Chapter 514: Falling City

Although the Mercantile League has always professed fairness and freedom, even before the introduction of the lordship, the inhabitants of the city were not equal, such as the 12th arrondissement of the inner city and the 24th arrondissement of the outer city, and the shantytowns and slums outside the city. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

The residents of the 12 districts of the inner city are basically the families of the backbone of the various chambers of commerce of the business alliance, and at least they must be a steward. However, the relatives of the armed guards of the various chambers of commerce also basically live in the inner city, and in the best place, this is the chamber of commerce's care for its most important armed forces, and in the worst way, it is also a hostage, ensuring that these armed guards are loyal to the chamber of commerce and will not be easily betrayed.

The 24 districts of the outer city also have good and bad differences, such as college teaching, small shop owners, houses purchased by foreign nobles, etc., which also divide the housing prices and land prices of the 24 districts of the outer city into several levels, the worst are basically those who run errands for people and work as servants, most of the middle have a long-term job to support their families, and the good ones are those communities close to the business district or the inner city, which are all luxurious housing and the best order of residential communities.

Since the implementation of the lord system in the business alliance, the seven chambers of commerce, which hold the highest power in the business alliance, have shared the largest seven pieces of the cake, and their focus has shifted from the city of Morent to their own chamber of commerce territory, taking away most of their cronies from the inner city, so that the community territory they occupy in the inner city has been reduced by a large part. Not only the Big Seven, but also those second-rate chambers of commerce, for a while, the inner city seemed a little depressed and deserted.

But soon, with the gradual victory of the commercial alliance's external expansion and the expansion of its territory, the inner city of Morent City poured into more up-and-coming chambers of commerce and those nobles who had made meritorious contributions in foreign wars or nouveau riche who had plundered a large amount of money, so that the house prices and land prices of the twelve communities in the inner city rose like a rocket, and the seven giants of the business alliance saw this and sold off the community land in their hands, and made huge fortunes from these snap buyers.

Now the inner city is no longer the residence of the most influential chambers of commerce of the business alliance, but has become the settlement community of the business alliance nobles and the offices of various chambers of commerce, as well as the location of the treasury arsenal, which is also the essence of the city of Moriente, with strong guards. After being attacked by the Rock Legion, the guards of the inner city organized and not only recaptured the north gate, but also sounded the alarm bell of an enemy attack.

Lorist is not worried about the inner city, he is worried that the inner city and the outer city echo each other to cause riots, the twelve districts of the inner city of Moldant City, the twenty-four districts of the outer city, the thirty-six communities of nearly 20,000 residents in each community, plus the fleeing people of the Falis Hill Plains came to join relatives and friends, if nearly a million residents set off a riot, it would be enough for the Norton family to suffer a little.

In addition to the inhabitants of the inner and outer cities, there are also shantytowns and slums outside the city, which cover a large area and are home to nearly 200,000 people, most of whom are destitute and the lowest class of people living in the city, who earn their living by selling coolies to pick up garbage and clean up hygiene. The Council of the Business Alliance had repeatedly discussed the expansion of the out-of-town communities and the establishment of shantytowns and slums into regular societies, but the merchants made profits, and the final result was that the bill was unprofitable.

The first step in the Norton family's plan to occupy the city of Moriente was to occupy the walls of the outer and inner cities, separating the three parts of Moriente. Now that the outer city walls have been occupied, martial law was immediately imposed on the nine gates in the three directions of the southeast, north, south, and south, and there were no walls in the west, only the dock area and the fleet area, which were now also under the control of a corps of the Guards Legion.

The remnants of the Fourth Squadron of the Invincible Fleet gathered in the middle of the Hidden Golden Bay are in a tangle, and it is impossible to escape, and the entrance to the sea has been blocked by a dozen or so large armed warships with bronze guns installed in the Norton family fleet. It is impossible to dock, and the docklands have been occupied by the Norton forces.

They had only two options left, either surrender or kill themselves, and fight to their deaths to ignite the battleships and rush to the docks of the transports and warships to die together. But the problem is that those transport ships and battleships were originally from the Invincible Armada, and they all burned the Norton family, and they didn't seem to be very distressed, and the officers and men of the Fourth Fleet also thought that this was a bit uneconomical, and after struggling for a long time, they finally hung up the white flag and surrendered to the Norton family.

Although the walls of the inner city were not captured, the two Rock Corps still managed to besiege the inner city, separating the inner city from the outer city, so that the people in the inner city could not break through to the outer city. Without the instigation and guidance of those nobles and chambers of commerce in the inner city, the other two Rock Corps easily suppressed some small riots in the twenty-four communities in the outer city.

