War

Year 1250 of the Starlight Era.

Early Winterqin Moon.

Shortly after the new year, Shining City accused Blackstone City’s lord, Brother Ke Yi Anes-t, of colluding with the Starfire Cult and demanded he come alone to Shining City to confess and be punished. Upon Brother Ke Yi Anes-t’s refusal, they brazenly launched an attack against Blackstone City.

Clank! Clank!
The sound of metal armor plates scraping against each other echoed.

Ke Yi climbed the city wall, took the brass telescope from Bured, and gazed into the distance.

Under the night sky, the entire plain outside the city was illuminated with scattered campfires.

Silhouettes loomed beside the campfires, and a dense cluster of tents stretched far across the plains.

“This time, Owen has brought out everything. Not only his army but also the forces of those three traitors, Devon, Zorf, and Norwood, are all mobilized. Furthermore, they’ve recruited over a thousand mercenaries!”

Bured looked at the distant army with a heavy expression.

Owen’s forces alone numbered nearly four thousand, and with the mercenaries, the army’s size exceeded five thousand, nearly four times that of Blackstone City. This war was not going to be easy.

“Mercenaries are not much of a concern. These guys are undisciplined; they’re just a motley crew. They might be useful in a frontal battle on the plains, but in a siege, they’re just dead weight.”

Ke Yi set down the brass telescope and said, although his brows were slightly furrowed, indicating his heart was not as calm as his words.

Although he had long known that, after the failed assassination, Owen was highly likely to disregard everything and directly attack Blackstone City, Ke Yi still felt immense pressure when it actually happened.

Especially seeing the massive army outside the city, the burden on his shoulders grew heavier.

Blackstone City had been expanding its armaments for some time, but to this day, it barely had around thirteen hundred troops.

Three hundred of those were militias who had only undergone basic training and had never seen blood. How effective they would be in battle was questionable.

Of the remaining thousand, eight hundred were city guards, with reasonably good combat strength.

The rest two hundred belonged to the Blackrock Cavalry.

This was Ke Yi’s true trump card!

“It’s a pity time was too short. If I had another year or two, I could transform the Blackrock Cavalry into a full cavalry army. Even with just two or three hundred, it would be more than enough to flatten the entire Shining Lands!”

Ke Yi sighed inwardly.

Training a Blackrock Cavalryman cost nearly fifty gold coins.

Even with the Blackstone Mine as a cash cow, the expansion of the Blackrock Cavalry had been slow.

To date, it had only reached two hundred in size.

“Have all the people from Blackstone Mine been recalled?” Ke Yi turned and asked.

Jodun nodded and said, “They’ve all been safely withdrawn. According to scouts’ reports, the enemy has now occupied there.”

Ke Yi nodded slightly, looking at the distant army in silent contemplation, pondering the next strategy.

For them, defending the city was more advantageous.

Owen’s elite cavalry was better suited for battles on plains, and in siege warfare, their combat strength would be halved.

After all, horses couldn’t fight on city walls.

But the Blackrock Cavalry was different; the Blackrock Panthers were perfectly fit for defending a city.

Rather, the indomitable puppet creatures could display even stronger combat power in siege warfare.

This shift benefited Blackstone City.

But merely defending wasn’t feasible.

Once the battle dragged on for too long, supplies would become a fatal weakness.

Furthermore, with the Blackstone Mine in enemy hands, Ke Yi didn’t want it to become their money-making asset.

The best plan was to defend the city for a while, weaken the enemy, and when they became complacent, send out the Blackrock Cavalry to directly impact the enemy’s camp core.

If they could directly take out the enemy’s command center, the war would be theirs.

Since its formation, information about the Blackrock Cavalry had been kept sealed, so outsiders were unaware of how powerful this army was.

The rebels were completely unprepared, so the chance of success was high!

With thoughts swirling in his mind, Ke Yi quickly formed a plan in his heart.

Turning back, seeing the serious expressions on the faces of several generals, Ke Yi calmly said, “The enemy comes fiercely, but we’re not easy targets either. We’ve been gathering strength for two years for this day. Let’s show those rebels our power!”

“That’s right, as the lord said!”

“Let those rebels witness the might of Blackstone City!”

“I can’t wait!”

Encouraged by Ke Yi, the generals’ fighting spirit rose rapidly.

Bured and Jodun exchanged looks, both breaking into smiles.

Outsiders might not be aware of the secret, but as insiders of Blackstone City, they knew how drastically the city had changed in the past two years.

Regarding knights alone, Blackstone City already had over one hundred sixty.

Many viscount domains didn’t even have this many knights!

Not to mention Blackstone City also had two hundred knight-level Blackrock Panthers!

Calculating, Blackstone City had over three hundred knight-level combat forces.

To be honest, if it weren’t for Blackstone City’s limitations in being confined to one city, with poor basic military strength and no elite troops besides the Blackrock Cavalry, Owen alone wouldn’t be a match for them.

And all of this was thanks to Lord Su Nan.

“I wonder where Lord Su Nan is now?”

Jodun patted the long sword at his waist and grinned, saying,
“If Lord Su Nan were here, we wouldn’t need to defend the city. We’d just charge out and wipe out those bastards!”

The surrounding knights all nodded in agreement.

Even the always calm Bured was no exception.

For others, even if a peak Grand Knight were to come, they wouldn’t believe one person could influence the outcome of a five to six thousand-strong war.

But Su Nan was different.

They had all witnessed the mysterious and unfathomable methods of a wizard, and thus possessed extremely strong confidence.

If it were him, perhaps a miracle that would leave everyone stupefied could truly occur!

Not staying too long, after observing on the city wall for a while, Ke Yi turned and left.

The preparations before a battle were exceedingly cumbersome, with much waiting to be arranged by him.

The next day.

Just after dawn, a melodious and deep horn sounded from outside the city.

Ke Yi, along with the generals, climbed the city wall and looked into the distance to see a massive army assembling.

It wasn’t long before thousands of soldiers began pushing siege equipment towards the city wall.

“They’re really impatient.”

A cold glint flashed in Ke Yi’s eyes. He raised his hand and shouted in a deep voice:
“Prepare to fight!”

“Yes, my lord!”

The generals responded in unison, then turned and loudly instructed the soldiers to get ready for battle.

The city’s defense forces quickly sprang into action.