Warhammer

Briefly:

This is my Shi Le!

........

The dwarves of Barak Haimen escorted the expeditionary force to land, helped their allies "recover" the territory, and cooperated with the Matoka city defense forces to liberate the city. During this period of time until the greenskins launched the attack, they had transported more than 100,000 swords, leather armor, helmets, and more than 9,000 bows and crossbows to Matoka.

There were also forty-eight cannons. The Matoka were willing to spend money in times of crisis, and the dwarves gave them away for the sake of the expeditionary force. When the Myrmidons retreated, in order to avoid leaving supplies in the hands of the greenskins, they moved some of the supplies onto the ship, and simply set fire to the rest that could not be taken away.

The Alliance didn't need it for the time being, so the dwarves took it back and handed it over to the Matoaka people to defend the city. They were all killing greenskins anyway, and the dwarves could tell the difference. Although they hated the Matoaka people's repetitive behavior, they still had a common enemy when it came to dealing with greenskins.

Because of the dwarves' efforts, Rhine had enough weapons to arm the entire city's militia. Otherwise, if they only relied on chopping wood for weapons, temporarily smelting steel to make spearheads, and making the lowest quality spears, even if tens of thousands of these militiamen formed densely packed and stacked square formations, they would probably not be able to withstand the charge of thousands of big war pigs.

Faced with the firepower advantage of the greenskins, although the Rhine did not think of relying on the Matoka's unreliable city walls to keep the greenskins out, they still had to fight for the outer defense line. They could even directly engage in a gun battle with the greenskins because the latter had very poor accuracy. It was not to say that the human artillerymen in the border territories who were forced to serve the greenskins had such a high sense of race and civilization that they deliberately made the muzzles of their guns an inch too high before battle.

A cannon is a technologically advanced thing.

Firing a cannon is a technical job. Anyone can light the fuse, but where the shell should be fired is a question that requires in-depth study.

Artillery is a technical branch that was born relatively late and became increasingly important after the Great War. It requires systematic training, a lot of practical exercises, or in other words, natural talent.

The greenskins obviously have none of the first three, and only the sometimes-effective metaphysical "I think this cannon can hit the target!" can work. So their artillery shells can easily break through the city walls, but it is very difficult for them to specifically hit the defenders' firing points, fortresses, etc.

After all, as a greenskin, although a very special one, it is already very good that Gao Maoliang can realize the role of firearms and technology. It is really too much to ask him to have the energy to train a reliable artillery unit when he is fighting in the Mediterranean at a tight pace.

Many of them cannot even be called "professional" artillerymen, not even "artillerymen".

They were just unlucky guys who were sent to work for the greenskins by their respective lands as if they were paying a blood tax. In addition, there were probably 60 to 70 different types of artillery among the 100 greenskin guns. They had not been debugged, trained, or predicted along the way. When they opened fire, they were the same as the greenskin cannon boys who were shouting:

Rely on eye pressure.

So it's not surprising that the accuracy is poor.

206: Living Saint and Incarnation of the Goddess

But nevertheless.

Compared with the Matoka defenders, the greenskins' firepower still has an overwhelming advantage. Moreover, they do not need to deal with the defenders' artillery. They just need to blast a gap in the city wall that is big enough for the soldiers to pass through.

The outer city wall only lasted less than three days before it was shattered by the bombardment of the greenskins. Although Matoka is a port city, the soil along the coast is soft and not suitable for building foundations. In the past, the urban area was continuously expanded inland, and the port area was separated and connected to the city through a highway.

Therefore, it does not have the advantage of Mirmidon that can rely on geography to use water instead of walls.

After the city wall was breached, the greenskins poured into the city without hesitation and launched a fierce attack on the defenders.

Rhine, who was in charge of the command, withdrew his troops in an orderly manner, relying on the newly built layers of low walls and strongholds behind the city walls to block Mao Liang's army.

As the nominal commander of the legion, Celestine, who has extraordinary prestige and status, rarely makes arrangements for substantive military affairs. Most of the time, she just watches and does not say a word. After all, Celestine's education and military experience are incomparable to Rhine, who is the descendant of a military family and has military experience.

