Warhammer

Therefore, if Mao Liang continues to drag the situation on the border, he will have to fight another replica of the "Battle of Five Armies".

Imperial Alliance Dwarf Border VS Greenskins.

Al didn't think the warlord was so unwise.

Apart from this, the only chance to take revenge on him is to fight Matoka three times, but Gao Maoliang also knows the strength of the Alliance, especially the Beastmen, Aiel's old homeland. The fact that they are not a human race evens out the advantage of the greenskins. They are fanatical, well-trained, disciplined and fearless of death... Even if they get the equipment of the Empire, it is hard to say who will win if a real fight breaks out.

What's more, in the battle between Bilbarri and Al, Al was unreasonable and directly invited the Blood Mother to smash down the Iron Throne. Although it was only that one time, the greenskins didn't know about it. It's impossible for Gao Maoliang not to be on guard against this.

Besides that...

Then it would be up to Al to "take the initiative" and attack.

........

Al showed the letter to his children, and he was also a little undecided.

This is not a battlefield where you either advance or retreat, or cut off when necessary. To be honest, this "pursuit" is actually an unnecessary battle.

Even if he doesn't care about Mao Liang, the other party will most likely run away. After all, if he doesn't leave, when the dwarves have time to set up defenses and the imperial troops have reorganized and caught up, Ai'er will not continue to watch the show and will inevitably have to join the action. With the three parties surrounding him, even if Ai'er deliberately lets Mao Liang's gang go, they are doomed to suffer heavy losses.

Then its previous victory would be of little significance.

But if it succeeds in swindling Aiel out, and attacks and severely damages or even eats up his main force... then the situation is favorable to the greenskins... Will Mao Liang still think about fighting at the border...

This is a gamble with no entry cost but risky settlement.

Al weighed the pros and cons.

He schemes and plots... um, plots and schemes too much, and he can't help but think too much.

If we put him in the shoes of Mao Liang, he would definitely not break the contract and cause trouble, because there is no benefit, or the benefit is not as great as the expenditure.

Ai'er has proved his "integrity" by silently watching a battle, so the subsequent cooperation between the two sides is likely to be able to move forward. Now is the time to advance the basis for further "cooperation". If they break their promise, the greenskins will force the only alliance that is not a "mortal enemy" to the opposite side. Unless Gao Maoliang can show his power, kill Ai'er, break the sea gate, and then deploy the imperial legion, the barbarian country will stand surrounded by enemies... But this may not be better than Acha riding his black donkey south to destroy the world and falling off and dying.

But the guy on the other side is a green-skinned guy after all, and even people’s hearts are separated by their stomachs, let alone they are of different species.

Al didn't dare to make a quick judgment.

The benefits of "chasing" are huge, but if Mao Liang is just cheating to lure him out...

"Father." The role of the offspring was reflected at this time. Kael'thas pushed the frame on his nose and said to his little father: "Why not attack with light cavalry, like this, like this..."

Al clapped his hands.

"Yes, yes, I've gotten stuck in this. It's not a real fight. As long as we send troops, it will be enough. If Mao Liang is willing to cooperate, we can publicize it to the outside world. If he wants to cause trouble, we will do a good job of reconnaissance and have no fear at all.

"

Chapter 248: Taking the Initiative

Since we have decided to send troops to test the waters, we must first...

There has to be a suitable reason.

After all, the enemy is strong and we are weak. He took the initiative to attack. If Mao Liang is really cooperating with him to achieve success, then there must be a way to avoid suspicion:

The Imperial Army lost so badly; how could the Alliance win so easily? Could it be that...

Reason.

Although let alone normal people, even abnormal people, as long as they are on the side of order, will not doubt the cooperation between a fierce and cunning green-skinned warlord and a human king with great military exploits and a great reputation.

But you still have to have a legitimate reason.

So he sent Kael'thas with two thousand cavalrymen to investigate the enemy situation and wait for an opportunity to engage in battle, to see if there was really a gift left for him as the warlord said in the letter.

On the other hand, contrary to their usual practice, they took the initiative to hold a combat meeting.

Previously, out of the principle of vigilance, even though Al expressed that he would stay to help defend the city, he rarely took the initiative to go to the city. He basically did not go to discuss battle plans, because if he went, Celestine would definitely be there, and he couldn't always bring Alina with him. If he didn't bring her, there might be risks, so the best choice was not to go.

Now that he had taken the initiative to hold a meeting, regardless of what Rhine and Celestine thought, the Matoka people were extremely proactive.

