Chapter 263 Bursen Siege 2
Bursen Castle was built on the hillside with no moat. Although trenches were dug and antlers were installed, because the trebuchets of the three provincial coalition forces had a long range and suppressed the long-range attack force at the city head, the antlers were moved and cut off on the first day, and the trenches were filled. Gascoigne's march The coalition of provincial nobles even boarded the city and caused some casualties to the enemy.
According to the normal siege progress, it is not too slow.
The siege lasted from morning to evening. The coalition of Gascoyne nobles organized four battles. The casualties on the first day exceeded 400 people. Under Richard's strict order, it can be said that they tried their best.
By evening, the spirit of this army was extremely tense, with more than one-tenth of the casualties. If it were not for the large number of supervising troops blocking the rear, they might have collapsed today.
After all, we were fighting a war of aggression, not resisting the orcs or protecting our families. The soldiers' ability to withstand casualties was not high. In just one day, morale had dropped to the extreme.
In the evening, Richard personally inspected the wounded barracks, sent doctors from the Harland territory to treat the wounded, distributed liquor and meat, and expressed condolences to the coalition of nobles in Gascoigne Province, which restored the morale of the officers and soldiers a little.
After the tour, Richard returned to the Chinese army's tent and summoned the senior officers of the coalition forces.
The decoration of Richard's big tent is very simple, similar to that of ordinary soldiers' military tents. It's just that there are more than a dozen people living in the ordinary soldiers' tents, and there is only one person in Richard's tent, which looks slightly more spacious.
Two thick candles were lit in the big tent, illuminating the interior furnishings particularly brightly. A simple map of the Grand Duchy of Stanik hangs on the east side, and there are three rows of chairs on the west side, a total of more than twenty chairs. The layout is a bit messy.
When the time arrived at about nine o'clock in the evening, the main officers had settled down their camp affairs and came to the Chinese army's tent.
Because the place is relatively small, some lower-ranking officers can only stay outside.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Richard got straight to the point and said: "Everyone knows the situation well. Among the three armies, our middle coalition army is the slowest to assemble, and the food in hand is the shortest. In addition, Captain Morgan has collected the most in recent days. Food, our food and grass reserves are only forty-five days.
Although the food road is relatively smooth, the food shortage is serious in the area responsible for the supply of the Central Route Army. Only 1,200 tons of food and fodder can be transported up within forty-five days. Now the enemy has carried out the strategy of strengthening the wall and clearing the field. The order leaves us only one and a half months.
If there is no progress in one and a half months, we can only turn south, join up with the Southern Route Army, and go to the south to beg for food. When the
war situation develops to this point, the Stanik border noble coalition will We can gather together and go north to join the Linus family coalition. By then, the army led by Duke Jonathan will be in danger of defeat. Can
our center army open up the situation? It is very critical to the success or failure of this intervention war.
Today's siege battle everyone You've all seen it, tell me what you think!"
"Your Excellency, the coalition forces in the Gascoigne province suffered heavy casualties today and performed very bravely, but they are still very far away from conquering the castle. Due to the limitations of the terrain, we are very It is difficult to invest too much troops. The only two methods for such a strong city are surprise attack and siege.
We don’t have much food and can’t be sieged for too long, so we might try a surprise attack.”
Sharp stood up and pointed at the map. During the reorganization of the coalition forces, Richard appointed Sharp as the commander of the coalition forces in Geda Province.
Thirteen years have passed, and Sharp has been promoted from a fifth-level warrior to a seventh-level warrior. He has served as captain of the main army and is a hereditary baron, so he has enough qualifications to hold this position. In order to let Sharp participate in the war in person, Richard specifically talked to him. The four hundred soldiers brought by Baron Sharp were also carefully selected elite soldiers. Many of them followed him for twenty years.
"Judging from today's battle situation, the defenders are not weak, and the officers are also experienced. Commander Sharp, please give us your views in detail. We cannot let the soldiers continue to take risks."
The speaker was Kalani, the commander of the coalition forces in Gascoigne Province. He was the younger brother of Baron Burnham and a fifth-level knight. This expedition brought 300 elite soldiers, many of whom were Earls. The backbone of the Nam family.
The reason why Baron Burnham sent elite soldiers to join the battle was that he had no other choice. His younger brother Kalani's prestige is too high and has seriously threatened his status. If the external threat hadn't been too great, the brothers would have fallen out long ago.
