Heroes of Might and Magic: Knight Chapter 531: Clean up
Compared with the sparse population in the North, the population in the Central Plains is much denser. Nearly one-third of the kingdom's population is crowded on this fertile plain.
The castles of various noble families on the Great Plains are also very close to each other. From Fort Newman to the nearest noble castle, it only takes one day of rapid march to reach it.
The movement at Fort Newman was so loud that it was naturally noticed by the nearby nobles. However, the time was short, and they did not yet know that a brutal purge had taken place in the Newman family, and they were still under observation.
Of course, there are some nobles who have ulterior motives and are more concerned about the surrounding disturbances. As soon as they learned that there was turmoil in Fort Newman, they sent spies to investigate.
Lundinburg is one of the castles closest to Fort Neumann. Compared with the grandeur of Fort Neumann, Lundinburg is much simpler, but it is also more like a castle, although the area is not as large. Fort Newman is built quite solidly. The outer wall is at least seven or eight meters high, and there are several arrow towers scattered on it. In addition to the platform on the arrow tower, it can not only stand many archers, but even a crossbow can be placed.
There is also a small moat surrounding the castle. Although the width is only five meters, the water depth is also nearly three meters, which is enough to cause a lot of trouble to the attacking enemies. Compared with Fort Newman, which was completely reduced to a manor, Lundenburg can indeed be said to be impregnable.
After the commotion at Fort Newman, Viscount Cliff, who ruled Lundinburg, immediately sent people to investigate. As for why he was so concerned about the affairs of Fort Newman, it was of course because he had to talk to several special people in his castle. The guests have something to do with it.
"There seems to be something going on at Fort Newman. Bishop Johnson and the others are still in the castle. Should we send someone to support them?"
The speaker is also a priest of the Rising Sun Cult. After the Lord of the Rising Sun awakened and the divine envoys began to walk around the world, the activities of the Rising Sun Cult have become much more frequent than before, especially in the Golden Dragon Kingdom, which mobilized a large amount of power. After arriving at the Longxiguan defense line, the church members became even more bold in their activities.
The Sect of the Rising Sun, an organization that was originally deadlocked, started to act like a chicken after the appearance of the divine messenger. It seemed that it was not affected at all by the disappearance of the pope.
However, Viscount Cliff said:
"Based on what I know about Earl Newman, even if he had not made up his mind to join us, he would never have harmed the lives of Bishop Johnson and the others. He is a pure businessman and there is no benefit in offending us. He It won’t be done.”
The tone of Viscount Cliff's words was not that of the nobleman the church had just won over, but that of one of his own.
In fact, this is also true. The Cliff family is not a small local noble who joined halfway, but a church family that has always believed in the Lord of the Rising Sun. When the church lost power, it hid and dormant, secretly providing the church with help.
It was not that the kingdom did not want to completely wipe out the church, but eliminating the church's apparent power had already damaged humanity's vitality and missed the opportunity to completely defeat the orcs, let alone eliminate all its believers. , the church at that time was equivalent to the state religion of mankind, and it was regarded as the state religion from the bottom up. One can imagine how powerful its power was.
Under the suppression of several generations of monarchs of the Charlemagne family, the church has become more low-key, but its influence is still not low among civilians and nobles.
The Cliff family will always have to face the pressure of the kingdom's purge, so the castle must be built stronger.
It is very funny to say that nobles like the Cliff family, who secretly collude with the church, fall slower than ordinary martial nobles. Even after several generations, the Cliff family is still well equipped with weapons. Not only is the castle strong, but the hundreds of troops under his command are also carefully trained, and their combat effectiveness is even higher than that of the kingdom's regular army.
"I'm afraid Bishop Johnson and his friends will encounter people from the Black Prison. Those guys are very difficult to deal with."
Although the large-scale suppression of the church ended shortly after Aragorn disappeared, the kingdom has never let down its guard against this enemy. As a special agency of the kingdom, the Black Prison has always been responsible for tracking down the church. responsibility.
"There are only a few masters here in the Black Prison. Bishop Johnson himself is a powerful knight, and the few people he brings are also elites of our religion. As long as he is not surrounded by a large army and wants to leave, the Black Prison should We can't keep them, the surrounding garrison all have our spies, and if there is a movement of garrison, they won't be able to hide it from us."
Viscount Cliff and others have been paying attention to the garrison, but they did not expect that someone within the Newman family would mobilize a private army to rebel and destroy the entire Newman family. They did not expect that Richard would appear here. The information gap prevented him from doing so. Realizing that the disaster had come, it was just his instinctive caution that prevented him from acting rashly.
"Let the soldiers be more vigilant and send a few more spies to Fort Newman to find out the news. We will take action only after we have definite information."
"Yeah."
Although Viscount Cliff’s plan was conservative, there was nothing wrong with it. Several priests from the theocratic religion nodded in agreement after thinking for a moment.
…
However, there is no need to wait to send out more spies. The spies who went out before have returned to Lundenburg and brought back a piece of news that made Viscount Cliff feel dangerous.
"Lord Cliff, something happened over there with the Newman family. The second son of Earl Newman led the troops to break down the castle, and then sealed it for a day. Now the Newman family's army is coming towards our Lundinburg."
