Warhammer

In the current Border Prince Territory, there is only one target that could possibly allow Mao Liang to gain this reputation:

The Sol Expeditionary Force and the coalition forces of border cities led by the Empire's chief warrior Augustin Usnov.

Its direct combat force is nearly 100,000 in size. It is a force that can't even sweep across the border territories, declare war on El, or fight the Alliance without El's full energy.

There are also a total of 30,000 to 40,000 border corps. The combat effectiveness of these people is questionable, but the total number is a number that cannot be underestimated.

Gao Maoliang directly told Al his battle plan, and seemed to have really "let bygones be bygones", treating Al as a "respectable opponent who could provide him with some help when not hostile":

It wants to abandon Matoka, turn back west, and confront the legion of the empire's chief commander!

It meant that if Aiel really wanted to unite with the greenskins in the future, he would have to stand aside and watch the war, or at least not lead his troops directly into the battlefield.

After a little thought, Al quickly agreed to the request.

Whether Mao Liang wins or loses in the war against the chief, his strength is bound to be severely damaged and he will no longer be able to cause trouble on the border.

126. Gambling

In the latter part of the month, after winning the Battle of Black Rock, Al led his army to quickly turn west.

The victorious Alliance Army, with the support of the Dwarf fleet, crossed the river in large numbers, departed from the abandoned Myrmidia fortress, boarded ships, and headed for Matoka on the other side.

Because they were not prepared to cross the river and fight a fierce battle with the greenskins at the beginning, Aiel, who was guarding the border for the Empire, did not inform the Matoka of the news beforehand. It was not until Gao Maoliang wrote him a reply and the two sides secretly reached a "Green Alliance Non-Aggression Treaty" that Aiel officially made up his mind to "cross the river to provide support."

The news of the arrival of the alliance reinforcements was not passed on to the defenders in the city by the dwarves until the day before the official launch of the river crossing operation. Al was also prepared that if Gao Maoliang planned to ambush him, he would never help the imperial people to shed too much blood in Matoka. If he helped a little, he would use the excuse that the army had been fighting for many days and heard that the "allies" were in danger, so he marched westward without rest and did not have enough fighting power. He asked the imperial people to temporarily withdraw to the other side with the help of the dwarves.

But obviously, as a greenskin, Gao Maoliang is much better than someone else in terms of "external credit".

Before the defenders in Matoka City could cheer for their unexpected "reinforcements", another piece of news that was even more worthy of their celebration came at the same time:

The enemies outside the city retreated!

The greenskins retreated!

After fifteen days of siege, the defenders in the city were almost out of ammunition and food under the fierce attack of the greenskins.

Nowadays, all the military equipment and supplies they use are basically supplied by the dwarf fleet. However, on the one hand, they have no special relationship with the Matoka people. The two sides have no "friendship" other than normal trade in the past. On the other hand, the dwarves, who hate betrayal and surrender, have a very bad impression of the Matoka. Therefore, the stubborn, trustworthy and "peevish" dwarves are no longer willing to provide supplies to "unfamiliar and disliked people" for free.

The Matoka people had to pay real money for all supplies, even as small as a dagger or an arrow would be recorded in the account.

In consideration of the fact that the Empire's allies nominally "owned" the land, the dwarves at Haimen Pass allowed the Matoka defenders to continue to obtain their supplies on credit. The stubborn dwarves were very clear in this regard, and they were willing to provide free supplies to the 7,000 Imperial volunteers led by Rhine and Celestine, even if they did not really help the dwarves. However, they entered the evil land in order to fulfill the covenant, and they also helped the dwarves eliminate the greenskins that harassed the Valeka Fortress, so they were willing to bear the supply of this part of the army.

As for the rest, those recruited locally, it is hard to say how willing they are to provide logistics for the Matoka militia to defend their territory. The dwarves are willing to "help", but they have to pay.

Rhine was troubled and had to ask the powerful representatives who stayed in the city to contribute part of their property to defend the country. After all, no matter how fast the dwarf fleet was, it was impossible for it to arrive in the afternoon after you paid in the morning and replenished in the afternoon. The defenders must ensure that the reserve materials are always on a safe line. They can't wait until the archers' quivers are empty before anxiously looking for the dwarves to "urge delivery", right?

