Warhammer

However, there are still certain security risks. Generally speaking, characters of similar status as emperors and archbishops will not entrust their lives to the wind of magic and an unknown fate.

It is said that there is a Gate of Light in the Great Temple of Altdorf, which was built with the help of the power of the Emperor. It can guarantee 100% safety under the protection of God and can lead to any portal in the world...

This thing has not yet developed to the point where it can transport large amounts of supplies and personnel. It is said that relevant practitioners are very curious about the roots of the Oak of Ages in the former Great Forest of Athel Loren, which connects the entire world. However, since it is now a filthy place that all lawful people must stay away from, with only endless disaster beasts breeding there and breeding endless filth, they can only give up.

Therefore, there are a large number of people in Matoka City who enjoy their well-being, do not want to die, have the ability to influence the direction of the city, and cannot escape at this dangerous moment.

And even if someone was unwilling to cooperate with the greenskins, they would hesitate whether to arrest these people or inform the Matoka House of Representatives. By the third day, when the greenskins captured the city wall, everything would be settled.

In accordance with the requirements put forward by the greenskins in advance, a large number of private armed forces in Matoka City soon rushed to the House of Representatives. The few people who already knew the details but were unable to stop it and could only cooperate with the performance remained silent, and the majority of the confused congressmen took control of the "Senate" which symbolized Matoka's ruling power in a panic.

Others were driven to "disarm" the defenders who were still resisting, falsely passing on orders from the House of Representatives, claiming that the members of the House of Representatives had reached an armistice agreement with the greenskins and that they would "stop fighting and ask for peace" in order to save their homes.

Then, Mao Liang's human followers came to read out the warlord's "decree", announcing that the Matoka must immediately surrender to the Western Expedition Army, otherwise they would be completely razed to the ground by the sweep of 300,000 troops. On the contrary, if the Matoka people surrendered sincerely, the greenskin war gang could postpone entering the city.

The Matoka rulers who were powerless to change the situation could only succumb to the status quo. At least, to put it another way, as long as they nominally submitted to the warlord, the ferocious greenskin army would not enter the city for the time being. This was a blessing in disguise.

What's more, there was the "precedent" of Estalia. Bilbarry insisted on resisting to the end, causing a river of blood and serious damage to his vitality. Al has not been able to fully recover since he came to power. Margarita, who chose to "endure humiliation" when she saw the situation was not good, kept her life and did not suffer much loss except that she was robbed by pirates later.

In the long run, the Matoka people did not think that Gao Maoliang's war gang could become so rampant. This was a border area, and it was indeed loose, chaotic, and generally weak.

But in the four directions of above, below, left and right, there is the Imperial big brother of Order Shield, the dwarves of the Kingdom of Fire, Iron and Stone, and a newly emerging United Southern Alliance.

Even if the greenskins can run rampant in the border areas for a while, these three families will definitely not sit idly by and watch Mao Liang gain power here. They will definitely send troops to intervene. By that time, it will be nothing more than a repeat of the story of the Battle of Bilbarri.

With this "simple" idea and cognition, as long as the greenskins do not raise their butcher knives, the powerful and wealthy, as "heroes who know the times", will have no problem temporarily enduring humiliation, bowing their heads and waiting for the sun to set and the moon to shine again.

Now that the warlords have given them a way out, why not learn from Estalia's advanced experience?

In the end, we finally waited for liberation!

Why fight the enemy to death...wouldn't it be better to let the greenskins sweep the west? Maybe they will fight all the way to Tyrell to seek revenge on Aiur?

156: Three Households and One Quality

With such a simple:

"I would rather die than let my friend die"

"Pretend to change your faith, but regret it later"

"Preserve strength and save the country in a roundabout way"

Idea.

When the situation was hopeless, the Matoka people smoothly surrendered to the warlord's sword, just like the Tobaro people finally chose to surrender to Ai'er.

They were also very proactive, using a double-sided propaganda tone of "working for the big warlords" to the outside world and "the greenskins demanded it, and if they didn't give it, they would massacre the city" to offer food and supplies to the greenskin army outside the city. Even those Matoka nobles who took the initiative to "surrender" to the greenskins expressed their stance to the greenskins:

When will the great warlords march westward?

We'll be leading the way in no time!

All the food and necessities for the people and the horses, Matoka will do his best to supply them even if it means selling everything he has!

In essence, they still want to divert the trouble to other places and let the greenskins cause trouble elsewhere as soon as possible.

As mentioned before, except for a very small number of people, no one would want to work for the greenskins.

Who knows if they will chop off your head for fun at any time, or chew it up and eat it.

