Your war hammer is too fake

Oakley then brought all the long-bearded warriors of the Copper Hoe Clan...

The Bronze Hoe clan did not participate in the military operation against Black Crag. Thorgrim and Agrim agreed that their hundred or so short-bearded men were not needed for this operation; instead, the Bronze Hoe clan's warehouses filled with food must not be lost. Even though the dwarf army responsible for attacking Black Crag had already taken a large amount of food, the Bronze Hoe clan still had considerable inventory left.

However, the invasion of the Shuzhan caused heavy losses to the dwarven strongholds south of the Eternal Peak. In order to avoid aiding the enemy, more than one agricultural clan had to burn the food stored in their warehouses when they retreated. Therefore, the stocks in the hands of the Copper Hoe Clan were very important. Thorgrim's mission for the Copper Hoe Clan was to guard their own home and they didn't have to worry about anything else.

Anyway, after annihilating Gorga and the Greenskins in the first battle, the town of the Bronze Hoe clan is very safe at the moment - due to the terrain, if Shuzhan wants to send people to attack the town, he must go around a huge damn circle, and the Wolf Khan will not do this as long as he is conscious.

The dwarf army rushed along the Three Rivers Land, heading towards Iron Rock. The guides provided by the local humans allowed the dwarves to safely cross this fertile land at the shortest distance. During this time, rotorcraft kept going back and forth between the army and Haimen Pass, maintaining information communication between the two sides. When the dusty dwarf army finally arrived at Iron Rock, the Haimen Pass Legion led by Byronos Dragon Hammer had been waiting here for a long time.

Byronos brought a total of 5,000 dwarf warriors, more than the troops of Butcher's Fort and Torrent Pass. In addition to his own people, the Lord of Sea Gate Pass also brought thousands of human mercenaries. When the three dwarf kings met, Byronos said that if time was not too tight, he would be fully capable of organizing a mercenary corps of tens of thousands of people.

Agrim did not comment on the appearance of these mercenaries, but Valentin immediately exploded: "Humans? You actually brought so many unreliable humans?!"

After noticing the subtle expression of An Jiyue who was also present, the King of Jiliuguan immediately changed his words and said, "Not all human armies are as brittle as wood, but I bet that as soon as those scumbags you brought with you see the shadow of the enemy, those wild dogs chasing after the war will immediately abandon their employers and disappear without a trace like the defeated goblin wolf cavalry!"

"Calm down, Valentin," Byronos raised his hands and pressed them down, "The lives of our people are precious. If we can save the lives of our compatriots by spending only some gold, then why not? Don't get me wrong, I don't have any unrealistic expectations of their courage and skills. I have never thought about it that way. As long as their performance on the battlefield is worthy of the remuneration I pay them, it is enough. That's it."

"I support His Majesty Balentine's opinion," An Jiyue said, "There are also brave warriors among the mercenaries, but the vast majority of mercenaries in this world... Excuse me, instead of letting them fight, it is better to find some halflings."

A low laugh suddenly rang out in the tent.

"Are you Little Moon?" Byronos didn't seem to be angry at An Jiyue's words. "I have met many Zhendan people. Merchants from the most distant countries can be seen in my fortress. As far as I know, the Dragon Emperor's army rarely hires war dogs."

"We can deal with most enemies with our standing army alone. If necessary, we will also recruit warriors from vassal tribes," An Jiyue said, looking at Bing Ruolan who was standing next to her, "If that doesn't work, we still have reserve troops and militia to deploy."

"The country has many soldiers and generals, and it is full of ambition. In our Weibei Province alone, there are 1 Jade Steel Soldiers (Note ) ready to serve at any time," Bing Ruolan said at the right time, "As for the conscripted farmers, the Nitrate and Sulfur Road alone can mobilize more than Fengtian soldiers. Mercenaries? What use do you have for them?"

Bing Ruolan spoke in Zhendan, and An Jiyue was responsible for translating Bing Ruolan's words into Kazali. The two numbers uttered by Xiuyan Qing silenced every dwarf present.

……

Note 1: "Tama-Gang Soldier" is another name for the Tamau-Yong Corps, and can refer to all Tamau-Yong. Correspondingly, the nickname for the Yi-Nong Corps is "Feng-Tian Soldier".

