In the year 393 of the solar calendar, a cold continuous light rain drove away the summer heat and the cold early autumn, and quietly came to the border of the southern principality of Virginy, Benniu River.

After several days of no sunshine, the air was filled with a faint musty smell, and the mixed legions of orc laborers and plantation freedmen who were waiting for the battle, wearing waterproof ponchos, stayed in the trenches, waiting for the opponents who were about to arrive on the battlefield.

Eating half-cooked, bloody barbecue steaks, tamed by leather whips, and suffering from all kinds of ailments in the stomach and intestines by rough food, he closed his eyes and enjoyed a feast of war standards.

They had clumsily picked cotton peaches in cotton fields, dug coal and iron in mines that saw the light of day, knelt in vast fields to harvest strong wheat, and never imagined that one day they would accept the call of their lords, break away from the life of whips and shackles, and go to the battlefield full of flames.

Since the orc vanguard army used as cannon fodder, the brave and warlike young man, he has accumulated strong strength in the war and escaped control, occupying several small countries that have been defeated, and gradually becoming a third-party power, under the guidance of the earth ring that restores the shamanic tradition, tends to determine the future of the race independently.

The once intertwined and once cemented front line suddenly fell into a state of standstill with no battle to fight, and the harsh reality forced the Grand Dukes of the South to send their own descendant troops to withstand one of the trump cards of King Vlad of Fryan, "The Blazing Sun", so that the top five knights of the West continent could not go south.

The regular army was bogged down in a field standoff, the reserve corps could not be moved, and the ill-prepared countries of Middle-earth could only forcibly recruit militia from the civilian population.

Due to the rise of large factories to squeeze out the competition for the market, the bankrupt urban craftsmen, idle ruffians, hooligans, unemployed employees of the workshops who were overdrawn in order to improve their competitiveness, and the unemployed employees of the workshops who wanted to win merits on the battlefield and thus revitalize the family, the new army with knights as the backbone barely supporting the basic operation, and a small number of arcane muskets, were forcibly sent to the battlefield by the big men.

This hastily cobbled-together, new-powered rookie army made its way around the Olabado Mountains to carry out a plan to storm the capital of the Duchy of Virginie.

Taking advantage of the fact that the regular army of Virgini went north, guarded the border line and confronted the Principality of Maryland, and the internal defense was extremely empty, it directly smashed the opponent's strategic and logistical supply lines.

The person who made the plan must have been a genius from the academy, and his original intentions were good, but unfortunately, under the influence of the rising tide of the elements, the detection technique of large-scale army movements had long been restored.

In order to eat this piece of fat in one bite, the Grand Duke of Virginy transferred back from the front line the most famous general, Marsden Weil, and in the vicinity of Manassas, with a military order, forcibly conscripted the orcs and civilians of the local plantations to form an equal number of legions, dig trenches around the Benniu River, and wait for the opponent to step into the trap.

In order to support this legion and show the friendship between the two sides, the vampire Count Rachel Mellon specially allocated 300 arcane missile guns, loaded with the negative energy purified by the blighters provided by the family, as well as 100 pairs of armor for elemental protection.

Of course, none of this was provided for free, and the famous general Marsden Weir probably did not know that the quartermaster, a confidant of the Grand Duke of Virginy, had raised a thousand pounds of fresh blood and 2,500 carats of various precious stones.

Despite the fact that the two sides are dependent allies, it is still a business trick that the greedy vampire aristocracy can do at a critical moment, and they are very satisfied with the nearly double harvest they usually get, and they use it again and again.

The quartermaster in charge of the Grand Duke's dark side deal, according to the rules, also stuffed a lot of kickbacks into his pocket, and he explained to the anxious lord: "At least the friends of the blood clan have not raised the price to three, four, or even ten times, these arcane missile guns are new weapons that the Mellon family has just changed from the teeth of the direct guards, and as for the elemental protective armor, it is an antique directly peeled from the royal tomb guards." ”

If he insists on pursuing it and breaks the tacit understanding with the dark allies, the backlash will definitely not be small, and he may be abandoned by the Mellon family like the previous Grand Duke.

