Volume 3: Tides of Darkness Chapter 202 Gul'dan's Expedition
Gul'dan is a very decisive orc.
This decisiveness was constantly reflected in major turning points in his life.
When Gul'dan discovered that he was not cut out to be a shaman, he decisively joined the Burning Legion.
Later, Medivh asked him to open the Dark Portal. After Gul'dan found that he could not defeat this human mage, he decisively gave in and did his best to encourage the orcs to build the Dark Portal.
Now that he realized that Orgrim didn't like him and knew the approximate location of the Tomb of Sargeras, Gul'dan thought for a while and decided to escape.
Of course, if you want to run, you can't run around blindly.
In order to find the Tomb of Sargeras and obtain the artifacts and mysterious powers buried therein, he needs enough men (cannon fodder). He knows very well what kind of terrible enemies he will encounter in the Tomb of Sargeras.
Therefore, the first thing he did after making up his mind was to gather his forces to the greatest extent possible so that they could go with him.
Gul'dan has been in the tribe for so many years, and after all the ups and downs, he has accumulated quite a fortune.
The first is the Shadow Council, a powerful team composed of dozens of high-level orc warlocks and hundreds of low-level warlock apprentices. They are his most loyal followers and the most reliable helpers.
The Fel Orcs are composed of hundreds of powerful orcs who have drunk the blood of demons many times. The power to distribute the blood of demons lies in the hands of Gul'dan, and the orcs are flocking to the blood of demons. Gul'dan will naturally use this to recruit a group of elite warriors for himself.
The Shadow Assassins, a killer organization affiliated with the Shadow Council, are composed of dozens of elite orc assassins, and they are led by the legendary thief Garona. Due to changes in history, Garona was not sent to assassinate Medivh, and she still follows him.
The Ravage Clan, led by Talon Bloodfiend, was a clan founded by him. Although the population was small, only about five or six thousand, they were all loyal to him.
The Twilight Hammer Clan is led by his apprentice, the two-headed ogre magician Cho'gall. Its members are composed of ogres, orcs and white orcs. The Twilight Clan has never been well-received within the tribe because it worships neither fel power nor shamanism, but void magic. Even Gul'dan is very afraid of this strange spell.
After calculating the power he had at his disposal, Gul'dan suddenly became confident in his plan. With such a powerful army, there would be no problem in taking over the Tomb of Sargeras.
But soon another crucial problem appeared before his eyes.
How to get to the Tomb of Sargeras.
Gul'dan had only been in Azeroth for a few days and was completely in the dark about this world. The information he knew was all obtained from torture of a few human captives. He had no idea how to get to the Tomb of Sargeras.
Fortunately, the warlock apprentice named Poison Master Jia Xu came up with a very suitable plan for Gul'dan, which surprised him greatly.
"Teacher, look here. This is the Cursed Land, located in the southern part of the Eastern Continent. Next to it is the Stranglethorn Vale. At the southernmost end of the Stranglethorn Vale, there is a city ruled by goblins - Booty Bay. Goblins are a very greedy race and love money very much. As long as you give them money, they are willing to sell anything. We can go there to buy a fleet and then set off to the Broken Isles."
This actually brightened up Gul'dan's eyes, who was completely in the dark.
"Well done, apprentice. I will consider this plan." Gul'dan immediately began to think about the feasibility of this plan. To be honest, the more he thought about it, the more it made sense to him.
However, the reason for going to Stranglethorn Vale is also a problem. Gul'dan knows Orgrim quite well. Unlike the careless Blackhand, Orgrim has a strong character, sticks to his words, and will never tolerate betrayal.
Once they find out that you are running away, they will definitely send people to hunt you down immediately.
So I have to find a suitable excuse.
Gul'dan sent his men to gather information everywhere, while commanding the orc laborers to build the demon altar. After a few days, he finally received good news.
Kilrogg Deadeye led the Bleeding Hollow orcs to conquer Stranglethorn Vale and suffered a great defeat. They were lured deep into the territory by the local troll coalition and suffered more than three thousand losses.
Although there were no serious injuries, it was undoubtedly a major setback for the tribe's current strategic arrangements.
Gul'dan immediately felt that he had seized his opportunity and hurried to the fortress.
