The main force of the orcs was aimed at the territory of Haaland, and the two legions of the Central Route Army followed the edge of the county of Donny Martins and entered the province of Gascoigne along the Kaia River.

An orc legion pinned down the Wild Lion Legion, and an orc legion continued eastward along the upper reaches of the Black River, so that the Northern Legion did not dare to move.

The orcs have a total of sixteen legions in the direction of the Grant Kingdom, in addition to the three legions of the Eastern Route Army that have appeared, the six legions of the Middle Route Army, and the four legions of the Western Route Army have also appeared in the two dukedoms of Edward and Fox.

The remaining three legions are not only the general reserve of the orcs, but also have to bear the heavy responsibility of the rear garrison, which cannot be easily mobilized.

Once there is no regular army in the rear of the orcs, human slaves may riot.

The orcs poured out, and the four-way army approached the Harland leader. But for a short time, the front was relatively stable, and the only disadvantage was the Platos Gorge, which was also the most unbalanced in power.

The fortress of Platos consisted only of 1,500 regular troops from a battalion of the Northern Legion, 1,000 provincial auxiliaries from the province of Geda, plus a few hundred soldiers left behind by Baron Sharp.

Since obtaining the fiefdom of the Grand Duchy of Stanik, Baron Sharp has passed the domain to his eldest son, and has taken the child born to Viscount Raphael to the Grand Duchy of Stanik, shifting the focus of the management of the territory.

The strength of the Barony of Sharp is average, and the logistics rely on the support of Viscount Raphael to maintain five or six hundred elite soldiers. Now Baron Sharp has gone to the Grand Duchy of Starnik and taken most of the soldiers with him, leaving the eldest son with mediocre soldiers who cannot take on heavy responsibilities.

Although the Platos direction has a geographical advantage, there are too few elite soldiers to stop the onslaught of the orcs. Even with the help of heavy trebuchets and alchemy bombs, hundreds of casualties were killed and wounded in just one day, and a letter for help was sent to Fort William.

There is also a lot of pressure on Haaland's other three directions, and Richard doesn't have many reinforcements at all. Therefore, he could only ask the commander of the Rabean army to urge the rear to gather reinforcements quickly.

The Northern Legion had to guard against the main army of the orcs, and it was no longer able to draw reinforcements, and the private armies of the nobles of the nearby Heihe and Luomen counties were transferred to Salt Lake County.

The fastest rally was the Knights Academy of the Kingdom of Grant, but it took them three days to assemble, raise logistics, and four days to march to reinforce near the Pratos Mountains.

Depending on the intensity of the orc attack, the Platos defenders held out for a day or two at most. After all, the orcs have seven brigades and can constantly rotate to launch multiple onslaughts in a day.

The defenders were insufficient, and it was difficult to repel every enemy attack.

The situation became very tense, and Richard could only devote any little force to the war.

He personally wrote an order for the five hundred auxiliaries of Sophia Fort, the squadron garrisoned at Iron Mountain Fort, and the secret police to protect the enchanted armor manufacturing factory to all be mobilized to form the first wave of reinforcements.

Then he ordered his cousin Kent to reinforce the castle of Pratos with the soldiers of the Barony of Soros.

In addition, Richard also issued an order to clear the wilderness, ordering the soldiers to slaughter all the orc slaves in the iron mine, and the population of the border castles such as Sophia Fort and Iron Mountain Fort to retreat to prevent the worst.

Sophia Fort and Iron Mountain Fort are more than ten kilometers away from the Platos fortress complex, and after receiving the order, the reinforcements were stationed in the Platos Castle that night.

Although withstanding a one-and-a-half-day onslaught from the orcs, the Platos defenders suffered heavy casualties, especially the Ninth Brigade of the Northern Legion, which served as the main force, and even the captain was killed in the battle.

The morale of the defenders was barely supported, and finally a thousand reinforcements arrived in the evening, and these thousand reinforcements gave the soldiers the confidence to hold on.

After all, it is a race war, and the ability of soldiers to withstand casualties is very high. Even serf soldiers with weak combat effectiveness can sometimes fight with orcs because of hatred.

The reinforcements consisted of three parts, the largest of which were five hundred auxiliaries from Fort Sophia.

The Haaland Territory auxiliaries train two to three months a year, with a core of older veterans, who do the most training based on the shooting table, maneuvering heavy trebuchets to fire stone projectiles.

If it is a field battle, the combat effectiveness of the auxiliary troops in Haaland's territory is very average, and they can't even defeat the noble private army. But in a defensive battle, this auxiliary team can play a key role.

Garrisoned at Iron Mountain Fort was the 1st Squadron of the 2nd Brigade, and the squadron leader was Perlan, a veteran of Haaland's territory. He is a professional who was promoted in the same batch as Jennings, and his talent is also very good, he has been in Haaland's territory for more than ten years, and last year he was promoted to the deputy captain of the second brigade, and his professional level was also promoted to the fourth rank.

