Warhammer

So after a series of games, following the unification of financial power, military power was finally brought back to the central government, forming a de facto unity with one command.

After this, although the name of provincial army was still retained, in fact the so-called "provincial army" was more of a second-line force that combined multiple functions and responsibilities such as local garrison, garrison, public security, and militia.

Although elite troops like the Nuln Ironclad also belong to this category, no one in the Empire would confuse them. As elite legions with exclusive titles and glorious heritage, they still belong to the ranks of provincial armies, but in fact they are the front-line combat troops of the Empire, or garrison corps that serve exclusively in their regions of origin.

After excluding this part, what remains is the so-called "provincial army", which is a huge but sickly giant with feet of clay, with empty salaries, little training, poor discipline, backward equipment, outdated tactics, and serious class division between officers and soldiers...

With a bunch of negative buffs, they can't even guarantee to get their salaries on time, the internal relations in the army are bad, the officers are arrogant and extravagant, and they treat the lower-level soldiers as servants and order them around at will... Under a bunch of vicious situations, if they can still maintain good discipline, it can only be said that either the state religion has its own mind control ability, or... they have big ambitions?

For example, a group of Chaos elements who wish to remain anonymous have already infiltrated, and are ready to storm into the Altdorf Palace and seize the throne when everything is ready.

The various negative problems of the provincial army are not just their own problems. If we talk about it, it will involve the corruption of the entire imperial army system. So in order to deal with this situation, the empire has taken good measures:

Pig Tactics... the first part.

If attacked, it will stick its butt against the wall so that you can't catch its tail.

The accurate description should be the dragging tactic.

The provincial troops are stationed in the main source areas of their soldiers. They are all local people and local troops. No matter what happens, it can't cause any trouble because it's right at home. Even if there is a mutiny or something like that, it won't cause too much waves. The worst that can happen is that they will report a lot of deserters, because they will eventually run back home anyway.

But even so, with local people generally stationed in the local area, all aspects of the empire still had a deep impression of the poor military discipline of the provincial army, which gives us a glimpse of the situation.

.......

But the important thing is that the most common troops under Augustine now are provincial legions whose combat effectiveness cannot be guaranteed but whose discipline can be absolutely "reliable", and the scale of these legions is still expanding.

There is no guarantee of winning the war, so please rest assured, Commander, if you disturb the people.

If you can rob openly, don't just steal the chicken; if you can search a house, don't just break the door.

The soldiers of the Empire, who were used to being poor, saw the border as an opportunity to make a fortune. The Chief had lost, the greenskins had run away, and there was no record of their military achievements. But the Imperials, who had been given a "legal torture" and extortion qualification certificate by Augustine, were still ecstatic about it. However, while they were happy, it was the border people who were going crazy.

The empire took over the border with the intention of using this place as a colony that was close, had a suitable environment, and could greatly relieve domestic population pressure.

If you want to immigrate here, you can't just make a decision and make publicity. You have to build it first and have an outpost.

It is best to establish several new immigrant city-states in the early stages.

So where does the population come from? Before we completely gain control of this area, it is not appropriate to mobilize a large number of people to migrate, as this will cause immeasurable turmoil to the already unstable border situation.

The empire is vast and rich in resources, and many talented people have emerged. Soon, Aldorf came up with a good idea:

"Military Reclamation and Immigration"

The huge provincial armies in the empire could not guarantee combat effectiveness and were of little use in times of peace. Moreover, because they were too bloated, they became a considerable burden on the entire country.

If these provincial troops that are useless and wasteful of military resources are disbanded, how to resettle them will be another huge problem. It just so happens that the border immigrants need a large amount of organized manpower in the early stages. If a large number of provincial troops are moved to the border and then organized into military settlements, and then disbanded and resettled locally after normal production and life can be maintained, not only will there be no extra expenses, but waste can be utilized and turned into treasure.

257: Reinforcement

So when someone proposed this idea at the Senate meeting, it was quickly passed and implemented with rare efficiency.

There is no need for national arrangements. The military can directly mobilize and move local troops to the border. As long as there are sufficient supplies, there will be no problem as long as they do not station in big cities along the way.

After these troops arrived at the border territory, they all went to fight and were "incorporated" under the command of the Chief, leaving Augustine to do as he pleased. As long as they could be settled down, the goal of strengthening the empire's presence in the border territory would be achieved.

