The King

  The early collapse of the grassland countries directly affected the immigration work of the Alpha Kingdom, and countless refugees were brutally murdered by orcs while they were still on the road.

  The number of refugees who successfully arrived in the Alpha Kingdom was less than half of what was expected in advance. Especially those who immigrated by land suffered the heaviest losses.

   Undoubtedly, in such a result, the coastal nobles took advantage of the most.

   Sitting on the convenience of sea transportation, taking the lead in getting their own share, more noble lords can only stare blankly.

  In fact, now everyone can't care about the trivial matters of "refugees". As soon as the Kingdom of Light collapsed, the military pressure on the provinces in northern Xinjiang suddenly increased.

   Became neighbors with the orcs again. With the grievances between the two sides, it is normal for the enemy to kill him at any time.

  The sudden change in the situation forced the kingdom to hold another military meeting. Even Hudson, the expeditionary general, was recalled to attend the defense meeting.

   "The northern border defense line has not been completed yet, what are the guys on the front line doing?"

  The prime minister, the Grand Duke of Newfoundland, yelled angrily.

  As early as the rehearsal of the Continental War began, the kingdom restarted the construction of the defense line in the northern border. The kingdom allocates construction funds and materials, and the lords in the border areas are responsible for the implementation.

   In this regard, the Alpha Kingdom is also rich in experience, and has already summed up a set of experiences.

  The line of defense guards their own territory, so there is no need to worry about the participants not working hard. Even if some small nobles are different, there are still governors and sheriffs watching over them.

   All the lords in the border area are from the generation of entrepreneurs, and their ability is obviously not bad.

  Unfortunately, the progress of the defense line construction is still not as good as expected.

   "Prime Minister, everyone has done their best. It's just that the human resources in the border area are limited, and there are not enough building materials nearby.

   Especially stone is the most scarce, and there are no quarries in many areas. We can only fire bricks instead, which virtually increases the process. "

   Earl Albert spoke in defense.

  These are real issues, and Hudson can testify that there is a real shortage of building materials in the border area.

   But these are all the fault of the lords themselves. Taking advantage of the defeat of the orc empire, the kingdom moved the border northward again and again.

  However, after a group of fief nobles arrived, they did a better job.

   Hudson is not very clear about how much land the circle occupies.

  Anyway, I heard that a baronie in northern Xinjiang is bigger than a viscount in the interior, and the viscount directly surpasses the earl, and even the earl can catch up with some small provinces.

  The most direct evidence is: the unfinished line of defense in the hands of Hudson that year has now become the kingdom's third line of defense.

   Originally, the area was sparsely populated, but after such an expansion, human resources became even scarcer.

  Of course, we can’t blame everyone for being greedy.

   Without the ability to predict, no one knew that the mainland war would break out so soon.

  If fighting starts at night for decades, when the seven grassland countries gain a firm foothold, these areas will be the heart of the human race.

  If Hudson were to work hard in northern Xinjiang, he would not give up this once-in-a-lifetime expansion opportunity.

   "Isn't there a laborer sent to you?

   What's more, you are the first to pick the refugees who are pouring in.

   Now complaining about the lack of manpower, why did you go there earlier?

   Building materials are scarce, so build earth walls!

  Add some magic materials into it, arrange a magic circle, and the defense is also not low.

   Taking so much of the kingdom’s budget, don’t you think it’s ridiculous to run away and complain now? "

  Marquis Delgado snorted angrily.

  In order to raise funds for the front line, the Treasury Department has tightened its belt. Now that the results handed over are not as good as expected, he is naturally upset.

  Facing the eyes of the powerful and powerful in the kingdom, the border governors of northern Xinjiang were like frost-beaten eggplants.

   Lack of manpower and lack of raw materials are just excuses. In essence, the border nobles are too poor.

   We have no guts to deduct the funds for the construction of the defense line, but the diversion of funds has not rarely occurred.

  Blind optimism in the early stage delayed the progress of the project. After the outbreak of the Continental War, everyone became active, but the huge construction project could not be completed in a few months.

  The core thing is that the construction period is too tight, especially after the situation has become increasingly tense, the Kingdom's requirements for the construction period have been shortened repeatedly.

