It's almost time. Pass on my order: let the main siege team begin their action!"
Looking at Grus, where the shouts of killing shook the heavens, Duke Forrest knew the time was almost right. He turned his head and told the messenger beside him to relay the order.
The experienced Duke Forrest knew that it would be difficult to capture this large fortress city by brute force alone.
Of course, if he could borrow the strength of Prince Lucerys or Ela, it would certainly be easy to take the city.
But Prince Lucerys wasn't here, and he couldn't persuade Ela at all.
In her words, as long as the opponent didn't have transcendent beings bullying the weak, she wouldn't actively participate in such a war between ordinary people.
So, from the beginning, Duke Forrest had placed his hope of breaking the city on a surprise attack.
Now, the situation on the entire battlefield was reaching a fever pitch. Normally, at this time, both sides would only have killing the enemy standing before them in their eyes, and they wouldn't pay attention to other places.
Splash!
Outside the southern city wall of Grus, ripples spread in the muddy moat water.
Dozens of newly built small wooden rafts were gently pushed into the southern moat by a group of Frey Family soldiers.
The moats of large fortress cities like Grus were generally about twenty meters wide and seven to eight meters deep.
Duke Forrest had already spent an unknown amount of manpower and resources filling in one side of the moat, and it was indeed impossible to fill in a second side.
Splash, splash!
After the small wooden rafts entered the water, seven or eight Frey Family soldiers jumped onto the rafts, picked up the oars that had been prepared in the boats, and vigorously rowed towards the southern city wall on the opposite side of the moat.
Compared to the western city wall, there were very few defending soldiers on the southern city wall.
Moreover, most of them were nervously watching the battle situation on the western city wall, as this concerned their safety.
It wasn't until those dozens of small wooden rafts had crossed nearly half of the moat that the defending soldiers began shouting in alarm.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Bang, bang!
Sparse arrow rain and two large ballista bolts were shot from the southern city wall.
This sparse arrow rain posed almost no threat to the Frey Family soldiers on the small wooden rafts.
However, the thick, long ballista bolts shot from the two large ballistas were surprisingly lethal to the small wooden rafts.
Pfft!
A thick, long ballista bolt, like a spear, hit a small wooden raft.
The two Frey Family soldiers on it were directly pierced by the thick, long ballista bolt, like candied haws on a stick.
The thick, long ballista bolt, its kinetic energy slightly reduced, directly pierced the bottom of the small wooden raft, and streams of water immediately poured in from inside.
This small wooden raft was naturally rendered useless. It would be good if the remaining five or six Frey Family soldiers could turn around and row back.
Fortunately, although the large ballistas had strong lethality, their shooting accuracy and reloading speed were very poor.
Having lost only three small wooden rafts, the remaining dozens of small wooden rafts approached the southern city wall.
To be precise, they approached an iron gate below the southern city wall, formed by thick, hard iron bars crossed into an 'X' shape.
It should have been due to being submerged in water year-round, as a large amount of red rust now covered the lower half of this gate.
And there were also streams of turbid water emitting a strange smell flowing from inside into the moat.
This was the passage Grus used for sewage discharge, and from here, it led directly to the internal waterways within the city of Grus.
When dozens of rafts arrived at the water gate, the Commander of this siege team, a middle-aged man wearing the classic Frey Family hat, immediately ordered his soldiers to begin action.
These soldiers took one iron chain after another, which had been prepared beforehand, and firmly fastened them onto this heavy iron gate.
Once these iron chains were secured, they were connected to the dozens of small bamboo rafts piled up there.
When that Commander gave the order, these few hundred Frey Family soldiers immediately rowed with all their might in the direction they had come from.
Splash!
The iron chains, being pulled, immediately became taut and slanted.
Creak, creak!
As the dozens of iron chains were pulled, the thick, hard iron bars on the iron gate emitted unpleasant noises from enduring strong tension.
At first, they just made noise, but gradually these iron bars began to slightly twist, clearly unable to withstand the force any longer.
Snap!
Thump!
An iron bar of poorer quality was the first to give way, breaking directly in the middle and falling into the moat water.
Thump, thump, thump!
That iron bar was like the last straw that broke the camel's back. As it broke and fell into the river, the other iron bars of the iron gate also began to fall into the river continuously.
"That's enough!"
