Year: I had a good time when I was young

Chapter 1045 Bombardment
But Chu Xiangqian didn't care what the orcs thought.

After doing business with dwarves and elves for so many years, Chu Xiangqian had long regarded the North as his own backyard for dumping his goods.

In Chu Xiangqian's eyes, the annual gold transaction is an inexhaustible treasure trove, with the amount ranging from more than ten tons to forty or fifty tons.

As long as the dwarves exist, these guys who love blacksmithing will keep digging mountains, searching for mines, smelting steel and extracting gold.

What Chu Xiangqian paid was nothing more than wine, food, weapons and ammunition in the real world.

The profit is at least ten times, and it’s required every year.

It would be strange if Chu Xiangqian gave up such a stable business with such high profits.

And running Stromgarde takes a lot of thought.

With a wife and children, it’s no exaggeration to say that it’s my second home.

How could we allow the orcs to break through the Stone Pass and threaten the stability of the territory?

When the griffin flew to one or two kilometers away from the Stone Pass, the dwarf griffin riders from the Stone Pass came to meet it.

The dwarf griffon knight felt relieved when he saw an elven guard holding the lord's flag of Stromgarde.

After saluting Chu Xiangqian, who was wearing a mystical armor made by the elves, he took the initiative to guide him into the Boulder Pass.

Chu Xiangqian did not land in the square inside the pass.

Instead, he flew to the city wall with his guards and jumped directly down from a height of more than ten meters.

Landed easily on the city wall.

Jingchen insisted on rolling a few times in the air before landing behind Chu Xiangqian with a smile on his face.

The smugness on his face couldn't be hidden.

Chu Xiangqian shook his head helplessly, but after all, he was still a 15-year-old boy, so it was normal for him to like to show off.

The leader of the stone dwarves on the city wall hurriedly stepped forward with several centurions and saluted Chu Xiangqian politely.

The dwarves guarding the city walls also saluted Chu Xiangqian.

Not to mention Chu Xiangqian's past achievements, his identity and status as the Lord of Stromgarde alone are no worse than those of the dwarf and elf lords.

After nearly twenty years of development, Chu Xiangqian has been suppressing the number of troops in Stromgarde.

The military strength of Stromgarde at this time is no less than that of any dwarf lord or elf lord.

And as the dwarf population increases, recruiting dwarves becomes easier and easier.

There are also some dwarves who run to Stromgarde on their own without being recruited.

Although dwarves like blacksmithing, not all dwarves are willing to do it all day long.

However, in Stromgarde, status is not determined by the level of forging.

For Chu Xiangqian, getting steel is actually too easy.

Just purchasing from China, Europe and the United States can yield tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of tons.

And this amount of steel on Blue Star is just the amount needed for a cargo ship.

But in Middle-earth, the amount of iron forged by all the dwarves in the North each year is probably less than 1 tons.

Therefore, Chu Xiangqian never asked the dwarves in his territory to mine or forge iron.

This alone attracted quite a few dwarves.

There are also some dwarves who do not like to stay in the dwarf city hollowed out of the mountains for their entire lives.

Chu Xiangqian's management of the territory was more relaxed than that of the dwarves and elves.

Stromgarde is located in the southernmost area of ​​the North. Many dwarves and elves who want to travel south to the human world will basically stop at Stromgarde.

When these people return to the North, at least one-fifth will stay in Stromgarde.

Over the years, the dwarves, who were only 1500 at the time, have expanded to 7000.
However, the increase in the number of elves is quite small.

It only increased from more than 4800 people to .

However, the number of humans easily increased from 8.4 to .

This is because Chu Xiangqian did not accept much of the human race that fled from the human world to the north, otherwise the number of people would definitely increase two or three times.

These people usually farm and train during the slack season.

Over the years, 400 towns and 14 villages have been established within 80 miles south of Stromgarde.

Because there was no shortage of iron and enough agricultural tools, after years of reclamation, more than 1.5 hectares of arable land were reclaimed.

Moreover, by learning from the Chinese practice of intensive farming, grain production has indeed increased significantly compared to the previous practice of just throwing seeds on the ground and leaving them there.

They have long been self-sufficient and can sell a lot of food to the dwarves every year.

If Stromgarde could mobilize its full forces.

At least 1 human soldiers can be recruited.

The regular human warriors include 400 heavy cavalry and 800 lightly armed cavalry.

The infantry also has 2000 shield warriors equipped with light plate armor.

As for the ranged attackers, there are 1000 human riflemen, 500 dwarf musketeers, and 500 elven riflemen.

If necessary, other elves can be given bows and arrows, or rifles can be distributed and sent to the battlefield to become elite shooters.

