Chapter 389: Prelude to the General Offensive (Three-in-One) (Monthly Pass Plus!)

"It should be the Thunder Knights of the Principality of Alban!"

Alice had also put on armor at this moment, with only the helmet still tucked around her graceful waist. Her golden hair looked even more hazy under the bright moonlight.

"I didn't expect the reinforcements from Baiyan City to arrive so quickly, and there was no warning from the Rangers beforehand."

Gervis didn't know much about the other two principalities besides the Principality of Jean, but he had heard of the Thunder Knights, which was the most elite knightly order under King Hayden of the Principality of Alban.

Normally, the Thunder Knights are stationed in the capital of the Principality of Alban to guard the royal city, but they did not expect to arrive in Baiyan City in just four days.

This only means that Hayden had actually learned of King Lawrence's intention of this action a few days in advance. Otherwise, even if the Thunder Knights traveled day and night, it would take six or seven days for them to arrive and provide assistance.

Although the specific situation on the northern battlefield could not be seen directly from the western city wall, the rumbling sound of horse hooves was like thunder in a rainstorm and could still be heard clearly under the silent night sky.

In addition to the sound of horse hooves, there were now a lot of flames coming out over there, which were comparable to the fire set by Gervis.

"Sir, what do we need to do now? Should we ring the alarm bell to wake up all the soldiers?"

The people who were awakened at this moment were only the minor nobles like Gervis. The alarm bell was not sounded in the camp to wake up all the soldiers, because this would easily cause confusion. Unless it was an extremely urgent situation, soldiers were generally not allowed to leave the tents at night!

After hearing what Alice said, several minor nobles couldn't help but ask.

"You don't need to do anything! We just need to wait here! If the king needs support, he will send a herald!"

"Besides, the king and his men have well-defended camps. Even the Thunder Knights won't be able to break in in a short time!"

Alice was not in a hurry, because even if the Thunder Knights arrived, they could not pose a major threat to the army of the Principality of Zeon, because there were still several Golden Knights stationed there.

All in all, their camp should be the weakest among the three camps of the Principality of Zeon, so Alice is not planning to open the camp before receiving a clear order for help. As long as they stay in the camp, they will be safe.

"Look, there are several people fighting over there!"

At this moment, the people standing on the high platform saw that there was a fight going on three miles away near the south city wall.

Originally, everything three miles away was dark and blurry at night, but there were a few brilliant spots of light constantly entangled over there.

The collision of gorgeous sword edges and fighting spirit was like the fireworks in the previous life, blooming in an instant and disappearing in an instant, giving people a dreamy and unreal feeling.

"Oh my god, those are the Golden Knights taking action! Their fighting spirit can even leave their bodies!"

All the nobles, including Gervis, stared intently at the place in the distance that was looming, sometimes dim and sometimes shining, for fear of missing any details.

This is a battle of golden knights. Normally, one rarely has the opportunity to see the golden knights fighting. Although the battle process cannot be seen clearly due to the distance, it is still a pleasure to see the fighting spirit manifest in the air.

"The Golden Knight is really awesome! Apart from anything else, just the fact that he can perform martial arts at night is definitely a great way to show off!"

Gervis looked at the bright sword beams flashing from time to time in the distance, feeling both envious and yearning.

At this moment, he finally understood why the Qi or sword light released by the fighting between the two sides in the film and television works of his previous life were colorful. It was not a 5-cent special effect, but because the Qi could really emit colorful light when leaving the body!

Isn’t the sword energy released by the golden knights fighting in the distance or the fighting spirit aroused by their collision the best proof?

While Gervis was daydreaming, the fight in the distance did not last long. About half a minute later, two of the people fighting over there quickly retreated towards Baiyan City.

In the end, the other few people did not pursue, and the dream battle finally came to an end.

As the battle between the Golden Knights came to an end, the sounds of fighting in the north gradually subsided.

