Section 35: The First Battle

The first battle came suddenly and brutally.

In the immediate sight of the defenders, two watchtowers collapsed. The nezumi hollowed out the ground, causing the dwarven structure to collapse in an instant. Prince Hoga once ordered the scouts stationed at the tower to retreat as soon as they spotted the enemy attacking. But the reality is that even with such an order, the troops in the watchtower still have no chance of retreating.

Now, the place where the watchtower was located was two huge caverns, as if some kind of giant being had poked two holes directly into the ground with his fingers. Countless nezumi have come up from these two holes.

When Prince Hoga came to the heights of the city to observe the enemy, he saw not an army, but a tide. Countless nezumi in ragged and dirty clothes covered every piece of land in sight. So much so that you can't even see a little gap. The rats were clearly well prepared for this attack, and they even knew the range of the dwarven cannons, as they were now densely packed out of the range of the dwarven cannons.

"Prince!" was as Prince Hoga was observing the enemy army below the city, when a soldier hurried up from behind. "Underground...... The nezumi are attacking!"

"Beard on top!" Prince Hoga cursed, knowing that the rats were not bluffing this time. Judging from the size of the castle alone, the number of nezumi is already more than five times that of the defenders. If you add the attack underground, then the army mobilized by the nezumi this time is conservatively estimated to be ten times that of the dwarves.

But he was the son of the High King, and with the noblest and bravest blood of the dwarves running through him, he could never back down in the face of these filthy rats.

"Cannon in place!!" Hoga's prince's cry echoed above the city. "Longbearded warriors, strike!"

......

Ashruphat stared at the dwarven city in the distance.

From a human perspective, the Dwarves are masters of craft and construction. If the architectural style of the elves is beautiful, then the architectural style of the dwarves is fine. Karak-Grom is a good proof of this view. Standing in front of Ashrufat at this moment was a magnificent city built on a hill. No, the phrase "built on the mountain" doesn't really describe the city correctly, but it should be said that the city itself was built by hollowing out the mountain. The city does not have walls in the ordinary sense of the word, because the rock walls of the mountain themselves are the best walls.

And it's a war-ready city.

Based on the reconnaissance of the Black-clad Assassins of the Clan Essin, as well as his own observations and analysis, there is no doubt that Karak-Grom is an extremely easy city to defend and difficult to attack.

The first line of defense is the open ground ahead.

Like humans, the dwarves have cleared a large clearing in front of the city, the length of which is just equal to the limit of the range of the dwarves' cannons. It's like a path to death, because there's no hiding place to hide. The only way to attack the dwarven city is to pass through this clearing—in front of the cannons that the dwarves are proud of.

The rats had already attempted to dig a shallow stretch of ground beneath the walls of Karak-Grom to avoid enemy fire. But the problem is that underneath this clearing, there are hard rock formations that cannot be excavated. Although the nezumi are also a good race of diggers, it will take years or even decades to dig such rock formations.

Despite the distance, Ashrufat could still see the mountain crags in the distance. There are many cannon doors and windows open on these rock walls, revealing the muzzles of half black holes. And these cannon windows are closing. No one knows how many windows are not open yet.

Anyone knows that long-range weapons such as cannons, muskets, bows and arrows can get better shooting vision and longer firing distances if they are condescending. If the head of the city shoots at the bottom of the city, it must be the city that suffers.

At the end of this clearing, a series of complex trenches were dug. This is essentially the same as the moats of human cities, except that because of the lack of rivers in the mountains, these trenches are not filled with water, but are added with more dangerous things such as iron thorns, bamboo sticks, grease, etc. It can be seen that the dwarf fortifications are very complete and meticulously built. Every drop of sweat they shed in the construction of these fortifications must be repaid with the blood of the besieging enemy.

To attack Karak-Grom, one must first brave artillery fire to rush through the clearing, then fill in all the trenches, and finally attempt to attack the city itself. It may sound like the same steps as attacking a normal human city (or an elven city), but it's actually fundamentally different.

This is because the main protection of a city or fortress, whether it is a human or an elf, is the city wall. Due to the development of new construction techniques, especially after the construction of the urn city became widespread, the attack on the city gate has become unmainstream. As a rule, the attacker's main means of attack was to "climb" the wall, and secondarily to "destroy" it. The main war machines that climbed over the city walls were ladders, earth slopes, and siege towers, and the only way to destroy the walls was to rely on long-range weapons such as cannons and catapults.

Theoretically, it would always be possible to capture the city walls with sufficient troops and sufficient siege equipment. That's the general situation though. For Karak-Grom, this theory does not hold water.

