Chapter 363: Fierce Fighting Across the Board

In addition to the Harland territory, the orcs gathered sixteen battalions to once again break through the defense line of the Martins Earldom, annihilated a legion of redeemers, and conquered Songtao Castle.

Once again, a large number of members of the Martins family died in the war.

The reason why the orcs were able to capture Songtao Castle unexpectedly this time is said to be that they used a lot of original alchemical bombs.

Alchemical bombs are rare weapons in the Dawn Plane. In addition to the production of Grant Kingdom, the alchemical bombs produced by the Celtic Kingdom's Elemental Heart are the original ones.

In the past, when the great nobles of Grant Kingdom went to the Southwest Coast Magic Kingdom for trade, they usually bought a small amount.

The orcs have more contacts with the Markholm Magic Kingdom (Magic Council), the Celtic United Kingdom (Elemental Heart), the Croa Mountain Kingdom (Mountain Tower), the Pale Land (Dead Soul Council), the Storm Strait Kingdom (Wizard's House), the Palmela Icefield Kingdom (Ice and Snow Witch) and other countries in the western part of the Central Continent.

These magic kingdoms and the Holy Glorious Empire have very fierce conflicts over beliefs and interests.

In the previous invasions by orcs, the Grant Kingdom used a large number of alchemical bombs, and this time the orcs also gave some back.

Unexpectedly, hundreds of alchemical bombs played such a critical role. Not only did they annihilate the Redeemer Legion, but they also conquered Songtao Castle three times.

In just over a decade, the Martins family captured the castle three times. Even if King Roger helped to borrow loans and invested a lot of resources, they could not stabilize the situation.

It seems that after the war, the Martins family will give up the territory and develop to other areas. After all, the Martins family does not have many direct members now.

The close bloodline of Count Donny Martins basically died in the process of the three captures of the castle. Now only the three sons are still the hereditary barons of the original territory.

The Martins family is the hereditary baron of the Froda Province. The nobles of the Froda Province have always been the ironclad of the royal family. Even if they gave up the northern border territory and lost their status as great nobles, the Martins family is still a hereditary noble, and it is still far from complete decline.

After years of struggle, a great man finally emerged and was promoted to a great noble, but it only lasted for more than ten years.

This is the norm in the Dawn Plane

It is difficult to cross each level of the hierarchy in this world.

It is more difficult to maintain it after crossing it than to be promoted to a noble title. For example, barons such as Grumman and Vida who climbed up from the bottom, if it were not for the strong monarch Richard, they would have lost their territory when facing the attack of the orcs.

Although Grumman and Vida are very capable, they can keep their territory, and the situation near the territory is the key.

Although Count Donny Martins is very capable, it is a pity that the external situation was not good when he was ennobled, and King Charles did not support him, and he eventually died at the hands of the orcs.

After Donny Martins died in battle, even if King Roger gave the Martins family resources, the ending of the Martins family was still not optimistic.

In the past ten years, the rise of the Harland territory has changed the situation in the northern border, making many noble territories safe from then on. The reason why the noble coalition of Geda Province was willing to obey Richard's command was mainly because of this.

After conquering the Martins Earldom, the orcs surged along the Kaiya River, and the Flame Castle once again became the front line. However, the combat effectiveness of the Mad Lion Legion far exceeded that of the Martins Earldom garrison, and finally stabilized the situation.

The orcs stationed more than 30,000 troops in the upper reaches of the Kaiya River, and the western area of ​​the Harland Dukedom suddenly became very dangerous.

Because the western part of the Harland Territory is a well-developed area developed by the Grant Kingdom, and there is also the Mad Lion Legion to protect the flank, Richard did not deploy heavy troops in this direction. The defense focus of the Harland Territory has always been the northern defense line.

If the orcs divide several battalions of troops and attack the Iron Lion Castle (formerly the Baron Harden Territory), the situation will become particularly dangerous.

After the situation changed, Richard mobilized 3,000 auxiliary troops to the Iron Lion Castle while asking for help from the Geda Province.

Now the Rah Province is surrounded on three sides by the Harland Dukedom, and the Flying Eagle Castle has also become the territory of the Harland Dukedom. The Flying Eagle Legion has long been disbanded, and the Grizzly Legion has been transferred to the south, leaving only the Flying Swallow Legion as a second-line legion.

Gascoigne province was unable to take care of itself, and the Mad Lion Legion had some difficulty in protecting itself in the face of the attack of the orcs' superior forces. Only the Gedda province had not yet joined the war and had enough forces to reinforce.

Although Richard was the Duke of the Northern Frontier, he had no direct jurisdiction over the garrisons in the royal territory.

In order to avoid threats to their rule, the Grant royal family did not establish a complete command agency in the Northern Frontier. Not only did the four great dukes of the Northern Frontier fight on their own, but even the garrisons in the three provinces directly under the royal family did not have a unified command. Prevent someone from controlling the central corps in the north by relying on military exploits and prestige.

