Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 635 Mountain Offensive
"Is that Rilke?" Vaughn put down his binoculars, stood up, and looked with his naked eye at the gray stone mountain town built on the cliff in the distance.

Although everyone knew that Arid was a small mountain kingdom, the Northern Army was still shocked by the peculiar "location" of the royal capital of this poor and remote country when they actually led their troops to advance to the vicinity of its capital.

It was actually built on a mountain cliff plateau, and in terms of scale, it was not even as large as Grizzly Bear Fortress. The entire city had only one steep, zigzagging mountain road leading to the outside world along the narrow path carved out of the cliff.

"Whether it's based on aerial surveys from the reconnaissance airship or repeated confirmations with the local guides... there's no way it could be wrong. There really is only one rugged mountain road in and out of Rilke. It's said that when the first Duke of Arlid built the city, he borrowed and conscripted more than 10,000 laborers from the church and spent eight years carving out half of the mountain in front of it to make it so easy to defend and difficult to attack."

Vaughn, now somewhat of a cultured man, pursed his lips and pondered for a moment before spitting out a curse: "These wasteful, cowardly nobles!"

Wayne took the binoculars from him, stood on tiptoe and peered for a moment. "Don't you think something's off about Riquel City?"

“Something’s not right?” Vaughn was taken aback. His Majesty was quite interested in the population of the capital city of Arid. His orders to them were to avoid harming civilians as much as possible and to gradually relocate them from the barren mountains after capturing the city, in order to make up for the manpower shortage in industry and agriculture in Golden Radiance City and Fengyuan City.

"No matter what, it's the capital of a country with five or six thousand people. Even if they heard that we were about to attack and gathered up all the troops of the surrounding lords, hiding and holding back... surely there are still caravans and patrolling knights coming and going from the city?"

With so many people crammed into such a small city, the daily consumption of food and fodder for people and horses alone would consume a lot of grain and fodder. Even if a large amount of supplies were stored in advance for wartime needs, it would still be necessary to continuously replenish them from the outside world, otherwise it would be a slow death like digging one's own grave.

Vaughn nodded, instructed his adjutant to bring over a local guide, and asked in a deep voice, "Have you been to Rilke before?"

The guide was a Saint Valen from Wangshan County. In the past, when relations between the two countries were good, he often transported some high-quality wild animal pelts from near Rilke and sold them to the royal capital, Golden Radiance City. He was fairly familiar with the situation in Arid. Upon hearing this, he honestly replied, "In theory, the gates of Rilke open at sunrise and close near sunset. At least three or four caravans come and go throughout the day, mostly grain transport teams from the holy city of Goris, or small merchant guilds from our border regions."

When tensions arise in neighboring countries or when large groups of bandits roam the area, the city guards will choose to keep the city gates open, preferring to send troops down the mountain to intercept the enemy in advance rather than delay the transport of supplies within the city.

Duff grew impatient and urged, "Why make things so complicated? Just send a squadron of reconnaissance airships to find out what's going on. It would be better to take a few bomber airships with you and drop a few high-explosive bombs on Earl Zephyr's palace as you pass by."

Vaughn shook his head with a solemn expression. This was different from fighting within Saint Valen. To the people of Arid, the Northern Army was not only an aggressor who had brazenly invaded their territory without any reason, but also destroyed the Papal States of Goris, which they regarded as a place of pilgrimage. It was hard not to regard them as enemies by the majority of the city's believers.

If, without any diplomatic means, airships are directly sent to bomb the capital, the plan for peaceful reunification will likely face extreme difficulty.

"Why hesitate so much? We can skip bombing the city with airships and just blast open their gates with a few shots, wipe out all the defenders who try to resist, and capture Earl Westwind alive." Duff pulled a cigarette from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and shrugged indifferently. "His Majesty did order us to rally the people, but if they insist on resisting to the death, we can't just leave the soldiers to waste their time in the mountains, can we?"

Wayne chimed in with a sinister tone, "We can outlast them even if we just keep them at bay. As long as we keep the city under our siege, I guarantee... in less than half a month, those starving people who lack food will open the city gates on their own, tie up the soldiers guarding the city, and bring them to us, begging for a few pieces of bread."

These two guys... one reckless and the other cunning. Fortunately, there weren't any knightly staff officers in the General Staff like Dickinson and Ross, who were bursting with a sense of justice. Otherwise, upon hearing their remarks, they would have complained to General Pierce.

"Taking this city would indeed be a piece of cake, the key issue is how to handle the aftermath," Vaughn explained patiently. "In the General Staff's plan, Rilke is intended to be an important military outpost for monitoring the holy city of Goris. If we massacre civilians and incite public outrage... the administrative officials sent to garrison here will find it difficult to gain a foothold, let alone win the support of the locals." Although Aried is sparsely populated, its fierce and rugged people, forged by its harsh environment, have always been a major headache for the country's nobles.

The three were engrossed in a heated discussion when Ivan, the military staff officer, hurried over.

"Gentlemen, a specific battle plan has not yet been finalized?"

Duff had always disliked these refined "scheming men," and grinned, saying, "His Majesty hasn't given clear instructions on how to proceed, and your General Staff isn't offering any feasible suggestions. Aren't we discussing this right now? What's the rush..."

Ivan, however, didn't seem to mind at all, and chuckled, "I'm just here to give you some ideas, aren't I?"

"Oh?" Vaughn raised an eyebrow and pressed, "What idea? You already have a foolproof plan?"

"Well... of course, the intelligence department had already planted several secret agents in Rilke before the army set off, and even before you launched your operation against Grace. They have a pretty good understanding of the current situation in the city and just risked their lives to transmit valuable information."

The three of them perked up at the words and asked in unison, "What message?"

Ivan pulled out a slip of paper covered with deciphered coded messages from his pocket, and waved it with a wry smile. "Count Westwind has gathered a force of nearly five hundred Divine Punishment Knights, along with Archbishop Rilke, to incite the entire city to resist the invaders from Saint Valen to the death... Heh, as soon as the news of the mobilization spread, the people of the city responded enthusiastically, and everyone actively swore allegiance to the Church."

Vaughn's heart skipped a beat, and he said in astonishment, "Then...then how can His Majesty's plan to gather the people and absorb population be implemented? These stubborn loyalists will never surrender easily."

Ivan casually took the match from Duff's hand, burned the intelligence report, and chuckled, "It is true that the kingdom needs fresh labor, but compared to these mere few thousand people, we don't have that much time to waste on a bunch of stubborn fools and nobles."

He paused, his expression instantly turning cold. "If necessary, wiping out the remnants of the Papacy's Divine Punishment faction, quickly stabilizing the western border of the kingdom, and taking Rilke as a new military stronghold... are clearly more important."

"You mean... to order the army to launch an indiscriminate attack on Rilke? Your Majesty... how will we explain this to His Majesty?"

Ivan raised his hand to straighten his cuffs and said calmly, "His Majesty is, after all, a benevolent monarch who regards the people as his own children, so the dirty work is left to us to do... The army does not need to bear the main responsibility for this operation. You can start a persuasion campaign against Count Westwind and the people who are holding the city right now. Our people will take other actions in the city."

A bolt of lightning struck Vaughn's mind, and he suddenly realized what was happening. He roared, "The Northern Army disdains to play the role of a hypocrite in this battle. Since the General Staff has already set the action plan, we will also follow the plan!"

He took a deep breath, turned to Wayne and Duff, and ordered, "Notify the entire army to move out, enter the designated attack range, and prepare to attack the city!"

(End of this chapter)