The two groups of people passed each other on the dirt road in an endless stream, heading in completely opposite directions.
Those heading west were civilians with their families. Most of them walked, and some had carriages. Those heading east toward Monroe were neat soldiers, wearing helmets and leather armor. Carrying spears and shields. Along with them were horse-drawn and ox-carts transporting various grain and supplies.
There were about a thousand soldiers in total, and the residents who passed by them in a long queue looked at these people with complicated expressions.
On the one hand, having dispatched such a large force to Monro, the "Magician" must have been doomed this time. But on the other hand, Monroe is their home. With such an army heading there, people always feel that there will be something uneasy. Coupled with more and more complicated situations, no one can give a simple and clear answer to whether he can still go home, and whether everything will change after he returns home.
The sound of dense footsteps echoed endlessly. Because of their complicated mood, only a very few people among the residents noticed the existence of the magician among the soldiers, but they only glanced at it.
The number of mages accompanying the army was very small, not to mention they were just apprentices. Even the number of court mages enshrined by the royal family was pitifully small for the poor Krant. At this time, not only the chief mage but also the rest of the people were sent out, which shows that Xilin They attach great importance to the fact that Duke Monroe wants to rebel.
It's already the end of March.
As the evidence was unearthed, Hermann applied for more and more troops, and finally launched a large-scale operation.
With the caravanserai serving as a temporary command post as the central point, the troops dispatched by Hermann quickly spread to every place around. The patrol team increased from one to five, with elite soldiers leading the way and ordinary soldiers following. Patrol officers are also equipped with an elemental mage apprentice.
The patrol troops surrounded them heavily. All the residents who were willing to leave Monroe had left. The remaining people were still staying in their homes. Herman sent patrol troops to guard the area for their safety. streets.
Everything in the daily life of the remaining residents was under the control of the Knights of the Royal Crant Family, and there were all kinds of heavily armed soldiers everywhere. In just three days, the city was fundamentally transformed into a military-controlled city-state.
A document from the Crant royal family directly disbanded Monroe's ordinary soldiers. Those who lost their jobs had no choice but to return to their fields and return to nearby villages and towns to become ordinary farmers - this is the case for ordinary soldiers, but Monroe The Grand Duke's own elite soldiers, however, could not be deprived of him.
Their number is only slightly less than all the members of the Guards who came from Xilin. But the Duke of Monroe's family made a big mistake - they dispersed their troops in many places throughout the city-state, as if they were too late to react. After everything was ready, Herman directly launched In order to attack, they took advantage of local superior forces and captured these elite soldiers in one fell swoop.
There was no need to fight to the death. With Krant's royal title and overwhelming advantage, they directly defeated the scattered elite soldiers of the Duke's family and disarmed and arrested them.
Bloodshed occurred only in a few areas. Most sensible people chose to surrender directly.
In order to prevent these prisoners from initiating feedback, Hermann ordered a group of soldiers to escort them directly to Xilin. In cities where the Knights of the Guard are headquartered and controlled by the royal family's own army, their control is stronger.
And most importantly, he wanted to use all his remaining troops in the upcoming decisive battle.
The Duke of Monroe's Palace seemed to be asleep and had no reaction to his actions. The elite troops that had been reduced by 60% only had a small amount of strength left. The steady Herman led the army and finally came. Arriving at the Duke's Palace.
The opponent's effective strength has been reduced to this level, but Herman still refuses to rest assured. While he was requesting more troops for support in the direction of Xilin, he was encircling the troops into a circle from all directions step by step, wary of the opponent's attack step by step while shrinking his encirclement.
The Grand Master's advance was very slow. He ordered his soldiers to be alert to the opponent's attacks at all times, but in the face of such a deadly weapon as the wizard's interference spell, even such vigilance was still of no avail.
The bonfire was swaying slowly, and the dozens of soldiers stationed on the North City Avenue were enjoying their dinner while talking and laughing.
Sentinels holding longbows stood on the second-floor terraces of the nearby houses that were now empty, standing guard. It was obviously not feasible to dig a hole in the middle of the stone road to set up a boiler. Fortunately, the nearby houses also had stoves, which they brought with them. The cutlery soldiers cooked meals directly in the residents' homes. Bonfires lit everywhere on the road illuminated the entire nearby area, and the equipment was placed nearby casually. Because the weather was getting hotter, they didn't even wear armor or helmets.
