Chapter 897 [0894] Step by Step
The communication between the Frost Guard priests and the intelligence team has begun.
This communication seems a little too heated, so that before the army of Fokarodna officially set out, many tribes were already in chaos.
However, this situation did not last too long.
It was not because the conflict between the two sides had subsided, but because the army of Fokarodna finally set out after more than two months of pre-war preparations.
Compared with the previous hasty union, the trained coalition now looks more like a whole - although the weapons in the hands of the Avarosa warriors are still varied, at least they now have a relatively unified uniform.
Even if they will not march in a line like the Demacia Northern Expedition Army when they march, at least they can be seen as a group and a collective when they walk together.
When the coalition forces were officially dispatched, the joint air force composed of elemental dragons, snow sculptures and snow owls had already completely controlled the air supremacy in the sky. The tribes loyal to the Frostguard tribe and still believed in the Frost Witch soon became blind people who could not communicate with each other. With snow sculptures and snow owls responsible for reconnaissance during the day and night, and elemental dragons patrolling, it became very difficult to pass on information even in the vast plains.
On this basis, the coalition forces visited each tribe very enthusiastically and persuaded them with reason and emotion. Most of the war mothers of the tribes would repent after deep thinking and abandon the dark and join the light.
Of course, there are also some stubborn and obstinate people. Facing such people, the coalition forces usually give the other war mother two choices.
A duel with Ashe or a duel with Lux is fine.
No matter which one the other war mother chooses, the result is no different.
After the duel, even if they wanted to fight back, the morale of the entire tribe plummeted. In addition, with professional siege troops, it was difficult for any tribal stronghold to defend effectively. It often only took an afternoon to end the battle.
In this way, after the coalition began to move eastward, it was able to advance the front line by hundreds of miles every day, and this was when Lux and Ashe intentionally controlled the advancement speed and confirmed that the supply route was fine. During the whole process, almost no tribe or enemy could cause trouble to the coalition.
Move like thunder.
On the other hand, the Frostguard tribe obviously could not sit idly by and watch the coalition advance the front line so easily under their noses. It was just because the intelligence team took the lead, Lissandra had to send a lot of capable subordinates to stabilize the hearts of people in key positions, so in terms of response, the reaction was a little slow.
Of course, Lissandra's slow reaction was also related to absorbing Volibear's power. Lissandra, who used to be rational and calm, could hardly suppress the anger rising in her heart, which forced Lissandra to be more cautious and careful when making decisions.
She needed to reflect on herself all the time to prevent herself from being carried away by anger and making unnecessary choices and decisions, which greatly reduced Lissandra's decision-making efficiency.
This anger came from Volibear, specifically from Volibear's followers of the Lost Ones. Although Lissandra also "inherited" some of the followers of the Lost Ones, it was only a small part of the huge Lost Ones. Although anger had a lot of impact on Lissandra, it was controllable as a whole.
After realizing the existence of this anger, Lissandra herself also consciously controlled it. Almost on the fifth day after the coalition army moved east, she finally made the appearance of this anger traceable.
At the same time, she finally controlled the thunder that had been somewhat "unruly" before. The Frost Witch finally had no annoying arcs around her, but her frost magic had a fatal paralysis effect.
This meant that Lissandra was finally fully prepared to deal with a war and even take action herself.
At this time, the coalition's footsteps were still steadily moving eastward.
And Lissandra, who finally had her hands free, clearly outlined the coalition's trajectory after jumping through several dreams in a row.
Without any map, the entire terrain of Freljord was fully unfolded in Lissandra's mind. By connecting these dreams as base points, she easily determined the destination of the Avarosans and Demacians.
Ironthorn Mountains.
Realizing this, Lissandra's mouth corners slightly curled up, revealing an elegant and calm smile.
A very smart decision. I heard that the Noxians have been broken. That is the dividing line between Freljord and Valoran. Facing the cold winter that will come soon, the Ironthorn Mountains seem to be a good place to hibernate.
