Warhammer

After cleaning up the battlefield, the most important discovery was two tents piled with many boxes. They looked quite decent on the outside, as if they were where important people stayed, but in fact, they were just like that. After sorting them out, it was found that most of the boxes contained gold and silver, as well as some green-skinned flags, and some were obviously human style. After identification, most of them were used by border city-states, and were seized when Mao Liang conquered the border territories.

.......

Al looked at the flags and valuables scattered on the ground in front of him, and remained silent, holding a letter that was specially placed in a box for him.

On one side, a guard was carrying a large box filled with some paper letters. These items looked so small and insignificant compared to the gold, silver, treasures, and city-state flags on the ground, but in fact, the impact these things could have on the border territory was far greater than the former.

Although what was contained inside were some ordinary letter papers and leather scrolls, they themselves were not important. What was important was the contents recorded on them. They were all "letters of surrender" and "letters of loyalty" written to the warlords by the border forces that had previously surrendered and surrendered to Mao Liang. After a cursory look, Al found that there were many border city-states that he was quite impressed with, as well as private presentations from a few prominent figures in their respective places.

These letters are a national shame for those city-states that "temporarily surrendered and endured humiliation" to the greenskins. Most of them are written in the name of the collective, because no individual is willing to take the blame for this, so they are often:

On XX month day of XX year, the people of XX all bowed down to the might of the great warlord. After a collective vote at the general meeting, they were willing to surrender their land and hand over hostages, just as the rules of the other places that had surrendered before them had been set.

Although not as significant as the letters of surrender written by Cao Cao's subordinates to Yuan Shao during the Battle of Guandu, like rebellion, it is also very important.

For a single city-state, if such a letter of surrender and flattery written to a greenskin were to be made public, it would undoubtedly be a devastating blow to its diplomatic reputation and prestige.

But most of them were not written by individuals, and they did not surrender privately, so the effect of forcing them to do so would not be as expected, and they could not be used to threaten others by saying, "Sir, you don't want your letter of surrender to the greenskins to be made public, right?" It can only be effective on a large group, and cannot be made public. Otherwise, except at a broader level: ordering the world and striking a blow to the reputation of the border territory that is about to fall into dust, it will not work on them individually.

For example, what is the meaning of the document that the Matoka people presented to the greenskins, except for humiliating them again? Who doesn't know that they surrendered to the greenskins? It's like a person who has been sentenced to death and executed immediately, and then given a life sentence, what meaning does it have to him?

But if we think about it from another perspective, these "written evidences" of their surrender to the greenskins, which can severely hit the border princes and city-states, can also play a significant role on another level...

Al finished reading the letter that was specially left for him, and his thoughts were complicated.

Unexpectedly, after so many years, in addition to the Four Mothers and the Shepherd God, there was also Lilith who insisted on investing in his shares.

The person who came to "sponsor" him again turned out to be a green-skinned guy?

In order to prove his sincerity in cooperation, Gao Maoliang did a lot of things that were almost impossible for a green-skinned man to do.

This includes specially collected and piled up property. What is important is not these things, but the significance of these things being "captured" from the battlefield; as well as the battle flags and military flags it has captured since it broke into the border territory and traveled east and west, and even the flags of the warlord's own army... These are the best props to prove that Ai'er has won a "great victory" here.

The greenskins do not have the habit of collecting and hiding valuables. Generally speaking, whoever grabs them owns them. Except for a few greenskins who have curbed their warlike nature and are active in the human world, most greenskins do not use teeth as currency or do not know how to use them.

Military flags can be explained as being specially collected by Mao Liang to show off his military prowess. For example, Al had previously held a military parade in Margarita where captured enemy flags were dragged to the main square and burned. This was one of the best ways to publicize victory to the people.

With the flags of the warlord's pro-troops, almost no outsider would doubt that Al had won a brilliant victory here, perhaps even capturing Mao Liang himself and beating him so hard that he had to flee in panic.

Just as there would never be a second troop in the entire Alliance that could use the flags and uniforms of the Aiur Guards, no one would have imagined that a greenskin warlord would actually leave the flag of his own guards outside and specifically throw it to the "enemy" to be captured.

