Chapter 233 - 144: Attacking a Ranked Lord (2)
Furthermore, according to the peripheral lords from whom the Northern Expedition Legion had been extorting protection fees, these same lords had indeed paid up. Yet, puzzlingly, they had joined the core of the Northern Expedition Legion after encountering Mei Yuan.
Aside from them, as the number of lords in the Northern Expedition Legion grew, the ranked lords along their path felt their spirits sink. They ceaselessly reinforced their defenses, exhausting every last resource in their territories to recruit more soldiers.
This anxiety reached its peak after December 5th.
On this day, all the lords of the Northern Expedition Legion gathered outside a massive city. The city covered over ten square kilometers, and its walls appeared to be cast from a single piece of metal, forming a seamless whole.
Within the city, buildings of all kinds stood in dense rows, and defensive structures were numerous. The machine gun nests positioned along the walls were exceptionally conspicuous.
The Northern Expedition Legion’s five million soldiers had the entire city completely surrounded. Everyone wore a solemn expression, waiting for the siege to begin.
"Boss, is this the power of a ranked lord? So strong! The city alone is as big as a normal lord’s entire territory."
"He may be strong, but with so many lords, soldiers, and heroes, you think we can’t take him down?"
"We can take him down, sure, but how many of us will have to die?"
"What’s that got to do with us? We brought Cavalry. And what does Cavalry do? Provide support, run down fleeing enemies, assault... but definitely not siege a city," Xiong Da said in a low voice.
"Hehehe, Boss, you’re so cunning!!"
"That’s our boss for you!"
"Boss, you’re still as awesome as ever!"
The other three brothers looked at the Cavalry behind them, realized what he meant, and all began to chuckle softly.
...
"Brothers, our first real battle is here. It’s time to see what we’re really made of. We need to fight this battle with style, build our momentum, and keep casualties to a minimum."
...
"If we screw this up, we might as well pack our bags and go home, so we don’t waste any of your time."
After Mei Yuan finished his rallying speech, he waved a single hand. "Attack!"
"KILL!!"
The unified roar of the five-million-strong army unleashed a tremendous sound wave.
Inside the city, Lord Wang Peng’s expression was exceptionally grim.
’So this is the Northern Expedition Legion they claim has ten million men?’
’Let’s just see if you have more men than I have bullets.’
Ever since the Northern Expedition Legion’s route of advance had been revealed, Wang Peng knew that he would have to face this battle sooner or later.
He had urgently reinforced his territory’s defenses, adding more machine gun nests. He also bought a large batch of machine guns and bullets from Qian Duoduo. Since Wang Peng was fighting "destabilizing elements," Qian Duoduo had even given him a 30% discount, allowing him to purchase more weapons to arm his troops.
He had already made inquiries. Although the Northern Expedition Legion had a vast number of soldiers, their troop tier wasn’t high. To him, they were nothing but cannon fodder.
’And what are machine guns best at?’
’Killing cannon fodder.’
However, after the Northern Expedition Legion surrounded the city, his expression had remained dark. The sight of five million men standing in formation before him was a first for him, and it was utterly terrifying.
Now, his confidence was wavering.
"BOOM~"
"BOOM BOOM~~"
...
Although the Northern Expedition Legion had superior numbers, they were still cautious and did not send their troops to attack directly.
Instead, they chopped down all the trees around the city and built countless Catapults. They operated the Catapults, endlessly hurling stones at the city.
A sky full of boulders threatened to bury the city entirely.
Wang Peng wanted to counterattack, but his forces had no artillery. He could only bring out his own Catapults and engage in a duel with the Northern Expedition Legion.
Catapults on both sides were continuously destroyed, but the Northern Expedition Legion’s logistics were extremely well-stocked, far beyond anything Wang Peng could match.
The moment the battle began, the market’s instant-purchase delivery service was suspended. Wang Peng had no time to build new Catapults now, so every one of his that was destroyed was a permanent loss.
On the other hand, the Northern Expedition Legion had plenty of idle soldiers. When a Catapult broke, it was quickly repaired. If a machine was beyond fixing, the soldiers would simply build a new one to take its place.
Other soldiers were off to the side, either digging up stones or molding and compacting earth into large mud blocks.
However, most of the ammunition used by the Catapults came in the form of explosive rocks created by the Earth Mages.