This leads to a particularly strange phenomenon:

A general who suffered a great defeat, lost his army, and lost to an opponent like the greenskins. He was a general who humiliated his country. Firstly, he had no deep background and no strong support behind him. Secondly, he was not trusted and reused by the emperor. However, even his subordinates felt that:

Sir, I think it’s in danger this time!

In this situation, the troops at his disposal are increasing, and his authority to act on his own is also expanding.

Meanwhile, wealth is increasing...

The empire did this in the hope that Augustine, as a defeated general, could maximize his surplus value and help the empire solve two problems at once. Augustine also knew that all he could do now was to maximize his surplus value, and he worked very hard to complete the tasks assigned to him by the country.

But the huge number of the empire's second-line and local troops who came to the border were not here to do good things.

Their treatment and status in the country are already miserable enough, like those of subordinates. Desertion, mutiny, disobeying orders and refusing to go to work are common occurrences. The military will send them to a foreign country with just one order, without the promised benefits and without any price. How could it be easy?

So what will the Empire use to pay this "price"?

That naturally belongs to the border territory as the "trophies" and "fruits of victory".

"This vast borderland, a land of milk and honey, is open to the empire's warriors to seize."

First, they publicized the empire's "expansion of territory" in the south and its great results, saying how rich the place was and how fertile the land was, and that it was not like the New World colonies which had to cross the ocean and face constant dangers. Then they would issue a sum of money for travel expenses and make up for the overdue military pay. The rest would be handled by the empire's supreme commander and chief of expedition after arriving at the destination.

The expansion of the border territory was a major project promoted by Emperor Otto in order to gain merit, and it was also unanimously recognized by the church. Augustine's defeat was embarrassing, but no one wanted to use this as an excuse to slap the emperor and the state religion in the face, so the empire used a lot of tricks to describe it in its internal propaganda, concealing the defeat and calling it "a small setback", without mentioning that the chief almost lost all the heavy weapons to the greenskins after the defeat. If there was no Alliance king who passed by and did a good deed and did not want to leave his name in Matoka, the greenskins would have been able to wipe out the Matoka with artillery fire...

Therefore, in China, people's impression of Augustine is still:

An old general trusted by the emperor, one of the three commanders-in-chief, a marshal dedicated to conquests...

In the final analysis, the imperial soldiers came to the border to make money. From top to bottom, they had neither the mind nor the ability to proceed step by step like the Alliance and put on a show to portray the Southland as one family.

In order to satisfy his soldiers' desire to get rich, Augustine would certainly not stop his increasingly widespread "finding people to rape" activities. Otherwise, where could he find a legal channel for the soldiers to torture and extort?

If this path is blocked and the cloak of "reasonable and legal" is lost, the consequences will be more serious.

After the Chief of Conquest persuaded Mao Liang to withdraw his troops and won the Greenskin War, he established a military government in the name of the Empire's highest military and political chief on the border, which can also be called the "Border Shogunate". It had a large number of local elites and imperial generals who came to serve the Chief. On the basis of Augustine's "anti-counterrevolutionary" campaign from El, he creatively used the wisdom of the "wise king" in the south in his secondary creation. The elites from all over the country who had joined the Chief's Shogunate became uneasy and more than half of them ran away, but there were still some people who "sought wealth and honor in danger" and "gambled with the trend" who stayed.

These people formed Augustine's administrative team, responsible for helping the imperial chief to place "reinforcements" from the empire and mobilize garrisons in various places.

As locals, they understand the prosperity level and approximate limit of a city-state in a region. By mobilizing garrisons, they give locals the illusion that "it will pass if they endure it", ensuring that at least in the short term, no major civil unrest will be aroused.

Augustine didn't know that he was opening the floodgates, no, letting out blood, letting the blood of the border people to nourish the border legions. In the short term, it would be good for the entry of imperial forces, but it would more likely arouse the local people's dissatisfaction and resistance to the empire, and cultivate a large number of open and potential elements who would oppose the empire's entry into the border?

of course I know!

But he had no choice. If he didn't do this, he could do nothing.

His subordinates would not obey his orders and would do hard and tiring work that brought them no benefit at all, such as building cities, military settlements and clearing wasteland. After all, in their eyes, Augustine was already a criminal sentenced to double death in both his military and political life. In this case, he did not even have the qualifications to ask the country for a black glove to do the dirty and tiring work. A general who could not command his subordinates was of no use at all. What awaited him when he returned was deprivation of his honor, punishment, and then eternal damnation.

Therefore, he could only relax restrictions and allow soldiers to "get rich" on the border - "legal robbery" to make himself "effective" both to his superiors and subordinates. Only in this way could Augustine make a last fight for his political life, and possibly his physical life.