........

Al looked at the battlefield where flames were still rising into the sky. It should now be called a ruins. The soldiers of the Alliance were cleaning up the battlefield and burning the bodies. This battlefield would not leave too many extra traces.

At least, no one could tell the exact intensity of the war that had taken place here.

Chapter 251: What the Despicable People Have in Common

Gao Maoliang left him a gift that was quite valuable.

Al's "trophy".

This is certainly not a free gift out of friendship, but his "return gift" may not be fulfilled until a long time later.

After completing the finishing work on the battlefield, the Legion chose to return to Matoka. Apart from sending a small number of scouts to continue outward reconnaissance, Ai'er will not conduct any other military operations in the short term.

After all, his legion had been fighting continuously for many days and had just experienced a "big war". Now was the time when they needed to rest. No one could say anything if he chose to lead his troops back.

After inducement and propaganda, the alliance's army spread the news that this raid, which was only "ordinary" and had nothing to boast about in their past conquests, was a "glorious victory."

Eyre used the captured spoils and flags to claim a victory that could not be ignored:

The elite division of the Alliance detected the whereabouts of a large-scale greenskin army marching southward towards Matoka. Under the wise command of Aiel, the Alliance army, which was far smaller than the enemy, boldly launched a surprise attack. Needless to say, the process was thrilling. In short, the bold military adventure also achieved rich results.

In this "elite and fierce" greenskin army, there are many notorious greenskin warriors, such as Jiliguala, Wuliwala, Red Eyes and Rotten Teeth... who were killed in battle. The personal guard commander XXX sent by Mao Liang to lead this army was also killed in battle. The powerful warlord's personal guards suffered heavy casualties, and the rest fled eastward in embarrassment...

Because no one knows where Gao Maoliang is now, and the "tacit understanding" between them that would be absolutely evil once exposed has not yet reached a certain level, Al would not add such exaggerated things to the battle record: "Killed the enemy chief Gao Maoliang blah blah" or "The warlord was defeated and only escaped with his life and fled to the east. Our army pursued the victory and was unstoppable."

Of course, even for now, this record has been exaggerated beyond recognition.

If there are two or three layers of water in a pound of meat, it is called water injection. This time, Al's meat was basically half water and half meat - it's not entirely water, after all, he did defeat an army of more than 30,000 greenskins, which is a real achievement.

Afterwards, Al thought that Gao Maoliang must have arranged those weak members of his gang and the marginal forces of the "collateral gangs" that had not been integrated into his main Flying Dragon Gang to come and die, so as to improve Al's record.

Its only option now is to go east and cross the Haimen Pass again. It will inevitably encounter attacks from dwarves along the way, so it is impossible to lose too many cannon fodder here.

In the previous few encounters, Al had already keenly discovered the peculiarities of the greenskin Gao Maoliang in certain aspects, as well as the similarities between him and him.

For example, as a green-skinned Waaaagh BOSS, there is a very strong distinction between "legitimate and illegitimate", or in other words, there is a difference in treatment between "legitimate" and "collateral" lines.

In Gao Maoliang's huge warband, the real core force is the greenskins who obey the individual "Gao Maoliang·Dragon" rather than simply "the big boss who leads us to fight". It is mainly the dragon warband that it started with, rather than those greenskins who can autonomously sense and actively join the waaaagh fights happening nearby for the sake of fighting.

To these greenskins, "boss" is a vague concept. Whoever is the strongest is the boss, and whoever leads them to fight is the boss.

Once there is nothing to fight, or if they suffer a defeat and their morale is low, these greenskins will easily split from the waaaagh's body, break away, and become small wandering greenskin war groups, fighting everywhere, growing stronger or perishing in the process.

For Gao Maoliang, if he wants to establish a "country" with greenskins as the main body and with basic order, then it is necessary to restrain his greenskins with strong personal prestige and reputation. Otherwise, the greenskins who live on war will harass other races in the territory everywhere, and the framework of the country cannot be maintained at all, and it will soon return to a big Waaagh that constantly pursues and creates wars.

