dragon Empire on top of the wall were frantically trying to defend against them; however, these thirty individuals were simply beyond what ordinary soldiers could withstand. Even regular Squad Leaders would be killed by these knights within two or three exchanges.
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