Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 514 The Art of War

The people left behind in Frost Maple Ridge were extremely busy with the major and minor events both at home and abroad. Xiahou Yan, who led his troops on the bloody front, was also not idle.

During the entire winter preparation period, the main forces of the Empire were busy pushing the front line to the foot of Thorn City and establishing reliable siege positions; while the "Wagner" special forces of Frost Maple Ridge took advantage of this period of free time to take stock of the troops on hand.

So far, the combat forces deployed by Frost Maple Ridge on the front line of Thorn City have been clearly divided into four parts:

  The first part is the conventional armed forces of the Igor Pioneer Army, which has a long history, including cavalry, infantry, and engineering and technical personnel. Although in the past battles, these pioneering soldiers were cut out from the mountains of corpses and seas of blood, but after several rounds of equipment iteration, Xiahou Yan's positioning of this part of the conventional armed forces has become increasingly clear:

The Frost Maple Ridge soldiers equipped with Kalashnikov rifles, Himas crossbows and Thracian annihilation arrows will become the only heavily armored archer unit in the history of the continent - their mission is no longer to fight the enemy at close range, but to inflict casualties on the enemy at ultra-long distances close to the limit of visual range under the cover of armored forces and the guidance of air forces.

But if anyone dares to challenge the close combat capability of the Frost Maple Ridge soldiers, they will be greeted by the nearly 100% physical resistance brought by the "Fourier Transform Armor" and the "Wind Protection" rune plate, as well as the magical metal weapon "Sword of Dawn" in everyone's hand, with a sharp sword edge that is as sharp as frost and snow.

The second part of the combat force of Frost Maple Ridge is the armored assault force "Iron Flower Group" that shined on the bloody front. Because the design of the Type 96 "Apocalypse" tank is too perfect, the craftsmen of the "Military Engineering Technology Bureau" under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Frost Maple Ridge have been working hard to improve the reliability of these steel monsters in the past few months. The problem of "Apocalypse" tanks often breaking down in the early days of the war has been solved to a large extent, and by introducing the magic energy focusing prism, the strike efficiency and accuracy of the "Bofors" magic energy artillery have been further improved.

Although the overall performance of the "Apocalypse" chariot has not changed, this does not mean that the combat effectiveness of the "Iron Hua Group" has not improved at all. In just a few months, the "Huangyadong" Arsenal in Shuangfengling has been working day and night to produce modular components of the "Apocalypse" chariot, and the assembled chariots have been sent to the northern front like a stream. Initially, only three and eight "Apocalypse" chariots were deployed, but in just one year, the number has skyrocketed to 25, far exceeding Xiahou Yan's initial expectation of "20". However, the number of 25 is far from even reaching the productivity limit of the "Huangyadong" Arsenal. The reason why Xiahou Yan did not choose to continue to increase the number of chariots is purely because it is difficult to select and train so many qualified chariot drivers in a short period of time.

Taking into account the terrain conditions near Thorn City and the actual needs of siege warfare, the number of twenty-five "Apocalypse" chariots has already achieved the greatest balance between the three major goals of filling the width of the front line, maintaining strategic reserves, and ensuring the quality of the troops.

Therefore, throughout the winter, what was transported from the rear of Frost Maple Ridge to Swan Castle was not more "Apocalypse" chariots, but "Igor" armored personnel carriers using the "Apocalypse" chariot chassis. Today, Xia Houyan can proudly announce that Frost Maple Ridge has long since gotten rid of the shackles of mules and horses, and has entered the motorization and mechanization era in advance with an attitude that is absolutely ahead of the times - the military forces of Frost Maple Ridge riding on armored personnel carriers can be deployed to any corner of the battlefield at lightning speed, and may even appear behind the enemy's position like an invisible ghost under the protection of the "Meursault Invisible Satin".

The third part of the combat force, the elemental forces of Frost Maple Ridge, still maintains the ability to deal with the enemy's high-end forces. Needless to say, the "Northern Blizzard Mage Corps" has been expanding in size and salary levels. The surrendered blood elf lawbreakers, the "Masyaf Squad" lurking in the shadows, and the newly joined Endric Thanatus and other extremely powerful people have greatly increased the upper limit of Frost Maple Ridge's cutting-edge forces. In addition, Xiahou Yan himself is a necromancer who is comparable to the level of a senior mage. The problem of lack of top masters that has plagued Frost Maple Ridge for a long time has finally been partially solved.

