Chapter 221: The Situation Turns
A person without an overall concept cannot serve as the commander of the main army.
Especially the commanders of the main army in the north have higher requirements because they often face wars.
At this moment, Stein did not know that King Roger had already made plans to replace him.
On the fifth day after Stein led his troops to Haddon Castle, it suddenly started pouring rain.
At dusk, Stein led the guards to patrol the city. He found that many veterans were hiding under the eaves to take shelter from the rain. It was not neat and tidy, and morale seemed to be relatively low.
Stein opened his mouth, but in the end he did not punish the soldier. In such bad rainy weather, it would be too unreasonable to require the troops to be neat and tidy and to have high morale.
A large part of a soldier's combat effectiveness depends on morale.
Morale is another mental state that fluctuates greatly.
Only one who can mobilize and boost morale in adversity is an excellent commanding officer.
Stein had not been in the Northern Army for a long time. He had not made any achievements but instead punished many soldiers in the army, which had already made many officers and soldiers complain. Although the grassroots officers and soldiers could not offend him, it was more difficult for him to get into the hearts of the soldiers than it was for former regiment commander Zachary.
Therefore, Stein could only manage the army with a tolerant attitude.
Once it is too harsh and its prestige is not high, and then punishes the officers and soldiers for some trivial matters, causing the officers and soldiers to rebel and engage in mutiny, it will become particularly troublesome to deal with it.
Stein walked around the city wall and was about to retreat when he suddenly heard a shout. The sound came from the lookout post.
Hearing this shout, Stein raised his head and asked the sentry: "Why are you panicking? What happened?" "
Three miles away from the city, there seems to be a large group of orcs approaching!" The sentry's voice was a little frightened, and he wiped his eyes. Clear yourself up a bit.
"Quickly, climb up to the lookout post and have a look. Let the soldiers gather immediately."
Stein reacted quickly and immediately ordered the soldiers around him to board the lookout to observe the enemy's situation, while ordering the soldiers to notify the reserve team to assemble.
The quality of the Northern Legion was very good. After hearing the assembly order, they did not delay and completed the assembly quickly despite the heavy rain outside.
There was another thunder in the sky, and a bolt of lightning struck straight down, twisting and turning, and the dense clouds in the sky seemed to be split open.
It is not easy to light beacons on rainy days, and it is also difficult to convey messages through sounds and flags. The news of the orcs' siege was difficult to convey to William in the stronghold outside the city.
Seeing the orcs begin to gather outside the city gate, the important officers in Harden Castle boarded the city. Zachary and Rab roughly estimated the number of orcs and found that Stein had no further orders, so they immediately found the top officer of the garrison together.
The situation was urgent. Rab did not show politeness and directly grabbed Stein's arm and said: "The Warcraft Cavalry is not suitable for defending the city. Please ask the legion commander to order the soldiers to open the city gate, lower the drawbridge, let the Warcraft Cavalry Brigade leave the city, and flank the Orcs to cooperate." The defenders are fighting. After we leave the city, we will send troops to notify William." "
Lowering the suspension bridge now is very threatening. Will the orcs rush over immediately and disrupt your position?" "The
Warcraft cavalry has very strong combat effectiveness and the officers and soldiers are of high quality. As long as You can rush out of the city gate in a short time. When the Warcraft Cavalry has space to fight, it will not be difficult to defeat one or two orc groups." Seeing that the
orcs were already making the final assembly, time could not be delayed, Zachary also came up exhortation.
Although Stein was a bit suspicious and indecisive, he still listened to the two people's opinions at the critical moment. He immediately ordered the Warcraft Cavalry Brigade to go out to fight in the city and passed the news to William outside the castle.
As soon as the Warcraft Cavalry Brigade left the city, the orcs completed their assembly.
The orcs advanced very quickly, and in a short time they were two to three hundred steps away from the city head and within the range of the trebuchet.
Although you can also use a counterweighted trebuchet on rainy days, the accuracy and range of the trebuchet will be greatly affected.
Dozens of catapults in Haden Castle continued to throw stone bombs, and heavy stone bombs fell from the sky. They occasionally hit the advancing orc array and smashed the attacking orcs into meat pies.
Seeing this tragic situation, the orc army formation was not at all chaotic.
Although Stein had relatively little war experience, he was also a noble officer with family heritage. After seeing this scene, he immediately discovered that the orcs attacking the city were elite soldiers.
The most elite soldiers of the Northern Army are outside the city, and the defenders on top of the city are slightly weaker in combat effectiveness.
Seeing the orcs being so ferocious, the strong soldiers in Outerstein suddenly became frightened.
Zachary, on the other hand, showed no emotion or anger on his face, directing the soldiers to fire arrows like a robot.
