The rainy season passed, and in April, everyone began to busy themselves with harvesting the winter wheat. The entire northern lands began to bustle with activity.
Just as Laurist set off from Boulder Castle to inspect the various parts of his clan's territory, princess Sylvia's group also set off from Tiger Crouching Castle in the Eastern Wastelands Province to the north. She had been entrusted with the important task of being a diplomatic envoy to the Norton clan by Duke Fisabulun.
Because the mountain barbarian army's invasion was imminent, Laurist had specially given orders to not forget to be prepared for battle as they harvested the winter wheat. They were to wield a sword in one hand and a sickle in the other, ready to counterattack the mountain barbarian tribe's invasion of the clan's territory at any time.
However, only when the winter wheat was harvested and the spring ploughing was halfway through did the news that the mountain barbarian army had finished gathering and were about to descend the mountain pass. According to the plan, the residents of the Two Mountain Towns began to retreat backwards. They purposefully left behind a scene of people fleeing in a hurry to confuse the mountain barbarian army.
On the 21st of April, the vanguard of the mountain barbarian army occupied the Two Mountain Towns. They purposefully left behind large quantities of fine wine and various daily necessities, which made the vanguard of the mountain barbarians overjoyed. All of the mountain barbarians believed that with their army, they would definitely be able to sweep through the entire northern lands. They all scrambled to become the vanguard, afraid that they would fall behind and lose the opportunity to plunder.
Laurist arrived at the Crouching Ox Hill stronghold on the 23rd of April. The defensive wall that led directly to the Tortoise Mountain stronghold was about to be attacked by the mountain barbarian army, so Laurist had to come and watch over it. However, in the afternoon, he received an urgent message from the acting commander of the Hunting Cavalry in the eastern region of the northern lands, Knight Vasimir. The Fisabulun clan had sent princess Sylvia as a diplomatic envoy to the northern lands in preparation to discuss matters related to the redemption of prisoners of war and the trade of goods with the four northern clans.
When Laurist received the news from the messenger, he was both overjoyed and troubled. He was overjoyed that the old fox, Duke Fisabulun, had finally admitted that the situation was hopeless and that defeat was unavoidable. Sending an envoy to the northern lands was equivalent to lowering his head and admitting defeat. The troubled part was that the envoy was princess Sylvia. Laurist was currently too busy to go receive her. After thinking for a long time, he could only send a guard to inform Fatty Shi, who was in charge of the Monolith Castle, to go to the eastern region of the Northern Region and escort Princess Sylvia to the Monolith Castle on his behalf. He would return after defeating the Mountain Barbarian army.
Truth be told, the thing that Laurist felt the most remorseful about was that he did not know how to face Princess Sylvia. He knew very well that he had fallen out with Grand Duke Fisabulon, led his family's armed forces to destroy the Iberia Duchy, and annihilated many of the Fisabulon Family's legions. He had caused the Fisabulon Family to suffer huge losses and suppressed the Fisabulon Family's rise and prosperity. It could be said that he had long since become the Fisabulon Family's mortal enemy and thorn in their side.
Because of this, Princess Sylvia, who was deeply in love with him and would not marry anyone other than him, must have been wronged and criticized by her family. Just like how Duke Kemus joked that the invasion of the Iberia Duchy this time was actually an alliance of the four northern families to help Laurist vent his anger. Who asked the old Grand Duke Fisabulon to reject Laurist's marriage proposal to Princess Sylvia? Now, the rumors among the people said that the Norton Family had destroyed the Iberia Duchy in a fit of rage because their family head, Grand Duke Norton, had been rejected by Princess Sylvia. They were now fiercely chasing after the Fisabulon Family's armed forces. Princess Sylvia had almost become a synonym for femme fatale.
Laurist sighed softly. He could only wait until the war with the Mountain Barbarian tribes was over before going over to properly compensate the innocent girl Sylvia. She had suffered because of him, bearing the infamy of femme fatale for nothing. In reality, Grand Duke Fisabulon and Laurist both knew that even if they had agreed to the marriage between him and Princess Sylvia, this war was still unavoidable. This was because the Fisabulon Family and the Norton Family were fighting for dominance and control over the entire northeastern region of the former Empire. One family had to fall.
"Your highness, the mountain barbarians are here."
Laurist raised his head and looked over. All he saw were tiny, black specks appearing in the dense forest in the distance. These specks gathered together very quickly, surging towards the defensive walls like a black tide. When he picked up the monocular, he saw that the barbarian soldiers in the circular frame were dressed in all types of beast skin armor, some of them even bared their chests and stomachs. Their bodies and faces were painted with dark green and sinister strange patterns, bronze axes and other unique and crude weapons in their hands, their hair disheveled as they charged over.
