abcnovels
Chapter 8: A Player’s Way of Taking Down a City
Chapter 8: A Player’s Way of Taking Down a City
Chapter 8: A Player’s Way of Taking Down a City
Upgradable Unit: Grassland Horse Archer
Ranged Damage: 65-75
Melee Damage: 65-75
Armor: 25-45
Defense: 25-35
Speed: 200-300
Morale: Good
Discipline: Average
Sustenance: 15-20 (Daily)
After days of chopping down enemies, Shu Yichao was finally able to upgrade his Mounted Nomads into Grassland Horse Archers. As long as he was willing to splurge, he could directly recruit the upgraded units instead of slowly grinding with his Mounted Nomads.
“Hu, finally some soldiers I can use. Its damage and defense are so-so, and it would at least pass as decent cannon fodder with 30 armor. It’s just the price… 550 dinars for recruitment, and a maintenance cost of 250 dinars every week?”
Shu Yichao quickly crunched out the numbers.
“I’ll upgrade it next week and put the thousands of dinars I save from that into recruiting Grassland Horse Archers. With that, I can expand my army to 200 troops. That’s enough for me to launch a frontal raid on the city.”
200 against 1000; Shu Yichao thought that he was already showing the Ottomains a lot of respect, but his respect was not reciprocated.
“Where did these people appear from?”
While Shu Yichao was waiting for the week to be over, he noticed many beggars wearing tattered clothes and wielding all sorts of scrap metal tools suddenly appearing in the vicinity. They were holding onto all kinds of flags, suggesting that they were an army of some sort.
And there was a familiar face among them.
“Khitan Baturu.” Madam Marti brought a bunch of people up to Shu Yichao and respectfully bowed. “I have accomplished what you asked of me.”
She had been using the Ink Sea Chief Inspector’s twin sisters as bait to contact Romain refugees, indigenous populations that had been enslaved due to the Ottomain’s invasion, youths who had their homes burned down, pastors who had been harmed…
In the end, she concluded that the Ottomains had no conscience.
Within days, around 4000 people actually answered her rally and gathered together to topple the Ottomains. Admittedly, it was a stretch to call these people soldiers, but it was an imposing group nevertheless.
A few people in the group looked at Shu Yichao with warm eyes. They had personally witnessed how arrogantly he had stomped Sochia’s sentry towers in the past few days.
Having such a ferocious general in the era of cold weapons was a massive morale booster.
“You merchants have good eyes!” Shu Yichao leaped onto their carriage and looked down at Madam Marti from above. “You know when to bring more workers over.”
Indeed, he thought that these people were coolies. People who can’t even afford proper clothing can’t be soldiers, right?
“You’ll have a huge bunch of spoils of war to purchase after tonight—bloody hell! You people stop it right there! Do you have no sense of propriety?”
A language barrier stood between both sides, but there was one thing that Shu Yichao’s nomad subordinates recognized—alcohol.
There was more of them than alcohol there was to be drunk, so without any hesitation, they cast aside their camaraderie and began fighting for the alcohol.
After some attempts at trading pleasantries, the atmosphere lightened.
The nomads merrily handed their goods over to Madam Marti, and Madam Marti was more than happy to have Shu Yichao as a big thigh to hug too. The mood was pleasant.
Shu Yichao waited till midnight before tapping on the upgrade option.
“Grassland Bow—40 piercing damage?
“Superior Scimitar—50 hacking damage?
“And there’s a 40 defense chainmail too?”
Having his subordinates being more well-equipped than him didn’t sit well with Shu Yichao. His eyes narrowed in hostility.
The Grassland Horse Archers shivered in fear.
“Pah!”
A pitiful worm was kicked out of the formation. He tumbled all the way up to Shi Yichao. He indignantly turned around and glared at his comrades, but his comrades had faces so straight that they might have a shot at the Oscars.
The hand of greed descended.
“Take it off.”
…
“Stop it! Stop it right there!”
It was barely daybreak when Madam Marti was awakened by a ruckus. She and her subordinate grabbed one of the people who were rushing about and asked, “What happened?!”
That person stuttered for a long time before finally dropping the bomb. “The Khitans are going to siege Sochia.”
“You’re joking, right? There are no escalades or battering rams. How do they intend to siege Sochia?!” Madam Marti was frenzied.
Then, she stiffened up when a thought surfaced in her mind.
“Surely not,” she murmured.
?What did you do, my host??
?I just woke up and noticed you have caught the attention of the Ink Sea Chief Inspector??
System 12345 was baffled.
?Never mind, that’s not important for now.?
?I noticed you have many people with you. Most of the leaders of Sochia seem to be there. Has there been some kind of celebration??
?My host, such celebrations are the perfect chance for you to stand out and earn some brownie points! Go and bedazzle them like the finest jewel in the room—eh?! The Ink Sea Chief Inspector’s attention on you has just deepened.?
?You’re amazing, my host.?
“What is he planning?”
The Ink Sea Chief Inspector rushed up the city wall with a blood-soaked sword in hand. He felt like the Ottomains were slowly losing their footing in Sochia, and the other powers residing in the city were beginning to make their moves.
There was unrest last night, but he quickly swooped in and quelled it before it could build into anything significant.
“I’m not sure.” The captain of his personal army was intrigued too. “None of our scouts have spotted the Khitans’ main army yet. Currently, they only have an army that’s around 200 strong and what appears to be Romain mobs.
“And those Khitans… appear to be moving a boulder? Wait a moment! He is…”
Before everyone’s shocked eyes, Shu Yichao lifted up a massive boulder over two meters wide that was shaped like a whetstone. Then, together with his Grassland Horse Archers, he charged toward the city gate with a roar.
“Fire! Fire! Stop him at all costs!”
Shocked, the Ink Sea Chief Inspector hurriedly ordered his soldiers to stop the Shu Yichao, but his soldiers were trembling so much out of fear that it affected their accuracy. The ballistas they had were also incapable of striking such a fast-moving target.
“Ha! May my thunder shock my enemies’ galls!” Shu Yichao, who was oblivious to the shock he had brought to the spectators, ran up to the city gate and tossed the boulder with all his might.
His target—the city gate!
The crowd was stunned.
The thick wooden city gate shattered with a loud explosion. A chunk of the city wall collapsed too, and the unlucky fellows standing in the vicinity died with a splat.
“What are you waiting for?” Shu Yichao raised his superior scimitar and roared at his men. “Follow me!”
The 200 Grassland Horse Archers charged forth like an arrow piercing toward the heart of the city. The Romains trailing behind them roared in excitement.
How could there be such a way to siege a city?! How could there be such a terrifying warrior in the world?! This is completely unheard of!
With such a warrior leading us, we are unstoppable!
Without waiting for their respective leaders’ orders, they grabbed their spears, bows, daggers, and even pitchforks and wooden sticks—whatever could be used as a weapon—and charged into Sochia.
The siege on Sochia was a success.
The duration of the siege? One minute.
As for the Ink Sea Chief Inspector, who was dressed conspicuously at the frontline…
“Come down here.”
Shu Yichao leaped onto one of his subordinates’ steeds and tossed out a lasso. The lasso wrapped around the chief inspector’s neck, and with a tug, the chief inspector was pulled down from the city wall.
Then, Shu Yichao tied the other end of the rope onto the steed.
“Let’s go!”
He galloped off amidst a cloud of dust.