Chapter 24 Before the Attack (Part 2)

Steel Rock, as its name suggests, is a sharp mountain made entirely of steel.

Complex geological activities and the local overabundance of iron ore resources have created this natural wonder. It is said that during the great earthquake that devastated the Mountain Kingdom, a huge magma lake was formed underground in the Iron Rock due to this horrible disaster that appeared to be a natural disaster but was actually a man-made disaster.

The existence of the lava lake allows Iron Rock to continuously produce obsidian - the obsidian in the Warhammer world is a magical mineral that is precious and valuable. Although the name and formation method are the same as the obsidian in the traverser's "hometown", in fact, the two are completely different. The texture of the obsidian in Warhammer is not brittle, but solid and durable, and as long as it is processed in the right way, it can have all kinds of magical effects.

The Lizardmen used a lot of obsidian to make weapons. Skin craftsmen would grind large pieces of obsidian into heavy war clubs for strong Lizardmen warriors to wield in battle. The homeland of these cold-blooded species, the mysterious continent of Lustria, has extremely rich obsidian deposits; and outside of Lustria, obsidian can usually only be found near volcanoes, so it is extremely precious. In An Jiyue's impression, the Skaven had a warlord clan called the "Volkan Clan", and because their nest was built on a volcano, they were able to widely equip themselves with obsidian weapons.

In the days when the dwarves still ruled the mountains, Iron Rock was an important resource source for the Mountain Kingdom, but that was a long time ago. Before the invasion of Koshuzhan, there were a large number of greenskins in the Iron Rock area. They built simple iron smelting workshops here, collected steel on the spot and processed it into crude but tough weapons and armor. Any ambitious greenskin warlord would try to control this place to provide a steady supply of steel equipment for his boys.

When Koshuzan and his allies conquered Black Rock, forcing the original owner of the place, Gorga O'Dare, to flee north in panic, the Wolf Khan immediately took Iron Rock. At Koshuzan's request, his Chaos Dwarf allies allocated some manpower to try to build a military industrial base in Iron Rock.

The Wolf Khan obviously attached great importance to this place where steel was literally everywhere. After defeating the greenskins who had originally occupied this place, tens of thousands of hobgoblins from Koshuzan's headquarters were ordered to garrison here, along with hundreds of Chaos Dwarves and various slaves. After all, the hard work of mining steel requires a lot of labor, and Koshuzan's subordinates and Chaos Dwarves will definitely not do this job.

All the defenses of both the hobgoblins and the Chaos Dwarves were aimed at the badlands in the west, and they had never considered that a dwarf army of tens of thousands of people would suddenly appear from the north. When the defenders finally realized that the scouts they had sent out to guard the surrounding area had not returned, a rainstorm suddenly fell.

No one knew why it rained so hard in this damn place. The hobgoblins cursed and hid in their tents, and the soaked giant wolves whimpered and huddled together with their masters, filling the tents made of animal skins to the brim.

The rain was heavy, and the huge noise made the two people, who were so close to each other, have to shout at the top of their voices to make the other person hear what they said. However, even so, the hobgoblins could clearly hear the angry curses from the Chaos Dwarves - the fire that should have been kept burning in the Hasut altar they specially set up was extinguished by the rain...

The hobgoblins were gloating over this. Chaos dwarves despised all foreign races, viewing them as cannon fodder, maggots, slaves, and experimental subjects, and the hobgoblins also hated the way these ruthless slave owners looked at them. Although the leaders of both sides signed an alliance, the relationship between the two sides has never been harmonious.

But the greenskins soon stopped laughing. This sudden rainstorm lasted for exactly one hour, not a second more or less. When the rain suddenly stopped and the sun once again covered the sharp mountains of Iron Rock, the hobgoblins and Chaos Dwarves suddenly found that they were surrounded by a group of tens of thousands of Dwarf troops.

The battle was first started by the air force. Rotor helicopters and rotor bomber formations from the three fortresses flew over the battlefield with the roar of steam engines, and then dense bombs fell from the sky. The chain explosions swept the entire camp, and pieces of broken limbs flew into the sky, mixed with the defenders' weak counterattacks.