They now have great respect for Aiel, the "chivalrous knight" and "embodiment of virtue" king of their southern neighbor. Local dignitaries and representatives rush to the Alliance military camp to "pay a visit" every day, which makes Aiel feel annoyed. Later, he simply let Kael'thas or Barbatos receive them all.

Anyway, it's all about singing praises and glorifying.

And while doing all this, he hinted:

"The Matoka people have long admired the name of His Majesty Aiel, and the southerners have been our kinsmen on the border for generations."

"Now that I see your military power, I wish I could join you sooner and become your disciple."

"The South has been in turmoil for years... Now with Your Majesty and the elite troops of the Alliance, the border can be safe!"

This probably reveals that the Matoka people are willing and have the intention to regard the alliance as the boss and the border princely territories as part of the "South".

The implication is that the alliance is recognized as the decision-maker and leader in the South. The deeper meaning is that the alliance is wanted to "take charge" and support the border people, and in turn resist... external influences.

Perhaps he wanted to see if he could use the power of El to help them escape from the situation of being annexed by the empire?

Naturally, Al could hardly even laugh at this. The reputation of the Matoka people had become extremely bad after they repeatedly defected. In addition, their significance to the empire was very important. To him... except for being a skeleton of a BMW among the bones that were worth a fortune, no, a dung frame, they had no meaning at all.

The real legal basis for El's intervention in the border territory is the "Border United Front (Defenders)" that Misha is organizing. It is impossible for him to offend the Empire for a dispensable and meaningless Matoka.

Although he would inevitably confront the Imperials when the next stage of the border game began, it would at least be a fair competition, rather than colluding with Matoka, a city-state that had already legally annexed the Empire and become someone else's territory, but had ulterior motives and wanted to defect for the third time to poach talents.

This kind of thing will even be laughed at:

Is a place like Matoka worth being so shameless?

Hungry and indiscriminate...

As someone who cares so much about his reputation, Al would naturally not do such a thing at a critical juncture. Accepting Matoka's allegiance would not only expose his ambitions for the border territories too early, but would also put him in direct confrontation with the empire. Apart from that, there would be almost no benefit.

Even if he hinted at it, Al did not do much. He would not give the Matoka people hope of "fighting the north with the south" in this regard, not even the illusion. Otherwise, if the other side wanted to fight, they would pull his tiger skin over, which would add many variables...

Al announced at the war meeting:

"Defending the city is certainly a safe bet, but the greenskins have now seized a large number of guns, ammunition and artillery weapons from the Empire (the expeditionary forces looked at each other with a hint of shame). They pose a great threat in a siege. I don't think we can just sit there and wait for death!"

"We must take the initiative!"

Al's proposal caused the people present to start discussing. Although Rhine had always been hostile and wary of Al, and had been paying attention to the actions of this kid who had a deep relationship with his cousin to the best of his ability, he did agree with the other party's statement professionally.

Through the two batches of reinforcements, Rhine also roughly grasped the composition of the Imperial Legion. In order to quickly form this expeditionary force to intervene in the border prince's territory, Aldorf made great efforts. Many weapons and equipment were directly transferred from the arsenals of Rick and Nuln. After a great defeat, all were lost to the hands of the greenskins. If they sat there and waited for the greenskins to besiege them, even with the level of the greenskins, operating these war weapons would pose a huge threat to the defenders.

Also because of the arrival of two reinforcements, the Matoka defenders are now in a rather awkward situation:

If they were to defend the isolated city, with the addition of Ai'er, the garrison would have too many troops, and they might be afraid of the enemy.

However, if we take the initiative to attack, the number of professional troops is small and their combat power is insufficient, which poses a certain risk.

In short, hiding in the small city of Matoka and waiting for the enemy to come is definitely not the best option.

Rhine also thought about whether to use the mobile forces in his hands to try to take the initiative to attack. It would be even better if he could recapture and destroy some heavy weapons. However, because of Al's existence, he was worried about letting the strength of the empire decline and leaving the empty "rear" to this chaos kid.

Although the possibility that El would suddenly turn against him and attack Matoka, and murder Celestine, Rhine and others was close to zero at this point, Rhine had to be on guard.

Now that Al had taken the initiative to propose an attack, it was natural that the alliance's troops would be dispatched. Rhine had no objection to this, and there was only some discussion about the military strength.

