Warhammer

Now, there was something before him, an urgent matter to be dealt with.

It is neither conscription nor uniting the cities.

It's coastal defense.

Among the southwestern cities, except Galaz which is inland, the other four cities are all on the sea, and the word "port" can be added after the word "city".

As we all know, after the destruction of the Invincible Armada, the Spanish... er, the Estalia basically lost their control of the sea.

Except for a small squadron on a cruising mission that survived the mission in the Vast Ocean and escaped the shocking explosion caused by the Skaven's weapons of mass destruction, the main force of the Invincible Fleet was wiped out on the day of the Navy Celebration Day held in Margarita's Tranquil Harbor.

From then on, the entire coastline of the Southern Kingdom became the backyard of the greenskins and pirate coalition. They could go wherever they wanted, just like the undefended Paris, with the enemy coming and going at will.

The situation in the north is slightly better, as they have built more or less defensive measures, such as port batteries, and in the northeast there is also the Bretonnian knight fleet that helps with voyage protection from time to time. However, the south is defeated too quickly, and before you can even start to assemble your troops, the enemy army is already crushing you. What's the point of fighting?

Later, the pirates came ashore to help the greenskin allies supervise and control the establishment of a puppet regime. Under such circumstances, what's the point of building coastal defense now, not to mention that the land battle has been lost. Building artillery in front of the sea in front of the pirates is more or less an underestimation of the IQ of these scumbags.

Not to mention building them, even many of the ships that were built before the greenskins came and were more than half built had to be dismantled to make it easier for the pirates to come next time.

These scumbags probably don't believe that the greenskins really want to establish a human kingdom under the rule of greenskins, but they also have the goal of defeating the Estalia this time. Otherwise, if the greenskins are defeated and killed, Waaaagh will be almost satisfied. By the time the southerners have recovered and rebuilt their fleet, Sartosa will be the one to be finished.

So all the means they used were rather brutal, and there were many vicious massacres. This was normal for the greenskins, as this warlike race had lived like this for thousands or tens of thousands of years. But when it happened to the pirates, who could barely be considered as fellow human beings and who had no major grudges against each other in the past, it was extremely, extremely hateful.

Only in the city of Bermoz, because they fell to their knees quickly and had no experience of war, they behaved more submissively. Looking back now, it was of course a roundabout way to save the country by enduring humiliation.

Under such circumstances, during the period from supervising the formation of the puppet parliament to staying behind, the pirates directly or indirectly killed hundreds of people, and there were hundreds of cases of robbery, theft, rape and even worse rape and murder.

No wonder when Al entered the city, he often saw the bodies of pirates who had been tortured and executed hanging high in various places, exposed to the scorching sun and pecked by crows.

He didn't have much affection for this kind of scum, but he couldn't ignore his threat.

In land battles, pirates using firearms can pose a considerable threat to lightly armored Beastmen, but as for the Wrathhorns, unless they are seriously injured by a headshot or a heartshot, they are the type that can become more courageous as the battle goes on. Not to mention the heavily armored Wrathhorns, which can basically ignore two to three rounds of shooting as long as they are not concentrated fire, and rush into the enemy team like a berserker to kill.

But that was it.

Artillery also poses a great threat, but the tribe's huge army of monsters is enough to deal with it.

So there is no doubt about the land, but the pirates have ships!

With a fleet, they can go wherever they want, even if it's just to the outside of the port and fire a dozen shells into the city. The destruction and the blow to people's hearts and morale alone are enough to be unbearable.

What's more, there is the risk of an amphibious landing. Al doesn't want to be attacked from behind by the Incheon landing during his eastern expedition.

First of all, reserve troops must be retained. If the green-skinned pirates really land, the southwestern cities will certainly be impossible to capture without the help of beastmen or refugee troops. Even if they are willing to perish together, there is nothing they can do because the gap is too big and the strong laborers have already been killed and are already lacking in energy.

How to deal with possible fleet harassment from the enemy is the first issue that El considers.

This is the second step in his conquest of all the southwestern regions.

Chapter 55: Coastal Defense

For peninsula countries like Estalia, sea power is a military and national issue of life and death.

The twin kingdoms in the south both have long coastlines that need to be protected. In normal times, the ocean is an inexhaustible source of minerals, and it is a series of shipping routes and waterways that symbolize wealth and prosperity.

It is the vast expanse of territory opened up for colonization of the New World, and the magnificent waves that set sail...

But once you lose the above points, the most critical thing:

fleet.

The long coastline and the port cities built in the coastal areas for convenience and resources were all turned into trembling lambs to be slaughtered under the threat of the enemy's gunboats from the sea.

Today, Estalia can no longer aspire to control the seas. The destruction of the Invincible Armada was a catastrophic blow to Estalia's naval power, and the damage caused by the rapid advance of the greenskin army on the continent made it impossible to fill the leaking hole by shipbuilding in a short period of time.