The two men also have different strengths in war.

Celestine was more adept at holding the hammer, walking among the soldiers and fighting alongside them.

He boosted the morale of the soldiers on the front line with his bravery.

Everything seemed like a replay of Bill Barry:

The greenskins who were the invaders, the local defenders who were united as one, and the imperial army that came from afar...

Wherever Celestine fought, no enemy could be her match. The mark on the female knight convinced the Matoka militia, who believed in the state religion and were heavily influenced by the goddess of war Myrmidia. Most imperial people might pay more attention to Celestine's identity as the "divine chosen one", but for the border princes who were very close to the Southern Kingdom and were deeply influenced by it, it was obvious that they recognized the mark of "chosen by two gods at the same time" more.

The fanatical defenders spontaneously formed a guard for Celestine. After their request for a name was rejected by the female knight, they called themselves:

"The Holy Hammer Guard".

Surrounding the only living saint in the world, they think deeply about his every move, tremble with excitement, and cheer enthusiastically... just like crazy fans chasing a star.

As the consistent philosophy of the Julius family:

Celestine, who believes in "not caring about anything else but fighting", did not want such a group of fanatical followers to follow her at the beginning. Most of them hold various positions (the largest number of them are undoubtedly the believers of the Return Party), which easily reminds people of Celestine's favor for the "opposition party" of the current rules after returning to the empire.

This made her feel subconsciously bad, because the female knight's favor for the returnists was simply out of her heart, "acceptance" and "liking" of their actions and the ideas they pursued, and it was by no means a political or religious stance or position.

After the miracle of Bilbarri, she believed that she might have a mission, such as smashing the head of a Chaos Evil with a hammer or piercing the ASS of that kid with a holy spear one day, even at the cost of her life and everything else.

But before Sigmar (or Myrmidia) gave the order, she still planned to maintain her previous ordinary life, because what she experienced in the south was a chaotic nightmare that was difficult to understand for Celestine. She didn't know what arrangements the God-Emperor, who "holds everything and looks down on the world", had made for her destiny.

Just wait.

But the idol's unilateral refusal is no way to reject the fanatical fans' behavior. To the believers who insist that she has some kind of destiny and a mission given by the supreme will (that is, the God-Emperor Sigmar), Celestine's behavior seems to be nothing more than "humility" among the saintly virtues.

They insisted on following Celestine's footsteps, and the latter could not lose her temper and use a decisive attitude to expel these warriors who followed her because she also firmly believed that "Sigma has or will give her a mission", so in the end she could only acquiesce in the existence of these people.

Almost all of the vanguard troops who participated in the Badlands Expedition and were the first to set off identified themselves as "followers of the living saint", and there were more than five hundred people who called themselves "Holy Hammer Guards". This was only within the legion. If Celestine publicly recruited followers in the Empire in her own capacity, even with partial intervention from the Empire and the Grand Council, she would be able to gather at least tens of thousands of troops.

If the poor and working people who have nothing have the opportunity, they will definitely be willing to support a living saint in order to obtain what they have longed for but could not get in the past.

On the battlefield, these warriors who were not recognized and accepted by Celestine burst out with powerful fighting power at the call of the Chosen One. They always followed closely behind the female knight, charging to the front line, shouting the name of Sigmar and the Holy Hammer to fight and kill the enemy. Even without the blessing of the so-called "Water of the Holy Grail", the well-trained professional warriors could still gain the upper hand when facing the naturally brave and fierce green-skinned guys when fully armed.

The expeditionary force is not large in number, but as a whole they are very elite, and sometimes only a few dozen people are needed to stabilize a front line.

But compared to the greenskins, their overall strength is still at a disadvantage.

.........

"Hammer! Hammer!"

I just saw with my own eyes that human can with a hammer knocked down the greenskins from trolls to greenskin warlords and bigger and stronger guys than himself. The greenskins were so scared that they screamed at the enemy's most conspicuous symbol - the hammer, and then ran away, not even caring that the whole front was advancing, and they just retreated and fled for their lives.

