Warhammer

The tall elf who first stood in front of Kallen and questioned her arrival and purpose.

A giant dragon in human form.

The giant dragon "Guardian" Ladon is a long-winged dragon that is extremely rare in the old world, in the area west of the Endless Mountains. It has mastered the ability to change shape.

He never revealed to anyone the secret of how he had the ability to transform into an elven form, but it is speculated that this is inseparable from his travels to the Eastern Kingdom of Cathay. The elves of Osuen generally believe that this noble dragon guardian must have reached a deal with a powerful dragon son, a close relative of the Western Dragonborn, in Cathay. The other party taught him the secret of shapeshifting, but the condition may be that Ladon cannot leak it.

But the "Guardian" himself never responded to this.

According to the elves' classification of dragons, "Guardian" Ladon belongs to the "Silver Moon Dragon" stage of dragons, but because of his special human form, Ladon is undoubtedly a top warrior in both magic and martial arts. The dual-form Ladon is very flexible.

As a supernatural creature with the title of "Guardian", Ladon is a member of the Storm Guardians of Icathia, but he does not believe in any elven gods. He stays on the Central Island just to protect the order of the world. The proud dragon has the nature of hating evil and he hates the pollution and destruction of the world by Chaos. Ladon once had a close companion, but the latter fell in the chaos wave of the last war and became a chaos dragon known as the "Fire Dragon of Doom".

He witnessed with his own eyes how his close companions became twisted and brutal under the influence of the evil of Chaos. When his companions extended to him an olive branch blessed by the Blood God Khorne, Ladon responded to the invitation with dragon breath. Then the two once close kin fought to the death. After three days and three nights of fierce fighting, Ladon finally bit off his best friend's neck with tears. Chaos took away his companions and made the world devastated. From then on, Ladon vowed to fight Chaos to the end and defend the clear world of order, so he had the title of "Guardian".

During the Great Storm, the 2.0 version of the Great Vortex built by the elves, Ladon used his dragon's breath to help the elven fleet destroy a Chaos fleet that wanted to plunder the elven homeland in the northern waters of Ossuun, and was then invited by the elves to garrison on the Central Island.

For the giant dragons with long lifespans, even hundreds or thousands of years are only a short period of time in their lives, so the guardians came with joy.

Because I have witnessed the tragic civil war of the elves, and I know the cause and effect of it all because of someone who has been idle for thousands of years. It is obvious that I only need to type and shout on the public screen:

"The Phoenix King I appointed is Malekith. Bring him back as soon as possible! Otherwise, my curse on the usurper and the likes of you will never be lifted."

It can make some moving piece of ashes become a fanatical follower of the Phoenix God in tears and run back happily - this time try to inherit the legitimate throne by peaceful means and put an end to the division of the elves.

But He just kept silent, and watched the elves fight a civil war for thousands of years. If the blood shed in the civil war was used to form an army, even if Archaon, the Eternal Chosen in the official history, brought people with him, they would be reduced to ashes.

Still want to destroy the world? I'll just block the portal and slap you in the face?

After knowing all this, even the most devout Asur believers could not help but have a little "doubt" about their belief in the King of Gods.

What's more, the giant dragon Ladon does not worship gods, but is an extraordinary dragon who lives freely and at ease.

He was willing to accept the elves' request and come to the central island to participate in the protection of the Ekathia Storm. In addition to the fact that this matter itself was in line with his pursuit - fighting against chaos, the more important point was that he was not at ease with the elves and the elven gods.

That's why Ladon stood in front of Kallen and expressed doubts about the contract that Asuryan had already signed. Because for the dragons, who have a long lifespan and a clan history that dates back to before the advent of the Old Ones, the gods are not so supreme and unquestionable, and the same goes for the decisions they make.

If Asuryan were trustworthy, he would not sit on his throne and ignore the elves fighting over who he "approves".

Therefore, Ladon’s duty on the Central Island is the same as that of the uncorrupted Phoenix Guards and the Magic Swordsmen, which is to take “decisive measures” at critical moments, such as when the Guardians are corrupted.

His purpose in coming here was to use the power of the dragon to stop the "mortals" from making stupid mistakes when they were about to mess around again.

But this is something that Asuryan has allowed. If the God King wants to lend his power, no guardian, no matter how powerful, has any reason to stop him.

He could only watch as the dragon's eyes, the half-hidden aura of chaos on its body - in fact, this situation was not concealed at all - took away the Fire of Asuryan, a sacred object that was vital to the existence of the Central Island.