…

The next morning, Alice received an early order from the king, asking her to go to the north camp for a meeting.

Alice specifically notified Gervis to go with her, because Gervis had told Alice in advance that his plan would be officially implemented today, and whether the city could be captured would depend on today.

Gervis's plan to break the city requires flooding Baiyan City, which requires other nobles to suspend their siege for a period of time.

Otherwise, the flood will come in without distinguishing between friend and foe. If there are soldiers staying outside the city to attack the city, they will definitely be washed away.

Gervis went along this time just to tell them his plan and let the earls stop for an hour or two!

Following Alice to the north of Baiyan City, Gervis finally found out where the fire broke out in the north last night.

It turned out that more than 30 large siege ladders here had been burned down. It was obvious that these were the masterpieces of the Thunder Knights last night.

These large siege ladders are the main force for sieges. Every time they approach the city wall, more than ten elite soldiers can be arranged on the top platform of the siege ladder in advance.

After approaching the city wall, they lowered the baffles to serve as a wooden bridge, and the dozen or so soldiers could directly reach the city wall, posing a huge threat to the defenders of the city wall. Other soldiers could also climb up continuously from this large siege ladder and directly reach the city wall without having to worry about the arrows of the defenders.

Now that the more than 30 siege ladders in the north have been destroyed, it is bound to have a great impact on the Principality of Zeon's offensive against White Rock City.

…

"Last night, the Thunder Knights of the Principality of Alban made a big detour and attacked us from the rear. Although they did not cause us heavy casualties, we were caught off guard and most of our large siege ladders were burned down by them!"

King Lawrence looked a little gloomy, and it was obvious that he was not in a good mood today.

"We now have two choices. First, we suspend our offensive against Baiyan City and continue the attack after we have enough large siege ladders. Second, we immediately launch a full-scale general attack and use the remaining large siege ladders and those simple wooden ladders to attack the city!"

"I asked you to come here this time to ask for your opinions on how to make a choice."

The earls below did not answer immediately, but discussed in low voices.

The Lord of the North took this opportunity to tell Alice and Gervis the details of the battle that took place at midnight last night.

It turned out that the Thunder Knights made a big detour last night and ran towards the City of Glory, thus avoiding the detection of most of the Rangers and directly attacking the camps in the north and east.

Although the Thunder Knights could not pose any major threat to the two camps with more than 3,000 people, they relied on surprise attacks to disperse the siege troops and took the opportunity to destroy more than 30 large siege ladders and several catapults.

Finally, these cavalrymen of the Thunder Knights charged in a circle and entered Baiyan City from the south gate which had been prepared for them.

In order to stop several earls from hunting down the Thunder Knights, the commander-in-chief of the Thunder Knights and Lost in Baiyan City had a brief battle with King Lawrence, Nemio and others outside the city.

After the Thunder Knights completely retreated into Baiyan City, Lost and the commander-in-chief of the Thunder Knights returned safely to Baiyan City.

Now the total number of defenders in Baiyan City has reached more than 9,000, plus two golden knights.

"Your Majesty, more than half of our large siege ladders have been destroyed. If we use simple wooden ladders to attack the city, there will inevitably be heavy casualties. In addition, more than 3,000 soldiers from the Thunder Knights have just joined Baiyan City. I think we should wait another day until our large siege ladders are ready before we start the siege!"

The Charles family has been really unlucky this time, and has not had a good time since the southern expedition began.

First, the heir was killed in the City of Glory, but the murderer is still at large.

When they arrived at Baiyan City and attacked it, they suffered the greatest casualties because they were unaware of the existence of catapults on the city walls.

What made Nemio even more depressed was that most of the large siege ladders destroyed last night belonged to his Charles family.

Because at that time the Charles family was in charge of the attack, the large siege ladders were driven to the bottom of Baiyan City, and more than a dozen large siege ladders were directly burned by the soldiers of the Principality of Alban inside and outside the city wall.