The fourth part of the Frost Maple Ridge's subordinate forces, the "Liberator" Air Force, has really grown rapidly and prospered in this year. There are quite a few air forces on the continent. The Human Empire has the "Lancaster Air Force" riding griffins, the Glorious Federation has an air cavalry formation with two-legged dragons as the main beast, and the Dark Moon Sky Riders riding "Gotham Giant Bats" are the old air force of the demon clan. However, no air force is like the "Liberator" Air Force of Frost Maple Ridge, which is led by a steel dragon armed to the teeth, and has dozens of invincible undead griffin air cavalry and hundreds of flying ghosts that have never officially fought.

While air cavalry from other continents could only undertake trivial tasks such as reconnaissance and pathfinding, the "Liberator" Air Force Wing could already fly over the enemy's head and throw incendiary bombs down like they were free. Crossbows, artillery shells and long-range magic might threaten other air cavalry, but it was ultimately difficult to break the Iron Dragon and Undead Griffin with the "Wind Protection" rune plate and the double protection of necromancy magic. Today, the "Liberator" Air Force Wing's abnormal defense capabilities are completely worthy of the title of "Sky Fortress", and the numerical value is the reason why it is king.

If there are any flaws in these four military forces, it is probably just a matter of size: Xiahou Yan has always adhered to the policy of elite troops, and while the equipment of the Frost Maple Ridge troops has been constantly updated, the total number of troops has not increased significantly. Even now, the "Wagner" special forces deployed on the Blood Front and participating in the Empire's engineering operations are already the elite of the Frost Maple Ridge's elite, but the total number of combatants does not exceed 3,000.

The number of Igor's pioneering army that stayed in the Soul-Splitting Land and was responsible for maintaining the security of the wasteland and the territory was of course far more than this, but this was the gun that the Igor family relied on for survival, and Xiahou Yan would definitely not bring all of them to the north to fight with the imperial people - using three thousand people to cooperate with the imperial offensive and make a fortune from the war, this was already the upper limit of the military power that the Igor family could project to the Central Plains.

According to the common military system on the mainland, a brigade has between 500 and 3,000 soldiers, a division has nearly 10,000 soldiers, and a corps with several divisions usually has 30,000 to 50,000 soldiers. In this way, the Frost Maple Ridge "Wagner" special forces that have made great achievements on the battlefield in the East are actually just a slightly larger brigade in terms of numbers.

  You know, the Sixth War was a great war that involved almost all the energy of both humans and orcs, and the troops actually deployed by both sides were in the hundreds of thousands. Although Archduke Grimm Rosario and Marquis Ryan Grant led nearly 200,000 main forces and almost fought the orcs' Dragon Flame Legion to death on the front line of the Burning Crystal Canyon, this was only a small part of the entire Eastern Frontier battlefield.

While the battle in the Burning Crystal Canyon was raging, the Imperial Army, with forces no less powerful than those in the Burning Crystal Canyon, was also simultaneously engaged in battle in the Goliath Pass in the north and Thermopylae in the south. Only by looking at these three fronts together could we get a full picture of this unprecedented racial war:

Even though the Orcs' central army has retreated to Thorn City after suffering a setback, the situation of the Imperial Army in Goliath Pass and Thermopylae has not improved at all - due to the need to divert troops to support the Thorn City offensive in the middle, the situation of the Imperial Army in the north and south is even more dire than before, and they can only barely rely on the strong passes and geographical advantages to hold back wave after wave of crazy counterattacks from the Glorious Federation Orcs.

While the main forces of the Empire were preparing to attack the city, countless human and orc soldiers died every day and every night at Goliath Pass and Thermopylae, filling these two strategic locations with corpses and blood. The reason why the Empire was so eager to capture Thorn City that it even went so far as to recruit nobles' private soldiers was partly because only by taking down Thorn City could the huge pressure on the other two Imperial armies be slightly relieved.

On a battlefield of this scale, the 3,000 people of Shuangfengling were really nothing, at best they were just a special forces unit - of course, Xiahou Yan was also fully confident that anyone who really wanted to kill this "special forces unit" on the Great Plains without deploying more than 100,000 conventional armed forces would be wishful thinking. Moreover, the army under his command was more than just 3,000 people.

A fact that caused many imperial military staff to seriously misjudge was that Frost Maple Ridge had never participated in the Sixth War with all its strength from beginning to end, but was only using this 3,000-strong dispatched force to casually patrol the front lines. In the Soul-Splitting Land that was beyond the coverage of the imperial intelligence network, the true scale of the Igor family's armed forces had already expanded to a level that would shock any imperial lord.