After Aiel entered the battlefield with the Alliance Legion, which had won several victories over the greenskins, the defenders finally had the courage to attack the enemy. The final conclusion of the discussion was:

The Alliance and the Empire each sent out their own troops, mainly cavalry, traveling light and simply. If they encountered a large enemy force, they would avoid it, and if it was a small-scale force, they would attack and kill it, thus reducing the pressure on Matoka's defenses.

The commander of the Empire is Celestine, while the Alliance decided that El would take action himself.

As for the local mobilized militia, they will naturally all stay in the city to strengthen the city defenses. They are only useful in this regard, and going out to fight in the field is not at all considered by the commanders.

Chapter 249: Let’s Try It

The terrain of the border prince's territory is generally flat, especially the southern coastal area and the central plains. There are thousands of miles of wilderness, which is suitable for the army to gallop.

After going deep into the badlands and fighting several battles at Iron Rock and Black Rock Castle, the 30,000 elite troops from Aiur's Eastern Expedition are now no longer fully staffed. Even with several subsequent small reinforcements, there are only more than 27,000 troops. In pursuit of mobility, they need to consider physical fitness and weight. Therefore, this attack will be mainly based on flexible cavalry. Even the Minotaur - the bull troops, although they have enough physical fitness, are not suitable for long-distance raids and are all left in Matoka to defend the city.

Alestar's huge size and swift movements are enough, but it is not "hidden" enough. Anyway, if Gao Maoliang really wants to help him achieve merit, then it doesn't matter whether he brings the behemoth-type blessed bull or not. If the greenskins are tricking, then Ai'er will decisively retreat and wait for Misha to arrive before organizing troops to counterattack, striving to eliminate Gao Maoliang, the extremely dangerous greenskin, and his established war gang in one fell swoop in the border prince's territory.

Ai'er had previously sent Kael'thas to lead elite human cavalry and centaurs north to the location marked for him by the warlord to scout the enemy situation.

Although he had left the Southern Kingdom, or now, to be more precise, was beyond the territory of the Four Mothers' faith, he could no longer communicate with his subordinates via telepathy as conveniently as before, and could no longer grasp the battle situation on the front line from far behind. However, as long as there were gains, the trained beast riders could deliver the information to El as quickly as possible.

He was very interested in the dwarven rune communication technology and had always intended to introduce it. After all, even on the territory of the Alliance, he could communicate with his descendants and "nodes" above the middle level without delay. But that was only the power of one person, and Alco was not in the mood to be the Alliance's human star torch - a communication terminal repeater.

Easy communication regardless of geographical barriers is an indispensable pillar for Ai'er's country to maintain unity and efficiency.

As the person with the highest status and the most weight in the local area, Al naturally had the first choice in choosing the strategic direction. He chose the direction of north-east. Celestine naturally did not comment and chose to go to the other side to pursue the enemy.

On the second day after the legion officially set out, Aiel received news from Kael'thas:

At the location given by Gao Maoliang, there was a medium-sized greenskin army stationed there, with a total number of about 30,000 to 40,000 people.

In the case of the greenskins, this scale is indeed of medium level, and at least half of them are composed of goblins with average combat power, who can at most bully, or may not even be able to bully, the old farmer of Batto, as well as the greenskins' toys and pet goblins.

Kael'thas carefully observed this sudden greenskin warband stationed here. The opponent's combat effectiveness did not seem strong, and their organization was extremely chaotic. The so-called camp was at best a large "fence" with a fence separating the boundaries. There were some flagpoles on the side, with some ungrateful and ferocious beast skulls hung on them to let the greenskin orcs know that they were not allowed to run through here without the order of the boss.

In the past few days, the enemy's camp has been noisy all the time, with conflicts and internal fights almost never stopping. It doesn't seem like the aggressive green-skinned Waaaaagh under Mao Liang's command at all. Instead, it looks more like a group of beasts that have been artificially imprisoned, tied here, and allowed to kill each other.

But the flag erected in the camp was indeed the flag of the warlord Gao Maoliang Feilong. Kael'thas had personally participated in the Estalia Greenskin War and fought against the Greenskins many times. Although the Greenskin flag was abstract, it was very easy to recognize, so he could not have remembered it wrong.

The second brother reported all these discoveries to Al one by one. At the same time, he hid his troops and expanded reconnaissance to the surrounding areas. However, he found no signs of other greenskin activities within a radius of dozens of miles, let alone ambushes.

