Chapter 431: Change of Situation
The first to fight against the main force of the orcs was the Sutton tribe.
Among the three armies, the Sutton tribe had the smallest number of people and the weakest combat effectiveness.
Although the orc reconnaissance force was suppressed, it still discovered this. The orcs in the east of Prilan had just gathered fourteen battalions, ready to defeat the Sutton tribe first and break the encirclement of Harland.
Richard did not want to concentrate his forces, but there were two weaknesses in the concentrated attack.
First, the main force gathered 100,000 troops to attack from one direction, and the logistics supplies were difficult to sustain, and the marching speed was bound to be very slow.
Second, once the three armies gathered, the orcs would definitely not fight a decisive battle with Harland's army. If the main force of the orcs retreated, even if they occupied Prilan, there would be a lot of trouble in the future. Instead, it would be better to divide the troops into three routes. If the action was decisive, they could meet in the Prilan area before the orc army gathered and fight a decisive battle with the main force of the orcs.
The eastern army was very close to the Prilan area, and the Sutton tribe had the least troops and marched faster, which was the first to pose a threat to the orcs.
As soon as the Saton tribe crossed the Samba River, the orcs gathered 30,000 troops near the city of Prilan and started the outpost battle of the Prilan Campaign.
The commander of the orcs on the east route was the old rival of Harland Territory, the ninth-rank giant Demeter.
The Dukedom of Harland and the Orc Empire have a 1,200-kilometer border. Not counting the eastern highland forest and the northern part of the Dukedom of Jonathan, the section from the north of the Demon Hunter City to the Kro Fortress is 900 kilometers long.
With a border of 900 kilometers, it is impossible for either Harland Territory or the orcs to concentrate their troops together, and they must disperse.
Whoever can gather first will have the advantage. The movement caused by the gathering of the army must be huge. Thousands of troops marching will roll up countless dust, which can be easily seen dozens of miles away.
Moreover, before the army gathers, supplies and food must be transported to the front-line military stations first. The orcs have planted spies in the human kingdom. Although many secret intelligence cannot be obtained, the gathering of a large amount of supplies is easy to be discovered by the orcs.
In the past three years, the supplies of Harland have been gathering to the north. Although the orcs are suspicious, they cannot be sure that Harland’s army will launch a war.
If you want to investigate detailed intelligence, you need the harpy and the silver moon wolf cavalry to check it in person.
The situation today is different from twenty years ago. Harland’s reconnaissance power has far exceeded that of the orcs. The harpy, who used to be so powerful, is now afraid to go south because of the lion cavalry and the wyvern.
Without the protection of flying arms, the ground reconnaissance cavalry dare not fight with Harland’s army to avoid being ambushed and destroyed by the enemy.
After all, the orcs are very good at this. Relying on the advantage of air reconnaissance, they often surround and attack reinforcements. Now they are also afraid that Harland’s army will do this, and the efficiency of reconnaissance has become very low.
Besides, the forward base of Harland is not far from the Prilan area, and the Viscount Sutton is only 250 kilometers away from the Prilan area. The southern army where Richard is located is closer to the city of Prilan, and the No. 10 military station is less than 200 kilometers away from Prilan. If you don't build a solid camp, it will take four or five days to march on the open and vast grassland. The Soros troops set out from the Snow Mountain County, and the farthest distance is only more than 300 kilometers, and the marching distance is also no more than ten days.
All these factors added up, the orcs did not find the Harland army gathering in the early stage. When Sutton led the army across the Samba River, the orcs only gathered 14 battalions, and they were still a little chaotic on the march.
Through the reconnaissance of the wyvern, Sutton immediately decided to eat this group of orcs and break the situation first. Although the number of orcs is twice his own, Sutton is still confident and has a high chance of winning.
Although the Eastern Army has the least troops, it does not carry the Starlight Necklace, and the army does not have magic crystal cannons, so its offensive capability is not as good as the Northern and Southern Armies.
However, Sutton's troops have more than 300 elven archers. Although the number of elven archers is small, the quality is very high. There are more than 40 high-level elves and more than 200 mid-level elves, equipped with enchanted armor and magic crossbows provided by Harland, and their combat effectiveness is very impressive. It can easily defeat and capture the Yunhai Slave Catchers.
After all, the Yunhai Slave Catchers are facing a scattered elf tribe. When encountering hundreds of regular elf legions, at least 3,000 slave catchers must be concentrated to have the strength to fight.
In addition, the two-legged dragon knights assigned to this route are also very powerful. The Demon Hunter Battalion and the Fourth Battalion of Warcraft Cavalry are also elite. The guards of more than 40 hereditary nobles are concentrated, and there are more than 600 Warcraft cavalry. These elites together have far exceeded the Grant Royal Central Legion.
Besides, Sutton's mother, Sylph, also fought under Sutton's command. Sylph was already a legendary knight, and she was able to fight against thousands of enemies alone. She could kill the general and seize the flag by surprise, which could determine the outcome of a battle to a certain extent.
