Warhammer

They could even charge under a hail of bullets, and even if half of their heads were shot off, they could still stand firm and not fall down, until they rushed into the defenders' formation and stirred up the situation for a while, and then collapsed like a chariot that had lost its power.

This kind of fearless and brutal brutality greatly shocked the morale of the human soldiers. The toughness beyond logic made them psychologically fearful when facing such a group of monsters. Fortunately, there were dwarf warriors as the backbone of the defense, so there was no situation of rout or defeat as soon as they met the enemy.

Fanatical morale and fighting will can be seen everywhere in the entire greenskin warband besieging the city. Even those despicable goblins can be transformed into bloody dwarfs under the command of the warlords. They will use the most despicable means to hurt their opponents, and are keen on torturing prisoners and wounded for fun. The morale blow they cause to the defenders is no less than that of the fierce big guys.

Crazy greenskin shamans also call the shots on the battlefield, summoning and using the power from the greenskins' heretical gods, Maoge's glare, Goge's big feet, brain explosion, great totem, follow me...

To the guardians of Haimen Pass, what they faced was no less than a horde of demons. The fanatical will and fighting power of the greenskins made the dwarves behind the city walls recall the ancient times when those evil creatures that were everywhere in the mountains and plains and could never be eliminated brought the dwarves sadness, shame and even... fear?

During every attack, the dwarves would recite the Valaya's elegy runes to announce death in advance, indicating that they were ready to fight to the death to defend their homeland. After the Battle of Blackfire Pass, even in the Northern Expedition to recover lost territory where the High King died on the battlefield, the dwarves of Haimen Pass who participated in that battle had never felt such pressure.

The enemy in front of him seemed to be Gorbad Ironclaw's reincarnation, or Grimgor Ironhide's resurrection. In this timeline where "The End of Time" turned into the "Great Crusade", Grimgor Ironhide, after destroying the Chaos Dwarf Empire, also traveled all the way to Middenheim to participate in the decisive battle. However, because a certain three-eyed guy was not present, Grimgor rushed forward for a while and no one could stop him. He led his Undead Guards to grab Order and Chaos and chop them together. In the end, the Chaos Warlock who was forced into a corner designed to exile him to the Chaos Realm.

Some say it is dead, but there is another speculation about the end of this almost "undefeated" invincible greenskin:

Grimgor Ironhide found what he had been dreaming of in the Chaos Realm:

Endless wars, never-ending enemies!

It slaughtered in the chaos, slashing down every demon that dared to stand in its way, and to this day it is still carrying out its green-skinned, loneliest and greatest Waaaaagh...

Gao Maoliang's army is definitely not the one that confronted the High King's army in the Badlands. Rather, it is a group of greenskin warbands that were forced to unite in the face of a common enemy, and it can be compared to an alliance of warbands held together by "timely" goblin warlords with intrigues and daggers.

Although it suffered heavy losses during the expedition to Estalia and the dragon guards suffered heavy casualties, Gao Maoliang's military luck did not seem to have ended yet. After going through many experiences, it returned to the badlands and raised a huge army in that wild land, which was even as large as the scale of its previous expedition across the sea.

And surprisingly, as a green-skinned warlord, it did not "hold a grudge" and take advantage of Aiur's expedition to the Badlands, or it was simply too lazy to care about these things, no matter whether your house is empty or not, I just want to take revenge on you and invade the Southern Alliance.

Instead, they headed north to attack Haimen Pass.

Participate in this big melee that is geographically quite far away from the Southern Badlands.

Its appearance successfully disrupted the strategic rhythm of the dwarves. Aiur was originally going to march all the way south to recover the Land of Sorrow and at the same time lure the greenskins to divide their forces to attack, but now out of caution it has to garrison at Iron Rock; the reinforcements from Eternal Peak were originally going to meet up with the reinforcements from Sea Gate Pass when they marched south, and then head to Iron Rock, taking over the fortress while supporting the High King's front line and striving to open up the situation as soon as possible, but now they can only hurriedly set out to rescue Sea Gate Pass before the battle preparations are completed.

At the same time, they almost broke through the Sea Gate three times, causing the fall of this city that was vital to the dwarves. For the dwarves who were trying to recover their lost territory, the loss was perhaps second only to the annihilation of the High King's army at Black Rock Castle, with no survivors escaping.

This fortress is extremely important to the dwarves in terms of tax revenue, commodity flow, factory output and any other aspects, second only to the capital, Eternal Peak.

Gao Maoliang's siege of this place was strategically pinching the dwarves' weak spot, forcing the Mountain Kingdom to rescue them.

......

