Chapter 269 Each Has Its Own Difficulties

After receiving the military order from Duke Jonathan, Richard once again summoned the officers to the big tent to discuss matters.

When everyone arrived at the central army tent, Richard said straight to the point: "Duke Jonathan has issued an order requiring us to quickly resolve the noble coalition forces in the central part of Stannic, and then join the main force led by Duke Jonathan to attack the city of Clenus together. The order has been issued, and everyone will discuss how to complete it?"

After everyone read the Duke's order, Burton was the first to stand up and asked: "My Lord, did Duke Jonathan set a specific deadline?"

Burton is the cousin of Viscount Raphael. He is already a seventh-level silver knight and the commander of the noble coalition forces in the province of Rach.

The noble coalition forces commanded by Richard had a total of 16,000 soldiers when they set out. Among them, the territory of Harland sent 4,000 troops, the nobles of the province of Gedda sent 4,000 troops, the nobles of the province of Rach sent 5,000 troops, and the nobles of the province of Gascoigne sent 3,000 troops.

In the previous battles, the three provinces' coalition forces suffered nearly 1,000 casualties, and most of the losses came from the province of Gascoigne.

After conquering Burson Castle, Richard asked Kalani to lead the Gascoigne noble coalition to guard the grain road, and Lost to lead the second brigade to escort the serfs. Now there are only 12,000 troops left on the front line.

Among the current coalition forces, the army of the Rach Province is the largest and most important. Burton is the representative of the noble coalition of the Rach Province, and Richard must pay attention to Burton's opinions.

"The Duke did not specify a specific deadline, but the wording in the order is still quite severe, requiring us to resolve the enemy as soon as possible and cooperate with the main army to fight."

"In this situation, it is very difficult to attack by force. Duke Jonathan asked us to resolve the battle as soon as possible, which is really a bit difficult. My opinion is to take me as the main force and not disrupt my own rhythm. Continue to besiege the city for a while, and wait until early August. If the food in the city is exhausted, they will naturally fight with us. If there is still surplus food in the city, we should plan to retreat."

Burton's words are in line with the interests of the Central Army.

The nobles of the three provinces were not directly under Duke Jonathan's command. After joining the war this year, they had already completed their mission well and successfully contained the noble coalition forces in the middle of Stanik, preventing them from going north to reinforce.

Duke Jonathan's order obviously added burden to the Central Army. Burton's words implied that he was unwilling to take on this responsibility.

After joining the war, the Central Army won two battles and obtained a large amount of spoils, with nearly 100,000 people alone.

The Central Army had been plundered, and many nobles of the Three Provinces Coalition were now satisfied and did not want to fight hard with the enemy.

Burton's words represented the opinions of a large number of people, and even the military was on his side. Even if Richard wanted to continue to make meritorious contributions, he had to take care of the military's morale, and his orders could not deviate too far from the soldiers' ideas.

Richard turned around and asked Sharp, "Old Chief Sharp, what do you think?"

Sharp commanded the noble coalition forces of the Geda Province, with 4,000 soldiers under his command. Compared with the nobles of Rah Province, the nobles of Geda Province have a closer relationship with Richard. Especially the noble soldiers of Black River County, they admire Richard very much. Like the soldiers of Harland Territory, they are the backbone of Richard's control of this army.

"Can you write a letter to Duke Jonathan to recruit the nobles in Nero Castle?"

"The nobles in central Stannic are all distant members of the Linus family. Not to mention the blood feud between the Linus family and the Jonathan family, it is impossible to recruit them in the current situation. These people are resentful and have no trust in us. If they rebel in front of the battlefield, it will bring us more trouble."

Baron Sharp also opposed the strong attack. He said frankly: "After two months of siege, the morale has dropped a lot. Forcibly driving the soldiers to attack the city will make it easier for the enemy to seize the opportunity and take Win a victory.

In the past two months, the defenders of Nero Castle have been out of touch with the outside world. Without news from the outside for a long time, the morale of the defenders must be unstable. I think it is better to drive the sheep to the foot of Nero Castle to let the defenders see that our food and grass are still very sufficient to stimulate the enemy. If we can attract the enemy out of the city, we will take advantage of the situation to encircle and annihilate the enemy who came out to attack. If the enemy stays still, it can also hit the morale of the defenders. "

Since his left and right arms are unwilling to attack, Richard will not let the soldiers of Harland Territory be cannon fodder to fill the city.

Richard simply followed Baron Sharp's plan and let the sheep graze around the castle the next day, deliberately letting the defenders see it, to show that the three provinces coalition army has plenty of food and grass.

