Amidst the sound of the bell, the doors of the City Hall swung open, and not only the elders but also the refugees of the Salvation Army each elected representatives to enter the council chamber.
Horn stood by the window to catch the breeze, but did not sit down immediately. Instead, he asked the seated elders and representatives to first listen to Busak's summary report on Bamanda's confession.
It wasn't until Busak finished speaking that Horn limped to the table and sat down.
"You've all heard Bamanda's confession, let's discuss it." Horn said, tapping the table, his voice deep.
The high-ranking members of the Salvation Army looked at each other, but no one spoke.
If Bamanda wasn't lying, then the news was truly horrifying.
Coming from the Empire's side were not just 3 or 4 decree companies, but all 9 decree companies, along with 5 mercenary corps, totaling 5,500 men, making 8,200 people arriving from the east.
On the eastern side, the Church led 900 Extraordinary Knights, 2,000 peasant soldiers, and 1,800 armed farmers, forming an army of 4,700 marching upstream along the river.
Over a hundred Extraordinary Knights advanced in batches, nearly breaking Horn and others' force of over ten thousand Refugee Army soldiers. If it weren't for the spring guns, those refugee soldiers would have long fled.
If Joan of Arc Castle had walls, it could still be defended, but unfortunately, Joan of Arc Castle had no walls at all.
The Duke's castle couldn't be captured in a short period; if the enemy attacked and the garrison troops inside broke out, what would they do?
"Brother, I'll lead some Child Soldiers to attack once more later." Jeanne said, her eyes bloodshot.
"The moat is impassable."
"Shall we dig up dirt to fill in the moat then?"
"Have you calculated the amount of soil?" an older brother, who was once a construction laborer, cursed, "Three days wouldn't be enough for that."
"Or we could hide in the houses and fight them."
This content was first released on *.
"We can quickly ride to the castle ahead and set up defenses..."
Looking towards the direction of the voice, an elderly man with white hair was seated on a small stool by the door, his arrival unnoticed.
"Who's this old man?" Duvalon immediately stepped out, directing other guards forward, "Throw him out."
Horn stopped the guards; he recognized this person.
Earlier at the bridge, it was he who pulled him away, avoiding the knights' charge; otherwise, he wouldn't have just gotten minor injuries.
"Are you the one who helped me on the bridge earlier?"
"I'm just a passing member of the Secret Faction." The white-haired elder said to Horn, "I already told you my name, I'm Chrispa, Jia Li had previously connected with me."
Only then did everyone realize, was he from the Ruo'an Faction?
"What insights do you have, Master Chrispa?" Madlan asked curiously.
"Do you think that by relying on luck to defeat a few Square Banner Knights and Squire Knights, you can defeat Prince Kongdai's nearly three thousand Extraordinary Knights?"
Using the alias Chrispa, Patrick sat grandly: "Forgive my frankness, even if you take down that castle, you still can't defeat the decree companies, nor even have the ability to resist them."
"We can rely on the castle for defense, and also set up defenses along the way." Madlan responded defiantly.
"You have less than three days, the enemy has twelve thousand regular troops, what kind of defense line do you want to set up?"
Patrick pointed at the densely packed wooden houses outside: "I'm not saying more, what if they set fire to the city? Don't think about fetching water, guess if they'll wait for you by the river."
Jeanne wanted to retort, but recalling the deeds of those knights, she stopped herself.
The Thousand River Valley People, in the eyes of those foreign knights, were nothing more than livestock; what wouldn't they dare do?
"I find it laughable when you say that mortals defeated Extraordinary Knights; two-thirds of the defeated Extraordinary Knights were actually electrocuted by a witch. What is this talk about mortals defeating Extraordinary Knights?
You've managed to muster over ten thousand able-bodied men, now there's a massive toll of casualties; only just over eight thousand are fit for battle, and they're all untrained raw recruits.
You fight in the field, they have Extraordinary Knights; when you fight in the streets, they have battle-hardened infantry; how many alchemical guns do you have? How many people can they shoot at once?
Are you thinking of adopting the beastman's tactic of shooting an arrow and then moving into the forests?
As I said, these refugees under your command are just commoners, untrained, without any organization. The beastmen at least have been hunting from a young age."
The atmosphere, which had slightly eased, grew heavy again, the suffocating pressure weighing on the hearts of these elders and representatives, leaving them struggling for air.
Only Horn looked at the old man with a thoughtful expression.
"We can leave in batches." Madlan suggested, "Even though the main riverway is blocked, Joan of Arc Castle is a water-land transport hub, we can escape in batches via small roads and waterways."
"Ah, right. As long as we break through the water-land checkpoints before the decree companies arrive, wouldn't that solve the problem?"
Amid the discussions, Patrick's cold snort was particularly grating.
"If you run, what about the villagers of Joan of Arc Castle? If they can't catch you, guess who they'll vent their anger on?
Do you know that if it weren't for you, those villagers wouldn't have even entered Prince Kongdai's line of sight; they would have only troubled the city artisans a bit.
What, do you want to put all the castle's villagers, nearly seventy or eighty thousand in the vicinity, onto ships and sail away?"
The entire council chamber fell silent once more, and it wasn't until this moment that they slowly realized they were facing a dead end.