Thud!
Thud!
Two gunshots rang out and the two Shiksan soldiers fell to the ground. Their bodies twitched a few times before they stopped moving.
After a while, three Thundercrash soldiers carefully climbed over the rubble and searched the surroundings to make sure there was no danger. Only then did they appear beside the corpses.
One of the officers checked the corpses and tore off a cloth bag from one of the corpses. When he opened it, he saw that it contained a few gold and silver tableware.
"Another two idiots trying to run away for a bit of money," the officer muttered, "Why don't they think about it? The entire western sector is on lockdown. Surrendering earlier is the best way to save your life."
Ever since the bombardment of cannons that night had scared the living daylights out of the 100,000 soldiers gathered in Nasri's plaza, the battle in the western sector of Polyvicia fell under the control of Thundercrash and Monolith.
The bombardment lasted for half an hour and plowed through the entire plaza three or four times. It was estimated that no less than 60,000 soldiers were killed or injured on the spot. Only a small portion of them managed to escape.
Had it not been for the luxurious uniform he was wearing, no one would have realized that the corpse with only half a head and a shoulder was the prince when they cleaned up the battlefield.
If it wasn't for the fact that he was still wearing a gorgeous general's uniform, no one would have realized that the corpse with only half a head and a shoulder was the noble prince when they cleaned up the battlefield afterward.
In order to identify the corpse, a large group of Nasri soldiers and captives came to confirm it. Only then did they realize that the prince had been unlucky enough to be killed at the start of the bombardment.
It took nearly half a month to clean up the square. The main reason was that no matter if it was the victors, the captives, or the surrendered losers, all of them vomited when they were ordered to clean up the square at the beginning.
It was too tragic. It was a true swamp of flesh and blood. Stepping into it would cause one's entire foot to sink in. Severed limbs and mangled corpses were truly hellish.
The only fortunate thing was that it was already the end of November and the weather was cold. The corpses in the plaza wouldn't rot so quickly.
But it was also because of this that the flesh and blood congealed together, presenting the entire tragic scene to the people who were cleaning and cleaning.
In the end, be it the victors or the losers, they all treated the task of cleaning the square as the most severe punishment for the officers and soldiers who violated the rules. As long as they went there once, they would behave for a period of time.
General Eiblont had gone there once, but he couldn't eat for three days after he came back. He was a vegetarian for half a year, and he felt nauseous at the sight of meat …
The prince wasn't the only one to suffer. Marquis Archburgh Wey Chalks, who had just arrived, was also injured by the cannons. He suffered even more than the prince.
This was because he was rescued by his loyal subordinates. In the next eight days, he was brought by his loyal subordinates to hide in the western district of the Royal City, trying to break through the siege and escape from the Royal City.
However, the entire western district was locked down, and Thundercrash and Monolith launched a counterattack the next morning, clearing out the remaining Alliance soldiers in the western district.
More than a hundred thousand Shiksan, Nasri and Canas soldiers who entered the city were like headless flies. They couldn't put up any effective resistance at all, especially under the heavy bombardment.
Especially under the fierce artillery bombardment, even if there were some basic officers who tried to put up a defense, they were quickly wiped out. The rest of the soldiers either ran around and were killed, or put down their weapons and raised their hands in surrender in a daze …
Archburgh Wey Chalks was unfortunate because his subordinates were too loyal. If they had surrendered earlier, he would've been treated well by Thundercrash given his status.
However, his loyal subordinates only wanted to take him out of the city. Unfortunately, the entire western district was locked down and the western city walls and gates were taken back by Thundercrash.
Marquis Archburgh Wei Chalkes' subordinates had tried to break through the city gates twice, but to no avail. Instead, they had attracted the attention of Thundercrash, who had sent out a large group of soldiers to pursue them relentlessly, forcing the Marquis' subordinates to flee with the heavily injured Lord Marquis.
On the eighth day, the last loyal subordinate of the Marquis, who had nowhere to run, died next to his stretcher.