Iron Mountain Fort is the only iron ore mining area in Haaland's territory, there are many secret units in the castle, and half of the military production department of the territory is basically concentrated in Iron Mountain Fort.

Because of this, although the Iron Mountain Fort has a small garrison, its combat effectiveness is very strong.

Although the first squadron of the second brigade was only one hundred and sixty men, there were eight professional officers in it, one hundred and twenty soldiers with more than five years of military experience, all veterans wore ogre leather armor, there were six archers of the third rank and above, and they were also armed with sixty scorching ray guns.

The combat effectiveness of this squadron is enough to compete with the first squadron, which has the strongest combat effectiveness among the infantry in the Haaland territory.

There are more than 200 spies protecting the military factories, and their establishment is under the responsibility of the intelligence department.

Intelligence personnel are considered second-line armed personnel in the Haaland territory, and the main members are selected from the army, in addition to being recruited from society. In particular, the manpower in the operational department is carefully selected, and the combat effectiveness is not weak.

It's just that the personnel of the intelligence department are better at fighting alone, subduing the opponent, and in the face of tragic positional warfare, they actually have little experience to use.

If it weren't for the sudden change in the situation, Richard would be reluctant to send the intelligence officers he had cultivated for many years to the brutal front line and fight the orcs.

But the situation has developed to this point, and every force is crucial.

Holding the Platos Gorge, Richard would not need to draw troops from the front. The pressure on the front line is already heavy, and once troops are drawn from the front line, it may cause a global collapse.

The top priority at the moment is to concentrate superior forces and break the balance.

Haaland led the eastern region under the command of Soros, which has cut off half of the orc's legion, and William and Soros have joined forces to prepare to encircle and annihilate this enemy.

In the western Platos fortress group, the orcs have the upper hand, and once the orc army breaks through the defense line and flanks the Harland leader, it will cause a complete passivity to the northern defense line.

As soon as the reinforcements entered the Platos fortress complex, Perrin immediately shouted: "Captain Bock is not there? ”

"The captain died in the afternoon."

Hearing this, Perrin was shocked and had an intuitive understanding of the cruelty of war.

In just one and a half days of the orc siege, the Supreme Commander was killed in the city.

"Who is the commander in the castle now?"

"It's Captain Lothar."

"Where's Captain Lothar?"

"Captain Lothar is in Castle Three, which has been cut off by orcs, and may fall at any time."

The Platos fortress complex consisted of a total of nine forts, forming three lines of defense.

By the time Perrin arrived with reinforcements, the five fortresses of No. 1, No. 2, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 had all fallen.

Bock, the captain of the 9th Brigade of the Northern Legion, was killed in battle, and the deputy captain Lothar was besieged in Fort 3 and could be besieged and annihilated at any time.

Now the only intact line of defense remains, and the defenders are dominated by Baron Sharp's soldiers.

These soldiers are all locals, and although their combat effectiveness is weaker than that of the northern legionnaires, their will to fight is very resolute, and they have no intention of retreating and escaping.

Hearing the soldier's answer, Perrin said decisively: "Since Captain Bock died in battle, from now on, I am the commander of Platos Castle. Now I order that a squadron of auxiliaries be drawn and the wounded soldiers will be sent to the rear, and the scattered soldiers will be immediately regrouped and ready for battle.

As long as we survive tonight, the 500 reinforcements of Barony Soros will be able to arrive tomorrow. In the next few days, there would be reinforcements on and off, and seven days later, a powerful cavalry regiment of the Knight Academy would arrive to reinforce them.

As long as we are confident, we will be able to keep the orcs at bay in the northern Platos Mountains and keep our homeland. ”

Perrin entered the last line of defense of Platos during the night, and immediately placed reinforcements at the front without resting.

Castle Nine was the focal point of the third line of defense, and Perrin directly ordered the first squadron of the second brigade to garrison.

Castle 7 was in a difficult terrain and had as many as six heavy trebuchets installed, and Perrin arranged for Haaland to lead 500 trebuchets to be stationed inside.

Castle 8 is located closest to the rear and has the least defensive pressure, and is the location where intelligence personnel and integrated units are stationed.

In order to find out how many soldiers he had, Perrin sent several staff officers to count the troops overnight.

Looking at the information sent by the staff officer before dawn, Peilan's mood suddenly became extremely bad.

"In just one and a half days, we collected 469 corpses, and 630 wounded soldiers, of whom more than 300 were seriously wounded. This count does not include the missing people, not the defenders of Fort No. 3.

