Chapter 295 Battle for the City Gate

The main force of the orcs aimed at the Harland territory. The two legions of the central army followed the edge of the Earl of Donny Martins and entered the Gascoigne Province along the Kaia River.

One orc legion contained the Mad Lion Legion, and one orc legion continued to move eastward along the upper reaches of the Black River, so that the Northern Legion dared not move rashly.

In the direction of the Grant Kingdom, the orcs had a total of 16 legions. In addition to the three legions of the East Route Army that had already appeared, the six legions of the Central Route Army, and the four legions of the West Route Army also appeared in the two duchies of Edward and Fox.

The remaining three legions were not only the general reserve of the orcs, but also had to bear the heavy responsibility of rear defense and could not be easily mobilized.

Once the orcs had no regular army in the rear, human slaves might riot.

The orcs came out in full force, and the four armies approached the Harland territory. However, in the short term, the battle line was relatively stable. The only disadvantage was the Pratos Valley, where the power was the most unbalanced.

There were only one battalion of 1,500 regular troops from the Northern Legion, one thousand auxiliary troops from the Geda Province, and several hundred soldiers left by Baron Sharp in the Pratos Fortress.

Since obtaining the fief of the Grand Duchy of Stannic, Baron Sharp has passed the territory to his eldest son, and took the child born to Viscount Raphael to the Grand Duchy of Stannic, shifting the focus of operating the territory.

Baron Sharp's territory was average, and the logistics relied on the support of Viscount Raphael to maintain five or six hundred elite soldiers. Now Baron Sharp went to the Grand Duchy of Stannic and took away most of the soldiers. The soldiers left for his eldest son were of average quality and could not bear the heavy responsibility.

Although the Pratos direction had geographical advantages, there were too few elite soldiers to stop the fierce attack of the orcs. Even with the help of heavy catapults and alchemical bombs, hundreds of casualties were suffered in just one day, and a letter for help was sent to Fort William.

Harland's territory was also under great pressure in the other three directions, and Richard had no reinforcements at all. So he could only ask the commander of the Laber Corps to urge the rear to gather reinforcements quickly.

The Northern Army had to guard against the main orc army and was unable to withdraw reinforcements. The private armies of the nobles in the nearby Black River and Luomen counties were all withdrawn to Salt Lake County.

The fastest assembler was the Grant Kingdom Knight Academy, but they needed three days to assemble, raise logistical supplies, and march for four days to reinforce the vicinity of the Pratos Mountains.

According to the intensity of the orcs' attack, the Pratos defenders could only hold out for one or two days at most. After all, the orcs had seven battalions that could rotate and launch multiple attacks a day.

The defenders were insufficient, and it was difficult to repel each enemy attack.

The situation became very tense, and Richard could only devote any bit of his strength to the war.

He personally wrote an order, requiring the 500 auxiliary soldiers of Sophia Castle, the garrison squadron of Iron Mountain Castle, and the secret police protecting the enchanted armor manufacturing factory to be mobilized to form the first wave of reinforcements.

Then he ordered his cousin Kent to bring the soldiers of Baron Soros to reinforce Pratos Castle.

In addition, Richard also issued an order to fortify the walls and clear the fields, ordering the soldiers to slaughter all the orc slaves in the iron mine, and all the population of border castles such as Sophia Castle and Iron Mountain Castle retreated to prevent the worst situation.

Sophia Castle and Iron Mountain Castle are more than ten kilometers away from the Pratos Fortress Group. After receiving the order, the reinforcements entered the Pratos Castle that night.

Despite withstanding the orcs' fierce attack for a day and a half, the Pratos defenders suffered heavy casualties, especially the 9th Battalion of the Northern Legion, which served as the main force. Even the captain was killed in the battle.

The morale of the defenders was barely supported, and finally a thousand reinforcements arrived at night. These thousand reinforcements gave the soldiers the confidence to persist.

After all, it was a racial war, and the soldiers had a very high ability to withstand casualties. Even the serfs with weak combat effectiveness could sometimes fight with the orcs because of hatred.

The reinforcements consisted of three parts, the largest number of which was the 500 auxiliary soldiers of Sophia Castle.

The auxiliary soldiers of the Harland Territory train for two to three months every year. The core members are older veterans. The most training they do is to operate heavy catapults to fire stone bombs according to the shooting table.

If it is a field battle, the combat effectiveness of the auxiliary soldiers of the Harland Territory is very average, and they can't even beat the noble private army. But in a defensive battle, this auxiliary team can play a key role.

The first squadron of the second battalion is stationed in Tieshan Fort, and the squadron leader is Perrin, a veteran of the Harland Territory. He is a professional who was promoted in the same batch as Jennings, and he is also very talented. He has been working hard in the Harland Territory for more than ten years. Last year, he was promoted to the deputy captain of the second battalion, and his professional level was also promoted to the fourth level.

