Warhammer

This time, no blind greenskins came to disturb the meeting. The 40,000 reinforcements from the center of the Mountain Kingdom arrived at the Valeka Fortress smoothly. Among them were 9,000 well-trained dwarf warriors, from the heavily armored Ironbeard warriors to the "unerring" sharpshooters, from the bare-chested, rune-tattooed, braided butchers to the engineers wearing goggles who seemed to be always hammering away...

As for the other soldiers?

They are all mercenaries from all over the world, mainly from Kislev and the Empire.

Among them are war dogs who have experienced fighting and licking blood from the blade, as well as civilian farmers who worked in the fields all day long and had never been exposed to weapons not long ago.

These mercenaries from all over the world, in a sense "foreign militia", self-raised militia, have played a huge role in the war for the Mountain Kingdom to recover lost territory. Many of them, after deciding to temporarily withdraw from the battlefield, may move their relatives from their country to the mountains and settle in some dwarf castles.

The Mountain Kingdom treated these mercenaries who had made contributions in the war very well. The two sides had good cooperation and a foundation of trust. At the same time, this method also allowed them to obtain more valuable manpower.

So just from the appearance, it is difficult for outsiders to recognize whether this is an army led by dwarves, an army led by humans, or a coalition of the two?

Of course, since they are paid to do the job, the commander of the mercenaries can only be a dwarf. Otherwise, even the most enlightened Mountain Assembly would not allow an army that is not led by dwarves to run around in their own territory.

The dwarf who led the support troops was also a member of the "royal family", just like Hoffman who received Celestine and others.

The High King of the dwarves is elected, and there is no certain hereditary system. Unless everyone votes for him based on his own ability and prestige, even the so-called "prince" status can only last for one generation.

However, the dwarves' bloodline is thin, and even members of different fortresses, one in the north and the other in the south, can easily become relatives. This is the same as the elves, so they don't attach much importance to "noble bloodline" and "family name inheritance" that humans value very much.

After all, generally speaking, we are all descendants of the three ancestor gods: Granni, Valaya, and Grimnir, and no one's bloodline is more noble than anyone else's...

"Gorham!"

As a representative, Hoffman rode the dwarf mountain ibex and "rushed" into the army outside the city.

Rhine, as the representative of the Imperial Expeditionary Force, followed behind him and gently urged the horse to move together.

One of them is wearing a horned helmet with a very conspicuous orange Mohawk in the middle. His figure is also more "burly" than the average dwarf, similar to the difference between a fart spirit and a goblin?

"Hoffman." The horned dwarf surrounded by guards raised his right arm and clenched his fist towards the man and the dwarf, then patted his left shoulder, greeted them and came over.

Hoffman laughed loudly, and stopped his mount with a speed that was not suitable for a dwarf. Then he dismounted and quickly caught up. The two dwarves, both wearing armor, "collided" with each other with a bang, and then they laughed at the same time.

"Haha! You've been in Valleka for ten years, I thought you could hardly walk! Otherwise why didn't Aladdin take you with him!" The dwarf commander of Eternal Peak named Golem, like Hoffman, is the uncle of the Supreme King Aladdin Whitebeard. They followed the previous High King to fight on the front line to recover the lost territory. In the battle to recover the Endless Mountains north of the Silver Road, the previous High King died. His son, the current Supreme King Aladdin Whitebeard, turned his grief and anger into strength, with the death of the king, he turned the entire tribe that was surrounded by the enemy into a mournful army, broke through the enemy's defense, and defeated the greenskins.

After that, he won battle after battle and made outstanding contributions. After the major battle was settled, he ignored everyone's advice and broke into the mountains with only four bodyguards and two rangers. After months of pursuit.

Finally, this team of less than ten people found the warband of the greenskin warlord who killed the High King. Even after the failure, the other side still had hundreds of greenskin big guys, which was an unimaginable gap. But Aladdin Whitebeard still used his wisdom and great courage to defeat the greenskin warband with seven dwarves, and personally killed the greenskin warlord in the duel, taking back his father's crown and completing his revenge.

