Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Laurist sighed in his tent. The war in the southern province seemed to be heading towards a decisive battle. No one had expected this. What Laurist regretted the most was that he didn't immediately attack the defensive line set up by Duke Fisablun after the Monolith Corps arrived at the frontlines. That way, they could still chase the Fisablun Family's Ranger Corps out of the southern province even if they suffered heavy casualties. Instead, they were now in a stalemate with more and more enemy reinforcements, forcing them to be on the defensive.
The sentry tower tactic was something Laurist had come up with on a whim when he recalled the popular tower defense game in his previous life. It was meant to cover up the territory under his control and prevent the enemy's light cavalry scouts from easily obtaining intelligence. However, he didn't expect it to be so effective against light cavalry. Thus, Laurist greatly promoted it and used the sentry tower to connect the territory on his side into a net. The Bear-Rage Knights and the three Flying Tiger Corps that he transferred over were like spiders entrenched in this net. Once the enemy fell into the net, they would rush up and bite them.
The construction of sentry towers was also very easy. After digging a good foundation, burying rocks, pouring in green vine glue to solidify it. Then, they would use square stones or long stones to build towers. The northwestern region of the southern province was mostly hilly, so it was easy to collect stones. The Monolith Corps' Silver-ranked Knights and Silver-ranked Swordsmen were used to this kind of manual labor in their family's territory. Using their qi to release sword rays to collect stones was a very skilled job. Ten Silver-ranked Knights could cut the stones needed to build a sentry tower in a day. Not only could they train their qi, but they could also collect stones. It was truly the best of both worlds.
Then, they would use the green vine clay as a binding agent and repair. After the sentry tower was built, they would dig a few trenches within a hundred meters to act as a defense. It would only take about ten days to complete. Now, there were a few sentry towers being built every day, and the territory they controlled was getting bigger and bigger. Looking at the map, a third of the southern province had already fallen into the hands of the four northern families.
However, as more and more sentry towers were built, Laurist realized that something was wrong. This wasn't a tower defense game. Building a sentry tower required guards. Currently, only 170 or so sentry towers had been built, but the Monolith Corps had already sent over a division to guard the sentry towers. This was over 17,000 people.
A month ago, when Laurist led the Monolith Army to the frontlines, they faced two legions of the Fisablen Family consisting of more than seventy thousand people, as well as thirty thousand grass-barbarian cavalrymen who had come to participate in the battle. There was also a heavily guarded and well-arranged defensive position. If it was a field battle, Laurist would not be afraid of Archduke Fisablen's hundred thousand men. However, he would have to politely decline to lead the sixty thousand men of the Monolith Army and the ten thousand men of the Bear Rage Knights to attack the enemy's hundred thousand men. Thus, he ordered for three divisions of the Flying Tiger Army to be transferred over to increase their attack power. In the end, the three Flying Tiger Army arrived, and so did the Fisablen Family's reserve army. Their military strength still exceeded Laurist's by thirty to forty thousand men.
Meanwhile, the Felim Family's Pegasus Army was currently exterminating bandits in the northwestern region of the southern province. Instability in the rear was a big taboo at the frontlines. Originally, Laurist wanted to wait for a month or so for the Pegasus Army to clear the area and bring them to the frontlines. However, he did not expect the Fisablen Family to recruit so many people from the grass-barbarian tribes to participate in the battle. There were almost sixty to seventy thousand of them. Thus, Laurist started to play with the sentry towers. However, after playing with the sentry towers for a while, he realized that his side had scattered the Monolith Army's forces. On the other hand, Duke Fisablen had increased his reinforcements. Duke Sabaji had personally led twenty thousand elite infantrymen as reinforcements.
Seeing that the number of enemies in front of them was increasing, they were almost double the number of Norton Family's armed forces. Laurist was also helpless. Now, he could only focus on playing the sentry tower strategy to the end. Since he did not have enough troops, he could only send messengers to Duke Kenneth and Count Shahin, requesting them to send one and two divisions each to replace the soldiers from the Monolith Army guarding the sentry towers. This way, they could maintain the integrity of their forces and deal with the enemy's attack.
What a headache. Originally, he was supposed to be on the offensive side, but this time, he was on the defensive. Originally, he wanted to separate the troops sent by the four central duchies and the Fisablen Family's armed forces and defeat them one by one. Now, they had gathered together, and their momentum was getting stronger. The development of the battle made all his original plans go to waste. He really did not know how this battle would develop. This time, Laurist could only react according to the situation.
The curtain of the tent was pulled open, and Bofinger walked in. "Your Highness, Count Felim sent an urgent letter. According to the messenger, Knight Bonava is seriously injured."