"I hope that this time, mortal, you won't do anything stupid again."

124: This is not achieved by power!

Let’s turn our attention back to the badlands.

After fulfilling his filial duty to his adoptive mother and relieving Alina of her worries through practical actions, Al finally decided to do something.

In general:

Cross the river!

Cross the river!

After his body was drained, Al's mind suddenly became clear again. He had already led his men to the edge, and the banner they were waving was also to fight against the greenskins. It would be unacceptable to sit back and watch the Matoka defenders on the other side be annihilated.

He has to compete with the empire for the border, which is an all-round battle in politics, military, economy and another important aspect with fluctuating consequences: the hearts and minds of the people.

Then they must demonstrate their strength and responsibility as a great power. The Southern Alliance and the Northern Empire will expand their influence to the border areas. In addition to the direct political and military struggles, it is also a war for the hearts and minds of the people in the border areas.

For the loosely-knit border people, because of the impact of the Greenskin War, they have been treated as a piece of fat meat without the ability to protect themselves, so the best choice is to join a large force capable of protecting this territory, or to become such a force themselves.

Since the last point cannot be achieved at present, serving the big country and submitting to it become the only options. From a geopolitical point of view, there could be no second choice except the human empire in the north.

The Kingdom of Tyrell, which is highly close to the Borderers in terms of cultural and blood ties, is itself just a loose confederation of states, only slightly better than the scattered Border Princes. Moreover, the size of a single Kingdom of Tyrell is too small, even smaller than that of the Border Princes, and it has no capital to merge with the other side or to conquer it by force.

Estalia, which is slightly better in terms of centralization and size, is not geographically adjacent to the border, and it is even less likely to rule the border territories in the form of an enclave.

Therefore, there is only respecting the north, and there is no such thing as following the south.

But after Aiel unified the southern kingdom, formed an alliance, and was crowned the "Lord of the South", the new (Southern) alliance was a regional power with a population of nearly 10 million.

We have already gained the qualifications to compete with the big brothers and empires among the countries established by human races over the past thousands of years, and to divide spheres of influence and interests.

Although due to some "misunderstandings" during the rise of Aiel and the policies it implemented, the southern immigrants and southerners who make up the majority of the border princes have somewhat complicated feelings about the new country that replaced their "homeland" and "blood motherland."

But after all, the close contacts between the people have never been interrupted, and El attaches great importance to the image construction of the alliance country, that is, internal and external propaganda, and guiding public opinion. Those who are far away may not be clear about the new order of the new alliance and the development of the country, but the border territories nearby must have heard about it.

So there is no gap in the relationship.

After seizing Tyrell and establishing an alliance, Aiur began to infiltrate the border territories and make arrangements. If the people of the border were forced to choose between the two major forces of the north and the south, emotionally speaking, leaving aside issues such as national strength and the threat of war, they would definitely be more inclined to the Southern Alliance.

This psychological tendency cannot be the decisive factor in affecting the direction of such a large area without actual betting.

Outside the Imperial front, some city-states might choose to contact the Alliance before the Imperials arrive—in fact, some people have already begun to do so.

Trying to get closer to the Southern Alliance, it would be best to obtain the name of "autonomy outside the borders" and exchange the existing autonomy for sovereignty. As long as they are nominally subordinate to the Alliance, the Empire cannot directly use force to open the city and ask them to turn to Altdorf and pledge allegiance, right?

But if Al doesn't come up with something practical, like, first point:

Prove that you have the ability to protect the interests of border territories.

This situation is at most an individual action, and most people are still waiting and watching.

I'm afraid no border city-state would be so arrogant and foolish as to use force to resist the entry of imperial forces.

The only possibility is that they attach themselves to a certain force that raises a banner and fights with the Empire at least in the border princely territory, while also being able to (regardless of) guarantee their old interests and confront the Empire.

In this way, if they lose, they can still defect together without worries, and the law will not hold them all responsible. If they win and successfully block the imperial forces from entering the border, they can also turn around and use the previous strategy of "respecting the emperor and serving the north" to seek help from the temporarily withdrawn empire, and in turn check the power of the southerners.

........

These are issues that will not directly affect the current situation in the short term.

What Ai'er needs to do now is to "establish his character" first, just like he launched the expedition without asking for anything in return to support the dwarves. In this kind of competition where everyone is a "civilized person" who wants to save face and is reasonable, he should have a "legitimate reason" and occupy the moral high ground, which will inherently make the alliance invincible.

