Chapter 800 Changing Flags
The Battle of Aletchisburg, which was mainly initiated by the Burangdians, basically ended near dusk.
It took about an hour in total to capture it. Although the city is not large, the number of people who participated in this war is enough for the people living here to remember it and tell their descendants about the "war" that happened here in the days to come.
At this time, the fire outside the city was gradually extinguished by the soldiers who had not had time to enter the city to fight.
The fallen bodies of the Lombard soldiers under the corner had been burned to charcoal, with nothing left except the metal armor and the long swords in their hands.
The yellow mud on the ground was baked into pitch black scorched earth by the fierce fire, and the wall about six feet above the ground was covered with charcoal ash left by burning kerosene.
On the city wall, the wooden beams of the arrow tower that were ignited by the bomb explosion are still burning, and the hay on the top has long been burned to ashes.
On the walls, burnt limbs and broken stones were scattered everywhere, and the blood stains spattered on the stone walls told the horror of the battle.
On the stone steps leading to the castle, countless bodies were piled one on top of another, and the blood seeping out formed bright red streams from top to bottom.
——My lord! "
Not far away, Ater, wearing armor, appeared at the entrance of the steps leading to the city wall with his bodyguards. When soldiers coming and going saw him, they would always put down what they were doing, bow to him, and then leave.
At times, he patted his subordinates on the shoulders or gave them an affirmative look. Although he said nothing, the soldiers who followed him could still feel the respect from this big man.
Stepping over the scattered corpses at his feet, Art slowly walked towards the city wall.
"Found it! Sir, we've found that guy!" Angus, the deputy commander of the legion, suddenly showed his head from the crenellated wall and shouted excitedly to Art, who was rushing towards the city wall.
Matt raised his head and quickened his pace towards the city wall.
At the corner of a secret passage leading into the fort, Colin and four soldiers stood around a guy with only half of his body left and stopped to watch. Behind them, a long blood trail stretched all the way to the city wall, along with some pieces of meat that had not been burned by the fire.
According to the identification of a Lombard soldier, this guy with only one breath left was Kane Hawke, the lord of Arachisburg.
At this time, his two legs had long been lost in the explosion, and the wounds that were torn into pieces were still bleeding. The plate armor he wore was burned by the fire until only a skeleton was left, and his arms and face were all ulcerated. Only his eyes that could move could tell that he was still alive.
"Sir, here!" Angus led Art and others through the secret door and walked in.
Kane Hawke, who was lying motionless on the ground, suddenly blinked and tried to turn his head to take a look at the situation behind him, but his weak body still failed to allow him to do so.
Matt walked down the dark passage step by step, the armor on his body making a clanging sound.
Art walked to the mutilated body and asked coldly: "Are you still alive?"
Colin took a step forward and replied: "Sir, he is still alive, but he is not far from death."
Art slowly bent down, half-crouched on the ground, looking into the eyes of the mutilated body. In fluent Lombard, he said: "You should accept my proposal, maybe you can live longer."
Kane Hawke stretched out his right hand with all his strength and wrote two words on the ground with difficulty.
“Sir, what did he write?” Angus also bent down and squatted next to Art and asked.
"Wait a minute!" Art stood up, grabbed Angus' raised right hand, and explained, "I think he wants us to let the surviving Lombard soldiers and the people here go."
As soon as he finished speaking, Kane Hawke's arched arm fell to the ground again, and his eyes that were opened a moment ago were completely closed.
Matt took a deep breath and ordered: "Drag his body out and bury it with the dead Lombard soldiers~"
When Art left the secret passage and stepped onto the city wall again, not far away, the men and horses of the Wells Army's Radiation Department were slowly escorting the radiation and grain.
On the city wall, the flag showing the sail heraldry belonging to the Hawke family was thrown to the ground, and the blood-eyed and howling heraldic flag of the Wells family had been planted all over the entire military fort.
"Odo!" Art shouted to Odo, who was arranging soldiers to dispose of the corpse on the east wall.
"Sir!" Odo turned around, whispered a few arrangements to a squadron leader beside him, and then strode towards Art. "Have the inner castle, granary and arsenal been controlled?"
"Sir, everything has been arranged!"