Everything seemed to have happened thousands of years ago. In this land (about a few thousand kilometers away from Blackfire Pass), the descendants of those strong men's blood were still flowing in their bodies. They used the same style of hammer, and some scholars even claimed that it was the legendary hammer "Ghal Malaz", to hit a group of green-skinned orcs with the same green and black skin.

The men following the female knight cheered as they saw the enemy retreat.

They launched a swift assault, eliminated the remaining greenskins on the front line, and successfully repelled this wave of offensive.

The militiamen looked in awe at the heroic figure of the "living saint" and "God's Chosen One" whom they had only heard of in legends in the past. They cleaned the battlefield, collected their own bodies, and repaired damaged fortifications.

It is no wonder that Celestine's demeanor on the battlefield makes the warriors who still believe in Myrmidia regard her as the incarnation of the goddess of war. They firmly believe that the female knight will retrace the legendary Myrmidia's path to the gods, revive the faith in the goddess of war, and lead her believers to recover the holy land of faith in the south.

Many people "fell" in the two southern countries one after another. After the Church of War was suppressed, they ran to the Empire, trying to seek refuge under Celestine, the last influence of the Goddess of War left in the world, the Chosen One of Myrmidia. However, they were strongly suppressed by the State Church. Many people had to run to Middenheim or Bretonnia and other places to wait for an opportunity. Even in this Badlands Expedition, they were excluded from the Legion by the Empire, restricting them from following the "Incarnation of the Goddess".

Because in the eyes of the orthodox party of the state religion, although Celestine leaned towards the return faction, she was still the chosen one of the God-Emperor and the living saint of the state religion. She would never allow a group of stray dogs who were defeated in the south to strive to continue to be the incarnation of the goddess of war who had no news and whose life or death was unknown.

207: The Warlord's Plan

Celestine held the warhammer in her hand and, after repelling the enemies on the current front line, she ran directly to the next battle site without stopping for a moment, without any rest time.

Those soldiers of the Holy Hammer Guard who followed the Chosen One to fight were unable to carry out such high-intensity combat. After a fierce battle, they often had to stop and rest for a while, then "follow the footsteps of the saint" and fight side by side with the female knight.

Rhine was in charge of commanding the rear, while Celestine would naturally charge forward as a general to stabilize the front.

The soldiers will cheer and their morale will be boosted by Celestine's appearance, while the morale of the greenskin enemies will plummet after the generals and big guys are hit in the head by Celestine's hammer. The fear of the macho man/woman wielding the hammer seems to be some kind of memory implanted in the greenskins' DNA. Humans who use the hammer seem to have a certain special attack on the morale of the greenskins?

She swung her war hammer, shouted the divine name of the hammer bearer, and leaped into the enemy camp. Those ugly enemies with ferocious faces wanted to rush forward to drown Celestine, but they could only see a dazzling white light emerging from the female knight's armor. Most of the time, this was the last thing they could see.

The most holy blessing from the sky descends upon the mortal world with the speed of thunder!

Rays of golden light fell like raindrops into the enemy sea! Amid the wailing of the foolish and blind enemies, the greenskins surrounding Celestine were knocked over by the bright and blazing power.

The greenskin beasts that had managed to survive all howled and fled in all directions. Some greenskin shamans on the front line tried to cast their curse spells from the wilderness to attack Celestine, but under the protection of the double blessing, Celestine was not afraid of such attacks. She keenly noticed those sneaky greenskin shamans, and took the opportunity when the surrounding enemies were shocked and wiped out to pounce quickly.

The fanatical soldiers let out a high-spirited war cry, cheering for Celestine, cheering for the living saint.

Celestine picked up a few spears from the corpses. When they were at the right distance, a layer of golden light covered the simple spears she held. Then the female knight threw them out with force. This power was a blessing from Myrmidia. The moment the spears were thrown and the divine power was attached to them, they had the effect of tracking the enemies. After four consecutive spears, two panicked greenskin shamans were pierced and fell to the ground.

A black orc warrior used his battle axe in time to block a jave thrown by a greenskin shaman beside him. The fierce attack broke the weapon in the middle and it could no longer be used.

