Never mind. They're screwed anyway.
The merchant from Isgard hung up the phone, asked the hotel waiter to bring him a delicious meal, and then he quietly waited for the fleet to arrive.
At the same time, on the sea, Isgard's fleet had made effective progress.
The Aresian fleet was forced to leave the coast around Drake Harbor.
On the one hand, it was because Drake Harbor had been really peaceful recently, and the auxiliary magic released by the mages had disguised the entire Isurgard fleet to be almost the same color as the sea surface, so that no one could detect the trace of the Isurgard fleet from a distance.
On the other hand, part of the Isgardian fleet has appeared along the coast of the Aresai island nation.
They followed the example of the Arese people, flying pirate flags on the flagpoles of their ships and harassing the remote towns of the Arese people with artillery and machine guns, forcing the Arese people to send out a life-saving signal.
For Arese's outbound fleet, one side was their homeland and the other was their apparent "ally". Naturally, they chose their homeland rather than their ally, and they naturally left the coast of Drake Harbor, causing the entire Drake Harbor to almost completely become an undefended city on the sea.
This is a good thing - although the Ares did leave behind some ships for defense, those wooden-hulled ships were nothing compared to the Isgard fleet!
You can't expect some iron-hulled wooden ships that still use crossbows to pose a threat to ironclad ships using large-caliber naval guns, right? They can fight against merchant ships with their mobility, but against real iron ships and cannons? That's courting death!
"Have the mages cancel their 'disguise' and release strategic auxiliary magic such as Sky Eye - although there is a lot of mana reserves here, we must use it sparingly."
The commander of Isgard shouted loudly, looking at the port lighthouse of Drake Harbor not far away and the ships entering and leaving the port, he knew that victory was at hand.
"Once you are within engagement distance, prioritize bombing the towers facing the coast! After blowing up all the equipment on them, help the landing troops blast out a landing port leading to the inner city, and then provide reinforcements to the infantry!"
"Let the Griffin Knights take off and prepare for air support, assist the infantry in capturing locations in the city that are difficult for the fleet to support, and seize the top floor of the enemy fortress first to prepare for the subsequent "airdrop"!"
"Remember to have all the infantry protect the grenadiers. After occupying the bridgehead, immediately pull out the small artillery on the merchant ship to provide reinforcements for the next battle!"
Following the commander's orders, the Isgard fleet changed its formation in an orderly manner.
When the mage's "disguise" was over, Ishgard's surface fleet finally revealed their dark colors in the sea—
"Disguise" is the strategic magic of Ishgard. It uses the power of magic to add a protective color to one's own troops. In this way, it hinders the enemy's long-distance observation methods, and suddenly appears under their noses when they are caught off guard, and immediately launches a swift attack...
The Isgardians had achieved numerous victories in this way, and they were convinced that they could continue to achieve success against the Romans.
They were full of confidence. From the commander to the grassroots soldiers, they all believed that they could achieve the final victory.
In the distance, the Roman lighthouse noticed that an entire fleet suddenly appeared in the distance, and they rang the bell in panic to represent the invasion.
Ding-ding-ding
The sound of bells continued, and several Arese warships could be seen sailing out of the port.
They did not launch a fearless attack directly on the Ishgard fleet. They knew very well that being blocked in the port would lead to death, so their natural choice was to evacuate before the port was blocked.
But the commander of Isgard had already made preparations. Two Strider-class ironclad ships had already blocked the only way for Drake Harbor to go north or south.
Completely surrounded, the Arese wooden ships had no choice but to try to break through the defenses of one of the Shi Zui ships.
But, they are just wooden ships after all.
In the scene that the Ishgard commander saw through the "Eye of the Sky" and "Sand Table" magic, accompanied by the rumbling of cannons and explosions from the Stryker-class ironclad ships, the wooden-hulled ships that tried to bypass the Stryker blockade line finally sank.
"Thanks to the researchers! Thanks to the scholars who escaped from the Roman Empire for researching three acids and two bases for us! Thanks to the president for her huge investment in military and technology.
If scientists hadn't developed "high-explosive bombs", we might have been forced to use solid shells to try to sink wooden ships instead of blowing them up directly."