Lorist was careful, the two legions he brought to the city of Morent this time had a total strength of less than 100,000 troops. If it causes a city-wide riot, it will make the Norton family unable to eat and walk around, let alone occupy the city of Moriente, and maybe the family forces will suffer heavy losses and be defeated. The inhabitants of Moriente are known for their xenophobia and self-esteem, and this is not a city under the rule of a king, and the inhabitants can easily be incited to fight against the invaders.

Therefore, Lorist strictly forbade the armed family to enter the twenty-four neighborhoods in the outer city, only blocking the streets between these neighborhoods, but not prohibiting traffic between the neighborhoods. In addition to searching the carriages to see if they were carrying weapons and equipment, they were all allowed to pass through the normal traffic of pedestrians, not only did not make it difficult but also paid very politely, and even paid according to the price of food and water, and never bargained, which was also very popular with those small traders.

Although the two Rock Corps truly did the order and forbid, and were even more civilized than the people's soldiers in Lorist's previous life, the residents of Moldant City still caused a lot of trouble. Some housewives stood in the streets and scolded the invaders, but the soldiers did not respond to the insults, even though the aunts and aunts poked their fingers in their faces, they still did not see or hear......

The performance of the Norton family's armed soldiers was even regarded as weakness by some fools, and several former mercenaries of the city of Morent drunkenly gathered a large group of people to prepare to drive these invaders out of the city of Moronte, dreaming of becoming the city's great savior and hero. However, the Norton family forces soon showed them what a thunderbolt attack is, when these heroic rebels swarmed into the streets, they were greeted by the sound of steel crossbows mounted on wheelbarrows, hundreds of brave people were soon strewn in the streets, they did not even cut a sword, and the nearest death was still more than ten meters away from the Norton family soldiers.

The bodies of these rebels were soon hung by the Norton soldiers from street lamps and trees on both sides of the street, and there were four similar incidents in the twenty-four neighborhoods of the outer city, and the corpses of nearly a thousand brave men were used as decorations on both sides of the road.

It has to be said that the spirit of resistance of the people of the city of Moriente is really stronger than that of the people in other places, and it is clear that if it can't be done, a juice seller sells the juice with poison to the thirsty soldiers, and three Norton soldiers are unfortunately poisoned and died, so the juice seller's family of five is all hung on a tree. Another former sailor was wounded by an arrow, and then his family and the neighbor's family of 12 who used force to prevent the soldiers from entering the house also became auspicious hangings......

It wasn't until a great swordsman who lived his old age in a certain community was shot into a honeycomb with a steel crossbow because he called on the residents to resist, that the residents of the 24th district of the outer city finally understood the principle of the Norton family's armed people not to offend me, I will not offend anyone, and if people offend me, they will repay twice. If the twenty-four communities rebelled at the same time, the 24,000 troops of the two Rock Corps would really be difficult to suppress, and they might suffer a big loss. But now that the Norton family's armed thunderbolt has subdued these residents of Moriente City, the twenty-four communities in the outer city are temporarily in peace.

After the nine gates of the outer city fell into the hands of the 1st Guards Corps, the Archswordsman of Hus sat here, while the Legion Commander Elr and the Deputy Legion Commander Ovikis led the 2nd Guards Corps to raid the two fortified cities closest to the city of Morente, the City of Thomas and the City of Gypsis. Because these two fortress cities are located in the rear, they have become the logistics base camp of more than 400,000 commercial alliance forces on the front line of the Faliqiu Plain, with a huge number of military materials and grain and grass in reserve, and the garrison force is only a thousand people. Raiding these two fortress cities, Lorist asked for not territory, but those armaments, supplies, and food and grass.

With too few troops at hand, Lorist is now walking on thin ice, and he wants to occupy a city with a population of more than a million people, which is the main reason why he gave up tracking down the Tempest Juggernaut. Thankfully, despite the twists and turns, the plan went smoothly, and now he had to deal with the inner city, which was the most important part of the plan and the main center of the family's plan to loot the city of Moriente.

The siege of the inner city was 24,000 men from the two Rock Corps, and of course there were only more than 22,000 troops left. More than 1,000 people were killed and wounded in the failed capture of the walls, including Reddy and the legion commander Bodfinger. However, now that both of them have been bandaged and taken the healing potions, they are wounded and command the troops to besiege the inner city.

When Lorist arrived in the inner city, the Thunderbolt Battalion of the Rock Legion had also arrived, and five hundred catapults lined up in four groups outside the four gates. Jim, the deputy commander of the artillery battalion who came to greet him, complained very dissatisfied: "Your Highness, there is no need to let the catapult come, I have forty artillery pieces here to bomb this inner city to the ground......"

