Chapter 388: Night Raid (Two in One)
Gervis returned to his tent, wiped his face casually, and lay down on the small bed wearing leather armor.
Just as Gervis was lying drowsy, he was woken up by Alice, who had just returned from the king.
"What? A barony-sized fief as a reward?"
Gervis had already guessed that the king summoned Alice and others because of the Little Cannon incident, so he was not surprised.
Instead, it was when he heard that the king had actually spent a huge sum of money and offered a fiefdom the size of a barony as a reward that Gervis was excited.
The fiefs in this world are permanent, which means that as long as the Principality of Jean exists, these fiefs can be passed down from generation to generation. Moreover, the king's fiefs are all fat meat, and he is reluctant to give them up easily.
The king spent a lot of money to capture Baiyan City as soon as possible. Such an opportunity is really rare.
"Yes, Gervis, the king promised in public that as long as you can deal with those trebuchets on the north and east walls, you can choose any fiefdom you want!"
"So, Gervis, do we need to agree to this?"
Alice nodded seriously and looked at Gervis, waiting for his reply.
Alice did not tell Gervis that the Jones family could also get involved in this territory, but she did not intend to get involved in this territory, so there was no need to tell Gervis.
Now, to Alice, Gervis is more important than this rich barony.
Don't be fooled by Alice's cold and aloof appearance, like an inviolable goddess, but such people are often the most emotional. Under that cold appearance lies the purest side of a noble lady.
"Of course I agreed! Anyone who doesn't agree to such a benefit is a fool!"
Gervis slammed the table. Since the king had said so, all they had to do was to make the catapults on the city wall no longer pose a threat to the siege team. Gervis felt that this should not be difficult and would be a good deal.
Although half of his gunpowder reserves had been used up, the defenders of Baiyan City must have already witnessed the sharpness of his small cannon. At that time, he only needed to fire a few shots, and they would probably be busy dismantling the catapults again.
In this world, the manufacturing cost of a catapult is like the intercontinental missile in the previous life. It is impossible to make it without huge investment and skilled craftsmen.
Otherwise, great earl families like Alice's wouldn't have only a single-digit number of large catapults.
After deciding to agree to the king's request, Gervis immediately went to the north wall with his small cannon.
More than 500 meters away from the north city wall, under the watchful eyes of everyone, the small steel cannon once again opened the eyes of these nobles, both big and small, who had never seen the world.
With the sound of the small cannon, the biggest threat to the siege team was eliminated.
Only after Gervis fired three consecutive shots did the defenders on the city wall hurriedly begin to dismantle the catapults, and then, like the west wall, they moved all the disassembled catapults to the bottom of the city wall.
"Your Majesty, the catapults on the northern wall have been dismantled. Let's go to the eastern wall now!"
Gervis was directing the operation of the small cannon in the front, while Alice was standing beside the king in the back with a group of earls.
"Haha! Alice, Viscount Gervis is indeed an outstanding young man. This little steel cannon is really an eye-opener for us! As a member of the Gene family, I have never heard of such a weapon even in the previous dynasty."
"Since the trebuchets here have been dealt with, you should head east!"
The king laughed happily when he saw that Gervis's small steel cannon really forced the defenders of Baiyan City to dismantle the catapults.
He also knew that Alice's words were actually meant to remind him, so he continued, "As for the fiefdom as a reward, I never break my promise. After the southern expedition, you can choose the barony yourself!"
Although these catapults were only dismantled rather than completely destroyed, the effect was similar.
These small trebuchets are used on the city walls, so fixing and installing them is a very cumbersome task. If you want to reinstall such a large number of trebuchets, it will take at least half a day.
With half a day, if the defenders of Baiyan City prepare to use catapults again, the king will have enough time to let Gervis continue to bombard with small cannons.
So the king now generously fulfilled the reward he had promised.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Alice felt relieved after receiving the king's confirmation again.
Now, under the watchful eyes of the public, there is really no possibility for the king to go back on his word!
Then Gervis and Alice brought the small cannon to the east wall, where Gervis just fired one shot, and the defenders on the wall quickly dismantled all the catapults.
…
Time flies, and it is already the fourth day of the attack on Baiyan City.
In the following three days, the battle in Baiyan City became more and more fierce. Both the soldiers of the Principality of Jean and the defenders on the city walls were already blood-thirsty.
Even the moat at the foot of the city wall has been dyed red with blood.
In the past few days, the Principality of Zeon has lost the lives of three thousand soldiers.
As for the defenders of Baiyan City, according to the battle reports registered by the siege troops, they had suffered thousands of casualties.
As the defending party, the Baiyan City defenders had the advantage of geographical location and suffered much less casualties than the Principality of Jean. This was a natural thing.
However, as time went by, this geographical advantage has gradually disappeared because the number of defenders in Baiyan City is too small.
