Chapter 198 Meat Grinder
Leon did not let his troops enter Eagle Claw Castle, but kept the team in the east. Only after seeing a large number of Jatu people pouring into Eagle Claw Castle did he slowly lead his troops to block the east gate of the castle.
He certainly would not obey a marshal who allowed his men to kill civilians.
This was not only out of his own moral values, but also for the joint forces he had organized with great difficulty.
Besides, he could have 'not known' that Brennus was a marshal - after all, he did not receive an official marshal's order.
As for the marshal's flag, he could have "not seen it because it was too far away".
It is understandable that the call to arms could not be heard in the chaos of the battlefield...
Anyway, we have to adapt to the situation on the battlefield. Blocking the Jatu people's path is also what the lord of the kingdom should do...
In order to block a city gate, only one or two hundred people are needed.
Windatiel led the Noldor rangers with bows and arrows aimed at the city gate. After they shot down dozens of Jatu raiders who rushed out first, along with their horses, no one dared to leave the city anymore.
The Jatu people even closed the city gates - both the composite bows of the Noldor and the crossbows of the female soldiers had a much longer range than the nomadic bows of the Jatu people, and leaving the gates open would only allow them to be beaten.
Taking advantage of the fact that there was no one on the east wall at this time, Li Ang personally placed a strange package under the city gate, and then ran back quickly.
Afterwards, the lord raised the golden griffin flag outside the east gate of Eagle Claw Castle. He and Amy, along with a group of female soldiers, stayed under the flag and dispatched all other troops in the north and south directions.
Wendyllfu was also under the Griffin banner at this time, and her job was to follow Leon as a close guard.
As an underage young elf, this was the first time that Wendelf participated in such a large-scale war.
For this war, Li Ang also gave her a new position.
Wendy is not only Leon's personal guard, but also the liaison officer between Leon and the two Noldor troops - in fact, a messenger.
However, Wendy Erfu was very satisfied with the position of 'liaison officer', after all, it had the word 'official' in it...
Look at Lisadiran, also a Noldor noble, over a hundred years old, but he doesn't even hold an official position, just a guard...
Although Wendy's status was noble, she was just a young ranger who had not yet graduated in the Noldor tribe. Although the tribe loved her, they would never let her take up any important positions. Everyone just treated her as a child.
Lord Leon must have good vision, Wendy thought.
Although it was the first time facing such a large-scale battlefield, Wendelf was not nervous because the lord seemed to have never let the troops fall into any danger.
Wendy followed behind the lord, watching Leon drawing on the ground while constantly dispatching people around him to various directions, until only the female soldiers led by Amy were left outside the east gate.
Wendy couldn't understand the crude sketch that Leon drew on the ground, but she could sense that the lord seemed to be planning to sit here and command the entire army?
Almost all the rangers of the Horn Calling Rangers became scouts, with scouts constantly returning and being sent out.
It seems that the lord is receiving reports from scouts anytime and anywhere, and assigning tasks to scouts anytime and anywhere.
Such a thing had never been seen before among the Noldor.
Even Islamandil, who was recognized as a skilled commander, could only make careful plans before the war. However, Islamandil certainly could not handle such dense intelligence, nor could he send orders so frequently.
It was hard for Wendy to imagine that there were reports from scouts every moment, and orders were given to scouts and messengers every moment. Was this the way human lords commanded wars?
How can such dense intelligence be responded to immediately?
The crude sketch drawn with a wooden stick on the ground has been constantly modified and has long been unrecognizable. Can the lord see the entire battlefield based on this graffiti-like thing?
Wendy was also sent out once to convey military orders to Wendatil.
The order was simple - "If Brennus's troops enter the city, block the south gate directly."
Wendy didn't quite understand at the time. Let Wendatil block the south gate?
What does the Lord want to do?
However, Wendy's doubts did not last long, and she knew the answer when she came back.
Because she saw the layout of the east gate of Eagle Claw Castle.
The bodies of the Jatu people who were shot down outside the east gate, along with the corpses of their horses, were piled at the city gate, but it did not seem to be intended to block the city gate - the city gate opened inwards.
These corpses were piled on both sides of the strange package that Leon had placed, occupying more than half of the city gate, which could be considered as some obstacles.
