Chapter Fifty-Nine

  The three armies of Shui made a big show of quarrying and logging, and hastily manufactured crossbow arrows and stone bullets on the spot. Meanwhile, grain and fodder were also being transported to the garrison of the three armies of Shui from the rear.

  Since Wal town was still under the control of Tia army, the logistics team of San Shui army deliberately avoided Wal town and wanted to detour through.

  Unfortunately, they did not escape the eyes of Duke's scouts.

  When the logistics team arrived near Wartown, Ed Azarab received the news and led his army out of town. Dukyi's army was mostly cavalry, good at fighting on flat ground, and before they even made contact, just seeing that the approaching enemy were all cavalry, the Fengjun who were transporting grain were already frightened and fled in a hurry, abandoning their grain and fleeing without putting up any resistance.

  Well aware of Feng Jun's cunning, he was afraid of being ambushed by the enemy, so Ed Azabao did not order a pursuit. Instead, he took the grain and fodder abandoned by Feng Jun's army and returned triumphantly. In just a few days, Ed Azabao led his troops to successively defeat three waves of Feng Jun's logistics supply teams, capturing more than 200,000 stones of grain, making it a brilliant victory.

  Ed Azarab burst with excitement, not forgetting to pass on the good news to his brother Remi Azarab, detailing the situation on his side. Upon receiving the good news from his brother, Remi Azarab was also extremely delighted and more confident than ever that as long as the Wind Army's supplies were not replenished, their defeat would only be a matter of time.

  He estimated that in the next few days, Feng Jun would definitely launch a large-scale attack, which was also Feng Jun's last-ditch effort. If they could break through their own camp, they would win. If they couldn't, Feng Jun would have to retreat, and at that time, it would be a good opportunity for them to take the initiative to counterattack.

  Remy Azab ordered the whole army to strictly guard the camp, and no one was allowed to leave the camp for battle. In addition, he transferred 100,000 Dukai troops to the East Camp, leaving only more than 20,000 troops in the West Camp.

  His estimate was correct, and the three water armies did indeed launch a second all-out attack on Duke's military camp on the fifth day of their arrival in Tia City.

  This time, the San Shui army was much more cautious than the last attack, and did not rashly advance with all its troops. Instead, it first brought out large-scale siege weapons and bombarded the Dongying camp of the Duji army.

  Actually, the three water armies used very simple weapons, only two types, one was a trebuchet and the other was a catapult, but the wind army had prepared too many crossbows and stone balls, and when they were launched, they didn't stop, continuously hitting the defensive line of the Duji military camp.

  As it was temporarily made, the crossbow arrows of the city-breaking crossbow were not even wrapped in iron skin, but they were enough to deal with the wooden stockade walls. The crossbow arrows were launched and hit the wall, making a loud noise that pierced the ears, splinters flew everywhere, often able to directly penetrate the stockade walls, half of the crossbow arrow was nailed into the wall, and the other half remained outside the wall.

  Many of the Dukhi soldiers who were leaning against the stockade walls were completely unprepared and were suddenly pierced by incoming crossbow arrows, their bodies hanging from the arrow shafts, screaming and struggling.

  The catapult's stone pellets were even more powerful, huge boulders falling from the sky, smashing into the crowd, wails erupting all around, people tumbling down in a heap, crashing against the stockade walls, the earth shaking, wooden stakes shattering in a large section.

  Under the fierce attack of the three-water army's heavy weapons, the earthen wall of Duji Army's East Camp was riddled with holes, and the corpses on the ground were piled up like a hill, making it impossible to count. Similarly, the Duji Army also launched a fierce counterattack, but they had no trebuchet, only using catapults to heavily pound the three-water army's camp.

  Both sides came and went, giant rocks shuttled back and forth in mid-air.

  The large-scale weapons of the three water armies fired continuously for more than two hours, exhausting all the previously stored and hastily prepared crossbow arrows and stone bullets. Only then did Liang Qi issue the order to attack. The three water armies were not making a feint, but a real attack. If they could capture Duji's camp with one blow now, Liang Qi would not need to retreat and join forces with the Tianying army again.

  Boom, boom, boom - the three water armies' phalanx advanced in unison, their footsteps almost uniform, each step producing a deafening roar that shook the earth.

  "Wind! Wind! Wind!" The wind army's battle array advanced while the officers and men shouted in unison, striking their weapons against their shields. This was to boost their own morale and also to greatly intimidate their opponents.

  At this time, the Duji army in the camp had all broken out in a cold sweat, each one gripping their weapons tightly, staring unblinkingly at the Fengjun array outside the camp.

  Remy d'Azémar took personal command of the battle, directing it himself. He withdrew most of his troops behind the inner walls while ordering a small portion of the Doukai troops to continue defending the outer walls.

  The inner wall of the Duji military camp was actually only one person high, and the war horse could jump over it with just one leap. However, the earth wall was more solid and not afraid of the impact of the catapult.

  The inner wall is much shorter than the outer wall. When defending, as long as the outer wall has not been breached, the inner wall is useless. But now the outer wall is severely damaged and many places have been smashed and collapsed. At this time, the role of the inner wall is revealed, people standing on the inner wall can shoot arrows directly through the gap in the outer wall.

  The three armies advanced rapidly, and before long, both sides had entered each other's range. The sound of bowstrings being plucked echoed through the camps, followed by a dense rain of arrows that rose into the air like two dark clouds, intersecting in mid-air before falling towards the opposing army's camp.