As a general, the army is the key. Augustine knew that what he did was tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst, but he could do nothing about it. He was not like Al, who was the supreme leader of the alliance and personally formulated the policy of "slow and steady" on the border. No one could oppose it or put pressure on him.

But if Augustine does not dig holes for the future and consume the empire's reputation in the border territories without making a living, he can do nothing.

Of course, there is another way, which is for Augustin to lie down and accept the fact, hand over the military power to the deputy staff officer, return to Altdorf to report on his work - accept punishment, and the Empire will re-formulate its policy on the border territories... But this is beneficial to the Empire, but it is the most difficult for Augustin himself to accept.

Since the result couldn't get any worse, he could only give it a try with everything at stake. If he lost, he would be dead anyway. If he could produce results - even if the people in the border territory were to become resentful, his honor was destroyed, and chaos was brewing... as long as it didn't explode while he was still here, it would be fine.

.........

An urgent letter asking for help was presented to the chief.

Perhaps it was because of the fear of the uncertain future that he had some thoughts of giving up on himself and living for the moment. After the victory of the war, Augustine, as the commander-in-chief, set up a shogunate to guard the border. His previous simple, old-fashioned, even Puritan ascetic military life suddenly became "colorful".

Even when handling official business, there were seven or eight graceful dancers in the chief's office dancing for the gentlemen.

Right next to Augustine, there was a petite, young and lovely girl standing beside him obediently, adding ink and serving tea to the busy chief, who was serving him meticulously.

Rhine once privately expressed his dissatisfaction to his mentor. He believed that no matter how uncertain his future was, as an imperial general and a noble, he should not be so unrestrained. However, the chief, who no longer cared about these things and was ashamed to face his own disciples, waved him away. In a fit of anger, he simply submitted an application to continue to the Kingdom of Mountains with Celestine.

The maid opened the letter and presented it to the chief. Military affairs were actually handled by a foreign woman - to put it bluntly, a military prostitute, but a slave who served the chief alone. If this happened in the past under the command of the chief, even a noble officer like Rhine would definitely be punished by military law by Augustine.

But now that the chief has taken the lead in falling, then...

"it is good!"

The content of the letter was very simple. It basically said that an eastern city-state was being harassed by the remaining greenskin bandits, whose size ranged from three to five thousand. The residents of the city-state were struggling to resist and could only ask for help from the imperial garrison for reinforcement.

After Mao Liang ran away, there were still many greenskin war gangs causing trouble in the border territories, but they were all minor problems that could not amount to anything serious.

Augustine is overwhelmed by the increasing number of conflicts between local residents and imperial garrisons. On the one hand, it is the foundation of his current life, and on the other hand, he has to meet his domestic targets. Maintaining a "balance" between the two is enough to keep him busy.

He was thinking of a way to temporarily resolve and suppress the conflict, when he suddenly felt sleepy and was presented with a pillow.

Five thousand greenskins, if you discount them, you can just say there are “tens of thousands of bandits”.

Exaggerate the threat of the greenskins, spread rumors that the enemy is about to make a comeback, frighten the people on the border, and make them realize that the threat of the greenskins has not completely gone away. At this time, only the imperial garrison can protect their safety, so the sacrifice of some material things will not be a big deal.

Augustine decided to send troops to support the city-state immediately, using the most reliable troops and commanding them; if not... he even wanted to find Rhine and let this outstanding disciple lead the team personally to accomplish this task beautifully, so that he could whitewash his achievements and it would be of great use to his domestic governance.

At almost the same time, the alliance stationed in Kalundborg, located on the "demarcation front" between the north and the south, the Border Coalition, also known as the Coalition Headquarters, also received the same letter for help.

After a little thought, the brothers Misha and Barbatos who were stationed here believed that this was a good opportunity to expand the power of the defense line (alliance) eastward and into the eastern border territory, and decided to send troops immediately to reinforce (take over) this city-state.

El's third daughter, the extremely charming Barbatos Feng El, personally led the elite cavalry and traveled day and night to rush there.

258: New Storm

The city-state that sent the letter for help was called Lagos, located northeast of Matoka. It was one of the new cities built by the survivors after the old city of Caprice was destroyed by the greenskins. It was named after the leader who led them to build their new home. At first, they were unwilling to leave their home too far, and the immigrants who chose to migrate eastward eventually merged into Basov and became settlers there.

