Chapter 8: The Battle of Grunwalder Castle (Part II)

The battle began on the second day of the Swadian army's arrival. Early in the morning, King Harlaus sent an envoy, and upon receiving Mathalai's reply—"I can hold this wall until I die of old age"—he immediately launched the first wave of the attack.

You saw batch after batch of ragged serfs emerge from the camp; they carried logs and bags of earth as they ran toward the wall, attempting to build a path on the steep hillside to facilitate the army's advance. Although you cursed King Harlaus in your heart for treating human lives like grass, you had no choice but to follow your superior's orders and command your Archer units to fire upon these serfs.

Meanwhile, the Swadian Archer units were also firing at the wall from behind wooden cover to provide cover for the serfs building the siege path.

After you discovered this situation, you immediately ordered your Archers to change targets and fire at the enemy Archer units. Even so, the Swadian serfs died in droves under the attacks of your comrades. Furthermore, because of your suppression, the enemy Archers began to pay special "attention" to the wall you were guarding, which reduced the pressure on your teammates and made it easier for them to shoot the serfs. The rate of serf deaths did not decrease, and for a moment, you did not know whether you had done a good deed or a bad one.

This probing battle ended at dusk. The Swadian army sent men to collect the corpses scattered across the hills, and you and your soldiers watched this scene in silence.

Your mood was complicated. In the span of a day, thousands of lives had perished in this mountain area, and all that was gained were a few wooden paths, several meters or tens of meters long, that had been built almost to the base of the wall. Your troops had suffered about a dozen casualties due to the enemy's focused "attention," which was only thanks to your tireless training over the past two days and the better equipment you had provided them; otherwise, the casualties among these new recruits would have been even greater.

At night, while you were dozing against the battlements, you were awakened by a chorus of battle cries. You angrily scolded your soldiers for not waking you when the fighting started, but then you stood up and looked—good heavens, the outside was ablaze with fire, the light of the flames illuminating two groups of people locked in combat.

You asked the Sergeant who was guarding with you and learned that Mathalai had sent out his most elite soldiers, carrying Battering Rams and Fire Oil, to step out of Grunwalder Castle under the cover of night to destroy the paths the Swadians had built during the day. It went smoothly at first, but for some reason, they were discovered by the enemy later. Flames rose up, and the sounds of battle spread across the hills, waking you from your doze.

The battle cries outside lasted for a long time, and only when a dozen or so men walked back to the castle with heavy steps did the sounds of fighting gradually fade. The Sergeant told you that fifty Rhodok Sergeants had gone out, and only these ten or so returned. You did not close your eyes for the rest of the night.

The next morning, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, the enemy launched another attack. This time, the attackers were all regular infantry. At a glance, you saw at least five hundred Swadian Sergeants and Swadian Heavy Infantry mixed together, assembled into five phalanxes holding Infantry Kite Shields, walking toward you along the two wooden paths that were still intact.

Your troops and your allies tried their best to block the enemy's advance, but the effect was not obvious. Shields from all directions blocked the crossbow bolts coming from every angle. For a time, the Archers' killing efficiency was greatly reduced; only a small number of Rhodok Sharpshooters could cause damage to the enemy through the gaps in the shields—yourself included. Meanwhile, the enemy Archers were also trying every possible way to suppress the crossbowmen on the wall, and the speed of the phalanxes' advance greatly increased.

It was a great coincidence that one of the still-intact wooden paths happened to lead directly to the wall section you were guarding. Two phalanxes marched with firm steps through this path, stepped onto the four-to-five-meter-wide gentle slope, and approached the area you were guarding step by step. You noticed with a sharp eye that two Siege Ladders were extended from the phalanxes, attempting to hook onto the wall. You ordered your men to throw canned Fire Oil at the first approaching phalanx. A dozen or so Oil Jars were thrown directly onto the shields at the front of the phalanx. After the jars shattered, the Fire Oil splashed everywhere. Immediately after, a burning haystack was thrown out by your men, also landing on the phalanx's shields. The flames on the haystack scattered, igniting the Fire Oil previously thrown onto the shields. In an instant, flames surged, and half of the enemies rolled down the hillside amidst wails. The remaining enemies raised their shields to resist the crossbow bolts and, after paying the price of a dozen lives, retreated into the second phalanx and approached the wall again.

You wanted your men to throw more Oil Jars, but there were none left; that was all you had been allocated. The sneak attack last night had taken away the vast majority of the Fire Oil in the castle, and this stuff was extremely dangerous—improper storage could blow up your own home. Even Grunwalder Castle did not have a large stockpile; of course, another reason might have been that it was expensive.

Fortunately, Grunwalder Castle stored a large number of Siege Logs and stones. The weight of these items could not be blocked by shields at all. After paying another dozen lives, the enemy still failed to successfully hook the Siege Ladders onto the wall. They retreated, and the morning's battle came to an end.

