Unknown Knight

Chief Mondhari, who had easily captured the city gate, was very unsure. As an experienced man and having served as vizier for many years, he had developed extraordinary insight. He felt that this time the city gate was captured too easily. However, now that he had come to this point, he could no longer turn back and had to face the situation before him.

With so many years of experience, Chief Mondhari knew that regardless of victory or defeat in this battle, the city gate was the key among the keys, so he immediately ordered his men to set up a defense line on the spot and firmly guard the city gate, which was an important node related to the life and death of him and the Great Prince's Army he served.

It was this action of his that ultimately saved him and the Grand Prince's Army. When Aix sent its elite troops to seize the city gate and then to completely eliminate the Mamluk cavalry, who posed the greatest threat to their side, they found that the soldiers guarding the gate were very well prepared and could not succeed for a while.

The soldiers guarding the city gate were all carefully selected by Chief Mondhari, and each of them was an elite. They had received Chief Mondhari's death order to defend the city gate, so they had made sufficient preparations in advance, taking into account the terrain and using the surrounding debris to set up obstacles in the relatively narrow area of ​​the city wall. Only then did they barely block the army sent by Aix to seize the gate, allowing most of the Mamluk cavalry that had broken into the city to withdraw from the city.

The Mamluk cavalrymen who had left the city gate had lost their former majesty. They were covered in dust and looked very miserable. Some of them had burns on their bodies and smelled burnt. At this moment, they no longer cared about their status and simply seized the horses of their own light cavalry near the city gate, then mounted their horses and rode away.

Seeing that the core Mamluk cavalry had fled, the Nubian army of the eldest prince began to flee, and the army of Aix finally recaptured the city gate and began to pursue the enemy outside the city.

However, it was night time, and the pitch-black darkness made pursuit inconvenient, and the army did not dare to advance too deep. Moreover, the main force of Aix had just undergone a forced march, and was obviously less physically fit than the army of the eldest prince Nubia. This meant that the pursuit did not result in the complete annihilation of the enemy.

However, a good result was achieved in the battle. There were more than 50 corpses of Mamluk cavalry left in the city alone, and more than 30 prisoners were captured. However, these captured Mamluks were all injured, and it was not certain whether they could survive to be ransomed.

In addition to the Mamluk cavalry, many other soldiers were killed, a total of more than 200 people were killed, and more than 500 people were captured. Most of these prisoners surrendered during the pursuit.

Unexpectedly, some food and supplies, as well as property worth about one thousand gold coins, were seized in the dense forest where the enemy had been lurking before. However, the enemy had originally planned to seize Shariz with internal and external forces, so the food and supplies they carried were not much, so it was better than nothing.

This battle temporarily resolved the situation where Shariz City was attacked from both sides. However, due to the betrayal of Chief Mondhari, the Khalaf Fort, the gateway to the north of Shariz occupied by his family, became a thorn in the side, seriously threatening the security of Shariz City and its surrounding areas. Although the eldest prince Nubia was repelled, the third prince Azzam and the fifth prince Sharif also rebelled. They could use the Khalaf Fort as a stronghold to move south at any time to threaten the security of Shariz City.

In addition, Chief Mondhari surrendered and then rebelled again, and his territory was so close to the city of Shariz where Aix was, which made people feel uncomfortable. Aix wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible and would not give him any time. So after the army rested for a day, he immediately sent troops to Karaf Castle and decided to remove this thorn, create a relatively safe environment for the newly occupied city of Shariz, and allow his own forces to get some breathing time.

Khalaf Fort is the territory of Chief Mondhari's family. They have lived here for generations. After years of operation, this fortress on the mound was built very steeply, almost occupying the entire mound. There is only a winding road leading to the main gate, and the mound is also very steep, almost ninety degrees vertical. The height of the entire fortress plus the mound, when viewed from the surrounding flat land, is at least fifty meters in clear height.

At this height, it was impossible to build any siege tower or ladder on the city wall. Moreover, Chief Mondhari was aware of the power of the new Sultan Niza's army's incendiary oil, so he had abandoned the wooden city gates and iron gates in advance and directly blocked the entire city gate with stones. It was impossible to burn the city gate with incendiary oil and then attack the fortress.

The entire fortress is guarded by more than three hundred soldiers, not to mention the elderly, the weak, women and children who make up the majority of the people in the fortress. Given the height of the fortress, even a child throwing a stone on the wall can kill people. Moreover, these people in the castle are basically from the family of Chief Mondhari, or their dependent relatives. It is impossible to disintegrate them from within or even persuade them to surrender. The only way left is to storm them.

Aix tried to send the most elite array soldiers to attack the city, but they struggled to get to the fortress with their shields raised. Before they could touch the base of the wall of Calaf Fort, they were easily repelled by the soldiers on the wall with stones and rolled down the slope in a panic.

As a last resort, Aix had to order to stop the attack, first surround the fortress with the advantage of numbers, and then slowly think of a solution.

The outdoor environment in Sarand is harsh. Not only is it so dry that it causes cracking of the skin, but the temperature difference between day and night is also particularly large. It is dry and hot during the day, which is worse than the scorching heat every day. At night it is so cold that it makes people shiver. Staying in the tent is no use.

After more than a week of siege, the weaker soldiers began to be unable to bear it. Some suffered from heat stroke, and some began to suffer from influenza-like diseases.

Although Aix carries the magic weapon Nana with him, due to the slow charging speed, Nana cannot heal too many people. Moreover, as a magic weapon, Nana cannot be shown to others easily. Aix needs to show up in person every time to create mystery. Therefore, Aix does not have the time to treat anyone who is not a dying patient.

Fortunately, James, who was in Shariz City and was responsible for collecting and transporting supplies, arrived in time. He not only brought the charcoal and cow dung cakes that were urgently needed for heating the camp, but also brought a large amount of supplies and a medical team, which stabilized the situation in the camp that was about to become chaotic.

James' arrival also brought good news. The Rhodok Kingdom suffered heavy losses from the Bedouin cavalry's invasion and looting tactics. After hearing that Aix defeated the army of the Grand Prince Nubia, King Gryphus finally agreed to sit down for negotiations.

However, the king might have been afraid of the looting by the Bedouin cavalry sent by Aix, so he no longer demanded the return of the two occupied forts, let alone said anything about ceding the Weyeha Fort. He just insisted on taking back the Ami Fort, one of the two occupied forts, saying that it was to guard against the cavalry from Sarand, and he was even willing to spend a large sum of money to redeem the fort.

After thinking about it, Aix agreed to King Griffith's request. Like his purpose, Aix insisted on occupying Fort Migach and Fort Ami, mainly for defensive purposes. Occupying these places could serve as an early warning of invasions from the direction of Rhodok.

Now that both parties are going to sit down for negotiations, mutual trust is the foundation for a successful negotiation. Mutual trust literally means mutual trust and reassurance. Now each of the two fortresses has one. Although the two parties cannot trust each other like friends, they can defend these two fortresses and monitor each other's movements, which in turn achieves the result of mutual reassurance.

Moreover, Aix was eager to end the current situation of being attacked from all sides, and there would be no big loss in giving up the territory that did not belong to it. Besides, Fort Ami was just a military fortress with wood as the main building material, and it had no economic value. Unlike Fort Migach, it was located on a small plain along the coast and the surrounding area was relatively fertile. Aix had plenty of kerosene, and if it needed to retake the fort in the future, it would not be an easy task.