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

"To be honest, I have used my own power to secretly calculate the productivity of Orila City!" Wallenstein said, "Now Orila City's steel production accounts for more than 80% of Calradia, gunpowder production accounts for 90% of Calradia, and textiles account for 60%. The Orc Continent provides you with meat, labor and wool, and India

The mainland provides you with cotton, grain, salt, sugar, and various metals! Let your raw materials rest assured! Compared with these, temporary armies and cities are nothing. "

At this point, Wallenstein paused, then said: "It is precisely because of these things that you can fight the elves in an orderly manner. Because you know that even if you are defeated and all your firearms are destroyed, you can still make a comeback with your productivity! But Elendil can't do that. As long as they lose once, they lose completely! So the city lord wants to

Fight more steadily and at the same time make your productivity more effective.”

"But my size and overall combat power are still more than one level behind the Elf Empire!" Fran said, "Even strong productivity can't make up for this gap."

"In terms of stock, you can't really compare with the Elf Empire, or even the Holy Roel Empire. But in terms of growth, Orila City is more than one level higher than all the forces. Given time, this productivity will make Orila City grow stronger like a snowball! Moreover! The War of the Elves

It's like hurting one thousand enemies and hurting eight hundred of your own! But it's different in Orila City. Every victory means gaining new markets and new raw material production sites for the city lord. This is a virtuous cycle!"

"Duke Wallenstein, I have to say that I have a new appreciation for you!" Fran said with a smile, "To be honest, it is a waste of talent for you to stay by His Majesty's side! Why don't you come to my place? I will let you manage the logistics and the Chamber of Commerce! It is much better than being a little duke by His Majesty's side."

If it were in the past, if the Lord of the tiny city of Orila had persuaded the Grand Duke of the Holy Roll Empire to be the Chief Financial Officer, he would probably have been laughed at.

But now... no one will laugh at me.

The profits and business scope of the Jingxi Chamber of Commerce are something that even the Venetians would salivate over.

Wallenstein also began to struggle violently in her heart. After a long while, she said, "I have to say that the Lord Mayor's proposal is very tempting. If it were in the past, I might have agreed directly. But...

"But now you still don't think I can defeat Arthas?"

"Yes! The army of the undead is too strong! All forces are caught off guard, especially you, the city lord!" Wallenstein said: "If you give the city lord a little time, a year, or two years! With its strong production capacity, Orila City will definitely have a way to deal with the army of the undead! But now time is too tight! So I think the city

Why don't you avoid the enemy? For example, lead the city of Orila to the Volsas continent. The Orc Empire is your staunch ally. For the city lord, as long as he can maintain such a surging productivity, he will be able to fight back sooner or later. "

"The reason why the Orc Continent regards me as a staunch ally is because I am not only productive, but also have my own country. Do you think if I become dependent on others, will they continue to treat me equally?"

Fran paused, then said, "And what Orila City needs is not only time! The key to unleashing productivity is still people! But if I travel across the ocean, how many people do you think will go with me? So what I need more is the dignity and confidence gained through a war! To enhance cohesion! To turn a small city into a real country, or even a real nation."

“You need a stepping stone to serve as a stepping stone for the transformation of Orila City,” Wallenstein concluded.

"Yes."

"Originally, this pedal should belong to Her Majesty Margaret?"

"That's right!" Fran admitted generously: "Although the productivity of Orila City is very strong now! But whether it is cohesion or size, it is not enough for us to avoid the sharp edge! I can't convince those craftsmen to leave! So if Orila City wants to preserve this power, it must withstand the opponent's first wave! Even if Arthas is a very unsuitable enemy, we have no choice!"

Chapter 186 Behind Enemy Lines

"I understand what the city lord means!" Wallenstein said, "Only in this way can Orila City truly become a significant force, rather than a small underground city."

"Yes!" Fran said, "It's true for the outside world, and even more so for the inside world! Otherwise, the workers and scholars I hired at great expense will leave sooner or later. Those forces in the dark will also make a comeback. We must rely on a war to increase cohesion! Although our current opponents are too powerful and there is a high possibility of failure, we have no choice."

