As soon as the plan was made, Viscount Nero arranged for the officers to act. The nobles gathered their cavalry, and all the pack horses and wagons in the castle were collected to carry food and their families.

Viscount Nero temporarily promoted a group of well-behaved soldiers and followed him out of the city to contain Richard's army.

Early the next morning, the defenders opened the gates, slowly walked out of the castle, and lined up.

Richard was shocked to receive the information from the scouts.

"Viscount Nero held on to the castle for several months, behaving very seriously, and wondered why he was going out of the city with his soldiers? Is the city running out of food? But through aerial reconnaissance, there are still a lot of enemy grain points, and they should be able to hold out for a while, so why are they so eager to get out of the city?

Could it be that Baron Sharp guessed correctly? Deep contradictions have accumulated within the enemy? Yes, Viscount Nero also commanded a coalition of nobles, and he was as different as we were. The siege of the city for more than two months, until now everyone has difficulties, the commander also has to consider the following ideas, it is estimated that the nobles in the city can't hold their breath and force Viscount Nero to go out of the city to fight. ”

Richard thought to himself, and several ideas came to his mind. Now the morale of the coalition forces of the three provinces is not very high, and today's battle may depend on the soldiers of Haaland's territory.

"Pass on my order, the infantry of the Haaland Territory and the nobles of Geda Province are the central army, the Lah Provincial Nobles are the right wing, and all the cavalry in the battalion are assembled and unified under the command of Baron Soros, and the cavalry is the left wing. The soldiers came out of the camp and followed me to meet the enemy. ”

After Richard passed the order, the soldiers quickly assembled, formed a dense formation, and slowly walked out of the camp.

When the soldiers were in formation, Richard shouted: "It's been more than three months since we left our hometown in February, and I know that everyone misses their families. After months of fighting outside, living in difficult conditions, and facing sacrifices at any time, it is normal for people to feel homesick.

In the past three months, we have won many battles, destroyed the enemy several times, and grabbed a large amount of loot. I know in my heart that everyone has gained a lot, and I don't want to fight the enemy.

But the course of the war is not diverted by our will, we do not want to fight hard, but the enemy is not willing to let us go. The enemy wants to take revenge on us and rob us of our booty, we have to keep our gold, slaves, and the only way is to kill the enemy.

I, Richard Haaland, am your commander and want to lead by example, and I will stand in the first row of soldiers and lead you to victory in this war.

In this battle, there is no advance or retreat, no matter who takes a step back, the sword and gun of the supervising team do not recognize people. If I take a step back, please oversee the cutting off of my head and pay tribute to the souls of the dead who died in battle.

Let's rejoice, victory is ours! ”

Richard's pre-war mobilization still played a certain role, he had a high prestige in the army, and he stood in the first row as a pioneer, which greatly boosted the morale of the army.

After the two armies lined up in array, they slowly began to approach.

The first to fire was still the heavy trebuchet, and the magicians of Haaland's territory marked the trajectory in advance, and they commanded the auxiliary squadron, activated the trebuchet, and dropped alchemy bombs one after another.

In an instant, hundreds of alchemy bombs were dropped, and more than half of them exploded in the enemy's formation, killing and wounding the enemy in an instant.

Just one round of alchemy bombing caused more than 100 casualties to the soldiers under the command of Viscount Nero.

Seeing that the trebuchet was still throwing, the junior officers under Viscount Nero kept urging the soldiers.

"Raise your shield, raise your shield, raise your shield quickly. Hide yourself behind a shield and use it to protect yourself. ”

Although the alchemy bomb in Haaland's territory is not as powerful as the original, it is not something that can be blocked by a layer of shields. Although the soldier held the shield to alleviate the casualties, the shrapnel from the alchemy bomb explosion pierced the shield under the continuous projection of the trebuchet, and the casualties were still heavy.

"Speed up all and take another fifty steps to avoid trebuchet range."

The officers at the grassroots level kept shouting, and the pace of the soldiers quickened a little.

In just a few minutes, the soldiers led by Viscount Nero were hit by more than two hundred alchemy bombs, and more than three hundred soldiers were killed and wounded.

The wounded soldiers wailed miserably, but in the heat of battle, neither side nor the enemy cared for them.

The army under the command of Viscount Nero, the noble officers were basically sent out to participate in the breakout battle, and there was a lack of officer command on the frontal battlefield, and after suffering casualties, it immediately became a little chaotic.

The heralds under the command of Viscount Nero kept shouting, passing on the commander's orders, boosting morale and stabilizing the morale of the army.

As the two armies slowly approached, they came into archer range.

