Bursen Castle was built halfway up the hill and had no moat. Although the trenches were dug and antlers were set up, because the trebuchets of the allied forces of the three provinces had a long range and suppressed the long-range attack force at the head of the city, the antlers were removed and cut off on the first day, and the trenches were filled in, and the coalition army of the nobles of the province of Gascoin even climbed to the head of the city, causing some casualties to the enemy.

According to the normal siege progress, it is not too slow.

The siege lasted from morning to evening, and the coalition of nobles of Gascoine Province organized four battles, and on the first day the casualties exceeded 400 men.

By the evening, the spirit of this army had reached the extreme, and the casualties were more than a tenth, and if it had not been for a large number of overseers standing in the way, I am afraid that it would have broken up today.

After all, it is a war of aggression, not to resist the orcs, to protect the family, the soldier's ability to bear casualties is not high, just one day, the morale has fallen to the extreme.

In the evening, Richard personally inspected the wounded barracks, sent doctors from Haaland's territory to treat the wounded, and distributed liquor and meat to the noble coalition forces of Gascoyne, so that the morale of the officers and soldiers was slightly restored.

After the patrol was over, Richard returned to the big tent of the Chinese army and summoned the middle and senior officers of the coalition army.

The decoration of Richard's tent was very simple, similar to that of an ordinary soldier's military tent. It's just that there are more than a dozen people living in the tents of ordinary soldiers, and Richard's tent is only one person, which looks slightly more spacious.

Two thick candles are lit in the large tent, which illuminates the interior furnishings very brightly. On the east side hangs a simple map of the Grand Duchy of Starnik, and on the west side there are three rows of chairs, a total of more than twenty, and the layout is a little messy.

At about nine o'clock in the evening, the main officers had settled their camp and arrived at the big tent of the Chinese army.

Because of the small size of the place, some of the officers with lower positions had to stay outside.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Richard said straight to the point: "Everyone knows the situation in their hearts, among the three route armies, our mid-route coalition army is the slowest to assemble, and the food in our hands is also the most scarce. Combined with the grain that Captain Morgan has collected in the last few days, we have only been stockpiled for forty-five days.

Although the grain route was relatively smooth, the shortage of grain in the supply area responsible for the supply of the Central Route Army was quite serious, and only 1,200 tons of grain could be transported within 45 days. Now that the enemy has carried out the order of Kiyono Fortified, we have only one and a half months left.

If there is no progress for a month and a half, we can only turn south, join up with the Southern Route Army, and go to the south to beg for food.

The battle has developed to this point, and the alliance of the nobles on the border of Starnik can gather and go north to join the alliance of the Linus family, and then the army led by Duke Jonathan will be in danger of defeat.

Can our middle army open up the situation? It is crucial to the success or failure of this intervention war.

Everyone has seen today's siege battle, so let's talk about your opinions! ”

"Your Excellency, the allied forces of Gascoin Province have suffered heavy casualties today, and they have also shown great bravery, but they are still very far from breaching the castle. Due to the limitations of the terrain, it is difficult for us to invest too many troops, and there are only two ways to attack such a fortified city and besiege it.

We don't have much food to besiege for too long, or try a surprise attack. ”

Sharp stood up and pointed at the map. In this reorganization of the coalition forces, Richard appointed Sharp as the commander of the coalition forces in the province of Geda.

Thirteen years passed, and Sharp was promoted from a fifth-order warrior to a seventh-order. He had served as the captain of the main legion, and he was a hereditary baron, and his qualifications were enough for this position. In order to let Sharp personally participate in the war, Richard also talked to him specifically. The four hundred soldiers brought by Baron Sharp were also carefully selected elite soldiers, and many of them followed him for twenty years.

"Judging from today's battle situation, the defenders are not weak brigades, and the officers also have experience. Commander Sharp, please elaborate on your opinion, we can't let the soldiers continue to take risks. ”

The man who spoke was the commander of the coalition forces in the province of Gascoigne, Carlaney, the younger brother of Baron Burnham and a fifth-order knight, who went out with three hundred elite soldiers, many of whom were the backbone of the Burnham family.

The reason why Baron Burnham sent elite soldiers into battle was actually no other way. The prestige of his younger brother Kalani is too high and he is already a serious threat to his position. If it weren't for the great external threat, the brothers would have fallen out long ago.

This time to form an intervention army, Baron Burnham consulted with Kalany, and decided to send territory elves for him to command, if Kalani made a war exploit, everyone would be happy to receive the knighthood, and if Carani failed to be knighted, he would also leave the territory and join the Wild Lion Legion.

