At this point, not only were the 300,000 vanguard troops completely disabled at the eastern assembly point of the steppe people, but the troops who arrived one after another also lost more than 100,000 troops, and after receiving an order from Mingge, they completely slowed down the rate of continuing the attack, and gained a day's respite for the repair of the Red Moon Pass.

On the same day, the rear was once again replenished with 5,000 reserve troops and 5,000 new recruits who had just come out of the training camp, which also meant that the entire Gaokan City defense line squeezed out all its potential, and pressed all the troops to the front.

Desperate, perhaps, but there is no other way for the military headquarters of Gaokan City.

Although less than a month has passed since the war was fought, it has already entered a white heat.

The steppes have invested up to 20 million troops on many fronts, from the southernmost city of Gaokan to the city of Veradi in the middle, or the northernmost city of Brando, nearly 800,000 Ward warriors have lost more than half, and the entire defense line is precarious and could be broken at any time.

In every small town, in every village on the southeastern frontier of the empire, countless families have lost their fathers, husbands, and sons.

However, the people of the empire living in this land did not care about grief, nor did they care about cursing the corrupt and depraved officials and lords of the imperial capital and the southeastern provinces.

All the villagers were shrunk into their towns, the whole army raised the walls, trained the militia, and women and children took up positions to prepare military supplies.

Even a piece of armor, a wooden arrow, a bag of flour, or a piece of gauze.

Because they know that their children are on the front line, and every little labor they put in is to help them defend against those vicious steppe wolves, so that they can shed less blood and die less.

They just hope they can do something.

As of November 30, 1006, the southeastern central region and the imperial capital, which were geographically close to the three border cities, had successively sent second-line divisions.

If Philip and the others saw it, they would recognize many familiar faces they had seen in the imperial capital, all of them wearing armor and resolutely embarking on a long journey.

However, due to the limited capacity of the trains, the empire's territory was too large, and the huge shortcomings of the cavalry were also revealed.

These second-line divisions marched at varying speeds, scattered across the vast expanse of the southeastern part of the empire.

The first two divisions were replenished in the direction of Vila Dicheng, which was under the greatest pressure, and the four divisions that arrived in the second group were divided into two groups, two each in Gaokan and Brando, and the next three divisions sent from the periphery of the imperial capital would take at least a dozen or even more days.

The divisions and regiments in the six or seven large and medium-sized cities that are closer to the southeastern capital have only completed the initial replenishment and training of personnel, and the arrival of materials and equipment is still far away.

The six standing divisions of the Hurricane Regiment in the southeastern capital of Garost somehow did not set off even after completing the training and assembly, and even openly disobeyed the military orders of the Ministry of Defense of the imperial capital, and even almost caused a mutiny among his soldiers, but the parliament still did not approve the replenishment of supplies.

According to the information obtained by the Marquis of Nou, this was just a farce played by the Hurricane Legion Commander Duke Levinson, and the vast majority of the councillors had changed their initial indifference to this defensive battle to the current lack of confidence, so it was logical to cooperate with the performance.

The reason why they delayed so much was that they hoped that after the defense line was breached, they would be able to retain enough troops in their hands to keep their property in the city.

As for the three major military cities, what does it have to do with them, and in some way it is even opposed to their interests.

As for the Imperial Ministry of Defense, it is even simpler, from His Majesty the new Emperor who has just ascended the throne to those Wenchen lords under him, as long as he has money, he can do it, but it is just a few words, who will really care.

Perhaps the destruction of those border city families could please His Majesty the new emperor.

As long as they defend the provincial capital, maybe they will be rewarded for their meritorious service after the war, and their family's title will be raised to that level and become the favored vassals of the new emperor.

Even if the situation is so bad, at this moment, in the major newspapers in the imperial capital de Talena, except for the newspapers under the jurisdiction of the temple, which are relatively objective, the other newspapers have downplayed this border crisis under the advice of well-intentioned people, and everyone's attention is focused on a series of personnel appointments after the new emperor ascends the throne.

