Warhammer Fantasy: I Have Total War System

"withdraw!"

Five minutes later, Li Lin mounted his horse and shouted, "Maintain formation, keep pace, and don't get separated!"

With everyone in Lushun dead, Li Lin immediately ordered Yi Ge to activate the battlefield megaphone.

The box formation began to slowly move towards the fortress.

The large cart led the way, with Li Lin riding alongside on horseback, his eyes constantly fixed on the system's large map.

The cannibals attacked the rearguard army's mobile units, which were extremely loosely distributed after assaulting infantry lines of varying depths.

Having just successfully annihilated a large number of enemy troops, avoiding nearby scattered enemy soldiers would not be difficult.

They managed to evade the fanged beast cavalry and the rampaging stone horns that were chasing the fleeing soldiers without any major incidents.

Those ogres weren't stupid either. With so many deserters to kill and so much loot to seize, there was no reason for them to go head-to-head with a fully-fledged battle group that was full of high morale and a chilling aura.

As soon as Li Lin's army approached, they all gave way.

After marching for about fifteen minutes from the sandy ground to the high slope, the once open slope had been completely transformed.

Looking around, the cannons lay scattered about, some broken by the stone horned beasts, others overturned by the brute force of the ogres.

Boxes containing black powder were scattered all over the ground, and several of them had been set on fire, crackling and burning, the orange-red flames illuminating the entire hillside in an intermittent manner.

At that moment, an explosion was heard from not far away.

Li Lin reined in his horse and called a halt. He squinted and looked over, and saw about seventy or eighty artillerymen systematically destroying the gunpowder they hadn't had time to take with them.

The artillery was a female unit, entirely composed of women, all dressed in dark, tight-fitting uniforms, with short knives hanging from their waists and various tool bags on their backs.

[Giant Cannon - Fourth Squad - Friendly Forces]

Morale: 55

Li Lin was somewhat surprised.

This was the most morale-boosting allied force he had ever seen on the entire front.

He took Xing Ganqi with him and rode away, shouting to the men, "Where is your commander?"

The artillerymen, like frightened birds, only extinguished their grenades when they saw he was one of their own.

A female general strode out from the crowd. She was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with extremely delicate features, sharp eyebrows, and slightly upturned eyes.

She wore standard artillery battalion leather armor, with a plain-colored undergarment embroidered with subtle patterns over it to indicate her military rank.

"Su Zhe, from the C detachment of the artillery battalion in Lushun, greets the general."

She bowed respectfully, glancing at Li Lin out of the corner of her eye before her gaze fell upon the well-organized and highly motivated army behind him, her expression shifting slightly.

"We are Commander Zhao's troops, and we have completed our military duties."

"We were supposed to retreat to the fortress immediately," she said with a bitter smile, "but now it seems there's no chance."

Li Lin followed her gaze.

The narrow path back to the fortress was already packed with deserters, and the ogre's mobile forces were approaching from all directions.

"Did General Zhao order you to destroy these gunpowder and cannon carriages?"

Su Zhe reported truthfully: "General Zhao's orders were only to complete the mission and withdraw quickly. Since we can't go back, we can't let the weapons of Zhen Dan fall into the hands of barbarians."

After a moment of silence, Li Lin instructed Xing Ganqi to fetch the Si Nan cart.

Then, with a wave of his hand, the cannons, ammunition boxes, and unburnt tinder on the field disappeared from everyone's sight in an instant, landing in the Dragon Palace's storage space.

Su Zhe and the others, holding the lit tinderboxes, stared wide-eyed, frozen in place, unable to react for a long time.

After storing the last few boxes of ammunition inside the Dragon Palace, Li Lin clapped his hands at the bewildered crowd and shouted, "If you want to live, come with me!"

Su Zhe reacted the fastest, asking, "Where to? Towards Zhongwei Camp?"

"Narrow passage," Li Lin replied in a deep voice.

"A narrow passage? That'll soon become a meat grinder!"

"I know," Li Lin said, mounting his horse. "So, you're saying whether you're coming or not."

Su Zhe remained silent for a few moments, then turned and glanced at the group of artillery battalion women whose faces were filled with exhaustion, numbness, and despair. She then extinguished the tinderbox and dusted off her hands.

