Chapter 310 Crossing the River
Three full days have passed since the scouts discovered that Princess Viola's team appeared on the other side of the river. These three days were definitely not easy for the defenders in the Watcher's Fortress.
There are about 6,000 Subia Demon Kingdom troops in the Watcher Fortress, of which about 1,000 are the original garrison of the fortress. Their main job is to ensure smooth supply lines. The other five thousand men were cobbled together from the retreating main force.
The selection criteria are as long as you don't run away when you see the enemy, and don't sneak around and become a deserter...
The Subia Demon Kingdom's army is not weak. They are very confident that they dare to fight head-on no matter how powerful the army is. Although Qihang City cannot be attacked for a long time, they attacked the city all the way with great momentum.
However, when faced with a terrifying celestial phenomenon comparable to a doomsday scene, their morale suddenly collapsed, and they never figured out what they were doing.
In addition, the coach was beheaded by Princess Viola, and the respected Kingdom Tigers lost their morale to stabilize the army. The large number of new recruits who joined later made it easier for fear to spread, and the organization was suddenly destroyed.
This is why an army of nearly 90,000 people was chased by an army of 25,000 people.
Fighting these days is all about morale. It sounds incredible, but in fact there are many battles where a hundred people chase and kill a thousand people.
In the past three days, Viola has indeed grasped the pain point of the opponent's low morale.
It is said that the first step is to attack the enemy with troops, then the second is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the army, and the third is to attack the city.
The way to use troops is to attack the heart first, to attack the city next, to fight with the heart first, and to fight with soldiers next.
So in the past three days, Viola ordered her people to camp on the other side of the river in a swaggering manner, and from time to time every day, they would throw the enemy heads collected on the previous battlefield with a trebuchet.
It doesn't matter if it can't be thrown into the city, as long as it can be seen clearly by the defenders on the city wall.
At first, the defenders of the Watcher's Fortress would send people to collect the remains, but later they simply became numb. Many people huddled in the fortress. Whenever they heard the muffled tom from the roof, they all huddled up like ostriches. tighter.
Especially the soldiers who retreated to the Watcher's Fortress in defeat. They were always worried about whether the terrible celestial phenomenon outside the city would repeat itself, but now they may prefer that the destruction come earlier, and the feeling of waiting in fear for the death sentence is even more uncomfortable. .
The general who defended the city stood on the city wall, holding a telescope and watching Viola's soldiers laughingly throwing a net full of heads over with a trebuchet, feeling furious in his heart.
In a fit of rage...
He huffed.
The soldiers were frightened out of their wits. With such a ghostly appearance, there was really no other way except to get angry.
He was angry not only at the behavior of the Demon Kingdom Army of Avarus, but also at Isaac, the grandson of the Tiger of the Kingdom, for leaving him behind.
Tactically speaking, there is nothing wrong with this. The main force has lost morale. Once caught up, it is likely to cause a larger-scale panic and rout.
In order to give them a chance to revive their morale, they must first enter the open city south of the Watcher's Fortress before the pursuers arrive, and cooperate with the local defenders to fight against Viola's army.
But this is undoubtedly a very dangerous job, and the garrison general who chose to place the lot will certainly be dissatisfied.
What's more, Isaac threw away the team, rode ahead with only a few guards, and handed over the demoralized army to the staff.
No matter what the reason, to outsiders there is no doubt that this is fleeing from the battlefield.
But no matter what, the military order was like a mountain. Isaac told him to hold on at the Watcher's Fortress for five days. By then, not only the large army had entered the Open City, but even the cavalry from the Open City might be able to arrive at the Watcher's Fortress to support.
Although these three days have been difficult, I think that now that more than half of it has passed, if I grit my teeth and persevere, Princess Viola will definitely be blocked.
The general is so confident because he has the natural advantage.
A large river blocked Princess Viola's path forward. It's not that they never thought of building a bridge, but the pontoon bridge was not so easy to build.