"Don't tell me there are too many casualties! In the war in Bilbarri, even the elderly, women and children took up arms! Don't the people of Haimen have this awareness yet?" A commander who looked like a southerner shouted at the military meeting: "Mobilize the people to take up arms to defend their own homes! This is not a proposal, but an order that must be passed immediately!"

"More than half of the troops in my hands are now less than one-third. Has the number of greenskins decreased at all? If it comes again tomorrow, or now, what can we use to defend it!"

His words caused the meeting room to fall into silence.

Suddenly a messenger rushed into the room in a hurry.

"Report, report!"

"What's the matter!" The commander glanced over coldly.

The messenger was a little excited and trembling.

"Greenskins, greenskins... retreat!"

Chapter 151: The Thoughts of the Great Warlord

"Great warlord, we, we are only a little bit away..."

The man knelt in front of a crude, rough seat that couldn't even be called a "throne" but could only be called a chair that looked very large. His trembling voice was filled with resentment.

Gao Maoliang shook his head and scratched his chin—actually, he stroked his non-existent beard.

It still retains this custom from the slave ships to the present day.

"Still a long way to go." Its voice gave people a very calm and reasonable feeling - this was almost impossible for a greenskin, but when you think about this "alien greenskin" who was himself a maverick, it was normal for such a commander to have the demeanor of a wise man.

"After breaking the second wall, there will be the third and the fourth. The dwarves will fight us to the death. They will use everything they can. Even if we take this fortress, the losses will be too great." Gao Maoliang stood up and sighed as he looked at the magnificent fortress that was about to leave.

"It is more prosperous than Margherita, but as tenacious as Bibali." Gao Maoliang sighed. The city that was known as "immune to death!", during the Great Patriotic War, with nearly half of the city's population killed or wounded on the battlefield, and the city, regardless of women, children, and the elderly, resisted to the end, waiting for a regent king who was wandering in the south to come north to rescue the city, left a deep impression on the warlord.

Also make it aware that:

In today's era, once any enemy has a strong will to resist, as long as there are sufficient supplies and the average equipment level, it is not difficult to resist the greenskin army that lacks siege power.

The days when the brave greenskins could overwhelm everyone with sheer numbers and sheer physical prowess were fast approaching as their enemies advanced.

The Great Battle was won, the shackles of Chaos were broken, civilization advanced, but the Greenskins gained nothing from the battle.

Of course, strictly speaking, all the battles fought by the greenskins are like this, and "having a good fight" is their greatest gain. They are the war weapons of the ancients, and some say they are spores brought by their vehicles, born for war, but they are incomplete versions.

They cannot grow stronger along with their enemies.

However, the Greenskins' loose social structure and their nature of infighting at all times when there is no external enemy limit the chances of this group uniting like the different clans of the Dwarves... er, like the Skaven, and ultimately having a common supreme ruling structure to decide the affairs of the entire group.

Even if a warlord's prestige is at its peak, he may leave him as long as he suffers a failure or simply because the boys feel bored and annoyed. The experiences of Gorbad Ironclaw and King Gollum in history have confirmed this.

They are not like civilized rulers who can withstand failure. No matter how much a kingdom or an army suffers defeat, as long as the flag and the common goal are still there, the cohesion will not fall easily and they will still be able to unite.

The greenskins are a race that generally lacks this kind of patience.

For example, Gorbad once destroyed countless dwarf fortresses. When he reached the Eternal Peak, the High King simply closed the gate and temporarily retreated strategically. He had no way to fight the dwarves to the death, so he turned westward to the Empire. After failing to capture Altdorf for a long time and the morale of the war gang was low, he immediately dispersed.

In Ai'er's eyes, the greenskin race poses limited threat unless it is a space version, or the world regresses to the era of mount and blade. Otherwise, as long as the first and third of the Empire's "Iron Faith and Gunpowder" are implemented, dealing with a group of big guys who only have brute strength and bravery will at best be bullying some barbarians with strong reproduction and adaptability.

There is no cohesion, no "consensus" or "identity", and no cheating finger like the power of my thinking.

Its peak moment was before the Great War.

The "barbaric country" of the warlord Mao Liang Feilong may have been a flash of inspiration for the transformation of this ethnic group, but it was ultimately short-lived and did not even have a chance to be realized.

In Sylvania, the "True Blood" Elector Count couple command an army of the dead, which is said to be so large that the wind of death is enough to corrode the land of the Undead Army just by marching out. However, their composition is not simply the result of constantly digging up corpses and bones on the land of Sylvania.

According to the intelligence brought by Al's spies (in other words, the followers of the Four Mothers), the Undead Legion has continuously obtained some "high-quality corpses" as supplements over the years, and the converted skeleton soldiers and zombies are generally taller than normal corpses.

obviously.

