Chapter 249: Flanking Defense Battle 1
Plett asked the orcs to camp at the foot of the mountain five miles away from the military station. After nightfall, he climbed up the hillside and relied on his night vision talent to continue observing the military station garrison to see if he could find any flaws.
The torches swayed gently in the night wind, and red sparks popped out from the top of the torches. Soldiers were constantly patrolling on the walls of the military station. The armor reflected the light under the moonlight. The soldiers were orderly and there was no panic.
Plett was very patient. He waited until the second half of the night and witnessed the military station garrison complete two shifts.
He thought to himself: "The garrison should be stationed every four hours. Each shift was quiet and not panicked at all. With elite soldiers stationed, it seems that there is no chance of winning a night attack."
The night was like water and looked very calm, but Platt was upset.
Plett observed all night and knew very well that although the military station was quiet, it was full of murderous intent.
Facing the complete city defense fortifications, if you attack this castle rashly, you will inevitably suffer bloodshed and countless casualties.
However, the orc army arranged the Platt Legion to fight in this direction, and there was no room for bargaining. The Platt Legion's combat mission is to find a way to break through the defense line of the Harland Territory and disrupt the northern area of Black River Fort.
When he arrived at the front line of the battlefield, Platt knew that the orc headquarters underestimated the power of the Harland Territory, and it would be very difficult to achieve the strategic goal.
The next morning, Platt sent harpies to scout the deployment of the Harland Territory army.
The harpies scattered and entered the sky over the Harland Territory. Some even flew to the side of Black River Fort and scouted the situation of the Northern Legion.
Now that the Harland Territory has a magic hot air balloon, when the harpies fly over the military camp, the magic hot air balloon can take off and fight, forcing back the smaller number of harpies.
There are archers on the magic balloon. It often takes four to six harpies to attack from all sides to destroy a magic balloon. Harpies will be shot by archers during the attack.
Even if the magic balloon is blown up by energy missiles, the members of the magic balloon team are equipped with parachutes, so it is not easy to kill the magic balloon crew.
It is difficult for harpies to reproduce. There are only 120 harpies in an orc army. It takes several harpies to shoot down a magic balloon. After several battles, the harpies found that the exchange ratio between the two sides was not cost-effective.
After several aerial battles, as long as the harpies found that the magic balloon was taking off, they would immediately use their speed advantage to stay away and avoid fighting with the magic balloon.
In addition, the Harland Territory Reconnaissance Brigade is composed of Warcraft Cavalry as the backbone. The Warcraft Cavalry is very powerful and is not afraid of hunting and blockade by harpies. The scope of intelligence reconnaissance has been expanded a lot.
Although it is still at a disadvantage compared to the intelligence reconnaissance of the orcs, the situation has improved greatly compared to a few years ago.
In this war of orc invasion, the army of Harland Territory also mastered certain battlefield intelligence rights. They also had a general understanding of the movements of the orc army.
Platt attached great importance to intelligence work and must investigate the situation of the army of Harland Territory clearly. Even if he lost some harpy scouts, he waited for six days in the military station fort.
Within six days, the harpy carefully investigated the Black River County and even flew into the Dragon Canyon to investigate the organization and mobilization of the Knight Academy of the Grant Kingdom and completed the assembly. The nobles of the Canyon Lord and Brena County also organized a coalition to reinforce the northern front.
After analyzing the situation, Platt believed that the opportunity for war had not yet appeared.
It was simply reckless to fight with the soldiers of Harland Territory now. Even if there were heavy casualties and the military station fort was conquered, there was still Fort William behind it.
One castle after another, even if the army was exhausted, it would be difficult to penetrate the Harland Territory. When the Northern Legion, the Knight Academy Cavalry Regiment, and the noble coalition of Geda Province are mobilized, his legion will inevitably be surrounded and annihilated.
Platt has no backing in the upper echelons of the Orc Empire. He can climb to the position of legion leader by being cunning and good at fighting.
Since the opportunity did not appear, Platt withstood the pressure. He chose to camp in the north of the military station fort without any intention of attacking the city.
Richard commanded a small number of soldiers. In the field, he would not have much chance of winning against the Orc Legion even with the help of alchemical bombs.
Both sides responded to changes with inaction. Time passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye, it entered April.
In mid-April, the first turning point suddenly appeared in the war situation.
