Heroes of Might and Magic: Knight Chapter 524: Decision

To the west, a ray of setting sun was like blood, shining on the Longxinguan battlefield where corpses were strewn across the field.

"Dumb, dumb, dumb..."

The scavenging birds were attracted by the dead bodies on the battlefield. The strong decaying and dead air was a great temptation for them. At first, the orc soldiers who were cleaning up the battlefield had to drive away one or two, but later they were There are too many corpses, and the orc soldiers are too busy, so they can only let these disgusting black birds feast. After a while, wolves and wild dogs will also be attracted, and the living people are not yet found. They have no time to work hard for the dead...

Broken weapons, dense corpses, mutilated corpses, broken battle flags that were blackened by fireworks, and the earth that has turned dark red as a whole soaked in blood, even veterans occasionally feel it while walking. I was in a trance, thinking that I had left the human world and entered hell...

The fighting at the first gate of Longxing Pass finally came to an end as the sun set in the west. The two sides fought for several days. Although the time was not long, the battle was extremely fierce. The two sides combined at least in this dozen square meters. More than two hundred thousand bodies were dumped over a kilometer.

Between the first pass and the second pass captured by the orcs, there is a long road of more than 20 miles. In the original layout, camps were built on the cliffs on both sides and a large number of crossbows were deployed. Long-range weapons such as carts and thunder carts should make the opponent peel off even if the orcs attack.

It’s just that all this is based on the fact that the orcs have no air superiority. With the white dragon clearing the way, the human camps on the cliffs on both sides are as vulnerable as those orc camps in the northern dense forest facing Richard’s army. .

Fortunately, although Taize was unable to reverse the situation of such a huge disparity in strength, he still did what a qualified commander should do and led his troops to successfully separate from the orcs and return to the second pass of Longxi Pass.

Although the orcs only took some time to clear the mountain stronghold on both sides, only the trench traps and fire walls on the ground had some effect. After the human soldiers passed through the hidden safe passage, the pursuing orcs were anxious to catch up. He fell into a long trap and suffered a lot of losses.

And when they were unwilling to let the human soldiers escape and climbed over the trap ditch on the corpses of their companions, they soon faced a wall of fire four to five meters high. No one dared to continue rushing up and confront the fire. Fear should be a biological instinct. I can only watch the defeated human army calmly retreat...

"Hua Hua Hua..."

What a coincidence, just after the human army escaped from the pursuit range of the orcs, it started to rain again. This rain was not heavy. It is difficult to see any decent heavy rain in winter, but the rain It still suppressed the smell of gunpowder smoke on the battlefield, and also suppressed the wall of fire that was still burning fiercely.

Seeing this scene, the commander of the orc army in charge of the pursuit was filled with hatred.

If this rain had come ten minutes earlier, it would have entangled the retreating human soldiers. Although the humans suffered heavy losses in the battle at the first pass, at least more than 200,000 people were withdrawn. The army of more than 100,000 retreated back to the last pass of Longxing Pass, not knowing how many more casualties it would cause to its men.

"Master Great Shaman, if you don't let the wolf cavalry chase you, maybe you can still catch up..."

Unwilling to give up, the commander of the orc army simply suggested to Gro that he would send wolf cavalry to pursue him and keep Taize in retreat.

But Gro looked at the human army in the distance that was already as big as ants and shook his head.

"The wolf cavalry is still of great use and should not be wasted here. Letting them retreat will only cause more casualties to the infantry."

Gero thought further. The loss of tens of thousands more infantry would not be a big deal to the now fully mobilized Orc Kingdom. If the decline in the quality of the army was not considered, the fully mobilized Orc Kingdom would At least tens of millions of infantry can be drawn out.

The racial advantages of the orcs are still very obvious in front of humans. Even the orc recruits who have never experienced fighting can still overwhelm human soldiers after picking up weapons and wearing armor.

The wolf cavalry is already considered a valuable technical unit. Unlike infantry who can be used as cannon fodder, the wolf cavalry not only needs to train and exercise their riding skills all year round, but also cultivates feelings and tacit understanding with the giant wolf from time to time. A ferocious carnivore that is much harder to tame than a horse, and the number of giant wolves is limited. It is difficult to recognize a new owner after the wolf knight dies in battle. It is more troublesome than replenishing human cavalry. The value of a wolf cavalry is in Grotto In his eyes, he was probably worth more than a dozen infantry.

There are only about a hundred thousand wolf cavalry in the entire orc kingdom. Originally, most of them had to be placed in the grasslands to the north to guard against attacks by centaurs, but now almost all of them have been transferred to Gro's men.

Gero has been holding them down, waiting to break through the Dragon Breathing Pass and enter the Central Plains before they can really play their role. The wolf cavalry is his trump card against the human cavalry on the Central Plains...

"Don't think about the pursuit anymore. Let them retreat. It's starting to rain. Set up camp and rest as soon as possible. Don't be careless in the camp. Be careful of human sneak attacks..."

"Yes, Great Shaman!"

Seeing that the great shaman had no intention of sending troops to continue the pursuit, the orc army leader also gave up his thoughts and immediately led his people to set up a camp at a suitable place. The orc army that broke through the first pass could not keep turning. Rest is a must.

……

"Lord Taize, the orcs are not chasing us."

Taize's retreat work was definitely not a simple retreat. As an excellent general, during the retreat, Taize also made plans to bite the opponent. He had already laid out ambushes on the long road at the two passes. , if any orc army is eager to attack and dares to break away from the main force, Taize will command the ambush to teach the other party a lesson.

