Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 237 It's time to decide the outcome with one strike
Although under the strong deterrence of Hesse Lord's Order No. 225, the human coalition did not retreat and barely held its position.

But the battle situation was still not optimistic. In the afterglow of dusk, Su Li and Orstein patrolled the bloody city wall together.

He scanned the battlefield and saw that the fortifications had become riddled with holes. Su Li still underestimated the impact of the fantasy world on the war.

Ladders weren't always necessary for attacking a city. Dryads could easily construct a path up the city walls using a large number of vines. Their methods varied greatly. Some climbed the walls like creepers, allowing the monsters to swarm up like ants. Others constructed sturdy, straight ladders, firmly fixed in place and impossible to knock over like ordinary ladders. Monsters scaled the walls directly by climbing these entwined ladders.

To be honest, when the human coalition first encountered this scene, they were caught off guard. In order to recapture the city wall, humans immediately mobilized their most elite reserve troops.

This is also why humans soon lost the ability to rotate and rest, and had to issue orders for soldiers to hold their ground.

Of course, the most effective way for monsters to attack a city is to directly smash through the walls. A large number of giants and trolls give monsters the ability to break through the walls without any preparation.

In order to resist these monsters, humans paid a terrible price. When the monsters retreated, the entire fortification was littered with corpses. The battlefield of corpses and blood dyed everything within sight red. Countless human and monster corpses were piled together, and burning flags, broken spears, and countless broken swords and broken arrows were tragically stuck in the bloody corpses.

After a few days, the human losses amounted to thousands. At first, the death of a squadron would make Su Li convulse with pain, but he soon became numb. The deaths of squadrons were just cold numbers in his eyes.

He had also become hardened, able to watch coldly as Orstein mercilessly hammered the table and yelled at the Champion Knight: "I don't want casualty figures, I just want the Black Parker Building!"

The Black Pike Building, the tallest building in the southern Pest District, was formerly a notoriously dangerous tavern run by the famous Hook Gang. It often hosted eel fishing tournaments and was famous for its cheap and disgusting liquor called "Lucky Swill."

After the outbreak of the war, the unparalleled strategic value of this building emerged. It is not only located at a crossroads in the south of the city, but also a commanding height. The ranged troops of either side can fight here. The Dwarf Thunder Riflemen or the Gnoll Crossbowmen can greatly support their own battle at the south gate.

Moreover, it is close to the Butcher's Wharf on the Blackwater River in the south of the city, which is crucial for the Hessen Territory to transport wounded soldiers, medicines, ammunition, arrows, etc.

An extremely fierce battle broke out between the two sides here. The entire building changed hands five times. At the most brutal time, more than a dozen trolls had occupied the kitchen and main hall of the tavern, and the coalition forces of humans and dwarves desperately resisted in the bedroom on the second floor.

In order to defend this place, humans have lost two champion-level knights.

They are the Knight of the Dangerous Lancer, Aimanric, and the Red Guardian of the Church Knights, Ryan Boent.

In this battle, the casualties of champion knights were like flowing water. Four champion knights that Su Li knew were killed and countless were injured.

The final battle for the Black Pike Building ended when the handsome Gilles led his elite ace regiment to the second floor, slaying the four dryads and dozens of gnoll hunters guarding it. Now, Dogrin personally led his troops up there, and dozens of dwarf rangers and thunder lancers had sworn a solemn oath in the name of their ancestors, vowing to live and die with the building.

Under the current circumstances, they would not retreat even if Su Li gave the order.

This finally brought back a touch of sadness to Su Li's heart, which had been numb for many days. If the war situation could not be fundamentally reversed, Dogreen, the mountain dwarf friend with whom Su Li had the most interactions and known the longest, would surely die in the Black Parker Building, and there was a high probability that he would not have the chance to see the sunrise tomorrow.

Because the daily intelligence system has already reminded Su Li that the Forest Legion will launch the most violent offensive since the outbreak of the war tonight. The four God-chosen monsters will lead an extremely large legion that is far larger than before to launch a full-scale attack.

This enormous pressure is really enough to make people despair. Human beings have been exhausted after fighting for several consecutive days and nights. Both their mental will and casualties have reached the brink of collapse.

However, the monster army can rely on its huge size to launch an unprecedented fierce attack.

Although the intelligence system revealed this information to Su Li, it did not provide Su Li with any solution.

At this moment, Su Li is undoubtedly facing the same desperate and dark future as Green Dragon.

Even if he knew everything about the future, what could he do? Without strength, this situation would be a fatal outcome.