The commander of the Eastern Front of the Orcs adopted the tactic of besieging and attacking reinforcements, besieging the Eagle Fort, and the main force was hidden in the south of the Eagle Fort to lure the Grizzlies Legion into a decisive battle.
The Grizzlies Legion lost its patience and was afraid that the Eagle Fort would be lost, so it rashly reinforced when its strength was insufficient.
In this battle, the Orc army successfully defeated the Grizzlies Legion. The Grizzlies lost six battalions, and even the Warcraft Cavalry Battalion lost more than half of its soldiers.
The Grizzlies were the main force of the Rach Province. The main force was defeated, and the situation in the Rach Province suddenly became very bad.
The first person to suffer was Richard's neighbor, Viscount Nelson.
Although Viscount Nelson's resistance was very fierce, and he could be said to have fought to the last soldier, the strength of the two sides was too great. In late April, Felin Castle fell, and the orcs broke through the Black River defense line, and could break through to the south of the Black River without any worries.
Felin Castle is the main castle of Viscount Nelson's territory, and its status is like Fort William in Harland's territory. After the main castle of the territory was lost, the garrisons of several castles in the southern part of Viscount Nelson's territory had no intention of holding on, and took the people to the west to avoid the war.
There were as many as 27,000 refugees who fled from Viscount Nelson's territory to Graveson Castle, including 600 soldiers from the Nelson family.
After receiving the intelligence, Richard rushed to Graveson Castle, swiftly drove away the members of the Nelson family, and recruited the 600 soldiers.
The members of the Nelson family all have noble status, and Roland has no authority to deal with them. If he wants to swallow up this army and eat up the refugees in Nelson's territory, he can only let Richard come forward to do it himself.
Richard is a hereditary viscount, with a higher status than the remaining members of the Nelson family. He is also a reserve major general and the highest commander of a strategic direction.
All the northern part of the Black River Fort area is a war zone under Richard's jurisdiction.
As long as they are not hereditary nobles, Richard has the authority to execute first and report later.
Richard personally rushed to Graveson Castle to preside over the reorganization of the army. The remaining members of the Nelson family did not dare to stop it.
If they complained, they were not Viscount Nelson, and if they were beheaded by Richard, they would have no place to seek justice.
All these members of the Nelson family were driven out of the army by Richard.
Without the interference of this group of people, the Harland Territory successfully swallowed 600 soldiers.
Viscount Nelson's territory is on the front line, and the pressure of defending against orcs is very high. As long as there are conditions, the soldiers in the territory will basically practice breathing. Among these 600 soldiers, more than 300 of them have the quality to be on par with the soldiers of the Harland Territory.
In addition to more than 600 soldiers, the 27,000 refugees are unexpected wealth. They were swallowed by the Harland Territory and of course they could not be returned to the successor Viscount Nelson.
The remnants of the Nelson family originally planned to enter the powerful Harland Territory for refuge, but they did not expect Richard to eat people without spitting out bones.
The population and soldiers were eaten up by the Harland Territory, which naturally made the Nelson family members indignant. Some young people even threatened to sue themselves in the noble council, but were beaten and stopped by their fathers.
Now it is a time of war, and Richard is the highest commander of the Graveson region. At this time, if he loses his head, there is no place to reason.
If Richard is annoyed, all the remnants of the Nelson family will be killed, and it can be blamed on the orcs. Whether the Nelson family members can survive is actually up to Richard.
The hereditary nobles in the northern border have a very harsh living environment. Richard led the army to fight at the age of sixteen, and it has been twelve years now.
In the past twelve years, the situation in the northern border has changed. Some nobles have climbed up and promoted their titles, while some nobles have died out. Other nobles lost their territory, got a sum of money and moved to the capital, lost their noble status, and the efforts of several generations were destroyed.
In order for the Harland family to grow and develop, Richard will naturally not be soft-hearted at the critical moment.
As long as the members of the Nelson family are obedient, Richard does not intend to do things to the extreme.
Richard also felt a little sympathetic to the plight of the Nelson family. Although he swallowed up the soldiers and population of the Nelson territory, he had no intention of killing the members of the Nelson family.
The young people of the Nelson family did not know that the Noble Council was a tool for the great nobles to form alliances and bargain with the Grant royal family. The small nobles did not have much power in the Noble Council.
The strength of the Harland family has reached the standard of the great nobles, and the treatment in the Noble Council is also extraordinary.
When the Nelson family went to the Noble Council to file a complaint, it felt like who was suing the master for what.
