Chapter 72: Golden Ouroboros (Twenty)
◎ Steam Light Armor◎
The fierce fighting outside Gunda City has entered its fourth day.
From the second day on, the soldiers participating in the war were already bloodthirsty, regardless of morality or humanity. All personal thoughts of all people were wiped out equally in the vortex of war, and they became parts of this meat grinder. Destroying all enemies within sight was the only thought imprinted in their minds.
This is no longer a war, but a bloody massacre.
The only difference is that neither side in this massacre has an absolute advantage, which in turn causes the process to be prolonged indefinitely.
But every massacre must come to an end, either the last person on one side dies, or a weight appears on the field that is strong enough to tip the balance.
Yamenla returned to the camp holding a bloody long sword. The guard of the long sword was covered with layers of blood plasma and sticky meat. The dry and wet touch was very strange, like an old, lumpy sponge that had been soaked and swollen.
"How's the situation with Chilahe?" The queen was covered in blood and dust, and her long hair, which was tied in a vine-like crown, was dirty, just like every other soldier around her. But her blue eyes were shining with a burning look that made it impossible to look directly at them.
Ashur took the queen's long sword without changing her expression. The heavy saber seemed to have no weight in her hand. The reserved female officer replied softly: "The battle report from Chilahe City arrived an hour ago. Your vanguard officer cut off the head of the disloyal man for you. Chilahe has sworn allegiance to you."
Yamenla raised the corner of her lips: "What about Pangle?"
Ashur shook his head: "There is no news from Pangle City yet. It seems that there is a stalemate over there."
Yamenla pondered, pulled off his wet gloves and threw them on the ground, strode to the huge sand table topographic map in the middle of the tent, supported himself on the edge of the table with both hands, and looked around.
With Gunda as the center, Chilahe and Pangle are located on both sides of the royal city, and they guard the way to other cities.
The three cities are the throat of the city, and they are in a tripod-like situation, like an unbreakable barrier, forcing all those who covet Assyria to weigh their weight.
Amenla has been stuffing lives into the Gunda meat grinder like crazy these days in order to tie up Gunda's main force and prevent the royal army from going to support Chilahe and Pangle. Pangle is an industrial and mechanical city known only to the Assyrian nobles. It contains a large amount of mineral resources and various weapons. Even if it cannot be conquered, it is necessary to besiege Pangle and prevent it from supporting Gunda.
The royal army of Gunda possesses the most advanced combat capabilities in Assyria. As a princess who once led this army to war and the current queen, Amenra knows this best. Once the royal army breaks through the blockade and contacts Pangle, there will be no possibility for her to turn the tide in this war.
"Gunda has launched the eleventh breakout!" A dusty soldier came crawling over to report, his cracked lips covered in bloody cuts.
Yamenla casually pushed her cup on the table to the side. There was still half a cup of tea in it that she had not had time to drink when she came back last time. Ashur understood and handed the cup of water to the extremely thirsty soldier.
The other party was stunned for a moment, as if he didn't react. Then, at Ashur's silent urging, he took the cup and drank the tea in it carefully and greedily.
After watching him drag his tired body towards the battlefield, Ashur came back with a cup in his hand: "...He still looks like a child."
Yamenla didn't look up and said coldly: "There are no children on the battlefield. No one will give up killing their enemies just because of their age."
Ashur hesitated to speak, looked at Amenla, and walked away helplessly.
Yamenla knew that this was not what she wanted to say, but...
The queen did not stay in the tent for long. Almost at the same time as the soldier, she jumped on the horse again, holding the long sword that Ashur had simply cleaned.
The next time she came back here was three hours later, when Roman's last batch of reinforcements crossed the mountains and arrived in Gunda.
They brought the last batch of soldiers, as well as the resources that Amenra urgently needed, and of course, the most important thing - twelve steam-powered light armors and hundreds of heavy armors.
Assyrian warriors are born for killing. The vast plains give them speed and strength beyond ordinary people. Their primitive worship of wild beasts makes them instinctively learn the cunning of wolves, the ferocity of lions, and the agility of leopards. Unlike the Romans and Calais, the Assyrians are taller and stronger. They can drag a hand cannon that requires two people to carry. The weight of armor is not worth mentioning to them. When they hold the huge oak shield and roar forward, it seems that the earth is rumbling and shaking.
Many people in Roman's vanguard were crushed to death by such shield formations.
