When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 842 - 793: War Is the Best Teacher

"According to Count Sanboli, the walls of Xia Lvcheng are about a century old. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The one who oversaw the wall's construction was the first Archbishop of Thousand River Valley, Ust Chu, using lime, rice pulp, and large granite blocks.

Subsequently, successive bishops and nobles repaired and expanded the walls multiple times to prevent sieges by Kush nobles and rebels.

The most recent repair of the walls was made twenty-three years ago, before the witch Moliat took over this city loyal to the royal family."

About four to five hundred meters away from Xia Lvcheng on a hill, Raffel faced the wind and snow with the King's envoy, pointing towards the distant Xia Lvcheng.

The burly man, wearing a mink fur hat with a bushy short mustache, looked like a Northern Norn person.

But in truth, he was a legitimate noble from River Island, just someone who had been traversing the Norn Kingdom's borders for the royal family for years.

"Isn't this too far?" The King's envoy squinted, looking at Xia Lvcheng through the snowstorm and complained, "Can't we get a bit closer?"

Raffel shook his head decisively: "This is as close as we can get. Although the Spring Cannon isn't accurate from five to six hundred yards, they have divination spells. Who knows what's possible?"

Shivering, the King's envoy took out a pipe from his coat and clamped it with his carrot-like fingers, inhaling a puff before motioning Raffel to continue speaking.

In front of the envoy, whose nose was red from the cold, Raffel, as a Great Knight, wore only a short coat to shield himself from the wind, appearing as if it was still autumn.

"In the past two years, Moliat has made some modifications to the city defenses, clearing the moat.

On the outskirts of the moat, she built parapets and turrets with earthen walls and palisades.

Behind the parapets and turrets, new and old walls connect to form triangular walls."

The King's envoy nodded as he listened, looking at the protruding triangular walls in the distance, recognizing it as the "Triangle Fort" mentioned in the intel.

The Duke of Wing Nest's letter described at length the vexatious nature of such a special outer fort.

It's solid inside, with spring cannons mounted on top; the pointed corners make it difficult to place siege towers, and attacking from the sides results in a crossfire.

If they attack the wall between two protrusions, the "concave" area, they will face a three-sided attack.

These Thousand River Valley Kush people are also skilled with crossbows, especially the mountain people, who are all archers.

The Duke of Wing Nest suffered greatly during the Shattered Stone Plain war.

"Don't we have spring cannons? Use them to blast the city." As a close confidant of the King, the envoy was naturally aware of the current situation.

In such a situation, regardless of what magic or alchemy it is, use whatever can be used first.

When it comes to other things, these Leia people might not want to learn or may not learn quickly.

But when it comes to war-related matters, they learn incredibly fast.

With the spring cannons in their possession and under the guidance of the surrendered gunners, they figured out how to use this new weapon in two to three weeks.

Although not as accurate as the Thousand River Valley people, they managed to get the hang of it.

"The outer walls of Xia Lvcheng are 4 fathoms (7 to 8 meters), and the inner walls are 6 fathoms (11 to 12 meters). The spring cannons positioned higher have a longer range than those we managed to acquire.

And many of the Triangle Forts are solid walls repaired with mortar. Our three-pound and six-pound spring cannons would probably take a long while to break through."

"What about a naval battle? Or have the Red Knights swim across?"

"One-fourth of Xia Lvcheng is open to the water without walls, but there are shore defense cannons that prevent warships from passing.

You know the competence of the Red Knights as well. They are inherently dim-witted; after one successful crossing, the enemy has prepared, making a second attempt difficult."

The envoy took a puff from his pipe, releasing a thick plume of traditional, choking smoke: "Prince Kongdai abandoned such a stronghold and went out to meet the enemy... how reckless."

"It can't be said like this." Raffel spoke in defense of the late Prince Kongdai, "His time was short; he needed a quick resolution, and back then, the city defenses weren't as tight as they are today."