The spy's face was also a little panicked. He did not deliver the information in time, and because of Amin's mass killing, many specific details in Fort Newman were not delivered, such as those of Johnson's church personnel. They haven't figured out whether they are alive or dead, but they have only found out the movements of the Newman family's army.
"How many are there?"
"The number of people is about a thousand!"
After hearing this number of troops, Viscount Cliff was slightly relieved. Not only did the Newman family have a higher title, but they also had more territory and population. The army under their command was two or three times that of the Cliff family, but this number The army was not a big problem for Lundinburg.
Although they are at a numerical disadvantage, the Cliff family's troops are all elite, and the castle serves as a barrier. They are not afraid of those people led by Amin. What really worries Viscount Cliff is the The garrison at Les.
There is a whole legion of garrison stationed inside. Although this number is small, and there is a lot of empty pay, after this period of rectification, the manpower has been basically replenished. More than 20,000 troops are coming, it is definitely A situation where both jade and stone are destroyed.
"Is there any movement from the garrison over at Clay City?"
"Not found yet."
After hearing that there was no movement from the legion in Clay City, Viscount Cliff's expression was slightly relaxed and he felt a little relieved.
"This Newman family's army also comes with bad intentions!"
"Pull up the hanging door and let the guards prepare for battle. I want to see what the second son of the Newman family has in mind."
The soldiers of Lundinburg usually train well. After Viscount Cliff gave the order, they quickly prepared for the battle. Stones, wooden bars and various defensive materials were moved onto the city wall in preparation. The Chu Bed Crossbow shooter also quickly took up his position, just waiting for A Ming's men to arrive.
If it really only defends Amin's army of more than a thousand people, then Cliff Castle's defense is really more than enough. With the strength in Amin's hands, it will be difficult to capture this kind of castle.
However, there are powerful beings in A Ming's army who can completely ignore the six to seven meter high city wall.
…
"Lady Natalie, ahead is Lundenburg."
At this time, Amin had led his troops to a place two miles away from Lundinburg. He and Natalie were observing the situation in Lundinburg in parallel. Lundinburg was completely on alert and passed the suspension bridge of the moat. It has been pulled up and the iron gate is closed tightly. There are many soldiers standing on the top of the city. You can vaguely see a few large pots set up, which are obviously burning some boiling oil and gold juice. This is better than stones and Lei Mu is a more affordable weapon for defending the city.
Looking at Lundinburg, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, Amin couldn't help but feel a little bitter. Compared with his manor-like Fort Newman, Lundinburg's defense was not even the slightest bit stronger. The troops he had at hand were, It may be difficult to capture Lundinburg.
But Lundenburg's level of defense seems relatively childish in Natalie's eyes, not only because of her own strong strength, but also because she has been fighting at Dragon's Breath Pass during this period, Dragon's Breath Regardless of whether they are humans or orcs, the offensive and defensive levels over Guan are several levels higher than those on this great plain. I haven't seen such good people for a long time.
"Are you sure they are in collusion with the church?"
"Well, with the information from Yusidu and Black Prison, and the fact that the Cliff family castle is so strong, there is a high probability that there is something wrong with Lundinburg."
"Huh? How do you say it?"
After all, she is not a local snake. Among many heroes, Natalis is also relatively pure in martial arts. She did not understand the twists and turns in some things for a while. Based on the intelligence from Heijing and Yusidu, Natalys suspected that Liz could still understand how the castle's solidity had become a subject of suspicion.
A Ming could only explain awkwardly:
"On the Central Plains, most of the castles that can be built so solidly are newly ennobled nobles of one or two generations, and they are mainly concentrated in the east, closer to Longxing Pass."
"And most generations of nobles like our Newman family and Cliff family cannot build any strong castles. In the aristocratic circle of the Western Plains, those who build such castles are country bumpkins."
"Recently, the Black Prison has found nobles who have colluded with the Rising Sun Cult. Most of them have built strong castles, and most of their soldiers are well-trained. When they resisted, they caused a lot of trouble to the kingdom's garrison, so Now that the castle has been built strong, his soldiers are well-trained and have become the main suspects of the Black Prison."
"Heh"
Natalis chuckled. Although this logic is clear, it is actually a bit ironic. There are no fallen nobles here in the West Plains, but it is even more questionable.
"Lord Amin! Viscount Cliff rejected our request to search the castle!"
The soldiers who went to shout to Lundinburg have returned, and things are indeed not going so smoothly. Lundinburg's posture does not seem to cooperate with Amin's search.
"Be careful not to let anyone out of Lundenburg."
"Send someone to Clay City and ask the garrison for support in the name of Lord Richard."
Amin knew that with the power in his hands, he would only look at Lundenburg if he was long. It would be difficult to attack the city directly, and he did not have the courage to issue the order to attack.
But obviously he has little idea of Natalie's strength.
"No need to go to such trouble, prepare to attack!"
"This?"
"Lady Natalis, we only have some simple long ladders. The gate of Lundinburg cannot be broken open by siege engines. If we attack by force..."
"You don't need to attack by force, you just need to cross the river and climb the city wall..."
After saying that, Natalie took out Leng Yue and got ready to attack.
A Ming could only grit his teeth, turned around and ordered:
"The First Capital! Prepare to attack!"
Five hundred soldiers carried some planks and simple long ladders and began to move towards Lundinburg...