Warhammer

Regardless of their origins, everyone present expressed their loyalty to Al, believing that such words were definitely a rumor spread by rebels who might have received pirates' stolen goods, and suggested a thorough investigation.

Al naturally remained silent.

This is a good excuse.

Chapter 88: An epic that defies death

Here, Al was busy establishing a new policy in Margarita, referred to as "establishing the new policy".

Win over, divide, cleanse, infiltrate, buy off, control... dye this Estalia capital from every aspect, fill it with the colors of the tribe, and pave the way for what's to come.

In the north of the kingdom, the most critical battle in this war, at least for the northerners, which directly determines the life and death of half of the northern half, has reached its most critical moment.

It is difficult to associate the current Bilbao with the northern metropolis that was second only to Margarita in prosperity.

City walls, ruins, gullies, and dense fortifications armed the city like a hedgehog. Almost all of the iconic buildings were destroyed or demolished in the war.

Among all the living people in this city, there is no distinction between "civilians" or even so-called "wounded".

Everyone - everyone, has a military organization to which he or she belongs. When necessary, women, the elderly, the wounded, and even children will take up arms and step onto the front line that looks like a long arc that is always fluctuating.

A few minutes ago, the enemy might still be hundreds of meters away, while the women and children here were still trying to make a fire, cook, and take care of the wounded; a few minutes later, the screaming greenskins had already rushed out of the ruined temporary camp waving swords, axes and shields, and the women immediately put down the pots and pans in their hands, picked up swords, shields and spears, and went to support the front line.

“If More came here, he would also sigh: The people of Bilbari are immune to death!”

In the suicide note left by a soldier of the Imperial Expeditionary Force, there appeared a passage describing the environment inside the city after the Battle of Bilbarri entered the middle stage.

Women and children cooked on the bumpy ruins that were bombarded with holes. From time to time, enemy shells or stray arrows would hit them. Even if the shells exploded beside them, as long as they didn't hit them, they would just concentrate more on the work at hand, and when the food was ready, they would immediately deliver it to the front line.

Soldiers who were unable to fight in the open due to broken arms and legs were often given a musket or a crossbow after simple treatment, and were placed in crumbling towers and ruins in hidden corners where they could be attacked suddenly. They would try their best to ensure that the limited ammunition and crossbow arrows in their hands would kill at least one or two enemies, even if they would face immediate death if their positions were exposed...

It can be said that the tenacity shown by the Bilbarri people in this war has surpassed Margarita by a lot. The Northern City faced the months-long assault by the main force of the greenskins led by the warlord. The city walls changed hands dozens of times. More than two-thirds of the city was severely damaged, and nearly one-fifth of the area fell. It was controlled by the enemy for a long time and served as a bridgehead for the greenskins to invade the inner city. But even so, as described in the suicide note:

"The Bilbarians have become immune to death"

The power of the goddess manifested in the female knights from the empire greatly encouraged the people of Bilbari, but the huge gap between the enemy and us was still an insurmountable chasm.

Maybe most of the greenskins are mindless idiots, but "Fuck Liang Feilong" is definitely not one of them.

After Celestine shined on various fronts and killed forty-seven front-line generals and commanders in one day, the warlord realized that unless he took action himself or eliminated the enemy's champion warrior through other means, Celestine's appearance on the front battlefield meant the defenders' high combat consciousness and a nearly "invincible" God-chosen champion on this battlefield as a solid guarantee of combat power, and there was no possibility that this line of defense would be breached.

But Gao Maoliang is not a traditional greenskin. At least he will not entrust all his grand visions of the future to a duel with some unknown big shrimp, so the warlord chose a safer way to restrict Celestine:

Increase the offensive.

Why not?

The advantages in numbers and firepower are the greenskins’ biggest advantages now.

If the capture of the dock fails, then the warlord will directly let the pirate allies drive the ships ashore and run them aground to provide fire support as fixed artillery positions; the shrimp champion can reverse the situation in an instant and turn the danger into safety for the shrimp front, so we can launch a fierce attack at five, ten, or twenty locations at the same time. Each one of them is shaky and precarious, making the female knight run around in a hurry.

The huge overall gap cannot be reversed by the emergence of one or several powerful champion warriors, even if it is a powerful weapon like Kane's Excalibur and Kane's incarnation holding the Excalibur, the Lord of War, standing at the top of the mortal world - Tyrion, who has become the incarnation of a god after being possessed by Kane.

Or maybe Nagash, the Death Lord, who was so powerful that he devoured the gods of Nehekhara and wanted to plunge the world into eternal stasis.

