Chapter 59: The Stone Thrower

While Gil was in the North Sea preparing to meet the Salander merchant, Zhivadin had been besieged for two and a half months. ()

More than 50 days ago, Swadia engineers finally built three stone throwers. These huge machines threw huge stones into the city of Zhivading several times as they were debugging their projections. After finally confirming the angle of the projectile, the Swadian soldiers gathered to see the first shot at the city walls.

More than sixty sturdy servants and more than a dozen mules tightened the ropes at the command of a brass trump. The soldiers held their breath and heard only the low roar of the servants and the wheezing of the mules pulling the ropes. The heavy sac of the stone thrower, which was full of iron, left the ground little by little. The whole machine creaked and creaked, as if the machine was about to fall apart. Every part of the trebuchet was taut, some of the wood was already stretched white, and the nails on it trembled incessantly, as if they were about to be squeezed out.

The angle has been adjusted, and the work of putting on the rope, placing the stone plate, replacing the beam, and arranging the net rope has also been completed, which fully guarantees the ornamental nature of the throwing stone. Before the patience of the soldiers ran out, the servants had lifted the heavy bag to the height of the eyes of the people. It is known that as long as the heavy bag full of stones is released, it will fall rapidly, and at the same time drive the whole stone throwing machine to rotate quickly, and finally easily throw the stone in the stone throwing basket towards the city wall.

The soldiers looked up, looking solemnly at the catapult that had stopped in mid-air through the clumps of spears and the slowly waving battle flags.

The people waited, not only the Swadians below the city, but also the Wikibians above the city watching the stone thrower with bated breath, and their observers kept shouting loudly, ordering the soldiers to leave several places that might be attacked.

Finally, an officer, after receiving a signal from Prince Fiderick, shouted the order to "loosen the rope".

The servants waited for a moment after hearing the order, and then they spread out from side to side, as they had been trained before, and loosened the ropes in their hands. Dozens of leashes suddenly retracted, followed by the dull sound of the catapult's hammer falling to the ground, a low roar that made even the bravest soldiers feel weak on the soles of their feet. Before the tremor of the earth had subsided, the soldiers looked at the huge rocks flying through the sky.

In the past, it would have been difficult to imagine such a large stone flying vigorously in the air, because no one had ever experienced this, but now, under the gaze of thousands of pairs of eyes, three huge stones slammed into the walls of Zhivadin like three iron fists. Two stones were broken under the wall, and one appeared to be embedded in part of the wall. The three struck walls had left a mess of white spots, and the outermost walls had faintly peeled off.

The Swadians cheered, their spears reaching into the sky, and the earth-shattering sound completely drowned out the panicked roars of the Vycians and Kugits on the walls.

After the soldiers dispersed, my father learned that one of the rope pullers of the second trebuchet had been hit in the face by the end of the rope that had been withdrawn, and his face was covered with blood, and he passed out on the spot. When my father went to see the servant later, he learned that it was a Su Nuo soldier, and he was a slow step, and he did not dodge as quickly as the instructor had taught him, and was hit in the head by a rope. You can see how amazing the power of that stone thrower was.

From that day on, each trebuchet could shoot three times a day, and even more than four times when the servants became proficient. This projectile was louder than the church bell that chimes the time in Zhivadin, and the sound of more than a dozen heavy hits per day spread throughout Zhivadine's walls, and this attack was far more of a blow to the confidence of the Wikibians than to the walls.

Soon the Vycians quietly fled along the riverbank, and the Swadians, as they had besieged the enemy before, did not ask questions about the fleeing enemy, and deliberately tried to flee as much as possible. The Vycians executed a number of deserters--- many of whom were Kugits. These steppe people have little interest in staying in the city and being bombarded with stones every day, and they don't know what the Wikibians are waiting for. It seems that the logistics of the Swadias are very secure, and every once in a while, the Swadias deliberately roast meat in the evening, and the tantalizing aroma wafts from the barracks to the head of Zhivadin.

A comparison of the food reveals why the Swadias have been able to maintain their morale all the time.

In the morning, each soldier in Swadia was given oatmeal soup with half a helmet and a sour radish; At noon, you get half a smoked garlic sausage, a few slices of ham, a large slice of bread, and half a liter of wine. The liquor was offered by some of the surrounding manor owners, and in return the Swadia soldiers promised not to harass them; At night, the soldiers in charge of the vigil were given boiled beans and a dash of mustard.

For the Swadians, such food is not too good, but it is definitely not too bad.

But for the Vycians on the city walls, this luxurious life of the Swadians is a complete temptation. Not to mention that every once in a while, the Swadia people would deliberately grill some beef and mutton to create a fragrance.

The menu of the Wiki is simple: breakfast, cereal porridge soaked in hot water; Chinese food, cheese with slices of bread; Dinner, early bedtime is allowed. The only thing that the Wikibians have more than the Swadians are in good supply is alcohol, and as long as there is no sentry at the time of the Wiki, they can run to the full. The Kugit Servants are even simpler, the Wiki only need to give them some milk and grain, and they don't have to worry about them anymore, the Kugit people have always been used to difficult environments, and they don't feel how to suffer.