It is impossible for the greenskins to gain a foothold in the borderland. As long as they leave Matoka and continue to move west, when reinforcements such as dwarves and the Empire arrive, Matoka will be able to change its flag immediately. Anyway, bah! We have never really surrendered, but we have to compromise to save the lives of the residents!

Now that the fate of the day has been determined, and the enemy and ourselves have been identified, all the people of order hate the barbaric evil to the core! Everyone has the right to kill them!

Big Boss (Empire) and Second Boss (Dwarf), let’s go together!

The Matoka people have a very shrewd plan, but if it is really as they think, then temporarily surrendering is indeed the "best option" for them.

They could avoid being harassed by the greenskins, and their cities could be spared from massacres. All they had to pay was a large amount of supplies and... some civilian labor forcibly conscripted by the greenskins.

This seems to be good for all classes in the city.

It's just not very good for places other than them.

.........

In several cities west of Matoka, people there were still debating whether to flee or resist, believing that with the big city of Matoka blocking the way, the greenskins would not be able to arrive so quickly for a while. It can only be said that the natural barrier of the Blackwater River, the Dwarf fleet, and the continued decline of the greenskin race after the Great Crusade "protected" them too well, and they lost the necessary recognition and vigilance against a disaster race that had plagued the world for thousands of years.

Three days after Matoka opened the city, Gao Maoliang learned from the lessons of dividing the troops several times in Estalia. On the one hand, it weakened the force attacking Bilbali, resulting in the failure to completely capture this northern secondary capital in the end; on the other hand, those divided troops did successfully deter the local areas in the early stage, forcing those surrendered city-states to hand over supplies and people to them, but when it came to Ai'er, they were unable to take care of both ends and had no unified command and dispatch, which led to their being dispersed and defeated.

So it demanded that the Matoaka people hand over food supplies to the army first, and asked for two thousand vassal troops and guides in preparation for the Western Expedition. Its attitude was urgent. After the Matoaka people had completed the task, the warlord ordered the demolition of Matoaka's city walls and defense facilities. At this time, the greenskins had already controlled Matoaka's city defenses. Although such behavior caused widespread dissatisfaction and resentment among the Matoaka people, it did not matter.

After all this work was done, Gao Maoliang finally made a decision that made the Matoka people extremely angry:

It demanded that the Matoka people hand over women, children, the elderly and the young as hostages at a ratio of one person per three households, and that they be "temporarily settled" in a town north of Matoka that originally had only a few hundred residents. After its westward expedition was victorious, these hostages would be allowed to return home.

This order greatly angered the Matoka people, and an armed uprising against the greenskins broke out immediately, but it was quickly suppressed by "people who knew the times". After "negotiations" with the greenskins, the ratio was finally reduced to one person per five households, one person per six households, and finally to one woman and child per seven households. The Matoka handed over more than 4,000 women and children, and went to the town in the north for "temporary migration" under the supervision of the human servant army established by Gao Maoliang.

Afterwards, Mao Liang left behind a mixed force of only 3,000 men and women to "guard" Matoka. Their only mission was to monitor the surroundings and - if there were any unusual movements by the Matoka people, they would immediately kill all the women and children and flee into the plains, transforming into a guerrilla gang to destroy the enemy's homes. They could also look for opportunities to move westward and join the headquarters of the major warlords.

Those who led this force with the purpose of slaughtering the hostages were both the scum of those who had once assisted the greenskins, plundering and destroying in Estalia, and then continued to follow their greenskin masters as slaves, as well as the taciturn black orcs who served Maoliang loyally.

Although pirates, villains and scum are bad, they are not stupid. If they touch women and children, even if the Matoka people do not resist, they will be bound by the surging public opinion and fight back desperately. The black orcs pay attention to discipline and will obey the strict orders of the warlords. Only when these two are combined can Mao Liang be assured that they can "handle" matters in the rear.

After spending less than a week in Matoka, Gao Maoliang continued to lead his army westward, and the border people were completely unaware of it:

The flames of war have already spread to your side.

After conquering four cities in succession, the greenskin army looted and burned hundreds of towns and villages, not even giving the enemy a chance to surrender or submit. They completely used bloody killings to intimidate the border.

Afterwards, an army led by the Matoka people was sent out to establish an order that could not be called an "order" on the ruins of cities and towns. It was announced that all the survivors had passed the test of the warlord, and would later become citizens of a "Holy Savage Kingdom". The Eastern Border was the first territory conquered by this Savage Kingdom in the civilized world, and Matoka was its capital.

It is conceivable that these things will have no other result except greater and more intense hatred... unless the warlord really defeats all enemies as it says and establishes a "sacred and charming barbaric empire" imagined by writers.