The border territory is flat and open, and the location where the greenskins set up camp happens to be in the undulating area of ​​a hill. However, the Alliance has the advantage of the air force and can almost see all the intelligence on the ground. This group of greenskins set up camp here, and they are so scattered, but they seem to be restrained by something and do not rush out to find people to start a fight because they are "eager to fight and can't help it."

It really seems like someone has arranged them here, waiting to die.

When Kael'thas first saw the bright flag among the stationed greenskins, he thought it might be the greenskin warlord himself.

But judging from the degree of laxity of this group of greenskins, it can be seen with the naked eye that Kael'thas is the type among his sons who is calm and composed in his estimation of the enemy. He believes that the 3,000 elite cavalry under his command may be able to defeat them in one fell swoop.

This is obviously not the strength that the greenskin army that crisscrosses the border should have.

Mao Liang must be crazy to stay in such an army and hand his head to Al's hands.

If there was an ambush, the surrounding terrain was slightly undulating, but it didn't look like a place where people could hide. Even if they dug a hole to hide soldiers, it would be impossible. The greenskins were not rats, and they didn't have such a high talent and skill for digging holes...

Although he was a little surprised, Al decided to move towards the designated location at full speed as soon as he received the letter. Half a day later, he sent a messenger to inform Celestine's troops on the other side, saying that he had discovered the "main force" of the greenskins. If the other side received the letter, they would most likely move towards him.

This was a double insurance for what was to come. After all, Celestine also led a cavalry army of more than 8,000 people, which was an extremely strong force in the field. Although their morale was slightly slackened due to the defeat of the main army, it was still enough to fight.

He himself led his troops and quickly went to meet up with Kael'thas.

.........

"Is this the 'Army of Mao Liang'?"

Ai'er rode on the Queen, standing on a hill. The army behind him was calm and solemn, waiting for orders.

Kael'thas stood beside his little father, looked at the green in the distance and nodded.

"We have checked the surrounding area within a hundred miles. There are no other greenskin troops. There are even few signs of activity. Most of them scattered from here."

Al pondered for a moment.

"In that case, since we are here, let's give it a try... Wait!"

"We need to be cautious and wait until sunset to launch the attack. We want to destroy the enemy army in one fell swoop. I really want to know whether that guy really wants to 'withdraw troops and cease fire' or has another trick up his sleeve."

In "public places", even when surrounded by his subordinates, Al would not directly say anything about cooperating with the greenskins. He would not let his words be exposed in public and risk being eavesdropped.

Chapter 250: The spoils of war

What happened next went more smoothly than Al expected.

In order to prevent any unexpected accidents, he stayed in the army and did not choose to go into the battlefield himself, although his participation in the battle was of... well, not particularly important.

The border territories were not like the battle at Black Crag Castle. The dwarven guardian runes restricted the flow of the wind of magic, greatly weakening the non-dwarven rune magic of both sides, or some special beings. This also prevented the Alliance's shaman-mage corps from playing much of a role in the battle of Black Crag Castle.

But there were no such restrictions in the border territories, so the raid began with the Mage Corps' indiscriminate bombardment, fireballs, wind explosions, forest revival... colorful lights accompanied the tremors of the earth. As the sharpest spears of the Alliance, the Centaurs launched a charge under the leadership of Alina, their fanatically worshipped leader, whom they loved as much as she did El.

The legion's iron hooves easily crushed the outer perimeter of the greenskin camp, which was not at all "defended", and rushed into the enemy group that had not yet reacted to the sudden attack.

The looseness of this greenskin group was completely exposed. After the attack began, almost all the greenskins in the camp fought on their own. The warlike ones screamed and rushed towards the Alliance team, while the cowardly ones screamed and ran around with their heads in their hands.

The centaur regiment led by Alina was like a hot knife cutting through butter, and there was no obstacle on the way forward. After giving the order for the general attack, Ai, who was still watching the battle situation outside the camp, was alert, waiting for the expected "accident" to happen so that he could respond in time. At the same time, the Alliance cavalry who launched attacks from three directions had already rushed through the greenskin camp.

After this group of greenskins were completely defeated, Al did not "wait" for the other plans of Mao Liang as he had imagined.

Reflecting on it after the war, I recalled that this greenskin army was not weak at all. There were only a few strong and powerful greenskin generals and leaders, so that the greenskins could not form an organized resistance during the raid.

Alina stabbed to death several green-skinned giants who blocked her way and challenged her, and the rest scattered.

The casualties on the Alliance side in this raid were almost negligible, and the results were very impressive, but because the enemy's level was so low, Alina felt no sense of accomplishment.