The Vekians' supply lines now rely entirely on the Blue Ice River behind them, with the occasional Nord grain ship coming in from the lower reaches and the Vekians sending supply ships down the river from the upper reaches loaded with weapons, food, and soldiers from the Iron Shield River Valley.

The Swadiya sent soldiers along the riverbank to watch the town, not allowing them to accept the ships of the North Seamen. This makes those ships much less efficient. Transports that could not get supplies along the route had to increase the cost of transporting food, and if it was a ship transporting soldiers, there was hardly any food left by the time the ships arrived at the wharf in Zhivadin. The Swadians also forcibly requisitioned some fishermen's boats, patrolling back and forth on the water, and when they encountered the boats loaded with soldiers, the Swadians fled far away, and the Wikibians could not catch up with these brisk little boats anyway; Once they came across a grain ship that was only escorted by servants, the Svadians would not hesitate to hijack them, and after snatching the grain to the shore, they would have the servants fill the ships with earth and carry them to Zhivadin to humiliate the defenders of the city.

Prince Frederick had conceived of requisitioning a bunch of small boats upstream, filling them with oil, igniting them, and sending them down the river to the port of Zhivadin to burn the Vickyan lifeline. This idea was refuted by a group of generals who came from military academies, but there were some reckless generals who made great achievements with one sword and one sword. His father was one of the few people who came from a military academy, but was still interested in Prince Fidel's ideas.

After hearing about his father's idea, several of the pioneers' craftsmen studied it carefully, and they felt that it was not impossible to accurately sail the burning fire ship into the port of Zhivadin, but the people on board must be doomed, "either they will be burned to death, or they will be chopped up by the Vecchians after going ashore, and if they are a little more lucky, they will not be fished up, and they will have to be fed fish in the end." ”

This was the end of Prince Fiedrich's fantasies, and the generals were a little impatient as to why Prince Fiderick still did not give the order to attack Zhivadin, although in that case the casualties would be heavy, but if they did not attack, the morale of the besieging soldiers would drop little by little. The soldiers defending the city were able to continue to hold on with the city walls after their morale dropped, and once the morale of the besieging soldiers dropped severely, it was not a question of whether they could achieve victory, but whether they could retreat with their whole body.

However, Fiderick did this in order to save soldiers as much as possible, anyway, time was in the Swadians' favor, this was a cross-border battle, and the Swadians were not worried about the delay in farming at all. And what Prince Frederick wanted was to march north to the valley of the Kurau River in one go, and if possible, it would be better to occupy the city of Kurau, so that Vicchia could be split in two; and at the same time disrupting the normal production of their largest grain areas; Later, when they wanted to attack the Nords, the soldiers were able to board ships in the city of Kurau and land directly in the port of Fendra along the Kurau River.

This was the best-case scenario envisaged by Prince Fiderick, and once this strategic plan was realized, the North Sea would gradually return to the control of the southern regime. The Imperial Ministers were all cowardly conservatives, lacking the momentum and ambition to reclaim the North, and they were always worried that the war would drag on for too long, which would bring serious financial pressure. They worry and come and go, and in the end they come to the conclusion that it is good to keep the status quo. Dealing with such people made Prince Frederick feel extremely annoying, but some of the newly promoted officers and some pioneer scholars around him supported Prince Fiderick.

However, Prince Frederick did not seem to realize that the people who supported him were actually a group of people, many of whom were not only imperial generals, but also members and supporters of the pioneers. These two people began to gather more and more around Prince Fiderick, and they found that in the old empire, Prince Frederick had a few holes in the other royal family members who were determined to reform*.

Prince Frederick thought that these people support him now, and they will definitely ask for political rewards in the future after Prince Frederick takes office. However, Prince Frederick did not care much about this, and it was more important to him to ascend to the throne as soon as possible.

There is no dispute about taking Zhivadin, stabilizing the situation here, and then turning back and taking the throne. If the honor of sweeping away the Kugit was mainly stolen by Sir Harlaus, then the reconquest of Rivadine was a perfect answer to Prince Fidred. With this kind of political capital, it would be logical for Fidel to become pro-government as soon as possible.

Every day, the sound of stone projectiles hitting the walls of the city is a beautiful piece of music for Prince Fidred. The situation is good, no problems have been found on the flanks so far, and it seems that in the lower areas, Harlaus has kept the Nords in check, and in the upper areas, the Kujit have kept their promises.

Zhivadine's defeat is just around the corner, and in the grand scheme of things, Prince Fredrix is testing how determined the Vecchians are to protect Zhivadine, and he has time to wait for the Vecchian to give an answer; On a smaller scale, Prince Frederick watched with interest the behavior of the Vicchians in the midst of the siege. Whenever the Vecchians on the walls let out a frightened roar, the Swadian soldiers let out a gloating mockery. When these voices reached the prince's tent, although the prince was not obviously happy, he would also be in a good mood and chatted with the people around him.