For a while, both sides opened their bows and arrows, and a rain of arrows shot at the enemy.

"Raise your shield, raise your shield, and the shield-bearer should watch his feet to avoid tripping over obstacles. It is necessary to observe the situation around you, pay attention to protecting the flanks of your comrades, and maintain the integrity of the front. ”

"When archery, your hands should be steady, not nervous, and your hands should be relaxed."

"Keep your ears up, listen carefully to orders, and the formation should be neat and not scattered."

"Don't be fast, don't rush forward, keep an eye on your comrades, and line up in a tight formation."

Richard stood in the first row, listening to the orders issued by his veterans.

The soldiers in Haaland's territory are not only well-equipped, but also have more experience in war than the enemy, and have a more stable mentality.

The long-range archers' counter-fire, and the soldiers of Haaland's territory also have the upper hand.

The enemy lacks professional officers, enchanted bows, crossbows, and ordinary feathered arrows, making it difficult to shoot through the enchanted armor worn by the front-row soldiers.

After a few rounds of fire, Viscount Nero's soldiers suffered more and more casualties, and their faces became terrified.

The sides got closer and closer, coming into the range of the grenadiers.

At Richard's order, the infantry in Haraland's territory threw alchemy bombs one after another, and once again succeeded in inflicting heavy damage on the enemy.

Several rounds of long-range strikes caused more than 600 casualties among Viscount Nero's army.

Viscount Nero's Chinese army totaled only 3,000 men, and after suffering such heavy casualties, the morale of the army was immediately unstable. Seeing that hand-to-hand combat was approaching, Viscount Nero took the lead and launched a counter-charge with a part of his soldiers.

The soldiers of the Chinese army were the most elite and were the first to engage the enemy. Burton on the right flank, commanding 5,000 soldiers in the province of Rach, also met the enemy, and Burton's opponent's line was weaker, with only 2,000 soldiers.

As soon as the two sides met, Burton gained the upper hand by relying on numerical superiority.

The left flank was led by Soros, who, with two thousand cavalry, rushed directly to the enemy. The number of enemies was only two thousand, and the front was not particularly complete, so it could not stop the elite cavalry charge at all.

In particular, the one hundred and fifty Warcraft cavalry led by Soros had an extremely strong impact, and in an instant, they crushed a squadron of the enemy, opened a gap, and broke through the enemy's formation.

In just a few minutes, the enemy forces on the left flank could no longer maintain the battle line and fell into an embarrassing environment.

Just after Soros led the cavalry into battle, a group of cavalry suddenly rushed out of Fort Nero, and this cavalry did not entangle with the enemy and fled from the city in a panic.

By the time Soros defeated the enemy on the left flank, the enemy had already run far away, and many people had escaped from Nero's castle.

Soros weighed it a little and decided to abandon the pursuit of the enemy. He thought very clearly that once he divided his forces to chase this enemy, he would inevitably fall into fierce resistance, and the casualties of the allied forces of the three provinces would increase.

In the current situation, the morale of the coalition forces of the three provinces is not high, and they cannot bear too high casualties, so it is better to let go of this enemy.

Seeing the enemy fleeing, Soros immediately ordered half of the cavalry to block Nero's castle to prevent the population in the castle from escaping.

Soros knew in his heart that there were nearly 100,000 people in the castle, and these people would be the spoils of the alliance of the three provinces. Compared to these 100,000 people, the fleeing enemy is insignificant. Even if these people want revenge, the headache is Duke Jonathan, the new nobleman who occupies this territory.

The remaining half of the cavalry, led by Soros, attacked the central army led by Viscount Nero from the flank.

Seeing the cavalry attacking from the flank, the Chinese army led by Viscount Nero was already unable to support it because of the large casualties, but now the situation has become even worse, many soldiers abandoned their weapons, immediately routed, and fled in all directions.

Defeated in an instant, Viscount Nero sighed, slapped his horse hard, and fled for his life alone from the battlefield.

Viscount Nero is an epic knight of the ninth order, and his own combat effectiveness is extremely strong, although he only has a few soldiers around him, he still easily pierced through the encirclement of the cavalry, killed more than a dozen soldiers, and successfully broke through.

Soros was just about to chase after him with the Warcraft cavalry, but was stopped by Richard's order.

Although the battle was relatively short, the lethality of the ninth-order knight Richard had already seen it clearly, and if he wanted to kill this person, he would have to sacrifice at least dozens of Warcraft cavalry, and there would be important officers who would die at the hands of this person.

