Unknown Knight

With the joint efforts of the people across the territory, the territory's winter preparation plan is going very smoothly. Now food, wood, warm clothing and bedding have basically been collected.

Originally, Aix thought that before winter came, there would be no accidents or major events in the territory, but you never know which will come first, the accident or tomorrow.

On the second day after Bandak and Manide returned from their water trade, Ran Hu sent cavalry to report: a force of about five or six hundred people had just crossed the snow-capped mountains and was heading towards Shules' fortress.

They were led by the flag of Tojunayan, and their army included both infantry and cavalry, and they were also carrying a lot of supplies and equipment, and apparently siege equipment. At their current speed, they were expected to reach the Shules Fortress in two days at the latest.

After hearing this, Aix felt as if he was facing a powerful enemy. He hurriedly sent Desevi to lead thirty sharpshooters to rush to Schulersburg for support, and immediately convened a military meeting attended by all the leaders.

People said all kinds of things at the meeting. Some said to hold on, some said to give up on Shules, and some said to take the initiative, but none of them touched Aix's heart.

Although the enemy is powerful, he has to go and fight. Now he is like a gambler, counting the various chips in his hand in his mind.

There are now 150 light and heavy cavalry in the territory, including more than 50 heavy cavalry, but many of their weapons and equipment are not complete, especially the heavy cavalry.

Although the heavy cavalry's horse armor was basically complete, they did not have weapons and armor, and not everyone could be equipped with a long sword or a saber. As a last resort, Amanti had to ask the craftsmen to use iron lumps with wooden handles as weapons, and some even used wooden hammers made entirely of wood.

These heavy cavalrymen would definitely not be able to fight alone, so Aix had to let them form a heavy cavalry formation and charge, with those with sufficient weapons placed in the front and sides, and those with poor weapons placed in the middle, so as to cover up the defects of insufficient weapons.

The more than one hundred light cavalrymen were fairly well-equipped. They either had sabers with bows and arrows or spears with bows and arrows, but they only had a wooden shield from their territory for defense. They had basically no armor and were very fragile. They were okay as guerrilla archers or charging behind the heavy cavalry, but if they charged head-on, Axe estimated that nearly half of them would be killed in one encounter.

The ones who were really well-equipped and well-trained were the combined array infantry trained by Resarit. There were more than 200 of them now. Anyone with a little common sense knew that cavalry was better than infantry in a battle.

After analyzing the advantages of his own branch of the military and various actual situations, Aix gradually came up with his own way of dealing with them.

Maybe what the leaders said made sense, and some of them were even better than his strategy and had more advantages.

However, as a lord, he still has to express his own opinions at critical moments. After all, others may be better than him in some aspects, but they all lack an overall balance, and this balance must be decided by him and only him.

Thinking of this, he no longer hesitated and stood up and said:

"Yamanti, Manide, you two will stay here to guard Tangquan Fortress. I'll leave you with 100 combined infantrymen and 30 shieldmaidens. You must also organize 200 militiamen to fight together. Before we return to Tangquan Fortress, you must guard the fortress without any mistakes.

The remaining one hundred combined infantrymen, led by Resarit, immediately rushed to the Shules Fortress and took over Ran Hu's job, responsible for commanding the battle inside the fortress.

Fatis and Niza, you two will be in charge of commanding the heavy cavalry, lying in ambush in the nearby forest and acting according to the circumstances.

As for the light cavalry, they will be temporarily led by Niza, and then handed over to Ran Hu and Desevi when they arrive in Shules. They will roam around and harass the Kugits near the fortress. They are not allowed to engage in head-on confrontation with the Kugits, and are only responsible for harassment and sneak attacks.

The Royal Guards, Benboye, Sophia, Liu Tang, and Catherine's medical team entered the Schulers Fortress together.

We swear to defend the fortress to the death. In less than a month, the weather here will become very cold. As long as we hold out until then, the Kugits will retreat.

Everyone, go down and get ready, and set off immediately! "

As he was about to walk out, Resarit stood up and wanted to say something, but he waved his hand to stop him.

Miss Tsuna stood in front of him and said:

"What about me? I'm the leader of the shield maidens, don't look down on me, why don't you assign me a task?"

Axe looked at her and Cress standing behind her, put his hands on her shoulders, took a deep breath and said:

"You are my woman. I need you to protect my territory. If anything happens to me... you must take good care of my people. Do you understand?"

After saying this, Axel felt a lump in his throat, as if he was making arrangements for his final affairs. But it wasn't that serious. It hadn't even come to that.

Miss Tsuna seemed to be greatly encouraged. She stepped forward and hugged him, saying excitedly:

"My man, you are my glory. Go and fight with confidence. I will definitely help you protect the territory."

