On October 10, 1780, in the Common Calendar of the Galentea Continent, the long-awaited duel between Storm Sword Saint Magrut and the newly ascended Sword Saint, Grand Duke of Northland
At the same time, the Norton Family forces had achieved a great victory over the Commercial Alliance forces on the battlefield. After fighting for most of the day, Grand Duke Lorist had no desire to continue tangling with the Storm Sword Saint and voluntarily withdrew from Little Lonely Hill. The veteran Storm Sword Saint Magrut did not give the newly ascended Sword Saint Grand Duke Lorist any opening during their duel, thereby redeeming his reputation after both had been injured in their first encounter. Yet after the duel, the Storm Sword Saint spoke highly of Grand Duke Lorist's swordsmanship before his disciples...
——Excerpted from the Chronicles of the Galentea Continent On October 10, 1780, the field battle fought in Bruvia City on the Mana Hill Plains between the Commercial Alliance forces and the Norton Family forces marked the first time in Galentea Continent's military history that firearms decided the outcome of a decisive battle. The Commercial Alliance forces fielded a total strength of 340,000, while the Norton Family forces, combined with their allied corps, numbered only 220,000—numerically at a disadvantage but possessing an overwhelming advantage in long-range weaponry.
Post-battle analysis and campaign research revealed that the tactics and command employed by the Commercial Alliance forces in this decisive battle contained no errors whatsoever. In fact, shortly after the battle began, they had perfectly suppressed the Norton Family's long-range attack tactics, creating excellent conditions for launching large-scale assaults and close combat. What the Commercial Alliance forces had not anticipated was that the Norton Family would deploy bronze cannons and explosive charges—two devastating weapons that determined the outcome of the war.
Many survivors of the Commercial Alliance forces who experienced this decisive battle unanimously used terms like "bolt from the blue," "thunder from the heavens," and "earth-shattering" when describing their impressions of the bronze cannons and explosive charges. Many also claimed these were nothing less than demonic weapons—all you saw was a flash of fire, a deafening roar, countless black specks filling the sky in your field of vision, accompanied by a foul stench of burning. By the time you snapped back to reality, you would find your comrades, dear as brothers, lying on the ground riddled with holes, struggling for their lives. Under such circumstances, very few could hold their nerve...
The explosive charges rained down from the sky, flipping over long-arm catapults and massive wooden shield wagons. For the Commercial Alliance's thousand-man battle formations, there was virtually nowhere on the battlefield to take cover. If they massed together and held their ground, the solution was simple—the Norton Family's highly mobile bronze cannons would quickly close in from a distance of around two hundred meters and fire a few volleys of canister shot, ensuring that those defensive formations determined to hold their position would quickly crumble to pieces.
This was a crushing defeat—the most devastating failure the Commercial Alliance forces had ever suffered in a decisive battle. What they lost was essentially the most elite armed forces of their various chambers of commerce. Over 70,000 were killed or wounded, and nearly 200,000 walked into Free Alliance prisoner-of-war camps. For the next ten years, they would participate in the development and transformation of the Christo Hills, silently contributing their meager strength to atone for the Commercial Alliance's actions.
For the Commercial Alliance forces, the greatest loss was not these 200,000-plus elite chamber of commerce soldiers, but rather the high-tier strike teams composed of fourteen Sword Saints and nearly a hundred Gold Swordsmen. These were the Commercial Alliance's trump card, designed to crush the Norton Family battle lines. Under the cover of a massive all-out assault, these strike teams of Sword Saints and Gold Swordsmen would launch a surprise charge, break into the Norton Family battle lines, guaranteeing to carve open a dozen or more openings, after which the main army would press in and victory would be in sight.
This was a high-tier assault tactic tailored specifically for the Commercial Alliance. Throwing so many Sword Saints and Gold Swordsmen into the front lines—they believed no enemy could withstand such a devastating charge, and the Norton Family forces would be no exception. What these Sword Saints and Gold Swordsmen did not expect was that at a distance of forty to fifty meters—a distance that could be crossed in the blink of an eye—what awaited them were the dark, gaping muzzles of cannons. Many only heard a deafening blast before their entire bodies went numb, losing sensation and strength, and darkness quickly descended...
