Cat Princess and Human Knight

Chapter 47 An Impregnable Defense Line

Rocky hills, Eagle's Beak Pass.

The muscular leopard cat Ironthorn Knight led the way, while Yi Yin and the orange cat Paladin Bell followed behind, appreciating the splendor of this formidable defensive line of the rocky hills.

As a stepped geographical feature from plateau to plain, the scree hills have maintained the regional characteristics of soldiers in the north and merchants in the south for many years.

The Eagle Beak Mountains in the north are responsible for defending against attacks from nomadic cats from the boundless plateau, while the Emerald Mountains in the southeast and the Sentinel River basin are responsible for trade and commerce.

In terms of overall layout, the north is rugged and impoverished, while the south is flat and prosperous. This is also the biggest contradiction that caused the nobles of the north and south to be outwardly friendly but inwardly at odds.

The responsibilities and obligations are unequal. Some suffer from drought while others suffer from floods. Those who protect others from disaster are so poor they have no pants to wear, while those who make money are practically living in a golden toilet.

Therefore, when Princess Sophia the Short-legged Cat arrived at Eagle's Beak Pass, the Marquis of Iron Oak certainly wouldn't give her a pleasant look.

Countess Amber left the Shattered Hills during the tournament, but even without her meddling, the Marquis of Iron Oak would not have had any goodwill toward the Duke of Snowclaw's vassals.

As the most important defensive point in the entire Eagle Beak Mountain Range, a military conference is being held in the main fortress high up at Eagle Beak Pass.

Sophia, the Duchess of Huru, is involved in the event, accompanied by Luna, the calico cat knight.

As the orange cat paladin Bel is a member of the Golden Flame Knights, he cannot participate in the cat race's secular wars and naturally must avoid suspicion.

The human knight, Yi Yin, although he was qualified to attend the meeting as a knight of Sophia, none of the noble cats wanted to see him at the meeting.

If the human leaders attend the meeting, how can everyone continue to make veiled accusations and hurl insults?

Marquis Iron Oak was also holding back, preparing to vehemently criticize Sophia's lord, Duke Snowclaw, for being a worthless scoundrel who only sent Sophia's army north, while he himself stayed behind with his own loyal followers to observe.

Therefore, the Iron Thorn Knight, who had fought Yi Yin in the arena and had some acquaintance with him, was sent out to take Yi Yin and Bell to tour the surrounding area and see the scenery.

This is an obstacle that Sophia must overcome. Yi Yin can only hope that the cunning little cat can withstand the criticism and swallow his pride, and not be kicked back by the Marquis of Iron Oak, otherwise he will truly become a sitting duck.

Looking back at the castle perched atop Eagle's Beak Pass, the main castle, with its Norman-style dome, stood majestically on the cliff, making Yi Yin admire the competence of the cat people in this world.

Without the aid of supernatural powers, they were able to build such a magnificent fortress on such treacherous terrain.

The Ironthorn Knight seemed to sense Yi Yin's surprise and said proudly.

"The Eagle Beak Pass defense system is the best result of years of united efforts by the noble community of the scree hills."

The main castle on the cliff has a base wall up to four meters thick, and a hanging corridor is set up on the edge of the cliff. It is a wooden structure covered with iron sheet.

The outer layer consists of a low wall made of wood and stone, 6 meters high, with a pointed moat. The middle layer is a preliminary stone wall, 9 meters high, with crenellated firing holes. The inner layer is an embedded wall in the mountain, 15 meters high, with spillway holes.

The mountain road leading to the fortress is a zigzag ramp with a minimum turning radius of 7 meters, which can restrict the movement of siege engines.

The cellar inside the mountain within the fortress has long stored twenty tons of cat wheat, ten tons of fish and potatoes, and cured meat from ten deer.

There are springs on the mountain, and vertical wells are over 20 meters deep, equipped with double winches that can independently extract groundwater.

The food and water supplies were sufficient to sustain four hundred regular soldiers and two hundred laborers for six months, even without external support.

Yi Yin nodded and said.

"Wow, that's amazing! He's truly a one-man army, invincible against ten thousand."

The Ironthorn Knight smiled proudly and said modestly.

"It's not that powerful. It's not like one can take on ten thousand. According to military simulations, if we launch a strong attack on the main fortress of Eagle's Beak Pass, the ratio of casualties between the attacking and defending sides could reach nineteen to one."

With 400 regular troops and 200 civilian laborers, they could theoretically inflict at least 6,000 casualties on the invading nomadic cat pack.

The nomadic cat population is only 100,000. Even with a high conscription rate of one in twenty, they cannot afford to lose six thousand able-bodied young warriors.

Therefore, every time the nomadic cats raided the border, they ultimately chose to bypass Eagle's Beak Pass and plunder some supplies outside the mountains.

As long as we are well prepared and transfer personnel and supplies from outside the mountains in advance, we will not suffer too much loss.

The nomadic cats, wanting to plunder enough supplies to replenish their losses from the White Disaster, can only venture into the Starfall Plains. The vast plains there are difficult to defend against, making them ideal for the nomadic cats to harass and raid.

Yi Yin nodded and looked up at the scenery at the edge of the cliff.

The Broken Ridge River flows through a canyon with a drop of tens of meters at some points. A huge amount of river water rushes down from the top, forming waterfalls that are quite spectacular.

The scenery reminded Yi Yin of the poem, "A waterfall plunges three thousand feet, as if the Milky Way were falling from the ninth heaven."

The Ironthorn Knight pointed to the river below the waterfall, where it widened and became gentler, and said.

"A land-based assault on Yinghuo Pass is impossible, but taking a waterway is not easy either."

The waterways of the Broken Ridge River Gorge are filled with reefs and undercurrents, and small boats loaded with rocks sink every 30 meters, creating artificial undercurrents.

There are floating nail rafts on the water, with barbs hammered into the oak planks, which could be lifted up at any time to injure people.

We control the sluice gates. The oak gates are reinforced with iron hoops, allowing us to control the water flow and speed. If any army attempts to cross the river, we will simply open the gates and release the water, enough to overwhelm any army.

Bell nodded.

"This place is indeed an insurmountable barrier. No wonder we haven't heard of any nomadic cats causing huge casualties in the Shattered Hills in the past few decades. All we've heard are stories of bad luck from the Starfall Plains."

If I had to choose, I wouldn't want to crash into this impenetrable wall; it wouldn't be worth dying for.

"Ironthorn Knight laughed."

"This impregnable fortress is the result of the concerted efforts of the entire noble community of the scree hills, protecting the land and people behind us for decades."

However, this generation's Duke Snowclaw is short-sighted and too stingy. He simply doesn't understand the significance of our presence here. The supplies for maintaining the defensive line have been constantly dwindling, creating numerous conflicts.

The Ironthorn Knight became more and more excited as he spoke, but when he saw the awkward expressions on Yi Yin and Bell's faces, he raised his hand and gave a knightly salute, saying...

"I'm sorry, I've gone off on a tangent."

Yi Yin shook his head and sighed.

"It's alright. I don't like that stingy duke either. He's not much to my lady either. He's just been kicked here to be scolded by your marquis."

"Ironthorn Knight laughed."

"Although Marquis Iron Oak has a bit of a temper, he is a responsible tomcat and would never vent his anger on other cats, let alone a lady like Lady Sophia."

Please rest assured, I guarantee that the nobles and knights at the military conference will not make things difficult for Lady Sophia.

Yi Yin nodded.

"That's great!"