Because it was destroyed once, the people of Lagos are not really attached to their homeland, and young people like to venture out. For example, nearby Matoka, Mirmiden and Barak Haimen have absorbed many Lagos immigrants. Therefore, the city has always been large in size, and the population has been fluctuating around 20,000 for a long time. Needless to say, the army has only a few hundred city defense forces that are worth using.

The group of greenskins that harassed Rags was led by a warrior named Rotten Tooth. They caused chaos and harassed local people around Rags and attacked Rags from time to time. Originally, Rags, a small country with a small population, planned to shrink its forces and rely on the city walls to support it for a while. The greenskins had no good means of siege, and they could not take it down and had no fight to fight, so they left in boredom.

But who would have thought that these greenskins found a batch of weapons and equipment from somewhere, which were suspected to be the remains of Mao Liang's army, including several cannons. This made General Rotten Tooth target Rags and began a long siege of the city, almost breaking through the city walls several times.

The Rottenfangs were different from the Gorrils, they were the "real, pure" greenskins who came here for fighting and destruction. If they broke into the city, Ragus would be massacred and razed to the ground like Kypres of old.

So he had no choice but to ask for help. According to common sense, when Ragus asked for reinforcements, he should first ask for help from the nearest Matoka. Although after the greenskins retreated, Matoka no longer needed to maintain its previous large force, there were only 3,000 imperial legions stationed there, and the original militia organization was also disbanded and became civilians.

Although the people of Lagos are weak, they still have dignity.

They would rather take the risk of delaying the city and not go to Matoka first, but instead run a long way to the west to deliver a letter for help because of a "historical contradiction".

Originally, the relationship between Rags and Matoka was pretty good. After all, they were so close to each other, and the place with the most immigrants from Rags was Matoka. Apart from the fact that Matoka had always wanted to become a vassal of Rags, there was no conflict between the two sides. It was probably still a normal neighbor relationship. However, Matoka was larger in size, and had more say and status.

When Mao Liang invaded the border and besieged Matoka, the big warlord didn't even notice the small place of Rags. After forcing the Matoka people to surrender, they continued to move west. But the people of Rags, like the western city-states, had the experience of surrendering to the greenskins - because the greenskins didn't pay attention to whether there were people here, but the Matoka people knew.

Perhaps it was because they had set a precedent for surrender, and the Matoka people themselves felt ashamed. If they wanted to wash away the shame, they had to "revolt" when Mao and Liang were at their peak and unstoppable. It would be difficult for them to resist the greenskin army. So let's look at it from another angle:

I surrender = shame;

If everyone surrenders = it's not just me who's embarrassed!

Therefore, the Matoaka people and the Matoaka pseudo-government were quite helpful to the greenskins in this regard. They sent guides to present maps and lead the way for the greenskins, and even took the initiative to send envoys to connect with local places and help the greenskins persuade the city-states to surrender. Rags, who could have escaped because of his weak presence, was forced to surrender by the Matoaka people in the name of a big warlord. In fact, Mao Liang had never paid attention to this place at all.

It was simply because the Matoka people themselves felt it was too shameful to surrender to the greenskins. Lagos was nearby, and the village on the top of the mountain was invaded by bandits who took over the mountain and became kings. They were unwilling to let the settlements on the mountainside stay out of it, so they deliberately made trouble. The delegation they sent to Lagos to "convey the warlord's orders" did not even have a single greenskin in it. Instead, they "hired" a former Sartosa pirate who had been hanging out with the greenskins to pretend to be the "warlord's special envoy" and force the Lagos people to surrender and pay tribute, otherwise the army would arrive soon and massacre everyone in the city...

After weighing the pros and cons, the disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves, and the inducement of the Matoka people, the people of Lagos finally had no choice but to surrender.

Then the greenskins - the old man was domineering in Matoka, and the Matoka were domineering in Lags. The people of Lags were not stupid either. After analyzing the situation, they guessed that the greenskins had no intention of sending troops to them. Even when Aiel sent troops to "defeated the main force of the greenskins", the warlords fled to the east and did not pass through Lags. It was all the Matoka people looking for trouble, so they hated the powerful neighbors to the south.

You fell into the pit of cesspool yourself, and you dumped shit on the people on the shore, pulling others in.

nausea!

After the war, when someone brought out these evidences to accuse the Matoaka people, the Matoaka people insisted that it was the greenskins who forced them. It was a helpless move. Everyone was not clean, and no one really wanted the Matoaka people to give an explanation except for the verbal fight. What's more, Matoaka was nominally the only imperial territory in the entire border area. It was the legal basis for the imperial army to be stationed on the border for a long time. Naturally, the chief of the expedition would not sit idly by and watch the voices besieging Matoaka.