Whether it was the composite recurve bow that the hobgoblins had stolen from China, or the broad-bladed muskets that the Chaos Dwarves were accustomed to using, they were all equally futile in the face of flying enemies: the previous heavy rain had caused the bowstrings and gunpowder to become severely damp, and now the defenders simply didn't have many ranged weapons left that could be used normally.

After a round of indiscriminate bombing, the helicopters, which had run out of ammunition, began to return, and various artillery fire followed closely behind and poured down on the bare hilltops. Giant arrows, stones, spherical cast iron shells, and fiercely burning alchemical solutions, the dwarf artillerymen from different fortresses operated various war machines and bombed the enemy camp in an orderly manner under the unified command of the engineering masters. They maximized the boundless power of these heavy weapons in killing according to the range, ballistic characteristics, and killing principles of different war machines.

The defenders were not fools, and they immediately began to organize a counterattack after the gyroplanes returned. The dwarf army had no advantage in numbers, and in order to completely surround the enemy's camp, the dwarf's battle line had to be stretched as long as possible, which made the battle line look and actually quite thin.

The hobgoblins from the headquarters of Keshuzhan turned over and rode on the giant wolves with wet fur, and gathered together under the accurate and fierce bombardment of the dwarf artillery. They soon gave up the attempt to form a team, because it was simply impossible to do it. Various projectiles kept hitting the hobgoblins' ranks, causing screams. At this time, these elite wolf cavalry fell silent.

Led by a group of Qiexue soldiers wearing heavy armor, and even the giant wolves under their crotch were also armored, the hobgoblins rushed out of the camp that was bombed into a mess and rushed to the east of the camp. The experienced wolf lords keenly noticed that the troops deployed in this direction were a mixed force composed of dwarves, Chinese people and mercenaries, while the troops in the other three directions were pure dwarf troops.

The dwarves and the Cathays were not easy to deal with, but those mercenaries did not look like powerful characters. At the moment, the battle situation could not be reversed. If the hobgoblins wanted to find a breakthrough and escape, they had no choice but to run east. As for the group of Chaos Dwarves still in the camp...

I wish them long life, Amen.

The hobgoblin felt that he had found the enemy's weakness, so he drove the giant wolf under his crotch to charge towards the thin battle line. To be more precise, he charged towards the mercenary's position. The camp itself was located at the foot of the mountain, but Shuzhan planned to build it into a military industrial base integrating mining, smelting and processing. The camp could not be placed at a high place, so the hobgoblins could not gain the potential energy advantage of attacking from a high place. They could only let their mounts speed up desperately, trying to use kinetic energy to forcefully break through the enemy's battle line.

The tactical choice of the hobgoblins could not be said to be wrong, because from the beginning it was an open conspiracy, an obvious trap. The Qiexue army, which led the charge, had barely crossed one-third of the distance when An Jiyue's second spell descended on the battlefield -

A meteor wrapped in blue-white flames fell from the sky and hit the center of the camp. In an instant, a mushroom cloud rose into the sky, and the dazzling white light and deafening roar briefly deprived the audience of their vision and hearing. The shock wave spread in all directions, like a ripple that was magnified countless times, sweeping across the ground, sending groups of wolf riders into the sky to stand shoulder to shoulder with the sun... When everything finally calmed down, there were only a few enemies left on the battlefield, who could still roll on the ground and wail. The Chaos Dwarves and everything they had disappeared, and only some charred marks engraved on the ground at the point where the meteorite fell could prove that these fallen people who believed in evil gods once existed.

"What a lucky guy," An Jiyue said to Bing Ruolan, "The meteorite fell at the perfect time. This spell is good in every way, but I can't control the exact time when the meteorite falls, which is really a headache. Fortunately, luck is on my side this time."

Shugen-King looked at the guy and asked, "What should we do next? The battle ended too quickly. I didn't feel anything at all."

"Of course I'm going to have a meeting with Ah Duan," An Jiyue said as a matter of course, "We have successfully taken down Iron Rock, and no enemy has escaped. The next step is to launch a surprise attack on Black Rock Castle."

Chapter 25: The Battle of Black Rock (Part 1)

The dwarf army temporarily went into rest.

