Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 520: The Final Battle of Thorn City (V)

On the ever-changing battlefield, thirty minutes passes in a flash.

The orcs on the top of Aurelian Gate did not respond to the surrender declaration made by the Lord of Frost Maple Ridge. Only the shamans chanted war songs tirelessly and tried their best to maintain the huge elemental shield in front of the city gate to prevent Frost Maple Ridge from launching a surprise attack.

The Lord of Frost Maple Ridge, lazily leaning on the recliner, didn't seem to care whether the orcs would surrender and beg for mercy in the next thirty minutes. He played a game of chess with Master Lowry and two games of Marne, and defeated his chief mage.

Just as Master Lowry began to sort out the deck for their third game of Mann cards, a messenger from the Eastern Army arrived on horseback, bringing the Lord the latest news on the battle situation in the three western gates.

“Lord Duke Igor! Grand Duke Grimm Rosario sent me to report the battle situation to you!” The young messenger seemed to be only in his early twenties. He was so excited to be among a group of heroes from Frost Maple Ridge and to see the legendary Duke Elliot Igor in person that his face flushed. “Reporting to you, the war has already started at the west three gates!”

"What timely news!" Xiahou Yan smiled gently at the little messenger, "If you hadn't informed me specifically, we would probably still be in the dark!"

All the punks in Frost Maple Ridge laughed mischievously.

——There was no way. The sound of artillery fire coming from the three western gates was too shocking. Even without the report of this messenger, the people of Frost Maple Ridge outside the Aurelian Gate who were not fools could guess that the fighting had started at the three western gates.

The information brought by this Eastern Army messenger was too "timely".

Hearing the laughter of the scum of Frost Maple Ridge, the messenger boy looked a little embarrassed. Sean Mountbatten glared at the surrounding Frost Maple Ridge high-level officials, forcing them to put away their smiles, and then asked seriously:

"How did the three western gates start? I remember that the military didn't plan any offensive activities today. What is the current situation of the battle?"

"Report to Chief of Staff Mountbatten!" The little messenger glanced at Sean's three-star silver eagle epaulettes, then looked at his black wide-brimmed hat, and immediately recognized the famous Chief of Staff Frost Maple Ridge in the Imperial Army. "How did the three Western gates start the war? Our military is also investigating... From the current situation, it seems that Merton Gate was attacked by the Federation air force. The troops there wanted to fight back, but encountered fire interception from Thorn City while chasing the Federation Air Cavalry. More and more troops joined the battle, and finally all three Western gates were involved..."

Xiahou Yan and Sean Mountbatten looked at each other and roughly guessed the situation of the three western gates.

The main force guarding the Merton camp was the Imperial Central Army under the command of Marquis Liam. After the camp was attacked, the ambitious Marquis Liam certainly did not want to swallow this loss, and would definitely organize troops to pursue the returning Federation air cavalry. In the process of this pursuit, it is very likely that some troops accidentally entered the firepower strike range of the Thorn City defenders and were suppressed somewhere outside the city. In order to cover the retreat of this part of the troops, Marquis Liam had to dispatch another part of the firepower to join the long-range confrontation with the Federation weapons on the city head, and the Federation would respond to this... In this way, the Empire and the Federation both added more water and more flour, and continuously added troops to the battlefield, which eventually led to all three western gates becoming a mess.

Xiahou Yan and Sean knew the empire's troop deployment, generals' personalities, and tactical styles inside out. Even after listening to a simple report from the messenger, they were able to guess the true situation of the three western gates. The only thing they didn't expect was that the real trigger for the war at the three western gates was not the federal air raid, but a blunder caused by poor communication within the empire.

They also realized that this development was not beneficial to the empire.

Although the total number of troops deployed by the Empire outside Thorn City is larger than that of the Federation orcs defending the city, they are not so abundant that they can easily launch an attack on the city gate. According to the original plan of the Imperial Military, the mighty Imperial coalition should have stayed outside Thorn City without attacking, starving the orcs in the city, and then looking for loopholes to attack. Now that the siege has just begun, it is far from the time to launch a general attack.

However, the current situation is that the three western gates have already started a large-scale fight...

This would not end well for the Empire. If the Imperial coalition forces could really break into a city gate, everything would be fine; but if they failed, the Empire would inevitably suffer casualties in the exchange of fire, and even undermine the stability of the entire siege. Considering that the Federation orcs were still in an advantageous position with sufficient soldiers and food, it would be unwise for the Imperial Army to clash with the enemy in advance.