When the Imperials received an invitation to surrender land from Matoka, the "big traitor" in the border areas, they hastily abandoned their dwarf allies and pulled the troops that were originally scheduled to support the mountains to the border areas to defend the "homeland". At the same time, they used the mighty power of the army to force many border city-states to "unite under the banner of the empire" and contribute manpower to form a coalition to serve as the king's vanguard. In essence, they deprived the city-states of their independence, which was a bit ugly.

But Al is different.

With the Empire seemingly having gained the upper hand, he had to project a positive image.

Everything was just like he had done in Estalia.

"The people are devoted to him, and all quarters admire his virtue; this is not achieved by power, but by destiny~!"

In layman's terms.

It means that you need both substance and appearance.

The empire was impatient, so he had to proceed step by step. When the empire came at Matoka's "invitation", it immediately made a gesture of encompassing all the places and taking over the territory. He had to raise an army of benevolence and righteousness, emulating his uncle's capture of Xuzhou. At least on the first point, he could not have the same attitude as the empire, which wanted to annex the border.

We must not allow people along the border to have the impression that “the border between the Southern Alliance and the Northern Empire is as close as a broken line”. The Southern Alliance, like the Northern Empire, is an ambitious country that wants to annex border territories.

In this way, everyone is comparing themselves to the worst, and the border people will be completely desperate. They may think that joining the empire at least will save them from having to go through another war, and they will surrender to the most powerful of the three parties: the local forces in the border territories, the alliance, and the empire.

Only by letting them see the possibility of "recruiting relatives from their homeland as an arm, resisting the empire in the north, and making alliances in the south to protect the freedom of the lands", can they achieve what Al hopes:

When independence is facing a life-and-death moment, the first thing to do is to unite, and then, in the name of the majority on the border, "invite the wise king to go east to fight against the greenskins (empire) together", so that the righteous cause will fall into the hands of Aiel.

With Mirmidon, the only country in the Border Greenskin War that showed an unyielding will and made achievements in exile and could become the leader of the Border Kingdoms, Aiur is confident that he can support a vassal force such as the "Border Princes' Assembly" and the "Border Resistance Movement" to gain the legitimacy and popular support of the Border Princes.

As for whether the border people who have banded together will turn around and "raise their own troops" and lead the north to fight the south and maintain their independence...

That would be an underestimation of Al.

There is precedent for what happened to Margarita.

Whether the border people are sensible or not, there are always people who are sensible enough to stand up and offer the scepter to Ai'er.

The only difference is whether Al adds a certain crown of "Grand Prince of the Border" to himself, or whether he adopts a slightly rougher system of provinces and counties to rule.

The current priority.

The natural thing was to march across the river, lift the siege of Matoka, and roll out the names at the border!

........

Al held a letter in his hand and thought to himself:

Although Mao Liang's army had been unable to capture the city after a long siege, it still had the strength to fight. If the big warlord turned against him and played dirty tricks... well, he had no right to blame him for this.

Maybe we will have to ask the dwarves to help evacuate the garrison.

If the greenskins head east directly, it will be difficult for the Imperial Army to deal with them...

Chapter 125: Fang and the warlords hunt here

As a self-proclaimed "mediator" who believed that he had a bit of face in his hands, Al actually did not want to resort to force to solve the problem of the border princes' territories at the beginning.

If Mao Liang hadn't interfered.

According to the normal plan, the Alliance has been gradually increasing its infiltration into the border princely territories in recent years. With the increase of national strength, this progress is also increasing. In the future, Ai'er may be able to use political means to slowly achieve his goal. Although the progress may be a bit slow compared to directly expanding the territory by force, it is safer.

Even now, he still thinks about trying to "get through peacefully" in places where the use of force can be reduced or avoided.

After all, reality is not a game. Fighting brings experience and equipment. If there "happens" to be a wandering army on the way, most players will basically just join them and rush over. It would be a shame not to take the free experience pack.

The number of soldiers killed in battle alone is literally decreasing. It takes more than ten years to grow from nothing to a human being, and it takes at least three to five years to grow a faster beastman. It's impossible to fill up the team as easily as in the game after just one round.

Before making the decision to cross the river, Al sent someone to "write a letter" to the greenskin army that was besieging Matoka. The recipient of the letter was naturally the warlord Gao Maoliang himself.

At the beginning, Ai'er first agreed with the warlord's "conquest and killing according to the rules" in the border areas. Compared with the traditional greenskins, this method is slightly more humane, but at least it touches the bottom line of wisdom, civilization and morality.

