Chapter 242 Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces

Terrence City, under the attack of the orc army regardless of the cost, finally reached the edge of collapse.

The outer city had long been lost, and the inner city had collapsed in many places. Apart from greeting the bureaucrats who built the city wall, Marshal Hoch could do nothing now.

After some hard work, we finally made contact with the outside world. The situation in the principality improved slightly, but reinforcements still couldn't come.

Although there are many troops gathered near Da Pest, most of them are temporary recruits. It is obviously a bit difficult to have a decisive battle with the orc army in the wild.

The absolute gap in strength cannot be made up by hard work alone. The Principality of Moxi cannot afford the consequences of military adventures now, and the bureaucrats in the royal capital will not agree.

Reinforcements could not come, but the bureaucrats in the royal capital still made some arrangements and allowed them to break out after the city was broken.

The main reason is that there are children of the royal capital's major nobles in the city. If it is determined that it cannot be defended, there is no need to let "one's own family" stay and be buried with the city.

But when this order came, it no longer had much substantive meaning. Breaking out was simple to say, but not practical to implement.

If they stick to the city, the defenders can still fight the orcs. If they leave the protection of the city wall, it will be a different picture.

Those with two legs cannot run as well as those with four legs. If you break out now, you will be killing the enemy.

Some of the reinforcements sent by the orcs took the road south to the Warhammer Kingdom, and some were on their way back.

Even if you can successfully escape from the encirclement of the orcs, you will most likely run into these people on the way.

Large-scale evacuation does not exist. The only way is to break out separately and gamble on luck, which means that most people are destined to be sacrificed.

"Marshal, let's leave together! The chaotic situation in the country cannot be separated from you now!"

Harley tried to persuade.

He was telling the truth. He really hoped that Marshal Hoch could break through. The situation in the Principality of Moxi seemed to be improving, but with the fall of Terence's defense line, it would soon take a turn for the worse.

It seems that the royal capital has gathered a lot of troops and is ready to fight the orcs, but the principality still lacks a commander with high prestige and rich war experience.

As the only remaining marshal in the Mossi army, if Marshal Hodge can break through and return, he may indeed become the commander-in-chief of the army.

"Harley, go away on your own! The Terrence defense line has fallen, and someone must stay and die.

By staying here to live and die with the city, I am not only giving an explanation to my countrymen, but also giving an explanation to the countless dead defenders.

According to the news from the country, reinforcements will arrive in another month and a half. Given the current situation in the principality, it is not difficult to delay it for such a small amount of time as long as you don't mess around.

As for the commander-in-chief, isn't Earl Hudson, who has never suffered a single defeat since his debut, a ready-made candidate?

He has strong abilities, great military exploits, and his reputation has been blown up by them. He will leave after the war and will not squeeze out everyone's core interests. He is much more popular than a bad old man like me!"

Marshal Hodge laughed and cursed.

In addition to these obvious reasons for choosing to live and die with the city, there is also the fact that his body is on the verge of collapse.

The long-term high-pressure environment has brought too much burden to him. The body is honest, it needs to rest when it is tired and tired.

Marshal Hoch, who is physically and mentally exhausted, really does not want to continue this high-pressure life. Death has become a relief for him now.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

After a loud noise, the overwhelmed city wall finally collapsed. Countless orc armies swarmed in through the gap.

Seeing this scene, the officers rushed forward with the defenders and soldiers, trying to block the gap again. Unfortunately, the gap this time was too big. Although the defenders tried their best, they still could not block the orc soldiers.

Front.

The city is broken!

The noble officers who guarded the city still led the defenders to fight hard. Every building in the city was their position. This was the last stubbornness of the officers and soldiers guarding the city.

…

"Damn orc bastard!"

"You bastard Mossi people, I will remember you!"

…

Ever since he received the news that the orc army was heading south and was about to arrive in the Warhammer Kingdom, Joseph II's curses had not stopped.

It's really too deceptive. Last time Da Pest was besieged, the orc army took a roundabout way to pass through, but it makes sense that they couldn't stop it.

But the situation this time was obviously different. The siege of Dapes had been lifted, hundreds of thousands of troops had gathered together, and the orc cavalry had slipped past under their noses.

The traces of water leakage are too obvious.

Even if you can't stop the orc cavalry, you still have to fight to prove that you have tried your best.

Unfortunately, the Mossi people seemed to be procrastinating. When they received the news that the orc army was passing by, they did not immediately send out cavalry to intercept it, but instead gathered the army to act together.

The consequences of caution are: when the army slowly arrives on the battlefield, the orc cavalry has already entered the Principality of Orton.

Life was already difficult, but now there are tens of thousands more orc cavalry, making the situation in the Warhammer Kingdom even worse.

What you sow, you reap.

The Warhammer Kingdom's promise to send troops to support was just a show of force, and now it's time to pay back.

"Your Majesty, the enemy reinforcements have arrived. We want to encircle and annihilate this remaining orc army, but we may not be able to achieve success.

