On July 17, five years ago, a heavy rain fell on the Verdun area. Heavy rains brought flash floods, and the west side of the main peak of Lens was washed away by flash floods, and the width of the main peak was shortened to 600 grams.

The rain rained heavily for a whole day and night, and finally stopped in the early morning of the 18th. The sun shines on the lush forest meadows, and the crystal clear water droplets reflect the bright light.

The Desiks, shortly after the rain had stopped, attacked the main peak of Lens once again. The attack surface of the main peak of Lens was only 600 grams wide, and the Desik soldiers could only have half a regiment of soldiers fully deployed at one time. At the same time, the mercenaries of the Shang Alliance arranged more than thirty divine crossbows and arrows at the first line of defense of the main peak, and there was no way to completely resist them, even if they were as strong as black iron shields.

In just one morning, in front of the first line of defense, the soldiers of one regiment of Desik were almost completely incapacitated, and the crossbows and a large number of archers made this line of defense extremely stable on the eighteenth.

"Commander, the Desik people have retreated! Today our losses are not big, the Desik people are too iron, one by one they rush forward, even the black iron shield has been destroyed most of it, I see what they will do tomorrow!"

The adjutant beside him reported to Etienne excitedly. This was the first time since the start of the war that the Desik Merchant League had returned, and at the same time, half of their regiment was crippled, and the morale of the Merchant Alliance soldiers was greatly boosted for a while.

"Don't be too complacent, if they can be defeated so easily, they won't be Desik!" General Etienne had no joy on his face, but still a serious face.

The facts proved General Etienne's words, and the Desik army was not affected by the first day's fighting in the slightest. After losing some of the Black Iron Shield, Desik's armorer made a lot of protective equipment from the trees at the foot of Lens Mountain. Those trees, though not as hard as ironwood, are thicker.

Under the protection of new protective equipment, wave after wave of Desik people rushed forward as if they were dying, and approached the first line of defense many times, and a large number of casualties began to appear in the Shang Allied army, and the morale was also greatly damaged.

The first line of defense finally failed after holding out for three days, with the Desiks losing more than 5,000 soldiers, and the Merchant mercenaries also losing 4,000 men, counting the one and a half regiments lost in the western position, the Merchant mercenaries were only less than two-thirds of their strength.

General Etienne thought about it for a while, but decided to transfer the New Tenth Army to the main peak as soon as possible, and now, according to the attack intensity of Desik's army under the main peak of Lens, the attacks on the other sides should be better.

However, he finally guessed wrong, and it was not the supreme commander of the Desik front, General Florian, who presided over the attack under the main peak for the next two days, but his deputy, General Alvin. Moreover, the intensity of the attack became quite low, and what they did not know was that at this moment, only five regiments of Desik soldiers were in the camp at the foot of the mountain.

And where did General Florian go?

Verdun region, West Verdeon. This is the defensive position of the 12th and 13th armies of the Shang League, on the 16th, a regiment of Desik border guards came to the plain in front of the position, and the Desik army that set up camp did not rush to attack, and the black steppenwolf flag fluttered quietly over the camp tent.

The Twelfth and Thirteenth Legions were subordinate to the newly organized Shang League, each with about 7,000 soldiers, and the remaining part of the army stood guard by the ruined bridges on the northern border of the Manning Kingdom.

According to the plan of the Lord of the Business Alliance~Xi Hui, the 13th Regiment will be the main defender, and the 12th Regiment will be the reinforcement of the reserve force taking into account the main peak of Lens.

Fortunately, the Desiks had no intention of attacking the West Verdeen, and the fire on the main peak of Lens illuminated the sky red at night, and it was obvious that the battle was quite fierce.

However, things changed on the 18th.

Behind the camp of the Desicks, a large cloud of dust was raised, startling countless birds, which scattered in the sky and chirped sadly, indicating that more Desick people had come to the foot of the West Verdon.

The commander of the Twelfth Army, accompanied by his adjutant, carefully looked at the situation in the distance, and couldn't help but worry, "Why are so many people coming, didn't the intelligence officer say that the Desik people put in the first wave of attacks are only 70,000 people?"

The adjutant flipped through the records he had with him, "That's right, the first wave of Desik troops totaled 70,000 people, and they were basically on the side of the main peak. Could it be that there is something wrong with the main peak?"

The Legion Commander thought for a moment, "It's unlikely, it rained heavily yesterday, and it was impossible for the Desiks to brave that kind of rain to attack the main peak of Lance. ”

The adjutant hesitated, "But, I heard that in Dunkirk, the Desiks have the help of dark magicians, could it be..."

The adjutant's words made the regiment commander frightened for a while, and he turned around and shouted, "Herald, quickly go and find out the situation on the other side of the main peak." ”

As the heralds left from behind the mountain, the Desiks at the foot of the mountain on the other side also came out of the camp and began to line up in an attack formation.

