Chapter 464: A War Without Suspense (I)
Yang Qiu deliberately delayed for a while in Lars City before slowly launching the offensive. During this period, he stayed in Rob Town for a few days and lent the Undead Army to Lowell to solve the troubles in his fiefdom. He was very "considerate" and left enough time for the cult members and the masterminds behind the scenes who had not been arrested in Tachia to escape and connect.
If these extremely destructive lunatics who do not regard the lives of ordinary people as their own are allowed to continue to scatter among the people, it will be too troublesome for subsequent governance; it is better to give these guys a chance to "unite" so that they can be caught in one fell swoop - although doing so will inevitably cause some cult members to escape to other places and it will be impossible to completely eradicate them, but overall consideration will still have more advantages than disadvantages.
Of course - allowing some believers to escape does not mean that Yang Qiu will deliberately release these highly toxic pollutants that Tachia has adopted and "cultivated" for two hundred years.
48 hours before launching the general attack, Yang Qiu had ordered the Skeleton Fleet, which was ready in Lars City, to go upstream and block the port of Creek City.
Yang Qiu would certainly be reluctant to use the militiamen he had trained with great effort to be cannon fodder in a hand-to-hand fight with the cultists, but it would not be a big problem to block shipping and cut off the escape routes of the cultists and the masterminds behind the scenes by relying on the firepower on the ship.
As for the ship's firepower... of course it's not the extremely expensive alchemical cannon that the Kenyan Empire uses, but rather the economical, high-quality and inexpensive specialties of China: [key] rockets for firefighting, [key] mortars for firefighting, [key] howitzers for firefighting... and so on.
The national team will definitely not "borrow" heavy firepower, so the light firepower used for firefighting is not a big problem... ahem.
In order to prevent Creek City from misjudging the firepower of the miniature skeleton fleet of only four ships blocking the port and doing something stupid and suicidal, four hours before the Undead Army launched the general attack, Yang Qiu ordered the militia on the ship to fire a basic number of fire bombs into the waters near the port as a deterrent - Yang Qiu took a lot of trouble to avoid unnecessary casualties.
In short, with its waterways blocked and its land routes surrounded, Creek City has only two ways to survive: confront the undead army head-on and win, or surrender.
After a group of private soldiers and a group of Christians that the Creek defenders had voluntarily released from the city were defeated, the city did send envoys out to request peace talks.
And then... before the messenger had a chance to see Yang Qiu, he was tied up by the players and thrown into the pile of prisoners.
The exquisitely crafted handmade dress worn by the messenger will probably fetch a high price after the battle - players are willing to spend money on this kind of "appearance" that is low-key and luxurious even to the naked eye.
Yang Qiu, who witnessed the messenger's tragic end, naturally had no intention of stopping it.
It is only worthwhile to negotiate with an enemy who is truly unbeatable, or who can be defeated but at a huge cost. There is no point in negotiating with a fish that has been scaled, belly-deepened and fried on both sides in a frying pan and only needs some ginger and garlic added!
If the nobles in other places showed a submissive attitude, Yang Qiu would have to hold his nose and act decent and magnanimous, but there was no need to do so in Tachia Territory - anyway, the excuse was ready, who knew if the people in charge of Creek City now had some cult shit on them?
Yang Qiu, who had refused to negotiate and accept surrender, now said that the atmosphere in the city was unsettling, but the three court mages would definitely not buy it.
The leader of the three, the illusionist Weber, couldn't help but ask the question in his heart: "Yang, I think... no one can deny that your undead are brave and good at fighting, and no one will doubt that it is only a matter of time before we capture Creek City. But since we can end the battle faster and at a lower cost, why must we refuse?"
"Yes." Fire Mage Lamantha also held it in for a long time, and she chimed in, "Wouldn't it be better to take over Creek City as soon as possible so that we can free up our hands to clean up the evil god worshippers in the city?"
From Lars City to Rob Town and then to the outskirts of Creek City, the three court mages have gradually developed the idea that "it would be nice for Tachia Territory (Rhine Kingdom) to be ruled by Yang (his supportive follower)" - the three of them are no longer opposed to the established reality that the undead regime will take over Tachia Territory.
It's because the royal lineage, especially the contemporary Rhine King, is so lame!
The evil cult openly set up a base in the town-level administrative unit and was even responsible for helping the local governor collect rural taxes. This reality is simply unbearable to watch!
Not to mention that the King of Rhine is also suspected of having ties to the "Fallen Whisperer" sect - it's just too nasty to think about it.
Yang Qiu turned to look at the two upright court mages, with an upright smile on his face, and slowly raised his hands to cover his ears: "Ah? What? The wind was too strong, I couldn't hear clearly."
Weber & Lamantha: "..."
Sadir, who had an old friendship with Yang Qiu, moved his face, turned his head to look at his two companions, and said expressionlessly: "Don't persuade him, Yang did it on purpose."
Without waiting for Lamantha, who was full of questions, to speak, Sadier continued to explain expressionlessly: "He wants to get rid of all the local nobles in the city at once, regardless of whether they are involved with the cult. He is too lazy to drag his feet and wait for the opportunity like the Innadli and Adler lords did."