Therefore, every time he requested supplies from the dwarves, the amount was huge. Matoka had more than 100,000 garrisons, which was much more than the army at Haimen Pass. Even though most of them were untrained civilians, it stood to reason that a border militia with questionable combat effectiveness and a battle-hardened Rick Guard were essentially the same mortals, and their daily expenses for food, drink, and defecation were at the same level.

So the dwarves asked the Matoaka people again - at least the Matoaka people had to pay some "deposit" in advance.

This made the powerful people who felt their lives were threatened at any time because they stayed to defend the city very dissatisfied. After the chaos caused by Mao Liang, most of the smart people were ready to transfer their assets for easy escape. As for safety, among the vast lands led by the border princes in the badlands, where could they compare with Haimen Pass with its natural dangers, strong cities and powerful artillery?

Many wealthy people on the border like to deposit their assets in the dwarfs' "treasury" for safekeeping. The dwarves have detailed accounts that record even the smallest copper coin, who it belongs to, when and where it was deposited. As long as they agree, the dwarves can directly transfer the funds from the treasury and exchange them for weapons and equipment to aid Haimen...

But for the Matoka people who felt that they had "sacrificed their lives for the country and taken too many risks", they were not willing to continue betting on a war that seemed hopeless and throw all their silver into Blackwater Bay.

So they took a very tough attitude and questioned Rhine:

When will the imperial reinforcements arrive?

Where are the troops that went to fight the Chief?

How long can the city be defended without reinforcements? Why should it be defended?

This almost made him lose his mind after receiving the message from his mentor to "hold on for another fifteen days". Fortunately, the arrival of two cavalry armies made him realize that Lord Augustine himself did not really want to put Matoka on the fire, and Rhine's defense was almost broken.

I couldn't help but want to order a direct withdrawal.

Fortunately, for the sake of Sigmar's Chosen, Celestine went to meet with the dwarf representatives in person for a discussion right after she withdrew from the battlefield. The dwarves were still willing to continue to provide support without a deposit, which finally alleviated the crisis...

But in any case, given the state of the Matoka defenders, it was still a long time before the chief of the expedition required "to hold out for another fifteen days", almost out of reach.

Fortunately, the imperial "royal army" has not arrived yet.

Another group of "heavenly soldiers and generals" arrived.

At the same time, the greenskins retreated.

This made the Matoka people, who had experienced a siege war that seemed extremely long and difficult, fall into an unreal illusion of surviving a disaster, with the sweetness of milk and honey coming one after another.

.........

Just like Al, he took the risk of crossing the river in order to "test the sincerity of the warlord."

Mao Liang, who was commanding his army to retreat to the northeast but suddenly turned west halfway, had the same plan in his mind as a cunning masked hairless boy.

It’s also gambling.

With the risk of a major defeat if the bet is lost, let's see whether Al really does as he said in his two envoys, hoping that Mao Liang can go east to establish a country, and is willing to provide financial support so that they can jointly fight against the chaotic Yankees in the future.

It is easy to verify whether the other party is sincere.

Al wanted to see if the warlord was sincere by risking his life crossing the sea. If the warlord really retreated as expected, that would be it.

The same is true for the big warlords.

It revealed to Al its subsequent plans that it would actually do.

Then he turned around and kowtowed to the Imperials. If Al did not come to help the Imperials as he had agreed with the warlord, then at least the first step would be to establish mutual trust between the two sides.

If the first step can't be done, then everything Al said is obviously a lie.

127: No rush

Within a day, the mood of the Matoka people changed suddenly.

The arrival of reinforcements and the withdrawal of the enemy occurred almost simultaneously.

The Alliance's legions crossed the river and captured several greenskin outposts set up on the riverbank. This was the only battle that took place during this support operation.

In the eyes of the Matoka people, the greenskins seemed to have discovered the intelligence of the Alliance Legion in advance, and believed that they were no longer able to capture this place, so they chose to evacuate.