Seeing the soldiers of the Redemptor Legion starting to fire arrows, the soldiers of the Northern Army also followed the rhythm of the soldiers of the Redemptor Legion and fired arrows one after another.
Haddon Castle has 26,000 defenders, and the number of front-line troops guarding the city is as high as 19,000.
More than half of the nineteen thousand soldiers were equipped with bows and arrows. There were two to three thousand archers on each wall.
This round of arrow rain was very dense, and some orcs in the front row were immediately shot down.
The elite orcs reacted quickly and entered the range of the archers. The tauren displayed diamond-shaped shields. These shields were extremely wide and thick, weighing hundreds of kilograms on one side. Only powerful orcs such as tauren and snake-bodied people could use them. Can be lifted.
The orcs connected their shields together, as if they had built a shield wall out of thin air, blocking the crossbow arrows.
A moat about ten meters wide was dug outside Harden Castle. The moat is relatively shallow, about two meters deep, and cannot pass large ships.
In the blink of an eye, the orcs had rushed to the moat in the heavy rain. The kobolds were very fast. They rushed out from behind the big shield, jumped off the moat one after another, and swam across the river bank quickly.
Arrows rained down from the city, but the orcs didn't care and continued to rush forward. The corpses of the kobolds floated on the moat, and as time went by, the moat was actually filled.
It rained heavily for a while, and the sound of killing was loud on the battlefield.
The kobolds crossing the river built bunkers with the corpses of their companions, and then used long wooden poles to lay planks on them to build a simple pontoon bridge.
Some tall tauren jumped off the moat and used their bodies as piers to support the pontoon.
After crossing the moat, the orc soldiers used slings to throw stone projectiles. Some orcs who could shoot arrows also began to use the corpses of their companions as cover to shoot at the top of the city.
Although the exchange ratio was very bad, there were still casualties on the city. Many soldiers were stoned to death and injured, and shrill cries came from the city walls.
The grassroots officers cooperated tacitly. While organizing a rain of arrows to suppress the orcs, they also asked the auxiliary troops to quickly transfer the wounded to avoid affecting the morale of the front line.
The orcs fought bravely, and after suffering three thousand casualties, they finally cleared the obstacles to the siege, filled in the trenches, and built a wide pontoon bridge.
It was already evening and the rain finally stopped.
The dark clouds have gradually dispersed, and the setting sun shines on the top of the city, and the dark red city wall seems to be bleeding.
Stein came to the front line in person, with a gloomy look on his face, and shouted to the herald: "Inform the trebuchet crew to replace it with alchemy bombs and oil fire bombs."
Of course, Grant Kingdom has alchemy bombs, but these alchemy bombs are purchased and the price is high. Very expensive, the main army will be equipped with some.
Within the Northern Army, if there was no war, the reserve of alchemy bombs would be between one and two hundred.
If it is used up in the war, it cannot be replenished in a short time. In addition to alchemy bombs, the main army will also stock up on explosive arrows and oil fire bombs.
Explosive arrows can be refined by the Grant Mage Association, and are more powerful than alchemy bombs, but the cost of production is very high, exceeding two hundred gold coins.
But because the Grant Mage Association can refine it itself, the reserves of the main army are actually higher. The combined reserves of the regiment headquarters, brigade, and squadron amounted to more than 500 coins.
If used once, it would be enough to severely damage several brigades of orcs.
As the name suggests, oil fire bombs are mainly made of light petroleum. During production, they are mixed with a certain proportion of flammable substances such as sulfur, asphalt, rosin, and resin, and then put into sealed earthen jars.
When used, ignite the oil fire bomb and then throw it out with a trebuchet.
Seeing that the weather had improved, Stein immediately ordered the use of oil and fire bombs and alchemy bombs.
Dozens of trebuchets made a bang, and dozens of fireballs flew directly up, crossing an arc and falling into the orc formation.
The oil and fire bombs shattered upon contact, and flames flew everywhere, igniting the armor and hair on the orcs' bodies.
The raw materials used for oil fire bombs are special. Not only are they lightweight and extremely flammable, they are also difficult to extinguish even if they hit the water.
The flames sputtering everywhere are like gangrene attached to the bones. The burning ghosts were crying and wolves were howling, which was extremely miserable.
Even the orcs' siege equipment was ignited by oil and fire bombs.
Seeing that the siege of the city was blocked, the orcs immediately changed their tactics, and the snake-like heavy infantry appeared in large numbers.
In order to avoid the attack of the trebuchets, the serpentine heavy infantry ranks were very dispersed and mixed among the orcs. At the same time, the harpies also began to circle around the city, looking for opportunities to launch a surprise attack.
