Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 197 The Orcs' Autumn Hunt Begins, Bloodhowl Returns to Frost

In a world where strength reigns supreme, the victors usually inflict severe crimes and punishments on the losers.

It seems that only in this way can they confidently demonstrate their correctness to the world.

Sargeris Bloodhowl did just that. In the name of the Flag Mountain Camp, Sargeris, without any mercy, imposed the most severe punishments on those guilty races who "performed poorly" during the Spring Hunt.

During this period, a steady stream of supplies, manpower, and minerals flowed from various camps on the White Deer Plain to the Qishan Pass, allowing General Bloodhowl to gradually build up the northern and southern camps of the Orcs.

The so-called North and South Camps actually refer to two orc camps located inside and outside Qishan Mountain. The camp at the front of Qishan Mountain Pass is a defensive camp, while the one tucked behind the mountain is an offensive camp.

This was the standard formation used by the orcs when they attacked the south. With the Southern Camp in place, neither Razorfen Downs nor the scattered troops from Mistmoon, Emerald, Greenpine, and Streammoon could pose any threat to the orc army's rear.

Take the last spring hunt in Sargeris, for example. If there had been a Southern Camp like this, the retreat route would never have been cut off by the Han Hai team, forcing them to compromise.

However, the truth is this: the greater the gain, the greater the cost.

The construction, recruitment, and material preparation of the Southern Camp, even if it were only built to a medium size, would cost at least tens of thousands of gold coins by human standards, and by the standards of the Beastman Royal Court, it would be more than half a year's worth of expenses for a large tribe.

Therefore, when Sargeris's request to rebuild the North and South camps was sent to the Orcish royal court, the court didn't even want to pay him any attention.

However, considering Sargeris's series of military achievements, including "victory in a bloody battle," "capture of countless flags," "decisive defeat of human nobles," and "brave escape from the encirclement," and with the high shaman's military report as corroborating evidence, the Orcish Royal Court granted Sargeris's request with additional conditions.

Rebuilding the North and South Camps is possible, but you have to build them yourself and raise the funds yourself. The royal court doesn't have the resources to support you.

Maintaining the state of war and conscripting the Plains Orcs is also an option. The Royal Court, which already had little affection for the Plains Orcs, stated that as long as you can control them, you can do whatever you want with them. However, the amount of grain and taxes paid to the Royal Court cannot be reduced in the slightest.

To achieve this goal, Sargeris chose to unite the large tribes, suppress the medium tribes, and exploit the small tribes.

In the words of Blue Star, the master's money should be returned in full, while the common people's money should be split 30/70.

Those small tribes burdened with excessive pressure naturally had no choice but to seek compensation from other smaller tribes in the surrounding area in order to survive. The conflicts intensified throughout the White Deer Plain in the past period of time. In addition to the disorder among the orcs themselves, Sargeris was an important behind-the-scenes instigator.

As the autumn hunt drew ever closer, the Qishan camp became increasingly urgent in its collection of taxes from various units.

But no matter how harsh the levies are, they have nothing to do with Xuan Shui City.

The main problem is that money can solve the issue, which is not a problem for Lord Chen Mo.

Supplies and money have been prepared in abundance, but there is one problem: no one from Xuan Shui City will be sent!

The white-bearded cat chieftain, who was in charge of receiving them, spoke bluntly: "Your Excellency, our tribe has just fought a major battle with the 'Rotten Swamp,' suffering heavy casualties and facing a severe shortage of manpower. We simply do not have any extra warriors or slaves to spare."

The special envoy was a wolf clan officer. After carefully considering the "small token" given by the white-bearded man and glancing at the ten-meter-tall "Otter-Boar Spirit Temple" at the entrance, he fully expressed his understanding.

Privately, the wolf chieftain lamented, "Why did you kill so ruthlessly back then? Why didn't you leave more prisoners and hand them over to the main camp? They'd be more valuable than stacks of beast heads!"

Although the beast head is indeed styled quite well...

The white-bearded man chuckled.

The attack methods of Xuan Shui City cannot be easily spread among those who experienced the war.

This also brought a small, unexpected benefit to Xuanshui City, because the practice of only providing money and not manpower spread among the orc tribes on the plains. Many scattered micro-tribes on the plains fled to Xuanshui City's territory with their families in order to avoid being conscripted into service.

Faced with the choice between survival and freedom, they chose survival.

Time marched on, stumbling along little by little. Just as the three major projects of the first phase of the Xuan Shui City Industrial Special Zone were in full swing, news finally came from the orcs that the annual large-scale autumn hunt was about to begin.