Compared to the province of Geda, the situation in the province of Gascoin has been very bad in recent years.

Viscount Anthony, the two major nobles in the province, took the lead in launching a rebellion, and the Viscount of Cisse was also involved, and was punished by King Roger and demoted to the knighthood, and his strength plummeted.

The nobles of the province lost two pillars and lost five thousand soldiers, and in the face of the orc invasion, it became very difficult to defend.

Several wars were not fought very well, and many noble territories were conquered by the orcs, and the losses were very large and very miserable.

Among the aristocratic coalition of the three provinces, the aristocratic coalition of Gascoine Province has only 3,000, and the quality of soldiers is also the lowest, and Carlaney's command is already the highest quality of the coalition army. Although Kalani did not have a knighthood, he was appointed commander of the provincial coalition by Richard.

"Your Excellency, how many members of the Harland Territory Mage Association have participated in this war. My plan requires the participation of magicians to have a chance of success. ”

Faced with Kalani's question, Sharp did not answer directly, but looked at Richard.

The military tents are all middle and high-ranking officers of the allied forces of the three provinces, and it is almost impossible for them to have internal traitors.

Besides, Sharp's question was not classified, so Richard immediately replied: "Sixty-seven members of the Harland Territory Mage Association are all in the camp, including my wife Sophia. There are also sixteen official magicians in the mage corps. However, there are twenty-nine magic apprentices, who know relatively few spells, and can only undertake healing tasks, and seventeen mage apprentices have participated in today's healing tasks, and most of their magic power has been consumed. ”

"If we launch a surprise attack at dawn tonight, how many mages can be drawn to the battle?"

"Twenty mages can be selected to participate in the battle, basically all of them are official magicians, and a few are also high-level magic apprentices."

After listening to Richard's answer, Sharp pondered for a moment and said: "Enough, my plan is to send two thousand elite soldiers, divided into three echelons, and launch a surprise attack at dawn tonight." The mage regiment follows the first echelon, which carries dirt bags and pours the dirt under the walls, and then the mages use spells to create a stone slab for the first echelon. As long as we can make a successful stone slab, we will have a chance of winning this battle. ”

After listening to Sharp's plan, Richard thought for a moment and felt that if he refined it, he should have a good chance of winning.

"What do you think?"

Kalani said: "You can give it a try, the casualties of the strong attack are too great, so you can only use the method of surprise attack." ”

Seeing that the others did not object, Richard weighed it for a while, and quickly made up his mind to launch a surprise attack at dawn tonight.

Richard drew 1,800 elite soldiers from the allied forces of the three provinces, and then 200 archers, 20 magicians from the Harland territory, and 120 Warcraft cavalry from the army of the Harland territory also participated in the surprise attack.

Before leaving, Richard made another brief pre-war mobilization.

"As we set out, Duke Jonathan promised a great reward. If the war is won, the territories of the sixteen barons and three viscounts on the border will be given to the meritorious ministers.

This area is fertile from the land, three hundred kilometers from the northern border of Starnik, and will not be exposed to orc invasion. After the victory of the intervention war, it will be a fertile territory of the first class.

You are either the second son of a nobleman, or a member of the branch, if you can fight bravely and make achievements, I will report it to Duke Jonathan truthfully. Gentlemen, whether you can change your fate and become a respected hereditary nobleman depends on your battle today? ”

After the mobilization was completed, Richard immediately led the team to set off, and at half past three in the evening, the first echelon was already lurking one hundred and fifty meters away from the city wall.

The defenders of Bulsen Castle have been in battle for a long time and have relatively rich experience in defending the city. For the enemy's surprise attack, preparations were made in advance, and not only soldiers were arranged on duty at the head of the city, but also open and dark sentinels were arranged. There were even mobile sentinels that constantly patrolled, although in the second half of the night, the enemy did not slacken.

Through the faint light of the fire, Richard secretly counted that there were more than four hundred soldiers on duty at the head of the city, and the soldiers on duty were very alert and did not sleep at almost four o'clock in the morning.

Seeing that the enemy did not show any flaws, he continued to approach the city wall, and the danger of exposure was very great, but he was vulnerable to the enemy's blows. After a moment's thought, Richard decided to let the archers of Haaland's territory suppress the defenders, and Baron Sharp led the first echelon to launch a surprise attack.

