Napoleon of Another World!

Chapter 31 - Grote Muren

"What!? What army?"

"From the insignia it must be Eirinn's western army. They have already attacked Todlen, and within half an hour at the latest they will reach the fort!"

"Curse! Sound the alarm, battle stations! Get all the civilians out and take them to Hemlin!"

At first Natuli thought that the best thing to do was to join the fleeing civilians and take advantage of the opportunity to disappear, only to then realize that this could be a good opportunity to show off.

She didn't really want to risk her life in a war she didn't care about, but the sooner and better she completed her mission, the quicker she would be able to return home.

"Damn. What a pain in the ass." she grumbled, going to hide under a cloth while everyone else ran away.

In the meantime, the enemy army had made its appearance and was taking up positions a few hundred meters from the fort.

At a rough estimate there must have been a thousand at most, with very little cavalry and the majority of his forces made up of light infantry, ideal for a rapid assault; they also had ladders and ropes with them, but no siege weapons, almost as if they didn't expect to have to work hard to take the fortress.

"Shall we use cannons, commander?" asked one of Septimus' subordinates

"We can't. The foundations have not yet been sufficiently strengthened, and the walls would crumble at the first blow."

Daemon had mentioned a new weapon capable of replacing bows and crossbows in ranged combat, but since it was not ready yet, there was no choice but to resort to the old methods.

"Archers and crossbowmen, ready to shoot! And wait for my order!"

On the opposite side, General Lefde took a few moments to observe the fort, noting without a certain admiration how the rebels had done an excellent job in putting it back together.

He had the look and attitude of someone who didn't want to be there, aware of how his actions were destined to have irreparable consequences.

But he was a soldier of Eirinn, and he had sworn an oath he could not back away from.

Sadly, he nodded to his deputy.

"Front line, advance!" and about a third of the army went on the attack.

The way Erthea's armies fought differed greatly from country to country.

The imperial legions gave great importance to discipline and the use of large, tight formations, in which they fought shoulder to shoulder.

Eirinn's army, in addition to preferring pikes, large swords and solid plate armor to imperial shields and short spears, had a much more individualistic approach, in which they supported each other but each soldier practically had look after himself.

Such an approach did not make the archers' work easy, and the arrows often went amiss, falling between one enemy and another without hitting anyone.

Septimus waited until the enemies were very close, then gave the order to fire and the battle officially began.

Those carrying ladders and ropes were targeted first and fell in large numbers, and although others took their place, the defenders managed at first to keep the walls inviolate.

The enemies obviously also had archers, very good ones at that, who with each hail of arrows managed to eliminate one or two soldiers of the Free State, so that after a few minutes Eirinn's army began to gain ground, despite paying dearly for every meter they conquered.