Chapter 396: Siege Battle
As the [Dragon War] alliance continued to grow and develop, they began attempting to attack small cities, and the overall situation in Liang Province gradually became clearer.
The game progress across the entire server followed the trends of the world. The first objective was for 160,000 tiles of land across the server to be occupied. The second objective was for alliances with over 45 members to reach 30 in number. The third objective was for the server to eliminate 9 million bandit troops. The fourth objective was to occupy 15,000 tiles of level 4 land. After this, the [Warlords in Chaos] phase would begin, requiring the server to occupy more than 20 level 3 cities.
Basically, during the first few days of the newbie period, all players were frantically claiming land, boosting their resource production and general levels. However, some alliances with a deeper understanding of the game would start organizing activities to attack the lowest-level level 3 small cities.
Occupying a small city had certain benefits. It could increase resource production for all alliance members, and the player occupying the city could gain additional tax revenue.
An alliance's rule over a region was primarily achieved through these key cities. The more cities they occupied and the higher their levels, the more stable the alliance's control over that region would be, and the greater the benefits they would reap.
Following the alliance leader's orders, Zheng Hongxi logged in on time at 8 PM that evening.
After several days of hard fighting, [Dragon War] had developed very well. It was currently the largest alliance in Liang Province and could rank in the top ten across the entire server. The second-largest alliance in Liang Province was called [How Could We Lack Armor], which was slightly weaker than [Dragon War].
The city they were going to attack this time was Yun Street, a level 3 small city.
In *Rate the Land*, the lowest city level was 3, and the highest was level 10 (Luoyang).
In reality, level 3 small cities were very easy to attack, and they didn't have that many buffs. The main purpose of attacking this small city was still for practice, because from now on, there would be city-attacking activities every day. The cities they attacked later would be higher in level and increasingly difficult, so it was necessary to let alliance members get familiar with this rhythm in advance.
In the fortresses around Yun Street, Zheng Hongxi's troops were already in position.
To attack a city, they had to build fortresses around it in advance, so that troops could march directly from the fortresses. If they marched from their own main cities, the travel time alone would take several hours, and it simply wouldn't be fast enough.
Before the official siege began, the alliance leader had already sent a group email within the game explaining some precautions.
All participants in the siege had to first capture a level 1 tile near the city and build a fortress. On the day of the siege, they had to transfer all their main forces and siege troops into the fortress, preparing for the evening's attack.
Each player had to prepare at least three armies: one main force, which was the strongest combat army, fully staffed, responsible for clearing the city's garrison; one siege army, which had the highest siege value, didn't need to be fully staffed, just enough to be useful, mainly responsible for destroying the city's defense value; and one road-paving army, usually all cavalry, which moved relatively fast, used for paving roads, scouting, and so on.
Siege troops were generally infantry, because infantry had the highest siege value, but they also moved the slowest, often needing to set out from home seven or eight hours in advance to reach the fortress.
Zheng Hongxi looked at the fortresses around Yun Street City. This time, at least sixty or seventy people from the alliance had come. The entire area around Yun Street City was densely packed with fortresses, five or six layers deep, tightly surrounding it.
Because the alliance leader wasn't sure how strong the city's garrison was, he had called in everyone he could from the alliance.
At 8 o'clock sharp, the siege officially began.
The alliance's current top combatant was called [Deep in the Clouds, Unknown Where]. His fortress this time was in the front row outside Yun Street City. He had already occupied a district of Yun Street City in advance, preparing for the siege.
Yun Street City was a small city, also occupying 9 tiles. The very center was the inner city, and the rest were districts. Since they couldn't directly attack non-adjacent tiles, they had to first destroy one district before they could attack the inner city of Yun Street.
Of course, larger cities had a much bigger footprint. For example, the Liang Province capital, Wuwei, was a level 8 city with 25 tiles, requiring the destruction of two districts before attacking the inner city.
Soon, the alliance leader's email arrived.
"Start clearing the garrison now. Deep in the Clouds' troops will arrive at the district at 8:05. Everyone else's main forces will arrive one minute later. Remember to calculate the time and don't cause unnecessary losses."
Zheng Hongxi checked the time. It was now 8:03. His main force was cavalry. If he sent them out now, the travel time would be 2 minutes and 12 seconds. That meant he could send them out in a few dozen seconds.
In *Rate the Land*, distance and time were two very critical factors. Before sending out troops, the system would give very accurate march speeds and arrival times.
The reason the top combatants had to go first was that the district's garrison was stronger than most players' troops. The district of a level 3 city had level 6 garrison troops, meaning the garrison's combat power was on par with level 6 land, and there were four garrison units in total.
Except for some wealthy top combatants who could take them on alone, most players could at most take out half a unit before their forces were crippled. That's why this kind of siege required many players to attack together.
The alliance's top combatant, [Deep in the Clouds, Unknown Where], sent his main force charging ahead, crashing directly into the city's garrison. He took out an entire garrison unit in one go, but his own main force was also crippled.
The battle report interface had alliance battle reports, and everyone could see the details of this fight.
The alliance leader sent another email: "Everyone, you can send out your main forces to attack the city now. Let me emphasize: do NOT move your siege troops. Wait for the email."
Instantly, dense arrows appeared above the fortresses around Yun Street City. All the arrows pointed toward Yun Street City. One by one, the troops marched toward the city center. The visual effect was very shocking.
Zheng Hongxi's troops had also set out. After more than two minutes, these troops began to engage in fierce combat with the garrison.
"Damn, the garrison is so brutal!"
Zheng Hongxi winced as he looked at the battle report. His main force was crippled as soon as it hit the garrison, losing most of its soldiers, but only taking out a quarter of the garrison's strength.
The soldiers in his main force were all accumulated by Zheng Hongxi. In this game, recruiting soldiers required a lot of resources, and resources were never enough.
However, Zheng Hongxi also knew that attacking the city was beneficial for the entire alliance. It didn't matter if his main force was crippled. He would recruit soldiers at night, and by the time he woke up the next day, his troops would be full.
Under the siege of everyone's main forces, in just three minutes, the four garrison units of Yun Street City were wiped out. However, these garrison troops would recover within 1 hour, so they had to hurry up and attack the city.
The alliance leader sent another group email: "Alright, everyone send out all your siege troops. Pay attention to hitting the center of Yun Street City. Don't miss!"
Instantly, dozens of arrows appeared again. All the siege troops of everyone headed toward the center of Yun Street City!