Warhammer

If he had come here with "nothing", he might have mustered up the courage to stay and hold the Rock Castle for a while, at least until he got the exact news about the main force of the Legion before making other plans, but now he had earned enough and just wanted to play it safe.

Albert quickly convened a military meeting. He had previously hinted to several of his trusted subordinates, who took the initiative to propose:

"The Chief's army has suffered a setback. The current situation requires us to shift to a strategic retreat."

"We are far from strong enough to confront the enemy head-on. We should retreat in time to preserve our strength and wait for the Chief's news..."

Such voices soon became the mainstream of the discussion. The subordinates who originally followed Albert had the same consideration as him, that is, they were afraid of death after getting rich, and did not want to go to war with the greenskins when their pockets were full.

The fleeing imperial soldiers also did not want to take great risks in fighting under unclear circumstances. They were now in panic over defeat, their morale and fighting will had not yet recovered, and they had no confidence in victory.

Almost all of the defeated soldiers who fled to the Rock Fort belonged to the Ranger Troupe, a cavalry unit temporarily reorganized by the Chief of the Expedition when he sent the mobile troops at hand to reinforce the Matoka rear army.

According to their description of the battlefield situation, the defeat came faster and more violently than anyone on the Empire side had imagined. Just at dusk, they had repelled the enemy's attack. The commander sent them to the flanks to find an opportunity to cut into the greenskin line, but the seemingly indestructible front line of the legion seemed to collapse suddenly, and a hole was opened by the greenskins. Then a ferocious green tide roared and swept everything with the savagery from the wilderness of the badlands...

The cavalry regiment cruising independently was greatly impacted by the collapse of the main force. It was entangled by the greenskin wolf cavalry and suffered huge casualties. As for the final situation of the legion, whether the chief of the expedition was alive or dead, and the fugitives who came to the rock castle were all unknown. They were the defeated soldiers scattered from the large army under the pursuit of the greenskins, and had no idea about the specific situation of their headquarters.

So, with the "unanimous" voices of the minority who opposed fleeing without fighting being suppressed by "public opinion", Albert's small army reached a unanimous consensus:

Can't fight;

Let’s retreat first.

But after the decision to retreat and the "strategic shift", another problem was put before Albert and his party.

That means they ran away, what about the local residents of Rock Castle?

Although Albert and others tried their best to cover up the news of the South's defeat, his subordinates were not truly elite troops who obeyed orders after all, and even such troops might not be able to keep secrets completely.

After a few drinks, or through boasting and chatting, the news that "the emperor's marshal had suffered a defeat and the army was going to retreat" soon spread throughout the area around the rock castle.

As the local tyrants, the Ede family was the first to get restless. They believed that although they had "made some mistakes", they had done nothing wrong to the empire, their "superior state" and "ancestral land", and they treated Albert's team with the best treatment. The latter seized the Ede family's weakness to threaten them, forcibly seized the power of Rock Castle, plundered and exploited the territory, and took away the accumulation of several generations of the Ede family. Even so, they did not think of using any other means to deal with this domineering general of the empire, but thought of doing their best to meet Albert's demands, believing that the other party would "let bygones be bygones" after they left.

But what was unexpected was that he would actually run away at this critical moment when the greenskins were about to attack!

More importantly, why don't you take me with you?!

242: Shame

The Ed family was angry at Albert, who had been exploiting them under the banner of the Empire, and then ran away when the real danger came. They were also very afraid of the coming of the greenskins. When the Imperial Legion had no intention of fighting, Rock Castle naturally could not fight against the enemy with an egg.

The only thing we can do now is to run away together.

But how to run is also a problem.

The Ede family hoped that the Imperial Legion would protect them and take refuge in the Dwarf Fortress together. They incited the people to surround the garrison camp and demand the protection of the Imperial Army.

The women and servants who had served the Imperial Army, and the residents of the Rock Castle who had hosted these temporary soldiers with extremely poor discipline in their homes, who at least had not committed too many vicious incidents such as murder and rape, surrounded the barracks and shouted:

"We have served you with even greater respect and dedicated service than we have for the Lord. Soldiers, please fulfill your mission to defend the country and the people!"

The imperial soldiers guarding the perimeter of the camp sneered at the naivety of the Rock Castle people:

Are you from the Empire?

Is this the Empire's territory?

Do you deserve it?

Albert was only interested in escaping, so he naturally had no time to restrain the behavior of his subordinates. This made the people of Rock Castle extremely disappointed with the imperial army, and at the same time, they felt angry that they had been deceived and taken advantage of.

