Chapter 28: The War of Defeat

  The fox demon finally has a holiday today, and in high spirits, prepares to update two chapters.

  As the Dexter Empire advanced deeper into the Mosan battlefield, the upper echelons of Wighton believed that the best opportunity for a counterattack had arrived, as could be seen from the letter sent by Liveman. In order to mobilize large quantities of grain and supplies, Liveman was now busy day and night without time to sleep, and in his letter he entrusted me to take good care of his wife and daughter, a request that I would naturally fulfill. And so, I smoothly welcomed Freya and her mother into my villa, where they lived a life of luxury every day.

  In April, the massive army gathered at the border formally entered the Empire of Dekster under the leadership of Kent VII, who personally led the expedition, marking the beginning of war between the two strongest nations on the continent once again.

  This time, the Wieden Kingdom invested a total of five legions, plus the private soldiers and mercenaries of the nobles, totaling two million troops. Faced with such a strong military force, the Dekster Empire unexpectedly did not put up any resistance, allowing the kingdom's army to penetrate deep into the empire's territory. However, they seemed to have been prepared in advance, and the villages and towns along the way had already been evacuated, leaving the kingdom's army occupying only uninhabited areas, while the entire army was drawn into the vast and boundless territory of the Dekster Empire.

  Various signs indicated that the Dexter Empire was setting a large trap, but Kent VII, who was eager for revenge, ignored the advice of his staff and insisted that the Dexter Empire had no power to resist. In this way, the kingdom's army went deeper into the Dexter Empire.

  At last, the armies of the Kingdom and the Empire of Dexter encountered each other. Although they were just small units, it was a relief for the suspicious generals. Just as they thought they would soon meet the main force of the Empire of Dexter, a piece of bad news came from behind - the supply line of the Kingdom's army had been attacked, and countless military supplies had been burned to ashes. Suddenly, the morale of the entire Kingdom's army plummeted, and the troops fell into a panic on the verge of running out of food.

  Later, although the Wangguo Army strengthened its transportation line defenses, it was still difficult to prevent those ghostly surprise attack troops, and only reduced losses somewhat, barely maintaining the Wangguo Army's supplies.

  Even Kent VII had sensed the situation was not right and wanted to retreat to the rear to regroup. At this time, an envoy from the Empire of Dexter arrived at the Kingdom's army, bringing with him a declaration of war from Emperor Wusawi the Great of Dexter, as well as the head of Prince William, son of Kent VII, which had been treated with quicklime. The grief-stricken and enraged Kent VII chopped the envoy into mincemeat and immediately ordered his entire army to advance quickly.

  Finally, nearly a thousand kilometers into the Dexter Empire, the Kingdom's army encountered the main force of Dexter, who were waiting in formation. As the Kingdom's army crested a hill, the steel legion that filled the entire plain appeared before their eyes, and the stern military might pressed down on the Kingdom's army, leaving them breathless due to the empire's all-out attack that had left them on the brink of starvation.

  After all, Kent VII was not a fool, so he ordered the troops to deploy quickly and set up fortifications on the front line to prevent the Imperial Army's surprise attack. However, the commander of the opposing side let them act freely, which made the Kingdom army breathe a sigh of relief.

  The Kingdom Army, which had expanded its forces, began fighting against the Dexter Empire with a formation that was not inferior to its opponent.

  As the battle began, the kingdom's army deployed its most powerful heavy cavalry corps, with tens of thousands of hooves galloping on this land at the same time. Even standing far away, one could feel the clear tremors coming from beneath the ground. Kent VII and his generals looked expectantly at those brave knights, hoping they could break through the enemy's formation and create a breakthrough for their own side.

  At this moment, the front row of Imperial Army retreated and exposed the strongest cavalry on the continent hidden within their formation - Dragon Knights.

  Dragon, the strongest creature on the mainland. It is unknown when this powerful and ferocious monster appeared on the Tartar continent, constantly threatening human life. Until humans gathered their strength, they gradually drove out this monster from human settlements. Slowly, some people began to live with dragons, and it is said that they gradually possessed dragon blood in their bodies.

