LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 89 - Dumbfounded! Like Catching Fish in a Barrel!
As the first light of dawn appeared, the bandits outside Richard’s new city surged forward like a tide.
“Master, they’re here.”
Miwei’s voice came from the tower above the city gate.
With the faint dawn light, Richard had already seen the overwhelming wave of bandits outside.
Although the bandits were only a few thousand in number, when spread out over a wide area, they appeared densely packed, like a flood.
In the world before his crossing, a few hundred people involved in a battle scene in a TV drama were considered impressive.
Even the so-called hundred-thousand-strong armies in some TV dramas only had scenes of dozens or hundreds of people fighting. Using over a thousand people was quite awe-inspiring.
Yet here, there were several thousand bandits.
There were at least four or five thousand bandits directly attacking from the front.
For a moment, the wasteland outside the new city was filled with people.
On the other side, over three thousand bandits had already moved out from the forest.
According to the time agreed upon by these bandits, when the frontal assault began, the infiltrators among the refugees would open the western city gate, allowing the three thousand-plus bandits to enter and sandwich Richard’s forces.
In fact, to be absolutely sure, these bandits had sent a very clever one last night to climb up to the city wall and exchange secret signals with the spies inside the city.
Well, they mimicked a dog’s bark. Outside, it was three long and two short barks, inside it was five short and three long ones. When they matched up, it meant that everything inside was normal, and the bandits could confidently launch their attack.
These bandits naturally didn’t know that all the spies inside the city had been controlled, and the ones responding to their signals were soldiers arranged by Richard.
“Hurry up, before they realize it, let’s just crash the gate and rush in. No need for so much scheming. With this many of us, we can overwhelm them.”
Some of these bandits, carrying battering rams, rushed quite fast.
These people weren’t particularly united.
They had different views on strategic deployment, let alone covert operations. Some didn’t think it was necessary to arrange infiltrators because they were straightforward bandits – see, grab, attack, and if they couldn’t win, they’d run. No need for complications.
This time, these bandits felt that arranging those insiders was completely unnecessary. With this many people and high ladders prepared for ramming, what could a small border town with a little over a thousand soldiers do?
So, they charged ahead, wanting to breach the city before the spies opened the west gate.
Ha, they thought we’d just divert attention for them? We’ll just take the city directly and leave them dumbfounded! When it’s over, whoever charges in first gets the big share!
So, the bandits launching the frontal assault were like they had taken some sort of stimulant, charging towards Richard’s city.
In their eyes, this early, most people in the city were still asleep.
On the tower above the city wall, over a hundred militia armed with crossbows were crouched, guarding, while at each arrow tower nearby, every few tens of meters, eight militia with crossbows were also waiting.
Richard didn’t initiate the attack.
Right now, his city seemed completely defenseless.
However, when these bandits appeared, Richard had already opened his phone and started live streaming.
The time was still quite early, around six o’clock.
The time in this world seemed to match that of Earth.
In the other world, many people were still sleeping, especially those who liked staying up late.
However, at this early hour, there were already tens of thousands of people waiting in Richard’s live stream.
Because from yesterday’s broadcast, many viewers knew the bandits would launch their attack at dawn, so they waited eagerly.
As soon as the feed started, viewers in the live chat noticed.
【Haha, right on time.】
【Morning, streamer.】
【Yay, the bandits are here!】
【So many bandits! I went to bed early to not miss this.】
【Me too. Slept at 8 pm, woke up at 3 am, just to watch this battle.】
【Early sleepers are the real deal. Unlike me, can’t sleep early and end up staying awake all night.】
【Same here, still energetic after my first all-nighter!】
【So many people!】
【Big scene!】
The live chat instantly lit up.
The automatically filming phone had already captured the thousands of bandits charging over.
The waiting viewers inside were thrilled.
You rarely see a battle with thousands of people like this.
In movies, it’s all scripted, and you only get a few full shots before it quickly cuts to close-ups of a few people fighting, not satisfying at all.
This kind of battle is the real deal.