Similar to the main peak of Lens, General Florian brought some of the Black Iron Shields here. However, unlike the main peak of Lens, the West Verdon is not as high as the main peak, but it is unusually steep, and the entire north side is a steep slope of about 45 degrees vertical.

"Hmph, I'll see how they come up, do they fly!" the commander of the Twelve Legions on the mountain looked at the Desik army in disdain.

The first row is a black iron shield, arranged in a long line. Dozens of rows of samurai with steel swords and shields were in the back row, and beyond that were archers, a small number of rangers, flanked by the phalanx. Unlike San Jose's famous phalanx, the Desiks were more spread out, with a large spacing between the different soldiers, and several men supporting each other in a battle group.

Of course, it was impossible for the Desic to fly, and due to the deterrent power of the San Jose bow and crossbow, the Desic did not dare to charge upwards in a row, and the angle of the West Verde was too high, so that the back of the attacking side was completely exposed under the defender's bow and arrows. In full view of the Shang Alliance's defenders, the Desiks withdrew dozens of huge wooden machines from the rear.

"What's that?", the commander of the Twelfth Army, who was going uphill, looked at the tall equipment in the distance up and down with a puzzled expression, "Trebuchet? The apparatus was an upright pole staggered with a crossbar, and at each end of the pole was a large round object, which from a distance looked like a siege catapult.

The adjutant beside him didn't understand, "No, Legion Commander, we don't have a city wall here, what are they pulling catapults for?" Because the position of the Twelfth Army was condescending, and the slope was much higher than that of the main peak of Lens, so, on the position, the Twelfth Army dug a lot of tunnels more than half a person high, and in front of the tunnels, a simple parapet wall was piled up with some stones. Due to the difference in height, the soldiers standing in the tunnel can easily dodge the bows and arrows fired from below. If the Desiks want to capture the position, there is only one way, that is, to rush to the front of the position and engage in hand-to-hand combat at any cost.

Soon, those huge machines began to move forward, and when they reached the foot of the mountain, the distance was only 500 grams, and dozens of huge machines began to line up in a row.

"Herald, herald the soldiers to go into the pit and take refuge, taking care not to let the slings hurt. "The current trebuchet on the mainland, if the weight of the thrown stones is not high, can indeed send the gravel to a distance of 500 grams, these seemingly small gravel, accelerated by gravity during the flight, will appear to be hugely powerful, but more lethal than the giant stones used in siege.

Unexpectedly, when the trebuchet was in place, the Desik soldiers began to carry a package of unknown things to the foot of the trebuchet, and it was already piled up in the distance.

"Pay attention to dodge, pay attention to dodge, trebuchet attack, trebuchet attack!" The voices of the squadron leader and squad leader sounded on the Shang Alliance's position, and the soldiers were ready to meet the trebuchet attack, but the Desik people actually began to throw some black objects that they couldn't understand what they were, and the distance was not quite right, basically when they reached 100 to 200 grams in front of the position, those black objects began to fall.

Immediately afterward, the trebuchet's fire began to expand, and the number of black objects projectile in one shot decreased, but the distance was closer to the Merchant Alliance's position, close enough for the Merchant Alliance's commander to see the black objects.

"Commander, that's a wolf cigarette pack!" the adjutant shouted, which made the regiment commander unhappy for a while, and he glared at the adjutant angrily, "I have eyes!

Wolf smoke (Note 1) was first created by the magicians of the Magic Empire when they were studying magical materials, and this kind of thing, when ignited, emits a large amount of black smoke, a small cloud of black smoke, which can envelop the entire plain. And if water is sprinkled on the burning wolf smoke packet, the black smoke that was originally extremely diffused will instantly become solidified and become a black pillar of smoke.

In the following thousand years, this easy-to-make substance was used by the armies of various countries as a tool to create alarm signals, and wolf smoke became more synonymous with enemy attacks, but unexpectedly, the Desik people regarded him as *** to cover the attack.

"Hmph, these Desiks are so fond of black smoke, there are magicians, and they also use wolf smoke packs, these people will do such a trick. Adjutant, pass my order, transfer 200 archers forward, saturate the shots, the Desiks are about to come up. The commander of the regiment calmly gave the order, not far from the bottom of the mountain, the Desik soldiers had already begun to fire rockets at the wolf smoke packets on the hillside, the sound of "stinging, stinging, stinging" was that the rockets were igniting a large amount of wolf smoke, and black smoke began to form, permeating the slopes of West Verdon.

Note 1: This is just the use of the synonym wolf smoke, not the wolf smoke in real life, it can be understood as ** that kind of chemical substance, you officials should not sit in the right seat.