The second battle of the southern province was the only time that the Fisablon Family's armed forces and the allied forces of the four central duchies faced the armed forces of the four northern allied families. Nearly 160,000 soldiers against 100,000 soldiers of the Northern Lands' four family alliance. After the Norton Family used their secret weapon, the catapults, the elite infantrymen of the four central duchies collapsed in the face of the gigantic stone balls flying from the sky. Coupled with the storm of attacks from the Norton Family's war chariots and ballistae, the sixty thousand infantrymen of the four central duchies suffered heavy casualties. If not for the fact that the Fisablon Family's reserve army had stopped the pursuing Norton Family's Bear Fury Knights, the infantry of the four central duchies would have fled in disorder.
Recorded in the Galinthea Continent's War History: The Rise of the Bear Chapter: The Battle of the Southern Province.
After winning this war, Laurist could finally heave a sigh of relief. The strategic initiative of the Southern Province was firmly in his hands. However, they soon had a headache over the heavy casualties. More than thirty thousand out of the one hundred thousand troops that were engaged in battle had died. This was beyond Laurist's expectations.
The greatest loss was the two Flying Tiger Corps led by Ferocious Tiger Ross and Pacico. They had defeated three attacks from the grassland barbarian cavalry, and then launched a counterattack, defeating the fifth Border Ranger Corps of the Fisablen Family. Then, they led the remaining lancers to attack the flanks of the enemy's central army, and became the last straw that broke the enemy's back, laying the foundation for the entire battle. It was just that the two cavalry regiments with thirty thousand men each had less than ten thousand men left on their horses after the victory. Not counting the heavily injured, the casualties amounted to around ten thousand men.
Next was the Raging Bear Knights. Three thousand Silver-tier Knights and six thousand Knechts fought against the twenty thousand men of the Fisablon Family's reserve army. Although they left the reserve army on the battlefield, they also lost around four thousand men.
Next up was Earl Phelim's two Pegasus Regiments. They were responsible for assisting the Ferocious Tiger Ross and the two Flying Tiger Regiments led by Paciko. Although the main force of the battle was the Flying Tiger Regiment, they still lost five to six thousand men.
During the pursuit, Family Kenneth's heavy armor regiment was met with resistance from the four central duchies' infantry. When the Raging Bear Knights fought against the Fisablon Family's reserve army, they suffered around two thousand casualties.
Lastly, Count Sahin sent two divisions, one light cavalry and the other light infantry. These two divisions entered the battlefield after Laurist gave the order to attack. At first, the pursuit went smoothly, but when Duke Fisablon deployed the third Border Ranger Corps to reinforce the defeated soldiers, they intercepted the light cavalry division. Both sides engaged in a fierce battle. They suffered a bit, and suffered around four thousand men were killed.
The ones with the least casualties were the Monolith Corps that guarded the camp's defensive positions. There were no less than three or four thousand barbarian cavalry corpses in front of the camp, but their own casualties were less than five hundred. However, if the 4,700 sentry guards at the first line of defense were added, the Monolith Army would have more than 5,000 casualties.
The total number of casualties was about 30,000, and more than half of them had died heroically. Laurist let out a long sigh. Only now did he truly understand what it meant to become a famous general.
The family armed forces of the four northern families alliance had suffered nearly 30,000 casualties in the second battle of the southern province, but at this time, Grand Duke Fisablun and the four central duchies could not even cry. Family Fisablon had lost a reserve army of twenty thousand men. They were said to be the strongest armed force in the family, but now they were completely annihilated on the battlefield.
Next was the crippled fifth Border Ranger Corps. Out of forty thousand light cavalry, only sixteen thousand managed to escape. Then came the third Border Ranger Corps. They fought a fierce battle with Count Sahin's light cavalry division. The result was a draw, and they suffered around three to four thousand casualties.
The most infuriating ones were the grassland barbarian cavalry. This time, Duke Fisabulon had sent all the grassland barbarian cavalry onto the battlefield, splitting them into three groups. The first group to attack the Norton Family's military camp was 20,000 grassland barbarian cavalrymen. Under the supervision of the 3rd Ranger Division, they started to attack. After losing 3,000 to 4,000 of their men, they began to retreat. However, the main task of the main camp was to restrain the Norton Family, so Duke Fisabulon couldn't be bothered with them.
