Chapter 469: Falling City

Chapter 469: Falling City

"Your Highness, we have to stop the attack, so the casualties will be too great. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. biquge。 info," Malek said.

The fire in Beicheng burned for three days and two nights, and finally went out after a heavy snowfall. Prepared for this, the Norton forces began to attack the East and West Districts. However, the Vesia Chamber of Commerce did not give up resistance, they set up barricades in the streets, recruited miners to form a reserve force, and fought against the attacking Norton family forces from house to house, fighting for every inch of land, and determined to carry out the street fighting to the end.

The royal city of Federiga was very large, and it was originally an important town in the southwest of the Krisson Empire, with more than 300,000 residents, and it has undergone many expansions and rectifications. After the Vicia Chamber of Commerce took over, a large-scale renovation project was carried out on the royal city of Federiga, which strengthened the defensive and durable nature of most of the buildings in the city. And this measure has been very effective in resisting the attack of the Norton family's forces.

Xicheng District was home to the barracks of the Legion of the Vesian Chamber of Commerce, but this large area of the city was not only a barracks, but also included the families of the legionnaires and various entertainment places for the legionnaires, including eleven taverns, brothels, laundry rooms, public baths, and apothecaries. The thoughtful care and kindness of the Vesia Chamber of Commerce to the legionnaires was also an important reason why the Vicia Chamber of Commerce Legion persisted in resisting, and it was impossible for them to lay down their arms and surrender without the orders of the Chamber of Commerce's top brass.

Dongcheng District is the residential neighborhood of miners and technicians belonging to the Vesia Chamber of Commerce. As the largest arms supplier to the Business Alliance, the Vicia Chamber of Commerce has a large mining and forging department. The Vesia Chamber of Commerce is most praised for its benevolence towards workers in these sectors, even for the lowest level of labor work that can be done with strength, and the Chamber of Commerce likes to adopt the latest mining technology and equipment to assist miners in mining operations to improve production efficiency.

In a sense, the Vicia Chamber of Commerce is like the Japanese company of the past life in Lorlist's eyes, and the miners have also become a hereditary profession, and children can enter the Chamber of Commerce to get a job through the relationship of their parents and relatives. Therefore, the loyalty of these workers to the Vesia Chamber of Commerce is also very high, and when the Chamber of Commerce called on everyone to take up arms against the invading Norton family forces, it was a response. Just as Lorist had feared before he sent his troops, tens of thousands of miners and technicians had become the reserve military force of the Vicia Chamber of Commerce.

The West Quarter was turned into a series of small fortresses by the Chamber of Commerce Legion, and the miners of the East Quarter piled up debris in the streets to build barricades, and engaged in fierce street battles with the soldiers of the Norton family who launched the attack. In such a situation, even the soldiers who assisted the attack with a long-range attack of the steel crossbow could not move an inch, and the casualties increased greatly.

The role of the chariot crossbow in the streets and alleys with complex and tortuous terrain was not very applicable, and many of the firing ranges were obscured by buildings, and they were often attacked by enemies and falling objects from high places in the rear, so that Malek, who was in command at the front, had to order the soldiers to stop the attack on the east and west of the city.

"Your Highness, we can't continue to attack like this, in just these two days, the Flying Tiger Legion has suffered more than 4,600 casualties, and the Rock Legion has suffered more than 2,000 casualties. And we didn't achieve the goal of the attack, and we only occupied a block and a half of Dongcheng District, which was almost in ruins when it fell into our hands. Moreover, in the middle of the night last night, the Vesia Chamber of Commerce attacked the camp of our soldiers in the rear through the sewer pipes, and from the terrain we were overwhelmed by the enemy, who were familiar with the geography of the streets of the city......"

Malek is telling the truth, there are many mercenary soldiers in the Vethia Chamber of Commerce Armed Forces, they are extremely good at small-scale infiltration attacks and ambush sneak attack tactics, and they are like fish in water in difficult terrain city blocks, which is incomparable to the Norton Family Forces, especially the Norton Family Forces, which have never encountered this kind of situation where all the people are soldiers and all the people are enemies. In the past, after breaking through the city gate and clearing the enemy's garrison, the whole town fell into the hands of the family, and all the inhabitants obediently waited for the attack......

