Durin's Diary

Chapter 655 I’ll wait and see

The city of Zolotonosha was badly damaged by the greenskins. The entire western district was on fire. Some fires were set by the greenskin orcs during the raid, while others were set by the defenders to prevent the warehouse supplies from being seized.

Then the flames made up of various flammable materials ignited the entire west district, and until nightfall, the flames still burned the sky red.

But there is an advantage - at least there is no need for lighting along the eastern coast.

Durin fought for most of the day in the East District. At nightfall, the follow-up reinforcements finally broke through the pincer attack of the green-skinned orcs, and the high-hoofed old bull and the tiger cub of Tygus of the vanguard unit entered the block.

Then he saw the War Overlord tied up in an open space on the block, and the heads of the greenskins who wanted to save him were piled up as high as a mountain - Durin deliberately left him alive, just to lure him into law enforcement, and the greenskins were also stubborn. Seeing that their overlord was still alive, they came to deliver him.

Du Lin also specially picked out a few that looked good and caught them alive.

As for what is considered good-looking, it means looking a bit human, and it is not known whether it is a mixed-race or a mutation.

In short, by the time the reinforcements arrived, there were almost no greenskins left in the East District - all those who could run had fled.

As for why the greenskins outside the city were still holding back the reinforcements and not letting them into the city, the only possibility was that the greenskins' communication really relied on shouting.

The greenskins in the city were either dead or running away, so there might not be any messenger to notify them.

Titus, who followed him into the city, was relieved - when they heard that Zolotonosha was lost, the masters in the northern capital were almost crazy. If this place was really lost and the greenskins poured in again, not to mention whether the capital would be surrounded, the traffic between the north and the south would definitely be affected.

Because the railway, which serves as a north-south transportation line, is less than forty miles east of Zolotonosha City.

If the greenskins move south again, the iron defense line of Zaporizhia-Vasilivka-Melitopol will be completely isolated. At that time, no one can think of a second way to retreat except to escape by boat to the south.

Even Du Lin had to admit that if it really came to that, in order to cover the main force, he might have to lose a regiment of rearguard troops.

Fortunately, the problem did not seem serious at the moment. At dawn the next day, more reinforcements arrived, and Farol even sent five regiments at once. If the Great Woodland could not be defended, the greenskins would go south across the mountains to Farol. By then, the hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Great Woodland would make Farol's already tight food problem even worse.

There is plenty of food in the Great Forest, and the farm that Dulin developed behind the southern defense line gave everyone confidence - as long as they can survive until autumn, there will be more harvests. I dare not say that everyone can eat well, but at least most people can be full.

When the first infantry rowed back to the scorched west area, they found a lot of survivors - speaking of this, it was Du Lin who found a way out for them - Du Lin told them to dig tunnels.

Because the greenskins are too big, only fart elves can enter the tunnels that humans can enter. But fart elves are not afraid of humans at all as long as they have guns.

In the tunnel, there is a magic array that can maintain the temperature and air, and there are supplies that can keep them alive for a while.
Because of this, many people survived.

"By the way, how did we lose the West District?" Du Lin asked this question.

The survivors of Zolotonosha spoke freely and eventually gave Dulin an extremely ridiculous reason.

The commander of Zolotonosha's defenses was Viscount Van Buren. This region had never been attacked before, so Viscount Van Buren's tense nerves gradually relaxed, and his regiments began to let loose. While some of the human-born regiments weren't used to the booze and tobacco of the Great Woodland, they were quite open to other things. So, when the greenskin orcs attacked before dawn, the entire western district was thrown into chaos—these guys had even invited butchers into their barracks.

Of the five remaining groups that were not played much, two were from Sidney, two were from Farol, and one was under the name of Dulin.

The five regiments fought and retreated, and finally waited for Dulin while struggling in the block.

Du Lin sighed and looked at Viscount Van Buren, who was kneeling there and kowtowing loudly, his crying even louder than usual.

"Viscount Van Buren, will you introduce the person next to you to me and Lord Titus?" Du Lin smiled and pointed at the deer-like woman who had collapsed on the ground.

Titus tried not to look in Viscount Van Buren's direction.

The two parties should know each other, and his tiger father-in-law should understand that Du Lin has murderous intentions.

He wanted to persuade them, but how could he do so in this situation? The city was broken, and nearly ten of the fourteen regiments were lost. If the remaining five regiments had not been sensible, even if reinforcements arrived, it would require even greater sacrifices to recapture the city.

"Warmaster! Save me!" Viscount van Buren was not a fool. The nobles of the Great Forest knew better than Durin how many people he had killed in the south.

He howled and crawled over, trying to hug Titus's feet.

Titus's lieutenant couldn't bear to watch it anymore, so he ordered a few big men to drag the deer back to the starting point.

"Grand Duke! I was wrong!" Viscount Van Buren turned to Dulin and begged for mercy.

"You know that because of your stupidity, the tens of thousands of people who remained in the entire West District were almost completely slaughtered, and tens of thousands of soldiers lost their lives. Their parents will never see their sons return, and their children will never see their fathers smile again... You idiot, if I don't kill you, how can I be worthy of the wounded who died to save their comrades? How can I be worthy of the administrator who willingly died to set fire to the warehouse? Not to mention the soldiers who defended the city walls until they died in battle, without even a single step back."

Having said that, Du Lin looked at Yara who was standing beside him. She had just arrived with support.

"Lord Durin, please leave it to me. Such a waste is not even worthy of being stabbed by a sharp blade. He deserves to be hanged." Yara came to Durin, and she found the end for the Viscount without hesitation.

Du Lin nodded. He glanced around, making sure no one dared to meet his gaze. Then he nodded. "Pass on my order. All survivors found in the West District, those with titles, will be hanged! Those without titles, from regimental commanders down to company commanders, will be shot. Their heads will be placed side by side in front of the gallows to mark their identities! The remaining platoon leaders, squad leaders, and soldiers will all be assigned to the Penitentiary Camp! As for these butchers... they will be assigned to the Cleaning Camp. From today on, they will wash the socks of all the soldiers. Anyone who dares to resume their old ways will be hanged."

Titus raised his hand and made a gesture, and immediately strong Tygus soldiers came over in groups of two and dragged away the crying nobles and commanders.

The remaining hundred or so soldiers were put on criminal collars.

Du Lin stood up and looked around at the captains. "You go to watch the execution. I hope you will remember this: I don't care what kind of character you have elsewhere, or what kind of person you are in your daily life. Here, if anyone still wants to stupidly kill himself like Viscount Van Buren, I welcome you to show your stupidity. Then I will hang you all together and show your stupidity to this earth and the world."

(End of this chapter)