As for the other three earl families, because their siege ladders were placed near the camp, they immediately sent out heavy troops to guard the camp after discovering the enemy's attack, and only four or five of them were burned down.

If the king decided to launch a general attack on White Rock City today, there would be a great possibility that his Charles family would miss out on the reward for first merit, so Nemio certainly did not want to launch a general attack today.

"Bullshit! Nemio, you are deliberately not wanting us to capture White Rock City. If we give the White Rock City defenders a day to rest, all our hard work these days will be in vain!"

The Lord of the North immediately objected. Although a large part of the reason was because he disliked Nemio, the other half was also for the overall situation.

Because if we don't take this opportunity to attack the city and give the Baiyan City defenders a chance to catch their breath, the casualties may double.

"Your Majesty, I think we should attack the city immediately. There is no shortage of food and supplies in Baiyan City, and we were ambushed by the enemy last night. Although there were no heavy casualties, morale will surely drop if we delay for too long! So we can't wait any longer!"

"Gust, stop slandering me. It's you who is responsible. Last night, you only cared about your siege ladders and catapults, and didn't go after the Thunder Knights! That's why so many Thunder Knights cavalry ran into Baiyan City!"

Nemio gritted his teeth. Originally, the Charles family had a good chance of winning the first merit reward, but now they no longer had large siege ladders. How could they possibly compete with Gust and his people with just those small wooden ladders?

“Haha, I not only saved the siege ladders of my Weldon family, but also the siege ladders of the other three earl families. You are so useless that you can’t even save the siege ladders of your own family!”

The Lord of the North replied sarcastically.

Suddenly, Nemio was so angry that he almost vomited blood.

"You are a golden knight! If I had the skills of a golden knight, how could I let Lost jump off the city wall and burn my siege ladder?"

"That's enough! Stop arguing!"

Seeing that Nemio was silent, the king finally spoke.

He actually also tended to attack White Rock City immediately, but Charles' family was not the only one whose siege ladders were burned last night, so the king had to ask for opinions first and see how each family would react.

After all, even if he forced these people to attack the city, if someone pretended to obey but actually disobeyed, resulting in the failure of the general attack, it would be a fatal blow to morale, and his plan of marching south this year would be directly shattered.

"Each of you please tell me how many intact large siege ladders are left!"

"My Welton family still has 6 more!"

"My Kewan family still has 7 more!"

"My Larkin family still has 5 more!"

"My Jones family owns five!"

"I……"

As one earl after another reported the number of their own siege ladders, Charles became even more depressed. Originally, his family had twelve large siege ladders, but now there was only one left.

"There are more than forty large siege ladders in total, which should be enough!"

After listening to the reports from various families, King Lawrence nodded. Judging from what everyone had proposed before, among the eight earl families, only Nemio of the Charles family was unwilling to launch a general attack today, while the other families had no objection.

Because although these families also lost siege ladders, it was only one or two, so the actual impact was not that great.

"I think what Count Gust said makes sense. We can't let the guards of Baiyan City get a break, otherwise all our efforts over the past four days will be in vain!"

"Then, we will launch a general attack on Baiyan City in two hours. You should go back and prepare now!"

King Lawrence looked around and ignored Nemion's ugly expression. Instead, he paid special attention to the other earls and found that they did not look strange.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, please wait a moment, I have something else to say!"

Everyone responded respectfully to the king and were about to get up and return to the camp when Nemio spoke again.

"Nemio, what else do you want?"

Although the king's expression remained normal, there was a hint of dissatisfaction in his tone.

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"Your Majesty, since you have decided to launch a general attack today, the Charles family will absolutely obey."

"However, the Charles family only has one large siege ladder now, so I hope Your Majesty can ask the Jones family to temporarily lend us their five siege ladders!"

"After all, the Jones family has not carried out any siege at all in the past few days, except for the ridiculous act of setting fire to the city wall!"

