Harngeil was advancing with his army as fast as he could to get to Les before Zorzal arrives.
There was no time to practice scorched earth tactics in the region, any delay could mean the city would fall before they got there, and if that happened they didn't have enough forces to retake the city, so they only took what food and water they could.
Days and nights of marching where they barely rested, a long and tortuous march where the soldiers had to eat on the move. But in the end they reached Les, the city was safe with no signs of the imperial army around.
Seeing his prized capital intact, he quickly ordered all his forces to enter the city and reinforce the stone wall.
Lowering the city gate so that the troops could enter the city that was on top of a plateau, Harngeil breathed a sigh of relief.
Being located on a plateau, and that its the only way to enter was quite narrow, it made it almost impossible to use siege weapons effectively.
It wasn't until three days after the Saderan army arrived at Les that Harngeil stood atop the wall, watching Zorzal's army.
"What is he going to do?..." He wondered seeing how they arrived.
"That's clearly not Zorzal... Although that doesn't really change anything." He said to himself reflecting, if the prince of the empire had not participated in this war, it is most likely that he would have gone with a similar strategy, he was even beginning to think that if this Zorzal had not intervened, everything would have turned out much better.
"But still... He should be able to see that he has no way of taking the city by storm, and he should also know that if he stays to wage a siege then his northern legions will be wiped out and he will become the new target. ... No matter how you look at it, his only way to survive is to retreat."
The young king ordered to be on the defensive, in no way should they go down to fight.
/
Imperial Camp: Les.
"So…another siege of another city?" Volcatts asked, crossing his arms. "It seems like that's all we've done since winter ended."
"It's not my fault." I also said frustrated seeing that I had to take another city. "But the Gali are not interested in starting a conventional battle, they will cling to their cities like a tick."
"I think this will be the most difficult battle of this campaign." Said the werewolf. "How are we going to storm that thing without killing ourselves in the process?"
"This time we're not going to do it, I'm sick of trying to storm cities." I said quietly, but a tone of irritation was noticeable. "That city was not evacuated, in fact that city may have taken the refugees from all those towns and villages that they vacated in their scorched earth tactics."
Pausing my explanation and drinking some water from my saddlebag, then continuing.
"So, there must be at least 100 thousand civilians in that place... Plus those 70 thousand soldiers who just entered... They won't last more than 3 months Until they run out of food, let's return the favor"
"I understand, besieging the city seems the most appropriate but... We don't have enough men to surround an entire city" The volralden leader argued. "How do we make it so they can't sneak food?"
"That's the point, we're not going to besiege them, they're going to besiege us." I answered.
"... What?!" Volcatts was very confused.
Without wasting any more time, I sent for the engineers and builders, they would be the fundamental piece for my plan. Once they arrived I began to explain everything I had in mind.
"Very well, I want you to make 23 fortified redoubts with a 4 meter high wooden palisade connecting them 16 km around the city, also build 23 towers where the ballistae are positioned every 24 meters. Before building the palisade I want you to, In front of where these are going to go, I want you to build a trench about 100 meters away so that a garrison can establish itself there and thus protect the builders. Once that palisade is finished, between the middle of it and the outer trench, I want you to dig other trenches. two trenches four meters wide and deep and fill them with river water, to reach them, the enemies had to cross a field of eight rows of large sharp stake, tied to the ground to prevent their removal and located in pits filled with hardened clay and hidden by grass and leaves. ... Oh! And the palisades must have battlements for our men to fire on, and parapets with big stakes so they can't climb over."
I was silent for a few moments so they could digest everything I just said.
"And then I want them to do all of that again but looking outward in case enemy reinforcements arrive.
The engineers turned pale and felt like they were going to faint after hearing all this, but they did, taking several thousand soldiers with my approval to carry out such an ambitious project.
/
Ali City
Meanwhile, two weeks after Zorzal ordered that wall to be built, in the city of Ali Saskia and the Andean soldiers were hiding in a kind of tenement house where several slaves lived. That was his base, having convinced several Andean slaves from other origins to join in the plot under promises of freedom, sending letters to coordinate with several in different parts of the city.
Every night Imperials came through the sewers to give the slaves weapons. Due to the chaos that was the division of the Harngeil army and its hasty departure to Les, the forests that until a few weeks ago were full of skirmishers were now free.
"Why did we have to accompany her here?" Complained one of the imperial escorts who had accompanied Saskia from Sadera.
"Because your duty is to protect his highness's property~" She mockingly replied, taking the opportunity to annoy them.
"Tsk... I can't believe that slave bitch got away with it." The other escort grunted.
"That is because I am useful to your highness. This slave did more for the prince than you." She answered smiling while writing a letter.
"Watch that tongue of yours, there may be accidents tonight during the coup." He said giving a clear threat.
"Of course~ they are going to go before his highness to say that they failed to fulfill their duty, that they could not protect their favorite slave and who gave him one of the most important Gali cities, of course, I am sure that his highness will not be angry ~."