In that case, these first victims who were harmed by the greenskins with their butcher knives might eventually become enemies and accomplices of barbarism, just like what happened in another world around 1644?

The Matoka people did play an accomplice role in this process, because the entire city surrendered to the greenskins, and they now have to face a double spiritual test:

The shame of groveling before the greenskins;

Surrender to the greenskins and sell out the border people west of Matoka, causing these people to be attacked by the greenskins without any preparation and eventually be massacred.

Chapter 157: Saving the country by taking a roundabout way has become a trend

The reason and purpose for the Matoka people to surrender were very simple:

Protect yourself.

Then, the people who have been "betrayed" by them will naturally harbor a simple hatred for both the invaders and the traitors.

However, this emotion is suppressed by the butcher's knife at the moment and cannot be manifested for the time being. But in the near future, their homes will be destroyed, their loved ones will be brutally killed, and they themselves will be enslaved and driven by the greenskins... It is conceivable that when these people who survived the butcher's knife take up arms to fight for freedom and their homeland again, how will they treat the Matoka people, the "accomplices" who caused all this?

When the situation on the front line was transmitted back to the city, the wise men had already realized how despicable Gao Maoliang's actions were.

After forcing the Matoka people to submit to them, the big warlords used the Matoka people to do dirty work and committed bloody crimes against their neighbors, creating confrontation.

In this case, even if the greenskins were defeated, the Matoka would inevitably be held accountable even if they argued that they were "forced" to be accomplices.

This left the Matoka people with only two choices:

One is to go all the way to the end, helping the greenskins to be accomplices of the tiger, hoping that the warlord can really realize his ambition;

This is naturally not taken into consideration.

Not to mention whether it can be accomplished or not, even if the greenskins can really create the "barbaric kingdom" envisioned by Mao Liang, would the Matoka people be so drunk that they would give up their free cities and free countries and work like slaves for the greenskin pirates?

The second is to resolutely defect and wash away the traces of traitors and shame with blood sacrifice...

This is naturally beyond our capabilities as the warlords' gangs are still strong and haven't gone too far, and they are holding Matoka's women and children hostage...

After much thought, there is only one way to go...

......

"Woo, woo, woo, my grandfather once served in the army of His Majesty Justinian and followed the Great One to participate in the Black Fire War. He destroyed the greenskin army in one battle, and from then on wild beasts no longer became a scourge to humans..." A man knelt in the hall, holding a helmet with an obvious dent in it. The helmet looked quite old and like an antique. His face was firm and his eyes were filled with tears.

"Now the calamity has arisen again. Those who are against Mao and Liang are brutal and cruel, and are killing people everywhere. Our people are living in misery, and our countrymen are in dire straits... This is truly a disaster for the human race in the South, and the legacy of the great cause is in danger of being overturned!"

When he got to the exciting part, he couldn't help but cover his face and cry.

The sound is like a cuckoo crying blood, which is very moving.

Everyone present, the generous and patriotic men in the expeditionary force could not help but clench their fists, pressing on the hilts of their swords, ready to strike; the dwarves also felt deeply the damage caused by the greenskins, and were furious and united in hatred of the enemy.

But no one spoke.

Because no matter whether it was humans or dwarves, the one who was truly in charge did not speak out, so there was still some discipline.

The familiar situation brought back bad memories in Celestine's mind.

The same greenskin army, the same leader, the same - no, even "better" and more cruel and vicious methods than before!

Gao Maoliang, the greenskin warlord, is more special than all the Waaaagh Bosses that have appeared in the history of the greenskins.

After experiencing a disastrous defeat in Estalia, it made a comeback at a speed no one could have imagined, and it also learned lessons from that failure. Although it still insisted on the goal of being a "Barbarian Kingdom" which was really strange for the greenskins, its means were more sophisticated than before.

It forced the Matoaka to surrender to it and hand over hostages to prevent them from easily rebelling after the greenskins left, so that it didn't have to leave a large army to disperse its forces for surveillance. It also used the Matoaka as knives to harm other border people, causing the two sides to form a blood feud and become opposed to each other, forcing the Matoaka to have no choice but to rely on the greenskins' armed protection.

More importantly, the Matoka people were concerned about the threat of massacre and chose to surrender in order to preserve their vitality after resistance became hopeless... So what about other cities?

Zorak and Kavek in the western border, and Algaris and Mirmidon further south...