All fourteen Sword Saints and nearly a hundred Gold Swordsmen fell during their charge. For the Commercial Alliance forces, this was virtually a fatal blow. Elite chamber of commerce soldiers who were lost could be conscripted and trained again, but these high-tier fighters could not be so easily replaced—many had been painstakingly cultivated by their respective chambers of commerce over decades at enormous cost. Yet amid the thunderous roar of the Norton Family's cannons, these elite fighters fell just the same as the ordinary chamber of commerce soldiers beside them, their corpses mingled together, their blood flowing into rivers, the two becoming indistinguishable...
The overall commander of the Norton Family's three artillery battalions, Schwade, did not have all the cannons fire simultaneously. Instead, he arranged them in four rotating volleys. Since all the cannons were loaded with canister shot, a single cannon could cover an area of roughly ten meters ahead. After one cannon fired, the next would follow with only a brief pause, and by the time the fourth cannon fired, the first had already reloaded and was ready to fire again. This artillery rotation tactic delivered the heaviest and most devastating blow to the Commercial Alliance forces—the more than thirty thousand warriors at the vanguard were almost entirely wiped out.
Various nations had exhausted every means to obtain the true secret of Norton Family gunpowder. The most absurd part was that the Norton Family's genuine gunpowder formula had spread across the continent within twenty years, yet researchers dismissed it as a fake formula because it seemed too simple and ordinary. Another reason was the lack of saltpeter mines, which made it impossible to verify various gunpowder recipes. At that time, researchers across the nations unanimously believed the Norton Family had found a substitute for saltpeter, which was why they were able to equip cannons on such a large scale...
Comberlate, Grand Duke and president of the Twin Dragon Chamber of Commerce, granted his beloved granddaughter's request on his ninetieth birthday and spent several years dictating a memoir, which his granddaughter compiled. The memoir revealed how the Commercial Alliance went from prosperity to decline and eventual disintegration. What left the deepest impression on President Comberlate was the battle beneath Bruvia City, for this war was the pivotal moment in the Commercial Alliance's decline.
Many people believed after the war that since the Commercial Alliance forces' tactics and command were flawless, the only thing worth examining was that Grand Duke Comberlate, who served as the overall commander, seemed overly hasty—he had ordered the entire army to press forward with a large-scale assault too early, giving the Norton Family forces the opportunity to deliver a fatal blow. However, in this memoir, Grand Duke Comberlate explained that at the time, he was under pressure from the threat posed by Sword Saint Norton Lorist, Grand Duke of Northland, and intended to defeat the Norton Family forces before Grand Duke Lorist and the Storm Sword Saint concluded their duel, establishing an accomplished fact that the newly ascended Sword Saint could not deny.
In his memoir, Grand Duke Comberlate reflected on this far-reaching war, believing it was Grand Duke Lorist, the newly ascended Sword Saint, whose challenge disrupted all of the Commercial Alliance's prior arrangements, causing over 300,000 elite troops to languish in their camp for a full month, completely losing control of the battlefield's initiative. If time could be reversed, Grand Duke Comberlate would have chosen to withdraw and wage a protracted war against the Free Alliance, rather than foolishly accepting the challenge, losing the bulk of the Commercial Alliance's elite forces in a single battle and ultimately allowing the Free Alliance to supplant the Commercial Alliance's position.
Regarding the Norton Family's devastating weapons—cannons and explosive charges—Grand Duke Comberlate admitted this was his oversight, since the Commercial Alliance's leadership had heard rumors that the Norton Family possessed cannons. When they first sent Sword Saints to the Northland to hunt down and assassinate the gravely wounded Grand Duke Lorist, they had already suffered a severe setback—four Sword Saints were killed by cannon fire. However, at the time, the Commercial Alliance's leadership was captivated by the weapons and equipment design blueprints obtained from the Norton Family's secret production base, and they neglected this crucial information. Since those assassinating Sword Saints had been hired at great expense rather than being reserve forces cultivated by the chambers of commerce themselves, the deaths of a few Sword Saints did not draw serious attention.
