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

This unprecedented tactic once again shocked Wallenstein.

Although she knew about mobile warfare and had even commanded it herself, she had never seen an army fight in such a "mobile" way in history.

However, Wallenstein was also very clear that it was impossible for Margaret's army to learn such tactics. Breaking down the whole into parts, conveying orders to the grassroots, and letting the grassroots officers actively seek to fight, this requirement for grassroots officers was almost harsh. Just being able to read and understand military orders was already difficult for most of them.

army.

It is impossible to build such a force without a long period of mobilization and rest.

If Margaret did this, the only result she would get would be that her troops would be broken into pieces and turned into defeated bandits on the spot.

The annihilation of 20,000 people was a direct blow to the Northern Alliance troops stationed on the southern front.

You have to know that there are only 50,000 troops stationed here. If you exclude some non-combatants, the number will be even less. If you add in the troops lost in the previous port destruction, it means that more than half of their manpower has been lost before the crossing has even begun.

This made the commander on the southern front panic, and he immediately sent people to the central military camp to seek help from the elves.

However, it was obviously too late to ask for help at this time.

The commanders of the Northern Alliance thought that Fran would stay on the spot to reorganize after winning several battles in a row, but they did not expect that she would go on without stopping and launch an attack on the Northern Alliance's southern headquarters, Gomer City.

Two days later, the First and Second Legions of Orila, the Third Legion of Orila, and Wallenstein's troops appeared on the outskirts of Gomel and surrounded the city.

The coalition forces in the city were now completely panicked.

They didn't expect Fran's marching speed to be so fast. They just broke through the siege and attacked the city the next moment! Is this an iron army? Don't they need to rest?

The siege began soon, but at this time the heavy firepower of Orila City was still on the way, so it did not pose much threat to Gomer City. However, for the defenders in the city who had already become frightened birds, this threat was enough to strike fear into their hearts.

To this end, they sent out many scouts in succession, some of whom sent letters to the elves again, while the other part ordered all the troops stationed around the city of Gomer to withdraw and deal with the siege troops together.

This order obviously hit the mark of Fran's intention.

If we can't attack the city, can we defeat the reinforcements?

They waited for the enemy to come, waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out. They defeated several reinforcements outside the city, and even took the initiative to attack, deceive, and sneak attack these reinforcements. As more lancers from the Third Legion arrived near Gomer City, Fran ordered a large-scale cleanup of the surrounding Northern Alliance camps.

From then on, Gomer City became an isolated city hanging in the south of the Soul-Guiding River!

However, Fran was not in a hurry to attack the city. She bombarded the city's military facilities with artillery every day, and even sent a group of "spies" such as Vanti into the city to burn granaries, pollute water sources, and spread false information, causing panic in the entire city.

The Northern Alliance's army was unable to defeat the enemy and it was difficult to defend. The only thing they could do was to ask the elves for help in various ways. They could send people to deliver the goods or pigeons to fly. However, Fran would let all the requests for help pass.

Her goal is to force the elves to come to support

The main battlefield.

The elves' river crossing attack was extremely brutal.

This time, Margaret did not retreat when she was defeated like she did before. Instead, she pinned her troops down on the river bank, and no matter what means the elves used, they could not break through her defense line.

Of course, Margaret also blindly used human lives to fill the gap. She fully learned the valuable experience of the trolls in fighting the elves, dug a large number of trenches, and even connected the trenches to each other, leaving the elves' ancient war trees and terrible archery skills nowhere to display.

Whenever the magic mixed with the element of earth bombarded them, the soldiers would hide in the trenches, and when the elves launched a charge, they would pop out of the trenches and attack with muskets and cannons, forcing the elves to retreat.

At night, Margaret's troops would take the initiative to attack the elves' positions, destroying the growing trees and burning various defensive facilities.

Originally, the elves were used to stimulating the birth of all the ancient trees in a safe place, and then moving forward with the ancient trees to reach the destination. However, now there was the Soul-Guiding River, and the ancient trees could not cross the turbulent river, so they could only stimulate the birth on the spot.

Without the protection of the Tree of Life and the assistance of the earth elemental magic of the Ancient Tree of War, the fighting effectiveness of the elven army was greatly reduced.

