Saiyue Castle is a small fortress on the edge of the grassland. Its owner is a baron. It was sealed by the Aini family in a corner east of Kaunaston Castle a hundred years ago.
Pingfeng Grassland is in the northwest corner of the empire. Going east from Saiyue Castle, you will officially enter the territory of the northern empire.
Before the empire was divided, this margin was not obvious. After all, it was all the land of the empire.
But Aini did not choose to join the Northern Empire camp, offending all the nobles of the Northern Empire.
Therefore, except for Sayue Castle, almost all the land going east was occupied by the Northern Empire.
There are only two affiliated villages, and they are limited to their own villages. Once they leave the village and encounter a patrol from the Northern Empire, they will be levied a poll tax.
The owner of Saiyue Castle is a loyal subordinate of Aini. His ancestors have been knights of the Aini family for generations, including the Thomas who Xu Lai killed, who is of the blood of Baron Saiyue.
Relying on this relationship, Baron Saiyue obtained the title of baron and helped the Aini family guard the gateway to the Northern Empire.
Going further north from Saiyue Castle is the Pingfeng Mountains, but on this section of the Pingfeng Mountains, there are magic towers built by tower mages.
If the orcs want to enter from this side, they need to invade the tower camp first. The Beast King has lost his mind and only provokes two camps at once.
Moreover, the towers usually occupy high mountains and snowy areas. They only cultivate mechanical units and gargoyles themselves, and the mages have to rely on trading with the empire for their survival resources.
The orcs invaded the tower, and their heads were squeezed by the door.
Besides, the stronghold is a camp with weak magic. Taking away the high-magic environment of the tower mages, it will not be of much use at all.
Therefore, Saiyue Castle has always only needed to protect against enemies in the east. The city wall in the east has been reinforced, and various city defense equipment are also arranged on the east.
However, today, the south of the fortress ushered in an enemy for the first time.
That direction is facing the economic and political center of the grassland, Fort Kaunaston.
Baron Saiyue personally sat on top of the city. Behind him were dozens of knights from three generations of the Saiyue family, old, middle and young.
It must be said that the Saiyue family is the closest family to the Aini family.
Had it not been for a very low background, the first-generation ancestor was just a slave of the Aini family, otherwise Jimmy would not be the leader of the Knights.
However, at this time, the former head of the Knights had already brought the army to the city and gave him earnest advice for most of the day.
Among the nobles who support Aini, the Saiyue family can be admired by Jimmy.
What Jimmy values is not the loyal character of the Saiyue family, but the nearly 50 knights in the Saiyue family.
This is a standard knight family. Almost all members of the family, except for women, are trained according to knight standards.
In Jimmy's current castle, there are still several knights from the Saiyue family imprisoned. The rest of the bodyguard knights are also somewhat related to the Saiyue family, whether they are in-laws or colleagues.
As long as the Saiyue family can be persuaded to surrender, most of the knights who were coaxed to Martell City by Jimmy before can be recruited back.
In addition, this family has so many knights, and if you recruit more knights, you can form a knighthood.
Knights are very important to a legion, especially a legion on the grassland.
Therefore, even if Baron Saiyue refused to surrender, Jimmy was still willing to continue persuading him.
This small fortress-level city has less than 5,000 guards including civilians. If we really want to attack it by force, we may be able to take it in one day.
"Don't waste your breath, you traitor. If you have the ability, just climb up and see if I kill you."
Baron Seyue on the city wall held a crescent-shaped flag high and shouted to Jimmy Martell who had been persuading him for most of the day.
While Jimmy was still waiting to say anything, the military commander sent an urgent military order at this time.
Three days ago, Jimmy received an oral message from Yu Lan through the magic communication stone.
It was also because of this verbal message that Jimmy led the army to Saiyue City non-stop, just to convince Baron Saiyue within the three-day time limit.
As for the nobles in other places, he only sent symbolic envoys to carry out propaganda in the name of Xu Lai.
Whether they listened, whether they were willing to surrender, Jimmy honestly didn't care at all.
And he has already persuaded many nobles to surrender. The remaining ones who are unwilling to surrender are all like Baron Saiyue and have a bad relationship with him.
