Although Lind does not interfere with the specific military formations, he is still responsible for the overall strategic direction; otherwise, White would probably have already gone off on his own, charging straight towards the River Valley.
This time is no different. Although White’s Third Army Group directly bypassed the territories in between and headed straight for Copper Mountain Territory, this was actually also Lind’s command; otherwise, White would not dare to act so recklessly on his own.
Although White believes that acting alone is not a big deal, and not to mention that the nobles in the Northern Border have already lost their courage, even if these nobles really cooperate and cut off supplies to trap the Third Army Group, White has plenty of ways to break out.
As White bombards a castle wall in Copper Mountain Territory, several pitch-black cannon barrels suddenly appear from the castle’s parapet.
White finds this a bit familiar—didn’t they just phase out this model in Graywhite Territory? He is very clear about the performance of these firearms. Although they cannot inflict fatal damage on the soldiers of Graywhite Territory, there’s always a chance that some unlucky guy might take a direct hit.
Enchanted armor can withstand the aftershock of an explosion, but taking a cannonball head-on would still result in death, so White ordered those eager soldiers to retreat to just outside the maximum firing range of this type of artillery.
Initially intending to continue the bombardment, White thought it over carefully and decided to show a bit more respect for the opponent by moving back to his own maximum firing range; after all, who knows if the opposing artillery has been magically modified by an Alchemist?
But White clearly overthought it. Copper Mountain Territory had originally planned to surrender, so as for the artillery dispatched by Doug, they hadn’t even used them, let alone modified them.
After draining Doug’s last bit of funding, Jefferson finally provided some defective products and shells to Doug, who quickly distributed this batch of artillery. However, Doug soon discovered an embarrassing situation.
The defensive artillery on his side, even after magical modification, is nowhere near as far-reaching, nor powerful as the artillery being used in the field by the opposing side, and the kind that can launch magic projectiles is even something he hasn’t seen a shadow of.
Doug has already realized he has been played; the opponent is just using already phased-out defective goods to fool him. Jefferson is also conducting shady deals at Lind’s behest, with Doug not receiving a single piece of the promised pie.
However, Doug did not remain angry for long over this matter, as he quickly found his next target to blame. The Anju Kingdom had spent a high price to buy these artillery and the firearms researched by Doug.
In fact, the Anju side even felt they had made a profit and continued to seek purchases of artillery and firearms from Doug, so Doug not only did not expose this but instead acted as a middleman, supporting Jefferson’s shady business with enthusiasm.
The artillery from Copper Mountain Territory was distributed by Doug, taking into account the old aristocracy in this area, but now it seems it would have been better to sell directly to the Anju Kingdom.
At this time, seeing their artillery blasting their own defenders in Copper Mountain Territory while they curse, one of the defenders shouts, “Didn’t we surrender? Didn’t they say Northerners don’t fight Northerners? Why are the armies from Graywhite Territory skipping so many regions to attack us?”
“Because the nobles messed up!”
Another defender answered while lowering his cap to prevent any falling debris from hitting him.
The castle parapet has already begun to shake. That defender peeks out and sees that the army from Graywhite Territory has already blown apart the parapets set up for artillery, and they are now about to charge in to scale the castle.
This was something they had never seen before; the previous armies from Graywhite Territory had always securely blasted down the castle walls before making a move and had never rushed in like this.
“Boss, let’s surrender; how much money does the lord give? What’s the point of playing with our lives?”
One of the defenders shouted from the top of the castle, and the professional on the parapet responded, “Okay, the nobles can’t surrender, but we can. Quickly, go open the gate!”
These nobles were too optimistic, to the point that now most of the territories in Copper Mountain Territory do not even have a proper city defense.
Seeing the gates wide open, the soldiers from the Third Army Group quickly rushed in. Although there are still many private soldiers of the nobles resisting inside the castle walls, they are quickly dealt with by the soldiers, and these are still just ordinary soldiers.
As for those external contracted teams that directly surrendered, White incorporated them, taking all the professionals on their team. After leaving a group of soldiers to defend the castle, he immediately moved on to attack the next city.
The nobles of Copper Mountain Territory have also realized that their flattery has landed somewhere inappropriate; no, it cannot even be described as that; this has long since crossed the line.
But there wasn’t much time left for them to criticize the Ambrose Family, the origin of this foul situation, because the speed of Graywhite Territory’s attack was truly alarming.
Such aggressive tactics had previously been displayed by Graywhite Territory, disregarding supplies, governance, and even considering whether the cities behind them might rebel, simply pursuing the rapid conquest of the entire Copper Mountain Territory.
Even just this morning they broke the city, and the surrounding nobles had just received the news, when the army from Graywhite Territory had already reached the city gates.
Originally, these nobles thought about the vast Copper Mountain Territory; even if it had some decline, it still had many old aristocrats relying on the strength of their families to resist the attack from Graywhite Territory, while simultaneously trying to find reinforcements through their family’s reputation.
However, they did not expect that the so-called old aristocrats could not stop the armies of Graywhite Territory for a single day, and their entire families were dragged out for trial, the speed of which makes Copper Mountain Territory suspect whether Graywhite Territory had been holding back during previous attacks on other territories.
Not long after the war began, many surrounding nobles with a good relationship with Copper Mountain Territory rushed over to rescue them, but the most terrifying thing happened; the Third Army Group from Graywhite Territory indeed did not continue to attack the territories of Copper Mountain Territory but instead dispatched troops to completely eradicate the nests of those incoming rescue teams.
At this time, the surrounding nobles finally understood that this was not just the lord of Graywhite Territory seeking revenge on his wife but using Copper Mountain Territory as an example to intimidate others.
Watching those nobles whose territories were destroyed along with the rescue teams, the surrounding other nobles were all plunged into silence.
No matter how hard Copper Mountain Territory tried to dig up their ancestral connections, the surrounding nobles remained unmoved, as if they had not heard anything.
In fact, some were listening, but the nobles who received the call for help immediately severed their ties, directly starting to deny the approaching army from Graywhite Territory.
“I’m not, I didn’t do it, don’t mislead.”
The marching efficiency of the Third Army Group in this era is like a terrifying story, capable not only of splitting troop strength to attack different locations, but also cutting through along the support routes, and furthermore, its projected range began to expand from the center of Copper Mountain Territory, even beginning to push back.
The entire Copper Mountain Territory set the record for the fastest destruction since the war began.