After Richard's letter for help was delivered, the nobles of the Gedda province did not make things difficult.

After all, the Dukedom of Harland was the first line of defense in the Gedda province. If Richard was annoyed by not helping, and deliberately opened a channel to fight a tacit war with the orcs, in addition to the Dukedom of Harland, the local nobles and the Northern Frontier Legion would suffer.

The Duke of York had stood by and refused to help Edward, so Edward and the orcs had a tacit agreement to fight a war, deliberately letting the orc army pass through Edward's territory and invade the Duke of York.

Caught off guard, the Duke of York suffered heavy losses, and the population was plundered by the orcs, with millions of people slaughtered, and many families of the Duke of York nobles died.

Although there is no idiom in the Kingdom of Grant that the lips and teeth are cold, they all understand the meaning of this idiom.

The noble coalition of Black River County has been organized and took the initiative to go to the front line. The noble coalition of Roman County and Brena County gathered together and rushed to the Iron Lion Castle to help the Duke of Harland consolidate the defense line.

At the same time, the Knight Academy Cavalry Regiment also began to mobilize fully. This elite force will set off in three days. The most experienced Viscount Roman will be the commander of this front.

As the general reserve, the Northern Army is ready to set off to the front line at any time under the command of the army commander Raber.

In the east of the Duke of Harland, the Duke of Jonathan is facing the attack of two orc legions, and at the same time, he has to defend against the legendary black dragon. The two families have already shown a tendency to unite, which puts a lot of pressure on the Duke of Jonathan. In recent years, the Jonathan family has drawn a large number of elites to the Grand Duchy of Stannik. The remaining troops are very difficult to defend, not to mention supporting operations in other directions.

The two dukes of Edward and Fox resisted four orc legions, and they were also unable to provide support to the Duke of Harland.

On the front of the Duke of Harland, forty-four orc infantry battalions appeared, with a total force of nearly 90,000. It can be said that the orcs regarded this line of defense as the focus of attack, and the Duke of Harland had a heavy responsibility on their shoulders.

Perhaps because Richard caused many casualties to the orc army, the orcs would focus their attack on the defense line of the Harland territory.

The battlefields in the Harland territory were the most intense in the direction of Grota.

The main force of the orcs, the Thirteenth Legion, attacked the Soros Department fiercely, not caring about casualties at all, as if they wanted to consume all the alchemical bombs of the defenders. The harpy scouts also ignored casualties and fought with the magic balloon squadron without hesitation, and must detect intelligence on the defenders. This scene is very rare.

In just six days after the start of the war, according to the battle report, forty-six harpy people had been killed, and five groups of magic balloon groups in the Harland territory were shot down. There were only seven groups of magic balloons left in the two magic balloon squadrons that could take off and fight.

Because the battle in this direction was too intense, Richard dispatched a magic hot air balloon squadron from Fort William to reinforce the Canyon Castle.

In the East Grotta direction, the orcs also fought for seven or eight days. However, the orcs in this direction did not act recklessly. They had divided their troops twice, trying to attack weak points and bypass the defense line.

In the northern mountainous area of ​​Baron Vito's territory, the Sutton Detachment has been hiding here for some time.

Five days ago, the Sutton Detachment easily wiped out an orc auxiliary battalion, killed two hundred dog-headed men, one hundred wild boar men, captured four sheep-bodied squadrons, and rescued more than two thousand human slaves.

After the war, Sutton deliberately did not clean up the battlefield, wanting to attract the main force of the orcs to the north to cooperate with the main force Martin in the battle.

Unexpectedly, the orcs did not fall for it, and did not divide their troops to pursue the Sutton Detachment, but strengthened their offensive, wanting to conquer the Twin Star Castle and break through this line of defense.

So Sutton organized the human slaves to camp on the spot, and he led his troops into Baron Vito's territory and followed the orc brigade outside.

Sutton's troops are all professional troops. Not only are they well-trained, but they are also well-equipped, especially the special squadron, which is good at reconnaissance and sneak attacks.

They followed, but the orc army did not notice.

The orc brigade confronted the noble coalition. The difference in the strength of the two sides was not big, both were nearly 2,000. However, the quality of the noble coalition was lower, and they did not dare to fight the orcs in the field.

Even though the commander of the coalition, Baron Grumman, was an eighth-level warrior, he alone could not decide the outcome of the war. In an orc brigade, there were at least nearly 200 professional officers.

If it were not for the fact that their weapons and equipment were far inferior to those of humans and they were not good at throwing crossbows, they would be worse than the orcs in the main armies of hand-to-hand combat.

The lower-ranked brigade of the Mad Lion Legion had only 60 professionals. If it were not for the alchemical bombs and explosive arrows, they would have a strong equipment advantage and would not be able to fight the orcs in the field.