The two sides used the elves' mudflats as their base and engaged in a tug of war against each other.

But they had fought for so long and had never been able to defeat the enemy, and various strategic locations had changed hands many times. Margaret fully demonstrated her talent for command, defeating the elves with risky moves many times. If the elves had not relied on tree boats for cover, this landing force would probably have been pushed directly into the river.

Elendil obviously didn't expect Margaret's resistance to be so tenacious. She had always wanted to enter Minsk during the Autumn Festival and announce the end of the war, but now it seems that she can't catch up.

The delay in the attack made the leader Elendil very anxious. On the one hand, she ordered people to build more tree boats, and on the other hand, she transferred soldiers from the rear. It seemed that she wanted to mobilize more troops to join the battle! Use brute force to break Margaret's blockade.

Chapter 162: Cutting off the beginning and the end

After several days of troop deployment, a large number of elven troops were assembled on the main battlefield, in addition to the 10,000 elite troops that Grandpa Elendil "selflessly" sponsored for the empire.

Now, an elven army of more than 40,000 people has been assembled on the main battlefield of the Soul-Guiding River! Considering that the proportion of professional warriors in the elven army is much higher than that of other troops, more than 40,000 people can be said to be a very large number.

The small ferry was suddenly crowded with people.

Of course, in addition to soldiers, the empire also provided support in the form of a large number of divine magicians and more divine tree seeds.

It has to be said that El'Arendil (grandfather) has a great influence.

As the elves sent in more and more troops, Margaret's defense began to be stretched.

Every day, a large number of troops landed on the beach from multiple directions, and then began to grow trees and build fortifications. Although Margaret had a lot of artillery, it could not withstand the attacks from multiple directions.

If Fran had not given the grenade to Margaret without reservation, allowing her soldiers to launch a close-range assault and cause heavy casualties with the grenade, the Holy Roll Empire's defenses would have been breached long ago.

But even so, Margaret was struggling to hold on. In order to boost morale, she had to personally go to the front line to boost morale, and even risked death many times under the arrows of the elven archers.

However, what bothered Margaret the most was not morale, but the rate at which ammunition was consumed.

In order to resist the crazy attack of the elves, the troops had to use firearms. This made the consumption of ammunition very alarming. Even if Fran tried her best to replenish it, the supply line was limited after all (and the ammunition had to be divided between the north and south areas).

The amount of ammunition in the camp has dropped sharply. If we don't think of a solution, the ammunition will soon run out.

Elendil also saw Margaret's dilemma. She knew that as long as she continued to attack for a while, Margaret would have to retreat within ten days. At that time, her army could march straight in and capture the entire Feruman Empire.

However, at this critical moment, El'Arundil actually received a request for support from the southern front!

The situation in the south was critical, the ferry was captured, and the city of Gomer was besieged. Most of the 50,000 troops had been lost.

After seeing this news, Elendil cursed angrily, saying that the three armies were incompetent and that it was a loss of sovereignty and a humiliation to the country!

However, despite the scolding, Elendil had to make a decision whether to go to the southern front to rescue his friendly forces.

El'Arendil's men were in a turmoil over this. On the one hand, they thought they should go to rescue them, because they were friendly troops responding to the elves' call and coming to support them! You brought them to the battlefield, but when something went wrong, you just sat there and watched them get annihilated. If this were to be spread out, it would really be detrimental to the international community. Who would fight with you, the elves?

But on the other hand, he felt that the war had reached this point, and they were about to break through the natural barrier of the Soul-Guiding River. If they suddenly sent troops to support her, wouldn't that give Margaret a chance to catch her breath? How could he hesitate and miss the opportunity?

Seeing his two groups of men arguing fiercely, Elendil began to hesitate and could not make a decision.

Naturally, she wanted to get rid of Margaret and save her friendly forces, but this was obviously not possible.

However, at this moment, another urgent war report appeared on her desk.

The North Line is also in crisis!

And the situation is even more critical.

The coalition forces on the southern front at least retained their base camp in the city of Gomel, but the northern front was in a state of complete collapse.

Relying on the superb mobility of his cavalry, Duke Tilly cut the long snake on the northern line into three sections with lightning speed and then defeated them one by one.