The military force under Chu Xiangqian's command actually exceeds that of his neighbor, the mountain dwarves.

However, he had no interest in occupying the entire North.

That’s why we have lived in peace with the elves and dwarves for so many years.

So when the dwarves at Stone Pass saw Chu Xiangqian coming in person, they became more confident in resisting the orcs and orcs.

Of course, Chu Xiangqian actually knew that the dwarves at Stone Pass asked everyone for help because they were actually worried that their own casualties would be too great.

Just defending the city is not a big problem for the stone dwarves.

Since the invention of rifles, the defenders' advantage has been infinitely magnified.

A casualty ratio of one to ten, one to twenty or thirty is no longer surprising.
-
Chu Xiangqian stood on the city wall and looked towards the orc camp. With his enhanced eyesight, he quickly discovered the orc camp more than 2,000 meters away.

Outside a large tent, there were a dozen orcs who were well-equipped and obviously of unusual status.

He was looking in the direction of the Giant Stone Pass and pointing.

It should be because when he arrived just now, a dozen griffins suddenly appeared on the city wall and attracted his attention.

Chu Xiangqian suddenly had an idea.

He hurriedly asked the dwarf beside him, "Where is your lord?"

The dwarf hesitated for a few seconds before whispering, "Lord Davin, go to the secret warehouse in the Stone Mountain Range to check the amount of spare ammunition reserves.

We have sent someone to inform the Lord, and they should be back soon."

As soon as Chu Xiangqian heard it, he knew that they must have gone to a secret base inside a hollowed-out mountain in the Boulder Mountains.

Back then, the orcs crossed the Stone Mountains and launched a surprise attack from behind the Stone Pass.

After breaking through the Stone Pass, a large number of Stone Dwarves were slaughtered.

The rest lingered in the North for many years, until the Stone Pass was retaken, and the Stone Dwarves returned to this land.

Although a lot of population has recovered in recent years, it has only recovered to 40% of the original number at most.

Moreover, these were dwarves from other ethnic groups who volunteered to defend the city, resulting in a garrison of more than 6,000 troops.

After suffering such a huge loss, the Stone Dwarves would naturally prepare several escape routes.

Perhaps the mountains on both sides of the Stone Pass have been hollowed out by the dwarves.

Once the Giant Stone Pass is breached again, hiding in the mountain will allow us to continue to resist.

If you really can't resist, you can also use the secret passages to escape.

So when Chu Xiangqian heard the so-called secret warehouse, he knew it was just an excuse.

Daven must have personally checked whether the escape passage was safe. And this passage must be known to very few dwarves, so Daven had to check it himself.

Since Daven wasn't there, Chu Xiangqian could only frown and ask, "How many goat cavalry are there in the Giant Stone Pass?"

The dwarf then said very cheerfully, "Sir, since the day before yesterday, 1500 mountain, redbeard, and valley dwarves have arrived at the Great Stone Pass riding on big goats.

If we mobilize all of the cavalry at Jushiguan Pass, we should be able to gather 3,000 cavalry."

Chu Xiangqian silently calculated and found the number was a bit small. He couldn't help but shook his head with regret.

I regret not bringing the dwarf cavalry, human cavalry and elven cavalry from Stromgarde.

If he could gather 5 cavalry, he would really dare to attack the orc camp.

Of course, the prerequisite is to use artillery to kill those dozen orc high-ranking officials.

The only trouble is that the orcs still have 4 wolf cavalry this time. If these werewolves fight to the death regardless of everything, the dwarves, elves and human cavalry leaving the city will be in danger.

Chu Xiangqian could only secretly say it was a pity, but the opportunity was fleeting.

Who knows if the important orc figure will appear in a conspicuous place again next time.

After hesitating for only a moment, he said, "In my name, mobilize all the cavalry to stand by and leave the city once an opportunity arises."

All the dwarves were silent.

Although over the years, Chu Xiangqian sold more materials, weapons and ammunition to Stone Pass than to dwarves and elves of other ethnic groups.

The relationship between them is also very good.

But he is not the lord of Stone Pass after all.

Unable to mobilize the dwarves, Chu Xiangqian thought about it and simply told them his plan.

Then take out four World War II Yingguo 140mm howitzers.

The Jushi Pass is 30 meters high and the city wall is five or six meters wide, not to mention the 140-meter howitzer.

Even a huge cannon can be put down.

When the dwarves heard that he planned to bombard the orc high command, they immediately knew why he asked how many cavalry could be mobilized.

He hurriedly asked, "Sir, are you sure?"

Chu Xiangqian shrugged and said, "Won't we know after the bombardment and see how the orcs react?
If the orcs were not in chaos, or if they did not show any signs of rout during their retreat.

