Page 167

Page 167

Edwill had no good feelings towards these nobles who changed their attitudes according to the situation.

After the wizards killed King Bazel and launched a rebellion, only a few nobles loyal to the church chose to resist, while more people were wavering and even joined forces with the wizards to persecute local priests and bishops.

These were undoubtedly criminals, so Edwyre brought in all the nobles in the eastern part of the kingdom, whether they were barons, viscounts or dukes, to gather such a large army.

Chapter 340: The Enemy at the Gate and the Hard-to-Break Firearms

Under the pressure of Edelweir, Hebrew and Barrow looked at each other with great regret in their hearts. If all their troops were killed, the title of duke alone would not be able to deal with the attack of other nobles.

If they had known this, they might as well have obeyed Hattar's order and entered the capital...

But it is obviously too late to regret now. No matter how unwilling Hibrew and Barrow are, there is nothing they can do.

At this moment, Edelweir's indifferent voice rang in everyone's ears.

"Whoever among you can capture the capital, or achieve the most outstanding feats, will be the next king of Hadratha!"

Edwell's words were like a huge rock thrown into a calm lake, and the eyes of all the nobles present turned red.

Hebrew and Barrow are no exception. This is an opportunity to rule an entire kingdom!

It may also be the only chance!

As nobles of the kingdom, they can attack and plunder each other's territory, and they can also use all kinds of shady means, but there is one line that cannot be crossed, and that is replacing the king!

Unless you get the approval of the Holy See... wear the crown with the testimony and grace of God!

More than a hundred years ago, the former king of the Bazel family seized the throne with this method!

That is to say, after becoming king, as long as he does not rebel against the Church, he can pass on the throne forever under the protection of God!

Now that King Bazel is dead and the eldest prince also died tragically in the royal capital, coupled with Edwill's guarantee, the replacement of the new king has become possible!

Thinking of this, the nobles of the kingdom were all very excited. With the support of the Holy See, even if he was just a small baron, he would have the opportunity to rise to the top and become king!

Hebrew immediately took action, rode his horse to the front of the soldiers, and spoke passionately.

"Followers of God, those followers of the evil god are in this capital city in front of you. They want to open the gates of hell, destroy the entire kingdom, and let demons, disasters, and plagues run rampant in the world...

We must never tolerate such things happening. These evildoers and cultists must pay the price of their evil deeds with blood!"

"As long as you kill an enemy in front of you, you will get one imperial gold coin. If you kill a wizard, you will be awarded the title of knight. The first person to climb the city wall will be rewarded with a thousand gold coins and be awarded the title of earl!"

The Hebrew words resounded in the wilderness like a loud bell. Inspired by the huge reward, the enthusiasm of tens of thousands of troops was mobilized in an instant.

"God is with me!" Hebrew shouted loudly.

“God is with me!”

The morale of tens of thousands of soldiers was high and they roared in unison. The loud shouts echoed in the sky like thunder.

Then dozens of nobles led their private soldiers and marched towards the capital...

The beating of drums became louder and louder, and at the same time, there were also the devout hymns of priests and bishops.

[Great Lord of the Stars, Goddess of the Moon, creator of all things in the world, please bestow your grace upon us, granting us light, hope, and strength...]

Amid the ethereal sound of hymns, the radiance of divine power emerged from the bodies of tens of thousands of noble soldiers, and their hearts were filled with infinite courage and strength.

"Here they come! They come!" The might of tens of thousands of people charging in a massed mass made Old York and others who were well prepared nervous, but they still set up their muskets at the first opportunity and waited quietly for the enemy to reach shooting distance.

The best output environment for muskets is of course when both sides are on the same plane and shooting in rows, but being high above can also provide a wider field of vision. What's more, they have too many enemies this time, so there is no need to worry about whether they can hit the target or not.

The 10,000 musketeers guarding the city walls were divided into several arrays, and they fired according to the orders, forming an uninterrupted firepower network.

Following the first round of gunfire, the soldiers who were charging in groups fell down in rows. It was roughly estimated that there were more than a thousand of them. The scene looked extremely spectacular, but just one second later, nearly 70% of them climbed up again, shouting "For the Gods" with red eyes and continued to rush towards the city wall.