"What did you say?" Laurist raised his head in shock. "Knight Bonava is seriously injured? How is that possible? He is the chief of the Pegasus Army. How could he be injured with the army protecting him? Was he ambushed or assassinated? "
Bofinger shook his head. "I am not sure. The messenger did not know how Knight Bonava was injured. He heard it from someone else. Take a look at the letter first."
Ripping open the letter that Bofinger handed over, Laurist hurriedly scanned through it and understood. So it's about the iron mine. Looks like I have to go personally to solve this problem.
"Iron mine? What iron mine?" Bofinger asked.
"Oh, take a look at the letter." Laurist pointed at the letter on the table and said, "There are two iron mines in the Andrek Hills at the border between the Southern Province and the Winston Province, one big and one small. They are both located in the old territory of the Felim Family. Back then, the second prince signed an agreement with the Visia Merchant Group of the Ford Commercial Alliance, selling the mining rights of the two iron mines to the Visia Merchant Group for 30 years. Now that the Iberian Kingdom is gone and the second prince is dead, the agreement they signed naturally cannot be attributed to the alliance of the four northern families. Count Felim sent people to recover the two iron mines, but unexpectedly, Knight Bonava, who led the team, was heavily injured by a great swordsman stationed at the iron mines. The great swordsman even spouted nonsense, saying that if you want to take back the iron mines, you have to ask the sword in his hand first. The Visia Merchant Group will never hand over the iron mines … "
"Then didn't Count Felim order the Pegasus Army to attack the iron mines?" Bofinger asked without looking at the letter.
"They did, but the iron mines are on the hillside and the terrain is dangerous. There is no way to surround them, and sending a few dozen people would be suicide. So I have to go and help Count Felim. The income of his family's territory will basically depend on the production of these two iron mines. "
Laurist had to go. The four families were now facing a common enemy. Count Felim's family did not have a great swordsman and was bullied, causing the family's Golden Knight to be heavily injured. As the boss, Laurist had to stand up for his subordinate. It only took five or six days, and the matter was resolved very quickly. The great swordsman from the Visia Merchant Group was beheaded in less than three moves by Laurist. The remaining managers and technicians of the Visia Merchant Group were all captured, and the stubborn ones who shouted that the Visia Merchant Group would never let them off were hung on the gallows. The survivors became very obedient and answered all questions. Soon, Laurist and Count Felim understood the situation of the two iron mines.
He did not expect Visia Chamber of Commerce to invest so much in these two iron mines. Not only did they upgrade the mining equipment, but they also set up an iron refinery and forge in the valley between the two iron mines. In the forge's warehouse, there were almost ten thousand sets of standard plate armor that had been forged. According to the person in charge, these standard plate armour were all custom-made by Duke Fisablun, a total of fifty thousand sets. They were prepared to be shipped to the capital of Wendeli to equip the newly formed garrison. But because the capital had fallen too quickly, the newly formed garrison was also gone, so the completed plate armour was piled up in the warehouse.
Apart from the ten thousand standard plate armour, Count Felim's biggest gain was the hundreds of technicians and blacksmiths in the refinery and forge. With these people, the refinery and forge could continue to produce weapons and iron farming tools, allowing the development of the Felim Family's old territory to be smoother and faster. In addition, more than 13,000 captured miners were rescued from the two iron mines.
Count Felim wanted to let the miners continue mining, but was stopped by Laurist, "You're silly. These miners will be loyal to the Felim Family once they recover from their injuries and recover. Didn't you always complain about not having a place to recruit soldiers? These miners are good targets for recruitment. If you recruit some more, you can form a small garrison. Besides, you don't lack weapons and equipment now. With the refinery and forge, you can produce any equipment you want."
"But who will mine the mines?" Laurist's suggestion tempted Count Felim, but he frowned at the thought of no one mining.
"Mine? That doesn't require any skills. Didn't the Pegasus Army take a lot of captives from the bandits and bandits? And the grass-barbarian captives we caught at the frontlines? These people are strong and healthy, so we can just throw them into the mines to mine. Also, set a limit on how much they can mine every day. Only those who meet this limit will have food to eat, and those who don't deserve to starve to death, "Laurist said fiercely.
"But, but we don't have enough captives now. There's less than two thousand at most."
"Don't worry, there aren't many now, but that doesn't mean there won't be many in the future. Didn't you see the enemy's main camp? There are a hundred thousand soldiers and sixty to seventy thousand grass-barbarian cavalry. When this war is over, you'll complain that there are too many mining captives, "Laurist answered Count Felim confidently.
But after returning to the main camp at the frontlines, Laurist's mood became a mess when he received a report from the light cavalry scouts. The reinforcements from the four central duchies had arrived, and there were an estimated sixty thousand men and horses, as well as countless four-wheeled wagons filled with supplies.
