"Have you counted the number of goblin armies?" Hu Bin asked Okov beside him, he did not let the rangers participate in this battle, but asked them to detect the specific strength of the goblin side, but he did not expect that the goblin's reaction was unexpectedly fierce, and just a tentative attack made the mercenaries pay a heavy price.

"The number of people participating in the attack this time alone is no less than 20,000, and it is estimated that the total number of this goblin community is no less than 100,000, at least about 60,000 warriors can be gathered, which can be regarded as a large community." Okov said with a solemn face.

"I'll talk to Grimmar and see if he can do anything to keep this group of mercenaries at bay." Hu Bin left the tent with an unswerving face.

Grimmar was originally leading people to escort the follow-up supplies, but he didn't expect to hear the news of Hu Bin's defeat in the first battle as soon as he arrived at the destination, and he was also consulting with Hu Bin everywhere, trying to find a way to solve the problem of low morale of the mercenaries.

"Our biggest problem is the combat quality of the mercenaries, they are used to fighting separately, and they can't react uniformly when they encounter the enemy, and once someone retreats, it will trigger a comprehensive rout, and it is completely impossible to effectively ensure the stability of the defense line......" Hu Bin began a series of complaints as soon as he saw Grimmar's face, he was also an excellent general who had called for wind and rain in the Battle of Baicheng, and he actually suffered such a big loss on the weak goblin.

"Didn't Your Excellency think of using profit to drive them?" After listening to Hu Bin's complaints, Grimmar said a word, which made Hu Bin stunned directly on the spot, and then Hu Bin quickly began to count the belongings on hand.

Hu Bin, who had profited from the Gondor Kingdom in many major battles, still had a lot of supplies captured from the Lune supply team. Although the trip to the Blue Mountains almost emptied Hu Bin's Mithril reserves, it did not consume too much money, but in the process of recovering Grimmar, he expanded his wallet a lot by selling supplies. And now, Hu Bin's financial resources have reached a peak of 800,000 gold coins.

For this expedition, Hu Bin's initial investment reached 200,000 gold coins, which was enough to ensure the consumption of weapons and food for thousands of people. After that, additional expenses will be incurred depending on the intensity of the battle, and the remuneration of the mercenaries is also a large expense. After hearing Grema's reminder, Hu Bin simply added 100,000 gold coins to this battle again.

"Your Excellency, don't forget, those weapons and equipment bought from Rohan can still be put to good use." Grimmar is worthy of being a minister of finance for so many years, and immediately pointed out something that Hu Bin did not realize.

"Yes, I'm only using these crossbows for temporary purposes anyway, and the quality of the same kind of weapons sold from the Warband World is much better than these ones. But for these mercenaries. These military supplies are a rarity. Hu Bin hammered his forehead and said, quickly asking Grimmar to draw up an announcement for the mercenaries.

……

"Harvey, still grieving your brother's death?" An elderly mercenary said to the young mercenary who lived in the same tent as him.

"Uncle Gurion, do you think we shouldn't be here on this mission?" Young Harvey, visibly still immersed in the grief of his brother's death, asked blankly.

"Hehe, this time the patron is good. Not only is the remuneration lucrative, but it also includes food and drink, and you can also touch high-end goods such as military crossbows in the mission. Gurion carefully wiped the strong crossbow in his hand, which Hu Bin had issued to some of the mercenaries before, and he didn't have time to collect them after the defeat, so he simply let them stay in the hands of the mercenaries.

"Is this thing worth our lives?" Harvey was still the same, but after hearing Henry's words, he had an unhappy look.

"Hmph. If we don't fight with our lives, we eat and drink what, and if we are afraid of danger, we will be mercenaries, so we just go home and farm. Gurion cursed. Boy, do you know what kind of mission I have experienced, for a mere 20 gold coins, I and two dozen mercenaries tracked down a half-orc guerrilla group, and unfortunately they found it. In the end, only me and one other mercenary came back alive. Compared to the orcs in that mission, this mission is simply a child's play. ”

Gurion continued in confusion: "Those rats who are greedy for life and afraid of death, as soon as they see the enemy, they will be weak and want to retreat, not to mention that there are all people behind who can't retreat, even if they can retreat, they must come step by step, and they will flee in a swarm, and they will be trampled to death by others if they are not hacked to death by goblins." ”

But this is also a helpless thing. Gurion could see through this, as his years of experience had taught him. But most of the mercenaries don't have this knowledge, and they only want to save their lives for their own sake, and in the end they not only bury themselves. It also affected other people.

