Heroes of Might and Magic: Knight Chapter 424: Changes

After flicking the cigarette in his hand and taking his thoughts back, Richard stood up and asked:

"Have you found the orcs' grain depot?"

The orc jungle has been operating for several generations. In addition to well-equipped cottages, material reserves are also indispensable. Every orc cottage basically has a basement for storing grain, ready to prepare at least 1000 garrison for the defenders. Supplies for March.

Because most of the food and supplies are protected by the orcs in the basement, they can basically survive the dragon's breath.

The terrain in the dense forest is complex and cannot pass vehicles. Even the cavalry is greatly restricted in the forest, let alone the carts pulling grain. They can only rely on civilians to carry the bags, so Richard It was not easy for the North Route Army's 100,000-strong army to supply supplies in the dense forest. The supplies they could carry with the army did not exceed ten days' worth. The supply line was not long before passing through Langshou Village, and they could still get timely supplies from Dragon Scale Castle. Now after breaking through the Wolf Head Stronghold, they broke through three strongholds in three consecutive days with almost no breaks. They had entered the forest for more than a hundred miles, and the supplies of Dragon Scale Castle had long been unable to keep up. This was because the logistics had not been harassed by the orcs.

According to the current intensity of the march, supplies are actually out of touch with the army. In order to reduce consumption, the first thing the army does after breaking through the stronghold is to search for the grain and grass supplies stored by the orcs.

"Sir, we have found it. The quantity is enough to consume the army for one day. If we save some, it can last for two days. This is all the credit of the kobolds."

How long it would take ordinary soldiers to quickly find the orcs' supplies in the ruins by rummaging aimlessly, but it was different when there were kobolds in the team. The kobolds with sensitive noses quickly found the The cellar where the orcs stored food was found on the black smoky ruins.

"No need, let the whole army eat with open stomachs tonight, and there will be a high-intensity march next, so the soldiers must be fed."

"Assemble the troops, set up camp immediately, make food, rest early, and continue moving forward when the sun rises tomorrow."

"Sir Richard, if we continue to advance, the food and grass from Dragon Scale Castle will soon be delivered. It is better to stop and rest for a day and wait for the supplies from Dragon Scale Castle to be delivered."

"Where are the supply teams now?"

"We passed Langshou Village yesterday. Let's take a day off and they should be able to deliver it the day after tomorrow."

"Then let them go back to Langshou Stronghold without having to send them away, and order Longlin Castle to send people to repair Langshou Stronghold and store some of the supplies in Langshou Stronghold."

After Richard paused and thought about it, he seemed to have thought of something, and simply decided to give up the follow-up supplies and ordered the baggage troops to return to Langshou Village, the first pass into the forest.

But after Richard issued this order, senior officers, including several system heroes, frowned, with worried looks on their faces.

They are all a group of people who lead troops to fight, and they all have an instinctive rejection of being separated from the supply line. No matter what era, no matter how capable the army is, they will all become soft-footed shrimps after three days of starvation.

"Sir, it would be too unstable to just seize the orcs' food and grass. With the current situation, we will definitely be able to break through the northern dense forest with a steady attack."

Arsi thought that Richard had tasted the benefits of seizing the orcs' supplies, and in his youth and arrogance, he took it for granted and prepared to advance quickly by relying on war to support war.

It is not impossible to support war with war, but the risk is too high. As veterans, I basically reject this kind of behavior, and the advantage is now in my own hands. Just play it slowly and steadily. There is no need to take risks, so I came up with it immediately. Richard should be discouraged from some radical behavior.

But Richard shook his head and said:

"If we fight steadily, we will play into the hands of the orcs. When we fight slowly and spend a month or two with the orcs in this forest, I'm afraid that when we go out, we will encounter the main force of the orcs who have packed up the army in the middle."

Now that the war has basically started, it is not a big problem to put the plan on the table. And although Ren and Saul have done a good job of keeping the plan secret, the senior officers in the North Route Army have not yet understood it. There is some speculation as to the purpose of this operation.

"Does Lord Richard mean that he is not very optimistic about Lord Saul's actions along the way?"

"No one can guess the outcome of the war until the last moment. Since I have come to lead the Northern Route Army, I must complete the mission of the Northern Route Army. We must pose enough threats to the orcs in a short period of time to alleviate the middle route. The pressure of the main force."

"So, the task of our Northern Route Army is to act as bait to attract the orc army?"

After Richard basically revealed the plan, several system heroes and Kurtz, who had known the plan for a long time, did not react at all. However, including Alsi, several senior officers who had been following orders changed their minds.

They originally thought that the mission of the North Route Army should be to cooperate with the main offensive operations of the middle route, but now it is clear from what Richard said that they are going to be used as bait. The degree of danger is not at the same level at all. They came all the way. The relaxed mood suddenly dissipated, and everyone's expressions became serious.

After being silent for a while, Arcee, as a veteran, asked:

"To what extent is our task?"

"My mission is to break through the northern dense forest, enter the Orc Plateau, pose a threat to the Orc King's capital, and try to mobilize the main force of the Orcs to create opportunities for Lord Thor."

"I understand, my lord."

Alsi seems to have figured out why Richard acted so radically. If it is to cooperate with the main force in a grander plan, then compared to that kind of million-level battle, the 100,000 people of the North Route Army are indeed It could be used as a chess piece for sacrifice, so he no longer tried to dissuade Richard, but just said to himself:

"Since I joined the army at Longxing Pass, I have experienced hundreds of battles, large and small. There are basically few comrades left around me at the beginning. I never thought about leaving Longxing Pass alive and fighting for the kingdom. It’s my pleasure.”

"It is our honor to die fighting for the kingdom."

