Chapter 88: Chapter 79: Prove Your Loyalty
The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Henry’s army began to move.
Bain’s Cavalry vanished into the morning mist. They galloped freely across Baron Sura’s domain, plundering villages and farmsteads, sending a steady stream of grain and prisoners back to camp.
These newly acquired resources provided Henry’s army with even more logistical support. ’You can hide behind your walls until you die of old age,’ Henry thought. ’Sorry, but I’m not running out of food either.’
While Bain and his Cavalry were out raiding, the Engineers who had "volunteered" to join the army received their orders and began constructing trebuchets.
The soldiers moved quickly. Using captured axes, they felled the surrounding trees, shaping the thick trunks into the main frames for the trebuchets.
Levers, ropes, and counterweights were skillfully assembled, forming machines capable of hurling massive stones.
Meanwhile, inside the earthen fort, Baron Sura’s mood grew heavier with each passing day.
Every day, he would stand on the ramparts and gaze into the distance, hoping to see the banners of allied nobles appearing on the horizon.
But all he ever saw were Henry’s Cavalry continuously escorting away his people, his serfs, his livestock, and his grain. There was no sign of any other noble’s army.
Now, every day of waiting felt like a prison sentence. Baron Sura’s heart filled with helplessness and anxiety.
He even began to second-guess himself. ’Was it really a mistake to call upon the surrounding steppe nobles to crush this untamed outsider, Henry?’
As Baron Sura watched the trebuchets slowly take shape outside his fort, a sliver of fear took root.
’If Henry’s army breaches the walls...’ The thought terrified him, making him even more frantic. He began pacing back and forth in his study, trying to find any possible solution.
Unfortunately, he found none.
His army’s quality was too poor to attempt a breakout battle against Henry in the open field. That would only lead to a faster defeat.
As for escaping... Baron Sura looked at Henry’s armored Cavalry and dismissed the thought.
Henry would occasionally gaze at the earthen fort, sometimes even spotting the distant figure of Baron Sura.
Henry, ever so polite, would wave a greeting at the Baron. The latter, however, did not wave back and instead left the ramparts.
’We’re both Barons,’ Henry mused. ’How could he be so impolite?’
Several days later, the trebuchets were finally complete. The soldiers had also gathered over a hundred large stones.
Henry donned his armor and had his soldiers arm themselves for battle! They had already been here for nearly a week; there was no need to waste any more time on a single earthen fort.
The enormous war machines were pushed to the front. An Engineer stood beside a trebuchet, carefully observing the fort’s walls.
After a few test shots, the Engineer quickly adjusted the trebuchet’s launch angle and had soldiers load a massive stone into its sling.
At his command, the trebuchet unleashed its immense power. The stone was flung high, arcing through the sky before smashing heavily into the earthen fort’s wall, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The massive stones carved one arc after another through the air, repeatedly striking the solid walls. Every impact made the soldiers of Baron Sura inside the fort tremble with fear.
Baron Sura stood atop the ramparts, his face pale as he watched Henry’s trebuchets.
He had been trapped in his fort for days. It was impossible that the surrounding nobles hadn’t noticed the situation. Why wasn’t anyone coming to help?
’Those foolish cowards!’
’Look at this! How long has it been? A little over half a year! A complete stranger in a foreign land has actually trained such a massive army.’
He, a long-established Baron, could only raise a force of sixteen hundred men in times of war!
Sura could sense Henry’s ambition. If they didn’t nip his expansion in the bud, they would all sooner or later be turned into exiled nobles by him.
They had clearly agreed that as soon as Henry made a move, they would immediately bring their Private Armies and swallow his forces whole.
’So what happened? Where is everyone? Somebody help me!’
Overcome with shock and fury, Baron Sura was pulled off the ramparts by his ministers and Attendants. It would be a truly senseless death to be killed by a stray stone.
"Increase the intensity of the trebuchet attacks!"
As the frequency of the bombardment increased, more and more cracks appeared on the wall. Finally, under one particularly powerful impact, a section of the rampart could hold no longer and collapsed with a thunderous ROAR.
With the collapse of the wall, the atmosphere on the battlefield instantly grew taut. The entire field fell silent.
"The time to prove your loyalty has come! Charge!"
Henry looked at the breached wall, brandished the greatsword in his hand, and gave the order for a full-scale assault.
The soldiers, already in formation and eager for a fight, let out a deafening war cry and surged toward the breach like a black tide.
Baron Sura’s soldiers stood ready, bracing for the coming impact.
Henry’s archers followed close behind, their suppressing fire preventing the enemy archers and Crossbowmen on the walls from even lifting their heads.
Soon, hand-to-hand combat erupted at the breach!
Henry’s soldiers first threw a volley of Javelins, then charged into the enemy ranks, swinging longswords and battle-axes.
The clash of metal rang out continuously. Each strike could mean the difference between life and death.
Shields slammed into shields as soldiers used all their strength, trying to push their opponents down or force them back.
The five down-on-their-luck nobles led the charge. Wielding their knightly swords and relying on their heavy armor, they smashed directly into the enemy line, using brute force to tear open a gap.
The Senior Infantry at the front immediately formed a Shield Array and plunged into the gap, continuously widening the breach in the enemy’s line.
Under this ferocious assault, Baron Sura’s army began to gradually fall back. They tried to resist with spears and swords, but Henry’s soldiers simply pushed forward, bracing themselves behind their shields.
Vasco and the other Infantry Officers immediately gave the order to switch formations, forming a tight phalanx.
They held long spears and shields, with the Shield Array leading the way and spearmen following closely behind. Protected by the Shield Array, the infantry charged bravely into the enemy ranks. Every crash of shields was accompanied by the soldiers’ roars as they used all their might to force the enemy back.
Some of the Skilled Infantry charged onto the ramparts and began to slaughter the archers and Crossbowmen. Archers followed them, swarming onto the walls and firing down on the enemy from above.
Their rain of arrows covered the enemy’s rear, forcing Baron Sura’s men to defend against both the arrow storm and the enemy in front of them. They were beginning to buckle.
As more and more of Henry’s army poured in, their thunderous war cries never ceased.
This display of momentum placed immense psychological pressure on Baron Sura’s soldiers. Many of them began to waver, and some even threw down their weapons, stripped off their armor, and knelt on the ground to surrender.
In front of the fort’s central keep, Baron Sura’s elite guard tried to mount an effective resistance.
Clad in heavy armor and wielding massive shields and long spears, they formed a solid defensive line.
However, Henry’s soldiers were not intimidated. Instead, they simply surrounded them and waited for the archers to arrive.
’Heavy armor, is it? Let’s see how you like a few dozen arrows shot into you! Then you’ll behave!’