Discovering that the Snake Man had changed his tactics, Stein reacted quickly and adjusted his tactics, abandoning the use of trebuchets and instead handing the alchemy bomb to the professional officers of the Northern Legion.
Let them choose the timing of the throw and specifically hunt down orc professionals.
At the foot of the city wall, explosions continued to sound.
The alchemy bomb used by the Northern Army was twice as powerful as the version made by Richard because of the use of fire crystals.
An alchemy bomb exploded around him, and even a third-level snake-like man would be hard-pressed to survive the explosion.
Alchemy bombs were used continuously at any time, and the orc professionals suffered heavy casualties immediately. Only a few snake-like people broke into the city wall and began to climb the city wall.
Seeing that the snake-shaped man risked his own life and broke through the blockade, the harpy also lowered his altitude and launched energy missiles.
In an instant, hundreds of energy missiles exploded on the city wall, causing an immediate loss of more than 200 soldiers.
More than two hundred people were killed or injured, causing a certain degree of chaos in an instant.
Seeing that the harpy had lowered his height, the archers of the Northern Legion aimed their bows and arrows at the harpy and fired explosive arrows.
Two to three hundred archers fired arrows together, shooting more than two hundred explosive arrows, and actually hunted and killed more than eighty harpies.
Such heavy casualties immediately frightened the harpies, making them afraid to hover at low altitudes.
Snakes are good at climbing. Once they get close to the city wall, they can climb up very quickly.
Some serpents scaled the walls, causing some confusion.
Stein discovered that the snake-like people had climbed up the city wall and immediately organized professional officers to drive them away.
Zachary drew elites from the reserve team, like a fire brigade, to constantly put out danger.
Just when Harden Castle was in a bitter battle, Captain Rab led the Warcraft Cavalry Brigade, defeated the Orc Wolf Cavalry, and began to flank the Orcs' right wing.
After leaving the city, Rab informed William of the news.
After receiving the battle report, William took the initiative with three large groups of soldiers to attack the left wing of the orc army.
The orcs had more troops. After discovering that enemies appeared on both wings, the orcs decisively mobilized five brigades to block them. Two brigades blocked the Warcraft Cavalry, and three brigades intercepted William.
The reason why the Northern Army was able to annihilate an entire orc army was due to an unexpected surprise attack.
The orcs braved the heavy rain and carried out a surprise attack. As a result, they met Stein, a cautious commander.
An unsuccessful surprise attack is equivalent to kicking down the iron plate and turning into a siege with open swords and guns.
Although the Warcraft Cavalry Brigade is powerful in combat, its numbers are too small. On the contrary, William commanded the elite infantry of the Northern Army, who first broke through the orcs' line and defeated the orcs' reinforcements.
Although the orcs have more troops, they are at a disadvantage in the siege.
Seeing that the reinforcements had broken through the interception and the siege failed, the orcs immediately sounded the retreat bugle.
The orcs who attacked the city were elite, and they followed strict orders when retreating. They were very fast and disappeared out of sight in the blink of an eye.
After repelling the orc siege, Stein immediately sent out the Warcraft Cavalry to pursue them.
As a result, the orcs were already on guard, and two orc brigades tried their best to stop them. The remaining wolf cavalry also mustered up the courage to fight against the warcraft cavalry.
Although the Warcraft Cavalry Brigade killed four hundred orc soldiers, it also suffered a reduction of thirty people.
This exchange ratio puts the Warcraft Cavalry at a disadvantage.
It is difficult to form Warcraft cavalry, but it is relatively easy to train orc soldiers. Even if ten are replaced by one, the Warcraft cavalry will still suffer.
Seeing that the Warcraft Cavalry suffered a loss, Stein immediately ordered and blew the retreat horn, choosing to give up as soon as possible.
In this surprise attack, the orcs suffered heavy losses, losing eight thousand soldiers. The garrison of Baron Harden's castle suffered less casualties, losing two thousand three thousand.
After this battle, the orcs' strength advantage has been greatly weakened, and the situation in the entire northern Xinjiang has gradually reversed.
Although the Orc Empire is very powerful, half of its troops must be placed on the 6,000-kilometer border with the Holy Glory Empire.
The remaining half needs to be divided up to keep an eye on the undead-contaminated areas within the territory.
In addition, garrison troops should also be left in key areas such as the Orc King's Capital.
Only 30 to 40 percent of the troops that can be used to invade the Kingdom of Grant, the Kingdom of Lane, the Principality of Laersong, the Principality of Cromea, and the Grand Principality of Stanek are only 30 to 40 percent.
But this 30% to 40% strength makes it difficult for the five human countries to deal with it.
(End of chapter)