"Wait here. Don't follow me. I'll be right back."
I'll be right back, "Claude said to Myjack and Gum before he turned to the grove with a huge cherry tree.
The girl threw herself into his embrace and kissed him.
After a while, Claude let go of the red-faced magus. "Why are you here again?
Didn't I tell you not to come here for a while?
The enemy is here and a war is about to break out.
I didn't want you to come because I was worried something might happen to you. "
"Got it. I just wanted to see you, didn't I?
The young mage pouted and said, "I was worried about you too. I had a nightmare last night. I dreamed that you were injured, so I rushed over to see you …"
Claude didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I'm standing here fine, aren't I? Don't worry, I won't get injured that easily. I'll keep you company when the war is over. Don't worry.
Don't come here for the time being. I'll go look for you after I beat the enemy off, alright? "
The magus made four to five trips in half a month and everyone knew that Claude had a hunter's daughter as his girlfriend in Squirrel Village.
Dyavid was filled with admiration. His boss could even find beauties hidden deep in the forest. It was a pity that the magus didn't have an older or younger sister.
The magus nodded as she looked at the bustling labor scene not far away. "What are you guys doing over there?"
Claude smiled bitterly. "Nothing much. We're setting up a defensive formation.
The enemy has grouped up and is coming this way. We have to make preparations beforehand.
That's why I didn't let you come see me. This place will soon become a battlefield and I'm afraid you'll be discovered by the enemy. "
"I'm not afraid of them," Sheerah said indignantly.
Claude shook his head. "It's not a matter of whether I'm afraid or not. I just don't want you to get hurt.
Even though you're a nature magus and the forest is your home field, this is the age of firearms. Even a five-ring combat magus will have to retreat against them.
You can deal with one person, ten people, but you can't deal with a hundred soldiers with muskets.
They could pose a fatal threat to you beyond the range of your magic. Even Black Wind would not be able to withstand the fire of a musket.
So, don't force yourself, don't be curious, and don't take risks. Just listen to me, okay? "
"Alright, I promise I'll be obedient. But you have to promise that nothing will happen to you. If there's no other way, you'll come to me, alright?"
Claude nodded solemnly. "I promise I won't be a hero. If I'm really defeated, I'll definitely run to you."
That was the truth. He was only doing his duty. He wouldn't sacrifice his life for the sake of Aueras' grand ambitions.
If he couldn't handle it, he would immediately retreat. He wouldn't hold his ground and perish together with the enemy. Only a fool would do that.
As long as there's life, there's hope. The words of the ancestors always made sense. It wasn't like Ledefonk was forcing him to defend Squirrel Village.
The nobles of Canas and Askilin had joined forces and more than four thousand of them were charging towards Squirrel Village.
Dyavid led his men out again, but they suffered a small loss due to a moment of carelessness and lost a squad.
It seemed that sneak attacks and ambushes were no longer effective and wouldn't be able to delay the enemy's advance.
Only then did Claude decide to dig a trench at the back of Squirrel Village and prepare for a proper defensive battle.
After fighting with Sheeran for a while, he finally sent the reluctant magus away.
Not long after returning to the camp, Moriad came over with his men. "Boss, I'm here."
"How many did you bring?" Claude asked.
"Three squads. I left one to defend Blackrock Village," Moriad said excitedly.
Moriad was very excited. From this, it could be seen that he was a fighter. "Finally, I can fight. It's been so boring staying in Blackstone Village for so long."
"Get your men to help dig the trench first. Then, dig a communication trench to the back for our retreat." Claude didn't stand on ceremony and ordered Moriad and his men to help.
"Retreat?"
Moriad looked at the terrain. "Boss, the terrain here isn't bad. We can totally defend here. It's a good target for us."
Claude shook his head. "We won't be able to hold it. We're too outnumbered. We can only hold it during the day, but we can't hold it at night.
The enemy will probably arrive tomorrow afternoon and we'll have to retreat the day after tomorrow.
Even though the terrain here isn't bad, there are too many detours.
The enemy can easily come up the hill from further away and come behind us. "
Boom! An explosion sounded from the back of the hill.
"What's going on?" Moriad looked over warily.
"Don't worry.
Claude knew what was going on there. "I had Mazik set up some traps there and use gunpowder to blow up a few paths leading up the mountain. That's to prevent the enemy from ambushing us at night."
Sigh!
Claude sighed deeply. They had far too few men on hand. Moriad brought three squads, Mazik's four squads and Dyavid's two squads. There were nine squads with a total of 108 men. There were also three artillery squads with 15 men. Including himself, Myjack and Gum, they only had around 130 men.
Currently, there were only a few signalmen, medics and a dozen or so wounded at the camp. It was truly a pity that they didn't have enough men.
Had it not been for the fact that they had a chance of winning against the motley crew, Claude would've long fled with his men.
All he could do now was make use of the terrain and firepower to whittle down the enemy's strength and drag the battle out.
His original plan was to wipe out the Askilinian nobles first, but he didn't think that the nobles of the two duchies would work together. That made his plan go up in smoke.
Dyavid retreated with his soldiers in the evening and told them about how they suffered a loss.
After the nobles of the two duchies gathered together, they rested for half a day and a night before setting off for Squirrel Village the next morning.
Dyavid led his soldiers to launch sneak attacks, delaying the enemy's advance.
What he didn't expect was that the nobles would place the Canasian commoners on the outskirts of the camp and chase after any ambushing soldiers.
Most of their weapons were swords and spears used in close combat. However, there were too many of them, so there was no way for them to reload their guns. Even if they could reload their guns, it would be useless. They could only fire once before being drowned out by the swarm of people.
