r18novel Chapter 95 Marcus: This dusting is such a wonderful thing!
Chapter 95 Marcus: This dusting is such a wonderful thing!
Marcus slowly lowered the bronze telescope in his hand, a deep brow furrowed between his brows. In the distance, the outline of the Three Tax Depots was distorted by the heat of the bonfires outside the city, like a mirage.
"The three customs houses, along with the mercenaries and spice merchants from the Three Kingdoms of Daughters inside," his voice was low and devoid of any triumphant joy, "are completely surrounded by us. They can't even get a single carrier pigeon out now."
Yes, now with the three customs offices, not even a single pigeon can fly out.
From a high vantage point, the entire Sanshui Customs District appeared as a massive construction site: countless trenches, low walls, and watchtowers rose up like an ugly brown python, enveloping the entire district.
In the Valantis military camp, even if you are a distinguished battalion commander or a meritorious company commander, you now have to cut down trees, dig ditches, and build barricades and temporary earthworks...
"The Fourth Legion's efficiency is still not fast enough!" Marcus frowned, pointing to a tunnel leading directly from their camp to the first wave of besieging Valantis troops. "For so many days, the Mil and the Tyrosians haven't dared to leave their homes. They shouldn't have been disturbed while constructing the tunnel. How come they've only built one?"
"My lord, please understand, after all, most of the soldiers of the Fourth Legion are still carrying out the siege operation you requested at Wangbao!" The commander of the First Legion's [Six-Winged Heavenly Army], who was standing to the side, bowed slightly, his voice respectful, yet also offering a pragmatic explanation for his colleague:
"Please understand. The Fourth Army is not a siege-focused force; they have done everything in their power. The outer fortifications of the fortress have all been taken over, and we have surrounded it like an iron barrel with triple moats, earthen walls, and sharp wooden palisades. To be honest, even a mouse would have a chance to squeeze through there now. They... they are just holding onto the last vestige of the inner city, fighting like cornered beasts."
"As for the three customs offices... please understand them, after all, they didn't send many people."
Yes, the Fortress of Hope still stands firm; this pride of the Ries still stands majestically on the land, refusing to compromise with the hegemony of Valantis.
Of course, the entire area around Watchtower is now surrounded by Volantis, with Volanti sappers layering them up, preventing any news from getting out. Moreover, the main force of the Volantis has withdrawn from Watchtower to the Three Tax Depot, so everyone thinks Watchtower has already fallen.
However, this is not the case. In fact, when Marcus heard that the besieging army at the Three Taxes Pass was surrounded by the Mil-Tyrossi coalition, he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. He even abandoned the watchtower, which had not yet been completely captured, and led his main force south to the Three Taxes Pass to relieve the siege.
However, before leaving, he instructed the commander of the Fourth Army Corps in charge of the siege: "Make sure you make it look real! They don't even have the strength to fight back! You just need to surround the entire city; in short, don't let anyone know that Wangbao hasn't actually fallen yet..."
This greatly troubled the commander (or contractor, whatever you prefer) of the Fourth Legion's [Iron Totem], but he finally came up with a good idea: we started repairing the outer watchtower outposts.
Thus, in the eyes of the scouts of the Three Kingdoms, the outer watchtower outposts were actually being repaired by the Valantis...
What does this mean? It means that the watchtower has already fallen! Otherwise, how could the Valantis have had the mind to start building the outer structures?
Thus, the defenders of Watchtower knew that the main force of the besieging Valantis had actually moved south, but they were unable to transmit the information to the Kingdom of the Three Daughters. In the eyes of the Kingdom of the Three Daughters, Watchtower had already fallen, and now the siege of the Three Taxes Pass was the most critical issue.
"If I remember correctly..." Marcus slowly descended from the watchtower. "It took us ten days to clear out the outer outposts of Watchtower; another ten days to besiege Watchtower and capture its outer city; another ten days to destroy their ferry outposts. How many days have we been besieging the inner city now? Haven't they run out of food yet?"
"Why are they still casting shadows over our banners and victories? Is the Fourth Army carving works of art with shovels? Thirty-eight catapults bombard their inner city day and night, yet they can't even break a decent breach?"
"My lord, Wangbao is, after all, the pride of the Reiss people, and is said to be impregnable..."
"Bullshit!" Marcus swore, a rare occurrence for him. "Commander, after all these years of fighting, don't you understand? The truly impenetrable defenses are always the field armies that can be mobilized and the constant flow of supplies! Completely annihilating an enemy legion is far more effective than capturing their city!"
"This only proves one thing: that our legions have also fallen to an unimaginable level! Remember, we, the armies of Valantis, rely on swords and shields, picks and shovels, not..." He contemptuously pointed his whip at the distant camp of the Third Legion, the "Uncrowned Princes."
"So-called bloodlines and nobility. Ha, what use are these things? Unless they can use their bloodlines to ride dragons someday."
The commander of the First Legion swallowed back what he was about to say.
The soldiers of the Third Legion, the "Uncrowned Prince," were unwilling to send their slave warriors and auxiliary troops to dig trenches, build tunnels, and construct their own camps. Instead, they bypassed Marcus and directly ordered the auxiliary troops of the Fourth Legion and other legions to serve in the construction of their tents and tournament grounds.
Marcus disliked this kind of "going against the grain" and overstepping authority.
In his eyes, a good legion is one that is uniform, follows the rules, and never crosses the line, rather than a "star legion" like the Third Legion [The Uncrowned Prince], which is equally noteworthy for its troublemaking ability and military prowess.
"My lord, it would be good to let the soldiers watch the young masters' martial arts tournament and spear duels," the Six-Winged Heavenly Army's legion commander advised. "After all, siege warfare is a tough job, and everyone's getting bored..."