They were having dinner when the attackers arrived. Wooden and earthenware pots and pans were simply discarded on the ground.
The first thing that sounded was the sharp sound of the copper whistle from the mouth of the sentry above. A group of more than a dozen Monroe elite soldiers wearing half-body armor ran straight over from the avenue. They held spears and shields in their hands and moved in a dense manner. The array is combined together.
The crooked roads in Monroe City provided them with convenience. But it is precisely because of this that Herman deployed sentries to guard high places. The sentries immediately opened their long bows, but the elite soldiers equipped with armor raised their shields and immediately fired the bows and arrows in their hands. Lost its effect.
"Ding - Cang -" Even the fastest archer can only shoot two or three arrows in this situation before the opponent rushes past him. Fortunately, the well-trained sentry blew the whistle before opening his long arrow. Bow, so the soldiers below reacted immediately, dropped the tableware still containing hot meals, picked up their equipment, and charged forward.
- Herman made a mistake.
He spread his soldiers out too hastily.
The ordinary soldiers on Xilin's side are no different from those on Monroe's side. They are just civilians recruited. Most of these soldiers are young people with little education. I want to become an elite soldier or a knight's squire through training in this meagerly paid army formed by lords.
They had only been here for a few days before they were sent to besiege. Even though Herman had equipped each brigade with magicians and experienced elite soldiers, what he did not realize was that these lower-level soldiers and elite soldiers also had magic. The teachers are not all the same.
Just as the Duke of Monroe's family regards the lives of their elite soldiers as nothing, these mage apprentices and elite soldiers, whose status is higher than the low-level soldiers who are no different from farmers, also look down on them. Although this was partly due to the laziness and undiscipline of these junior soldiers, ultimately it may have been a sense of superiority that was at play.
Because the number of people was too large, Herman did not tell everyone personally. He just hoped that the elite soldiers and court mage apprentices who knew these issues would take the initiative to explain them, but the class concept deeply rooted in their bones made these people feel tired of even fighting alongside them, let alone getting close to them.
So when these soldiers picked up their weapons and hurriedly attacked, they thought they were dealing with them. Just ordinary elite soldiers.
"Drink-ah!" The spear accurately penetrated from the upper edge of the round shield. The junior soldier tried hard to lift the shield to block it, but this action made the opponent's spear attack trajectory increase. It stabbed his unprotected forehead.
"Whoa!" Although the force was not enough to penetrate the skull directly, the pain and the blood that flowed out and disturbed his vision still made him panic. It was at this time that another elite soldier next to him was decisive again. A thrust from the ground pierced his throat.
"Uh-huh..." The first fallen soldier who loosened his shield didn't attract anyone's attention. Knowing that their side had the advantage in numbers, the Xilin soldiers loosely picked up their shields and roared. slogans rushed up. Monroe's elite soldiers noticed all this, and they immediately formed a shield wall at an extremely high speed.
"Click, click, click, click, click!" The shields with black paint formed a solid wall. At the same time, everyone lowered their center of gravity. The cylinder sentries on both sides opened their bows and shot arrows at them, but the Monroe soldiers wearing half-body armor did not receive any attacks. harm.
Long arrows with black tail feathers were stuck on the surface of the shield. Four of the dozen or so elite Monroe soldiers raised their spears and threw them at the archers on both sides. "Pfft - wow." One of the archers dodged them, while the other was hit in the lower abdomen and then screamed and fell to the ground lifeless.
"Qiang——!" The Monroe soldiers who lost their spears pulled out the armed swords from their waists and scattered them to the sides to form the flanks. All of this was completed at the same time during the march, and the front door formed a shield wall with the spears held flat. Luo's elite soldiers collided with their opponents fiercely.
"Wow!" The inferior quality and lack of experience of the lower-level soldiers caused fatal injuries in this situation. Many people subconsciously retracted their entire bodies because the bright spears were stabbing them. Some people He even directly raised his shield above his head and faced the impact of the shield wall of neat and powerful elite soldiers under such circumstances——
They just collapsed.
