NOVEL NEXT Chapter 13: War
With Owen's order, Josef fired all corrupt officials and started preparing for the war.
They called up the army and guards from all the cities controlled by the Royal Faction.
The Duke of Robels also sent many troops.
But his troops were used for defense, not offense.
After investigating Scarlet, it was discovered that she hired assassins to kill Luther.
She was prosecuted and sentenced to prison.
However, when Alistair died, the situation got very messy, so Owen decided to make a deal with Franklin, the new Duke of Robels, the son of Scarlet, that her mother would be released if they assisted in the war effort.
Because the Duke of Robels was also from the Royal Faction, they agreed to put aside the past and dedicate their combined efforts to suppressing the nobles' rebellion.
Troops that the Duke of Robels provided were stationed in various cities of the Robels faction as a defensive force.
The Mata City, with over 5 million residents, was left with only 20,000 guards.
Owen was okay with this, as he was an official mage who could defeat a big army alone.
He cannot attack without the permission of the Blue Light Academy, but he can defend in emergencies.
He appointed Tristan Farrell as the army's commander and sent 300,000 troops, 2,500 knights, 300 great knights, and 10 legendary knights.
The vast number of knights was because of success in the knight academy.
Only 3 months after Owen ordered preparation for the war, everything got ready, and they marched toward the east, where Nobles's land mainly was.
Unfortunately for Owen, the 3 months were enough for Nobles to unite and form an army.
...
In a camp with magical lamps fueled by magic crystals, 3 old men are sitting.
These 3 are equals and can only make decisions if they are unanimous.
They are 3 dukes of the Nobles Faction.
One is Duke Ross, whose territory is mainly in the east.
He is a man with no facial hair and with gray eyes.
He touched his chin and said, "We can't be passive. Let's send 30,000 troops to Hensley City. This way, they must split part of their army for defense."
Duke Buck, a man with black skin and deep green eyes, said, "I agree! If we fight them head-on, our chances decrease a lot. They have many more knights than us."
The Nobles Faction gathered 500,000 troops, 1300 knights, 200 great knights, and 7 legendary knights.
It was a coalition of 3 dukes, 23 counts, 85 viscounts, and 258 barons.
This was most of their might.
They still had troops in their territories.
After all, they still have to guard against each other.
Duke Kemp, a man with a pure white beard, said: "How about we just defend? Attacking needlessly increases our casualties. What if they just ignored our offense and continued their advancement? In that case, our main army might be defeated, and even if we take Hensley City, it's useless if the main army loses."
Duke Buck said," The current king is too soft. He will never let his people get massacred!"
Duke Kemp said, "What do you mean? Are you planning to kill ordinary people in Hensley?"
Duke Buck said, "Desperate times require desperate measures. We will lose if we play by the rules. I'm all ears if you have any other solution."
Duke Kemp went silent.
Duke Ross asked, "Are we unanimous?" and then looked at Duke Kemp.
Duke Kemp reluctantly nodded his head.
...
Nobles' army sent 30,000 troops, 50 knights, and 5 great knights to Hensley City.
They slaughtered a few villages on their way to warn that no one would survive if they took the city.
The Royal Faction had 5,000 troops, 10 knights, and 1 great knight in the city.
The Nobles Faction's army quickly surrendered the city and blocked all roads.
They also set traps on all of the roads.
Any invading army would have a hard time breaking through the encirclement.
Owen understood that they were trying to split his troops.
Still, he couldn't let hundreds of thousands of people in the city suffer and die.
He sent a legendary knight along with 10 great knights, 100 knights, and 20000 troops split from the main army to Hensley city to break the encirclement.
At the same time, the main army reached the Noel castle.
Noel Castle was part of Duke Kemp's territory, which controlled the main road that connected the west side and east sides of the kingdom.
If the Royal Faction takes Noel Castle, they could quickly attack all other territories.
However, attacking other Nobles's territory would be difficult if they couldn't take it.
...
Outside of the Noel castle, Tristan set up camp.
He can't encircle this castle, as the main army of the Nobles Faction has massively fortified the land around it.
However, he plans to refrain from attacking it head-on.
Noel Castle has thick and tall walls, and they would receive terrible casualties if they attacked without a plan.
Instead, he planned to force the Nobles to come out and fight.
The Royal Faction has brought giant catapults that can throw stones and fireballs directly inside the city.
Tristan plans to throw so many rocks and fireballs in the city that they come and fight outside.
There are many ordinary people in the castle. However, Tristan decides to attack anyway.
It's impossible to both win the war and avoid casualties.
The Royal Faction started using catapults to the maximum extent possible.
The Nobles Faction tried to destroy the equipment a few times, but Tristan expected it, so their attempts failed.
After 5 days and colossal damage to the Noel castle, the Nobles's army finally decided to attack and fight the Royal Faction directly.
...
The two armies were facing each other.
The Royal Faction had 270 troops, 2400 knights, 290 great knights, and 9 legendary knights.