The only thing that Al can fight for now is "coastal defense".

In addition to reorganizing the representative councils in Zhucheng to take charge of governance and administrative power, he also established a slightly more independent military court, which was responsible for defense recruitment and training. Each military court was garrisoned by three loyal and reliable officers who were transferred from the new human army and had received political commissar education.

Since the main focus is on military defense, coastal defense must be within the scope of this authority.

So Al thought for a while, and called together the military court personnel who were still in Permoz and had not left, and once again used their collective wisdom.

Al convened a meeting in the temporary headquarters and asked everyone to come up with a solution to the issue of coastal defense.

The Galatian military councillor may have wanted to show off, or maybe because their family is not near the sea and there is not much threat from the sea, and the ignorant are fearless, so he spoke first:

"My idea is that we can speed up the construction of warships on the one hand, and on the other hand, gather all the remaining ships from various places to form a near-shore fleet. In this way, it should be no problem to rely on the port for defense. If the pirates split up, we can also concentrate our forces to ambush and attack their weak fleet..."

"Idiot! Do you know how long it takes to build a qualified warship that can withstand wind and waves and survive being blown apart by the enemy in a naval battle?"

A military councillor from Port Birmingham slammed the table and stood up.

There was a loud bang, shocking the whole audience.

Behind the mask, Al's pupils suddenly shrank as he stared at the middle-aged man with an eyepatch, dressed in an officer's uniform, and exuding a tough vibe.

Councillor Galaz's face flushed red after being scolded and then attacked. He glared at the man in military uniform who humiliated him mercilessly, but his eyes glanced at Al on the main mountain.

The masked boy was silent.

The atmosphere was somewhat silent.

Representative Bomoz, who was traveling with them, seemed to realize that something was wrong and quickly pulled the hem of his companion's clothes, trying to get him to sit down.

But the man in military uniform just stared at Councillor Galaz with a stubborn look, as if he would never back down until he denied the other party's mistake.

"Tell me what you think."

Al suddenly spoke, his voice calm and without any emotion to tell.

Councillor Galaz got the step and sat down quickly. He knew very well that he actually knew nothing about maritime affairs, and he spoke first mainly to save face and to serve as a leader for El. He did not expect to meet the guy with the worst temper and the most stubborn among the Bermoz people, and he directly fought back without showing any mercy.

But he had no intention of refutation, because he knew that the difference in naval knowledge and ability between him and the other party was not even a little bit.

It seemed that the bad-tempered man in military uniform simply had a bad personality, and there was no subjective idea of ​​disrespect or deliberate contempt for Al's authority. He took a breath, turned sideways to face Al, and began to explain his ideas smoothly and fluently. It was obvious that he had thought about this problem in advance and had an idea in his mind - this made Al's momentary displeasure slightly subside.

"There's an old saying in Zhendan: Even the smartest woman can hardly cook without food." At that moment, Al thought he was hallucinating again, just like the middle-aged man before, but fortunately the other party seemed to be just quoting.

"We also have a saying: No matter how skillful your hands are, you can't weave clothes without needles and cloth. The sinking of the Invincible Fleet... We can't restore it with one month, ten months, or even four or five years of effort, even if we can catch up with one-fifth or one-fourth of what it once was."

Speaking of the fall of the Invincible Armada, most people on the scene showed sorrow on their faces and sighed with regret, which was remembered by Al in his heart.

"Our largest and most numerous shipyards are in Margarita, as are our largest and best ports. Margarita also has the most sailors and soldiers. Even the entire kingdom, at least in the southern region, most of the ships that did not leave the port during that period were gathered in Margarita on the day of the Navy Celebration."

"The essence of Estalia's control of the sea is all there! How can we mobilize dozens or hundreds of small boats in the southwest and try to fight against the greenskins who have forced Margarita to serve them?"

These words made Councillor Galaz blush, but he didn't say anything. After all, the other party had made it very clear.

The current gap, according to Al's most simple and easy-to-understand understanding, is in a game called "Four Iron Hearts". In 36 years, KMT principal played a book about the navy. The navy is the guard of honor. They are purely idle in the port. If you dare to go out, you will die.

The battle was fought purely on land until sunset.

It was very similar to Ai'er's current situation. There was no way he could control the sea, and taking Margarita as quickly as possible was of utmost importance. But he could not ignore coastal defense, otherwise the pirates would gather their forces and land, reoccupying the two vital cities of Permoz and Galaz. If he failed to take Margarita in the first place, he would be completely caught in a jar, with supplies cut off and isolated in a large wilderness.

If you are not careful, your entire army will be wiped out.

"If we want to march east, we must not ignore the retreat. The most important thing is to prevent the greenskins and pirate fleets from landing and besieging the city. My opinion is..."