Yang Qiu turned to look at Sadier with a smile, and said in a seemingly annoyed tone: "Why did you learn to speak so quietly? It's so noisy next to me, I can't hear what you are saying."
Three court mages: "..."
The whites of Fire Mage Lamantha's eyes grew larger, and the corners of her mouth twitched slightly: "I say... do people who use black magic have their skin thickened?"
"That's too offensive, ma'am." Yang Qiu turned his head away with a serious expression. "Dark magic, like elemental magic, is just a discipline that studies and utilizes natural energy. The Ivory Tower recognized the legitimacy of black magic thousands of years ago. If people today still hold on to outdated views, they will be laughed at by the ancients."
"Huh? You can hear clearly now?" Lamantha was so angry that she couldn't help laughing.
Weber put his hand on his forehead.
This mature and prudent illusionist actually couldn't stand Yang's determination to wipe out the nobles. Although he also admitted that there were indeed many people among the nobles whose character was very shameful, for most countries, the nobles were still indispensable.
When a kingdom was invaded by foreign enemies or was overrun by bandits, it was usually the local nobles who contributed money, manpower and effort to organize militias to fight back - the rise of many noble families was often due to the outstanding performance of an ancestor in military warfare.
Wherever Yang's undead army went, they would uproot the feudal nobles. In Weber's view, this was a short-sighted behavior that disregarded the consequences and the long-term. He did not doubt the fighting power of the undead army, but what if one day Yang left Rhine and the undead army disappeared?
Who will then be relied upon to drive out the bandits and protect the Rhine Kingdom from foreign invasion?
During this period of time, Weber couldn't help but worry every time he thought of this... Even though he was just a court wizard employed to serve the Rhine royal family and didn't have deep feelings for the Rhine Kingdom, he was not willing to bear the blame for being one of the triggers for the Rhine Kingdom's demise at some point in the future.
But looking at Yang's performance at the moment, Weber knew that this was not the time to dissuade the legendary black magician from his stubbornness.
"Forget it. After settling the royal family... stay for a while and find a chance to persuade him."
Illusionist Weber, who had his own ideas in mind, silently made up his mind.
Yang Qiu, who was leaning on the pergola and admiring the spectacular scene of the undead army attacking the city, suddenly had an idea.
"It's strange, why do I have that strange feeling that something good is happening?" Yang Qiu put down his hands, crossed his arms, tilted his head and talked to himself.
As the four spellcasters who were standing by and watching in the background relaxed , the gap in the city defense line below the second arrow tower on the left side of the city gate was torn open by the ant-attached undead attacking the city, and it became larger and larger...
The siege has lasted for more than three hours since the first batch of undead entered the battlefield.
The city sent out two troops in succession to attempt a counterattack, but after being completely devoured by the Undead army, they gave up the idea of opening the city gates and sending prisoners, and instead defended the city and put up a stubborn resistance.
As for the Undead Army... as the game time gradually enters the online peak period, more and more people are playing, and the fights are getting more and more frequent. The number of players participating in the battle has exceeded 30,000 - even those life players who have been squatting in the Exile Town for a long time and participating in large-scale events based on their mood have come to join in the fun.
The front battlefield was too crowded, and these players who came to join in the fun couldn't squeeze in, so they naturally spread to the walls on both sides.
The commander of the garrison on the city wall had no way of telling which undead below the city were elites and which were weak ones (after all, the elite players and weak players moved in the same chaotic and disorganized manner). Seeing a large group of undead moving towards the sparsely defended outer wall, he had to arrange more soldiers to go up to the city wall for defense.
Because Yang Qiu deliberately gave "preparation time", the number of defenders in Creek City was not less than the number of players, and they were not at a disadvantage in defending the city.
The most critical issue is...the physical strength and energy of the defending soldiers are not unlimited.
Although there is a unified battlefield command, the undead army still maintains a free and casual style when fighting, attacking the city from three sides. No matter whether those life players and lazy players who are just making up the numbers have the ability to climb up the city wall, the defending soldiers have to expend physical energy to drive them away or kill them.
Even if you don't need to hit a player to kill him, you only need to shoot him to scare him and make him fall and die. The effort required to draw the longbow is nothing compared to the effort required to run over after the player is resurrected...
If it was a regular siege, the defenders who had the convenience of holding the city could mobilize the young and strong people in the city to participate in the defense when both sides were exhausted and had to rest. Unfortunately - the Undead army had no concept of attrition and would never rest in the middle of the battle, so they would definitely not give the Creek defenders this opportunity.
As more and more defenders gradually lost their ability to draw their bows and arrows, and could not even take a break during their rotations, even the outer wall that the salted fish players were attacking began to have gaps in their defenses...
"I'm coming up! Hahaha!"
The player who died more than a dozen times before climbing up the city wall shouted in ecstasy, ran to the NPC defender with joy, stuck his skull head on the man's helmet, raised his bone claws to his chin, made a "yeah" gesture, and took a screenshot.
Then he was hacked to death by the defending NPCs who rushed over.
"Hahaha, the idiot who went up first was killed in an instant!"
The crowd of people who were still climbing the city wall were laughing and had no intention of hurting their own kind at all.
On the front battlefield, Yang Qiu saw that many gaps in the city wall defenses had been opened by players, and he calmly took out the dragon bone staff.