The king spoke himself, and the other families did not object. Nemio also knew that the matter was done and there was no possibility of objection.

However, he suddenly remembered that the Jones family had just reported that they also had five large siege ladders, so why not ask for the Jones family's siege ladders.

This would not only allow him to regain the chance to compete for the first merit, but also give him the opportunity to avenge the arrow shot by the Lord of the North.

"Nemio, you are still the earl! You have lost all your dignity! That is the private property of the Jones family. Even His Majesty the King cannot interfere! Why would you lend it to the Charles family?"

The Lord of the North reacted very quickly and immediately blocked the King's chance of speaking.

Sure enough, the king was originally quite interested. He felt that the five large siege ladders were of no use if they were left in the west. If they could be loaned to the Charles family, it would be a great help in the siege in the north.

But now he was immediately blocked by the Lord of the North, and it was difficult for the king to speak again.

"Gust, I am proposing this for the sake of the entire Principality of Jean. If we cannot quickly capture Baiyan City, then your majesty's plan to march south this year may be stranded!"

"By next year, the Principality of Alban will be on guard, and Baiyan City will be even more difficult to capture!"

When Nemio saw the king's expression, he knew that the king was willing to agree to his proposal, but now he was blocked by the Lord of the North.

"Count Alice, you have been doing nothing on the west wall these days. If the Jones family is truly loyal to His Majesty, they should consider His Majesty and the Principality of Jean now!"

Nemio knew that he could not argue with Gust because Gust had a bigger fist, but he could throw dirty water on the Jones family and put accusations on them.

Alice also frowned when she heard Nemion's aggressive words.

King Lawrence is now focused on the southern expedition, so he does not favor any side. As long as it is beneficial to the attack, he will agree to it.

Now that Nemio has put such a big accusation on the Jones family, if the Jones family objects, even if the accusation is false, the king will still have a grudge against the Jones family in the future.

Just when Alice was in a dilemma, Gervis beside him leaned over and whispered something in Alice's ear.

Nemio sneered. If Alice was smart enough, the best choice would be to hand over the large siege ladder. Otherwise, the seeds of disloyalty would be planted in His Majesty's heart, and he might get into big trouble one day.

This is not like Alice's resistance to the king's arranged marriage. After all, the king wanted to seize the Jones family's property, and anyone would resist fiercely.

But now there are just a few large siege ladders. To put it bluntly, if they are not on the battlefield, they are worthless. If Alice really refuses, the king will definitely remember it.

"Count Nemio, what makes you think that my Jones family is useless in today's siege?"

I don't know what Gervis said, but after Alice heard it, although her brows were still frowning, she began to express her opinion.

"Your Majesty, my Jones family will not lend these five large siege ladders to the Charles family, because our Jones family will also launch a general attack today!"

"Count Alice, who knows if you are just pretending at that time, you might as well lend those five large siege ladders to my Charles family!"

Nemio quickly counterattacked, looking back at the king.

"Your Majesty, I promise that as long as the Jones family can lend the five large siege ladders to my Charles family, my Charles family will go all out to attack the city today. Even if we cannot get the first credit, we will definitely go all out! Your Majesty can supervise at that time!"

This time, Nemio was determined to seize the five large siege ladders of the Jones family, and he was very confident that the king would speak for him.

Sure enough, when Nemio made his pledge, which was equivalent to a military order, the king's eyes were already on Alice, ready to speak.

"Your Majesty, my Jones family will also go all out to attack the city!"

Alice spoke quickly before King Lawrence could speak.

After saying that, Alice turned her gaze towards Nemion again.

"Count Nemio, you keep saying that my Jones family has no role in the attack on White Rock City. Do you dare to make a bet with me?"

"Haha, Count Alice, what are you betting on? Are you betting that your Jones family can break through Baiyan City alone and get the first merit?"

