On both sides of the lower reaches of the Midobura River, camps are densely covered with camps, and tents arranged in square formations are in groups, stretching as far as the eye can see. The hundreds of miles of river in the lower reaches of the Midobura River, which used to be peaceful and broad, are now pregnant with sparks of war. When the North is ready, war will break out. However, from the perspective of the Principality of Madras, with its tight and deep defensive fronts and facilities, the army from the Northland who came to attack would only be beaten to death, even if the blood stained the river red The solid defense line is helpless.
October 32nd, cloudy, windy, with a little bit of rain.
Lorist rode his horse and looked at the opposite bank with a binoculars. After a while, he turned around and asked Baron Shaheen Henned beside him, "Are you all ready?"
"Of course, all the flat boats and planks for building the floating bridge have been prepared. This section of the river is more than 300 meters wide, and the first 100 meters on the other side are anti-landing anti-horse, ditches and low walls for blocking. One hundred meters from the shore is the arrow tower and the wall. The arrow tower is octagonal, with five floors and a height of fifteen meters. The top three floors each have two siege crossbows. It just crossed the center line and was shot and destroyed in the river by the bastard on the other side." Henned said through gritted teeth.
"Now you can issue an order to build the pontoon bridge, and immediately take revenge on the bastard on the other side." Lorist said with a smile.
Henned waved his hand, and the guards behind him raised their horns. A loud "woo hoo" echoed on both sides of the bank. Groups of soldiers and craftsmen rushed out of the camp, and freight wagons full of wood slumped towards the river. side. By the riverside, a group of craftsmen and soldiers had already set up the flat boats lined up, and began to lay wooden boards on them...
Lorist raised his binoculars again and looked towards the opposite bank. The other bank was also unfurling its banners. Soldiers from the Principality of Madras ran towards their defensive position wearing different styles of iron armor and leather armor. War broke out.
The so-called flat boat is a large ferry with a bottom but no structures above the boat. The cabin is covered with a flat board. The whole boat is bare, and it can only move slowly by poles and paddles. Nearly a hundred flat boats lined up in a long row along the river, and then craftsmen and soldiers kept laying finger-thick wooden boards on them, and then fixed them with big iron nails and iron chains thick as wrists. . Near noon, a long row of nearly 300-meter-long and seven-meter-wide shipways appeared on the riverside.
Lorist was a little puzzled: "Henned, you should be able to set up this slipway in advance, it would be a waste of time to start building it now."
Henned smiled proudly: "The reason for not building it earlier is to deceive those stupid birds on the other side. Look, Locke, they always thought that the attack method I was going to take was to let the soldiers board the boat and rush to the shore. I am here While building a flat boat, the other side was not idle, and kept making horses. Didn’t you see that the horses on the other side were put in the river? Now I’m dumbfounded. I’ve kept them busy for a month and it’s just useless work. They never thought that we would use the slipway to slowly pile in, and then use the thunderbolt catapult to smash their defenses and positions to pieces before landing."
After lunch, the huge slipway on the river has been more than 40 meters away from the shore. Now the busy craftsmen on the river are building a pontoon bridge leading to the slipway. Through the increased length of the pontoon bridge, this huge and heavy slipway Push it into the river.
"It is estimated that we will have to push forward another 30 meters to allow Ovekis to command the Thunderbolt Slingers to board the slipway." Henned looked at the length of the pontoon bridge and said.
Lorist said: "Be careful of the rocket attack on the other side. Your slipway is made of wood and it is connected together. If the rocket attack on the other side is concentrated, it will turn into a fire."
Henned said: "It's okay, I calculated that the distance between the arrow tower on the opposite bank and the 300 meters ahead is 320 to 30 meters, and the longest range of their siege crossbows is only 300 meters. They can see where they can't shoot. The best range of our thunderbolt catapult is 350 meters to more than 400 meters, which happens to be within our catapult range. In addition, I will let the soldiers splash on the slipway River water. Not so easy to catch fire."
Earl Kenmes yawned boredly beside him: "How much time will it take before we can throw stones?"
Henned thought for a while and replied, "It should take about two hours."
"Okay." Earl Kenmes said simply: "Then I'll go back to the big tent to squat, and then call me when the stone is thrown. I drank too much at noon, and I still feel dizzy."
After another two hours, the slipway had arrived at a suitable position, and the craftsmen finally stopped building the pontoon and had a rare rest time. Ovekis commanded the soldiers of the Thunderbolt Catapult to unload the horses in front of the Thunderbolt Catapult, and then carefully pushed the Catapult onto the slipway into two rows, and each fixed the Catapult on the slipway. A small team of men who carry stones and balls to the slipway.
