After the battle with the baron, they occupied the fort and the town with little resistance, as most of the able-bodied fighting men were already dead or injured. On the order of the prince, no one touched a single property of the local populace. They only attacked and looted from the noble households. However, the women and children were left unharmed.
According to the order issued by Sanjay, anyone found harming the innocent, no matter their position, would be executed on the spot. After a few of the men were executed by the commander, the entire army became obedient.
The next day, the soldiers were given gold coins based on their merits. Sanjay replicated millions of gold coins—he had enough to pay them for years to come.
All the soldiers were seen celebrating, but Sanjay was busy making plans for his next target.
All the high-ranking officers, including the commander, were seated around the table with Sanjay, looking at the map layout. They were planning tactics for their next attack. Their next target would be the Duke of Aston.
The Aston province was situated at the center of the kingdom. As one of the most powerful figures just after the king, the duke was supporting the second prince, according to the information received from the spies. The duke's army consisted of five hundred thousand soldiers alone. Last week, both the first and third princes attempted to attack the province, but they were met with failure.
The duke's army was a battle-hardened force from the king's time. They had around fifty thousand cavalry, one hundred thousand archers, and the rest were infantry. The quality of their equipment was also top-notch, though not comparable to the Damascus steel.
After deciding everything, they planned to march towards the Aston province in two days. It would take them around two more days to reach the Duke's castle.
In the Aston province, inside the castle, the duke was sitting at his study table when a pigeon arrived and landed on his window. The duke stood up and went near the pigeon. There was a small cloth tied to its leg. He retrieved the cloth and gave the pigeon some nuts to eat.
Reading the information on the cloth, the duke was astonished. The baron had fallen, but how? Only one more word was written on the paper: "Prince Ayush." Hearing this name, the duke was once again shocked. Everyone knew Prince Ayush as the useless prince who had once molested noblewomen.
How could he have defeated the baron? The duke needed more information. He called for his butler, and an old man came.
"Can you inform your network? I need more information about the destruction in the barony," the duke said. The old man nodded and left. The duke was not tense; he was only surprised by this new variation—the so-called fourth prince.
He had plotted everything from killing the king to making the second prince a puppet of his. He would not let any variable change his plans. However, he was confident of winning against anyone who stood in his way.
A few days ago, he had found four people with special powers. They didn't say who they were or where they came from, but they claimed they would help the second prince in the war for the throne. This was enough for the duke. This was also one of the main reasons the first and third princes were unsuccessful in their campaigns. He had suffered very little loss in the previous two battles due to these four people.
So, if the fourth prince wanted to try his luck next, then let him try.
Five days later, Sanjay and his army finally reached Aston castle. Scouts informed him that the duke's army was five kilometers ahead. He used his binoculars to assess the situation.
The duke's army was huge, around three hundred thousand soldiers. Twice their numbers were waiting in rows to engage in battle. This duke was not foolish either. To take his entire army outside the city walls for war was a calculated move, playing both an offensive and defensive strategy.
Sanjay observed through his binoculars that rows and rows of archers lined the city walls. Getting within two hundred to three hundred meters of the walls without dealing with the archers first was a bad idea. He also saw a few people standing on the wall; they must be officers.
He saw the duke standing in armor, happily laughing and chatting. Alongside him were a few men and one woman, none of whom were in armor. A woman standing with the duke—it didn't feel right. In this time and age, women were not treated well, so Sanjay didn't think the duke was so benevolent as to allow a woman to participate in battle.
And all four of these people, together with the woman, seemed to be different. Something didn't feel right. An instinct honed through multiple battles told him that they might be players. He didn't rule out the possibility. If they were players, he would need to dispose of them as soon as possible before they could take an active part in the battle.
Believing that they might be players, Sanjay instructed the gunmen battalion to hide behind the cavalry and not to allow the enemies to see their guns. He took this precaution because if the opponent had players, they would certainly recognize the guns and be mentally prepared. He didn't want to give them that advantage.
As for the potential leak of the guns' use, he didn't care. It wasn't like they would see his actual face; the face he had was that of the prince, which was completely different. There was no risk of his identity being exposed unless he revealed it himself.
They continued marching and reached one kilometer away from the duke's standing army. One kilometer was the ideal distance for the accuracy of the guns.
Upon seeing that the enemy had arrived, two of the four players who were waiting on the city wall came down and entered the center of the infantry, so they wouldn't be in the front line and risk dying due to an accident during the battle.
However, the two players were within Sanjay's scope. He instructed the commander to implement Plan B and to prepare a hideout position. The commander nodded.
Sanjay dismounted from his horse and walked toward a jungle on the side of the road.
The enemies didn't notice anything, as one kilometer was still too far for normal eyes to accurately determine the movements of every soldier.