Seeing that Harvey was silent by what he said, Gurion also felt that his words were a little heavy, after all, there is only one life, and if it is gone, it is really gone, and he did not make such mistakes when he was young. "Your brother has died, and the rookies who came with him have also fled, why don't you go with them?"

"I want revenge!" Harvey said with red eyes.

"Good boy, finally a bit of a man's posture. I'll talk to the quartermaster to see if I can get you a set of thick leather armor back, although the goblin attack is not strong, but it is quite fatal to take too many of them. Gurion said as he put down his work and prepared to step out of the tent, only to find Grimmar standing outside the door and about to enter.

"Your Excellency!" Gurion immediately saluted, after all, Grimmar had a deep influence in the Rohan Kingdom, and was immediately recognized by Gurion.

"Well, I have something to announce, to gather all the people in the camp." Don't look like a submissive look in front of Hu Bin, but in the face of others, Grimmar still maintains the majesty of the former prime minister. Gurion, who didn't know why, wondered what the lord wanted to do, but he still gathered all the men.

The contents of the announcement were posted on a large board in the center of the camp, and the contents of it caused an uproar among the mercenaries.

"Mission ruled failed? can only give us one-fifth of the remuneration as compensation, what are you kidding, are all the people who died before in vain? Although the excited mercenaries had a desire to run away before, they were extremely excited when they were told that the operation had ended without a hitch, and they finally remembered the benefits of the mission at this time.

"We're going to protest, there are so many people here, why would the mission have failed?" I don't know who shouted in the crowd, and the other mercenaries started to heckle without thinking about it, and Okov saw that the mercenaries were provoked. Exited the crowd with a wicked smile on his face.

"Shut up!" Although Grimmar's voice was not loud, it made everyone shut their mouths, and the majesty of the former prime minister was vividly reflected at this moment. "Your previous performance is really disappointing to the employer, those who don't agree with the termination of the mission are going to the mines and goblins now, when will you kill all the goblins, when will we pay all the pay, who of you wants to go now?"

There was silence in the crowd. Apparently no one wants to die at this time.

"Very well, it seems that you all agreed that the mission was terminated. There's also a quest here, don't worry, this time it's a collection quest, and a goblin's right ear can be exchanged for a gold coin from me, yes. It's a gold coin. Grimmar's words made the crowd boil again, but this time because the mercenaries were overexcited.

At the price of the Lohan Kingdom, only twenty gold coins would allow a middle-class family to live in a year of prosperity, and it only took the mercenaries to kill twenty goblins. Thinking of the goblin's weak individual combat effectiveness, the mercenaries were all on fire.

This change task seems to require Hu Bin to make a second investment, but in general, Hu Bin has paid a lot less. First of all, the previous task ended in failure. Hu Bin did not need to continue to maintain the food supply and weapon consumption of the mercenaries, and gradually took back the bows and crossbows and other weapons in the hands of the mercenaries. The mercenaries will obviously have to pay a fee if they want to keep their previous treatment, and this cost will eventually fall to the sacrifice of the goblins.

The total number of goblins is only about 100,000, and in general, it is nothing more than asking Hu Bin to spend an extra 100,000 gold coins to buy the lives of those goblins, and this money can be offset by most of the useless weapons and food, and in the end, Hu Bin does not need to pay much. Doing so can also increase the motivation of the mercenaries and change their mindset from working for the main person to working for themselves. And essentially doing the same thing.

"What a calculation!" Gurion looked at the group of mercenaries who were dazzled by money, but he himself was also tempted. Many knowledgeable veteran mercenaries have seen through Hu Bin's tricks, but the high remuneration makes it impossible for them to refuse such an opportunity.

"That's fine, at least you don't have to be dragged down by other people. Hey, rookie, do you want to be with my uncle. Gurion then called in Harvey to team up to prepare for the next move.

