"Watch out! The Grass Barbarian is here! The crossbow was nocked! Prepare for battle! "
This was a very ordinary hill in the Southern Province, but there was a tall stone sentry tower built on the top of the hill. The sentry tower was surrounded by trenches of different depths for nearly a hundred meters. Some trenches were piled up with mud walls that were half the height of a person, while some trenches were placed with long wooden barricades. If one wanted to reach the sentry tower, one would have to go around these trenches for a long time before reaching the thick wooden gate under the sentry tower. The sentry tower was not big and could only accommodate a hundred people at most. However, such sentry towers could be seen everywhere in the western part of the Southern Province. The sentry towers formed a net that covered half of the Southern Province and gradually spread to the east.
Close to a thousand grass barbarians dressed in simple and crude leather armor, disheveled hair, their faces painted with all types of brightly colored paint, stopped their horses at a spot far from the sentry tower at the foot of the mountain. Then, they brought down giant wooden shields from the carriages that followed them, brandishing all types of crudely made weapons in their hands while roaring to boost their courage, hiding behind the wooden shields as they slowly advanced up the mountain.
This was a sentry tower at the very front. The top of the tower was already on fire, and a wisp of green smoke rose straight into the sky. This was the warning smoke signal that the sentry tower was under attack. At the same time, the other towers around this sentry tower were also smoking. This meant that it wasn't just one sentry tower that was being attacked, but the entire frontline was under attack.
A Monolith Corps soldier who had a blade of grass in his mouth looked at the grass barbarians who were slowly climbing up the mountain with contempt. Even though the enemy's numbers were ten times that of the soldiers in the sentry tower, he still didn't care much. After spitting out the grass in his mouth, he turned around and shouted, "Leader, these grass barbarians really have something wrong with their brains. Have they all forgotten the lessons of the previous losses? Do you think you can block the arrows of the steel crossbows with these eight huge shields? What a fool. I wonder how many people will die before they run away … "
A soldier who was aiming with a steel crossbow looked up and said with a smile, "Who wants to bet with me? I bet they'll throw away their shields and run away after around a hundred of them die. I'll bet one gold coin. "
A soldier with a big beard walked over. He was the person in charge of the sentry tower, a centurion cum platoon leader. The organization of the Norton Family's armed forces was different from that of other countries. The countries of the Galinthia Continent usually had a small team of 100 people. Among the 100 people, there would be a decurion to assist the team leader in managing the team. On the other hand, the Norton Family's armed forces consisted of ten men in a squad, and the squad leader was a decurion. Ten squads formed a platoon, and the platoon leader was a centurion. Then there were five platoons of 500 people in a large company. Five large companies and a logistics company would form a battalion of 3,000 people. Five battalions of 15,000 people would form a corps. Four corps of 60,000 people would form a legion.
The bearded man unceremoniously slapped the back of the head of the soldier who was clamoring for a bet and scolded, "Bet my ass. How much of your monthly salary is spent on gambling? You'll lose as much as you bet. How old are you? You should save some money and consider starting a family. If you have nothing better to do, think about what to do after you retire. Right now, all of you need to be more vigilant. Even though our armor's defense is quite good, these grass barbarians' poisonous arrows aren't to be trifled with. Last time, Creedor accidentally took an arrow in his elbow, and in the end, he had no choice but to cut off his arm. I hope that after this battle ends, all of you will be able to stand in front of me in one piece. Do you understand? "
When close to a thousand grass barbarians crowded around the trench and began to use the weapons in their hands to fill in the trench, the steel crossbows on the sentry tower finally displayed their might. Each sentry tower was guarded by a platoon of a hundred men, and at the same time, they were equipped with twenty steel crossbows. The sentry tower was twelve meters tall and divided into four floors. From the second floor to the top floor, there were five steel crossbows. Apart from the top floor, which wasn't covered, the steel crossbows on the lower three floors all fired from the firing holes. To put it bluntly, this sentry tower was actually a bunker that Laurist had seen in the movies of his previous world.
The steel crossbow shooters in the sentry tower were all very treacherous. They didn't shoot at the large wooden shields, but instead aimed at the grass barbarians who were digging the trench. As the grass barbarians fell one after another, soon after, all of the grass barbarians crowded behind the shields, no one willing to come out to fill in the trench. Apart from the archers behind the shields randomly firing at the sentry tower, but the distance was only a hundred or so meters, so they couldn't directly aim, with the power of the grass barbarians' crude bows, it was unknown where the long arrows would land.
This was simply a farce, not like a battlefield at all. The close to a thousand grass barbarians didn't seem like they were here to attack, but rather to serve as targets. There were fifty to sixty corpses that had been shot at the edge of the trench. The trench was only a bit filled, not even half filled. As a result, all of the grass barbarians hid behind the large wooden shields, not daring to come out. The sentry tower and the attacking grass barbarians were in a strange deadlock just like that.