It took nearly an hour for all the preparations to be completed, and Earl Kenmes didn't need anyone to call him out of the big tent.
"The preparations are too cumbersome. You can see that the day is almost over." Earl Kenmes said.
"It's okay..." Henned said, "It's okay to fight at night with the lights on. Anyway, we will smash the same when it's dark. Blow the horn and let the Ovekis knights start throwing stones."
After receiving the signal, Ovekis quickly ordered the 500 catapults on the berth to start launching. Wherever the rain of stones the size of washbasins went, the real walls collapsed, arrow towers collapsed in the smoke and dust, and no arrow tower could withstand three rounds of stone rain. Countless guards were crying and howling. Swarmed out from the arrow towers that were not baptized by the rain of stones, and ran towards the rear. They don't want to be like the unlucky ghosts in the previous arrow towers. Buried by the collapsed arrow tower in the stone rain attack...
After the first and second rounds of throwing stones, except for the few arrow towers covered by the rain of stones, the rest of the arrow towers almost simultaneously fired huge crossbow arrows towards the slipway in the river, and half of the arrow towers still carried fire. It is a pity that all the crossbow arrows drilled into the river at a distance of tens of meters in front of the slipway, and none of them could reach the slipway. So in the next ten minutes, except for a dozen defensive crossbows who were unconvinced and tried their range again, the rest of the arrow towers could only watch the few arrow towers that were smashed into ruins by falling stones explode. collapse…
It can be said that every round of stone throwing left a large gap in the riverside defensive positions of the Principality of Madras, and no defensive facilities could survive the rain of stones the size of a washbasin. When Ovekis commanded the catapult battalion to attack the rest of the arrow towers, all the guards in the arrow towers gave up their duties and fled.
Without the threat of the crossbow defending the city on the arrow tower, the craftsmen started to build the pontoon again, and continued to push the slipway to the opposite bank. And Ovekis on the berth also ordered the catapult to launch the fire oil tanks, aiming at the rows of wooden horses on the opposite bank of the river. Soon countless flames ignited on the opposite bank, igniting the weeds and shrubs on the river bank and in the mountains under the blowing of the river wind, and spread to the distance.
Standing on the mound by the river, Lorist looked at the thick smoke billowing from the other bank and the flames soaring into the sky, and let out a sigh of relief: "The overall situation has been settled, and we can go to the other bank tomorrow. But you need to be careful at night, don't go to the other bank." The army of the Principality of Madras jumped over the wall in a hurry, and came to a night attack or something."
Henned smiled and said, "Don't worry, we've been prepared for this, and we guarantee that nothing will happen."
The army of the Principality of Madras was not as powerful as Lorist imagined, until the next morning when the slipway was approaching the opposite bank, the craftsmen were busy building a simple wooden bridge to let the thunderbolt catapult ashore and dispatched a large group of soldiers ashore When the land was being leveled, the army of the Principality of Madras with nearly ten thousand people finally appeared in the distance. They approached the river bank in a wretched manner, as if they wanted to drive the enemies who came ashore down the river.
It's just that when Ovekis ordered the Thunderbolt Slinging Battalion to launch a round of stone balls at the enemies rushing in the distance, those enemies immediately collapsed, and quickly turned around and fled without a trace.
"Lock, with such a magic weapon as the thunderbolt catapult, we should just sweep the entire Principality of Madras directly, and there is no need to wait for a decisive battle in the spring of next year." Henned said confidently.
Lorist shook his head: "Accord with the original plan, Henned, the Principality of Madras we want is not just a territory, the population is also a very important resource and wealth. If we go to sweep Madeira now The Principality of Madras, the Grand Duke of Madras will definitely recruit the entire Principality to fight us to the death. Even if we win, the Principality of Madras will be dilapidated. Not only will it cost a lot of money and manpower, but the harvest Or the hatred of survivors.
If we want to turn the Principality of Madras into our family territory, we must reduce the harm done to those civilians. What we want to rectify is the nobles of the principality, so we will go ashore according to the original plan and start building camps and defenses, turning us into the defenders, and turning the nobles of the Principality of Madras into the attackers, and let them defend the defense facilities of our camp Upload a few somersaults, and then negotiate with the Grand Duke of Madras, asking to guarantee the right of passage for this section of the river and commercial trade to mislead them about the purpose of our war. This is why I asked Earl Kenmes to come here reason. "
Henned said regretfully: "I know, I am in charge of landing operations, and Kenmes is in charge of negotiations. I really want to fight them."