In addition to the title of BOSS, its personal authority is also very important. Gao Maoliang wants to build a greenskin army that is loyal to himself like Grimgor Ironhide's black orc "Undead Guard". Its orders can even suppress the greenskins' warlike nature, and its scale will be much larger than Ironhide's, because its purpose is: "An entire country, tens of millions of greenskins must obey it."

Therefore, it has been trying to use various methods to strengthen the power of its "direct lineage", strengthen its control over its headquarters, and assimilate the attraction of other greenskins. However, it is obviously impossible for the greenskins' brains to implant the thinking of "loyalty to the specific, not the concept" so quickly. Its troops have a scale of more than 100,000 so far, but no more than half of them can do the former or have the former.

In addition, if they break through to the east and return to the badlands, they will inevitably be blocked and there will be considerable casualties. Should they let the "direct greenskins" who have learned to "listen to the big warlord Gao Maoliang" instead of "listen to the boss and fight - I don't care who the boss is..." bear the main casualties? Or should they let those unruly people who clamor for fighting and killing every day and are likely to become cannon fodder for the "collateral war gangs" of the big warlord challengers once the war gang shows signs of decline? For Gao Maoliang, who already has a nearly "human thinking", this is not a choice at all.

Why is it called “commonality”?

This brings us to the fact that a certain wise king who was "a king of thousands of families in the south" deliberately betrayed the Southern Coalition Forces, which was both his ally and semi-subordinate at the time, during the Northern Expedition.

Although Al's main purpose at the time was to weaken the few remaining "patriotic forces" of the Southerners, he suffered heavy losses among those who dared to fight, and the remaining insects would not have the courage and ability to rise up against him in the future.

Maybe this is what despicable people have in common?

Although Al doesn't think so, he firmly believes that he is doing this for:

This is an inevitable "sacrifice" made in order to better promote the progress of history!

......

It seems even more despicable.

On the way back, the Alliance Army came face to face with the Imperial Army led by Celestine, who had rushed over after receiving the battle report from Aiur. As the commanders of both sides had complicated thoughts, there was a certain distance and estrangement between the two legions, and there was no joyful atmosphere of celebrating together after the victory as comrades who had fought side by side.

However, the Empire and the Alliance, who were still on the same front, still held some celebrations for their victory, although most of the generals on the Empire side had complicated thoughts:

The Chief's main army failed, but the Alliance King's adventure was a great victory, which made them a little disappointed.

But the lower-level soldiers don't think so much.

At least the enemy has retreated temporarily and they don't have to fight desperately.

252: Expansion of the Empire

Early 2699 of the Imperial Calendar.

Leaving aside the turmoil in other regions, this is a very special stage for the border princes.

The Great Waaaagh against the Border Territory launched by the "special" greenskin warlord Gao Maoliang has come to an end. After several major battles, the power of the greenskins has greatly declined. Even though the cunning warlord defeated the army led by the Imperial Chief of War through a surprise attack, it was also forced to withdraw from the Border Territory due to a successful raid launched by the King of the Alliance.

After the vanguard army attacking Matoka was defeated in the north, Gao Maoliang chose to abandon its strategy in the border territory and led his troops to retreat eastward along the route the greenskins came. The dwarves organized an elite army to block these enemies, whose names could never be erased from their book of hatred except by extermination, and achieved considerable results, but were still framed by the cunning greenskin warlords.

Gomaoliang's later choice was just as Ai'er had expected. He divided his troops into several parts and broke through in the direction of Haimen Pass. Among them, the most conspicuous and powerful targets were the non-staff greenskins who followed a Waaaagh instead of a "Gao Maoliang warlord". These greenskins were met with the strongest resistance from the dwarves, while Gomaoliang and his obedient "direct lineage" quickly broke away from the battlefield after the battle and broke into the vast badlands.

