Chapter 438 -438-Preparing to Attack the Royal Capital
The royal capital was divided into two sections—
the Inner City and the Outer City.
The Inner City was where the royal family and nobles lived. It possessed its own independent judicial and security systems.
Although the Inner City did not appear particularly large, it still housed several hundred cannons, enough to provide complete fire coverage over the Outer City.
That meant even if John managed to break into the Outer City, he would still have to face another layer of concentrated fire from the Inner City.
The Outer City, meanwhile, was home to hundreds of thousands of ordinary civilians.
Several hundred cannons had been mounted along its walls, which were guarded by roughly one hundred thousand elite soldiers.
The harbor outside the Outer City also possessed several hundred cannons and was located extremely close to the city walls.
With the Outer City’s artillery capable of covering the harbor, anyone attempting to capture the royal capital would have to endure not only the harbor batteries, but also the cannons mounted on the city’s outer defenses.
In other words...
they would effectively be facing the concentrated firepower of more than a thousand cannons at once.
And that was not all.
The waters outside the harbor had been filled with all kinds of defensive obstacles.
Heavy chains.
Naval mines.
And even damaged ships deliberately sunk or abandoned to block the harbor entrance.
Every possible measure had been taken to slow down an attacking fleet.
John’s gaze swept across all of these defenses before finally settling on the Naval Corps warships anchored not far from the harbor.
Several hundred standardized destroyers and frigates.
Their fleet, the harbor, and the city walls formed a triangular defensive formation.
That meant no matter which of the three positions an attacker chose to strike...
they would immediately come under fire from the other two.
The hundreds of warships carried more than a thousand cannons between them.
If John insisted on launching a frontal assault, he would likely have to endure the firepower of at least two thousand cannons.
Two thousand cannons!
Even if their accuracy was poor, a few rounds of concentrated fire would still be enough to destroy large numbers of attacking warships.
And the larger the target...
the easier it would be to hit.
More importantly, the royal capital possessed enormous reserves of supplies.
There was enough food and fresh water to sustain the entire city for at least three years.
Its ammunition reserves were equally astonishing.
It was said that even if every cannon fired at full intensity, the city could maintain continuous bombardment for seven days and seven nights.
And the civilians inside the royal capital could be converted into militia at any moment.
Once they picked up a gun...
they became soldiers.
John observed the city for a while.
As expected of the royal capital.
As expected of the heart of an entire kingdom.
No wonder it had never once been breached from the outside.
Its defensive system had taken practically every possible weakness into account while suppressing the advantages of any attacker to the greatest extent possible.
Even if a god descended upon the battlefield...
they might still fail to break through this fortress.
...
This time, John had brought his main fleet.
Twenty thousand small assault boats.
Fifty thousand men assigned to them, all equipped with gunpowder barrels, muskets, and other weapons.
Five hundred medium-sized warships.
Two hundred and fifty thousand troops.
A total of twenty thousand cannons.
Three hundred large warships.
Six hundred thousand troops.
A total of thirty thousand cannons.
Altogether, John had brought nine hundred thousand men—
an army that was publicly claimed to number one million.
His fleet possessed fifty thousand cannons in total.
On paper...
this was the strongest force John had ever personally commanded.
But actual warfare was never decided by numbers on paper alone.
Familiarity with the terrain.
The morale and determination of the soldiers.
A single perfectly placed artillery strike.
The direction of the sea wind.
Or even a tiny bit of luck...
Any one of these factors could allow a weaker side to become stronger.
Or turn an apparently dominant force into the disadvantaged one.
Perhaps...
that was what made naval warfare so fascinating.
It was unpredictable.
Impossible to fully calculate.
John looked overwhelmingly powerful on the surface.
But his weaknesses were equally obvious.
"Feeding nearly a million men every day costs an enormous amount."
"If this is only a short campaign, there’s no problem."
"I control dozens of cities. The merchant guilds have submitted to me, and my men haven’t disturbed the civilians, so food and water supplies aren’t an issue."
"But if this drags on for too long..."
John took a deep breath.
"People will start having other thoughts."
"The merchant guilds, workers, and farmers throughout the Maritime Kingdom will begin to resist."
"And even the million soldiers under my command will grow tired of war."
"War fatigue will have a severe effect on morale."
John knew that this was only one part of the situation working against him.
There were also external threats.
He had already received intelligence that the Lather Kingdom had requested aid from the other Maritime Kingdoms.
It had promised enormous benefits in exchange for military assistance.
And that request had already been sent out a month ago.
If the other Maritime Kingdoms agreed to aid the Lather Kingdom...
then the entire war could change at any moment.
Fortunately...
John’s objective had never been to capture the royal capital right now.
His true target was—
Radiant Moon City.
...
Radiant Moon City.
The atmosphere within the city had become increasingly restless.
Far more uneasy than when the King’s Edge Pirates had first surrounded it.
The city’s upper echelons had received news—
the main force of the King’s Edge Pirates had surrounded the royal capital.
That was the royal capital.
The heart of an entire kingdom.
The leaders of Radiant Moon City immediately convened an emergency meeting.
Yet after discussing the matter for a long time, they still failed to reach a conclusion.
"The royal capital has powerful walls and massive artillery defenses. There’s nothing to worry about."
"Throughout history, the royal capital has never been breached from the outside."
"Even the King’s Edge Pirates cannot possibly take it."
"But the King’s Edge Pirates aren’t ordinary pirates."
"The pirates outside our city have been sending us messages every few days."
"One day they tell us they captured one city."
"The next day they tell us another city has fallen."
"Now, aside from Radiant Moon City and the royal capital, almost every city in the Lather Kingdom has already been occupied by them."
"You actually believe what pirates tell you?"
"What if they’re lying?"
"They aren’t."
"The pirates outside allowed us to send fast ships out to investigate the situation."
"Several of our soldiers have already returned."
"The reports are true."
"The King’s Edge Pirates have practically occupied the entire kingdom."
"Then what are we supposed to do?"
"The royal capital should still be able to hold out for a while."
"Let’s wait and see."
"Agreed."
"We wait."
"We must not make a decision too hastily."
...
One month later.
Suddenly, the pirates surrounding Radiant Moon City erupted into cheers.
At first...
the city’s leaders were confused.
So they sent people to investigate.
And what they learned left them utterly stunned.
The King’s Edge Pirates had captured the royal capital!
Their leader had already broken into the Inner City...
and captured the king himself!
Hiss—
The Lather Kingdom was finished!
"Impossible!"
"It has to be fake!"
"The royal capital is far too heavily fortified!"
"How could it fall after only one month?"
"The supplies inside are enough to feed the entire population for three years."
"They have hundreds of thousands of combat personnel."
"Thousands of cannons."
"And every geographical advantage!"
"Even against an army of one million, they shouldn’t have been at a disadvantage!"
"This has to be false information!"
"The King’s Edge Pirates are putting on an act!"
"Don’t believe them!"
The senior officials of Radiant Moon City simply refused to believe the news.