Over the past three days, Barcelona's attack has suffered heavy losses.
At least 30,000 elite troops perished in the Zuli River and within 2,000 meters of the city wall.
The people of Chambord never even sent out any troops; all the battles were fought by more than twenty magical puppets.
The four Demigod- level powerhouses, including Busquets, once personally entered a range of two thousand meters, attempting to seize a magical puppet to decipher and study.
However, after many attempts, he failed and nearly perished in the process.
The combat power of the Chambord City magic puppets is definitely at the true Demigod level. Moreover, they have bodies of steel, making them extremely tough. Even if their heads are blown off, they can still fight. Their suicidal fighting style caused the four Demigod level powerhouses of Barcelona to suffer greatly and also sustained minor injuries.
If the magical golems hadn't lacked combat thinking and intelligence, hadn't had fixed and outdated moves, and had a limited range of two thousand meters, the more than two hundred thousand Barcelona army would probably have been completely wiped out in less than a day.
After the initial probing attacks, Barcelona had to patiently wait and look for opportunities for a long period to come.
They soon discovered that capturing Chambord City would be far more difficult than taking Saint Petersburg.
The only good news is that, thankfully, Chambord City does indeed appear to have only a dozen or so Mithril Puppet. If there were any more, this battle would truly be impossible to fight.
Time passed day by day.
The Barcelona army is gathering on the Zuli River Chambord City.
In addition, there was a puppet army of over 100,000 men organized by the royal family of the fourth prince Christo, stationed on the south bank of the Yangtze River to assist the people of Barcelona.
At this time, the entire Zenit Empire, except for the ancient Chambord City, had completely fallen.
Chambord City is like the last holdout, making its final struggle.
"Hmph, in terms of area, Chambord City is just a tiny city with limited space and scarce food supplies. Now, the city is filled with the armies and civilians of dozens of vassal states in the northern frontier. Combined with the original population, the daily consumption is extremely staggering. I want to see how long they can hold out."
Busquets's siege had stalled, and the plan to capture the Mithril Puppet had made no progress, leaving him with no choice but to resort to a war of attrition.
Over the next ten days or so, the puppet army organized by the Zenit people became the main force of the attack, forced to rush into the 2,000-meter death zone and launch an attack on their compatriots defending the city.
Faced with this situation, Brook and Best showed no mercy whatsoever.
Any enemy that entered within a two-kilometer radius would be annihilated by the twenty mithril Mithril Puppet.
Some suggested turning these puppet troops against their cause, since many of them had been forced to fight on the front lines.
However, this suggestion was quickly overturned.
The tragedy of the fall of Saint Petersburg serves as a cautionary tale. Who knows if there are Barcelona spies among these people? Any fortress can be easily breached from within. We must not allow anyone to enter the Chambord City fortress at this time.
The long battle, which lasted nearly twenty days, became a process of wits and courage between the two commanders.
The Chambord people's resolute stance ultimately led Busquets to abandon his plan to force the puppet troops to attack.
After all, the puppet army was also part of their own side, and they needed to maintain the power of the puppet fourth prince's royal family to help the people of Barcelona suppress the continuous resistance organizations in the rear. Moreover, such a strategy was no longer effective.
During this period, the people of Barcelona sent many envoys to Chambord City to surrender.
"Now that the Fourth Prince has ascended the throne and become the new emperor of the empire, ruling over the lands of the Grizzly, Chambord City is merely a small vassal state. How dare it not submit to the Fourth Prince and obstruct the new emperor's army? Are you plotting a rebellion?" The noble envoy from the puppet royal family, standing on the moral high ground, arrogantly entered Chambord City and threatened Best and Brook to persuade them to surrender.
Then, twenty seconds later, the messenger's head was hung on the Chambord City.
On the twentieth day, the former lord of Hot Springs Pass and head of the Ptolemy Family, who had a grudge against Chambord City because of the Inzaghi incident and had already sided with the puppet royal family to become the commander of the puppet Ptolemy, offered a treacherous plan to the people of Barcelona.
They forced large numbers of Zenit refugees into an area within two kilometers, cut off their water and food supplies, and made them stay at the foot of Chambord City in an attempt to demoralize the Chambord residents on the city walls.
If the Chambord people ignore this, it will chill the hearts of the Zenit people.
If the people of Chambord open the city gates and let the refugees in, that would be the best outcome. The more people enter the city, the more chaotic it will become, and the more scarce food and supplies will be. How much supplies can such a small city have? Sooner or later, they will be completely depleted.
Moreover, there were naturally quite a few Barcelona spies mixed in with these refugees.
Ptolemy's treacherous scheme worked.