Baron Sharp is experienced and has a very accurate estimate of the mood of the defenders. When the defenders saw tens of thousands of sheep, they immediately knew that it was impossible to expect the enemy to retreat in a short time.

Although Nero Castle had a lot of food reserves, which was enough to last for nine months under normal circumstances, when the city was under the siege, more than 4,000 soldiers poured into the castle, plus the soldiers' families, nobles' followers, grassroots bureaucrats and other messy personnel, the castle increased by tens of thousands of people.

With tens of thousands of mouths, food was suddenly not enough.

If everything was normal, Nero Castle could still last for four or five months until Richard ran out of food and retreated.

But there were many accidents in the war.

Richard had aerial reconnaissance soldiers. In early May, he discovered a large granary of the defenders through aerial reconnaissance, and then concentrated on using kerosene bombs thrown by catapults to burn down the granary, and the city lost more than 2,000 tons of food.

After this battle, the defenders learned a lesson and adopted the method of storing food in separate warehouses and digging cellars. Now there is only one month of food left, and they can only last until late June.

Grain reserves were getting less and less, and the nobles guarding the city were becoming more and more worried. They knew in their hearts that once the food was exhausted, if the defenders did not surrender, they would have to eat people in order to survive. If it reaches this point, Fort Nero will turn into a hell-like scene.

Stimulated during the day, the nobles in Nero's Castle requested orders, asking Viscount Nero to open the city gate, organize an army to raid the enemy, and rob the sheep.

Seeing that the crowd was furious, Viscount Nero summoned everyone to the mansion to discuss countermeasures.

The coalition of nobles commanded by Richard cannot be united as one. There are also people with ulterior motives under Viscount Nero.

Fort Nero has been besieged for two months, and no reinforcements have been received yet. The nobles in the city also know that the situation has become extremely dangerous. They knew in their hearts that the relatively powerful Kingdom of Grant was much stronger than the Grand Duchy of Stanek. Moreover, there was chaos within the Grand Duchy of Stanik this year. Members of the Linus royal family killed each other and lost 30,000 to 40,000 regular troops.

These 30,000 to 40,000 regular troops are direct descendants of the Linus family. The total number of troops controlled by the Linus family is only 100,000.

Although the Grand Duchy of Stanik is not weak, the dukes in the south and the border nobles in the north may not be willing to fight for the Linus family?

Although the Jonathan family's appeal in Stanik has declined a lot, they are the former masters of this country after all, and they can influence a large part of the middle forces to prevent them from participating in the war.

The war has continued until now, and the future of the Linus family is not good, and many nobles are not willing to sit in a dangerous city. There were many people who wanted to break out of the encirclement, including members of Viscount Nero's clan.

The nobles in the city have breathing techniques, professional tribesmen, and soldiers who follow them. As long as you escape from danger. Entering the Kingdom of Lane, Kingdom of Delon and other countries, you still have the opportunity to strive to become a hereditary noble and restore your identity. Those who were willing to follow Viscount Nero to defend the castle were actually a minority. However, because Viscount Nero was a powerful epic knight and had a high prestige among the coalition forces, there was no open internal strife.

"The enemy is driving the sheep and deliberately letting us see them in order to stimulate us. We must not be fooled. As long as we stick to it, everything will be solved." Seeing that everyone had arrived, Viscount Nero got straight to the point and expressed his opinion. .

"We only have enough food for a month, and there are no reinforcements outside. The enemy has tens of thousands of sheep. Even if we drink goat milk and eat mutton, we can survive until late August. Moreover, the enemy can still get reinforcements from the rear. We When we run out of food next month, what should we do? Do we really want to eat people? Most of the population in the city is the family members of soldiers. Can we order the soldiers to eat their families? "

The first person to speak out was Viscount Casaro. He had 1,500 soldiers under his command and was second only to Viscount Nero in strength in the city. He raised his objections and was supported by many people.

"Viscount Casaro is right. I think the best way is to organize elite troops to go out of the city and launch a night attack to burn the enemy's food and rob the enemy's sheep. As long as the battle is successful, the enemy will retreat because the food is exhausted. .

If the night attack fails, we should make plans in advance and never be trapped in this place. Seven thousand soldiers have no food to eat. The most likely possibility is to surrender to the enemy, and then all of us will die. "As soon as Casaro finished speaking, Viscount York spoke in agreement.

Most of Viscount York's soldiers were lost in the Ferraman Mountains. Although he is not a mere commander now, he only has 300 direct descendants around him. His right to speak is far inferior to that of the other two viscounts, and he can only be equal to the baron.