So after Su Li inspected the battlefield, he turned to look at Orstein and asked, "My Marshal, we must do something to change the situation. If we continue to waste time like this, we will have no choice but to abandon Hessen Town and retreat to Hessenburg."

But this was a situation that Su Li could not accept at all. Once he gave up this time, he would lose everything.

The remaining population of Hesseburg may not be enough to cope with the crisis when the green dragon attacks again.

As long as this green dragon can cheer up a little, sleep less often, and attack more frequently, Hesse Castle will be captured sooner or later.

Orstein knew better than Su Li how critical the army's current situation was. It could be said that their nerves were stretched to the brink of collapse, especially the Knights' Legion.

They were far from being as well-rested as the Green Dragon had expected. When the battle situation became tense, Orstein had to send knights to support the defense of the city.

After the knights finished fighting a brutal battle on the front battlefield, they had to gather together and leave the city, trying their best to chop up a legion of monsters as quickly as possible.

If Su Li had not spared no expense to motivate the soldiers by taking out all kinds of precious fruits, extraordinary grains, dragon blood stones, burning pearls, witchcraft props, etc., the soldiers would have been exhausted long ago.

Of course, there are benefits as well, that is, the strength of the knights is indeed significantly enhanced, although the number of fallen champion knights and elite knights is like a stream of water, which is dazzling.

However, new champion knights and elite knights are also emerging in large numbers.

War is the best catalyst for the rapid advancement of military strength and the advancement of civilization.

Except for Su Li, whose treasury and finances were almost emptied, every surviving soldier reaped a huge profit.

But the premise of all this is to win this battle. If we fail to win, the current brilliance will be nothing more than a short-lived firework before destruction.

This truly proves the saying that the sunset is beautiful, but it is near dusk.

Orstein gazed at the blood-red setting sun, pondered for a moment, and said, "My Lord, Steward Hilde and I have already planned a counterattack, but we haven't made up our minds to implement it because it's too risky."

Su Li didn't think as much as he did, and said directly: "My Marshal, in the history of the human empire, when facing the siege of monsters, has it not relied on taking risks to finally turn the tide?"

"If human heroes hadn't had the courage to risk everything and just fight the monsters, the empire would have been destroyed in countless sieges long ago."

Although this is a world full of darkness and despair, it is also a world full of romance and adventure.

When the human heavy cavalry corps launches a fierce charge, it is possible that they will be protected by the gods and charge head-on into any desperate battle that seems impossible for ordinary people to win.

Even when a Chosen, facing despair on a battlefield, resolutely and heroically cries out the name of a deity, they might actually feel the power of the deity descend upon them, defeating a previously unbeatable foe! Human Emperor Redmar particularly enjoys this practice. Of all the gods, he loves descending personally, manipulating the body of a Chosen to charge and fight. Of course, this also carries a significant risk of his demise, as he can only exert the power of a demigod at best when descending into the mortal realm. If the Chosen he descends upon dies, his divine body will at least be severely damaged, or even fall outright.

Su Li felt that the performance of Hessen's army these days had already borne the grace of the Knight Goddess of the Fiery Sun. Both the knights and the squires shouted Violet's name and fought to the death, winning her a lot of glory.

Then the knights of the Hessen Territory should have received more divine protection from her when they charged into the decisive battle.

Even if she couldn't come in person, it shouldn't be a problem to increase the knights' combat effectiveness by 20% to 30%.

The key point is that the Hessen Territory has reached a situation where it has no choice but to change. If it takes a risk, there is at least a 50% chance of winning. If it continues to consume like this, it will undoubtedly be defeated.

So Su Li asked expectantly, "Tell me about your adventure plan. Before the battle began, I really didn't expect this green dragon to be so skilled in fighting. How could a beast like it know so many tactics and strategies? It's even comparable to thousands of years of human military theory!"

Orstein exhaled and said, "This is because dragons are a race with an ancient civilization. Legend has it that before the era of elves and dwarves, the continent was already the era of dragons. These dragons have a rich heritage of civilizations. They don't sleep out of laziness, but rather to absorb the inheritance in their genes during slumber."

Su Li had heard of this statement. Many legends said that dragons fell asleep regularly because they had reached a certain stage of development and needed to become stronger, so they absorbed the inheritance in their genes through sleep. After each sleep, they could master certain fighting skills and more powerful dragon language magic.

If that's the case, it makes sense why the Green Dragon knows so much about military strategies and tactics.

Orstein then said solemnly, "All of this proves that many things are ingrained in the dragon's bones. The plan that Steward Hilde and I have is precisely aimed at all of this. Do you remember what our biggest trump card is for victory in the war against the dragon?"

