Chapter 23: Late Night March

After suffering continuous casualties, the Wald Battalion quickly reacted and gathered its main force to Fort Vick. At this time, only three squadrons of soldiers were left in the Wald Battalion, with a total of no more than 500 orcs.

The Corps Reconnaissance Battalion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Marvin suffered little loss. It participated in two consecutive battles, annihilated more than 300 orcs, and only suffered more than 40 casualties.

Including the mounted infantry commanded by Richard, Lieutenant Colonel Marvin still had more than 200 soldiers under his command. In addition, Harden Castle dispatched more than 60 auxiliary soldiers to escort food and grass to cooperate with Lieutenant Colonel Marvin's actions.

Seeing that the orc soldiers were hiding in Fort Vick like hedgehogs, Lieutenant Colonel Marvin could only stay in a village more than ten miles away from the castle to monitor the orc army.

The orcs avoided fighting, and Lieutenant Colonel Marvin would not choose to attack the city. They carried ten days of rations, and this place was relatively close to the grain storage area in the rear, so there was no problem of food shortage for the time being. They could consume with the orcs.

Besides, the Grant Kingdom is fighting on the interior. Not to mention other directions, the Eagle Corps of the Rah Province has not yet joined the war.

Although the Eagle Corps and the Swallow Corps are not as powerful as the main corps, they are also the regular army of the kingdom. The addition of the Eagle Corps is enough to change the situation on the battlefield and repel the attack of the orcs.

If the Orc Empire does not spend a lot of money and put more power into it, it will be difficult to open up the situation in the north and defeat the hundreds of thousands of Grant Kingdom troops.

Just like the previous wars, it is just to consume some of the national strength of the northern princes. If all the national strength is mobilized to invade, other human forces in the Dawn Continent will not sit idly by and watch the Orc Empire grow, and will definitely send troops to assist the northern princes of the Dawn Continent.

If a war breaks out between humans and orcs, the Orc Empire is no match for the Holy Glorious Empire.

Even if the Seven Gods Church does not intervene, it will be difficult for the Orc Empire to win. If it is not done well, the Orc Empire will be destroyed and exterminated.

There is no shortage of smart people in the Orc Empire, and they have a full understanding of the power comparison between the enemy and us. Every time they invaded, they invested only slightly more force than their opponents.

Most of them were just to capture human slaves and rob production materials, and would never threaten the survival of the Northern Kingdom.

The high-level officials of the Grant Kingdom were also well aware of this situation. Low-ranking officers like Richard were still unaware of this tacit understanding of the high-level officials.

What the people of the Northern Frontier could see was that the orcs burned, killed and looted, and plunged them into a cruel war. Every person in the Northern Frontier had hatred for the orcs in their genes.

After returning to the camp, Richard took off his armor, carefully maintained it, and then put it in a large suitcase.

According to Richard's level, he already had two guards with him, and such things could be handed over to the guards.

It's just that Richard has a modern soul in his body, and he likes to do things with his personal belongings himself, and doesn't like to trouble others.

Moreover, the maintenance of weapons and armor should be done personally to avoid the guards fooling around. If the weapons and armor are not well maintained, and there is a problem in the battle and he is killed by the enemy, it would be very unfair.

Unlike Richard, perhaps because this world is clearly divided into different levels, Marvin, Diara and other officers almost all handed over such trivial matters to the guards. Not only maintaining weapons, but also washing underwear and dressing clothes require the help of guards.

Many officers do not even regard soldiers as human beings in their hearts. Although Richard is not used to all this, he has adapted to it.

After staying near Wick Castle for seven days, the orcs of Wald Brigade remained unmoved as it was about to enter the end of May.

Wick Castle has stored a lot of food. The food in the baron's warehouse is enough for hundreds of orcs to eat for ten years. Moreover, even if the food is exhausted, the orcs can still eat people.

