General Bolonik was unmoved. He coldly ordered his aide to send a platoon of soldiers to reinforce the frontline again to make up for the loss of soldiers in the defensive position.
It was the sixteenth day of Lanu's siege and the twenty-third day of Shiksan's occupation of the fishing town.
Even though Bolonik was prepared to defend Lanu, he didn't think he'd have to face such a cruel urban warfare.
Less than six thousand of the 13,000-strong garrison could still fight and more than half of them were dead.
At first, the Shiksans only used light-cavalry to attack Lanu, but Bolonik dealt with them with ease.
Even though Lanu didn't have a city wall due to its expansion, light-cavalry wasn't suited for siege battles and urban warfare.
The proud Shiksan cavalrymen had thought that Lanu would fall into their hands like a ripe fruit, but they were ambushed by the defenders when they charged through the dense streets and alleys and suffered heavy losses.
The Shiksan cavalrymen no longer dared to enter Lanu after suffering such a huge loss. They surrounded the city on three sides.
The east was Lake Lanu, so they couldn't do anything but watch as the defenders transported the wounded and civilians in the city to the other side of Lake Lanu to evacuate them to the mountains.
However, on the eleventh day of the siege, two Shiksan standing corps finally landed at the fishing town and rushed to the outskirts of Lanu.
After half a day of rest, they launched a fierce attack on Lanu.
In just four short days, Bolonik's garrison suffered close to a thousand casualties every day. Even though the Shiksans' casualties were several times that of the garrison, they were strong and could afford to suffer losses.
"I wonder how many more days it'll take for Thundercrash to arrive …" Bolonik could only place his hopes on Thundercrash's reinforcements.
Sometimes, General Bolonik regretted that he had overlooked the abnormality of the shipbuilder in the Fishing Port Town and believed the merchant's lies.
The defence of the coastal areas of the colonies had always been the focus of the war zone command, and General Bolonik had personally inspected them.
He had also been to the fishing port town. There were no troops stationed there, mainly because it was very close to the war zone headquarters, and it was convenient for reinforcements.
The other reason was that the shallow sea area was densely covered with submerged reefs. Not to mention ocean-going ships, even inshore transport ships had to wait for high tide to pass through. Otherwise, it was easy to hit the reefs and damage the bottom of the ship.
The shipbuilding workshop in the fishing port town could only produce a small, flat-bottomed, four-person fishing boat with a very shallow draft for offshore fishing.
The last time General Bolonik had visited, he had seen that the workshop had joined together three or four of nearly a hundred small flat-bottomed fishing boats, with two large planks nailed to the top and weights in the hold of the boats, so that the hulls of the boats were sunk to the surface of the water.
General Bolonik curiously asked what they were doing. The merchant replied that they were testing the pressure and leakage resistance of the small fishing boats. It would take as long as half a month to find out if the boats were deformed or leaking.
After all, they were shallow fishing boats and wouldn't be able to withstand the winds and waves of the sea without such tests.
In another ten days, the boats would be out of the water and those that passed inspection could be sold to the residents of Cromwell and Balingana.
General Bolonik knew that Cromwell and Balingana had migrated a large number of families of soldiers and their families. Buying a small fishing boat would bring in extra seafood income for their families.
That was why he didn't find it strange that the shipbuilding workshop had so many orders for fishing boats. He even gave the merchant a few words of encouragement and told him to ensure quality and expand production to get rich.
Only when he confirmed that the fishing port town was occupied by the Shiksans did Bolonik realise that he had been tricked by the merchant.
The light cavalry squad that went out to scout also reported that the Shiksans had used the fishing boats to build a floating bridge through the shallow reefs to allow transport ships from the deeper waters to land on it.
Without the Shiksan agent's help, it would be impossible for the Shiksans to reach the fishing port town. Even if they built a floating bridge from the deeper waters to the shore, it would take them at least a day to reach the shore.
By then, they would be surrounded by the defending forces before they could even reach the shore.
That was why the theatre had neglected the coastal defences of the fishing port town and didn't deploy many troops there, allowing the Shiksans to take advantage of the situation.
However, it was too late for regrets now. Bolonik only hoped to wait for Thundercrash's reinforcements before Lanu was taken.
Claude's last eagle message made it clear that Lanu could be abandoned, but the Dorinibla River defence line had to be protected.
Bolonik didn't think much of Claude's judgement. After all, he had a reinforced battalion equipped with the new rifles. Defending Lanu and not letting the enemy threaten the Dorinibla River defence line should be possible.
Light cavalry's attack on Lanu was easily crushed by the defending forces, which boosted Bolonik's confidence and boosted his troops' morale.