  After a long period of time, the strongest military force on the continent - Dragon Knights was born. With the help of Dragon Knights, the first emperor Dekster quickly unified the surrounding areas and established a powerful nation - Dekster Empire. However, although the Dragon Knights were strong, the reproductive ability of the dragons was very low, so even at their peak, there were no more than 4,000 Dragon Knights, which is why the Dekster Empire did not conquer the entire continent, which can be considered fortunate for other nations.

  This time in the battle, Emperor Yuesawi sent out two thousand dragon riders under his command to participate in the fight, and the heavy cavalry of the kingdom was about to face these terrifying warriors.

  "ROAR~~~~!!" The earth dragon let out a massive roar under the knight's powerful pull, and the roars of the two thousand earth dragons actually suppressed the thunderous galloping sounds of the tens of thousands of cavalrymen. The mounts of those cavalrymen were frightened one after another, and suddenly, it was a scene of people and horses toppling over, the entire charging formation thrown into chaos.

  Taking advantage of the cavalry's uncontrolled horses, the dragon knights began to charge, and the giant feet of the earth dragon continuously shook the ground, trampling out deep prints on the ground. The distance between the two armies quickly narrowed.

  Eight hundred meters, six hundred meters, four hundred meters, the dragon's huge mouth full of sharp teeth was now clearly visible, the cavalrymen's mounts became even more frantic, they struggled to control their warhorses, laboriously raising their long spears in an attempt to withstand the dragon knights' charge.

  The dragon cavalry was indeed the strongest on the continent, and the surging wave of angry dragons instantly tore through the heavy cavalry's formation like cutting tofu. The three-meter-long dragon spear was splattered with the knights' blood, and their heavy armor was torn apart like thin paper. Those lucky enough to avoid the dragon spear found that their long spears couldn't even reach their opponents on the towering dragons, only to see a mouth full of sharp teeth biting down on them.

  The ferocity of the dragon riders lies in the fact that both the rider and the mount can attack simultaneously. Even if the opponent manages to dodge the dragon spear, the earth dragon's incredibly powerful bite is the real killer move. Furthermore, the earth dragon's thick scaly skin is extremely difficult to wound, and the dragon rider wears thick armor while sitting on the three-meter-high back of the dragon, making them virtually invulnerable to threats.

  At this time, the situation had completely spiralled out of control. The tens of thousands of heavy cavalry were actually routed by the 2,000 dragon knights, causing them to flee in disarray. This made the high-ranking officials of the Kingdom's army turn pale with shock. Kent VII saw that the battle was going badly and hastily sounded the retreat, allowing the battered heavy cavalry to fall back. In just a brief moment of contact, tens of thousands of people had already died at the hands of the dragon knights, causing the already low morale of the Kingdom's army to sink even lower.

  The dragon knights, after flaunting their prowess on the battlefield for a while, also retreated back to the imperial army's camp. For a moment, the battlefield once again fell into brief silence, but both sides knew that the cruel battle had only just begun.

  The Imperial Army launched the first attack. On the left wing of the Imperial Army, 10,000 heavy cavalrymen were ready, wearing extremely strong armor, even their war horses wore thick armor, and with a single order, they charged forward.

  The heavy cavalry quickly reached the range of the kingdom's army, and the archers desperately shot arrows into the air. After a series of parabolic trajectories, the sharp arrows landed on the shields and armor of the heavy cavalry, producing a metallic frictional collision sound. The arrow that was originally a deadly weapon had a very limited effect this time, with only a few unlucky ones being shot in the helmet or warhorse being killed falling to the ground, while the other cavalrymen were getting closer and closer to the battlefield.

  The bows and arrows have lost their effect, the commander immediately let the archers retreat, and the long spear soldiers who are specialized in dealing with cavalry came forward. They inserted the thick and long iron spears into the ground, forming a thorny array.

  The cavalry moved swiftly, and in the blink of an eye they were less than a hundred meters away from the right wing of the kingdom's army. They took out the javelins in their hands and threw them out fiercely with the momentum of the war horses. Suddenly, a dark cloud enveloped the group of long spear soldiers, the sound of sharp blades entering flesh, the painful cries of the warriors, accompanied by the scent of blood spreading everywhere.

  The thin armor of the long spear soldiers was unable to withstand the hail of javelins, and it was not uncommon for soldiers to be pierced by a javelin and still stand in place, nailed to the ground. As the casualties among the long spear soldiers mounted, gaps began to appear in their originally impenetrable formation, like a porcupine's quills, and the heavily armored cavalry poured in through these openings, cutting down anyone in their path.