Now that the battle has been won, Richard is not willing to make a fuss and avoid the enemy from jumping over the wall, resulting in heavy casualties among the Warcraft cavalry. He thought about it for a moment and decided to let the man go.

This battle can be called a win-win for both warring sides. Most of the nobles in central Stanik managed to break through and save their lives. The tri-provincial coalition led by Richard also defeated the enemy, captured Nero's castle, and fulfilled Duke Jonathan's military orders.

Viscount Nero was dressed in ornate armor and looked like a big man at first glance. As soon as he fled, it immediately caused a great chaos in the hearts of the army, and the Chinese army and the aristocratic alliance on the right flank immediately dispersed, and many soldiers fled into Nero's castle in order to protect their families.

Soros led the cavalry and chased the rout into Nero's castle, and cooperated with the infantry to enter the city to control the situation first.

Having taken control of the four gates, Richard immediately ordered the casualties to be counted, the battlefield to be cleaned, and the prisoners captured.

By noon, the staff officer had returned to the Chinese army's tent and had already counted the casualties.

"How's the casualty?"

"Forty-one of our soldiers were killed and one hundred and sixteen were seriously and seriously wounded, and the coalition of nobles of the province of Geda, commanded by Baron Sharp, was twenty-eight killed and fifty-nine were slightly and seriously wounded. The coalition of nobles of the province of Lah, commanded by Sir Burton, suffered seventy-one casualties and one hundred and eighty-seven minor and serious wounded. ”

After listening to the report of the staff officer, Richard nodded lightly and said, "The casualties add up to about five hundred, and the number of soldiers killed in the battle is less than one hundred and fifty. ”

"Your Excellency, under your command, we have won a brilliant victory. More than 800 enemies were killed and more than 3,400 prisoners were captured. More than two thousand of the routs fled into Nero's castle, five or six hundred fled into the wilderness, and only about five hundred of the enemy broke through. ”

"Although the battle has been won, we must not relax now, the defeated army in Nero's castle must be counted as soon as possible, and the food in the city must be counted immediately."

Richard was the commander of the coalition forces and had a longer vision than the others. Despite the victory, it took several months to seize the internal flaws of the enemy and defeat the opponent. But he himself is well aware of his own situation.

Now that the coalition army of the three provinces is already a plundered division, it has been on the expedition for a few months, and the homesickness has been more serious, and the morale of the army is far less than a few months ago.

Now if you want to restore morale, you can only condone the soldiers to loot and kill, and indulge the accumulated anger of the soldiers.

But as a result, military discipline cannot be maintained, and when the soldiers return to the territory, it will become more and more difficult to manage.

As a last resort, Richard was reluctant to do so. Fortunately, this battle won an unprecedented victory, relying on the prestige brought by the victory, Richard was still able to barely control the soldiers and maintain the seriousness of military discipline.

After conquering Nero's castle, Richard decided to let the soldiers rest for three days.

Three days later, the allied forces of the three provinces had counted the prisoners, and the situation at Nero's castle had calmed down.

Richard asked the staff officers to make a general inventory, and found that there were more than 90,000 people in the city, more than 5,600 prisoners, and about 700 light and serious wounded.

After the staff officers observed that the captives were unstable and worried about being slaughtered by the coalition forces, Richard immediately ordered the doctors and mages accompanying the army to take time out to treat the wounded prisoners.

Through this incident, the mental pressure of the captives was relieved and they let go of some of their worries.

At noon, Richard ordered all the main officers to attend a meeting at the city lord's mansion.

"Have you counted the food in Nero's castle?"

"There are more than 20 warehouses in the castle, and the total grain storage is 1,900 tons, which is only enough for the population of the city to feed for about a month." The logistical staff officer stood up and gave a briefing on the grain reserves.

This year, the central region of Stagnik has experienced wars, which have delayed agricultural time. The nearby nobles carried out the order of the fortified wall and concentrated the main population in Nero's castle, and the nearby more than 10,000 square kilometers of land were almost unharvested.

Some of the hundreds of thousands of people in this area were captured by the coalition forces of the three provinces, some were concentrated in Nero's Castle, some fled into the west and south of Starnik, and a small part fled into the mountains and became savages. Many people also died of war and starvation.

After a few months of brutal war, more than 10,000 square kilometers of land near Nero's castle have been exposed in the wilderness, and there is no rooster crowing for thousands of miles.

Although during the siege, Richard and his soldiers sowed some seeds, but no one cultivated them, coupled with the lack of rain this year, the summer harvest yield was pitiful, compared with the population of more than 100,000, it was almost a drop in the bucket.

(End of chapter)