We are just bringing people together.”

The dwarf was relieved.

If the orcs' command level were really killed in one fell swoop, the orcs would most likely have no choice but to retreat.

The danger of the Giant Stone Pass was naturally resolved.

If the orcs retreat in panic, it would be a good opportunity to pursue them.

However, the Wolf Riders are a threat and a nuisance.

But thinking about the strength of the Dwarf Musketeers, they really couldn't win, and if they wanted to leave, the Wolf Cavalry couldn't stop them.

To put it bluntly, the wolf cavalry is actually lagging behind.

If you encounter musketeer cavalry, you can defeat them by flying a kite.

Thinking of this, the dwarf gritted his teeth and shouted orders to his companions around him.

Seeing this, Chu Xiangqian hurriedly began to adjust the firing coordinates of the howitzer.

In 62, when fighting against the Indians, Chu Xiangqian operated two of these howitzers by himself and attacked a warehouse.

So he easily adjusted the parameters of the four cannons, and then with a thought, a cannonball appeared in his hand and was pushed into the barrel.

After all four guns were loaded with ammunition, Chu Xiangqian confirmed again that there was no problem with the artillery parameters.

He took out another 40 shells and placed them on the ground, then said to the dwarves, "You are responsible for loading the shells."

Dozens of dwarves nodded hurriedly, looking at Chu Xiangqian with anticipation and nervousness.

Chu Xiangqian released another dozen sparrows, then nodded to the elf guards beside him.

Jingchen rushed to the side of a cannon, grabbed the rope, and excitedly waited for his father's order.

Chu Xiangqian rolled his eyes at the boy but said nothing.

After the other elves were ready to fire, he shouted, "Fire."

In an instant, four deafening bangs sounded at the Boulder Pass.

Chu Xiangqian didn't care about the result of the first round of shelling and loudly ordered the dwarves to reload.

The eight dwarfs immediately formed groups of two, carrying dozens of kilograms of shells and loading them into the gun barrels.

In the distance, four muffled sounds were heard.

The four explosion points created four shock waves around the orc tent.

Chu looked forward and saw four balls of fire and flying dirt rising around the dozen or so orcs who were obviously of high status.

Seeing that the bombardment was effective, he shouted again to fire.

There were four more loud noises, and immediately the guards around a dozen or so orc high-ranking officials either threw themselves on their leader or ran away dragging people away.

However, Chu Xiangqian was indeed lucky.

Of the four shells in the second round, two landed in the crowd.

Dozens of orcs were blown to pieces.

What followed was round after round of artillery fire.

After ten rounds of bombardment, Chu Xiangqian had seen through the sparrow that seven or eight shells had landed near the group of orc leaders.

However, Chu Xiangqian was still worried, so he walked to a cannon and adjusted it again.

Once again, he took out a cannonball from the Novice Village warehouse and pulled the rope himself.

Then they fired 10 more shells in succession to wash the ground.

Now, it was confirmed through Sparrow that the dozen or so orc high-ranking officers and hundreds of guards were all killed.

Chu Xiangqian chuckled, took out another forty shells, and asked the dwarf and the elf to adjust the muzzle of the gun.

They bombarded the orc camp indiscriminately, and when the bombardment ended, the orc side became even more chaotic.

Chu Xiangqian stood behind the battlements of the city wall expectantly, staring at the orc camp.

The dwarves, Jingchen, and the elf guards, like him, stared into the distance.

Unfortunately, although the orcs were in chaos for a while, a huge horn sounded suddenly in the huge military camp.

Then a large flag was raised.

When Chu Xiangqian saw the flag, he cursed under his breath.

I have been in contact with Middle-earth for almost 20 years, and I recognized the military flag at a glance. It was the flag of the Orc High Priest.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for the orcs to slowly stabilize their military morale.

Then the rear army became the front army and retreated slowly and orderly.

In addition, two thousand wolf cavalry appeared on the left and right sides of the military camp.

Obviously they were on guard against the dwarves taking the opportunity to charge into the battle formation, so the wolf cavalry would rush out from the left and right and entangle the charging cavalry.

It even cut off the retreat of the dwarf cavalry that were rushing into the camp.

An hour later, Chu Xiangqian sighed helplessly, and heard a burst of hurried footsteps coming from under the city wall.

After a while, Davin excitedly ran to the city wall. Seeing the orcs retreating in an orderly manner, he felt happy and a little regretful.

He took a few deep breaths, put a smile on his face, and wanted to hug Chu Xiangqian.

Thank him for giving me such a big surprise as soon as he came.

(End of this chapter)