That is to say, the three thousand soldiers of the Platos front, not counting the defenders of the third fortress, only left more than 300 regular troops, 400 noble private troops, plus 400 auxiliaries after a day and a half of fighting. ”

Seeing the statistics, Perrin secretly calculated. If the orc does not weaken the intensity of his attack, the reinforcements he brings can be consumed for up to one day.

Perrin took a nap as the sun began to show its horizon.

Before the soldiers had breakfast, the orcs walked out of the fourth, fifth, and sixth fortresses, organized their offensive formations, and began to attack the last line of defense of the Platos fortress group.

Fort Nine was built in the middle of the canyon.

The castle was built with only three walls, the front is about 200 meters long, and the east and west sides add up to more than 130 meters until it is connected with the cliff.

There were no walls to the south of Fort No. 9, and some army barracks were built.

The Platos fortress complex is a completely military fortress, there are not many people in the vicinity, and civilians are relatively far away.

In the middle of the No. 9 fortress, there is a floodwater channel washed by rain, and if there is a flood season, a water gate is set up in the middle of the castle, and there is a water village at the back.

During the dry season, only one wooden gate was erected. This wooden gate can be regarded as the weak point of the defense of Fort No. 9.

The flood channel is sixteen meters wide and three meters deep, relying on wooden doors and wooden fences, it can't stop the orcs for too long. In a day and a half of relying on the two lines of defense in front, the defenders of Fort Nine blocked most of the flood channel.

After adjusting the formation, the orc focused their attack on the flood channel, and in just a minute or two, the orc army sent four echelons to attack along the flood channel.

The flood channel is only a dozen meters wide, and in such a narrow terrain, the orcs can't spread out the formation at all.

Even if one echelon sends one or two squadrons, it is densely packed together.

Seeing this scene, Perrin immediately ordered the trebuchet of Castle Seven to fire stone bombs, and then ordered the defenders of Castle Nine not to spare alchemy bombs.

Sharpshooter, Scorching Ray Gunner, hunts orc key personnel.

With the flag waving, the trebuchet hand in Castle Seven cut the rope and began throwing stone projectiles.

Although the auxiliaries in Haaland's territory are not good at field combat, they are very experienced in handling trebuchets, and their training is also focused on maneuvering trebuchets, which is equivalent to a weakened version of artillery.

The same trebuchet, in the hands of an experienced soldier, can cause extraordinary damage.

In the first round alone, two of the six stone bullets hit the orc formation, killing and wounding seven or eight orc soldiers in an instant, causing a lot of chaos.

The speed at which the trebuchet fires is slow, but it is like a talisman.

With every projectile, one or two stone projectiles hit the orcs.

The orcs were crammed into the narrow flood channel, unable to dodge.

Seeing this, the orc commander launched a frenzy, constantly urging the orcs to speed up and rush through the range of the trebuchet.

Heavy trebuchets are projectile weapons that cannot kill people at close range. According to the shooting table of Haaland's territory, the range of a heavy trebuchet varies according to the weight of the projectile, which is about 100 to 400 meters. Beyond 400 meters, the landing point of the stone projectile is uncontrolled and very scattered.

Within a hundred meters, it is also difficult for heavy trebuchets to hit enemy personnel. Unless the counterweight is replaced, or a non-standard stone projectile is used.

However, in this way, the landing point can only be controlled by experience, and it is especially troublesome during the battle.

In the tactics of the soldiers of Haaland's territory, after entering a hundred meters, the main way to kill and damage the enemy is to rely on alchemy bombs and bows and arrows.

The first echelon of the orcs had just broken through the interception of the trebuchet when they were attacked by alchemy bombs.

In an instant, twenty or thirty alchemy bombs were dropped, exploding over the orc squadron, scattering shrapnel and sweeping over, killing and wounding a large number in an instant.

Because it was too close, this squadron suffered more than half of the casualties at once.

The casualties that had been inflicted by the trebuchet were heavy, and they were attacked by alchemy bombs, which broke the will of the orcs in an instant. Let the orcs of the first echelon retreat.

Normally, most of the orcs will scatter in all directions when they retreat. But the orcs were in the spillway, and there was no room for collapse at all.

The retreating orcs huddled together with the second echelon, causing a lot of chaos.

The defenders of Fort Seven seized the opportunity and fired stone projectiles incessantly.

The stone projectile fell into the dense orc army array, and the huge kinetic energy instantly smashed the orcs into meat patties. The stone projectiles that fell to the ground continued to roll, breaking the orc's legs.

The fallen orcs were very pitiful, trampled by their panicked companions, and let out a miserable cry. These cries made the orcs even more frightened.

The orcs originally planned to use the flood channel to conquer the No. 9 fortress in one fell swoop, but they didn't expect that the human long-range projection power would be so powerful, and before they got close to the city wall, the four offensive echelons had completely collapsed, losing more than ten professionals and more than five hundred soldiers.

(End of chapter)