My wife is an immortal black snake.

Page 220

"That's it."

"Oh. Then wait a moment before you leave."

Understanding that Yang Hao, as a lord, was used to working through the night, and given the current emergency, he certainly needed to continue working, Lady Norsen had no intention of advising him to go back and rest—after all, he had only drunk some blood, and he was physically strong; as long as he rested properly after the final battle, it wouldn't be a big deal.

However, before Yang Hao left, Ms. Norson, who was also preparing to return to her room to rest, called him back. Under Mr. Yang Hao's puzzled gaze, Ms. Norson gently grasped the cut on Yang Hao's right wrist.

"Ms. Norson?"

"Your wound needs some treatment—look, it's healed now. You can't tell I was injured, can you? This is one of my abilities. Alright, wait a little while until your complexion is rosy, then you can go back. Don't forget to explain that you gave me some money—that's all."

"Ah."

She left.

Yang Hao stayed where he was, looking at his wrist, which looked completely uninjured, for a long time before nodding and returning to his conference room to continue his work.

No one seemed to understand what Yang Hao was doing with Ms. Norsen. Even when Teresa asked, Yang Hao only said that he had given Ms. Norsen a "huge sum of money," but he couldn't produce it on the spot, so he had just left.

And so, after dealing with Theresa's questions, as time ticked by, dawn soon broke—the morning of October 21st, the day of the Colombian all-out attack, arrived.

Margarita woke up the instant her alarm rang. She rushed to the bathroom to wash up and change, only to find that her teacher had already returned sometime earlier.

The teacher was fast asleep in bed, and Margarita figured she must be tired from work yesterday, so she didn't disturb her. But then again, why did she vaguely smell a familiar scent on the teacher? What was going on?

"Hmm...that's strange..."

The little bat, utterly bewildered, sniffed as she lay down beside her teacher's bed. Then, she tiptoed out of the room, locked the door, and rushed to the landship's conference room—where everyone except her was already present and ready to go.

"Yes, I'm sorry! I'm late!"

Margarita obediently apologized to the adults who were waiting for her. Then, with her head down, she darted behind Yang Hao and timidly looked at the group of stern-faced soldiers.

After Margarita arrived, Mr. Yang Hao, whose dark circles were clearly visible from not sleeping all night, officially began the morning meeting. The meeting wasn't long, but it wasn't short either. After briefly assigning tasks to each unit, Yang Hao emphasized that regardless of who was responsible for disarming the Colombian bombs or raiding the Colombian gas weapons facilities—they must avoid direct contact with those harmful substances as much as possible.

"—Although the teams responsible for the surprise attack on the poison gas weapons and the team responsible for disarming the new Colombian bombs will be wearing the latest chemical protective suits, you should still try to avoid direct contact with those things. If necessary, our friends in Casimir can do it for you, understand?"

"Yes!"

"Now, everyone take your positions. Have the communications officer double-check that our communication is working properly and be ready to contact the Knights of Conquest at any time. Dismissed."

...

The lower-ranking officers left the conference room, leaving only the highest-ranking officers and Yang Hao's core personnel. They were all watching Margarita, and Margarita knew it was time for her to get to work.

She handed Yang Hao a pen and paper, along with a photocopy of a map. Then, she blinked, and under the gaze of Wendigo, Theresa, Karina, and Sonia, who had left and returned at an unknown time, embracing Hela, Margarita closed her eyes and used her prophetic abilities—

...Her prophetic abilities provide results that are "almost accurate but can be modified." Therefore, she cannot be certain that the enemy will move exactly in the direction the prophecy indicates, but at the very least, she can give a general range...

"—Their main attack direction is here." Margarita pointed to an open area near the northern end of the Great Knight Territory on the map copy. "Two landships are moving this way...with a large number of soldiers on board. But there's another landship...I'm not sure."

“Hmm, that should be the weakest point in the Great Knight Territory’s defenses. What’s next?” Yang Hao patted Margarita’s head to encourage her, while instructing his men to write it down.

