The first batch of freemen acting as cannon fodder encountered little resistance and successfully climbed the earthen slope.

The wooden fence, forming an angle with the slope and pointing diagonally towards the sky, blocked their progress. The fence was not completely solid, but left gaps for spears to pass through. While the attackers were breaking the logs, the defenders could simply stand behind the fence and use spears to injure their opponents.

However, to Duke Fran's surprise, those who had been standing on the city wall had disappeared, and the entire outer perimeter was currently undefended. The vanguard quickly chopped several gaps with small axes, and after felling a few logs, the crowd surged onto the city wall. Before long, the wooden city gate was also lowered.

"Let's go," the Duke shook the reins and led the remaining troops towards the city gate. From the beginning of the siege to the lowering of the city gate, it was less than half an hour. What was Garcia Wimbledon up to? Fran frowned. Anyone with combat experience knew that when abandoning a city, a group of guards must be left behind, or pay a high price to hire fearless daredevils, to block the enemy's offensive on the city wall, so as to buy time for the retreating main force as much as possible.

The Third Princess was not a fool, otherwise it would have been impossible to make the entire Southern Territory defect to her so quickly. Why didn't she arrange for a group of subordinates to defend the city wall? No matter how solid the defense, no matter how clever the trap, without people to operate it, it would only become a dead object. Duke Fran thought for a while and decided to let the guards enter the city first to investigate the situation.

The result of the guard captain's report was still the same. No resisters were encountered in the city, but some streets were indeed blocked by wood and bricks. His subordinates were already gathering local people to remove the obstacles.

Fran no longer hesitated and led the remaining troops into Eagle City. He could be considered an old general who had followed Wimbledon III in many battles, and he couldn't be fooled by a little girl. It was just that Tiffyco's move was a slight miscalculation. If he could have waited until he had captured the city gate and passed directly through the city, he could have saved a lot of time.

As he passed through the city gate, the Duke smelled a pungent odor. It was not the corpse smell often found on the battlefield, but a mixture similar to pine nut oil, orange peel, and incense. If you took a deep breath, it even felt a little fragrant.

What is this smell? He looked around, but found nothing unusual. However, the ditches used for drainage of the earthen wall were blocked, and sewage overflowed from the channels, flowing slowly along the ground. Those dirty accumulations had not been taken care of for an unknown period of time, and they were black and shimmering with colorful patterns under the sun.

That's probably the smell of this sewage, Fran shook his head and led the team towards the castle district.

Now that Eagle City had been taken, he naturally had to take a look around the Lord's Castle and the City Hall to see if there was anything to take away. Of course, the city had probably been searched by Garcia. Gold dragons might not be left behind, but some larger crafts and decorations were also very suitable as war trophies. A slight cleaning of the grain carts he brought would be perfect for loading the spoils. As for those mercenaries, they were probably heading for the shops and farms at this time.

Who cares about them? Anyway, Duke Joey is dead, and who the next successor will be is still a question. It's important to rob the city clean at this time.

After visiting the Lord's Castle, Fran. Cherit discovered something was wrong.

The castle was too empty, he thought, not just coins, the entire basement didn't even have cloth or food left. Several places where murals hung only left blank walls, there wasn't a single book in the cabinets, and even the lord's bedroom bed was gone. The entire castle was as if it had been stripped bare.

Is this something that can be done in a hasty retreat? Fran felt a faint sense of unease in his heart. If these things had not been slowly transported away from the beginning, it would have been impossible for the castle to have been so thoroughly searched.

Just as he was about to go to the City Hall to take a look, a thick black smoke suddenly billowed from the north gate.

"What's going on, a fire?"

"I don't know, sir, I've already sent Moriel to take a look," the guard captain said, "Perhaps the enemy is deliberately setting fires."

That's right, the Duke's first thought was also a trap, but he quickly realized that this method of sealing the gate with fire was meaningless. First of all, not to mention that you can bypass the city gate and climb directly out of the earthen slope, even if you just light a fire, if no one takes the opportunity to attack, an organized team can quickly extinguish the fire source.

The correct usage should be to set up troops in the city, and when fires break out everywhere, take advantage of the enemy's panic and launch a surprise attack. This can effectively disrupt the enemy's formation and even force them to retreat. As he said, a trap without anyone to operate it is just a dead thing.

Just then, black smoke also billowed from the other three gates, and the north gate could already see the flames, and the flames were spreading rapidly, as if it were piled with straw. Cries of civilians came from the city, and it seemed that some people's houses were on fire.

This is not right... the Duke thought, he came in from the north gate, where there was no flammable material, only an open space! But if there is no flammable material, how could the fire spread so quickly? Wait... a thought suddenly flashed through his mind, could it be that Garcia. Wimbledon secretly recruited witches?

Fran touched the God's Stone of Retribution hanging around his neck, and felt a little more at ease. If it was witch fire, he could just wade through it directly. The flames of evil would not hurt him at all. Moreover, every member of the guard team wore this thing, so it wouldn't pose much of a threat. As for those freemen who didn't have the money to donate to the church, the Duke couldn't care less about them at this time.

This city is a bit evil, he decided to go out first. The army could camp at the south gate, which could monitor Eagle City and meet the cavalry team returning with the new king. Thinking of this, he ordered the guard captain: "We will leave the city from the south. Blow the call to gather the troops on the way to bring the team together."

"Yes, sir!"

The group set off immediately, but when they arrived near the south gate, they found that the fire had spread to the urban area, and large areas of houses were on fire. The heat wave forced them to retreat constantly. The city people who had been hiding in their houses and closing their doors were now running out. The streets were full of people, and even the guards' swords could not stop them from fleeing in panic to the unburned open space. For a time, everyone seemed to be trapped in a sea of fire, surrounded by thick smoke and flames.

"Calm down! You go find a well and get water to put out the fire," Duke Fran quickly issued a series of orders, "Don't worry about the houses, just put out the burning obstacles on the street and clear a path. Don't stop the rallying call, let others know our location!"

"Duke!" A knight ran from the direction of the city center. Before he could stop his horse, he had already jumped off his horse. It was Moriel who had been sent to the north gate by the guard captain earlier. "Sir, the fire at the north gate cannot be extinguished at all!"

"What are you talking about?" Fra asked in surprise, "Cannot be extinguished?"

"The flames are burning on those black waters," she said quickly, "Not only will they not be extinguished by water, but they can also flow along the water! Sir, the entire northern district is on fire!"

"Unextinguishable flames..." he murmured, "That's right, it seems to be the fire of evil." Then the Duke shouted loudly, "Everyone, don't panic. This is Garcia using evil witches to cast the fire of evil! As long as you wear the God's Stone of Retribution, this flame may seem terrible, but it cannot burn you at all!"

"I see, may you be merciful," Moriel subconsciously stroked her chest, "Then, sir, what should we do?"

"What are you afraid of with the God's Stone of Retribution! Everyone, get on your horses, we will rush over," the Duke waved his hand and said, "These evil fires will naturally disappear without a trace when they encounter the God's Stone!" He paused, "Moriel, you take a group of people out first, and I will stay here to gather the people coming up from behind."

"Yes!" The female knight nodded, "Take care, sir. Everyone else, pay attention to keeping up!"

Then she jumped on her horse and rushed towards the end of the scorching street without hesitation.