Tieshan Fort is the only iron ore producing area in the Harland Territory. There are many confidential units in the castle. Basically, half of the territory's military merit production departments are concentrated in Tieshan Fort.

For this reason, although Tieshan Fort has fewer garrisons, its combat effectiveness is very strong.

Although the first squadron of the second battalion has only 160 people, there are eight professional officers and 120 soldiers with more than five years of military service. All veterans wear ogre leather armor. There are six archers above level three, and they are equipped with 60 scorching ray guns.

The combat effectiveness of this squadron is enough to be on par with the first squadron, the strongest infantry in the Haland Territory.

There are more than 200 spies protecting the military factory, and their organization is under the responsibility of the intelligence department.

The personnel of the intelligence department are considered second-line armed personnel in the Haland Territory. The main members are recruited from the society or selected from the army. Especially the personnel in the action department are carefully selected and their combat effectiveness is not weak.

It’s just that the personnel of the intelligence department are better at fighting alone and subduing opponents. When encountering fierce positional battles, they don’t have much experience to use.

If the situation hadn’t changed suddenly, Richard would not have been willing to send the intelligence personnel he had trained for many years to the cruel front line to fight with the orcs.

But the situation has developed to this point, and every bit of strength is crucial.

After defending the Pratos Canyon, Richard didn’t need to withdraw troops from the front line. The pressure on the front line was already very heavy. Once troops were withdrawn from the front line, it might cause a global collapse.

The top priority is to concentrate superior forces to break the balance.

Under the command of Soros, the eastern part of Harland has cut off the road of half of the orcs’ legion. William and Soros joined forces to prepare to encircle and annihilate this enemy.

In the western Pratos fortress group, the orcs have gained the upper hand. Once the orc army conquers the defense line and flanks Harland, it will cause a comprehensive passivity to the northern defense line.

After the reinforcements entered the Pratos fortress group, Perrin immediately shouted loudly: "Is Captain Bock here?"

"The captain died in the afternoon."

Hearing this, Perrin was shocked and had a direct understanding of the cruelty of war.

The orcs attacked the city for just one and a half days, and the highest commander died in the city.

"Who is the commander in the castle now?"

"It's Captain Lothar."

"Where is Captain Lothar?"

"Captain Lothar is in Castle No. 3, which has been cut off by the orcs and may fall at any time."

There are nine fortresses in the Pratos fortress group, forming three lines of defense.

When Perrin led the reinforcements to arrive, the five fortresses No. 1, No. 2, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 were all lost.

Bock, the captain of the 9th Battalion of the Northern Legion, died in battle, and the deputy captain Lothar was trapped in Fort No. 3 and could be surrounded and annihilated at any time.

Now the only intact line of defense is the third line, and the defenders are mainly soldiers of Baron Sharp's army.

These soldiers are all locals. Although their fighting power is weaker than that of the soldiers of the Northern Legion, their fighting will is very firm and they have no intention of retreating or running away.

Hearing the soldier's answer, Perrin said decisively: "Since Captain Bock died in the battle, from now on, I am the commander of the Pratos Castle. Now I order to draw a squadron of auxiliary soldiers to send the wounded to the rear, and the scattered soldiers will be reorganized immediately and ready to fight at any time.

As long as we survive tonight, the 500 reinforcements led by Baron Soros will arrive tomorrow to reinforce. In the next few days, there will be reinforcements intermittently, and in seven days, there will be a powerful Knight Academy Cavalry Regiment to reinforce.

As long as we have confidence, we will be able to stop the orcs in the north of the Pratos Mountains and protect our homes."

Perrin entered the last line of defense of Pratos at night and immediately deployed the reinforcements at the forefront without resting.

Castle No. 9 is the focus of the third line of defense. Perrin directly ordered the first squadron of the second battalion to garrison.

Castle No. 7 is strategically located and has as many as six heavy trebuchets installed. Perrin arranged for Harland to lead 500 trebuchets to be stationed inside.

Castle No. 8 is located closest to the rear and has the lightest defense pressure. It is the location where intelligence personnel and reorganized troops are stationed.

In order to find out how many troops he has, Perrin sent several staff officers to the troops to count overnight.

Looking at the intelligence sent by the staff officers before dawn, Perrin's mood suddenly became extremely bad.

"In just one and a half days, we collected 469 bodies, and there were 630 wounded soldiers, of which more than 300 were seriously injured. This statistics does not include missing personnel, and does not include the defenders of Fort No. 3.

That is to say, there are 3,000 soldiers on the Pratos front, not counting the defenders of Fort No. 3. After fighting for a day and a half, there are only more than 300 regular troops, 400 noble private troops, and 400 auxiliary troops left."