Lorist frowned and was silent as he looked at the simple city plan of the royal city of Federiga spread out on the table, this map was pieced together from the confession descriptions of the captives and the reconnaissance of the family's armed scouts, the southern city was blurred, the inner city was also roughly shaped, and the east and west city districts had long since changed due to street fighting. If the royal city of Federiga were divided into three parts, the Norton forces currently occupied only the smallest part of the northern city, most of which was still a war zone.

In terms of troops, the Norton family's armed forces currently have only three corps of the Flying Tiger Legion, one corps of the Rock Legion, and nearly two thousand guards around Lorist, adding up to about 60,000 people. But minus the casualties of these two days, plus the fact that there are fewer than 40,000 combatants who can actually launch an offensive in the city, as well as the personnel who are outside the city to maintain order in the refugee camps rescued from the northern city and the personnel in charge of supporting logistics.

Although the heavy armored spear corps of the Vesian Chamber of Commerce Legion was heavily damaged, there were still more than 30,000 people, plus the city defense troops, the newly formed miner garrison in Dongcheng District, etc., which was not less than 80,000. In particular, the Vesian Chamber of Commerce is a council of arms suppliers and manufacturers, and they have no shortage of equipment, and with a little training, they can equip those sturdy miners into an elite garrison.

In terms of high-end combat power, there is only one second-level great sword master left in the Vesia Chamber of Commerce, and it is unknown how many gold-level fighting masters are left. But judging from the number of armed soldiers in the entire Chamber of Commerce, they are almost twice the number of armed soldiers of the Norton family who entered the city, which is also the confidence of their insistence on resistance and vow not to surrender. As Malek said, if you continue to attack, you will only lose both, and the Norton family cannot afford to pay such a large price for casualties.

The Vicia Chamber of Commerce is now clear that it wants to fight with the Norton family's armed forces, not only in the city, but also on the city walls, mobilizing a large number of longbowmen to rely on the towers on the east and west walls to defend to the death, so as to avoid being attacked by the Norton family's armed forces along the northern city wall, seize the entire outer wall of the royal city of Federiga, and trap them in the city.

Lorist originally wanted to take the east and west districts first, take advantage of the city walls, capture the southern city, and then besiege the inner city to force the Vesian Chamber of Commerce to surrender. Because after occupying the northern city district, he found that the Vicia Chamber of Commerce had built the inner city like a city within a city, and the city wall alone was one meter higher than the outer city wall, reaching a height of ten meters. In addition, a special giant crossbow was also arranged on the city wall, and the firing range was also 300 meters away. So much so that the street opposite the inner city gate became a forbidden area for the Norton family's armed forces. Luckily, the giant crossbow was super slow to wind, and there weren't many of them, and it stopped firing only a dozen bolts longer than a spear at the northern city.

"Your Highness, since they have sworn to be our enemies, then let us fulfill them and learn from them to burn down the eastern and western cities. "It was Tiger Ross who said this, and he was also angered by the resistance of the Vicia Chamber of Commerce, anyway, the neighborhoods after the capture were all ruins, so simply burn these neighborhoods first, turn them into ruins and then occupy them, and avoid casualties among the family forces.

Lorist shook his head, Tiger Ross's idea was not advisable, the Vicia Chamber of Commerce burned the North City mainly because it was a slum, and the houses were mostly shacks made of wood and mud, and when they were poured with fire oil, a large area was burned, and the fire spread everywhere with the help of the wind. Most of the houses in the eastern and western urban areas are made of stone and bricks, not to mention whether you can get a large amount of oil, even if you burn it, it can be extinguished quickly, but it is just a waste of effort.

"Your Highness, the three corps of the Rock Legion are deployed outside the eastern, western, and southern gates. Since there is a stalemate in the city now, can we transfer these three corps back and let them be responsible for attacking fortified positions? In terms of offensive efficiency, they are better at such short-handed street battles and urban combat missions than the Flying Tiger Corps. "Joske made another suggestion.

"No, I can't. Lorist replied, "The three gates of the royal city of Federiga are still under the control of the Vesian Chamber of Commerce. What we want this time is to wipe out the Vesia Chamber of Commerce and uproot it. Therefore, the task of those three corps is still to stand by and wait for the fish to slip through the net when the city falls. We don't know if the top brass of the Vesia Chamber of Commerce will break through and flee at the last minute, and we don't know which direction they will choose then, so those three corps can't move.