The Nobles Faction had 450000 troops, 1230 knights, 190 great knights, and 7 legendary knights.
War drums sounded, and both sides attacked!
The Royal Faction had many more knights. However, the nobles had much more troops.
In these large-scale wars, personal strength wouldn't be felt as much.
However, in the end, after eight hours, the Royal Faction still won the first battle.
The Nobles Faction retreated back to Noel Castle after suffering enormous casualties.
The Royal Faction's army again started to attack the castle with catapults.
The Nobles, who were frustrated, abandoned the castle and retreated.
The Royal Faction's army took over the city.
After this battle, they earned the ability to quickly attack the Nobles Faction's cities with relative ease.
...
Tristan was meeting with his generals, who were all very happy and sad.
They were happy because they had taken over a significant location and sad about losing many comrades.
Tristan said, "Are the dead buried properly?"
There were more than 100,000 dead after this battle.
Trying to distinguish the Royal Faction's soldiers and the Nobles Faction's soldiers was impossible.
As a result, they just gathered and dumped all corpses in mass graves.
Only some famous knights and great knights were returned to their families to be buried.
Jake, a great knight responsible for this, said, "Yes, my lord."
Leroy, a legendary knight who was second to Tristan, said, "I think we should attack Duke Ross's territory first."
Ivan, another legendary knight with only one left arm, said," It's true. Duke Ross is the defacto leader of the Nobles's army. Most of the minor Nobles are on his side. If he loses, they might surrender."
Tristan nodded his head and asked everyone for comment.
Unexpectedly, nobody among the 15 people present objected.
Duke Ross is not very popular in this group.
Tristan thought and said," I agree, too. Duke Ross's capital city is closest to here, and we can reach there quickly. However, there is one huge problem. If we leave this castle, they may try to take it back, then we would be in trouble."
Larry, another legendary knight, said, "Lord, we should destroy this castle before leaving."
Everyone nodded.
They cannot risk losing this castle and losing their way back.
Tristan sighed and ordered the castle, with everything within it destroyed.
Many people will become homeless, but there is no other choice.
The army destroyed the Noel castle and marched toward Ross City.
...
The Nobles Faction noticed the Royal Faction target and quickly gathered in Ross City.
However, because of the high speed of the Royal Faction's army, they didn't manage to make a lot of preparations.
The Royal Faction reached Ross City and tried to use the same tactic again.
The Royal Faction's army was always ready to fight; for this reason, they had a tremendous amount of war equipment.
This gave the Nobles's army a headache!
They had no way of countering the catapults, and the longer they stayed, the greater the destruction would be.
Even the thick walls may fall if you hit them so many times.
They tried to cut off the Royal Faction's supply lives, but Tristan, who was very smart, predicted that move and put a lot of knights in crucial positions.
The Nobles Faction destroyed some food cargoes, but with the vast food reserves of the Royal Faction, More was sent to compensate for it.
At the same time, the catapults were destroying the ross city.
The Royal Faction's catapults were much stronger than normal ones.
They had smaller projectiles but could attack from further away.
They continued attacking until the nobles's army lost patience and decided to confront the Royal Faction directly again.
This time, the Nobles had only 300000 troops, 700 knights, 170 great knights, and 7 legendary knights.
The Royal Faction had 230000 troops, 1800 knights, 250 great knights, and 9 legendary knights.
The battle began, and after an entire day and night of fighting, the Royal Faction won, and the Nobles retreated.
Ross City fell, and Duke Ross fled!
A few days later, the nobles decided to surrender with preconditions.
Their precondition was the return of the lost territory and immunity from being held responsible in exchange for returning to the Robels kingdom and agreeing to comply with court orders.
Owen didn't agree to this, and with further negotiations, it was decided that the lost territory of Nobles would be annexed by the Royal Faction.
Every Noble would receive immunity from being held responsible.
However, the taxes would be doubled for the next 10 years.
The nobles would be limited in the number of troops they could train, and they would send talented individuals for knight training each year to the Royal Faction.
They must unconditionally obey the king's and the court's orders.
The Nobles agreed to this because their army was defeated, and if they continued fighting, it wouldn't be only their troops who die.
Owen also agreed for a few reasons.
First, the Nobles had many more troops in their own territories.
If he pressured them too much and threatened their lives, they would conscript ordinary people, leading to huge slaughters.
Second, every city involved in the war gets leveled to the ground and destroyed.
It would be useless for him to take over destroyed cities.
Not to mention innocent people losing their homes and, worse, their lives.
The last reason is that the kingdom's supplies are emptying.
If the war takes too long, it might lead to food shortages in the following years.
As for Hensley Ciry, the people there starved for many days.
Many people died of hunger, but the encirclement was broken, and the worst was avoided.
With both sides agreeing, the war ended, and peace returned.
Not a single Nobel title holder or legendary knight died during the war!
The only casualties were ordinary people and regular soldiers!