After testing a few of the crude grenades, their power was modest but sufficient for Lorist's needs. The only critical point was that the fuse had to be lit and the grenade thrown within the time it took to burn one-third of its length to ensure the user's safety. El, however, looked at these crude grenades with shining eyes. He hoped such weapons could be equipped in the Guards Corps. Whether in siege warfare or defensive battles, having another victorious tool in the soldiers' hands would be invaluable.
Lorist told him with resignation that the gunpowder produced in the family's territories simply couldn't meet such demand. It was already a struggle to ensure sufficient supply for the Northern Sea Fleet and the three artillery battalions; there was no surplus gunpowder quota to manufacture these crude grenades for equipping the family's legions. This finally quashed El's fantasy of Guards soldiers wreaking havoc on the battlefield with crude grenades.
"Your Highness," said Reddy, "since we have these small jars, let me handle the assault on Lindseyton Mountain City. You need not take the risk."
Lorist shook his head. "Assaulting Lindseyton Mountain City isn't about using these small jars to blow up people—that's merely a harassment operation. Our objective is to destroy the city's long-range weapons and ensure the artillery battalions can safely pass the main road over the small rocky hill before the side wall, reach the gates of Lindseyton Mountain City, and capture the fortification at the gates. If only you went, you could easily be pinned down by a Sword Saint stationed in the city, dragged into a bitter fight, and it would ultimately become just a skirmish. If I go, I doubt any Sword Saint will dare appear before me directly. That will give us the time we need to destroy those long-range weapons."
Lorist was absolutely correct. In reality, he led Reddy, El, and six sturdy, agile Family Knights, each carrying about twenty small ceramic jars. Under the cover of darkness, they scaled the cliff face at the back of Lindseyton Mountain City. As he had anticipated, the defending enemies in the city, upon discovering it was the newly ascended Sword Saint leading the raid, had no Sword Saints or Gold Knights who dared engage in close combat. Their only resistance was ordering the garrison soldiers to charge and entangle them, then using longbows or the city's siege crossbows to unleash indiscriminate area-suppression fire, intending to force them off the walls.
But Lorist activated his Blood Slaughter Domain. Whether it was the covering fire from longbows or the concentrated volleys from siege crossbows, he deflected them with ease. On the contrary, the garrison soldiers who charged forward suffered devastating casualties. After several failed attempts, no garrison soldier was willing to rush forward to their deaths. Even when their officers threatened them with swords, they refused to initiate a charge. Lorist's raiding squad fought their way from one section of the wall to the other, facing the main road, and promptly destroyed nearly two hundred siege crossbows positioned on both stretches of the wall.
Then came the grenadiers' performance. Reddy, El, and the six knights lit the fuses on the small ceramic jars atop the walls and smashed them everywhere below. The garrison soldiers massed at the foot of the walls were battered by the crude grenades, crying out in agony. Although the power of these small jars was insufficient to kill large swathes with a single blast, wounding ten or more at a time was no problem. The screams and wails of the injured soldiers echoed everywhere, plunging the entire mountain city into utter chaos.
By the time Lorist and his men descended from the walls to assault the city's trebuchet positions, the thunderous boom of cannons had begun to roar from the main gates of Lindseyton Mountain City. The city's defending forces likely realized the situation was hopeless. They threw open the other two eastern gates and fled in disarray. Before long, all that remained in the mountain city were the wailing, groaning wounded scattered across the ground, and several places that appeared to be warehouses were engulfed in raging fires—presumably set by the retreating garrison.
The mountain city of Lindseyton, which the Commercial League had considered an impregnable natural fortress, fell into the hands of the
Sometimes Lorist suspected that a Sword Saint's domain was related to mental energy. After activating the Blood Slaughter Domain on the walls, whether it was a dense hail of covering fire or powerful, forceful crossbow bolts, once they entered the domain's range, every detail became crystal clear. Both their trajectories and intended targets were vividly apparent to Lorist's perception. This allowed him to effortlessly flick them away with his sword or block them, thus ensuring Reddy, El, and the others remained unharmed. That was why, only after the Blood Slaughter Domain's duration was exhausted, did Lorist feel incredibly tired.
Even though they had made peace, it was impossible to deepen their relationship. Perhaps once he returned to his family's territory in the future, he could conduct some experiments to draw a conclusion.