They can be a one-man army, but in the end, they need to rely on the legions and forces under their command to achieve their goals.

The sudden increase in the greenskins' offensive boosted the morale of the defenders because of Celestine's appearance, and their confidence was immediately plunged into a battle with increasing pressure. Although Celestine is now the God's Chosen Champion, and "the one chosen by Sigmar and Myrmidia, the one who wields the Holy Lance and the Holy Hammer", this is only her blessing and power. The priests of the goddess of war can still only cast some spells to protect the army by Celestine's side, but this is just a drop in the bucket compared to the long battle line.

The Grand Master of the Northern Church realized that if the war was allowed to continue like this, Bilbaly would be doomed to fail. Even if they had recovered their lost territories in the south and were preparing for war, and the tribal coalition that would rush to the north to rescue Bilbaly "soon" would recover Bilbaly, for the Grand Master, that would mean that he had betrayed his faith.

After playing badly - taking the initiative to make a decision - being fooled by the pirates - playing badly - and Celestine showing up, the Grand Master decided that he had to do something, Margarita. The Southern Church had not done what they should have done, and the shameful statement that the church had become an accomplice and lackey of the invaders was sent to the north by Al along with the result of the Battle of Tolosa.

The Southern Church.......has failed the faith.

But he must defend Estalia's last unyielding city for the goddess and the kingdom. He cannot let Birbali fall, even if he will wash away the shame and regain it in the future.

So the Grand Master led his guards and the crusaders into the barracks and went to the front line. He delivered a speech in the square, calling on all soldiers and civilians to resist to the end. He designated a successor on the spot and ordered that if he died in battle, the other party would take over the position of Grand Master and immediately designate a successor, go to the front line in person, and continue the process after the successor died in battle.

Then he led the guards in a desperate battle on the front line. The old archbishop himself hugged a green-skinned warrior and fell off the city wall, dying together with him.

The leader's heroic act of facing death with indifference plunged the entire Bilbao into a silent and fanatical atmosphere, and the most tragic prelude was thus opened.

Just like the previous attack and defense of Santa Mona Fortress.

Such a heroic martyrdom may have come a little late for the Estalia people who were brave in private fights but weak in public wars, but it is never too late for an epic legend that will be remembered by history.

Chapter 89: The Greenskin Dilemma, Other Forces in the South

The people of Bilbali put almost everything they had into defending the city, whether it was the policy of indiscriminate service as a soldier by all those who were old, weak, sick or disabled and who could hold a weapon, or the compulsory conscription orders implemented in various places in the highest name of the dual centers of the church and the kingdom. Every day, dozens to hundreds of volunteers came from areas that had not yet fallen, risked their lives to pass through the enemy's blockade and enter the city to join the battle as fresh forces.

These are all crazy, but also reasonable actions.

Survival, survival, survival is above all else.

Meanwhile, the allies in the south have been making great strides, constantly recovering lost territory, and have now recovered the capital city of Margarita and the entire south. The anti-green cause is looking very good, and this external factor is a shot in the arm for the Bilbarri people to keep fighting.

As long as the Horde attacks then all will be well!

In this brutal tug-of-war, the Bilbarri suffered heavy losses, but the greenskins did not have it easy either.

Their retreat was cut off, and the two vital ports and cities of Marus and Vering were controlled by the tribe. The entire south was liberated, and now that it was out of the control of the greenskins, they naturally would no longer plunder food and supplies to send to the greenskins.

The greenskins had basically lost their logistics, but fortunately the warlords had made preparations for the expedition and anticipated some "accidents" in the rear - but they did not expect that the tribes would win battle after battle and quickly restore the entire south.

Therefore, the amount of supplies requested was intended to allow subordinates to produce as much as they wanted, just in case.

The siege caused great losses, but it also reduced the number of mouths to feed, so the food supply could last for half a year or a year.

But the biggest loss was manpower.

Those spore ranches planned on the Great Plains were originally crucial to Mao Liang's plan: a steady supply of new greenskins would support the foreign wars he continued to launch to satisfy the greenskins' desire for violence, and make up for the inevitable losses in the process.

The fastest mushrooms had already grown fart monsters and goblins, and they were about to harvest the greenskin boys and big guys, but they were suddenly attacked by Al. After being warned that the greenskins had done such a thing, he sent out his shadow servants and wolves to search the plains day and night. When he found a place, he would gather troops to break it and set it on fire.

Dealing with these things is not like dealing with them in the Pina Forest where you can just ignore them. You have to be very careful. Otherwise, the spores that are blown away by the wind will soon breed green-skinned goblins that wander around. If you're not careful, a new green-skinned warband will be born.

