What's wrong with building a steel torrent in a dungeon?

Although this plan failed, Elendil continued to move forward on the track they designed, and everything was still in their plan.

Chapter 314: The Disappearing Troops

Before the war began, Sankara and his team made two plans.

The first plan was to take the initiative and knock out both wings of El'Arundil with lightning speed, and then launch a reverse pincer attack to double-team El'Arundil's main force.

If this plan succeeds, the war will be over in a very short time, and the elves will not even be able to touch the walls of Grom. In this way, there will be no need for troll warriors to guard the walls, and all soldiers can be pulled into the wild to fight.

Thunder's victory will not only save combat costs, but also boost the morale of the Troll Empire. After all, they have been suppressed by the elves for hundreds of years and really need a big victory.

Although the plan was perfect, the execution was quite risky.

They had to ensure that both the left and right wings defeated the other side. As long as one side failed to achieve the strategic goal, the pincer attack would not be achieved, and the encirclement would be impossible. The defense of Gorom City would be weakened. If El Arundir broke through the defense and attacked the suburbs of Gorom City...then their entire line would collapse.

In contrast, the second strategy is less radical.

The second plan was to constantly harass and lure the two wings, and constantly destroy the enemy's manpower. Then, relying on the strong defense of Grom City, they fought with El'Arundil to block the first few waves of fierce attacks, and then gradually encircled and contracted.

When executing the second plan, they can also act according to circumstances. If the elves' troops are really weak and find an opportunity to eat the enemy during the harassment, the second plan can be switched to the first plan instantly.

Now it seems that their caution is very reasonable.

Modsheka, the commander of the Third Wing, was indeed a very tough opponent. He did not make any mistakes during the march, leaving no room for surprise attack. With the accumulated strength of Gorom City, it would be difficult to defeat him in a short time. A rash surprise attack would only lead to a bitter battle, and then attract the elves to attack.

During the following period, Grom's troops frequently attacked and harassed the advancing elven troops at night. With the reconnaissance of the Feather Tribe, the harassment tactics were very effective. According to Elendil's original plan, it would only take two days to reach Grom and start the siege, but this time was delayed for another two days.

When the right-wing army arrived at the outskirts of Gorom, Modsheka was shocked to find that the left-wing army had disappeared silently, leaving only a lot of charred marks at the scene.

After seeing a dozen ancient war trees that had been burned into charcoal, Modsheka knew that Florenceni was in great danger.

Each ancient tree is an irreplaceable resource and will naturally become the center of defense. Now that the ancient trees have been destroyed, the entire left-wing army is likely to be annihilated. So Modsheka made a very conservative and correct decision.

He immediately ordered his troops to retreat and found a very safe place to set up camp. He neither tried to find the trace of Florencene nor tried to attack the city of Gorom. Instead, he huddled up and waited quietly for the arrival of Elendil.

This kind of defensive retreat was very effective. They repelled several attacks from the trolls and suffered almost no damage themselves.

At the same time, the remnants of Florenceni's troops continued to flee southward.

According to Padrodil's plan, they should break out to the south first, then make a big circle and return to the north.

The plan was very good, but unfortunately Zhu Chongba did not give them this opportunity.

He ordered the Feather Clan's aerospace forces to monitor them 24 hours a day, even at the cost of exposing their own whereabouts.

In this way, Zhu Chongba completely understood the marching route of Florenceni, and always attacked them when they were about to turn back, forcing them to continue to move south. As a result, they were sinking deeper and deeper into the heart of the Troll Empire, getting farther and farther away from their homeland.

However, while chasing, Zhu Chongba deliberately let go of several elven soldiers so that Aalendil's large army would know that Florensni was still alive.

As for whether to save her or not, it depends on whether Elendil is willing to divide his troops.

Two days later, Elendil finally arrived at the outskirts of Grom with his large army.

The closer they got to Grom, the more snipers they were attacked. El'Arendil had no choice but to call in the Fourth Wing Regiment from the Southern Legion, totaling more than 3,000 people. This was almost all the forces El'Arendil could mobilize. (After all, it was just a holy cleanup, and the number of troops that could be recruited was limited. If more were needed, he would have to ask the Queen for permission.)