Most of the old emperor's old ministers relieved themselves of their responsibilities and went home to recuperate under the care of the new emperor.

And those who replaced them were their deputies, and they were also the ministers that the new emperor Gulliver favored and relied on at the beginning.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that a new era has arrived, and as for whether it is good or bad, it is up to everyone to judge.

The great change is coming, the people's hearts are fluctuating, the demons are dancing wildly, and the attack that the steppe people have been accumulating for a long time has completely torn off the last fig leaf of this decaying empire that has been riddled with holes, and it is so naked in front of the people.

Philip slashed off the heads of two steppe men with a single sword, allowing himself to be doomed with hot blood.

Holding a huge steel shield, the girl next to her flew out of the three steppe warriors with their mount fans, quickly retreated, and protected Philip with Julian.

More than ten meters ahead, Alie brandished a cooked copper rod and rushed into the dense queue, like a domineering and unreasonable monster, smashing those steppe wolves who were frightened by his hideous appearance and lost the will to resist.

Duke, on the other hand, kept an eye on the archers who wanted to hurt people with hidden arrows, and each time the bowstring sounded, it would take a life or two.

Even though the elite of these steppe people were all dressed in standard leather armor and armed with sharp scimitars, they were still divided into three groups of different sizes by their well-equipped troops.

With Philip's whistle, thousands of heroic female knights rushed down on both sides of the mountain and forest, and the bows and javelins were like the scythe of death, harvesting the souls of the dead in pieces.

The last to appear was the 2,000 mighty men led by Victor, wielding equally huge weapons, Tarzan pounced from behind, each sweep creating a blood-red no-man's land in the ranks of the steppe people.

Having lost the space to maneuver in the vast expanse of the steppe, the guerrilla tactics of the steppe people who were crushed in the valley lost their soul, and with the successive deaths of the commanders, they completely collapsed.

Some rushed up the hillside, some retreated into the valley, some resisted stubbornly, and some fled.

The mixed scene lasted for about ten minutes, and the 20,000-strong team was carried by the surging crowd and fell into the bottom of the cliff in horror, except for more than 10,000 people who were cut down.

Until the last arrow killed a low-ranking Axon, the only people left on the battlefield were Philip and his warriors.

"Treat the wounded, collect supplies, and burn everything that can't be taken. Philip ordered.

"Yes!" replied Chand, hammering his breastplate, who had now stepped down from his duties as a member of the Guard, leading the Rimbo warriors with twenty men under his command, helping them quickly establish a command structure and lay the foundation for the next step of rapid expansion.

After regaining their eyes, they shuttled through the mountains and forests in a strange arc, all the way north, and by the way, annihilated the supply team of the steppe people who were escorting supplies.

This was the third supply team they had eliminated, and the fifth 10,000-strong team.

And because of the lack of armor themselves, they suffered nearly a thousand casualties, of course, most of them were arrow sores, especially the strong men of the 2,000 people, which were not at all something that these steppe scouts could contend with head-on.

"Murphy!"

"In!"

"The old rule, these people are under your command, using the equipment of the steppe people. I don't care if they took refuge or were captured before, now they can only follow my orders, or they will be killed!"

"Yes!"

The grassland people are holding two or three hundred thousand people in charge, so naturally they will not raise them in vain.

At first, those people were sent to the front line as cannon fodder, but the hard-hearted Ward guy didn't eat this at all, and greeted them with cold bows and arrows and swords and axes.

For this reason, it almost caused a mutiny among these people, and the originally harmonious relationship became tense.

When the steppe people distributed weapons to those male strong men, it caused another wave of defections, killing and wounding nearly a thousand steppe warriors, and it was easy to suppress it.

But the punitive massacre of 10,000 men was further infuriated by the punitive massacre of the rebels, who were killed by the rebel subordinates, and the steppes imprisoned or enslaved them as real slaves, given very little water and food.