The Ishgard commander shrugged as he looked at the wooden ship in the sandbox that was shattered to pieces by the explosion of high-explosive bombs.
After that, he clearly saw the overall defense layout of Drake Harbor through the "Eye in the Sky", and immediately ordered all ironclad ships to launch rounds of artillery fire at the towers of the coastal city walls.
While the Griffin Knights were in the air, the Commander of Ishgard used the "sand table" to confirm the landing point for the ironclad's artillery fire.
After half an hour of indiscriminate bombardment and confirming that all the city defense facilities on the towers had been destroyed, he ordered the infantry to begin landing and ordered the ironclad ships to blast at least three gaps for the infantry to advance.
"Street fighting... I just hope our losses in street fighting can be less."
He looked solemnly at the red dots on the sand table, representing the dense distribution of Roman troops in the inner city.
Ishgard's naval guns cannot provide support to the infantry without destroying the buildings in the city, and the various facilities in the city are the basic guarantee for the Ishgard colonial army for a long time to come... So the street fighting can only rely on the efforts of the infantry.
The commander watched as more and more landing craft were dropped from the merchant ships. He watched as the landing craft quickly bypassed the iron ropes raised in the port, and watched as the shells, which were faster than the landing craft, hit the city wall in the distance.
Looking at the shattered gaps in the coastal walls, and then at the body parts that flew into the sky with the explosion, he shook his head and sighed:
"The Romans have torn down all their foundations. Now, they are finished."
…
"We're screwed! How can we possibly fight those enemies?!"
In the inner city of Drake Harbor, Barney, the current garrison leader of Drake Harbor, was staying in the fortress in despair, screaming in despair as he watched the critical intelligence on the battle front quickly sent by his staff.
It was because the intelligence he received was too bad. One minute he received news that the tower's defense facilities had been destroyed, and this minute he received news that the city walls and gates facing the coast had been blown through.
Before Barney could make any move, another even more tragic news came: the Isurgard landing ships were more flexible and faster than they had imagined. They had bypassed the curved waterway formed by the iron chains. During the time when the Roman soldiers had not yet recovered from the explosion and fear, more and more Isurgard soldiers landed on the dock with strange weapons, and used cover on the spot to accurately kill the Roman archers stationed on the relatively intact city walls.
The weapons in their hands can shoot farther than the crossbowmen who are looking down from above! Every time the banging sound comes, it means that an invisible "arrow" is shot towards them. More importantly, those things don't seem to be able to be blocked by traditional wooden shields...
One after another, the warriors died with blood gushing out after their shields were pierced, and the only thing the crossbowmen could do besides making meaningless projectiles was to hide behind the parapets and tremble in fear, or simply abandon their posts and retreat from the wall.
But the powerful siege engines of the Isgardians were often able to blow the walls of a squad of crossbowmen apart before they could retreat... How on earth did these Isgardians do this? !
Barney was extremely desperate. What made him even more desperate was that the morale of his own army had already reached the brink of collapse due to the strength of the Isgardians.
Not only were they unable to maintain order in the inner city and get the residents to stay at home and not run around, they didn't even have the courage to hold up their weapons.
If General Dreshuka had not left behind some veterans before he led the main force to resolve the dispute in the West, and if he had not managed to maintain the last bit of discipline under the scolding of the veterans, perhaps the inner city would have fallen into chaos and been unable to extricate itself.
What should I do? What should I do? Barney racked his brains to think. He hesitated whether to hand over the city, but when he thought about the importance of Drake Harbor, he understood that if he really handed over the city, he would bear the greatest responsibility. Even if the Isgardians did not kill him after the war, General Dreska and the nobles of the Roman Empire would not let go of his wife and children...
Barney gritted his teeth and decided to hold on. It didn't matter how many of his soldiers died. As long as he "did his best" and "put up countless resistances" and was "bravely captured", even General Dreshka would not do anything to his family...
As long as I can make my capture seem "heroic", as long as... as long as...
Barney was sweating all over his face, and at this moment, he suddenly heard the sound of flapping wings coming from the window.