The dwarf troops at the Torrent Pass and the Sea Gate were in excellent condition and could be deployed in the most brutal and bloody battlefield at any time; but the Butcher's Fort Legion had been marching and fighting for several months before, and they had to work hard to defeat the greenskin army of Nashrak, and many of them even came all the way with serious injuries. The attack on Black Rock Castle was destined to be a tough battle, and the dwarves had to be fully prepared before they could act. Under the joint persuasion of Byrnos and Valentin, Agrim finally agreed to let the entire army rest for a day.

For humans, one day is certainly not enough to recover from physical and mental fatigue. But for the tenacious dwarves, a full day of rest and eating and drinking is enough for them to be in a better state to face the next battle.

The dwarves in the Butcher's Keep can rest, but the dwarves from the other two fortresses must hurry up to work. They dismantled the facilities left by the greenskins and chaos dwarves, and smashed and shattered all the tribal totems and horn decorations. With their tireless hard work, a well-planned new camp rose from the ground. According to Thorgrim's plan, no matter what the final result of the attack on Black Rock Fort is, the Mountain Kingdom will regain control of the Iron Rock, a vital strategic location.

By taking Iron Rock, the dwarves gained a support point for the attack on Black Rock Castle. Not far south of Iron Rock is the source of the Bloodwater River. With the help of this river that separates the Three Rivers Land from the Badlands, the inland fleet of Haimenguan sent supplies and a group of new mercenaries. This brought the total number of humans in the legion to more than 2,000, but it was obvious that no one looked down on this group of so-called "reinforcements".

The result of this contempt was that at a military meeting on the second day of the Battle of Iron Rock, An Jiyue proposed to leave most of the mercenaries at Iron Rock to guard the camp, and leave some dwarves to supervise them. This suggestion was unanimously supported by everyone, even Byronos Dragon Hammer, the employer of the War Dogs, thought it was a good idea.

The mercenaries themselves also like this task. Although the mercenaries who dare to come to Haimenguan to make a living are relatively good in combat and courage, they should forget about siege warfare. Everyone in the Old World knows how difficult it is to attack a dwarf fortress, even if it is a dwarf fortress that has fallen for three thousand years and has suffered severe damage!

In the end, only a group of ogre mercenaries will accompany the dwarf army to Black Rock Castle, and those messy human mercenaries will all be left in Iron Rock.

Unlike in a certain Total War, Black Rock Castle is not to the east of Iron Rock, but to the southeast of Iron Rock. After leaving Iron Rock, the dwarf army went south and soon arrived near the source of the Blood River. Here, the dwarves received the last batch of supplies sent from the Sea Gate, which included a large amount of food and some gold. After all, if you want to make such a lazy and willful creature like the Ogre obey your command, you must ensure sufficient food supply and pay the commission on time.

[There are still 350 hours until the War Codex goes online. 】

"Unconsciously, such a long time has passed..." An Jiyue couldn't help but sigh.

Bing Ruolan turned around after hearing this and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"I just said it out of inspiration, don't worry about it. By the way," An Jiyue crossed her arms and looked at him with a subtle look, "where did you get this outfit?"

"I bought it in Shangyang. There are a lot of people from the Old World there. I even saw high elves there." Bing Ruolan raised her left hand, and the smooth armor covering her arm sparkled in the sun. "I was obsessed with plate armor when I was still in my 'hometown'. Unfortunately, I didn't have money at that time, so I couldn't afford such an expensive hobby."

Xiuyanqing was not wearing the light armor issued by the court, but a full-body armor in the imperial style, with some thin strips of cloth with tiny calligraphy fixed on them with wax. An Jiyue took a look and found that the strips were all about the legendary deeds of the dragon gods.

This outfit, paired with the Zhendan-style sword hanging on Shugenqing's left waist and the double-thrown sword (Note 1) hanging on the right waist, looks very out of place.

"There's actually no censor to accuse you of misbehavior?"

"I wouldn't wear this outside," Bing Ruolan pulled out a three-stone iron bow from the bow holder, half-knelt down and began to string the bow, "When I was still in Zhendan, I would at most wear it secretly in my room to see how it goes."

During the conversation, the dwarf army had completed the battle deployment before the attack. Several nearby valleys were deployed and fortifications were built to prevent the army's flanks from being attacked by the enemy; the main force of the army was deployed in the valley in front of Black Rock Castle. The infantry gathered in the middle of the valley, forming several heavy square formations in front and behind, while the artillery was deployed in a slightly higher position on the left side of the army.