You observed the number of retreating enemy troops and concluded that because of this attack, the enemy had paid the lives of at least a hundred elite warriors. At noon, you and your soldiers only ate a small amount of food.

In the afternoon, the Swadian attack began again. This time there were no phalanxes and no elite soldiers, but a large number of militia carrying simple weapons and armor, led by a small number of Swadian Light Infantry, charging toward the wall with Siege Ladders. Behind them were batch after batch of serfs, who were once again carrying logs to repair the damaged wooden paths.

The afternoon's battle was cruel and simple. The crossbowmen on the wall poured their fury onto the enemies covering the hills and plains. However, this time the enemy seemed exceptionally cunning; they were in no hurry to charge forward, always trying to find ways to hide, seizing opportunities to rush forward a few steps, and then hiding again.

Just like this, until the battle ended, not many of their squads were able to reach the foot of the wall, and their casualties were not high—they only left behind two or three hundred corpses, and most of them were still those serfs who were repairing the paths.

Most of the crossbowmen under your command could no longer stand straight, and many of their fingers had begun to bleed. The Spearmen were nervous, their faces pale. Although the enemy had not yet breached the wall, you could already see a trace of despair in your soldiers' eyes.

It was not until dinner time that you learned that the fighting at the other path had been even more intense, with some enemy troops even having climbed onto the wall, causing huge casualties to those Spearmen in a short period of time.

It was those elite defenders who blocked the Swadian troops that had climbed the wall, and then Mathalai led a small squad of Rhodok Sharpshooters to snipe them, which finally resolved the crisis; otherwise, the outer wall might have already fallen. After dinner, a messenger notified you to attend a meeting.

During the meeting, you learned from Mathalai that the kingdom had already been discussing the details of peace talks with the Sarranid for half a month, and the soldiers sent by the Veluca First Legion and Grunwalder Castle were already on their way back.

Although these troops could not compete with King Harlaus on the plains, the units could detour from Amira Castle and rush to support Grunwalder Castle from the mountains near Serenmis. According to the latest intelligence, you only needed to hold on for two more days—just two days.

However, it did not take two days at all. On the afternoon of the day after the meeting, King Harlaus's army retreated, leaving only a force of nearly a thousand men to guard the foot of Grunwalder Castle. The other troops had left completely in one morning, leaving behind an empty camp. You did not know what had happened, and you did not get an answer from Mathalai.

In the evening, you finally learned what had happened. A messenger risked his life to deliver the latest intelligence from another direction in the mountains: Count Tacias, who guarded Agorlon Castle, had rebelled. He had taken all his troops and Agorlon Castle to defect to King Harlaus.

Rumor had it that it was because King Harlaus held the lives of his only son and several of his direct nephews in his hands, which forced Count Tacias to betray the Rhodok Kingdom for the sake of the next generation of his family—after all, if the next generation died out, to whom would he pass his castle and his title? At this moment, Mathalai's face was pale, and for the first time, you saw a look of panic on his face.

However, unfortunate news came one after another. The next morning, the news that reinforcements would not be coming to support Grunwalder Castle spread like wildfire. It turned out that the Veluca First Legion and the garrison of Grunwalder Castle, upon receiving the news about Agorlon Castle, had directly diverted to Imel and headed to Veluca through the jungle, and they had ordered Mathalai to hold Grunwalder Castle to the death. At this moment, Grunwalder Castle had become an isolated island.

Mathalai attempted to assemble all his troops to fight a decisive battle against the enemy in the camp at the foot of the wall. You knew Mathalai's idea: if they could scatter the enemy, the situation would improve a lot. At the very least, if the gate wasn't being blocked, they would have more options, and it would also relieve a lot of pressure on the Veluca side.

However, many people were unwilling to participate in such a crazy adventure, especially since some had seen with their own eyes that a large number of Swadian Heavy Cavalry were frequently entering and exiting the enemy camp. But an order was an order. Most people shuffled to the gate to assemble and head down the mountain, until Mathalai issued an order to return with a livid face, because he had seen the infantry phalanxes emerging from the enemy camp, followed by hundreds of Swadian Heavy Cavalry.

You observed that the enemy must have left behind about two or three hundred elite troops, as well as a thousand militia and serfs. You could guess the opponent's idea: as long as they blocked this castle and did not let the defenders inside have a chance to come out and raid their supply lines, they would have completed their basic mission. Then, by not letting any supplies enter this castle, the castle would fall without a fight—that would be an extra bonus.

From the soldiers the enemy left behind, you knew that King Harlaus had already figured out the situation inside the castle, and you guessed that Mathalai knew this too.

Sure enough, he came to find you in the evening. He explained the current predicament to you in detail with a haggard expression, telling you that the castle was far from being at the end of its rope, but it was inevitably sliding toward that point.