However, he wasn't going to let the forty thousand barbarian cavalry on the left and right flank go. Of course, there weren't forty thousand of them. Less than twenty thousand managed to escape back to the camp. According to the reports from the family knights of the fifth Border Ranger Corps, the main reason for their defeat was that the grass barbarians didn't listen to their commands. When they escaped, they messed up the archer formation set up by the fifth Border Ranger Corps. This gave the Norton Family's two lancer corps the opportunity to charge into the formation and start a massacre. The fifth Border Ranger Corps could not hold them back and could only flee …
The reserve army was completely annihilated, with around twenty thousand men. The fifth Border Ranger Corps, which had forty-five thousand men, only had around eighteen thousand men left. The third Border Ranger Corps lost three to four thousand men, and the grass barbarian cavalry lost around twenty-five thousand men. In total, the Fisablon Family's armed forces had lost around seventy-five thousand men.
If the casualties of the grass barbarian cavalry were subtracted, the Fisablon Family's armed forces would at most lose fifty thousand men. However, the annihilation of the reserve army made Duke Fisablon's heart wrench. This was the sharpest knife in the Fisablon Family's hands. Almost all of it was made up of the most elite grass barbarian cavalry. They had suppressed the grass barbarian tribes that rebelled and wiped out the grass barbarian tribes that refused to submit. They had made countless contributions to the family. Now that they were gone, Duke Fisablon was filled with regret. How could he be so hot-headed as to send the reserve army to receive the defeated soldiers of the four central duchies? If he had known this would happen, he would have retreated earlier to preserve his strength. In any case, not many of the infantry from the four central duchies managed to escape …
Compared to Duke Fisablon's regret, the four grand duchies of the four central duchies were the ones who truly wanted to cry. Eighty thousand, eighty thousand elite infantry soldiers were gone just like that! In the end, there were only slightly more than ten thousand infantry soldiers from the four central duchies that managed to escape. Among them, the Sabaji Duchy was the luckiest. They still had about five thousand infantry soldiers. This was mainly because their battle formation was at the back. The Handa Duchy's infantry was the most miserable. Less than eight hundred of them managed to return to the main camp alive. Their battle formation was at the forefront. First, they were smashed by the huge stone balls, then swept by the war chariots and steel ballistae. They suffered the most casualties. The reason why they were able to return alive was because they were the first to escape.
The Falkel Duchy had almost three thousand soldiers that managed to escape, while the Fulondo Duchy only had slightly more than three thousand soldiers. All the soldiers that managed to escape back to the main camp were in a daze. Some of them even woke up from nightmares in the middle of the night and cried loudly, almost causing a commotion. Come to think of it, many soldiers who did not know the truth mistook the stone balls that were smashed from the battlefield for the legendary forbidden magic meteor shower from the magic civilization. To the soldiers, other than magic, what else could throw so many densely packed huge stone balls from the sky? Fighting against the legendary magicians, mortals like us would be courting death …
In fact, it was also this second battle of the southern province that made the Norton Family's Thunderbolt Catapults, war chariots, and steel ballistae famous all over the world. Almost all the countries had developed a strong interest in the catapults and steel ballistae. The four central duchies and the Fisablon Family, who had conquered the first defense line, seized many steel ballistae from the sentry tower. After splitting the spoils, they ordered the craftsmen under them to replicate them, but none of them succeeded. The biggest problem was that they could not make the same steel plates for the ballistae.
On the other hand, there were many replicas of the catapults. Although many countries had not seen the real thing, the ability to throw huge stones into the sky gave many craftsmen a lot of inspiration. Very soon, the slingshot catapults, twist-arm catapults, and lever-type catapults appeared. Although the throwing distance was not very far, the accuracy was not high, and the stones that were thrown were not big, they still added a new type of attack and defense to the military equipment of the Galinthea Continent. It was also a symbol of technological progress.
"Your Highness …" Aire lifted the curtain and rushed in. "Just now, the scouts of the light cavalry reported that something strange has happened in the enemy's main camp. The flags of the four central duchies are all gone."
"What?" Laurist raised his head. It had only been three days since the end of the war, and the flags of the four central duchies in the enemy's main camp were gone. What was going on? Did they run away?
"Immediately send people to the main road leading to the four central duchies to search. If they ran away, there should be some clues left behind," Laurist ordered.
At three o 'clock in the afternoon, the light cavalry scouts who went to search returned. They brought back news that there were new wheel tracks and hoof tracks on the main road leading to the four central duchies. According to their experience, they should have been left around four or five in the morning. It was obvious that the four central duchies had given up on fighting the alliance of the four northern families in the southern province. They had retreated with their remaining troops. Now, the alliance of the four northern families was only facing the armed forces of the Fisablon Family.
"Your Highness, should we send people to chase after them?" Shihuard asked from the side.
