Warhammer

But this move was also in the interests of the alliance, so Al agreed to the request and was able to show that:

Look, we still have a cooperative relationship with Border, they can give us suggestions, and we will consider them and adopt them;

Compared with the style of Laozi in the north, it is obvious which is better and which is worse. These seemingly insignificant matters are actually a fight for the hearts and minds of the people.

Barbatos galloped all the way, running towards Matoka at the fastest speed.

They were all controlled by the Order, so there was no need to conceal her whereabouts. She led her troops through many "alliance-controlled areas" and quickly moved eastward under the noses of the Empire. However, the Empire had not yet officially incorporated the western border princely territories into its homeland. Currently, it was still under the name of "garrison and assistance". Only Matoka was clearly designated as an "overseas autonomous territory" by the Empire, so there was no need to worry too much.

Barbatos set out immediately after receiving the letter for help from the Lagos people.

She brought only 4,000 elite troops on this eastern expedition, and not all of them were the best of her Third Legion. Among them, there were only 400 veteran subordinates from the Third Legion, the "Sons of Ai".

Although Ai'er initially established a system of enfeoffment for his descendants and establishment of legions to control the four directions, Ai'er still learned the lesson of a certain old man Huang. The descendants acted "in the name of the elder brother" and exercised "the authority of the father". Each legion did not have an absolute personal dependence on its own commander. First of all, it was because they obeyed the authority granted by Ai'er, and then it was out of respect and admiration for the expertise, personal charm, and combat effectiveness of the legion leaders.

Anyway, we must not let the unfilial sons and daughters rebel against their father one day! The men under him only recognize the leader of the legion, not the wise king, and follow the commander to kill Margarita and ignite the vast ocean...

The mobility between the various legions is not low. Anyway, even if loyalty can be proved with life, Ai'er does not want to have a bunch of green-robed bastards who shout "loyalty itself is a reward" every day, but end up forming small groups behind closed doors every day, with no secrets...

For example, at this time, Barbatos had the largest number of wolf cubs from Hera's Four Legions under his command, with a "wolf pack" of 1,300 people following him.

Hera was injured in Black Rock Castle. Although she recovered gradually after returning, Al, who loved his daughter dearly, still forcibly sent her back to her homeland to recuperate in the Pina Forest and let her leave the battlefield temporarily. As for her subordinates... Anyway, the Fourth Legion gathered basically the most combative people in the entire alliance, and the belief in the Blood Mother was the mainstream, so it was impossible for them not to be combative. Even if they were really not combative, it was impossible for them not to be influenced and infected after entering such a big environment as the Fourth Legion.

Normally, the responsible matters are basically thrown to the eldest, second and third brothers, or they are allowed to have their own residence in a large arena for their own entertainment.

The wolf girl returned to Pina, and most of her legion was sent to the eldest daughter's side, at the "front line" in Kalundborg, to deal with possible threats of war.

.........

The group of greenskins besieging Rags are "monsters" transformed from a piece of "meat" that fell from Gao Maoliang's army during the Western Expedition.

Given the greenskins' high level of organization, there is naturally no such thing as strict enforcement of orders and unity among the people (except for fighting).

It is normal to "scatter" along the way. Often the team will expand in a confused manner during the battle, or shrink in size during the journey. After a heavy loss in a battle, the main force of the warlord will be declared dead.

During the Waaaagh, many greenskins will choose to leave the team led by the warlord at a certain moment when they feel "bored" and wander to other areas, looking for new fights and burning settlements.

And it is often this situation that causes the greatest damage to the local ecology.

However, under the shaping of Mao Liang, this aspect of the warband is much better than other greenskin warbands, but due to its large scale, it is still inevitable that "fragments" will drop.

After the "vanguard army was defeated", the warlord chose to retreat eastwards and leave the border. This was contrary to the greenskins' desire to fight. So some greenskins who did not want to leave spontaneously left the team and stayed on the border. Gao Maoliang didn't care about them. Anyway, they would be cannon fodder if they took them along, and staying would attract the attention of humans.