At this point, the honeymoon period of the two ethnic groups ended, and they completely went into confrontation, and both sides hated each other to the core.

Someone came up with the idea of completely killing these food-consuming mongrels, but in order to reduce the risk, in the end, only tens of thousands of people were assigned as slaves to help them transport supplies and baggage.

Others, especially women and children, were taken hostage.

Even if Lu Bo is cold, but they are full of their wives, children and mothers, no matter how ruthless they are, there is a limit.

In addition to the accidental injuries and deaths in the three attacks, Philip and they also liberated nearly 10,000 Rubo.

Murphy's approach is very simple, it can even be said to be simple and rude, find out the leader inside, and use his own ability to distinguish the good and bad of the other party.

Those who leaned towards the steppes were all killed, while the others remained, and a few who favored the Wards or those who were honest were appointed as leaders at all levels, and Murphy was the nominal supreme leader of this Rubbo Legion.

Regardless of how many of them were ill-intentioned, this move transformed Murphy into one of the most warrior leaders in the mountains for hundreds of years.

At the same time, Philip also promised to lead them to snatch those women and children back from the hands of the steppe people, and all the excess materials and ordnance would be owned by them, so that this group of slippery guys could be used by him for the time being.

Philip knew very well that it might be okay to fight a tailwind fight, but if he encountered the elite steppe people, the only fate of these rabble would be to be crushed with a single blow and scattered among the reckless mountains.

But he didn't care, as long as he had fewer Ward warriors under his command, if only one less.

When they arrived at the assembly point of the steppe people on the western front less than 30 kilometers, the army of Lubo beside him had reached 20,000 people.

These natural thieves, liars, and robbers, armed themselves and robbed of large quantities of supplies, were inexplicably more aggressive than the Alpine warriors under Philip.

Not only did he take advantage of his familiarity with this big mountain to shuttle freely on various forest paths and harass the small group of scouts who attacked the grassland people, but he also brazenly and independently launched an attack on a full grassland team of 10,000 people yesterday.

Despite the heavy casualties themselves, these men of the Lubo tribe seemed to be unconcerned, and happily divided the spoils.

Murphy's explanation for this is that at least for hundreds of years, no single force has been able to gather so many strong warriors, which makes them suddenly realize that when together, they can also exert great fighting power, which is intimidating.

Philip and Chand looked at each other, neither of them saying anything, and forbade his men to divide the so-called spoils.

20 kilometers north of the assembly point of the western line of the grassland people is the Tieyan Pass, which echoes with the Red Moon Pass.

Compared to Hongyue Pass, the terrain here is more favorable, not only is the terrain in front of the pass narrower, but you also have to climb a hillside at least 200 meters long to rush up, so the pressure is much less.

The vanguard army of the Western Front originally gathered only 300,000 troops one after another, and Mingge's large army was also replenished with 200,000 people one after another, but after more than half a month of fighting, the offensive gradually weakened after they consumed most of them.

Even if there was Mingge's order, at this time, both the leading Axun regiment and the soldiers below were a little negative and war-weary, pinning all their hopes on the Red Moon Pass in the east.

Their remaining manpower was no longer enough to continue the assault, so they had to barely maintain their oppression.

Philip was deeply touched by this Iron Rock Pass, because it had a lot of connections with him, and the kidnapping when he was ten years old was smuggled out of the Iron Rock Pass.

Iron Rock Pass is a starting point, continuing west through dense primeval jungle to a whole majestic mountain range where more half-bloods live.

The nearest checkpoint is only 300 kilometers away, which is built halfway up the mountain, and it is definitely easy to defend and difficult to attack.

If the grassland people want to bypass these three border guards, they need to continue to trek more than 1,000 kilometers westward.

