Daylight came, and darkness fell again.
After last night's withdrawal, Demir led the army east in retreat with little rest along the way.
Although they successfully linked up with the fifty thousand reinforcements that followed, when Demir thought of the prince's army and its terrifying firepower, a few more traces of worry inevitably appeared in his heart.
The problem now was that Noxus seemed to have no way of dealing with weapons of this level of firepower.
"Has Nashat's message come back?"
He dismounted and asked the adjutant.
A full day had already passed since Nashat led the army out. According to the timing, they should have sent back intelligence by now.
At this point, the only thing he could place his hopes on was Nashat.
If Nashat had successfully surprised the other Demacian army and swiftly circled behind them, then a pincer attack from both sides would give them a chance to suppress the prince's army.
As soon as he finished speaking, a Bluewing Bird flew rapidly in from the horizon, then landed on someone's shoulder.
A message was tied to its leg. Clearly, it had come from Nashat's side.
With no time to think further, Demir stepped forward, took down the letter, unfolded it, and set his eyes on it.
But the moment he saw the first line, it was as though he had been struck by a heavy blow. His eyes widened in disbelief.
Seeing this, the adjutants around him all felt an ominous premonition.
"The Demacian army set an ambush in advance. Our army suffered heavy losses. Lord Nashat has fallen."
Demir read the sentence in a daze, his mind filled with nothing but impossibility.
How could that be?
How could the Demacian army have set an ambush in advance?
How had they known?
Nashat was dead as well. He had followed Demir for many years and won so many battles at his side. And today, he had died so suddenly?
He continued reading.
"Our army has lost more than seventy thousand men."
The number was unbearably glaring. Seventy thousand men, all dead in less than half a day.
Demir's hand unconsciously tightened as he continued reading.
"We suspect Demacia has mastered a method of transmitting messages in an extremely short period of time."
Demir reread that line, and only felt a chill in his heart.
That was the only possibility.
Over all these years, he had fought so many battles, and he had almost never made a mistake in judgment.
This time had been the same. According to his judgment, Nashat leading the army would have encountered the other Demacian force at exactly the right moment. If the other side had not received the news in advance and set an ambush, then Nashat's chances of victory would have been extremely high.
Even if those Demacian soldiers held heavy gunpowder weapons.
Demir finally realized that he had miscalculated. Demacia's preparations for this attack on Noxus were far more thorough than he had imagined.
If Demacia truly possessed such a rapid method of communication, then Noxus would almost never be able to defeat Demacia in battles built on information gaps.
Although it had yet to be proven, Demir knew they could no longer gamble.
This battle had directly cost them seventy thousand troops, while Demacia had suffered virtually zero casualties. Such an enormous casualty ratio was terrifying even by the standards of history.
"Send a message to the Immortal Bastion. Report every piece of intelligence we have learned. This matter is of the utmost importance. There can be no mistakes!"
Demir handed the letter to the adjutant. His clenched fist slowly loosened, and his eyes were filled with unwillingness.
To think that before Demacia's offensive, he could no longer think of a way to respond.
At the same time, he knew that because of his mistaken judgment, punishment would likely come down from the Immortal Bastion.
"General, what about these people?"
An adjutant stepped forward and asked Demir.
The people they had ransomed were still in the army as well, tens of thousands of them.
The Immortal Bastion's intention was to use them as cannon fodder. Now these people could only obey Demir's orders.
From far away, Demir's gaze swept over those faces one by one. He sighed. "Have them head east, away from the lands of war."
This order was essentially the same as letting them leave.
These people were Noxian subjects to begin with. In times of war, they naturally had the right to flee for their lives.
Even if Demir could forcibly order them to act as cannon fodder and trick the prince's army into wasting a few shells on them, what use would that be?
Having seen the power of cannons with his own eyes, Demir knew doing that would only hand Demacia more battle achievements.
The real fighting still had to be left to those who fought wars.
But how to deal with Demacia next still left Demir deeply troubled.
"We cannot face them head-on. All we can do is keep retreating while delaying them as much as possible, and wait for news from the Immortal Bastion."
Demir sighed again and issued the order.
At present, facing the prince's army's firepower head-on was no different from asking for suffering.
Five days later.
The Immortal Bastion.
An urgent message from the border was delivered straight into the council hall.