Otherwise, we can shrink the front line, retreat to the west of the kingdom for the time being, and wait for alliance reinforcements to arrive before launching a counterattack."

Military Minister Thiago spoke to persuade.

The real situation in the Warhammer Kingdom is more serious than what he said.

In order to prevent the orcs from taking advantage, they chose to encircle and annihilate the orc infantry in the encirclement first, and then look for the enemy's cavalry for a decisive battle.

The decision was definitely correct. Even if they wanted to find the enemy's cavalry, the infantry would not be able to catch up with them.

There is hope for the cavalry to catch up with the enemy, but the problem is that they cannot defeat the enemy!

The standing army was all dragged on the front line. How could the three and a half cavalry regiments + five knights that the country had cobbled together have the confidence to find more orc cavalry for a decisive battle?

Things that are destined to be impossible will naturally be postponed. Even if they know that the actions of the Orc Cavalry are destroying the foundation of the Warhammer Kingdom, there is nothing they can do.

The sacrifice cannot be in vain. If you cannot stop the enemy from causing destruction, then kill the orc infantry in front of you first.

The plan was very comprehensive, but it was only after the fight that the reality became apparent. The camp chosen by the orc infantry was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the terrain limited the number of troops participating in the attack.

With an army of 700,000, it is difficult to take advantage of the advantage of having more troops and generals. Even now, we have been trying hard, but we still haven't been able to capture the enemy's army.

The remnants of the orcs mentioned by Tiago were actually more than 20,000 people. Compared with the initial strength, it was only a loss of 6,000 to 7,000 people.

In contrast, the Warhammer Kingdom suffered tens of thousands of casualties, making it a definite loser.

If there was no hope of victory, Thiago would not propose retreating to the west of the kingdom.

Of course, the most important thing is everyone's foundation, which has been almost destroyed by the orcs, and the rest cannot be saved. The substantial damage has been done, and it is time to accept the reality.

"snort!"

After giving a cold shout, Joseph II said coldly: "If you want to leave at this time, can the orcs agree?

I don’t know when the alliance’s reinforcements will arrive, but the orc reinforcements have already arrived. If we evacuate now, the kingdom’s army on the front line will be completely destroyed!”

It's not that he won't shed tears without seeing the coffin, but the current situation makes it difficult for the army to make strategic changes even if they want to.

Hundreds of thousands of troops were transferred, and it is self-evident how long the marching team was. The long dragon formation was exposed to the enemy's front, and it was scary to think about it.

If you want to successfully complete the strategic transition, you will definitely lose a lot of troops. Even if you lose more than half, it is not impossible.

What's worse is that the main force of the kingdom that is stuck on the front line will be reduced to a lone army, facing the enemy's front and rear attacks.

If you are lucky and can hold on until the reinforcements of the Human Alliance arrive, then that's it. But if they are defeated early, the losses to the Warhammer Kingdom will be really huge.

At that point, maybe they can challenge the title of the weakest kingdom in the mainland. The principalities with some strength are stronger than them.

The decline in international status is barely tolerable. The domestic political balance will also be broken. The eastern aristocracy will collectively fall into decline. The western aristocracy, which was originally at a disadvantage, will inevitably come out to compete for dominance.

Strength determines the right to speak. With the loss of the foundation of the royal family, Joseph II's control over the kingdom will inevitably decline.

There is no solution, but the consequences are very serious. For example: let the western nobles in the army rear up to block the enemy's pursuit.

But if you use the sword to kill people, the nobles in the western mountainous area may be even more alienated from the kingdom. Even if the strategic transition is completed, it will be difficult to obtain the full support of the local nobles.

Maybe those guys could just abandon him as the king, seek independence directly after the war, and form a new country.

Similar things have happened many times in history. The current human nations in the north became independent from the Empire of Light.

With so many ready-made learning templates, Joseph II did not think that the western nobles could not imitate them.

Anyway, after the war, the strength of the Warhammer Kingdom was greatly reduced, and the entire Warhammer Plains was reduced to ruins. It was difficult to solve the problem of post-war reconstruction, and it was simply unable to send troops to suppress the rebellion.

"Your Majesty, we can no longer take care of the current situation. The army's logistics have been interrupted by the enemy, and the food and grass carried by the army are very limited and cannot support long-term operations.

The enemy's reinforcements have already arrived. If we continue to delay, it will become more difficult for the army to move."

Prime Minister Guy persuaded bitterly.

Stopping losses in time is a must-have survival ability for every outstanding noble. Previously, everyone had to organize an army to fight the orcs. That was because the family legacy was still there, and we had to work hard to protect it.

Now that everything has been wiped out, there is no point in holding on any longer. Naturally, we have to consider the aftermath.

Putting aside the interests of the kingdom for now, it is better to preserve its strength as much as possible to avoid being eliminated in future political turmoil.

…
To be continued...