Chapter 265 Jungle Encounter
After the Burson Castle was captured, the situation of the three-province coalition army changed greatly.
First, the problem of food shortage was effectively alleviated. Of the more than 2,000 tons of food seized, 300 tons were left for the captives to eat on the way, and the remaining food was enough for the three-province coalition army to eat for 40 days. In addition, the death of Baron Solawan severely hit the fighting courage of the nobles on the central border of Stanik.
Secondly, the strategic situation of the three-province coalition army has also improved greatly. After entering Stanik, the three-province coalition army finally has a stable foothold.
This intervention war is a civil war between the Kingdom of Grant and the Grand Duchy of Stanik. The Dawn Church and the Royal Church will not participate in the war.
If the clergy do not participate in the war, there will be a great shortage of medical personnel for battlefield rescue.
Fortunately, when the three-province coalition army was formed, Richard brought some medical personnel from the Harland Territory, and the territory mage group could provide treatment power, so that this problem was not obvious in the three-province coalition army.
Richard turned around and asked the staff officer beside him: "What about our casualties? Have you counted them?"
"Last night, we lost 86 officers and soldiers, and about 200 people were injured or killed."
Hearing the casualty figures, Richard said: "There were 300 casualties at night and 400 casualties during the day. In order to break through the Burson Castle, we have lost 700 soldiers. Although we have conquered this castle and taken the forward stronghold, the current situation of food shortage has also been alleviated.
For the next battle, we must divide our troops. Burson Castle must be defended, and 2,000 soldiers need to be left to garrison. Our attacking force is only 13,000, and compared with the Central Stanik Nobles Coalition, we still have no numerical advantage. We attack and they defend, and our situation is still relatively bad.
So we can't be proud of winning the battle. Rest in Burson Castle for a day today, continue to march west tomorrow, and take the initiative to find the main force of the Central Stanik Nobles Coalition, and it would be best to fight them in the field."
After giving the order, Richard selected a squadron of soldiers to escort the prisoners back to the Harland territory.
After the intervention war began, the coalition forces of the three provinces had captured nearly 30,000 people, and the Haland Territory could swallow at least half of this population.
Early the next morning, Richard asked the noble coalition forces of the Gascoigne Province to dispatch 2,000 soldiers to garrison the Burson Castle, and then led 13,000 soldiers to move the camp westward.
The magic hot air balloon rose to the sky, and the Warcraft reconnaissance cavalry also scattered and walked in front of the main force.
The construction of the scouts in the Haland Territory has far exceeded that of the Stannik border nobles.
The magic hot air balloon reconnaissance team is not only equipped with telescopes, but also can detect the enemy at high altitudes. There are also elite archers in the hot air balloon, and they are capable of fighting even if they encounter harpies. In addition, the magic hot air balloon is equipped with high-level magic apprentices to control magic flames.
A magic hot air balloon reconnaissance squadron is equipped with eight teams. Generally speaking, six teams perform reconnaissance tasks and two teams are on duty.
In addition to the magic hot air balloon, the Lion Duck Cavalry Squad of the Harland Territory already has four Lion Duck Knights who can take off and fight, led by Richard's cousin Audrey.
Compared with the magic hot air balloon, the Lion Duck Cavalry is more flexible and has a larger range of activities.
The magic hot air balloon also needs to rely on the wind direction to fly, but the Lion Duck does not need this. The flexibility of the Lion Duck during flight is also better than that of the magic hot air balloon. If there are enough Lion Duck Knights, the magic hot air balloon scouts can be eliminated.
Flying in the air on the Lion Duck, Audrey can see every move of the enemy. Walking ten kilometers west from the Burson Castle, you will encounter a mountain range extending from north to south.
This mountain range is about 260 kilometers long and is called the Fealaman Mountains.
In the east of the mountain range, the Grand Duchy of Stannic awarded six baronies. These six baronies are the first line of defense of Stannic against the Kingdom of Grant.
If you bypass the Fealaman Mountains, you will need to walk ten more days.
Ten more days of walking would make the food route very long. If the enemy rushed down from this mountain range, it would be easy to cut off the food route of the three-province coalition.
Unless Richard built five or six food storage stations on the road and left one or two thousand soldiers in each station, the safety of the food route could be protected.
But in this case, there would only be a few thousand troops left to attack.
Through aerial reconnaissance, the Felaman Mountains are not particularly high, with an altitude of several hundred to one thousand meters.