These explosive rocks detonated violently upon impact, leaving any soldiers near the blast zone battered and covered in soot.
Besides the Earth Mages, there were also Ice Mages creating ice spheres, which were also hurled onto the city walls.
Soldiers who were hit suffered severe frostbite, and most of them lost their ability to fight.
"My lord, we can’t hold on! They have too many Catapults!"
From a high tower in the center of his territory, Wang Peng watched as his domain was relentlessly bombarded by all sorts of projectiles, his body trembling uncontrollably.
His eyes were bloodshot. His mouth opened and closed ceaselessly, but no sound came out.
"We hold on even if we can’t!!!"
"Forget it. Have all soldiers on the walls fall back. They have too many Catapults."
"We have machine gun nests inside the territory, too. Let’s make them fight us in the streets!"
"Tell them to be discreet as they retreat! Use some deception!!"
Wang Peng knew that it was useless for the soldiers to continue defending the walls. At best, it would only delay the city’s fall, and only for a very short time.
He might as well pull the soldiers back now and prepare for urban combat.
Upon receiving the order, the soldiers on the walls braved the rain of stones from above and quietly leaped down from the ramparts. The wall was high; getting up it was difficult and required a long detour.
Getting down, however, was much easier. To facilitate a rapid retreat, Wang Peng had installed numerous platforms on the inner side of the wall. With these platforms, soldiers could jump down from the wall, tier by tier.
As they retreated into the city, the soldiers also set up their helmets on the ramparts to create numerous fake targets.
These helmets bought them a good deal of time.
When the sentinels of the Northern Expedition Legion noticed that the targets on the wall weren’t moving, they quickly realized they were fakes.
They swiftly reported the anomaly to the Northern Expedition Legion’s commander.
Many of the spectating lords also received the news.
"Hahaha, they’re retreating already!!!"
"I haven’t even gotten started, and they’re already breaking."
"And here I thought a ranked lord was supposed to be something special. So this is all there is to them!!"
"Let’s go! Charge! Get in there and dismantle the buildings for me! I want those blueprints!!"
"Charge!!"
"The slow ones get nothing!"
...
The commander was still contemplating whether to send in a probe to see if the enemy was feigning a retreat to lure them into a trap.
Many lords had already ordered their soldiers to charge.
When one reckless lord’s troops moved out, the other lords couldn’t suppress their own impulses. They were afraid that if they charged too slowly, there would be no spoils left.
To them, a teammate gaining spoils while they gained none was a net loss. It was an unacceptable outcome, so they also ordered their men to charge.
More and more soldiers began to charge. Soon, most of the peripheral lords’ soldiers had begun the assault.
Once a charge of several million soldiers begins, it is unstoppable.
The commander had no choice but to order the Catapults to cease fire and have the other soldiers provide support.
The booming stopped, and the battlefield filled with war cries as squad after squad of soldiers quickly scaled the walls.
With no one on the walls to interfere, these soldiers, each with their own unique skills, mounted the ramparts with ease.
"RAT-TAT~~"
"RAT-TAT-TAT~~~"
The sound of sweeping machine gun fire erupted from within the city. The machine gun nests inside the city had opened up.
"TAKE COVER!!"
The moment the gunfire rang out, the soldiers who had scaled the walls scrambled to find cover.
The boulders that the Catapults had smashed onto the walls now served as shields, and many soldiers hid in the partially collapsed gatehouses and machine gun nests.
The machine gun fire was incredibly dense. The first soldiers over the wall were mostly agility-types without strong defensive skills, and they were instantly pinned down, unable to even lift their heads.
From time to time, someone would be hit by a ricochet and cry out in pain.
However, the suppression from the machine gun nests didn’t last long.
Soon, the soldiers of the Northern Expedition Legion breached the city gate. After clearing the traps just inside, they began to pour into the city.
Shield Soldiers, shimmering with various buffs, led the way, charging headfirst into the dense storm of metal.
Behind them, Priests and Mages continuously cast buffs, shields, and heals. Although their tier wasn’t high, their sheer numbers meant their combined healing output was terrifying.
The excessive healing made the lead Shield Soldiers flush bright red, a sign of their vitality surging to an incredible degree.
They felt utterly invincible. As long as they weren’t one-shot, they knew they would be fully healed in the very next instant.