So, even those who stayed up all night were now wide awake and watching eagerly.
And as Richard’s live stream started, the number of viewers broke a million within a minute, quickly rising at a rate of tens of thousands per second.
At this moment, the phone capturing the scene switched to the tower where Richard was.
Immediately, viewers saw that there were only a little over a hundred militia on the tower where Richard was, and behind the city gate at the base of the tower, there were only two or three hundred people.
【Anchor, where’s your army?】
Many viewers were curious.
【I got it. The anchor’s army must be defending at the west gate. But, anchor, can you defend the front with so few people?】
【No worries, it’s fine.】
【Don’t jinx it. My husband is invincible.】
[Cute Big-Eyed Bunny] rewarded with 100 Super Rockets! Comment: My husband is amazing!
【Quick, look, the bandits are here!】
In the eyes of many viewers in the live stream, they saw only about twenty bandits carrying battering rams charging forward.
And behind them, there were plenty more people carrying ladders as tall as fifteen meters rushing towards the city wall.
“Hahaha, they don’t even have anyone defending. Charge!”
Below, those bandits carrying battering rams laughed heartily.
The twenty or so bandits accelerated together, carrying the heavy battering rams, and slammed into the city gate.
Boom!
The city gate trembled under the impact.
The combined force of the twenty bandits was extraordinary, coupled with the weight of the battering ram and the acceleration from their sprint. If it were an ordinary wooden city gate, even with thick wooden bolts securing it, those bolts might have been broken.
But…
Richard’s city gate was made of a ten-centimeter-thick steel frame, and the iron bolts traversing the gate were equally thick.
With such steel, not even a hundred bandits would be able to break it.
Additionally, the connection between the city gate and the city wall was exceptionally sturdy.
The walls themselves were several meters thick, with the section at the gate being ten meters thick. The gate itself had multiple layers of reinforcement. With this setup, the bandits stood no chance of breaking through.
So…
After the city gate trembled, it remained unscathed!
“Try again!”
Those bandits, seeing that their first attempt failed, were not discouraged in the slightest, still brimming with confidence.
The twenty or so bandits retreated a dozen meters, then accelerated again and charged forward once more.
Boom~
The city gate trembled once again under the impact.
But that was all, the city gate didn’t even deform.
“Is this city gate so sturdy?”
A bandit couldn’t help but feel dumbfounded after seeing that the gate didn’t budge even after two strikes.
【Hahaha, shocked, aren’t you? This city gate won’t budge even if you ram it with an 80 mph car, and you think you can break it with just a handful of people?】
【Anchor, why aren’t you fighting back yet?】
【…】
In the live chat, many people gloated when they saw that the bandits couldn’t do anything with the city gate.
Some viewers were questioning why Richard hadn’t launched a counterattack yet.
Clang, clang, clang~
At this moment, the sound of drumming came from the city gate.
“Bandits, bandits are here!”
A soldier shouted in a “terrified” voice.
【666, I give this acting 101 points, plus 1 point for extra effort!】
【I have a feeling the streamer might be up to something again!】
【Be confident, remove the ‘might.’】
【…】
At this point, the number of people in the live stream had exceeded 2 million and was still rapidly increasing.
“They’ve found out, keep going, continue ramming!”
Under the city wall, the bandits who were ramming the gate saw the soldiers on the tower above the gate and exclaimed.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh~
At this moment, some bandits with bows and arrows arrived at the base of the city wall and started shooting upwards.
However, shooting from below posed no significant threat to the soldiers on the tower due to the angle. They could easily dodge or block the arrows with their shields.
“Thud~”
The third ramming attempt came.
At the same time, some bandits with ladders placed them against the city wall, and one of them carrying a bundle of ropes began to climb up.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!
Just then, the militiamen hidden in the arrow towers on both sides finally showed themselves and started shooting with their crossbows, knocking down the bandits from above.
After shooting their crossbow bolts, they immediately crouched down to reload.
The high parapets protected them from the bandits’ arrows.
“Master, Dorothy’s side has started.”