Even with the serfs as auxiliary troops, the total population of Baiyan City was only about 7,000 people, and these 7,000 people needed to be dispersed on all four sides of the city walls. This situation, coupled with the Principality of Jean's round-the-clock fighting, was about to break the will of the defenders.
If these defenders were not the direct guards of King Hayden of the Duchy of Alban, who were the elite among the elite, it is very likely that Baiyan City would have been captured by now.
But even so, Baiyan City is now in danger. The soldiers defending the city are exhausted, and many of them have not slept peacefully for several days and nights.
On the first and second days, there were catapults that caused massive casualties to the siege troops, but since the catapults were gone, the Principality of Zeon's offensive became more fierce.
Nowadays, during many rounds of siege, the soldiers of the Principality of Zeon can climb up the city walls and fight with the soldiers defending the city.
Although in the end these attacking soldiers were driven back and failed to actually occupy the city walls, this situation meant that the day of breaking the city was near.
Now the Principality of Zeon is still attacking the city one family at a time, and each siege team has only a thousand people.
But once the King of the Principality of Jean stops the rotation of wars and chooses to launch a general offensive, Baiyan City will most likely be lost.
At this moment, Slot was standing on the north wall of Baiyan City, looking at the scene a mile away. There, a siege team of thousands of people had gathered and were about to launch an attack on Baiyan City.
Slott is the supreme commander of Baiyan City. In addition to being the supreme commander of Baiyan City, he is actually the brother of King Hayden of the Principality of Alban and a marquis with the strength of a peak gold knight.
Slott has been stationed in Baiyan City for more than 20 years. Every autumn, he would personally stay in Baiyan City to prevent the Principality of Jean from attacking Baiyan City.
Originally, Baiyan City and the Principality of Jean had a very good understanding over the years, and there had been no major friction between the two sides. There were only small groups of rangers fighting each other.
But this year, the Principality of Zeon acted contrary to its usual behavior, which surprised Slote. The Principality of Zeon actually attacked Baiyan City.
This made Slote understand that Lawrence's southern expedition this year might not be just plundering outside the Duchy of Alban like in previous years, but it might be an attempt to take over the entire Duchy of Alban in one fell swoop.
Faced with such a situation, Baiyan City has become countless times more important than in previous years.
Because as long as Baiyan City exists, or holds on longer, Lawrence's plan this year will be shattered, and the Principality of Alban will be able to make more deployments next year.
However, facing an enemy that is ten times more numerous than ours, it is extremely difficult to defend Baiyan City.
Although Slott had sent someone to report the news of Baiyan City back to the capital as soon as possible, he was very worried about whether he could get support from the country.
Now, Baiyan City alone might not be able to hold out for a few more days, and even if he were a peak gold knight, he wouldn't be able to accomplish anything significant.
Because the Principality of Jean not only has two peak gold knights, Lawrence and Gust, but also six ordinary gold knights.
With such a large number of high-end military forces, it would be impossible for Slott to confront the enemy even if he wanted to.
The reason why the two sides' top military forces have not yet taken direct action is simply because the time has not yet come.
"I hope the reinforcements can arrive in time!"
Slott muttered to himself.
At this moment, the siege horn sounded again in the distance. Slott looked calm and his worry was not revealed on his face.
Slott turned around and shouted to the captains beside him: "Everyone return to your posts! As long as you hold on for two more days, our reinforcements will surely arrive!"
"Yes! Sir!"
"Also, pass on my order! Killing an enemy lord will earn you 2 gold coins! Killing an ordinary soldier will earn you 5 silver coins!"
"Yes, sir!"
In an instant, whether it was the captains or the soldiers in the distance, when they heard the reward Slote mentioned, they were immediately cheered up, and their originally tired bodies were also perked up a little.
…
During these three days, there was fighting all the time in the east and north of Baiyan City.
However, the situation on the west side of Baiyan City is completely different. Compared with the other two walls, it can be said to be peaceful and calm.
Especially the Earl's husband, Viscount Gervis, he actually started eating and drinking outside the camp gate.
Gervis lay comfortably on the lounge chair he had temporarily borrowed from Code, enjoying the caress of the warm autumn sunshine.
When you are tired, Lilia, the temporary maid, will rub your shoulders. When you are thirsty, there is delicious wine to quench your thirst. When you are hungry, there are plenty of fresh game and river fish.
If it weren't for the blazing fire under the city wall in the distance, this would seem to be a great place to camp in autumn.
"Grevith, how can you still sit still? There are so many people in the camp talking about you in private now!"
Fatty Pat gulped down half a glass of wine, then immediately grabbed a golden roasted river fish and started eating it, talking to Gervis while eating.
"Oh? What did they say about me?"
Gervis waved to Lilia behind him, indicating that she could stop the massage, then he lay down slightly and looked at Fatty Pat.
