Chapter 887 [0884] Intertwined and Tacit Understanding

The Black Forest region is as its name suggests.

This basin area called Tukugur is full of tall trees.

The trees, mainly conifers, are connected here, covering the sky and the sun.

The treetops block the sun and the shadows cover the earth. The dark brown bark and dark green needles are dark in color, so it is named Black Forest.

The history of Noxians developing the Black Forest can be traced back hundreds of years ago. With the promulgation of the pioneering decree, Noxian citizens who do not want to stay in the Immortal Fortress can freely move to the Black Forest area to live, where they will enjoy tax benefits, as well as exemptions from military service and labor.

Not all Noxians are war maniacs, and not every Noxian is willing to gain merit on the battlefield. Many people who are unwilling to serve in the war choose to go to the Black Forest area and make their own contributions to the Noxian Empire in the form of pioneering.

That was the beginning of the development of the Black Forest.

However, for hundreds of years, there has been little progress in the development of the Black Forest. Even today, there are only a few large-scale settlements here, and food still relies on imports. Some of the pioneers who moved to the Black Forest moved away quickly, while others took root here with difficulty but could not go further.

The reasons for this situation are also very simple, mainly two: climate and vegetation.

Because the Dragon Ridge Snow Mountain opened a hole in Tukugul, the Breath of Anivia can flow unimpeded from Tukugul into the Black Forest. Even if a large area of ​​coniferous forests stagnates the pace of the cold wind, the actual temperature drop cannot be avoided.

Therefore, winter in the Black Forest comes early and cold.

In addition, unlike pine trees elsewhere, the pine trees in the Black Forest are also quite special-these pine trees can stand in the snow under the blowing of the Breath of Anivia, relying on roots that are hundreds or even hundreds of feet deep in the ground.

The roots of the trees standing side by side on the ground were entangled together. The intertwined pine roots in the underground of the entire Black Forest area almost formed a large network.

In this case, logging is easy, but clearing the roots is very difficult. Even if the Noxian residents who came to the Black Forest because of the pioneering decree spent their entire lives, they probably couldn't open up much land for farming.

As a result, after so many years, the industry in the Black Forest area is still mainly log felling and beast hunting. The scattered farmland is distributed near the large settlements and can't support the needs of the local population.

With almost no planting industry and infrequent commercial exchanges, the population of the Black Forest area is quite limited. Even if people in Noxus have been coming here with confidence because of the pioneering decree, it won't take long for them to find that this place seems to be only suitable for primitive life.

From a military perspective, this vast and sparsely populated environment with dense shade is simply a "place where the fog of war will not dissipate" and a natural battlefield.

Even with local guides and aerial reconnaissance units, it is difficult for the commander to judge his situation and find hidden enemies.

This is the same for both foreign Demacians and nominal local Noxians.

For Lux, she knew that the Noxians would not be honest, so she was cautious from the beginning and advanced along the river while maintaining the stability of the subsequent supply line.

Although many large and small rivers flowing in the Black Forest have a large drop, and there are rapids and riprap in many places, as long as they follow the water, the supply of the Demacia Northern Expedition Army is well guaranteed.

Rapids and shallows cannot be easily passed by transport ships.

But as long as supply stations are arranged at key locations and Enuk is used to pull the rope, even if you go upstream along the shallows, Enuk can drag you to the place.

Moreover, Demacia's supply was originally a bit difficult, and Lux ​​was once worried about how to maintain the diet of large livestock-but what she never expected was that Enuk seemed to like the pine needles of local pine trees.

This kind of needles, which are not high in oil content, are everywhere in the Black Forest. For humans, they are natural fungus culture media, but for Enuk, they are very delicious food.

Whether it is the common cattle, horses, sheep or even earth dragons in Noxus, they will have diarrhea after eating these pine needles, but Enuk's powerful digestive system is not afraid at all, and he will not feel any discomfort no matter how much he eats.