Only then did Aix think of the tradition of the Nords. They were proud of their courage and bravery in fighting, and were not even afraid of dying in battle or making sacrifices.

His action just now was equivalent to standing in front of his woman, blocking all threats and difficulties. He clearly fulfilled the responsibility that a man should have in the eyes of the Nords.

Now, Tsunda loves him even more and respects him even more. She thinks that Aix is ​​worthy of being her man, a real man who can eat and drink in Valhalla even if he dies.

Ix, who only knew what she was thinking, couldn't help but roll his eyes in his heart. This silly woman, dared me to fight so much, without thinking that fighting is so fun? What if I get killed? Really.

To motivate her man, Miss Tsuna turned around with a leadership demeanor, held Sophia's hands and said:

"Protecting the Lord is the greatest mission of every one of us!"

After seeing Sophia nodded her agreement firmly, the woman whispered something in Sophia's ear. Sophia's face turned red, and she lowered her head and nodded gently, looking very feminine, which was a far cry from the heroic look she showed when she nodded firmly just now.

After lunch that day, a troop of nearly three hundred people gathered and set off in a mighty force.

The light cavalry led by Niza advanced first. Axe asked him to get to Schulersburg as soon as possible to see if they needed to cover the infantry entering the fortress.

As a result, Aix overestimated the overall quality of the army of that era. When they arrived at the fortress in the second half of the night, there was no sign of Tojunayan's troops.

Only after they had rested for a day, eaten and drunk their fill, and were all refreshed, did Tojunayan's troops finally arrive and slowly set up camp near the Shules Fortress.

Aix saw this and thought, isn't this an opportunity? How can I let it go?

At midnight, fifty light cavalry led by Ran Hu and thirty archers led by Desevi quietly arrived near the enemy's camp.

First, Desevi's archers shot three rockets and then retreated immediately. Then Ran Hu led the light cavalry and circled around their camp and shot.

For a while, the only sounds coming from Tuojunayan’s camp were screams and wails.

However, Aix still underestimated the stress response and combat capabilities of these Kugit veterans. In a short while, they organized a counterattack. Waves of arrows shot out from the camp. Soon several light cavalry were shot down, and Ran Hu had to choose to retreat.

But after this commotion, the entire enemy camp was in chaos, some were fighting the fire, some were howling, some were shouting, and the noise lasted for most of the night.

Early the next morning, Axe stood on the watchtower in Schulersburg and observed the situation in the enemy camp.

The soldiers in Tuoju Nayan's camp were all listless, and were beaten and scolded with whips by Officer Nayan in the camp, and were driven out of the tents one by one.

They came to a pile of equipment pulled by trucks and started to assemble them. Soon a huge object gradually took shape. Axe's face turned ugly. It was clearly a siege tower covered with iron.

Aix hurriedly went down the watchtower and called the leader in the fortress to discuss countermeasures.

By noon, the Kugit people's siege tower was assembled, and after they leisurely finished their meal, they attacked calmly, as if they were sure to win with this weapon.

This is no wonder. The siege tower they stole from the East is indeed a magic weapon for attacking and winning. In the East, it is called a well fence. As long as this thing is pushed near the city wall and the bridge plank is put up, the soldiers can attack the city wall by walking on the bridge plank as if they were walking on flat ground.

This newly built fortress obviously did not have any defensive siege weapons such as ropes and poles, and it was helpless against this siege tower covered with iron sheets.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the siege tower had been pushed to the front of a city wall. Below the wall was a large number of Kugit soldiers holding shields, who were just waiting for the moment when the siege tower lowered the bridge plank.

The soldiers on the city wall seemed to know that their end was approaching. They ran back and forth noisily in chaos. Some of them even shot arrows in vain at the iron-clad towers, causing the Kugits who were watching the fun to laugh.

Something was burning behind the city wall, emitting black smoke and a burnt smell from time to time. Tuojunayan, who was commanding from a distance, thought that the enemy had already fallen into chaos without a fight. As long as they climbed up the city wall, the fortress could be captured in an instant, which made him very proud.

When the bridge plank of the siege tower was finally placed on the city wall, suddenly more than a dozen shield-bearers rushed out from both sides. They used the broad shields in their hands to hold the bridge plank tightly to prevent the enemy from moving forward, so that more and more people gathered on the bridge plank, and it was filled with Kugits.

When the Kugits below the tower saw that the bridge planks had been put up, they swarmed up the stairs, trying to grab a share of the credit, which meant that there were at least dozens of people in and outside the entire siege tower.

When Aix saw that the time was almost right, he waved his hand, and a dozen soldiers rushed up the city wall with steaming pottery jars, and then threw them hard at the siege tower a few meters away.

There was a loud bang and the iron-clad siege tower was suddenly covered with steaming black oil.