“And then, and then—well… those new explosive weapons and new poison gas, they'll be used here…” Margarita’s finger slid down, finally landing on the middle of the Grand Knights’ territory. “They seem to be trying to prevent the troops here from supporting their flank attacks… but the poison gas weapon equipment is on this hilltop…”

"—Mr. Bozocasti, please have the special team ready. And the last one? Margarita?"

"Um..."

She nodded. Using her prophetic abilities didn't place too much burden on her, but when she made a prophecy, she always saw strange things...

“That…the Colombian commander is here…” Margarita pointed to the center of the Colombian position with a strange look on her face, “but there seem to be quite a few capitalists from Casimir around them…and not just capitalists, that…Yang Hao? There seems to be another commander from the Conqueror’s Knights that I’ve seen before over there?”

"..."

This is truly—a very unexpected and big piece of news.

Yang Hao originally thought that even if the upper echelons of the Kazimierz Knights were incompetent and stupid, they were at least fighting for their homeland. Even if they were incompetent and their actions were undoubtedly criminal, their patriotism was still trustworthy.

But—how come you, a commander in Kazimir, are chatting and laughing with the Colombians?

"Margarita, is he a prisoner?" Everyone looked at Margarita with strange expressions. "Or are you mistaken?"

Margarita simply shook her head: "No, I'm not mistaken! A Kuranta wearing Kazimierz armor and holding a golden spear... he really must be a War Knight, right?"

"hiss..."

It seems that a thorough purge will be necessary within Kazimierz.

Yang Hao turned to look at Theresa, who was also beside him, her smile strained. Knowing that she felt helpless and saddened for her country, he sighed and reached out to touch her forehead in comfort.

Chapter 118

—The morning of the 21st.

Just moments before the Colombian army was about to launch its general offensive, they discovered that their armory had been attacked.

Given the current supply shortages in the army, your attack on my armory would have been completely irrelevant! There wasn't a single crossbow bolt left in there. The reserve troops left behind only kept three or four bolts for themselves in order to ensure that the crossbowmen on the front lines had enough ammunition. So if you want to attack us, then attack our armory, which is practically an empty shell. It won't have any effect anyway, so what's the point?

But what terrified the commanders was that the very next moment after the armory was attacked, someone came to report that some of the food cooked in the mess hall had been poisoned, and a small number of soldiers were now incapacitated by the food poisoning and could no longer fight on the battlefield. The reserves had to be used to replace them.

"How many of our soldiers are out of combat readiness?"

"500 of them ate breakfast in the same canteen. The area is now sealed off, and all the food that came out of that canteen has been disposed of. But we still haven't found any trace of those spies."

"Alright. Continue with the original plan after the personnel replacement. What did that conquering knight from the Grand Knight's Territory say?"

"He said the weakest point in the defense of the Great Knight Territory is in the north, but we must ensure that our flanks are not attacked when we attack the vulnerable area in the north."

The Colombian commanders were bustling about in the conference room, pointing and gesturing at a map. Based on intelligence gathered from the capitalists and knightly squad commanders who had secretly surrendered, they already knew that the weakest point in the defenses of the Kazimierz Grand Knight Territory was in the north.

The outskirts of the area were old and poorly maintained. Most importantly, it was close to the infected's settlements. Even if the Kazimierz army wanted to station troops there, they couldn't send too many people to guard those settlements given their poor condition and lack of maintenance.

So the Colombian commander's plan was simple and easy to understand: concentrate their forces to break through that weak point, and then engage the Casimirians in urban warfare. After all, they had three land-based ships, and their equipment was all the latest models. In addition, they were well-trained, so they should have no problem holding their own against the Casimirian knights.

The only problem was what to do if their flanks were attacked while breaking through the city. The commanders thought that it would be too difficult to secure the flanks with the new poison gas and new bombs, so they decided to be more straightforward and deploy the surrendered Kazimierz people in the gas zone to let them use their flesh and blood to withstand possible Ursus flanking attacks.