First, we need to send people to cross the river and pull the rope on the other side of the river. Then we use the rope as a frame and put empty barrels on it to provide buoyancy. Finally, we nail wooden boards on top of the barrels to fix the barrels. In this way, we can barely build a pontoon bridge.
But the defenders of the Watcher's Fortress won't just watch.
Once the bridge is built, cavalry and archers will be sent out to attack. If morale is low, one would not dare to confront someone head-on, but disgusting people from afar would still dare to do so.
It takes a long time to build the bridge, and there is almost no shelter on both sides of the river bank. It can be seen at a glance from the Lookout Fortress. It is not an easy task to build a bridge here to force a crossing of the river.
The general who defended the city also knew this very well. The only thing he couldn't figure out was why Princess Viola didn't take a detour and just camped on the other side of the river even though she knew the attack was impossible.
This gave him a bad feeling.
–‐‐——–‐‐——
Year 648 of the Demon King's Calendar.
Mid-November, 8pm.
Night inevitably fell, and the cold wind from the north swept across the earth with a knife-like coldness. The sky was covered with dark clouds, and a snowstorm came over time.
The literal heavy snow limited the vision. The magicians in the Watcher's Fortress used spells to confirm that the snow would only last for up to half an hour, which was a very small amount of comfort.
But losing sight of the movement on the other side of the river for half an hour was dangerous enough. The generals guarding the city specially sent people to patrol near the river bank, ready to take people out to interfere with the bridge-building work if any bridge-building efforts were discovered.
A huge bonfire had been lit on the city wall, but it did not seem to bring much warmth to the soldiers on duty. They shook their bodies and tried to warm themselves up.
The army of the Subia Demon Kingdom is not adapted to the climate of the North, and the cotton-padded clothes for the winter are overdue. This is one of the reasons why the army has to retreat.
The general who defended the city held on to the city wall and looked outside the city. Although he tried hard to see clearly, the wind and snow still obscured the situation on the other side of the river.
"Report! The Demon Kingdom Army of Avarus is building a bridge!"
The arrival of the messengers made the general who defended the city nervous, and he took the opportunity to build a bridge.
However, the snowstorm can only last for half an hour. Is this time enough to build a bridge?
There was no time to think about it. Princess Viola's army could not be allowed to cross the river no matter what. Otherwise, with the current morale of the soldiers, the Watcher's Fortress would definitely not be able to hold it.
"Command, all cavalry mount their horses!"
The generals who defended the city immediately walked down the city wall and joined the cavalry who were ready to attack at any time. As the winch lifted the castle gate, hundreds of cavalry rushed out amidst the rumble of horse hooves.
However, on the way, they encountered a panicked scout.
"General! The army of the Demon Kingdom of Avarus has crossed the river!"
"impossible!"
A pontoon bridge large enough for 25,000 people to pass through cannot be achieved with just one or two pontoon bridges. Even if only the vanguard troops are sent over, ten pontoon bridges will be needed at least.
It only took less than half an hour from the time the messenger discovered the bridge-building operation, to the time he rode back to inform him, and to the time the general received the news and came on horseback. At the most, it only took half an hour before the other party started building the bridge. To be able to build ten pontoon bridges in such a short period of time is simply impossible, even with magic.
The general led the team forward without giving up. After passing through the curtain of wind and snow, he saw countless torches and dark shadows moving in his direction. Visually, there must be seven if not ten thousand. Eight thousand.
The army of the Demon Kingdom of Avarus has really crossed the river.
The general's heart was already cold, and he immediately turned his horse's head:
"Let's go back and inform everyone to prepare for the city defense battle!"
Before the pontoon bridge was built, the cavalry could still be used to harass people. Now that they have crossed the river, the hundreds of cavalry on hand are going up there to kill people.
What the general couldn't figure out was what method the Avarus Demon Kingdom army used.
(End of chapter)