Chapter 57: Great Encirclement

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On the other side,

Bourn Territory's eastern side, beneath Plymouth's Iron Wall.

Artemis Temple.

The tall figure leaning on the throne kept its slender eyes closed, propping its cheek with one hand, silently listening as Pamanniu, half‑kneeling below, reported the various news—

"Over at Bestoque, General Kratrus, following your command, launched a surprise attack early and has already taken that fortified city."

"General Niacus is sailing as planned, crossing the Dofur Strait."

"Three days ago, General Hephistion, who commands your two‑million troops, annihilated the Eilin Kingdom of Ireland; the remnants of the Feiona Knight Order, led by Di Lumu Duo Odina, crossed the sea to Wales and fled eastward. Their leader Finn is currently missing, but reports say he was dragged away by a golden‑haired monster with a chain."

"Now, General Hephistion is about to arrive at Liverpool Dock."

"Moreover, over in Cornwall,"

"General Ptolemy captured Sole City last night."

"The central army's forty thousand troops and the ten thousand under General Seleucus have also withdrawn from the plain before the Golden Iron Curtain, driving the routed forces toward Sole City and Bourn Territory for a final encirclement."

"But,"

At this point, Pamanniu paused slightly, lifted his head to look at the figure on the throne, and asked hesitantly:

"Leaving only three thousand cavalry for you—might that be too few?"

"After all, though Yuse Wang is dead, we have already slaughtered the routed troops, yet the remnants are still too many; if we complete the grand encirclement early and they break out—"

"Heh~"

"What kind of grand encirclement is that, Pamanniu? Your courage is getting smaller and smaller."

The tall figure on the throne let out a light laugh, calmly glanced at Pamanniu, and said coolly:

"The King's banquet doesn't need that many mediocrities."

"Moreover, if he lacks the ability to stand before me, that alone proves—"

"He is not a king!"

At this point, Conqueror King, with a hint of amusement, turned to the elderly general below and asked:

"So, Pamanniu, what do you think—"

"Can he come to my side?"

"I have already given him a chance, you know."

Pamanniu bowed his head deeply, daring not to look at the king again, raised his gauntlet, struck his chest, and said in a solemn voice:

"My king, I swear my life's loyalty to you, to the former king, and to Macedon—"

"Even if I exhaust all strength, blaze with blood,"

"I will never let him come to your side!"

Conqueror King was unfazed, waved his hand,

"Go."

Pamanniu kept his head down, slowly rose to his feet,

The veteran hero cast one last glance at the Artemis Temple, reborn eighteen years ago together with the new king, tilted his head slightly upward, and looked through the uncovered roof above the central niche toward the sky,

The scorching noon sun fell upon him, as if the goddess Artemis herself were sentencing him to a fiery death.

He turned around,

and walked out of the temple,

His withered gaze became utterly resolute.

#

Pandeng Fortress,

in front of the round table of the Council Hall,

Su Ya stared at the map, gradually grasping how to read maps of this era under Dagonite's explanation.

Britannia's map at this time still retained the medieval style of a parchment dotted with castles of all sizes, unlike the previous era's maps that marked contour lines, bearings, coordinate grids, and other precise symbols.

Each castle on it actually represented a supply line, so the map emphasized the strategic significance of each fortress.

This raises another question,

Why did medieval warfare not bypass castles?

Simply put, it's a matter of logistics: people need food, warhorses need fodder; a ten‑thousand‑man army could skirt a castle by marching over mountains and rivers, but supporting them requires at least twenty thousand logisticians, which is another problem.

In this world, even professionals, let alone masters, heroes, and legends, are living people who must eat, and they eat more than ordinary folk.

"Who would fight you without food?"

At this moment, Su Ya looked at the branching lines on the map, noting every manor, supply point, and potential supply location in one go.

Then, guided by Dagonite, who knows the Cornwall region well, he matched each recorded point with the approximate terrain around each castle and the positions of enemies and allies.

Next,

Scanning the whole map, his gaze finally settled on three locations.

Plymouth, Sole City, Bestoque.

Their current stalemate stems from Conqueror King's army controlling these three nodes and the key passes surrounding them.

The Golden Iron Curtain encircled by these three nodes, and the royal capital behind it, might still draw supplies from the rear, but the routed troops trapped before these nodes receive no provisions and cannot defeat the Conqueror King's forces blocking them, forcing them to turn into marauding bands that scatter to the estates and villages under their jurisdiction to loot supplies.

Looking at the map,

Su Ya roughly grasped the plight of routed armies like theirs, understanding their scattered positions and circumstances.

"As you can see, the enemy now holds three passes, completely cutting off our routes."

"Nearly a hundred thousand routed troops are trapped here, while Conqueror King's fifty thousand are pressing forward, constantly grinding us down."

Upon hearing this, and listening to Lu Kan's added numbers, Su Ya felt a little bewildered.

"Wait, you said 'seize the few'?"

"She has fifty thousand people, chasing our hundred thousand?"

Then Su Ya turned his head again, looked at Mei Li, and asked with a surprised expression:

"Also, you told me before that we still have three lines of defense, right?"

"One hundred thousand people defending the line, broken by fifty thousand?"

"You also have to count logistics," Mei Li said calmly, spreading her hands.

"To be precise, it was three hundred thousand people, defeated by a fifty‑thousand‑strong army personally led by the Conqueror King."

Su Ya was stunned,

He had always thought that the Conqueror King, relying on the Macedonians' large numbers and vast lands, crushed Yuse Wang of Britannia by sheer manpower,

while we here were the ones using many against few?

At that thought, Su Ya immediately looked at Lu Kan, who seemed to have witnessed Yuse Wang's death in person, and asked:

"But with a hundred thousand people protecting him, how exactly did Yuse Wang die?"

Lu Kan fell silent for a moment, deciding not to answer the question.

Su Ya furrowed his brows and asked again, "Did no one rally the routed troops and launch a counterattack?"

"Yes."

At this point, Dagonite immediately replied:

"All the legendary strongmen perished at Patara in Persia; the remaining heroes who fled back from Exeter all fell at the second iron wall in Cornwall, Plymouth."

Upon saying that, Dagonite said somewhat embarrassed:

"My king,"

"Now, the few of us are the strongest among the remaining people."

Su Ya: "Huh?"

He thought for a moment, then, unwillingly, asked again, "Then what advantage do we have?"

Dagonite thought for a moment and answered tentatively:

"All the legendary strongmen and heroes on our side have perished; by comparison—"

"We eat a little less than they did?"

Su Ya thought to himself, you're quite good at telling hell jokes.

After asking around to no avail, he quickly turned his gaze back to the map again,

continuously recalling the deeds of Alexander he had read about in his mind,

as he thought, a flash of insight suddenly appeared; he abruptly lifted his head, looked at Lu Kan and Dagonite, and asked gravely:

"Then, how many of us are left?"

"I mean, how many could we possibly still muster?"

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(End of chapter)