At this point, Miwei said to Richard on the tower.
Richard’s mind stirred, and he controlled the phone.
Suddenly, the automatic filming phone swiftly flew towards the west side of the new city.
..
“They’ve started their assault, why hasn’t the city gate opened yet?”
At this time, outside the west gate, more than three thousand bandits were gathered, waiting for the gate to open.
“Don’t worry, their attention has just been drawn away, we can enter a bit later.” A bandit leader said.
However, at this moment, screams suddenly came from behind the west gate.
Immediately after, these bandits saw that the west gate had been opened.
Several people appeared there, waving frantically at the lurking bandits.
“The gate’s open! Quick, let’s go in!” A bandit leader couldn’t help but be impatient.
“Wait, Wolf, wait, give the password!” Another bandit leader stopped him.
“Woof, woof woof.”
Immediately, some started imitating a dog’s bark from behind the west gate.
Upon hearing the barking from the other side, they immediately responded, “Woof woof woof, woof, woof~~”
“That’s it, let’s go, charge in!”
Having confirmed the password and with no other abnormalities, the bandits rushed towards the west gate like a tidal wave.
“You finally came, it was too risky, we almost got discovered last night.”
After reaching the west gate, the spies warmly greeted the bandit leaders.
“Is anyone else here?” One bandit leader asked.
“They’re all inside guarding. Don’t know what the lord is thinking; the foundation under this gate is unstable. It collapsed once, and the lord, fearing another collapse, rebuilt it inside. Hurry up and follow us; otherwise, they might send reinforcements.”
After hearing this, the bandit leaders followed the spies inside.
Passing through the thick gate, one bandit leader saw several soldiers’ bodies lying on both sides of the gate.
“There were quite a few guards here, and we lost several men too. These were all the lord’s watchdogs.” The spies said.
Seeing these bodies, the bandit leaders had no more doubts.
Soon, under the guidance of the spies, they passed through the gate. Ahead of them, many bandits had already rushed in to scout the way.
Behind them, more bandits streamed in.
Soon, over three thousand bandits passed through the west gate. However, not far ahead, they saw another closed gate.
“Why is there another gate here?”
A bandit leader asked.
The spies replied, “Boss, this is another new gate the lord built. Our men have already taken it. Wait, we’ll go call them to open it.”
After speaking, the spies walked to the side of the new gate and knocked, saying, “People are here, open the gate quickly.”
The bandit leaders saw the gates slowly opening.
However, after the gates opened, it wasn’t other spies inside.
Instead…
With the help of some frames, there stood three layers of crossbowmen!
As soon as the gates opened, the spies immediately prostrated themselves on the ground.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!
Immediately, the crossbowmen shot their crossbows.
“Ah!”
Instantly, over a dozen bandits were struck by arrows.
“We’ve been ambushed, this is bad!”
At this moment, several bandit leaders still hadn’t reacted.
But it was too late.
In the opening of the west gate behind them, a thick iron frame had already come down, completely cutting off the bandits’ retreat.
And on top of the walls of this gatehouse, a large number of crossbowmen had also appeared, shooting a volley of arrows down below.
On the other side of the city wall, where the number had increased to over two hundred and thirty fox archers, they also drew their bows and fired a volley at the gatehouse!
At this moment, Richard’s automatically filming phone happened to fly over and captured the situation at the gatehouse.
Instantly, the viewers in the live chat learned… where Richard’s army had gone.
Richard’s army… was shooting fish in a barrel!
【Oh my, no wonder the anchor’s army wasn’t here. They were making big moves.】
【Haha, these bandits are so dumb, they actually went into the trap.】
【Can’t blame them, how would outsiders know about the trap?】
【A classic case of ‘luring the tiger out of the mountains.’】
【That’s how you teach them a lesson; anchor, don’t hold back, it’s better if these bandits are dead~】
【…】
In the live stream, when over three thousand bandits who were originally prepared to flank from both sides through the west gate and launch a pincer attack ended up as fish trapped in a barrel, all the viewers were delighted!
Their emotions soared one by one.