Even if the raiders take the initiative to cut off their supplies in winter, they can rely on their own food reserves to re-establish a transportation line in Valoran.
No matter from which angle, this is a safe and problem-free decision.
Unfortunately, the biggest problem with a safe decision is that there will be no surprises without accidents.
The Avarosans and Demacians seem to have forgotten that the northern foothills of the Ironthorn Mountains are still controlled by the Frostguard tribe. How can Lissandra let them do what they want so easily when they reveal their destination so undisguisedly?
Why should you be allowed to enter the Ironthorn Mountains smoothly to spend the winter?
Although the fire of the Valrokan family destroyed the Delverburg in the Ironthorn Mountains, turning those permanent fortifications into ruins, and leaving any defenders relying on the Ironthorn Mountains without towering walls and complete fortifications, the dangerous terrain of the Ironthorn Mountains will not be destroyed by a fire.
As long as it is repaired, the Ironthorn Mountains will still be the barrier that the Noxian Empire relied on to defend the north.
What, you said that the fortress burned by the fire is difficult to repair?
Yes, for the Noxians, if they want to repair the Delverburg in the Ironthorn Mountains, they may have to dispatch a large number of civilians and engineers, but for Lissandra, it is not as complicated as the Noxians to repair this fortress to a usable level.
After all... winter is coming soon!
……………………
Thanks to the existence of the air force, the coalition's reconnaissance range has always been very large.
Snow sculptures in the day shift, snow owls in the night shift, and elemental dragons in the three shifts, the coalition army can be said to be well aware of the slightest movement within a radius of at least 200 miles.
On the ground, the coalition army's advancement was also very stable. It took 20 days to advance to Nelzayag. At this efficiency, they will reach the Delverhold in less than a month, and they will have enough time to enter the Ironthorn Mountains before winter comes!
However, it was at this time that the raiders of East Freljord finally took action.
These raiders, who are said to have a thousand connections with Lissandra, made a big detour when the coalition army captured Nelzayag and ran to the Pujerati Pass to harass the coalition army's baggage train.
Although these guys cunningly chose to act at night, trying to avoid the detection of snow eagles and catch the baggage train off guard, they obviously did not expect that the wealthy Demacians had domesticated a large number of snow owls, which were regarded as food buckets by the Freljord people, in order to maintain nighttime aerial reconnaissance.
These guys can eat, but their sharpness at night did help the coalition a lot - after noticing the actions of the looters, the coalition responded quickly, mobilized mobile forces at the first time, and set up an ambush at the Pujirati Pass with the elemental dragons.
So, the looters who thought they had successfully sneaked into Chencang arrived at the Pujirati Pass and were ready to find a position to ambush the coalition baggage train, but they were ambushed by the coalition first.
When the battle broke out, although the looters were a little surprised, they were not panicked.
Night battles are the specialties of the raiders. They are used to ambush and harass the enemy under the cover of night. The raiders riding on Yukal and Enuk come and go like the wind. Even if there are three times as many enemies as them, it is difficult for them to win in the dark chaos; even if they lose, it is impossible to form an annihilation effect without ten times as many enemies as them.
In a hurry, the coalition forces that just conquered Nelzayag, how many people can be drawn for mobile defense at this time?
We dispatched two thousand brothers, all cavalry!
Under normal circumstances, any Freljord army does not have a good way to deal with these guys, but if the Demacia Northern Expedition Army is added, things will be different.
When the raiders were planning to fight back on the spot, the Northern Expedition Army directly lit up the sky.
It is difficult to describe the expressions of the looters when they saw the magic fireworks in the sky. Surprise and disbelief were mixed together. These looters who were used to showing cruel expressions did not look like vicious direwolves at this time, but like harmless and timid lambs.
Especially after many elemental dragons appeared in the lit sky.