Seeing that enough iron bars had fallen for the rafts to pass through, the Frey Family Commander quickly ordered the dozens of small wooden rafts around him to stop.
And just as this Frey Family siege unit began rowing away from the moat, on the left side of the western city wall,
Here, due to Commander Viller finding an excuse to protect himself, corresponding negative effects had already begun to appear.
The left section of the city wall now not only lacked a Commander for coordination, but also because of Viller's loud shouting before leaving, the defending soldiers here had heard it and began to let their imaginations run wild.
The Frey Family soldiers, focused solely on the siege, didn't care about all this.
Like hyenas, as long as you showed a weak point, they would launch a fierce attack on you.
Quite a few Frey Family soldiers had already climbed onto the left city wall via siege towers and ladders.
Once they had gained a foothold, the Frey Family soldiers below could clearly feel them starting to converge on this section of the city wall.
Gery also noticed. He could clearly feel that the attack on the right city wall was slowly weakening, but the enemy had not blown the retreat horn.
He snatched a one-handed shield from a defending soldier beside him, went to the battlement, and looked down, using the shield for cover.
He saw the large number of civilian attackers below the city wall beginning to converge towards the left city wall.
Oh no!
As soon as Gery saw the situation below the city wall, his heart immediately sank.
He retreated behind the city wall, returned the one-handed shield to the defending soldier, then tore off the ornate cloak from his back, revealing the brand new armor he wore underneath.
Gery drew the sword from his waist and said to the defending soldiers on the right city wall: "Brothers, hold the city wall well. These westerlands puppies won't last long before they retreat.
Of the ten defending squads, each squad send twenty men to follow me and reinforce the left city wall!"
Following his call, more than two hundred defending soldiers on the right city wall immediately stepped forward and followed Gery to reinforce the left city wall.
Rip!
Tap, tap, tap!
Beoro used the long sword in his hand to cut the throat of a Frey Family soldier. Just as he was wiping the hot blood that splashed onto his face with the back of his hand, he heard a burst of footsteps from the right city wall.
He looked up and saw Gery approaching with a troop of men.
Beoro, who had been immersed in the thrill of killing, had no idea what was happening. He instinctively thought that Gery had brought men to reinforce him.
Feeling somewhat uncomfortable, Beoro immediately said loudly to Gery: "Gery, why are you leaving your defensive area?
If the city wall falls because of your departure, can you bear the responsibility?"
"Lord Beoro, as you said. If we don't bring troops to reinforce the left city wall soon, the city wall really will fall.
If you don't believe me, look below the city wall at the enemy's direction of movement!"
Hearing Beoro's tone, Gery frowned and directly stated the grim situation.
"Look below the city wall?"
Upon hearing this, Beoro, under the escort of his guards, went to the battlement and looked down at the general situation. Indeed, as Gery had said, the vast siege army was constantly gathering towards the left side of the city wall.
"cavill, take five hundred men and go with Gery to reinforce Viller."
Beoro was not a fool. Seeing the situation below the city wall, he immediately gave an order to a captain of his personal guards who was following him.
The middle section of the city wall originally had the most troops, and now the intensity of the siege had clearly weakened, so Beoro could deploy more troops.
"Yes!"
This young and strong guard heard the order and immediately nodded in response.
Seeing that Beoro did not speak further after giving the order, Gery saluted him and quickly walked across the middle section of the city wall towards the left city wall.
Ah!
Kill!
As soon as he passed through the middle city wall and arrived at the area of the left city wall, Gery immediately heard all sorts of screams and shouts of killing.
At this moment, Frey Family soldiers had already gained a foothold on three sections of the left city wall, and they were cruelly exchanging lives with the defending soldiers.
In the two sections closer to Gery, the enemy numbers were not large, only about fifty or sixty Frey Family soldiers.
But in the furthest section, nearly a hundred Frey Family soldiers had climbed onto the city wall, and they had already occupied a small section of the leftmost city wall.
Bodies were already starting to pile up on the left city wall, and the sticky blood made the stone slabs of the city wall slippery. If one wasn't careful, they might slip and fall directly.
And falling on a battlefield like this basically meant there was no chance of getting up again!
"cavill, take your men and drive down those westerlands puppies from these two sections in front.
I will take care of the innermost section!"
Not seeing Viller and his guards in his line of sight, Gery didn't think much of it and directly spoke to cavill.
