Chapter 296 Orc Night Attack
The orcs huddled together in the flood channel and were massacred by long-range projectile weapons. The defenders repelled a carefully prepared attack by the orcs with few casualties.
Seeing that the orcs were retreating, Peilan decisively led his elite troops out of the city gate and slaughtered the retreating orcs.
In a war, the most serious casualties always occur during retreat. Only one who can organize a retreat can be considered an elite soldier.
The orcs were negligent in their siege preparations, and after suffering heavy casualties, the orc captain retreated first, causing the troops to fall into chaos and making it difficult to organize effective resistance.
There were only three hundred soldiers leaving the city. They followed the orcs leisurely, shooting feather arrows one after another, killing the fleeing orcs on the roadside and in the trenches.
The focus of the pursuer's attack was the orcs who were trying to organize themselves. Many orc officers wanted to organize an army, but Perrin and his pursuers shot them to death.
Under the rhythmic rain of arrows from the pursuers, the defeated orc brigade was unable to organize a counterattack. They were defeated all the way and even abandoned the sixth and fifth fortresses.
The orcs lost only 500 people during the siege, but more than 600 orcs were killed during the escape, including 11 snake-like people. In addition, more than 300 orcs died under their own trampling.
Seeing the chaos on the orc front, the garrison stationed in Castle No. 3 bravely rushed out and attacked the orcs from the side.
Being attacked from both sides, the losses of the orc forward group became even more serious.
The front line was defeated, and Grodan, the commander of the orc army, immediately sent reinforcements to respond.
The main force of the orcs in the direction of Platos has seven brigades and 14,000 soldiers. Their strength far exceeds that of the defenders. It's just that due to terrain restrictions, they can't set up an attack formation, so they can only adopt refueling tactics and continuously send orc brigade to consume the human defenders.
The orcs in the front were defeated, and the main force of the orcs in the rear responded quickly. While they sent troops to attack the No. 3 fortress, they also sent troops to climb up the mountain ridge in an attempt to attack the pursuers from behind.
Seeing that the orcs had sent reinforcements to respond, Perlan and Lothar were both experienced commanders. They gave the order almost at the same time and quickly retreated back to the castle.
In an environment where the enemy is strong and we are weak, the defenders are unable to fight the orcs head-on. The biggest task of Platos's defenders is to delay time, hold the line of defense and wait for reinforcements to arrive.
The siege failed. Grodan, the commander of the orc army, had a gloomy face and ordered the orc adjutant beside him: "Go to the fifth brigade and count the casualties." In the afternoon, when he saw the casualty
statistics sent to him, Grodan secretly thought in his heart. Thoughts: "The casualties of the Fifth Battalion were as high as 1,400, and more than 900 soldiers were killed. The battle only lasted for two and a half days, and the casualties exceeded 3,000 to 6,000. According to the intelligence, humans added a thousand soldiers, hoping to conquer The last three fortresses, how many soldiers need to be sacrificed? Seeing that morale has declined, we must find a way as soon as possible."
Throughout the afternoon, Grodan continued to send harpies for aerial reconnaissance, and did not attack blindly. He constantly went to the group below and visited the wounded camp to express condolences.
The orc camp was gloomy and gloomy. For the defenders of Platos Castle, today was a double blessing. In the morning, they seized the opportunity to severely damage the orcs. In the afternoon, they received 500 reinforcements from the Baron of Thoros.
The Baron of Soros is supported by the Earl of Harland. It has developed very rapidly in recent years and has armed 500 soldiers. These soldiers are wearing steel armor. Many of the backbone are veterans who have followed Soros for many years. Their combat effectiveness is not high. weak.
The enemy was repulsed in the morning, and reinforcements arrived in the afternoon. Two consecutive pieces of good news made the defenders relax their vigilance.
The harpy kept staring at the human defenders in the air, and found that the defenders were a little confused. Grodan, the commander of the orc army, took the lead, mobilized 3,000 elite soldiers, and personally led the team to launch a night attack.
More than a hundred elite orc soldiers suddenly rushed under Fortress No. 7. Carrying planks, they easily crossed the ditch, built a human wall, and prepared to climb the city wall.
Although the sentries on the city wall were relatively lax, they were on the battlefield after all. When the orcs approached the city wall, they finally noticed the movement. He hurriedly blew the horn, and the high-pitched horn broke the tranquility of the night. =
Seeing that the action had been exposed, the orc shouted at the top of his lungs: "Kill all the enemies!"
