Chapter 447: The Last Provisions Burned!

"Quick, issue the order! Have the lesser nobles mobilize immediately to put out the fire and simultaneously round up the enemies inside the city!"

"Also, the greater nobles' legions are to deploy and reinforce the city walls. We must hold the walls—we cannot let the beastmen succeed!"

"Yes, Commander-in-Chief!"

"Right, dispatch more men to defend every section of the outer walls of Lindongcheng Castle. Absolutely do not let the enemy break into Lindongcheng Castle!"

"Yes, Commander-in-Chief!"

And so, the entire human army within Lindongcheng was set in motion once more.

Because of the current lack of provisions, the combat effectiveness of the kingdom's army soldiers had been greatly weakened.

Therefore, to cope with tonight's situation, they had, in a manner of speaking, thrown the entire nest into the fight.

Within Lindongcheng Castle, large numbers of legion soldiers were dispatched to the outer perimeter to hold every section of the walls and prevent the enemy from sneaking in.

As for the interior of Lindongcheng Castle, aside from a contingent left to guard the important areas, all other soldiers had already been reassigned.

After all, those who could take up residence within Lindongcheng Castle were all greater nobles.

As for lesser nobles, they all needed to obtain permission before they could enter.

Under such strict conditions, beastman spies mixing in could basically be prevented.

Of course, nothing in this world is absolute—something the Commander-in-Chief had never anticipated no matter what.

Two unexpected fellows had already become traitors.

And with the entry permits obtained from Duke Lieshi, they could even pass inspection and enter directly without needing to report.

The two men hiding in the thicket watched as the surrounding guards dwindled, waiting until the moment was right.

At that, the two no longer delayed and immediately made their way toward a small courtyard on the left side of Lindongcheng Castle.

Over the past two days, Minister Weilade had used his identity as a supervising officer to come to Lindongcheng Castle every day on behalf of the lesser nobles of the Southern Border Legion to collect provisions.

Therefore, he was thoroughly familiar with the place within Lindongcheng Castle where the provisions were stored.

Moreover, he also had a clear grasp of the guard situation, so along the way he easily avoided three waves of guard posts.

Of course, this was also thanks to the personnel being drawn off to the outer perimeter tonight; otherwise, according to the usual deployment of numbers—

—sneaking close to the provisions' storage site would have been extremely difficult.

"There's only one squad at the core now! This is perfect—before there were at least fifty-plus men on duty at the same time!" Hiding in the thicket not far from the provisions' small courtyard, Minister Weilade immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Weilade, I'll deal with these legion soldiers in a moment. You go in and set the fire. Remember, you must be fast!" Solit dared not delay any longer. After confirming the situation, he immediately prepared to act!

"Got it! Solit!"

Then, the two pulled out cloths and covered their faces, and immediately began their operation.

Solit was the first to burst out of the thicket, gripping his longsword as he charged toward the ten legion soldiers.

"Who's there?"

The legion soldiers heard the commotion, froze for a moment, and immediately began to challenge him once they reacted.

And what answered them was naturally Solit's cold longsword.

Psh-sh-sh!

Solit struck with extreme ruthlessness. Relying on his cultivation as a Silver Knight, he slew three legion soldiers in short order.

Seeing this, the remaining legion soldiers did not flee, but rather fought while shouting for help.

Among them, the legion squad captain was a Bronze Knight, who likewise, fearless of death, held the front line and fought fiercely against Solit.

At this moment, Minister Weilade dared not delay. He rushed straight over, an iron hammer in hand, arrived before the small courtyard's gate, and smashed the door lock apart with a few strikes.

"Damn it, stop him!" The legion squad captain saw this and immediately realized the situation was dire.

He couldn't even be bothered with Solit and immediately prepared to chase after Minister Weilade.

"Your opponent is right here!" Solit, however, quickly stepped forward two paces and blocked the Bronze captain.

"You damned traitors—clearly human, why must you do the beastfolk's bidding?" Blocked, the legion squad captain was so furious he burst into cursing.

Hearing this, an inexplicable fury welled up in Solit. His battle aura flared at full force: "Die!"

Psh!

Moments ago, with his subordinates helping to surround and cover him, the legion squad captain could still hold his own against Solit for a time.

But now, facing Solit the White Shadow Knight alone, the legion squad captain had no ability to resist at all.

His chest was pierced straight through by Solit's longsword.

"Captain!" The remaining few soldiers cried out in shock at the sight.

"We'll kill you, you damned traitor!" The few men were also made of sterner stuff; without the slightest fear, they brandished their longswords and charged at Solit.

"All of you, go die!"

The more fearless of death these soldiers were, the angrier Solit became.

After all, their fearlessness in the face of life and death only threw his own cowardice and utter shamelessness into sharper relief.

And under Solit's fury, the few soldiers all collapsed into pools of blood in less than half a minute.

At this moment, the area outside the small courtyard had finally returned to calm.

Of course, the commotion here had already been detected by the soldiers on the outer perimeter, and faint shouts could be heard from below.

Fortunately, flames had already appeared within the courtyard by now.

This time, they had brought two porcelain bottles with them.

These had been prepared by the Beast King—the bottles contained fire oil, specifically for quickly starting fires!

"Go! Solit, the fire's already set!"

Minister Weilade burst out of the small courtyard.

Immediately after, the two no longer delayed, swiftly ducked back into the thicket, and then carefully retraced their route back.

Along the way, they saw large numbers of legion soldiers hurrying toward the provisions' small courtyard.

However, this actually made it easier for the two of them to escape.

After all, those legion soldiers had no time at all to keep an eye on the thickets on either side.

And so, the two made it back to the main road without mishap, and hurried toward the gates of Winterkeep.

"We have been keeping Duke Lieshi company drinking all evening. When we heard the city was attacked, we need to return to our respective units!"

"Here are our identity tags, and the entry permits we just received when we entered Winterkeep!"

The two produced their identity tags, and also produced the travel-permit scroll issued by Duke Lieshi!

What's more, to make it convincing, they had deliberately splashed wine over themselves, to fake the look of having just finished drinking.

Sure enough, the soldiers verified the scroll's authenticity, and at the same time learned that Minister Weilade was the South-Front Inspector General, while Solit actually bore the surname Lieshi — they had not the slightest suspicion, and let the two straight out of Winterkeep.

Of course, because of the special circumstances, the two were lowered down the city wall sitting in bamboo baskets.

……

"What? The grain stores were burned? How is that possible — how could Winterkeep have orc spies?!"

Just as dawn was breaking, the Grand Commander received a piece of news that sank his heart to the bottom.

The last scrap of grain the army had left had actually been burned.

Originally, because the sky both inside and outside the city was brightening, the situation had already begun to stabilize.

The Grand Commander was just letting out a breath of relief.

But he never expected to receive such terrible news.

Duke Hernande and Duke Lieshi immediately knit their brows as well.

"How much of the grain was burned, is there any left, and have the arsonists been caught?" Duke Hernande pressed at once.

"Reporting to you, my lord — although we fought with all our might to save it, the fire broke out in too many spots in the granary compound, and in no time at all it turned into a great blaze!"

"So by the time the fire was put out, the grain had already been pretty much burned up…"

"Also, when we reached the compound, apart from the guards' bodies on the ground, there was no one else to be seen…!"

"Fools! Fools! You fools! At this rate… our army is finished!"

Even the usually composed Grand Commander could not help cursing out loud at this point.

It was simply because, with these grain stores destroyed, the army inside Winterkeep had lost even that last reserve that could have kept them going a few more days.