After the greenskins withdrew, the people of Lagos were "liberated" again in a confused manner, just like they were forced to surrender for unknown reasons. However, due to their weak presence and the fact that there were no greenskins causing trouble here, even the Imperials ignored this place. After all, if you insist, Lagos had not suffered any harm. Since there was no threat, the reason for "rescue" was invalid. Therefore, Lagos instead restored its former independence. It is very close to Matoka, but has neither been included in the "defense" scope of the Imperial garrison, nor has it joined the "defense line" to cling to the Alliance.

The people of Lagos are a small country with little power, so naturally they cannot ask for revenge on the Matoaka. They can only hold their anger in their hearts. Now that the Rotten-Tooth Greenskins are besieging Lagos, they would rather ask for help from the more distant Empire and Alliance garrisons than bow to the Matoaka again. That would be a shame and unlucky situation to a certain extent.

The imperial garrison was leading the border in a very unruly manner, and there was a serious problem of banditry. The people of Lagos had also heard about it, but after all, it had not happened directly to them, and they did not truly realize how terrible it was. However, there were also knowledgeable people who expressed concern about this.

If the Empire is asked to send troops to rescue, according to the Imperial style, they will probably come to rescue for real, but after the rescue, it is natural for them to stay. Moreover, the Matoka people were the first border city-state to submit to the Empire. If Lagos surrendered to the Empire, according to the Empire's provincial division, it is very likely that they will eventually be governed by the Matoka people.

All the Lags people were divided, some supported asking the Empire for help, while others preferred to seek help from the Alliance. After all, the latter's reputation in the border areas was much better now, and the reputation and glorious deeds of His Majesty the Wise King were widely spread throughout the south - from the Eternal Peak in the east to Bretonnia in the west.

Emotionally, the Lagos naturally prefer an alliance that has nothing to do with the Matoka.

However, the Alliance garrison in Kalundborg had a sphere of influence limited to outside the Konos Forest. If they failed to arrive in time to provide assistance, Lagos would be breached by the greenskins first. As a result, two letters for help were eventually sent to the west and the north and south at the same time. After all, survival came first.

But what the people of Lags could not have imagined was that because of their behavior of "worshiping two docks at the same time" and asking for help from both, a new storm was brewing.

Chapter 259: Lucky General

Just like her father did when he set out on his expedition, Barbatos's army traveled light and marched day and night.

On the way, she had learned about the general situation of Ragus through the alliance's intelligence network, but she had no way of knowing that this small city-state, at the critical moment of life and death, had carried out the operation of "delivering goods to three parties" at the same time.

Even if they knew, it would not matter. If they asked for help at the same time, there would be no question of who had the advantage. There were only a few opportunities and results. It just depended on who came first.

No matter in terms of discipline or efficiency, at least these imperial troops stationed in the border areas are far inferior to the soldiers of the Alliance. Ai'er attaches great importance to his own sharp sword. Although in order to develop the economy and people's livelihood, the Alliance's first three-year plan was all used for internal political management, and there was not much emphasis on the military. Most of the military systems used were still the old ones, and there was not much progress or innovation.

But under the premise of guaranteed treatment, with the blessing of the three magic weapons of discipline, training and faith, even if the Alliance Army cannot be said to look down on all nations, it is definitely a powerful force in the Old Continent. With the bonus of faith, even the mortal infantry of the Alliance Legion can defeat the pig charge launched by the greenskin big guys through hard impact in the cold weapon attack, which is quite similar to the style of the primitive humans in the Sigmar Age with disheveled hair, wrapped in animal skins and tattoos, roaring and beating the greenskins.

Human Orthodoxy in the Alliance.jpg

There is no need to compare with the empire's second and third-tier provincial armies.

Today, after the expansion, nearly one-third of the alliance, more than 50,000 troops are stationed in the border areas for a long time. Among them, more than 20,000 are under the command of Misha and stationed in the front line of Kalunburg, facing the outpost established by the Empire on the outskirts of the Konos Forest.

By the way, the location of this garrison was not chosen by El, but was a "suggestion" submitted to the alliance after a motion was proposed by members of the border defense war and voted on. It was obviously intended to use the power of the alliance to fight against the imperial people in the north who were acting more and more unscrupulously and had obvious ambitions for the border territory.