Unknown Knight

Chapter 397: Psychological Warfare

Although the past day and night had been very tiring, Aix still decided to have the army rush to the city of Tiha as soon as possible. Even a quarter of an hour late would be disrespectful to the enemy.

The entire army was united in their hatred of the enemy. Everyone was irritated by the insidious Eden. From breaking camp to marching, everything was done extremely quickly. The army arrived outside the city of Tihar in the afternoon.

The site of the camp is still the same as the last time they camped. It is located to the west of Tiha City. There is sufficient water nearby and it is also close to the forest, which makes it convenient for the army to obtain firewood. The key is that it is close to the side of Helusburg, so that they can rely on their brother-in-law Borbayar and get various supplies continuously by water.

When Aix's army arrived at the garrison, the camp had already taken shape. His brother-in-law Borba came here in advance with three hundred soldiers and five hundred farmers to help build the camp.

This was what Aix informed Borba in advance. He was afraid that Eden would do something weird again, so he wrote to Borba in advance, asking him to help build the camp so that Aix could join the battle as soon as possible.

As soon as the army arrived at the camp, Aix ordered Fatis to lead the cavalry to blockade the city of Tiha. This time he led more than 800 cavalry, including more than 300 heavy cavalry and more than 500 light cavalry. These cavalry alone were enough to blockade the city of Tiha.

The fleet transporting food, fodder and equipment had arrived a day earlier. All the supplies on the ship had been unloaded at the dock of Reitz Port and were being transported here from Reitz Port.

Before the arrival of the army, the commander of the fleet, Viscount Mathilde, took the time to dispatch more than 20 warships to attack, burning the port of Tiha and all kinds of ships anchored in the port, and blockading Tiha from the sea.

With a camp of a certain scale, the army settled down smoothly. Aix made another inspection out of concern, but did not find any major problems. Then Aix had dinner with his brother-in-law Borba and his subordinates. After dinner, Aix went to bed early.

Aix slept very soundly and was not awakened until noon by Sophia. At this moment, the camp was ready and the soldiers were waiting for him to give the order to attack after having breakfast.

After a night of preparation, the siege equipment shipped from the sea has been assembled and debugged. There are a total of thirty catapults, ten siege towers and three ramming rams used for the siege.

According to the original plan, the attack should have been launched immediately. The steps were to first use catapults to fire flaming oil and stone bombs to wash the ground, then attack the city tower, and finally use array infantry to push forward until the entire city was taken. This method of fighting may seem rigid, but it is safe. According to the deduction based on the intelligence previously obtained, there will be no problem in winning.

However, at the last moment, Aix completely denied the previous battle plan. The reason was that the enemy's attack and assassination the night before made Aix feel frightened. He always felt that the old man Eden had a backup plan, and it seemed that the enemy's willingness to resist was still very strong. You know, there are still at least five or six thousand Nords and more than three thousand Calradia serfs in the city of Tiha.

The more than three thousand Calradia serfs are fine, but these five or six thousand Nords are difficult to deal with. You have to know that the Nords are all warmongers, and women can fight with axes. Once these five or six thousand Nords are determined to resist to the death, the attack of Aix will be able to achieve the final victory, and the army will definitely suffer heavy casualties.

Besides, there are still many Nord immigrants in the Territory of Aix. There are hundreds of Nord soldiers participating in the war in this army, and there are also 300 Nord soldiers who came to support from my brother-in-law. If a large-scale bloody conflict really occurs with ordinary Nords in the city, it will inevitably hurt the hearts of the Nord subjects in his territory and the Nord friendly forces who come to support him.

So Aix decided to cancel the original plan of pushing forward, which was too costly and not cost-effective. He decided to attack the hearts and minds of the people instead and find a way to divide and disintegrate the Nords in the city first.

However, since so many siege engines had been assembled, they could not just be left there for show, as that would be a huge waste, so he ordered the entire army to line up outside the city of Tiha, and the dozens of siege engines were also pushed out and lined up in the formation.

It's true that this formation was terrifying. The army seemed like a giant beast that could devour everything in its way at any time. The entire city of Tiha was frightened and silent. The originally messy city walls immediately became silent. No one dared to speak loudly. It seemed that everyone was afraid that they would attract the enemy by accident and then be ruthlessly attacked immediately.

Seeing the full effect, Aix was very satisfied. He waved his hand to signal to launch an attack. After receiving the order, thirty catapults fired a salvo. Thirty incendiary oil tankers like meteors flew into the city with black smoke. Then a large fire broke out in the city. There was crying and shouting, and the crying was filled with despair and misery, which made the Nord soldiers outside the city look sad.

Seeing the good effect, Axe coldly ordered to continue the attack, but to reduce the intensity and maintain it uninterrupted. He wanted to let everyone who provoked him know that there would be a terrible price to pay for provoking him.

The rest of the troops just need to stay put and maintain their formation to prevent the enemy from getting desperate and venturing out of the city to destroy the siege equipment.

After the catapults attacked for a whole morning, half of the city of Tiha was burned down. Aix then ordered the catapults to stop attacking, and the army rested on the spot, cooked some food, and waited for the next move after they were full and drunk.

The army had eaten and rested well, and it was already afternoon. Aix ordered his men to launch a dozen small wooden barrels that had been prepared in the morning into the city. The barrels contained urgently written letters of surrender, which were thrown into the city and broke into pieces and flew everywhere.

The content of the letter of surrender was nothing more than telling the Nords in the city that this time X was not targeting anyone else, but only to avenge his personal grudge with Iden. As long as the city handed over Iden, or chose to surrender when the army attacked the city, X swore in the name of Odin that he would never kill innocent people and leave a way for the Nords in the city to live. Otherwise, he would not mind attacking the city and killing them.

The reason why he didn't directly persuade them to surrender was because Aix, as the son-in-law of the Nords, knew the temperament of the Nords. They all came from a bitter and cold land. The cruel natural environment made them develop a character of bullying the weak. In their hearts, they only recognize the strong and believe that "the strong is just" as the truth. If he didn't show his strength to them, directly persuading them to surrender would instead cause them to despise him.

And like people from other places, the Nords also like revenge dramas, especially the kind of revenge in which a small person wins the big with a small one, or the weak defeats the strong, which resonates most with the Nords.

Many people in Tiha city knew about the feud between Aix and Eden. It was Eden who did the evil first and wanted to kill Aix. Many people despised his behavior. Now that Aix has risen and become powerful, it is only natural for him to come for revenge.

Previously, Eden spread rumors in the city, saying that Aix was determined to exterminate all the people in Tiha City, and everyone was instigated to take up arms. Now, Aix has the ability to burn down the entire Tiha City, but has promised to give everyone a way out. Who would still be willing to get involved in the personal feud between the two families? Does he think his life is too long?