What about the combat effectiveness of mercenaries?

Comparatively stronger.

Ten times stronger than a farmer who farms for a living.

Compared to a highly trained army soldier, an experienced mercenary can easily take them over.

But if 100 mercenaries PK with 100 regular army soldiers, the mercenaries will lose miserably.

If the number of opponents is 1,000 against 1,000, 10,000 against 10,000, the mercenaries will collapse and scatter at the touch of a button.

Individual combat ability is strong, but the discipline is poor and cannot withstand the high casualty rate...... This is a common feature of mercenaries.

So in terms of the use of 100,000 mercenaries, Zhou Ming did not let them participate in the field battle.

Instead, they were given the more difficult task of defense.

The border terrain between the Kingdom of Adud and the Kingdom of Suoliu is a trumpet-shaped valley landform.

Between the two countries is a valley, flanked by mountains that are difficult to climb, and the valley is relatively flat, with a maximum width of 80 li and a narrowest point of only 20 li.

So Zhou Ming arranged two lines of defense.

The defensive front of the first line of defense was sixty miles wide and about twenty miles deep...... In this trapezoidal area, the kingdom of Adudus built a total of 120 masonry forts, independent of each other, but not far apart, so that they could support each other.

On each masonry fortress, about 100 mercenaries are stationed to defend the ...... On the first line of defense, a total of about 12,000 troops were deployed.

The second line of defense was located at the narrowest point of the mouth of the valley, and a "wall" more than 20 miles long was built on this site, 40 meters high and more than 15 meters thick, built of solid rock...... It has stood for thousands of years.

This wall is called the "Wall of Protection".

On the "Wall of Protection", Zhou Ming arranged an army of 80,000 troops...... Of these, 60,000 are mercenaries and 20,000 are national soldiers.

These 80,000 troops can not only take the initiative to support the masonry fortress on the first line of defense at close range, but also continue to resist the attack of the Suoliu Kingdom after the first line of defense collapses.

With an army of 80,000 and the protection of the 40-meter-high city wall, even if the Suoliu Kingdom fills in 200,000 lives, it may not be able to take it.

However, in fact, after the start of the war, not to mention the second line of defense, that is, in front of the masonry fortress of the first line of defense, the army of the Suoliu Kingdom encountered extremely fierce resistance, and their heads were broken.

……

"Kill!"

"The first person to climb the fortress will have a bounty of 100 coins!"

"Rush!"

"Rush!"

Fierce shouts of killing rang out.

This is already a bloodstained fortress stone wall.

With a giant axe in his hand, Hodt is still tirelessly killing.

"Bang!"

The blade of the giant axe was full of gaps, and the cutting power was insufficient, but with the huge weight, the head of an enemy soldier who was about to climb the stone wall was slapped into a watermelon.

Before the other party could scream, the red and yellow ones sprayed Hodter.

“325！326！327！”

"Hah!328!"

Commander Klein on the side, holding a long sword, reported his kill number while killing enemies who wanted to climb the wall.

It has reached more than 300 people.

Klein has not killed as many people in the past five years as he has in the past few days.

"Retreat!"

"Woo~" Seeing that the casualties were increasing, the commander of the other party, a nobleman with the title of earl, gritted his teeth and ordered to stop the attack.

The masonry fortress, numbered 58, has survived another wave of attacks.

After the enemy retreated, Hodter, regimental commander Klein and others on the stone wall immediately threw down their weapons and sat on the wall battlements, panting desperately.

"Old Huo, how many days have we been holding out?" Klein asked.

"It's the tenth day, as long as today passes, we will hold on until ten days!"

"How many are left, brethren?"

"There are less than 50 people, and there are only more than 30 people who can fight after getting rid of a few seriously wounded!"

Speaking of this, Hodt said loudly: "Commander, don't hold any longer! Retreat tonight, look at the nearby fortresses, except for us, almost all of them have retreated! We are just mercenaries, don't put all your belongings into it!"

"What is our merit now?" Klein asked.

"It's already broken 10,000, these days we have killed at least one or two thousand people, more than 600 heads have been cut off, and there are more than 40 captives with sound hands and feet, which adds up to 8,000 merit points, plus 2,000 merit rewards for defending the fortress, it's enough for 10,000!" said Arnold on the side.

"That's good!"

Klein nodded and said, "Take your head and all the prisoners with you tonight, and withdraw from the fortress!"

"But the regiment commander, there are more than 600 heads, we can't carry such heads! Even if we do, we can't go fast, once we are caught up by the patrol cavalry of the Suoliu Kingdom......," one of the team members said worriedly.

"How can they calculate the merits for us without bringing their heads, and their heads must be brought!"

Head = merit points, when you see the head, the merit points will be issued, otherwise you have no evidence, no matter how many enemies you kill, the person in charge of counting the merits will not admit it.

Hodt hurriedly said: "Commander, we can hide our heads in a place first, retreat first, and then take our heads out when we turn around, this is the same...... We also have a dozen wounded brothers, and they are more important than their heads!"