However, when the two main Shiksan corps arrived and launched their attack, Bolonik realised that the Shiksan's catapult was truly powerful. It had a range of more than 300 metres and was twice the size of a pumpkin. Its explosive power was terrifying and it left a huge crater in its wake.
Lanu's first line of defence fell just like that, but the Shiksans ran into a lot of trouble after entering the city. The streets, alleys, and dilapidated walls made it impossible for the Shiksans to use their shield carts and wooden carts to cover the huge cantilever catapults.
General Bolonik commanded the defending troops to launch a counterattack and successfully destroyed two of the Jumbo Throwers.
The Shiksans then changed their strategy and stationed the remaining three catapults at the outskirts instead of entering the city. Instead, they used the old-fashioned catapults and pumpkins to open up a path.
That was exactly what Bolonik wanted. He also ordered the defending forces to fight back with the catapults produced by the theatre's military industry, causing the Shiksans to suffer several times the casualties. The Shiksans had no choice but to send some troops to clear the path and move the catapults and pumpkins to bombard the defensive line.
Landmines were used to their fullest potential in Lanu's urban warfare. Sometimes, the defending forces would be forced to abandon their defensive line due to heavy casualties and the Shiksans would step on the landmines when they occupied the defensive line. A single explosion would result in more than a dozen casualties.
The Shiksans would start to get paranoid and affect the speed of their attack, giving the defending forces more time to prepare for battle.
Unfortunately, Weyblon's workshop was in the direction of the Shiksans' attack and was forced to retreat when the Shiksan cavalrymen appeared at the outskirts of Lanu. They didn't have many catapults and landmines in stock. The ones they produced in the past were all shipped to Claude's frontlines immediately.
After the fishing town was occupied by the Shiksans, the emergency production was given to the garrison to be used in urban warfare. There weren't many left, which was why Bolonik was worried that Lanu wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer.
After all, the Shiksans had two standing corps of 120,000 to 30,000 men. Coupled with the light-cavalry corps at the outskirts, they had close to 200,000 men.
Bolonik, on the other hand, only had 13,000 men under his command. Defending Lanu for 23 days against a force more than ten times that of the enemy and allowing the Shiksans to take over a third of the city's outer perimeter was already a miraculous feat.
Now, the defending forces had less than 7,000 men, but the enemy still had 160,000 men. It was still an overwhelming advantage.
Coupled with the fact that the defending forces were running out of catapults and landmines, the pressure on defending against the Shiksans increased and the casualties increased.
At the Dorinibla River's pontoon crossing.
Eiblon was fuming. "Get me the manager in charge of the pontoon bridge. What's going on?"
General Eiblont, who had reached the pontoon bridge of the Dorinibla with some difficulty, found the banks of the crossing swarming with black crowds.
The north bank was filled with the bored veterans of the local garrison, while the south bank was filled with refugees with all sorts of luggage and carriages.
One of the two pontoons was used for refugees and the other for troops.
It just so happened that on the pontoon bridge that the troops were passing through, one of the wheels of a transport vehicle that was fully loaded with supplies fell off. The entire vehicle tilted to one side on the pontoon bridge, and the supplies that had been packed into cubes also fell onto the bridge, blocking it and making it impossible to pass through.
The manager of the pontoon bridge only came to Eiblon half an hour later, sweating profusely.
The general swore, and pointed to the carriage on the bridge and asked what was the matter. Eiblont was about to shoot the steward.
The steward was so scared that he almost pissed his pants. He replied that the carriage was loaded with the supplies of the local garrison commander who had crossed the pontoon bridge. When the carriage crossed the bridge, it was too heavy and broke the planks of the bridge. After that, the two sides fell into an argument. The Pontoon Bridge Crossing Administration wanted to compensate for the broken planks of the bridge, but the local garrison commander wanted the Pontoon Bridge Crossing Administration to compensate for the loss of the goods.
"Bring me that chieftain!"
General Eiblont was seething with anger. He ordered his guards, "Throw all the carriages and goods on the bridge into the river. Restore traffic on the pontoon bridge immediately."
It seemed that the high-ranking officers who were transferred from the army to the local garrison were living a good life. They could even collect a carriage and souvenirs in a local garrison.
"Where are your officers? Call everyone here," General Eiblont ordered as he looked at the veterans of the local garrison regiment who were watching the commotion.
Soon, two colonels appeared in front of Eiblon.
"What's your organization?" Eiblon asked.
"Regiment 108 of the local garrison was ordered to guard Wickham Castle. Colonel Le Mandok, Regimental Commander."