  The messenger's subsequent report further confirmed the two's concerns:

According to him, the battle situation in the three western gates is still quite stalemate and the situation is not clear.

The battle at Merton Gate in the west was the first to start. So far, the battle has evolved into a large-scale war of attrition in which the Empire and the Federation have poured ammunition on each other. The Imperial coalition forces were disrupted in the initial air strikes, but quickly regrouped and relied on heavy firepower and the crazy output of high-level magic to temporarily suppress the long-range firepower of the Thorn City defenders, and tried to use this to cover the heavy infantry's advance. However, as the federal reserve troops in the city were filled up on the city tower, the firepower comparison between the two sides was once again evened. Amid the roar of artillery fire, the four heavy infantry regiments of the Empire were stuck halfway to the city gate, unable to advance or retreat. It is understood that the Imperial military now seems to be discussing the necessity of using those "Hercules" in advance at Merton Gate to cover the retreat of the heavy infantry regiment.

The battle situation at Caligula's Gate in the northwest was not optimistic for the Empire. Shortly after the battle at Merton's Gate began, the Empire in the northwest launched an urgent attack on Caligula's Gate in order to support the battle at Merton's Gate, but was blocked by the Federation troops halfway due to improper command. The headquarters of the Northwest Allied Forces was even directly bombed by the Federation Air Cavalry, and General Pickford, one of the highest commanders, unfortunately died on the spot. As a result, all the Empire troops here fell into a black two hours of broken command chain and leaderlessness. The Federation orcs even directly opened Caligula's Gate and sent a large group of wolf cavalry out of the city to attack, harvesting the chaotic Empire troops wantonly. Until an hour ago, the Griffin Cavalry of the "Lancaster Air Force Wing" regained air supremacy in Caligula's airspace, which slightly stabilized the battle situation in the northwest, but the huge losses suffered by the Empire in a short period of time were irreversible.

Compared with these two gates, the battle at the Severus Gate in the southwest was not fierce, but this was purely a blessing in disguise: unlike the other two main attack directions, the heavy infantry armor of the imperial coalition forces responsible for the Severus direction has not yet been fully in place, so the imperial commander in the southwest has maintained a clear position of avoiding battle from beginning to end. After the battles at the other two gates, the imperial coalition forces at the Severus Gate did not rashly attack the Thorn City, but only sent a small-scale scout force to conduct fire reconnaissance and harassment, thus avoiding serious casualties - however, at the cost, the defenders of the Severus Gate suffered a serious lack of defensive pressure, so they were able to calmly rush to the other two gates. The reason why the imperial army at the Caligula and Merton gates was in such a difficult situation was also related to the imperial army's strategy of avoiding battle at the Severus Gate.

In short, after listening to the entire battle report, the senior officials of Frost Maple Ridge knew that the casualties suffered by the imperial coalition forces at the three western gates in one day were absolutely an astronomical figure that no military strategist could accept. And if this wrong battle could not be stopped as soon as possible, it might even lead to the breaking of the imperial encirclement of Thorn City, thus giving the federal defenders in the city a chance to catch their breath.

"Go back and tell Grand Duke Rosario and Marquis Liam that they must mobilize the Hercules as soon as possible and do not hesitate at this time!" Xiahou Yan solemnly warned the messenger, "If we don't use a few mushroom clouds to suppress the orcs' arrogance and cover the infantry's retreat and reorganization, this endless battle is enough to wipe out the empire's entire assets!"

"I will report your opinion to Grand Duke Rosario!" The young messenger saluted quickly. "However, Lord Duke Igor, Lord Rosario sent me here to ask you if you can let your troops exert more pressure on the defenders of Thorn City at the Aurelian Gate as much as possible? Without your help, the situation at the three western gates is really a bit..."

Xiahou Yan laughed and waved his hand, interrupting the messenger.

Seeing that the battles at the three western gates were intense, but no proper exchange of fire took place at the Aurelian Gate, he had long expected that the Imperial Army would be dissatisfied with the actions of the "feint attack force" of Frost Maple Ridge.