The Romans were not as strong as the Assyrians, so they could not knock down their shields, and their spears could not penetrate their heavy armor. The officers' machine guns could penetrate the wooden boards, but the shields were covered with iron sheets, and the gunpowder was stuck inside, making it difficult to move...
The battle between infantry and infantry was extremely one-sided. If it weren't for Roman's superb skills, the cavalry regiment, and the abundant reserves of gunpowder weapons, it would have been difficult for Amenla to pull the battle to the current 50-50 situation.
But this stalemate will soon end.
The strength of the body is nothing compared to absolute armament.
The greatest and cruelest invention in human history, driven by steam, connects various parts of the armor through gears and ropes to achieve an integrated effect. Through the release of steam, this thing is lighter than ordinary armor and terribly flexible. The person wearing it can move as fast as a good horse running at full speed on the battlefield. As long as he holds a weapon - no matter whether it is the most ordinary knife or gun, who can escape his massacre?
Steam light armor is the iron sword of the Bronze Age and the flintlock rifle of the Silver Age. It is a killing weapon that transcends its time.
When Sangxia formed an alliance with the newly crowned Raphael, Roman privately gave him two steam light armor power cores as a gift. He gave these two power cores to Leshet for re-research and reassembly. As the donor, Roman of course also had more steam light armor.
However, this thing is extremely expensive. The cost of each steam light armor is equivalent to that of a palace. Even in a big empire like Roman, there are only 26 equipments in service.
And Amen-ra brought twelve of them to the battlefield of Assyria.
"Changshengtian... Will you sentence your daughter to a heinous crime?" The queen pulled the reins, turned her horse's head, and watched a group of mechanics in uniform coming in and out of her tent. The gushing steam rose into the sky like clouds, mixed with a huge amount of heat that could not be ignored, blowing in people's faces, making people feel a dense, pricking sensation on the skin.
No one could hear the queen's muttering except herself, just as the pain and entanglement in her heart were unknown to others. The soldiers and guards could only see the queen standing there with a cold and stern expression, her back and head straight and proud in a straight line. Nothing could destroy her belief that she would win the war.
The steam spewing out here was so obvious that even the people on the distant city walls could see it. The gate of Gonda had been destroyed by Roman's attack at midnight on the first day. The tug-of-war between the two sides unfolded around the gate. One side tried desperately to rush in, while the other side tried desperately to push out the people who rushed in. The corpses were piled up like a mountain under the city wall. The Assyrian and Roman soldiers were entangled and growing together like twisted vines, with each other's limbs intertwined. There was only a tacit ceasefire of two hours in the evening every day to collect the bodies of their comrades.
The Assyrian soldier on the city wall saw the mist rising like clouds behind the king's tent. He knew who the owner there was: the queen of Assyria, who was also his monarch in name.
But his queen was leading armies from other countries to attack the Assyrian royal city, and he was desperately resisting the queen's army, even aiming to kill the queen on the battlefield.
Even as a lowly soldier, he felt that this matter was beyond his understanding.
But this is the order of the high priest.
The high priest obeyed the voice of Eternal Heaven and said that Assyria would no longer accept the rule of Queen Amen-ra, and they would have a new monarch - a new Chile-Baraetu, and Assyria would regain the glory of Eternal Heaven's dominance over the Black Sea under the banner of this new hero.
The high priest soon received the news, and, surrounded and supported by the temple priests, he climbed up the city wall and stood in a position with the best view.
A group of people looked silently at the fog in the distance that was surging like a sea of clouds, and their hearts sank at the same time.
Assyria did not have steam light armor.
Years of civil strife had consumed Assyria's independent research and development capabilities. Assyria's weapons level remained at the level of the Syracuse Peninsula ten years ago. During these ten years, steam light armor had become the research focus of Roman and Calais. However, this did not prevent the priests from knowing about this terrifying weapon. They had also seen the corresponding picture albums through various channels.
The priests wore outer garments woven from eagle feathers, and round-necked linen robes underneath. Wolf teeth, cow bones and other ornaments were hung on the leather belts around their waists, and many hard sun-dried fruits were strung on the straw ropes on their chests - this symbolized that the priests held the power over life and death, and were the bridge of communication with the Eternal Heaven and all things in nature.
Their faces were painted with grass green and scarlet oil paints, and the ancient and mysterious patterns resembled the oldest characters. The high priest had a sun totem painted on his forehead with fresh cow's blood to bless the warriors on the battlefield. When he looked up at Roman's position, the sticky blood that had not yet completely dried flowed down and slid across the corners of his eyes, bringing a stinging pain.