Amy and the female soldiers formed a formation over a hundred meters apart.
This was equivalent to blocking the East Gate from the outside, but it was not completely blocked, leaving a gap. But no one dared to move the body - whoever was at the gate would face the crossbows of the female soldiers.
This further increased the difficulty of rushing out of the city, as the city gate only left room for one person to pass through.
In any case, it would be very difficult for the Jatu people to break out. Their horse bows had a short range and they were not equipped with heavy armor. It would be extremely difficult for them to rush out of the city gate under the rain of arrows.
"Sir, do you intend to block the Jatu people and other troops in the city?"
Wendy was a little confused: "But this city has four gates. We can't block all directions, right?"
"Yes, there are four doors... But it is precisely because there are two doors that are not blocked that the fighting inside will be more intense..."
Li Ang turned around with a strange look on his face: "Wendy, you should be able to hear what's going on in the city, right?"
Wendelf's hearing was much better than that of the lord, so of course she could hear the sounds of fighting that seemed to be everywhere in Eagle Claw Castle.
At this time, Lisadilan and Neuer came back from the north: "Sir, the Ravencrows entered the city from the north gate, and all the scouts they sent to the northeast have been killed."
"Very good... Now we just have to wait..."
Li Ang nodded and simply sat down.
Soon after, people began to be seen on the eastern wall, most of them were Jatu people.
But most of the Jatu people were not shooting arrows outside the city, but inside the city. It seemed that the fighting inside the city was quite fierce.
"Sir, may I join the battle?"
Wendy took off the bow on her back and pointed at the Jatu people on the city wall. She wanted to shoot the enemy down.
Leon looked at the movement on the city wall, then looked at Wendy: "Do you hate the Jatu people?"
"Of course I hate them... The Jatu people killed many of our people. Every year they attack the forests to the north of us. Their leader is even using our people's weapons now!"
Wendy said this through gritted teeth.
"Wendy, even if you can hit the target every time you shoot, if you use up all your arrows, you can only kill thirty-two at most..."
The lord tapped the sketch on the ground with a stick and said, "There are several thousand Jatu in the city now ... Save the arrows for last, when they will bring the greatest rewards. It is best to hold back hatred on the battlefield. What we want to achieve is not just to destroy the enemy."
"If it's not destroying the enemy, then what is it?"
Wendy obediently put away the bow. When she joined Leon's team, she said she would obey military orders, but she still wanted to get things clear.
"Wendy, there are more than 10,000 people fighting in such a small castle. Who do you think will win?"
Li Ang asked back softly.
"I don't know, but the Lion Knights are pretty strong, so it could be them?"
Wendy answered uncertainly.
"No, it won't... Wendy, in fact, the fighting power of the Noldor tribe is far superior to that of the Jatu. In my opinion, the fighting power of two hundred Noldor rangers can match that of a thousand Jatu. But it is difficult for your people to gain the upper hand in a war with the Jatu. Why? - Because the Jatu people are not afraid of death! The more desperate the situation, the less afraid they are of death..."
Leon sighed and said, "Wendy, in the narrow street battles in the city, you can only fight for your life, and most tactics can't be used. In the end, the one who wins is definitely not the one with the strongest combat power, but the one who is least afraid of death... The Jatu people will definitely win in the end, and we - or you, will eventually appear in Eagle Claw Castle as the savior who kills the Jatu people and saves the remaining soldiers of the two countries..."
Wendy was stunned. This smart underage girl really understood everything. She understood Leon's complete intention.
Because no one can attack the city, and no one has much supplies, so no one will let the Jatu people easily occupy Eagle Claw Fort, all forces will fight with the Jatu people in the streets of the city.
Now that Leon has blocked the east and south gates, Duke Brunus is probably trapped on the city wall south of Eagle Claw Castle. The Lion Knights will not withdraw easily before rescuing their grand master.
The Ravenstern had no supplies and suffered heavy losses. Leon also ordered Neuer's troops to kill the scouts that the Ravenstern sent to the northeast...
As long as the leaders of the Ravenstern are clear-headed, they should understand that they are still surrounded by enemies and cannot fight in the wild - whether they are facing the Lion Knights or Jatu.
