Chapter 438 Hesitation
Although the Yunhai Slave-Catching Group is an elite all-professional force, it only has three or four thousand people. After entering the enemy territory, they dare not divide their troops to fight.
After being defeated by the magic crystal cannon of Harland, they have lost the possibility of disrupting and severely damaging Harland. After carefully weighing the pros and cons, the leader of the slave-catching group, Duke Maka, made the decision to withdraw.
Although the Kingdom of Sith has a grudge with Harland and wants to destroy Harland, and then capture the elves in Harland to sell and make money, the main force is too far away from the Kingdom of Grant and cannot mobilize a large army. They can only rely on the Yunhai Slave-Catching Group.
The Yunhai Slave-Catching Group is not strong enough, and the risk of attacking through the Black River waterway is very high. In August, the snow crystal fish will enter the Black River to spawn, and the lower reaches of the Black River will be impassable. When the snow crystal fish finish spawning, the Black River will soon freeze. Although this river has abundant water, it is only navigable for more than five months a year.
Once the war drags on and the retreat is cut off, the Yunhai Slave Group will inevitably suffer heavy losses and be in danger of being wiped out.
There are deep-sea monsters and fishmen in the ocean of the Dawn Plane. Without magic ships, it is impossible to sail on the sea.
Ordinary ships are very slow. When they encounter danger, they can not only avoid the enemy, but also have no way to defend against the attack of underwater sea beasts.
With only a dozen magic ships, the Kingdom of Sith cannot send a large army to fight at sea.
To advance on land, not only must a 1,800-kilometer supply route be established, but also the hinterland of the East Coast United Kingdom must be entered.
Although there is no allusion to destroying Guo by pretending to be a state in the Dawn Plane, similar things have happened in the thousands of years of continuous attacks by various countries. Most of the nobles are relatively smart people and have a tradition of recording history. Of course, it is impossible to let foreign troops penetrate into enemy territory and establish supply stations.
After all, as neighboring countries, the East Coast and the Kingdom of Sith have also experienced conflicts and wars, and the two countries have also had grievances.
Although the Sith Kingdom is not weak, the force it can deploy in the direction of Harland is not strong. At most, there are only a dozen magic ships and a few thousand professional soldiers.
The remaining army of Harland is as high as 90,000 people. Although most of the professional elite soldiers went to the south, Harland still has more than 100,000 alchemical bombs and 60 magic crystal cannons for defense. Relying on a few thousand professional troops, it is impossible to win.
After realizing that the situation was not good, Duke Maka immediately decided to withdraw.
Duke Maka wanted to withdraw, but the Dukes of Harland and Jonathan were unwilling to let him do so.
Although Duke Maka led the Yunhai Slave Catchers to attack East Castle against the current, causing Duke Jonathan's army to suffer heavy losses, a small number of naval forces were wiped out, and the defenders of East Castle suffered more than a thousand casualties, and won a victory.
But the Yunhai Slave Catchers were too few in number after all. Once Duke Jonathan's army fought desperately, they had to withdraw from East Castle.
When Duke Maka returned with the magic ship, Duke Jonathan would naturally not let them withdraw easily.
When the magic fleet of the Kingdom of Sith passed through the Castle of East, the river was blocked by the army led by Duke Jonathan.
Duke Jonathan's army not only built a water fort on the bank of the Black River, assembled a large number of heavy catapults, but also built a floating bridge on the river and arranged iron chains, relying on the water fort to hold off the navy under Duke Maka.
The retreat was cut off by Duke Jonathan, and Duke Maka could only order the Yunhai Slave Catching Group to desperately open a gap and break through the defense line.
Although the Yunhai Slave Catching Group had less than 4,000 people, they were elites carefully selected from the Kingdom of Sith, and their combat effectiveness was very strong. Once they fought desperately in a hurry, they immediately defeated the main army of Duke Jonathan.
Just when Duke Jonathan was about to be unable to support it, Harland's navy appeared nearby.
The magic crystal cannon once again showed its power, continuously and fiercely bombarding the enemy. Harland's magic balloon troops, with a small number of magic airships, also appeared nearby, pinning down the enemy's lion cavalry.
A fierce bloody battle broke out between the two sides. In the end, Harland's magic ship showed its power and sank three magic ships with the magic crystal cannon, once again severely damaging the enemy.
In this battle, Duke Jonathan lost 3,500 soldiers, and Harland's army also lost more than 600 people.
Although the two dukes of Grant Kingdom suffered heavy losses, they also successfully annihilated more than a thousand people of Duke Maka.