It roared, threw away the broken battle axe, grabbed a big guy running past it, clamped the other's neck and lifted him up.

The greenskin screamed and kicked its legs in the air. When it saw that it was the Black Beast General, its eyes revealed a hint of confusion. The general was too lazy to explain anything to the other party. He directly threw the weapon in his hand, a weapon inlaid with iron nails and blades. The workmanship was very rough but better than the greenskin's - it was obviously a craftsmanship from an unknown border city-state.

The tributes from those city-states greatly strengthened the warband of Gomaoliang. If it weren't for these "high-quality" weapons produced in the more technologically advanced human kingdoms that armed a large number of greenskins, Rhine's chances of defending Matoka would be at least three times higher.

If there were no weapons provided by the dwarves, it could be said that the equipment used by the greenskins on the other side was better than that of the original defenders of Matoka... How could they fight...

After the black orc warrior snatched the weapon from the big guy, he threw the unlucky guy aside, not caring about the other party's dissatisfied roar, and rushed directly towards Celestine.

On the way, he stopped a greenskin who was running away with collapsed morale, snatched the battle axe and shield from the other party, and armed himself. The black orc warrior challenged Celestine aggressively.

It strode forward directly, and the greenskins in front either ran away or hesitated, not daring to move forward to test the power of the hammer in the hand of the big human.

The Black Orc general had already witnessed the opponent's extraordinary performance in the attacks in the previous two days, but this was the first time they had officially fought.

Gao Maoliang knew that the human chosen one who had blocked him for a long time in Bilbarri was in Matoka. This blessed and powerful human had killed at least dozens of greenskin governors and generals who went to the front line in Bilbarri with hammers and spears. The people of Bilbarri were able to hold out for so long until Aiel led his troops to help. Celestine could be said to have made an indelible contribution to this.

It will naturally pay extra attention to the other party.

Therefore, in the previous attacks, Gao Maoliang ordered his subordinates that if they encountered a very Waaaagh big guy, they should try to avoid fighting with the opponent, so as to avoid the leader being beheaded and the guys losing all fighting spirit and being defeated directly.

At this moment, facing the failure of his subordinates, the black orc general's honor and strong desire for battle did not allow him to avoid the powerful enemy before him.

The greenskins are a race born for fighting. The authority of the great warlords can only partially restrain them, but cannot make them completely go against their nature, even for the black orcs who are famous for their discipline.

"Waaaaagh!"

The warrior with a burly figure like a stone wall rushed towards Celestine, and the female knight was not to be outdone. She pulled out a spear from the back of the corpse at her feet and threw it at the aggressive orc warrior. At the same time, a faint white light covered her body and she also accelerated to meet him!

"boom!"

The black orc used his shield to block the spear thrown by Celestine. Although he did not use the blessed divine power, the huge force still caused the spear head to penetrate the shield and pierce into the forearm of the black orc warrior.

But this injury only further enraged its ferocity. It roared and swung its mace, striking down with unparalleled force.

Celestine dodged with a quick move, a strong wind brushing past her left shoulder. She smashed the general's knee with a hammer, and the latter fell to one knee in pain.

Next came a frontal hammer strike from Celestine!

The brain blossoms!

The general paid the price for his recklessness, but even so, the ferocious beast still did not die. Its skull had been deformed, and one of its eyes had burst out of its socket due to the strong pressure. A mixture of blood, green, yellow, and white unknown liquids spurted out of its nasal cavity and wounds. However, the black orc general still delivered the final blow to the dying beast. It held the mace and swept it to the left.

Celestine used her shield to block the attack in time, but several arrows shot at her from a distance at the same time. Fortunately, the accuracy was quite deviated, and only one arrow hit her but failed to break Celestine's armor.

She delivered another hammer blow to the black orc's head, killing him completely and then he turned around to look at the end of the passage.

The greenskins appear to be organizing a second attack.

She saw several huge figures no smaller than the one she had just killed moving behind her.

To be on the safe side, she had to retreat first.

.......

Everything went according to Mao Liang’s plan.