On the throne, Darkwill listened with a somewhat gloomy expression as the herald slowly read out the contents of the letter.
The many ministers around him also frowned as they listened, their expressions severe.
Judging by this urgent letter, the situation on the western border was far more serious than they had imagined.
"We underestimated Demacia too much! Since they dared to come, they were clearly fully prepared!"
"No wonder they dared to trade prisoners of war right after the war began. With gunpowder in hand, they have no fear of how much cannon fodder there is."
"And the prisoners of war they traded were all the old, the weak, the sick, the disabled, women, and children."
"Demir was still too hasty this time. He lost seventy thousand troops overnight."
"How should we respond to this?"
After hearing the letter, the ministers continued discussing it aloud. They had thought it would be news of victory, but it had turned out to be terrible news instead.
Demir's first battle had ended in such a sorry state.
However, after hearing the contents of the letter, they knew in their hearts that this probably could not be blamed on Demir.
He certainly could have been steadier, but no matter how steady he was, what he faced was still Demacia's heavy gunpowder weapons.
The combat strength of both sides at this moment could be said to no longer be on the same level.
While they were still shooting arrows, crossbow bolts, and stones from catapults, the other side was already sending cannon fire across the battlefield. The power of any single shell could crush a catapult.
More importantly, according to the intelligence in the letter, the number of cannons Demacia had prepared this time was difficult to estimate.
Not to mention that they had also mastered another kind of weapon, firearms.
Darkwill asked in a deep voice, "What about our gunpowder? How far has development progressed?"
A minister stood up and said, "It is still in the testing phase. There are still many unstable factors. Its power has indeed increased, but it is extremely easy to damage, its range is not far enough, and there is also a risk of chamber explosions."
As a nation that fed itself through conquest, Noxus had naturally learned of gunpowder weapons long ago.
However, the technology they had seized was ultimately not mature enough. And Darkwill's ambition was great. He wanted to develop gunpowder weapons with greater power and longer range.
In truth, recently, the army he had sent to invade Ionia had already begun using a type of cannon technology stolen from Bilgewater.
In some places, they had also tried methods stolen from Zaun.
The latter had greater destructive power and tremendous force, but the price was also extremely high. It would even devour the users themselves. It was truly a case of injuring the enemy by a thousand while injuring oneself by a thousand, and the damage it dealt to terrain and the environment was far beyond expectations.
At present, there was no point in continuing to modify or develop it, so the focus of military research had always remained on gunpowder.
They followed Bilgewater's methods while adding their own ideas, attempting to create a more powerful type.
However, many problems still remained.
Yet unexpectedly, Demacia had now come knocking at their door with new gunpowder technology.
It had to be understood that Demacia was publicly known throughout Runeterra as proud and isolated.
But they did indeed have the strength to be proud. They rarely interacted with the outside world, whether in trade or anything else, and were almost cut off from the rest of the world.
Gradually, many places throughout Runeterra had begun to refer to Demacia as isolationist.
And yet, such an isolated place, one that could even be called backward in terms of information, had somehow mastered cutting-edge gunpowder technology.
At that moment, Darkwill returned from his thoughts and looked at the minister who had just spoken. He said flatly, "That is not what I want to hear. You only need to tell me whether it can stop Demacia's offensive."
The minister hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "If we do not consider the risks, it should be able to contend with Demacia's cannons. We can also settle for ordinary cannons."
"Good." Darkwill nodded and gave the order. "We need both. Manufacture them in batches and transport them to the border immediately."
The minister looked as though he wanted to speak, but after thinking it over, he lowered his head. "Yes."
At present, there was indeed no other way.
Although their own cannons carried risks, if they did not use them, they could only watch helplessly as Demacia continuously bombarded Noxian cities.
If they did use them, perhaps they could still contend with Demacia.
Looking at the ministers below, Darkwill asked, "Where is Kled? Have you found him?"
A minister quickly replied, "We have currently discovered traces of him. I believe we will find him soon."
"Once you find him, notify him to head to the battlefield immediately." Darkwill nodded slightly, then continued asking, "Where is Demacia now?"
A minister answered, "Based on Demacia's current marching speed, they have just passed Brue City. In less than half a month, they will likely reach Groft's territory."
Darkwill heard this and fell into thought. Then he ordered, "Inform the magic academy. Have them send an additional mage unit to support the border cities."
