The battle is over.
The southern city wall of Rock Fortress lost its shield protection and was completely unable to resist the bombardment of heavy-duty magic crystal shells. Facts have proved that magic crystal shells have a higher damage efficiency than calibrator beams when fighting solid rigid targets such as city walls— Lord Maryland had thought that the Rock Fortress would still have dozens of minutes to resist after the shield was extinguished, but in the end it turned out that he miscalculated the different effects of shells and energy beams: the city wall only lasted for sixteen minutes in the end.
The heavy gate of the fortress has completely collapsed during the bombardment, along with the hundreds of meters of walls extending from both sides of the gate. The outer city behind and the southern inner city were also damaged to varying degrees, and the barracks, armory and other facilities concentrated between the first and second city walls were razed to the ground.
This is a degree of destruction that would never occur in a traditional noble war: Cecil's army ended the battle almost completely smashing the defense facilities of the fortress, leaving no stalemate and conflict for the people in the rock fortress at all. room for maneuver.
After finishing the bombardment, Cecil's 1st and 2nd Combat Corps led by Knight Philip and Vald? What the German knight lamented was that his army spent more time on the road to receive the results than it took to destroy the fortress defenses.
After the First and Second Legions entered the Rock Fortress, they encountered almost no resistance—in fact, there was no resistance at all. the only enemy.
On the evening of the Fire Moon Day in 736 Ansu, the flag representing the royal family of Ansu fell from the flagpole in front of the Rock Fortress castle, and the symbols of the Cecil family's sword and plow fluttered above this fortress with special significance.
Gawain's combat boots stepped on the cobblestone road of the fortress that seemed to still be warm and trembling. On both sides of him were ruins and buildings that were still emitting smoke. The fortress soldiers with frightened faces and smoldering faces stood on the road. On both sides, when Cecil's banner passed in front of their eyes, these people prostrated themselves on the ground to show their submission.
"All will be temporarily imprisoned in the dungeon below the castle, and those with insufficient rooms will be imprisoned in a strong building in the inner city," Gawain said in a low voice to Philip, who was beside him. Treat them—these people will be part of Cecil."
Philip stood up and saluted: "Understood."
Sir Maryland, who was disarmed and ashamed, was escorted by several Cecil soldiers and walked beside Gawain. Hearing what Gawain told Philip, he couldn't help raising his head, and there was a little bit in his eyes. Surprise: "I didn't expect you to abide by the noble spirit..."
"The prohibition of cruelty to captives has nothing to do with the so-called aristocratic spirit." Gawain glanced at the former commander. Although the other party was a respectable knight, he was obviously a traditional nobleman. "What I forbid cruelty' Captives' don't just include knights and nobles."
Sir Maryland opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't say anything, just lowered his head again.
Gawain looked at Knight Walder Peric on the other side, and he nodded to the old knight: "Take someone to check the entire inner city and the underground cellars under the castle, and search the entire city to prevent anyone from hiding. Get up, and you have to cooperate with Knight Philip to count the supplies and houses in the city, and report in time. Don’t forget to emphasize military discipline during this process: it is forbidden to hide spoils, plunder, theft, and concealment.”
Wald Peric gave a knightly salute with a serious face: "Yes."
The old knight knew very well that letting the Second Corps lead a team to search the fortress city was not only an honor, but also a test—in this battle, the Second Corps finally became active as an official army, but Afterwards, whether these soldiers from the Kant area can become the troops trusted by the lord for a long time, they must undergo the test of military discipline after entering the city. Not smaller than when they first entered the battlefield.
Afterwards, Gawain arrived at the castle area of the Rock Fortress—this castle spans between the first and second city walls. In fact, its main body is a part of the second city wall. It used to be the most magnificent and tallest city wall in this fortress. The building, but now... It has less than two-thirds of the structure left.
The entire top floor of the castle and all attached tower buildings have been destroyed by the calibrator beam.
Cecil's flag had been hoisted on the flagpole in front of the castle by the first batch of teams entering the city, and beside the flagpole, Gawain saw a slightly thin lady wearing a light noble dress.
Luo Penny? Ge Lan stood there quietly, beside the loyal middle-aged butler, behind them was the Viches who followed the Viches all the way from Ge Lan to Panshi Ridge, and then from Panshi Ridge to Panshi Fortress, always Loyal and steadfast one hundred guards.
On the other side stood the high-level ranger Solderin and dozens of Iron Ranger soldiers led by him.
A shadow quickly flashed in the air, quickly rushed to Gawain's side, and condensed into the figure of Amber, the half-elf lady raised her head triumphantly: "Hey, let me tell you, I helped hang the flag up of!"
Gawain patted Amber's shoulder casually (it seems inappropriate to touch her head in such a formal occasion), and then walked towards Luo Peini? The revenge is done.