  The commander of the Kingdom's army was well aware of the consequences once the formation was breached, and desperately mobilized soldiers to block the Imperial Army's impact. The battlefield was filled with the sound of chopping and killing, with infantry soldiers being knocked flying by galloping warhorses, or cavalrymen on horseback being stabbed down from their mounts by long spears and then chopped into minced meat.

  This body of 10,000 cavalry inflicted great losses on the right wing of the kingdom's army, but their advance was eventually forced to stop because they encountered the most powerful opponent - the heavy infantry. This is Wieden's strongest infantry, and every soldier in the heavy infantry is a strong warrior selected from the best, wearing exceptionally thick heavy armor, holding huge iron cavalry sabers in his hand, and each one can single-handedly deal with a cavalryman. However, the only drawback is that they move too slowly and can only be used as defensive troops.

  The cavalrymen crashed into the iron wall made of steel, and their already slowed-down impact force could not knock down the heavy armored infantry. The long spears that stabbed out could not penetrate the thick armor of several centimeters, but were instead cut down to the ground with a single sword along with the horses. In front of this steel wall, the cavalrymen shed a lot of blood, and after countless men and horses died or were injured, they finally broke through the armored infantry's defense line, killed their way out of the encirclement, and returned to the imperial army's camp.

  The commanders of the Kingdom Army looked at the huge damage caused by the cavalry with dismay. The right wing of the Kingdom Army had already been emptied, and the ground was filled with dead and wounded soldiers, which was only a attack by the enemy's 10,000 cavalry. Some of the Kingdom Army's men were frightened and quickly began to set up abatis and trenches on the battlefield, making a desperate defense posture. Fortunately, the enemy's previous attack was just a probing attack, and the Dekster Empire Army did not take advantage of this gap to launch another attack, which made the Kingdom Army breathe a sigh of relief.

  The night passed quickly, and the Imperial Army did not launch a surprise attack under cover of darkness. The soldiers of the Kingdom's army, who had been on high alert, relaxed their tense nerves a little, but an even greater blow was about to come. At dawn, when the sky had just begun to brighten, the Kingdom's army suddenly discovered that they were surrounded on all sides, and a wave of panic spread rapidly among the soldiers, especially since they had already eaten all their food the night before and could not hold out for long in their current state of being besieged.

  In the following days, Wang Guojun tried to break through the encirclement, but was repeatedly repelled, and the soldiers' bodies and wills were increasingly weakened.

  Finally, some spoiled and pampered aristocratic sons could not withstand this situation of being surrounded on all sides with food cut off, ignoring the commander's dissuasion, leading their private soldiers to flee wildly along the way they came. As a small number of people fled, the morale of the army also dispersed immediately. First, other weak aristocrats also took their private soldiers to escape in all directions, and then developed into large groups of soldiers scrambling to disperse, and the entire kingdom's army collapsed at once.

  The army of the Empire launched a comprehensive attack at this time, and the Witten soldiers who had no intention of fighting and only thought of escaping were killed from behind without any effort, and the battle became a massacre.

  Kent VII broke through the enemy's ambush with the strongest Holy Sword Knights under his command, barely escaping with his life. He then fled continuously under the enemy's pursuit and interception. To cover him, the original 10,000-strong Holy Sword Knights, composed of the most elite cavalry, were reduced to only 2,000 men.

  It was also fortunate for Kent VII that he encountered reinforcements during his escape - a legion of 150,000 soldiers led by the Duke of Naples and composed of several major generals from within the country.

  The Duke of Naples was a tactician, he set an ambush on the Malta River within the Dexter Empire and killed all 20,000 pursuing soldiers in the river, intimidating the pursuing soldiers behind who dared not to come forward for a while. Then he escorted the king back to Weldon slowly.

  This battle, the Wieden Kingdom suffered a disastrous defeat, with only 600,000 to 700,000 of its 2 million troops returning. A large number of nobles were captured by the enemy, and the kingdom had to pay a huge ransom to get them back. Kent VII fell ill upon his return due to the failure of this war, and the management of the kingdom was handed over to his ministers. For a time, the Wieden Kingdom was filled with a decadent atmosphere of defeat.