Currently, the largest and most populous non-military semi-official organization in the Aiel-controlled area is the "Scavengers" formed in various regions. Most of their main personnel are semi-disabled Estalia people who have basically bid farewell to the battlefield and are unable to do their best in daily production and life, but can still run and jump.

The main job is to patrol areas and their vicinity where greenskin activities have occurred or battles with greenskins have taken place. Once any traces of greenskin mushrooms are found, they should be recorded and destroyed immediately to ensure that dozens or hundreds of greenskin creatures do not jump out from the wilderness or forest after a period of time.

In this way, the greenskins have basically lost their reinforcements, and the existing greenskin big guys, good boys, and even goblins will be one less if they die.

If spores are planted temporarily, it will take time, and what the warlord lacks most now is time.

The entire army was delayed by Bilbao and was blocked in the rugged terrain west of the Thomas River, where there were more hills and mountains than plains and grasslands.

There is absolutely no way to sustain such a large army after the existing food is eaten up.

In that case, the greenskins will only attack and devour each other, and actively reduce their numbers.

The army that marched north with great momentum and claimed to have "600,000 troops" actually had more than 200,000 troops. After a series of battles including the Battle of Monterey, Fort Santa Mona, the crossing of the Thomas River, the Siege of Bilbao (to this day), nearly half of them were lost.

If the greenskins had not won most of the previous wars, and if the spores it had not spread had not attracted scattered greenskins to join its army, the number of greenskins would probably have fallen below the 100,000 mark.

As for why they didn't just attack by sea, they could let the pirates and the greenskins' own fleet transport the greenskins from the badlands to the northwest of Estalia for reinforcements.

First, the journey was long, and without the prestige of the greenskins of the warlords, it was extremely easy for the "raw greenskins" who stayed in the badlands and were not directly controlled by Gao Maoliang to cause chaos on the ships. After greenskin riots occurred on several ships in a row and they fought each other and the pirate crews, the pirates firmly stated that unless the warlords could solve the problem of the greenskins who could not bear the boredom of sea transportation and started to create chaos, they would never transport such trouble again.

Second...

The Tyrells, who had been thrown into disarray by the Greenskins and Skaven alliance in advance and were unable to interfere with the Greenskins' sneak attack on Estalia in order to protect themselves, finally settled their own domestic troubles after a period of chaos.

Although Tyrell's naval power is not as strong as Estalia's "Invincible Armada" and it does not look down on the Southern Kingdom, it is also a big country with a population of nearly 10 million and a basic national policy of long-term maritime trade and colonization.

After coming to their senses, they fought back steadily, but the pirate coalition composed of hundreds of forces, large and small, and the weird warships built by the greenskins using "the power of my thinking" could not gain any advantage and were retreating steadily (losing ground step by step), constantly giving up control of the sea in the southern sea.

So Al had been on guard against pirate landing harassment, but it did not happen.

The main reason is that the latter are currently busy taking care of themselves on the sea and have no desire to actively harass him - losing the land will only mean losing some silver, they have made enough, and the only thing left is the responsibility to their allies. But if you expect pirates to pay more attention to this, then... and if they lose the sea, the Tyrell fleet can go directly to the island where the Sartosa Free State is located, and for the Sartosa people, the main force in the Pirate Alliance, that means they will lose their home.

After all, their purpose of joining the war was to rob as much as possible. Afterwards, the warlord promised the pirates: after the greenskins controlled the Southern Kingdom, they would open the door to the pirates, and the pirate captains could share the promise of tens of millions of slaves with the greenskins.

In addition, there are those colonies established by Estalia. If you are not careful, your home will be stolen!

Most regions fell into a state of confusion, not knowing whether to form an army to return home for revenge or to wait and see what happened to their big brother (the Empire, the elves) and the brothers they disliked (the Tyrells).

Then many ambitious people appeared in many places, and they started to make trouble and seize power under various banners, and began to compete for power with the colonial governor's office.

If the governor supports an immediate victory over the king, they will say that the enemy is too powerful and they should take their time. If the governor supports contacting allies and then taking their time, they will say that the kingdom is in danger and that these people cannot serve the country and only know how to live in peace in a corner, etc.

Anyway, it's just causing trouble.

I don't know why so many troublemakers suddenly appeared.

(yeseyes)

The combined strength is not weak, at least it is no problem to put together a fleet that can fight the Greenskin Alliance on the sea. The Estalia colony has been in a mess for most of the time, and now all places have reached a unified goal and started to form a coalition to support the king and start their "journey home."

The first thing to do is to break through the Greenskin Alliance’s maritime blockade.