Noxus had a magic academy specifically dedicated to studying magic. Every year, it recruited mages from among the people with generous treatment.
Naturally, no small number of mages had joined over the years.
Although Demacia was famous for suppressing magic, and also had that strange stone called petricite that could resist magic, that did not mean they were completely unafraid of magic.
Without exaggeration, a powerful mage on the battlefield could rival an entire battle group.
So it was still necessary to send them over.
After thinking it through, Darkwill continued issuing orders. "Expand recruitment. Within twenty days, send another hundred thousand soldiers to reinforce the border."
In truth, recruitment had already begun in every city, and a portion of the follow-up reinforcements were freshly recruited soldiers.
Now that recruitment was being expanded further, it meant they needed even more people to fill the gaps.
At this time, a large portion of their troops were already on the road to invade Ionia, but judging by Darkwill's meaning, he still had no intention of calling them back.
Many ministers thought it over, but in the end, they still said nothing.
Because they knew that even if they spoke, it would be useless.
Darkwill could certainly think of whatever they wanted to say. The fact that he had not done it already was itself the answer.
Noxians did not actually dislike recruitment, because during certain periods, ordinary people could not easily join the army even if they wanted to.
After joining the army, it meant they had a chance to rise to success. Every Noxian had a dream of becoming the next Darius.
But what was the situation now?
Recruitment had not begun only because Demacia had attacked. It had been ongoing all along, with the scale simply increasing again and again.
Because people were needed everywhere, east, south, west, north.
Every year, tens of thousands of people carrying dreams joined the army.
Yet now, Darkwill was stubbornly pressing the attack on Ionia on one side, while recruiting large numbers of soldiers on the other to block Demacia. It was like trying to plug holes. If this continued, the dissatisfaction that already existed among the people would only grow louder.
But in Darkwill's view, none of these matters were important.
Voices of dissatisfaction only needed one political achievement to be silenced.
He was attacking on one side and defending on the other. Whether he conquered Ionia or drove back Demacia, either would count as an achievement.
As long as he accomplished one of them, he would be able to shut those mouths.
Besides, how far had Demacia truly come at this point?
They had broken through the western defensive line and had now probably reached the area around Brue City.
And that bit of territory, compared to Noxus's vast lands, was like a little finger.
Just a tiny bit.
Converted into a proportion, it might not even be one-thirtieth.
And even that was because they had exploited an information gap and launched their surprise attack too quickly, causing Noxus to be caught somewhat off guard.
Now that Noxus had made preparations, Demacia would naturally not have such an easy time.
To put it plainly, Darkwill admitted that Demacia at present was somewhat of a threat, but compared to the invasion of Ionia, it was not that important.
He had now sent additional troops over, activated the gunpowder weapons still in development, and even specifically dispatched a mage unit.
That was enough to show that he had begun taking this matter seriously.
And at present, Darkwill was not the only one thinking this way.
A portion of the ministers also believed that although they had temporarily suffered a setback at Demacia's hands, it was only because they had not fully gotten serious yet.
After Noxus had dominated Runeterra for so many years, when had it ever been forced to swallow humiliation?
One minister stood and said, "If we can seize these gunpowder weapons Demacia brought this time, they will still be of considerable help to us."
"Indeed. The power of gunpowder is above normal cold weapons. And the most important point is that it is something that can unleash tremendous power even in the hands of ordinary people."
Another minister stood. "If we can master this technology, it will be a great improvement for us."
Runeterra had supernatural powers, but they were still ultimately a minority. Not just anyone could freely charge in and out of enemy ranks.
Gunpowder might not pose much threat to some especially powerful individuals. At times like that, it might even be inferior to cold weapons.
But on a battlefield with large numbers of people, the strength of gunpowder was clearly displayed.
Ordinary people could control this kind of thing. It required no special training, most people could grasp it very quickly, and it could be manufactured in batches.
Although they did not know why Demacia's gunpowder technology had suddenly progressed so quickly, if they could seize the enemy's gunpowder weapons during this campaign and study them, it would still be very helpful to Noxus.
The ministers continued discussing the matter.
In their view, Demacia's advance this time would probably stop at Groft.
What they needed to consider next was how to strike back.
Barring any accidents, Demacia was still continuously sending out troops at this very moment, garrisoning the cities they had captured along the way.
And how to reclaim those lost territories was the true problem they needed to consider next.
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