After professionals observed and confirmed that there would be no sequelae, Lux got a definite news-in the Black Forest area, the Northern Expedition Army does not need to worry about the fodder problem of baggage animals.

In this way, the logistical pressure of the Northern Expedition Army dropped sharply.

With confidence, Lux became more cautious in his actions when he could not judge the enemy's situation.

Since he knew that the Noxians would not be honest, but he could not take the initiative to tear his face, he could only guard against thieves for a thousand days.

And caution is the best attitude.

Darius was not in a hurry at all for Lux's delay - his army had just finished assembling, and he wanted to go directly to the Black Forest to cooperate with his teammates to intercept the Northern Expedition Army, so he was more or less in a hurry.

Now the Demacians were scaring themselves and walking slower than anyone else, which was simply giving Noxus a chance to assemble its army!

In Darius's opinion, the Demacians could have come slower, and it would have been better for them to wait until he had prepared everything before rushing into the trap. After the victory, he would definitely not mind awarding Lux a large medal to reward her for choosing to delay time for him in the end.

It seemed that everything was developing in the direction Darius expected.

On the other hand, as the vanguard troops went deeper, when the Northern Expedition Army was halfway through the Black Forest, Lux finally understood it gradually.

Especially when the Dragon Bird Knight sent back the news that the city of Fokarodna was occupied by the Frostguard tribe, although she still didn't know where those who had occupied the city of Fokarodna had gone, and didn't know where the Noxians planned to tear their faces with her, she had understood the attitude of Noxus, and guessed that the Immortal Fortress should be preparing for war, but she had no intention of speeding up the progress.

There was no need.

Now that we have come to this point, let's continue to move forward steadily. With the needles as a supplement, plus the segmented supplements from the Principality of Valoran, the supply pressure of the Northern Expedition has reached a tolerable range.

Go forward steadily, and now Demacia only wants a head-on battle!

……………………

When the vanguard of the Northern Expedition passed through the Black Forest and was about to set foot in Freljord, the Noxians finally made all preparations for the battle.

Darius, who was in the Immortal Fortress, issued a statement condemning the Demacians for "killing civilians and destroying cities", and quickly made a final notice, requiring the Northern Expedition to "withdraw from the Black Forest area and leave Tukugul within three days."

Of course, this is purely a face-saving project. Darius is just looking for a name for the next declaration of war. He is too lazy to even fabricate evidence. The final notice was issued in the morning, and the "army" set out from the Immortal Fortress in the afternoon and headed westward towards the Black Forest.

Lux, who received the notice, also laughed, without any fluctuations in her heart, and even wanted to laugh.

The Noxians really couldn't allow themselves to join forces with Avarosa!

So, according to the predetermined plan, the vanguard of the Northern Expedition quickly stopped and built fortifications on the spot.

Since the logistics can keep up, let's build a camp first, and wait for the main force of the Northern Expedition to arrive, and then pass through Tukugul and enter Freljord together.

Anyway, there is no pass in the north of the Black Forest. If you want to stop me, come and fight me head-on!

Sure enough, the Noxians played a trick on time.

The seven warbands that "departed from the Immortal Bastion the day before" arrived at Tukugul "like a god descending from the sky" the day after the notice was issued.

Obviously, the Immortal Bastion's action was just a sleight of hand. Before that, the Noxian army had officially set out in order to catch Demacia off guard.

Unfortunately, Lux had never believed that the Noxians would let him pass honestly from the beginning, so even though the seven Noxian warbands quickly arrived around the battlefield, the Demacians did not delay the gathering at all.

Lux even had the leisure to allocate some mobile troops to check along the coast of the supply line to deal with all possible omissions.

However, the Black Forest was still quiet, as if the Noxians had no intention of cutting the retreat.

Hmm?

What's going on?

While Lux was puzzled, two of the seven Noxian warbands that had just arrived at the battlefield took the initiative to launch a tentative charge towards the Northern Expedition Army's position.

And with the preparations in place, Lux didn't even pay much attention, and the attack was thwarted.

When Lux got the news afterwards, he wanted to laugh a little.