   "The problem of the defense line, let's stop here for today!

   They didn't do it deliberately. No one thought of the early collapse of the Seven Prairie Kingdoms.

  Now change the strategy, put together some temporary lines of defense for the unfinished part, and focus on strengthening the defense of the core strategic nodes.

  As a punishment for poor construction, the noble lords responsible for the construction were all stationed at strategic locations along the line. "

   Hudson said indifferently.

  What is the truth, he has no time to pursue it.

  Whether the defense line is filled with water or not, whoever uses it knows.

   If you cut corners, you will pay with your life.

  Once the flames of war are ignited, all problems will be exposed. Don't look at Hudson's serious face on the surface, but deep down he is not panicking at all.

   Several newly recovered provinces in northern Xinjiang have been smashed, and the five nobles of the northern land will take over. Starting from their territory, there are fortresses all the way to the king's capital.

  It has only been a few years, as long as it is not a tofu project, it will definitely be usable now.

   What's more, after the outbreak of the Continental War, the aristocratic lords along the way spontaneously organized manpower to maintain and strengthen the fortress castles within their own territory.

  When the orc empire in its heyday came here, a few front teeth would be knocked out, let alone the orcs who are now decimated.

   In contrast, the situation on the Western Front is more complicated.

   "Marshal, the war on the northern front is imminent, shouldn't it be..."

   Before Count Oran could finish speaking, Hudson interrupted: "The kingdom will naturally send reinforcements, but it must be done in an orderly manner.

  The same force is distributed in various provinces and sent to northern Xinjiang, and the material consumption required is not at the same level.

  The strategic materials raised by the Kingdom are limited, only one-third of what they were before the outbreak of the last war.

  Now all countries in the mainland are busy with their own wars, and they don't care about us at all. Next, we can only use limited strategic materials to fight an infinite battle. "

  When it comes to the strategy of the kingdom, the old man's face is not enough.

   You can explode soldiers in a short period of time, but there is no way to explode strategic materials in a short period of time.

  In order to win a war, some sacrifices are necessary. It's just that there are things that can be done, but definitely not said.

  Deep in his heart, he had the idea of ​​letting Beijiang be smashed, but in terms of specific actions, Hudson dared not show it at all.

   Otherwise, all the nobles in the north could tear him apart. It's better to leave this kind of hatred thing to the "last resort".

   The unfinished line of defense is just the No. 1 backer. Insufficient strategic materials belong to the No. 2 back-up man.

   There will be more blamers appearing in the future, proving that it is not that Master Hudson does not work hard, but that objective conditions do not allow it.

   "Marshal, since the strategic materials are insufficient, let's make a quick decision in northern Xinjiang!

   Concentrate your forces to defeat the orc army first, and then..."

   Before Duke Hiro finished speaking, Hudson shook his head.

   "Your Excellency, when there is not much difference in strength, quick battles are never unilateral.

  The orcs are not fools, why should they fight us?

  It is enough for them to hold back our main force and create time for the two major alien races on the Western Front.

   Your Excellency is more familiar with the situation on the grassland than I am. If the orc army doesn't fight us decisively, is it possible for the kingdom's army to go deep into the prairie and fight them decisively?

   Don't forget how much strategic material was consumed in the last war to counterattack the Prairie Alliance.

  Kingdom of Light has so little material reserves, what can we use to force them to a decisive battle?

   What's more, we don't have time yet, and the situation on the Western Front may collapse at any time. With the strength of the Principality of Moxi, it can last for two months at most under the attack of the two foreign races.

  The time left for the kingdom shall not exceed three months at most.

  It took one month to mobilize the whole country, another month for the army to assemble and rush to the front line, and at least 20 days to return to the western front after the war.

   As long as everything goes well, there is only ten days left for the army and the orcs to fight.

  How to fight this battle? "

   It’s not like I don’t know, but I’m taken aback.

  Hudson's sentence "How to fight this battle" directly left everyone speechless.

  The real situation will only be more serious than the theoretical deduction.

  From the data on paper, it is estimated that the current military strength of the kingdom is almost the same as that of the orc empire.

