Chapter 221 The Situation Turns Around

A person without a global perspective cannot serve as the commander of the main army.

Especially the commander of the main army in the North, because he often faces wars, the requirements are higher.

At this moment, Stein did not know that King Roger had already planned to replace him.

On the fifth day after Stein led his troops to Harden Castle, it suddenly rained heavily.

At dusk, Stein led the guards to patrol the city and found that many veterans were hiding under the eaves to avoid the rain. The queues were messy. When they saw the superior coming, they returned to their teams. The queues were not neat in a hurry, and the morale seemed to be relatively low.

Stein opened his mouth, but finally did not punish the soldiers. In such bad rainy weather, it is too inhumane to require the army to be neat and the morale to be high.

The combat effectiveness of soldiers depends largely on morale.

Morale is also a mental state with great fluctuations.

Only those who can mobilize and boost morale in adversity can be regarded as excellent commanding officers.

Stein had not been in the Northern Legion for long, but he had not achieved any success and had punished many of his fellow soldiers, which had caused many officers and soldiers to complain. Although the officers and soldiers at the grassroots level could not afford to offend him, it was more difficult for him to get into the hearts of the soldiers than it was for the former legion commander Zachli.

So Stein could only rule the army with a tolerant attitude.

Once he was too strict, his prestige was not high, and he punished officers and soldiers for some trivial matters, causing them to rebel and mutiny, which would be particularly troublesome to deal with.

Stein walked around the city wall and was about to withdraw when he suddenly heard a shout. The sound came from the lookout.

Hearing the shout, Stein looked up and asked the lookout, "What are you panicking about? What happened?"

"Three miles away from the city, it seems that a large group of orcs are approaching!" The sentry's voice was a little frightened, and he wiped his eyes to make himself more sober.

"Quick, climb up the lookout and have a look. Let the soldiers gather immediately."

Stein reacted quickly. He immediately ordered his personal soldiers to climb up the lookout to observe the enemy situation, and ordered the soldiers to notify the reserve team to assemble.

The quality of the Northern Army was very good. After hearing the assembly order, they did not delay and quickly completed the assembly despite the heavy rain outside.

There was another thunder in the sky, and a lightning bolt struck down, winding, and the thick clouds in the sky seemed to be split apart.

It was not easy to light the wolf smoke on a rainy day, and it was also difficult to convey the message by sound and flag. The news of the orcs' siege was difficult to convey to William in the big camp outside the city.

Seeing that the orcs began to gather outside the city gate, the important officers in Harden Castle climbed up to the top of the city. Zachli and Rab roughly estimated the number of orcs, and found that Stein had no next order, so they immediately went together to find the highest officer of the garrison.

The situation was urgent. Rab did not say anything polite. He grabbed Stein's arm and said, "The Warcraft Cavalry is not suitable for defending the city. Please ask the legion commander to order the soldiers to open the city gate, lower the drawbridge, and let the Warcraft Cavalry Brigade go out of the city to flank the orcs and cooperate with the defenders. After we leave the city, we will send troops to notify William."

"It is very threatening to lower the drawbridge now. Will the orcs rush over immediately and disrupt your formation?"

"The Warcraft Cavalry is very powerful, and the officers and soldiers are of high quality. It only takes a short time to rush out of the city gate. When the Warcraft Cavalry has space to fight, it will not be difficult to defeat one or two orc brigades."

Seeing that the orcs were already making the final assembly and time could not be delayed, Zakli also stepped forward to persuade them.

Although Stein was a bit suspicious and indecisive, he still listened to the opinions of the two at the critical moment. He immediately ordered the Warcraft Cavalry Brigade to go out of the city to fight, and passed the message to William outside the castle.

The Warcraft Cavalry Brigade had just left the city when the orcs completed the assembly.

The orcs advanced very quickly, and in a short time they were already two or three hundred steps away from the top of the city and within the range of the trebuchets.

Although counterweight trebuchets can be used on rainy days, they will greatly affect the accuracy and range of the trebuchets.

Dozens of catapults in Harden Castle continuously launched stone bombs, and heavy stone bombs fell from the sky, occasionally hitting the advancing orc formation, smashing the siege orcs into meat patties.

Seeing this tragic scene, the orc army formation was not in chaos at all.

Although Stein had little experience in war, he was also a noble officer with family inheritance. After seeing this scene, he immediately found that the siege orcs were elite soldiers.

The most elite soldiers of the Northern Legion were all outside the city, and the combat effectiveness of the defenders on the top of the city was slightly weaker.

Seeing the orcs so ferocious, Stein was a little scared when the strong soldiers were outside.