As the Colombian army advanced triumphantly through the borders of Casimir, they did indeed capture a considerable number of Casimirian soldiers. While the vast majority of the knights remained steadfast in their loyalty, the ordinary soldiers and slave troops under their command had no reason to continue serving their masters. Therefore, in order to prolong their lives, these men surrendered to the Colombians and were incorporated into the Colombian slave army for continued service.

Now is the perfect time to put them to use—although these demoralized beasts might not even last five minutes against the Ursus. But they can just stand in the gas and pretend to fight. The Ursus won't risk being ambushed by our main force by attacking rashly. If those beasts can hold out for five minutes, they'll break even; if they can hold out for ten minutes, it'll be well worth it. If they can also kill some Ursus, that would be even better!

"However, the radiation from the new type of poison gas and the bomb explosions can't be blocked by the makeshift chemical protective suits we gave them. They'll probably be incapacitated by radiation sickness within five minutes, right?"

"maybe."

However, even the Colombians didn't expect them to maintain normal fighting capacity for more than five minutes. So these poor surrenderers ultimately faced certain death.

... .....

While the Colombians were busy preparing for their offensive, the Casimir and Ursus coalition forces were also carrying out their defensive preparations and surprise attack plans.

As agreed beforehand, the conquering knights and the remnants of the army would be responsible for the defense of the Great Knight's territory. To prevent them from being unable to perform their duties due to excessive losses, Ursus generously dispatched a portion of the Sarkaz mercenaries into the city and pointed out the possible directions of the Columbian attack.

However, even after Naihe pointed out the possible direction of the Colombian main force's attack, the pampered capitalists and incompetent commanders still unanimously believed that the Colombians would attack the central section of the Great Knights' territory. Their reasoning was quite sound: the central section of Casimir was closest to the control towers of the city's core area, and it was also where the war knights' armory was located. If it fell, the Casimirians would never recover.

The problem is, the Colombians never intended to attack the central part of the Grand Knights Territory! You yourselves know that this is your biggest weakness and you'll definitely defend it fiercely, right? So there's absolutely no need for them to confront your Maginot Line head-on; they can just bypass it and attack your northern end!

Don't you rigid commanders understand the importance of battlefield mobility? Why are you still thinking like infantry clashes from decades ago? The officers on the Ursus side felt helpless about this, while the practical knights felt ashamed and ultimately decided to secretly comply while concentrating their main force on the northern front for defense.

...

That concludes the deployment in Kazimierz. Meanwhile, in Ursus, Mr. Bozokastie is personally communicating with the Sarkaz mercenary commander in Kazdel.

"I need your assistance in raiding the Colombians' gas facilities and their new bombs," Mr. Bozocasti said, pointing to two marked points on the map. "You will split into multiple groups to raid multiple targets simultaneously to draw their attention. If the Colombian landships are nearby, our landships will also provide support—but you cannot abandon your primary duties."

“I understand. But that’s not what’s stated in the treaty, so…”

"We'll talk about adding more money later."

"alright."

Communication with the Sarkaz mercenaries was indeed not going smoothly.

The Sarkaz mercenaries were all paid laymen, and what's worse, Mr. Bozokasti really couldn't say anything to these unofficial mercenaries—after all, strictly speaking, they were now on equal footing and not under his control.

Chapter 119 Leona

Why are the Sarkaz mercenaries said to be beyond Mr. Bochokasti's control? This is actually related to the current relationship between the Sarkaz mercenaries and Ursus...

Although the Sarkaz mercenaries of Kazimir and Ursus both belong to Umbrella Security, their employers are different now.