The biggest winning trump card? Su Li immediately blurted out, "Consumption? You said the Green Dragon couldn't outlast us."

"That's right. The Green Dragon doesn't have the confidence to continue to fight us." Orstein nodded solemnly. "From the current perspective, this statement is both right and wrong."

"Just looking at the battlefield, we were overly optimistic. Our original plan was to severely damage the green dragon's army, thereby taking advantage of the forest's weakness and pushing the battle line back into the forest. We might even completely destroy the green dragon's lair."

Hearing this, Su Li nodded slightly. Before the battle, they had all underestimated the green dragon's tactical capabilities. With the human casualties now so heavy, Su Li basically gave up hope of completely destroying the green dragon's lair. If these remnants of the defeated human army were to enter the forest, they would probably repeat the green dragon's mistakes, suffer heavy casualties, and be pushed back.

If they were really pushed back, the Hessen army would be completely decimated, and it's likely that not even 1000 men would remain. The remnants of humanity wouldn't even be able to hold the castle.

"However, judging by the Green Dragon's character, our judgment was incredibly accurate. The Green Dragon commanded such a fierce attack, his troops relentlessly attacking day and night, regardless of casualties. Even after suffering a crushing defeat, he couldn't wait to launch another attack without any rest or reorganization. There's a single reason for this: he's eager to end the battle quickly. He and all of his chosen guards have already arrived at the gates of Heisenburg, and his minions have come out in full force. The safety of the Dragon Nest's wealth is his most important concern."

There is no doubt about this.

As the saying goes, it is easy to change the country but difficult to change one's nature.

The dragons' emphasis on wealth is deeply ingrained in their bones, and their greed makes them absolutely unable to tolerate the risk of their dragon nest's wealth being wiped out.

Nearly three months have passed since the Green Dragon launched the war, including the attacks, tests, and decisive battles.

In three months, from the withered grass and trees at the autumnal equinox to the cold winter wind, the leaves turned green and then yellow, and then yellow and then white, and a quarter of the annual rings have passed.

Everyone can imagine how anxious the Green Dragon has been during this long period of time. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is seeing snakes in the cup of wine.

If more than four thieves enter its empty dragon nest, the threat posed will be greater than that of the Hesse Territory.

The green dragon must rack its brains to compete with humans in a battle of wits and courage, while at the same time being nervously guarding against the emptiness behind it.

This is part of the dragon's nature and cannot be changed!

Su Li can risk everything, even if it means emptying the entire treasury, as long as he wins.

But the green dragon couldn't do it no matter what. If it won the war but had all its wealth stolen, it would never be able to accept that.

Orlstein was targeting this very trait of the Green Dragon. With a resolute fist, he declared, "We want to drastically exacerbate the Green Dragon's inherent greed and fear of losing wealth. Therefore, we're planning a gamble. We're moving the elite knights from Hesse Castle. After leaving, we'll march towards the Blood Pine Forest with great fanfare!"

March into the blood pine forest?
Su Li's eyes lit up and he asked, "Are you planning to create the illusion that we are attacking the green dragon's lair?"

"That's right." Orstein straightened his chest and said with great vigor, "The green dragon will never be able to accept the tragic situation of the dragon's nest treasure being swept away by humans."

"That's beyond doubt." Su Li decisively agreed with Orstein's analysis and said, "But what is our goal? To force them to withdraw?"

"No! We need to mobilize their troops. The Green Dragon will definitely try desperately to gather its forces to support us. Then we can ambush them on their way back, and when they are exhausted, we can decisively launch a fierce attack! We will strive to destroy the main force of their army in one battle, or even kill the Green Dragon in battle, and put an end to the war once and for all."

Su Li took a deep breath and asked, "How can you charge a mere 800 knights against a legion of tens of thousands of monsters?"

This is indeed a decisive battle method that is extremely characteristic of this world. When the war reaches despair, after countless human casualties and mountains and rivers of blood and flesh, the last knights of mankind gather together, bursting out with unparalleled loyalty and courage, and charging forward towards the monsters, rushing towards death, and rushing towards the end of the world.

Then, under the protection of the gods, the tips of the human cavalry's spears shone with brilliant golden light, and they crushed tens of thousands of monster legions in one fell swoop, killing the powerful demon leader, thus completely reversing the situation on the battlefield.

All of this is full of romanticism and heroic spirit.

but!
Su Li's genes don't believe this. He believes that my fate is in my own hands! What if the gods don't bless me?
What if the Goddess of the Fiery Sun did not intervene in this battle, wouldn't that be a dead end?