These officers who came from the Longxiguan army are also used to seeing life and death. Although they were shocked by the information that Richard just revealed, they were not afraid. Under the leadership of Alsi, they also reacted and expressed their opinions one after another, fearing that they would be Mistakenly thinking that it is greed for life and fear of war.

"Heh"

Seeing that Alsi and others had made the atmosphere so tragic, Richard chuckled somewhat ruining the atmosphere.

"Why do you think I want to take you to die? Letting the supply team go back doesn't mean we don't have supplies."

"Then the supply line will get longer and longer as we go deeper. Protecting the supply team behind us will involve more troops. I have other ways to supplement it. Don't worry too much. What we have to do now is to break through the orcs' defense line in the dense forest as soon as possible. Entering the Eastern Plateau."

"Yes, Lord Richard!"

Arsi and the others only thought that Richard was comforting them. They still looked solemnly, stroking their shoulders and bowing slightly before accepting the order to leave. They went back to organize their soldiers to camp and rest.

Richard didn't explain too much. He also stayed in the big tent set up by the kobolds for him to rest. After several days of continuous marching, even if Richard's physical fitness was considered, this kind of consumption was not big. , but the actions of an army are more about using his brain. Commanding the actions of the army also makes him a little mentally exhausted. He needs to rest early to regain his energy. He must try his best to stay in good condition when the intensity of the war is not high now.

…

Two days later, noon

Jumu Village, the base of the orc army.

Jumu Village is a large village. Although the location is not as good as that of Langshou Village, it happens to be stuck on the main road that the North Route Army takes from the dense forest to the east of the plateau. The march in the dense forest is no more likely to be detoured than in the plains.

In this kind of terrain, a detour may be a dead end. Even if there is a small road, the army will never be able to get past it, so this orc stronghold is an inevitable target for the Northern Route Army.

Three thousand orcs were originally stationed in Jumu Village for a long time and were in charge of the surrounding forest patrols and small checkpoints. In total, there are nearly five thousand orc warriors under the jurisdiction of Jumu Village. There is exactly one flag regiment. It is in charge of the defense here. Qilwei, the leader of the orc flag, was in the limelight in front of Adlu.

At this time, Qi'erwei did not stay in Jumu Village, but commanded his army more than ten miles away from Jumu Village. He was followed by only a hundred personal guards, and he was simply camouflaged with tree branches and leaves. .

Since it was him who proposed the tactic, he was the one who implemented it most thoroughly. All the supplies in Jumu Village have been transferred out in the past two days and stored in secret supply points in some hidden places in the forest. , only he and some of his officers of sufficient rank can accurately find these secret supply points.

Some of the supplies that were too late to be taken away were simply doused with kerosene and burned up. In fact, no supplies were left for Richard's army. The idea of ​​​​fighting to support war would definitely be a miscalculation. Fortunately, Richard had a more complete idea of ​​​​obtaining supplies.

"General Qilwei, the people in the First Capital have already fought against the enemy. As in the intelligence, there are a large number of kobolds and half-elves in their army, as well as sharpshooters who have perfect shots. The casualties in Yidu are very heavy, and we can hardly hold on."

"How many casualties were there in the First Capital?"

"More than half of them were lost not long after the contact. The samurai in command is now seriously injured, but he is still persisting. People in the First Capital said that the main casualties were caused by the other side's sharpshooters."

After listening to the other party's description, Qi Erwei's heart skipped a beat. Although he had already learned from the defeated soldiers who had returned from Langshou Village that there was a special army in the human army that was good at fighting in the woods. It was very difficult, but the so-called Hearing what he heard was false. Before he actually collided with the other party, Qi Erwei was still skeptical about the other party's description. Now that the **** casualty figures were in front of him, he couldn't help but not believe it.

"Did you find the dragon?"

"No, their dragons shouldn't have been dispatched yet, but the human army is already very close to us."

"Order them to retreat while fighting. There is no need to fight head-on with the human forwards. Just resist according to the established route."

After testing at a certain cost, Qilwei immediately ordered the army to change tactics.

"Yes, General!"

…

On the other side, the North Route Army is in the middle.

Li Cha looked thoughtfully at the Jumu Village with black smoke rising in front of him.

After the Langshou Village, several orc villages were successively attacked. The Northern Route Army basically encountered no decent resistance. Most of the time, the orcs guarding the village were attacked by the giant dragon without even seeing the army on the ground. Most of them were slaughtered, and the few orcs that occasionally survived had no will to fight at all, and basically posed no threat.

It’s just that this time they clearly hadn’t arrived at the orcs’ camp yet, and the orcs themselves burned the camp. Apparently the orcs had already reacted, knowing that they could only wait to be taken care of by the giant dragon in the camp, so they might as well Abandoning these well-equipped strongholds and burning them down, leaving nothing for Richard, I think the food inside must have been either taken away by the orcs, or burned with the military stronghold.

If Richard had dared to think of using war to support war, he would have been immediately blinded by this situation. Fortunately, Richard had other plans for the supply issue.

"It seems that the orcs have reacted, and the next battle will not be so easy."

"Go and tell General Gru that you need to be careful next time. The orcs are prepared."

"Order the First Legion to send people to cooperate with the task force and join the jungle battle with the orcs."

"Yes, sir!"

At this time, the main force fighting in the forest is still a task force composed of system troops from kobolds, half-elves and some barrier (elves) forces. Most of the system troops are still in the hands of Richard and have not been used. , he didn’t want to use the precious system troops in his hands to fight the orcs in the forest.

The four regiments of the North Route Army followed him along the way and hardly experienced any hard battles. Now it was time to make some moves and fight the orcs.

Soon, under Richard's order, Arcee led all his troops to support the task force that was still entangled with the orcs in the woods.

…