Marlek's arrival interrupted Lorist's thoughts. He had come to report on the spoils from capturing Lindseyton Mountain City. Although the retreating garrison soldiers had set fires as they withdrew, the flames were quickly extinguished by the Norton Family soldiers entering the city, resulting in the loss of only a few granaries and one warehouse of military supplies. Now, the allied forces' various legions were arriving at the mountain city one after another. Marlek came to ask if they should continue the offensive as planned.
Lorist waved his hand. "Since this campaign has already been entrusted to your command, you don't need to worry about whether I'm present. Just give the orders; I trust your judgment on what needs to be done."
Thus, Marlek changed the original plan. Under Reddy's command, the Flying Tiger Legion and the White Lion Legion would proceed to capture the province of Seruniga. From the captured wounded soldiers, Marlek had obtained intelligence that the Commercial League had hastily scraped together two new legions to serve as the main force of their reconstituted armed forces. Dispatches reported they would soon arrive as reinforcements, and Seruniga was the place they were certain to pass through.
Marlek hoped the Flying Tiger and White Lion Legions could intercept and rout these two newly formed Commercial League legions in Seruniga, completely crushing the League's courage to face the Norton Family's forces in open battle. As long as the Commercial League turned into a reclusive turtle, the Norton Family's forces could use their cannons to blast open those turtle shells one by one, reducing their own casualties.
The Imperial Guard Legion and the Free Alliance's armed legion would continue their advance into the province of Feltonba, striving to fully occupy the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce's territory as soon as possible. As for the remaining provinces of Tanarig and Cassiloda, they could certainly advance into those areas after Feltonba and Seruniga were secured. This was far more reliable than the original plan of a three-pronged attack, splitting forces to assault Seruniga and Tanarig simultaneously.
Three days later, Marlek appeared before Lorist with a grave expression, holding a battle report. It had just been received, sent by the Imperial Guard Legion. The report stated that upon arriving at every large and small town and village in Feltonba Province, they discovered that the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce had already completely withdrawn from the area, abandoning their commercial territory. They had taken everything that could be carried and all personnel willing to evacuate with them. Now, many towns and villages appeared deserted. Aside from some elderly, women, and children unwilling to leave their homes, the entire commercial territory could be described as nine out of ten houses empty. The Imperial Guard Legion's advance was essentially an unopposed armed parade, encountering virtually no enemy resistance.
The Mayflower Chamber of Commerce had fled? Lorist was somewhat shocked. He had never imagined the Chamber possessed such efficient mobilization capability and decisiveness. In just a few short days, they had made the decision to abandon their territory and execute a full withdrawal, all with such formidable organizational ability to mobilize the majority of their subjects to evacuate with them. After a brief discussion with Marlek, Lorist made a grave error. He immediately ordered El to lead the Imperial Guard Legion to attack Tanarig Province, intercepting the retreating forces of the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce.
Looking at the map, the territories of these four provinces somewhat resembled a diamond shape. After occupying Feltonba Province, Seruniga Province and Tanarig Province lay to the north, while Cassiloda Province lay to the south. Lorist naturally assumed that the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce's retreat was surely aimed at passing through Tanarig Province to return to Free Alliance territory, since the north bordered the former Trinbo Kingdom's lands—now the Dual-Headed Dragon Chamber of Commerce's domain, the heart of the Free Alliance.
Lorist believed the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce would definitely head north to return to the Free Alliance and huddle together with the other chambers for warmth. What was there to the south? Although there were over a dozen provinces with vast territory, most had already been ravaged by the Free Alliance until the people could barely survive. If the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce headed to those southern provinces, they would have to be out of their minds, because they would face the Chikde Chamber of Commerce—which was about to betray the Free Alliance—as well as the central and southern kingdoms eyeing the Free Alliance's southern provinces greedily. One could say that heading south would put the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce surrounded by enemies on all sides, with rebellions raging endlessly within their own territory. Anyone with half a brain would never make such a suicidal decision.
