298 – The Newton City Falls
The Newton City, inside the city master’s mansion.
Eyes puffy and face haggard, Arseniy, the governor of the Tandoo Province, powerlessly collapsed on a large, soft sofa in the study.
Lately, André had probed the city twice. Each time, by relying on the city wall, he was beaten back by the army led by Arseniy. However, André’s warriors were brave and resourceful in battle, leaving Arseniy greatly shocked.
As the party defending a city, Arseniy should have occupied an extremely advantageous position. But in actual battle, the casualty ratio was 1:3 in favor of André.
If it hadn’t been for Andre’s unwillingness to waste too many of his elites on the Newton City, he might have taken the city by now.
As the city master, Arseniy was under tremendous pressure these days, often waking up in the middle of the night for fear of André forcing his way into the city.
As a strong supporter of the Orthux Family, someone who burned an unknown number of bridges with André, Arseniy didn’t dare to surrender to André. He could only use all his strength to resist Andre’s offensive.
Arseniy massaged his temples, musing continuously: “Things cannot go on like this. I should recruit more troops tomorrow. 50,000, no, 100,000 people!!”
Suddenly, the door was opened, and a tall, 17- or 18-year-old, gorgeous girl with fiery curves walked in with a bowl of chicken soup in her hands.
Arseniy frowned and barked: “Sua, haven’t I ordered not to be disturbed?”
Sua was one of Arseniy’s concubines, his favorite concubine, to boot. He had ordered that apart from military key personnel, no one else was to bother him. Now that he saw Sua, he couldn’t help but feel angry.
Gentle, Sua smiled sweetly, saying: “Master, you haven’t eaten well for days now! I just came to give you a bowl of chicken soup, to make you feel better. I’ll return after leaving you the chicken soup.”
Arseniy looked at Sua’s sweet smile, and his anger slowly ebbed, nodding.
Taking seductive steps, Sua walked toward Arseniy.
“Little minx!” Swallowing, eyes burning with the fire of passion, Arseniy hugged Sua.
Arseniy had just embraced Sua, when her blue irises quickly turned pitch-black, a pair of goat horns sprouted from her head, and bizarre magic runes covered her snow-white face.
“You…” Arseniy was greatly astonished by what he saw, and his eyes flashed with panic. Just as he was about to shout, a sharp claw pierced his chest, then exerted strength and dug out his heart.
Arseniy trembled a few time. Despair glimmering in his eyes, he saw Sua swallow his heart with a smile on her face.
“This human’s heart is indeed difficult to stomach. Sure enough, it’s only the hearts of peak human powerhouses that taste delicious.”
Sua seductively licked Arseniy’s blood on her lily-white hand, revealing a beautiful, dangerous, and alluring smile.
The body of a middle-aged man lay next to a fiend-like beautiful woman, painting a strange, dangerous, and beautiful picture.
With a flick of her wrist, a long sword appeared in her hand. She slashed at Arseniy’s corpse and severed his head, then reached out and collected the rest of his body.
Sua was suddenly covered in faint, black gas, and all the abnormalities about her disappeared and she reverted into a sweet and beautiful girl.
Sua opened the door and said lightly to the guards standing outside: “Sir is tired and needs a good rest. Keep watch, don’t let anyone enter for 2 hours.”
The guards replied respectfully: “Yes!”
Sua swaggered out of the city master’s mansion under the watchful eyes of countless powerhouses.
Once she left the city master’s mansion, Sua disappeared into the darkness.
Soon after, brilliant fireworks rose from the Newton City.
“Attack the city!” When he saw the brilliant fireworks, André transmitted the order at once.
Huge weapons of war began to be operated as siege troops madly attacked the Newton City.
The Newton City, city master’s mansion.
“Is Sir Governor here?!” An official came running toward the study in panic.
A guard stopped the official and said: “Sir Baker, Sir Governor is resting, and nobody is permitted to see him.”
Baker barked: “Get out of the way. André began his offensive. Sir Governor needs to go take charge of the situation.”
The complexion of the guard changed slightly and he immediately stood aside.
Baker pushed open the door to the study, where he saw Arseniy’s head lie on the desk, and he issued an ear-piercing screech: “Sir Governor was murdered! Who, who murdered Sir Governor?!”