The looting of the greenskins in the western border territories caused extremely serious damage to the local area. In Gao Maoliang's evacuation team, a large number of craftsmen, farmers, and intellectuals were forcibly abducted. Most people thought that these were slaves captured by the greenskins and reserved rations, but only Ai'er knew that these were the "talent reserves" made by Gao Maoliang for his own barbaric country.

The war is over.

But for the border leaders, bigger problems have just begun.

In some contexts, such as the Southern Alliance, the Greenskin invasion of the Border Princes is called the "Second Greenskin War", which is seen as the Estalia Patriotic War, which is a continuation and re-interpretation of the "First Greenskin War" in propaganda. The premise of this "continuation" is that the entire Border Princes' Territory is regarded as part of the "South".

If you look at it this way, the First Greenskin (Patriotic) War was followed by the First Southern Unification (Annexation) War, and the Tyrells regarded their old neighbor next door, whose head had changed, as a dilapidated, shabby house that had been crashed by greenskin beasts and was about to collapse and vulnerable to any blow. As long as they gave it a kick, they could make a huge profit from the Estalia.

As a result, the new leader of the Alliance (Estalia) was a demon man who was two meters sixty tall, with stone flesh all over his body and horns on his head. He rushed out and beat up the Tyrells who were causing trouble. He was also forced to break into his home and sign an unequal treaty, and was in turn annexed by the other side.

So after the "Second Greenskin War", will someone want to fight another "Second Unification War"?......

This is what some people are worried about. Of course, this is only a relatively minor problem among the problems faced by the Border Prince Territory, a "region" that cannot be viewed as a whole.

Whatever it was called, the Waaaagh launched by Mao Liang was a "devastating" blow to the Border Princes in some ways.

Just like Germany was defeated, an old player who had played Hearts of Iron for nine years died on the third day after getting married. Now you know the dangers of getting married, right? (crossed out) - Just like Germany was defeated, but at least it permanently destroyed the prestige of France in May and June 1940, Mao Liang also permanently destroyed the legitimacy and reputation of the Border Princes as an independent "force" in a war that actually lasted less than half a year.

Surrendering to the greenskins is shameful enough.

It is even more shameful that they handed over hostages and formed a puppet army to help the greenskins.

In the face of the warlords' attacks, countless city-states, both large and small, "surrendered at the sight of the enemy", and opening the city walls and submitting to the enemy to avoid war became a "unanimous consensus" to some extent in the western border areas.

The Matoka people set a very bad example. They wanted to shift the responsibility of resistance to others, but others were not fools. You surrendered and I held on - why?

This was partly out of spite, and coupled with the illusion of "foreign intervention forces", it is not surprising that "false conversion" and "saving the country in a roundabout way" became the mainstream thinking at the time.

From the perspective of benefit, if they choose to surrender when someone has already taken the lead, they can not only preserve the city-state, but also do not have to bear too much psychological burden. On the contrary, if there is an important city-state that has set an example before, fighting with the lives of all the people in the city, persisting to the end, and refusing to surrender, then for other regions, perhaps the negative impact of surrender will be more worthy of their consideration. Unfortunately, Mirmiden, which did so, is located on the Black Bay Peninsula and ranked last in the warlord's assault, so it has no chance to serve as a "model".

Of course, they did so at the time, and perhaps they could justify it by saying "it's beyond their ability, but understandable", and the result seemed good. The pincer attack from the Northern Empire and the Southern Alliance easily drove the barbaric and ugly monsters out of the land of order. It seemed that the border people only paid a small price:

Compared to fighting to the death with the greenskins and then having the entire city slaughtered after breaking into the city, the cost is indeed just "a little".

This is how they "won" the war.

But soon they helplessly and tragically discovered such a fact:

As the "victorious" party in the war, the "Border Territory" was not qualified to sit at the negotiation table to divide the fruits of victory in the eyes of the Empire, the Dwarves, or the Alliance in the South, which spoke kindly, had a friendly attitude and seemed close.

Strictly speaking, they have a vast territory and a sparsely populated land. They are a paradise for adventurers and a paradise for immigrants... The vast border princely territory (western part) and the countless city-states, towns, villages, and gathering places on it are the "fruits of victory" itself.