The wizards who were watching the battle on the city wall all had extremely solemn expressions.

Lin En could also see that these people were blessed with divine protection.

He had seen something similar the last time he faced the kingdom's army, but his opponents at the time were only a few bishops and dozens of priests. The strength of the divine arts they released was limited and could only brainwash people and increase their courage.

But this time it was different. A real divine shield was actually given to tens of thousands of people. The strength of it should be similar to a ring of protective magic. It could not withstand the attack of muskets, but it could greatly weaken it.

If it hits a harder part of the armor, it may not even be able to penetrate the defense and will simply be knocked down by the impact force.

If the guards were using crossbows instead of muskets at this moment, it would be difficult to even break through the defense!

"Fortunately, these shields are disposable..." Raphael breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the soldiers who got up again. After the second round of shooting, most of them fell to the ground and did not get up again.

But this is equivalent to one more life for each person.

Thinking of this, Raphael turned his head and looked at Lynn. He really admired the foresight of this magic star.

When they were discussing how to conduct this war a few days ago, they all proposed to take the initiative and, relying on their equipment advantages, directly defeat the Vatican's legion in the wilderness and even kill their way into the empire.

After all, the two previous victories came too easily. The Musketeers destroyed opponents that were several times their number with extremely low casualties. It can be said that their enemies could not even put up an effective resistance, so how could they just push forward smoothly?

Only Lin En insisted on defending the city and tried to avoid fighting in the plains before finding out the enemy's strength.

This is good for the Musketeers, but it is also very suitable for large-scale corps combat and cavalry charges!

Now it seems that with this large-scale protective magic, the muskets cannot exert their full power. If they fight in the wilderness, the formation will most likely be directly defeated...

At this time, all the musketeers discovered that their enemy this time was extraordinary. He could actually take a musket shot without dying and could continue to approach the city with full energy carrying the ladder. They immediately put away their previous arrogant mentality.

Old York was assigned to the third wave of shooting. During the first two rounds of shooting, he used the telescope he earned with his military merits to carefully observe the enemy's movements.

It was soon discovered that the soldiers who died in the first round of shooting were all hit in weak points of their armor, or were very unlucky and were hit directly in the face.

So, it’s not that the muskets in their hands can’t penetrate the defense, but they have been weakened by the divine protection and armor, so the projectiles can’t cause fatal damage...

Chapter 341: The Fierce Battle to Defend the Capital

"Third row, shoot!"

A loud shout echoed on the city wall.

Old York hurriedly pulled the bolt and placed the telescope with the adjusted magnification on the butt of the gun, specifically targeting those nobles who were wearing gorgeous clothes.

During the previous two shootings, he had already found his target, which was the one who was dressed the most flashily!

"Charge... Charge!" Under the city wall of the royal capital, Grand Duke Barrow shouted loudly. Although the intensive gunfire and artillery roars continued to sound on the battlefield, he did not feel the slightest fear in his heart. He believed that God was protecting him, and that the armor he bought at a high price provided the best protection.

Faintly, Barrow seemed to have seen the moment when he rushed into the city, killed the false king Hattar, and put on the crown!

An indescribable excitement filled his brain, but the next moment, his thoughts froze. A round lead bullet broke through the air, penetrated the divine barrier in an instant, and shot straight into Barrow's eyes through the gap in the armor!

The power of the magic was fading, and consciousness was quickly fading away. The moment Barrow lost consciousness, he suddenly realized that the so-called throne of king was just an illusory temptation, and they were just cannon fodder to consume the enemy.

"Perfect!" Old York, who had collected a head on the city wall, cheered for his outstanding marksmanship. The unlucky guy just now had such gorgeous armor, so he should be a nobleman after all, right?

That's several more gold coins in hand!

After Old York happily replaced the bullets, he continued to look for the next target through the telescope.

There were many musketeers who had the same little idea as him. All the nobles on the battlefield were dominated by divine magic and desires and soon died tragically on the spot amid the continuous gunfire.

Although not everyone was a sharpshooter, and the nobles were wearing the most sophisticated armor, they were still pointed at by more than a dozen muskets, and were shot into sieves after a round of shooting.