The two viscounts took the lead, and the barons below all spoke in agreement. Seeing that there were so many objections to defending the city, Viscount Nero knew that his opinion was no longer popular.

The noble coalition soldiers under Viscount Nero are all locals. In order to stabilize people's hearts, he gathered the soldiers' families in Nero's Castle. Now all these soldiers' families have become a burden.

If you want to break out, you can't escape with the old and the weak. But it is difficult for the commander to issue this order to abandon the soldiers' families.

Soldiers are not robots, and they do not have to carry out any orders given by their superiors.

If the troops led by Viscount Nero were guest soldiers, this situation would be easier to handle. Whether it is hunting down the young and old in the city, relying on cannibalism to defend the city, or organizing soldiers to break out, it is very easy as long as the strength is dominant.

However, Viscount Nero was leading soldiers from his own hometown. If he wanted the soldiers to eat his own wife, children, and children, no matter who gave this order, he would definitely be counterattacked by the soldiers.

Viscount Nero knew that the enemy had laid a trap and that a sneak attack out of the city would be impossible to succeed. However, the officers under his command were in a great mood, and most of them were unwilling to continue to defend the city.

The opinions cannot be unified, and if the quarrel continues, there will be internal strife.

Viscount Nero slammed the table and shouted: "Let me think about it carefully, but tonight the enemy must have laid a trap and launched a night attack. I will never agree."

After everyone left, Viscount Nero carefully weighed the situation. Since the conflict was open to the public and the nobles did not want to defend the city, Viscount Nero was unable to go against the opinions of the majority. We can only organize a breakout according to their wishes.

Early the next morning, Viscount Nero held a meeting with the noble lords. At this meeting, he relaxed and expressed his willingness to organize soldiers and launch a breakout campaign.

"You guys go back and do a count to see how many soldiers are alone and willing to follow us?"

The nobles returned to the military camp, counted the soldiers' situation clearly, and reported to Viscount Nero.

After looking at the statistics, Viscount Nero discovered that there were only more than 300 soldiers without family ties. The remaining soldiers all had relatives. Most of these soldiers with families were unwilling to break out with them and fled to neighboring countries.

The main reason why soldiers are willing to defend the city is to protect their families.

Viscount Nero has been preaching to the soldiers about the enemy's brutality for the past two months, claiming that after the coalition forces of the three provinces break the city, they will definitely massacre the city. Fearing that their families would be slaughtered, the defenders fought bravely.

"With only 300 people, how can we protect everyone's families? The reason why I opposed the breakout was because I was afraid of disrupting the morale of the troops. I knew that it would be difficult to succeed in a breakout."

The seven thousand noble coalition forces in the city only had six to seven hundred cavalry. There are ten hereditary barons and three hereditary viscounts among the members of the nobility. Counting distant nobles, the total number exceeds thousands. Most of these people are old, weak, women and children, and there are only a few hard-hearted people who can cruelly abandon their families.

Relying on hundreds of cavalry, it was impossible to break through with this group of burdens.

Seeing that Viscount Nero was still hesitating, Viscount York persuaded: "If you don't break out, you can only wait for death. If you break out, you still have a chance to escape. In this situation, you are our leader. You cannot hesitate. You should make up your mind."

"Tomorrow I will order the soldiers to go out of the city to counterattack and contain the enemy's main force. You and Casaro organize the backbone to break out with all the cavalry in the castle. If we can break through the encirclement, we will meet at Sola Castle in the southern Dalon Mountains."

After hearing the breakout route planned by Viscount Nero, Viscount York asked with shock: "Why don't we go to Linus Castle and go west into the Kingdom of Lane?"

Viscount Nero shook his head and said: "After the enemy captures Nero Castle, they must merge with the main force in the Linus area. There are enemy troops everywhere near Linus Castle. We went in this direction and there was no way we could avoid the enemy's pursuit.

My opinion is to move southwest, from Sola Castle over the Daron Mountains, through the territory of the Allen family, and into the Kingdom of Delon. "

"Duke Allen is willing to let us pass? The dukes in the south are at both ends and are not willing to take responsibility at all. If they try their best, they can mobilize a hundred thousand troops. With a hundred thousand troops joining us, we can easily drive away the enemy."

After hearing what Viscount York said, Viscount Nero also hated the Dukes on both sides of the South. But hatred could not solve any problem. He could only hope that the Allen family would turn a blind eye and allow them to enter the Delon Kingdom for political asylum.