"Tell me about the battlefield you saw and what happened during this period."

As soon as they arrived in the outskirts of Grom, Elendil summoned Modsheka.

Through the letters, Elendil already knew what happened to the left wing army. She couldn't believe that more than a thousand people from Florenceni would be eaten quietly without even a little news.

Modsheka said: "We arrived at the suburbs as planned. After searching around, we found no trace of the Second Wing Regiment. Then we searched everywhere and found the battlefield."

As he spoke, he took out more than twenty charred seeds.

"The seed of the ancient tree of war?" Elendil recognized the holy mark on the seed at a glance.

"Yes." Modsheka said, "More than twenty ancient war trees, this should be all the Second Wing Group. When they were discovered, they were still in the process of being induced to grow. Judging from their appearance, they were almost fully grown. In other words, Florenceni was suddenly attacked when she was preparing to attack, and she was completely unprepared."

"Any other discoveries? Corpses or something like that." Elendil rubbed his temple, looking somewhat uneasy.

"The bodies were all taken away by the trolls, and only a few were found. Florenceni was not among them. But we cannot determine whether she is dead or not." Modsheka said: "After analyzing the trajectory of the artillery on the battlefield, we found that the enemy attacked from two directions. One was from the flank of the left army, and the other was from Gorom."

"Golom! That's why you said in your letter that the city of Golom has been completely transformed! It is also equipped with a large number of artillery."

"Yes!" Modsheka nodded, and then said: "Although the artillery cannot be seen from the outside. But according to the traces on the battlefield, there are at least fifty artillery pieces installed in front of Gorom. And the range of these artillery pieces has exceeded that of the ancient war tree."

This information is extremely deadly.

Before the advent of the firearms era, the most relied-upon force of the elves when attacking a city was the earth elemental throwing of the ancient war tree.

Traditional fortifications, whether catapults or crossbows, could not compete with the ancient war tree, which made the elves' engineering capabilities invincible. But the problem was that if the ancient war tree was lost, the soldiers would have no idea what to do.

Climbing the ladder? Walking up the single-tree slope? The elven army had not trained for such a project for a long time. Moreover, even if the elves were willing, Elendil would not be willing to let the elite elven soldiers use their lives to fill the city walls.

"Do you have any suggestions?" Elendil looked at Modsheka, who looked very sad.

After hearing this, Modsheka showed a hint of hesitation. He seemed to have something to say but didn't dare to.

"Feel free to speak!" Elendil acted as if he was generous and liked to listen to other people's opinions.

Modsheka thought for a moment, then said, "I think our best option is to retreat."

Chapter 315 Gambler

"retreat?"

Hearing this suggestion, Elendil frowned and his face darkened instantly. Now that the siege was imminent, his own wing leader actually advised him to retreat.

really……

I just shouldn't have told the truth. Elendil is notoriously unwilling to listen to other people's opinions.

After making this suggestion, Modsheka immediately regretted it.

But the trouble has already come out of his mouth, so he had to bite the bullet and continue: "With the strength of the Troll Empire alone, it is obviously impossible to swallow up Florenceni's troops quietly, and it is even more impossible to repair the city of Gorom to such a level. There must be an external force involved, and this force can only be the city of Orila."

"The Troll Empire was originally a member of the New Vienna Alliance. We knew that the city of Aurora would intervene before the war started." Elendil said unhappily, "Or are you, the Third Wing, not ready to fight a strong enemy? You only want to fight the trolls who are like soft persimmons?"

"This! Of course we are prepared for a tough battle!" Modsheka said hurriedly.

Seeing that Elendil was not angry, he continued, "However, our previous judgment was that the city of Orila would only send some symbolic supplies and at most send a few advisors to help with the command. But the situation is different now."

"Why is it different?"

"I sent people to conduct a detailed investigation of the battlefield and found bullet holes everywhere. There are also dense shell holes near Florenceni's camp."