On the contrary, Zakli had no joy or anger on his face, and he commanded the soldiers to shoot feather arrows like a robot.

Seeing the soldiers of the Redeemer Legion start to shoot arrows, the soldiers of the Northern Legion also followed the rhythm of the Redeemer Legion soldiers and fired feather arrows one after another.

There were 26,000 defenders in Harden Castle, and the front-line troops guarding the top of the city were as high as 19,000.

More than half of the 19,000 soldiers were equipped with bows and arrows. There were 2,000 to 3,000 archers on each wall.

This round of arrow rain was very dense, and some orcs in the front row were shot down immediately.

The elite orcs reacted quickly and entered the archers' range. The minotaurs showed diamond-shaped shields. These shields were extremely wide and thick, weighing hundreds of pounds on each side. Only powerful orcs such as minotaurs and snake-bodied people could lift them.

The orcs connected the shields together, as if they had built a shield wall out of thin air, blocking the crossbow arrows.

A moat about ten meters wide was dug outside Harden Castle. The moat is relatively shallow, about two meters deep, and cannot pass large ships.

In the blink of an eye, the orcs had rushed to the moat in the heavy rain. The kobolds were very fast. They rushed out from behind the big shield, jumped off the moat one after another, and swam across the river bank quickly.

Arrows rained down from the city, but the orcs didn't care and continued to rush forward. The corpses of the kobolds floated on the moat, and as time went by, the moat was actually filled.

It rained heavily for a while, and the sound of killing was loud on the battlefield.

The kobolds crossing the river built bunkers with the corpses of their companions, and then used long wooden poles to lay planks on them to build a simple pontoon bridge.

Some tall tauren jumped off the moat and used their bodies as piers to support the pontoon.

After crossing the moat, the orc soldiers used slings to throw stone projectiles. Some orcs who could shoot arrows also began to use the corpses of their companions as cover to shoot at the top of the city.

Although the exchange ratio was very bad, there were still casualties on the city. Many soldiers were stoned to death and injured, and shrill cries came from the city walls.

The grassroots officers cooperated tacitly. While organizing a rain of arrows to suppress the orcs, they also asked the auxiliary troops to quickly transfer the wounded to avoid affecting the morale of the front line.

The orcs fought bravely, and after three thousand casualties, they finally cleared the obstacles to the siege, filled in the trenches, and built a wide pontoon bridge.

It was already evening and the rain finally stopped.

The dark clouds have gradually dispersed, and the setting sun shines on the top of the city, and the dark red city wall seems to be bleeding.

Stein came to the front line in person, with a gloomy look on his face, and shouted to the messenger: "Inform the trebuchet crew to replace it with alchemy bombs and oil fire bombs."

Of course, Grant Kingdom has alchemy bombs, but these alchemy bombs are purchased and very expensive. The main army will equip some.

Within the Northern Army, if there was no war, the reserve of alchemy bombs would be between one and two hundred.

If it is used up in the war, it cannot be replenished in a short time.

In addition to alchemy bombs, the main army will also stock up on explosive arrows and oil fire bombs.

Explosive Arrows can be refined by the Grant Mage Association and are more powerful than alchemy bombs, but the production cost is very high, exceeding two hundred gold coins.

But because the Grant Mage Association can refine it itself, the reserves of the main army are actually higher. The combined reserves of the legion headquarters, brigade, and squadron amounted to more than 500 coins.

If used once, it would be enough to severely damage several brigades of orcs.

As the name suggests, oil fire bombs are mainly made of light petroleum. When making, they are mixed with a certain proportion of flammable substances such as sulfur, asphalt, rosin, and resin, and then put into sealed earthen jars.

When used, ignite the oil fire bomb and then throw it out with a trebuchet.

Seeing that the weather had improved, Stein immediately ordered the use of oil and fire bombs and alchemy bombs.

Dozens of trebuchets made a bang, and dozens of fireballs flew directly up, crossing an arc and falling into the orc formation.

The oil and fire bombs shattered upon contact, and flames flew everywhere, igniting the armor and hair on the orcs' bodies.

The raw materials used for oil fire bombs are special. Not only are they lightweight and extremely flammable, they are also difficult to extinguish even if they hit the water.

The flames sputtering everywhere are like gangrene on the bones. The burning ghosts were crying and wolves were howling, which was extremely miserable.

Even the orcs' siege equipment was ignited by oil and fire bombs.

Seeing that the siege of the city was blocked, the orcs immediately changed their tactics, and the snake-like heavy infantry appeared in large numbers.

In order to avoid the attack of the trebuchets, the serpentine heavy infantry ranks were very dispersed and mixed among the orcs. At the same time, the harpies also began to circle around the city, looking for opportunities to launch a surprise attack.