In other words, the Stern Crow army could only occupy Eagle Claw Fort and defend the city, and they had to snatch enough food from the Jatu people, such as their own supplies or the Jatu people's horses.
Then we can only enter Eagle Claw Castle and fight the Jatu people.
This is also the best choice, because the Raven Army can actually be said to be the most suitable for street fighting among all the forces currently available.
As for the Jatu people, seeing the Lion Knights and the army of the Stern Crow Kingdom entering the city, they would definitely want to leave the city, but since they couldn't get out through the four city gates, they could only fight their way out inside the city.
Of course, he could also jump over the wall and run away, but even if he didn't fall to his death, he would definitely be shot to death by Li Ang's troops outside...
This battle will surely become a strange battle that will be recorded in the history of Pendor forever, and it may even be unprecedented and unparalleled.
In fact, the scale of this war was not particularly large, and all the troops involved from all parties totaled only more than 10,000 people.
But this is probably the only war in the entire history of the continent where the Jatu people defended the city while other forces attacked it...
Yes, now it has become a strange scene where the Jatu people are defending the Eagle Claw Castle, while other forces are blocking all directions of the castle and attacking the Jatu people respectively.
And all forces are hostile to each other...
Most of the Jatu people must have been terrified. They certainly didn't expect that once they entered the city, all the forces would come together to block them in the city... They actually had to defend the city?
Speaking of sieges, the Jatu people may have some experience. Although sieges are not their forte, at least they have some experience...
Can defend the city...
The Jatu people are really inexperienced!
If Zhuda himself was here, the Jatu people probably wouldn't have resorted to such a desperate measure - a tough guy like Zhuda would probably prefer to fight head-on in the wild rather than easily enter the city.
Look at the situation inside Eagle Claw Castle, it’s just like the Colosseum.
The flag of Brennus was erected on the south wall, and the Royal City Guards kept poking down the wall with their spears, but the wall was full of Jatu people, and Brennus's situation looked precarious. Fortunately, the Royal City Guards had spears, which were very useful on the wall, and the Jatu people could not kill them for a while.
The east city wall is currently the territory of the Jatu people. The Jatu people have lined up on the city wall and are shooting arrows into the city. There is also a group of people trying to attack the north city wall - the four walls are actually connected together. When fighting inside the city, controlling the city walls will give you a great advantage.
The northern wall was basically full of Raven Stern Rangers, who were very skilled archers. They were shooting at the Jatu people at the corners of the wall, also to compete for control of the wall. The Raven Stern Rangers currently had the upper hand, as the lethality and accuracy of the foot bows were indeed much better than the Jatu people's horse bows.
As for the western wall, there are not many people on it - the western area is controlled by the Lion Knights, but the Can Knights cannot do anything on the wall because the Lion Knights do not have long-range capabilities.
Archery is not easy to practice, and it is not a traditional skill of the Sarleon Kingdom. There are not many knights in the kingdom who are good at archery.
As noble knights, the Lion Knights were of course unwilling to use crossbows. In their eyes, crossbows were assassination weapons used by civilians and were something "without any sense of honor" similar to muskets.
Now they probably wish they had a crossbow, though.
The area of Eagle Claw Castle was not particularly large, and the city could only accommodate a few thousand people.
The Jatu people alone were enough to fill the city to capacity, and now the army of the Lion Knights and the Raven Stern Kingdom had poured in. There were more than 10,000 people in the city, and it could be said that it was packed with people.
On the streets, the cavalry had no chance of moving a single step as a large number of Gatu horses had blocked the streets. No matter how skilled the riders were, they could only dismount and fight on foot in such an environment.
All the Lion Knights have now dismounted and are fighting on foot with shields, and most of the mounts have been driven out of the city to avoid getting in the way.
In fact, the Lion Knight is quite powerful when he gets off the horse. At least his equipment is strong enough, and his lion followers are also very skilled.
Plus, all the Lion Knights are equipped with maces - this thing is quite suitable for street fighting in the city...
In the city, the Lion Knights certainly couldn't use their lances.
Except for the special heavy lance that Lehman used at the time, ordinary lances are actually disposable consumables. The lance shaft is made of brittle wood and can easily break - this is to protect the knight's arms from being injured by the reaction force.
