thefictionvixens Chapter 184: Victory and Defeat
Chapter 184: Victory and Defeat
The temporary army of the Neon Empire originally wanted to plunder the villages under the jurisdiction of Zovia Port, but the result went against their will. After hearing the villagers shouting that reinforcements were coming, they were terrified and fled the scene like birds and beasts.
This failed landing battle made the already low morale even lower. The soldiers of the twenty battleships returned to the fleet with such emotions, which made the commander of the Neon Fleet furious.
If it were not for the taboo of killing a general on the battlefield as it would bring bad luck, several naval commanders would have become food by now.
In desperation, the Neon Fleet had to launch a violent attack on the port of Zovia.
They adopted a group tactic of forming teams of twenty warships each, taking turns to attack the sea gates of Zovia Port.
The two sides were fighting fiercely, and the battlefield was filled with the roar of magic and the crisscrossing of arrows.
However, the Neon Fleet was unable to climb the towering city walls, and the army led by the White Tiger Duke in Zovia Port was also unable to break through the port and rush to the enemy ships to engage in close combat.
In addition to using long-range troops to bombard the enemy, the defenders of Zovia Port were busy with melee soldiers and conscripted civilians repairing the damaged city walls.
Four days later, the defenders of Zovia Port had to passively take the beating because of heavy casualties in long-range combat, and the situation was very serious for them.
At this moment, the defending army included not only the soldiers originally stationed here, but also reinforcements coming from Fort Grax.
However, the defenders had no definite answer as to when the other reinforcements would arrive.
At this time, the Neon Empire realized that the defenders of Zovia Port were in a desperate situation, so they adopted a two-pronged strategy:
On the one hand, he sent messengers to persuade the defenders to surrender in an attempt to undermine their morale;
On the other hand, they concentrated their forces and launched a fierce attack on one of the gates of the Port of Zovia.
Although the defenders of Zovia Port fought bravely with all their might, and some brave and fearless men even jumped directly from the city wall next to the gate onto the Neon Empire's ship and engaged in close combat with the enemy, they were ultimately unable to prevent the iron chains on the gate from being destroyed one by one.
As a last resort, the defenders of the port of Zovia decided to sink the merchant ships that were connected to each other by iron chains.
But they were worried that doing so alone would not be able to stop the enemy's advance for long, so they sent several merchant ships to rush towards the lock under the powerful firepower of the Neon Empire and sank it there.
Seeing that the gate had been blocked, the Neon Empire fleet knew that it would take a long time to clear the sunken ships blocking the way.
After weighing the pros and cons, they had to choose to withdraw their troops temporarily.
The next morning, they repeated their old tactics and attacked another sea gate.
At this moment, the defenders of Port Zovia were at the end of their strength and were almost unable to resist the enemy's attack.
Faced with such a desperate situation, they resolutely took extreme measures: before the iron chains were completely destroyed, they sank all the merchant ships blocking their way and the remaining ships in the harbor at the locks.
Unfortunately, however, the number of ships remaining in the port of Zovia was very limited, far from enough to successfully block the entire channel like the previous gate.
When the first warship of the Neon Empire fleet timidly entered the port, the war seemed to be over.
But at this critical moment, the reinforcements quickly mobilized by Duke White Tiger from the Khasa Fortress came like a force of gods descending from the sky!
Although there was no naval force among the support forces, their arrival undoubtedly gave the port of Zovia a strong reassurance.
When the reinforcements arrived, they found that the situation at the anchorage was hopeless and beyond redemption.
After careful consideration, they decisively decided to change their strategy and try the trick of "closing the door and beating the dog".
So they pretended that the defenders had given up resistance, and quickly transferred their troops back to the city, waiting for the opportunity to launch a counterattack.
The Neon Empire fleet was secretly pleased with themselves when they saw that they had captured the anchorage so easily. They took it for granted that the defenders had lost their fighting spirit and chose to give up resistance.
So, without hesitation, they quickly sent troops to land and advance in small groups, attempting to capture key positions in the port of Zovia in one fell swoop so that they could control the entire port as quickly as possible.
However, it was this underestimation of the enemy and arrogance that soon caused the Neon Empire army to suffer.
Just as they were attacking separately and with great momentum, the army of Duke White Tiger accurately carried out an encirclement and annihilation operation against the scattered enemy forces.
After sending troops to attack twice in succession but receiving no response, the Neon Empire fleet finally realized that it had fallen into a trap.
At this moment, they were once again in a difficult situation because they were not good at land combat.
In the end, the commander of the Neon Empire fleet made up his mind to take a gamble and concentrate most of his forces to force a landing, and planned to capture each node one by one.
After all, in terms of numbers, the Neon Empire still has certain advantages.
Therefore, faced with such changes in the situation, the defenders of Zovia Port did not choose to cling to every node. Instead, they responded flexibly and decisively commanded their troops to engage in fierce street fighting with the Neon Empire.
The Neon Empire's army launched an aggressive attack on the third node, but unexpectedly, they encountered stubborn resistance and ultimately ended in failure.
However, misfortunes never come alone. While they were fighting hard, the two nodes in the rear were attacked spontaneously by the locals!
This sudden change put the Neon Empire army into a desperate situation - there were powerful enemies in front and no way to retreat behind.
Fear enveloped every soldier. They were panic-stricken and had no fighting spirit at all.
Under such circumstances, the once powerful army collapsed in an instant, and they only cared about fleeing to the anchorage and scrambling to climb onto their warships, wanting only to get away from this terrible port as soon as possible.
Although the defenders of Zovia Port were large in number, they had no naval force to pursue and could only helplessly watch as the Neon Empire's fleet fled the scene like a stray dog.
An hour later, the reinforcements led by Zhang Wei finally arrived at their destination.
When they learned that the Neon Empire fleet had just escaped, they immediately requested to enter the port of Zovia for a while to rest.
However, something unexpected happened: the commander of the reinforcements at Hasa Fortress, who took over the position of chief of the garrison, rejected Zhang Wei's request without hesitation.
The commander was completely unaware of the private agreement between Duke White Tiger and Zhang Wei. All he was worried about was that Zhang Wei would take advantage of the situation and capture the Port of Zovia in one fell swoop.
Faced with this inexplicable hostility, Zhang Wei's reinforcements felt very confused and angry.
After careful consideration, they decided to change their plan and march eastward to see if they could seize the opportunity to strike hard at the fleeing enemies. After all, the Neon Empire fleet had lost its fighting spirit at this time, and it was a good time to pursue the victory!