Ten thousand people would be boundless, not to mention sixty thousand people. Mixed in with the countless four-wheeled wagons, it was like a huge dragon as it gathered along the main road towards the main camp of the Fisablen Family. After three days, the troops and caravans of the four central duchies finally finished their journey. Meanwhile, the Furious Bear Knights and the three Flying Tiger Troops had been waiting for three days, but they still couldn't find a chance to attack. The crafty and crafty Duke Fisablen had sent out almost all of his border patrol troops and tens of thousands of grass-barbarian cavalry to build a tight defensive line to prevent the reinforcements and caravans from the four central duchies from being attacked.
Laurist looked at the grass-barbarian cavalry in the distance, and stopped Terman's request to lead the Furious Bear Knights to attack the caravans. "It's useless. If you go, you'll fall into Fisablen's trap. Just his tens of thousands of grass-barbarian cavalry will be enough to wear you down. No matter how sturdy your armor and defenses are, your warhorses won't be able to endure long term surprise attacks. As long as your warhorses tire, then you heavy armored knights will be like fish on the shore, and there will be plenty of ways to deal with you. Let's go back. After this, the old man's military strength will increase, and it's very likely that he'll switch from defense to offense. We have to be more prepared. "
The Fisablen Family's third border patrol troop had 32,000 men, the fifth border patrol troop had 45,000 men, the reserve troop had 18,000 men, and the seventy thousand grass-barbarian cavalry participating in the battle were added to the 80,000 elite infantrymen from the four central duchies. The number of enemies Laurist was facing had already reached a huge number of two hundred and forty to fifty thousand. And now, they were facing sixty thousand men from the Monolith Regiment, forty-five thousand men from the three Flying Tiger Troops, and fifteen thousand men from the Furious Bear Knights. Among them, three thousand heavy armored knights and six thousand knight squires were the main fighting force, while the remaining six thousand were coachmen and servants. They were in charge of the knights' logistics and didn't have much fighting power.
However, Count Phelim had also brought two divisions of the Pegasus Regiment, a total of twenty thousand light cavalry to the frontlines. Count Shahin had sent two divisions of twenty-four thousand men, and it would take another ten days or so for them to arrive. As for Duke Gammus's fifteen thousand men, it was still unknown if they could arrive next month. After all, the distance was a little far. Currently, the alliance of the four northern families, with the Norton Family as the main fighting force, had 140,000 men against the Fisablen Family's armed forces and the four central duchies' reinforcements of two hundred and forty to fifty thousand men. There was a difference of almost a hundred thousand men.
Laurist frantically carried out the sentry tower tactic to the end. There were even some spacious areas at the frontlines where sentry towers were built in a triangular shape. The soldiers of the Monolith Regiment worked day and night to connect the trenches around the sentry towers, turning them into impassable ravines.
Just like that, ten days passed. The opposite camp's bugle horn sounded, and countless infantrymen and grass-barbarian cavalrymen poured out of the camp. The first battle of the southern province had begun.
In fact, the first battle of the southern province only lasted for one day. The four central duchies had sent out twenty thousand elite infantrymen, while the Fisablen Family had sent out the third border ranger division and thirty thousand grass-barbarian cavalrymen. They besieged more than ten sentry towers in a wide area ten miles to the left of Laurist's camp. Laurist had sent out one Flying Tiger Troops and three chariot and steel crossbow battalions to deal with them.
However, the attack on the sentry towers this time was only a probing battle between the four central duchies and Duke Fisablen. They were trying to discover the weakness of Laurist's sentry tower tactic. The twenty thousand elite infantrymen who launched the attack did not suffer many casualties, with only two to three thousand casualties. However, the grass-barbarian cavalrymen who cooperated in the battle had lost about ten thousand or so. The main reason was that they did not follow orders and did not know when to retreat. In the end, they were caught by the Flying Tiger Troops and defeated and fled in disorder.
Laurist stood on his horse on the hill and watched the enemy retreat in an orderly manner. Although his side had only suffered minor losses in the battle today, three individual sentry towers had been burned down by the attacking enemy. They had lost nearly two hundred soldiers guarding the sentry towers. As long as the attacking enemy was willing to pay the price of one to two hundred casualties, they could still attack the sentry towers. Then, they would use the firewood and kerosene they had brought to set fire to the sentry towers, or use smoke to smoke them. The sentry towers were made of stone, but the interior was made of wood and floorboards, so they were still afraid of being burned.
Although the enemy had retreated this time, they would soon return. With the experience of this attack, the enemy would have more ways to deal with the sentry towers next time. An even harsher battle was waiting for them. That was what Laurist thought.
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