At the time, these soldiers all seemed to be elites like centurions and sergeants. Yun Zhe was congratulating himself on having unintentionally caught a big fish, but a few days later he saw tens of thousands of Marquis Kurman's army rushing towards him.
The news of Kurman's approaching army was first brought by Gerlock. Ever since the last cavalry clash, Yun Zhe had sent Gerlock to Kurman's location, Gular Fortress, to gather information. He did indeed get the news, but it was somewhat different from what Yun Zhe had imagined. Nearly three thousand cavalry and ten thousand infantrymen marched out of Gular Fortress in a grand procession, and their destination was self-evident.
Of course, the exact number was just Jelock's guess, but judging from the scale, it was indeed around ten thousand people. So he immediately rushed back to Yun Zhe's side day and night and told Yun Zhe about it.
Yun Zhe was taken aback, and became even more convinced that the recent encounter had resulted in the elimination of an extraordinary figure.
Thanks to Jerok's advance notice, Yun Zhe had more than two days to prepare. It was precisely during these two days of preparation that the entire battle situation underwent some subtle changes.
Nearly two thousand mercenaries were assembled for the first time and informed that their opponents had transformed from thugs and deserters into a heavily armed regular army. Although they had been mentally prepared, the arrival of this day still caused considerable discomfort, with many considering desertion. Their fate, of course, was predictable.
In stark contrast to these mercenaries were the citizens living in Dorgnitzburg. Perhaps because their lives were now quite comfortable, they had indeed developed a simple sense of patriotism and were extremely angry at Kurman, who was about to turn them into refugees again.
Of course, part of the reason is that most of these people came from the capital, and because it was only a short time ago, they had not yet completely forgotten about Kurman's defection.
In short, the people's hearts are with us.
After a period of reorganization, the army and mercenaries reached a consensus: fleeing meant death, and fighting meant death; since death was inevitable anyway, why not fight? Besides, the enemy was the traitor Marquis Kurman. Of course, Lord Yun Zhe's promise of gold coins for killing enemies also played a certain catalytic role.
Yun Zhe summoned his advisors. Gao was in charge of supplies, Morrison was in charge of the city wall defense, and Gerlock led the mercenaries to support the walls and maintain order. Yun Zhe himself took charge of the most tedious tasks, mobilizing the masses to repair the walls and transport weapons and food.
Ellie was dispatched by Yun Zhe to various locations to inform Philby of his current situation and to seek help from the elves. As for Serena, Yun Zhe had also sent people to inform her of the current situation.
In terms of troop allocation, all the cavalry was assigned to Blazer, five hundred cavalrymen and eight hundred horses, all deployed and hidden outside the city. This was the most important mobile force in the war, and also the most crucial counterattack force designed by Yun Zhe. Some prisoners were released by Yun Zhe and, under the pretext of fighting for their freedom, were all deployed to Herak village. Together with the original guards of Herak village, nearly three hundred men were responsible for this outer outpost. The other troops and the villagers outside all retreated back into the interior of Dorgnitzburg. All usable items from the outside were taken away, and anything that could not be taken was destroyed or burned on the spot. A scorched-earth policy, leaving nothing behind.
So when Marquis Kurman arrived in Herak village at noon that day, filled with rage, an eerie atmosphere permeated the area around the village.
Herak village looked strange; the walls of all the houses were connected by stones and trees, and the whole village was completely enclosed, resembling a simple castle.
Seeing this, Kurman didn't get angry but laughed. He had come all this way with great fanfare, sending scouts everywhere, making a big show of force, intending to scare them into surrendering. But when he arrived here, he found that the enemy not only didn't intend to surrender but also planned to resist. This behavior touched the sensitive heart of Marquis Kurman at this moment. He closed his eyes slightly, took a few deep breaths facing the direction of Herak village, then slowly drew his sword and uttered a single word.
"kill!"
Three square formations of infantry and archers slowly moved toward the village, attempting to attack it from three directions. Each square formation consisted of about eight hundred men, with shield-bearers and spearmen on the outside and two hundred archers in the middle, firing arrows as they moved toward the village.
The villagers also began to retaliate with bows and arrows, but to the Kurman soldiers' surprise, these bows and arrows were just a small decoy to attract their attention. The real killing move was not the bows and arrows, but the various traps that had been laid around the village.
Soon, the southernmost infantry phalanx, their attention focused on the arrows flying overhead, saw the entire rank of soldiers fall into the trap that had been dug at the village entrance. The trap was wide and large; the first two ranks fell abruptly, while those behind were unaware of what was happening, resulting in crushing and trampling. Nearly a third of the men fell into the trap. Worse still, the soldiers in the phalanx were in a state of panic. Under the sudden, dense rain of arrows from the defending troops, their morale completely collapsed, making them the first phalanx to rout.
At the same time, the northern and western phalanxes also encountered similar traps. However, unlike the southern phalanx, the northern phalanx's traps were filled with upside-down broken spears, discarded swords, and wooden stakes sharpened at various angles. So, although the fall situation was similar to that of the southern phalanx, the number of casualties was far greater.
The western phalanx suffered a fate somewhere in between, its interior littered with tung oil and various flammable materials. Assisted by several rockets, the western phalanx, the main attacking force, collapsed the fastest, its screams the loudest.
Seeing the horrific scene before him, Marquis Kurman's breathing quickened. He hadn't expected to encounter such resolute resistance. He gripped his whip, took a few more deep breaths, and slowly gave the order.
"Continue the attack!"
Before Marquis Kurman's soldiers could even tend to the wounded, two brand-new phalanxes were quickly assembled and launched a fierce attack from the north and west. This time, there were no more traps, and soon both sides were embroiled in a brutal siege.
Due to the vast difference in numbers and the quality of the soldiers, the second battle did not last long. The battle was over before the sun had completely set.
As the sun set, Kurman's soldiers searched the village for any possible resistance fighters who might have gone into hiding.
Beside the fire pit on the west side of the village, 283 corpses had been piled up in layers. These were the resistance fighters who held out in the village.
On the other hand, the casualties of Kurman's soldiers were also tallied. If no more resistance fighters could be found in the village, then the fact that the death toll in the first battle exceeded the death toll of the resistance fighters became an indisputable fact.
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