Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 157 Orc Army Advances West and Engages in Battle

Chen Mo was unaware of the intricate and complex inner workings of the orcs.

Many things can only be fully understood many, many years later, when the fog of history is completely lifted, and people suddenly realize, "Oh, so that's how it is."

Those events attributed to chance or subjective impulses are likely choices made out of necessity by those involved.

Those things were bound to happen given the circumstances and timeframe.

This is why history repeats itself time and time again.

Of course, delaying the orc army for two months still gave the Vast Ocean Territory a certain degree of initiative.

Meanwhile, the staff officers back home were also frantically preparing for the upcoming event.

Just kidding! This is a momentous event that will be recorded in the annals of both the Starry Continent and the Eastern Xia of Blue Star. Being able to participate in it personally, and even influence its course, is enough to make any professional soldier's heart surge and blood boil!

In their careful study of the process, the advisors from their homeland not only noticed the orcs' intolerance to the scorching heat, but also the divisions within the orc community.

In short, the "drug offensive" launched by Han Hai Ling this time has been too effective.

Logically, when a new product is proven effective and has great potential for promotion, the most reasonable approach should be to divide the market into different regions and seize the market share, allowing everyone to take what they need and first capture the market.

Only when the existing market has been completely scrambled up and the incremental market can no longer be stimulated will everyone roll up their sleeves and fight head-on.

Who draws their knife right from the start?

The orcs were able to win in their various wars against humans, so they can't be considered completely mindless fools.

Well, except for Lao Niu, he really is a simpleton.

Limited by the relatively weak intelligence capabilities of the Vast Ocean Territory, the staff department is not yet able to accurately judge the overall movements of the orcs. However, based on the above incident, everyone has a clear sense that there are conflicts among the orcs, especially among the various orc strongholds in the White Deer Plains, and these conflicts are not insignificant!
The first week of May is known as the week of calamity by astrologers.

Everyone thought it was auspicious, but the orcs thought it was a calamity for the human race, while Han Hai thought it was a calamity for the orcs.

Of course, those who truly suffer the calamity are probably the lives struggling to survive on the land trodden by the orcs.

With battle flags waving and drums booming, the orc vanguard, like wild beasts broken free of their reins, swept across Flag Mountain Pass and entered Razor Corridor.

The long-awaited orc spring hunt has finally arrived.

Razor Corridor is like a twisted scar on the earth, with two main directions.

First, it follows the steep mountain edge, heading south and then winding west, ultimately pointing to the primary target of this spring hunt—Dongguanling;

The other route extends eastward, traversing a vast and desolate no-man's-land before turning south to the capital of the Han Hai Territory. This was also the main route used by the Seven Luminaries Garland Merchant Guild to trade goods and people with Han Hai.

When war broke out, trade naturally came to a standstill, and the roads became very quiet.

This orcish army comprised more than sixty tribes of varying sizes. In accordance with tradition, large tribes contributed two thousand soldiers, small tribes contributed three hundred, and with the addition of eight thousand elite troops directly under the orcish royal court, the total number of soldiers reached a staggering fifty-four thousand.

—For the orcs, who routinely launch massive raids with armies of hundreds of thousands, this spring hunt is indeed just a small appetizer.

Sargeras Bloodhowl, as the commander of the army, was quite methodical in his troop deployment.

He left a force of 3,000 elite orc infantrymen at the Qishan Pass as the rear guard, firmly protecting the camp where the main army set off and the key logistical routes.

Meanwhile, a rapid deployment force composed of orc light cavalry and light infantry spread eastward toward the desert where the Vast Sea Territory is located, forming a flank barrier. They did not venture deep into the desert interior, but instead conducted intensive patrols along a stretch of several tens of kilometers outside the Razor Corridor.

With such a rear guard and flank, the possibility of the Han Hai Territory suddenly sending troops from the desert to cut off the orcs' retreat can be largely eliminated.

You need to understand why the Orcs relentlessly attacked Razorfen Downs back then. It was because Razorfen Downs played this very role: it was tucked away in the strategic location of Flag Mountain. You couldn't break through it, but if you didn't attack, although you could easily bypass it to attack the human heartland, you could be stabbed in the back at any time.

With their rear protected, the Orcish frontal forces were divided into three groups.

The main force, carrying provisions, supplies, and tents, steadily advanced along the Razor Corridor.

The vanguard, mainly composed of wolf riders, galloped at high speed and reached the edge of Dongguanling in just two days and nights.

