Chapter 689: Defending the City (VI)

Over these years, Peace Haven has constantly fought the various countries, but Vorry's army has never had the chance to fight Peace Haven's army. This fierce method of attack stuns the soldiers on the wall.

Three squads advance side by side along the wall, sweeping through the enemy like bulldozers.

Every time they seize one enemy foothold on the wall, the three squads at the front immediately stay behind to defend it and clear away the enemy siege ladders and rope ladders.

The squads behind them continue charging forward, and under pressure from both front and rear, they quickly retake the entire section of wall.

Before Albert can breathe a sigh of relief, something goes wrong on the right side.

For some unknown reason, the defense on that side of the wall is suddenly torn open.

Although the nearby mercenary guard squads immediately rush over to support and try to block the breach, they still fail to drive the enemy down.

At this point, Albert has not yet realized something is wrong.

He sends his only two remaining reserve hundred-man teams over, hoping to quickly stabilize the defensive line on the wall.

But gradually, Albert realizes that there is a problem. The attacking soldiers on this side have suddenly become much stronger.

Their fighting style is fierce, and their tactical discipline is very high.

This is definitely not the sort of tactical discipline possessed by garrison legion soldiers who were pushed into second-line status after the kingdom's military reform.

When he sees the enemy using their comrades' corpses as shields, and even using corpses as counterweights for rope ladders, Albert understands.

These are professional soldiers, soldiers tempered by blood and fire.

The enemy has changed clothes. This isn't a garrison army, but a regular army.

Albert doesn't even have time to pass on this message. He immediately leads the hundred-man guard team beside him and charges toward the battlefield area.

He needs to drive these regular army soldiers down as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the entire wall will soon fall.

And so, the bloody battle begins.

The first to notice that something is wrong is Arius.

He notices that the battle here is becoming more and more tangled, already showing signs of turning into a chaotic melee.

Arius keenly realizes that the enemy has carried out a bait-and-switch, sending elites disguised as garrison soldiers to attack the city.

Arius immediately orders Taitlant to arrange for his warband to take over the defense of the other three walls.

Then he orders the mercenary guard regiment soldiers on the walls where battle has not broken out to reinforce these two walls.

Why not reinforce directly from below?

Because they can't get up.

The top of the wall is now a tangled mess. If troops climb up through the various stairways, they will have no way to spread into formation.

They can only add more people into the chaotic melee and make the situation even more chaotic.

The best method is to gather manpower from the two adjacent walls and have them charge over directly in formation along the wall.

The Taitlant warband soldiers who climb up afterward will take over the gaps left in the defense to prevent the enemy from feinting in one direction and striking another by attacking there again.

As squad after squad of mercenary guards pushes into the right wall, the battlefield truly enters meat-grinder mode.

That evening, Arius comes to check on Albert's injuries.

Seeing Albert about to rise and salute, Arius presses down this large man wrapped in bandages from head to toe.

"Warband Commander Albert, you did very well. Rest and recover for now."

When Arius is about to leave, Albert speaks. "Your Highness, I have a thought. I hope Your Highness will consider it."

"The mercenary guard regiment was crippled today. Many people died."

"Quite a few were also disabled. I hope they can be given some compensation afterward."

"It doesn't have to be much. I only want them to know that their lives weren't without value. They..."

Arius smiles and waves his hand. "Warband Commander Albert, you are underestimating me."

"They shed blood for me and gave their lives for me."

"They are my soldiers. I won't truly treat them as mercenary rangers."

"Once everything is over, the honor and benefits that belong to them won't be missing in the slightest."

With Arius's promise, Albert finally lets go of his worry.

The reason so many mercenary guards obey his orders is also because he has good relationships with them. He doesn't want to betray the trust of those who have entrusted their lives to him.

Even if that trust isn't unconditional and is based on benefits.

Trust is still trust, and it places heavy pressure for anyone with a sense of morality.

At night, Hobson and the others come to visit him and explain the current situation.

Military Intelligence Officer Windson says, "I just interrogated the prisoners. The force that attacked the right-front wall today was the Vorry Twentieth Legion."

"Being able to withstand their sudden assault wasn't easy. If it had been someone else, who knows what kind of disaster might have happened?"

Albert gives a bitter laugh. "Heh... I used to think I was capable of serving as an officer. Even in Peace Haven, I thought I could at least be a battalion commander."

"I never felt Peace Haven's organized legions were that much stronger than us. Today, I have truly embarrassed myself."

"So it turns out our level isn't even comparable to one of the kingdom's newly formed regular armies."

Windson comforts him. "You have already done very well. You have not truly experienced battlefield slaughter before, and being able to perform to this degree already counts as exceeding expectations."

"In addition, although the Twentieth Legion is newly formed, it is a legion directly subordinate to the royal family."

"Its weapons and equipment, soldier quality, and training intensity all place it among the elite legions."

"Compared with the elite legions of the various countries, it isn't inferior at all. It simply has not fought for several years, so the Twentieth Legion has no record yet."

Albert knows he made a command mistake and doesn't continue this topic. "What are the battle losses among the mercenary guard force?"

Administrator Hobson replies, "I just received the preliminary statistics. There are nine hundred and fifty-five confirmed dead and nearly two hundred missing."

"More than three hundred and forty are severely wounded. The lightly wounded can't be counted precisely, but there are over a thousand."

"Including the fighting over the past few days, the mercenary guard regiment has lost more than three thousand seven hundred men. Their mission is complete."

After a moment of silence, Albert asks the question he has never had the courage to ask. "What about our own casualties?"

"Two hundred and forty-three dead, seventy-five severely wounded, and more than four hundred lightly wounded."

Albert says nothing for a long time. If not for his tactical command mistake, Peace Haven wouldn't have lost so many soldiers.

The ones who suffered the greatest casualties were the three hundred-man teams that followed him to block the right-front wall.

Especially the hundred-man guard team that came with him from Peace Haven. More than half of them died.

Many of them were his friends. How is he supposed to go back and face the families of those comrades?

Sensing that his mood is poor, everyone stops disturbing his rest.

Now the greatest unstable factor in the city has been resolved. Next comes the time to truly trade lives.

More than half of the five-thousand-plus mercenary guards have been lost. This sounds unbelievable.

One must know that in pre-gunpowder warfare, any army that doesn't collapse after suffering more than thirty percent losses is already quite good.

The mercenaries clearly are not a regular army, so why can they hold so well?

Of course, because of the nature of the battle.

This is a city-defense battle. Once they are on the wall, do they still have a chance to retreat?

Reinforcements keep coming up onto the wall. Even if they want to rout, there is nowhere to go.

Are they supposed to jump off the wall?

A drop of more than ten meters, while wearing full armor. Jumping down is suicide.

Of course, some people do jump off the wall, whether passively or actively, but most of them jump outside the city.

That is why there are so many missing, though their fate certainly will not be good.

So this is a desperate battle. They can only fight to the death within that tiny space at the top of the wall.

Forget losses of more than half. Even total annihilation wouldn't be strange.