Chapter 292: The Final Battle - Part 1 (Free from tomorrow, come and check it out)
Chapter 292: The Final Battle - Part 1 (Free from tomorrow, come and check it out)
Through the piecemeal intelligence gathered, the staff officers quickly analyzed what had happened: After Liam and his group had eliminated a significant number of the Dothraki who were heading south, the most powerful Khal, Drogo, became aware of the situation. After all, raiding was the primary source of income for the Dothraki, and they would never allow the Sheeplike People, who were once easy prey, to gain the strength to resist. Therefore, he decided to crush Lazareen's rebellion with a decisive battle.
Khal Drogo used his wedding as a pretext to gather the Khals of various khalasars. After the ceremony, instead of immediately holding the traditional wedding feast, he set out with his newly married wife and his army to launch a surprise attack on Lazareen. At the gates of Pentos, he declared his intention to conquer Lazareen and celebrate his wedding with countless treasures and slaves.
It was clear that the rumors of the wedding were also spread by him. He hoped that Lazareen would let down its guard. Fortunately, Liam did not fall for this trap.
The swift Dothraki cavalry had long been a nightmare for Lazareen. However, after defeating the elite forces of several slave city-states, Lazareen had gained confidence. Everyone knew that a major battle with the Dothraki was inevitable; they just didn't know when it would happen.
When Liam announced that the battle would take place within a week, no soldier felt fear. Many even felt a sense of relief, as they had been preparing for this war for a long time.
The war machine was set in motion. Liam and his staff began to simulate the battle on a sand table, while the soldiers reinforced the temporary earthworks and fortifications around the core defenses, deployed heavy weapons, and set up various obstacles.
Finally, with a rolling cloud of dust in the distance, the Dothraki arrived. This unprecedentedly large army numbered over ninety thousand, and they were the finest cavalry on the continent. Their horsemanship surpassed that of any knight. The light cavalry formed the bulk of their forces, and the warriors wielded curved swords called "arakh", longbows, and whips. However, out of tradition, they did not wear armor, only painted leather vests.
They raided surrounding tribes at will, and even city-states with elite forces and well-fortified defenses had to pay annual tribute to avoid their attacks.
Lazareen's army, in contrast, numbered only sixteen thousand, centered around the modern Iron Gate Fortress, a structure made of reinforced concrete. Surrounding the fortress was a series of World War I-style defensive positions, including trenches, barbed wire, and potato mines. The trenches and fortress were equipped with over four hundred steam machine guns and more than a hundred and fifty small and medium-caliber steam cannons, all strategically placed.
The fortress also received fire support from a dozen steam gunboats in the deep water zone of the nearby river and from over eighty large-caliber steam train cannons on a railway several kilometers south of the river, along with a rapid response force of steam robots.
"Do these cowardly Sheeplike People really think that a low fortress and a shallow moat can stop us? Charge, kill them, and plunder them."
After a brief speech, Drogo commanded the smaller tribes to launch probing attacks from all sides, while he prepared to lead his main force in a concentrated assault once the others found a weak point in the defenses.
"From this moment on, it's either death or victory. Think of the humiliation we have endured for centuries. Any who retreat will be shot as traitors, and no mercy will be shown to cowards. Of course, I will stand at the forefront, and if I take a single step back, you can shoot me dead." In the trenches of the Lazareen army, the priests, with purple roses painted on their steel helmets, brandished their sabers and gave pre-battle speeches.
Soon, the probing cavalry were entangled by the barbed wire, and their arrows struggled to inflict significant damage on the troops inside the fortifications. The Lazareen Forest Army, having concealed the majority of their firepower, began to pick off the slowed-down cavalry with their Windslayer rifles. The battlefield entered a state of deadlock.
However, since the Lazareen Forest Army had not unleashed all their firepower, after nearly an hour of fighting, the cavalry managed to clear several paths leading to the main fort, Fortress, after suffering over five thousand casualties. The Lazareen Forest Army's total casualties, in contrast, did not exceed a hundred. The Dothraki, unaware of this, felt that the gates of victory were now wide open. They believed that once their main force reached the fortifications, these Sheep-like People would be as easy to slaughter as they had been in the past.
With a few deep horn blasts, the Dothraki main force, forty thousand roaring warriors, finally moved. Joining forces with the other cavalry units, they formed a continuous line of charging formations and surged towards Iron Gate Fortress.
What they didn't know was that the cleared paths were actually pre-calculated fire zones. Once the majority of the cavalry entered these zones, Liam issued the order to open full fire.
On the train-mounted artillery on the south bank of the river, a brown-skinned artillery sergeant was silently praying.
"May the Supreme Crystal bless us." After finishing his prayer, he glanced at the family photo stuck by his gun position. It showed his wife and two children. They had been slaves in Yunkai, but belonged to different masters. After Liam's army captured Yunkai, they were freed and finally reunited.
Because he had risked his life to help the Lazareen Forest Army guide the fleeing soldiers to hiding places, he received significant rewards after the war: his wife got a coveted job at the textile mill, and his two children were sent to school. Grateful for these blessings, he decided to join the army to protect their newfound freedom. His ability to read and do basic math made him a valuable asset, and after receiving knowledge from the Supreme Crystal Temple (essentially memory implants wrapped in myth, as those with basic knowledge were better suited for the process), he was assigned as the commander of a cannon.
As he reminisced about the past, a sharp, short whistle pierced the air, and the red lights in the carriage flickered on.
"Fire at area A3." Under his command, the gunner turned the steam valve, and the 155mm Steam Cannon on the carriage erupted with a thick cloud of white steam. A black shadow was launched into the distance, leaving a faint, translucent trail in the air.
In an instant, the tightly packed Dothraki cavalry were hit by a wave of earth and severed limbs, creating bloody gaps in their orderly formation.
Despite the Dothraki cavalry's fierce bravery, the artillery strikes affected their mounts. The horses, unaccustomed to such explosions, became agitated and restless, disrupting the neat lines of the charge.
Another short whistle sounded from the train, and the artillerymen, wearing thick leather gloves, quickly opened the breech. The loader on the other side of the cannon used a water-soaked ramrod to clean and cool the barrel. Then, the loader inserted a new shell into the cannon and closed the breech. Thanks to the memory implant devices, these artillerymen, who had been trained to work in perfect unison, were produced in just six months.
Once the pressure gauge showed the desired steam pressure, the cannon roared again.
(End of Chapter)
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