This filled them with great joy.

Just two days before Ai'er crossed the sea, the greenskins' offensive once pushed the front line to the side of Rhine's headquarters. The warlord who personally fought in the battle defeated Celestine, who had been fighting for several days in a tricky duel. Although he did not achieve a decisive victory, it was still a big blow to the morale of the defenders.

That was Gao Maoliang's last attempt to seize Matoka.

After weighing the costs and pros and cons, this wise greenskin chose to give up fighting the city and use massacre to strengthen his reputation.

The alliance's army was warmly welcomed by the Matoka people, and the local dignitaries, who had been "holding on" with the city in anxiety for half a month, showed great welcome to the alliance's arrival.

They all went out together that day and requested to meet Al in the name of "thanking the king of a friendly country".

What is the specific reason behind this?

It's simply that they saw that the alliance from the south had a large number of soldiers and generals, and an elite legion, who could help the dwarves defeat Black Rock Castle, and "scare off" Gao Maoliang's army with just their military strength. They believed that the Southern Alliance was strong and could be brought in as external aid.

As for who the greenskins are trying to deal with after they withdraw, and they are still looking for support and sponsorship for themselves...it goes without saying.

In order to impress the imperials, Al enthusiastically met with the local "representatives of public opinion" and praised the Matoka army and people for their firm will to work together to fight against the powerful enemy. Balabala...

This step came even before he came into contact with the Imperials.

Al has always been cautious when it comes to matters concerning his life.

When he learned that Gao Maoliang did not play the same trick as him and would not wait for his army to cross the river before coming to besiege him, he turned his energy from being vigilant against the greenskins and focused on the Imperials.

The two people in the city.

One is his biological mother, and the other one, if you want to count, is his uncle?

Holding the entire Matoka's military power, although already exhausted after a long battle, if the two men really wanted to use their prestige to mobilize their subordinates to start a fight and expose the conflict, it would cause him considerable trouble regardless of success or failure.

Therefore, from the very beginning, Ai'er would not give the other side the illusion that he could "take risks to eliminate demons". After confirming that the greenskins had really run away, he directly used the excuse that the city had suffered from the war and there were insufficient houses, and that he belonged to two armies with different organizational structures and flags, and simply stationed them separately to avoid chaos.

He stationed his legion outside the city, also relying on the dwarves for supplies.

He didn't know Celestine's specific thoughts.

Rhine might be just an outsider, but Celestine undoubtedly knows something. After returning to the empire, he has been very low-key and has not caused him any trouble. This has led to many speculations, but overall it is still a relatively good trend. However, if the "mother and son" were to reunite today and the two were to face each other, it would be hard to say what would happen.

Al simply thought about not meeting him.

It depends on the other person's attitude.

He is the ruler of a country and the chosen one. It is enough for him to have due respect for a chosen one who is not of his own faith. There is no need to be too formal in terms of etiquette or take the initiative to meet with the other party. It is nothing in the eyes of outsiders.

Unless the person is as important as Augustine, the Empire's Chief of War, Al should say that he can take the initiative to "meet" the other party.

As for Rhine, "uncle", he was just a general commanding a small army under the Human Empire. Al didn't need to pay any attention to him.

Ai'er stationed troops outside the city and set up a government office. He only sent people to convey greetings and expressed his intention of "I am here to save the people from disaster and work together with the empire to drive out the greenskins." In addition, he only met with the local representative of Matoka, and then settled down outside the city for the time being.

He wanted to see what Celestine would do.

For Al, the mother-son relationship with Celestine became very, very, very awkward after he put aside the unrealistic color filter he once wore.

Firstly, the blood relationship between him and Celestine is simply not enough to support the relationship between this "mother and son" to develop in a slightly "normal" and "friendly" direction. Emotionally, after El has become the second most powerful god and is about to stand shoulder to shoulder with the four gods (crossed out), his once lacking emotional needs have been greatly satisfied. He is no longer the boy who longs for maternal love, pampering, and family warmth.