When he returned to the fortress with endless glory, the resolution from the Mountain Assembly also came in due course:

Aladdin Whitebeard, succeeded his father Zanod Hammer as the High King!

Graham and Hoffman were both among the guards who followed Aladdin Whitebeard to hunt down his enemies in the mountains and complete his revenge.

The dwarf's eyes dimmed, and he didn't say much. He just changed the subject and asked, "How many people have come? Are these all the reinforcements?"

Graham patted Hoffman on the shoulder and said nothing. Instead, he looked at Rhine who was standing aside.

The young general of the empire placed himself at a position that was neither too far nor too close, not being too far to appear rude, nor too close to make his dwarf friends have to "look up" at him and feel unhappy. This was a very useful little trick in dealing with dwarves.

Seeing this, Hoffman immediately introduced them to the two of them: "This is the general among the reinforcements sent by the Emperor of the Empire, Rhine Julius from Altdorf!"

Graham suddenly wiped his beard, "Julius?"

"Yes, that Julius!" Hoffman thought of something and laughed. "Rhine, this old guy once fought side by side with your ancestors at Blackfire Pass. During that battle, he slipped and fell, and threw his axe. The axe handle hit Julius' mount, startling his vulture and almost rushing out of the battle formation."

Golem's rough, majestic face suddenly turned red, and he shouted: "That's not slipping, it's the evil magic of the green-skinned shaman! I have said it many times!"

As the fourth-generation descendant of Carl Julius, the founder of the family business, Rhine had great respect for the two dwarves. He stroked his chest and bowed deeply: "I heard this interesting story from my grandfather. He said that after the war, my ancestor joked with the brave dwarf when they were drinking: 'Next time I fight, I will stand behind your axe, because the Julius family name almost didn't exist before.'"

"Hahaha~" Hoffman burst into laughter, while Graham muttered: "My axe is very sensitive. I have never accidentally hurt an ally."

"By the way, the commander of the imperial reinforcements is also a Julius." After the joke, the relationship between the two sides became closer, and Hoffman said seriously: "A champion warrior, the chosen one of the hammer bearers."

148: Concerns about the future

Graham waved his hand. "I knew it a long time ago. My ancestors, it's been so many years. The last time I fought alongside my allies like this was when I smashed the greenskins' heads at Blackfire Pass."

"Salute to the Hammer Bearer and his empire. I can't wait to see the heroic figure of the champion warrior..." Graham laughed and asked in a low voice: "I heard that this Chosen One is a lady? And also the Chosen One of Myrmidia, the goddess of the southerners?" He winked at Hoffman and looked at Rhine beside him.

It is not uncommon for someone to be the Chosen One of multiple gods at the same time. To put it in a broader sense, every Eternal Chosen One who stirs up a chaos frenzy and leads the demon army southward with the intention of destroying the world is always co-chosen by the four dark evil gods.

Sigmar himself is the chosen one of Ulric, the White Wolf God and God of War, which does not prevent him from becoming a god. Then his followers rejected other religions in various ways. Now they have even squeezed the faiths including the God of Nature Tal, the White Wolf God Ulric, and the Goddess of Healing Shalaya into the status of minority groups.

The Church of Ulric could not even maintain the core of Middenheim. After the Holy Flame of Ulric was rekindled, its guardians included a group of Sigmar priests from Altdorf! Their reason was "together to protect the place where the great God-Emperor was reborn from the ashes", which made Pope Ulric very angry. There was even a disagreement about setting up the headquarters of the sect in Kislev or Bretonnia.

But Sigmar himself...well, the Hammer Wielder has never done such a thing in the past. He even had very few "Chosen Ones" in the past, let alone such a thing as performing miracles on the same woman with a goddess at the same time?

The dwarf commander was very curious about what magical power this rare chosen one possessed.

"I heard that she received God's grace in the south, and it was during the greenskin invasion that she helped the southerners defend Bilbarry." Graham continued to chatter about his topic, and the group entered the wide-open city gate surrounded by the army.

"That's right, we are dealing with the greenskins now! It seems that this is the will of the gods! With the protection of our ancestors, we will smash the heads of these barbaric fools, drive them out, and burn the land they have polluted! Leave no one behind and restore the ancestral land of the dwarves!"

