Warlords of the witcher world

Chapter 167

Sintra, the city by the sea, was once again under siege.

Marshal Vesekid with white hair and beard stood on the high platform of Sintra Castle, looking sternly at the Nilfgaardian army that surrounded the city.

Sintra Castle, this palace has experienced many things, and now, it is once again bathed in the flames of war.

The army in black surrounded the city with three floors inside and three floors outside, and built a large number of fortifications and trenches around the city.

And among these fortifications, no matter day or night, there are bright lights flashing, followed by the roar of artillery firing and the loud noise of shells hitting the city wall.

The men in black brought artillery that far exceeded Wesekid's expectations, and these artillery bombarded the city wall almost non-stop.

The battlements of Sintra were basically smashed, and the battlements of the city wall were basically riddled with holes.

Even the bravest defenders don't have the guts to climb up the city wall, because that often means that it will be turned into a pile of debris in a short time.

Under the continuous bombardment of the army in black, many people began to suspect that it was a wrong decision for them to stick to the city.

But people with a really strategic mind know that's the right thing to do.

If it weren't for the protection of the city walls of Sintra, they would have been defeated long ago, instead of still insisting on resisting Nilfgaard here.

And on the sea of ​​Sintra, there are ships with black sails and a golden sun on them. This is the navy that Nilfgaard blocked Sintra.

The appearance of these ships cut off the possibility of Sintra's continued defense. They blocked the sea supply line. Without continuous team supplies and manpower, the city would never be able to persist.

"Marshal, the Nilfgaardians once again sent envoys. They said that this is our last chance. If we don't surrender, they will immediately detonate the bombs buried under the city wall to completely end this battle."

"Really? Is this moment finally here?" Finally?

Hearing this news, Wisekid was not surprised, but rather relieved that things had finally come to an end.

"Excuse me, what should we do?"

The Sintra people present looked at Vesekid. They were all people who had fought with Vesekid for many years. Most of them had middle-aged and elderly faces, and there were not many young people.

The young man had been sent to Novigrad shortly after the start of the war to escape the flames.

Vesekid knew better than anyone that the fight against the Nilfgaardian army was a hopeless fight.

But Vesekid and his old subordinates still decided to stay, and they were unwilling to leave the hometown they finally regained.

Sending away young people and those who are unwilling to die here, these Sintra people decided to use their death to demonstrate their will.

"Fire and drive the envoys away. Next, you don't need to think about any plans or strategies. Let's all prepare to face death with dignity."

Regarding the marshal's words, no one present expressed any objection, they just started to prepare equipment, and only waited for the black-clothed army to enter, and they would fight them in the dark.

The marshal picked up the two swords that were on the table, come on, let him be crazy.

"Boom!"

Finally, with an explosion that seemed earth-shattering, the entire city wall of Sintra collapsed like this, and Nilfgaard, eager for looting and military exploits, rushed into the city.

But the only ones who greeted them were the tenacious guards of Sintra. There were guards everywhere in the streets and alleys, and there could be traps anywhere.

"He died bravely."

Said Torres, who rode his horse and stood in front of Vesselkid's body.

Marshal Cintra is covered in blood now, and his neat hair and beard are full of blood. There is a spear piercing through his breastplate, which obviously killed him.

There was a faint smile on Vesekid's face, which let Torres know that he died bravely, and few people would face death so calmly.

And around his body, there were seven Nilfgaardian corpses, and there was a junior officer inside.

Like Vesekid, many of the Sintra fought to the last minute, costing the Men in Black more casualties than they had anticipated.

The former emperor of Nilfgaard did not insult the enemy's corpse, but ordered it to be restrained, and then looked at the smoking Cintra.

Dejected soldiers can be seen everywhere on the street, and the sun flag is also drooping on the flagpole, just like the mood of the army now.

After a bitter battle, the most motivating thing for soldiers is a looting. From the trophies and slaves obtained, the fatigue of the soldiers will be swept away.

But not this time, there are only soldiers in Sintra, not even their families, just soldiers.

After being recovered, Wiesekid believed that Sintra would sooner or later become the focus of the war, so he did not spend too much energy on the reconstruction of the city.

The city wall was constantly strengthened by him. If it weren't for these enhancements, the city wall of Sintra would have collapsed under the bombardment of Nilfgaardian artillery, instead of forcing the Nilfgaardians to use hollowed out city walls to stuff gunpowder. Such a way.

For the urban area, he only maintained the basic manpower to maintain the sea transportation, and let the soldiers' families live.

After the huge turmoil in the Northern Territory, Vesekid was among the first northern rulers to be aware of the changes in Southern Sintra.

