"It's already the third day. The enemy's attacks are starting to weaken. I think we can open an opening and let them enter the city.
Otherwise, if they just surround us without attacking, it'll cause us a lot of trouble and all our preparations will go to waste, "Birkin said.
Claude stood in front of the sand table and shook his head helplessly. "That won't do. The alliance's commander is very smart. The attacks he launched in the past three days seemed huge, but they were all feints.
In fact, most of the casualties in front of our defences were the Nasrian garrison troops and nobles who volunteered to fight to reclaim the city. The five standing corps of Shiks have been watching from the back.
I had someone do a count on the walls. Very few Shiksan soldiers died in front of our defences. The total number of casualties on all three fronts is less than a thousand.
I suspect that the enemy knows our defences are weak, but they still spent the past three days probing us. It's very likely that they want to force us out of the city.
That's why they only besieged three directions to give us an escape route. That's the only way they can reclaim the city without fighting.
All we can do now is persevere. We plan to use the city's defences to deal with the five corps of Shiks. Only by wiping out the five corps will we be able to destroy Nasri and march into Canas to unify the eastern part of the continent.
Since the enemy wants to stall for time, we'll play along. Only when the five corps of Shiks launch a full-scale attack will we be able to put on a show and retreat without arousing the enemy's suspicions. "
"Then what should we do if the five corps of Shiks don't move?" Eiblont asked hesitantly.
"Then we'll keep them company."
Claude pointed at Emis on the map. "I've already sent an eagle message to Boni and Myjack, asking them to send a line from 3rd Folk to Emis.
At that time, Bonny will also transfer troops from the Monolith's First Division and pretend to be a Division's reinforcements. If the enemy wants to recapture the capital, they will definitely launch a fierce attack on us when they receive this news, hoping to defeat or drive us out of the capital before the reinforcements arrive … "
Much to his surprise, the alliance launched a fierce attack the very next day with five Shiksan standing corps at that.
It seemed that they had used the Nasrian garrison troops and nobles' armed forces as cannon fodder to test the strength of the defence line.
Thus, they immediately threw in all their forces, using two days and one night of nonstop attacks, forcing Thunderclap and Monolith Corps to abandon their defensive positions in front of the city walls.
"We lost close to ten thousand men. Shiks' losses should be five to six times that of ours," Birkin said as he handed the casualty report to Claude.
Claude took the report and found that most of them were lightly injured. The names of those who died were circled with a black pen. There were less than two thousand of them. He finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The injured were sent to the treatment camp in the capital and the corpses of the dead were collected. They would be cremated and brought back to the region when they had time.
They lost around ten thousand men and lost around two lines of troops. While the enemy's casualties were five to six times higher, they only lost around one corps.
Claude wasn't satisfied with such a trade and felt that he was at a huge disadvantage.
But when he thought about the seven trenches within a hundred metres of the walls, he had no choice but to keep his frustration to himself.
"The enemy used a lot of light catapults during the attack today. They had the attacking soldiers carry them with them and only threw them when they reached the trenches, catching us off guard.
We didn't expect them to do that. That's why we lost the first two trenches. We suffered too many casualties.
"Then, we returned the favor and used the same catapults to throw the catapults into the two trenches occupied by the enemy. We also paid attention to the catapults and killed them the moment they were discovered. That's how we managed to hold out until the afternoon before retreating from the front lines."
Eiblont, who was in command at the front lines, also reported on the battle. He believed that the enemy was more difficult to deal with. The five standing corps of Shiks were indeed more outstanding than the rest of the alliance. Their skirmish and wave-like tactics were more practiced and their will to fight was more tenacious.
But that was also why the retreat from the front lines seemed reasonable to the enemy. After all, the defenders were at a huge disadvantage in terms of numbers.
The enemy might attack the walls next. They could give up on the western wall, but the southern and northern walls had to be held.
Even if the western wall was breached, the enemy would only be entering the city that Claude had set up beforehand.
That was originally the camp for the hundreds of thousands of captives and their families. Now that the captives and their families had been relocated, the area that took up a third of the city became the final battleground for Claude's final battle.
However, the commander of the Alliance army seemed to be determined to force Thundercrash and Monolith to voluntarily abandon the capital of Polyvicia and retreat. After occupying the frontline position in front of the city wall, they did not immediately launch an attack. Instead, they spent five days collecting the bodies of the dead soldiers. At the same time, they dug more than ten trenches leading to the frontline position to mobilize troops during the attack.
Once everything was in place and the Thundercrash and Monolith armies showed no signs of retreating from Polyvicia's Royal City, the Alliance army finally launched an attack on the Royal City.