Around four in the afternoon on the 23rd of the fourth month, the vanguard of the mountain barbarian army launched their first attack on the defensive walls that spanned sixty to seventy kilometers between the Crouching Ox Hill fortress and the Tortoise Mountain fortress. However, these mountain barbarian soldiers had never seen such a tall and long defensive wall before. They would often be forced to stop as soon as they reached the moat in front of the wall, staring blankly at the moat that was three or four meters deep with sharp wooden spikes and wolf fangs embedded in it. Afterwards, their lives would be easily claimed by the ballistae on the walls.
In the first attack, the vanguard of the mountain barbarians left behind four or five hundred corpses before turning around and fleeing. When dusk approached, around five or six o 'clock, the mountain barbarian vanguard once again launched a probing attack. This time, the mountain barbarian soldiers raised crude wooden shields bound with vines and moved to the front of the trench, wanting to first fill in a path to the defensive walls. However, under the crossbow fire of the war chariots on the walls, they were quickly turned into ashes. Close to a thousand brave mountain barbarians who didn't fear death fell, those crude wooden shields were also shot into pieces. The mountain barbarian soldiers who lost their cover had no choice but to retreat.
"Haha, it's just too easy. It's like we're shooting turkeys on the walls. It's so easy. " The archers who drove the ballistae and ballistae around the spacious city streets were all very excited. The mountain barbarian soldiers standing in front of the moat below the walls were basically like target practice. They refused to retreat stubbornly, so they were skewered by the ballistae bolts bravely …
The defensive walls between the Crouching Ox Hill stronghold and the Tortoise Mountain stronghold were seventy-two kilometers long. They were eight meters tall and five or six meters wide. It was not a straight wall either. Instead, there were towers and towers that protruded out of the walls every five or six kilometers. They were where the patrolling guards rested and were on duty. Once the battle began, these towers and towers could be divided into sections and assigned to guard platoons. Ten meters in front of the walls, there was even a moat five meters wide and three to four meters deep, turning the flat ground into a natural moat.
"It's a little boring …" Loriste yawned. These mountain barbarians did not give the Norton clan any pressure at all. Compared to the threat that the alliance of the four central duchies and the Fisablun clan's armed forces had brought him in the second half of last year, it was a world of difference. Only these soldiers of the Guard Battalion who had never been on the battlefield would be so excited.
However, it was rare for these soldiers of the Guard Battalion who had been training all year round to see some blood, so Loriste decided not to give any guidance to the defensive battle this time. He wanted to see if the two commanders of the Guard Battalion were up to the task. He watched over the Crouching Ox Hill stronghold this time to give the soldiers of the Guard Battalion peace of mind, as well as to prevent any sudden attacks from the mountain barbarians equivalent to Great Swordsmen. In the army of a hundred thousand mountain barbarians, there should be a few priests equivalent to Great Swordsmen. Loriste's main objective was to deal with them.
The vanguard of the mountain barbarians finally remembered the lesson of failure after being rebuffed twice. They knew that it was impossible for them to break through the long defensive wall. In the next two days, they set up camp in the forest in the distance, knowing their limits very well. They waited for the main army to arrive.
Two days later, the mountain barbarian army arrived. Loriste discovered that the news was correct. There were more than a hundred thousand mountain barbarians here. There were only more, not fewer. Although the mountain barbarian army lacked resources and had not set up tents, the bonfires that covered the ground at night seemed to cover the sky. From afar, it seemed like a sky filled with stars. The entire forest was covered in bonfires that stretched all the way to the horizon, boundless …
Many of the soldiers of the Guard Battalion had never seen such a shocking sight before. The joy they felt from their first victory two days ago had already vanished completely. They unconsciously lowered their voices as they conversed. Their words were filled with doubt, "Can we defend? How can we kill so many mountain barbarians? It's impossible for us to win …"
The nervousness and lack of confidence before the battle was tossed to the back of the minds of all the soldiers of the Guard Battalion when the mountain barbarians launched a large-scale attack on the defensive wall the next day. Faced with the endless waves of attacking people, the defenders only mechanically cocked their bows, fired, and continued cocking their bows and firing. They had already forgotten everything. They only knew to launch a counterattack numbly like wooden puppets under their commander's orders based on their long training.