"Have you forgotten the second prince? At the beginning, he led an army of 50,000 to attack the Principality of Madras, but he was defeated in the battle of Kebo City. If we can indeed destroy the Principality of Madras by gathering the strength of our four major northern families, But then our losses will be great, and how will we deal with the hostile countries all around us. This time I attacked the Principality of Madras, what I hope is the slightest casualties at the lowest cost, whether it is us or The Principality of Madras is the same, so that the victory won will not damage our strength, and we can effectively use the power of the destroyed Principality of Madras to threaten the surrounding enemies so that they dare not attack us Do you understand my idea?" Lorist warned.
Henned nodded unconvinced.
"Henneid, you have a misunderstanding now. You think that you will be invincible if you master the Thunderbolt Catapult. In fact, this Thunderbolt Catapult is not as powerful as you imagined. I have dozens of ways to break the threat of the Thunderbolt Catapult. Light cavalry is one kind. Thunderbolt catapults really deal with defensive facilities and castle fortresses. The launch is slow, and the throwing stone spends a long time in the air. As long as you move quickly, it is possible to avoid the area being thrown.
This is also what I said about the role of the light cavalry against the Thunderbolt catapult. If the light cavalry is willing to pay some casualties and let the light cavalry desperately bring the fire tank to the position of the catapult, it may burn the catapult. For the rest, such as marching in the wild, when camping, sneak attacks and night attacks can pose a threat to Thunderbolt Catapult. This is the first time that the army of the Principality of Madras encountered the thunderbolt catapult, and they were so afraid because they did not understand it. If the war really goes on, they will naturally come up with a way to deal with the catapult after more contacts. "
What Lorist said made sense, and Henned laughed after thinking about it: "I was wrong, I'll listen to you, Locke, don't worry, I won't do things on my own."
Lorist patted him on the shoulder and was about to say something nice when he heard the sound of horseshoes. A few fast horses in the distance ran out of breath, and soon reached the bottom of the mound. Three messengers wearing the armor of the Norton family guards jumped off their horses and rushed towards Lorist and the others.
At a distance of about ten steps, the messenger stopped. El went over to take a look, and turned back to report: "My lord, they are from the guard camp. They came from the family and sent an urgent letter from Hilovas Island."
"An urgent letter from Hilovas Island? What happened again?" Lorist took the letter and opened it, surprised. The signatures on the envelope are Governor Hansk and Knight Farea. One is in charge of administration and the other is in charge of military. Signing at the same time must be a big deal.
Opening the folded letter paper, Lorist was stunned. Earl Kenmes next to him asked curiously: "What's the matter, what happened? May I know?"
Lorist handed him the letter: "You read it yourself."
Earl Kenmes picked up his faith and said: "At 7:00 p.m. on October 24th, the Second Highness and others disguised themselves as fishermen and arrived at Hilovas Island in a dilapidated fishing boat, accompanied by Norton Crisya Miss and four guards, one of them is of gold rank and three of them are of silver rank. Governor Hansk received them. Knight Farea hoped that they could rest on the island for a period of time and wait for the reply from the North, but the Second Highness and Ke Miss Lysia insisted on leaving for the Northland immediately, and wanted to meet with the adults. If they couldn't be stopped, they had to be sent to the passenger ship for the Northland on the morning of October 25th, and Chenxi's Flying Fish was sent to the adults first. This letter…”
"The Second Highness is still alive? He's coming to the Northland?" After reading the letter, Earl Kenmes looked at Lorist in a daze. This was really shocking news.
"You are no longer a nobleman of the Antinac Kingdom. Why is the Second Highness still coming to the Northland?" Henned asked strangely.
"Ben! He is not the king of the Antinac Kingdom now, but in terms of the inheritance of the nobility, he is still the nominal upper lord of the Norton family. He must have borrowed troops to restore the country when he came here this time." Ken Mai Earl Si said with certainty.
Today is October 33rd, the Second Highness and the others left Hilovas Island on October 25th, and the passenger ship to the Northland took seven days, so they have already arrived in the Northland. Although Farea sent Chenxi's Flying Fish to deliver the letter one step ahead, and it could arrive two days earlier, but it took him three days longer to deliver the letter from the family territory to the lower reaches of the Midoburo River. Even if he rushed back now, it was too late up.
"I'm going back overnight, so I'll leave it to you two here, just follow the plan. If anything happens to me, I'll let you know immediately." Lorist made a decision: "El, order Everyone get ready immediately, we will set off back to the family territory in half an hour."
"Yes, my lord."
…