Another wing guard, thirty kilometers away from the main force, advanced in tandem with the open desert to the south, guarding against possible attacks from the desert direction.

Perhaps because he believed the great shaman's "mysterious prophecy," Gorehowl took extreme caution to the extreme.

As soon as the army moved, the orc scout cavalry and air force completely obscured the battlefield.

Of course, they may have tried to cover it up, but Chen Mo could still see it.

In order to win this battle, Chen Mo has secretly moved the front-line command post to a hidden stronghold provided by the desert people, 100 kilometers away from Dongguanling, and monitors the enemy's general movements on the monitoring screen every day.

Occasionally, during relatively safe periods, I would use the [Jinghong] drone to descend to within 10,000 meters and take a series of photos of the Orc camp.

Prior to this, Lord Chen had also envisioned another fighting strategy.

Would sacrificing a Jinghong fighter jet, loaded with high explosives, and crashing it into the enemy's command camp have any effect?

He summoned his generals, including veterans like Shar, who had been temporarily recruited from New Cloud Mist Territory for this great battle, and earnestly raised this idea: "If we could directly eliminate the orcs' commander this time, could we end the war?"

Everyone was excited, but it was all just speculation; only old Charles offered his own opinion.

"It's hard!"

Compared to Lynn and his ilk in the Vast Ocean, Old Sharl clearly had far more combat experience.

"Griffin knights used bombing and raids in many wars. The Qiyue Dynasty also created a tactic of taking mages into the sky and releasing magic from the air to strike enemy commanders."

"This tactic isn't just used by us; the orcs use it too, so naturally, they'll be on guard against it."

"There must be long-range air defense units in the camp!"

"Also, there might be protective equipment, formations, items, or divine magic!"

“Generally speaking, military command posts are divided into main tents, secondary tents, and dummy tents. According to our Jadeite's custom, there are usually more than three dummy tents, which are fake command camps.” “Even if the enemy hits the command post and the main tent falls, there are usually at least two secondary tents that can take over command.”

"These are all tactics that have been learned from war. Decapitation strikes might work against a single unit, but they have a very low success rate in paralyzing an entire well-organized army."

Chen Mo nodded thoughtfully, then a new question arose: "Then why didn't we see his deputy command system function when Earl Liuyun was ambushed?"

Charles's face darkened.

“Your Excellency… Your Excellency’s second-in-command is the Third Prince, so…”

Okay, that's all!
"That's not right either. I have another question. For a while, Liushuang used unicorns to charge into enemy lines every day, knocking out the enemy's commanding generals, and the enemy collapsed. Why didn't the enemy's secondary commanders work?"

Charles praised him highly: "Lord, you are truly meticulous and insightful!"

"This is the difference between frontline combat and rear command. In order to ensure the absolute authority and efficiency of the command, frontline combat troops usually try their best to strengthen the authority of the commander-in-chief. If the commander-in-chief is killed in battle, his deputy will often also bear joint responsibility, and the entire team will be punished."

"If the commander dies, the deputy commander can easily take his place..."

Xia Er paused, his tone tinged with a hint of helplessness: "The front lines are ruthless, and the commander... the commander is too easily killed!"

This is really... I don't know what to say.

Putting aside the topic of human nature, Chen Mo did not completely abandon this tactical approach. If he could find a definite enemy commander, he could still consider going all out!
The final basic tactic was to build strongholds, fight a protracted war, defend first, hold off the orcs' attack, and then counterattack when the opportunity arose.

During this precious preparation period, with the full support of the Vast Ocean Territory, the New Cloud Mist Territory mobilized all its forces and worked day and night to finally build a new fortress on the ruins of a city in the foothills of the Jade Heng Mountains.

Although the strength of the city walls and defensive arrays may not be comparable to those of a fortified pass built over many years due to the limited time, they should be able to hold out for a period of time against the orc vanguard, which lacks heavy siege equipment.

More likely, the orcs will not attack this fortified city, but will instead plunder and pillage as usual, and hold out against the Cloud Mist Territory's "successor," the Enemy Territory, on the plains for a while before retreating when the weather gets warmer.

Both sides have completed their strategic plans; the next step is execution.

When this was implemented, it was riddled with errors and omissions.

No matter how well a plan is made, it still depends on people to execute it!
First, Chen Mo's observation team, which was hidden in the mountains, was captured by the orcs.

The orcs on aerial patrols are bipedal wyvern riders from the orc royal court.

