When the enemy came into view in the distance, Vanna saw the fully armed knights on their tall horses, clad in shining armor, slowly approaching the town. Normally, even a single knight was a figure of high status in the town, but now there were nearly a hundred of them, and the sight made him gasp.

Vanna felt his palms sweating again, just like the first time he faced the Evil Beasts on the city walls. This time, however, he was facing his own kind – the noble coalition of the Longsong Stronghold.

No, he spat and pushed the thought aside. His own kind? When had those nobles ever considered him one of their own? he thought self-deprecatingly. They were here to seize Border Town and bring the North Slope Mine back under the control of the Stronghold. More importantly, they actually intended to drive His Highness the Prince out of the Western Region, which was something the entire First Army could not accept.

His Highness had made it clear during the pre-battle briefing yesterday that Tiffy Co. Wimbledon, his brother, had used tricks and conspiracies to usurp the throne and had killed the old King Wimbledon III. Vanna didn't have any opinion on these matters between the royal family and the nobles – who cares who the king is? But Duke Laine wanted to take this opportunity to seize His Highness's territory, which was too much.

Think about what Border Town was like before His Highness came here. The previous lord seemed to be a count, rarely seen, and always accompanied by guards when buying furs, often forcing hunters to sell their best goods at low prices. He was the first to flee when the Months of Demons arrived, and never asked about the townspeople suffering in the slums of the Stronghold.

Now, Border Town was getting better and better under the governance of His Highness the Prince, and everyone could see the changes. Vanna thought that the more the miners produced, the more they were paid. After His Highness put that black machine into the North Slope Mine, the extra output was still counted towards the miners. Whether it was building the city walls or crushing rocks in the mine, the villagers were paid on time. No one even starved or froze to death this winter.

Of course, the biggest change was the militia – no, the First Army now. With them guarding the town, everyone no longer had to huddle in the cold wooden shacks of the Stronghold in winter, begging the big shots for a bite of food. If His Highness the Prince were gone, would the Duke still allow the First Army to exist?

Vanna took two deep breaths and wiped the sweat from his hands on his clothes. Of course, they wouldn't allow it. The nobles of the Stronghold didn't care about the lives of the townspeople. That's what His Highness said: Only an army composed of the people will be willing to fight for the people.

He looked up at the left side of the sky. In the distance, there was a faint black spot circling, which one would mistake for a large bird if one didn't pay attention. That was the firing commander of the artillery group – Lightning. She was using the trees on both sides of the road as cover, observing the enemy's movements from above. When she flew back, Vanna had also noticed that as long as she didn't go to open areas, people below who looked up would only see the branches on both sides, making it difficult to spot the witch scouting above.

Lightning had flown to a position closer to the front line for a moment and flashed a green ribbon.

That meant that the enemy had entered the 1000-meter range for preparatory firing. Vanna didn't know exactly how far "1000 meters" was, as His Highness had mentioned, but when he saw the green signal, he subconsciously shouted the commands to load and adjust the angle of fire, as he had done during the comprehensive exercises.

The four artillery groups quickly completed this set of actions. The muzzle elevation was adjusted to the third level, and both the gunpowder and solid cannonballs had been loaded into the chamber.

He had thought that standing on the city wall to fight against the Evil Beasts was already considered experienced, but Vanna realized today that he was still far behind Iron Axe and Brian. His heart had been having a hard time remaining steady since the assembly that afternoon. But these two led their respective groups into firing positions, not only with calm expressions, but he could even hear a hint of eagerness in Brian's voice. Yet even now, he still hadn't calmed down. Even the Rodney brothers seemed to be performing better than him. This made Vanna feel a little frustrated.

He licked his dry lips and looked for Lightning's position again.

Just then, the enemy's speed suddenly slowed down a lot.

"What are they doing?" Rodney asked.

"I don't know," Cat's Paw stared wide-eyed, "They seem to be adjusting their formation? Their men look a little disorganized."

"They're waiting for the troops behind," Yuzu Pi's voice trembled slightly, "Knights can't fight alone, there must be a large number of people behind them."

"How do you know that?" Nelson pouted.

"I've seen it! A knight always brings at least two squires, and a dozen serfs to carry food and fodder for them," he counted on his fingers, "Look, a duke of a stronghold has at least a hundred knights under him, right? There are at least three hundred people who can fight on horseback. Plus the counts and viscounts in the territory... there are even more! And the mercenaries, they're all bloodthirsty guys who don't blink an eye when killing! We only have three hundred people in total."

Less than three hundred, Vanna corrected in his mind. The musket team only had more than two hundred and seventy people equipped with weapons, which His Highness called insufficient production capacity. Now those without muskets had been assigned to the artillery groups to carry ammunition for the four cannons. But seeing that there were others who were performing even worse than him, he felt a little better.

"That's the mercenaries, they're here!" Yuzu Pi exclaimed.

Vanna looked up and saw a group of people dressed in motley clothes gradually occupying the front of the battlefield. They were not riding horses or forming ranks, but gathering in the middle of the field in twos and threes. The knights spread out to both sides, seemingly giving way to the mercenaries. Compared to half a quarter of an hour ago, the Duke's coalition was much closer to him.

At this moment, a knight galloped out of the coalition and rushed towards Border Town. Vanna's heart tightened, and he almost shouted the order to fire.

What was he going to do? He looked up and still didn't see Lightning, but the other party was getting closer and closer, waving a white flag at the same time.

"He's the Duke's envoy," Yuzu Pi muttered, "He should be here to persuade us to surrender."

"That's none of our business," Rodney squatted behind the cannon, aligning his sight with the centerline of the barrel, "Squad leader, the cannon needs to be adjusted, most of the knights have left the field."

During the previous live-fire exercises, they had been repeatedly taught that the cannon's attack range was on the straight line in front of the muzzle, so to hit the target, the target must overlap with the centerline of the barrel. The five people together slightly rotated the cannon cart until they re-included the knight force at the front of the coalition in the direction pointed to by the muzzle.

The envoy who came alone was then escorted behind the defense line by Carter, but Vanna knew that the Duke's move was just a waste of time. His Highness the Prince would never agree to surrender.

Suddenly, Lightning accelerated towards the town's defense line, her arms waving, the yellow ribbon in her hand fluttering in the wind.

The yellow signal represents that the other party has entered the 100-meter range. Within this distance, the solid cannonballs of the cannon have a chance to hit the target. As long as the artillery squad leader has not signaled to prohibit firing, each artillery group can fire freely.

The team members also noticed this signal, and everyone turned their attention to Vanna, who nodded and took a deep breath, "Fire!"