The border people used submission to avoid the responsibilities of glory, independence, and dignity that they should have borne in exchange for survival.

Then, as the saviors who helped them defend their right to "survival", they obviously would not be so merciful as to pack up the broken things that the border people had abandoned and trampled on and send them back, waiting for the next invasion by some evil forces such as greenskins, pirates, vampires, etc., and then launch another expedition to support the border princes with whom they have no relatives or friends?

"The barbarians have migrated to the south. For generations, they have been away from the king's rule. The rituals and music have been broken, and morality has been lost... until the fertile land has been turned into ruins, faith has been covered in dust and glory has been lost. The descendants of Sigmar have knelt before the barbaric enemy! When the ancestors and gods heard this, they all wept bitterly in the nine heavens!"

This is roughly the attitude of the imperial people. They first feel sorry for their misfortune and then get angry at their lack of resistance, then they scold and blame the border people.

Of course, this is just a statement. The second half means:

Want independence?

Talk about autonomy?

Can you just yell?

I can't do it! You know, I don't have the qualifications or the ability!

We are one family and we should not have different opinions. If you keep acting like this, I will take a loss and take you back. I will give you a chance to find your roots. After all, you are all people of Sigmar. You should be part of the big family and listen to the teachings of Altdorf together.

Ok?

unwilling?

Being an imperial heavenly soldier is fake!

Compared to the Alliance of Aiel's gradual approach of boiling a frog in warm water on the border, and the nominal support of a "border defense front" as a puppet, constantly infiltrating and strengthening its control over this "gentle" method, the Empire's behavior is much uglier and its attitude is more brutal.

As the human empire that has won the great holy war and has regarded itself as the leader of order, the old big brother, and the spiritual motherland of the human species, it has the confidence and the courage to do so.

They basically directly revoked the "independence qualifications" of the border princes, which was similar to "expelling you from the church or the people", and then "naturally" inserted their power into the border, using garrisons and the appointment of bureaucrats and nobles to massively expand their sphere of influence in the border princes.

They were too lazy to even let their vassals eat the land, which was even more exaggerated than directly sending troops to Prague. It was no different from the "just cause".

You should know that nominally among the border territories, only Matoka had offered tribute to the empire and submitted to the empire, while other places were still independent regions in theory.

But the empire simply treated it as its own territory and colony.

Without saying anything else, I just want to ask you that you opened the door when the greenskins came, and now the imperial soldiers are at the gate of the city and ask you to open it, but you don’t. What does it mean?

253: Story

Augustine was defeated in the north of Matoka, which resulted in the failure of the 100,000-strong army's eastward expedition. Not only did it cause heavy casualties, but it also brought shame to the empire.

Augustine's chance to regain his position militarily and make up for his mistake was lost because of Al's successful surprise attack on the greenskins, which forced Mao Liang to retreat eastward. This made Augustine angry and despair about his military and political life.

If nothing unexpected happens, the defeated chief of the expedition will soon be recalled by a single order from Altdorf. Infamy and trial will follow, and Augustin Usnov will eventually be plunged into disgrace.

As a "foreigner", the Chief of War had no foundation at all in the empire. With such a humiliating defeat, it was impossible for him to find any powerful help to mediate, and he would have to take the blame for the failure. The traditional military heroes would obviously not let a foreigner who had suffered a great defeat continue to sit on the position of Chief of War. If Augustine was removed from office, they would be qualified to compete for the position of Chief of War.

Faced with double, even triple threats, including the end of his physical life, Augustine suddenly discovered a glimmer of hope in his despair. It was the only life-saving straw he could grasp after the chance to wash away the shame of failure with victory disappeared as the enemy fled.

That is to be a black glove.

The Empire wants to expand towards the border territories. It would be best if this huge territory, which is no less than the New World colonies, is directly incorporated into the Empire's territory for rule. Because of the rampage of the greenskins, the border princely territories, which are still sparsely populated, can effectively relieve the population pressure faced by the Empire. Farmers and population will continue to appear as long as there is enough land. They will gradually develop new cities, manors, workers, factories...