Since entering the Black River into the sea in early May, the Yunhai Slave Catching Group has fought with the two dukes Jonathan and Harland many times. Although it caused more than 5,000 casualties to Duke Jonathan, it also caused Harland to lose more than 3,000 soldiers. However, it also lost more than 1,500 soldiers, and four magic ships sank in the Black River.
After the East Sea Water Battle, Duke Maka fled the Black River waters with the embarrassed Yunhai Slave-Catching Corps soldiers and returned to the Kingdom of Sith to rest.
The army of the Kingdom of Sith basically did not play a role. It did not severely damage the two Dukes of the Kingdom of Grant.
In the East Castle Water Battle, Harland's flying troops suffered heavy casualties. In order to contain the Lion Duck Cavalry under Duke Maka, Harland's flying troops crashed more than 80 groups of magic hot air balloons and a magic airship.
Although equipped with parachutes, more than 300 flying troops were sacrificed. But their sacrifice was not in vain. They lost a large group of magic hot air balloons, successfully killed 31 Lion Ducks, captured 7 Lion Ducks, and withstood the attack of the enemy Lion Duck Knights.
This battle of the human kingdom even alarmed the orcs in the northern prairie.
Because the Lion Duck Knights of the Kingdom of Ryan were transferred southward, they could not suppress the harpies in the Silver Wolf Mountains. The orcs soon discovered something unusual. The commander of the Prairie Governorate, Melonla, immediately ordered to strengthen reconnaissance and soon noticed the unusual movement.
Then the orcs in the east of the Silver Wolf Mountains also discovered that the Grand Duchy of Stannik was caught in the war.
The Eastern Front received the latest intelligence and discovered that the Lion Duck Knights and Wyverns of Harland had been transferred southward, but through reconnaissance they found that Harland still had three legions of elite soldiers stationed in the north of the Eagle Mountains.
In the battle of Prilan last year, the Eastern Front of the Orcs suffered heavy losses. The commander, the legendary jackal Troye, was killed, and Richard led his troops to annihilate more than 70,000 soldiers. The continuous failures have made the Eastern Front orcs dare not fight against Harland.
After discovering that the human countries were involved in a war, Melonla suppressed the orcs' restlessness and prepared to let the human countries consume their strength first and launch an attack after the war was over.
Neither the Kingdom of Ryan nor Grand Duke Stanik knew that the orcs were already making preparations, storing food and fodder, building military stations, and preparing to take advantage after the war.
When receiving the war report from Soros, Richard had already led an army of 100,000 to invade the Kingdom of Ryan.
At this time, the Southern Army of the Kingdom of Ryan had already arrived at the border of the Kingdom of Delon, ready to enter the battlefield along the Mara River and defeat the coalition of the six dukes of the Kingdom of Grant in one fell swoop.
Upon receiving the news that his territory was invaded by the Grants, the commander of the Southern Army, Chlomis, was immediately caught in a dilemma.
Chlomis is a legendary first-level knight and an important member of the Royal Family of Ryan. He is the third uncle of King Thomas. Although he has a high professional level and is good at charging into battle, he is not the most suitable person as the commander of the army.
Because Chlomis has a big flaw, that is, he is not good at making strategic decisions.
Hearing that Duke Richard of Harland appeared behind him with his troops and had already invaded the Kingdom of Ryan, the officers under Chlomis were immediately involved in a quarrel. Some officers asked to return to the army immediately to fight a decisive battle with Duke Harland, while others asked to continue marching according to the original plan and cooperate with the army of the Kingdom of Delong to defeat the coalition of the six dukes of the Kingdom of Grant.
Both sides can say a lot of reasons, but the Southern Army delayed for three days without taking any action.
Seeing that the commander could not make a decision, Duke Madison quietly came to the commander's tent.
Duke Madison is an important figure in the Cromis Army. He has some relatives with King Thomas, and their mothers are sisters. In addition, Duke Madison also mobilized a legion to join the Southern Army.
Because his territory is on the eastern border of the Kingdom of Ryan, it is very close to the war, so Duke Madison is an important figure in the return to the decisive battle.
After all, from the perspective of personal interests, if they continue to follow the original plan, even if they win, the benefits will be mostly for Grand Duke Delong and the Royal Family of Ryan, and the remaining scraps will be divided up by the nobles of the Kingdom of Ryan. However, Richard led his troops to attack the Kingdom of Ryan, but it was the core territory of local nobles such as Duke Madison that was harmed. Even if Richard is driven away in the end, the loss of population and materials will be borne by the local nobles, and Duke Madison will lose money no matter how he calculates it.
Because of Cromis's indecision, he has been arguing with the attacking faction heading south after returning to the decisive battle, and now there is a rift.