When organizing the intervention army this time, Baron Burnham consulted with Kalani and decided to send elite soldiers from the territory for him to command. If Kalani makes military exploits and gets a knighthood, everyone will be happy. If Kalani fails to be knighted, they will also leave. Territory, join the Mad Lion Legion.
Compared with Gedda Province, the situation in Gascoigne Province has been very bad in recent years.
Viscount Anthony, the two major nobles in the province, took the lead in launching a rebellion, and Viscount Cisse was also involved. King Roger punished him and demoted him, and his strength plummeted.
The nobles in the province lost two pillars and five thousand soldiers. Facing the orc invasion, it became very difficult to defend.
Several wars did not go well. Many noble territories were captured by the orcs, and the losses were very heavy and miserable.
Among the coalition of nobles from the three provinces, the coalition of nobles from Gascoigne Province only has 3,000 soldiers, and the quality of the soldiers is the lowest. Kalani's men are already the highest quality among the coalition. Although Kalani did not have a title, he was appointed by Richard as the commander of the provincial coalition forces.
"Your Excellency, how many members of the Harland Territory Mage Association are participating in this war? My plan requires the participation of magicians to have a chance of winning." Faced with Kalani's question,
Sharp did not answer directly, but turned his gaze to That’s right, Richard.
The people in the military tent were all high-ranking officers of the three-province coalition, so it was almost impossible to have a traitor.
Besides, Sharp's question was not considered confidential, so Richard immediately replied: "There are sixty-seven people from the Harland Territory Mage Association, all in the camp, including my wife Sophia. There are also ten official magicians in the Mage Group. Six people. However, there are twenty-nine magic apprentices who know relatively few spells and can only undertake treatment tasks. Seventeen mage apprentices participated in today's rescue mission, and most of their magic power has been consumed."
"If we launch a surprise attack at dawn tonight, how many mages can be mobilized to participate in the battle?"
"Twenty mages can be mobilized to participate in the battle. Basically, they are all formal magicians, and a few are also high-level magic apprentices."
After hearing Richard's answer, Sharp's heart After thinking for a moment, he said: "That's enough. My plan is to mobilize two thousand elite soldiers, divide them into three echelons, and launch a surprise attack at dawn tonight. The mage group will follow the first echelon, and the first echelon will carry earth bags and pour the soil on Under the city wall, and then the magician uses magic to create a stone step for the first echelon. As long as we can successfully create the stone step, we have a chance of winning this battle." After hearing Sharp's plan, Richard thought for a moment and felt
refined After a while, there should be a good chance of winning.
"What do you think?"
Kalani said, "We can give it a try. The casualties from a strong attack will be too great, so we can only use surprise attacks."
Seeing that no one else objected, Richard weighed it for a while and quickly made up his mind. Decided to launch a surprise attack at dawn tonight. Richard mobilized 1,800 elite soldiers from the coalition forces of the three provinces, and then mobilized 200 archers from the Harland territory army, 20 Harland territory magicians, and 120 Warcraft cavalry all participated. Surprise battle.
Before setting off, Richard conducted another brief pre-war mobilization.
"When we set out, Duke Jonathan promised a heavy reward. If the intervention war is successful, the territories of sixteen barons and three viscounts on the border will be granted to meritorious ministers. This area is fertile and is north of Stanik
. The border is three hundred kilometers away and there will be no orc invasion. After the intervention war is won, it will be a first-class fertile territory.
You are either the second son of a nobleman or a member of a branch. If you can fight bravely and achieve military exploits, I will Will report the truth to Duke Jonathan. Gentlemen, whether you can change your destiny and become a respected hereditary noble depends on your battle today?" After the mobilization was completed, Richard immediately led the team to set off. At 3:30 in the night, the
first An echelon was already lurking 150 meters away from the city wall.
The defenders of Bursen Castle have been in battle for a long time and have relatively rich experience in defending the city. Preparations were made in advance for the enemy's surprise attack. Not only soldiers were arranged on duty on the city wall, but also open and hidden sentries were arranged. There were even mobile sentries constantly patrolling, and even in the latter part of the night, the enemy did not slack off.
Through the dim light of the fire, Richard secretly counted more than 400 soldiers on duty on the city. The soldiers on duty were very alert and did not fall asleep until almost four o'clock in the morning.
Seeing that the enemy has not revealed any flaws, if you continue to approach the city wall, you will be exposed to a great risk, and you will be easily attacked by the enemy. Richard thought for a while and decided to let the archers of Harland Territory suppress the defenders. Baron Sharp led the first echelon to launch a surprise attack.
