Chapter 596. Peerless! (2) (1/2)
If that truly happened, it would undoubtedly be a major step in the process of the revival of his homeland. The entire Heavenly Bow Empire lands would be relatively open to him as the Kalise Empire’s forces would be greatly reduced. It could be said that in just this short period of time, Zhou Weiqing would be expending all his efforts to recover at least half of his empire’s original lands. This would definitely be a great advantage to him… if he could succeed and survive.
As such, to Zhou Weiqing, and to the Heavenly Bow Empire, this was probably the most important battle for a long time to come. Once they succeeded, even if the Kalise Empire sent more troops, they would likely have to shrink back into the area around the Heavenly Bow City and have a standoff with Zhou Weiqing.
Towards this, Zhou Weiqing was already very clear, having thought through all the various possible scenarios in the past few days. As such, no matter what, he did not choose to retreat and would go all out to hold off the enemy.
In truth, with Zhou Weiqing and his Peerless Regiment forces, if they wanted to escape from the Crescent City, it would be easy for them to breakthrough any encirclement. However, he would never do such a thing. If he escaped, he would lose all credibility and the heart of the populace. In the future, if he wanted to regain the support of the populace, especially that of the Crescent City and the nearby citizens, it would be just too difficult.
Furthermore, there were still five thousand logistic troops in the Crescent City that the Fei Li Empire had sent to them. How could he just abandon them like that? If he really did so, perhaps the alliance with the Fei Li Empire would just be broken like that.
Lastly, if the Kalise Empire side actually took back the Crescent City, they would definitely fortify it and station a large number of troops there. It would be many times the trouble for them to take it back again once all that occurred, and things could possibly be even tougher.
Although Zhou Weiqing was not too experienced at commanding troops, he definitely knew that defending a city was a totally different concept from sieging and invading a city. For the attacking side, if they did not have three times the power as the defense, it would be tough to succeed, and the losses in doing so would definitely be high. Instead, now that they were on the defending side, it would also be a good opportunity to destroy as many enemies as they could. Of course, this chance was also pushing himself onto the barbeque pit to cook, and whether or not he could succeed would depend on his own capabilities.
The enemy grew closer and closer. The Kalise Empire armies were definitely very careful in the attacking process. Besides the siege vehicles and other siege weapons at the front, right behind him at the vanguard of the entire force were all heavy infantry soldiers. Although a large number of them had been slain during their first attempt, they still numbered more than a thousand five hundred. As they marched forward, they held their massive tower shields layered upon one another, slow and steady in formation. At their backs, the Heavy Cavalry soldiers were also arranged in a powerful defensive formation.
With the thickness of those tower shields, even the Peerless Regiment archers and their Consolidated Bows would have a tough time piercing through.
As the enemy advanced to a thousand yard radius, by now Zhou Weiqing was starting to feel the pressure on him increase. They could already see the enemy clearly, and that the trebuchets were filled with stones. Although those weapons could only be useful at the two hundred yard range, but if they truly got into action, then it would be a disaster, especially for the ordinary Heavenly Bow soldiers on the walls.
“Peerless Air Force, prepare yourselves to rise up with me. Ready your javelins!” Zhou Weiqing gritted his teeth and finally made the decision. He could not allow these enemies to reach the foot of the city walls and attack them at will. With the protection of the siege vehicles and other weaponry, it was hard for the Peerless Regiment archers to unleash their true power. Once the actual siege began, the numerical advantage of their enemies was just too great, and there were barely over a thousand men on this side of the wall, how could they possibly take care of every inch easily? He had to take down the heavy armoured troops first, and especially take care of the siege weapons, or at least slow them down greatly. Only then could the Peerless Regiment archers be of greater use in fighting off the enemy.
“Come with me!” As he shouted out loud, the wings behind Zhou Weiqing’s back unfurled. His entire body soared into the air like a cannonball, and he passed the command of the remaining soldiers to Lin TianAo at his side.