After two and a half months of siege, a large chunk of the wall of Zhivadina, built during the Zenda period, finally collapsed. And it looked like it couldn't be repaired, the spire of the roof behind the gap was already visible, and the Swadians burst into cheers again as the walls fell. After discovering the gap, the three trebuchets adjusted the angle to aim there, and then continued to widen the gap with stones. At first, the Wikibians tried to repair the gaps between the attacks--- using mud, asphalt, granite, and iron to quickly restore the broken parts--- but later, the Swadian catapults seemed to be deliberately teasing the Wikibians, smashing the gaps in the next instant whenever they failed to fix them.

Over time, the Wikibians no longer bothered to repair the walls. It seems strange that when there is a gap in the wall, the Wikiians will go to great lengths to repair it and make it perfect, but after the big gap in the wall, the Wikibians are indifferent, and they don't care as they see the wall being torn bigger and bigger.

At the beginning of the siege, the Wikiians fought back a few times, but they quickly collapsed under the combined siege of perfectly coordinated Swadian infantry and cavalry, and several trebuchets built by the Wikiians were set on fire during the night and destroyed before they were completed. The next day, the Wikibians hanged a few people who were said to be spies on the city walls, but the Swadians advertised that the Wikibians had caught the wrong person, and every day there were soldiers who arranged a ditty for the Wikiians to be fools and kill their own people by mistake.

Just as Jill and Charlie in the North Sea began their in-depth talks, the siege of more than two months seemed to erupt into a huge spark of conflict--- the entire wall was shattered, and now the soldiers could even see the armor and flags of the Wikibians back and forth through the huge gap.

From this day on, the Swadians' rotation system changed, and at any given moment there were more than one legion on standby, ready to storm the city or prevent the Vicians from suddenly rushing out.

One night, when my father noticed that the food was much better than ever, he exchanged glances with Sam and Yu, knowing that the time for the siege was coming.

Sure enough, that night Prince Frederick sent messengers to inform the officers of the various regiments to take turns to hold a combat meeting. The soldiers also felt nervous, and the long siege was coming to an end, and the soldiers gathered up a little relaxed, and began to find a blacksmith to mend every gap in their armor, sharpen every weapon, and wash every strand of tassels from their helmets.

The siege is about to begin''

North Sea. Port of Fendra.

Charlie finds it more and more interesting after meeting with this man named Bianwen, who has a confusing background but is a rare partner.

And the most puzzling thing for Charlie is that this person himself seems to be very familiar, but he just can't remember where he has seen it. The strange surname Charlie had heard of in some of the backwoods of Swadia, but had little impression of it in the North Sea. What struck Charlie the most incredible thing was that Jill's thin pale face and almond-colored eyes always reminded him of a person in a trance.

Charlie finally made up his mind and decided to work with Jill. Charlie didn't think it was difficult for Jill to ask for money, weapons, and food aid.

Finally, Jill asks Charlie about his next move. Charlie said he was going back to Salander.

At this time, Jill made a move that shocked Charlie: Jill showed a painful expression and pinched his neck with his hand.

Charlie asked, "Are you feeling unwell?" ”

Jill smiled apologetically, "It's okay, my neck is a little uncomfortable." ”

"I've heard that sometimes, neck pain is a genetic disease, right?"

Jill looked interested, "You've heard of it too?" A doctor also told me that the disease was genetic. But I don't remember my father having this disease, he was in good health."

"Oh, you have a father," Charlie seemed to breathe.

This sentence made Jill a little unhappy, "Everyone has a father, doesn't it?" ”

Charlie hurriedly apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that." I just think you're a little "hehe, forget it, nothing." ”

Jill knew that Charlie didn't mean it, and the negotiations in the past few days had given him some insight into Charlie's background. Obviously, Charlie deliberately concealed some things, such as Jill quietly asked why Charlie was able to call such a large amount of resources at will, and Charlie was fooled in secret, and Charlie's circus was obviously a thing to hide people's eyes.

When Jill was in Swadia, he seems to remember that a Salander slave trader brought a circus, perhaps as was the custom of the Salanders. But Jill thought of this, but he didn't break it, he didn't want something unexpected to ruin his business.

"I know," Jill smiled back, "like you're not from Salander, but from Wiki. I'm not a Nord either, I was raised by a Swadia. ”

"Hehe, in this troubled world, there is everything."

"Yes, yes. And I don't hide that the union of my parents stemmed from the North Sea War many years ago, and my mother was a Nord, and you should be able to imagine the story here. In those years, the Swadians, the Wikiians, the Nords were displaced, and we were just puppets manipulated by fate. ”

North Sea War''

Charlie's expression suddenly became a little weird, "Your mother can't be the Gil tribe from Vizan Heights, right?" ”

Jill frowned: "How do you know?" ”