Duke Madison entered the general's tent and saw that Cromis still had not made up his mind, so he advised: "According to the intelligence sent from the rear, Duke Harland has conquered Porta City.
Porta Castle is an important border town with more than 18,000 garrisons stationed. As a result, it fell into the hands of Harland's army without a day's support.
The west of Porta City has no strategic location to defend, and there are no garrisons. If we don't return to help as soon as possible, according to the speed of Duke Harland's actions, we will soon be able to penetrate the Duke of Madison's territory. After penetrating the Duke of Madison's territory, this terrible army will appear in the capital. Near the Rhine Castle.
Although the Rhine Castle still has 60,000 defenders, I don't think it can hold out for too long. Even if we go south and defeat the six dukes of the Grant Kingdom and help the Delon Kingdom regain its lost territory, how many people can we get?
Why should we lose our own strength to help outsiders? "
"Bota Castle is built on a dangerous mountainside, and the city defense fortifications are also very complete. There are still 18,000 garrisons in the castle. Why didn't it fall to Harland's army in less than a day? "
Duke Madison hesitated for a moment and organized a Language said: "I think there are three reasons. First, Duke Richard of Harland has a powerful fourth-level magic item in his hand, which can release a powerful bomb. The explosive power is equivalent to the legendary fourth-level spell, and the lethality is extremely amazing. The defenders of Bota Castle were not prepared and were attacked by the fourth-level magic item, killing and injuring two to three thousand people at once.
Secondly, Lord Harland has a special magic item, which they call the Magic Crystal Cannon. This magic item can release a variety of different shells, including alchemical bombs that rely on shrapnel to kill with range attacks, and also There are magic alloy armor-piercing bullets that attack solid fortifications. This magic item has a very long attack range and is relatively accurate. It can easily hit the target from five kilometers away and destroy the solid castle. The magic crystal cannon also played an important role in the fall of Porta Castle this time.
The third reason is that Harland has a powerful flying army. After suffering two rounds of attacks from starlight bombs and magic crystal cannons, Harland's army began to attack the city. When the city was in a fierce battle, Harland's lion cavalry and two-legged flying dragon launched a fierce attack from the air, and cooperated with the main force to easily defeat us. "
Although Kromis is not a man of many plans and decisions, he is not reckless or stupid. Although he is good at charging into battle, he is very cautious. It is precisely because of this cautious character that he has average decision-making ability and is prone to delaying opportunities. Putting him in the position of commander of the army is actually somewhat irresponsible.
However, the Dawn Plane is an extraordinary world, and Kromis is a legendary knight and the uncle of King Thomas. It is very difficult not to let him be the commander of the army.
With Kromis's strength and identity, he is a natural candidate for the commander-in-chief, unless the king of the Kingdom of Ryan is very capable and prestigious, and can violate tradition and persuade or suppress a large group of people who support Kromis.
After listening to the Duke of Madison's story, Clomis was shocked. He thought to himself: "I have heard that Duke Harland Richard has made great achievements in the war. I didn't expect that he not only had amazing luck and found a fourth-level magic prop, but was also good at magic invention."
Suppressing the distracting thoughts in his heart, Clomis asked solemnly: "Is your news accurate?"
"It was the news told by Mackaylon himself. Although I don't like him very much, I agree with his ability. In the battle of Porta Castle, Mackaylon was seriously injured. He forced himself to come to deliver the news, just to tell us not to underestimate the enemy, nor to fight recklessly. We must be careful of the Duke of Harland's army."
Mackaylon is the brother-in-law of the Duke of Madison and a legendary second-level warrior. Because of his high professional level, he posed a strong threat to the Duke of Madison. He didn't like Mackaylon very much in his heart, but talents were rare, and he had to reuse this brother-in-law.
There are five legendary professionals in the Kingdom of Ryan, which is considered to be the kingdom with the most legends among the surrounding countries. In addition to Uncle Cromis, there are McLaren from the Duke Madison family and Holden from the Linus family. Both of them are legendary level 2, among which Holden is a legendary knight with stronger combat power than McLaren.
In addition to the above three people, Sammy Blanco who defends the Silver Wolf Mountains and Wilson, the Royal Guard of Ryan, are also legendary professionals.
It is worth mentioning that Blanco is also a female legendary knight. It is very rare for female knights to be promoted to legend in the Dawn Plane. Blanco is a legendary level 3 knight, comparable to Brener of the Grant family, and can compete with the current Grand Duke Jonathan.
Wilson was born in an ordinary family and married a woman from the Ryan family. He is a legendary level 2 warrior and bears heavy responsibilities in the Royal Guard Corps.