Hearing that, they realized that there was no way to get rid of her without their lives being in danger. Sure they could try to run away but losing their job at the palace wasn't worth it.
Saskia loved this, on paper she would be the last link in the social pyramid of the empire, however she was able to give orders and put any soldier or noble in their place.
Now, she didn't let that power go to her head, she knew that power came from her master, so she made sure not to talk too much with someone powerful so as not to harm Zorzal image.
"Well, at least his highness did train you well enough to betray your people." And so, the escort crossed a line.
Although she tried not to be too disrespectful, sometimes a comment slipped out if they crossed a line, like when Captain Cornelius compared her to a Parisian, which she took as the greatest insult they could say to her, though managed to maintain his composure when facing a captain.
But that escort was no one with any power.
She got up silently, taking the ink tank with her hand and approached her escort.
"Eh?... and now wh-?" His mouth was covered by Saskia's hand, putting the pot of ink to empty it in his mouth.
"What are you doing?!" the companion, after a moment of shock, pushed the gali girl, causing his companion to fall to his knees vomiting ink.
"Blgh!" coughing a lot "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"If you ever compare me to the Parisians again, I swear I'll kill you." she said quite seriously.
"You're mad, bitch!"
Saskia knew that she could no longer behave submissively if she wanted to help Zorzal. Her master trusted her by following his plan and giving her this task but how far will she go if she allows this kind of insult for the people who should protect her?
"Listen up, you two pieces of shit." Bringing out a firm voice in front of them.
"How dare you talk to us like that?! A mere slave should know her place!"
"The only idiots who don't know their place here are you two." Slowly approaching them. "You seem unaware that the prince has placed me over you two, in other words, you are my subordinates.
"Silence!" The one with a mouth full of ink slapped the Gali girl hard, making her cheek quite red from the blow, her cheek burning. "I hope that you learned your lesson with that!"
The slap was strong, however that was nothing to Saskia. She has been beaten for years in many possible ways and anywhere on her body: whips, multiple punches and kicks to the face and ribs, beatings given by several people, hot coals and opium cigarettes on her skin, or all of the above while was also raped. So, a simple slap wouldn't affect her again.
You know..." Saskia said looking at the person who hit her. "I wonder what the prince would do if he found out that you damaged his property ~." She said between a mischievous and threatening tone.
"Eh?! W-Wait a minute! It was just a slap!" He said after a few seconds of silence, understanding what she meant.
"It could be a slap... or a punch... or several punches... Especially when he has no way of knowing how many it was~"
"W-Would you lie to his highness?! Where is your honor?!" The companion exclaimed indignantly.
"Oh! Lying is such an ugly word~ but I'm just a dumb and stupid barbarian slave~ some details can become confusing for a being with a lower intelligence like me... Like the number and intensity of the blows... or like how many people beating me~" She said in a playful tone, but looking seriously at both of them, making them gulp, quite nervous.
"Gh!... What should we do so that he doesn't tell His Highness about my lack of respect?" The one with the ink ended up lowering his head, there was no way to win against her.
"Looks like you already realized your place… you should simply follow my orders and show me respect. His Highness put me in charge of this entire operation, so insulting me means insulting His Highness, the shining sun of the empire."
Thus, they both lowered their heads. Swallowing all the words and insults they wanted to say to defend his neck.
With the problem of her escorts solved, she looked out the window at the city.
She could remember how she played in the mud with the other children of the city while the aroma of freshly baked bread traveled through the dirty streets. She remembered how this aroma was the signal to return to her parents' bakery and help sell that bread that came out of the ovens.
Tears began to run down her cheek without realizing it.
"This city will return to Andean hands tonight... under the protection of Master Zorzal."
/
Sadera.
At the imperial palace, Molt had found out about Zorzal's victory at Tania and the siege of Les.
"Looks like he was able to recover from the Ali fiasco, I must admit I underestimated him." Said the emperor while eating in the palace dining room. "He has managed to level the score in an amazing way.
"Your majesty, what should we do if the prince does win the war this year?" Marcus asked.
"In that case we could give most of the credit to General Servius, since it was his surprise landing in the north that saved Zorzal's campaign." He replied calmly.
"But... what if he manages to capture the Gali king or cut off his head in battle? That would be too big for us to ignore."
"Hmm..." The old emperor put his hand to his chin, thinking about his friend's words. "It is true that if that happens I will have to give him some reward"
"It's a shame that Prince Zorzal has decided to confront his majesty, someone so good at war would have been very useful, especially now that we know when the Gate will open thanks to Hardy's acolytes." Marcus sighed in disappointment.
"Someone good at war..." He said thinking seriously. "My friend, I think I already know what kind of 'reward' I will give my son the prince, and hopefully he will get the message and desist from trying to usurp my throne. As you say, it would be a shame to lose someone so good at war."
/
Juzeft, former king of the city of Ruthenia, was hurrying towards his city. When he found out that his city had been taken, he couldn't help but burn with anger for his city and concern for his two daughters. He didn't know if they were safe or if they were killed, he only knew that the Imperials made a massacre and then fortified themselves there to face them.