As the orcs shouted, there were silhouettes of people in the darkness in the distance. A large number of orc elites rushed forward with weapons in hand and launched an all-out attack on Pratos's last line of defense.
Through Harpy reconnaissance, Grodan focused his attack on Fortress No. 7.
Because there are a large number of trebuchets installed in Fortress No. 7, it poses the greatest threat to the orcs. After fortress No. 7 is breached, the orcs can pass through the Platos Mountains unimpeded. In addition, there are a large number of auxiliary soldiers in Fortress No. 7, and hand-to-hand combat is weak, making it easier for the orcs to achieve strategic goals.
Hearing the trumpet call, the defenders resting on the city wall immediately got up, hurriedly picked up their bows and arrows, and fired crossbows in the direction of the sound.
"Don't panic, light the brazier, keep your hands steady when shooting arrows, and aim at the enemy." When
fighting with humans, in order to guard against arrows, the defenders would often extinguish the torches on the city wall as soon as possible. However, when fighting the orcs, because the orcs have weak long-range projection capabilities, the defenders will light the brazier and use the firelight to target the enemy.
Upon hearing the sound of the horn, the grassroots officers immediately organized a team and gave orders loudly. Their voices can make the soldiers under their command stop panicking and stabilize their emotions.
Long arrows were shot out intensively, and the screams of the orcs were immediately heard.
The shield raised by the orc soldier made a banging sound, and many arrows penetrated the shield, directly killing the shield hand.
The orc climbed up the city wall with difficulty, and was soon stabbed to death by the spears on the city wall. Even a mid-level professional would lose his life if stabbed in the vital part by an ordinary person.
Even if you wear enchanted armor and have amazing defense, facing dozens or dozens of spears, the consumption of fighting spirit will be very serious.
Even a legendary knight cannot defeat an organized army of several thousand in frontal combat.
The corpses of the orcs kept falling under the city wall, but the successors didn't care. They bravely climbed up the city wall and killed the enemies ferociously.
Because their legion commander Grodan has already come to the battle in person.
Grodan is a ninth-level werewolf. He wears ordinary enchanted armor and is very sensitive. I saw him taking a few steps to step on the shoulders of a tauren, and easily jumped onto the twelve-meter city wall. With a sword in his hand, two soldiers had already lost their lives.
Grodan was extremely brave after climbing the city wall, and a dozen soldiers were slaughtered by him in the blink of an eye.
In just a short moment, Grodan opened a gap, and more and more orcs used this gap to climb up the city wall. The defenders suffered increasing casualties and increased pressure.
However, the hatred between humans and orcs in northern Xinjiang is as deep as the sea. Even an ordinary person would hold an orc professional and fall off the city wall, and die together.
Even though the orcs had the upper hand, the soldiers in the castle were still fighting for their lives.
In the dark castle, axes were waved, spears stabbed, arrows made popping sounds, and lives disappeared one by one in the night wind of the northern border.
In Castle No. 7, most of them are led by Harland. Although they are good at operating trebuchets, their combat effectiveness is not good at face-to-face combat with the orcs. Soon the soldiers suffered too many casualties and could not bear the blood.
Finally, seeing that the reinforcements were delayed, the commander led some soldiers to escape through the back door of the castle and retreated into the mountains.
Of the 700 soldiers stationed at Castle No. 7, only more than 200 were able to save their lives.
Most of these people were auxiliary soldiers of Harland. Under the leadership of their officers, they sent messengers to report to the rear.
The military laws in Harland Territory are strict. If you escape from the battlefield, you will not only lose your life, but your family will be harmed as well.
Once the crime of desertion is confirmed, the family members will be demoted as slaves and will not be able to stand up for three generations.
Generally speaking, soldiers will fight until the last moment due to the harsh military laws. Besides, this is a war with the orcs, and many people will fight against the orcs out of hatred. As a northern Xinjiang native, many of my parents, wives, children, brothers, sisters, and friends died at the hands of orcs.
Although they failed to defend the castle and were forced to retreat, they were unwilling to become deserters and still fulfilled their responsibilities.
After daybreak, the fighting calmed down.
The orcs' night attack in this battle was very successful. They not only captured Fortress No. 7, but also killed more than 800 human defenders. And its own casualties were only over a thousand people.
Only more than 400 orcs were killed in the battle, and most of the injured orcs were able to save their lives.
When the fighting calmed down, the remaining soldiers in Castle No. 7 retreated to Castle No. 9.
After the night attack, the orcs had taken control of six castles and successfully opened a gap in Platos's defense line.
But the most critical castles No. 9 and No. 3 are still in the hands of human soldiers.