Is it a bird? Barney was a little annoyed. He ordered his soldiers to drive the bird away from the window, but the soldiers by the window were stunned and at a loss.
“General… General?! Those are not birds at all. They are the Griffin Knights of Isgard and their giant dragons full of soldiers?!”
Barney was stunned by the panic of the guards: Griffin Knight? How is that possible! A delicate bird of prey like a griffin cannot possibly adapt to life on a ship, let alone be transported from their continent to the continent where the Roman Empire is located by Isgard! This is simply impossible!
What's more, a dragon with soldiers riding on it?! Let's not talk about whether it is possible for a legendary creature like a dragon to appear here... This dragon is full of soldiers riding on it?!
This is even more impossible! Dragons are extremely proud creatures in the fucking legend. How could they allow anyone other than the dragon rider to ride on their backs? ! This is impossible!
So you guys are fucking hallucinating?!
"Let me see! Don't you fucking lie to me—"
Barney rudely squeezed to the window, pulled the stunned guard aside, and then stuck his head out of the window.
[Shua—]
Just then, the thing that Barney had just called "impossible" flew past him—
There was a knight riding on a griffin holding many bottles and jars in his hands, and behind the knight was a giant red dragon protected by more than 20 elite soldiers of Ishgard sitting on its back. The soldiers were wearing armor, holding two daggers, equipped with crossbows on their arms, and carrying sawn-off new rifles on their backs. The dragon was also wearing armor.
The Isgardians wearing Edelweiss epaulettes did not seem to have expected that someone would stick their heads out of the windows inside the fortress at this critical moment. They were all as stunned as Barney and did not know what to do for a while.
Then, the griffin knight threw the bottle directly at Barney's face, but Barney was quick-eyed and quick-handed and retracted his head with a scream.
The moment the glass bottle shattered, boiling oily liquid sprayed everywhere. The liquid stuck to the stone wall and burned wildly. If Barney hadn't been quick, he would have been contaminated by the endless flames and burned to death.
"Ah?! Quick! Order someone to block the path to the stairs on the roof! Those Isgardians want to annihilate us from top to bottom!"
Barney screamed, and gave his orders while trying to put out the burning oily liquid that was flowing in from the window.
As a result, the order was effectively conveyed, but the oil emitting black smoke burned even more vigorously after being splashed with water.
Barney was driven out of the command room by the raging fire and black smoke. He was in a state of disgrace, and at this moment, the airborne troops of Isgard finally landed on the roof of the fortress under the cover of the griffin knights.
The soldier holding two swords quickly broke through the Roman group operating the city defense equipment on the roof, and tried to break open the door leading to the stairs with the help of the red dragon.
"The rest is up to you guys. I can't transform into a human and follow you in with my armor on."
The giant red dragon broke open the staircase door, then blew its dragon breath into the stairwell, causing the garrison lying in ambush inside to let out shrill screams.
"The second batch of reinforcements will arrive in five minutes, but I have to support the infantry fighting in the street along the way with the Griffin Knights."
"Isn't their advancement going smoothly?" The paratrooper threw another blue bottle into the stairwell. They had time to say a few words before the flames inside were extinguished by the cold that followed. "You can't provide support to the guys who are still resisting in the house, right?"
The advance of the Isgardian army was going very smoothly, at least when viewed from the sky.
Facing the paratroopers' curiosity, the giant red dragon simply shook its head before flapping its wings and flying away:
"The advancement is going smoothly, but our strength here is extremely valuable, and we still have to avoid casualties - I'm leaving first."
The dragon left, and the flames on the rooftop stairs were extinguished by a mixture of chemicals and magic.
Ishgard's elite Edelweiss paratroopers rushed into the fortress with double swords, and after using all their martial arts to completely crush the remaining morale of the fortress garrison, the Ishgard people completely occupied Drake Harbor at 5 pm on March 2.
The Isgardian colonial army lost about 100 infantrymen, and the Romans left at least 2,000 corpses.
They were trying to use tactics from the cold weapon era to counter the powerful ships and cannons of Isgard, but the dense formation almost made the Isgard people very happy.