They blocked the military camp and prevented soldiers who were carrying out their normal duties from entering or leaving, believing that they were going to abandon the civilians and escape.

At the same time, a wave of escape occurred under the threat of the imminent greenskins. Many people fled north with their families. Someone suggested that there was a dwarf fortress in the north that could accept and shelter refugees. Many people who had never left the area around the rock fortress and had spent nearly a third of their lives in mines or fields also packed up their luggage and headed north with their families.

Albert was forced into a corner. It would be difficult for him to directly "suppress the riot" as that would bring him infamy and future troubles, and would also waste time. So he urgently announced that the people of Rock Castle should immediately go home, pack their bags, and move to refuge with the troops.

After the order was issued, the people successfully rushed back home to pack their things and prepare to flee, but Albert naturally did not really want to "take the people across the river".

He just needs to get his troops moving. By then, the refugees, who are scattered and have their families with them, will naturally not be able to outrun his subordinates who have been trained and at least have a bit of professional military appearance. They will speed up and slowly leave the refugees behind - it doesn't matter if they can keep up.

Before leaving, the clever Albert pretended that the enemy was very close and he was eager to escape, leaving the Ede family and the Rock Castle behind. He successfully extorted a large sum of money from the Ede family.

This made him feel very satisfied, and even alleviated some of the anxiety caused by the defeat of the army on the front line.

Not only did he make money, he was able to "preserve strength and evacuate the people" and even if he could go to the dwarves and persuade them with reason and emotion and get their help, that would be another great achievement.

Albert von Conrad felt that his plan was a success.

In the south, another commander who also had to choose to "retreat" was still in deep regret...

.........

"Reserves! Send out the reserves!?"

Augustine was shocked by the gap that was forcibly opened by the greenskins' fierce attack.

"Why! The greenskins' offensive should have weakened. And...who is in charge of that line?!"

The adjutant's report made Augustine feel his heart twitch.

"Border people, incompetent cowards, weak fools! Good-for-nothings! Trash! They deserve to be slaves shoveling shit for green-skinned beasts for the rest of their lives!"

Ai'er set up a defender front in the south. Before that, when Augustine "liberated" the cities in the northwest of the border, he asked them to send troops to serve the empire and formed a large border coalition to fight together.

It is this unit that has problems now.

After the ambush, the greenskins showed their strong strength at the beginning, causing considerable losses to the army of the Chief of the Expedition, but it did not completely shake the morale of the Imperial Army. Then the greenskin offensive gradually weakened, which made the expeditionary force more confident and determined that the victory belonged to the coalition forces. However, the cunning and smart greenskin warlord on the opposite side had already discovered a fatal weakness of the coalition forces.

The greenskins have spies and informants on the human side. Those scums who serve the warlords are able to blend in with the humans, but on the other hand, the Empire is unable to send out insiders to learn of the enemy's every move, and the Chief of War also neglected this point. Most of his legion's actions were carried out under the surveillance of Gao Maoliang!

That hodgepodge army composed of the coalition forces of various cities, with chaotic organization, weak combat effectiveness and low morale, was placed on the right wing by the Chief of the Expedition and became the breakthrough point chosen by the greenskins.

......

Augustine gradually woke up from his memories.

Everything has already happened. Even if there are huge regrets, we cannot start over again. Even the gods cannot do so.

He could only hate his own negligence and carelessness and reflect on his own shortcomings.

Among the three chiefs, the Imperial Guard, the Garrison, and the Expedition, the Imperial Guard is the most honorable and most trusted by the emperor; the Garrison is in charge of local garrisons, dispatches, and distributes various duties, with many tasks, but also profitable;

There was only the position of "Chief of War", and although nominally he was responsible for all foreign wars, in the empire that had been peaceful for a long time, this position was almost a decoration. Without war, there would be no military merit, and he would not be able to expand his influence. Augustine had no say in the army at all.

As a descendant of a noble family whose ancestors failed in political struggles and were forced to immigrate from Kislev to the Empire for refuge, he was granted the honor of Chief of War by the Emperor. Naturally, he did not really intend to let a half-foreigner who had not yet been completely assimilated into an "Imperial citizen" take charge of the power of conquest. It was just a simple means of checks and balances. Augustine, a minority who was unlikely to be accepted and convinced by the traditional Imperial Military Honors just because of his identity, was used to occupy a chief position. His authority was entirely dependent on the royal court, and he was the most "loyal" of the three chiefs.

But how could a "chief of war" without outstanding military achievements convince people? The emperor could not specifically enhance Augustine's prestige by launching several wars against foreign countries, so Augustine always felt that he was neither a man nor a man.