With so many nobles, they combined to form a huge force. If there were more old nobles, he would be afraid of arousing Xu Lai's suspicion.
They were both aristocrats from the old era. Even if those people had a bad relationship with him, Jimmy, they would naturally stick together.
Those of them are together, and even if Xu Lai trusts him again, he will never be able to give him another chance to lead troops and gain power.
He had no idea how to kill the remaining nobles. Even if he was worthy of them, could he still be expected to persuade them to surrender in a serious manner?
“What military order?”
“The lord’s adjutant, Mr. Jilong, sent the lord’s military order, ordering the army commander to launch an siege as soon as possible.
And ordered your Excellency to attack the city as soon as possible.
After seizing Saiyue Castle, all the members of the Saiyue family, regardless of gender, old or young, except the infants and ignorant babies, were beheaded.
After beheading, the heads were sent back to Conaston. The castle hangs above the busiest street in the city
In addition, the lord in the letter also asked you if there are any difficulties in attacking Saiyue Castle. If so, please communicate with him through the magic message stone in time.
If necessary, he will use the spell of the teleporter or the gate of time and space to teleport to the nearest own city. "
Jimmy swallowed and said, "Are you sure this military order was issued by the lord?
I have already reported the special situation of Baron Saiyue to Mr. Xu Lai through the magic message stone before. "
The messenger shook his head and said: "It is a messenger sent by the lord. The official document is indeed the handwriting of Mr. Gong, and it is stamped with the lord's private seal. ”
Jimmy took the official document. He still recognized his son's handwriting, but the date on the official document showed yesterday morning.
Although it is his son's handwriting, Xu Lai's seal is correct.
But in this magical world, it is really easy to forge these things.
"Go and bring the messenger. I have a few words to ask him."
The messenger followed the order and after a while, he brought a mercenary. A dressed-up middle-aged knight.
The knight first introduced his identity. He was a mercenary under Hancock. This time he was also ordered by Hancock to help Lord Xu Lai deliver a message.
The same letter, with little difference in content, was not only sent to Jimmy, but also to other nobles on the grassland who had not surrendered.
Jimmy fell silent immediately. Xu Lai sent the letter and wrote the fate of the Saiyue family on the letter, obviously to warn various nobles.
This also means that the fate of the Saiyue family has been determined, no one can change it, and it must be achieved as soon as possible. Otherwise, Xu Lai's prestige will be greatly affected when the representatives sent by each family find that Kaonaston Castle is empty.
"Are those letters sent out together with these military orders?"
The mercenary shook his head and said: "All letters will be sent out at different times depending on the distance.
The earliest one should be It's a letter sent to Stone Castle. It will be sent out around this evening."
Jimmy pondered for a moment and wanted to give it a last try, so he asked:
"I heard that Aini. The count has been captured by the lord.
I understand Aini fairly well, but he is by no means a strong nobleman.
If the lord is willing to give him a way to survive, I think he will definitely surrender to the lord.
Can the lord please give Aini a chance to persuade Baron Saiyue to surrender through the magic message stone?
If the lord is worried, leave the matter of Earl Aini to me after he persuades Baron Saiyue to surrender.
I will definitely give the lord a satisfactory explanation. ”
The messenger frowned, but sighed and said: "Your Excellency, Legion Commander, your request was made a little late.
Count Aini was caught by the lord, but at night, Aini's The old men had robbed the prison and had taken Count Aini away. Now no one knows where Count Aini is.
It is said that the Lord had a rare incident and executed several suspected Aini in succession. The old tribe.
For this reason, the lord could no longer tolerate these people and issued an ultimatum.
The lord ordered that all Aini's old tribe would surrender within 3 days after receiving the letter. , they will all be executed, together with their entire family.”
Jimmy sighed and said: "Although such an order will scare some nobles and force them to surrender.
But once the three-day period has passed, those hesitant nobles will inevitably make a decision. I will fight the lord to the end."
The messenger looked at Jimmy blankly, and Jimmy smiled bitterly and said, "In that case, let me fight for it one last time."
After that, Jimmy called a messenger and asked him to project the military order directly onto the wall of Saiyue City from a distance.
However, Baron Saiyue was determined to fight Xu Lai to the end.