"Immediately send an order that no one may rob the people in the fort or plunder property. In addition, all the captives must be taken outside the city and kept under strict supervision. They must not abuse or abuse them at will." After speaking, Art glanced at the corpses scattered in the fort and added, "Immediately Send people to pull these corpses to the edge of the dense forest to the east and burn them all. Once the corpses rot, a plague is very likely to break out. "
"Don't worry, sir, I'll do it right away!" After that, Odo was about to leave, but was suddenly stopped by Art.
"Slow!"
"What else do you have to say, sir?"
"Tell Robert to say a prayer for these dead Lombard soldiers~"
"Yes, sir."
When it was dark, Alychisburg, which had just experienced the war, regained its tranquility again.
Thousands of military tents were lined up around the military fort, becoming a temporary camp for thousands of troops tonight. The surrounding campfires made the entire military fort surrounded by golden firelight, and the laughter coming from the camp from time to time made the fort residents hiding in their homes uneasy.
At this time, Art summoned a group of high-ranking officers at the level of company captain and above to the Lord's Hall in the inner castle to make arrangements for the next march.
“Everyone,” Art, who was sitting at the top of the Lord’s Hall, patted the armrest of the leather chair beneath him, “Today, we captured Fort Aletchi—the bone that blocked our way to Milan—in a very short time. Tomorrow, the army will continue northward. Go up, seize the opportunity to fight again, pull out the nails of the remaining four Lombard soldiers stationed in one fell swoop, and strive to reach the city of Milan in three days!”
"Okay!" Art stood up from his seat, "Raise your glasses, let's drink to this small victory today!"
"Cheers!"
Everyone immediately raised their glasses and drank.
After a glass of wine, most of the fatigue on everyone present was dispelled.
Matt walked down the steps slowly, came to the long oak table in the center of the hall, and said to Odo, who was in charge of presiding over the military meeting: "Let's get started!" "According to the report from the spies we sent out to inquire about the military situation, the Lombards in the manor north of Arichsburg have retreated to another manor on the top of the mountain half a day away from this manor. The total number of defenders in the two manors does not exceed 250."
“Sir Odo, do you mean we need to attack from above?” Comor, the commander of the Palace Guards on the side, suddenly interjected.
"Lord Comor is right, attack from the back!" Odo put down the wooden stick in his hand, put his hands on the table, and explained: "This manor is not only located on the top of the mountain, but the slopes around it are all filled with stone strips, plus the thirty-foot-high outer wall. It is impossible to enter inside with our current ladder."
"You mean we can only enter from the main entrance of the manor?" Angus asked.
"Yes! And the gate of the manor can only pass through three people at a time. If the people inside block the gate with stones, we won't be able to get in at all." After Odo said this, a look of worry appeared on his face.
"Blow him up with a bomb!" Art, who was sitting aside, suddenly said.
"Sir, I'm afraid we were discovered by their people as soon as we arrived at the foot of the mountain. The grenadiers can't even approach the gate of the manor."
"Then we'll do it at night!" Art slapped the table.
"At night?" Everyone looked at each other, and then their eyes fell on Art.
Art glanced at the crowd and explained: "As long as we try to divert most of their attention to the opposite direction from the door, we can find the right time to break through the door."
Odo suddenly realized it and asked excitedly, "My lord, is this the way you often say, "To attack in the east and attack in the west"?
At the corner of his mouth showed a smile and nodded with satisfaction. "Finally, some of you can understand the meaning of these words.
After the military meeting, Art ordered a sumptuous dinner prepared for everyone. Because the army would break camp early tomorrow morning and continue heading north, Art had not prepared enough drinks to make everyone hangover.
After dinner, Komor, Gray Wolf, and a group of high-ranking officers at the level of company captains left the lord's hall one after another and returned to the army camp outside the fort. Odo, Angus, Father Robert and Ron stayed behind.
At stood up and walked around the lord's hall. Looking at the empty hall, he suddenly asked: "Odo, how was the victory at Arachisburg this time?"
Otto slowly took out a piece of parchment from his pocket and spread it on the table. "This is the list calculated by Bob, the secretary of the Chinese Army. Except for the money of less than one hundred cubic pfennigs, the rest is mostly grain and grass. I went to the weapons depot to take a look, and many things were rusty. But there are quite a lot of farm tools here, seven or eight hundred pieces!"
"What?"