Amid Graham's clamor, reinforcements from Eternal Peak officially entered the Valeka Fortress and settled down there.

After resting, they will head straight to the Sea Gate Pass to drive out or eliminate the greenskins there and ensure the safety of this fortress which is vital to the Mountain Kingdom and the dwarves.

If the threat of the greenskin army coming out from the south of Everlook is eliminated and they can no longer cause trouble to the dwarf fortress, then the army will resupply at Seagate and head south to recapture Everlook, taking a relatively long route that is also the route of Aiur's Eastern Expedition, heading to Iron Rock to join the Alliance Legion stationed there...

Of course, this is only a tentative plan and may change at any time due to the ever-changing battlefield situation.

For example, someone who is a beastman in the forest is a southerner in the city. In the future, he may add the identities of "Son of the Empire", "Descendant of the Elves", "Orphan of China", or even give himself the identity of "Tall Dwarf Raised by Dwarves" when he gets drunk.

Obviously, he would not stay at Iron Rock and wait for the dwarves to come over and start the "Second Expedition".

Reality is not a game. There will be no reinforcements or new technologies in the next round, and you cannot pull out officers or lords.

He could just hang on the Iron Rock and wait for the reinforcements from the country to arrive at the front line, but for Al... the 30,000 people in his hands were enough if he really wanted to do anything.

The dwarves are now very cautious because they cannot afford to lose. If they lose this battle, they will have to recuperate for at least dozens or hundreds of years, and they can forget about Eight Peaks Mountain for the time being. So they hope that Aiel will not go anywhere and stay in Black Rock Castle. He does not want to fight a siege battle with the greenskins in tunnels. The dwarves understand this. After all, Aiel has admitted to them that his military strength is weak, especially the Beastman population is very "sparse", so he cherishes his soldiers.

The dwarves themselves are also paying for their lives and recruiting soldiers all over the world. It’s because they don’t have enough manpower and they value their own population.

Ai'er came with his troops to support without asking for a penny. So far, he has recaptured an important city and killed an estimated 70,000 to 80,000 greenskins. His contribution to the dwarves is huge. His presence is already a help, and the dwarves will not ask for more.

Of course, Ai'er also didn't want the dwarves to lose. He might even hope more than the dwarves that they could win the battle and recapture the Eight Peaks Mountain.

After the dwarves captured the fortress, the manpower and resources they spent just to clear out the tunnel network and restore operations were astronomical, and for the time being they did not have the strength to continue their expedition to the mountains to the south.

According to the dwarves' usual recuperation time, it would take them about several decades to recuperate—the end is coming, which is just right for them to fully prepare for the war.

If they take over the Eight Peaks Mountain, the entire middle section of the Endless Mountains will be put together again and controlled by the dwarves. All the lost and fallen fortresses will be recaptured and activated, bringing new vitality... This is enough for the dwarves. In the beginning, Al was even a little worried about whether their abilities could support such a large business. They didn't want to be scattered and lacked manpower to open mines everywhere, and be defeated one by one.

But he got a rough development plan for the future of the Mountain Kingdom from the dwarves. This was something that Aiel took the initiative to request. In addition to being "good at fighting and winning every battle" and "good at both literature and martial arts, and very handsome", he also has the personality of a "wise and virtuous king". The "X-year plan" he came up with, which is a way for the government to integrate all forces to develop and build the country and achieve rapid growth in national strength, has now been emulated by the dwarves.

I heard that the enlightened faction in the Mountain Assembly has been worried about the development speed of the dwarves. After all, the concept of time of long-lived races is different from that of short-lived races. Aiel's "creativity", "far-sighted vision and outstanding talents" and "advanced systems invented" are praised by them. They encourage every fortress town of the dwarves to follow the Southern Alliance's approach to formulate an effective development plan.

The more insightful ones among them have always had the same concerns as Ai'er, that is, what will happen if war suddenly comes when the dwarves have invested a lot of manpower and resources in development? Dwarves are not like humans. Although a large proportion of today's dwarves were born after the Great War, and according to traditional concepts can only be called the new generation of "little mustache dwarves", there are also "old dwarves" who have experienced the chaos disaster, the tide of destruction sweeping the world, and the era of despair are still active.