"May I ask your honorable name, General?"

"Nan Li Li Lin is unworthy of the title of general; just call me Young Master."

"Then I'll have to trouble Young Master Li."

The entrance to the fortress was a natural passage, about fifty paces wide, close to the stone wall, which could accommodate a full-strength infantry unit.

This is also the only passage in and out of the Stone Fortress.

At this moment, the narrow passage has become a tangled mess.

The blue badges of the routed soldiers were mixed together, densely packed, like a pot of boiling porridge.

At the end of the narrow passage, several fully-organized Heavenly Dragon Guards, along with Yunmosige riding a jade dragon horse, firmly guarded the entrance, preventing anyone from entering.

Even the infantry battalion commanders who had deserted early on were stopped outside.

Good heavens! There are gate-blocking dogs here too!

Why does it seem like General Zhao, who commands the rear guard army group, had already anticipated this scene?

At that moment, the earth trembled, and a deafening roar of a monster rapidly approached from afar.

"Face the entrance! Get close to the stone wall!" Li Lin quickly ordered. "You few, disband the troops that were originally guarding the rear and assign them to the left and right flanks."

Yu Yong's personal guards immediately acted on orders, splitting the least damaged agricultural spearmen into two groups of sixty men each, and merging them into the heavily wounded groups on the left and right sides, bringing the total number of men in the group back to one hundred and twenty.

At the same time, Li Lin manipulated the Dragon Palace, pulling all the wounded, the remains of martyrs, and the artillery crew members into the outer space of the Dragon Palace, and moving medical supplies in front of everyone.

Su Zhe and the others understood immediately and, without delving into the details, grabbed healing pills, gauze, and strong liquor to begin treating the wounded.

The large boudoirs that were originally intended for the Dragon Descendant and her maids were quickly dismantled and converted into various wards.

Only Yi Ge's room was locked by her secret technique, preventing anyone else from moving.

With the boxes arranged, Li Lin and the others were positioned similarly to turrets on either side of a straight road in a tower defense game.

The enemy either chose to pursue the fleeing soldiers who had left their defenses wide open, only to be viciously elbowed by Li Lin's Jade Warrior crossbowmen.

You either have to plunge headlong into a massive formation of spearmen with abundant stamina, stat-boosting wheelchairs, and flame enchantments.

In any case, this triangular area will inevitably attract a large number of enemies!

Li Lin turned to look at Yi Ge, who was standing next to the Sinan cart as a messenger.

She hasn't made a move since the meat grinder battle in the woods.

Before the war, Li Lin had talked with the workshop owner who used to sell pills. He learned that mages have limited magic to use on the battlefield, especially on large battlefields.

The presence of multiple mages will quickly drain the scattered magical winds from the surrounding environment.

Then the mage can only convert their life force into magic to forcefully cast spells.

How many monks are there outside?

The light system indicated that the ogre lord had two master butchers who were proficient in the magic of the Great Stomach God.

The allied forces here have at least a dozen or twenty cultivators and astronomers.

This means that all mages can only rely on their life force to cast spells, and can't cast many spells.

Yi Ge's magic was his last trump card, and Li Lin had been waiting for an opportunity that would be enough to turn the tide of the battle.

And now, the time has come.

"Yi Ge, come with me."

He teleported himself and the tall alchemist to the inner palace of the Dragon Palace, then stared into her eyes and said, word by word:

"You must learn the 'Ultimate Alchemy,' and I know you have a way."

Yi Ge quickly looked around and realized that he had been pulled into an extremely profound and enclosed space from which he could not escape alone.

It's very likely the interior of the Dragon Palace that she couldn't enter before!

She tilted her head again, like a raptor sizing up its prey, considering whether to make a move.

"A Tantric Buddhist master suddenly appeared, instead of staying in the uninhibited Shangyang, he insisted on running off to the war-torn Nanli with me, a young master with no power or influence."

"Do you really think I'm a fool?"

"What do you mean by this, young master?" Yi Ge's eyes flickered slightly, but he maintained a blank expression as he retorted, "I have saved your life time and time again, don't you trust me?"

Seeing that she still refused to admit it, Li Lin stopped acting.

He raised his hand at a 45-degree angle and shouted, "Long live the Heavenly Venerable Qingbao!"