Even if the Noble Council made a judgment unfavorable to the Harland territory, when returning the population, it was still a matter of public opinion, and bargaining could be carried out.
You say that this person is a serf of the Nelson family, but they say he is not. How to prove it?
Is it possible to make a mark with a branding iron? This mark is also easy to destroy.
Besides, the Harland Territory is more than 18,000 square kilometers, and now has a population of nearly 300,000. How to find the serfs in Viscount Nelson's territory is also very difficult?
It is estimated that in the end, they will have to compromise and let Richard return some people.
More than 27,000 people can only return a few thousand at most.
Ordinary serfs will of course stay in the Harland Territory. Even if the free people become indentured servants, it is safer to stay in the Harland Territory.
Only the middle and upper classes of the Nelson Territory, who have broken bones and tendons with the Nelson family, can follow the Nelson family and rebuild the territory.
These people used to have good living conditions, and becoming indentured servants is a big contrast. They must not be able to accept such a change in their hearts. Richard was also unwilling to let them stay in the Harland Territory, harbor resentment, make a mess, and affect the development of the territory.
This group of people was selected by Richard, with a total of more than 3,400 people, and simply let the Nelson family take them all away. As for the gold and silver jewelry carried by the Nelson family members, Richard did not covet them.
This sum of gold and silver, totaling about 20,000 gold coins, can be used well to turn the Nelson family around.
When the Harland family operated the territory, the initial capital was only a few thousand, and they borrowed some from relatives, which was just 10,000.
If the successor Viscount Nelson is very capable, there is still a chance to turn things around.
After Viscount Nelson's territory was lost, the eastern part of the Harland territory also became the front line. Although 600 Nelson family soldiers were recruited, the force guarding Graveson Castle was still weak, and Graveson had become the weak point of the defense line.
Discovering that the war situation had changed and the defense line had weaknesses, Richard immediately chose to ask for help from Black River Castle.
Because the war situation was not tight, Black River Castle sent 600 city defense troops to serve as the first wave of reinforcements.
Because he did not trust the remnants of the Nelson family, Richard split up the 600 soldiers and added them to the six battalions in the Harland Territory, and then transferred four infantry squadrons to Graveson Castle in an organized manner. After completing this step, Graveson Castle already had nine infantry squadrons and six auxiliary squadrons, and the number of garrisons had exceeded 2,000.
Richard had just completed the reorganization in Graveson when the Northern Frontier Legion received a request for help from Feiyan Castle.
After the defeat of the Grizzlies, the situation in the Rah Province became very bad.
Although the Grant Kingdom had the strongest force in the Rah Province, with one main legion and two second-line legions, the orcs also invested four legions in the Rah Province, with a total of more than 100,000 troops.
Now seven orc brigades are holding back the defenders of Flying Eagle Castle, and six brigades are approaching Grizzly Castle to fight against the remnants of the Grizzly Legion. Four brigades are scattered and looting in the northern part of the Rah Province.
One main legion is heading south to attack Flying Swallow Castle, and thirteen brigades are gathering in the southern part of Viscount Nelson's territory, ready to invade the Geda Province at any time, attack the direction of Black River Castle, and hold back the main northern legion of the Geda Province.
The strategic location of Flying Swallow Castle is very important, and it is the most important strategic stronghold in the eastern part of the Geda Province.
The castle is located on the north bank of the Light River and enters the core territory of the Geda Province, Light County, by water transport. If Flying Swallow Castle cannot be defended, Light Castle is also in danger of being lost.
Light Castle is located in the hinterland of the Geda Province. Except for the Knight Academy Cavalry Regiment, there is no powerful army nearby.
This is the richest area in the Geda Province and a direct territory of the Grant Royal Family. The population of Light County is as high as hundreds of thousands.
If Light County is lost, Nolan will definitely hold him accountable.
After receiving the request for help from Feiyan Castle, although the commander of the Laber Legion was under great pressure, he still decided to send reinforcements to help the Feiyan Legion maintain the situation.
Compared with the main legion, the second-line legion has only 16,000 soldiers, and there are no Warcraft cavalry or mage regiments in the organization, and the weapons and equipment are also inferior.
The most important thing is the fighting will and combat experience. The second-line legion is not as good as the main legion.
The Feiyan Legion has 16,000 soldiers, and they are no match for the 7,000 elite soldiers of the Harland Territory in positional warfare. Facing the attack of a complete orc legion, the Feiyan Legion can't hold out for too long.