Chapter 412: The Noble Families

"Officer of Discipline! Wait a moment!" At that moment, a voice called out from behind Willard.

"Wait? No one's plea will help today! I'll make this coward pay the price he deserves!" Willard sneered.

"Officer of Discipline, it's me, Deputy Commander Kael!"

"Deputy Commander Kael?"

Willard froze, then turned—and there indeed was Deputy Commander Kael hurrying over.

And beside Deputy Commander Kael stood Migen.

"Deputy Commander Kael, I'm sorry, but Gervas has violated the Kingdom's military code. Even if you plead for him, I cannot overlook this!"

Though the newcomer was Deputy Commander Kael, Willard still refused to let this chance to punish Gervas slip away.

His tone had softened slightly, but he had no intention of stopping.

Deputy Commander Kael wore a look of helplessness. "Officer Willard, I'm not here to plead for Gervas. He hasn't broken any military code at all."

"Because he received my prior approval for this action!"

"You gave him approval?" Willard stared.

"That's right, Officer. Before the battle began, Gervas sent someone to me to request permission—he said the shortage of archers during the siege increased the combat risk for the serf soldiers."

"So he wanted to equip all his men with his bows—well, crossbows—to serve as ranged shooters and cover the main force's advance!"

"Of course, Lord Gervas also guaranteed that his men's kills would not fall below the average number of enemy heads taken by other nobles!"

"If he fails to meet this, he willingly accepts military punishment."

"So, Officer Willard, I approved Lord Gervas's request. Here is his written pledge, with my signature!" As he spoke, the officer pulled out a parchment.

It bore Gervas's signature and Kael's signature.

Earlier, while instructing Lei Meng on combat tactics, Gervas had also sent Migen to find Deputy Commander Kael.

After all, he had anticipated Willard would seize this chance to make trouble.

Deputy Commander Kael, upon hearing Gervas's request, had no objection to doing him a favor.

Though he didn't know Gervas's actual kills, Gervas and Mil's past achievements had brought great honor to the Southern Region.

Moreover, Gervas himself had pledged to meet or exceed the average kills—enough for Kael to overlook this.

Willard's face turned ashen, his body trembling slightly, speechless where he stood.

"Officer, why don't you return to your post? If Gervas's battlefield results fall short, I'll hold him accountable myself!"

Deputy Commander Kael's words offered Willard a face-saving exit.

"Hmph!" Willard, though furious, had no choice. He sneered at Gervas and walked away.

"Thank you, Deputy Commander Kael, for your leniency!" After Willard left, Gervas thanked him.

"Lord Gervas, no need to thank me. I've seen how your men fought—they're as good as longbowmen!"

"So you're already fighting for the Kingdom. I won't let you be wronged."

With that, Deputy Commander Kael also took his leave—he needed to remain ready for the Commander-in-Chief's orders.

With Willard's interruption over, the battle proceeded without further incident.

Gervas's men used crossbows to kill enemies from afar; only two unlucky subordinates were struck by arrows from above and suffered minor wounds.

The rest remained unharmed.

The battle continued until nightfall.

Normally, night combat either ended or weakened, to preserve strength for the coming days.

After all, one had to consider the next few days of fighting.

But this time, for reasons unknown, the Commander-in-Chief and the two Dukes didn't ease the assault—they intensified it, launching new waves of attack in groups of thirty thousand.

"What's the Commander-in-Chief thinking?"

"If we keep fighting like this, how will we fight tomorrow?"

"Yes! It's nearly dawn! Even if our soldiers were made of iron, they couldn't hold out!"

"Gervas, what do you think?" The lesser nobles were deeply resentful and deeply confused by the Commander-in-Chief's orders.

Gervas, however, had received Adam's note and suspected this was part of the army's plan.

"I think we shouldn't worry so much. The Commander-in-Chief cares more about winning this war than we do—he must know the consequences of this approach!" Gervas offered his usual vague reassurance.

【Ding! Daily intelligence has refreshed…】

【Intelligence One: Yesterday, you learned from Adam's letter that the Commander-in-Chief would act at night—and indeed, he has.】

【Just now, a force of twenty thousand noble troops from the main camp moved toward the left flank of the army.】

【One li to the left of the army lies a pine forest, within which hides a secret passage into Bokacheng.】

【This secret passage was originally dug by Bokacheng as an escape route during past orc sieges.】

【Now, it can serve as a surprise route for the Kingdom's army to breach Bokacheng.】

【Intelligence Two: The orc chieftain Moral believes they can hold Bokacheng for at least a week, buying enough time for northern raiding parties.】

【Intelligence Three: A two-hundred-strong orc unit attacked Not Village…】

Damn! Gervas exclaimed inwardly.

So that was the plan! No wonder the system hadn't warned him yesterday—the attack was set for this dawn.

"Gervas, you say that, but I'm afraid our men will be too exhausted and suffer heavier losses!"

"Mil, if you trust me, stay alert tonight. I believe the Commander-in-Chief has a grand plan."

"If it's true, this might be our chance to collect enemy heads!"

"Collect heads? Really? Really?" Nothing excited Mil and the others more than gathering orc heads.

Everyone stared at Gervas in astonishment.

"Of course it's true. Even we know that pushing soldiers this hard through the night will leave them too tired to fight tomorrow—do you think the Commander-in-Chief doesn't know?"

"So I suspect he's confident he'll breach Bokacheng tonight, and that's why he's willing to pay any cost."

"When the city falls, the orcs will panic and flee—and that's the perfect moment for us to gather heads."

"Breach the city tonight…" If Gervas hadn't said it, Mil and the others would've called him insane.

Bokacheng was only a small town of fifty thousand, but its walls were ten meters high.

Even with fierce assaults, it would take days to take it.

So how could the Commander-in-Chief possibly take Bokacheng tonight?

Was he planning to deploy all the noble forces in a full-scale assault?

No noble would be so foolish as to choose that.

The losses would be catastrophic, and siege warfare isn't won by sheer numbers—it requires attrition.

Unless the Commander-in-Chief could fly into the city.