Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 287 The trump card
When Conrad received Su Mu's message, he had already led his troops to the territory of the Magic Cloud.

They were only a few hours away from Cloud Mist City, and according to the original plan, they were going to test the city's defensive capabilities.

If the defenses are insufficient, occupy the area directly and cut off Levin's retreat. If the garrison is strong, temporarily abandon the position and launch a surprise attack on Levin's rear guard to engage Isildur's forces in a decisive battle.

The strength here is relative; attacking a city might take too much time and be counterproductive.

However, Su Mu's conjecture, which essentially deduces that Cloud Mist City is hiding troops and preparing to cooperate with Li Wen to launch a pincer attack on them, is a completely different situation.

"Why not intensify our offensive and force Cloud Mist City to demonstrate its strength, and see if Earl Kuraki's guess is correct?"

Although Murak did not believe that Esidor would hide troops, Sumu's guess was not unfounded. If they were really ambushed by the other side, it would be difficult to handle.

To be on the safe side, we could increase the strength of Cloud Mist City, since they have a large troop strength. If we launch a major attack, it will be easy to gauge their strength.

It's impossible for anyone to hold back under such an intense offensive. Even if there were an ambush, it would only number in the tens of thousands. If the city were breached and the knights rushed in, they would basically lose the ability to resist.

Conrad pondered for a long time, then shook his head and said, "All's fair in war. Leven leaving this city behind is likely to slow down our progress. Even if we manage to capture Cloud Mist City, if Sunset Fortress falls, then everything will be meaningless."

Actually, our surprise attack on Leven's army was inherently risky, regardless of whether there were ambushes in Cloudmist City; the danger was immense.

Mlack nodded, agreeing with this.

After all, the number of Isildur troops is considerable; they can be used to intimidate or harass, but if they were to actually charge into battle, it would be an absolutely brutal fight.

It was indeed quite dangerous for Congress to assign such a task to the Knight Commander.

An ordinary general might have considered whether to deliberately send him to his death to alleviate the danger of being besieged at the pass.

But Conrad's eyes were filled with conviction; as long as he could serve the kingdom and save countless people, he was fearless in his charge.

Despite the injustices and grievances, the Knight Commander's heart remained with the kingdom. It was precisely this selfless spirit that enabled him to unite so many heroes.

"Alright, in that case, let's charge straight at Leven's formation. We don't care if there are ambushes or not, it's all about a decisive battle."

If there really is an ambush, I'll lead my men and slaughter the Cyclopes. Then we'll see how Isildur can possibly attack Sunset Fortress!

Looking at the tall figure of the Knight Commander, Murak also made up his mind.

The best tactical objective for their unit is naturally to disrupt the enemy's formation and launch a surprise attack. The ideal outcome would be to join forces with Isaiah to annihilate Leven's army.

However, if things go wrong, the minimum objective should be to take out the catapults and cyclops, and to inflict as much damage as possible on the flying units.

This would thwart Isildur's plan to attack the city, forcing him to return to transport soldiers and siege equipment, thus buying more time.

Su Mu had already accomplished this, and now it was time for the other of the kingdom's twin stars to show his strength.

The knight commander, with his cavalry, can play a decisive role in the battle and must be deployed at crucial moments. If the battle goes against them, they must also preserve their strength, otherwise they will no longer have a powerful cavalry legion.

Conrad looked at Murak, smiled and patted him on the shoulder: "Don't worry, with the cavalry legion here, how could we let our brother units be the vanguard?"
If a cavalryman's first thought upon entering the battlefield is to use the rest of the troops as cannon fodder and reap the rewards after the enemy is exhausted, then they are not worthy of being cavalrymen, nor should they be a level 6 unit in a castle.

It was their fearless charge and selfless protection that gave the cavalry their indomitable spirit.

"As long as we charge into battle, the Cyclops will definitely not survive!"

Murak felt a surge of excitement. Since the Knight Commander had made his decision, he had nothing to say and would simply follow along in the charge.

“Cloud Mist City is indeed in danger. I will order Su Mu to rush to the flank to protect our rear and leave an escape route.”

Although this is a life-or-death duel, with so many people on such a large battlefield, it is difficult to determine a winner in one go; there will inevitably be retreats and ambushes.

Su Mu's presence here was like a nail driven into the ground, causing the other party extreme discomfort.

Conrad drew a circle on the map, which happened to be a passage from Cloudmist City to Sunset Keep. The terrain was treacherous, a pocket canyon, which was very suitable for defense.

"As long as we control this area, the enemy will be unable to regroup or retreat, thus turning our disadvantage into an advantage."

Of course, only a powerful hero can handle this, and none other than Su Mu is more than capable!