Due to the successful execution of the battlefield blockade at Iron Rock, the enemy was not warned in advance and could only respond hastily. It can be seen that Keshuzhan is prepared to occupy Black Rock Castle for a long time. It ordered its subordinates and Chaos Dwarf allies to repair the fortifications of Black Rock Castle as much as possible, and also repaired the collapsed and damaged parts of the wall as much as possible.

As a dwarven stronghold that fell to the greenskins three thousand years ago, Black Crag was not in good condition. Greenskins were creatures that only knew how to destroy, not build. They did use the fortifications left by other races, but they had absolutely no intention of maintaining them, and they were completely incapable of repairing such things that civilized people could do... Not to mention that in the past, the dwarves had tried to retake the stronghold more than once, and the artillery fire during the siege further damaged Black Crag.

As soon as the battle started, the engineering masters directed the artillery to focus all their firepower on those damaged parts of the city wall. There were many obvious signs of collapse on the walls of Black Rock Castle, but Shuzhan's men and allies managed to repair some of them, but there were still many places that were just hastily piled up with stones and were not really repaired.

In the first round of bombardment, the dwarven artillerymen used their precise artillery skills to blast a gap. Smoke and dust rose, and rubble flew everywhere. The hobgoblin soldiers deployed here screamed and fell into the dust, and then there was no sound.

The defenders were obviously not prepared to be beaten unilaterally, and the counterattack soon came. Although most of the artillery was taken to Eternal Peak by Ke Shuzhan, and was probably bombarding the ancient walls of Eternal Peak inlaid with countless runes, the Chaos Dwarf allies of Wolf Khan still left some artillery to strengthen the defense of Black Rock Castle.

With a roar that was completely different from the dwarven cannons, several balls of burning magma rose from the walls of Black Rock Castle, drawing a parabola and smashing into the artillery positions of the attackers. Facts have proved that Chaos Dwarves are still Dwarves after all, and the artillery skills of these fallen black dwarves are no less than their Order cousins. The magma balls and the death screaming rockets that followed them, with a shrill and strange whistle, smashed into the Dwarven cannons head-on -

Then he was stopped by a transparent shield that appeared out of nowhere.

The sticky magma slid down the edge of the shield weakly, and the rockets exploded on the shield, creating a few red and blue sparks. The dwarf artillerymen under the shield raised their heads, muttered a few words, and then continued to work, greeting the enemy opposite with fierce artillery fire.

The Chaos Dwarves, who refused to believe in evil, seemed to be competing with the shield. More war machines appeared on the wall and fired at this side. Hell cannons, lava cannons, death screaming rockets, and various heavy weapons forged from Zar Naggrond stubbornly concentrated their firepower on one point. The transparent shield flickered under the fierce artillery fire, but it stood firm.

"Um, can your spell still hold up?" Bing Ruolan asked worriedly.

"The enemy has at most two artillery companies," An Jiyue glanced at him, "You should have some confidence in me."

"Two companies are already a lot," said Lord Shugen. "This is equivalent to the artillery firepower of the entire Kingdom of Kislev."

"...For a moment I didn't know who you were targeting," said the silver-haired, red-eyed young sorcerer, filling the shield with more magical winds. "The one leading the charge should be the butcher. Tell your people to be smarter."

When the Chaos Dwarves got angry and tried to break through the large defensive barrier covering the artillery positions of the attackers, the Dwarf artillery would naturally not miss such a good opportunity. The engineering masters set up telescopes and carefully observed every firing point on the city wall, then calculated the firing parameters and finalized the firing order.

Under the command of the engineer with the longest beard, all the cannons of the besiegers temporarily stopped firing. There was an engineer squatting next to each cannon. After repeated calculations, these artillery experts who were proficient in ballistics finally came up with the best amount of gunpowder and the most appropriate firing angle.

The God of War laughed loudly once again, and spherical cast iron cannonballs rolled out of the barrel, bringing the most sincere greetings to the fallen cousins ​​who betrayed their ancestors.

After two rounds of artillery fire, the return fire from the walls of Black Rock Castle disappeared.

……

Note 1: A type of Ming army uniform, namely the bow quiver and quiver.

The author says:

Author's words: Damn, I didn't catch up...

Chapter 26: The Battle of Black Rock (Part 2)

Half an hour after the battle began, the dwarf army broke through the gate of Black Rock Castle.