"Speaking of which... Wallenstein asked curiously: "If you had known that this would happen, would you have taken action against Her Majesty Margaret in advance and gathered the city of Orila in advance?"

Fran did not directly answer Wallenstein's question, but smiled and said, "Dear Duke Wallenstein, history cannot be assumed."

Wallenstein said: "But has the city lord considered looking for allies? In fact, there are still many potential allies in Orila City! If the city lord can take the initiative and win a few key battles! I believe that there will still be people in this world who are willing to stand on the side of Orila City! After all, this world is not full of elves,

A race like the dwarves."

Fran said: "Duke Wallenstein and I have the same idea on this point."

"I said! The city lord has so many tricks up his sleeve, he won't just go for broke." Wallenstein said, "I just don't know what kind of allies the city lord has found?"

"Whom should I approach, Duke Wallenstein?"

Wallenstein thought for a moment, then said, "I think the Dwarf Empire is the best."

"Why?"

"Before I talk about the reason, I have a big question. That is why the Chinese Alliance is so restrained and unwilling to send troops to the Calradia continent. Although the elves are very powerful, the war puppets of the Dwarf Empire are not vegetarians! Those machines that weigh thousands of pounds are definitely the biggest enemy of the Undead Army!

No matter how strong your flesh and blood body is, it can do nothing to these steel monsters!" Wallenstein said.

"Yes. To be honest, I have the same doubts." Fran said: "The Chinese Alliance has always wanted to place its forces in the Calradia continent. To do this, they even lowered themselves to make friends with Venice and Genoa! Now that there is such a good opportunity, how could they give it up? They didn't even send an envoy.

Come and contact me.”

"We have not sent any envoys to contact the Holy Roel Empire." Wallenstein added: "This is not in the interests of the dwarves."

At this time, Christina said, "We later found out after some investigation that this decision was made by Valhalla."

"Hall of Valor?" Wallenstein frowned, then said, "In other words, it was the decision of the Dwarf God."

"Yes!" Fran said, "It's not just the dwarves. The Elf Empire is the same. The Temple of Shiloh also played a decisive role in the signing of this peace treaty. Otherwise, the elves are so proud and always talk about civilization and lighthouses. How could they let Arthas go so easily?

"Both the Hall of Valor and the Temple of Hilo have expressed their willingness to negotiate with Arthas?" Wallenstein said, "This is not a coincidence. But why would they do this? What good will it bring to them if the undead are rampant and the demons invade? What good will it bring to the gods behind them?"

"We can only ask the clergy of each temple about this." Fran said, "But I think this time the undead scourge and the demon invasion are not as simple as they seem! At least I think the strange peace negotiation attitude of the dwarves and elves is not that simple! There must be something fishy going on!"

"But no matter what conspiracy there is, we must defeat them first."

"Yes!" Fran said.

North of the Soul-Guiding River.

A ragged army was staggering on the ground. They looked extremely miserable, and each soldier was haggard and pale, like a walking corpse. They had no direction and no future.

What they didn't know was that someone had already been watching them in the darkness.

Teams of elves hid in the darkness, their arrows aimed at the group of zombies.

"Three! Two! One! Shoot!"

Sporadic arrows flew out.

However, the next moment, only screams of terror were heard from the enemy's troops.

"Eh? They're not undead?" The leading elf's eyes widened immediately, and then hurriedly said: "Stop shooting! They are alive! They are alive!"

Under the sporadic arrow attacks, the enemy troops also responded quickly. They quickly gathered together and raised their shields in an attempt to resist the next wave of attacks. However, the next wave of attacks did not come, which made the enemy leader a little confused.

"What kind of army is on the opposite side?" shouted the elf leader.

"We are the troops of the Holy Roel Empire! What about you?"

"We are the remnants of the Elven Empire..."

As he spoke, teams of elves, all dressed in tattered clothes, came out.

"I am Durrenni, the captain of Lord Galanodir's personal guard." The leading elf put his longbow on his back, indicating that he had no ill intentions: "I'm so sorry, I thought you were undead!"

