Chapter 738-Chain Formation
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
Zhao Yan fulfilled his promise.
The 1st division lasted for the most arduous half an hour. They paid a heavy price; in the end, less than two thousand members were left out of the entire division. Ten thousand of the most elite soldiers died on the battlefield.
Major General Zhao Yan suffered heavy injuries and fell unconscious, and the Personal Guards carried him out of the battlefield.
Along with the 1st division retreating, the enemy officially broke the first defense line of the camp fortress. The Alliance Army paid the price of 40 thousand soldiers in total.
Corpses piled up against the wooden wall, making it hard to pass, and blood dyed the wooden walls with a fresh crimson color.
After taking down the wooden wall, the Alliance Army commander let out a sigh of relief.
Logically speaking, after the walls of the camp fell, the enemy would basically lose their defensive ability. Close quarters combat would follow, and they would win for sure with their numerical advantage.
The Alliance Army commander felt confident about taking the enemy down within a day.
Who knew that after heading past the walls, he would see this scene:
A second layer stood hundreds of meters away from the first wooden walls.
Between the two walls there was a five meter deep moat every five meters. There were paths connecting one moat to another, connecting all the moats into a complete defensive system.
Barricades, arrow towers, etc. were scattered everywhere. There was a three-bow arcubalista or a trebuchet at every crucial point.
The more terrifying part was the tens of thousands of archers hidden in the moats.
This was the second defense line of the camp fortress; it was defended by both the 2nd and 3rd divisions.
As there was a limited time to build the camp fortress, Fan Lihua did not design a squarish fortress but one that went from east to west, forming a narrow and long channel.
The entire fortress basically stopped the Alliance Army from heading down south.
The Alliance Army could not break this enclosure by going around it. They needed to break through all the defenses before they could pass.
To prevent this, Fan Lihua planned many soldiers on the frontlines while arranging the 5th division to protect the wings. The 4th division would defend the 2nd wooden walls, which were the last line of defense.
The north side of the camp fortress did not even have any walls as they did not have enough time to construct more.
Such an arrangement could be called the most efficient use of resources and the best way to arrange troops.
The three defensive lines complemented one another and formed a massive chain formation.
This was one of the reasons why a famed general was famous. No matter if it was logistic calculations, troop traveling arrangements, or camp arrangements, they were proficient at them all.
Of course, this had something to do with the logical army troop allocation of the Shanhai City Army. That was because its division had construction units, so they could miraculously build a camp fortress.
To the Alliance Army, this posed a huge problem.
"General, what should we do?" The deputy officer asked.
The commander's face was black as he solemnly declared, "What else can we do? Attack!"
After a short rest, the Alliance Army launched their second wave of attacks.
From the start till now, their attacks had not been smooth.
The vast army crossed the wooden walls and entered the empty land, engaging in close quarters combat battle with the sword-shield soldiers. At the same time, they were also shot by the archers in the moat.
Under the cover of the moat, the archers were basically merciless grim reapers. They all became marksmen and accurately claimed life after life.
They also had arrow towers and arcuballsitas covering them.
Hence, the Alliance Army found it extremely hard to push forward.
Pretty much every moat layer was pushed through using human life. Even so, sometimes a moat that they spent a lot of effort in taking would be taken back by the enemy in the blink of an eye.
At the highest count so far, the two armies exchanged control of a moat four times.
Fan Lihua looked down from the second wooden wall and moved troops based on the situation of the battle. She ordered the archers in the moat to change their focus of fire to the toughest locations.
The secret of her commanding lied in the five-sided flag.
Each moat was separated into east, middle, and west.
Hence, each region had their specific code.
Through different flag combinations, Fan Lihua could send different orders, even some relatively complicated orders like ordering the second moat in the middle to assist the west side.
In the moats there were messengers who passed on the orders based on the flag colors.
With that, the commands were like a beautiful concert. Each note was like a killing machine; each melody was like a tune to take a life.
Although the music was beautiful, the scene was truly gruesome.
The countless Alliance Army soldiers could not do anything against such a formation, so they could not use their numerical advantage. The hundreds of thousands of cavalry soldiers were like decorations and manage to accomplish absolutely nothing.
Even by noon, the second defensive line still stood as stable as a rock.
The terrifying part was that another 20 thousand Alliance Army soldiers had fallen. In just a single noon, a fifth of the Alliance Army had died.
More than 70 percent had died from the archers.