"Regiment 114 of the local garrison was ordered to guard the coastal area of Cromwell Colony. Colonel Fareos, Regimental Commander."
"Where's your unit?"
"Regiment 108 just arrived yesterday afternoon. We're waiting to cross the river," Colonel Le Mandok replied, pointing to where his unit was.
"Regiment 114 just arrived this morning. We're currently resting," Colonel Fareos replied.
Eiblon pointed at the carriages on the pontoon bridge. "What's going on? Do you know?"
The two colonels looked at each other. Finally, Colonel Le Mandok said, "General, this is the logistics unit of Regiment 117. They're stationed at Beck Hill Castle in Balingana Colony. It's said that they got a lot of hide and beef from hunting bison on the plains. They're planning to transport the hide and beef to Port Patres for trade.
The wind was strong last night, and it wasn't safe to cross the river with a carriage. They didn't cross the river until the wind died down in the morning. They didn't expect the carriage to be so heavy that it broke a plank and got stuck there. "
"Hmph …" Eiblon laughed coldly. He looked at the other pontoon bridge that was filled with refugees. He asked the manager of the pontoon bridge, "What's up with that bridge? Why didn't they evacuate the refugees and let the troops cross first …"
The steward was paralyzed on the ground. "General, when we crossed the river this morning, I wanted to let the troops cross the river first, but there was a group of people who claimed to be members of parliament. They pushed our people to the side and tried to cross the river first. The refugees behind them surged forward, and we couldn't stop them.
They said their relatives were so-and-so in the army, and the people below didn't dare to offend them. They could only let them occupy one of the pontoons … "
These refugees were all from Anfiston Colony, and many were family members of soldiers.
General Bolonik had evacuated the citizens of Lanu, and these people were preparing to go to Cromwell and Balingana to seek refuge with their relatives and friends.
They were right. Their relatives or nephews were either in the Thundercrash Corps or the Monolith Corps.
The management of the pontoon bridge was a small organization that usually maintained the pontoon bridges and collected fees for crossing the river. They did not dare to offend these families.
At this moment, Eiblon's guards returned with a fat colonel. The colonel's face was pale, and his pants were a little wet, as if he had just peed.
Eiblon chuckled. "So it's you, Colonel Felix. I didn't expect your body to become so plump after not seeing you for a year. You're twice as plump as when you were in the army. Looks like you're doing well."
The fat colonel trembled and said, "General, for the sake of our past friendship, please, please forgive me this time. I won't dare to do it again."
Eiblon shook his head gently. "Colonel Felix, I'm very disappointed. You were a brave officer under my command, and I had high hopes for your future.
When you said you wanted to transfer to the local army, I felt it was a pity. I thought you could become a general of the kingdom in less than a decade if you continued in the army.
But you refused, saying that you were tired of the battlefield and wanted to live a quiet life with your old parents in a pasture. I satisfied your wish and let you be the commander of the local garrison stationed at Beck Hill Castle. It is very close to your pasture, you can go home to accompany your old parents at any time … "" But you refused, saying that you were tired of the battlefield and wanted to live peacefully with your old parents.
I really want to know why the local garrison stationed at Wickham-Contracted area has already reached the river, while your local garrison, which is half the distance away from them, is only halfway across the river. Can you give me an explanation?
Also, you received an emergency order to reinforce Lanu City. Are you going to Port Patres for business on the way with so many supplies? "
The fat colonel could not answer. He lowered his head and begged for mercy. "General, please forgive me this time. I won't do it again …"
Eiblon sighed. "Although I really want to shoot you, that would be too easy on you.
Take him away. He has to be tried by military law. Detain him first, and we'll deal with him after this war is over … "
Colonel Lemandoc and Colonel Fareos both turned pale. They naturally knew what Eiblon meant.
If General Eiblont took out his revolver and shot the fat Colonel Felix, that would be the end of it.
However, Eiblon wanted him to be tried by military law. This not only meant that the fat Colonel Felix would still be punished, but it also meant that all the privileges given to his family would be taken back by the war zone.
"Alright, Colonel Lemandoc, I'll give you a mission now. Lead your soldiers across the river and separate the refugees from the pontoon bridge over there. Let our troops cross the river first.
As for Colonel Faleos, you have the same task. After crossing the river with your troops, guard and disarm the 117th Regiment, and arrest all the officers and men involved with Colonel Felix. Is that clear? "General Eiblont pointed his whip at the two colonels standing in front of him.
"Yes, General," said Colonel Lemandoc and Colonel Fallaeus, hastily standing to attention.