The Dwarven artillery used precise artillery techniques to knock down the heavy weapons deployed by the Chaos Dwarves on the city walls one by one, eliminating the threat of these dangerous machines to the attackers. Then the first line of Dwarven infantry, thousands of shirtless butchers with orange mohawks on their heads, began to press forward, led by Agrim Ironfist himself.

The Butcher King gave a brief pre-battle speech and then rushed out first. Due to the distance, An Jiyue did not hear clearly what the other party said, but saw Agrim take two short legs and quickly (by dwarf standards) rush up the slope formed by the collapsed rubble.

Lord Karak Kadrin wielded the Axe of Dagor, his fury unstoppable. A group of Chaos Dwarves emerged from behind the city wall, holding axes and shields and charging straight at Agrim, but the cold and ruthless war roars soon turned into muffled groans and sobs. The heavy axe was as light as a feather in the hands of the Dwarf King. Every vertical and horizontal chop could effortlessly cut through the black crystal armor on the Chaos Dwarves, followed by the rough flesh and hard bones, and finally the warm and soft organs.

Agrim continued on, leaving behind only the cut-up bodies of his fallen cousins.

On the walls of Black Rock Castle, the hobgoblin archers kept firing arrows, trying to weaken the dwarves' offensive momentum with a rain of arrows. Many butchers fell down unwillingly with arrows all over their bodies before they could touch the walls. Although a glorious death was what the butchers were pursuing, at least for now, the Mountain Kingdom still needed these crazy warriors who only wanted to die to live a little longer.

Under the command of Ol's Deadeye, the oldest of the dwarves, several hundred rangers formed a long and narrow column and approached the walls of Black Rock Castle. Together with the butcher, they formed the first line of the dwarven army, but the heavy armor they wore gradually made them lose touch with the butcher during the charge. When the back of Agrim had disappeared on the gravel slope, the rangers finally ran to their positions and brought the hobgoblins on the wall into range.

Even with the advantage of being able to shoot from a high position and protected by the city walls, the hobgoblin archers were still defeated in the duel with the dwarf rangers. The heavy armor passed down from generation to generation by the rangers meant that the hobgoblin's arrows would only bounce off the tried and tested dwarf steel unless they hit the gaps in the armor; while the crossbow arrows shot by the dwarf crossbows could penetrate the hobgoblin's leather armor even if they were shooting from a low position, and the dwarf's archery skills were obviously far superior to those of the hobgoblins.

Under the cover of the rangers, the butchers rushed into the walls of Black Rock Castle like a whirlwind. They were determined to die, but they did not forget their duties as dwarves. Teams of butchers broke up into small groups and began to clear the enemies on the walls.

This process was not easy. The hobgoblins were no less cunning than their cousins, and they were stronger and bigger than any other kind of goblin. Butchers were constantly killed by sneak attacks from all corners while cleaning the city walls, but this only made the survivors more angry. These death-seeking men fought with the hobgoblins, who far outnumbered them. Every collision between the battle axe and the scimitar released anger and resentment.

Compared with the walls of other races, the walls of dwarven strongholds are much more complex in structure. All dwarven strongholds are built in the mountains. Even the so-called above-ground parts of the strongholds are actually wrapped in the mountains. This makes the walls of dwarven strongholds actually carved out of the solid rock mountains, and they are integrated with the mountains themselves. This feature means that in addition to the passages, corridors and sky bridges that are exposed, any large-scale fortifications built by dwarves will inevitably have secret passages for defenders to use.

Since they were not the real masters of Black Rock Castle, Shuzhan's army did not have a good grasp of these secret passages. Even so, the first batch of butchers who rushed into the city wall often found that new enemies suddenly appeared behind them while fighting, and attacked them from both sides together with the enemies in front of them.

The battle for the city wall soon turned into a chaotic close-quarters battle. In response, the dwarves threw more troops into the city wall. Some dwarves followed Agrim into the depths of the fortress, while more dwarves deployed to both sides. Each team was assigned a dwarf from the Engineers Guild. Relying on their expertise and understanding of the fortress structure, they found more secret passages hidden in the city wall, and then the dwarves began to use these passages.