It can be said that the "Southern War" that took place on the border of the Border Princes (in the common understanding of the country constructed by Aiur, the period from the invasion of the greenskins to the unification of the south is collectively referred to as the "Southern War", but the invasion of the greenskins is also called the "National Defense War", and the conquest of the Tyrells is the "Unification War", which shapes the common understanding and eliminates the Tyrells' "annexation and national destruction" emotions) provides a reference for the border people:

The rapidly falling southern part of Estalia managed to preserve its strength in the war, but the northern part, which took over the central banner and resisted to the end, was severely damaged.

If that's the case, why fight us?

Gao Maoliang is a special greenskin. He doesn't just want to kill and destroy for fun. Instead, he wants people to submit to him like two countries annexing each other. Since we can't defeat them anyway, we might as well submit. The greenskins won't be able to jump for long anyway... The Empire, the Dwarves, and the nearest Alliance can't just ignore it, right?

They all wanted to preserve their strength and were afraid of Mao Liang's offensive.

As long as the greenskins don't force their way into the city and kill everyone, the border people are willing to use money, food, and the false name of "surrender" in exchange for the greenskins' butcher knives to spare their lives.

Everyone thought that the greenskins would not be rampant for too long, and that their "neighbors" would definitely interfere. So the principalities, territories, free cities, and towns on the border would easily choose to succumb to the greenskins' intimidation—without even resorting to war.

Since we are sure we can't win, surrendering early can save lives...

Estalia's "advanced experience" had a very bad impact on the border area.

If the entire border area could be united, it would be possible to resist Mao Liang's army. However, not to mention that they are so scattered that it is unlikely that they can form such a coalition. Just the selfish and practical idea that everyone wants to be "Margarita" and others want to be "Bill Barry" will lead to a very bad consequence:

The greenskins don't even need to lose too much strength to quickly sweep through the Border Princes, a land that is more vast than Tyrell.

Mao Liang only needed to rely on the threat of massacre to force the people there to "temporarily surrender" to him and provide him with supplies and arm his army.

In that case, even if the human-dwarf coalition went to attack, they would be facing a huge green-skinned war gang that did not suffer much loss and, on the contrary, used the resources of the border territory to arm themselves!

......

"In order to save the city, we have to pretend to surrender to the greenskins and deceive the enemy. As soon as the reinforcements are dispatched, Matoka will definitely rebel! We will never reconcile with the brutal enemy!"

In the hall, the envoy's mouth was full of smiles and he spoke passionately.

We only hope that our big brother the Empire and our good neighbor the dwarves will send out troops as soon as possible. The Matoka people have been waiting for the royal army for a long time. Now they are enduring humiliation and are just waiting for the arrival of the heavenly soldiers and generals. Then, young and old will unite and fight the greenskins to the death!

But the underlying meaning is that if there is no reinforcement, Matoka can only temporarily "compromise" with the greenskins and "infiltrate the enemy camp" in order to protect his family. It is natural for him to do something not so good in order to cover up the past... These are all necessary sacrifices!

But Celestine just felt exhausted.

She could not blame the Matoka people for not fighting to the last man and resisting to the end, because the result was inevitable. When the greenskins were attacking Matoka, the Imperial Dwarf troops were still resting at Haimen Pass. Even if they flew over, by the time they arrived there would probably be just enough time to collect the bodies of the Matoka people and carve a tombstone or something.

The mission of the expeditionary force into evil is to support the dwarves, and supporting the dwarves is the first priority. As for chasing the greenskins... at least before receiving orders from the country, Celestine and Rhine cannot take the army to fight a war that can be avoided if it has already been missed.

The dwarves were obviously not interested in reinforcing their neighbors for the time being. They now had to strengthen the defenses of Haimen Pass and restore the alert system of the outpost fortress to prevent such a thing as Mao Liang rushing to Haimen Pass after destroying Everlook Fortress from happening again.

But the Matoka people's behavior did set a very bad precedent... Although strictly speaking, the root of this "curve to save the country" should be Margarita, but they can make a convincing argument after they got rid of a child of unknown ancestry:

Isn’t this a success?

If we trace it back further, we have to go back to the time after the Great War when the gods gradually fell silent and the rapid development of the world brought about... a decline in the overall moral level?

They did it first.

It is no wonder that the Zorak and Algaris followed suit and shifted the greenskins' attack to their neighbors further south.

After all, everyone knows how ferocious the greenskins are before they become weak and exhausted.

This border area has developed a lot over the past hundred years, but its armaments are very backward. The attacks and defenses between small units are just village wars and armed fights in the eyes of the imperial people.

The ruling class prefers to use political tactics or money to solve problems, and military means are the last weapon in a desperate struggle.

So their overall combat effectiveness is very weak, and they can’t hold off the greenskins... um, unless Sigmar and Myrmidia show up a few more times?