Remembering his heroic eldest brother, who was not accepted as one of them by the vampires, and whose tomb was covered with thorns and weeds, this was the end of the confrontation.

The new army of the Principality of Maryland continued to advance in the drizzle, twisting a handful of bad weather with water in their hair, so that everyone's mood was depressed and speechless, only chewing shredded tobacco mixed with wolf peach, the spicy taste through the nose could barely lift the spirit.

They were so tired that they were exhausted by the mountain pack beasts and sheep and skirted the rugged mountain roads of the Orabado, despite the heavy supplies of the army, and the temper of the undetermined men. They need to find a suitable place, such as a manor territory, to rest well, otherwise the tired army will lose its combat effectiveness before it even sets foot on the battlefield.

The eyes of Forces Nouvelles Commander Ian McCallane, a psychic black-tailed electric falcon with good news for its master, has found a large abandoned lumber yard in a dense silver pine forest.

When the corps of 3,000 men heard the news, their spirits were greatly lifted and their morale was boosted, and they marched to their destination before dark.

The number of rooms was small, and many of them were damaged by disrepair, so the regiment was finally arranged with makeshift huts made of wood. Raise the bonfire to cook the rations, dry the clothes by the way, regain some vitality, sleep on the hot blankets on the ground, snuggle up to each other for warmth, and soon fall into a deep sleep.

Commander Marsden Weir, who was on the front of the Benniu River, fell asleep early in his makeshift mansion and was woken up by the Vampire Knight's lieutenant, telling him that he had spotted an unusual glow and smoke in the depths of the Silver Pine Forest.

After a moment of thought, the famous general of the Duchy of Virginy immediately judged that it was the opponent who had entered the field, and ordered the jungle wanderers to go to investigate. Watching his faithful lieutenant leave, Marsden Weil got up and left the bed, and took out the warm coffee from the unextinguished fireplace, without the bitter taste of added sugar, and instantly dispelled the drowsiness.

The jungle wanderer, bitten by a vampire on the neck but not completely transformed, rushed out as soon as he was ordered, and the rain-soaked woodland was now a bog of mud, but it made no difference to those who ignored the terrain and had dim vision.

It took him an hour to approach the abandoned lumberyard of the Silver Pine Forest, now occupied by the new forces of the Duchy of Maryland, and the hastily converted temporary station, the night watchman and the vigilant sentry discouraged the half-vampire wanderer from trying to get a blood.

With a telescope from his waist pocket, Idel the Wanderer observed the movement of the entire camp with the help of extended sight, and the scattered rooms were connected into interlocking fortresses by makeshift shantytowns.

According to the information sent back by the secret spy, the commander of the Orthodox Academy refused to allow others to interfere, and used his own family knights and private soldiers to build the backbone of the legion, although his subordinates were a group of rookies who had only received a few days of military training, but they could drive them like an arm. ”

Having heard the rewards of the Jungle Wanderers, Marsden Weil rejected the adjutant's suggestion to send a small army for a night raid, and he always fought the well-prepared battle at his own pace.

"The more important reason is that the orc laborers and the freedmen of the manor usually eat very little meat, and they are almost indistinguishable from the blind at night. Even if you carry a torch and fight your opponent in the silver pine forest, if you burn the pine resin that has been exposed to the sun after a long summer, even if it is rainy now, the whole forest may be set on fire. ”

"Dear adjutant, my friend, the key point is that if I do not win in the frontal battle, the opponent will not be convinced, and the rear base camp will not accumulate my merits. Where is my interest in venturing out of the heavily armed frontier to come to Manassas to recruit the militia and hold off my opponents on the basis of the Benniu River location?"

The Vampire Knight bowed his head and apologized for not having thought out, and Marsden Weir waved his hand disapprovingly and returned to his down-cushioned bed to sleep.

The well-rested Maryland New Army, after a well-oiled lunch at noon the next day, continued to advance forward, and when they reached the area of the Benniu River, the sky was rarely clear, and the fog on the river was dispelled, and both sides discovered their opponents almost simultaneously.

