Chapter 145 On the March Road
Heim City is located in the southwest of Wesen Territory, leading south to Lys Territory. It is surrounded by several hills, numerous small rivers and streams, and many small swamps.
This city, which was just upgraded from a town, is not large in scale, with a permanent population of about three thousand people, and the city wall is only 6 meters high.
On the morning of April 20, Earl of Reese commanded an army consisting of three thousand mountain mercenaries, one thousand peasant soldiers, five knights and forty-five gilded knights to enter Wesson Territory and attack Heim City. .
According to common tactics, the mountain mercenaries first sent out a hundred mounted infantrymen riding ordinary horses in groups of ten in the early morning to enter the Weisen Territory to attack the villages and drive the villagers into the city.
Compared with the day before yesterday, today there were a few large trees randomly placed on the road to block the road. The tree stumps were still on the side of the road. There were many slimes that had eaten sawdust digesting food in the grass not far away.
The group stopped on the road, and someone dismounted and moved the tree away.
"Buzz buzz!"
A large number of wasps suddenly flew out of the canopy of the tree. They were as big as a thumb, and the surface of their bodies looked like black crystals, giving off a dangerous light in the sunlight.
"[Helveti swears]! It's the Hessian bee!"
"Run, it's a monkey from the Black Forest!"
"Ah!!!"
These mountain mercenaries immediately saw the masterpiece of their old enemy and turned their horses and ran away. When I came down to move the tree, I saw that I couldn't run away, so I lay down on the ground and buried my face in the soil to avoid exposing my skin.
The horses couldn't wrap their whole bodies. The angry Hessian wasp stung them hard. The stung area was blackened and swollen in the blink of an eye. The severe pain drove the horses crazy.
Some of those running behind were stung by their horses and knocked them to the ground, and then attracted Hessian bees to their faces.
Those people's faces or necks swelled up quickly after being stung, their trachea was squeezed, and they were eventually suffocated to death.
The mountain mercenaries ran for more than two kilometers before they dared to stop. They found various things to wrap their heads and faces, lit torches, and turned back to retrieve the place.
When they returned, they found that the people lying on the ground were all dead.
This caused them to lose fifteen people in one fell swoop, exceeding the losses of Wesson’s army so far.
Several torches were thrown into the canopy of the tree, and the fire quickly destroyed the hive hidden inside.
At this moment, several fist-sized objects fell into the crowd, and the explosion shock wave and unqualified bearing steel balls swept across all directions.
Heim City's fire brigade is also equipped with cherry cannons, but today the cold melon bombs used to extinguish fires have been replaced by anti-personnel grenades.
Bullets came one after another. At a distance of less than 30 meters, the leather armor and mail armor on the mercenaries failed to provide much defense.
After several rounds of shooting, there was no one left standing on the road.
A group of people with grass growing on their bodies suddenly appeared from the bushes in the mountains on both sides. They ran away one by one and disappeared without a trace after a while.
The person in charge of the defense in Helm City is Otto, the commander of the "Whetstone" force. He is very familiar with the fighting methods of mountain mercenaries. He has also studied the weapons and operations of Wesenland's new army, and the Whetstone force also accepts it. After receiving training on new weapons, this time they sent out the troops and the eager firefighters to harass the enemy.
The members of this force are all veterans, and all of them are full of intrigues.
The forward led by Reese suffered more than half of his casualties at once, and those who survived were those who dismounted and lay on the ground decisively when the situation was bad.
Now these people were angry, and they were still able to collect their uninjured horses. They rode up the mountain and bypassed the burning roadblocks, intending to massacre a village ahead to calm down.
They walked across the stone bridge, but they didn't notice that among the reeds on the roadside behind them, several people came up soon, installed a few things that said "This is facing the enemy", and broke a few reeds across the road. side, and connect the fuse to the other end.
At this time, the mountain mercenaries arrived at the first village. The fence outside the village was burned into black charcoal, and a big tree could be seen on the road into the village. Now they didn't dare to enter the village, for fear that another swarm of Hessian bees would appear.
Close to noon, Earl Reese's large army arrived at the place where the first battle took place, and learned about the battle from the mouths of the wounded left behind.
"Just being clever." Earl Rees shook his head and let the army continue to move forward.
Behind him, the Gilded Knights chattered and discussed whether Belle Burke, who had been missing for two days, was having sex with the four suitors somewhere, without any tension.
The army soon arrived in front of the stone bridge, and the mountain mercenaries lined up in several columns to cross the river like a normal march.
The reed pole lying on the ground had been stepped on countless times. Someone walked by and kicked it to fly it away.
The next moment, huge explosions occurred one after another, fireballs appeared on both sides of the stone bridge, and countless steel balls rushed towards the bridge like a tsunami.
At that moment, the bridge seemed to be shrouded in red mist, and after a few breaths there was no longer a living person.
The mercenaries no longer dared to step onto the bridge and asked for a different route.
Earl Rees's face was horribly dark, and he finally made a decision.
He first asked people to light the reeds on the opposite side. After crossing the river, he divided the team into five equal groups. Peasants and soldiers who were familiar with the terrain led the way. The main force chose to take a long way around, and none of the troops followed the original route. Plan the way to go.
To the surprise of the attacking troops, all the traps laid along the way were useless.
Then they made the mistake of dividing their forces themselves.
In this way, the damage caused by long-range killing is greatly reduced, and the enemy can ignore them and continue on their way.
On the evening of April 20, when the "News Broadcast" broadcast on the radio that Baron Wesson led the army to attack Fort Krot, Reese led the army to a place one kilometer south of Heim City and began to set up camp in the farmland.
The morale in the military camp was a bit low. The mountain mercenaries counted the number of people. All the 100 people sent out at the beginning did not come back. Nearly a hundred people were missing on the stone bridge. There were dozens of casualties in total along the way. Almost 10% of the people just disappeared.
During dinner in the evening, Earl Rees went to ask the gilded knights: "Which of you can use magic to build a slope straight to the top of the wall?"
A few people immediately answered that they could.
"Very good!" Earl Rees said, "Tomorrow we will attract the enemy's attention here. There are not many of them, and they will all gather in the south. You can quietly go around to the back, build a slope and rush up directly. ”
"When you fight to the city wall, the enemies in the south will be in chaos. Then we can attack them from both sides!"
"When the city of Heim is captured, you guys will be the biggest contributors!"
Those young people immediately became excited, but there was also a calm person among them. He said: "Earl of Reese, you won't treat us as bait, will we? If you don't attack in time, wouldn't we be finished?"
Earl Rees immediately replied: "How dare I let you be used as bait? If you do that, can your family let me go?"
These people used to rely on their family to dominate and gain fortune. When they heard that some people were afraid of their own background, they thought it was natural, so they all agreed to attack Beicheng as surprise troops tomorrow.
On the other side of Helm City, Otto stood on the city wall, expressionlessly watching the bold merchants accompanying the army setting up tents for business outside the enemy's camp.
According to tradition, the place where the merchants accompanying the army are located is a neutral zone. They provide the army with logistical services such as drinks and catering, and at the same time purchase trophies. No one will attack them.
Otto called a few clever guys and went over there with some cans and instant noodles to sell.
(End of this chapter)