"I told you not to be angry!"
"They said you were crazy and wanted to burn the city walls! They also said they would isolate you in the future. It was you who prevented them from winning the reward issued by the king!"
After fat man Pat finished a grilled fish weighing at least one pound in no time, he answered Gervis.
"Besides, I just heard that they are going to protest to the Earl, hoping to start the siege as soon as possible."
"Oh! You're planning to protest!"
Gervis said "oh" lightly, and that was all, and he continued to drink wine leisurely.
This made Fatty Pat, who originally wanted to see if Gervis would be nervous, a little disappointed.
So Pat leaned over again and whispered to Gervis, "Gervis, can you tell me why you want to burn the city wall? Do you have any other plan?"
"This! You will know when the time comes!"
Of course, Gervis would not reveal it to Fatty Pat now, otherwise how could he slap the faces of those little nobles who questioned him.
Of course Gervis knew that there had been a lot of talk about him in the camp these days, but the more intense the talk got, the louder he felt they would be slapped in the face, so he remained calm and let things develop. In order to add fuel to the fire, Gervis even ate, drank and had fun right at the gate of the camp.
In fact, in the past two days, not only in the Jones family camp, but also in the camps to the east and north, the news of Gervis's brainless behavior has been circulating.
For a while, Gervis really became the object of ridicule among the nobles of the Principality of Zeon.
A few days ago, Gervis' medical team and small cannon, as well as the fiefdom promised by the king, made many nobles, big and small, extremely jealous.
There are naturally jealous people who are envious. Now that Gervis had finally made such a bold move, he was simply offering himself to be stabbed by the hilt of the sword. So all the nobles, big and small, tried their best to frame Gervis.
The two earls, Nemio and Avery, even openly discussed that Gervase's actions were actually instructed by Alice.
Because the Jones family did not want to attack the city and wanted to preserve their own strength, they actually went to the king to complain.
However, given that there were no catapults on the city walls and the siege progress was ahead of expectations, the king did not say much, but instead sent a herald to ask Alice to start the siege as soon as possible.
After all, not all of Baiyan City’s catapults were destroyed, they were just dismantled, and Gervis is still a very important person now.
…
"Tomorrow! Tomorrow you will get slapped in the face!"
Although Gervis seems to be enjoying himself these days, he keeps an eye on the progress of water storage in the upstream dam every day.
It is autumn now and there has been little rainfall, so the flow in the river is not large. It will take about three days for the dam above to be filled.
This morning, Gervis also sent people upstream and received news that the dam would be filled up tomorrow.
So he planned to start the action tomorrow. After all, if he delayed any further, the king would most likely order a general attack. If the other earls really took the lead by then, all his efforts would be wasted.
In addition to the dam, the city wall in front had been continuously baked for three days, and the temperature had become frighteningly high. If other people had telescopes, they would have seen that no defenders dared to approach the hundred-meter city wall shrouded in flames.
Because that place has become a complete furnace. Anyone who dares to get close to that section of the city wall for a few dozen meters will be roasted to death in three to five minutes!
…
It's night!
The attacks on the north and east walls were still going on, while the Jones family camp in the west was under curfew. Except for the Rose Knights on patrol, all the minor nobles and soldiers had returned to their own camps, turned off the lights and rested.
At this moment, Gervis was sleeping soundly on the soft bed. He needed to get enough rest tonight so that he could show his prowess in front of everyone tomorrow.
"My lord! My lord!"
At this moment, Ik's anxious call was heard outside Gervis' tent.
"What's wrong, Ike!"
In a daze, Gervis heard Ik's call and woke up instantly. Then he stood up quickly and prepared to put on armor and hold the sword.
It was the late night, and if it wasn't something important, Ike would definitely not come to disturb me.
"Sir, the Earl sent someone to report that a large group of cavalry had attacked from the north, and there is a melee going on there now!"
Ike immediately reported to Gervis in a low voice.
"What? A large group of cavalry is attacking! Ike, come in quickly and help me put on my full body armor!"
Gervis was greatly surprised. He did not expect that there would be a cavalry raid from the Principality of Alban in the middle of the night. Didn’t Fatty Pat and the others say that the Principality of Alban was only responsible for defense before?
Now he dares to take the initiative!
Soon, with the help of Ike and others, Gervis put on full body armor and found where Alice was.
At this moment, Alice was standing on a specially built platform. This platform was for Alice to observe the situation around her in the camp, so the view here was no different from that outside the camp.
When Gervis arrived at the platform, there were already quite a few small nobles who were fully armed, wearing full body armor, with long swords on their waists and holding knight's lances in their hands.
Hey guys, I admit my mistake! I had something to do during the day, so the update is so late!
This chapter is 4800+, and it’s today’s update!
(End of this chapter)
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