As soon as I entered the Chief's Hall, I heard Orgrim's angry roar.
"Kilrogg is such a loser! I asked him to go to Stranglethorn Vale to expand the territory for the Horde, but this bastard got involved with the trolls there and even lost the battle. It's outrageous! If he can't even handle a group of trolls, how can he conquer the world!"
Orgrim did have reason to be angry. It was not an easy task to unify the Horde. Each clan acted independently and basically had its own little calculations. He sent the Bleeding Hollow Clan to open up Stranglethorn Vale because he valued the Bleeding Hollow Clan who grew up in the Tanaan Jungle and were very good at jungle warfare.
As long as they could open up a territory and build a stronghold in the jungle of Stranglethorn Vale, the Horde would have a strategic fulcrum on the periphery. However, when Kilrogg Deadeye saw the environment of Stranglethorn Vale, he immediately came up with the idea of enclosing the land for himself. He directly fought against the local trolls, wanting to take over the trolls' territory and make it the new home for the Bleeding Hollow orcs.
It would have been fine if I had won, but in the end I lost.
He could tolerate the departure of the Frostwolves because Durotan was his good friend, and who was Kilrogg...
Just as I was thinking about how to punish Kilrogg to ensure that he knew what was right for him but would not become disloyal, Gul'dan walked in.
"Ah, Great Chief, what's wrong with you? Did something happen?" Gul'dan asked in surprise.
Seeing Gul'dan's pretended concern, a trace of disgust flashed in Orgrim's eyes.
"Hmph, it's no big deal. That jerk Kilrogg ran into some trouble in Stranglethorn Vale - how is the construction of the demon altar going?"
"I'm afraid it will take some time. The number of hard laborers is too small, and I have no other options. Why don't you let me go and support Kilrogg? Although my Stormrage Clan and Twilight Clan are small in number, they are very self-sacrificing. They have stayed in the camp for too long and have begun to become restless."
A trace of suspicion flashed in Orgrim's eyes, and he stared at Gul'dan for a while: "Gul'dan, what tricks are you playing? You are not very enthusiastic about conquest and war. Why did you take the initiative to fight this time?"
"Ah, Warchief, your words really make me sad. I, Gul'dan, am loyal to the Horde. I spent too much energy in the past studying fel magic and portal technology. Now that the Horde has arrived in the new world, and the Demon Altar section cannot be completed within a week, I must try my best to do what I can for the Horde. Otherwise, Warchief can also send me to the front line. I heard that the Redridge Mountains encountered stubborn resistance from humans..."
"That's not necessary." Orgrim interrupted Gul'dan. "I have my own strategy for Redridge Mountains."
Orgrim's plan was to use the confrontation on the Redridge Mountains battlefield to attract the main human forces so that Hellscream's large-scale flanking operations could be effective, so there was no rush to determine the winner.
After thinking about it, he thought it was a good idea. After all, Gul'dan still had some strength. If he could consume some of his men, it would be much easier to deal with him in the future. So he could just let him go to Stranglethorn Vale and fight with those troll barbarians.
Orgrim (Great Chief): "Okay, then this task is handed over to you. Go to Stranglethorn Vale and tell Kilrogg not to challenge my patience again. Complete my task immediately and build a camp in Stranglethorn Vale. Of course, it is necessary to strike those trolls. Use your fel magic to corrupt their land. Aren't you the best at this? Let them know that the glory of the tribe cannot be offended. But don't waste too much time. Our main enemy at the moment is humans. Don't let me down."
Gul'dan quickly agreed, and when he walked out of the tent, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Gul'dan (Demon Summoner): "Haha, stupid Orgrim, screw the glory of the Horde, whether the Horde can win has nothing to do with me.
You short-sighted, stupid and brainless chieftains only know how to fight for territory and start wars. You fight and kill for land and wealth like wild dogs. However, only power is the eternal truth. Just wait and see. When I get the power of Sargeras, you will all surrender to me . "
Returning to the camp, Gul'dan immediately ordered his men to gather.
Gul'dan did not take all his troops with him. In order to confuse Orgrim, he deliberately left behind several thousand old and weak orcs and a hundred orc warlocks to guard the camp and continue building the demon altar.
He led his 10,000 most elite followers on the road to Stranglethorn Vale.