This is a process that requires a very steady pace. After all, the greenskins attack so quickly that it is hard to tell whether there are any backup plans. So while saving the country is important, the key is to move slowly and not give yourself up.

Then the news came that "the old family found a group of super-powerful and especially capable allies who ran out of the woods to help deal with the enemies in the south, and they have recaptured Margarita."

When the coalition forces saw this, they realized that the situation had turned around, so they thought, “Are we safe now?”

Immediately, many people planned to take their troops and return home.

People like this usually have unstable positions. They are supposed to be loyal to the king and advocate righteousness, and they rely on the reputation of righteousness to gild themselves and guarantee their status. If Margarita is fine, then they will not have much merit if they return. Instead, they may be left behind to fight against the enemy in the north. In that case, it will be a big problem whether they will still hold their positions after they return, and whether their subordinates will still be there or listen to them.

As a result, the rebels disbanded before they even saw the land of their hometown.

But it still retained about two-thirds of its strength, with more than 300 large and small warships and tens of thousands of combatants.

Al didn't think about how to control such a fleet, so he simply sent them to the two cities of Nos Capas and Newgar, located at the southwestern tip of Estalia, and let them use the southwest as a base to attack everywhere and compete with the pirates for control of the sea.

At the same time, he sent some loyal, reliable and capable Four Mothers believers to the Royalist Army to infiltrate the fleet and learn naval warfare skills.

Chapter 90: Naga in the Dungeon

The war in the north has now become a complete contest of wills, with both sides constantly feeding fresh lives into the huge meat grinder that is Bilbarry.

The Bilbarri people are currently holding their ground, and the only opportunity they can wait for is for their allies in the south to be ready and launch a Northern Expedition to attack the greenskins in the northwest.

Or... now the only land neighbor closest to them, the Knights of the Round Table of Carcassonne, abandoned their isolation policy and formed a chivalrous army to save their neighbor as they did in the past.

Unfortunately, no matter how the Estalia envoys cried and begged, the hermit knights who had risen from the ruins after the collapse of their country built on lies and who had regained their faith, responsibility and sense of honor towards this land and its people remained resolute.

The chivalric system of the past was built on lies and arrogance, and was both kind and cruel, driving the people of Bretonnia to work hard and suffer exploitation.

Now, these hermits who retain the title of "Knights" are only responsible for this land and its people. They are recognized rulers, but never act as rulers. They are an army, but not an army.

Rooted in the city, countryside and woodlands of Carcassonne, yet detached from the rest of the world.

A few more radical ones, such as the Foil Holy Grail Knights who joined El, firmly believed in "virtue" and the necessity of shaping a "virtuous world."

But for most of the knights of Carcassonne, maintaining the existing environment where everyone lives and works in peace and contentment is the best situation at the moment.

They will not allow the blood of the Bretonnian people they are sworn to protect to be shed on foreign soil again, for any high-sounding reason or excuse.

Even after the greenskins conquer Bilbarri, their next expansion target will definitely be Carcassonne in Bretonnia, the only northern neighbor bordering them by land (Tyrell is in the south).

The knights after the great crusade were very stubborn... If not, their beliefs might have been similar to those of most of their comrades who had shed their knightly and aristocratic auras and started to devote themselves to various kinds of lives, such as fighting for the throne, wandering around the world, becoming bandits, and living in seclusion in the mountains. There would have been no Carcassonne Round Table Council - the Kingdom of Hermits.

Even if the greenskins were to invade Carcassonne the day after tomorrow, sparking a war and causing rivers of blood, they would never lead the Bretonnians to go out of the country today and preemptively attack enemies outside the country.

It is extreme isolationism.

Only a few knights, monastic orders, and warbands who pursued ideologies different from the mainstream isolationism of the Round Table chose to "keep the enemy out of the country" and formed small chivalrous expeditionary forces to rush to Bilbarri to fight against the greenskins.

But their primary goal is not to help the Estalia, but to weaken the greenskins, so that Bretonnia will face less threat after the Estalia's defeat.

It's just awkward.

In El's opinion, the Knights of the Flower, the Sword, and the Holy Grail, except for being a little overly fanatical about the "world of virtue", are much more normal than the extremely isolated and stone-headed Round Table Council.

If it were Al, if he knew someone was coming to attack him tomorrow, he would arrange eighteen dump trucks to destroy the enemy today.

.........

The ally that the northerners have been waiting for, the savior of the Estalia people, the (acting) regent king, the lord of the tribe...

Al, what are you doing?

Do research.

......

"So you guys...hiss, are quite troublesome."

Al held his chest and commented on the figure tied to a large cross in front of him.