Unknown Knight

It was when Aix captured the eighth town that he discovered something was wrong. At that time, the town's resistance was extremely tenacious. A town of more than 2,000 people actually managed to produce more than 300 well-armored warriors.

If it weren't for the powerful weapon called flaming oil, and the fact that Aix's army was much superior to its opponents in terms of weapons and equipment as well as formation coordination, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was first-class in the world. Otherwise, who knows how much manpower would have been lost.

Moreover, the battle was extremely fierce. Some nobles were brave enough to fight to the death rather than surrender. This was something they had never encountered before. Under the leadership of these brave nobles, after they finally captured the entire town, Aix also lost dozens of elite soldiers, which made him very sad.

Afterwards, Aix conducted a severe purge and interrogation, and learned from several captured nobles that the news of Aix's forced land reform had spread to all the remaining settlements.

After receiving the letter, the nobles in these places were unwilling to accept defeat, and held a meeting in Memphis to discuss countermeasures. Under the chairmanship of Memphis Lord Ghalib, they finally decided to concentrate all their elite forces in Memphis, hoping to rely on the strong city defenses to have a decisive battle with Aix to the death.

It's just that the nobles of the eighth town were unlucky. After returning from Memphis, they were busy preparing military supplies and training the army. Before they had time to send the army to Memphis, they didn't expect Aix to advance so quickly and attack so quickly, and they were blocked in the town.

After figuring out the whole story, Aix felt relieved. It seemed that the saying was true:

"All truth is physics."

He could have taken his time, slowly winning over the hearts of the people in the towns near Berbera, but reality forced him to adopt a quick and radical strategy. Although he got the results he wanted, not only did his military strength increase greatly, he also no longer had to worry about the lack of military rations.

However, "the action of force is mutual", and the iron fist he swung in the name of justice had to face a resistance force several times greater than before. Now the enemy not only united their forces, but also spent a lot of money to improve and strengthen their armaments. Their fighting will was many times stronger than before, and there were even people who would rather die in battle than surrender.

It is said that there are now more than 10,000 soldiers concentrated in the city of Memphis. Memphis should have concentrated all the young and strong men in the vicinity into the city. Now the remaining people in various villages and towns are probably the old, weak and sick.

Moreover, according to the intelligence reported by the scouts, military supplies from various villages and towns were being transported to Memphis in a steady stream, leaving only enough food for the women, children, the elderly and the weak who stayed behind.

From this perspective, there is no need to attack other towns for the time being. Even if they are conquered, they will not be able to obtain the young and strong population and the much-needed military rations, and it will only become a burden on their side without much benefit.

Now we just need to defeat the enemies in Memphis. It doesn't matter if we don't attack the remaining towns. We may be able to conquer them by issuing an order.

Although the siege was extremely difficult, Axe still decided to attack the city of Memphis. Regardless of whether he could take it down or not, he was willing to try if there was a chance to resolve the battle once and for all.

Soon, Aix led his army to the city of Memphis. There were more than 8,000 soldiers in the army. In addition to the original 7,000 soldiers, Aix recruited more than 1,000 militiamen.

The walls of Memphis are the same as those of Nico Town, about 15 meters high. The entire town was built along the river, and the water from the Blackwater River was diverted to dig a moat about six or seven meters wide around the city walls. However, it is now the dry season, and the Blackwater River has become a trickle, and the moat of Memphis has even less water.

Although there was no water in the moat, there were still scattered puddles on the slippery and muddy riverbed, making it impossible to fight on it. The planks of the siege tower were not long enough, so the moat had to be filled in.

But this was not a problem for Aix, as he had done reconnaissance in advance and was well prepared. With a wave of his hand, more than 200 prisoners, some of whom were covered in dust but still noble, and some even had bruised faces and noses, were brought to the front of the battle.

They are the nobles and their relatives captured in Aix these days. Those with the most serious crimes have been put on trial, but there has been no suitable way to deal with the rest. Unexpectedly, they will have to use it today.

These noble prisoners are the coolies who are used to carry soil and fill the river today. Since they are regarded as the objects of dictatorship, Aix has no intention of "reforming" them in the short term. This is an unrealistic and naive idea. Now is a good time to let them make use of their remaining energy.

Besides, they and the masters in Memphis are from the same circle. It is unpredictable how they will treat their own people since they think they are superior. However, Axe is betting that the masters in the city will not kill them. After all, they are from the same class. If they really kill them, wouldn't it be troublesome if they meet again?

Sure enough, these people, whipped by the auxiliary soldiers, staggered with soil on their backs to fill the moat. When they were still sixty or seventy meters away from the city wall, they shouted at the top of their voices:

"My dear friends in the city, please don't draw your bows and shoot arrows. I am the mayor of Kote Town, Seif. I am also forced to do this. Please don't kill me. I will reward you handsomely in the future!"

"Brothers on the city wall, please don't do anything. I am Hamid, the nephew of Ghalib, the Lord of Memphis. We shouldn't fight among ourselves. Please hold back."

"My lords in the city, I am Amin, the tax collector appointed by the Lord of Humamu. We are all acquaintances. Brothers, please do not shoot randomly. It will be easy to deal with the tax collection next year."

……

In order to survive, these nobles who valued their lives shouted with their last bit of strength, fearing that the people on the city wall would be careless and shoot them to death in vain.

But you know what, this shout really worked. As people of the same class, everyone formed a closely connected network around the overlord of Berbera City, Lord Humamu. Every member in it had more or less intricate relationships with everyone else. It involved friendships, family ties, and naked interests, which were intricate and intertwined.

Moreover, any one of these two hundred people may represent not only himself, but may even represent a large interest group or a large family of blood relatives. It can be said that a single move can affect the entire body.

If you really dare to launch an attack, and if you are unlucky and kill the wrong person by mistake, or kill someone you cannot afford to offend, you don't have to wait until later, someone on the city wall of Memphis might come to you with a sword in hand to fight you to the death.

These concerns surprisingly led everyone to reach a tacit understanding. No one fired their bows and arrows at the ragged gentlemen under the city, allowing them to fill up the moat under the city bit by bit.