"No problem!"
cavill readily agreed and immediately led his men to charge at the two groups of Frey Family soldiers on the city wall.
Although Gery looked more like a Commander than a warrior.
He was actually a veteran warrior with rich experience... well, a warrior.
Seeing Gery, who was charging at the very front, immediately go up to a Frey Family soldier after the latter had killed a defending soldier.
Clang!
Gery saw the Frey Family soldier swing his sword. He held his sword with both hands and used the back half of his long sword to block.
After blocking the enemy's long sword, he used the crossguard of his own long sword to hook the opponent's long sword, then flipped it forcefully with both hands. The Frey Family soldier's weapon immediately fell to the ground.
Swish!
Sizzle, sizzle!
Seeing his weapon fall, the Frey Family soldier raised his right hand, just about to speak,
Gery horizontally sliced with his sword, cutting off his right hand's palm. At the same time, the tip of his sword sliced across his throat, and blood immediately gushed out with a sizzling sound.
"We will deal with the enemies on the city wall. Archers provide suppression, and infantry use hooked poles to push down their siege ladders for me!"
With the addition of fresh troops and Gery's command and leadership, the defending soldiers on the left city wall immediately felt like they had a backbone.
They all followed Gery's orders, performing their respective duties.
Ah!!!
As the defending soldiers fought in an orderly manner, siege ladders, accompanied by screams, were constantly pushed off the city wall.
Afterward, the planks of the siege towers were also forcibly pushed off the city wall. Without a continuous stream of reinforcements,
The westerlands enemies on the left city wall began to slowly decrease, and the situation gradually returned to the control of Gery and cavill.
In the middle section of the western city wall, Beoro, having been affected by Gery's actions, no longer had the desire to continue killing.
He remembered Gery and the others who had just left, so he directly assigned one of his personal guards to go and inquire about the battle situation on the left city wall.
After a while, the breathless guard ran up to Beoro,
and reported haltingly: "Lord Beoro, Lord Viller, is... is not on the city wall."
Not there! Then where did he go?
Hearing the guard's report, Beoro's expression immediately changed to surprise, and he lowered his head in thought.
...
The Commander of the siege unit was sailing through the damp, dark sewage passage, enduring the stench as he rowed the wooden raft upstream. After entering the interior of the fortress city, his vision suddenly opened up.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
But just as this siege Commander led the Frey Family soldiers who had just jumped off the small wooden rafts a few steps out, humanoid silhouettes appeared in his vision, and at the same time, he heard the sound of arrows cutting through the air.
A dense rain of arrows shot from the exit of the sewage passage.
These Frey Family soldiers who had just emerged from the sewage passage were caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties.
The Frey Family Commander in charge of the siege was instantly stunned by the sight. According to logic, there shouldn't have been so many troops here.
After all, the main force was on the main battlefield of the western city wall.
The situation on the battlefield was ever-changing. After Beoro reacted earlier, he had prepared to personally lead men to reinforce the left city wall.
And at this time, the defending soldiers on the southern city wall just happened to come for reinforcements.
So Beoro rushed with his archer unit to the exit of the sewage passage, waiting for them to walk into the trap.
In this situation where the exit was blocked, even if the Frey Family Commander forcefully ordered his soldiers to charge regardless of death, they still couldn't break through.
No way!
After leaving behind a large number of corpses, he could only retreat back the way he came, looking dejected.
"Huff," Pass on my order, beat the drums for retreat!"
When that Commander personally came to report the failure of the surprise attack, Duke Forrest let out a long sigh, and then gave him the order to retreat.
"Retreat? Your grace, although the surprise attack failed, it looks like we could take it if we just push a little harder!
We've already lost so much..."
Hearing the order to retreat, kayvan, who had clearly seen their side assault the city wall several times and gain the advantage, asked in confusion.
"Today's siege was originally to cover your surprise attack on that passage.
Since the surprise attack plan has failed, this siege battle has no meaning anymore.
If we continue, the siege won't be able to rely on those civilians from the Disputed Lands.
But if that happens, the casualties among our elite soldiers will be very high."
"This... Yes, sir!"
Thump thump thump!
The sound of drums came, and all the siege soldiers and civilians, as if granted a great pardon, immediately began to retreat.
This first siege battle ultimately resulted in a victory for Beoro's side!