The vampires used the greenskins as a source of additional troops.

In order to regain their lost territory, the mountain dwarves used many methods that seemed unorthodox to them in the past.

Including but not limited to making deals with the dead.

The Kingdom of Night Sylvania helped the dwarves many times when they went north to recover lost territory, but the dwarves used various means to cover it up. Some of them were disguised as simple, such as the Undead's encirclement and suppression of the greenskins, and the Elector and his wife's help to the "Imperial Allies" - they were the Electors recognized by the Saviors, and they could also call themselves "Imperial Orthodoxy" to the outside world. What's wrong with helping them?

One of their important cooperation projects is that the dwarves provide venues for the Kingdom of Night:

Captive greenskin.

Greenskins reproduce asexually through spores. After death, their corpses will spread spores, which may cause secondary and tertiary transmission.

But even after shaving off the flesh and blood, it is still just a skeleton.

That's enough for the undead.

The vampire elector has been behaving well since the Great War. The Kingdom of Night’s army has been out of the country several times, all as part of the imperial army “in response to the emperor’s call” to fight against common enemies. And the couple has been trying to prove through good rule and clear governance that “dead rulers are no worse than living ones, and may even be better; vampires just want to suck blood, while noble priests and the rich really want to suck the blood out of the poor.” It seems that they want to completely integrate into the empire in a relatively gentle way, and then step by step claim the throne through “correct means” to establish the vampire’s Eternal Night Empire.

But at the same time, they may not have completely given up the plan to seize power by force, but the strict blockade of the Empire and the strong orders of the Church have restricted the Kingdom of Darkness from the influx of corpses and the use of local dead remains, so they must find other ways, and the greenskins, who have a fast reproduction ability and are now in decline, have become the best target.

In the past, there was no way that a fierce green-skinned warlord or general would come out one day, overthrow the vampires, and severely ravage Dunkenhofburg, just like when the Ironhide overthrew the Chaos Dwarf Empire, but now the probability is very small.

With tenacious vitality like weeds, the greenskins have developed into natural disasters that endanger the entire world several times in the past countless years. They have nearly destroyed the human empire at least twice and ravaged the vast land from the Frost Iron Great Wall to the Aurora Borealis. But today, they have finally returned to a form that truly fits the description of "weeds".

Stubborn, inextricable, slaughtered and cleared away by uprooting and burning.

......

"We can't wait any longer, let's move forward at full speed, boys."

After crushing a greenskinned warlord who was eager to challenge the authority of the warlord because of the bad luck in the war, Gao Maoliang realized that if he didn't do something, even if his core tribe would still follow him, the others, who were more like temporary allies than subordinates, would not be so obedient.

It must do something to boost morale and enhance its prestige within the gang.

This way it has the opportunity to do what it wants.

"Tell the boys! The short guys are cowards! We're going to let them go for once! Now, go beat up the human shrimp!"

Chapter 152: The Greenskins have changed their targets

The greenskins' retreat was as sudden as their arrival, and they left like the wind, leaving behind only a pile of corpses, damage to the city, and devastation at Haimen Pass.

As the main direction of the greenskins' attack, the East City District of Haimen Pass, which was expanded and rebuilt after the war, suffered serious damage. After entering the inner city, Mao Liang slowed down his advance in order to prevent himself from being dragged down by endless street fighting like Bill Barry, and gave the same order as someone else in the siege of Miragliano.

Set fire to the city!

Indiscriminate attack!

Anyway, the things are not green, so it’s not a pity to burn them. Instead, I feel satisfied because of the “waaaagh big fire”.

The ugly green-skinned army used a mysterious weapon in the siege. Of course, it was not so mysterious - it was a black, flowing liquid that was highly flammable and difficult to remove once it adhered.

The dwarves don't use this thing a lot, but they are not unfamiliar with it.

oil.

Their much-disrespected cousins, the Chaos Dwarves, do frequently mine it to supply their Iron Empire, but the Dwarves make very little use of it, generally using it as fuel for their airships.

When Gao Maoliang was gathering his army in the badlands, he discovered this "interesting" substance for the greenskins, open-air mineral veins, large tracts of oil swamps, and some troll and goblin tribes living here. The trolls were either pitch black or asphalt in appearance, and their skin was almost completely covered with oil. If the greenskins were not very familiar with the trolls, a species that they often hired and lured to fight, they might have thought that this was a strange thing they had never seen before.

A smart (greenskins, on average) warlord would use anything that could help his plan, so the human engineers under his command quickly discovered the role of these things. They collected these "flowing fires" and created a batch of secret weapons for the warlords, which played a significant role in the siege of Haimen Pass. At least half of the "contribution" to the destruction of Dongcheng District was due to these things.