The envoy puffed smoke for a while and then hoarsely asked, "I've heard enough about the city defenses. Tell me about the garrison."

Raffel gestured, and a priest immediately handed over a scroll.

"Currently estimated, the garrison in the city consists of 8,000 troops and 3,000 militiamen, with about 40 to 50 spring cannons.

Initially, the city's residents numbered between 60,000 to 80,000. Later, over 30,000 fled by boat, and more than 10,000 refugees from the Military Settlement District moved in. Now, there's approximately 50,000 people.

Since we haven't controlled the Nao'an River route, the riverbank has two spring cannons that continue to blockade our ships, enabling a steady flow of supplies and weaponry into Xia Lvcheng."

"Do they face a risk of running out of food shortly?"

"No."

"How long will it take to capture this city?"

"At the current pace, it might take a year."

"You have 48,000 troops outside the city!"

Raffel furrowed his brows: "Back then, the Blood and Flesh Royal Court's 100,000 troops besieged Holy Seat City for three years, and there were only 9,000 defenders inside. Did they succeed in capturing the city?"

Moreover, there was one point he didn't mention.

The people inside Xia Lvcheng are united, while the army outside is a mix, including a large number of vassal troops.

Besides the 20,000 direct King's troops that Raffel brought, there were also—

4,000 vassal troops from Immortal Stone Field, led by Count Heinzman.

9,000 vassal troops from Dawn Island, led by Count Dretta.

8,000 Norn Allied Forces called upon from Bear Castle Territory, and 7,000 led by Thousand River Valley's returning nobility.

The vassal troops from Immortal Stone Field and Dawn Island can only fight easily won battles. To expect them to risk their lives storming a city is asking the impossible.

Soon, 12,000 troops from the Oslar Clan will arrive, though it's uncertain how many more troops His Highness Jinijis will bring.

The envoy took a few more puffs from his pipe and kicked a rock, cracking a piece of sandstone: "Mad, this won't do, and that can't be done. Can this Female Grand Duke really hold out until Judgment Day?"

Raffel pinched his brow: "We've misjudged Xia Lvcheng's city defenses. Even if we risk getting cut off by Moliat, we should have directly attacked Xia Lvcheng."

"Did the strategy of that royal Pharmacist work? Is there any response from inside the city?"

Raffel said nothing, simply rubbing the ruby on the hilt of his sword.

Amidst the wind and snow, having just celebrated the New Year Festival in the military camp, the soldiers began to walk onto the snow-covered land under the knights' whips.

They wielded shovels and pickaxes, digging winding tunnels towards Xia Lvcheng, using sapping techniques to approach the city walls.

This was the attack strategy that Raffel had thought of after much deliberation, inspired by the siege warfare techniques detailed in the ancient military manual "Siege" compiled by the former King of Leia, Alrobo.

But instead of collapsing the city walls, Raffel's tunneling aimed to prevent the soldiers from becoming sitting ducks.

This idea came to Raffel in November, but gathering shovels, pickaxes, and organizing soldiers to dig took more than half a month.

It's now January 1449, and they've only managed to dig four trenches, one fathom (1.9 meters) deep, with sides filled with mud for protection against bullets.

Initially, they adopted straight trenches, only to be turned into a bloody mess by the six-pound cannons.

Learning from the pain, Raffel brainstormed widely and came up with Z-shaped trenches, followed by digging parallel trenches about sixty yards from the earthen parapets.

As of January 12, after ten days of parallel sapping, they've come within fifty yards, starting to engage soldiers behind the palisades and parapets.

In comparison, Raffel still prefers a decent and proper capture of the city.

If the Pharmacist's method worked, Xia Lvcheng might be uninhabitable for two or three years.

"Sapping is ongoing in the direction of Adan Castle; if we break through, it would cut off the city's line of retreat, allowing us to bypass it and attack the rear of Lower Reif County."

"If not, then throw in another batch of those diseased... cattle and sheep." The envoy emphasized heavily on "diseased."