  "Rise shield—"

  The generals of the Wind and Dukedom armies almost simultaneously shouted loudly, the soldiers raised their shields one after another, then the sound of clashing metal rose from all sides, arrows poured down on the shields like rain, sparks flew everywhere, clear and crisp sounds echoed back and forth, amidst which were intermittent blood-curdling screams.

  The outer wall of the Duji army has too many breaches and is now in name only, but there are still Duji soldiers standing on it. Some of the walls have been smashed to only five or six meters wide, with huge breaches on both sides, but there are still several Duji archers on top who are constantly shooting arrows down, causing casualties to the Feng army.

  For these severely damaged stockades, the three water troops were too lazy to set up cloud ladders, fearing that as soon as the cloud ladder was set up and people started climbing up, the stockade would collapse. When the three water troops rushed to the bottom of the stockade, dozens or hundreds of soldiers crowded together, used their strength in unison, and pushed hard against the remaining stockade.

  Those remaining walls of the stockade, only a few meters wide, had long been on the verge of collapse. How could they withstand the pushing and shoving of so many people? Under the thunderous shouting of the Wind Army soldiers, the crumbling walls collapsed one after another, and the Duqi army soldiers on top let out miserable cries as they fell from the air. Some people died or fainted on the spot, while others broke their bones and tendons, struggling to crawl backward on the ground.

  The bloodshot Wind Army didn't care whether you were dead or wounded, and still had the strength to fight, swarmed up, and cut down those Duke soldiers who hadn't died yet. But as soon as the outer wall fell, the inner wall inside immediately appeared, and countless Duke soldiers standing on the inner wall shot arrows in unison. In the dense rain of arrows, the San Shui soldiers who had just pushed down the outer wall fell to the ground one after another.

  The three water troops reacted quickly, launching a counterattack. The originally chaotic crowd reformed into neat squares in an extremely short period of time. The soldiers at the front raised their shields to resist the hail of arrows coming from above, while those behind them drew their bows and launched a counterattack.

  The crossbowmen on the inner wall were too late to dodge and were shot down in a whole row by Feng Jun's arrow array.

  Soon, Du Ji's archers retreated below the inner wall, using the inner wall as cover to continue shooting arrows at Feng Jun.

  Both sides inside and outside the earth wall, you one round of arrow array, I one round of arrow array, shooting each other continuously. The soldiers in both camps fell down from time to time, and the corpses on the ground accumulated more and more. The wounded soldiers who were shot by both sides were pulled back in batches. The fierce battle had reached a white-hot degree at this point.

  This battle was a tough fight for both the Wind Army and the Dukedom Army.

  The arrow array of the Duji army was fierce, but the camp of the Feng army continued to advance forward. At this time, the vanguard of the Feng army had entered the Duji camp and was about to come into contact with the inner wall.

  As the Wind Army drew closer and closer, almost to the front gate, the generals in Du Ji's army gave orders, archers continued shooting arrows, long spear soldiers and long gun soldiers went up on the wall to defend against the enemy.

  In the commanders' orders, countless Duku soldiers climbed up the camp wall and stabbed fiercely at the Feng army outside.

  Duke and Bessa belong to the same ethnic group, with strong physiques and a fierce temperament. Compared to the Wind Army, they have an innate advantage in physical quality. Additionally, Duke's environment is harsh, with most of its territory being desert, making the people of Duke even more robust and skilled in battle.

  They shot down from the wall with a single gun, and Feng Jun's shield was unable to withstand it, causing him to retreat repeatedly. The arm holding the shield was numb from the impact, rendering him powerless. If he hadn't managed to block it with his shield in time, the consequences would have been even more dire - he would have been pierced through along with his armor.

  Of course, the Dujie army was also suffering from the arrows shot by the Fengjun camp while challenging the wall outside. Many Dujie soldiers had been hit by multiple arrows in their chest, arms and thighs, but they still stood on the earth wall, continuing to fight.

  The Duji army was fierce and powerful, the San Shui army was not far behind. In such a brutal battle, there was not a single soldier in the army who was afraid of death or greedy for life. Even if they knew that going forward would mean being killed by the enemy, people still kept pushing forward, charging at the enemy's last line of defense.

  The soldiers of both sides were killed in rows, and the battle had not yet reached half a time, but the corpses outside the earth wall had already piled up more than half the height of the wall. There were bodies of Feng Jun and Du Ji Jun mixed together, with blood and flesh blurred, and it was impossible to distinguish the number.

  The battle continued unabated, with casualties on both sides rising in a straight line. By the afternoon, the bodies outside the inner wall had piled up to the same height as the wall itself, and when the Wind Army advanced forward, they no longer needed to climb the wall, but could directly step onto it by trampling over the corpses.

  However, the Wind Corps charged quickly and fell quickly. Either they were stabbed down by the counter-attacking enemy or shot down by the enemy's archers. The Douji Corps, which counter-charged, also couldn't stand for long and immediately followed in the footsteps of the Wind Corps at the front.

  In the inner wall of the dwarf, both sides are fighting with all their might, you and I are competing, but the Duji army can't counterattack, and the Wind Army can't break in. Both sides have launched the most bloody and tragic war of attrition, which is a pure competition of military strength, comparing who has more troops and who can afford to lose more.