Chapter 167: Stop as soon as you see fit.
Before the war started, Harland Territory had stockpiled 500 alchemical bombs.
Some were consumed in the last battle, but the reserves are still very sufficient.
In order to defeat the orcs this time, Richard carried two hundred alchemical bombs.
Half of them are in the hands of the Warcraft Cavalry Squadron, and the other half are in the hands of the First Squadron.
The 1st Squadron was the squadron with the most veterans in the territory and had many bombardiers.
The bombardier's strength exceeds five points and can throw alchemical bombs sixty meters away.
Now the orcs have just entered the attack range of the bombardier.
The soldiers raised their arms and threw a hundred alchemical bombs.
One hundred alchemical bombs fell from the sky, looking like an iron lump.
This squadron of serpents had never seen an alchemy bomb before and were inexperienced, so they did not protect themselves with shields immediately.
The alchemy bomb was thrown next to the snake-shaped man and exploded suddenly, causing billowing smoke and dust.
In this round of attacks, the snake-formed man was unprepared and suffered heavy casualties immediately.
One hundred alchemy bombs killed more than twenty third-level snake-like people on the spot, and injured a dozen more.
Richard brought reinforcements from the First Squadron to the top of the city and turned the tide of the battle in a short time, killing more than fifty Snakeman heavy infantry.
Relying on Richard's powerful spells and the Alchemy Bomb of the 1st Squadron, the Snake Man was hit with heavy casualties in an instant.
The serpentine heavy infantry was shrouded in gunpowder smoke, and the formation immediately became chaotic.
The second and third squadrons also climbed up to the top of the city.
In these two squadrons, more than ten soldiers were equipped with enchanted crossbows. The sharpshooters in these armies drew their bowstrings and shot at the snake-shaped man.
At the same time, ordinary archers also fired arrows one after another, shooting out rounds of arrow rain, suppressing the progress of the snake-like heavy infantry.
Seeing that the casualties were increasing, more and more defenders were on the city.
The orcs were suffering more and more casualties, especially the losses suffered by the serpentine professionals, which made Maruland feel heartbroken. He assessed the situation and felt that it would be difficult to capture the castle, so he made plans to retreat.
Maruland roared angrily, pushed back Sharp with great courage, and quickly jumped off the city wall.
Platos Castle is more than ten meters high, and the minotaur was unhurt after jumping down.
When Richard saw the Minotaur retreating, he immediately decided to fight a counterattack and defeat his opponent in one go.
He ordered the city gate to be opened, and the Warcraft cavalry swarmed out.
The cavalry suppressed their speed, formed a dense formation and slowly moved forward, approaching the Snake Man squadron, and threw out the alchemy bombs in their hands.
Another hundred alchemy bombs were thrown into the Snake Formation, killing and injuring twenty or thirty Snake professionals.
Then Thoros commanded the cavalry to bypass the snake-like people and attack the kobold squadron on the flank.
The Snakeman heavy infantry is a professional army. Like the Warcraft cavalry, it is an important force in the orc army.
Attacking the Snakehead heavy infantry will definitely cause a lot of casualties.
Soros is also an officer who has led troops for many years and will not make such stupid mistakes.
Warcraft cavalry swept past. They were well-equipped and powerful, and their numbers were greater than that of the kobold squadron.
The two sides fought, and the Warcraft Cavalry rushed past and easily defeated the opponent.
The orcs were originally in retreat, and faced with the powerful impact of the Warcraft cavalry, they could not withstand it at all.
In the span of a stick of incense, four orc squadrons were defeated, and more than four hundred soldiers were killed or injured. The loss of Harland Territory cavalry was only more than thirty people, more than half of whom were auxiliary cavalry.
The Warcraft Cavalry is chasing in front, Richard is following behind with the infantry from Harland Territory, and the Heihe County Allied Forces are the third echelon.
Platos Castle was garrisoned by Barons Sharpe and Leon.
This pursuit battle went very smoothly. It was not until Maruland returned to the camp that he barely stabilized his position and blocked the counterattack.
The orcs had the advantage of the camp, and Richard was unwilling to fight a brutal attack on the camp with the orcs.
In this way, even if the orcs are defeated, he will suffer heavy losses and it will be difficult to recover in a short time.
After weighing it for a while, Richard chose to give up as soon as possible.
After the war, Maruland counted the casualties and found that there were 1,400 casualties, and almost a large group of orcs were killed outside Platos City.
What deplored the most was the casualties suffered by the snakemen. Thirty-nine were killed and fifty-six were injured.
This siege failed, and more than half of the Snakeman heavy infantry suffered casualties. Fortunately, most of the injured serpents could recover after being treated by the orc shaman.
The orcs suffered heavy casualties. The total casualties of Platos's defenders were only five hundred, and most of them were soldiers under the command of Baron Sharp and Leon.
Because the soldiers who used the trebuchets behaved very badly, Richard immediately ordered after returning to the castle that several officers who commanded the trebuchets were executed under military law to serve as a warning to the monkeys.
After Maruland's defeat, he temporarily stayed in the camp and could not leave.
Richard sent cavalry to attack the rear of Maruland's troops.
It was easy to defeat a squadron of food transport teams and rescue a group of human slaves transporting supplies for the orcs.
This group of slaves were all prisoners captured by the main force of the orcs from the Earl of Martins. The total number of slaves exceeded 6,000.
The food route was unstable, and the Maruland camp only had less than a month's worth of food stored in it.
Although he wanted to retreat, Richard was unwilling to let him go and even set up camp two kilometers behind the orcs.
The total number of soldiers under Richard's command was more than 3,000. These people were all fresh troops. They had just won a battle and had sufficient morale.
The main force of the orc soldiers under Maruland's command is only two thousand, and the remaining one thousand are wastes such as sheep-headed men.
He was now barely holding on to the fortifications of the camp, and was no match for Richard in a field battle.
Seeing that the situation was deteriorating day by day, Maruland could only place his hope on Gunderson.
He sent harpies to deliver a message to Gunderson, hoping that Gunderson would send troops north to attack Harland's territory.
Once the Harland territory is lost and the soldiers' relatives, wives and children are captured by the orcs, the morale of the army will inevitably be chaotic. The two orc armies can defeat Richard in one fell swoop and eat the wealth accumulated in the Harland territory.
It is a pity that Gunderson's tribe was also restrained by Viscount Romen and the coalition of nobles from Gedda Province.
Gunderson received strict orders from Drancy, the commander of the orc army, to ensure the retreat of the main orc army.
It would be impossible to complete this task without dealing with the coalition of nobles led by Viscount Luomen.
Gunderson's position and strength surpassed Maruland's. Of course, it was impossible for him to accept Maruland's request to give up his combat mission and go north to deal with Richard.
Seeing that food is getting less and less, morale is getting lower and lower.
Maruland finally decided to fight a field battle with the army led by Richard. Only by defeating their opponents head-on can the orcs commanded by Maruland have a way to survive.
When the situation reached this point, Maruland had no choice but to make a desperate move.
(End of chapter)