He knew that the emperor used him as a tool to fight for power. Augustine was a person who was more sensitive to political struggles because of his original family and his experience when he was young. So when he was the "special envoy" supervising the army and brought back the strategic intention of remote control from the rear several times, he realized:

Some people in the country want to use the greenskins as a knife to kill or at least weaken the defenders in Matoka.

But he had to sing praises for the emperor and be extremely submissive, because his power came entirely from the emperor's "trust". Once the owner of Rick Palace felt that a more suitable candidate appeared and who would be more beneficial to him, then there was no doubt that it would not take any effort to replace a puppet who had little prestige in the army and was even called the "Marshal of Peace".

To his subordinates, even those staff adjutants serving the chief did not have many people convinced by him, and some even secretly regarded his place, which had neither money nor room for promotion, as a "place of exile."

Both sides are bullied.

So after the Chivalrous Expedition - Border War started, after layers of bargaining, the power to command the army finally fell on Augustine. He was determined to establish great achievements in the new era on this land where many emperors and countless soldiers had fought and fought over the long years.

It belongs to him, Augustin Uslev, the glorious commander of the Imperial Legion, the chief of expedition appointed by His Majesty Otto Franz.

Unfortunately, even if he could win the war again and defeat the cunning and dangerous enemy later, the beginning of this glorious expedition was destined to leave an indelible stain on the Chief of the Conquest.

The skeletons and souls buried on the plains and under the mud have forever engraved the shame of an empire on this foreign land.

Chapter 243: The responsibility lies with me

After locking himself in the room and thinking for a long time, Augustine opened the door and walked out.

"Sir..." The adjutant, who had been waiting outside the house for a long time and was very worried about the commander's condition, immediately came forward.

If the chief didn't come out, he would force his way in despite the guards' objections.

"Hermann." The Chief of the Expedition nodded to the adjutant, responding to his concern, and then immediately gave him an order:

"Immediately convene all...all the commanders you can find for a combat meeting." He put one hand behind his back and raised the other to wave at Hermann.

Three days had passed since the defeat. Hermann had only met the Chief three times in the past few days, including this time. The impression he had from the first two times was:

This chief warrior, who had the tenacity or stubbornness of a Kislevite and had worked in the Imperial Army for more than a decade and was still in his prime, seemed to have aged more than ten years in just three days.

This made him empathize with his superior's regret and pain, and he was also worried about the future of the 100,000-strong army - now, he had no way of knowing exactly how many troops were left.

Only now did Augustine's face regain some vitality, and the light of a warrior reappeared in his eyes.

In the current precarious situation, the commander-in-chief's encouragement is undoubtedly good news for everyone in the legion.

"Yes, sir." Hermann took the order and left quickly, taking his deputies and guards to immediately convey the commander-in-chief's order and summon all the units for command.

Although Augustine came to power entirely as a check and balance in front of the emperor, he had no deep-rooted powerful support behind him, nor did he have prestige and followers gained by real outstanding achievements. He was the weakest among the three chiefs, but he had remained in the chief position for more than a decade after all.

If we fail to develop some supporters and some trustworthy subordinates, it would be a huge failure.

It can only be said that Augustine still has a certain influence in the army, and the imperial military honors who firmly hold the military power are not all arrogant and xenophobic guys. For example, the Julius family, which is also not one of the "long-standing" famous families, has a good relationship with Augustine. Even Rhine Julius, who had not yet been favored by the emperor and was an "unknown" middle and low-level officer, was taught and supported by Augustine. In the military spectrum, the two sides have a very good relationship, close to that of allies.

The chief's call was quickly responded to by his subordinates, and nearly a hundred middle and senior military officers came to Augustine's location one after another.

As the center of the legion, the Chief of Expedition and his main force are now temporarily stationed in a border city-state hundreds of miles away from the battle site.

The greenskins had been running around and attacking fiercely, and although they had won a great victory, they were also a little exhausted. In addition, Gao Maoliang was worried that the Imperials would fall into a desperate situation and fight back desperately, so the greenskins chased them and their formation was in chaos and was contained. Also, someone stabbed them in the back when they were about to take down a powerful enemy, causing Gao Maoliang's plan to fail. Therefore, the greenskins did not blindly pursue the defeated Imperial army.

After all, it was the same secret peacemaking, the same sweet talk, the same goodwill, the same attempt to make Mao Liang look "almost" victorious, and the same person was secretly resting behind it with an elite force - "waiting for the right time."

They look so similar that I have to be on guard.