Klein still shook his head: "Either take your head or continue to defend, otherwise I'm not at ease!"

He added: "Moreover, the offensive launched by that nobleman has weakened markedly in the last two days, and I do not expect that he will launch any more fierce attacks, and you should know the virtues of those nobles, and no matter how loyal they are to the king, they will not let all their knights and peasants die." ”

"Captain!"

Hodt shouted: "We have been guarding for ten days, we have already completed the task, and the commission we get is enough for everyone to live for a few years, don't guard it anymore! We are all mud legs, we don't have the life to be nobles!"

"I know, I know!"

Klein also roared, and said with red eyes: "My father is a drunkard, my mother is a girl, I was born lowly, a one-eyed cripple, and it is impossible to become a nobleman!"

"But how do you know if you don't try? How can you get it if you don't insist? I'm fed up with that kind of upheaval! I want to have a piece of land, I want to have a home!"

"I want you old bones to die on a warm bed!"

"Now, I see this hope, a hope that offers the best conditions and is most likely to be seized!"

"I'm going to catch it, I'm going to catch it!"

Klein clenched his fist and said, in that bloodshot right eye, in addition to madness, there was also a palpitating power.

Everyone was silent.

Including several young people who had not long joined the group, they all bit their lower lip and clenched the weapons in their hands.

From that day on, no one spoke of retreating.

Only stand on the stone wall and fight more ferociously.

Everyone is like a wild beast, and the enemy is terrified.

"Mercenaries, are they really mercenaries?" said the count, whose face changed in disbelief.

……

A month later.

The legions of the Suoliu Kingdom, after basically breaking through the first line of defense.

In front of the second line of defense, there was even more fierce resistance.

After paying nearly 100,000 casualties, there is still no breakthrough.

In addition, in the first line of defense, no less than 30,000 casualties were paid, and the army of the Suoliu Kingdom, which numbered more than 500,000, actually lost nearly one-third.

And judging from the strength of the resistance that the Adud Kingdom has not weakened, it is obvious that they have made sufficient preparations and have not been able to take advantage of the Suoliu Kingdom in the slightest.

If the war continues, it will undoubtedly be a thing that outweighs the losses for the Suoliu Kingdom.

Therefore, the high-ranking officials of the Suoliu Kingdom planned to send a special envoy to discuss peace talks between the two countries.

End this war that drains the national strength of both sides.

However.

The time is after entering September.

September 5th, to be exact.

For the Kingdom of Suoliu, the tide of battle has suddenly taken a turn for the worse!

An elite Aduld Kingdom legion of 100,000 people, mostly cavalry, suddenly appeared behind the army of the Suoliu Kingdom, lined up in a dense formation, and launched a charge that can be called "Harvest of Death".

In the deep area of the valley nearly 100 miles long, the army of nearly 400,000 people of the Suoliu Kingdom lost their armor and was defeated in this wave of stabbing chrysanthemums!

The commander of the Suoliu Kingdom exclaimed: "Impossible, how is this possible? How can their cavalry appear in our rear?"

Of course, Zhou Ming wouldn't tell him: under the day and night transportation of 60 Hercules transport planes, in a month, not to mention the heavily armed cavalry, even 100,000 war horses, can also be airlifted to any place in the Suoliu Kingdom!

At this point in the war, there is no suspense about the outcome of the war.

In a long, narrow valley, under the "guarding walls", under the attack of 80,000 defenders and 100,000 cavalry.

The Western Legion of the Suoliu Kingdom, which numbered more than 500,000, was completely annihilated.

Beheaded 200,000.

330,000 prisoners.

Its own casualties were less than 50,000.

In the next three months of the war, which turned from defense to counterattack, the army of the Adudud Kingdom penetrated 800 miles deep into the Kingdom of Suoliu, captured more than 40 cities, and captured 22 counties...... And in many field battles, he annihilated more than 100,000 Suoliu Kingdom troops.

There was chaos within the kingdom of Suoliu.

King Weber sent six groups of envoys to plead for peace talks, and even promised to cede land and pay reparations.

Because several kingdoms around the Suoliu Kingdom also launched an attack on the Suoliu Kingdom at the same time...... Through diplomatic mediation, these small countries had long agreed to act together with the Kingdom of Addudes.

The Suoliu Kingdom, which has always been arrogant and domineering, has experienced the despair of the end of the world with fires on all sides and wolves rushing to the ground.

Six months after the outbreak of the war, the two countries finally reached a rapprochement, ending the war.

The kingdom of Suoliu was defeated, and in order to make the kingdom of Addud retreat, he paid an indemnity of 1 million gold coins, not to mention, and ceded 18 counties in the west, which accounted for about one-sixth of its territory.

The kingdom of Aduid won a complete victory, expanding its territory by a quarter with minor losses, and gaining a population of nearly 5 million.

And after the war, regarding the distribution and competition of the spoils, Zhou Ming really felt an incomparably headache.