It's just that the orcs didn't give Taize another chance to show off. After a little probing, they started to camp on the spot. This was to prepare for a steady attack and rely entirely on their strength to defeat the Dragon's Breath Pass.

"call"

After taking a long breath, Taize no longer planned to stay here and do useless work.

"Withdraw!"

"Withdraw!"

Following Taize's order, several caves appeared on the originally flat ground, and several stone gates were opened on the cliffs on both sides. A large number of human soldiers filed out of them. These were originally waiting for the orcs to chase them. The deployment of soldiers could only be done in vain at this time, and they withdrew with Taize to the last pass of Longxing Pass.

…

Longxiguan Main City

The soldiers in the city are being mobilized urgently, and dark clouds are pressing on everyone's hearts here. The orcs have never been so close to the last pass of Dragon's Breath Pass.

Although the orcs have attacked Longxing Pass in the past, they usually stopped at the Dongling defense line. After all, it was extremely difficult for the orcs without air superiority to break through the first pass. The main pass in the middle section is deadlocked, so it is better to look for opportunities on the north and south lines.

But this time, the orcs have already broken through the first barrier, and are only one barrier away from the main city. The soldiers and civilians in the city who have better eyesight can already see the white dragon raging in the sky.

If it were an ordinary city, it would probably be in chaos by now, but Longxiguan is a military city after all. In addition to the army, there are also civilians serving the army, but they are not too worried about the upcoming war. Instead of being in a panic, everyone was performing their duties in a depressing atmosphere and preparing for battle.

In the main city's meeting hall, an important military discussion was also taking place at this time. More than a dozen senior officers from Longxingguan were sitting together, including Richard and Moriel, but Li Cha and others were also among them. The supervisor had a higher status and sat on the main seat with Ross.

The military at Longxingguan at this time actually had a very strange command system. Ross was nominally the commander, but Richard controlled part of the military power, as well as almost all high-end military forces. It was basically a situation of two military orders. If If the two of them get into trouble, I'm afraid the entire Longxingguan garrison will fall into chaos.

Fortunately, Ross and Richard cooperated quite well, so the worst situation did not occur. However, no matter how well the two cooperated at this time, they could not change the overall situation. Compared with the worries of ordinary people and soldiers outside, the senior people here The officers actually realized more clearly that Longxinguan could not be defended this time.

"At present, our total military strength at Longxi Pass is more than 3.5 million, but the number that can be put into the decisive battle before the pass is only over one million."

Although the number of defenders at Longxing Pass is large, they are spread over thousands of miles, with eighteen large cities and dozens of small and medium-sized cities. It is not bad to be able to gather millions of elite troops after losing a lot of troops in a few battles.

But everyone knows that to stop the attack of the orcs, more than one million people are definitely not enough. The orc army currently gathered alone has exceeded this number, not to mention that there are still a lot of people in the orc kingdom. Reinforcements were constantly mobilized to the front line, and the help of the white dragon greatly offset the advantage of humans in defending the city. This battle was somewhat unsolvable.

"Sir, the current strength of the main pass alone may not be able to stop the orcs' attack. Please continue to mobilize reinforcements."

"From where? Longxing Pass? Central Plains? Where can we mobilize reinforcements?"

The officer who made the suggestion remained silent. Almost all the reinforcements that could be mobilized have arrived. There is really no place to mobilize reinforcements in a short time. Faced with this inevitable failure, the officers in the hall either had sad faces or expressionless faces or had firm eyes, as if they were ready to sacrifice.

Even Richard felt a little depressed. Although Richard had prepared a retreat from the Dragon's Breath Pass from the beginning, as long as the Beidi foundation was still there, time was on his side, but from Richard's true heart Basically, he hoped that the Dragon's Breath Pass would be defended. If the pass was broken, he could imagine what the humans behind would have to go through.

"I am not sure about guarding this dragon's breath pass."

When Ross said another word, the officers below all looked up at him. The truth is correct, but as a coach, is it not good to say this?

However, Ross did not pay attention to the looks from the officers below and continued:

"But I am confident that if the orcs break through, I will definitely fight the enemy with weapons and die forward."

"Lord Ross!"

The following officer of the Western Border Army was a little anxious when he heard what Ross said. Compared with other legions in Longxing Pass, their Western Border Army actually has a way out. They have more than 100,000 cavalry. At worst, they can just wait for the orcs to break through. Run with Ross. Behind them is the central plain, which is perfect for them to escape. Now Rose's words are more like cutting off his retreat first.

However, Ross just waved his hand, indicating that the other party did not need to say anything.

"You are all senior generals of Longxiguan. You must not give up any city. All the cities in Longxiguan must be fought with the orcs city by city for the sake of your wives and children on the great plains and in the royal capital. Buy some time."

"Yes!"

Several officers stood up to answer. Everyone seemed to be infected by the sad atmosphere brewing in Ross. In addition, this battle was against orcs, and there was also some blessing from human righteousness. Almost all the officers in the hall made a decision to fight against Dragon Breath. Even Richard was a little excited about the preparations for life and death.

At this time, the war was urgent. The senior officers present and even Peggy quickly left after receiving their assigned tasks to make final preparations for the battle. Soon, only Richard and Ross were left in the hall.

"Sir Richard, according to your majesty's order, we need to take away the cavalry and some elites of the Western Border Army, so that they do not need to be consumed at Longxing Pass. However, after Mr. Saul dies in the battle, you and I must be left alone to take charge of the defense work."

"Well..."

Richard nodded subconsciously, and Ross' next words made Richard a little embarrassed.

"But I know that Master Richard is definitely not willing to stay, so I made my own decision and let me live and die with this dragon..."

Richard "..."