Based on incomplete data, the 3rd legion had used up 150 thousand arrows during this morning. If it was not for the perfect combat logistics system of the Combat Logistics Department, this would be a difficult consumption to stomach.
If one was not personally fighting, one would not be able to imagine the cruelty of war.
On the backs of the 50 thousand fallen soldiers were 50 thousand families, a total of 200 thousand people. The population was similar to a Grade 3 County.
In the wilderness, this was extremely terrifying.
In just one morning, the dreams and hopes of 50 thousand families were crushed.
...
White Stone City, above the south city gate.
"What happened; why did we not gain any progress after a full morning?" Yuan Ping and the other Lords summoned back the commander and scolded him.
In their eyes, taking down the wooden wall was to be expected.
"I'm sorry!" The Alliance Army commander could not voice his problems as he did not dare to do so.
"Just push on; do not bother about the lives of the soldiers. We must break the enemy camp fortress by this afternoon." Yuan Ping ordered.
He could not be too frank with some words. Obviously, he could not say that they just wanted to destroy them to take revenge on Shanhai City.
If they really said that, the frontline soldiers would be furious.
The NPC army was not just a cluster of data, and each soldier had a full past and their own thinking. If they knew what was going on, they would lose their will to fight.
How could an army without a will to fight win?
"Yes, my Lord!"
The Alliance Army commander replied bitterly like he could sense something weird from their expressions. His heart felt chilly, and he did not dare to think anymore.
Looking at the back view of the commander, Yuan Ping fell into deep thought.
It was not that they were eager to fight, but in truth, they did not understand their opponent; especially with the teleportation formation being broken.
The Shanhai City Army had traversed the land so quickly, and they were everywhere. However, they were hard to track too.
The moment they acted, they would not give the enemy a chance to fight back and would use their strength to claim certain victory. Hence, there was not much time left for the Alliance Army.
Yuan Ping was worried that if this really dragged on, the other legions would bear down on the city. Facing such an opponent, Yuan Ping did not dare to leave anything up to luck.
"If we can go all out, let's just go all out!"
...
In the afternoon, the war continued.
With Yuan Ping's scolding, the Alliance Army commander decided to be vicious and use the soldiers to buy time. To accomplish this, he arranged a supervising army to force soldiers to charge forward.
"Anyone who dares to retreat will be killed!"
Apart from that, he also set rewards, "Whoever reaches the second wooden wall first will receive five thousand gold and become a colonel."
Under the promise of a heavy reward, there would definitely be brave people.
The dumb Alliance Army soldiers stepped onto the corpses of their comrades and charged forward. No matter how strong the arrow rain was, it could not stop their desire for fame and riches.
The 3rd division soldiers could feel that the enemy attacks grow more ferocious.
"What a bunch of sick freaks!"
The 2nd division Major General was Song Jia's younger brother, Song Wu.
Although he was shocked, he was a true warrior. During this entire morning, Song Wu was charging at the front. In the midst of battle, he was stabbed in the leg by the enemy. However, he charged forward again after some bandaging.
Others would not leave the battlefield if they suffered light injuries while Song Wu would not leave unless he suffered heavy injuries. If he did not posse the physique of a player and a strong cultivation, he would not have been able to hold on.
In the afternoon, it was still the case.
When he saw the Alliance Army pay such a high price but still continue to charge forward, Song Wu really could not understand it.
This was the difference between an army from the wilderness and an ancient army.
The Shanhai City Army was composed entirely of professional soldiers like the elites from other territories.
The Lords were not fools and knew that if they did not build a professional army, they would not be on the same level as the other Lords.
Hence, a battle in the wilderness was far more brutal than one during ancient times.
Like the Alliance Army, one fifth of them had died but their morale was still incredibly high.
"Damn it, they are really going all out!" Song Wu spat a mouthful of saliva.
The last person who said those words was the Major General of the 1st division, Major General Zhao Yan, who still had not woken up.
Who knows what kind of fate awaited the 2nd and 3rd divisions.
The cruel massacre continued.
A thick scent of blood lingered in the air. If one was a normal civilian, this smell would make them vomit instantly. Even the soldiers fighting could not stand the smell.
Of course, there were a few exceptions.
Some soldiers with special bodies were motivated by this bloody aura and grew stronger; the blood in their bodies boiled, and they slowly lost their rationality.
All that was left was to kill.
The battle had entered its crucial stage.
This was the Alliance Army's highest morale attack.
Now, it was all up to whether or not the 3rd division could block this wave.
Victory and defeat all depended on this.