"Pfft-"
"Kacha - Dangqiang -" The spear thrust out fiercely caused many people to fall to the ground. The hot blood mixed with the gradually cooling dinner. Several soldiers rolled their eyes and fell to the ground. But with the advantage in numbers, they finally reacted. Many people tried to fight back powerfully. The spears thrust from all directions directly killed two elite soldiers. The Monroe elite soldiers on the flanks dropped the heavy shields in their hands. He started to fight in with a sword in one hand, blood splattered everywhere, but the elite soldiers of the royal capital and the mage apprentices who heard the sound from behind arrived belatedly at this time.
"Fireball!" The huge fireball flashed from behind and directly hit the shield wall of Monroe's elite soldiers. The result of the flames hitting the wood is self-evident. Monroe's elite soldiers were forced to abandon their shields. At this time, they had The spear was basically broken and broken.
"Boom--boom!" A few elite Monroe soldiers with undamaged spears threw them at the mage apprentices coming forward. Under the chaos, these well-trained veterans still performed as well as they should. Two fell to the side and one was about to hit, but fortunately the elite soldiers from the Royal Guards stepped forward to stop it.
The spear, which was several times heavier than the arrow, pierced the wooden shield heavily. The structural damage and excess weight made the shield useless. The elite soldier threw it away, then strode forward and put the shield in his hand. The spear was thrown.
"Crack Clang——" Although it is full of force. But the spear that hit the iron breastplate only made a dent in it. The elite soldiers and mage apprentices who were turned around by the staggered opponent wanted to run over and wanted to rush forward to join the battlefield, but But it was never possible because of the confusion.
"Kill! They are dying!!" The soldiers crowded closer and closer, many of them dropped their shields, and the ground was full of debris. Although they paid more than twice the price, Xi's numbers had an overwhelming advantage. Soldier Lin directly killed more than half of Monroe's elite soldiers. They try to take advantage of the victory in order to gain credit and improve themselves.
He had to draw his sword, but bad luck on the ever-changing battlefield was enough to kill him.
"Pfft..." The elite soldier whose throat was stabbed fell down with blood splattering on him. The poor quality of the lower-level soldiers once again had side effects at this time. just behind
But the other party stopped. The few remaining elite soldiers looked at each other and then took out a black bag from their pockets.
"Shasha—" Under the swaying firelight, they opened the seal of the bag and poured out the black sand-like substance inside. Then a black bracelet with a soft light was taken out and put on the wrist.
"Uh-huh -" A strong suction force immediately emerged from the place where it touched the skin, and these elite soldiers felt as if someone was desperately extracting their own blood.
The mage apprentices and the elite soldiers of the royal family's personal guards behind them who had not seen all this were still pushing forward hard. The lower-level soldiers in front raised their weapons and slashed at these elite soldiers who were standing still - they did not Not knowing the significance of the other party's behavior, these people saw this as an excellent opportunity, so they decisively attacked.
"Woo--" Long knives, long swords, and spears, most of which were made of wrought iron. Only a few were made of steel. The weapons were slashing at the opponent indiscriminately. Many people's attack trajectories even... Includes companions around you.
It was a chaotic mess, and various expressions could be seen on everyone's faces. Saliva and food residues were flying in the air--followed closely.
"Bang boom——!!"
The limbs were twisted and blood was everywhere.
The torn skin, broken blood vessels, and broken bones squeezed out all the liquid in the body and spewed out. All the soldiers who were squeezed too close died in an instant, including the mage apprentices and elite soldiers in the rear.
Their deaths were miserable and horrifying. Dozens of people's limbs were twisted and their expressions were ferocious. The smell of blood, feces and urine mixed with the food left on the ground looked extremely disgusting.
"Disgusting——" Archer on the second floor terrace of the house on the street covered his chest and started to vomit.
"Pap-pap-pap-" The vomit fell on the masonry ground. He looked at several Monroe elite soldiers in horror, and one of them turned back to look at him.
"No, no! Don't kill me!!" The archer shouted loudly and ran towards the inside.
"Uh-ah" But several Monroe elite soldiers in the middle of the street fell to the ground the moment he turned around.
Their pupils were wide open and showed signs of severe congestion. The blood flowing out of the corners of their eyes, nostrils and ears seemed to be attracted by the ring and flowed towards the left hand wearing the bracelet.
The fire flickered, and this was just one place that had been attacked. (To be continued.)