If these grass barbarians didn't care about their casualties and spread out in a fierce attack, the close to a thousand barbarians might only need to lose two to three hundred people to reach the sentry tower. If they were lucky, they might even be able to break through the thick wooden door and take over the sentry tower. Of course, this meant that the sentry tower didn't have any other methods of retaliation. However, the problem right now was that not a single grass barbarian was willing to become a sacrifice during the attack. They came to plunder, not to throw away their lives so that their companions could reap some benefits and become the victors.
The bearded man looked at the eight large wooden shields erected at the side of the trench, stroking his beard as he said to himself, "Using such large shields to push them up the mountain really is hard on them. However, they're all hiding in the back, not coming out. What should we do?"
A soldier said, "Leader, how about we use fire arrows?"
The bearded man shook his head. "It's useless. With such large wooden shields, who knows how long it will take to burn them down. It's a pity that the Thunder Catapult wasn't given to us, or else a single stone ball would be enough to destroy these shields. "
"Leader, why don't we concentrate on shooting at one shield and see what the results are?" That soldier who liked to bet suggested.
"Alright, then let's give it a try." The bearded man said.
The target was the wooden shield at the very center. Following the bearded man's order, twenty streaks of iron crossbow bolts shot at the enormous wooden shield like lightning. The shield swayed a few times, but its position didn't change. The bearded man said with some disappointment, "It's useless, the shield can block …"
Before he finished speaking, the cheers of the soldiers came from beside him. "Leader, look, look, the shield has fallen!"
The shield that had been hit by twenty crossbow bolts fell backwards, and in the process, it broke into pieces, revealing the close to a hundred grass barbarians hiding behind the shield, as well as a few unlucky fellows who had been crushed to the ground by the shattered wooden shield. The bearded man was overjoyed. "Hurry up and shoot the rabbits!"
It was indeed as simple as shooting rabbits. After losing their wooden shields, the grass barbarians scattered in all directions. Apart from half of the grass barbarians who were lucky enough to squeeze behind the other shields, the other half became targets of the crossbow archers. Apart from a few quick-witted ones who crawled on the ground and hid behind the fallen tree roots, the remaining forty to fifty grass barbarians became ghosts under the arrows after three rounds of crossbow bolts. Quite a few grass barbarians who fled down the mountain didn't get out of the range of the crossbow bolts, and their chests were pierced by the crossbow bolts from behind …
When the second wooden shield collapsed under the twenty crossbow bolts, all of the grass barbarians hiding behind the shields couldn't stay still any longer. With a shout, they abandoned their shields and fled down the mountain. They abandoned the weapons in their hands, and there were even some who rolled down the mountain while holding their heads. They all knew that the enormous wooden shields couldn't protect them, and sooner or later, they would collapse just like the other two shields. Rather than becoming targets for crossbow bolts, it was better to escape as soon as possible.
Only, the horses were close to four hundred meters away from the sentry tower, outside of the range of the steel crossbows. The previous few attacks had already taught the grass barbarians a deep lesson, and they wouldn't stop their horses within the range of the steel crossbows again. Under the relentless pursuit of the steel crossbows from the sentry tower, most of the grass barbarians still ran out of range. When these grass barbarians were less than sixty to seventy meters away from the horses, a large group of light cavalry suddenly rushed out from the back of the small mountain. They swept over like a gale, and the grass barbarians who had abandoned their weapons were immediately like frightened chicks caught by an eagle, scattering in all directions. Only, two legs couldn't outrun four legs. Soon after, under the light cavalry's fast horses and sharp blades, the grass barbarians fell to the ground one after another, their blood dyeing a large area of the mountain red.
…
"Do you see, Duke Sabaji? This is the strategy that the four families of the north have adopted, one step at a time. They used these sentry towers to form a net. Some of the two sentry towers are four to five hundred meters apart, while others are only two to three hundred meters apart. Even the space between the sentry towers is covered by their crossbow bolts. I had previously ordered a thousand cavalry unit to pass through the space between two sentry towers, but I didn't expect that there were also sentry towers behind the two sentry towers. In the end, my thousand cavalry unit was only able to return with four hundred people under the crossbow bolts of the three sentry towers. "
Duke Fisabulon said to an old man dressed in gorgeous armor at his side. Just now, a few dozen of them had stopped on a small hill in the distance, personally witnessing the grass barbarians' failure in attacking the sentry towers and being massacred by the light cavalry.
"For a sentry tower like this, there aren't more than a hundred people garrisoned inside. The only thing to worry about is that the four families of the north have obtained so many city guarding ballistae from who knows where. However, according to our observations, these city guarding ballistae seem to have been modified. They can fire faster, move more conveniently, and are extremely accurate. Just now, I had more than ten thousand grass barbarians attack ten sentry towers, but you also saw the result. These grass barbarians aren't material for attacking fortifications. They can still fight in a downwind battle field, but attacking these sentry towers is impossible.
If we want to uproot these sentry towers, we need disciplined and experienced infantry to attack. Our Fisabulon Family is made up of light cavalry, so we are powerless against these sentry towers. Moreover, these sentry towers restrict the use of our light cavalry. Your Highness, I hope that you can urge the other three duchies to send reinforcements as soon as possible. Everyone is now in the same camp. No matter what, we must restrict the four families of the north from attacking the southern province. Otherwise, no one will have peace in the future. " "Grand Duke Fisablun was very frank about it.