Gul'dan did not go to join up with the Bleeding Hollow orcs, nor did he go to fight the large and small troll tribes in the jungle. Instead, he headed straight for Booty Bay.
Although they have no gold, silver or treasures, the orcs also have their own good things - specialty metals from Draenor, such as Fel Iron, Eternal Gold, and Krypton Gold. Fel Iron is an extremely hard metal. Although the orc army lacks armor, their weapons are generally good and are not inferior to the Alliance at all. They rely on weapons made from this special metal ore.
Both Eternal Gold and Krypton Gold are top-grade magic metals, priceless. Gul'dan sent people to contact the goblins and sold them a batch of rare metals, which really made the goblins happy.
Gul'dan sold him dozens of large ships and a large amount of supplies at once. He immediately boarded the ships with more than 10,000 orcs under his command and headed towards the Tomb of Sargeras.
Meanwhile - Westfall - BraveShield
This castle is the fief of an earl, located at the southernmost tip of the Western Wilderness, and now it has become the place where the army gathers.
In the conference hall of the castle, Murphy was discussing the ambush plan with Varian, Arthas and other heroes.
For this battle, the three brothers did their best.
Murphy brought Darabonba and Sigalette in.
Arthas also found Muradin Bronzebeard, Morgan Lisa, and Tianxiu.
Varian used his personal charm to call his four brothers to help, and together with several people from Tianluo Studio, it was a complete gathering.
Aidan (Prince of Alterac): "Da Vinci, where are the orc wolf riders?"
Leonardo da Vinci (Great Architect): "They have arrived near the Sodom River and are about to cross the river. They are expected to attack the Western Wilds tomorrow. The orcs' plan is to go all the way north, bypass castles and cities, burn farms and wheat fields, kill all living people, and completely destroy the food production areas of Stormwind Kingdom."
Varian (Storm Prince): "No, they have no chance. I will stop them and wipe out this orc cavalry!"
Varian said this with a determined expression on his face.
He looked at his brothers behind him and asked, "How is the gathering of troops going?"
Although Varian argued with reason, King Llane ultimately failed to fully agree to this plan. The Storm King's army was now confronting the Horde army in Redridge Mountains and it was impossible to withdraw it.
However, King Llane also took the matter of his rear being attacked very seriously, so he sent half of the knights of the Storm Knights to Varian, and appointed him as the marshal of the Western Wilderness Military District, with the power to mobilize local militia and noble private soldiers to fight.
Just three days ago, Varian had issued a conscription order to all human towns in the Western Wilderness, and troops from all over the place continued to arrive here.
James Wrynn (Storm Prince): "Two thousand people came from Moonbrook, three thousand from Sentinel Hill, thirty thousand from Fort Leiden, three thousand five hundred from Gold Coast, four thousand from Wind Island Port, and five thousand from Lion Lake City...
Listening to his fifth brother's report, Varian carefully estimated the number of troops.
It’s not enough, far from enough. The total number of troops is only more than 40,000. Including the 3,000 knights of the Storm Knights, there are only 45,000 people.
The ratio of their troop strength to that of the orc cavalry is 1.5:1. Although it seems that they have a certain advantage in troop strength, the orcs are a pure cavalry unit, their wargs can also fight, and the individual combat effectiveness of orcs is much higher than that of humans. These assembled troops are mostly militia, and they have no advantage in combat power at all.
If we fight head-on, we will even be at a disadvantage.
Varian (Storm Prince): "Why don't I just call in the adventurers? With just one order from me, I can summon tens of thousands of adventurers to join the battle within a day!"
Aidan (Prince of Alterac): "No, as long as we gather adventurers, our plan will be exposed immediately. The orcs are a pure cavalry unit. Once we lose the initiative, we will be at a disadvantage."
Murphy knew the nature of the players too well. Once this matter was exposed, there would be an uproar on the Internet. By then, the players on the tribe would definitely know about it, so there would be no point in ambush.
The plan must be known to as few people as possible.
He looked at Leonardo da Vinci, and Leonardo da Vinci immediately understood.
"Don't worry, Prince Varian. Our studio won't take our money for nothing. Don't worry about the troops. We have already chosen the location for the ambush. It's right here - Dagger Ridge!"
