Section 10 After the war

The dark underground world of the rat people, in an underground city transformed from an underground cavity. A few sneaky dark shadows are gathering. Most of them carefully covered their faces with face coverings.

"You say...... The 'Chosen One' Ashruphat just left with the Baku tribe?" asked a dark shadow.

"Master, I have repeatedly confirmed this, absolutely yes!"

"I'm going to be specific. ”

"With the main force of war beasts leased by the Maud clan, he penetrated deep into the territory of the Sakalaha clan, raided and severely damaged the Sakalaha clan. Most of the Sakalaha clan warriors were killed on the battlefield, and the rest became prisoners. The Scorete patriarch of the Sakaraha clan was unable to escape and was overtaken and killed by the pursuing forces. Ashrufat stole all the existing supplies of the Sakalaha clan as quickly as he could, and then left the ......"

The Shadow did not continue to ask about the Sakalaha Clan, because the fate of the Sakalaha Clan was already sealed. After Ashrufat leaves, there must be other warlords who attack the survivors of the Sakalaha clan, dividing up the already vulnerable clan like vultures. There was only one thing he wondered, what was Ashrufat going to do? The Baku were now a wandering clan and had no power. He attacked and defeated the Sakalaha clan, but did not occupy the territory of the Sakalaha clan?

"He went to the border?Karak-Grom?" Dark Shadow asked, confused. "No newly captured territory?"

"I'm pretty sure, host. ”

"I don't understand...... I don't understand...... Can't understand what he's trying to do. A voice of frustration rang out from the black shadow's razor-sharp teeth. "Does he want to try to capture Karak-Grom with the strength of a Baku?"

But it's incredible. Not to mention that the Baku clan suffered a lot of losses in this battle, and the savings accumulated over the years were squandered all at once, even if the Baku clan was intact - not in the current posture, but with the main force still - it was impossible to rely on the strength of one clan to attack the dwarven strong fortress.

Last time, in order to attack Karak-Grom, the nezumi had taken advantage of the dwarves' inattention to dig a huge underground passage, and eventually successfully launched an offensive along it. Of course, the dwarves were now on high alert to the rat-men from underground, and the Abyss Council reluctantly made several attempts after the defeat, all of which were immediately blocked by the dwarves and declared defeat.

"Maybe the Grey Prophets are planning something...... "A man next to him who hadn't spoken all this time spoke.

"The Grey Prophets have been planning for a long time...... But no one knows what they want to do...... "In any case, the sudden arrival of the rat god this time, on the one hand, sent the unknown origin of the "Chosen One" Ashrufat, and on the other hand, suppressed many stupid ambitions among the rat people. The previous tension between the Abyss Councils, blaming each other, and holding others responsible for the defeat has come to an end.

Let's be honest, every Abyss Lord is not an idiot. They all know the importance of Karak-Grom in the road, and they all know that there is a huge magic stone mine in the road (but they have no idea how much it contains). But the problem is that the dwarves' defenses are so strong that conquering Karak-Grom will have to pay a high price, even an unbearable price. In this case, preserving their strength in order to get the most out of the battle became the best choice for the nezumi leaders.

But unfortunately, everyone is pursuing the best interests and making the worst choices for the whole.

......

The Nezumi army is arguably the worst of all the armies I've ever led. Thomas once said that the factors that make up an army's combat effectiveness are numbers, training, discipline, physical strength, equipment, etc., and the nezumi belong to the kind of army that is good for nothing but numbers. Aside from the sheer number of pests, they can hardly find anything good about them.

From this point of view, I can understand the battle in the Underworld. I've come to understand why the nezumi are so afraid to fight the dwarves. As common sense goes, when an army is fighting in a cramped area, factors such as discipline, training, and so on are far more important than numbers. Because of the limited size of the tunnel itself, no matter how many warriors there are, if they fight in the narrow tunnel, they cannot be invested all at once, and can only come up in batches. The numerical advantage is not obvious.

However, the nezumi possess fantastic war machines. I captured some magic stone smoothbore guns on the battlefield. Truth be told, these weapons are surprising, with their enormous power and poisonous bullets that can be lethal even if they hit non-critical locations. I've heard from Shaka that there are four distinct large clans in the Nezumi society that occupy a pivotal position in the society as a whole. And the bosses of these four clans are all Abyss Lords, members of the Abyss Council. It is these four clans that provide the various elite troops and fantastic equipment of the nezumi society. If you can get all kinds of twisted and strange but powerful war beasts from the Maud clan, amazing magic weapons from the Scurry clan, elite scout troops from the Esin clan, and those plague acolytes from the Pestiren clan with their pathogenic power and poisonous effects as the main means of combat, and finally add the magic of the gray prophets, then the rat people can also form an elite army that can fight against any race.