Discovering that the Snake Man had changed his tactics, Stein reacted quickly and adjusted his tactics, abandoning the use of trebuchets and instead handing the alchemy bomb to the professional officers of the Northern Legion.

Let them choose the timing of the throw and specifically hunt down orc professionals.

At the foot of the city wall, explosions continued to sound.

The alchemy bomb used by the Northern Army was twice as powerful as the version made by Richard because of the use of fire crystals.

An alchemy bomb exploded beside him, and even a third-level snake-like man would be hard-pressed to survive the explosion.

Alchemy bombs were used continuously at any time, and the orc professionals suffered heavy casualties immediately. Only a few snake-like people broke into the city wall and began to climb the city wall.

Seeing that the snake-shaped man risked his own life and broke through the blockade, the harpy also lowered his altitude and launched energy missiles.

In an instant, hundreds of energy missiles exploded on the city wall, causing an immediate loss of more than 200 soldiers.

More than two hundred people were killed or injured, causing a certain degree of chaos in an instant.

Seeing that the harpy had lowered its height, the archers of the Northern Legion aimed their bows and arrows at the harpy and fired explosive arrows.

Two to three hundred archers fired arrows together, shooting more than two hundred explosive arrows, and actually hunted and killed more than eighty harpies.

Such heavy casualties immediately frightened the harpies, making them afraid to hover at low altitudes.

Snakes are good at climbing. Once they get close to the city wall, they can climb up very quickly.

Some serpents scaled the walls, causing some confusion.

Stein discovered that the snake-like people had climbed up the city wall and immediately organized professional officers to drive them away.

Zachary drew elites from the reserve team, like a fire brigade, to constantly put out danger.

Just when Harden Castle was in a bitter battle, Captain Rab led the Warcraft Cavalry Brigade, defeated the Orc Wolf Cavalry, and began to flank the Orcs' right wing.

After leaving the city, Rab informed William of the news.

After receiving the battle report, William took three battalions of soldiers and took the initiative to attack the left wing of the orc army.

The orcs had more troops. After discovering the enemy on both wings, the orcs decisively drew troops and mobilized five battalions to block them. Two battalions blocked the Warcraft cavalry, and three battalions intercepted William.

The reason why the Northern Legion was able to annihilate an orc legion was because of the unexpected surprise attack.

The orcs braved the heavy rain and also launched a surprise attack, but they met Stein, a cautious commander.

The unsuccessful surprise attack was equivalent to kicking down the iron plate and turned into a siege battle.

Although the Warcraft cavalry battalion was powerful, it was too few in number. Instead, William commanded the elite infantry of the Northern Legion to first break through the orcs' line and defeat the orcs' reinforcements.

Although the orcs had more troops, they were at a disadvantage in the siege.

Seeing that the reinforcements had broken through the interception and the siege failed, the orcs immediately blew the horn of retreat.

The orcs attacking the city were elite, and they followed orders and retreated quickly, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.

After repelling the orcs' siege, Stein immediately sent the Warcraft Cavalry to chase and kill them.

As a result, the orcs were well prepared, and two orc battalions fought desperately to stop them, and the remaining wolf cavalry also mustered up the courage to fight the Warcraft Cavalry.

Although the Warcraft Cavalry Battalion killed 400 orc soldiers, it also lost 30 people.

This exchange ratio was a bit disadvantageous for the Warcraft Cavalry.

It is difficult to form the Warcraft Cavalry, while it is relatively easy to train the orc soldiers. Even if ten are exchanged for one, the Warcraft Cavalry will still suffer.

Seeing that the Warcraft Cavalry suffered a loss, Stein immediately ordered and blew the horn of retreat, choosing to stop while he was ahead.

In this surprise attack, the orcs suffered a great loss, with 8,000 soldiers lost. The casualties of the defenders of Baron Harden's castle were lighter, with a loss of 2,300.

After this battle, the orcs' military advantage has been weakened a lot, and the situation in the entire northern border has gradually reversed.

Although the Orc Empire is very powerful, half of its troops must be placed on the 6,000-kilometer border with the Holy Glorious Empire.

The remaining half must be divided to keep an eye on the undead-contaminated areas within the territory.

In addition, garrison troops must be left in key areas such as the orc capital.

The troops that can be used to invade the Grant Kingdom, the Ryan Kingdom, the Principality of Larsong, the Principality of Cromia, and the Grand Duchy of Stannik are only 30% to 40% of the strength.

However, this 30% to 40% of the strength makes it difficult for the five human countries to deal with it.