With a little firelight, two hundred archers from Haaland's realm drew their bowstrings and fired the first round of feathered arrows at the city.

These two hundred archers were all carefully selected, and many of them had already improved their archery skills to the third order.

The third-order archery technique was almost inmissible, and two hundred feathered arrows were shot at the top of the city, each arrow aimed at the vital point, causing serious casualties to the defenders in an instant.

This round of feather arrows directly killed more than 20 armorers and injured more than 30 armorers.

In the daytime, if you want to inflict such damage on the enemy, you need to consume at least 300 soldiers to do this.

It was night, after all, and the sentry on the watchtower wasn't far away. Under the cover of night, the archers could approach the walls, which were lit with torches, exposing the defenders to the archers' sight as if they were shooting targets, inflicting a large number of casualties on the enemy.

"Enemy attack, quickly extinguish the torch, let everyone be careful of feather arrows."

In the darkness of the night, the junior officers defending the city reacted quickly, immediately commanding the soldiers to blow the horns and call for reinforcements, and then extinguished the torches and hid their bodies behind cover.

As soon as the archers shot their arrows, the soldiers of the first echelon raised their shields, protected the mages in the middle, and quickly rushed to the foot of the city wall.

The grenadier leaned out, waved his arm and threw alchemy bombs, and in an instant, hundreds of alchemy bombs exploded at the head of the city, and shrapnel flew everywhere on the city, killing and wounding more than 100 soldiers.

Continuously attacked by archers and grenadiers, the defenders at the head of the city suffered heavy casualties, lost their formation in an instant, and became extremely chaotic.

Richard fought with the first echelon.

When the first echelon came to the foot of the city wall, Richard immediately used flying magic to fly to the top of the city of Bulsen through the night, and then opened the Starlight Bottle and poured the earth that had been stored in the Starlight Bottle under the city wall.

With the powerful magical equipment of the Starlight Vial, there is no need for the first-echelon soldiers to carry dirt bags and create dirt mountains.

The space of the Starlight Bottle is large, with a volume of four hundred and fifty cubic meters. It is enough to create a soil slope that is 15 meters high, 15 meters long, and two meters wide.

This sudden scene stunned the defenders, and several officers suppressed the panic in their hearts, and immediately commanded the soldiers and aimed their arrows at Richard, wanting to solve the trouble.

The arrows attacked, and Richard immediately released the second ring of magical defense arrows. A vortex of energy suddenly appeared around him, scattering the arrows one after another.

Using gravity, 450 cubic meters of earth fell under the city wall, immediately forming a slope of earth.

Seeing that the defenders were about to fire a second round of arrows, he would fall into the encirclement of the defenders at any time, and after dumping the dirt, Richard immediately released the magic of the four rings and landed in the air, landing from the head of Bulsen City.

Richard fell to the top of the city, and the soldiers of the first echelon raised their large shields one after another to protect the commander in the middle.

The magicians who fought with the first echelon released spells one after another to help the warriors fight.

Sophia quickly unleashed a powerful spell that turned mud into stone. She put almost all of her mental power into it, and basically drained her magic power.

Sophia was wearing a starlight necklace, and although her mental power was not as good as Richard's, it was also more than forty points. With so much magic thrown in, the power of the spell of turning mud into stone is like a legendary spell.

As soon as this powerful magic was released, a large amount of dirt suddenly turned into hard stone. This sloping passage under the city wall is like an indestructible stone ladder on the top of the city.

As soon as Sophia's magic ran out, Richard arranged for four soldiers from Haaland's territory to send her back to the rear camp.

The stone slope appeared out of thin air, and the soldiers of the first echelon reacted quickly, and Baron Sharp took the lead, leading a few professionals to climb the stone slope and fight in the city.

More than a dozen soldiers, led by Baron Sharp, ascended to the top of the city in the blink of an eye and occupied a foothold.

With the help of magic, the allied forces of the three provinces have moved back to a bit of a geographical disadvantage. Relying on the stony soil slope, soldiers continued to climb the top of the city, and fierce hand-to-hand combat broke out on the top of the city.

In order to defend their homeland, the defenders of Bulsen were also brave and good at fighting, doing everything they could to hold off the enemy.

But after all, the strength of the defenders was not as good as the elite soldiers of the first echelon, and they were soon at a disadvantage, relying on the stone slopes, there were more and more soldiers climbing the city wall, and the pressure on the defenders on duty was increasing, and it was on the verge of collapse.

(End of chapter)