The Matoaka people wanted to use the city's terrain to delay the enemy, but there were at least a dozen "independent battlefields" fighting at the same time. No matter how strong Celestine was, she was just one person after all. She had to keep running around, and the greenskins had an absolute advantage. Without her and the elite imperial warriors of the Holy Hammer Guard as support, the Matoaka militia were basically at a disadvantage in the face of the fierce attacks of the greenskins.

They could only rely on the existing terrain advantages to block the enemy's attack as much as possible and kill more enemies before the entire front line could not withstand the pressure and was forced to retreat.

The Matokas were definitely not good at fighting. In Rhine's opinion, only the former could be considered slightly qualified in terms of their fighting will and training. Previously, a lot of time had been wasted in the struggle for military dominance. After inviting the expeditionary force, the Matokas were caught in a dilemma of whether to fight or retreat. They were afraid that they would not reap the fruits if they won the battle, but they were hesitant and unwilling to hand over the military power. This greatly delayed Rhine's work to strengthen the Matoka's armaments.

208: Rhine Concern

Fierce attacks were launched from all directions at the same time. Matoca was a large city that once had a population of 300,000. To this day, there are nearly 100,000 people who remain in the city and take up arms.

But the untrained militia faced an enemy as fierce as wolves and tigers. They won battle after battle and broke through the entire border prince's territory from east to west. However, the greenskin army, which was in high morale, was still somewhat overwhelmed.

Even in a narrow terrain like street fighting, facing the green-skinned orcs who were fearlessly charging forward with spears, it was a question of how many people would have the courage to persevere to the end. The morale of the Matoka people was not like that of Bilbarry, who had both the ambition to defend his country and the spirit of mourning soldiers who were ready to die for their country as most of their country had been lost and only a few sparks of resistance were left around them.

If they could show the "death-ignoring" morale of the Bilbarri people, then Rhine would be fully confident that they could hold out at least until the arrival of the Thor expeditionary force. Unfortunately, the militia forces, which make up the vast majority of Matoka's current defense force, are in very poor condition in terms of training, fighting will and morale.

Although wealthy, the Matoka people have never experienced the threat of war for three or four generations, nor have they undergone the "crisis training" implanted in their subconscious mind by the flames of war burning around them. The ancestors of the Matoka people also lived on the border and fought against greenskins, wild beasts, and bandits - occasionally they themselves played a cameo role; they fought constantly, and it can be said that they fought with every sword and gun to build today's family business for their descendants.

But the adventurous blood in their bones has cooled in hundreds of years of "freedom, independence, and prosperity", and their flesh, their bones, and their souls have been softened by the honey pot of peace of mind for the hundred and fifty years since the Great Crusade (in the badlands, count less than a dozen years because of the big Waaaaagh by Gego and Maogo)!

Although peace is beautiful, sweet and intoxicating, it is so fragile when the God of War ruthlessly displays His power in the mortal world.

Rhine stood on a tower in the city center, looking through a telescope at the battle that was gradually approaching enough to appear in his "field of vision."

A ferocious green-skinned guy was pierced by three spears in the abdomen and chest at the same time, but he still used his crazy roar to panic the three soldiers who did not cooperate well with each other.

Perhaps they thought they had inflicted fatal injuries on the enemy and it was time to retreat, so some tried to draw their weapons, while the soldier on the left simply let go and retreated, intending to watch the beast "die on its own."

This gave the greenskins a chance to counterattack.

It swung its battle axe and cut off the spear that was stuck in its body.

The weapons provided by the dwarves were not enough to arm everyone. Even giving each person a knife was not enough. They did not prepare so many "inferior" equipment, although the dwarves' inferior equipment was already acceptable compared to humans.

Therefore, many of the spears used by the militia were hastily made by the Matoka people. The dwarves had provided the spear heads, and they only needed to prepare a pole. It was simple and practical, but the fragility of the spear pole also easily led to this problem:

The spear was inserted, but the enemy was a ferocious non-human race, the greenskins. There were many greenskins with tattoos on their skin in Maoliang's army, which improved their physical defense capabilities. They moved violently, struggled and counterattacked desperately, and broke the spear shaft...