"Your contribution is irreplaceable, ma'am," Gao Wen said seriously, "Patty will be happy for your safe return home."
He knew what the Viscountess was most concerned about.
After hearing Patty's name, Luo Peini's expression turned soft, she showed a faint smile, and bowed solemnly to Gao Wen: "Please allow me to pay tribute to you, this fortress belongs to you now —Please also allow me to pledge my allegiance to you again, the Gülen family will always be loyal to Cecil."
"I accept your allegiance," Gawain nodded slightly, "but don't just be loyal to me or my family, but be loyal to a great cause."
Sir Maryland, who was standing next to him, saw this scene, his expression changed a few times, and he didn't know how complicated emotions were in his heart, but in the end, all he wanted to say turned into a long sigh with complicated meanings: "Alas..."
He found he couldn't even call the Vinesse a traitor—Ropeni's loyalty was unwavering, except that she was loyal to Cecil...
"Sir, don't be so busy sighing. Although the Rock Fortress fell, at least it fell into my hands, and it didn't fall into the hands of the eastern border rebels someday in the future." Gawain glanced at Sir Maryland, Said lightly, "Maybe you are full of regrets at the moment, but one day you will feel lucky."
The main hall and military hall on the upper level of the castle have been destroyed by the collapsed ceiling, and other parts of the area have also become precarious due to the collapse of the upper level, so Gawain led his men directly into the dining room on the lower level of the castle, treating it as a temporary After the war, he took over the headquarters and prepared to make further arrangements for the wartime control, reconstruction and repair, and follow-up management of the fortress.
Taking down the Rock Fortress was only the first step in the work. How to re-arm and strengthen this fortress and turn it into Cecil's strong northern gate was the more important thing.
Of course, before these tasks were carried out, Sir Maryland and all the officer-level prisoners of war captured after the city was broken were sent to a temporary prisoner-of-war camp, where they were held in isolation and under heavy guard - Gawain gave them better However, he did not dare to relax at all in terms of security and defense. Although he did not think that the Maryland Sir would make a move to escape from prison, he could not guarantee that the other party's old subordinates would make any extra moves.
In his opinion, although a person with chivalry like Maryland O'Neill may not be very popular in certain aristocratic power circles, he can easily cultivate extremely loyal subordinates. It is necessary for all commander-level prisoners of war in Rock Fortress to be held separately and strictly guarded.
In the hall serving as the temporary headquarters, Gawain looked around at the crowd—Philip and Byron, two Cecil knights, Walder Perici and Margarita, two Kant knights, Solderin The commander of the Iron Rangers, Countess Ropeini Grande, and Amber as the guard, these are all the people who participated in this meeting.
"Everyone, we have won. The Rock Fortress has become the northern gate of Cecil, but before we indulge in the joy of victory, we must know that we still have a lot of work to do. Soldering, first report what you have Bar."
"Yes," Solderin stood up, with a serious expression on the senior ranger's face, "the king's capital will soon know the news of the fall of the Rock Fortress—after the magic barrier of the city is extinguished, the commanders who stayed in the city will immediately release They killed all the Griffon messengers and carrier pigeons, and sent a group of death squads to rush out of the city through the north side gate. We only had time to intercept some of them, and the rest of the messengers had disappeared on the Holy Spirit Plain. It was not the first time to destroy the Griffin's nest. My fault."
"No, your manpower is limited. It is your task to destroy the mage tower first, not the griffin's lair," Gawain interrupted Soldering, "The situation is as I expected, and the king will definitely know about the Rock Fortress. It's fallen—even if the defenders in the fortress fail to send out the information, the Earl of Pompey will soon notice the situation and send the letter immediately, there are still griffin messengers in the earl's territory, and there may even be magical messages."
Speaking of this, Gao Wen paused: "So, the first thing we have to do is to strengthen the northern city wall of the fortress and completely remodel it—in fact, it doesn't matter whether the king can receive the news or not, how long does it take to receive the news, The first thing we do is this.
"The Rock Fortress was originally designed to defend the Cecil family in the south, so its northern city wall is much weaker and lower than the southern city wall—although the fall of the Rock Fortress shows that the old-style fortresses that rely solely on walls and magic shields to defend against attacks It is behind this era, but they are still necessary for their existence. We must first thicken and heighten the wall on the north side of the fortress, so we can even delay the repair of the south wall; secondly, we need to transform the north wall. It will cover the magic net, set up the magic crystal rail gun on the top of the city wall, and install the calibrator in the future; finally, the whole fortress will also be transformed, and it will be built into a heavy industrial and military mixed fortress. The entire plain extending to the south will be included within the scope of this fortress city... "
.. m.