It was now the twelfth day of the seventh month of the 1778 Galinthea General Calendar. After the Norton Family's Monolith Corps arrived in the southern province, Duke Fisabulon and the four families of the north had been in a standoff for nearly fifty days.
After the Monolith Corps arrived, they began to set up camp in front of the defensive camp set up by Duke Fisabulon. The Duke didn't care. It was common sense to set up camp first before launching an attack. He only ordered the two corps under him to prepare for defense.
However, what Duke Fisabulon didn't expect was that the Monolith Corps had set up this military camp for too long. On the first day, the second day, the third day, the Duke finally felt that something was wrong. After personally going to observe, he realized that the Monolith Corps didn't set up a military camp, but a defensive position. It was even tighter and harder to break through than the defensive camp set up by the Duke. Duke Fisabulon was immediately at a loss. What the hell was this about setting up a defensive position? Who was the attacking party?!
After much difficulty, the Monolith Corps finished setting up the defensive camp, but they still didn't launch an attack. Instead, they began to build these sentry towers in the surroundings. Under the protection of the Grizzly Bear Knights, the sentry towers only took ten days to build. The materials that were continuously transported from the rear to build the sentry towers could be assembled into a sturdy stone fortress-like sentry tower. Of course, this was also thanks to the sufficient supply of green vine glue.
When Duke Fisabulon realized that these sentry towers had become barriers that obstructed the scouts of the army, he immediately ordered the newly arrived reserve corps to attack these sentry towers. However, the Duke regretfully realized that the fierce reserve corps couldn't do anything to these sentry towers. Instead, they suffered heavy losses. When the Duke ordered the reserve corps to retreat, the Grizzly Bear Knights, who had been lying in ambush for a long time, suddenly attacked and caught the reserve corps unprepared. The reserve corps lost almost half of their troops and only retreated after suffering a huge defeat.
Grand Duke Fisabulon was caught in a dilemma. He found that the invincible light cavalry on the prairie was useless in the Southern Province. The alliance of the four families in the Northern Region used such a net-like sentry tower tactic to limit the family's light cavalry's space to play. Although they could still take down such a sentry tower if they weren't afraid of heavy casualties, Duke Fisabulon was very clear that it wasn't worth it. Using the casualties of a few hundred family soldiers to take down a sentry tower was a purely unprofitable transaction. It only took about ten days to build a sentry tower, but it would take several years to train a qualified light cavalry …
Seeing that these sentry towers were built more and more, occupying more and more land, Duke Fisabulon, who was at his wit's end, began to consider whether he should give up the main transportation point that he currently occupied and choose another dangerous place to build sentry towers like the alliance of the four northern families. Finally, he received a piece of good news: the Duke of Sabagi Duchy had personally led 20,000 reinforcements to the southern province and had come to rendezvous with Duke Fisabulon.
Duke Fisabulon was overjoyed. He set his sights on the reinforcements from the four central duchies. His own family's light cavalry was lacking in infantry. However, the reinforcements sent by the four central duchies were basically infantry. It was just right for them to take down these sentry towers. At that time, his family's border patrol corps could find an opportunity to deal a heavy blow to the alliance of the four northern families. Unknowingly, Duke Fisabulon's thoughts had already taken a big turn. Even he himself didn't realize that now, he wanted to find the Norton Family's armed forces to fight to the death. As long as the Norton Family's armed forces didn't hide behind those sentry towers and tight defensive positions.
In order to strengthen his persuasion, Duke Fisabulon deliberately singled out the 10,000 or so grassland barbarian soldiers who had violated the rules of the army and strictly ordered them to attack the frontline sentry towers in order to atone for the crimes they had committed. Of course, the Duke wasn't stingy with his promise of generous rewards after victory. He even specially prepared huge wooden shields for them to defend against the arrows shot from the sentry towers. Although the Duke himself didn't have much hope for the grassland barbarians to take down these sentry towers, the clumsy attack performance of these grassland barbarians still made the Duke feel ashamed. However, this also proved that what Duke Fisabulon had said was true. Cavalry was indeed not good at attacking fortifications.
Duke Sabaji was also a great swordsman with rich experience in battle. However, he was only a first-level great swordsman and had relied on rare medicines to forcefully advance. After watching this performance of the grassland barbarians, he smiled and said to Duke Fisabulon, "Your Highness, the four central duchies are very concerned about the war in the southern province. This concerns the long-term stability of the four central duchies. We definitely won't allow the southern province to fall into the hands of the alliance of the four northern families of the Andinac Kingdom. In addition to the 20,000 men I brought, the other three Duchies will soon each bring 20,000 reinforcements. In addition, we will also bring a large batch of supplies to your family.
Since we are allies, the four central duchies will take up the responsibility of an ally. We won't sit by and watch your family fall into the situation of resisting the invasion of the Andinac Kingdom alone. As for how to take down this sentry tower tactic of the alliance of the four northern families, we can wait for the other three Duchies to come and discuss a countermeasure. No matter what, we will stand together with your family and beat back the claws of the Andinac Kingdom that have reached into the southern province. "
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