The primary objection was to destroy Akkee sect. A very simple end, but to reach that ends there were numerous ways of means.
Although the destruction of Akkee sect was inevitable even with only brute force, surely the number of casualties would be a lot. A wise leader would not spend his resources needlessly, thus the siege was the better options compared with brute force assault.
The operation of purging was entering its last step, only three large sects left. The other two could be of some use and would be granted amnesty under some conditions, unlike Akkee sect that was chosen.
On the observation point at the gate of the second barricade, the place where people could saw to the ground without restricted. Akkee sect patriarch, who wore some kind of clothes similar to Chinese Hanfu on the top part of the body mixed with Indian Dhoti on the lower part, and his oldest son looked to the empire army below.
"Father this is not good."
"Umm."
"The enemy intention was clear, they trying to starve us. When our food is gone, we will be dead meat."
"Umm."
"Father, let's me be the vanguard, I will chase them out."
"Idiot, that's what they want! You will become a hedgehog before you finish casting attack spell of significant power."
"But! Father, we can't wait until we starve. The food we keep in granary can not hold up much, those guys are wasting our food without any thought."
"Umm."
"They asked us to save them but now that they outnumber us they just demanding more and more. Our man did not eat meat to preserve it until later but those people killed our livestock just because they want to eat meat. What's more, father? Do we have to give them women too?"
"Silence! No matter what, we will not move an inch from here. This is our heritage, a place where we of Akkee sect belong." Akkee sect patriarch finished his talked with his son in a furious manner and stopped observing the empire army below.
A siege was using in order to starve them, then wait until Akkee sect people could not endure and rushed out of their stronghold. Then the advantage of high ground would be obsolete and the situation would be reversed by the empire army stood by on the makeshift earth wall.
So Akkee sect could not fight in the open field with the army and could only hide behind their place, but the longer they hiding the harder for them to break through a sturdy line of defense.
The running magicians were noting to worry about as they could not run and fire at the same time, even archwizard could only use magic that used less concentration and power but they would be long dead by an arrow. In the case of firing showdown between warrior and magicians longbow drawn by a professional archer of the empire was by far faster to lunch, not counting the numbers.
If they tried to run without looking back to their fallen comrades, they would be chased down by the Knights' brigade.
It would be a one-sided slaughter, not a war if they came down, and some people on the mountain noticed that the magician who came to ask for help was the empire's plan against them from the start.
In fact, some Akkee sect people of distant relation warned the patriarch, suggested him to abandoned the escapees, and endured the shame by surrender. But the patriarch would not and could not surrender.
He would not lower his head toward his father killer, many of the diehard thought the same.
He also could not surrender because the number of the escapees were twice his own people And they were all full fledge magicians with some were famous for their notorious, while his clan contains servants and weak women and children. At the moments he showed sign of surrender, who knew what would happen and would the empire army still honored the promise at that time.
Akkee sect first thought that those magicians would help them in their fight or could become a pawn for them, but they were wrong. And the fact that even this point they were clueless about the spy inside those escapees showed that they were not suited for real war.
It was checkmate.
David's side could easily win but there was a little thing, he needed to consider.
There was a problem with maintaining the siege, the time and materials consuming rate that require for maintaining the siege was a lot. That was not the best cost-effective method.
Economy wise, the magicians who performed the duty in the siege could be used on other projects, They should spend time working on road or dam construction projects, the light magician medic should be on the hospital for citizen instead of standby in here. The common troop should be on the guard duty at the town and the knights' brigade should patroling or subjugating bandits and ferocious animals.
The less time to besiege Akkee sect the better, yet the longer the time needed to force them the fewer casualties on David's side.
As for Akkee sect casualties, that was no concern.
There was a need for some help from within to make it faster. And to reduce the number of casualties as lower as possible, someone needs to find a way to slip past the first and second barricade. The spy inside performed well worked but they dared not raising more ruckus than the order they receive, they were waiting for a sign.
A different situation needed a different tactic. Although battle decided by all outcome of the whole army, even support officer in the rear and the civilian people behind them. Except for the case of an incompetent ruler, in that case, one man could lead his men from the upper hand to ruin by himself.
It was not that individual performance would not affect the whole battlefield, however, a said individual must be of very unignorable ability so that he or she could affect the whole picture. And the empire had the said individual all along.