Quite a few groups of soldiers were forced into a corner by the commoners and could only engage in melee combat. They only managed to kill two or three enemies before dying.
It wasn't that Dyavid didn't think about luring the pursuers into an ambush, but the enemies weren't just a few dozen. Instead, there were hundreds of them pouncing at them from all directions. The 20 or so men he led could only fire a single shot before running away. Otherwise, they would all be doomed if they were surrounded.
He guessed that the nobles of the two duchies must've given them a huge reward. Otherwise, the commoners wouldn't be so reckless in their pursuit.
Dyavid also brought some bad news. The traps on the mountain path were no longer effective against the enemy.
Learning from the mistakes of the nobles in Canas, the enemy now had a few pack horses to scout the path ahead.
Dyavid said that two of the traps they dug a few days ago were discovered by the enemy just like that. They didn't suffer any casualties and only lost three draft horses.
Given the enemy's speed, they would arrive by noon the next day.
Moriad suggested attacking the camp at night, but Claude rejected the idea after some thought.
Firstly, there were too many enemies. A hundred of them would only cause chaos and wouldn't be able to break the enemy's spirit.
Secondly, Dyavid had harassed the Askilinian nobles' camp at night a few days ago and the enemy already had a plan in place to deal with it.
Thirdly, even if they didn't suffer any losses, they wouldn't have the energy to deal with the enemy's attack the next day if they wasted a night on the road and didn't get a good rest.
At noon the next day, they saw a large group of enemies coming from the mountain path.
Just as Dyavid said, three draft horses were being driven to the front.
The enemy's scouts were estimated to be more than a company. Apart from the forty to fifty nobles' private soldiers equipped with flintlocks, there were also commoners in tattered clothes who wielded broadswords and spears.
Five gunshots rang out from the steep slope next to the mountain path in the distance. Moriad and four soldiers jumped out from the weeds on the slope and ran up the mountain with their guns in hand.
The three draft horses at the front of the enemy formation fell to the ground and struggled on all fours. The commoners raised their spears as they chased after Moriad's men.
Dyavid smiled bitterly. "See? They're not afraid of death at all.
Every time they give chase, there'll be at least two to three hundred of them. Even if we have reinforcements, we can only kill a few of them. The rest will chase us to the ends of the earth.
The three squads of soldiers who died in battle were chased into a dead end by them. They had nowhere to run, and we could only watch from afar as they were beaten to death by the swarms of citizens. "
A squad of soldiers raised their guns from the bushes and fired at the commoners. Seven or eight commoners fell to the ground.
However, the remaining citizens became even more fanatical. Half of them charged towards the small group of soldiers, while the remaining 100 or so continued to chase after Moriad and the others.
There was no way for the soldiers to reload their ammunition. A hundred meters was a distance that could be covered in less than ten seconds.
Even if they could reload and fire again, they would only be able to take down one enemy. The rest wouldn't be able to escape.
Therefore, the small group of soldiers also turned around and ran away. Very well, they managed to catch up with Moriad's group. The people who were chasing after them also gathered together, shouting and screaming as they chased after them relentlessly.
Claude finally understood why Dyavid and the others were complaining so much when they returned. They couldn't do anything after running all day and it was exhausting.
But this time, Moriad's men were there to lure the enemy out. They were running towards the camp.
"Get ready!" Claude ordered.
The order was quickly passed down by the soldiers. Everyone readied their guns and got ready to fire.
Black gun barrels poked out from the bushes that were used as cover, aiming at the large group of pursuers behind Moriad's group.
Moriad leaped over the bushes and jumped into the trenches. Panting, he said, "Run … I'm dying of running …"
"Open fire!" Claude ignored him and gave the order. The pursuers were only seventy to eighty meters away from the trenches.
"Bang, bang, bang …" Gunshots rang out. Looking from afar, the long bushes and weeds on the hillside were filled with smoke.
Fifty to sixty of the people at the very front fell to the ground. They became the first victims.
All the commoners in pursuit froze. They didn't think they'd be ambushed on such a large scale.
Gunshots, blood, corpses and the screams of the wounded mixed together and they didn't know what to do.
However, there were still some who were clear-headed. One of the first to react yelled, "Quick, charge! Don't let them reload!"
From a distance of seventy to eighty meters, it would only take ten seconds for them to charge in and engage the enemy. That was what the owner of the voice had in mind.
Most of the commoners snapped out of their daze and gripped their weapons tightly as they charged up the slope.
That's right, they still had around two hundred people. As long as they could charge into the camp, there was no way they wouldn't be able to defeat the enemy.
60 meters, 50 meters … Claude reloaded his gun unhurriedly, as if he didn't see the vicious-looking subjects charging at him.
"Fire!" Mazik roared from the camp.
Boom!
A light infantry cannon hidden in the bushes let out a loud bang and shot out countless small pellets that enveloped the entire camp.
When the smoke dissipated, more than ten soldiers couldn't help but puke.
The cannonball had wiped out more than a hundred commoners who charged up. Severed limbs and corpses littered the slope as blood flowed freely. It was a hellish scene.
There were still 30 to 40 survivors, but they were all stunned by the cannon. They had lost their weapons and were trembling in fear as they stood in the pile of corpses.
Behind them, there were another twenty commoners who were still conscious and scrambling down the slope.
Claude raised his gun and aimed at one of the commoners who was running down the slope. He fired and the target fell.
Claude turned to Moriad and said, "Go and capture those who are still standing there."
"Capture them for what?
Let's just kill them all. "Moriad was furious when he remembered how pathetic he had been when he was chased by these people.
"Just do as I say. Once we capture them, there'll be people to do the work for us," Claude said.
… …