The increasing number of casualties also made the hot-blooded Hebrew and others gradually break free from the influence of the magic.

After all, they were not poor people who were easy to fool. Even though they were tempted to rule a kingdom, they could not resist the fear of death. Their charge became slower and slower, or they simply retreated to the back and commanded the army to fight...

The casualties among the soldiers were even more severe. In less than an hour, more than 4,000 people had died under the city wall, and the red blood dyed a large area of ​​land outside the city red...

The sounds of fighting and gunfire continued to resound on the battlefield, sometimes accompanied by a sporadic rain of arrows, which were soon interrupted by artillery bombardments, leaving only a few arrows that did not pose much of a threat...

These sacrifices were not in vain. They had crossed the line of death and rushed to the city wall, where the ladders had been set up.

The battering ram, which was also protected, reached the city gate under the cover of the human wall, but was hit by several shells and was knocked askew.

The iron hammer hit the city gate again and again, making an unbearable dull sound.

However, apart from a slight shake, the city gate still stood firm, because behind it was a half-meter thick concrete wall, which was built by Lin En and others using magic. It was very strong, not to mention a battering ram, even divine magic would find it difficult to break it down.

When more and more soldiers gathered at the gate, the wizards standing on the city wall finally took action. Fire, ice, lightning, falling rocks... continuous magic smashed down, turning the entire battlefield into hell!

This round of magic bombardment resulted in thousands of casualties, and the siege ladders and battering rams that had been painstakingly built were all reduced to ashes...

After clearing the soldiers near the city wall, Alok and his companions stopped casting spells and let the musketeers continue the attack.

The wizard's magic power is not infinite. Normally, after releasing five or six spells of the same level, he will run into the dilemma of lack of mental strength. You must know that those divine magicians have not directly entered the battlefield, and they cannot invest too much strength.

The huge casualties did not scare the remaining soldiers. They continued to move forward, as if they did not notice the tragic cries of their companions, and continued to build siege ladders while shouting "For the Gods"...

For this kind of auxiliary magic, the deeper the belief, the greater the impact!

These poor people at the bottom of society have nothing and can only rely on prayer to resist the hardships of life. In their eyes, Lin En and others on the city wall seem to be the culprits of all evil and the ones who cause them suffering!

They were so crazy that even Old York hesitated when he was about to shoot. These people were simply devils from hell. Some even had a broken leg, but they still crawled all the way to the bottom of the city wall and scratched the solid wall with their nails!

"How tragic!" Raphael sighed reluctantly. It was the first time for him to experience such a large-scale war. However, he had no intention of taking action. He just watched quietly. This small scene was far from the time when they needed to take action.

Lin En frowned slightly, feeling very puzzled. He didn't quite understand what Edelweir was doing. Was he just letting these people come here to die?

According to the Art of War, without multiple times the number of troops and more advanced weapons and tactics, a violent attack on a city would be no different from sending your head for dead...

Even if all these tens of thousands of people died, they would not be able to shake this city in the slightest...

There is no way that Edwyre is a reckless man who only knows how to attack with force, otherwise he would not be qualified to lead troops to conquer the kingdom and command the two elite troops, the God's Punishment Army and the Griffin Knights.

"Could it be that they want to use the lives of these poor people to consume our ammunition?" Sanchez speculated.

Hearing this, Raphael and others also became a little worried.

The 10,000 musketeers guarding the city walls consumed tens of thousands of bullets after a few rounds of shooting, and the consumption per hour started at 100,000!

They didn't know the production process of lead bullets, but they noticed that they were round and of uniform specifications. Even if the process was not complicated, it would still take a lot of time.

"Haha, that's nothing but wishful thinking! You probably don't know how these bullets are made!" Dennis said with a sneer.

"No matter how simple it is, how many can one person make in a day?" A great wizard said with a smile. "The bullets can't fall from the sky, right?"

He could probably guess the production method, which was nothing more than melting the lead ore at high temperature and then finding a way to shape them into spheres of equal size.

"No, they really fell from the sky!" Dennis said with a strange look on his face.