Volume 5 Chapter 22: Iron Blood Surrender (1)
With the sound of melodious trumpets, teams of five hundred thousand soldiers marched out of the south gate of Pojun City. This was probably the largest military operation on the Cang Continent so far, and it attracted the attention of countless players in the city, especially those neutral small gangs, which each sent out scouts to observe with the army, because this could be said to be the first time in Fantasy that a joint force was formed by multiple large gangs (previously, the coalition forces formed by Tiexue and Jiucheng gathered their subordinate gangs, but were actually commanded by the leading gang. To some extent, it was not a joint force with equal relations between them). How much combat effectiveness this type of army can exert will be tested through today's battle.
I was sandwiched in the queue, leading the Thunder Regiment and slowly advancing along with the main force.
At the alliance meeting, in order to prevent gangs from working without contributing in the coalition operations in order to reduce their own losses, it was stipulated that no boss was allowed to enter the headquarters. All military decisions before the war were issued by the headquarters, and all troops must obey the orders of the headquarters 100%. However, this resolution did not restrict the boss from personally going to the battlefield. Those who wanted to become the leader of a gang were probably of high rank, well-equipped, and skilled, so they would inevitably want to personally go to the battlefield to fight. In addition, the presence of the boss could also boost the morale of the coalition forces.
There is another reason why I personally went to the battle. My Hu Po soul power is required to reach 10,000. Where can I find so many people to kill in normal times? Only during the alliance war is it a great opportunity to increase soul power. After these days of continuous battles, Hu Po's soul power has increased from a few hundred points to nearly 3,000. Today, when we attack the Iron Blood headquarters, I don't know how many people will become ghosts under my sword!
Moreover, Xiao Wu has joined the command center, and I have transferred Ba Dao to be the leader of Tianlei Hall. Currently, the Thunder Corps does not have a suitable commander-in-chief. In order to be foolproof this time, all gangs have sent out their best men, and I have also sent out the Thunder Corps. So I have to temporarily serve as the leader of the Thunder Corps as the leader of the alliance.
This time, the Grand Alliance attacked Iron Blood with a dignified army, without any strategic tricks. Not only did they declare war three hours in advance, but they also sent messengers to Iron Hoof Ta Tianxia yesterday to send a letter of challenge, leaving the other side with ample time to deploy troops for defense. This is not because we are arrogant, but after verifying intelligence from multiple sources, no matter how Iron Blood concentrates its forces, it can only organize 150,000 troops for defense. There are only seven small gangs left under Iron Blood. Although these small gangs have one or two branches because they are survivors of the previous war, their gang size will not expand much. They have only recruited some scattered personnel from the destroyed allied gangs. On average, each gang will not exceed 10,000 people at most. Together with Iron Blood's own members, 150,000 troops are already its limit. If our 500,000 coalition forces still cannot defeat the garrison defended by 150,000 people, the Grand Alliance might as well disband early. Therefore, this time we decided not to use surprise troops, but to crush Iron Blood's last resistance with the force of thunder and lightning, so as to establish our prestige in one battle!
Just because we don't send out surprise troops doesn't mean that the Iron Blood will stay at the garrison and wait for our attack. When they were halfway through the march, a group of people suddenly appeared from the side. They were the Iron Blood's ambush troops! They wanted to strike the coalition forces halfway, preferably to eliminate some of the coalition forces' manpower and reduce the pressure on the garrison defense.
If I were Tieti, I would also use this trick. If I allow 500,000 troops to surround my headquarters and attack fiercely, no one can bear it! The so-called defender can fight against an enemy three times the number of attackers with fortifications, which refers to offensive and defensive battles of less than 100,000. When the number of participants increases, this gap will gradually narrow. Just think that 500,000 troops can at least organize 200,000 long-range troops. With so many people suppressing and shooting, the soldiers on the fortifications may not dare to raise their heads! Of course, if the level of players in professions such as craftsmen in the future is increased, they can build higher-level fortifications and even build cities, which is a different story.