"I am Conde. I am the former deputy commander of the Second Legion of the Holy Roel Empire." A man with a scruffy beard came out. He looked at the equally scruffy elf in front of him and said, "Hasn't the Elf Empire already withdrawn from the Calradia continent? Why are you still staying here?"

"Withdraw? That's a deal with the devil! We at the Shiloh Temple won't accept it!" Durenni said indignantly, "How can we make a deal with the devil? We are irreconcilable with those terrifying undead spirits! We want to avenge our dead comrades."

"But... Conde paused, then said, "Isn't it the Temple of Shiloh that is pushing for peace talks?"

"I know..." After hearing this, Durren said a little frustrated: "But this goes against our original intention! It goes against the honor of the elves, so we discussed and decided to stay and continue to hunt the undead! In short, even if our compatriots far away in the east compromise, we will not compromise! Lord Galanodil will not compromise either.

"You are elves worthy of respect, and Lord Galanodiel is also a great elf!" Conde said: "In this case, our goals are the same now. Perhaps we can cooperate and fight against Arthas together."

Having said this, Condé held out his hand to Turenne.

"It's my honor!" Durenni also extended his hand.

The two forces that were once at loggerheads have now put aside their differences and shaken hands in peace.

However, at this moment, bursts of roars were heard from afar, followed by messy footsteps approaching.

"Oh no! It's the Undead Army!"

Conde and Turenne's faces suddenly became serious.

Chapter 187: The Three Armies Meet

Conde had stayed behind enemy lines for so long that he was naturally very familiar with the habits of the undead.

If they encounter a small group of undead, they can indeed defeat them without any effort, but if the number is large, they can only run away.

It's so polarized.

After all, the undead have no idea of ​​what fear is. When they see their enemies, they will rush forward all at once. If the undead cannot be crushed and the undead use the tactic of adding fuel to the fire, then the living will have no chance of dealing with them.

More importantly, these undead seemed to be able to sense each other. Once one of them was attacked and could not be eliminated in a short time, all the nearby undead would surround them.

Once you are targeted by a large group of undead, the situation will be very bad. You may not even be able to escape at that time. After all, the undead do not know how to get tired and can bite their prey tightly. But the living need to rest and eat, and they cannot keep moving like the undead.

Therefore, if we really encounter the enemy, the only way is to leave some people behind to cover the rear and ensure the safe evacuation of the main force.

This is definitely a tough call.

Judging from the footsteps now, the number of undead this time seems to be a little too much! I'm afraid we'll need to leave a lot of people behind to cover their rear.

Although Condé and Turenne did not say it out loud, both of their faces were full of determination.

However, at this moment, bursts of artillery fire suddenly flew over from the flank, and the light tore through the thick darkness of the night.

It was only then that Conde and Durenni discovered that there were so many undead hiding quietly around them! Did these undead also learn to sneak attack?

If it weren't for the gunfire that illuminated the world, they might not have known that they had fallen into the trap.

But even though we know now, the situation doesn't seem to have improved completely.

Conde and Durenni looked at each other, and Conde said, "It's unknown who owns this cannon! But it's obviously not the enemy. We can find a place to hide nearby, attract all the undead to gather together, and use the bombardment of the cannon to disperse the undead. We may be able to hold out for a while, otherwise it will be difficult for us to break through the encirclement."

"Okay!" Durenni said, "Everyone follow me. We have built a simple defensive fortification nearby."

The two armies arrived at a small mound. The elves cut some simple wooden stakes and arranged them around it to form a jagged shape, which could barely stop the undead's progress.

Undeads continued to attack them, but they were all repelled by Durrenni's command of the elves with superb archery. While the undeads behind had not yet rushed forward, Conde took advantage of the time and led his troops to rush down to drive the undeads out of the position, and took the opportunity to recover some of the arrows.

After persisting for more than an hour, the number of the undead army began to increase. The undead gathered in front of the small mound, and at this time the mysterious artillery position began to fire frantically, and each artillery attack could overturn a large number of undead. Not only that, the flames produced by the artillery also ignited the bodies of the undead. The fire was like a plague, spreading continuously, and before long, the area around the small mound was full of flames.