Faced with fully armed puppet troops, the people of Chambord could ruthlessly kill them. But when faced with the elderly, women, and children below the city, when faced with these refugees looking at them with longing eyes, when faced with them freezing, hungry, and on the verge of death, the people of Chambord could not show the same resolve as before. In the end, they really opened the city gates and welcomed tens of thousands of refugees into the city.
During this process, the Barcelona and their collaborators launched another attack.
Unfortunately, the Demigod magic puppets launched a counterattack, leaving behind five or six thousand corpses, and their mission was accomplished nothing.
The same tactic was repeated time and again.
Their wicked schemes became even more elaborate.
The people of Barcelona and their collaborators captured a large number of refugees from various places. Most of them were severely injured or crippled and starved to death. They were stripped naked and driven into a 2,000-meter area. These people were treated as a burden and abandoned to Chambord City in an attempt to deplete Chambord City's food, medicine, and clothing supplies and wear Chambord City down.
Every single day, every single hour, one can see that, just two kilometers away across the Zuli River, the people of Barcelona are wantonly torturing the refugees they have captured.
However, what is incredible to the people of Barcelona is that Chambord City has taken in more than 200,000 refugees over this period of time, including thousands of Barcelona's elite spies, yet it has not been brought to its knees.
Moreover, the chaos and fires that they had anticipated did not erupt in the city, and the thousands of spies vanished without a trace.
Things started to look strange.
"The time is almost up. Across the Zuli River, over 400,000 Barcelona troops and more than 300,000 puppet troops have already gathered. Perhaps we can launch a surprise attack with hundreds of Mithril Puppet. Within a single hour, we can annihilate their entire army."
Suppressing his anger, Best made the suggestion.
A new round of military conferences is being held in the watchtower of the south gate of Chambord City.
Apart from Best, Brook, and old Arjen, all the military commanders, big and small, from the city attended the meeting.
Considering what the people of Barcelona have done to the civilians of Zenit in recent days, every Chambord resident is burning with rage, wishing they could rush out and wipe out these demons completely.
Although Best was a civil servant, he also had a strong sense of justice.
His proposal was supported by many generals.
Brook was also somewhat tempted.
All eyes were focused on the strategist, Old Arjen.
In these days, Old Arjen's judgment on the battlefield and his calm command have completely won over everyone. Before His Majesty the King returned, he had already become the number one person in the entire kingdom in terms of military combat. The fact that he had previously kept the other Mithril Puppet from revealing his strength was also Old Arjen's strategy.
"Not now."
Old Arjen pondered for a moment, then shook his head slightly.
"Although just five hundred Mithril Puppet would be enough to crush the enemy army on the other side, they wouldn't be able to kill the Demigod- level experts and other masters in their camp. The Barcelona army, including their collaborators, numbers nearly 800,000. Once they are routed, they will undoubtedly become a disorganized mob, unrestrained and likely to massacre civilians, bringing unimaginable disaster to our compatriots who are still struggling to survive. Furthermore, the Mithril Puppet are limited by their attack range and cannot pursue, while our army is limited in number and currently lacks the ability to confront the Barcelona forces head-on. Once they retreat to Saint Petersburg, they can regroup and come back. By then, they will have figured out the number of golems and their kill range, and our situation will be dire."
The second brother Yang's analysis was agreed upon by most people.
"Then what should we do? Are we just going to stand by and watch those Barcelona scum slaughter the people of the Empire and humiliate the women of the Empire in front of us, and just keep going like this?"
Best was furious, more resentful than anyone else.
"We won't have to wait long." Old Arjen smiled slightly. "Judging by the time, Fernando has already returned to the [ Land of Exile ] and reported everything to King Alexander. It's almost time for King Majesty's return. As soon as His King arrives, it will be time for our counterattack."
His King is returning?
The thought of this invigorated everyone present, filling them with anticipation and excitement.
Yes, as long as the all-powerful King Alexander returns, all problems will be solved.
Putting aside everything else, His Majesty the King can command a puppet army to attack without any range restrictions. He can chase the Barcelona people to the ends of the earth in one go, completely kill those Demigod- level powerhouses, and drive the Barcelona people out of the Zenit Empire. Restoring the entire empire is only a matter of time.
Enduring a moment of humiliation can reverse the course of events.
Inside the Barcelona camp.
Tens of thousands of refugees were huddled in sheepfold-like enclosures, shivering in fear.
Not far from the refugee fence was an extremely luxurious magic tent.
The tent flap opened, and a handsome young man dressed in a Barcelona military uniform walked out slowly with a smile on his face.
He was none other than Piasson, the Tenth Judgment Knight of the Zenit Knights' Hall [ Silver Moon Knight ].
First update <dd>