The main key to the current stalemate lies in the top management of the Vicia Chamber of Commerce. From the mouths of the captives, we already know that this time, except for a vice president and a great swordsman who are still staying at the chamber of commerce residence in Moriente City to deal with chores, the rest of the heads and high-level leaders of the Chamber of Commerce have gathered in the royal city of Federiga to celebrate the New Year, and we have been carried around. So it is not surprising that the Vesia Chamber of Commerce is now dying and unwilling to surrender, as long as we break through the inner city and capture the leaders and high-ranking leaders of those chambers of commerce, they will naturally make the armed garrisons of the eastern and western cities lay down their arms and surrender. ”

"But Your Highness, it is not wise for us to attack the inner city now, before we take the east and west city districts, we will rashly concentrate our forces to attack the inner city, and we will only be attacked from three sides by the forces of the Vicia Chamber of Commerce. In addition, there are a lot of giant crossbows on the walls of the inner city, and these giant crossbows have a greater range advantage than our chariot steel crossbows, and it is easy to pose a very large threat of casualties to our family soldiers......," said Malek.

"No, we are not attacking the inner city and the east and west districts for the time being. Ordered our clan forces to shrink their forces to defend the occupied neighborhoods, and in five or six days Bodfinger would lead the Thunderbolt Battalion here. At that point, we will directly smash the walls of the inner city and raid in, and as long as we capture the presidents and high-ranking personnel of the Vecia Chamber of Commerce, this war will be over. Lorist made a final decision.

Over the next two days, the Norton forces stopped attacking and began to consolidate their defenses, putting on a posture of long-term combat. The Visia Chamber of Commerce thought it was strange and sent an envoy to meet Lorist.

The emissary, a high-ranking deacon of the Vesia Chamber of Commerce, who was a good talker, had an excellent demeanor and manners, and told Lorist that the Vesia Chamber of Commerce was determined to resist to the end. And the current battlefield situation also shows that the Norton family forces simply can't swallow the royal city of Federiga. Even if the Norton family devotes all their forces to attack, then even if the Vesia Chamber of Commerce fails, it will also cost the Norton family forces extremely high.

It is now the February thaw period, and the rainy season will come in another thirty days, and the two sides cannot fight in the rainy season, the Norton family is armed with labor divisions on an expedition, and the plot to sneak attack and capture the royal city of Fedeliga has been shattered, and there is no material harvest to occupy the royal city in the plan, and the northern land is far away, and the logistics and supplies are only afraid that they will not be able to catch up, and now they can only sit and eat. The Vesia Chamber of Commerce hoped that the Norton family would understand that their defeat was inevitable, and that it would be better to withdraw from the royal city by a truce.

The envoy said that after the rainy season, the Vicia Chamber of Commerce would be able to get in touch with the Business Alliance, and then the army of the Business Alliance would continue to flow. At that time, it will not be easy for the Norton family to withdraw their troops. Offending the Vesia Chamber of Commerce, one of the seven giants of the Business Alliance, even if the Norton family's territory is far away in the Northlands, it is bound to not escape the revenge of the Business Alliance. However, the Vesia Chamber of Commerce understands the difficulties of the Norton family's royal order, and as long as the Norton family withdraws its troops, the Vicia Chamber of Commerce can guarantee that it will not hold the Norton family accountable for the sneak attack on the royal city of Fedeliga.

Lorist laughed and asked the messenger if he was joking?The war is not over, and it is not clear whose hands the royal city of Federiga will fall into, and what confidence can the Vesia Chamber of Commerce have to guarantee their final victory?

Lorist, in turn, persuaded the emissary to let the Vesia Chamber of Commerce surrender as soon as possible, so as not to lose his fortune. As for the Vesia Chamber of Commerce being one of the seven giants of the Business Alliance, it doesn't matter to him, in the eyes of the Norton family forces, as long as they are enemies, they are the targets of elimination, and the Norton family forces are never afraid of how powerful the enemy is and how strong they are.

When the messenger saw that the threat was not successful, he resorted to inducement. As long as the Norton family is willing to withdraw its troops and return the occupied North City to the Chamber of Commerce, then the Vesia Chamber of Commerce is willing to give two million Kingford as the ransom for the Norton family's troops, and is also willing to provide a batch of food and grass materials for the Norton family to use after the armed withdrawal of the army.