The main responsible force on the northern front is the Crazy Sand Empire. They are not good at defending the city, but prefer to attack.

However, when the javelin cavalry of the Crazy Sand Empire encountered the musketeer cavalry of Duke Tilly, the gap between the two sides was immediately revealed.

When the cavalry charged, the Holy Roll Empire cavalry, equipped with an average of three muskets, immediately unleashed a torrent of firepower on the opposite side, forcing the javelin cavalry to flee in panic.

Originally, even if the javelin cavalry could not defeat the enemy, they could still escape, at least there was a way out. But when the enemy was also cavalry, such a way out was gone. In just over ten days, Duke Tilly attacked more than ten strongholds and completely penetrated the entire northern line.

If the southern front is still considering whether to send reinforcements, then the problem on the northern front is no longer whether to send troops to rescue, but how to send troops to resist this army! If Duke Tilly is not eliminated, they may threaten the battle on the central front.

Of course, Aalendil was unwilling to go to the rescue! After all, Margaret's defense line was about to collapse. She could even feel that the power of the enemy's firearms had been decreasing again and again. If she was given a little more time, she would definitely be able to defeat Margaret's troops.

Finally, she gritted her teeth and decided to continue the attack! Ignoring the requests for help from both sides.

During this process, letter after letter was delivered to her desk.

These letters were from various forces in the Northern Alliance. They all requested Elendil to send troops to rescue their troops, which made Elendil very angry! However, she was the commander of the elves after all, and she still resolutely carried out her military orders, ignoring the lives of her friendly troops.

However, at this moment, another gold-embossed letter was sent urgently from the Elf Empire.

The owner of this letter was El-Arundil's grandfather.

He asked Elendil to save the allies, otherwise it would affect the image of the elves in the Northern Alliance. As the commander of the Northern Alliance, Elendil must take into account the feelings of every member. She must follow orders, otherwise she will be severely punished.

She may not obey other people's orders, but her grandfather's orders...

She knew very well that without the corps of officers her grandfather had given her, it would be impossible for her to command such a large army with her influence (and ability).

Since his grandfather had spoken, Elendil had no choice but to suspend the offensive, then reorganize his troops and prepare to go back to deal with Duke Tilly and Fran.

With this delay, Margaret, who was on the front battlefield, finally had a chance to take a breath. She quickly reorganized her troops, stockpiled ammunition, and then seized some strategic locations.

Elendil was anxious, but there was nothing she could do. All she could do now was to defeat Duke Tilly and Fran as much as possible, and then return to the battlefield.

It was only then that she realized that this so-called long snake formation was too "stupid". As the battle line was too long, if she only took care of the head she would lose the tail. If she took care of the tail the head would be ambushed. With both the head and the tail being hit, she could only run for her life.

Fortunately, she finally remembered that her deputy commander, Galanodier, had made some preparations. At this time, she didn't care about her face! She asked Galanodier to go north to deal with Duke Tilly, and she would deal with the city lord who had humiliated her - Fran.

She wants to settle both old and new grudges!

Chapter 163: Fran's Worries

In the following time, Fran never killed the city of Gomer. She besieged the city and lured the scattered defenders to come to the rescue one by one (add fuel to the fire).

In the end, all the troops south of the Soul-Guiding River were defeated by Fran, leaving only 20,000 troops in Gomer City. Because of the sabotage by the "spies", the troops in the city were short of food and clothing, and some soldiers had to exchange their weapons for food.

So when they heard that Elendil was leading 30,000 troops to attack this side, the soldiers in the city cheered, as if they had already seen Fran's troops fleeing in panic.

However, unlike what they expected, Fran and Wallenstein did not withdraw their troops and continued to maintain the tense situation of the siege.

Artillery fire continued to attack the city every day, and occasionally there was a night shift, no, a night attack, which made the defenders in the city mistakenly believe that Fran had not retreated. In fact, Fran's main force had quietly moved north, preparing to take the initiative to attack Wallenstein.

The elves marched very quickly and arrived at the battlefield on the southern line of the Soul-Guiding River in just about two days.

Fran sent a small group of troops to make contact with El Arundil, pretending to be ready to intercept, and then pretended to collapse and fled to the south. This gave El Arundil a great boost of confidence, so he continued to pursue southward without stopping.