This is because the city was excavated in the mountains. It is a building with a "roof" in itself. Any siege machine that uses "Climbing" as its main means of attack has no effect on it.

Weapons aimed at destroying the walls are equally meaningless. Because no matter what kind of artillery, it is impossible to blast a mountain. The outer walls of Karak-Grom are thicker than any cannon can handle.

The only thing you can attack is the city gates.

To attack the city, soldiers first braved enemy fire, crossed clearings, and filled in obstacles and traps in that area. After this is done, the soldiers can push the ram to the gates and break through them. Only after the last can they rush into the city and launch an all-out offensive.

It's troublesome enough, but it's not that simple.

The ranged firepower placed on the walls of a normal city is always limited. With a cannon of ten steps (this is the limit of the cannons on the city wall), a city with a front length of 1,000 steps can only set up a maximum of 100 cannons. But Karak-Grom is different, it is a city dug out of the mountains, so it has a multi-layered structure. How many layers there are, you can place many times more cannons than ordinary city walls.

Ashrufat has identified at least four floors as it is, meaning that the dwarves have four times more firepower than a normal city. Of course, this amount is only a little more.

In short, it would be a nightmare to attack such a city under normal circumstances. In a different environment, Ashrufat would have resorted to normal (and universal) siege tactics. Surround the city, wait for the defenders to run out of food, and wait until the dwarves are too hungry to stand, then any defense will become an ornament, which can be easily overcome.

But this cannot be done without considering the time constraints. This is because the dwarves are highly skilled in digging, and due to their advanced gunpowder digging methods, they are able to dig relatively quickly in hard rock formations. This is beyond the reach of the nezumi. Once the siege began, the dwarves would probably dig an underground passage directly through the rock formations to bring in large quantities of food and supplies. There are even the worst reinforcements.

Ashruphat shook his head, swaying all superfluous imaginations out of his mind. Nothing is illusory, and the situation is that he must conquer Karak-Grom in a short-term siege battle.

It must be said that the city is fortunately divided into two parts: underground and above. Attacks from underground are far less dangerous than those from above.

"Lord...... Your Excellency!" a soldier said in a nervous tone to Ashruphat an obvious fact. "They...... They're out of town to fight!"

The gates opened, and a whole group of dwarven warriors came out, forming a phalanx at the gates.

The dwarves didn't close the gates and block them with stones or something?Ashrufat was amazed, but he knew at once that this cowardly idea of pure defense did not belong to the dwarves. Dwarves are notoriously stubborn and brave. And it's not really good.

Ashrufat had experienced a number of siege battles, and he knew that on the surface, sealing the gates of the dead city was a clever move, but in reality it was tantamount to giving up the initiative. Thomas has long said that being proactive and taking advantage of the gap to counterattack is the essence and right way of defensive operations, and simply shrinking into a turtle shell and being beaten will do more harm than good, and a good general will not make this choice.

In any case, a tentative attack must be launched.

Ashruphat made a gesture towards one of the generals beside him. The latter immediately understood, and he turned back and yelled at the back.

After a short while, a large group of slaves made their way through the nezumi formation to the front line. This time the slave rats were different from usual. Although they still wore slave collars and a small chain in tow, they were no longer bare-handed, some armed with crudely made spears and shields, but most with simple catapults.

For the nezumi, this is not something that goes against tradition. In fact, when there is a civil war between the Nezumi clan, the weaker side will often use this method to increase the power of the slave rats. Despite being seen as a windfall, the fiercest slaves do take down a small number of enemy troops. In such cases, the bravest slaves are given the opportunity to advance to the clan warrior class. But in any case, the slave rats who flee in battle will not receive any mercy.

Ashruphat was now accustomed to this practice of the nezumi society. In fact, the Nezumi army may not be good in other aspects, but these slave rats are the perfect cannon fodder on the battlefield, especially suitable for missions that are sent to the death. In a sense, this result was even a mercy for the slave rats. Because the life of the nezumi slave is miserable and miserable, ending this life can be counted as luck.

The slave rats were ready by this time. Ashruphat made a gesture, and the thousands of slave rats immediately began the first round of charge.

The dwarven cannon fired.

That's not one, two cannons. At this moment, the Karak-Grom artillery opened fire en masse. The roar of the cannons even gives the illusion that "the mountain is about to collapse". Countless solid cannonballs swept through the attacking slave rat swarm with terrifying kinetic energy. Everywhere the shells went, a piece of stump and flesh. No flesh and blood can resist the power of a cannon.

But the slave rats had been given the harshest warnings, and they knew full well what would happen if they retreated on the battlefield. So they ignored their companions, killed by artillery fire, and continued to charge.