There are five or six valleys in the mountains that can be passed through, and one of them has the best conditions for passage, which is considered the official road of the Grand Duchy of Stanik.
This valley is about 20 kilometers long, and the mountains on both sides are not dangerous. The widest part of the valley is two or three kilometers, and the narrowest part is also several hundred meters.
For such a place that must be fought for by military strategists, the Stanik Border Nobles Coalition would of course set up camps and strongholds in the valley.
Because the Burson Castle fell too quickly, the camp defenders had not yet reacted, and the scouts of the three-province coalition had already appeared.
There were less than two thousand soldiers in the camp. The commander of the defenders was Viscount York.
If the nobles do not have a highly prestigious commander, it is usually very difficult to command the coalition.
In the central border area of Stannik, there is no great noble in the front. Three viscounts and sixteen barons act on their own. Even in the face of external threats, it is difficult to unify the command.
First of all, it is particularly difficult to concentrate the forces. The army in the hands of the small nobles is their lifeblood. You can't ask every hereditary noble to have a big picture view.
In fact, most of the small nobles are selfish and have little sense of the overall situation.
Because the Burson Castle only lasted for a few days, it did not give Viscount Nero, the commander of the three-province coalition, too much time.
According to Viscount Nero's plan, the Stannic border nobles arranged two lines of defense. The first line of defense was centered on the Burson Castle, with Solawan as the commander, and the troops were mainly six barons in the eastern part of the Felaman Mountains, with a total of 3,000.
Viscount York led 2,000 soldiers to establish the second line of defense in the Felaman Valley.
Viscount Nero continued to concentrate his forces, recuperate, and serve as a backup.
In recent days, Viscount York has attended dozens of meetings and finally assembled 2,000 soldiers, half of whom were soldiers led by Viscount York. The camp was repaired a day ago and stationed in the middle of the valley.
The short time was not enough for Viscount York to strengthen the fortifications.
Viscount York wanted to use Burson Castle to consume the enemy's spirit.
In his expectation, the terrain of Burson Castle was dangerous, and the Baron Solawan who was guarding the castle was strong and experienced. If the enemy wanted to capture Burson Castle, they would have to pay a lot of casualties and delay for a long time.
When the army of the Kingdom of Grant was tired, Viscount Nero would gather soldiers and cooperate with the Burson defenders to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.
Unexpectedly, the coalition forces of the three provinces relied on powerful magic power to capture Burson Castle in a surprise attack at night.
Seeing the Warcraft scouts appear near the camp, Viscount York suddenly felt desperate and pessimistic.
He knew in his heart that the strength of the defenders of the Felaman Valley was not as good as that of Burson Castle. Since Burson Castle could not be defended, he could not hold on for too long here.
After discovering that the enemy had Lion Cavalry, Viscount York hurriedly sent soldiers to inform the rear and request support, and then ordered the soldiers to dig trenches and strengthen the camp, hoping to delay for a few days.
After receiving the intelligence from the scouts, Richard made a prompt decision and ordered the soldiers to speed up the march, not giving the enemy too much time to prepare, and to launch a siege before the reinforcements arrived.
Among the three provinces' coalition forces, the soldiers of Harland Territory are the most elite, and they march faster at full speed.
Speed is of the essence. In order to capture the valley camp before the reinforcements arrive, Richard ordered the soldiers of Harland Territory to serve as the vanguard, the coalition forces of Rah Province to serve as the central army, and the coalition forces of Geda Province to serve as the rear guard.
All units must travel light and must arrive at the battlefield tonight.
Richard and the coalition headquarters will follow the soldiers of Harland Territory to fight.
It was afternoon. After a morning of forced march, the soldiers of Harland Territory walked ten kilometers on flat roads and four kilometers on mountain roads, and appeared near the Falaman Valley camp.
This time, the Harland Territory mobilized the reconnaissance cavalry battalion, the hot air balloon squadron, the territory mage regiment, the third squadron of the Warcraft Cavalry, the second infantry battalion, and the sixth infantry battalion to form an intervention army, with a total force of about 4,000.
In the battle to capture the city of Burson, the Harland Territory army only had elite archers, and the territory mage regiment participated in the battle, and the losses were minimal.
With the Harland Territory army as the vanguard, 4,000 elite soldiers suddenly arrived near the camp, which immediately panicked the defenders and made a series of noises.