Therefore, Lorist was convinced that the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce's retreat route had to be through Tanarig Province. Seruniga Province had already been invaded by the Flying Tiger Legion and the White Lion Legion, so the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce would hardly walk into a trap of their own volition. The only path north back to the Free Alliance's territory was Tanarig Province. That was why he had issued the order for the Imperial Guard Legion to attack Tanarig Province and intercept the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce's retreating forces. The result could be imagined—the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce's main retreating force departed Cassiloda Province without a hitch and reached the southern provinces. By the time the Norton Family's forces finally occupied Cassiloda Province and received the news, it was already far too late to give chase.
Five more days passed, and the Flying Tiger Legion sent word via messenger hawk with a victory report. The Flying Tiger Legion and the White Lion Legion, employing ambush and pursuit tactics, annihilated and routed two newly formed legions of the Free Alliance's armed forces in a single stroke, thoroughly driving the enemy out of Seruniga Province. It could be said that Seruniga Province had also fallen into the hands of the Norton Family's forces...
Over the following two months, the Norton Family's forces swept across all four provinces, conquering the noble fiefdoms granted by the Free Alliance one by one. The only regret was that the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce had slipped away. By this time, Lorist had already received news that the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce's retreating force was heading for the southern provinces. But just as the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce's president, Grand Duke Nikolas, had anticipated, the Norton Family's forces had no reach over those southern provinces, nor could they spare troops to pursue. The Mayflower Chamber of Commerce had luckily escaped by the skin of their teeth.
The Free Alliance's territory was vigorously building defensive installations, digging trenches to sever road connections, piling up sandbags to withstand cannon bombardment, and simultaneously conscripting personnel to bolster their garrison forces, keeping weapons at the ready to repel any invasion. War propaganda was broadcast throughout the Free Alliance's territory, framing the Norton Family's forces as ravenous wolves of invasion, perpetually prepared to deliver a devastating counterblow to the aggressors...
What the Free Alliance hadn't expected was that the Norton Family would act so swiftly. They had only just occupied all four provinces in September, and on October 1st, they announced the restoration of four nations: the Grand Duchy of Chikdo, the Kingdom of Mokbi, the Grand Duchy of Kabasi, and the Grand Duchy of Sangmaria. Their territory encompassed the four newly conquered provinces and five surrounding provinces on the Mana Hill Plains that had already been reduced to wasteland. On the same day, the remaining sixteen kingdoms and grand duchies of the continent's central and south declared an alliance and mutual assistance agreement with these four newly restored nations and the Free Alliance, signing the "Galentea Continent Central-South Twenty-One Nation Accord." They simultaneously announced that they would dispatch troops into these four nations to jointly defend against any future invasion...
The Free Alliance had been struck as if by a club to the head. The enemy was supposed to be the Norton Family's forces and the Free Alliance, along with the Kingdom of Andinak—how had the sixteen central-south kingdoms suddenly entered the picture? As the allied armies of the central and south moved into these four nations, the Norton Family's forces, the Free Alliance's armed legions, and the White Legion began their withdrawal homeward, laden with abundant spoils of war. The Free Alliance had barely begun to process that their opponents had transformed into the central-south allied kingdoms when two pieces of news arriving from the continent's southern reaches in November left Grand Duke Comberlet coughing up blood on the spot.
On October 1st, the Chikde Chamber of Commerce declared its secession from the Free Alliance as the independent Kingdom of Chikde, simultaneously deploying two armed legions to seize five surrounding provinces that had formerly belonged to the Free Alliance. On October 10th, the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce—which had retreated to the southern provinces—also declared its secession from the Free Alliance as the independent Kingdom of Mayflower, swallowing whole the seven remaining Free Alliance provinces in the south. At the same time, the Storm Sword Saint—who had already broken away from the Free Alliance—announced that, regardless of how much tribute gold the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce had offered him, he would provide protection to the Kingdom of Mayflower. In a single stroke, he extinguished the ambitions of those central-south kingdoms to covet and annex the seven provinces the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce now held, allowing the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce to firmly establish itself in the continent's south.
After announcing its secession from the Free Alliance and the founding of an independent state, the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce further declared that it had reached an alliance agreement with the Kingdom of Chikde, pledging mutual assistance against any aggressors targeting either nation. They also announced that they would dispatch envoys to the Free Alliance and to every nation in the central and south to negotiate ceasefires and peace agreements with their former adversaries. The Free Alliance's Chief Regent, Ledos, publicly expressed his welcome for the Kingdom of Mayflower's envoys to come to
...