There was no need to aim accurately, just aim and fire to take the person away. There was nothing more comforting than this. At a distance of less than 200 meters, the Romans had to pay an extremely painful price for every meter they advanced.
When the cost exceeds a certain level, they will naturally be defeated.
The vast majority of people chose to surrender on the spot, because even if they escaped from the city, they had nowhere to go, and there was famine in other parts of the Roman Empire. Instead of wandering and starving in the wilderness, it would be better to become prisoners of war and at least get some food in Drake Harbor.
But faced with so many surrenders, even the commander of Ishgard felt a headache for a while.
Because through the captives they discovered that the Roman soldiers here were not only the "new recruits" mentioned by the merchants, but more of them were a group of "conscripts" who had just been trained for a short time.
They only have a sword as a weapon, and those shields are made of furniture only after a closer look...
This, this is not to mention damaging the Roman Military District's source of new recruits - this is actually just taking down someone else's port that is only garrisoned by conscripts... But you actually let a bunch of conscripts guard the city
"So there's something wrong with your brain?"
The commander of Ishugard looked at the Romans who were tied up in front of him with a suffocated look on his face. He couldn't understand it - was this a humiliation of himself by the Romans
Letting a bunch of conscripts guard a vital port city? Are you... are you really okay with your brains
Originally, the commander of Ishgard was going to ask this.
But when I think about what the Romans did... well...
never mind…
They are really brainless.
The commander of Ishgard waved his hand, signaling the paratroopers to suppress him. At this moment, everyone could hear the following words from Commander Roman's mouth:
"If we still had the factories and those steam weapons... you wouldn't be able to break in so easily..."
Is this some kind of joke
The commander of Ishgard was amused. "Do you know that those industries that you destroyed and sold with your own hands are so important? I heard that after seeing our merchant ships, the Regent King immediately developed industry to save you. But after you sold people with your own hands, you still think that he will come back to save you? What an April Fool's joke!"
“That… that’s because we have no other choice!” Roman’s face flushed, and he stammered in defense: “Who knew that you despicable people would do such a thing?!”
“In our eyes, you are just a barely-clothed girl spreading her legs to attract customers, and you think the people you lured here won’t touch Roman’s thighs
What naive fools? Even the wild people in the forest are not as innocent as you, or as stupid as you are - why don't you just admit that you are short-sighted and ignorant? What do you need to cover up? Even if a bunch of rubbish covered in shit has a fig leaf, aren't they still covered in shit and urine? "
"You... don't tarnish my innocence!"
"Now, all the Romans who are still in the Elucia continent and still working for Roman are a bunch of idiots! Okay, stop talking nonsense, suppress him for me - I want to see how the Romans are going to fight us with the swords in their hands, okay!"
The Romans were taken away, and the commander of Isgard was amused and unable to concentrate on his work for a while - but fortunately he soon came to his senses.
Because the logistics officer brought the post-battle report of the battle, and the situation was very bad.
The slight loss suffered by the Isgardians was the cost of their ammunition stocks.
Although food would not be a problem for a while, even if they could hold out for another year or two, the colonial soldiers would be able to enjoy meat and fish every day by relying on their coastal advantages.
However, nearly one-tenth of the new rifle's paper shell ammunition was consumed in this battle...
"One tenth? This is only the first day." The commander of Ishgard felt a headache, "And the high-explosive bombs of the "Shutter" have already been consumed by a quarter?! At this rate, they must return to the mainland in advance to get supplies...
Damn it! Immediately calculate how long our current ammunition stockpile can last! Immediately transfer the ammunition from the merchant ship and strictly prohibit others from approaching. "
The colonial army was moving very quickly, and in less than half an hour, Commander Ishgard felt very disappointed.
If a small-intensity superior war like the current one is fought again, the current ammunition supply can last for five or six battles.
But if one day the colonial army has to fight a fierce battle with the Roman and Alesse coalition forces, then the remaining ammunition will most likely be lost after one battle.
As for the navy, the high-explosive bombs of Shi's weapons could only last for one naval battle at most before they had to evacuate and return to their homeland to look for supplies.
In other words, although the colonial army has now gained a bridgehead, they will most likely not be able to obtain supplies before opening up a land route to the United Nations...