"Fire!" Once the order was given, the longbow unit once again shot the arrows in their hands at the mountain barbarian tide. The arrows rained down like a torrential rain, clearing out a small area. Countless mountain barbarian soldiers who had been shot began to scream miserably as they clutched at the places where they had been shot. However, another group of mountain barbarian soldiers quickly rushed over and filled up the empty space. The lightly injured were quickly carried away, while the heavily injured were sent to the divine kingdom of the mountain god amidst the war songs praising the mountain god …
The trench had already been filled up by the corpses of the mountain barbarian soldiers, tree branches, mud, rocks, and other random things. Countless mountain barbarian soldiers made their way to the bottom of the city walls through these filled up areas. However, they quickly encountered an extremely difficult and awkward situation. The ladders they carried couldn't reach the eight meter tall city walls at all. A few impatient and short-tempered mountain barbarian soldiers angrily threw the weapons in their hands onto the city walls, causing the defending Guard Battalion soldiers to suffer extremely light casualties.
A few mountain barbarian soldiers who were a bit smarter already prepared to connect the two ladders together. However, the construction site of the connecting ladders was quickly targeted by the crossbow archers on the city walls. The mountain barbarian soldiers who were currently connecting the ladders were immediately killed by crossbow arrows. Even though the mountain barbarian soldiers advanced wave after wave, as long as they were targeted by the crossbow archers, not a single ladder could be connected.
Instead, a few further ladders were connected to the top of the city walls due to the crossbow archers not being able to take care of them. Only, those mountain barbarian soldiers who were brandishing their weapons were smashed down by large rocks thrown from the city walls before they could even climb halfway. The sword and shield battalion soldiers who were bored to death finally found a place to put their skills to use. They tossed down rocks from the top of the city walls while tossing oil cans and torches at the same time. Not only were the ladders set ablaze, even the area below the city walls was set ablaze. Very soon, the wind was filled with the smell of burning human flesh. Many of the soldiers began to vomit in disgust.
This time, the mountain barbarian army's massive attack lasted from morning to afternoon. The only dangerous situation that appeared was when they were about to retreat in the afternoon. The mountain barbarian army gathered a group of warriors and forcefully attacked the defensive city walls. Before Loriste could make a move, these several dozen mountain barbarian warriors were surrounded by the Raging Bear Knights who were watching the battle from the top of the city walls. When these mountain barbarian warriors on the city walls were chopped down like vegetables by the Raging Bear Knights, all the mountain barbarian soldiers who were still bravely attacking felt as if they had been ruthlessly punched in the face. They let out waves of sorrowful howls, and their movements became hesitant.
The horn to retreat finally sounded. The moaning sound of the horn echoed between heaven and earth. The mountain barbarian soldiers who had lost their souls retreated, leaving behind corpses that covered the entire battlefield. There were even some places where the corpses were piled up several times, with almost no place to step on. Loriste showed mercy and ordered them to stop shooting. He ordered the mountain barbarian soldiers to retreat as if they had lost their souls. There were estimated to be close to twenty thousand corpses at the bottom of the city walls. Today's battle had already taught the mountain barbarian army a profound lesson. Out of the fifty thousand people that had attacked, almost half of them had died. He believed that the mountain barbarians would never attack this defensive wall again.
After receiving Loriste's order, the long wall quickly quieted down. Then, waves of cheers erupted, "We've won! We've won! We've defended the long wall! "
Many of the steel crossbow shooters, who had long since been exhausted, fell to the ground. During the battle, they were numb and only knew to shoot arrows mechanically. Now that they received the order, they realized that they were so tired that they didn't even want to move. Their voices were hoarse, and they only knew to cry tears of joy as they watched their comrades cheer and celebrate …
Compared to the joyous atmosphere here, sorrowful cries came from the distant mountain forest. The cries grew louder and louder, becoming one. In the darkness of the night, it seemed even more sorrowful and sorrowful …
Loriste looked at the distant mountain forest and the corpses on the battlefield. He shook his head and said to Terman, the leader of the Raging Bear Knights, "Perhaps our family's defensive wall will be called the Wailing Wall by the mountain barbarians in the future. They will remember how many mountain barbarian warriors have died under this wall. However, I do not sympathize with them. If this wall is broken by the mountain barbarian army, then the ones who will cry will be the hardworking and kind citizens of our territory. "
After this attack failed, the mountain barbarian army no longer tried to break through this defensive wall. In the next three to four days, the mountain barbarian army only sent people to collect the corpses of the soldiers who had died on the battlefield. They also collected all of the steel crossbow bolts. However, the mountain barbarians who came to collect the corpses did not dare to approach the trenches and the long wall. In the end, Loriste ordered the soldiers of the two guard battalions to leave the wall under the cover of the war chariots, steel crossbows, and longbowmen. They moved the corpses of the mountain barbarians below the wall and in the trenches to the center of the battlefield and handed them over to the mountain barbarians who were collecting the corpses.
After another six days of confrontation, Loriste was woken up early in the morning by Terman, who had rushed excitedly to his bedroom. "Your Highness, Your Highness, the mountain barbarian army has moved. They've split up!"
… …
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