There were nearly two thousand people living in the castle. Those thousand-plus villagers had become a huge burden to Mathalai at this moment. Although they had brought a large amount of food when they arrived—enough to last them for more than half a month—it was far from enough. Heaven knows how long the Battle of Veluca would last. Since King Harlaus had already broken through to the plains of Veluca and possessed a stable rear, it would be extremely difficult to make him turn back.

You curiously asked Mathalai why he hadn't ordered the villagers to bring more food in the first place. Mathalai looked at you with a bitter smile and explained that, under normal circumstances, battles would not last much longer than half a month, at most a month. If King Harlaus had not made strategic progress by then, they would retreat.

The villagers of Serendil (yes, that was the name) would only bring half a month's food each time. If it wasn't enough, the castle's garrison would have to feed them. In fact, if they brought more and couldn't finish it, the garrison wouldn't return it to them, so most villagers wouldn't bring extra food.

Now he needed you to take these thousand villagers and flee, leaving Grunwalder Castle, passing through the mountains behind the castle, and heading to Serenmis, which was a three-day journey away, to settle the villagers there.

That place was hidden in the mountains and not easily discovered by the enemy. Afterward, you would need to return with more supplies. If you could complete this mission, Mathalai indicated that after the war, he would consider suggesting to his father that the management rights of the village of Serendil be given to you, allowing you to become a true person of status.

You knew you could choose to refuse, but once you refused, you would only be driven by Mathalai as an ordinary Rhodok Sharpshooter; all your power came from him, so you could not refuse. Afterward, you and Mathalai discussed a great many details and bargained, and the plan was set to be executed tomorrow night.

During the one day you managed to secure, you spent the morning having your soldiers change their equipment—yes, this was part of your bargaining. They were all updated to the equipment of Rhodok Trained Soldiers, and you even applied for Veteran Soldier equipment for your personal guard.

However, you could only take away your original one hundred men; the others had to be returned to the other four Captains. You expressed your dissatisfaction with this, but Mathalai stated on the spot: do not push your luck.

In the afternoon, you found the Village Chief of Serendil and the local people of repute, and had them divide the villagers into ten groups based on their relationships to follow all your squads. Your personal guard would execute the rearguard mission, and you would likely have to run back and forth constantly.

They were not willing to leave Grunwalder Castle. You told them that if they didn't leave, Commander Mathalai might not know what he would do to hold this castle, and those things would likely make them even more miserable. They seemed to have guessed some of the outcomes and completed the tasks you assigned amidst a chorus of wails.

At dusk, everyone set off with three days' rations. You walked into a valley along a secret path on the back wall of the inner castle, and this one task alone took from dusk until late at night.

Your original plan was to take advantage of the time when it was just dark and still had some light to take the people into the mountains for a distance, leaving the enemy's line of sight before it was completely dark, so as not to attract the enemy's attention. The only problem left for you would be the journey itself. As it turned out, it was completely off from your plan. With no other choice, you had to arrange for the gathered villagers to rest on the spot with their respective squads.

Looking at the map, Serenmis was not far from Grunwalder Castle. Although it was all mountainous terrain, with your personal guard, you could probably arrive in one day. With all your troops, it would take at most two days. But with these thousand villagers, you felt that three days might not be enough.

The next day, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, you had your men wake the villagers to prepare to set off. You could not command the villagers like you commanded the army; they could not fully understand their situation, or even if they did, they could not effectively control themselves. The march was very hard; they couldn't eat well or sleep well. Many villagers carried their only meager possessions, dragging their families along as they marched in the valley with your troops. The weather was very hot, and many people gradually fell behind.

You did not beat or scold them, but whenever someone walked slowly, you would stand beside them with a ferocious face, as if you would take their life at the slightest disagreement.

Such a march was bound to cause complaints among the villagers. They dared not show it in front of you, but they often quarreled loudly with their neighbors over trivial matters. Because of the closeness of their relationships, more people would join in these trivial quarrels, which would evolve into large-scale clamor. Although your squad leaders could always suppress these things in a short time, it inevitably attracted the enemy's attention.

When you noticed the enemy, it was already the morning of the second day. They were following a few hundred meters behind you, not many in number, probably around 200. You could not see clearly how elite they were, but you guessed that they were not too elite; otherwise, they would have chased you down directly. After all, you couldn't move fast with these villagers. You also tried to ambush them, but they would not engage you in battle; after leaving behind a few corpses, they would move away from you. You could not shake them off.

Now the pressure was on you. If you continued to head to Serenmis with the villagers, Serenmis would inevitably be discovered. In fact, you had already traveled half the distance, and it might not take long before you discovered signs of human habitation.