To be honest, the main weapon most commonly used by the members of the Lion Knights is not the lance, nor their silver-plated greatswords, but the mace.
This was the weapon they used most often after their lances were broken. It had a very simple structure, consisting of a wooden handle less than one meter long with a caltrop hammer weighing about two pounds.
This common short weapon looks inconspicuous and not cool at all, but it is the one-handed weapon that knights are most skilled in using.
Because it can kill enemies wearing heavy armor and is very suitable for situations with dense crowds.
For example, the current situation...
Members of the Lion Knights, holding a shield in one hand and a mace in the other, are attacking the Jatu people in the city.
The interior of Eagle Claw Castle had turned into a narrow killing field like a battle cage, a true close combat.
Shields collided, hammers struck, blades clashed, and all the harsh collisions and metal friction sounds made people's scalps numb.
There is nowhere to hide or retreat in the crowded crowd. You either kill the enemy in front of you or fall down.
In this scenario, the better-equipped Lion Knight does have an advantage.
The Jatu people's scimitars could hardly cut through their armor, so they quickly advanced to the center of the castle, and then headed south, where they were about to meet their Grand Commander Brennus.
But their advantage only lasted for a quarter of an hour.
The Lion Knights are well-equipped and well-protected, and their plate and chain composite armor is indeed difficult to be cut by a knife. But the problem is that, although this thing has good defensive power, it is too heavy!
He was wearing a full set of plate and chain mail and was constantly swinging a hammer. There were people everywhere around him and he couldn't get any rest at all... He had good endurance if he could hold on for more than a quarter of an hour!
Moreover, just as Leon said to Wendy, in this situation, what determines victory or defeat is not equipment and combat effectiveness, but fearlessness of death.
After suffering numerous casualties, the Jatu people fought more and more courageously, gradually began to counterattack, and pushed the Lion Knights back.
No matter how good the defensive power of armor is, there will always be gaps. It is actually not difficult to kill a weak can knight... Besides, the Lion Knights do not have this kind of determination to die.
As a result, the Lion Knights were gradually pushed back to the west side of the castle by the Jatu people.
The Jatu people, who had repelled the Lion Knights, saw that West Gate seemed to have a chance to rush out of the castle, and began a full-scale attack on West Gate - they had realized that it was impossible to completely occupy the castle, and if they could rush out, there would certainly be no need to get stuck in a battle here.
Originally, the Lion Knights were about to retreat out of the city, but the all-out charge by the Jatu people made the Lion Knights realize that if they retreated now, they would probably be crushed to pieces!
So they held on desperately, and at this time, the troops of the Stern Crow Kingdom in the north pressed forward.
While most of the Jatu people focused their attention on breaking out of the west gate, the forces of the Kingdom of Ravenstern gradually gained the upper hand.
In addition, with the support of the Ravenstern archers on the high ground on the north side, as the Lion Knights were defeated, the Ravenstern people gradually reached the center of the castle and suppressed the Jatu people.
So the Jatu troops had to retreat so that the archers on the roof on the east side could cover them, which gave the Lion Knights a chance to catch their breath and regain the gap on the west side.
But they had just fought a life-and-death battle with the Ravenstern not long ago, and the Ravenstern had not forgotten them - some of the Ravenstern troops began to attack the Lion Knights again.
But the Ravenclaw rangers were unable to take care of the city center and without the cover of their bows and arrows, and with the Ravenclaws being attacked from both sides, they soon suffered heavy losses and gradually retreated.
When the Jatu saw that the Stern Crow Kingdom's troops were beginning to shrink, they turned north again, intending to try to see if they could break out from the north...
The Stern Crow Kingdom's troops then realized that they could not retreat. If they did, they would be overwhelmed by the Jatu people. If they were overwhelmed, they would be doomed...
The three forces formed a tug-of-war like a meat grinder.
The street in the middle of Eagle Claw Castle has turned into a sea of blood and corpses.
Just as Li Ang said, it was because there were two gates that were not blocked that they fought more fiercely.
The Jatu people suffered countless casualties, but they did become stronger as the battle went on. As the Jatu people tried more and more desperately to break out of the cage, both the Lion Knights and the Stern Crow Kingdom could no longer retreat.
Whichever side can't hold out will be completely crushed by the Jatu people...