The mercenaries who returned to free combat felt much more relaxed, and many of them, like Gurion, began to look for companions who could form a team. Then gang up and go deep into the mines to hunt goblins.

"The news of this mission has reached the Kingdom of Rohan, and in three days, the first wave of mercenaries attracted by the bounty will arrive, and more mercenaries will be attracted after that. We don't have to worry about the soldiers, the only thing we need to care about is whether we can clear the goblins fast enough. "Grimmar is worthy of being a qualified conspirator, and he actually made the most of the little interest that Hu Bin took out, not only allowing Hu Bin to get out of the defeated mud, but also bringing in a lot of support.

"Don't worry about this, when the hunting operation is carried out to a certain extent, we will move the camp into the mine, remember that the bridge is easy to defend and difficult to attack, if we set up the camp at the head of the bridge and set up a bed crossbow to defend, I believe that even if the goblin is attacked, we can hold out for a while." Hu Bin kept thinking about the next arrangement, but he had a trace of regret in his heart. After all, this was the first time he had led an army of more than 1,000 men into battle alone, and it turned out that he was not capable of commanding such an army.

The lifeless camp after the defeat finally came alive again as the first hunting party escaped from the mines. Although this group of mercenaries was all wounded and embarrassed, they did not lose their numbers. And when the right ear of the more than twenty goblins taken out of their hands turned into a bag of gold coins, everyone went crazy, and they did not hesitate to pull up the team and go deep into the mine, searching for the traces of the goblins. The previous team tasted the sweetness, and after a short rest and replenishment, they rushed into the mine again, and the gold coins that had just been sent out were returned to Hu Bin's hands once again by selling supplies and medicines.

One after another, many teams returned to the camp full of goblin ears, and the hunting operation was not as difficult as Hu Bin imagined. A small group of mercenaries is not at all interested in sending a large army of goblins, and often five or six mercenaries can annihilate an entire goblin patrol with tacit cooperation. The previously invincible army of goblins has finally tasted the pain of slow knife slicing, and they are constantly harassed by mercenaries in the mines, and once they are ready to destroy these mercenaries, the cunning mercenaries can always escape. In fact, it is impossible for goblins to catch up with a human who is bent on escaping with their small short legs, which leads to the fact that most of the goblins chasing and killing mercenaries end in the mercenaries escaping.

By the fourth day of the hunt, Hu Bin had roughly estimated that about 4,000 ears had been exchanged for gold coins. Including the ears that were too late to harvest in battle, the Goblins in the Mines lost at least six thousand during this time, and that number will skyrocket at an ever-increasing rate as the mercenaries become more skilled in hunting.

As the first batch of mercenaries arrived at the camp, the total number of mercenaries returned to about 5,000 after deducting the manpower lost during the hunt, and Hu Bin also felt that the time was ripe and was ready to make an advance into the mine.

The establishment of the outpost camp was quite smooth, and the goblins, who had been overwhelmed by the mercenaries' sneak attack, were completely unaware of Hu Bin's actions, and when the goblins finally found out that their territory had been invaded again, Hu Bin had already built a fairly strong wooden wall and tower guard at the bridgehead in the mine, and also arranged all the purchased bed crossbows here, as if it had become a thorn in the goblin's heart.

After the outpost was established, the mercenaries who returned one after another stopped hunting, knowing that the goblins would inevitably set off a fierce counterattack, and in order to harvest the goblin's right ear more conveniently in the future, the mercenaries took weapons and guarded the wall.

There was a chaotic sound of footsteps in the depths of the mine, and the goblin brigade reached the other end of the bridge, across the bridge from the humans at the outpost. This kind of scene made Hu Bin in a trance, once upon a time, he and the rest of the Ring Guard team also looked at the fire demon across the bridge like this, but now things are not people, and it has been a month and a half since the two human kingdoms launched an expedition, and the aboriginal companions who had adventured together before did not know whether they were alive or dead.

A huge figure appeared in Hu Bin's field of vision, and a clear and loud voice came from that figure in the continental lingua franca: "Human, you have invaded my territory!" ”

Hu Bin couldn't say whether to be nervous or relieved now, the goblin king who had been hiding in the shadows finally couldn't bear the loneliness and appeared in front of him, and this meant that this goblin race was going to start a decisive battle with him. (To be continued......)