  Even if the people present had never led soldiers, they knew a little about military affairs by hearing and seeing, and they knew very well the consequences of a hasty decisive battle with the enemy.

  Hudson, the most powerful coach, said no, and the others were even less sure.

  Duke Hero brought up the problem at this moment, obviously because the nobles in the Northland could not bear the pressure and wanted him to find a solution quickly.

   I just didn't expect that Hudson not only didn't buy it, but after conducting an in-depth analysis, he directly said: "How to fight this battle"?

   There is no doubt that this question cannot be answered by everyone. If everyone knows how to play, it will not be Hudson's turn to take the lead.

   Currently, the central and southern provinces that are not affected by the war are mainly providing strategic materials to the kingdom. From the perspective of the kingdom, the safety of these provinces is far more important than the northern border.

  Once there are changes in these rear provinces, it will be useless to fight well in northern Xinjiang. For a kingdom that lacks strategic material support, it is only a matter of time before its fall.

   In fact, the pressure within the kingdom has always existed. If Hudson hadn't just won a great victory on the Western Front, the internal controversy would have been even greater.

   Now no one criticizes his strategy. It is because the Western Front is playing too beautifully, and the battle loss ratio is hard to pick.

   Although the situation is deteriorating, it is not Hudson's fault. If the performance of the allies is not strong, it is a crime other than war.

   After the royal capital meeting was hurriedly ended, Hudson went straight to the front line. Trying to put pressure on him to change the current strategy is purely overthinking.

  No matter how many opinions the nobles in northern Xinjiang have, they can't change the fact that the orcs came to their doorstep. If you want the main force of the kingdom to gather north, you have to face the dilemma of insufficient strategic materials.

  The two unchangeable real problems are superimposed, and many people have begun to suspect that the "North first, then West strategy" proposed by Hudson before is purely for the superiors to fool them.

  Doubt is useless. The military's strategic tilt in the north is obvious to all.

  The Kingdom spent a lot of money on the defense line. It is obviously not convincing to say that the coach Hudson does not support the northern line.

   Besides Hudson, the only person in the know is Caesar IV. It's just that everyone shared the spoils together, and he also played a disgraceful role in the strategic changes of the kingdom.

  The current situation is deteriorating, so we can only suffer the noble lords in the north first. The risk is directly proportional to the benefit. How much fun it was to expand the enclosure before, and how much risk you have to take now.

  If everyone is stable. Without occupying so much land, the current national defense pressure would not be so great.

   On the Warhammer Great Plains, Hudson led the expeditionary force to march forward in a swaggering manner. The alien troops along the way were fleeing, lest they react slowly and lose their lives.

  The Battle of Fort Augustus destroyed the arrogance of the allied forces of the ancient survivors, and panic has spread among all the tribes. Especially for those races whose entire army was wiped out on the front line, all the information came from gossip, and the impact was even greater.

  A large number of troops have gathered in the province of Deklas, and everyone has a sense of security, but the morale of the army is still not high.

  The common feature of small races is that everyone is close to each other. Either relatives or friends live here, and thousands of children died on the battlefield, and the whole family will be shaken.

  In order to stabilize the hearts of the people, kings of all races arrived at the front line one after another. More than a hundred race kings, big and small, gathered to form a proper alliance of hundreds of races.

  "The information has been inquired clearly. The enemy claims to have an army of 100,000, but in fact it only has an army of more than 30,000, and the maximum is no more than 40,000.

  The human race has only such a small force, they dare to run to our territory and shout, and they don't take the alliance at all.

  I suggest that everyone immediately use up all their troops and surround and kill them on the Great Plains of Warhammer, so that the people can know how powerful we are! "

  The giant king with a loud voice was the first to shout.

  The hatred between his eyebrows, coupled with his huge figure, looks terrifying.

   "There is no rush for revenge, the enemies have entered the Great Plains of Warhammer, and they will not run away for a while.

  We know too little about the enemy, except for the number of troops and the commander, we know almost nothing.

   Recklessly engage in a decisive battle, who knows if this is the enemy's conspiracy, don't forget that they are all cavalry.

   On the plains, most of our races cannot outrun the enemy's elite cavalry.