But a few special weapons were still unable to influence the entire battle situation. After several attacks, the greenskins realized that it was impossible to succeed, so they decisively retreated under the power of the warlord. They rushed all the way, first to the north, swept through several towns, and then marched westward, heading straight for the second largest city in the territory of the eastern border prince.

Like Haimen Pass, Matoka is a port city located on the Blackwater Bay.

The rulers of this city are a "House of Representatives" composed of large landowners, mercenary warlords, wealthy businessmen, and octopus spiders who are good at getting along with everyone.

In fact, it is a city-state controlled by a group of oligarchs of all sizes who monopolize the ruling power.

When Haimen Pass was under siege, the cats and kittens of the border princes were still watching the fun, and some enthusiastic people suggested that since we have been neighbors with the dwarves for so many years, why don't we volunteer to send some soldiers to help? - After all, the dwarves will definitely not treat them unfairly.

But after a brief exchange between Akendorf and Matoka, they felt that the current battle situation was still unclear. The number of greenskins besieging the city was terrifying enough - more than 200,000!

The combined standing military strength of the two "principality kingdoms" that no longer had princes was just over 10,000, less than the imperial expeditionary force that came from afar.

The reason why it looks so "weak in military strength" is mainly because there are few powerful rulers in the border prince's territory. Most of them are like Matoka, a group of powerful people of all sizes jointly in power. In the military, there are constant conflicts and disputes over interests among them. There are too many troops and it is difficult to maintain them. They can only fight them out, but there is no guarantee that they can expand after fighting. It is better to set up fewer troops and expand less. Anyway, there is peace in the country now and there is no danger.

How many years has it been since a large group of badland greenskins came to the east to plunder?

The dwarven fleet patrols the entire Blackwater Bay and does not ask the border people for a penny.

There was also a huge disagreement over who controlled the army. In the history of border princes, there were often cases where the person in charge of the army would win over the troops, forge orders, or simply bribe them with benefits, and then lead the soldiers to massacre the hostile forces in the city and become a tyrant.

They may not have money, and the soldiers are poor.

But the powerful people in the city have plenty of money.

So for a knife like this, if you sharpen it too much, you might hurt yourself. It's okay if you don't sharpen it. Anyway, you just want a knife with peace of mind. People in the eastern border simply put up a high wall and look at it occasionally, but don't use it...

If they rush over to join in the fun with just such a small force like them, not to mention the 200,000 green-skinned giants that are as ferocious as wolves and tigers, even more than 200,000 pigs would be able to kill them.

Of course, the border people are not without capable soldiers, but they are all private soldiers recruited and supported by various forces, big and small. Like the Tyrells, each household has the tradition of raising soldiers... Many of them are even blood relatives and loyal servants. It is impossible for the powerful to drag these people under their command to face the greenskins directly. Unless there are 100,000 imperial soldiers and generals sent to the mountains, and they can win by flying dragons, then they will choose to enter the market and take advantage of the situation.

And even if we send out troops, there must be a commander, right?

How can you safely hand over your own troops to outsiders?

What if they collude with hostile forces or forces intending to seize power, and deliberately sell these private elites or send them to death in order to weaken their power?

As a result, the proposal to send troops was delayed again and again, and finally it became a matter of collecting some supplies to give to the dwarves. At the same time, each city contributed more or less some money to buy some mercenaries who were willing to exchange their lives for money, and under the banner of "Expeditionary Force of Various Lands", it was considered as sending troops to help.

But these mercenaries were not stupid. They knew that this commission was just a show for the dwarves. The rulers of the city-states didn't care whether they lived or died. It might be better if they died. With sacrifice, they could write a tragic story and give the dwarves a feeling of "Neighbor, I have tried my best, you keep working hard."

So they take the money but delay doing the work.

Take it slow, even if you get scolded, even if you are threatened with breach of contract?

You must be crazy to wade into this mess when the morale of the first wave of greenskins is at its highest. If you wait a little longer, maybe the result will come out soon.

If the iron walls of Haimen Pass show their power and defeat the greenskins under the city wall, then they can just hold an armed parade there and their mission will be accomplished... If the greenskins win and Haimen Pass is breached... Who will care whether they give the commission or not!

I stopped being a mercenary a long time ago!

Now I just want to return to my motherland, the Empire, Kislev, Bretonnia, or the Southern Alliance!

Don't stop me!

Go back (run) home!

But the result was somewhat beyond everyone's expectations—Haimen Pass did not fall, but the greenskins did not end up without winning the battle.

Instead, they let go of the difficult Haimen Pass and rushed straight towards the border, with an aggressive and ferocious look, especially with their numbers all over the mountains. The Matoka people were shocked as soon as the news came from the dwarves!