He has already——

It’s ripe!

Let El go and play out scenes like mother-son recognition, loving mother and filial son, and deep love between her and Celestine. Even if the Hammer Wielder and the Chosen One of Myrmidia, the living saint of the Imperial State Religion, suddenly changed their nature or received Sigmar's oracle and was willing to do so, El would not be able to do such an awkward thing.

"Al kneels and sucks on the breast" This is not impossible.

Of course, that would develop in the direction of heinous and unforgivable crimes.

The more likely possibility is "the sword in the hand of a loving mother strikes down the body of her wandering son."

But blood is a connection between the two that cannot be ignored, which makes Al, with complicated thoughts, always think about it. He has never forgotten that he was pulled into this world by the Four Mothers after he chose the image of Celestine.

Celestine was not only his biological mother, but also the first mark and connection that brought him into this world.

It's very important, kind of like, um...the first crush?

However, the fact that the other party might take out a hammer and knock him head off like a greenskin or a skeleton at any time made Al reluctant to make such a connection.

If something happens, I can't bear to see Celestine die, but if nothing happens, I don't want to get too close to her. It's both dangerous and weird for both parties.

Therefore, he never actively tried to take advantage of, or in other words, tried to touch this relationship. He just pretended not to know. Anyway, the other party had the same concerns. So let it be like this, neither making progress nor regressing, as long as it did not affect his other great undertakings.

He wants to succeed in saving the world and completely clean up his act, and do whatever he wants;

If we lose the Final Moment, we're all done for, and nothing we do now will be of any use;

If Al really achieved what he had planned only in his diary:

In the north, he tested the weight of the Nine Cauldrons of the Empire; in the west, he asked about the might of the Holy Fire of the Elves.

Then you can do whatever you want.

Why rush it?

So he set up camp outside the city of Matoka. Except for the fact that he was secretly carrying out various plans unknown to outsiders, on the surface he seemed to be just stationed there to rest.

Al secretly instructed the Matoka people to support the other side and asked them to take over the command of the city defense army trained by locals into the hands of the "locals" in order to weaken the influence of the empire. At the same time, he paid close attention to the situation in the border areas, trying to find a fulcrum that could be used.

128: Border Defenders

After crossing the El River and arriving in Matoka, he intervened in the border territory situation.

In the southwest, Ai'er's eldest daughter, Misha, the regent of the Alliance, also led her troops to march eastward at almost the same time.

"At the invitation of Mirmidon, Algaris... and other city-states, the alliance army will go north to resist the greenskins, help the border people recover their homes, and maintain the independence and peace of this land."

The army set out in a mighty force, with both the water and the army advancing simultaneously. On the third day, the land army "recaptured" Algaris. After a "great battle", they slaughtered some scattered greenskins who were entrenched here, with a total number of no more than four thousand. Even though they announced the liberation of "Algaris", the sea army directly landed on the Black Bay Peninsula with six thousand soldiers to establish a stronghold.

There are still some scattered greenskins entrenched in the ruins of Mirmidon, but Gao Maoliang's main force is far away in the east, and these unorganized bandits pose no threat to the Alliance Army of the Regent Commander.

For this Eastern Expedition, the Alliance dispatched a total of 70,000 troops. It seemed that they were going to march eastward and northward in one go to meet Mao Liang's army, but in fact the Alliance army's marching speed was completely inversely proportional to their distance from the real front line.

After receiving El's instructions, the Alliance Army's goal from the beginning was to "reach" Zorak and then give priority to controlling Kalundborg, a city-state that currently had no obvious tendency, in preparation for the Alliance to firmly grasp a gateway whether it went north or east.

Obviously, the objects of "up" and "advance" here are not necessarily green-skinned.

After Mao Liang gave up the siege of Matoka and pretended to retreat eastward, the current situation in the entire border territory can be roughly divided into the following sections:

Empire: The Imperial Legion that fought out of the Thor Fortress controlled the northwest region of the Western Border Princedom, dozens of city-states of varying sizes, and the isolated enclave of Matoka where the Imperial Expeditionary Force was located;