The Sarkaz mercenaries here are employed by the Qazimirians, so theoretically only their Qazimirian employers have the right to change their operational direction and objectives. However, it's possible that the Ursus guest interfering with their activities is too special (having an ambiguous relationship with their CEO), or perhaps the Qazimirians' demands are too vague, forcing them to exercise their own initiative, or maybe they've realized that Lord Yang Hao is offering far too much money.

In short, there are several reasons why the Sarkaz mercenaries are willing to obey Mr. Bozokasti's orders. However, they are only "obeying"; in actual command, Mr. Bozokasti still cannot dictate to those Sarkaz mercenaries.

At most, he can offer suggestions, then the two sides can negotiate, and ultimately they each have to do their own thing. The other party might even make demands, which will only be implemented after they are met...

In short, it's troublesome—but fortunately, Mr. Bozokasti doesn't need to worry about those troubles. He just needs to make sure the Sarkaz mercenaries complete their mission.

Anyway, he's not the one paying for it.

......

10:40 am.

The Colombian army began to move. Their army was a mixture of former Casimir slave soldiers and surrendered regular troops, and they began to move towards the central part of the Grand Knights' territory.

In response, the Ursus forces, along with the Sarkaz mercenaries, moved toward Columbia's flank. However, before they could reach a suitable location for strategic deployment, battlefield observers reported that Columbia's main force had separated from their captured troops—their main force was moving toward the north of the Grand Knights' territory, and the landships hidden behind the camp were also launching a full-speed charge toward the northern end of the Grand Knights' territory, expected to engage the northern defenders in ten minutes.

Fortunately, the practical knights have already defied orders and deployed a large number of troops to the north to deal with the situation, and the remaining troops are also heading to the north to provide support, so there should be no need to worry about the battle situation there for the time being.

"The demoralized slave soldiers, the high-spirited Colombian regular army, the tense and anxious knights, the citizens who are terrified because they cannot know the situation outside due to the blockade, and the capitalists and traitors who may sell them out at any time—Teresa, it seems that the current situation in Casimir is only worse than we imagined."

Because the land-based ships will also be used for combat purposes, Yang Hao has moved out of the land-based ships and is temporarily carrying out his work in the camp below.

Sonia was his bodyguard, and Hela, though just a child, was a powerful warrior and thus also stayed nearby. Besides these two trusted protectors, Lady Northum and Margarita were also on standby, ready to accept any new assignments.

However, compared to them, Yang Hao was more concerned about Theresa's situation—she was responsible for the [relay station], and every macro-level adjustment Yang Hao made to the battle needed to be relayed to his remaining troops for confirmation. Now that the battle hadn't officially begun, she could relax a little.

But it only made her a little more relaxed. To be honest, the fact that there was a traitor among the commanders of the Conqueror Knights still made her nervous and uneasy, something she, as a former Conqueror Knight herself, couldn't understand.

"Yes, boss. But... a traitor from the commander...? If we can capture him alive, can I handle him?"

"It's hard to say. After all, if Mr. Bozokastie really leads the team to charge over there, finding a whole corpse would probably be a good thing."

"I understand now... Sigh. Boss, I can accept traitors among capitalists, but I really can't accept traitors in the military..."

"This is something you'll experience and learn in the future. So Teresa, you still have me by your side now, and I can help you—but when you work here in the future, you also need to learn how to handle these things, okay?"

Yang Hao reached out and stroked Theresa's hair. He comforted Theresa, while also assessing the difficulties she would face after the war.

One was a capitalist who was even more ruthless in selling out his country than in selling salt—Yang Hao planned to use the Colombians to settle scores with them after winning this war, but those remaining henchmen were also a problem for Teresa. But she should be able to handle it herself.

The other one was discovered by Margarita: the traitor in [Conqueror's Knight]...that's a traitor!

Yang Hao believes that most people can accept their empire being destroyed by a powerful enemy, but they absolutely cannot accept their empire being destroyed by internal traitors—traitors, traitors. They are even more despicable than capitalists, because capitalists are basically people who are only after money and have no real citizenship, but what about traitors? This group of traitors who eat the food of their motherland and then betray their motherland in the name of "being devoted to the motherland" are not only disgusting on a spiritual level, but also on a physical level.