When the victorious Thundercrash soldiers removed the blanket covering the marquis, they found that he had long since passed away due to excessive blood loss.
On the 7th of November, year 600, the alliance's army arrived at Poliviesia's capital. There were five standing corps from Shiks, one light-cavalry corps from Canas and two corps from Nasri, totaling more than 500,000 soldiers.
Apart from that, there were also quite a number of garrisons and private nobles sent by Nasri to protect the king. There were also remnants of Nasri's regular army that Thundercrash had defeated. All in all, there were about 50,000 of them.
After three days of rest, the commander-in-chief of the alliance, the Shiksan duke Pilag Si Feriot, sent the garrisons and private nobles who had been clamoring to reclaim the city and wipe out Aueras to attack Thundercrash's defensive line. He also used the Shiksan military law enforcement unit to supervise the attack and ordered anyone who retreated to be killed.
After three days of probing attacks, these miscellaneous troops suffered heavy casualties and complained incessantly. No one dared to boast in front of Marshal Pilag Xi Ferriott anymore.
Because the Marshal will take your bragging seriously and send you to the battlefield to show your loyalty to the country. Also, if you don't retreat or become a deserter, the Marshal will order you to be shot to death as a warning to the others …
Thirty thousand of the fifty thousand troops were killed in the three days. Even the Shiksan military law enforcement unit that supervised the battle suffered more than a thousand casualties.
The price they paid was that Pilag Xi Feryot was able to ascertain the strength of Thundercrash at the frontlines and sent five Shiksan corps into the attack. After two days and one night of fierce fighting, they managed to heavily damage Thundercrash and forced them to abandon their frontlines and retreat to the capital.
Next, Pilag Si Feriot intentionally delayed the attack for five days in hopes that Thundercrash and Monolith would retreat on their own.
He didn't want to fight the two corps to the point where both sides suffered heavy casualties. While the alliance had the advantage in numbers, they were far inferior to the enemy in terms of combat ability.
During the two days and one night battle at the frontlines, Shiksan's five corps suffered sixty to seventy thousand casualties. That was equivalent to losing an entire standing corps.
So, with Thundercrash and Monolith refusing to retreat, they would definitely suffer heavy casualties in taking down the city. After all, the enemy had the city walls and the defences on top of them.
If they weren't willing to send in all their forces to take down the city in one fell swoop, delaying or using tactics like that would only result in more casualties.
After much consideration, Pilag Si Feriot finally made up his mind to send in all his forces on the first day to take down the city in one fell swoop.
He only had the light cavalry of Canas act as a backup in case the enemy counterattacked out of desperation and disrupted the rhythm of the attack.
At the same time, he gave a strict order that no one was allowed to retreat. Those who did would be punished according to military law!
Fortunately, the alliance managed to take down the western walls on the first day with their superior numbers. The enemy had no choice but to retreat, as evidenced by their struggles afterwards.
The enemy wanted to counterattack from the northern and southern walls to take back the western one, but they were repelled by the sacrifice of the alliance's soldiers.
Even without the statistics, Marshal Pilag Xi Feriot knew that the siege had cost a lot of lives. The two Nasrian corps he had ordered to be cannon fodder in the first wave had all retreated to the main camp after they breached King's City. However, only a little more than one corps returned. Almost half of them had been wiped out, and Taklind was very dissatisfied with this.
However, Shiks suffered heavy casualties as well. They probably lost no less than a corps, so much so that Taklind had to hold it in no matter how dissatisfied he was. He could only use the excuse that the casualties were too heavy to enter the city.
When the remaining three Shiksan corps entered the western part of the city, they discovered that the enemy was still putting up a tenacious resistance.
Marshal Pilag Xi Ferriott felt strange when he heard the news. He didn't know why Thundercrash and Monolith were still fighting to the death. In this era, as long as they broke through the city walls and entered the city, the defenders would either retreat or surrender, admitting defeat. They wouldn't continue to resist like the enemy.