At this point, Modsheka glanced at El Arundir, and then continued: "If I estimate based on the firearms produced by the Southern Legion, this means that Florenceni is facing an elite force of about 4,000 people, all equipped with firearms. Not only that, they also have at least 80 artillery pieces."

"And this... this is just the army that fought against Florencene! Who knows how many such armies are hidden behind the Troll Empire."

El'Arendil immediately understood what Modsheka meant.

More than 4,000 elite troops, all equipped with firearms.

The Southern Legion's firearms have been forged for such a long time, but now they have only equipped more than 400 people.

With the strength of the Troll Empire, it is impossible to gather so many people and so much equipment. The only possibility is that the city of Orila directly sent troops to participate in the war.

If this is true, then this "holy cleansing" is not just a matter between the Southern Legion and the Troll Empire, but a matter between the entire Elf Empire and Aurora City. If you are not careful, it may even lead to a war between the two countries.

Of course, Modsheka's data was indeed exaggerated. After all, he knew very well that the quality of the muskets in Orila City was completely different from those produced by the Southern Legion. He just wanted to persuade Elendil to give up and wait until next year to fight again. This was a white lie.

Moreover, as a top divine magician, El'Arendil did not understand the specific parameters of firearms, so the right of interpretation was not entirely on his side.

Their offensive this time had achieved considerable results, taking down the Three Stars City, the gateway to the Trolls, and advancing into the northern part of the Troll Empire, which had not been invaded by the Southern Legion for many years. With the strength of the scholars under King Xinye, it would not be a problem to blow this victory into an unprecedented victory.

Anyway, Elendil just wanted a victory to clear his name. As for whether the victory was meaningful or not, it was not important, and no one would risk offending the New Leaf King to investigate the matter.

If the battle is really postponed, it is still unclear who will win or lose.

Although Modsheka was very good at weighing the pros and cons, he obviously did not understand human nature and clearly underestimated El'Arendil's ambition.

In her heart, she never considered herself as a noble of the empire who rose to power through nepotism! Her current position was achieved through her own efforts and had nothing to do with her family background. So she was not satisfied with a false victory at all. What she wanted was a real victory, just like the victory her grandfather had when he was young.

So she refuted Modsheka with righteous words, and then said: "No matter how powerful the firearms of Orila City are, they can never be compared with the elves in the jungle! There is no comparison at all!"

"But, Commander..."

"I know! After the Fruman Empire was defeated by Fran, everyone in the Southern Legion suffered from a fear of firearms." Elendil said, "But I know very well! The defeat in that war was not because the divine arts were really inferior to firearms. It was because we knew very little about the parameters of firearms and underestimated the range of artillery. That's why we were ambushed by that sinister guy Fran and our ancient tree of life was directly blown up."

Elendil looked at the quiet Gorom City in the distance, sighed quietly, and then said as if talking to himself: "I am unwilling! Very unwilling. I dream that if I knew the parameters of the artillery, and then retreated ten miles from each other and fought again, and had a fair fight, I would definitely have the confidence to defeat Fran! A complete victory over firearms."

But... there are no ifs in war. And who would fight you squarely?

Modsheka wanted to say this, but he knew that if he said this, his tenure as the leader of the elite wing group would probably be over.

Elendil continued, "After that war, I was desperately looking for an opportunity to fight again! I wanted to vindicate the divine arts and the elves! I wanted to eliminate the fear of firearms that enveloped the entire empire! I didn't expect Fran to run into the muzzle of the gun herself, that's perfect! Let me fight her in an open and square battle, divine arts versus firearms! Let's see which side is the strongest."

Listening to El'Arendil's ambitions, Modsheka felt his brain begin to dizzy.

Elendil stared at Modsekhar and said, "Do you know how long I have waited for this opportunity? Three years! Three whole years! I have made so much effort and designed so many new tactics for this! Now, such an opportunity is in front of me. As long as we can capture the city of Grom, the doubts about divine arts and the fear of firearms will all disappear."

completion!

Modsheka knew that there was no way he could convince El'Arendil.