Laurist rubbed his chin and pondered for a while. He then shook his head. "There is no need to care about the retreating troops of the four central duchies. There are not many of them left anyway. Right now, the troops are resting and cleaning up the battlefield. Our family's armed forces have suffered great losses this time and need time to recover. If we send the light cavalry of the other families over, I'm worried that they will fall into the enemy's trap in their eagerness to make a contribution. It is best not to complicate matters. "
After circling around the tent twice, Laurist asked, "Apart from the lack of the flags of the four central duchies, are there any other changes in Fisablon's main camp?"
"No. The light cavalry scouts reported that Fisablon's armed forces are forcing the barbarian cavalry to dig trenches and set up new defenses. However, our men can't go around the back of the enemy's main camp. The patrols at the border are very tight."
"Looks like even though the four central duchies have run away, that old bastard Fisablon is still determined to fight us to the death!" Laurist chuckled. "Now we can pick up our original plan to attack the southern province. Once the troops are rested, we will go smash Fisablon's tortoise shell. Chasing Fisablon's armed forces out of the southern province is the first step of the plan. There shouldn't be any big battles after that. After we built the southern province into an impenetrable fortress, the Fisablon family was locked up in the Great Prairie by us. I really want to see when that old bastard will lower his head to me … "
In this battle, Fisablon's reserve corps was gone. The fifth border ranger corps was crippled, and the third border ranger corps wasn't doing too well either. They weren't at full strength to begin with, and now they didn't even have thirty thousand men. Add to that the fact that the remaining forces of the four central duchies had run away as well, the advantage in military strength had shifted to Laurist's side.
As long as Fisablon was chased out of the great plains of the northeast, the southern province would fall into the hands of the four northern families alliance, cutting off the trade routes to the four central duchies. Then, the Snow Salt Merchant Guild would be able to monopolize the trade in Fisablon's territory and toy with them until they wished they were dead. No matter how much gold Fisablon mined from the Goldstream region, it would all go to the four northern families alliance in the end.
However, Laurist still had to wait patiently for a period of time. After the battle, he was busy and had many matters to attend to. Out of the eighty thousand elite infantrymen of the four central duchies, more than thirty thousand had been killed or wounded, and another thirty thousand had been captured. That was why Laurist didn't care that the remaining forces of the four central duchies had escaped. They were merely remnants, and he didn't care about that bit of military strength.
Other than the infantrymen from the four central duchies, he also captured eight thousand grass-barbarian cavalrymen. Laurist sent them all to Count Phelim to be thrown into the iron mines. As for the thirty thousand infantrymen and ten thousand wounded captives, Laurist handed them over to Baron Camorra. These strong soldiers were excellent labor, and the road from Winston to the southern province could be repaired. As for the wounded captives, they were treated as well. However, after they recovered, they would have to serve three years of labor before they could regain their freedom …
On the 28th day of the seventh month of the 1778 Galinthea general calendar, the curtains were drawn on the third battle of the southern province. However, this time, the main attacking force was the seventy thousand men of the four northern families alliance, while the defending force was the fifty thousand men of the Fisablon Family and forty thousand grass-barbarian cavalrymen. Although the defensive forces commanded by Grand Duke Fisabulon surpassed the attacking forces of Laurist, the initiative on the battlefield was in the hands of Laurist from the start of the war, while Grand Duke Fisabulon was passively beaten.
Laurist snorted proudly, "I have plenty of time. Everything can be done slowly …"
Perhaps Laurist's snort was a little too unpleasant to hear, but Schwald, who was standing beside him, couldn't stand the noise and had no choice but to cover his ears. However, the guards around him didn't pay attention to Shi Huard's actions. Right now, everyone was looking up at the large boulders raining down on the defensive position of the Fisablen Family's armed forces, producing dull crashing sounds and raising a large amount of dust.
Under Auvicis's command, the Thunderbolt Catapult Battalion smashed all the obstacles in their way. Meanwhile, the Monolith Regiment led by Boddfinger and the heavy armoured troops led by Suremes of the Kenmes Family pushed the captured trench wagons and built wooden bridges over the trenches. As for the retaliation of the Fisablon Family's armed forces? Don't joke around. There was still the war chariot and ballista army commanded by Malek eyeing them covetously from behind. All the Fisablon soldiers who retaliated were either smashed by the boulders or shot to death by the war chariot and ballista …
Laurist didn't mind spending a few more days to flatten the camp and defensive position set up by Duke Fisablon, but Duke Fisablon didn't want to play anymore. On the third night, he withdrew his army. On the second morning, when Laurist realized that the old man had run away, he wanted to order his men to chase after him. However, the last few knights of the Fisablon Family set the camp on fire, and the fire blocked the path of the four northern families alliance. The fire was extinguished three days later, but the camp was already reduced to ashes.
"Old man, you can't escape," Laurist said hatefully.
… …
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