Or you could skip Serenmis and head to Imel, hoping to find an opportunity to shake off the enemy over a longer period of time. But your food was simply not enough to execute this plan. The final choice could only be for you to station all your soldiers in this valley, which was twenty or thirty people wide, blocking the path the enemy had to take, and let the villagers head to Serenmis on their own.

Most of the villagers followed your plan under the leadership of the Village Chief, but there were still about three hundred villagers who stayed behind under the leadership of a village elder.

They believed that even if you blocked this place, you couldn't block all the enemies. If the enemy found another path and caught up with them, their fate could be imagined. Only under the protection of the army could there be true safety. Moreover, you hadn't been bad to these villagers over the past two days; not only did you not beat or scold them like other warlords, or rob them of their property, or even insult their families, but you also frequently gave them free meat broth.

There was no other way. On the first day, you knew you had been set up by Mathalai. No matter how you forced the march, it was impossible to reach Serenmis in three days. You were forced to slow down the march and let your soldiers go out to hunt for prey during rest periods.

Fortunately, most of the soldiers under your command were mountain folk and had a lot of experience hunting small animals in the mountains. Moreover, many villagers were also experienced hunters, and they could obtain some meat with the borrowed equipment. That was why these three hundred-plus people believed you could lead them to survive and chose to follow you.

The enemy discovered your plan. They stopped two or three hundred meters away from you. Soon, one-third of the enemy left the main force and headed in other directions. You knew these people were looking for other paths, but you had no way to spare more troops to intercept them and could only watch them leave. Of course, they also knew that even so, your troop strength was at a disadvantage.

The two sides remained in this eerie standoff. You knew that the longer it dragged on, the more unfavorable it was for you. Your food was decreasing bit by bit, while their preparations seemed more adequate than yours.

You were not a person who would sit and wait for death. After dinner, you gathered all your men and explained the current situation, telling them that you were prepared to take advantage of the night to charge down the valley and fight the enemy to the death. Your personal guards immediately expressed that they were willing to take the risk with you. Although they had only followed you for less than two months, they admired your character and recognized your ability.

The remaining squad leaders also expressed their approval one after another, perhaps because your actions in the castle had moved them, or perhaps because they felt they could survive by following you. Regardless, your decision received unanimous agreement.

The plan was good, but what you didn't expect was that the opponent's commander had the same idea. He probably thought that your numbers were at a disadvantage and you wouldn't take the initiative to launch an attack, so he also chose to launch a sneak attack late tonight.

【As it turned out, both sides met unexpectedly in the valley, which seemed to make the situation a tiny bit awkward. You, having better eyesight, spotted the enemy first, but it was too late to set an ambush. You could only command the crossbowmen to fire a round of bolts, then toss the Siege Crossbow aside, draw your Military Cleaver, and lead everyone in a charge with a roar.】

【After taking a round of ranged fire, the opposing force clearly fell into a certain degree of chaos. Then, someone who appeared to be the leader shouted to stabilize the ranks. By this time, you and your men had already charged right before them, and you rushed straight toward that leader.】

【The enemy were no lambs for the slaughter; they drew their weapons and were forced to meet your charge. Upon contact, your force held a massive advantage: one, you were charging downhill against enemies moving uphill; two, you were carrying a Shield, sprinting and knocking over two enemies, charging right before the enemy leader. In his terrified eyes, you hacked him to the ground with a single strike. Seeing their leader lying on the ground, some of the enemies around you turned and ran, some raised their weapons to attack you, and some stood frozen in place, at a loss.】

【You had no time to worry about them; you knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You raised your weapon and hacked at anyone in your field of vision whom you did not recognize. The enemy collapsed in a short time. The enemies who began to flee dragged those who had not yet joined the battle along with them, running frantically into the distance, and you led your men in pursuit.】

【You did not know how many people you had killed, nor did you know how long you had been chasing them. You only knew that at the first light of dawn, you hacked to death the last enemy you could catch. You looked around, and there was not a single living soul beside you; only you remained.】

【Covered in blood, you returned to the camp under the shocked and fearful gazes of everyone as the sky grew bright. Your crisis had been resolved, and at the same time, you had harvested the enemy's supplies, temporarily solving the food problem.】

【This simulation has ended; progress has been saved.】

【Retain the officer status of Captain of the Veluca Second Legion. Abandoning this status allows for the permanent summoning of nine Rhodok Veteran Crossbowmen, who are willing to fight for you, regardless of the world; forty-three Rhodok Skilled Crossbowmen and fifty-two Rhodok Skilled Spearmen, who feel that following you gives them a better chance of surviving in war; three hundred and twelve villagers willing to follow you, as they believe following you will lead to a better life; and forty-three captives forced to follow you.】

【Received rewards: 1 point of Honor, 200 points of Renown, 6000 Dinar.】

【Continue the simulation? Yes/No?】

Allen chose no and fell asleep peacefully in his own tent.