The imperial army finally had a chance to regroup its defeated troops and stop to catch its breath.

But even so, according to statistics afterwards, Augustine had just conquered the northwestern border areas for the empire and opened up a channel to completely penetrate the border prince's territory. Then he launched a "full speed and full strength" expedition to support Matoka. His headquarters had a total of 70,000 troops, with two additional detachments in the east and south, totaling 120,000 troops.

After being ambushed by the greenskins, the main central army was defeated first, and then Gao Maoliang sent troops to intercept and defeat the southern army. Only the eastern army served as the vanguard and did not encounter the greenskins, thus successfully completing the mission of "rescuing Matoka".

Of course, it's not Matoka who needs rescue now...

The main force in the middle led by the chief personally suffered nearly three layers of casualties in the attack, conservatively estimated. Add to that those who ran away or went missing, and after an ambush, the chief's army suffered more than half of its personnel at risk.

The rout happened swiftly and suddenly. Many troops were still holding their lines when they suddenly found that their friendly forces next to them had wavered and fled. The greenskins, screaming and blood-thirsty, rushed directly towards them. Not knowing what was going on, they could only retreat with the friendly forces.

It was already past dusk and approaching midnight, and when chaos broke out, many soldiers didn't know where to run and just wandered around in confusion.

For example, the Ranger troops who ran to the Rock Fortress saw that there was no hope of returning to the organization, so they first sought to save their lives and fled north with all their might. Only then did they go to the Rock Fortress where it was said that there were imperial troops stationed to join the troops.

This resulted in many soldiers, even if they were not captured or killed in the greenskins' pursuit, being scattered everywhere due to their escape, and it was difficult to gather together in a short period of time.

The chief only had 45,000 troops left. The 30,000 southern troops that were defeated after the central army had gradually joined up with them. The overall number was still growing. But the shameful and sad thing was:

Because the ambush turned into a rout, most of the Empire's heavy weapons, artillery, steam chariots (a low-end imitation of steam tanks), etc. were abandoned on the battlefield, as well as a large number of swords, spears, halberds, muskets, ammunition, etc.... There is no doubt that Gao Maoliang, who is good at learning, will soon arm his war gang with these things as much as possible.

Let Gao Maoliang's army of flying dragons be transformed into a powerful war gang unprecedented in the history of the greenskins, with "modern firepower" and "MAX armor rate"!

This war was a humiliation and a great defeat for the empire, but for Gao Maoliang it was a great victory in the "battle of establishment" that greatly enhanced its reputation and prestige!

.........

"I was so careless that I didn't expect the cowardly and honorless border troops to be so incompetent! They wasted our chance to defeat the enemy and make great achievements, and even led to the bitter consequences today!"

Facing hundreds of confused, mournful, sad, angry, and disdainful eyes, Augustine's throat trembled as he spoke these words:

"I will record the course of this war in detail and send it to Aldorf. The specific responsibilities...will mainly fall on me!" When he said this, even though he had prepared himself mentally many times, the Chief of the War still trembled in a way that was hard not to attract attention.

For Augustine, expressing his stance to his subordinates and taking the main responsibility on himself was a desperate move.

"The border people are unreliable! We can no longer trust the strength of these cowards! But the shame of failure must be washed away, and we cannot let the prestige of the empire be tarnished because of us!"

Only by uniting as one and fighting the next battle beautifully and winning it, will he have a chance to turn things around. Otherwise...he will be doomed.

Chapter 245: Am I a lustful person again?

A failure instantly reversed the empire's favorable situation in the border prince's territory.

The strength of the troops that Augustine can now effectively command is already at a disadvantage when facing Mao Liang's army, which has just won a great victory at a very small cost, is highly motivated, and has seized a large number of weapons and equipment to strengthen its strength.

The situation suddenly changed from a joint attack from both inside and outside to a strategic contraction.

Having defeated two of the three Imperial Eastern Expedition armies, including the greenskin warlord Gao Maoliang who was personally commanding the main force, they now have the initiative on the battlefield.

On the surface, before Misha and Al joined forces, the most powerful force in the Border Prince's territory was Gao Maoliang and the Waaaaagh under his command.

Mao Liang took a big gamble by choosing to abandon Matoka and "retreat" actively, risking a mutiny and disintegration of the war gang, and taking the initiative to attack the Imperial army which was more elite than the enemies in the city. As expected, he reaped a great reward.

Now the greenskins have regained the strategic initiative in the Princedom of the Western Border. They can go wherever they want, east, west, south, or north. For the time being, there is no enemy that can pose an effective threat to the greenskins.