Those secret passages that were obviously used recently were all blown down by the dwarves with explosive packs - now is not the time to feel sorry for the ancestral heritage! And those secret passages that were obviously sealed for many years and had a layered smell of stale mold as soon as they were opened would be thrown into the torches. If the torches went out, the dwarves would mark the entrances with danger signs; if the torches continued to burn, the Ironbreakers wearing star iron armor and holding star iron shields would take the lead to enter the secret passages, thus bypassing the enemy's defenses deployed inside the fortress.

The chaotic battle on the city wall gradually subsided, and the sound of fighting began to move deeper into the fortress. The dwarves, who rarely had sufficient troops, successfully overwhelmed the number of the hobgoblins with their quality in this battle where space was limited and troops were difficult to deploy.

When the last few stubborn hobgoblin soldiers were chopped down by the dwarf warriors, Valentin Stoneheart, who was in charge of the second echelon, ordered the troops outside to withdraw. Under his order, the small dwarf troops originally deployed at several nearby mountain passes to prevent the enemy from attacking from the side were all withdrawn and redeployed with the baggage train in the open space outside the main gate of Black Rock Castle; the dwarf artillery packed up their weapons in an orderly manner, and most of the artillery would enter Black Rock Castle with the second echelon of infantry to provide firepower support for the fighting tribesmen.

The remaining artillery was ordered to occupy the firing positions on the city wall. If an enemy suddenly appeared outside the fortress at this time, they would need to use artillery fire to cover the troops left outside the city.

The latter's task was completed very quickly, because An Jiyue personally used [Ride the Clouds] to send the dwarven artillerymen and their cannons to the city wall. The dwarven artillerymen vomited a lot during the process, and their performance was not much better than that of a certain dwarven chieftain who went to the sky for the first time; the engineering masters were slightly better. While complaining that spells were not as reliable as dwarven runes, they resisted the urge to retch and thanked An Jiyue with a pale face.

After completing the adjustment of each unit, Valentin, under the escort of a team of heavy hammer warriors, commanded the infantry to escort the artillery into Black Rock Castle. Now, among the three kings, only Byronos Dragonhammer remained outside.

The King of Sea Gate's mission was to take care of the army's rear, especially the baggage. Byronos himself obviously didn't like this mission, but both Agrim and Balentin had relatively rich experience in traditional dwarf warfare: the special situation of Sea Gate itself made Byronos more familiar with naval warfare than land warfare...

When the dwarf armies from three different castles met near Iron Rock, Valentin and Byronos had already vowed to obey Agrim's command in this battle. Therefore, no matter how dissatisfied he was, Byronos could only limp back and forth on the city wall with a sullen face and a prosthetic leg.

"Take my guards with you," Byronos took the initiative to find An Jiyue and said before the latter could speak, "This battle will not be easy to fight. Agrim and Valentin will need my help."

"It's better for your guards to stay with you to protect you," An Jiyue refused bluntly, "but in addition to the Chaos Dwarves, Shuzhan also found a lot of rats as allies. But in this battle so far, we have only seen hobgoblins and Chaos Dwarves on the battlefield, not even a Skaven. This is not right. And I suspect that there may be Skaven assassins active in Black Rock Castle. Your guards should not leave your side at this time."

"So that's why you didn't go in with Valentin. You were looking for these sneaky rats?" Byrnos took out a pipe, but didn't light it. "Did you find anything?"

"Yes. I found several bodies of hobgoblins in a secret passage. Their wounds were obviously poisoned," An Jiuyue said. "Chaos dwarves don't use poison. Although hobgoblins can use poison, their poison-making skills are very crude. I checked those bodies. They were infected with some kind of mixed toxins. That kind of sophisticated refining process is not something that greenskins can do."

"I'm not surprised that these cowards would attack their allies," Byronos took two puffs of his pipe, not realizing that it was not lit. "They may take advantage of the chaos to launch a surprise attack on Agrim and Valentin."

"So I was just about to go and remind the two Majesties." An Jiyue turned around and looked behind her. Bing Ruolan's subordinates had temporarily set up an incense table with a tablet and a few plates of fruits on it... God knows where the latter were got from.

"What are your people doing?" Byronos asked curiously.

"Preparing gifts for those rats. If they really exist." An Jiuyue replied.

Chapter 27: The Battle of Black Rock (Part 2)