The duke's army commander shouted, "Army, charge!"
The duke's two hundred thousand soldiers began charging with full force, the entire army advancing with fifty thousand cavalry leading the charge. They had full confidence in their numbers and their tactics.
In the previous two battles against the first and third princes, the cavalry of both sides had clashed first. Before the enemy cavalry reached the duke's forces, the two players in the crowd would use their skills to either kill or injure the other cavalry.
This would give their own cavalry the advantage and allow them to wipe out the enemy cavalry in one sweep. After that, they would charge over the infantry units, with the players providing support from the rear. This plan had been successfully implemented both times, so they were confident in their skills.
However, a few seconds passed, and as the duke's cavalry came within two hundred meters of the army, the duke's commander noticed that the prince's cavalry was not advancing. Why weren't they marching? If they didn't move, the prince's cavalry would only suffer casualties when they were hit by the full force of the duke's army. Were they planning something?
The two players didn't know what to do; this wasn't in their plan. The enemy cavalry was five hundred meters away, still outside their skill range. But they were ready with their skills: fireball and ice ball.
Just as they were about to unleash their skills, a thunderous sound erupted from within the jungle.
"Dhoom!"
The player who was ready with the fireball had his head blown to pieces. The pieces flew away and fell onto the nearby soldiers. The other player, standing near him, froze in place, his ears still ringing. He looked down and saw the body of the person he had just been speaking to.
Then, another loud sound came, "Dhoom!"
This time, the head of the second player was blown off as well. His body fell next to the first.
One kilometer away, inside the jungle, Sanjay could be seen lying flat on the ground, looking at the enemies through his sniper scope with a smile on his face. He had entered the jungle earlier to get a clear shot at the enemies, so they couldn't prepare for what was coming.
The woman and the man, along with the duke, were still on the city wall, keeping an eye on the battlefield. The city wall was still three kilometers away. Sanjay tried to aim at them but wasn't confident in hitting them at that distance, so he decided against it.
As soon as the prince's commander heard the huge thunderous sound, he ordered,
"Squads A, B, and C, fire!" This time, around three thousand gunmen fired their automatic rifles simultaneously.
"Thurrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" The sound could be heard across the entire battlefield. Ninety thousand bullets were emptied in two seconds.
The commander didn't give the enemy any time.
"Squads D, E, and F, fire!" Another three thousand bullets rained down upon the cavalry and the infantry. This time, with more than two hundred thousand enemy soldiers standing close together in a dense formation, the casualties were immense.
From the top of the city wall, the Duke and the two players watched in disbelief. Everyone saw that the front two kilometers of the army had been completely decimated. Not a single soul remained standing.
"Witchcraft!" the Duke shouted.
"Witchcraft! They are devils. Kill them, kill them!" the Duke screamed at the top of his lungs, but no one followed his orders. The remaining two hundred thousand soldiers were running away from the battlefield.
The commander leading the cavalry was one of the first to die. Like headless chickens, everyone scattered in different directions.
"Cavalry and Squads G and H, march! Leave no one alive. Do not enter the archers' range!" the prince's commander shouted.
The cavalry and the squads on horseback began chasing and attacking, killing what was left of the enemy army.
These medieval soldiers might not recognize what had hit them, but the players certainly did. They recognized the guns—modern guns, just like those from outside the tower. But how was it possible? The soldiers were using guns in huge numbers—thousands of them.
It didn't seem possible to bring such objects inside the tower. Had someone found a way to smuggle things in? She needed to find out soon and send the information outside. The entire ecosystem of the tower depended on this. Her family was elite, with multiple businesses spread across most floors in the tower. If they could monopolize the situation, they could become invincible within the tower.
Unaware of what the girl was thinking, Sanjay emerged from the jungle and entered his temporary military camp, which had been set up for this battle. He had seen almost the entire battlefield and how the enemy had been defeated. He wasn't interested in watching the pursuit and slaughter of the soldiers, so he came to the camp to rest.
The battle wasn't over yet; next, they would need to lay siege. The Duke, with another two hundred thousand forces, was hiding inside the city walls. Given the display of their guns, if the enemy had any intelligence, they would be on alert. Certainly, the players would recognize the guns and wouldn't make the same mistake of blindly charging at the enemy. To win this battle, they would need to conquer the city walls.
It wouldn't be easy to break through the walls. Without artillery, rocket launchers, or even cannons to bring down the walls, and with the huge iron gates, a direct assault would be foolish. He wouldn't sacrifice countless soldiers just to break through. In fact, he didn't even have any siege weapons for medieval warfare at his disposal.
Building catapults and other siege engines would take too long. He would need to rely on his trump card—a card that had not been revealed until now. This was the key to winning the next phase of the battle.