He decided that without the help of the northern kingdoms, Cintra must fall again, so he evacuated the civilians, and also let all the soldiers who did not want to stay here to fight to the death, leaving some strength for the future.

So in Sintra, the Nilfgaardians didn't grab anything at all, not even slaves.

And not just in the city of Sintra, but in the whole of North Sintra as well.

The orders of Vesekid and the atrocities of the black army have played a huge role. The local people are very clear about what the Nilfgaardians have done. This has led to a large-scale migration of residents without much effort. .

Much of North Sintra was emptied just like that, with people fleeing to Temeria or Anglin, and many leaving by boat.

Therefore, the actions of the imperial army in North Sintra are carefully calculated, and there are only losses and losses.

"This is really a 'good start'. When Hawat saw the report here, he probably just had a hard time in his head. He didn't know how his war in Temeria was. After entering Temeria, he should No matter what, you can get some goods." The premise is that he can quickly defeat John Natalis.

Hawat Mohan, Menno Quhorn's second-in-command, now Marshal of Nilfgaard.

For this man to act as marshal, Torres still seems suitable.

After all, on the face of the empire now, only this one has enough experience in commanding a large army.

And in the war in the north, the empire did not go so smoothly.

.

According to the prediction of the empire, Temeria, which lost its king, collapsed in a short period of time. The nobles should fall to the empire one by one, and Temeria will also become the territory of the empire.

Moreover, the Empire has learned the lessons of the Second Northern War. They did not engage in two-line offensive, but concentrated their forces on the first line to achieve a quick breakthrough.

Excluding the guard against Aedirn and Livia in Soden, and the army besieging Sintra, the Nilfgaardian army going north has a full 20 people, and this force should sweep Temeria.

In fact, the empire's expectations for Temeria: the collapse of the army, the rebellion of the nobles, and the defection of the towns, all of which happened, but one thing was not expected.

That's the tenacity of John Natalis.

"Tell Governor Bardov that he must block the Nilfgaardians for three days, at least three days! Protect the flanks for the main force, otherwise our counterattack will fail immediately. Then the fifth and seventh divisions advance to Dorndale, Cut off the retreat of those who venture into the Nilfgaardian vanguard. Next, I will smash those Nilfgaardians!"

Looking at the map in front of him and the terrible situation depicted on it, John Natalis was not intimidated. Instead, he methodically and gradually shrunk the battle line, and then searched for all the loopholes of the Nilfgaardians to cause them casualties.

Marshal Natalis held nearly [-] soldiers in his hands, which was the capital he was able to do.

Although some nobles launched a rebellion and some armies were disbanded, the main body is still there.

And although the king is gone, John Natalis is still there.

And he also has Miss Anais, the king's daughter, as a banner to call people on.

As for why there is only one daughter, it is because the king's son was killed by those Temerian nobles who intended to turn against him, as a token of honor for the Southern Empire.

Loyal ministers like Natalis and Roche could only lift the little princess out as a banner, and then protected her like they were protecting their own eyeballs.

After Natalis completed the battle layout, Vernon Roche walked in. The captain of the Iron Guard in blue obviously experienced a bloody battle, but seeing that the blood had solidified, it was obviously some time.

"The Duke of Eldran has been dealt with, and the 4000 people from the Duke of Eldran are on their way."

Roche just said such a sentence, but it made Natalis breathe a sigh of relief.

The Duke of Eldran is a powerful nobleman in the northwest of Temeria. He was once the biggest benefactor of the White Rose Knights and has blood ties with the royal family. He is usually the biggest threat to Temeria.

After Foltest's death, this man jumped up and down in various ways. It can be said that he is the biggest threat to Temeria. He is very likely to start a civil war to force everyone to recognize his status.

And if he started a civil war, it would be too bad for Temeria now.

"Thank you very much, Roche, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't know how to deal with the matter over there."

John Natalis doesn't understand politics at all. In contrast, Roche, who has been doing dirty work for the king for a long time, knows what to do.

"There is no need to talk about the relationship between you and me, Natalis, we must face up to one thing now, do you have any plans for what to do next?"

"what?"

"You know, the thing we don't want to face, Thaler has obtained information from Redania and Aedirn, the king and the Lord Protector will at most give us some food and ordnance assistance, and then what will they do? They won’t do anything, just watching Nilfgaard destroy us like this, Radovid and Herme are worried about giving each other their backs. Oh, maybe before they perish, they will seize our country’s border fortress.”

The whole scene immediately fell into silence. Few people could face the cruel reality calmly, but they had to face it.

"The capital cannot be defended. The Nilfgaardian's advantage is too great. I currently have two ideas. One is to get closer to Mahakam and get support from Mahakam, and the other is to go to Xida Reese, take advantage of the fact that the peninsula is surrounded by the sea on three sides."