The messenger held the letter high, but as soon as he got close to the city wall, he was shot into a hedgehog by the shooter on the city wall.
Don’t believe it, Baron Saiyue will not allow anyone to get close to the city wall.
Jimmy was also very angry. Before the war could begin, one of his own killed someone. The key was that he was still kind-hearted.
Seeing this, Jimmy was too lazy to use the amplification spell to communicate with Baron Saiyue, and directly ordered all catapults to be deployed to carry out ultra-long-range bombing on the walls of Saiyue City.
Count Aini left many high-end catapults to Conaston Castle, but unfortunately none of them were put to use, and now they all belong to Jimmy.
There are not many garrison troops in Conaston Castle now, but Jimmy believes that no one on the grassland dares to attack Conaston, which is protected by the castle.
Therefore, he dismantled many high-end catapults and packed them together with the army.
After all, Jimmy was going to attack the city, so there was nothing wrong with bringing these siege equipment. Xu Lai didn't say anything more, but asked the others to cooperate and produce more ammunition for Jimmy to take away.
With these advanced catapults, even without the blessing of ballistics, he could launch a wild bombing of Saiyue City from 10 kilometers away.
Of course, ten kilometers away, without the blessing of ballistics, the hit rate is still relatively poor, and the damage will also be affected by the extreme range, and can only cause half damage.
But what does it matter? The opponent's catapult, even with the city wall bonus, still can't attack our own side.
It is equivalent to the opponent being beaten and unable to fight back. Even if one's own side loses more ammunition, it only loses some gold coins.
After receiving two surrendering nobles one after another and capturing a viscount city, the wealth Jimmy collected cannot be consumed in a short period of time no matter how much he wastes it.
Throwing stones ten kilometers away is really too far away. Although most of the ammunition fell inside and outside the city, there were more of them, and many of them still hit the crowd and the city wall. .
The fortress-level city wall is not very strong to begin with, and the south side has not been reinforced.
If a place is hit twice in a row, a big crater will almost certainly appear; if it is hit three times, a big hole will definitely appear.
If Jimmy sends the catapult within 5 kilometers of the direct arrow range, it will probably be smashed in one or two hits.
More than half an hour later, it was clear that this was a grassland area where mineral resources were extremely precious, but Jimmy on the opposite side smashed for a full half hour, creating a shocking gap in the southern city wall.
That's not all. Although Baron Saiyue had tried to move his troops as far away as possible, more than 100 soldiers were still killed and more than 300 were seriously injured, not counting minor injuries.
Baron Saiyue had no idea that the grassland economic center, political center, and reinforced castle-level city wall in his mind had been torn into pieces by Xu Lai.
While most of it was shipped to Qingfeng City, a lot of it was also made locally into ammunition needed for catapults.
With Jimmy's ammunition reserve, if we continue to bombard wildly for half an hour, it will not dry up.
However, there is no point in smashing it anymore, because the wall of the small town opposite has basically been blown away.
The crossbows, catapults and the like at the top of the city were difficult to transport in a short period of time, so they were all left on the city wall by the soldiers, and now there has been no movement.
Not to mention the crossbows and catapults, even the defenders ran 500 meters away from the city wall, just waiting for Jimmy's troops to enter the city for hand-to-hand combat.
However, Jimmy, who clearly had far more troops than the opponent, did not launch a charge.
He just ordered all catapults and ballistae to advance 5 kilometers and continue to bomb Saiyue City.
After bombing the three-wheeler, he ordered to move another kilometer, and then continued to bomb the three-wheeler.
Blocked by the ruins of the city wall, even though the distance was shortened a lot, the hit rate and lethality were greatly reduced.
In the city, the soldiers of Saiyun City can use bunkers such as houses to defend themselves.
Dozens of catapults and rounds of ammunition were thrown out, and countless houses collapsed, but not many soldiers died from the stoning, not even half of those buried by the houses.
When they advanced to only 3 kilometers away from Saiyue City, Baron Saiyue and his men were unable to retreat.
Countless stones were thrown and countless shops and houses were destroyed.
Soon everyone discovered that as long as Sai Yue and his army were not allowed to get close, the stones would not fly, so Sai Yue and the others were naturally ostracized by the people. (End of this chapter)