Lorist laughed again, and he told the messenger that as long as the Norton family captured the royal city of Federiga, then whether it was two million gold fords or more goods, as well as those food and grass supplies, it would naturally be his spoils. He advised the Vesian Chamber of Commerce that it was better to lay down their arms and surrender. Victory and defeat are just a common thing, and the Vicia Chamber of Commerce chose the wrong territory of the Chamber of Commerce this time and occupied the province of Portoorg of the Cresson Empire, so it was attacked by the Norton family's armed forces.

Lorist told the envoy that he hoped that the leaders of the Vesia Chamber of Commerce would learn the lesson of this time, and that they needed the Vicia Chamber of Commerce's territory to be able to fight the ideas of those countries in the central and southern parts of the continent, and should not target the territory of the former empire. If the Vesia Chamber of Commerce decides to surrender, Lorist can guarantee their lives, and they can choose another chamber of commerce territory to make a comeback.

The envoy was furious, and he said that the Vesia Chamber of Commerce was ready to die together, and placed jars filled with fire oil in all the material warehouses and important places in the royal city, and would set fire to the whole city in the event of an attack and failed resistance, and would rather reduce the royal city of Fedeliga to ashes than let it fall into the hands of the Norton family's armed forces!

Lorist took the case and swore in public that if the Vicia Chamber of Commerce really did this, then he would not let go of any of the high-level members of the Chamber of Commerce, and the Vicia Chamber of Commerce was waiting to be removed from the list of the Seven Giants of the Business Alliance......

Having said this, it shows that there is no possibility of negotiation between the two sides, and the envoy of the Vesia Chamber of Commerce left in a huff.

On 7 February, Bodfinger led the Rock Legion's Thunderbolt Battalion to the Northern District.

On 9 February, the Perak Catapult Battalion launched a stone-throwing attack on the inner, Dong, and Xicheng districts at the same time, and the armed regiment of the Vesian Chamber of Commerce in the western district and the miners' garrison in the eastern district could not resist the stone-throwing attack falling from the sky, and suffered heavy casualties and retreated.

At about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Lorist led the guard brigade to attack the smashed and tattered city wall of the inner city, in order to resist the raid of the Norton family's armed forces on the inner city, the second-level great swordsman left in the city by the Vicia Chamber of Commerce went into battle with a sword, and was killed by Lorist on the spot. The high-level officials of the chamber of commerce and their families opened the gate of the south city and fled, and at the same time sent people to set fire to the material warehouses and business areas in the south city.

On 11 February, the Norton family extinguished the fire in the southern city and rescued a third of the food, grass and supplies.

On 12 February, the miners' garrison in Dongcheng District laid down their weapons and surrendered, and on the same day, nearly 10,000 soldiers of the armed corps of the Vysia Chamber of Commerce in Xicheng District, which was divided and encircled, surrendered and saved their lives. But there were still more than 10,000 soldiers of the armed legion of the Chamber of Commerce who held the barracks fortress and swore to the death.

On 13 February, the fleeing senior officials of the Vicia Chamber of Commerce and their families fell into the trap of the Rock Legion outside the southern city gate, and all of them were captured.

On 14 February, after rejecting Lorlist's last surrender order, the Norton family forces launched a final assault on the barracks fortress in Xicheng City with the assistance of the Perak Catapult Battalion, and more than 10,000 soldiers and more than 3,000 relatives of the Vicia Chamber of Commerce armed legion trapped in the barracks fortress were all killed. After receiving the good news, Lorist ordered the beheading of all the captured high-ranking officials of the Vesia Chamber of Commerce and their relatives, including more than 2,000 women, children, the elderly and the weak, fulfilling his oath.

On February 14, 1787, the Grand Duke of the Northland of the Kingdom of Antinac, Lorist, led the Norton family to attack the royal city of Fedeliga, the capital of the Vesian Chamber of Commerce, and killed nearly 30,000 high-level members of the Chamber of Commerce, their relatives and chamber of commerce soldiers. And use these heads to build a human head tower in the southern suburbs of Wangcheng, named Jingguan.

As a result of this battle, the Vicia Chamber of Commerce was removed from the list of the Seven Giants of the Business Alliance. By May, when the news broke, the business alliance was shocked, and the other six giants were furious. The entire continent was shocked by the news.

......