There was also one thing he knew very well, and that was that he would not leave any Imperials alive in that city and that he would burn the villages and tribes that assisted them to ashes if they had done anything to his daughters.
In the dungeon of the palace they could be found both. After Servius had decided that they would both be a gift to Prince Zorzal, they stopped beating and abusing them, giving them food, water and shelter.
Of course, the situation was still horrible.
The older sister tried to reassure the younger that dad would come to save them and that they would take revenge on those who did this to them.
Servius knew the final battle was drawing near, hearing rumors that the prince was on his way to Les. And that he would have to keep this army busy from joining the battle against the prince.
He had been talking to the other councilors and officers about how to deal with this large number of enemies. They all agreed that they would be exterminated if they were allowed to build siege weapons, so they agreed that they would try to goad the Gali into making an assault before they were ready. But there was a problem. How to do it? There was no way to make them attack the wall, until some very important information came to the discussion table: the one who led the barbarian army was the former king of this city and, by extension, the father of the imprisoned princesses.
"It's a shame." General Servius sighed. "I wanted to give them to your highness but... after this they will be useless."
And so a rather macabre plan was approved on the northern front.
/
Back on Les, there was a battle going on between the Gali cavalry and the Imperial cavalry. Harngeil, seeing Zorzal's intention, sent his horsemen in order to stop the construction of those fortifications, but the imperial cavalry was always on the lookout for a quick response against their enemies, who went at full speed jumping the trenches and ignoring the garrisons. to go directly to the constructors.
This was the first time that both cavalries had directly fought each other without holding back due to the likelihood of some trap from somewhere. Swords collided with each other, spears crashed into shields, others attacked their enemy's horse with varying degrees of success.
Cornelius had taken a spear and rode with the other knights to meet them, driving the spear into their necks, impaling them through the stomach, or simply wounding them in the shoulder so they could no longer fight.
The gali cavalry little by little began to show themselves superior to the imperial ones to the point that they had been almost exterminated, this is because the imperial cavalry was scattered in several groups taking care of different parts of the construction, so the gali cavalry had more troops in that moment. 120 imperial knights against nearly 600 Gali horsemen.
However, the Gali wasted a lot of time fighting the Imperial cavalry. Although 80 of the 120 Imperial knights and at least 100 barbarians had already died, the Imperials' objective was not to win with the cavalry alone. The plan was that if the enemy cavalry ignored the trench to attack the builders directly, the imperial knights would buy enough time for the trench soldiers to catch up with the enemy cavalry and the builders would take their weapons and surround them. And that they did.
The cavalry was being surrounded by the infantry, who wasted no time to start throwing their pilum at them if they were in range.
The circle was closing, if they were able to pocket them then it would be very difficult for them to escape, so the one who led the attack opted for retreat when he saw that they were still not completely surrounded.
Through the openings the barbarian horsemen were beginning to escape, having lost 153 in this attack.
/
City of Les
The king had tried these same attacks several times and at different points, although he knew that the imperial cavalry had suffered greatly, the cavalry would not be vital to them if they were behind those fortifications, and that this tactic was also weakening his own cavalry. The encirclement was almost complete, it was clear that he could not avoid the blockade.
"That Zorzal or whoever he really is... If he doesn't give up... you want to end this war here and now, right?... Okay, let's do what you want." he quickly set about writing a large number of letters of aid, which he gave to all his remaining cavalry to send to any town and city, causing them to leave Les before ending up imprisoned.
In those letters was all the information of this peculiar siege, and they were asked that any man who could hold a sword or spear be sent to Les so that they could make a joint attack from outside and inside. In the letter he had also named as his successor the former Ruteni king, Juzeft, who commanded the army heading north, in case he were to die here or be captured.
Sitting at his desk, reminiscing about how he got into this situation.
He remembered when he was a teenager, a creepy random geek who liked military stories, both American, Japanese, Russian and other countries movies and series. Among them Gate.
He liked those stories so much; the weapons, the strategies, the history, the feeling of nationalist patriotism that these stories gave off, a feeling that took hold of him and he imagined his country as the hero of those stories.
He also wanted to participate in something bigger and more important for his country than staying home being the school weirdo.
So he got down to work, preparing to join the army, he graduated discreetly, not standing out too much but he was not a bad soldier.
He spent years fighting drug trafficking in Rio de Janeiro, and in one of those confrontations he lost his life.
When he reincarnated as a prince he didn't understand anything, especially when he discovered that this world was Gate's.
Had some god sent him here to fix this world? That was a possibility that he considered. Perhaps the gods of this world sent to destroy the empire before they attack Japan and thus prevent the entry of technology that threatens their power.
But if he had a goal to fulfill in this world, why did it seem that someone was reincarnated as the prince of the empire? If there was already someone, what was the point of him being reincarnated?
He had no clue about that, all he had to do was prepare to fight.
And in this way, in various places in Gali, everyone prepares for the final act of this war.