episode_0152

Thessalonica reluctantly surrendered to William’s threats.

Thanks to this, William easily obtained Thessalonica and completed preparations for Mercury.

William is troubled when he sees Ioanes arriving near Thessalonica with an army of over 100,000 men.

‘Even if we are fighting a defensive battle, we must maintain momentum.’

Several weeks had already passed since the capture of the Toulouse fortress.

Even strong morale may be broken when faced with a large enemy force.

William, who believes that he must maintain his momentum to deal with a strong and tough enemy with a small number of soldiers, looks at the map and becomes concerned.

A forest quite far from Thessalonica.

‘Would it be a good idea to hide the Golden Knights there and conduct a night raid on the surrounded enemy? Or should we break the momentum of an opponent preparing for a siege by going out into the field?’

It is not easy to deal with the enemy with a small number of troops.

William’s hammer is large and sturdy, but he is not confident that the anvil is strong enough to take down the enemy.

Soon, I erase the field battle from my mind.

‘If you lose in the field, it’s really hard to endure. Let’s rather trust in the power of the Golden Knights and attack at night.’

At the same time, I look at the enemy’s movement path and think.

‘The enemies are moving quickly, so they must be tired. If we’re going to attack, we’d better attack on the day we arrive.’

William stays up late thinking about how to prepare a strategy to break the enemy’s momentum.

***

Ambitious time.

Ioannes and Nicaea’s nobles, knights, and generals are gathering for a war council.

Among them, Ioanes, the host, is not feeling very comfortable right now.

That’s because the enemy used deceptive tactics by pretending to have deployed many soldiers on the way into Adria, so it took longer than expected to enter.

I can’t help but feel good about having spent two days turning a small number of cavalry into a large number.

‘Damn it… I can’t believe I was fooled by a cavalry unit with only a few thousand people.’

If Ioannes were to make his own excuse, he was under the illusion that William was reorganizing and commanding the surrendered army, and it would not be a good situation for 70,000 troops to fight against 80,000 troops, so he spent two days searching.

However, Ioanenes, who eventually entered Adria, quickly checked the enemy’s movements and captured the situation in which they were trying to fortify Thessalonica, so he marched forcefully with troops from Jarl and Byzantium and reached Thessalonica.

“Listen to the generals, the soldiers have suffered through forced marches, so give them meat and alcohol and let them take turns resting.”

The siege could only be carried out if the soldiers, who had traveled a considerable distance, rested.

“Also, tell the soldiers that the siege equipment will be assembled starting tomorrow morning and that a full-scale siege will begin the day after tomorrow.”

-yes! I accept orders.

As the nobles and generals responded, Ioanes continued.

“How is the Dupol wire now?”

Based on Fort Cancho, the entire Dupol front was entrusted to Savinelli, who was winning the war with excellent tactics.

Therefore, Ioanes is worried about whether Savinelli, whom he trusts, is doing well, so he asks.

Alexander answers.

“It is said that great progress has been made against the enemy and the Michoacán fortress has been taken.”

Ioanes is amazed by those words.

“You must be busy defending against enemies, so how did you take out the fortress?”

Alexander responds to Ioannes.

“It is said that they held a banquet for the captured prisoners and spread false information to force the troops to move from Fort Michoacán to another area, and attacked and captured the fortress of the enemy troops, and are instead taking the offensive.”

Ioanes cannot help but be impressed by Alexander’s words.

Ioanes is at least comforted by his ability and performance to turn unfavorable situations into opportunities by performing unexpectedly well.

“Haha… Yeah. It’s still worth a try.”

Although he was late, Ioanes took control of the fortress on the Dupol side, and with the numerous reports of victory coming from the Jarl side, Ioanes harbored the idea that if he did well, he could take control of the entire kingdom of Boheme.

Although Eren’s kingdom is still alive and well, it feels good to imagine that the worst can be avoided.

That moment.

-ding!

Everyone is taken aback when they hear the bell announcing a raid.

and.

-The enemy!, The enemy has appeared!

Everyone is taken aback by the sudden shout.

“What… what’s going on?!”

-Woe… It’s the Golden Knights!

-Hi!

-Sa… Save me!

-Ugh!

Everyone goes outside to look at the camp at the sound of screams coming from outside the tent. When they see flames rising from the eastern camp and screams coming from afar.

at that time.

“Your Majesty! It’s an enemy night attack.”

Ioanes urgently answers those words.

“How much? How many enemies are there?!”

“Woe… I think it’s all of the Golden Knights.”

At those words, Ioanes urgently gives an order.

“Surround the enemies with infantry right now! Don’t let it slip away!”

I give such an order, but…

-Quaang!

-Hey! bang!

Magic begins to pour from the enemy’s walls.

And soon…

-Wow!

-charge! Defeat the traitors!

