The eunuchs of Cloud State had no status. This kind of eunuch was arrogant, but if Bifano wanted to kill him, he could do so. Bifano waved his hand, and the soldiers behind him rushed over. They lifted the eunuch onto a horse and brought him in front of Bifano.
One of the soldiers took out a dagger and pressed it against the eunuch's neck.
"I ask, you answer. If you don't answer, kill. If you answer too slowly, kill. If you answer wrongly, kill. If you lie, kill. If I think you're lying, kill. Do you understand? "
The eunuch struggled, but he didn't seem to be afraid. He just sneered and said, "Do people like us need to be afraid of death?"
"How is my father?" Bifano ignored the eunuch's words and started to ask.
"He escaped. His Majesty is furious and has already sent troops into Titan. Don't think you're so great. You're no different from me now. You'll die soon."
Bifano knew that this eunuch was stubborn, but he still didn't want to die. So he continued to ask, "How many people came from Cloud State?"
"When I left, His Majesty had already sent two vanguard battalions."
"Vanguard battalion? They actually used the royal swordsmen! "Bifano was also surprised. Titan Duchy had Cloud State troops stationed there. To destroy the Agares family, they could just use the border guards. The royal swordsmen were one of the few strong land forces in Cloud State. The other elites were at sea.
Once the vanguard battalion moved, there would be at least 30,000 people. The capital only had 100,000 elites. Sending half of them at once, wasn't he afraid of the local warlords having evil thoughts?
Cloud State had 12 battalions of soldiers. The main force was 120,000 people, of which 20,000 would be stationed in other places every three years to maintain combat power. However, the number of auxiliary soldiers in Cloud State was relatively small. The defense of the capital was completely reliant on the royal swordsmen. Although there were 24 other battalions, they were all stationed in the provinces near the capital. If something really happened, it would take at least half a month to gather.
There was a certain amount of risk in Cloud State's actions.
"Bifano, the Gauss family has already been moved by His Majesty. His Majesty has reorganized the military and gathered 200,000 soldiers. Do you still think you can protect Titan?"
"The Gauss family has fallen?!" Bifano's expression changed. The Gauss family was the most powerful force in the empire. The imperial capital had always been helpless against the Gauss family. After the new emperor ascended the throne, he had adopted a pacifying policy for more than a decade. The Gauss family ruled over two large coastal provinces. It was said that they even had a secret island on the sea for training death warriors.
Be it wealth, military strength, or connections among the local nobles, the Gauss family was no weaker than the royal family.
Ever since Jupiter the Great ascended to the throne, he had always been a muddle-headed figure. Who would have thought that it was all an act! To be able to overthrow the Gauss Family, Jupiter the Great must have been planning this even before he ascended to the throne.
Bifano looked at the stone castle in the distance. The tall castle pierced through the clouds, and the highest spire was really inserted into the clouds, so he couldn't see it clearly.
The Emperor knew his whereabouts, and so did the Pink Army! For a moment, Bifano doubted himself. Would he still have a chance to turn things around? Were there also spies from Jupiter the Great among his bodyguards?
Impossible! The soldiers of the Agares Family were selected from the most loyal subjects. These people had followed the Agares Family for dozens of generations. No matter how magical Jupiter the Great was, it was impossible for these soldiers to betray him.
"Kill him." With Bifano's order, the soldier's short sword immediately sank into the eunuch's neck. He pressed down, and blood sprayed onto the ground.
Behind the eunuch was an army of forty people. They were the guards of the stone castle. Seeing that Bifano killed the Emperor's messenger, these soldiers immediately panicked and fled towards the stone castle.
This place was about a mile away from the stone castle. Bifano made a gesture, and immediately a small team of bodyguards chased after them. They shot arrows from behind and shot the soldiers off their horses one by one.
Bifano urged his horse to the side of Rex's chariot and said in a low voice, "Your Highness."
Rex saw everything clearly from inside the chariot. It was impossible to sneak into the stone castle now. Bifano came to ask for help.
"Salin, what do you think?"
"If you're confident, then do it. If not, then take a detour."
Rex thought carefully. After a while, he said to Bifano outside the chariot, "How many miles should we retreat first? Let me calculate."
Bifano's troops retreated five miles and started to set up a defensive camp. This place was too close to the stone castle. The castle might send out cavalry to attack.
On the side of the road, there was a huge stone house with a wooden roof, covered with bark and ropes, and painted with several layers of paint. It was a temporary resting place for the soldiers. Knowing that Bifano's troops would pass by here, the soldiers had already been evacuated.
This time, Rex got off the magic chariot and entered the stone house. He cleaned the rotten smell in the room with a cleaning spell and set up a table. Bifano sensibly gave the map and the building drawings of the stone castle to Rex.