We are not afraid that the second generation has no dreams, but we are afraid that the second generation has high dreams.

If you don't have the ability to stay at home, it's just a waste of money. But if you don't have the ability and want to start a business, that's fatal. The former is just eating up the mountain, while the latter is to directly burn the mountain!

As for the new tactics mentioned by Elendil, Modsheka also heard about them. He admitted that these tactics sounded reasonable and feasible! They were also within the capabilities of the elven soldiers.

But the key is that these new tactics have never been verified, and have not even been subject to internal exercises! The battlefield changes rapidly, so how can we anticipate several rigid tactics in advance and then pin our hopes on the opponent's full cooperation?

This is just paper talk!!

And if it was just an ordinary siege, it would be fine! Even if they lost, they could just retreat. But in this war, they had to travel thousands of miles deep into the depths of the Troll Empire. If they lost, the entire First Corps would be doomed. At such an important moment, they had to use a brand new tactical method that had never been proven.

How is this different from a gambler?

But Modsheka knew that he could not convince El'Arendil at all. He could only choose to obey the order.

Obeying orders is a soldier's duty, especially for a soldier like him who has no foundation or background.

Chapter 316: Two Brilliant Generals?

The rising sun once again enveloped Gorom.

But this time, the sunrise no longer had any sense of tranquility.

Early morning means battle!

The entire suburb of Gorom was shrouded in a heavy atmosphere. Soldiers stood behind the city walls, and all the firepower points within the city walls were ready to go.

Outside the city of Gorom, there were a large number of warriors lying in ambush. Among them were trolls, orcs, and some soldiers from other Vienna allied countries. There were not many of them, but their eyes were full of battle.

The soldiers held their weapons tightly and looked outside the city of Gorom nervously.

There, the elves' troops had been deployed, huge ancient trees had been grown, and they were slowly approaching Grom with huge and heavy steps. With every step, they could feel the earth shaking.

Fortunately, perhaps having learned from Florenceni's lesson, Modsheka this time placed the camp in the rear, ensuring that it could not be attacked by artillery, and then began to promote the growth of ancient trees.

But even at such a distance, the towering figure of the ancient tree still makes people feel astonished

In the eyes of the trolls, the ancient trees of the elves are simply invincible. No matter how solid their walls are, they will soon collapse under the continuous earth elemental throwing of the war ancient trees. In close combat, the ancient trees can sweep away a large number of warriors in an instant with just a wave of their arms.

Faced with a large number of ancient trees attacking the city, the only thing the trolls can do is to abandon the city and flee.

The only one in the Troll Empire who can fight against the ancient tree is probably Lord Jinzaka.

But there is only one Jinzaka. No matter how powerful he is, he cannot protect all the cities of the Troll Empire.

A hundred years of suppression has left the shadow of the ancient tree deeply rooted in the hearts of every troll.

Even though they now have cement walls and a large number of artillery and muskets, they still can't help shaking.

Such fear cannot be overcome by a strong heart! What they need is a victory, a perfect victory, to break the inner demons that shroud them.

On the observation tower behind the city of Gorom, Sankara, Gustav, Kagraz and other generals gathered here, some anxious, some in deep thought.

These rows of ancient trees brought them great visual pressure. Although they had conducted countless simulations on the sand table, it was a completely different situation when they actually encountered them on the battlefield.

Zhu Chongba secretly rejoiced that he had defeated Florensini in a surprise attack in the first moment, otherwise there would have been more than twenty more ancient trees on the opposite side.

The elves' troops slowly deployed around the ancient tree, moving forward around them, coordinating defense and movement with each other. This made the surrounding ambush troops' plan to raid the ancient tree fail. In this case, a rash attack would only result in them being shot into sieves by the elves' sharpshooters.

The ancient trees did not rush directly to the city of Gorom, but stopped at a certain place, which was just out of the range of the artillery.

The elves have apparently learned the range of the artillery

But this is not surprising. After all, they have come into contact with the elves several times. If the elves can't figure out the range of the artillery, then they can't have fought with the dwarves for so many years.