Royal Capital Recovery Battle 2

At the Crystal Radiance Fortress's north gate, siege ladders on numerous siege vehicles were propped against the city walls. Royal Army soldiers desperately climbed upwards, holding shields to defend against arrows, hot oil, and even boiled excrement hurled down by the rebel forces.

Some siege vehicles doused in hot oil were set ablaze by the rebels using flaming arrows. The fire rapidly engulfed the siege vehicles, forcing soldiers engulfed in flames to jump from the upper levels. Many unfortunate soldiers couldn't escape, and the stench of burning flesh permeated the air.

The leading Royal Army soldiers, clad in thick armor, wielded swords and shields, forcefully parrying the rebel soldiers' slashes and axe blows. They leaped from the siege vehicles onto the city walls, with the soldiers behind them quickly following, continuously expanding the breach.

For a time, the city walls echoed with shouts of battle.

By noon, both the attacking and defending sides were utterly exhausted. Duke Walker ordered a temporary halt to the assault, while the rebel forces seized the opportunity to reorganize and rest.

Inside a residential house near the north gate, several people sat in the living room with worried expressions.

"How many men did we lose this morning?" Hals, the former City Garrison commander and now the rebel leader, asked wearily.

"About four hundred of our old brothers..." a subordinate cautiously replied.

Hals listlessly rubbed his forehead, not bothering to ask about the losses among the conscripted militia.

At that moment, Hals was consumed by regret, annoyance, and fear, emotions that swirled repeatedly in his mind.

Trapped in an isolated city, the reinforcements he had hoped for were nowhere in sight, while he knew that the loyalist army was continuously gathering nearby.

He cursed viciously, "Damn Giles! Go to hell!"

He had always acted like a loyal dog of the royal family, but in reality, he had been secretly colluding with Giles. Because he had always been cautious, he had never revealed his true colors and had firmly held onto his position as the City Garrison commander.

When the Great Princess led her army on a distant expedition to the highlands, Giles finally couldn't suppress his ambition. He seized the opportunity to launch a rebellion and sent someone to inform Hals to start an uprising in response before the princess's army returned.

At first, Hals had refused. Giles's army was still far away, so causing trouble in the Royal Capital was just asking for death.

But the contact later said that Duke Dodge in the south had already sided with Giles, and the biggest obstacle to the northern advance had been removed. The other minor lords were not worth worrying about, and he was promised the title of Earl once the matter was concluded.

In a moment of impulsiveness, Hals wanted to make a great contribution. If he waited until Giles's army reached the gates of the Royal Capital before responding, wouldn't that make Giles look down on him? If he could control Crystal Radiance Fortress and capture the King first, his contribution would definitely outweigh anyone in Giles's camp.

So he rebelled. Except for failing to capture the King, everything else went smoothly. The City Garrison command system had been purged, with disobedient officers either killed or imprisoned. The entire army was under his control.

After imprisoning Palace Minister and other ministers and getting rid of a few troublemakers, the nobles who remained in the Royal Capital neither explicitly opposed him nor explicitly supported him. Oh well, let Giles deal with these fence-sitters when he arrives.

Many nobles had fled during the chaos of the uprising. He didn't care; let them go and cause trouble for the princess. As long as they left their property behind, that was enough.

After he had done everything he needed to do, Giles's army, which the contact had mentioned, was nowhere to be seen. Sensing that something was wrong, he immediately sent someone to the south to investigate. The news that came back made him want to vomit blood: the Dodge family had not sided with Giles at all, and the northern army was still blocked at Thorn Gate.

"It's over, it's over, it's over..." This was his only thought after receiving the news.

But now he had no way out. After enjoying a period of absolute power, he was even more unwilling to give up everything he had and flee quietly. He decided to take a gamble and defend the Royal Capital until Giles's army arrived.

The loyalist army quickly gathered near the Royal Capital. After waiting for the princess's army to return, they launched an offensive this morning. He moved his command post to the north gate, near the Royal Army's attack, and personally directed the defense. He spent the entire morning in fear and trepidation, finally repelling the first wave of attack.