Large groups of undead were covered in flames, wailing and running around, and finally fell to the ground and turned into scorched earth.

No one knew how long the battle lasted, but a ray of light slowly appeared on the horizon. At this time, there were only a few undead left on the ground, and the elves and humans were exhausted. The elven soldiers' quivers were basically empty.

Seeing this, Conde and Turenne withdrew from the small mound and continued to sweep away the living dead around them.

"It seems that the other undead have all retreated?" Kong Dai said.

"Yes! They knew they couldn't defeat us, so they chose to retreat." Durenni said: "The key now is, what is the identity of this artillery unit...

"Most likely they are from the city of Orilla," said Conde.

"Olila City? But haven't they been stationed south of the Soul-Guiding River? Why did they suddenly appear in the north at this time?" Durren asked curiously.

"I don't know, let's go and have a look first!" Conde said: "Since they are willing to save us, it at least shows that they have no ill intentions."

After a short rest, the two commanders marched towards the direction of the artillery.

Soon, they saw an army of several hundred people not far from the Soul-Guiding River. Unlike them, this army was dressed neatly, and it was obvious at first glance that they were not undead.

“Captain Zhu Chongba?” Conde recognized the leading commander at a glance, and immediately came forward to greet him: “It’s a pleasure to see you here.

"It's nice to see you again, Commander Conde. Who is this?" Zhu Chongba looked at the elf beside him with some curiosity.

"Hello, warrior from Orila City. My name is Durrenni, and I am..."

"I know! You are the captain of the guard of the Galannodier priest! You have excellent command ability." Zhu Zhongba said: "If you appear on the southern front, I'm afraid our battle will not be so smooth."

"Thank you for the compliment, Commander!" Durreny said somewhat embarrassedly.

"You must be starving! Let's eat first!" Zhu Chongba said with a smile, "The military rations from Aurora City are naturally incomparable to the elves' delicacies, but at least there are large quantities and enough for you."

The soldiers of the two armies had been starving from the lack of food and clothing along the way. They didn't care about etiquette and started to eat voraciously.

The three largest forces on the Soul-Guiding River in the past are now squatting in the same place and eating.

Turenne and Condé briefly described their experiences.

The army of the Holy Roll Empire on the north bank was the first to be attacked by the undead, and suffered heavy losses due to being caught off guard. In the end, the battle turned into a great rout, and only a few troops escaped. Duke Tilly and Duke Bieson both died on the battlefield. Durenni was not with the main force because he had a mission at the time. After receiving the news, he immediately decided to break through the siege and escaped.

The situation on the elves side was a little better. Galannodil attached great importance to reconnaissance work and had taken certain precautions against the undead, so when he found that a large number of mysterious troops were surrounding New Gondolin, he immediately ordered his troops to abandon the city and break out.

Galannodiel knew that since she was under siege, the main force of the elves was probably defeated, so she did not choose to retreat southward to join the main force, but went the other way and continued to head north. It must be said that this decision saved the lives of the entire army. However, despite this, they also fought many tough battles along the way and lost many elf warriors.

"I don't know how the commander of the Zhu Chongba Army suddenly came to the northern battlefield, and judging from the appearance of the members, they don't look like they have experienced a major war."

Zhu Zhongba said: "We relied on boats to go deep into the north from the Soul-Guiding River. The demons seemed to be careless about the surface forces, so we were lucky enough to slip here."

"But... what is your purpose in going deep? It's been so long, the news of the annihilation of the Second and Third Legions should have been sent back to Vienna, and the elves have surrendered!" Conde asked curiously: "Even if you want to find survivors, I'm afraid you won't get much. It's really not worth it."

"We go deep behind enemy lines, collecting survivors is only one purpose! The most important thing is... Zhu Zhongba said: "We want to obtain more information about the undead troops and the demons! Then send them back to Aurora City. Aurora City intends to fight to the death with Arthas, so they want to get more information about the undead and the demons.

After hearing this, Durreny on the side immediately said excitedly: "What a coincidence! In the previous battle, we not only collected a lot of intelligence! But also captured a necromancer!"