Although Natalis is unwilling to face that cruel fact, he has long been thinking about how to proceed with the next strategy.

"The dwarves and the sea... Huh, it's only been a while, and we're reduced to relying on these."

Roche said sarcastically, but his tone was self-deprecating.

"But no matter what, we have to persevere until the last moment."

"Yes, Roche, we must persevere."

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The development of the battle situation in Temeria was much more difficult than Marshal Hawat expected.

The Temerians fought every step of the way. Although there was a huge gap in troop strength, they used their advantage as defenders to find weaknesses on the imperial front.

And once a weakness is discovered, the Temerians will chisel it in like a chisel.

The Temerians are even more proficient in the use of artillery, and artillery can always be the sharpest dagger for the Temerians to counterattack.

Under such circumstances, it is naturally impossible for the empire to win Temeria without injury.

What Marshal Hawat couldn't accept was that the Temerians had killed and wounded tens of thousands of Nilfgaardian soldiers during the three-month war. You must know that the empire has a comprehensive advantage in military strength!

After thinking about it, Marshal Hawat finally came to the conclusion that the current imperial army is no longer the elite imperial army left by the original usurper.

As an old man in the army, Hawat's feelings about this are also very obvious, but he is unwilling to admit it, and has always been unwilling, but now the reality forces him to face it squarely.

However, despite paying such casualties, the strategic goal was roughly achieved.

By now, almost the entire territory of Temeria has fallen into their hands, and the imperial flag is now flying over Vizima, the capital of Temeria.

As the person in charge of all this, Marshal Hawat has done a lot of honors, and the City of the Golden Tower has already blown his record to the sky.

After all, the empire has never achieved such a brilliant record in the war against the north. The second northern war only won a few marginal northern countries. This time, it won the entire northern four powers.

The only established Temerian army is currently operating on the edge of the Mahakam Mountains, relying on the support of the dwarves to maintain its activities, and the other is on the Cidaris Peninsula, defending that small peninsula.

And the total number of Temerian troops in these places is less than 3000.

In contrast, the partisans scattered throughout Temeria are more annoying.

John Natalis disbanded much of the Temerian army during the final stages of the battle.

After returning to their hometown, these Temerians saw the atrocities committed by the Nilfgaardians, and most of them chose to take up arms again and gather the strong men in their hometown to resist the empire.

They took Princess Anais as their banner, and everyone hoped that King Foltest's daughter would fight back.

Since these guerrillas were organized by Temerian soldiers, their resistance was much higher than that of ordinary guerrillas.

Now in the empire-occupied area, there may even be situations where the Temerians pull up thousands of people to fight regular battles with the imperial army, which shows how chaotic the situation is.

This created enormous security pressure on the empire. Marshal Hawat had to deploy almost 5 people all over Temeria to ensure local security and the empire's logistics supply lines.

Counting the troops retained by the empire in Sintra, Soden, and Anglin, 25 people went north this time, and 10 people stayed in the occupied area as a garrison.

This was unexpected by the empire. The strategic goal of the empire was to take over the entire north—at least the two countries south of the Pontar River—and now only Temeria has been taken.

Originally, in the empire's plan, after taking Temeria, it would advance to Aedirn in an all-round way, and take Aedirn and Livia.

But in the current situation, don't say anything about advancing, too many troops have been nailed to death.

In terms of the two enemies that the empire will face next, the situation of the empire is not very good.

The Redanians crossed the Pontar River and captured a series of important Temerian fortresses on the south bank of the Pontar River.

So did the Aedirnians, and the strongholds on the Aedirn-Temerian border are now in Aedirnian hands.

This is extremely bad for Nilfgaard. These important fortresses fall into the hands of the enemy, which means that Redania and Aedirn may attack the imperial army at any time.

However, the onset of winter has caused all parties to suspend military operations.

Winter in the north does not belong to war, this is the experience Nilfgaard gained in the last northern war.

Especially for invaders like Nilfgaard, they must deploy a large amount of materials to ensure the supply of materials for the next year's offensive, otherwise there will be big problems on the front line.

But, but, the situation today is very, very different from the Second Northern War.

As invaders, the Nilfgaardians cannot move, but the northerners can.

During the Second Northern War, the north followed the pace of Nilfgaard to strike in winter. It was because they were stunned by the offensive of the empire and had to readjust and mobilize their forces in winter.

But now, the Adian people and the Redanian people have not suffered any damage in the past three months of war. They are mobilizing further in their country on the basis of the mobilization they have already mobilized.

In November 1271, the northerners will also start their long-prepared actions.

Now, the time has come for the Nilfgaardians to suffer.

(End of this chapter)