With these trump cards, Sutton dared to fight against the orc army in the field.
Facing Sutton's active attack, Demeter had no choice but to fight. The first two sides to fight were the Warcraft Cavalry Battalion and the Silver Wolf Knights.
Although the Fourth Warcraft Cavalry Battalion under Sutton had only 500 soldiers, the Silver Moon Wolf Cavalry Battalion generally had 600 soldiers.
The mount of the Silver Moon Wolf Cavalry is a kind of magic beast called Howling Moon Wolf, which is more powerful than the Iron Horned Horse. Generally speaking, the same number of Iron Horned Horse Magic Cavalry is not as powerful as a Silver Moon Wolf Cavalry. However, under Sutton's command, there are a large number of noble guards, who are also magic beast cavalry. Because they are carefully selected, the quality of the soldiers is better than that of the Magic Beast Cavalry Battalion led by Harland. With the addition of 600 noble guards, Sutton's cavalry is stronger.
Moreover, there are wyverns to help in the sky above Sutton's troops.
The Silver Moon Wolf Cavalry was originally attacked from the front and back by the Fourth Magic Beast Cavalry Battalion and the Noble Coalition, and the situation was very bad. Then they were attacked by the wyverns in the air, and the defeat was inevitable.
The outpost battle did not last long, and the Silver Moon Wolf Cavalry Battalion had lost more than half of its troops. The human Magic Beast Cavalry only lost thirty or forty people, which was not a serious loss of personnel.
The cavalry unit was defeated, and the orcs lost the initiative on the battlefield.
At the battle site scheduled by Harland, Sutton decisively launched a full-scale attack.
The demon hunter brigade took the lead and rushed to the front. The noble coalition followed closely behind, vying to fight bravely, and the elven archers kept pressing in the rear, constantly shooting magic crossbow arrows.
Although the number of elven archers was small, their lethality was extremely terrifying. The elves' archery level was generally above the fourth level, and every arrow bit the flesh. More than 300 people exceeded the threat of 3,000 archers in ordinary troops.
Only three rounds of feather arrows were shot, and an orc vanguard brigade was directly defeated.
Seeing this terrible scene, Demeter hurriedly dispatched the snake-bodied heavy infantry, raised the heavy shield to flank the Sutton's defense line, hoping to disrupt the rhythm of the elves' archery.
Although the snake-bodied people were relatively slow, they were very powerful. Raising a heavy shield could block the arrows shot by the elves.
Although due to the appearance of the magic crystal cannon, the snake-bodied heavy infantry was in danger of being eliminated because of its slow movement speed. However, the Sutton unit was equipped with field artillery, so the snake-bodied people could still gather.
Seeing more than 400 snake-bodied people slowly approaching, Sylph brought dozens of high-level professionals and quickly blocked them in front.
Although the snake-bodied people were very powerful, they were as immature as children compared to Sylph.
Sylph's strength exceeded 50 points, while most of the snake-bodied people did not exceed 20 points. The collision of the weapons of both sides seemed to crush them. In an instant, under the cover of two high-level warriors, Sylph killed seven or eight snake-bodied people and fiercely killed the snake-bodied army.
Sylph's movement was extremely flexible, and she never let herself fall into the encirclement of the snake-bodied people. Her agility exceeded 20 points, while the agility of the snake-bodied people generally did not have 2 points. The gap between the two sides exceeded ten times. Unless they had a very large numerical advantage, the snake-bodied people could not fight with a legendary knight like Sylph in close combat.
Although there were 400 snake-bodied people, if there was no external help, they could use the army formation to force them back and besiege Sylph. But Sylph was not fighting alone. She was accompanied by more than 40 high-level professionals. Many of them were hereditary barons. Some of them were nobles with military merits and extraordinary combat power. For example, Grumman of Harland and Terrason, the eldest son of Viscount Romen, were both ninth-level professionals.
Although the melee lethality of the two ninth-level professionals was not as good as Sylph, they were still crushing against a single snake-bodied man.
It has been seven years since Grumman was promoted to the eighth level. He was originally the deputy commander of the Mad Lion Legion. He was awarded the title after his meritorious service in the northern border. His territory was located on the border with the orcs.
A few years ago, when Richard exchanged the territory of Grota Province with the royal family, the baronies of Grumman, Vida, Jose and others were incorporated into the Duke of Harland and became Richard's vassals.
Just after the Goddess's Birthday this year, Grumman was successfully promoted to the ninth level.
Terrason, the eldest son of Viscount Romen, was stronger than Grumman. He was promoted to the ninth-level knight two years ago, and his combat power was only slightly weaker than Sutton.
Now, there are already four ninth-level professionals in the territory of Harland. Sutton and Soros are directly under the power of Harland, while Terrason and Grumman are vassals of Richard.
Although the weapons and equipment of the noble coalition are not as good as those of Harland, the quality of the professionals is extraordinary. With the protection of Grumman, Terrason and other masters, Sylph seemed to be in her element and easily pierced the shell of the snake-bodied man.