They are still the mainstream of dwarven society today.

If any mustache-wearing man dares to say something like "Demons are lies, Chaos is deception, and Gods are just powerful mortals" as advocated by the so-called "radical scholars" of the Empire, he will surely be exiled in the mountains or forced to take the butcher's oath.

149: The Siege of Haimen Pass

Although they both seek to win without losing, Al has his own plan.

He was there to help, to work for the dwarves for free, but not for the dwarves.

At the Valeka Hills, when the dwarves and the Imperial Expeditionary Force were meeting up and preparing to march to the Sea Gate Pass to relieve the siege, far away in the recently recovered Iron Rock Fortress, Al was also carrying out his plans unknown to outsiders.

Ai'er has absolute control over the alliance's legions. As long as he wants, he can turn the Eastern Expedition Legion into a black box and no one will know what is happening inside.

......

"Son of the ancestors!"

"Let's go!"

"Dang Dang!"

The messengers shouted and played the marching orders with drums and trumpets.

The gates of the Valleka fortress were wide open and flags were flying.

After the meeting and rest, a total of more than 53,000 reinforcements, almost four-fifths of whom were humans, officially set off for Barak Haimen.

At this time, fourteen days had passed since Celestine led the vanguard army south from Akendorf. From Valleka to Haimen Pass, if they marched at full speed while maintaining combat effectiveness, it would take ten days at the fastest speed, or about half a month at the slowest.

Hoffman led a reinforcement force of 2,000 soldiers drawn from the Valleka Fortress, which was also half dwarf and half men, to join the fire brigade. Graham was very happy to fight side by side with his blood relatives and old friends, and he kept chattering on about all kinds of glorious memories of the past. He was very enthusiastic about the Empire's allies, and every time he was stationed, he would invite Celestine and others to a "banquet" - of course, it was impossible to go to great lengths to hold a banquet when marching and fighting, even if it was to entertain allies it would be a waste. It was just a small gathering, or even sitting on the ground in the open air. For the dwarves, this was nothing. There was plenty of time for a grand celebration and victory, and for entering the fortress, they had time. They just needed an outlet to release their chattering nature to relieve the boredom along the march.

This army might not be much in number compared to the greenskins besieging Haimen Pass, whose number is now estimated to be between 250,000 and 300,000. Even if the defenders of Haimen Pass are included, it is still less than half of this greenskin war gang, or even one-third. But no one doubts that they can at least fight against enemies that are twice their number.

In the past, civilization was restricted by evil forces from higher dimensions and failed to unleash its true power, which allowed barbarism to run rampant.

As Chaos receded and its influence on the material world weakened, the Greenskins, a race that lived on destruction, also faced the fate of decline. The Greenskins failed in several key Waaaaagh battles without exception, and did not spread destruction and fear to the world as they had done before.

The developed civilization will eventually completely defeat barbarism and completely eliminate these "active disasters" that have caused countless killings in the world over the past countless years - unless barbarism opens the "I'm thinking" plug-in, there is no other possibility.

At the same time, the destination of this support soldier:

Barak Heyman.

A brutal siege battle has just ended.

The attack ended with the last green-skinned giant that broke into the East City District letting out its dying roar, which was strangled by muskets and spears.

The defenders of Haimen Pass mobilized the people to clean up the city area which was in ruins after the war. The bodies of the greenskins had to be burned, otherwise the spores would be blown away by the wind and mushrooms would bloom in the streets and alleys of the city. The bodies of the dead had to be recovered and a funeral would be held.

The workers raced against time to repair the defense facilities, while the soldiers were alert to the threat from outside the city that could come back at any time.

This is already the third time.

The greenskins were just about to break through the middle section of Haimen Pass's defense line and approach the core of the second largest dwarf fortress.

Regardless of victory or defeat, it would have been a devastating loss for the dwarves.

The inner city of Haimen Pass, which was once considered impossible to be breached, with multiple advantages such as fleet, geographical location, and solid city walls, now looks extremely dilapidated from the outside. Parts of the city walls have been damaged to varying degrees, and two extremely critical gates are in a pitiful state.