The Rotten Tooth Warlord rose to power under such circumstances. To some extent, it can be said that it "inherited part of Gao Maoliang's legacy in the border territories." If it were still the time before the Great Holy War, it might be able to rise in the border territories that had been ravaged by the great warlords, reproduce the success of a warlord, and launch a Waaaagh that followed the aftermath of Gao Maoliang, bringing another panic to the border people who had not yet healed the pain caused by the previous war.

Unfortunately for it, times have changed.

The expansion of the forces of order has basically eliminated the existence of the forces of destruction in the border territories. After the ratmen were defeated and the beastmen "reformed", the only greenskin fell into the technological gap due to the strengthening of the power of civilization and was beaten back step by step.

The dwarf fleet patrolled the Blackwater River, blocking the possibility of the greenskins "sneaking north".

Even if Rotten Tooth found all the greenskins currently active in the entire border territory, including those in the Dark Forest in the northeast and the Black Mountains in the north, and asked them to join his team, it would be difficult for him to put together an army as large as the one he had with Mao Liang.

Relying only on the little strength it has under its command, as long as the Empire or the Alliance, or one of the three dwarf parties pays attention to it and uses some strength to suppress it, it will be difficult for it to continue its journey.

Fortunately and unfortunately:

Rotten Teeth doesn't realize this.

Chapter 260: The Imperials Are Here Too

Fortunately, as a greenskin, it only needs to think about one thing in its limited life, that is "fight, fight, fight", and does not have to worry about anything else.

Unfortunately, it wasn't very smart - but in fact, its ugly head, which was completely "normal" by the average greenskin standard, could not realize or understand threats beyond its cognition.

Well, now that both major forces have noticed Rags, its fate is doomed.

.........

The ugly, shriveled head of Rotten Tooth was cut off from its torso and inserted into a flagpole. It was carried by the werewolf warriors into the city of Rags, which it had besieged several times but always fell short of entering.

Barbatos's troops moved at the speed of the wind, which caught the Rottenfang greenskins unawares and caused their camp to be destroyed by a surprise attack. General Rottenfang himself was also hunted down by wolves. This was completely unexpected for the people of Rags who were struggling to wait for reinforcements.

Before dawn broke, when the city and the outside world were in the final silence before all things woke up, the sudden change came quietly.

There were deafening shouts and cries outside the city, but the people of Lagos were weak and could not do without the protection of the city walls. They had no idea of ​​the specific situation outside. If they were reinforcements, they came too quickly and had no prior contact. They dared not go out rashly, for fear that it was a trick of the greenskins. They could only guard behind the city walls anxiously, until the murderous werewolf warriors threw the severed greenskin heads and flags down to the city and asked the people of Lagos to open the city gates to let the friendly troops from afar to move in. The stunned people of Lagos thought that a fierce and powerful beastman war gang had appeared in the border territory.

It was not until the alliance's double-headed eagle flag appeared and the accompanying human bureaucrats communicated with the people in the city that the identities of both parties were confirmed.

At dawn, the overjoyed Lags people beat drums and gongs to welcome the Alliance reinforcements led by the third daughter of "the hero who saved the Border Territory, His Majesty El of the Alliance."

In fact, in order to prevent misunderstandings and accidents, the so-called "entering the city" is more of a ceremonial face-saving job. The troops are mainly stationed outside the city. Even if there is no ready-made camp to use, it is not a big deal to build a temporary military camp with defensive effects based on the city wall. The civil engineering experience accumulated by the Allied Forces from participating in a large number of various engineering construction projects has played a significant role, and they have unique experience in military engineering.

Barbatos went to the Lags Council Hall with his entourage and the affairs officer from Mirmidon, the border defense line.

As a city-state established by the remnants, the people of Lagos are rare. They do not practice the "republic of the powerful and the city-state parliament" system that is popular in the border areas.

Their political system is that a "Consul" is responsible for all aspects of politics, economy, civil affairs and the military. Then a review council composed of twelve people from different classes and identities votes once a year on whether to approve the Consul's rule. If more than half of them think he is unqualified, the result will be announced to the citizens, and then the Consul will step down and be re-elected.