This is quite a high compliment, but after the fierce battles of the past few months, Count Kuraki also deserves such praise.

Even someone as proud as Murak could trust such a comrade to turn his back on.

"Good! That's how it should be!"

...In the southern swamps of the hinterland, large numbers of fortified legions are stationed, cutting off key river routes and collecting tolls.

Having arrived in human territory, they received no good food or drink, nor were they cared for by beast tamers. They had no choice but to forge their own trade routes to acquire resources and subsidize the legion.

Although the grassland environment is relatively moist, it is still very different from living in a swamp.

The Dragon King and the Dragonfly found a waterfall, established themselves as kings of the mountain, and blocked the tributary. Any transport ships had to pay a sufficient fee to pass. Whether the other party was a trading city, a valley duke, or a royal procuring vessel, it didn't matter.

Money is the most important thing.

In truth, there was some discontent among the people regarding the marriage alliance between the Emerald Kingdom and the human kingdoms. Was a human woman really worth such a high price from the Nine-Headed Family?

They traveled thousands of miles to provide assistance, but fearing the destructive power of the enemy, they only stationed them at the border of the hinterland, their wariness almost written on their faces.

If Isildur hadn't pressed him so hard, he probably wouldn't have asked for help.

"News has come from Elton City that Leven's army has marched west and is about to arrive at Sunset Fortress. We should also take action, otherwise we won't be able to explain ourselves to the Nine-Headed Clan."

This army has two commanders: one is Kaido, a beast tamer who has mastered the secrets of combined beast training and can command lizardmen, dragon flies, giant lizards and other troops; the other is Ragon, a warrior of the Bull Clan and the spokesperson for the Swamp Death God.

The two belonged to different tribes, but were both warriors under the Nine-Headed King, so they joined forces to provide support to the human kingdom.

In fact, they had noticed the arrival of the main force of the stronghold in the south a few days ago, but they would not take the initiative to attack unless the other side harassed them.

The agreement with the human kingdoms was to resist the bulwark army, but the situation with the outposts is a different story.

After all, if they're not even allowed to venture deep into the heartland, how can they give their all?

Of course, there were some minor incidents along the way. Because the Emerald Kingdom's forces were cobbled together from various tribes and were used to being disorganized, some riots and incidents of humans being poisoned occurred when they first entered human cities.

So the kingdom dared not let them into the city, but instead stationed them in the waters of the wilderness.

The environment was comfortable, but no one provided food and resources, which made the hero leading the team quite dissatisfied, so he pretended to comply but secretly disobeyed.

After all, they only killed a few people and stole some food. They traveled thousands of miles to save the human kingdom; shouldn't they be treated as heroes?

Looking at the disgusted looks in the humans' eyes, Kaido wanted to gouge out their eyeballs and put them on the chimeras so they could see the world.

"In my opinion, let humanity fend for itself. Since they are so arrogant, why don't they resist the barrier on their own? Why do they need to beg us!"

Kaido spoke bluntly. He was used to the subservient manner of those clans. What difference was there between human kingdoms and werewolves and lizardmen? They were all just selling their daughters for personal gain.

Ragon's expression was indifferent, but he was very determined to complete the mission: "Eldon and the Hydra have an agreement, so it's fine if we don't pursue the stronghold. After all, we didn't expect the orcs to come."

But since humanity has asked for help, we should keep our promise.

If Isildur were to truly annex the human kingdoms, it wouldn't be good for us either.

This is a common understanding among all the high-ranking officials in the swamp: Elton may decline, but it cannot perish.

The right way is to wait until the kingdom gradually weakens, then let everyone gradually encroach on its land, and slowly digest and develop the federation.

If they were to truly confront Isildur, neither of them would gain an advantage, which might be the key reason why the Hydra King agreed to the marriage alliance.

Of course, the Kingdom also contributed a lot of treasures and resources. The Nine-Headed King took the lion's share, and everyone else got a small portion, which was acceptable.

Kaido snorted coldly, not refusing, but muttering, "After this battle, I'll definitely take my soldiers to a human city for some fun!"

Having said that, he commanded the army to begin its northward advance.

Their location is closer to Sunset Fortress, and marching along the river will be much faster; they are expected to arrive in half a day.

This is why the kingdom stationed its fortress army here; if the stronghold were to occupy this place and quickly move north, the battle would have already begun.

The fortress legion marched north along the river, arriving just behind the southern flank of Leven's army. Together with Conrad, they launched a pincer attack from the north and south. Even with over 100,000 troops at the fortress, they might not be able to withstand it.

However, Congress is well aware that fortified troops are not necessarily reliable.

The light of humanity, the most powerful cavalry legion, crushes everything and brings victory!

The real trump card is still the Knights' army.

(End of this chapter)