There were corpses and scattered rocks all over the ground. At a glance, there were at least four huge heads of giants with ugly faces carved out of rocks rolling on the ground.

This means that at least four blasphemous giant statues were blown apart here, losing the brutal divine power that sustained their existence and collapsed into countless pieces.

The sudden appearance of the greenskins caught Haimen Pass off guard. They almost achieved an achievement that even the legendary greenskins, Gogo and Maogo, had not achieved, and broke through Barak Haimen head-on.

The identity of the greenskin warlord who led this army was also known to his enemies during the long siege:

Another "legendary greenskin" warlord who had raised an army in the Badlands, crossed the sea to expedition to the Southern Kingdom, and nearly destroyed Estalia.

Mao Liang Feilong.

A greenskin whose life and behavior are very mysterious and who is "unique" among the greenskins.

It tried to establish a barbaric kingdom in Estalia, even if it was maintained by butcher knives and fear, instead of leading its warbands to turn all cities and civilizations into ruins, as countless greenskin warriors and warlords had done in the past. Living things were slaughtered or used as slaves and food. Sacred places were desecrated and filled with greenskin feces and bones...

Its uniqueness made this greenskin famous in the world of order. Many scholars in the empire were curious about why this warlord was so special, and they seriously studied what would happen if it succeeded in conquering Bilbarri and forcing Estalia to surrender to the warlord.

They put forward several assumptions in the salon, and one even wrote a fictional "travel book" that described a "sacred, fantastic and barbaric country" in the author's words.

This book was banned in the Confederacy, but it was very popular in the Empire and became a bestseller.

The great warlord Mao Liang may be the first in history to produce:

I want to control these human shrimps and make them recognize me as the boss, instead of just eating their flesh, breaking their bones, or capturing them as slaves (to be eaten later) like the greenskins.

According to a pirate who has participated in the Great Patriotic War (I was fortunate enough to participate in the Great Patriotic War, but I was the target of the beatings by the defenders), has come into contact with that big warlord, and wishes to remain anonymous, there is a rumor that the agents of the King of the Alliance have been hunting down those scum and villains who participated in the greenskin invasion war. Although it is most likely just a rumor spread by someone to buy the hearts of the people, it is better to believe it than not.

It is said that this great warlord even knew some knowledge of the Chinese world and could even "quote from classics" during conversations. This has led to scholars who are bored to death to seriously study whether the Chinese world has its own unique way of education?

Teach the Skaven the ways of assassins, teach the Ogres the ways of mercenaries (very realistic), teach the Chaos Yankees to do business properly in Weijing and Nangao; now they have successfully educated a Greenskin who wants to subdue people with "physics" instead of killing all non-Greenskins without explanation...

Chapter 150: Retreat

For people outside the badlands (who have nothing to do after having eaten their fill), they can be curious about the "life", purpose, and characteristics of this great warlord, and infer the possibilities caused by his actions, using this as a topic of conversation after dinner.

But for those who are under the threat of its weapons, they don't have so much time to spare.

At most, they would analyze Mao Liang's strategic intentions, goals, possible tactical means, and attack directions. As for whether the greenskins would carry out a massive massacre after breaking into the city or establish a slave kingdom under the butcher's knife... Who would consider this now?

Not as a last resort... Even with the stubbornness of the dwarves, they would rather see Haimen Pass destroyed than bow down to their mortal enemy of countless years, the "brainless barbarians".

In the past less than a month, the greenskins have launched six large-scale sieges, as well as dozens of large and small attacks and harassments. In addition, this time, three attacks have forced their way into the inner city of Haimen Pass, directly threatening the core of the fortress.

It can be said that it is only two steps away from collapse.

The greenskins under Gao Maoliang's command are much more ferocious than the roaming greenskins that "harassed" Haimen Pass countless times in the past. Among its ranks are many wild greenskins who come from the depths of the badlands and are known as "greenskins among greenskins, barbarians among barbarians."

These wild greenskins, who wore no armor and had all kinds of totemic tattoos all over their bodies, showed a ferocity in the battle that the defenders had never seen before.