The guards outside rushed into the study, and saw the dead Arseniy, a look of horror in their eyes.
The news of Arseniy’s death soon spread throughout the Newton City. When the warriors of the Newton City heard this news, their morale plummeted. Many high-ranking officers chose to surrender to André on the spot. From there, things quickly went downhill.
It wasn’t long before the Newton City fell under André’s control.
Once the Newton City fell, the entire Tandoo Province basically followed suit. Cities that had André’s envoys dispatched to them surrendered at once.
After he took the Newton City, André left behind a division in charge of reorganizing the surrendered troops of the Newton City, and then commanded the army to frantically charge toward the Notice Province.
Along the way, the cities of the Notice Province surrendered at the first opportunity. As soon as André’s army arrived, the gates of those cities would open, and the military and governmental officials would come out to surrender.
The main forces of the Notice Province had already gathered in the Burgas City, and even the local troops were transferred away by Yang Feng.
After André’s army barged into the Notice Province, it slowed down its pace and cautiously advanced toward the Burgas City.
André’s cautious advance gave Yang Feng no chances to mount sneak attacks. At the same time, his reinforcements entered the Notice Province in a steady flow from the rear.
So long as Yang Feng was defeated in the Notice Province, there would be no other force capable of contending with André’s army on the way to the St. Tulan City.
Many forces of the Morrince Empire were now on the sidelines, observing the struggle between the 2 princes, Andre and Garça, having no intention of getting themselves involved in the whirlpool.
If Yang Feng was defeated, André would gain a huge advantage, taking him a few steps closer to the throne of the Morrince Empire.
Faced with André’s steady advancement, Yang Feng just holed himself up in the Burgas City, methodically training his troops as usual, enhancing their battle prowess.
Originally, some feeling of insecurity had pervaded the Burgas City. But when the people witnessed Yang Feng training the troops, their worries eased by a lot.
At the same time, without attracting attention, Andro often escorted mysterious convoys shrouded in heavy curtains into the Burgas City.
All those who tried to get close to the convoys disappeared into the darkness, and even their bodies couldn’t be found.
On the other hand, in the St. Tulan City, a rumor stating that Yang Feng purged the high-ranking officers of the 6 corps in preparations to establish his independence spread like wildfire.
In the imperial study.
Pacing back and forth, eyes twinkling with anxiety, Garça suddenly said: “Bracy, Ian is biding his time in the Burgas City, drilling his troops day and night. Say, are the rumors about him true?”
A look of surprise in his eyes, Bracy responded loudly: “Your Majesty, this is just an attempt of His Highness to drive a wedge between us. Duke Ian would never betray you at this time! You mustn’t change generals amid war. That’s a big taboo!!!”
Garça dismissed that idea, an embarrassing smile on his face: “I know that it’s an attempt to drive a wedge between us on André’s part. But holling himself up in the Burgas City; how can Ian defeat André!”
Bracy replied with a smile: “Your Majesty, although Duke Ian has hundreds of thousands of troops under him, but they come from different places. It’s very difficult to have a perfect command over them. Besides, although the army is great in number, but it isn’t necessarily a match for André’s frontier army in terms of fighting strength. I think that Duke Ian’s response is quite appropriate. As long as he sticks to the Burgas City, we can slowly consume André. With the entire empire behind us, we have unlimited potential.”
Garça officially ascended the throne in the St. Tulan City and was nominally the emperor of the Morrince Empire. Although the various regions of the Morrince Empire watched the battle between the 2 princes unfold from the sideline, but if Garça’s imperial court issued orders, the government organizations of those regions would obey the orders so long as they weren’t irrational
This meant that Garça could get a steady stream of support – money and people – from the Morrince Empire. What he lacked was the time to convert the money and people into fighting strength.
With each passing day, Garça’s position as the emperor was further consolidated. Thus, the longer things were delayed, the better it was for him. This was the advantage of controlling a huge empire.
Far behind the front lines, Garça used the funds in the treasury to form 10 new corps in one go and began training them. It would only take some time to get 200,000 more troops. Of course, the battle prowess of these 200,000 troops would be far below that of seasoned troops.