The Orcish Royal Court has sent three more 10,000-strong armies this time, led by General Goldenmane Ig from the Lion Clan.

This is a high-ranking orc general known for his fierceness. It is said that he has a slight kinship with the current leader of the royal court, which is why he has risen rapidly through the ranks of the army.

But setting aside this ambiguous nepotism, Goldenmane Ig's abilities are undeniable.

After abandoning the White Deer Plains, the charlatans of the Misty Moon Divine Court took the opportunity to abandon all the lowlands and, relying on their highland terrain advantage, kept the orcs outside the borders of the divine kingdom.

If we set the sea surface of the Starry Continent as the sea level benchmark, the White Deer Plain is an area with an altitude of 15 to 70 meters, the Orc Wasteland is an area with an altitude of 200 to 300 meters, and the Rainbow Plateau, which is guarded by the God Kingdom, has an average altitude of over 1,500 meters, with some areas exceeding 3,000 meters.

Although orcs are physically strong and can climb mountains without much difficulty, once a battle breaks out, their body's demand for oxygen surges, which can easily lead to severe altitude sickness.

This plateau border is also known as the "Rainbow Wall" by the divine kingdom!
The orcs couldn't get up there, but the Divine Court has come down quite a few times.

Since the loss of White Deer Plains, roughly every few years or decades, the Mist Moon Divine Court has launched a top-down raid on the orc-occupied territories. The raids are generally small in scale and do not aim to achieve any significant results. The main purpose is to show that we are still carrying the banner of humanity and fighting against the orcs!
Forty years ago, it was this General Goldenmane Igor who, outnumbered and surrounded by the Holy Templar Knights of the Divine Court, relentlessly charged and managed to defeat the Divine Kingdom's attacking legion, killing four generals, capturing two flags, and leading his men to carve out a bloody path.

Since then, the Divine Court has remained peaceful to this day.

The Seven Luminaries Garland Merchant Guild's cooperation with the orcs has become increasingly close.

Sargeris had heard extremely secret rumors that the gnomes had passed on intelligence to the orc leader, Goldenmane, before the battle. But regardless of the truth, Goldenmane Ig's combat ability was recognized as formidable among the orcs.

After receiving the leader at the Qishan camp, Golden Mane Ig asked directly, "Have you prepared the supplies and manpower for the autumn hunt?"

"Yes sir!"

Sargeras Bloodhowl bowed his head and answered respectfully, "I have prepared sufficient supplies, auxiliary soldiers, and laborers at the Northern Camp, ready to be dispatched by you at any time, sir."

"it is good!"

Golden Mane Ig nodded approvingly: "Although you fought the Spring Hunt in a rather strange way, you still gained a lot and helped me figure out the situation."

"Now it seems that keeping your spring hunting team around has saved me a lot of time, which can be considered a merit."

"I plan to lead 30,000 elite troops from my main force, along with 30,000 plains beastmen and 40,000 laborers. Once everything is ready, we'll break camp and head south to thoroughly sweep through the south." "Since you've established the Southern Camp, then guard my rear there!"

"My lord, please wait a moment, I have military intelligence to report!"

Sargeras Gorehowl was getting anxious.

He couldn't help but be anxious. He knew perfectly well how the last spring hunt had been fought and what the so-called "victory" meant.

The reason he worked so hard and diligently on the front lines, scavenging for money and supplies and conscripting laborers, was that he wanted to secure a place in the autumn hunt so that he could cover up his previous war?

There's a saying that goes, "One lie you tell requires dozens or even hundreds of lies to cover it up, and one wrong thing you do requires even more and bigger mistakes to cover it up."

If Goldenmane Ig were to breach Frostcity, Sargeris had no doubt that those "despicable and shameless" humans would sell him out immediately.

Therefore, Tianshuang City must fight on its own, and can only fight on its own. If it wins, then it will eliminate all those who know the truth, and from then on, the world will be at peace. If it loses... well, we'll deal with the loss later.

Based on this idea, Sagris had been racking his brains to prepare.

The Goldenmane leader looked at Sargeras with some confusion, while General Bloodhowl quickly stood up and gestured on the map.

"My lord, before your arrival, I had already arranged for scouts to set off ahead, spreading out along the Razor Corridor to both flanks, to scout out the situation of human forces in various war zones."

"Currently, there are three forces within the direct attack range of our army."

"The first one is the human-owned territory in the east, called the Vast Sea Territory, a desolate little town in the desert with a population of only two or three thousand and no strength whatsoever."