If they encounter major events such as war, natural disasters or man-made disasters, they also have the power to make judgments in advance and decide whether the consul's authority will continue based on his performance.

But in theory, the consul still has almost absolute power. Before the Council of Review makes a ruling against him, he can dominate every aspect of the city. As long as an ambitious person comes to this position, he will almost certainly succeed in seizing power as long as he is not too stupid. However, Lagos is a small country with a small population and is not very wealthy. The old Capricorns were still fighting among themselves when disaster struck, which ultimately led to poor defense. The lesson of being exterminated by the greenskins is still passed down among their descendants.

Therefore, there have been basically no major conflicts among the people of Lagos. In a small city of 20,000 people, there are more than a dozen factions fighting each other to the death, which is purely ridiculous.

I can't say how well each consul did, but in terms of moral ability or not, whether judged from the level of ruler or individual, they were all above the passing line. The politics and customs of the residents in this city were simple and peaceful.

It is the "bound power", "hands-off rule" and efficient "democratic" utopia dreamed of by some imperial scholars. Unfortunately, most of them are unwilling to give up their generous treatment in Marienburg, Altdorf University, or Nuln, and bring their own dry food to the border to participate in the construction of the ideal land they identify with.

To be honest, the ecological environment of the Lags people is not very conducive to the alliance's infiltration and control. In this respect, the alliance is a bit like the bald eagle Ami in another world. In the secret front of external subversion and puppetry, it usually uses the Four Mothers and Five Seals to "corrupt" people's hearts, find those who can be won over and corrupted within the other side, make them turn to the alliance side, and then gradually provoke fights to continuously expand the influence of the alliance.

In a place like Lagos, where there isn't even a "faction", supporting puppets in this way will have a negative effect.

Fortunately, the country is small and the people are weak, so we can suppress it by force without spending any extra effort...

While meeting and expressing goodwill with the acting consul and his citizen representatives, Barbatos was also thinking about the next "arrangement" for the Ragus people.

The previous consul encountered the Greenskin War during his term of office, and Rags was forced to surrender and pay tribute to the Greenskins in shame. Although this was completely unprovoked and a sudden disaster, he had a strong sense of responsibility, or perhaps he was tired and gave up. After the victory of the war, he took the initiative to go up to the bell tower to ring the bell, and gathered citizens in the square, taking all the disasters suffered by the Rags people in the Greenskin War on himself. At the same time, he angrily accused "a neighbor in the south" of betraying Rags, and then resigned.

The people of Lagos did not blame him. After all, who would dare to say that they would have any other solution except to die with honor in such a situation? So the former consul packed up his things smoothly, donated most of his accumulated wealth to his hometown, and took his wife on the road to Haimenguan to join his son who had achieved some success in business there.

The city is now ruled by an acting consul who was temporarily elected. It is said that when he was elected as consul, the word "acting" was not prefixed to his name. However, he might be worried that the post-war situation would be too complicated and he would be embarrassed if he did not handle it well. Then he was forced to step down. Therefore, he firmly stated that he was only "exercising authority" and that he had made many contributions but was not responsible. He was quite cunning like a politician.

After a brief exchange, Barbatos realized that the other party was a smooth-talking guy. If she were to choose, she would naturally prefer to pick a "more suitable" person to be in charge of Ragus. However, it is not time yet. She and the Mirmidons have been communicating with the Ragus people these two days to discuss the other party's charter for joining the border defense front. The military strength demonstrated by the alliance has obviously proved that as the newly rising "second brother" in the south, it has enough strength to protect his younger brothers.

At the same time, some cooperation and trade plans can also effectively promote the economic recovery of the Lagos people, which obviously makes the latter very tempted.

But soon, a piece of inappropriate news came, which destroyed the happy atmosphere in Lagasse:

Belated.

The empire's reinforcements have also arrived.

Chapter 261: Keeping warm

After receiving Ragus's letter for help, Chief of the Campaign Augustine regarded this as an important opportunity to expand the Empire's influence on the border and to shape a positive image of the Imperial Legion in order to slightly ease the increasingly tense relations between the Imperial garrison and the local people in the border territories. Therefore, he attached great importance to this and urgently formed a force to rush to support.