The second time was the total annihilation of the Commercial Alliance's Invincible Fleet. In that naval battle, the Norton Family's lightning strike fleet played an undeniable role—the Invincible Fleet was in truth defeated by long-range naval cannon fire. But unfortunately, the Commercial Alliance leadership who received the news at the time drew an erroneous conclusion: they believed cannons could only be effective when mounted on ships, and because they were too cumbersome to maneuver on land, they unconsciously excluded them from their strategic planning.
This was why the Commercial Alliance forces had made elaborate preparations in the Bruvia City decisive battle to counter the Norton Family's armored war chariots, steel crossbows, and catapults—two major long-range attack weapons—yet had no plan whatsoever for dealing with cannons and explosive charges. Grand Duke Comberlate wrote a thought-provoking lament in his memoir: because one had not personally experienced something, one always doubted others' accounts as exaggerations. Only when facing the very predicament others had described did one understand and regret one's mistakes...
Of course, there were still twenty to thirty years before Grand Duke Comberlate would write his memoir. Lorist had already left Bruvia City and returned to his villa on Brin Hill in
Schwade ordered one artillery battalion to follow Farea's Hunting Cavalry Corps, leading the White Lion Corps in a charge toward the Commercial Alliance's Maweflin Province. The purpose was simple—they intended to plunder some spoils. After all, the White Lion Corps had made this journey as reinforcements and couldn't very well return empty-handed. So after a brief consultation among several senior Family knights, the decision was made: take a trip through the Commercial Alliance's territory and skim off some wealth. The Commercial Alliance was now like a beauty stripped of her clothes, utterly powerless to resist—it would have been rude not to take advantage. Besides, Tiger Ross had already set the example for everyone...
When forces invaded again, they would pick up weapons and fight the invaders to the death for their own interests.
It was not until winter of 1781 passed and the rainy season arrived that the Norton Family forces and the White Lion Corps withdrew from the Mana Hill Plains. Those surrounding provinces of the Mana Hill Plains had become a rare blank zone—a truly bizarre situation in the densely populated south-central part of the continent. Meanwhile, the Norton Family forces and the White Lion Corps had filled their coffers to the brim and returned to the Mana Hill Plains in high spirits, escorting vast columns of prisoners and creating countless administrative headaches for the Free Alliance.
Lorist received a batch of high-ranking captives escorted by the Angry Bear Knight Order at Brin Hill Villa. Among them was President Peterson, one of the Commercial Alliance's Seven Giants. This old acquaintance of Lorist's had been unlucky—an explosive charge landed near him during his escape, rendering him unconscious. Then his mount collapsed, pinning him underneath. When several attendants rushed back to rescue him, they were surrounded by a squad of light cavalry from the Hunting Cavalry Corps that had flanked them, and so President Peterson became Lorist's honored guest.
Holding a cup of Maxwell tea beverage offered by Jenorio—ah, this was Jenorio's new invention: he had placed tea leaves into the pot used for brewing Maxwell, added milk, and produced a rich, milky drink. In truth, Jenorio had been half-asleep that day and, while brewing Maxwell, mistakenly thought he was making tea and added leaves. When he discovered he had made a pot of brown, strange concoction, Reidi tasted it and said, "Add some more milk and see what it becomes." And so milk tea made its appearance in the history of beverages on the Galentea Continent.
President Peterson had no attention to spare for what was in his hands. He looked at Lorist, overwhelmed with emotion. The young instructor at
Lorist merely gave a mild recap of his past friendly dealings with the Peterson Chamber of Commerce, then frankly told President Peterson that after this war, the Commercial Alliance's vitality had been severely damaged. If they did not change course, the Norton Family forces would not hesitate to press the attack relentlessly and drive the Commercial Alliance to destruction. The Norton Family forces had long declared that their purpose in this war was solely to bring peace to the Mana Hill Plains...
Lorist seemed to have momentarily forgotten that his Family's forces were at that very moment burning, killing, and plundering in the Commercial Alliance's territory. He made it clear to President Peterson that the Commercial Alliance's only viable path was to quickly dispatch envoys to sue for peace. Only by promptly signing a ceasefire agreement with the Free Alliance and the Andinak Kingdom to restore peace could they hope to survive. Perhaps in a few decades, the Commercial Alliance might have the chance to rise again; otherwise, annihilation was the only outcome.
...