With a little firelight, two hundred archers from the Harland Territory drew their bowstrings and fired the first round of feather arrows at the city head.
These two hundred archers are all carefully selected, and many of them have reached the third level of archery.
The third-level archery skills were almost perfect. Two hundred feathered arrows were shot at the top of the city. Each arrow was aimed at the vital point, causing serious casualties to the defenders in an instant.
This round of feather arrows directly killed more than twenty soldiers and injured more than thirty soldiers.
If it were to cause such damage to the enemy during the day, it would take at least three hundred soldiers to achieve this.
It was night after all, and the sentry on the watchtower could not see far. With the cover of night, archers can approach the city wall. The torches lit on the wall expose the defenders to the sight of the archers, as if they are shooting at a target, causing a large number of casualties to the enemy.
"The enemy is attacking, extinguish the torches
quickly and tell everyone to be careful of arrows." In the dark night, the grassroots officers guarding the city responded quickly and immediately ordered the soldiers to blow the horns to call for reinforcements, then extinguished the torches and hid their bodies behind the bunker.
After the archers fired their arrows, the first echelon of soldiers immediately raised their shields, protecting the magicians in the middle, and quickly rushed to the foot of the city wall.
The grenadier stretched out his body, waved his arms and threw the alchemy bomb. In an instant, hundreds of alchemy bombs exploded on the top of the city. Shrapnel scattered on the top of the city, killing and injuring more than a hundred soldiers.
Continuously attacked by archers and grenadiers, the defenders on the city suffered heavy casualties. They instantly lost their organization and became extremely chaotic.
Richard fought with the first echelon.
When the first echelon arrived at the foot of the city wall, Richard immediately used flying skills to fly to the top of Bursen City under the night, then opened the bottle of starlight and poured the soil that had been filled in the bottle in advance under the city wall. .
With the powerful magic equipment of the Star Bottle, there is no need for the first echelon soldiers to carry earth bags and create mountains of earth.
The bottle of starlight has a large space, with a volume of 450 cubic meters. It is enough to create a slope of 15 meters high, 15 meters long and 2 meters wide.
This sudden scene stunned the defenders. Several officers suppressed their panic and immediately ordered the soldiers to aim their arrows at Richard, hoping to solve the trouble.
The arrows struck, and Richard immediately released the second-ring magic defense arrows. An energy vortex suddenly appeared around him, scattering arrows one after another.
Using gravity, 450 cubic meters of soil fell under the city wall, immediately forming a slope.
Seeing that the guards were about to fire the second round of arrows, he would be surrounded by the defenders at any time. After dumping the soil, Richard immediately released the four-ring magic and flew through the air, landing from the top of Burson City.
When Richard landed at the top of the city, the first echelon of soldiers raised their shields to protect the commander in the middle.
The magicians who followed the first echelon of fighting released spells one after another to help the soldiers fight.
Sophia quickly released a powerful spell to turn mud into stone. She devoted almost all her mental energy and basically exhausted her magic power.
Sophia was wearing a star necklace, and although her mental strength was not as good as Richard's, it was still over forty points. With so much magic power invested, the magic of turning mud into stone is as powerful as a legendary spell.
As soon as this powerful magic was released, a large amount of soil suddenly turned into hard stone. This sloped passage under the city wall is like an indestructible stone ladder erected on the top of the city.
After Sophia's magic power was exhausted, Richard immediately arranged for four Harland Territory soldiers to send her back to the rear camp.
A stone slope appeared out of thin air. The first echelon of soldiers reacted quickly. Baron Sharp took the lead and led several professionals to climb the stone slope and climb the city to fight.
A dozen soldiers, led by Baron Sharp, climbed to the top of the city in the blink of an eye and occupied a foothold.
With the help of the power of magic, the coalition forces of the three provinces moved back to a certain geographical disadvantage. Relying on the stony earth slope, soldiers continued to board the city, and fierce hand-to-hand combat suddenly broke out on the city.
In order to defend their homeland, Bursen's defenders were also said to be brave and good at fighting, trying their best to stop the enemy.
However, after all, the strength of the defenders was not as good as the elite soldiers of the first echelon, and they were soon at a disadvantage. Relying on the stone slopes, more and more soldiers climbed onto the city wall. The pressure on the defenders on duty was increasing, and they were on the verge of collapse.
(End of chapter)