Lieutenant Colonel Marvin's subordinates are all cavalry, and they are not familiar with how to attack the city.

Richard commands half a squadron of soldiers, which are considered mounted infantry. They are proficient in siege tactics, but they are too few in number and have no siege equipment to use.

It takes a long time to make siege equipment, and it also requires skilled craftsmen. The conditions for siege in a short time are not mature.

After careful consideration, Lieutenant Colonel Marvin decided to lead his troops to leave, cross the Pratos Mountains, cooperate with Baron Harden in the battle, and attack the orc transport team.

Before crossing the Pratos Mountains, Lieutenant Colonel Marvin decided to return to Harden Castle first to replenish some food and pack animals.

They carried fifteen days of food, and in an emergency, they could kill pack horses for meat, and they could last for about ten days.

The upper half of the Pratos Mountains runs east-west, and the lower half runs north-south. If you look down from a high altitude, it looks like a 120-degree arc, and the end is connected to the Eagle Mountains.

The Pratos Fortress Group is located in the middle of the mountain range, turning from east to west to north and south, and there is a canyon valley connected to Baron Harden's castle.

If you bypass this valley, you need to go east for 100 kilometers and bypass the Pratos Mountains from the direction of Black River Fort.

The direction of Black River Fort is the main battlefield of the battle. It is not only very dangerous for their small-scale cavalry to go to Black River Fort, but it will not play any role at all.

After the elimination of the Kobold Squadron, there were no orc guards in the canyon passage. Lieutenant Colonel Marvin decided to take a risk and march under the eyes of the orcs.

As night fell, everyone approached the Platos Castle along the canyon passage.

The canyon passage is about 30 kilometers long. The road was just renovated last year and is not very difficult to walk. In the second half of the night, Lieutenant Colonel Marvin led his troops to the vicinity of the Platos fortress group.

After more than a month of defense, six of the nine castles have been lost, and most of the defense line has fallen into the hands of the orcs.

Now the two incomplete orc battalions besieged the remaining three castles and continued to attack every day. It is difficult for the Eighth Battalion to hold on.

In order to encourage the defenders, Lieutenant Colonel Marvin personally led the team to conduct reconnaissance. After returning, he said with a serious expression: "I plan to attack the orc camp in the early morning. Everyone take a nap and rest. Richard, you will lead the guard to prevent the orc scouts from sneaking up."

"Lieutenant Colonel, how many troops do the orcs have?"

"The orcs are all in the camp, and it is not clear yet. But judging from the flags, the size of the camp, the stoves, and the lights, there are no more than two battalions at most."

Richard has strong mental strength and is very energetic. He personally guards for everyone and is very focused.

At dawn the next day, he is still very energetic.

Lieutenant Colonel Marvin's subordinates are all veterans with rich experience in war. Even under the eyes of the orcs, they can still sleep. They rested for two or three hours before dawn and recovered some spirits.

On the contrary, except for half of the veterans, the rest of Richard's soldiers were nervous and particularly sleepy when dawn came.

Seeing that the orcs had come out of the lost castle, they formed a formation and attacked the remaining castles No. 6, No. 8, and No. 9 in a scattered manner.

A few scouts also dispersed to scout the enemy in all directions.

Lieutenant Colonel Marvin no longer hesitated and immediately commanded the cavalry to launch a charge.

This time, because the soldiers under Richard were in poor condition, Lieutenant Colonel Marvin asked them to serve as a reserve to monitor the enemy.

Richard asked Ron to command the troops, and he took the initiative to ask Lieutenant Colonel Marvin to participate in the action.

"This attack is different from the previous ones. The enemy situation is unclear, and the orcs are very powerful. I am afraid there will be greater sacrifices."

Richard said firmly: "The people of the Harland family are not afraid of death, but they are afraid that they will not be able to make meritorious deeds!"

"Since you insist on this, I will approve you to join us in the battle. I hope you can survive the war and make meritorious deeds."