"However, there are hundreds of kilometers of yellow sand in between. By the time the main army passes, these rats will have disappeared and are of no value. So we can leave them to the patrol team of the South Camp to keep an eye on."

"If the battle at the front goes smoothly and you return in triumph early, we can send a detachment to take it out while we're at it!"

Next, Sargeris's hand trembled slightly as he pointed to Skyfrost City on the map.

Before she could even speak, her eyes were already red, her lips moved slightly, and after a long while, she finally spoke, her voice trembling with emotion.

"My lord, this is Skyfrost City, a force that escaped from the internal strife of the human race. Its predecessor was Cloud Mist Territory further to the west."

"This force is small in number, but it is backed not only by Emerald and Sky Dome, but also by the Misty Moon Divine Court. They have some unclear connections with them. What is certain is that the Lord of Skyfrost City has a unicorn under his command, which was a gift from Misty Moon."

"Our forces are full of skilled fighters, equipped with various catapults, crossbows, and a large legion of mages. Last time, I repeatedly failed to capture the city, and I lost more than 20,000 brothers right here!"

"If the enemy hadn't been so eager to claim credit that they had rushed out of the city to pursue us, allowing me to seize the opportunity to fight several open battles, the spring hunt would have been nothing short of a complete defeat!"

Seeing Sargeras in tears, Golden Mane Iger, also a general, couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy.

In the royal court, he had also carefully read the military reports of the Spring Hunt. The various orc tribes had stormed the city walls six times in succession, and even the wyverns had all been mobilized, but in the end they were still driven down. Golden Mane Ig had not only fought such a fierce siege battle, but had also been defeated.

Seeing Jin Zong bow slightly, Sagris quickly adjusted his emotions, his tone becoming resolute: "My lord, I believe that attacking a fortified city will not only be time-consuming and result in heavy casualties, but also... even with a strong army, it is not certain that we can take it."

"Therefore, instead of getting entangled with the enemy under the city walls, it would be better to head straight for Yunwu Territory in the west. The mountain passes of Dongguan Mountain are wide open, and you have mountain troops and air force, so taking it should not be a problem."

"Once you step across, you'll find yourself on a vast plain stretching for thousands of miles. Even if you run at full speed, you probably won't reach the end before the snow falls. Why bother getting entangled with this small town of ten thousand people?"

Golden Mane Ig narrowed his eyes, the mane around his temples and ears swaying slightly.

It's normal for the other party to offer advice and suggestions, but to say that the other party is wholeheartedly considering his interests would be an insult to the intelligence of the Golden Mane leader.

Though reckless as he may be, someone who can lead a large army and stand alone is not easily fooled.

"Just tell me straight, what's your purpose?"

"Uh... Your Excellency is wise!"

Sagris braced himself with his hands and knelt down with a resounding thud, and several of his generals also knelt down.

"This humble general has an idea. Tian Shuang is more than capable of defending the city, and is not afraid of fighting in the field. I am willing to lead a force to guard the rear for you, my lord, and keep an eye on this human race in Tian Shuang City."

"If they don't move, I won't attack either. I'll just block their exit route, allowing you to focus on your western campaign. If they dare to leave the city, I'll avenge the brothers who died in the spring hunt, and also... I'll earn some more merit under your command!"

"Of course, this is merely my personal opinion. I leave everything to your decision, sir!"

Goldenmane Ig raised his hand and grabbed Sargeris from the ground, then stared at the map for a long time.

This guy's own strength is really mediocre, but he is known to be very smart, which is why he has repeatedly gained the favor of the royal court.

In fact, this battle plan seems quite appropriate and without any flaws.

The enemy's elite troops are holding a fortified city. If we attack, it will indeed waste a lot of time and cause heavy losses. If we don't attack, we will have to set aside a special force to guard it.

Sending out too many troops would be a waste, but sending out too few would be unacceptable. The key issue is that you wouldn't get any credit for it. Which of your generals would be willing to go?

Goldenmane Igor never doubted that Sargeris would collude with humans, but out of instinct, he added, "What if you don't defend your position well and the enemy rushes out to attack my rear?"

Sargeris Bloodhowl knelt down again with a thud: "Your subordinate is willing to sign a blood oath. If I release anyone or any horse in Frost City and disturb Your Excellency, I am willing to suffer the Holy Mountain's lightning strike and the divine punishment of my ancestors!"

"it is good!"

"Stay strong today and send out troops tomorrow!"

(End of this chapter)