Unfortunately, however, it is almost impossible to convince these clans directly to engage in a war against Karak-Grom. The society of the nezumi is a highly competitive society among various clans. Although this was the preferred method of the race chosen by the rat god, the resulting intrigue made it almost impossible for them to unite together. Because the leader of every rat man is trying to calculate others on the one hand, and trying to beware of being calculated by others on the other. Any slight little thing will cause them to worry and make them worry that it is the beginning of a conspiracy. I now understand why the Rat God came to me on purpose, because the task he threw at me was a troublesome task! In fact, if I wasn't trapped in this underground world now, and couldn't find a way to leave for a while, I might have left.

However, I don't know what Lu Dao is for, but Carrie seems to like this task very much. She kept reminding me with great interest and helped me solve all kinds of problems. Carrie seems to enjoy this kind of political intrigue and game – in fact, she plays it well. No matter what the rats do, Carrie can see through it and find a way to get the most out of it.

Although I retreated with the Baku clan to the border, which was actually close to Karak-Grom, the various clans, mainly the Abyss Lords, came to the door one by one to discuss various cooperation plans with me. I have gained a lot of benefits and bought a lot of time to make my initial plan come true.

Now, I've taken a good position to defend. Carrie thinks we don't have to be so cautious, no one will take the initiative to attack a clan that is remote, has little oil and water, and has a great background. But I think it's always right to be prepared. It is important to know that in the society of the rat people, clan civil wars are commonplace.

If my plan goes well, then maybe I'll be able to convince all the nezumi to join the war. I must say that I have no prejudice or hostility towards the dwarves. Sometimes I feel a little guilty when I think that I am actually planning a war against a group of dwarves in the Underworld who have never hurt me or affected me. Of course, Carrie scoffed at my mentality. Still, she told me that in all the battles I've been through in the past, almost all of the people I've killed on the battlefield have been people who have never hurt me or even seen me. This mentality of mine is pure hypocrisy!

I'm speechless.

—Ashrufat

......

Ashrufat closed his journal and strolled out of his room. It was originally an underground cavern, and he led the Baku tribe to build a humble town in this underground cavern for the entire clan to live in. The main reason why everything went so quickly was because he had plenty of slaves. After defeating the unknown Sakalaha clan, Ashrufat captured numerous slaves from the doomed clan's lair, which, together with his previous captures on the battlefield, gave him plenty of manpower to build as quickly as possible.

Excavation work is on track. Dense crowds of slaves are using various tools to gradually carve through the tunnel, clearing the cavity and transforming it into what Ashrufat wants.

As is customary in the nezumi society, some of the clan warriors are acting as overseers, triumphantly whipping their whips to the crackle. If a slave moves a little slower, the whip will be drawn on their backs without mercy.

In another corner, some of the chosen Nezumi slaves were working as stonemasons. With a chisel, he laboriously carved large chunks of rock into the shape that Ashrufat wanted. The work progressed much faster than cleaning up the environment, as by this time Ashrufat had already completed most of what he needed.

Walk outside the town of Ashrufat, where his vigilance unit, the trolls, are serving as sentinels. Several clan warriors clasped chains around the giants' necks and patrolled them around the sentry to avoid enemy raids. It must be said that the war beasts of the Maude clan are really quite reliable, on the one hand, they can obey their masters, and on the other hand, they perform well on the battlefield.

It's a pity that he didn't get any more beasts that time. Now he already knew how well the Maude clan's calculations had been. It turned out that the Sakalaha clan actually owned a newly discovered small magic stone mine, and the Maude clan had long had the idea of this magic stone mine. When they heard that Ashrufat was planning to move, they immediately knew that this was a good opportunity to kill someone with a knife. In this transaction with Ashrufat, on the one hand, the Maude clan concluded an alliance with Ashrufat on the Abyssal Council, on the one hand, they rented the war beast to Ashrufat to make a fortune (although they were blackmailed by Ashrufat), and on the other hand, they seized this small magic stone mine from the destroyed Sakaraha clan, killing three birds with one stone. And for Ashrufat, he is equivalent to contributing his own money and strength to help the Maude clan fight. If Ashrufat hadn't blackmailed them and refused to pay back the loaned beasts, he would have become the kind of fool who was sold and helped them pay back.

"Master, our plans will begin soon. In her mind, Carrie said with some smugness.