The commander of the iron-blooded ambush had a sharp eye and immediately identified the most vulnerable part of the huge army, the central army where the Pure Land in Troubled Times was located!
Yesterday's exercise exposed the low combat effectiveness of the Luanshi troops. In fact, the members of Luanshi were of a higher level, but they lacked training and experience in large-scale coordinated operations. Therefore, for the sake of safety during the march, the command placed Luanshi in the middle of the army, with strong gangs protecting them in front and behind.
However, the Iron Blood ambushers were very patient and well hidden, and were not discovered by our scouts. They let the vanguard troops pass by until the chaos passed by their ambush site, and then they suddenly rushed out!
The troubled times suddenly fell into chaos, soldiers scattered to both sides, and a gap appeared in the team. The iron-blooded commander was overjoyed and immediately led his troops into the gap. As long as he could cut the coalition forces into two so that the front and rear could not take care of each other and expand the chaos, it would affect the elite troops in front and behind, and the 30,000 iron-blooded soldiers would be able to take the opportunity to kill a large number of coalition soldiers!
The iron-blooded commander was sprinting excitedly when he suddenly discovered that in the center of the scattered enemy forces there was a troop standing like a mountain. Not only did they not run around, but all of them were facing him and raised their weapons calmly!
At the front of the team, a huge ground dragon was stamping its feet impatiently. On the dragon's back was a knight. His face could not be seen under the cover of the visor, but the cold light in the knight's eyes made the iron-blooded commander feel a chill in his heart!
"We've fallen into a trap! This is a trap!" This thought flashed through the commander's mind, but before he could issue the order to retreat, the opposing troop had already rushed over on its own initiative. The golden knight was particularly swift, rushing into the iron-blooded ranks like the wind!
As the commander of this ambush, he could not charge at the front of the team, in case he was killed in an instant and the whole unit lost command; nor could he hide in the middle or back of the team, because on-the-spot response was most important in such a surprise attack, and he had to adjust tactics according to the battle situation at any time, so he had to be at the front of the team to observe the battle situation first. Therefore, he dispatched dozens of the most elite masters to rush to the front line, serving as the spearhead to break through the enemy's formation and to protect themselves at the same time.
Therefore, although the commander saw the world-famous number one dream master, Leader of the Thunder, rushing towards him, he was not panicked. He firmly believed that it would take more than a moment to break through the dozens of masters in front of him, even with the bloody sky. He at least had time to order his subordinates to retreat first, and then turn around and flee.
But something unbelievable happened before his eyes: with the charge of the earth dragon, the dozens of masters were unable to stop it at all. All the iron-blooded warriors who were within three meters of the bloody sky would only see a flash of golden light in front of them. This golden light was as fast as lightning and the angle was tricky. It was unstoppable and unavoidable. Before the body felt the pain, the brain had already realized: I was hit! Then they would find that a fountain of blood spurted out from their vital parts, such as the chest or the neck!
The sky is full of blood!
The name of Bloody Sky is indeed worthy of its name!
Wherever the thunder passed, the iron-blooded masters fell down like harvested wheat. I kept charging and in an instant rushed in front of the iron-blooded commander, swung out the Tiger Soul, and went straight for his head!
This commander is good at marching and deploying troops, but not PK. Even those masters can't block my attack, so how can he dodge it? With one blow, his head and body are separated. I have the momentum of taking the head of a general in the midst of thousands of troops as easy as taking something out of a bag!
After several major battles in recent days, my swordsmanship has improved unconsciously through actual combat training. Compared with the past, it is not only more concise and quicker, but also carries an indomitable momentum when I draw the sword, which captures people's hearts. Opponents with slightly lower skills will find it difficult to block my sword!
However, this man died with a smile on his face. He finally issued an order to withdraw before he was killed instantly. He hoped that his men could retreat in time to avoid too heavy casualties!
Unfortunately, his wish was doomed to fail. Since the coalition forces had set a trap, how could they allow this ambush force to escape easily?