The gate opens and the imperial soldiers begin to run out.

“Damn it!”

Saying that, Ioanes hurriedly climbs to a nearby watchtower and checks the situation.

“Protect the center right now! What do knights do? Why don’t you stop the enemies? Ask the wizards for support too!”

The battle began so suddenly.

***

William’s fantastic night attack worked well, but his unexpectedly quick response forced the troops into the castle.

“Haha! Congratulations to the knight commander. It’s a great victory! Great victory!”

It can be said that it was a great victory since the enemy was trampled with only a small number of troops, but William said while looking at Matthew indifferently.

“Does this look like Mahayana to you?”

William, who came back after winning, looks at Matthew with a pitiful look, and Matthew speaks as if he is puzzled.

“The enemy was panicked and thousands of people died due to the leader’s attack, so you’re saying it’s not a great victory?”

“Ha… That’s it.”

Saying that, William takes off his helmet and climbs up the castle wall, lost in thought.

‘It didn’t hit as hard as I thought. Ioane… you’ve grown a lot.’

William came here under orders from the emperor to save Nicaea.

At that time, I had seen Ioanes, who was the crown prince.

At that time, loyalty to the empire was evident in Ioannes’ eyes.

William feels regret over the fact that he is now older and fighting with the Archduke to take over this empire.

‘Nicaea County has become stronger than before. Excellent organizational skills and excellent leadership. You have become a hero of your time. But why did you start a rebellion?…’

William thinks that if he had been loyal to the empire, the empire would have developed further, but he quickly gives up the thought.

‘He is already an enemy of the state.’

Soon I shake my head and think about my future plans.

It will be almost impossible to study at night next time.

Although the enemy is tired now and has struck, it will be difficult for the night attack to succeed once the full-scale battle begins.

“There’s really only Suseongjeon left.”

William clicks his tongue like that.

He doesn’t like siege warfare or water defense warfare that much.

The reason is that it is a difficult battle to properly utilize the power of the Golden Knights.

Looking at the moon rising in the sky, I inspected the enemy’s formation.

***

A period of fierce siege warfare in Thessalonica.

A few hours before sunrise.

Hundreds of ships begin to appear in the waters off Byzantium.

If it had not been night, the Nicaean army would have immediately noticed that it was an enemy ship.

This is my first time seeing a large ship like Callion or battleship rather than the small ships usually seen in the Nicaea Sea.

And soon…

Josef gives an order.

“Jojoun!”

With those words, I aim the ballista at the target.

Naval forces targeting the location of a marine fortress received from the Intelligence Department.

“Fire!”

-Wheee!

As soon as the command was given, something about the size of two adult male fists quickly flew towards the land from the ship… soon.

It emits bright light and creates flames around it.

“Keep shooting! Shoot generously!”

Agrippa saw hundreds and thousands of shot put fall on the enemy’s sea fortress, causing an explosion.

I get lost in thought as I watch the bombardment, which is quite spectacular.

‘Once the maritime fortress is destroyed, we can quickly get to Byzantion. If we do well, we might be able to build a siege within today.’

Additionally, according to the last report received, the number of troops deployed to Byzantium was around 10,000.

Agrippa predicts that he will easily defeat the enemies with his own strength, which includes 40,000 imperial troops and a troop of giants.

‘By the way, I’d like to take just that ballista later.’

Considering the ridiculously long range of the ballista, I expect it will be of great help in siege warfare.

That’s because no matter how much magic resistance the castle wall has, it cannot block the fragments generated when a shot put explodes.

In addition, the shot put is so effective at hitting castle walls and breaking stones that it is impossible not to covet it.

‘It’s probably confidential so it’s hard to take it.’

With that in mind, I look at the marine fortress of Nicaea.

Although it is dark and cannot be clearly seen, the shot put explodes and emits bright light around the area, so it can be easily inferred that it is causing quite a bit of damage.

Admiral Josef is satisfied as he watches the fire slowly spread around him.

“Commander Agrippa, that is a truly excellent strategy. It’s dark at night, so the enemies don’t know our location, so it’s hard to fire back, and even if they do, the range is short so they won’t reach here.”

In fact, the current Nicaean army does not know the enemy’s location and is attacking with ballistas anywhere, but since they do not know the distance and direction, the attack only falls into the sea in vain.

“This is too much praise. Anyway, if we attack like this until morning, the enemies will have a hard time holding on. We will then land, finish off the coastal fortifications, and head towards Byzantion.”

Joseph nods at Agrippa’s words.

“Hehe, the expression on the face of the King of Nicaea after losing his capital is worth seeing.”

Agrippa nods his head at those words.

The war soon ends with the defeat of Nicaea.

‘Because there is nothing more ragtag than a large army whose supplies have been cut off due to the fall of the capital.’