It's called a flying dragon, but it doesn't look like a dragon at all; at best, it's a giant flying lizard.

This thing is said to be the offspring of some kind of sub-dragon's chaotic reproduction. It's unknown how many generations it went through, how many alien beast genes it mixed with, before it grew into its current form.

Although it is called a two-legged creature, it is actually because the forelimbs of this large lizard are completely embedded in a pair of huge fleshy wings, with only a few sharp toes protruding from the tips of the wings. When landing, it moves entirely on its two thick hind limbs, which is why it was given the name "two-legged wyvern" by humans.

However, if you remove its wings, it really does look like a large lizard, with a slender body, a long tail with sharp spikes, and a head that is distinctly different from birds, with the characteristics of a carnivorous beast.

A pointed snout, strong jaw muscles, a mouth full of sharp teeth, distinct layers of bluish-black scales, and eyes that, although located on the sides of the head, can focus their gaze forward by bulging their eye sockets…

In short, at first glance, you can tell that this thing is fierce and not to be trifled with!
These creatures not only have excellent eyesight but also fly incredibly fast. The spikes on their tails can be flung out as weapons, and the tail spikes of adult bipedal wyverns are even highly venomous.

Furthermore, with the best orc spearmen on their backs, once they took to the skies, the entire northern sky became their domain.

Using large drones for reconnaissance was too costly in terms of energy and equipment consumption, so Chen Mo deployed some scout teams mixed with desert dwellers in the northern mountains and the southern desert.

In addition to basic reconnaissance tools such as binoculars, each squad is also equipped with two miniature reconnaissance drones.

When the Orc wyvern riders suddenly appeared in their field of vision, the panicked scouting team made a fatal mistake. Without knowing the speed of the enemy air force's pursuit, they hastily pressed the [One-Click Return] button.

In the face of real war, the Vast Ocean Territory still appears too immature.

This mistake came at a bloody price.

The orcish wyvern riders pursued relentlessly and captured the three-person reconnaissance team. After his teammates were pierced by javelins, the reconnaissance team leader from the Vast Ocean Defense Force resolutely detonated the explosives.

Flames exploded in the desert, and although they couldn't hit the enemies in the air, they were enough to destroy all the equipment the squad was carrying and erase all traces of the unit's origin.

This is a bottom-line discipline that the Hanhai reconnaissance unit has repeatedly emphasized.

Soldiers in the Han Hai Territory have extremely high status and receive the highest level of protection and benefits. Once someone joins the army, their family can almost certainly never have to suffer from hunger again.

In the end, the orc patrol found nothing but a few mangled corpses and a chaotic explosion site.

Upon receiving the message, the reconnaissance team of Han Hailing was ordered to cease drone operations, retreat completely, and deepen their covert operations.

Of course, the orcs didn't get to be so smug for long. Just two days later, the Han Hai Field Army gave them a severe beating.

The Hanhai Field Army is a heavy firepower force with long-range strike capabilities. Unable to swallow this insult, Lin En and his nephew Lin Zhong worked tirelessly through the night to compile information from all the reconnaissance teams, providing the Field Army with the frequency, range, approximate speed, and patrol altitude of the enemy's wyvern riders' reconnaissance.

Kaga personally led a counter-attack.

As a patrol formation of two-headed, two-legged wyverns leisurely swept across the desert, just as it had the previous two days, six sniper rifles lying in ambush on the sand dunes opened fire simultaneously.

Kaga brought in his most elite marksmen, who were almost always accurate. Although the wyverns were tough and covered in thick scales, with soft armor on their heads and bellies, they were facing 14.5mm, specially made tungsten alloy discarding sabot armor-piercing rounds.

Six guns fired four rounds in total, and the mournful cries echoed through the sky.

The two dragons, carrying their knights, exploded in bursts of blood mist, their flight instantly spiraling out of control as they veered and plummeted towards the sea of ​​sand below, crashing heavily into the yellow sand and stirring up a cloud of dust.

The centaur squad that had been waiting nearby stepped forward to finish off the attackers. They attached lassos, set up sand shovels, and ran off at breakneck speed. By the time the orc scouts who had noticed something was wrong arrived, all that remained of the scene was endless yellow sand, and even the bloodstains had been buried.

The orc air cavalry quickly became docile, and from then on only dared to conduct long-range reconnaissance within the area where ground wolf riders were active, and never dared to go too far in again.

Round 1, reconnaissance units, both sides tied!

The second round is about to begin on the land of Dongguanling.

(End of this chapter)