Just as he was about to take a nap, the horns suddenly sounded again.

A soldier rushed in, "Lord Hals, the enemy is attacking again. The defenders on the wall are requesting reinforcements, or they won't be able to hold on."

Hals decisively ordered, "Transfer half the troops from each of the other directions to reinforce the north gate. After repelling this wave of attack, open the city gates when the enemy retreats. I will personally lead the troops to counterattack."

"Yes!" The soldier obeyed and left.

No one noticed that two officers in the hall exchanged a subtle glance.

"Lord Hals, although the enemy is only attacking the north gate now, we can't let our guard down in the other directions. Please allow me to inspect the posts."

"You're right, go ahead and keep a close eye on those bastards." He really didn't trust some of his subordinates.

"Your Highness, a message from a carrier pigeon, we can attack now," Auffina reported the enemy situation to Catherine.

In the dense forest outside the east gate, the main force of the Royal Army, consisting of 25,000 soldiers, was hidden, waiting for this moment.

Catherine drew her sword, turned around, and shouted, "Warriors, the moment we've been waiting for has arrived. Many of your parents, wives, and children are in this city. Now is the time to rescue them from the hands of the rebels. Show your loyalty to the country, long live Aldo!"

"Long live Aldo!"

"Aldo will prevail!"

The soldiers responded to Catherine with wave after wave of cheers.

"Sound the horns, attack—" Catherine ordered.

As the horns blared, the Royal Army soldiers surged out of the dense forest, carrying siege ladders and battering rams, and charged towards the east gate, signaling the start of the real assault.

The second wave of attacks on the north gate was repelled, and the Royal Army soldiers retreated in disarray.

Hals ordered the city gates to be opened and roared at the five hundred cavalrymen behind him, "Brothers, let's show these bastards what we're made of! Five gold coins for each of you upon our return!" With that, he fiercely whipped his horse and charged towards the retreating Royal Army soldiers, the cavalrymen following closely behind.

The retreating Royal Army did not expect the enemy to counterattack, and they were caught off guard. For a moment, they were unable to stop the five hundred-plus cavalrymen from charging left and right.

However, as Hals vented his frustration from the past few days, slaughtering enemies left and right, he caught sight of a rider charging towards him from the city gate, frantically shouting something.

As the rider approached, he finally heard what the other party was shouting.

"The east gate has fallen! Please send reinforcements immediately, my lord!"

Hals' vision went black, and he almost fell off his horse.

"Lord Hals! Lord Hals?" the rider shouted anxiously. At this critical moment, the commander couldn't afford to have an accident.

Hals steadied himself and suddenly thrust out the lance in his hand.

The rider wore an expression of disbelief, his eyes wide as he stared at the lance piercing his chest, and then he fell off his horse and died.

"Haha! You're lying to me! You're lying to me!"

The crazed Hals threw off his helmet and charged again with his lance, heading towards the densest concentration of enemy soldiers.

His manic voice echoed across the battlefield:

"You're lying to me! You're all lying to me!"

On Labusen Mountain near the Royal Capital, two men dressed as merchants silently watched the distant battle.

"Sigh—" one of them, a young man with a frivolous look and an earring in his right ear, sighed.

"Lord Hals was cautious for so many years, but he capsized at the last moment. What a pity."

"Hmph, stop pretending to be compassionate. If you hadn't been hinting at it, I wouldn't have been able to stir up the little schemes in his heart, no matter how hard I tried. But this guy is useless; he only lasted one day."

The one who responded was a middle-aged man with a mustache.

"People shouldn't be too greedy. If the princess hadn't returned to the Royal Capital and had gone south directly along the eastern route, launching a pincer attack with old Duke Dodge, Duke Walker would be the one in trouble. The princess's detour has bought us more than just one day."

"Hmph, I know that without you telling me. By the way, have you prepared the gift for that princess?"

"Hehe, how could I dare to be negligent when dealing with such a beauty?"

The young man's lips curled up slightly, a wicked smile appearing on his face.