   It seems that 200,000 are facing more than 30,000 enemy troops. Maybe when it comes to the actual confrontation, the enemy will use high mobility to gain a local advantage.

  The human race has a large population, so it doesn't matter if you lose tens of thousands of troops. But we can't, if we suffer another big defeat, I'm afraid most of the races present will not be able to bear it. "

  After hearing the words of the Shadow King, the kings of all clans echoed. Revenge is important, but race continuation is even more important.

  Forcibly exchanging sons with the human race, even if they win, it is still a blood loss.

  The pain in Fort Augustus has hurt the vitality of many races, and no one wants to come again.

   "Then we can't wait forever!

  The enemy marched very fast, and there were resistance forces along the way to facilitate them. Judging from the marching route, they obviously wanted to penetrate to the rear of the Southern Expeditionary Army.

  If the enemy did not stop them, the enemy would enter the Principality of Orton and attack the Southern Expedition Army with the army of the Principality of Moxi. "

  The giant king said indignantly.

   Revenge must be done with the alliance. Without the help of allies, the thousands of troops of the giant family are not enough to fight the enemy.

   After all, kings with different talents like him are very few among the giants, and ordinary giants have the largest number.

  In terms of strength alone, an ordinary adult giant is comparable to a low-level knight.

  It's a pity that success is also in shape, and failure is also in body shape. The expeditionary army is equipped with a large number of magic crossbows. These big men with a height of several meters are living targets on the battlefield.

  Only a few powerful giants can rely on their powerful defenses to ignore the enemy's tiny magic crossbow attacks.

   After a little hesitation, the kings still nodded. The safety of the Southern Expeditionary Corps had to be considered. In case of being flanked by the enemy back and forth, no one could guarantee that the defeat at Fort Augustus would not be repeated.

   "The enemy is still nearly a thousand miles away from the Principality of Orton. According to their current marching speed, it will take more than ten days.

   Another 50,000 troops have gathered in the rear, and it is expected that they will join us in five days. Coupled with the troops gathered from all over the country, our total strength will once again exceed 300,000.

  To be on the safe side, after gathering an absolute superiority of troops, we will have a decisive battle with the enemy. "

   Seeing the Shadow King make a concession, he hesitated a little, and the Giant King nodded slowly.

   For things like "revenge", the more troops the better. The current enemy is a famous general from the mainland, so we cannot be too cautious.

   It's just that deep down in his heart, the giant king always feels that something is wrong, as if something big is about to happen.

  …

  The army continued to penetrate behind the enemy, and Hudson became more cautious. Not only did they arrange a large number of scouts, but they also asked Bear Stearns to wander around every now and then to see if the enemy's army was moving in this direction.

  It's a pity that the reality is quite the opposite. Not to mention the fact that the main force of the enemy cannot be seen, the enemy is too lazy to even arrange for a small group of troops to harass.

   Do more and make more mistakes, but not doing is good.

  The enemy stood still, and Hudson was secretly worried. This time he brought all the cavalry, and he was not interested in attacking the city.

  If the enemy keeps moving, he really can only lead the army into the Principality of Orton, and flank the opponent's Southern Expedition Army with the Mossi.

   But the problem is that in this way, the expeditionary force is also within the enemy's encirclement. If you can't make a breakthrough in a short time, you will also fall into the siege of the enemy on all sides.

  …

   "Three hundred miles away, the enemy has an army of tens of thousands of people, which is gathering towards the province of Deklas.

  Bear Stearns, are you sure you read it right? "

   Hudson asked in surprise.

  The distance of three hundred miles is already a safe distance for the two armies, but it depends on what army it is.

  Ordinary cavalry ran for three hundred miles and could directly lay down their horses, but the expeditionary army was different.

   Possessing Hastelloy's magic potion, the horse can run three hundred miles, and it can still be alive and well.

   "Hudson, do you suspect that Ben Xiong can't count?"

   Facing Bear Stearns' questioning, Hudson smiled awkwardly. There is no need to worry about the cub's mathematical talent.

  Bear Stearns can understand the account book of "Bear Castle", let alone estimate the number of enemy troops.