Rather than relying on the illusory gods, he still hopes to take his destiny into his own hands, winning first and then fighting, which is a common military strategy.

So after Su Li's brief shock, he immediately asked with concern, "Isn't this plan too risky? Our elite knights have been fighting these past few days, and the losses have been extremely heavy. The direct casualties have exceeded 400 people. Even the Champion Knights and Demi-Griffins have suffered casualties of four or five each, and the injured are countless. This death rate is close to 50%. Can the remaining or so elite knights really destroy an army of tens of thousands of monsters in one fell swoop?"

The casualties on both sides were easy to calculate. Thanks to Orstein's excellent defensive tactics, he repeatedly shattered entire armies of monsters with minimal losses. Furthermore, thanks to the dwarves' extremely strong and towering fortifications, the human casualty ratio was far superior to that of the border battle.

According to rough statistics, the casualty ratio between the two sides reached 1:10 at the best time, and even in the normal stage, the casualty ratio reached 1:7 or 1:8.
This was an epic victory, because in many battles, the human army defeated the green dragon siege army through blitzkrieg, and killed them all in the fleeing soldiers all over the mountains.

But even if we calculate based on the highest ratio, with about 1500 humans killed, the Green Dragon Legion's casualties would be no more than 15000.

Therefore, there is no doubt that human knights will attack a huge army of monsters with at least 800 or even 15000+ knights.

The last battle Su Li knew about with such a huge disparity in troop strength was the Battle of Hefei, where Sun Quan led an army of 100,000 to surrender his life under the city of Hefei.

To be honest, Su Li couldn't pin all his hopes of victory on the fact that his opponents were as stupid as Sun Quan.

If the other side performs slightly better, and 800 people attack 20000 people, it would be like throwing a meat bun at a dog, and there would be no return!

More importantly, what if the enemy didn't retreat? If the Green Dragon continued to command his troops to storm Hessenburg, then it would be completely over.

The main force has been away for a few days, and the now riddled defense line may not be able to withstand the Green Dragon's full-strength attack.

Orlstein knew this tactic was fraught with risks and challenges, and he hadn't made up his mind yet. He could only force himself to steady his pounding heart and patiently analyze the situation with Su Li. "In military strategy, it's important to consider defeat before victory. This is how you can fight a hundred battles without slacking off. So, let's first consider the worst-case scenario. What if our main force leaves, and the Green Dragon doesn't perform as expected, immediately and hastily withdrawing to support the rear, or instead continues to siege the city?"

"In this situation, the worst-case scenario is the destruction of our Hessen Town. You can retreat to Hessenburg under the protection of General Hilde. At least you will be safe, and the vault area will still exist, so it won't be breached by the green dragon in the short term. And our knights, numbering nearly a thousand, will definitely be able to clear out the treasures in the green dragon's lair!"

"The wealth within is bound to far exceed the losses suffered by Black Forest Town. A conservative estimate is that there are 100000 gold crowns and 10000 dwarven pledge gold, as well as potentially hundreds of perfect-grade weapons and hundreds of sets of Vibranium Rune Armor. There might even be rare-grade equipment!"

Listening to Orstein's analysis, Su Li suddenly felt a little excited!
Sure enough, as long as the ruler's bottom line is low enough, he will find that everything has more possibilities.

It’s just like the saying goes, you can earn money again if you lose it, but you can earn more if you lose your conscience!

Why did he kind of hope that Green Dragon wouldn't lead his troops back to support?

Anyway, with Hesse Castle, it would be no problem for him to hold out for a year or two. At most, the towns outside would be destroyed and ravaged by the green dragon.

But if he really earned the wealth accumulated in the Dragon's Nest for thousands of years and plundered the treasures of the entire Black Forest foothills and the west side of the Blood Pine Forest.

Then he could easily rebuild the entire Heisen Town. Not to mention the wealth inside, just the hundreds of vibranium rune armors and the possible large-scale perfect-level weapons or even... legendary-level weapons, it would be heart-pounding.

With these, Su Li's army's combat effectiveness will not decline, but will make great progress.

He only has dozens of sets of vibranium rune armor now, but it is extremely difficult for the green dragon to defeat him. If he has hundreds of sets of vibranium rune armor, he really dares to kill the green dragon.

Then Su Li quickly shook his head, discarding this tempting idea, and said to Orstein: "Go on to talk about other aspects."

　Dear book friends, I have made a sudden decision to go out and collect inspiration to see more castles and monasteries. As I said before, I will only update for 3 more days.

　　We will try to keep updating while we are away from home, and we will prepare for the next round of updates after the New Year. Thank you all for your support.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)