Marshal Pilag Xi Feriot was well aware of the situation. Based on his investigations, the casualties on the battlefield, and the reports from Nasri's spies, he believed that the enemy had less than a full corps of soldiers left to fight.
The Thunderclap Legion had been entangled with the Alliance Army since Durmel County, and they were only able to fight with a division or so of troops.
Coupled with Monolith's folk's reinforcements, they had suffered quite a number of casualties as well. At most, they only had around thirty to forty thousand men left.
Now that the city walls were breached, Shiks had around a hundred and fifty thousand men. They were four to five times their numbers. No matter how the enemy resisted, they couldn't reverse the situation.
Therefore, even though he was a little uneasy, Marshal Pilag Xi Ferriott was still full of confidence in his kingdom's troops. He patiently waited for the detailed battle report from the city.
However, Pilag Si Feriot was too focused on the enemy's new rifles and cannons and neglected the most inconspicuous part of the enemy's metal helmets.
He had once wondered why Thundercrash's soldiers wore heavy metal helmets, but a Nasri spy's report made him think that he understood the truth behind the enemy's helmets.
The Nasrian spy said he saw Thundercrash's soldiers put food and water in the helmets during lunch break and put them over a fire. Soon, a steaming bowl of meat porridge was ready.
Pilag Si Feriot finally understood. Obviously, the enemy had penetrated deep into Nasri territory and knew that they were in enemy territory. It would be difficult for them to ensure that they had a complete supply of food for every meal. It would be difficult for the soldiers to maintain their morale for long if they just had to eat military rations.
For the sake of the soldiers' health and morale, the main purpose of equipping them with helmets was to allow them to eat hot food by themselves at any time to reduce injuries and low morale.
Each helmet was akin to a pot for a person. It was easy to carry and clean.
As long as there was a clean water source and a fire, they would be able to eat hot food or drink hot water during their breaks.
So, Pilag Si Feriot neglected the other uses of the helmets. When he calculated the enemy's casualties, he multiplied it by three, assuming that the enemy was three times that of Shiks. That was why he came up with the conclusion that Thundercrash and Monolith only had around thirty to forty thousand soldiers left.
The truth was that Claude had more than 70,000 men under his command, more than double Pillag Si Feriot's estimate.
The reason he had the logistics officers go into battle was to confuse the enemy and lure them into a trap.
In the two corps of the overseas autonomous region, the administrative and logistical officers also had to learn military skills.
Claude had always believed that a soldier was a soldier and that there was no distinction between civil and military. They had to take the lead in times of need.
When Marshal Pilag Xi Ferriott found out that the reason the enemies were fighting to the death was because of the treasures they had plundered in King's City, he immediately adjusted his evaluation of the enemies.
He believed that the enemy's fighting prowess was mainly due to their new weapons and that they were too greedy and didn't know when to retreat.
Later on, Canas light-cavalry dismounted from their horses and entered the capital. Instead of attacking, they were actually there to loot the warehouses.
This made Ducklind bring his remaining army into the city to join the battle. Marshal Pilag Xi Ferriott also sent a few messengers into the city, wanting Marquis Archburgh Wey Chalkes and Prince Ducklind to preside over the attack and command of the Alliance army in the city.
However, the first few messengers never returned. Only the last one was unlucky and couldn't find any opportunities to strike it rich in the city. It took him more than an hour to return.
The report said that the city was too chaotic and no one could be found. Even if they asked others, they wouldn't know.
Many soldiers couldn't even find their superiors. Some of the superiors were left alone and didn't know where their subordinates had gone.
The enemy in the city was still fighting back, but the gunfire was getting less and less. The roads and streets were littered with corpses and many of their own were injured.
However, it was too dark to tell if the corpses on the ground belonged to the Alliance or the enemy. It was probably both.
As the territory controlled by the Alliance grew larger and larger, many soldiers even ran towards the areas where the gunfire was more concentrated.
After hearing the messenger's report, Pilag Si Feriot finally relaxed and thought that the situation was settled.