Lorist smiled and patted him on the shoulder and said, "For those dirt buns in the city, it seems too extravagant to use bronze cannons against them, and besides, I don't want to destroy the inner city." So it's enough to scare them with catapults, and with me, the Sword Master, I'm sure the people in that city will soon open the gates and surrender. The artillery battalion is our family's most important force guarantee, and it seems a little small to deal with the inner city. ”

The Rock Legion's wheelbarrow and steel crossbow regiment were sent by Lorist to maintain order in the twenty-four neighborhoods of the outer city, and the inner city was besieged only by two sword, shield and spear regiments, lacking long-range attack weapons. In order to prevent the enshrined swordsmen of the chambers of commerce in the inner city from breaking through in a team, Lorist specially dispatched Jim and ordered him to bring forty marine-type bronze cannons to assist the Rock Legion in besieging the inner city and prevent those great swordsmen from breaking through.

If Reddy and Bodfinger could take the walls of the inner city in the first place, then Jim would have placed the forty bronze cannons on the walls and aimed them at the inner city. Unfortunately, the two Rock Corps did not take the city wall, and could only besiege the inner city. Jim had no choice but to divide the forty bronze cannons into four groups to prevent the enemy from breaking through in four directions.

Although the result of the Battle of Romané was the victory of the Nortons, nearly half of the 200 bronze guns were lost, and a third of the 3,000 men and horses of the artillery battalion were lost. In order to supervise and manage the 100,000 recruits and prisoners recruited by the business alliance to fill in the reef area, Lorist sent all the guards around him to Schward, leaving only one guard hundred, plus the remaining men and horses of the North Sea Fleet's maritime stormtroopers and artillery battalions, finally gave Schward a reliable army of more than 6,000 people on hand.

It's just that considering the high-end combat power of the Business Alliance in Moriente City, Lorist thought about it and transferred Jim, the deputy commander of the artillery battalion, and forty land-type bronze guns, to deal with those great swordsmen in the inner city. If those Great Swordsmen wanted to break through, ten bronze cannons loaded with shotguns should be enough to clean up a few Great Swordsmen. It's a pity that after retaking the North City Gate, the heads of the chambers of commerce in the inner city were closed doors, and no one came out to die, which made Jim disappointed.

Lorist couldn't figure out why those people in the inner city didn't break through, the only possibility was that the people who wanted to break through were dragged down by their relatives and families in the 12th district of the inner city, maybe they still wanted to hold on to the inner city and wait for the rescue of the armed army of the merchant alliance on the front line of the Falis Plains. It's a pity that they can't wait for that time.

"Lord Viscount Penelope, I plead on you next, I swear in the name of the Lord of the Norton House and the Grand Duke of the Northlands that I guarantee the safety of them and their families as long as they surrender. Of course, they can't stay in the inner city, they have to go to the prisoner of war camp and wait until the end of this war to be free, and our family will not ask them for ransom, but will release them unconditionally after the armistice and peace agreement is signed.

At the same time, we will provide them with free food and water in the camps, and we will guarantee that they will be provided with medicine if they are sick, as long as they are willing to surrender. Well, they can leave the inner city with thirty pounds of belongings. We, the Norton family, in the name of the god of war, guarantee the sanctity of their private property and will not deprive or suspend their right to trade and operate their property among themselves. The right to their private property is guaranteed at their own disposal.

I'm sure these assurances will make them realize the sincerity of our Norton family. If such conditions do not make them surrender, then I can't help it. Viscount Penelope, have you seen the catapults, and if they are not willing to surrender in three hours, then I will order the canisters and flint balls to be thrown at the inner city. Sometimes, in order to avoid more casualties and more bloodshed, we have to pay a lot of money and sacrifices, do you think that?"

Lorlist's voice was soft, but it was like a thunderbolt to Viscount Penelope's ears.

"Your Highness the Grand Duke of Norton, I believe in your sincerity. Believe me, I will definitely persuade the people of the inner city to surrender, please don't give such a cruel order, and didn't you promise to return the city of Moriente to the merchant alliance intact?"

"I don't want to do that, but the situation is a little tense, and even the Juggernaut can't do anything about it. Lorist smiled bitterly and said: "The twenty-four communities in the outer city are like volcanoes about to erupt, once they are instigated by people with intentions, the consequences are unimaginable. I brought my family's armed soldiers to stop the war, not to bury them in the city. If the inner city doesn't surrender, I won't be able to muster my forces to keep the whole city in order. As a last resort, I will order a fire to the city, and then leave here and head back to the Northlands, where the Business Alliance and our Majesty continue to fight......"

"No, Your Highness the Grand Duke of Norton, please give me a moment, and I will go into the inner city at once to convince them......" Viscount Penelope bowed deeply, and hurried to the inner city.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the inner city opened its gates and surrendered, and the city of Morent finally fell into the hands of Lorlist.

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