"Hurry up and reinforce the city gates to avoid frontal combat." The high priest finally gave the order.
"Why? Our warriors are not afraid of any challenge!" said the centurion holding a huge battle axe excitedly.
But the high priest did not answer, nor did he need to answer. Everyone could see that the cloud of steam surging behind the king's tent suddenly expanded at an extremely fast rate. Something had changed.
After the inspection of the twelve suits of armor was completed, the carefully selected knights pulled down their steel masks, hiding the last inch of skin under the indestructible armor. They moved their fingers, wrists, and ankles one by one according to the procedure, and finally stood up.
This process seemed extremely terrifying to the unarmed people. Each suit of armor was nearly three meters high, and the humanoid figures made of steel looked both human and absolutely inhuman. When they moved their hands and feet in imitation of humans, it felt like alien creatures suddenly coming to life.
The gears inside the armor rotated and engaged one by one as they moved, making small, regular clicking sounds. The levers and knobs began to move, and the cylinders and pistons chirped happily under the action of the newly added grease. After a long period of preheating, the armor had reached its best condition. When the knights stood up, the pipes connected to the huge steam-powered core device behind them broke, and streams of scorching hot steam gushed out of the pipes, instantly scalding several people who didn't have time to walk away. ○
This was an absolutely violent weapon. Every part of the armor could be used to kill people, and every ingenious design served this purpose. The knights walked silently along the path that had been cleared in advance, as if moving mountains cast shadows on both sides. Steam spewed out from the gaps in the armor's links as they walked, shrouding them in a faint mist, making it look like a demon from ancient mythology had descended here.
An undoubted massacre began.
No matter how powerful the Assyrians were, they were no match for the masterpiece of machinery. The steam power was running wildly, allowing the knights galloping down the hillside to instantly overtake the horses in front of them and be swept into the Assyrian army like a whirlwind. Wherever they went, the Assyrian soldiers collapsed.
The four-meter-long swords in their hands were like toys, and they could easily cut a row of people in half. The oak shields could be crushed by the high-powered armor. They pushed forward madly, using their weapons without hesitation. The long swords were covered in blood and were too slippery, so they drew the knives at their waists or the swords on their backs. The front of their iron boots could pop out short knives, and every move they made could kill countless undead.
No one can remain indifferent to this scene. Even the most cruel executioner or murderer will be stunned by the wanton slaughter of lives. We can tolerate the struggle and killing between people, but we can never accept such a large-scale death that goes beyond common sense.
Yamenla stood on a high hillside and watched this scene. Her expression was as cold as ever, but a little paler than before.
Steam light armor has been around for many years, but it seems to be the first time it has been truly used on the battlefield, and against opponents of such a lower level.
Even the Roman soldiers standing by felt horrified when they saw this scene, and their joy was unknowingly diluted to the point of being almost unnoticeable.
Ashur stood a few steps away from the queen, also looking at the tragic scene below: "Do you regret it?"
Amenla didn't say anything, she stood there firmly, her back harder than a sculpture.
"From now on, Assyria will regard you as a tyrant," Ashur's voice was like a gust of wind, which would be blown away if you didn't listen carefully. "You have reduced the casualties, but even the Assyrian people who still have feelings for you will never approach you again."
Amenla still didn't speak.
Ashur was silent for two seconds, walked up, opened his arms, and draped the heavy cloak in his hand over the queen's shoulders.
Her hand stayed on the queen for a moment, and the queen's body trembled slightly under her palm, very lightly.
"But this is a war," Yamenla looked ahead, "My father told me not to worry about right or wrong. When in a war, the only thing to think about is victory. I am the queen, and I cannot lose."
"I have won countless victories for Assyria, allowing Assyria to live freely and independently on this side of the Black Sea, and now I will win again - just like before."
The queen spoke softly, her body trembling but her voice steadier than rock.
She doesn't care about doing
A tyrant, she must take back her Assyria.
The author has something to say:
That is to say...from the perspective of our universal values, the characters in this book have right and wrong behaviors, but there are no perfect saints in the world, and evil people can also do good things. All behaviors are based on the characters' personalities and identities. Everyone must remember this! Even Raphael can do bad things [don't learn from him], in short, the environment shapes the character, if you really can't accept it, please leave quietly [tears]
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