It was a three-pronged attack, but six corps were deployed at once.
The western and northern sides were guarded by a Nasrian and a Shiksan corps, while the southern side was guarded by two Shiksan corps.
It seemed that the commander of the Alliance army wanted to use the advantage of military strength to crush the defense confidence of the garrison in the fiercest offensive.
Claude felt that the enemy commander's move was a brilliant one. He knew very well that Thundercrash and Monolith were at a disadvantage in terms of numbers. There were only two corps of ten thousand men defending each wall. Even with the fortifications of the walls, they wouldn't be able to withstand the waves of attacks from the enemy.
When the foot of the city wall was filled with enemy infantrymen who were continuously climbing up the city wall and firing at the city wall, it would definitely attract the attention of the defenders on the city wall. To put it bluntly, there was no need for them to aim properly. Any random shot from the foot of the city wall would hit the enemy, and no one would notice the cannons and huge catapults that the enemy was moving closer step by step.
When the defenders on the walls noticed the cannons and catapults approaching, they wouldn't be able to stop the attackers from climbing up the walls if they were to turn the cannons around.
The walls of Polyvicia were only five to six metres tall. The densely packed ladders on the walls made it easy for the attackers to scale the walls and engage the defenders in hand-to-hand combat.
Claude and Birkin had no choice but to gather the logistics and civilian officers of their folk and corps to provide support on the walls.
When the first enemy catapult landed on the western wall, it sent the bodies of the combatants flying into the air. Eiblont had no choice but to order the defenders to retreat and give up on defending the walls.
Soon, the flags of Shiks and Nasri were planted on the western wall. Countless excited soldiers cheered and jumped on the walls in celebration of the costly victory.
In this era, breaking the walls meant victory for the attackers. The defenders would either surrender or retreat.
What puzzled the alliance was that even though the western wall had been breached, the resistance from the northern and southern walls was still fierce. The artillery fire was even more intense.
The attackers, on the other hand, had lost their morale and fighting spirit. The reason was simple. The western wall had already been breached. They could easily enter the city from there. Why would they send themselves to their deaths here?
As a result, the sounds of gunfire from the northern and southern walls soon died down. The defenders on both sides even launched a counterattack against the western wall, but they were still repelled by the alliance.
However, the two sides were still exchanging fire at the border. In the end, the alliance used sandbags to cut off the walls and set up a heavy defence. The defenders seemed to be running out of ammunition and would only fire once in a while. They weren't as fierce as they were at the start of the battle.
However, the troops that entered King's City from the west gate were immediately attacked by the defenders. They hid in houses, alleys, and barricades, shooting at the enemies entering the city, making it difficult for the Alliance soldiers to enter the city. The roads were almost covered with corpses and wounded.
The alliance, on the other hand, pushed forward step by step. However, the enemies were very cunning. They fought as they retreated, leaving only empty bullet casings on the ground.
Pilag Xi Feriot was very uneasy. He felt that there was something wrong with breaching the city walls so easily. The fact that the enemies were still putting up a strong resistance made him feel even more strange.
Under normal circumstances, breaching the city meant victory for the attackers and the defenders would either retreat or surrender.
He left the eastern path open so that the enemies could retreat. That way, everyone would be happy and they wouldn't have to suffer any more casualties.
But soon, the latest news came from the city explaining why the enemies were fighting to the death.
A Shiksan officer ran to the command post with a bag and poured the contents on the table. The gold and silver items shone brightly under the candlelight.
"Marshal, we've discovered three warehouses in the city where these treasures are stored. All of them are filled with these gold and silver wares.
Our soldiers are going crazy. Everyone is rushing into the warehouses to loot them.
The soldiers in the city are saying that the two enemy corps plundered tens of millions of gold keptons from Nasri and stored them in the city.
There are more than ten warehouses like this one. The reason the enemies are fighting to the death is because of this. They don't have carriages to transport so many things. "
Unfortunately, Pilag Xi Feriot received the news a little late. It wasn't just the troops in the city. Even those outside the city had received the news. They were either rushing into the city from the western gate or asking him to enter the city to attack the enemies.
On the other hand, Prince Ducklind of Nasri hurried over to Duke Pilag Xi Feriot to protest. He felt that the treasures belonged to Nasri, which meant that as the new king of Nasri, he should be crowned.
But the Duke of Pillage saw that Feriot could not do anything to help, for he could not at this time order the confiscation of the spoils of war from the hands of the soldiers, for that would greatly demoralize the troops who were attacking the front.
However, Duke Pilag Xi Feriot said that Taklind could enter the city on his own and lead his troops to attack the enemies. That way, he would be able to keep the warehouses they found and occupied.