Seeing the statistics, Perrin secretly calculated. If the orcs do not reduce the intensity of the attack, the reinforcements he brought can be consumed for at most one day.

Perrin took a nap, and the sun gradually appeared above the horizon.

Before the soldiers had breakfast, the orcs walked out of the fourth, fifth, and sixth forts, organized their attack formations, and began to attack the last line of defense of the Platos fortress group.

Fort No. 9 was built in the middle of the canyon.

The castle only had three walls, with a front length of about 200 meters and a total of more than 130 meters on the east and west sides, until it was connected to the cliff.

There was no wall on the south side of Fort No. 9, and some military barracks were built.

The Platos fortress group was completely a military fortress, with few people living nearby and civilians far away.

In the middle of Fort No. 9, there was a flood discharge channel washed by rainwater. If there was a flood season, a water gate was set up in the middle of the castle, and a water fort was set up at the back.

In the dry season, only one wooden door was set up. This wooden door was considered the defensive weakness of Fort No. 9.

The flood discharge channel was 16 meters wide and 3 meters deep. Relying on wooden doors and wooden fences, it could not stop the orcs for too long. Relying on the one and a half days gained by the first two lines of defense, the defenders of Fort No. 9 blocked most of the flood channel.

After the orcs adjusted their formation, they focused their attack on the flood channel. In just one or two minutes, the orc army sent four echelons to attack along the flood channel.

The flood channel was only a dozen meters wide. In such a narrow terrain, the orcs could not deploy their formation at all.

Even if an echelon sent one or two squadrons, they were still crowded together.

Seeing this scene, Perrin immediately ordered the trebuchets in Castle No. 7 to fire stone bombs, and then ordered the defenders of Castle No. 9 to use alchemical bombs.

Archers and scorching ray gunners hunted down key orcs.

As the flag waved, the trebuchets in Castle No. 7 cut the ropes and began to throw stone bombs.

Although the auxiliary soldiers in Harland's territory were not good at field battles, they were very experienced in operating trebuchets. Their training also focused on operating trebuchets, which was equivalent to a weakened version of artillery.

The same trebuchet, in the hands of experienced soldiers, caused extraordinary lethality.

In the first round alone, two of the six stone bombs hit the orc army formation, killing and injuring seven or eight orc soldiers in an instant, causing considerable chaos.

Although the trebuchet fired slowly, it was like a death warrant.

Every time it was thrown, one or two stone bombs hit the orcs.

The orcs were squeezed in the narrow flood discharge channel and could not dodge at all.

Seeing this scene, the orc commander went crazy and kept urging the orcs to speed up and rush past the range of the trebuchet.

The heavy trebuchet is a projectile weapon that cannot kill people at a relatively close distance. According to the shooting table of the Harland Territory, the range of the heavy trebuchet varies with the weight of the stone bullet, which is about 100 to 400 meters. Beyond 400 meters, the landing point of the stone bullet is uncontrolled and very scattered.

Within 100 meters, it is difficult for the heavy trebuchet to hit the enemy personnel. Unless the counterweight is replaced or non-standard stone bullets are used.

But in this way, the landing point can only be controlled by experience, and it is also very troublesome during the battle.

In the tactics of the soldiers of the Harland Territory, after entering 100 meters, killing and wounding the enemy mainly depends on alchemical bombs and bows and arrows.

The first echelon of the orcs had just broken through the interception of the trebuchet when they were attacked by alchemical bombs.

In an instant, twenty or thirty alchemical bombs were thrown over and exploded over the orc squadron. The scattered shrapnel swept over, killing and wounding a large number of people in an instant.

Because they were too close, more than half of the squadron was killed or wounded.

The orcs were already suffering heavy casualties from the catapults, and the alchemical bombs instantly broke their will. The first echelon of orcs retreated.

Normally, most of the orcs would disperse in all directions when they retreated. But the orcs were in the flood discharge channel and had no room to disperse.

The retreating orcs and the second echelon were squeezed together, causing great chaos.

The defenders of Fort No. 7 seized the opportunity and fired stone bombs continuously.

The stone bombs fell into the dense orc army formation, and the huge kinetic energy instantly smashed the orcs into meat patties. The stone bombs that fell to the ground continued to roll, breaking the orcs' legs.

The fallen orcs were very pitiful, and were constantly trampled by their panicked companions, making miserable cries. These cries made the orcs run around in panic even more.

The orcs had intended to use the flood diversion channel to capture Fort No. 9 in one fell swoop, but they did not expect that humans' long-range projection capability was so strong that the four attacking echelons had completely collapsed before they even approached the city wall, with the loss of more than a dozen professionals and over 500 soldiers.