What they didn't know was that a large net was slowly surrounding the elves.

What Fran wants is not a small victory in one or two battles, but a huge victory! To annihilate the elves' large army as a whole and kill or capture the elves' leader.

She wants to use a complete victory to justify firearms! Tell all races in the world that without relying on the gift of God, ordinary people can still burst out with powerful strength.

Inside the tent of the camp, Fran and Wallenstein were looking at the map, carefully studying the upcoming battle situation.

"Just now the scout reported that my troops have reached the hills in the east!" Wallenstein said, "Now the elves have entered our pocket and are surrounded. According to the agreement, we will take action in two days to attack the enemy's supply line."

"Your main goal is to block the intersection in the northwest of the hills and prevent the elves from passing through here. You must not linger outside to fight." Fran said: "Zhu Chongba has also led the Second Legion to block each pass. We will launch an attack when the time comes."

"I have to say, your plan is very bold." Wallenstein said, "Although the elves have fallen into our pocket, we do not have much advantage in terms of numbers. The most important thing is that we, as the vanguard, must withstand the elves' offensive."

"Not only should we hold on, but we should also give Elendil's troops a head-on blow." Fran said, "This will cause them to panic and give the troops in the rear enough time to deploy."

"If we hold off the elves' troops head-on..." Wallenstein said, "the pressure on us will be very great."

"Yes, it's very big." Fran said, "We are at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, not to mention that Elendil is surrounded by so many divine magicians!"

"Don't forget that there is a bomb behind us!" Wallenstein said, "There are 20,000 people in Gomer! Although they have become frightened birds, they are still a force that cannot be underestimated. As long as the war is not favorable to us, they are likely to take the initiative to come out of the city and attack us. When the courtyard catches fire, we

We will be caught in a situation where we have to fight on two fronts."

At this point, Wallenstein pointed his finger at the city of Gomer and said, "Lord, with your troops, you should have a safer way to fight El'Arundil. El'Arundil wants to fight a quick battle, but the elves are not good at mobile warfare. You can just go around in circles with them, or even retreat directly to

West of the Soul-Guiding River. Why take such a risky move? "

"I did this first to justify the reputation of firearms." Fran said with a smile, "Since the war began, the reputation of firearms has been declining. This won't do! If no one buys firearms, I will go bankrupt. So I am eager for a victory."

"You are joking, Lord City Lord." Wallenstein said, "Although firearms were badly beaten in the early stage, your Majesty's performance in recent times has restored the reputation of firearms. Moreover, the leaders of various forces are not stupid. They know very well that the real advantage of firearms is not that it is really stronger than magic, but that it is cheap! Make one

How much does it cost to make a musket? How much does it cost to train a divine magician? "

Ugh! It’s been exposed!!

"Maybe the city lord has some hidden agenda," said Wallenstein.

"Okay, you're right." Fran shrugged and said, "The second reason is that I hope to end this war as soon as possible."

"End the battle as soon as possible? The city lord doesn't want to rush back to celebrate the New Year, does he? The Autumn Festival is approaching, and the New Year is only three months away. It's too late."

"Of course not! I always feel that this war is too weird. If it drags on like this, something unexpected will probably happen."

"Weird? Are you talking about Emperor Arthas and the Feruman Empire?"

"Yes." Fran said, "I have told you and Her Majesty Margaret before that the disappearance of the Feruman Empire's army and their strange behavior during the war always made me feel that they were setting up a trap, a trap that would cause both us and the elves to suffer losses. Although I have no evidence for this speculation...

"The army of the Feruman Empire? I think Emperor Arthas disbanded it during the coup." Wallenstein said, "Our spies have searched the entire country, even the White Frost Mountains, but there is no trace of it. An army of hundreds of thousands will definitely reveal some traces no matter how well it hides. I don't think there is any other way except to disband it.

A second possibility."

"I can't think of it either." Fran said, "That's why I want to end the war as soon as possible. This way, even if Emperor Arthas has some plan, we won't be so passive."

"I understand the city lord's concerns." Wallenstein said, "The Third Legion of the Holy Roel Empire will go all out to defend our position."