As the demon hunter brigade rushed forward, the elf archers continued to shoot rounds of feather arrows. At the same time, the Warcraft cavalry launched a surprise attack from the flank, and the two-legged dragon was also hovering in the sky, seizing the opportunity to dive from time to time, spewing out bursts of flames.
The situation became more and more critical. In a short period of time, the three infantry battalions of the orcs collapsed, and the central army was on the verge of collapse.
The orcs were already showing signs of defeat, but it was still Sylph who first broke the situation. She led more than 40 high-level professionals and defeated the snake-bodied heavy infantry in less than half an hour. Without losing a single person, she killed more than 200 snake-bodied people and defeated this elite group of orcs.
Among them, more than 100 snake-bodied people were killed by Sylph herself. In just one battle, Sylph killed more than 100 orc professionals, which shows the destructive power of the legendary knight.
After Sylph led the team to defeat the snake-bodied heavy infantry, she left two high-level professionals to protect five or six seriously injured soldiers, and she led more than 30 officers to attack the command center of the giant owl Demeter.
Facing the powerful legendary professionals, the giant owl Demeter did not dare to fight at all. It decisively abandoned the soldiers and flapped its wings to escape in the air.
As soon as Demeter took off, he was blocked by four two-legged dragons.
Although the ninth-level giant owl is very strong, it is no match for the four wyvern knights. After all, an adult wyvern is at least seventh-level, and one of the four wyverns besieging Demeter is an eighth-level monster.
Wyverns, as sub-dragons, are inherently stronger than ordinary monsters. In addition, there are four mid-level professionals on the back of the wyverns to help them. Demeter was immediately caught in a dilemma and became extremely embarrassed and dangerous.
Sylph looked up and immediately took out the ninth-level enchanted bow and arrow from her back.
This bow and arrow came from the Jonathan family. At the trade fair last year, Richard exchanged the ninth-level ogre leather armor with the Jonathan family, and then gave the ninth-level enchanted bow and arrow to Sylph. After all, Sylph is a legendary professional, and the ninth-level enchanted bow and arrow has a stronger lethality.
Sylph easily pulled the bowstring of the ninth-level enchanted bow and arrow and shot a fatal arrow at Demeter. For this arrow, Sylph also cast a magic arrow spell.
The arrow drew a beautiful arc and shot at the head of the ninth-level giant owl Demeter in an instant.
Seeing that there was no time to dodge this cold arrow, Demeter immediately released the seventh-ring bloodline spell Leap. In an instant, there was a jump in the space, and Demeter appeared 200 meters away. He flapped his wings desperately, trying to seize the opportunity to escape.
After the arrow missed, it turned in the air and circled behind Demeter. In the eyes of the ninth-level giant owl who couldn't believe it, the arrow had already shot through his head.
Sylph attacked secretly and shot Demeter with an arrow, which determined the outcome of this battle.
Without the commander, the orcs quickly collapsed.
In this battle, Sutton suffered less than 2,000 casualties and successfully won the battle. In this battle, Sutton's troops killed more than 5,600 orcs and captured 8,000 people. The remaining orc soldiers took advantage of the chaos to escape successfully.
After the battle, the orcs in the east of Prilan had almost no complete garrisons, and a small number of troops were stationed in the coastal forests, and they could not participate in the war in the Prilan area at all.
After the battle, Sutton immediately camped nearby. He left some soldiers to guard the prisoners and protect the wounded, and led 12,000 people to march westward, and soon joined Richard's southern army.
At this moment, Harland's army was about 20 kilometers away from Prilan.
Seeing that the number of troops brought by Sutton was a little insufficient, Richard had guessed that Sutton's troops had fought a large-scale battle.
"How are you doing?"
Hearing Richard's question, Sutton briefly introduced the battle situation. "We encountered a group of orcs on the way and fought a skirmish. We killed about 14,000 and defeated 15,000, which is equivalent to annihilating an orc army. Compared with a few years ago, I think the orcs' combat effectiveness has declined a lot. There are fourteen orc battalions, and no orc archers. In this battle, the orcs did not cause us too much trouble."
"How many casualties did you have?"
"About 600 people were killed in the battle, and about 1,300 people were injured. The casualties of the forces directly under our territory added up to about 400, and the rest were the casualties of the noble coalition forces, totaling 1,500 people."
After hearing Sutton report the casualty figures Not much, Richard finally nodded with relief, and then gave a few instructions: "The military merits must be clearly counted, and the distribution of rewards must be ensured to be fair and just."
"Don't worry about this, I know what's going on here?"
"There was no major battle in the southern army, but there is one thing we need to pay attention to. As we approach the city of Prilan, the orcs have begun to slaughter human slaves. We have rescued 60,000 human slaves on the way, and they have almost nothing now. If we want to feed these people, our logistical pressure has become greater.
As the situation develops, we can't let the war drag on for too long."