In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of this support force, in terms of equipment, Augustine even directly requisitioned the baggage supplies of some surrounding garrisons to reinforce them. At the same time, the commander was a cavalry general who had participated in the Battle of Matoka, made military achievements, and had proven his ability. The troops he brought were mostly cavalry soldiers who had participated in the rescue of Matoka, and they were fully prepared.

Augustine cannot afford to lose another battle, so he will not go into battle himself. Even so, if this rescue fails and he loses to the greenskins again, even if the country wants him to finish the work of the black gloves, they will probably choose to recall him early because of the loss of face.

If that happened, Augustine would lose everything, so he couldn't be careless this time.

This time the Imperial Border Corps's expedition was extremely efficient. Compared with the past, they marched quickly, deployed scouts widely, and were able to keep track of movements within a thirty-mile radius, basically preventing the Corps from being attacked by greenskins.

The defeat in the northwest of Matoka cast a great shadow on the Border Legion. It almost ruined the good situation in the Border Territory. If the Alliance had not joined, the Greenskins would have taken advantage of the victory to defeat Matoka or defeat the Chief's Army again and regained their momentum. At that time, the Green Scourge would have knocked on the border, harassed Sol Territory in the north through the Winter Teeth Pass, or broken through the Black Fire in the east and entered Ivy. These would have been major events that would have shaken the empire...

Therefore, the Border Legion must be serious. If they are defeated by the greenskins again, their journey south will be nailed to the pillar of shame.

But now that Gao Maoliang has retreated, this cunning greenskin warlord and his warband that had wreaked havoc on the border have disappeared into the vast wilderness. Then the greenskins remaining on the border are just some small fry, so there is no need to pay too much attention to them.

The Matoka also sent intelligence to the Imperial garrison, confirming that the number of greenskins harassing the Rags was not an exaggerated or threatening number.

The people of Lagos would rather hold on than bow to their evil neighbor to the south, but Matoka still paid attention to the situation in the north. They are now somewhat "green-phobic" and dare not provoke the greenskins. After the militia was disbanded, the military strength of the Matoka people is almost nothing.

Chapter 262: Kick Over the Cauldron

The fuse was lit in the early morning of the next day.

Although the people of Lagos worked hard to help and finally set up camp for the imperial army before the night so that they didn't have to face the biting cold of the night with wind and rain, this night was still too uncomfortable for the imperial people who had traveled all the way and came from afar.

After a long journey, we found that our achievements had been taken by others. That kind of blow was depressing enough. The high spirits of the expedition were dampened. Then we encountered a cold wave, a drop in temperature, and rain...

After a night of camping, many soldiers tossed and turned and could not fall asleep. Even late at night, there was no shortage of resentful and angry words in the camp. This serious violation of military discipline was also because all the leading officers had gone into the city to rest, and the Lagos people had provided them with special comfortable houses. The junior officers themselves were dissatisfied, but it was not stopped.

When the day breaks and the tough night is over, it’s time to start cooking.

There was another big problem with food.

Both the Alliance and the Empire had come from long distances, so in order to achieve speed, convenience was everything. Naturally, their supplies were mainly dry rations, just enough to fill their stomachs.

After the Alliance rescued the people of Lagos, the people of Lagos worked hard to provide the Alliance garrison with a large amount of supplies to express their gratitude. This greatly improved the food standards of the Alliance troops, at least restoring them to the standards when they were stationed in the city.

But after the imperialists arrived, there was an embarrassing thing—there were not enough supplies.

Including the scattered people in the surrounding areas, Rags is only a small place with a population of about 20,000. It is already stretched to supply the 4,000 people of the Alliance and the beast army. Fortunately, the people of the Alliance are very kind and did not ask me to send troops to help you and you have to bear all the expenses. Instead, I negotiated with the people of Rags at a very low preferential price to buy supplies. At the same time, I also sent people to Matoka in the south to buy supplies to avoid straining the food reserves of the people of Rags.