Salin also came down and checked the two drawings with Rex.
The stone castle was next to the Redwater River. The Redwater River flowed east-west and eventually drained into the Frigid Swamp. The Frigid Swamp was a huge inland lake located at the border between Titan and Qin Yin. The Redwater River made three turns at the stone castle. There was a wide iron bridge on it. To cross the iron bridge, one had to take down the outer fortifications of the stone castle.
The terrain here was flat enough for warhorses to run. However, the stone castle was located on hills formed by rocks. The hills were barely more than 100 meters high, but they protected the stone castle well.
Because of these rocks, if one wanted to attack the stone castle, they would not be able to concentrate a large force. They could only attack on two narrow roads. The stone castle was 60 to 70 meters above the water. It was impossible to use the Redwater River.
Looking at the drawings of the castle, the stone castle was an irregular hexagon. It covered an area of about one mile and could accommodate a large number of soldiers. Even 100,000 people could live in it. However, Cloud State's troops had not arrived yet. The stone castle itself only had 5,000 soldiers. Those peasant soldiers would not fight with all their strength. After all, the Agares Family had been operating on this land for too long. The Cloud State royal family could not control these peasants yet.
"There are at least 6,000 enemies in the castle." Bifano did not waste any time. When faced with a battle, he did not have any of the flaws of a noble. Instead, he was like a general who had been through hundreds of battles.
"How many elites?"
"Count Wenna has 500 elites. He probably has 500 private soldiers. These private soldiers are slightly weaker, but they are extremely loyal. The soldiers of the five flag regiments are Cloud State's troops in name, but they were all transferred from the Titans. They are much stronger than the peasant soldiers, but their fighting spirit is not so good. "
Bifano told Rex what he could analyze in the most straightforward way. He did not have a magician, so he had to ask Rex for help. It could not be helped. Because of the rapid march, his 10 carts only had some simple equipment. They could not carry any catapults.
The drawings were very detailed. The Agares Family would definitely strengthen the defense of a place like the stone castle. They had already sent spies to copy the original drawings and marked the details of every year's repairs and remodeling.
Because there were only two roads in and out of the castle, the defense of the stone castle was concentrated on the east and west sides. Although this drawing was not a three-dimensional magic image, it marked all the facilities in detail, including the six catapults near the east gate of the castle. These were six fixed catapults. Usually, they were protected by huge metal frames. They would only be removed in times of war.
Rex had asked Bifano to retreat because of these six catapults. These fixed catapults could not survive, but they had a precise range. Each catapult controlled a certain range outside the east gate. They had already been calibrated. As long as there was a skilled magic apprentice controlling them, they could quickly find the accurate landing point without any last-minute adjustments.
If the six catapults were fired at the same time, Bifano's 400 bodyguards would probably lose one-fifth of them immediately.
These catapults could only defend against large-scale military equipment, such as the enemy's puppet army and magic catapults. Against strong people like magicians, apart from relying on magicians, they also had to rely on the archery towers.
There were more than 20 archery towers at the east gate. They were all equipped with medium-sized alchemy crossbows. If a level-six magician wanted to fly into the castle, he would definitely be shot by the alchemy crossbows.
The 20 archery towers were to make up for the lack of magic towers. Each archery tower had a medium-sized alchemy crossbow and more than 30 small crossbows. Unless one was a level-eight magic shooter, a magician's defense would naturally decrease when flying in the air, and it would be more difficult to control magic. Facing these arrows that covered the sky, even a magician like Salin who was good at defense wouldn't dare to say that he could survive.
Of course, Salin could use clouds to hide himself, and the enemy could only rely on luck to shoot randomly. However, if Salin wanted to dodge, it would also depend on luck. Salin wouldn't risk his life just for a set of alchemy molds.
After looking at the drawing, Rex said to Bifano, "If we don't trick them into opening the gate, we need large-scale equipment to attack this castle. I did bring two catapults, but unfortunately, they can't suppress the six in the castle. "
"What about the flying puppets?"
Rex laughed, and said, "Those 20 archery towers are not just for show. With the speed of the flying puppets, they can't dodge the alchemy arrows at all. They will be shot down before they hit the catapults. "
"Your Highness, I'll give you all the warehouses in the next city!" Bifano made a prompt decision. He didn't believe that Rex couldn't take down this stone statue castle. The stone statue castle blocked the iron bridge over the Redwater River. Now that the river was rising, other than this iron bridge, the only way to cross the river was to go 500 miles upstream.
"Two cities!" Rex raised the price on the spot. To take down this castle, she needed to invest a lot of resources. The warehouses of a city might not be able to make up for the cost, or it might not be profitable.
"Deal!"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