"I hope Archduke Rosario and Marquis Liam don't mind. After all, we didn't know the battle had already started at the three western gates before you came to report the battle to me!" Xiahou Yan winked at the messenger slyly, holding up a cigar and said, "Don't worry, when it comes to putting 'pressure' on the green-skinned orcs... I gave them thirty minutes before, and it's already up..."

He stood up from the couch, put his hands on the pergola and looked into the distance:

The federal defenders on the top of the city still did not make any special movements, only the shamans' singing continued, and the huge lavender elemental shield quietly floated in the air in front of the Aurelian Gate. "I think this can be understood as the federal orcs refusing to surrender to me?" He said with a crooked mouth, biting the butt of a cigar.

"Indeed." Sean Mountbatten nodded.

"Then prepare the second shell of the 'Dora' cannon for me!" Xiahou Yan shouted, and then smiled at the somewhat bewildered Eastern Army courier, "Little brother, do you want to watch us finish this shot before going back? This way, you can report to Archduke Rosario and Marquis Liam about what the hell is 'pressure'!"

……

"Frost Maple Ridge is loading ammunition into the giant cannon again." Palermo Han Gu said in a deep voice as he observed the situation outside the city.

"They want to shoot hundreds of thousands more leaflets at us?" General Siegfried laughed angrily.

Palermo Han Gu shook his head, his eyes still not leaving the barrel of the Dark Moon Glazed Telescope.

Master Kane had just noticed the "Dora" cannon standing tall in the Frost Maple Ridge position. The old shaman held the pure white battlements of the Aurelian Gate with his hands, and looked at this industrial crystal from the Soul-Splitting Land with an admiring look from afar.

"Is this cannon very powerful?" Master Kane did not see the first "cultural bomb" being launched, so he asked, "Do we need to prepare the children for defense?"

"Master, don't worry..." General Siegfried explained quickly, "Look, there are flyers all over the floor..."

——The general said, stretched out his foot, and pointed at the leaflets covering the city walls with disgust:

"…Just now, Frost Maple Ridge fired this cannon. According to our estimation, the range and power of this cannon are quite impressive, but the shells it fired still cannot break through the Moonstone Wall of Thorn City, so it is not a serious threat. Igor probably just wanted to fire another shot to show off his power before we surrender…"

After listening to General Siegfried's explanation, Master Kane finally felt relieved, but he still looked at the huge cannon outside the city with worry.

There is no way, this thing is too huge and no one can easily ignore it.

"They're about to fire!" Palermo Han Gu suddenly shouted.

——This reminder actually has no meaning, because the orcs have already prepared for the impact of artillery shells.

With a loud bang, another identical spherical giant bullet burst out from the muzzle of the Dora Cannon. This second shell also directly penetrated the elemental shield built by the shaman priests and also hit the top of the northern wall of the Aurelian Gate Tower.

With the experience of the first time, the orcs on the city wall were mentally prepared this time and dodged extremely quickly. The second giant ball shell didn't kill many orcs at all, and repeated the failure of the first shell, rolling down the city wall with a loud bang, and creating another big hole not far from the corpses of the first shell.

General Siegfried smiled bitterly and said to Master Kane:

"Look...it's time for this thing to give us flyers again..."

As if to fulfill General Siegfried's prophecy, the second giant ball that fell to the ground also began to expand and tremble rapidly, and then a long crack burst out from the middle...

But this time, what flew out of the shells were not leaflets.

Red flames spewed out of the sky, and white smoke rose on the ground.

A burning ball of fire suddenly rose from the hole in the shell, illuminating the entire Aurelian Gate with a red color that was almost enough to burn the sun and the moon. The fireball only paused in the air for a moment, then it spun and turned into a phoenix, swooping down towards the wall of the Aurelian Gate.

Melt gold and calcine jade, boil the sea and simmer the river.

It was like a flame from purgatory, landing on the city wall north of the Aurelian Gate, and burning up with the wind from the Thorn City Plain. The raging fire attached to the snow-white leaflets on the ground, like a beauty in a red dress walking on a white carpet, and quickly spread on the city wall. Almost in the blink of an eye, the snow-white high wall of the Thorn City had already worn a red and burning crown of death.

General Siegfried was almost stunned by what he saw. His white beard and hair were all dyed red by the flames. Palermo Han Gu squatted down and picked up a snow-white pornographic flyer with trembling hands. He raised the harmless-looking piece of paper to his nose, closed his eyes and took a deep sniff.

A faint smell of fuel rushed into my nose.