He also resoundingly refuted the greenskins' desire to establish a country on the border as "a foolish dream", "wishful thinking", and "going against the will of the world". Whether it is the Empire, the Alliance or the Dwarves, they will not sit idly by and watch the greenskins "become so rampant"!

"The head of the Imperial expedition is in the northwest, leading 100,000 elite soldiers, and will arrive soon. Although the Alliance is weak, there are 30,000 brave warriors with chivalrous hearts who are willing to save the defenders of Matoka from the danger of the city being overthrown. Moreover, the High King of the Dwarves has defeated the enemy at Black Rock Castle and led his army back. There is no front line in the mountains. If 10,000 brave warriors from the mountains can join forces with us, they will not be able to stop the warlords who are at a loss for what to do. "

"If the warlord is still rational and concerned about his own survival, he should leave quickly. If he insists on attacking the city, I will bring 30,000 warriors with me and hunt with him here! (referring to Matoka)"

The translation is:

Aliang, stop it.

The siege has been set up.

The imperial army is attacking from the west, and I can't just watch you take down Matoka. The dwarves in the east haven't made any moves yet, so you still have time to move in.

Everything that needed to be said was in the letter. Of course, there were a few other things that Al asked the envoy to communicate privately with the warlord.

If the opponent had a greenskin leader, like General Bonebreaker of Black Rock, then Al would definitely not bother to waste his breath arguing with him.

But Gao Maoliang is different. Its specialness not only allows it to communicate normally, but also carries Al's pessimistic hope of saving the world. If it comes to the time to rely on the greenskins to save the world, how desperate it would be...

But we have to deny that such a possibility does exist.

If he had to choose between two piles of shit, then Al would rather "eliminate" the stinkiest one and fight it to the death, while throwing the less smelly one over to disgust Chaos Ren.

Taking all factors into consideration, Ai'er did not want Gao Maoliang Feilong, who might become a great hero in the fight against chaos and save the world in the future, and continue the legend of Grimgor Ironhide, to fight to the death with the Order Alliance in the Border Territory. No matter whether he ended up dead or starting over, at least in a more macro dimension, it would be of no benefit to the mortal world.

He hoped that the warlord Mao Liang would try the suggestion he made:

Migrate to the dark land in the east, fight evil with evil and violence with violence, and severely ravage this chaotic land full of vitality and all things flourishing.

Severely deal with the remnants of the Chaos Dwarves, the remnants of Nagash, the cultists, and Chaos elements who are likely to cause trouble around the time of the End and hold the world back.

Use the martial virtues of the greenskins to inject a new "order under the butcher's knife" into this vibrant land.

After El's earnest persuasion and his sincere gesture of revealing military intelligence and tipping off, Gao Maoliang's original attitude of trying again on the border seemed to loosen. He asked the messenger to bring a reply letter to El, stating that he intended to withdraw his troops, but could not leave without gaining anything.

It swept across the border territories within a few months, recaptured several cities, and even opened the precedent of requiring many civilized cities to surrender to the greenskins in an organized manner in exchange for being spared by the butcher's knife. However, Gao Maoliang was not satisfied with its achievements on the border.

In its view, it neither captured the Dwarven Sea Gate nor clashed with the Imperials, nor did it capture several of the Empire's capital cities...or plunder the Southern Kingdom, wreak havoc, and then leave in style.

This expedition was a poor one.

Fighting against the greenskins is the foundation of the empire, and Sigmar started out that way; similarly, in the greenskins' "legacy", being able to sweep through the country of the big hammer-wielding guy, defeat their army, occupy their towns, smear feces on the hammer-wielding guy's statue, and replace it with the funny big face of the big guy is also an important achievement that is indispensable for a greenskin warrior to reach the pinnacle of green life.

Even if Gao Maoliang wanted to try the "suggestion" provided by Ai'er and open up a new track in a distant place where the forces of Order are relatively weak, it must first have a name that is big enough to let the greenskins in distant places know through the "greenskin radio waves" that such a fierce warrior has risen somewhere and is launching an "unprecedented" Waaaaagh. Only then will Gao Maoliang have enough power to support it and the idea provided by Ai'er.

So, how to gain such fame?

The best way is naturally through victory.

Matoka is not a famous place, and its defenders are not very strong. Moreover, with Al eyeing them covetously on the other side of the sea, it is not wise to insist on fighting the Matoka people to the death.

So......