At such a close distance, the defenders did not even have time to adjust their formation. Viscount York could only barely organize a team and put up shields for defense.
Arrows kept falling, densely shooting into the camp, suppressing the enemy so that they could not raise their heads.
Under the protection of the soldiers, the magicians of Harland Territory began to adjust their positions and released spells to assist the soldiers in the battle.
Sophia and Wendy released several fireballs in succession, like battlefield artillery. Several fireballs hit the enemy's shield array fiercely, exploded instantly, and ignited a raging flame.
Although the soldiers hid behind the shields and urged the fighting spirit to arrange a layer of defense, they were still unable to stop it. The scorching heat wave swept over and covered hundreds of soldiers within the magic range.
In an instant, the soldiers suffered heavy casualties, with more than dozens of soldiers killed and injured. Viscount York's shield array also had several gaps, exposing weaknesses.
When Viscount York found that the opponent had a magician, his face changed, and he immediately gave an order without thinking.
"Punk, you and I will lead the team separately to kill the enemy's magician."
Although the shield array can defend against ordinary bows and arrows, it cannot withstand the bombardment of fireballs for too long. There are more than two mid-level magicians among the enemies. If they are left alone, there will inevitably be a big gap in the shield formation after the bombardment. Without the protection of the shield formation, they will surely be defeated.
Viscount York raised his sword and jumped out of the shield formation with another sixth-level warrior Punk. They each led a small team of elite soldiers to kill Sophia and Wendy.
In just one or two minutes, the two engaged in battle with the soldiers of Harland Territory.
York is a seventh-level silver knight, and Punk is also a sixth-level warrior. The destructive power of the two in close combat is extremely strong. In the blink of an eye, seven or eight soldiers of Harland Territory were killed or injured, and a small gap appeared in the army formation.
Seeing this scene, the officers of Harland Territory took the initiative to take responsibility. Jennings, the captain of the sixth battalion, and Lost, the captain of the second battalion, led their personal soldiers to block the two arrows of York and Punk's attack.
Although Zhan Nings is young, he is already a fourth-level warrior, and there are several professional officers around him. Although his combat effectiveness is much worse than that of Punk, he has enough helpers around him. As soon as he takes action, the casualties of Punk's team will increase. In just a few breaths, there were only a few professional officers left around Punk.
Intermediate professionals like Jennings and Punk were as powerful and physical as monsters. They wielded heavy weapons that ordinary soldiers could not stop.
Seeing that Jennings managed to block Punk's blow, Richard and Soros opened their bows and released their arrows at the same time. At the same time, Sophia also fired a fireball at Punk.
In an instant, the fireball fell from Punk's head. Punk raised his arm shield and tried his best to activate his fighting spirit. A ray of fighting spirit bloomed on the arm shield, forming a magic shield to protect himself inside.
The magic fireball exploded, and Punk, who was at the center of the explosion, endured the waves of fire. He desperately used his fighting spirit to resist the burning of the magic flame. In just ten seconds, more than half of his fighting spirit was consumed. .
When the last wave of fire passed, Punk endured the pain of the burning fire and was about to jump hard to get rid of Jennings's entanglement. As soon as he looked up, he found two arrows shooting at him fiercely.
These two arrows had a sharp whistling sound and their speed was extremely fast.
At the moment of death, Punk was so frightened that his hair almost stood up. He had no time to think about how many enemies there were in the dark. Being on the battlefield, he almost instinctively responded to danger.
The first arrow came, and Punk couldn't avoid it. He roared, his hands burst out with fighting spirit again, and he raised his sword and hit the arrow at the critical moment.
This feather arrow uses a mid-level enchanted arrowhead. This arrowhead is made of an alloy made of blood steel and orichalcum. It is not only very hard, but also has powerful fighting spirit.
In the entire Harland territory, only warriors with an archery level of level four or above are equipped with this special arrow.
Although Punk's strength is great, he cannot break the arrow. The arrow and the sword collided violently and exploded.
The violent impact pushed Punk to the ground, and the fighting spirit light on the armor flickered in vain for a few times before being completely extinguished.
Punk struggled to get up, but before he could stand still, another feather arrow was shot at him. This time, Punk was unable to stop him. The arrow hit Punk's head fiercely, piercing the strong helmet.
Punk fell heavily to the ground and closed his eyes unwillingly.