We openly challenged Ironblood to a duel, which was very imposing, but it didn't mean that we were careless and arrogant in tactics. During this march, it seemed that we sent out few scouts and they were careless, so we didn't find the large-scale ambush of Ironblood. In fact, since we sent out the challenge yesterday, we have deployed secret sentries on the selected marching route. We received the news long before the Ironblood troops came to ambush, and pretended to be unprepared, just to lure this big fish into the trap!
All the command center members are the military think tanks of their respective gangs. They all unanimously concluded that since Iron Blood had set an ambush, they would definitely attack our army's weaknesses. The situation of yesterday's exercise must have been reported by Iron Blood's undercover agents lurking in the various gangs. The other side must know that Luan Shi is our weakest unit. Even if one observes the army's march today, it is easy to see that Luan Shi's formation is the most disorganized. Therefore, if the other side wants to launch a sneak attack, they must use Luan Shi as a breakthrough point!
The command center took advantage of the situation and did not ask the members of the Chaos World to be on high alert. To prevent leaks, except for the top leaders of the alliance, ordinary members of the Chaos World were not informed. Instead, the Thunder Regiment was quietly sandwiched between the Chaos World troops!
I even asked the members of the Thunder Regiment to behave like an army in troubled times, with uneven pace and crooked formation, which was an interesting challenge for the well-trained members.
Because I had already known the location of the Iron Blood ambush, I had informed my subordinates in advance to be prepared when we approached the place. It was then that the command informed the chaotic troops of the truth, requiring them not to fight after discovering the enemy but to just run away, and the task of fighting was left to the Thunder Regiment.
Under the cover of the chaotic troops, the Thunder Regiment hid in the center of the team. When the Iron Blood launched an attack and the chaotic soldiers fled, they were greeted by an iron army!
The Iron-Blooded Commander was able to act decisively. He issued an order to retreat as soon as he found out something was not right. This ambush force was also the elite of the Iron-Blooded. They followed the order and immediately turned around and fled . However, the two gangs before and after the chaos, the troops from the Rich Villa and the Demon City had already made preparations. They encircled the enemy from both wings and clamped their prey tightly like a pair of large claws of a crab!
Except for a small number of iron-blooded soldiers at the end of the team who ran fast and had not yet had time to charge into the coalition formation, most of the enemy troops were surrounded. Moreover, given the number of coalition forces, once surrounded, the encirclement would only become thicker and thicker, and there was absolutely no hope of breaking out!
The besieged members of the Iron Blood Alliance launched a desperate counterattack, but this counterattack was so powerless in front of the coalition forces that were ten times their size. Countless soldiers formed a steel wall in front of them, and the outer long-range troops rained arrows and cast magic. Hundreds of Iron Blood soldiers were killed every minute!
Within a quarter of an hour, the coalition forces wiped out the besieged enemy forces with almost no losses. Although the scale of this battle was not large, it boosted the morale of the entire army. The army reorganized its formation and continued to march towards the Iron Blood garrison!
In fact, the Iron Blood Army sent more than just this ambush. Another group of troops farther away were originally prepared to attack the enemy troops after the attack was effective and caused chaos in the coalition forces. However, seeing that the friendly forces were quickly annihilated, how could this unit dare to move? They hurriedly withdrew their troops, but they were intercepted and killed by a cavalry sent by the headquarters. The enemy troops were scattered and few of them could escape back to the headquarters.
The Iron Blood failed to steal the chicken, but reduced its own defense endurance - nearly half of the alliance members have lost a chance to revive. This is not to say that the Iron Blood people are too stupid, but the situation forced them to take risks and make surprise attacks. If they succeed, there is still hope of winning. If they just defend blindly, they will basically be waiting for death. The gap in strength between the two sides is too big.
After repelling these two troops, the army encountered no more obstacles or harassment along the way and successfully arrived in front of the Iron Blood base.
The command deployed troops and first concentrated 200,000 long-range attack forces, divided them into ten attack groups, and cleared obstacles under the cover of the soldiers.