It is also for this reason that although Sean Mountbatten and others have become more vigilant about the power displayed by the Inquisition, from Xiahou Yan to the officers of the Igor Pioneer Army, few people actually look down upon these religious lunatics: a group of martial arts masters united under the banner of faith are not on the same level as the Igor Pioneer Army, an armed force driven by the Frost Maple Ridge national economic machine.

Therefore, when Grand Duke Grimm Rosario asked Xiahou Yan in early 997 whether it was too difficult for Frost Maple Ridge to undertake the feint attack on Aurelian's Gate alone and whether the military needed to dispatch a group of inquisitors to help, Xiahou Yan flatly rejected the Grand Duke's kindness.

  Xiahou Yan actually knew that Grand Duke Rosario's proposal was entirely out of the Eastern Army commander's guilt and desire to repay the Igor family:

Since December last year, the three "Apocalypse" tanks that Frost Maple Ridge promised to support the friendly forces of the Empire have been assigned to the Eastern Army camp to train and prepare for war with the Eastern Army. Of course, for confidentiality reasons, the crews of these three tanks are all the original crews of Frost Maple Ridge. In addition to accepting the tactical arrangements of the Imperial Army, everything else is clearly distinguished from ordinary Imperial troops.

According to Xiahou Yan's request, the imperial soldiers could not even approach the three chariots within five meters, let alone touch their fur, in order to prevent the theft of technical details. However, the core of the Type 96 "Apocalypse" chariot was actually the little devil summoned by John Samonen using the Purgatory Beacon. Even if someone really got the complete set of drawings of the "Apocalypse" chariot, it would be useless if they could not build the "Universal Type I" magic engine driven by the little devil.

In addition to providing support to the main forces of the empire, Frost Maple Ridge was more concerned this winter about how to carry out the "feint attack" mission arranged by the imperial military.

When it comes to capturing Thorn City, the interests of Frost Maple Ridge and the Empire are completely consistent: without taking down this holy city, the Trench War cannot be concluded, and the huge military expenditure promised by the Empire to Frost Maple Ridge will not fall into the pocket of Lord Xiahou.

Therefore, the "Wagner" special forces must also study carefully how to carry out their "feint attack" mission well and better cooperate with the empire's main offensive at the other three city gates.

  The so-called "feint attack" actually has three levels:

The best "feint attack" is, of course, a loud thunder and a heavy rain, which will directly make the federal defenders in the city misjudge the situation and think that the Aurelian Gate is the main attack direction of the empire. They will directly transfer the main force to the north gate for defense, causing the three gates in the west of Thorn City to be like a prostitute who just received the money for prostitution, opening their legs to the main force of the imperial army without defense;

The "feint attack" was almost done to ensure that a portion of the Glorious Federation's energy would be involved, forcing them to pay attention to the Frost Maple Ridge armed forces guarding the Aurelian Gate while dealing with the offensive of the three western gates, in case this group of wasteland thugs suddenly erupted and turned the feint attack into a main attack in an instant;

The worst "feint attack" was undoubtedly that Frost Maple Ridge wasted tons of ammunition and arrows, but still failed to convince the federal defenders in the city that the imperial army might place its main force at the Aurelian Gate. The final result was that the empire and the federation fought hard in the west, while Frost Maple Ridge was always putting on a show in the north, which was useless.

Xiahou Yan was well aware of the strength of the "Wagner" special forces, and knew that with a force of 3,000 people, it would be impossible for the federal orcs in the city to misjudge the main attack direction - no matter how stupid the commander was, he could not expect to capture the "God-given fortress" Thorn City with only 3,000 people.

Therefore, Frost Maple Ridge’s tactical goal in the siege should be the second of these three levels: as long as it can help the main force of the empire to involve a part of the federal defenders, it will be considered a success.

  Sometimes, it may only take a few hundred or a thousand people to change the situation on the battlefield. Maybe if the federal defenders send one more brigade to the Aurelian Gate, they can break the critical point of the defense of the three western city gates?

Only by putting on a big show for the Glorious Federation at Aurelian's Gate can the final victory of the Imperial Army be guaranteed, and Frost Maple Ridge can ensure a huge profit in this war: After bringing his troops all the way to Thorn City to participate in the war, Xiahou Yan did not want to return home in economy class.