In recent days, the orc army launched several sieges, but they were all beaten back by the noble coalition with superior equipment. The total casualties exceeded two squadrons, especially the snake-bodied squadron, which suffered more than 20 casualties, which was a serious loss of personnel.

The noble coalition in the city had several routs due to the poor performance of the serfs. The casualties in the battle and the casualties due to the implementation of battlefield discipline also caused 300 casualties.

However, the backbone of the nobles did not suffer many casualties, and the defenders still had enough strength to fight the orcs.

Sutton looked at the orc camp not far away, and did not mobilize for battle. He decisively launched a surprise attack.

Although the Sutton detachment had only 500 soldiers, they were the elite soldiers of the Harland territory, and their combat effectiveness was far superior to that of an orc battalion, and even stronger than that of the Warcraft Cavalry Battalion. Especially the first squadron, wearing sub-dragon leather armor, was like a tiger coming down the mountain, and took the initiative to find the orcs, not afraid of close combat with the orcs.

The first squadron's assault was very fierce, and it easily defeated the obstruction of a boar squadron.

Ordinary boars were simply unable to pierce the defense of the dragon skin armor, and the combat skills of professional soldiers were far stronger than those of orcs.

The commander of the boar squadron was targeted by the elves early and was hit by armor-piercing arrows.

After breaking through the obstruction of the orc squadron, the Sutton detachment easily broke into the orc camp. The demon hunters immediately dispersed and fired rockets in the orc camp, setting all the tents, antlers, and chevaux de frise on fire.

In an instant, a large amount of smoke had been set ablaze in the orc camp, and the battle situation was immediately noticed by the defenders in Vito Castle.

The two barons, Grumman and Vida, were both first-generation military nobles. The first-generation military nobles were often very good at fighting and had rich battlefield experience.

After realizing that there was a problem in the orc camp, they immediately drew out their elite troops and rushed out of the castle decisively, in order to cooperate with the Sutton Detachment to fight the orcs.

The orc captain originally planned to draw troops from the front camp, but seeing this scene, he had to give up this idea and ordered the two squadrons of the front camp to stop Baron Grumman. He led the guard squadron to support the rear camp and drive away the Sutton Detachment.

When the orc captain came to reinforce, he immediately found that the defeat was inevitable.

In just a short time, the Sutton Detachment had killed more than 500 orcs, and about 300 orcs had completely collapsed. Counting the guard squadron brought by the orc captain, there are only about 500 soldiers that can be mobilized now.

The orc captain was about to say a few words to boost morale, when suddenly three feather arrows shot from the enemy army.

The three feather arrows flew at a very fast speed, and the arrow shafts were extremely heavy. The flight trajectory was very straight, making a strong whistling sound, and there were dazzling light spots on the arrowheads.

The three feather arrows were shot by three high-level elves, including Sylph. Their archery skills had reached the sixth level. Only Richard and Soros in the entire Harland territory could match them.

This level of archery had already reached perfection, making it impossible for the orc captain to dodge.

The sixth-level armor-piercing arrows easily penetrated the orc captain's enchanted armor. One arrow pierced the orc captain's arm armor and strung the orc captain's arm and throat together. Another arrow hit the orc captain's chest, pierced the heart guard, and firmly nailed it to the orc captain's chest.

The most powerful arrow was a tracking arrow, which was originally aimed at the head of the orc captain. The orc captain blocked it with a long sword, but the arrow circled in the air and shot through the orc captain's head from the back.

Being targeted by three high-level elves, this fifth-level tauren could not escape at all.

Normally, being targeted by a high-level elf is already very dangerous for a mid-level professional. Because the elves are good at shooting, those who can be promoted to high-level have basically reached the sixth level of archery.

Such enemies, especially in the jungle, have always been very dangerous.

The orc captain's target was too obvious. As soon as he appeared on the battlefield, he was like a big light bulb. He died in the battle before he could play the role of an officer.

The commander was killed, which was an extremely serious blow to the orc army. The remaining orcs began to flee frantically, and they were defeated in an instant.

Sutton met up with Grumman and others. After a simple cleanup of the battlefield, Sutton turned around and asked, "How are our casualties?"

"The Demon Hunter Squadron suffered the most casualties, with nine killed and sixteen seriously injured. The First Squadron had two killed and seven injured, and the Special Squadron had one killed and one injured. The Elf Squadron had no casualties."

After hearing the report from the staff officer, Sutton nodded. He thought to himself, "Last time we annihilated the Orc Auxiliary Battalion, four were killed and nine were injured. This time, there were thirty-six casualties, and the total casualties are close to fifty. Although the casualties in each battle are not many, the accumulation should not be underestimated."

While he exchanged a few words with Baron Grumman, he reminded the staff officer beside him: "Tell Wilde not to disperse the formation after breaking through the enemy formation. The main reason why the Demon Hunters suffered such heavy casualties this time was that they had no cover and the formation was too scattered. Let them learn from the lesson and sum up the experience."