A hundred paces away, the Newcomers' vanguard, within range of the enhanced Arcane Projectile, was slashed by the Spear of the Blighted Charged with negative energy.

Without much protection, vital points such as the chest and head were hit, and they were instantly robbed of their vitality by dense spherical negative energy masses, and the hands and feet were dry and dehydrated at best, rotting like the branches of a dead tree.

The legions, stunned by the head-on blows, had very few people running back, the most lying on the ground and pretending to be dead, and of course there were also smart men scattered on both sides of the riverbank.

The family privates of the commander of the Forces nouvelles were also armed with arcane muskets, which were not weakened in power or range, and were smuggled from the Western Turkish Customs Union through secret channels.

After dismounting in a hurry, he dug a shallow pit on the spot and hid himself, while ordering the musketeers to shoot at close range. The neatly arranged array of 120 people, with the three-stage shooting tactical training provided by the former Grand Master, has finally come in handy, and they are not afraid to shoot at each other.

Forty fist-sized arcane flame missiles crossed the torrent of the Bull River, striking the gunners in the opposing sniper positions, and the violent explosions, the splashes of sand, the eye-brow-burning heat, and the suffocation caused by the rapidly burning air caused the freedmen who had just picked up their new weapons to go to the battlefield fell to the ground in panic and plunged their heads into the dirt.

The novelty had already dissipated, and their bodies and minds were clenched by the fear of death, of course, there were also people who were not afraid of death, but as soon as they appeared, they were blown to pieces by the flaming missiles fired by the platoon guns in the rear, and the torn wreckage burned with flames, and the smell of nausea made the morale of the originally high level instantly sluggish.

"The tactics of the other side...... It's very skillful to use new weapons, and you can't go any further, so let the guns get out. ”

Standing at the temporary command post in Harrell Heights, the famous general Marsden Ville lowered his binoculars and made the correct judgment of the situation, and his adjutant immediately arranged for the heralds to go down to inform.

"How's the battle going? I must know the exact loss exchange ratio!"

The tactical literacy of the commanders of the two sides is extremely close, and it is very important to grasp the key intelligence at the first time, which is very important for the corresponding strategic adjustment in the future.

"Twenty-six of our strikers were killed on the spot, seventeen were seriously wounded, eleven were lightly wounded, and the Arcane Musket team did not lose a single one. The opponent's sniper position, three rounds of guns, according to observation, at least nineteen shooters died, and the injuries are unknown, but it is estimated that they were around ten. ”

Ian McCallane furrowed his thin, deliberately manicured brows, rubbing his sparse stubble in his right hand, and a look of pity on his face.

"The degree of about three to two is the reason for the proper use of the opponent's tactics, and the death is estimated to be some miscellaneous soldiers. Our losses are small, but they are human civilians, the middle class of the plantation, and it is too worthless. ”

The famous general Marsden Weir said this, but he didn't care in his heart, as long as the new weapon that fired the negative energy missile was intact, the number of people who pulled the trigger could be replenished at any time.

As for the orc laborers in the hands of new weapons, whoever dared to make the suggestion would behead them with his command knife.

The Orc Forward Cannon Fodder Legion was able to break free from control, dare to stand on its own without obeying orders, and form the Iron Tribe, because it obtained the ordnance reserves of the countries of Middle-earth on the battlefield and restored the shaman ability to cast spells.

Therefore, the high-end forces must not be given to the servant army, even the domestic animals that have been tamed for many years, once they taste blood, they will become wild and unrestrained.

After the first attempt, the commander of Maryland's new army knew that his whereabouts had been revealed, and that the other party was still at ease and occupied a powerful terrain, but he did not want to retreat.

The family mage who accompanied the army summoned a cloud of steamy mist, and the mud-covered raft was fixed to the Benniu River with stone anchors, and the mud was continuously turned into stone, and a simple stone bridge for three people to pass through was laid.

Round 2, begin!