Yang Hao had already dealt with many traitors and fools within the Ursus Empire. In the future, it will be Theresa who deals with the traitors and fools in Kazimierz—but Theresa still needs more training.

"Let's focus on today's decisive battle first," Yang Hao explained. After refocusing his attention on the map of his [Puppet Stage], he began to observe the current military situation.

Through the map, Yang Hao could clearly see the deployment of the [known] armies on the map.

The Colombian army was divided into three parts: one was the reserve force located in the camp, which numbered about 5 men. Apart from the sick who had been rendered completely incapacitated due to the previous activities of the secret forces, they still had about 4 men in good fighting strength. Moreover, they relied on the advantageous terrain to ensure the security of the Colombian rear camp, making them a rather troublesome target.

But they were facing a full-scale attack from Ursus' elite forces, personally led by Mr. Bozhuokastie—so their defeat was only a matter of time. However, Yang Hao still hoped that they could be annihilated as soon as possible.

The second part of the Colombians consists of those who are largely separated from them on the map...

"...Those surrendered soldiers and slave soldiers, the poison gas generators deployed behind them, and the engineer squads transporting dirty bombs?"

Slave soldiers converted from prisoners of war with low morale, engineers with high morale and superb skills, and poison gas soldiers behind them, ready to spray poison gas at any time.

Those slave soldiers were likely abandoned livestock. After all, it makes sense; Yang Hao wouldn't reuse surrendered soldiers who temporarily defected on the battlefield—if spies can be turned, then the idea of ​​an army that should theoretically remain permanently loyal actually betraying them is just too hard to accept.

The fact that the Colombians treated the surrendered soldiers like livestock was a minor detail that Yang Hao deliberately interpreted. The only problem was whether they intended to completely block the Grand Knights' only route to the upper levels using both dirty bombs and poison gas contaminated with nuclear materials.

While they could directly enter the city and support the attacked sections along the city's highways... that would simply be adding more meat to the meat grinder, failing to achieve the objective of attacking the flank. However, considering their plan from the beginning was to capture the Colombian camp and then attack their main force from the rear... it's acceptable.

"We absolutely have to get our hands on those dirty bombs, and we also have to take down the gas generator before the gas is released... Oh my? The Sarkaz mercenaries and special forces have started operating?"

"Yes, the observers have already reported to us that the Sarkaz mercenaries are launching scattered attacks on the Colombian central army to buy time for Mr. Bozocasti's plan."

"Ah."

The armies had begun to clash. Yang Hao could hear the sounds of fighting and naval gunfire from the distant battlefield even from a distance. The first to engage were likely the Sarkaz mercenaries and the slave soldiers protecting the flanks of the main Colombian force... Besides that, were the Colombian land-based warships shelling the northern defensive wall of the Great Knight Territory?

"—The defensive wall at the northern end of the Great Knight Territory has been breached. If nothing unexpected happens, it will be breached within two minutes at the latest, giving the Columbian main force a platform for boarding operations," Theresa said, taking the letter from Karina. "—That's the Great Knight Territory's infected settlement area, and there are several arenas for competitive knights with complex terrain... If the Columbians manage to gain a foothold there, they'll be very difficult to deal with."

"So, are the Knights of Conquest prepared to intercept them?"

"Yes. The remnants are there too, but... they won't last long."

"The Sarkaz mercenaries who are coming to provide support are on their way. If they can hold out for just one hour, we can win this war."

Urban warfare was also on Yang Hao and his officers' minds. The northern part of the Kazimir Grand Knight Territory was a poorly maintained area with outdated defenses, a high concentration of infected, and most importantly, a complex terrain riddled with gangs. Instead of hoping that the Kazimirians could set up a suitable defensive position there overnight, it was better to prepare for the upcoming urban warfare sooner rather than later.