Perhaps the Iron Blood gang was confident of its power when it was founded, and built its base on a vast plain without any terrain obstacles around it. Building a gang in such a place would be more convenient for building a city in the future, but it would be the most disadvantageous for defense. However, the Iron Blood gang had a large number of people and the Pojun gang did not have a large organization like a big alliance at that time. Which gang would dare to attack the Iron Blood gang alone? But now, this weakness has been exposed!
A volley of 100,000 archers would fire more than 300,000 arrows. The arrows whistled through the air and fell on the fortifications like raindrops. If the Iron Blood Alliance members were not careful and exposed themselves, they would be pierced by thousands of arrows. Their long-range troops could only hide far behind and fight back against the sky. However, they could not observe and aim on the defensive wall. How could such disorderly shooting be accurate? Most of them fell into the air.
Speaking of it, the Iron Blood army has quite a few soldiers. Among the 150,000 defenders, they can always gather 70,000 long-range troops. Although the accuracy of their counterattacks is not good, the density is considerable. Many alliance soldiers are injured by stray arrows, but with a total of 500,000 coalition forces, even if they lose 10,000 or 20,000, it will not affect the overall combat effectiveness. Therefore, the front-line troops did not retreat, and launched more fierce suppressing shooting in the face of the Iron Blood's counterattack.
In addition to the archers, the task of the 100,000 magicians is to clear out the thorn nets, chevaux de frise, traps and the like. If 100,000 magicians attack at the same time, the scene will be much more spectacular than a volley of archers!
With the current level of Fantasy players, most magicians can cast Meteor Shower. This fire magic is the best choice for completing this scavenger mission regardless of its attack range and power. Therefore, more than 70,000 magicians cast Meteor Shower at the same time...
In an instant , the sky seemed to be burning, and a few cotton-like white clouds turned dark red. This was a strange phenomenon that would only appear when the ultimate forbidden fire spell, the doomsday catastrophe, was activated. No one expected that such a spectacle would also appear when tens of thousands of magicians cast high-level magic meteor showers at the same time!
Then, countless fireballs as big as basketballs emerged from the void and whistled towards the Iron Blood Alliance’s base!
A level 0 meteor shower can summon ten meteorites, not to mention that the skill level of most magicians is more than that. Therefore, hundreds of thousands of fireballs fall at the same time in an instant, just like a meteor shower!
The roar continued, the flames rose, and the Iron Blood Base was surrounded by flames and thick smoke, as if it was trapped in purgatory!
The only drawback of Meteor Shower is that it takes some time to recover after use and cannot be used continuously. However, the effect of this attack has made us very satisfied!
Unlike a wall of fire, a meteor shower did not have a sustained burning effect and soon died out. Looking around, the ground outside the Iron Blood fortifications was a scorched earth covered with countless basin-sized holes. The large number of thorn traps that the poor Iron Blood members had spent a lot of time setting up were all wiped out.
At this moment, I noticed that the dark red sky had not returned to normal yet, and I was shocked. Oh no, the Iron Blood was about to launch a counterattack!
The command center was able to gather people together. Since I noticed something was wrong, how could the command center not know about it? Immediately, an order was issued: The long-range troops quickly dispersed and retreated!
This decision was correct, but it exposed a disadvantage of commanding the coalition forces in the form of a headquarters: it was troublesome for the headquarters to make decisions and transmit the orders to the various troops. Although there were special communication personnel, it was not as convenient and quick as for each gang to directly command its own troops. Therefore, under normal circumstances, the headquarters could cope with it, but it seemed to be slow to react in an emergency like this! On the other hand, if each gang was commanded independently, it was not necessarily that each boss would be able to realize the danger so quickly.
The Iron Blood Army had at least 30,000 to 40,000 magicians. They had been holding back until the coalition's long-range troops approached the Iron Blood base and launched an attack. Only then did they join forces to launch a meteor shower!
A large number of fireballs continued to appear in the sky, and this time the target of the falling meteors was the coalition’s long-range forces!