More importantly, in the vast area northwest of Tieyan Pass, that is, between it and Luoma Town, there is a huge basin for some reason, like the footprints of a giant, which is densely packed with lakes, swamps and canyons, and the terrain is complex and changeable.

If the steppe people invaded the pass from further west, they might not have met so strong resistance, but they would not be able to deploy their huge forces, and there was little room for manoeuvre.

As long as the cities along the way send troops and horses, even if it is only the second and third line troops, it is easy to block them in this narrow area.

So no sane commander would have thanklessly chosen such an offensive line.

Hongyue Pass and Tieyan Pass are almost their only choice, especially the Hongyue Pass, which is relatively flat and attacks from south to north, as long as it breaks through here, it will make the eastern defense line suffer from the enemy in the east, and the troops will force Gaokan City to the northeast, connecting the entire battle situation and completely revitalizing it.

Having said all this, it is nothing more than an indication of the current tense situation.

Now there are two choices in front of Philip, one is to eat the remaining 100,000 people at the western assembly point, and the other is to ignore them and rush directly to the eastern front, striving to rush to the Red Moon Pass as soon as possible.

Philip thought about it for a full hour before finally making his choice.

Although at this time, the southern Daxun Mingge had already led the main force to converge with the vanguard army at the eastern assembly point, and the situation of a million-strong army attacking the city could occur at any time, but according to Philip's footsteps, even if they set off at this time, it would take at least a whole day to reach the blockade line on the periphery of the battlefield.

With their current strength, it is barely possible to eat the elite of 180,000 steppe people, but it is definitely not enough to face a million army, especially the Axun army that is as high as tens of thousands of people.

At most, it is to attack on the edge, lacking the ability to fight a decisive battle.

But he didn't, it doesn't mean that Tieyan Pass doesn't.

The steppe people may lack relevant information, but as one of the heirs of the Wild Lion Division, Philip clearly remembers that the town of Iron Mountain, which is backed by Iron Rock Pass, is the largest metal smelter and armor manufacturing plant around Gaokan City.

The tall walls and well-established defenses there are simply a small Gaokan City, not to mention the supernumerary team of 3,000 people stationed there.

Solve the enemy outside Tieyan Pass in advance, although it is impossible for the defenders here to be transferred, but it can liberate this supernumerary team stationed in Tieshan Town and devote it to Hongyue Pass on the Eastern Front.

No matter how bad it is, as long as you plan it properly, you can get a lot of high-quality armor from Iron Mountain Town, which is the key to limiting the combat effectiveness of Philip's troops.

Those male Gaoshan warriors who are 20 centimeters taller on average may not be able to, but ordinary armor can definitely be worn on the bodies of those female warriors of the Maga Regiment.

It doesn't take much, as long as there are 3,000 sets of full-body armor as arrows to attack, it is enough to form a terrifying combat force, cutting through the dense military formation of the steppe people head-on.

Just like equipping those male warriors with huge shields and protecting them on both wings, they can completely ignore the enemy's harassment and counter-encirclement.

The most critical reason is that Philip has a crush on the 100,000 Lubo prisoners trapped in the assembly point on the Western Front, and there are at least 40,000 or 50,000 adult males in them.

If these people are counted, even if they are a rabble, they can cause great trouble to the steppe people, and if they lose one or the other, his opportunity will come.

So that night, Philip rode Arthur and flew in the direction of Iron Rock Pass.

The big war is coming, and it is taboo for the coach to leave the team, so Philip is quietly carried out by night, and only Chand, Afu, Victor and the three female captains know the inside story.

No one doubted that he would never return, and even in the hearts of Qian De and the others, they vaguely hoped that he would retreat into the protection of the defense line and not get involved in danger again.

Naturally, the eyes of the steppe people roam the heavens day and night, but these warblers and nightbat are rubbish in front of the legendary unicorn.

Arthur flew very high, at least a thousand meters above the ground, and even though the moon was bright tonight, the ground below was still dark, and nothing could be seen clearly.