The strongholds of both sides are already intertwined. Without conquering Castle No. 9 and Castle No. 3, the orcs will not dare to easily cross the Platos defense line and enter the rear of Harland Territory.
The sun rose slowly from the east. Peilan stood on the city wall and looked at the orcs slowly retreating with a serious face.
At this moment, he felt a little guilty in his heart. He should actually bear some responsibility for the failure of this battle.
Perrin has rich war experience. He is a veteran with more than 20 years of military service. Before joining the Harland Territory, he served as a soldier in the Kingdom of Delon for several years.
But his battlefield sense is very average, and he has no talent in the art of military command.
Among the officers in Haaland's territory, Perrin was a qualified mid- to low-level officer, but when he was left to lead alone, it was difficult for him to shoulder the heavy responsibility.
It was his laxity as a commander that affected some of the soldiers below, allowing the orcs to conquer Fortress No. 7 and achieve a complete victory. However, the imbalance in the strength of the enemy and ourselves was the key reason for the failure of this battle.
Perrin brought only 1,000 reinforcements, Platos's last line of defense defenders totaled 1,300 people, and Baron Thoros had 500 private soldiers.
Although Perrin has 2,800 soldiers in his hands, the only ones who are truly good at fighting are the 160 elite Haaland soldiers directly under him. The remaining soldiers are either auxiliary soldiers or second-line armed personnel. The most elite is Baron Soros. Receive five hundred private soldiers.
These soldiers met the elite orcs. Although they fought bravely, they killed many orcs by relying on natural defenses and long-range weapons.
But once the orcs fight hard, they will definitely be able to achieve their strategic goals.
Even if Perrin did not relax, the sentries of Castle No. 7 discovered the orcs in the distance. The fall of the castle was still a foregone conclusion, but the orcs would suffer two to three hundred more casualties.
After daybreak, Perrin immediately sent messengers to the rear to ask for help, and asked his adjutant to count the casualties.
"Since we entered the Platos defense line, we have fought two battles. We won the first battle, and only sixteen soldiers were killed in the three castles. We were defeated in the night attack yesterday, and six soldiers were killed. One hundred and seventy-three people, and one hundred and forty-two wounded soldiers. The main casualties were in Fortress No. 7. Because the defenders resisted fiercely, the orcs massacred our prisoners of war and wounded soldiers." After yesterday's night attack
, Perrin was under great psychological pressure. But as a commander, he kept Richard's teachings in mind and could not pass on his own decline to the soldiers under his command. Although his heart was very heavy, Perrin still cheered up and said: "How many of the soldiers who were killed or injured in the battle are our people." "The number of
casualties among our people has exceeded 400."
Soldiers from Harland's territory, Regardless of whether it is a field army or an auxiliary soldier, if you die in battle, you will receive a pension.
The territory's pension system has been reformed two or three times, and different pensions will be issued based on military age and position. Generally speaking, field army soldiers will receive more pensions, and auxiliary soldiers will receive less.
Even the most junior recruits can receive a pension of eighteen silver coins every year. In addition to coins, the territory will also provide material pensions. Food, woolen cloth, brown sugar, etc. will be distributed before the New Year.
For any soldier killed in battle, the pension can be received for fifteen years and costs about thirty gold coins. Disabled soldiers receive pensions as long as they live.
The soldiers in the Harland territory are elite, good at fighting, and fearless of death. The pension system is also the reason for maintaining combat effectiveness.
Peilan was already considered a middle-level soldier in the army. When he heard the figure of 400 casualties, his mood became even worse. This means that the Harland Territory pays nearly a thousand gold coins more in pensions every year.
The pension is still a small matter. The most troublesome thing is that Platos's defense line has been penetrated by the orcs.
Castle No. 7 is occupied by the orcs, and the orcs can pass through the Platos Canyon through the ridge on the west side.
Perrin knew clearly that there were no soldiers stationed at Fort Sophia and Iron Mountain Fort on the east side of Platos Canyon. There are only a small number of auxiliary troops in Vicksburg, Iron Lion Castle and Romburg in the south.
Two Rivers County, Eastern Canyon County, and Southern Platos County are about to face an attack by the orcs. The most troublesome thing is that these three counties have a population of more than 200,000. Even if the order to strengthen the walls and clear the country is carried out, the economic losses in this battle will be extremely serious.
Moreover, the appearance of orcs behind Harland's territory will seriously affect the morale of the front line.
Perrin was worried about the orcs rushing into the hinterland of Harland territory, and the orc army commander Grodan was also caught in a dilemma.
(End of chapter)