Prince Taklind's legion and Canas' light cavalry legion had also entered King's city. In total, there were close to 300,000 soldiers in King's city.
With so many soldiers, the enemy wouldn't be able to turn the tide no matter how hard they struggled.
Then, after midnight, when it was the darkest time before dawn, there was a sudden explosion of cannon fire and explosions in the distant Polyvicia.
From afar, the city looked like a volcano had erupted. Smoke, fire, explosions, and thunder roared. Even the occupied western walls were ravaged by the cannon fire. Even in the Alliance camp, one could almost hear the screams of the unfortunate who were sent flying into the air by the explosions.
Marshal Pilag Xi Ferriot rushed out of his tent, picked up a telescope, and stared at the capital of Polyvicia. He didn't feel anything even though he was shivering in the cold night wind in his thin pajamas.
Even when his adjutant brought him a thick cloak to help him put it on, the marshal pushed him away.
The rumbling of the cannons in King's City lasted for half an hour before subsiding. Marshal Pilag Xi Ferriott was dumbfounded.
When his adjutant went up again, he saw that the marshal's face was pale and his forehead was covered in sweat. He muttered, "We've been tricked …"
After a while, the marshal snapped out of it and ordered two of his attendants to check whether the western walls were still in the hands of the alliance.
Less than ten minutes later, only one of his attendants came running back. He told Marshal Pilag Xi Ferriott that the west wall had been reoccupied by the enemy.
His companion didn't trust the marshal's judgment and approached the closed city gates without a care in the world. He shouted loudly about what he wanted to enter the city, but a gunshot rang out from the top of the walls and the attendant fell in front of his mount.
Pilag Si Feriot didn't say anything for a long time and looked even more depressed.
After waving the attendant away, he told his aide to get all the Shiksan soldiers to pack up and follow him back to Shiks the next morning.
At that moment, there was also a line of guards directly under Marshal Pilag Xi Feriot in the main camp. Most of them were from his fief. There were also the logistics departments of the five Shiksan corps, as well as the garrison, transport, and medical departments. Altogether, there were about sixty thousand of them.
Hearing the marshal's order, his adjutant was shocked and hurriedly tried to dissuade him. Why would he give such an inconceivable order?
How could he leave so suddenly when Polivesia was about to be retaken?
There were so many allied troops in the city. Even if the western walls were taken, the alliance would definitely be able to retake them.
Pilag Si Feriot smiled bitterly. He said that if they didn't leave in the next two days, they wouldn't be able to leave again.
Once the allied troops in the city were dealt with, it would be the ones who slipped through the net in the main camp.
If they wanted to leave, they had to be quick. Otherwise, even if the infantry left two days earlier, the enemy cavalry would still be able to catch up.
That was why Lord Marshal summoned the field division commander under his direct command and ordered him to seize all the grassland warhorses in the Canas light cavalry encampment in the alliance's main camp. He also ordered the retreating soldiers who could ride to get on their steeds. Those who couldn't, they were to leave with him in carriages.
By the time most of the allied troops in the city were either wiped out or surrendered, it was already the fifth day after the alliance troops fell into Claude's trap. Claude transferred two lines to Eiblont and had him lead them to attack the main camp outside the city.
However, when Eiblont arrived at the main camp, he found that apart from the Nasri and Canas soldiers and the logistics department personnel, there wasn't a single Shiksan there.
After asking the captives, he found out that the supreme commander of the alliance, Pilag Si Feriot, had already left the main camp four days ago with all the Shiksans and the injured, as well as the Nasri and Canas soldiers who were willing to retreat with him. They said they were returning to Shiks.
They also seized nearly eighty thousand Canas light cavalry mounts and even took the grooms with them. They also took away all the carriages in the main camp.
Eiblont immediately gave chase with his army, but he gave up three days later. He had only managed to shorten their journey by one day even after three days of relentless pursuit. That speed wasn't enough to stop the Shiksans at the Nasri border.