The Noxian warband weaving is not too large, so if you want to pose any substantial threat to Lux, I'm afraid it will require the cooperation of multiple warbands and the mobilization of the Mage Corps.

However, the Noxians did not do so. From the posture, they seemed to want to try their hand and understand the combat effectiveness of Demacia, and then use this as the basis for subsequent adjustments.

But unfortunately, this kind of temptation that was broken as soon as they met was meaningless.

Until the two sides ended the "competition", Noxus did not get even a little advantage, and none of the several breakthrough points they prepared received feedback that "this trip was profitable".

However, just as the Demacians were happily bullying, in the glacier cracks of the Dragon Spine Mountains, Draven, who had been waiting for many days, finally received a signal from his brother.

"It's time to come out and kick the Demacians' ass!"

After hiding in the glacier cracks for more than half a month, Draven's supplies were very scarce at this time - and in order to avoid those annoying eagles, even if the Frost Guard wanted to provide some support, the support had to be secretly sent in from the glacier cracks in the middle of the night, and its efficiency was terribly low.

The soldiers were obviously in a bad physical condition due to hunger and fullness.

However, considering their location, which the Demacians would never expect, the morale of this team is very high.

They now have a chance to prove themselves - the main force of Noxus led by Darius is still cautiously carrying out small-scale battles, trying to paralyze Lux's judgment. This force led by Draven has quietly moved eastward, bypassed the main force of the Northern Expedition, and established direct contact with the Xiongdu.

Very good.

The actors are in place, and it's time for Draven to perform!

……………………

As a man with a big heart, Draven felt excitement rather than worry when he was ordered to take charge.

Although he didn't have the ability to think comprehensively and didn't have enough information to make a correct judgment, he naturally believed in his brother and the success rate of his sneak attacks in the dark.

Those cunning Demacians would never have thought that an army would arrive at Demacia at the most obscure moment in the form of a divine army descending from the sky.

As for the war group on the Immortal Bastion side, their main task is now to bluff.

Facts have proved that their actions were very successful.

When Draven's troops walked out of the glacial crack, there were very few Demacia's scouts in his direction, not to mention the dragon bird knights patrolling in the sky.

Under the cover of the dense black forest, these dragon bird knights could only patrol along the large continent to explore whether there were large groups of people.

Draven's troops, who came out from the back, did not take the main road, nor were they within the normal patrol range. After arriving near the Northern Expedition's vanguard, they were discovered by two dragon bird knights at most, but before the two dragon bird knights could return on the spot or release the pigeons they carried with them, they were caught and killed on the spot.

So, a team that might appear appeared in an impossible position.

This should be considered a successful divine army descending from the sky.

However, what they never expected was that on the Demacia side, when they heard that a large Noxian army of at least several warbands appeared behind them, the Northern Expedition's vanguard was surprised, but did not show much fluctuation.

This kind of thing, running away at the sight of the wind, would not happen to this team.

And... who said that being attacked from both sides is a disadvantage?

At this moment, if you erase the dense black forest near the scene of the incident and then look down from the sky, you will find that Draven's troops from the west, who came out of the glacier cracks, and Darius' troops from the east, who have long been prepared for battle, are like two huge, open crab claws.

The less elite teams are used to increase the thickness of the formation, and the real elites are taken out as the vanguard to attack and destroy the enemy's defense. These two huge crab claws have been fully opened, one on the left and one on the right, clamping the Demacia Northern Expedition salient that seemed to be somewhat scattered because of the previous battle with the small-scale Noxian troops.

If these two crab claws clamp, then the formation of Demacia will inevitably be completely divided and cut off.

Once Draven and Darius successfully meet and completely divide the battlefield, Demacia will be completely helpless in the subsequent battles.

Unfortunately, facing such an obvious pincer attack, the Demacians who were about to be surrounded did not panic at all. After confirming Draven's flag and the identity and destination of this team, their commander Lux even smiled with relief.

That's it?

My neck hurts so much...