"We can abandon Newgar, Nos Capas, Desuya and other places and concentrate our forces to strengthen the city defense in Permoz. As long as there is a tribal army of 8,000 to 10,000 soldiers stationed here, including 3,000 to 5,000 beastmen soldiers, even if the pirates send 30,000 people and transfer all the fleets in the south, I am confident that we can hold out for more than five months!"

As soon as these words were spoken, there was an instant uproar.

"Bermoz! Leave the artillery and troops with you! What do we have? Open the city gates and let the greenskins in to kill?"

"Jan Byron Wilson, you were drunk yesterday and you're still not sober today!"

"Get him out! Throw him out!"

"Wilson, the warlike man, after you have completely destroyed the army of the Bermoz people, you still want to continue with your ridiculous idea!"

There was a burst of noise in the meeting hall, but Al still sat in the arbitrator's seat and listened silently, while extracting useful information from it.

The man kept a straight face and said nothing in the face of all the scolding. Even his companions, several of the military councillors of Bermoz, were moved when they heard Yang's proposal, but they could only complain and beg for mercy to the people around them, blaming the bad-tempered old navy officer in their hearts. His words made the Bermoz people the target of public criticism.

But Al felt that it made some sense.

When the enemy has an absolute advantage, no matter how hard you try, you cannot make up for the gap. Setting up defenses everywhere is the same as not defending anywhere. But from a practical point of view, when the tribal coalition launched the Eastern Expedition, they really had to consider the two cities of Permoz and Galaz in the middle and lower reaches of the Gedaz River. As long as they controlled one of the two cities, the tribal army would have the opportunity to retreat to the west of the river and wait for an opportunity to return to the forest in the north.

The three southwestern cities, Noth Capas, Nygar, and Desuya, are located at the southeast and southwest ends of Miramar Hills. In fact, they have no effect on the retreat of the coalition forces. Even if they are defeated and retreat in the future, they will definitely head north back to Pina Forest. It would be crazy for them to head towards the southwest cities that are completely under the threat of the greenskin pirate fleet.

The same goes for supplies. If you have to say, Port of Permoz is the leader of the five southwestern cities. It is completely sufficient to supply the tens of thousands of tribal troops with the strength of one city, at least in the short term. The Eastern Expedition will not drag on for too long. Al has this estimate.

Therefore, from a purely military point of view, simply ensuring that Permoz and the Gedaz River are under our control is indeed one of the best options for the tribe, saving time and effort.

Even if the pirates reoccupy the three southwestern cities, it will only make El lose a source of soldiers that he had just acquired. From a military point of view, it will not threaten the tribe's retreat. As long as Bomoz is still on the side of the tribe when El takes Margarita, the lost territory will be nothing more than a matter of fighting a few more battles. If the pirates are afraid of death and just run away, there is no need to fight a battle, and the victory can be won by issuing an order.

But military affairs are military affairs, and the bottom line is the bottom line.

From Al's perspective, he certainly couldn't really do that.

Defense, defense, is to resist the enemy's guns and protect the hearts of our own people!

Chapter 56: Preparations for the Eastern Expedition

In the end, there was endless debate in parliament about this matter.

The Galatians initially joined the public in condemning Jan Byron Wilson's plan, but suddenly turned against him and chose to support the latter, turning the situation into a 3V2 one. However, Bomoz itself was larger in size, so if the two sides were to talk about strength, they seemed to be almost equal.

In the end, Al still needs to make the decision.

He affirmed Jan Byron's idea, but firmly refuted the other party's approach of "giving up the three cities in the southwest and only focusing on the road". The people in the three places are also people! They are also the objects of protection of the coalition forces!

So no one can be left behind. There is no point in giving up on any place and watching them fall again and be abused by the greenskins and pirates.

On the one hand, Al required all places to renovate artillery batteries, strengthen port defenses, set up watchtowers, and establish offshore patrols to detect enemy traces and prepare for advance response. At the same time, he called on residents in all cities and regions to migrate inland if conditions permitted, and to endure for a few months until the end of the Eastern Expedition.

On the other hand, he also agreed with the proposal to concentrate forces to ensure the control of the Permoz-Garaz-Gedaz River, but he couldn't be too partial to one and neglect the other, so as not to make the people of other cities dissatisfied, so he adopted a compromise:

Expand recruitment and speed up the original conscription plan. After all, although the militia is not very good at active attack, with a spear, a helmet, half leather armor, or a sword, shield, or a hammer, they can defend the city with a not-too-bad casualty ratio.

After all, there is also the morale boost of defending the country.

Twenty thousand people. The initial goal was to reach twenty thousand people. If we take the southwest as the largest, plus the refugees from the three cities in the forest, the population is estimated to be around one million. After all, they were plowed once, dragged and scraped once, and the so-called laborers were actually forced laborers and slaves.