Nemio sneered. If it was Gust who made a bet with him, he really wouldn't dare to accept it, after all, the other party was a peak gold knight.

But the Jones family, first of all, did not have the Golden Knights in charge, and secondly, it was just one family attacking the western wall alone, so there was absolutely no chance of winning.

"That's right. I'm betting that my Jones family can attack Baiyan City alone and get the first credit!"

"Haha! Lord Alice, you are still asleep!"

Nemion laughed loudly, and he admired Alice's courage to say such words.

Of course, except for Nemio, the other earls, including the king, did not believe Alice's words.

The Lord of the North was also a little anxious and wanted to say something, but it was obvious that if he tried to persuade Alice at this time, the siege ladders of the Jones family would really fall into Nemio's hands.

Moreover, the Lord of the North knew that his granddaughter and the boy Gervis were not stupid people, so he casually suppressed the words of persuasion in his mouth and prepared to listen.

"It's none of your business whether I'm asleep or not! Count Nemio, I just want to ask you one question: do you dare to bet?"

"Why not? Lord Alice, tell me what you want to bet on! How do you want to bet? What are you going to bet on?"

Nemio was not afraid at all. He knew that the siege could not be faked, and it was even more impossible for him to collude with the defenders in Baiyan City to let them surrender, so he agreed without any hesitation!

"It's very simple. I promise to break into the city before noon today. If the Jones family really breaks through the city wall and gets the first credit, then the reward from your Charles family for this siege must belong to my Jones family!"

“If my Jones family fails to break through the city wall and gain first merit before noon, then the reward for the Jones family’s siege will be given to your Charles family!”

The king said on the first day that in addition to the generous rewards for the first meritorious service, other families, even if their contributions were smaller, would be rewarded with fiefdoms after the capture of Baiyan City as long as they did not deliberately slack off. Although the last few families received less, all of them were baronies, but these baronies were also very tempting.

"Count Alice, are you serious about what you just said?"

Nemio thought quickly in his mind and found that the Jones Family still had no chance of winning, so he opened his mouth to confirm.

"Of course it's true!"

"No one from other families is allowed to help! Like the Weltons!"

"Of course, I promise that only people from my Jones family will attack the city!"

After these questions and answers from both parties, the bet was finally almost confirmed, but there was still one last hurdle. As long as it was passed, the bet could really begin!

Both sides looked at the king. After all, this bet was the king's reward, and the king had invested heavily in the attack on Baiyan City. Without his approval, even if both sides were willing, they could not really make the bet.

"Alice, are you sure? If you rely on your Jones family to capture Baiyan City before noon, you won't be able to regret it then!"

A gleam of light flashed in King Lawrence's eyes, and he looked in Alice's direction.

To others, he seemed to be staring at Alice, but in fact the king's eyes were on Gervis who was beside Alice.

"Your Majesty, I am absolutely sure!"

"Very good! In that case, I approve your bet. However, Earl Alice, the Jones family only has three hours. If you cannot capture White Rock City before noon, we will start the general attack in the afternoon. By then, you will lose the bet with the Charles family!"

The king had originally planned to launch the general attack in two hours, but since Alice and Nemion had made a bet, the king didn't mind delaying it for another hour, just in case a miracle really happened!

"Yes, Your Majesty! If we fail to capture Baiyan City and gain first merit before noon, then even if my Jones family loses, I will never regret it! I just hope that if my Jones family wins, Count Nemio will not regret it either!"

"Lord Alice, my Charles family will never go back on their word. You should just worry more about how to attack the city! Haha!"

Thanks to "_g7_", "Rotsen" for the reward!!!

This chapter has 6500 words, so I'll pay back one chapter of my monthly votes and add more chapters! I still owe 7 chapters!

I've been a bit busy these past two days, so I don't have time to write during the day... I should be able to resume my normal update schedule starting tomorrow and the day after tomorrow! Please forgive me, everyone!

(End of this chapter)