Although looters are not all pure melee units, many of them have mastered beautiful throwing or net throwing skills, but these long-range attack methods are obviously not enough to face the elemental dragons in the sky.
When the elemental dragon swooped down and created a frost track with a fierce attack, all these looters could do was urge Enuk or Yukal under their crotch to run fast.
But unfortunately, this is the Pujirati Pass, which is the place selected by the looters in advance to ambush the coalition baggage train. The most important factor for being an ambush point is that it is not so easy to escape.
With the coalition's ground mobile forces firmly blocking the east side of the mountain pass, it seems that the looters can only escape by running westward.
But the west... has now completely fallen into the control of the coalition. Going west at this time is just a temporary solution. As long as the coalition keeps chasing behind, it won't take long for the looters to completely collapse and be easily annihilated.
As a professional army, the looters' choice at this time should be to go east with all their strength, and use the impact of the cavalry to open a path despite the breath of the elemental dragon.
But unfortunately, they are not professional soldiers, but a group of looters.
Looters are simply invincible when they fight with the wind, chase and capture, but once the situation becomes unfavorable, they will not hesitate to collapse and retreat.
Survive in the face of death?
Come on, no looter is willing to use his life to open a path for his companions.
So, almost at the moment when they realized that the situation was not good, most of the looters made the most favorable choice for themselves - running west!
Although the west is controlled by the coalition forces, if things really go wrong, we can still enter the Dragon Ridge Mountains!
At this time, forcing a breakthrough to the east would only mean self-sacrifice!
The shortcomings of the raiders were fully exposed at this moment. As they made the decision that was most beneficial to themselves but most disadvantageous to the whole, the subsequent battles of the coalition forces became simpler.
Chasing the enemy to the north.
With the air force at the forefront, the subsequent mobile defense forces kept chasing them. In the absence of reliable bases, support troops, and many interceptions ahead, the destruction of this raider cavalry was only a matter of time.
The Battle of Pujerati ended with a great victory for the coalition forces. Except for a few hundred people who abandoned their mounts and entered the Dragon Ridge Mountains and disappeared, most of the 3,000-man raider cavalry were annihilated on the battlefield.
Although Lux wanted to keep some prisoners, it was a pity that neither the Avarosa people who were chasing them nor the tribal army who took the initiative to intercept them would show any mercy to the raiders, let alone leave even a single prisoner - these raiders who were accustomed to spreading fear and death died within a hundred miles east of the Pujerati Pass.
The destruction of this raider was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the Frostguard tribe.
Although Lissandra had at least one wolf cavalry raider of similar size, they were more powerful and more mobile, but they were much worse in terms of impact.
Moreover, mobile forces have always been a treasure. If they can annihilate this group of Enuk and Yukal cavalry raiders, the pressure on the coalition's supply line will be much less.
As a price, the coalition's snow owl reconnaissance was also completely exposed. As long as Lissandra is not stupid, she will not be able to rely on sneaking in and raiding at night to win the battle. The coalition also lost an ambush point - of course, the intelligence of the snow owl reconnaissance was exchanged for a raider, which is not a loss from any angle.
When the news of victory came, the coalition, which had been marching for more than 20 days, held a banquet in Nelzayag. Now they can finally stop for a while and take a good breath.
However, just when everyone was in high spirits, a piece of information from the air force made Lux and Ashe's expressions suddenly become ugly.
This was the information sent back by Karya himself while riding an elemental dragon.
"In the Ironthorn Mountains, on the site of the old Delverburg, a brand new fortress made entirely of solid ice has been built." Karya no longer looked like a fun person before, "Obviously, the frost witch is not idle either - even these looters may be bait to attract our attention."
Karya's Little Classroom Narzayag:
A simple mill village downstream of a waterfall, its original name has been lost in the stones and ice and snow. Although it was reinforced into a small stronghold by the frost guard priests loyal to Lissandra, it did not take much effort for the coalition to break through it.