rise of empire total war

Chapter 133

In a blink of an eye, the time came to January of 1111 in the continental calendar.

It has been nearly half a year since Richard arrived at Cochranburg and commanded the siege. During these six months, Richard's army only besieged the main city of the region built on a hill, without any attack.

From time to time, the battle situation in the west will be heard from the scouts. Bandak really deserves to be the general trusted by King Halaus. The rebel army led by him completely defeated the Royal Army led by the military commander Sophie in the Ravana area and captured the king. The young nobleman came to the capital with the power of a great victory.

After that, there was a brutal siege.

The city of Ravana, which is run through the entire city by the wide Fabrici River, has a solid marble city wall. There are towering arrow towers every few dozen meters on the city wall equipped with large crossbows. The defenders rely on these deadly wars. The sharp weapons and solid walls tenaciously resisted repeated attacks by the rebels. Although they were smaller in number, they still seemed to be able to withstand the waves of rebel attacks with ease.

In the past six months, Bundak's power has not been weakened by the war. After he led the army to besiege the city of Ravana, MacPherson, Earl of Mafugat who stood firm in the city of Mattidot, finally made up his mind to join the The camp of the rebels took all the troops he had assembled in the city and joined Bandak.As a result, the rebel army besieging the capital suddenly expanded from more than 1000 people to more than [-] people.

It is worth mentioning that after Sophie, Earl of Mabuku was captured, under the threat of Bandak, he could only order his soldiers to stop being an enemy of Bandak and return home to guard the strength of Ravana City. weakened again.

Until January of the next year, the defenders of Ravana City still had more than 600 royal guards loyal to the royal family, a city garrison of nearly 1000 people, and more than 2000 militiamen. The Fabrici River allows cargo ships to deliver food and other supplies directly into the city. It can be said that as long as there are no traitors, this city will never fall.

As long as they stick to the city of Ravana, they will never lose this civil war.This is the belief that everyone in the city firmly believes in, and it is also the reason why they can stick to it.King Lawrence believed that Richard, who was still in the east, would lead an army to support him, and he would not stand by and watch Bundak win.

However, in fact, Richard really planned to sit back and watch Bundak "run into Tokyo and take his bird seat", otherwise he would not have spent half a year under the castle of Cochrane without making any progress. No.

Even if he is blocked in Cork and cannot go west, it is not impossible to order General Charles of Cuban Island to lead an army to assist the city of Ravana. Can leave sadly.

……

Snow is still falling.

Standing in front of the commander's camp, Richard stretched out a hand, feeling the coldness brought by the snowflakes falling on his palm, and couldn't help sighing.

The degree of recalcitrance of the defenders of Fort Cochrane was beyond his expectations. Although he was not in a hurry to take down the castle, after half a year of siege, the defenders inside still had no idea or intention to surrender. irritable.

Richard didn't know how long the food in Fort Cochrane could support them. The food he allowed the soldiers to plunder in Cork was exhausted a few months ago. The food shipped from several cities maintained the whole army.

However, spending time here is not an option. Governor Maximilian wrote to Richard not long ago to report that the continuous requisition of grain and the recruitment of farmers to transport grain have aroused dissatisfaction among the people in the territory. The voice against the war is getting louder and louder. If things like this continue, riots and rebellions may not take long.

This is not alarmist talk. In fact, there was a small-scale peasant riot in Mengba, but it was quickly suppressed by the baron nearby. The peasants were all arrested and imprisoned in the baron's manor to become lowly serfs without freedom.

Although this was only a trivial riot, it still sounded the alarm in Richard's heart. If he didn't make progress, the situation would go in a direction that was not conducive to him.

At the same time, the German rebels who were still stuck at the junction of Cork Territory and Luwen Territory were like a thorn stuck in his flesh, threatening him at all times.

However, according to the information obtained from Tooragris, the rebels in the fortress had already run out of food. They either chose to rush out of the fortress to fight to the death, or they could only raise the white flag and surrender to the royal army outside the city.

Richard naturally wanted them to surrender. As soon as the more than 2000 rebels surrendered, he would be able to obtain more than 2000 surrendered troops, and organize these surrendered troops into prisoner-of-war camps to become cannon fodder for sieges. Isn't it good for him?

Speaking of the prisoner-of-war camp, there are more than 400 surrendered soldiers in the current prisoner-of-war camp. Richard also selected more than 800 civilians or surrendered soldiers who were forcibly captured in Cork to be incorporated into the prisoner-of-war camp to serve their crimes and make meritorious deeds. .When there is no war, they have to do the hardest work for the army as coolies, and also receive simple military training from instructors.

"Your Majesty Caesar." Just as Richard was staring at Piaoxue in a daze, a familiar voice brought him back to reality, and he turned his head to the visitor with a questioning expression.

"Your Majesty," the visitor said, "Our cavalry encountered a group of cavalry from the west. They claimed to be from Ravana City."

"From Ravana City?" Richard was taken aback and asked, "Did they identify themselves?"

"Yes." The visitor nodded and said, "But there is one of them that you should be very interested in."

"Who?"

"Princess Stephanie," he replied.

……

"My dear Cousin Stephanie, why are you here?"

Facing Princess Stephanie, who was dressed in casual clothes and her face was covered by tulle, Richard asked with a smile.

"I'm here to ask you for help." Stephanie said without emotion, "The rebels have been besieging the city of Ravana for three months. I was ordered by my father to take advantage of the lax defense of the rebels at night. Only then can I break through the siege with this team of knights and come to see you."

"Have you worked hard all the way? Go to the tent with me to rest first." Richard looked at the princess with a lot of snowflakes on her body, and said with some distress.

"Yeah." Stephanie nodded, and followed Richard into the barracks. Her appearance attracted the attention of many soldiers. They, who hadn't seen a woman for a long time, stood by the side of the road and watched Richard walking in the barracks. Together with her, although her face is covered by tulle and her appearance cannot be seen clearly, her beauty can still be seen from her slim figure.

"What are you looking at? Return them all to me!"

Lieutenant General Kondra, who was following Richard, yelled loudly, and when the soldiers saw the officer getting angry, they turned around and fled.

"Is this Richard's army?" Stephanie thought to herself as she watched all this silently.

(End of this chapter)