Twenty thousand people is equivalent to a mobilization ratio of one fiftieth. In fact, considering the intensity of wars in this world, this is not very exaggerated. After all, there are too many forces in the medieval world that can mobilize all their people, and the large size of the human race is relatively good.

When Ai'er left the Pina Forest this time, the tribe's mortal auxiliary forces and new troops almost came out in full force, reaching a size of 20,000 people, including the advance troops. However, due to political considerations, the advance troops were not intended to take the lead, but were placed in the subsequent reinforcement echelon.

There were six thousand men in one army, three regiments, a total of eighteen thousand men, of which three thousand remained in the forest and fifteen thousand followed Al into battle.

They are all human believers who have been baptized by the whipping of the Blood Mother's faith, and are the backbone of the future kingdom's army in the El Plan.

He immediately allocated an army of 6,000 people to stay in Port Birmoz for garrison and training. With the old leading the new, and one leading two leading three, they would be able to get something done in a month.

Al estimated that the enemy would not wait for him to fight all the way to Margarita, and he did not want to fight a siege. The beastmen were strong and had many monster troops, which was an advantage for ordinary cities. The bulls would chop down the city gates and overturn the walls, and the opposite side would most likely collapse.

But in a huge city like the King's Capital, the greenskins used traps to trap Margarita to death, forcing her to surrender.

If the tribe wanted to attack by force with blood and physical strength, it would probably suffer heavy casualties, and the loss of every Beastman's angry-horned beast was something that Al did not want to see.

If the greenskins and their allies react quickly, they should try to intercept Aiur before he reaches Margarita, and a major battle may break out between the two sides on the Abran Road or in the central wilderness from Galaz to Margarita.

After all, Ai'er didn't want to attack the city, but the enemies...would not necessarily be confident in defending a city with hundreds of thousands of people who were full of hatred for them.

At the critical moment, even a few dozen ordinary people who rise up and fight to the death can bring about a huge change in the battle situation.

Moreover, the Greenskin Alliance will not allow Aiur to approach the capital without fighting. By then, it is unknown whether this core area of ​​the Kingdom of Estalia with a population of hundreds of thousands or millions will endure humiliation and live under the gunboats and knives of the Greenskins-pirates, or will be outraged and rise up to respond to the coalition.

Therefore, Ai'er judged that the decisive battle of the Eastern Expedition would most likely be fought in the wild. After the warlords moved north, the main enemies Ai'er would face in the south would be its allies, the bandits in the Free City of Sartosa and the Skaven hiding in the shadows and in the sewers. There would be fewer greenskins.

If he did not act rashly, he could have waited until the first phase of recruiting soldiers was over and the reserve troops caught up before making the next decision.

So far, the core strength of the Aiel army is still based on the fourteen beastman legions, each with 1,408 people, supplemented by monster legions and spellcaster troops.

Each legion is composed of sixteen battle groups of eighty-eight people each. This is the scale that Ai'er can achieve with all its national strength. There are more than a thousand fast-growing descendants who are not from the first batch of the Sons of the Origin who do not have lifespan defects. Even if the legions of the four descendants are all included in it, an army of this scale can be formed.

In order to recover the losses caused by the battle of the Sacred Forest, Ai'er increased the speed of capturing Chaos Beasts and converting them into population. Now, almost all the Chaos Beast nests in Pina Forest have been cleared out, which is at the level of plowing the house and sweeping the holes.

This army of over 20,000 is the real core of the coalition's combat power. Under normal circumstances, the angry-horned beastmen can easily defeat two or three greenskins, even if they are used as exchange units. And if Ai'er personally steps onto the battlefield and activates the Blessing of the Blood Mother, and with the assistance of the shamans, it will be no problem for the combat power to double.

But these cannot be replenished. No matter how good the new army sounds, it is still a quickly formed force of humans. Even if there are heavy casualties in a bloody battle and the loss is 70% to 80%, as long as the organization is still there and there are veterans as the backbone, El can continue to recruit from the large number of Estalia to fill it up.

System, political commissar, belief.

After being taken to the large military camp where the Iron Throne was located and staying there for a few months, what came out was a mortal believer warrior who was shouting and fighting wildly, yelling "Blood sacrifice to the Blood Mother".

But as far as the angry-horned beasts are concerned, the death of one is really one less.

If half of them died, even if we won the Eastern Expedition and achieved the first strategic goal.

El had to consider whether to create four gods and eight banners to vigorously absorb the elite forces of the Estalia, and the tribal military structure began to shift to a human-based structure - regardless of whether one was backward or the other was stinkier, the most important thing was to do everything possible to hold this country in their own hands.

The task has been assigned and no matter how reluctant one is, one has to carry it out. After all, it is always for the overall benefit. Al did not agree with Jan Byron's crazy idea of ​​directly giving up the defense of the southwest.