"A chore?" Marcus scoffed. "Look at you, you've picked up that kind of frivolous stuff too, not at all like the people of Valantis! This civil engineering work..." He looked down at the meticulously constructed siege fortifications below, which were exactly as he had planned them in his blueprints.
"What a wonderful thing!"
"My lord, only someone like you, a designer by training, would think civil engineering is a wonderful thing, wouldn't you?" the First Legion Commander thought to himself.
Of course, he certainly wouldn't say it to their face. In Valantis, where hierarchy was clearly defined, criticism of superiors by subordinates was always considered presumptuous.
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Jules Maud crumpled a roll of gilded parchment into a ball, his face contorted with rage. Without a second glance, he tossed it into the fireplace. The flames instantly consumed the elegantly worded yet absurdly contented orders of the Governor's Council of Rees, crackling softly as if mocking their overestimation of their abilities.
"A proactive attack?! And to recapture all the crossings and strongholds on the west bank, advance eastward swiftly, and relieve the siege of the allied forces?!" Jules's voice, like suppressed thunder, echoed in the low stone chamber. His bronze face was flushed with rage. "Those old men from Rees, sitting on their gilded toilets, what do they think I, Jules, am?! The incarnation of the King of Light, or a warrior descended from the Seven Gods?! They won a lucky victory, and now they're so arrogant they've forgotten who they are?!"
He whirled around, slamming his calloused hand heavily onto the rough wooden table, making the markings on the map jump. "They don't even open their eyes! What kind of trash did we wipe out?! A private army of nobles! Shrimp and crabs! And now?" He stretched out his five fingers, then angrily clenched them.
"I can't even muster five thousand combat-ready soldiers! Tiberius's 'Lightning Legion' of over three hundred men is now a proper force, but what about my own White Legion? Over one hundred and twenty core heavy cavalrymen are the old guard! Three hundred knights and wandering knights from Westeros can form the backbone of the legion! And two thousand five hundred old mercenaries! Plus the eighteen hundred auxiliary soldiers we've managed to gather! That's all the damn resources we have! To fight the Volantis with this little bit of manpower is like throwing a rock at an egg!"
He grew angrier as he spoke, pointing outside the door as if he could see those people far away in Rhys issuing orders: "And what about them! That idiot Mithridas sent tens of thousands of men to their deaths, and now he's rushing us to fill the gaps! To die! To relieve the siege! To be damn firefighters! These governors are just like that bastard Mithridas of Mil, sending one batch after another! In their eyes, soldiers are just numbers! They never understand the importance of manpower! Money, land, and all those luxuries are useless if they can't buy a legion that can be immediately deployed to the war!"
According to Jules, after the heavy losses in the early stages, the wisest strategy on land for at least six months before the large-scale arrival of new mercenaries is to rely on the flank corridors for defense, avoiding a decisive battle and the loss of manpower, rather than throwing eggs against a rock.
As for the siege of the Three Taxes Pass and its evacuation, it is not unsolvable. However, the Three Kingdoms of Women would need to mobilize at least 10,000 troops to lift the siege, and the prerequisite would be to completely abandon the Three Taxes Pass and only evacuate the 10,000 allied troops who were besieged.
Lisanro Rogal stood to the side, his face somewhat embarrassed. As the governor's son, he instinctively wanted to say something in defense of Ries, but the words stuck in his throat.
He coughed lightly, his voice low and somber: "Ahem... Uncle Jules, they... they were just anxious. The losses were too great, and they couldn't save face..."
Tiberius let out a cold laugh. He walked to the map, pointed at the western coast region of Rieslan, and said with utter sarcasm:
"Our 'unbeatable' (he emphasized those words) brother Mithridates, after nearly bankrupting the kingdom on the east bank of the disputed river, hasn't been idle!"
"He's been at it again these past few days, launching another 'heroic' attack to try and rescue the Three Taxes... and well," he shrugged, "the result is that our old adversary Marcus has him trapped in the Three Taxes, and now the entire Kingdom of Three Daughters is desperately trying to pull these ten thousand-plus people out of that damned cage of the Three Taxes."
His finger slid along the map, landing on Rhys's colony in the disputed territory, a strange expression on his face that he was trying to suppress: "The reason Rhys is so anxious right now, besides saving face, is more importantly because of this... Our allies, Mill and Tyrosi, intend for us to implement a 'scorched earth policy,' a 'defensive counterattack,' and an 'inside operation.'"
"To put it bluntly, it means voluntarily abandoning some difficult-to-defend areas, consolidating forces, and strengthening the core defense line. From a purely military perspective, this strategy is absolutely correct, even brilliant, and can indeed greatly slow down the offensive momentum of the Valantis."
“But the problem is…” Tiberius finally couldn’t help but let out a mocking smile, “In his ‘grand’ blueprint, the areas our allies plan to abandon basically cover over 70% of Rhys’s colonies and estates in the disputed territories! Rhys’s homeland is far overseas, which now becomes a… well, an ‘advantage’?” His tone was strange, “After all, the other nobles and governors of Tyrossi and Myr can justifiably say: ‘This doesn’t affect our homes! For the final victory, it’s only right that Rhys makes some ‘great sacrifices’! ‘Glory to Rhys!’”
"But Rhys can't give up..." Rissanro gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with disbelief and anger towards his "ally".
"What is Rees if we abandon those colonies? Our spice fleet needs the colonies' timber, our plantations, our mines, our workshops, and our colonies! If we abandon these places, we won't even be able to maintain a second-rate navy!"
"And..." He glanced at the map, pointing to Tyrosi and the city-state of Myr. "And when the time comes to abandon the colonies, we'll face not only the people of Valantis, but also the 'warm hospitality' of our 'allies'!"