Within White Frost Fortress, in the most central castle area, although the atmosphere was not as lively as when the Black Iron City was celebrating, it was still relatively relaxed.
At least most members of the Laurent Family were joking and analyzing the current situation with some laughter.
Although most people were not optimistic about Doug, after the siege began, many relaxed and thought that the Graywhite Territory’s army was nothing special. There are actually many stronghold cities like this in the Northern Border, although most are historical relics, their defensive capabilities are indeed impressive.
Some even claimed confidently that Governor Doug’s territory was larger, and that the current Graywhite army was merely relying on equipment advantage for a swift attack. They believed that if the battle dragged on into a long-term war, Doug could stabilize the opposition thanks to a population advantage and even seemed to analyze seriously that the Northern Border would eventually be divided into two parts, starting from the position of White Frost Fortress.
After all, the Graywhite offensive looked intimidating; they had been attacking for several days and had only just breached the first wall, and after plugging the gap, the opposing side did not dare to advance further.
This created an illusion among the members of the Laurent Family that those nobility who had surrendered were simply too weak and just needed more practice.
However, Pierre, the current head of the Laurent Family, was not so optimistic. These were messages that Pierre had deliberately let out to prevent panic; the truth was that after organizing a surprise attack, he realized something was off with the opposing army.
His soldiers and knights were already equipped with firearms, yet during the battle, the two sides appeared to come from different eras and were not on the same level.
After just a few ambushes, the opposing side had already begun to counter-ambush. Not only did they have superior equipment, but their military command was also quite competent, forcing Pierre to tighten his forces and focus on defense.
The situation turned out to be not as exaggerated as rumored; they could not bombard the walls day and night without interruption.
After breaching the first segment of the wall, their bombardment visibly weakened, which gave Pierre some confidence.
Moreover, what the members of the Laurent Family discussed was not entirely unreasonable. Given the speed of the opposing army’s charge, their supplies might not be able to keep up, and it was fair to say that the opposing position was isolated and deep behind enemy lines.
To put it another way, if the external fortress were breached, the Laurent Family still had confidence in holding the castle and engaging in an intense battle with the opposing side.
The castle’s primary function was military defense, not to mention this fortress-level castle built during the peak of the Lars era. Even the peak Lars army would not dare to claim they could take it down.
Given the circumstances where Doug’s defenses primarily relied on archaeology, White Frost Fortress was already the top defensive stronghold in the Northern Border.
As long as White Frost Fortress could hold out until the surrounding noble lords or the seemingly idle generals of Doug’s army responded—after the chickens finished eating the rice, and the dogs licked the dough, and after the allies finished their decision-making meetings and leisurely came to support White Frost Fortress—then they would be able to thwart the opposing side’s assault and perhaps even establish an administration divided by the White Frost Fortress.
If they could withstand this siege, the Laurent Family would gain even more resources in the future.
Under Pierre’s reassurance, although White Frost Fortress had not directly opened champagne, the fighting spirit of its defenders was at least relatively optimistic.
Especially after hearing about the fate of those purged nobles.
Although the Laurent Family could not be considered utterly heinous, and overall leaned towards conservatism without adopting any spirit of freedom and inclusiveness, it was precisely this conservative direction that made the land-dependent Laurent Family unable to accept the “Noble Reform Ordinance” and the “Land Distribution Act.”
As Pierre planned how to get those allies, who enjoyed holding meetings all day, to arrive more swiftly, a soldier hurriedly approached Pierre and whispered a few words to him. Pierre immediately left the gathering quietly.
Draped in a coat, Pierre climbed up the castle’s watchtower and gazed into the distance.
Seeing the orderly ranks and constantly constructed fortifications in the distance, Pierre took a sharp breath.
“Weren’t the troops attacking us the main force?”
Pierre asked the staff officer beside him.
The staff officer, looking at the distant army, replied with some tremor, “According to reports from the first wall, it seems that the previous troop was just the vanguard. They were perceived as the main force because they attacked so fiercely without encountering significant obstacles.”
“Damn it!”
Pierre slammed his fist on the watchtower’s window ledge, exclaiming, “So those nobles who surrendered were all crushed by the opposing vanguard? Were those nobles utterly useless?”
But Pierre could still understand in his heart. After all, the vanguard had already breached the first wall, but the opposing commander was too cautious and did not rush to storm the city and remained outside.
The vanguard of the opposing army was indeed too exaggerated; a military formed mainly by professionals as a vanguard, was the governor really that extravagant?
However, Pierre quickly calmed down. The opposing side might be using the tactic of paving the way with a few elite professionals. The peak Lars family had employed similar rapid attack strategies before, and cursing those teammates wouldn’t help. The pressing task was to get the support of those allies to arrive more quickly.
“When can our fastest reinforcements arrive?”
With Pierre’s question, the staff officer took out a notebook and, flipping it open, said, “The nearest Copper Hammer Territory, if they have already begun marching, will take about another week.”
“Then it would be around two and a half weeks.”
Pierre sighed and continued to ask, “Have our secret routes of communication been discovered?”
“The opposing command seems to be quite familiar with the structure of the fortress. Several secret routes have been discovered, but they were immediately destroyed by our guards, and no other secret routes have been exposed.”
Hearing this, Pierre finally relaxed a bit.
“Contact those other armies that are looting day in and day out, along with the demon clan armies behind them, and have them hurry over.”
Pierre did not want to contact the Doug army that had almost become bandits, after all, those troops were nearly indistinguishable from bandits, and some took the mountain as their king; Doug’s military identity was only part-time.
But it was precisely because of this that the Graywhite army, constantly taking cities and fortresses, wouldn’t have spare time to clear out these thugs in the forests and hills. Although these bandit armies did not pose much threat to regular forces on normal days, once gathered together, they were still a force not to be easily ignored.
Furthermore, Pierre knew that there were some demon clan armies nearby. Although Doug’s relationship with the demons had begun to become somewhat tense, it did not prevent some demons from secretly entering the Northern Border under the guise of supporting Doug.
However, these demons were not the main forces. They had come to engage in some unsavory activities, such as spreading plagues during the war.
Nonetheless, even so, these demons were already elite troops among their kind.
Pierre despised these demons even more than the Graywhite army, but in his current predicament, he could not afford to care about that.
After everything was arranged, Pierre wearily returned to the gathering.
“What happened, Father?”
Pierre’s youngest daughter, Emily, approached him, wearing a full suit of armor. Emily keenly noticed the fatigue hidden in her father’s eyes.
“Nothing, just some minor issues. I will handle them soon.”
Looking at his little daughter, Pierre temporarily forgot his worries. However, when he glanced at the armor his daughter was wearing, he began to feel concerned again. The armor represented Emily’s determination to coexist with White Frost Fortress, but Pierre could not genuinely wish for his daughter to follow him to a city doomed to fall.
One must always leave a way out for oneself.