As Taklind still had a corps under him, he kept using the excuse that half of his men had died during the siege and needed to rest to avoid entering the city to fight.
When a messenger came to report that Marquis Archburg Wei Chalkes of Canas had led the only remaining light cavalry corps into the city to attack the enemy, Taklind couldn't stay any longer and hurriedly bade farewell.
Not long after, news of Nasri's newly reorganized corps advancing towards the city came from the main camp.
The gunfire in the west of the city grew even more intense. The Shiksan soldiers in the city charged at the enemy without caring about the heavy casualties.
When the enemy retreated, the Shiksan soldiers cheered in joy. They didn't chase after the enemy, but instead rushed into the empty houses to search for treasures.
The entire army was in chaos. No one cared about their fallen comrades. The occasional discovery of the warehouses filled with gold and silver made the soldiers' eyes turn bloodshot.
In order to loot the room full of treasures, a Shiksan brigade and a company of Canas cavalrymen got into a gunfight that resulted in more than a dozen casualties. In the end, they were disarmed by the Nasrian troops that arrived later.
By then, apart from Prince Taklind's corps that was the last to enter the city, the other two hundred thousand soldiers had scattered. They were either searching the houses for treasures or running towards the source of the gunfire.
The intensity of the gunfire meant that there were warehouses where the enemy was defending. With warehouses, there was a chance of getting rich. The soldiers, who were filled with dreams of getting rich, ignored the corpses strewn all over the ground. They didn't even listen to the cries for help from the wounded.
Many of the empty houses in the west of the city were set on fire by the frustrated soldiers who couldn't find any treasures. Soon, more and more fires were set ablaze.
Fortunately, most of the houses in the city were made of brick and stone, so the fires didn't spread all over the place.
In the latter half of the night, many of the soldiers and tired officers found a campfire to warm themselves up and rest. Many of them even took out their spoils to show off to their companions.
At that moment, news came that there was more gold and silver stored in the palace. They were small, portable valuables such as gold, silver, and jewels. With just a handful, they could return home and live the life of a tycoon for the rest of their lives.
So, all the soldiers headed for the palace. The corpses on the streets were dragged to the sides to avoid delaying their journey.
Intense gunfire and cannons had already erupted from the palace, but that didn't stop the crowd from advancing towards the palace in search of a chance to get rich.
The western street was connected to the palace by a very wide square. This was the most famous square in Polyvicia's capital, the Nasrian Royal Square.
The Nasrian royal family would hold grand celebrations in this square every major festival. Most of the military parades and inspection of troops were also held here.
Between the square and the palace, there was a blackstone road for four carriages. Between the road and the palace, there was also a garden area more than a hundred meters away.
The Thunderclap and Monolith Corps, which were guarding the royal city, had already stationed a large number of soldiers on the walls of the royal palace. The corpses of the Alliance soldiers lying on the blackstone avenue and the garden area had almost covered the ground.
These reckless attackers had attacked the palace with dreams of getting rich, only to lose their precious lives in the gunfire.
"We need grenades and cannons to break through the enemy's walls …" the Alliance soldiers who arrived first shouted at the troops that came later, but none of them brought those heavy weapons.
They also shouted at the people that came later, but none of them were willing to go back and get those weapons. They were all afraid that they would miss the opportunity to charge into the city.
The square that could hold more than a hundred thousand people slowly became crowded. The soldiers that were separated from their own troops began to shout their unit numbers or the names of their commanding officers in an attempt to regroup.
Most of the Alliance soldiers were squeezed into the square. There was still about three hundred meters between them and the palace walls, so they didn't have to worry about being shot at.
"This must be what you mean by 'people die for wealth and birds die for food'."
Eiblont looked at the crowd in the square from atop the palace walls and smiled savagely.
Claude nodded and turned to Chiklin. "You can give the order to open fire. I believe the 400 cannons we've been hiding will surprise the enemy.
Also, Allen, go to the south wall and direct the cannons to bombard the west wall. Seal the west gate and don't let the enemy escape … "
Claude had once said that as long as he had enough ammunition, he didn't care how many enemies there were.
But after facing the Alliance, he had hidden the 400 cannons brought by Monolith's 2nd Folk in the warehouse. He was afraid that the Alliance would learn of it and not dare to attack the city.
So, the enemy discovered that Thundercrash only had around 200 cannons. After they retreated back to the city, they only had around a hundred of the new cannons and they didn't seem to have enough ammunition.
Most of the enemies had already fallen into the trap and couldn't escape even if they had wings. In order to get rich, they had left all their heavy weapons outside the city.
So, Claude could finally bring out his trump card and go on a killing spree.