Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords.

Chapter 154 War begins

The wind was howling and the sky was covered with dark clouds.

Levi stood on the shoulder of a giant monster, took out a telescope and looked far away. His sight passed through two layers of crystal lenses in the wooden tube, carefully observing the endless camp in the distance.

Ever since Mir invented the telescope, the lord did not rest on his laurels. Instead, he taught the Fed craftsmen some principles of telescopes from previous lives.

After countless experiments and improvements, this telescope can be said to have achieved remarkable results.

The image is much clearer than the original one. Even from four or five miles away, you can still see the lips of the wilderness natives in the camp moving, as if you were watching a silent movie.

This camp is a perfect example of what a makeshift team is.

Animal skin tents were scattered on the grassland in a disorderly manner, and all kinds of excrement and garbage could be seen everywhere on the ground.

If it weren't winter now, Levi could already imagine the rotten, smelly, disgusting smell of summer.

As for the fortifications, they were extremely shabby. A snow pile as high as a blade stood in front of the camp, mixed with weeds and straw. After freezing, its defensive power was not much worse than that of a city wall. However, at this height, let alone stopping people, even a war horse could jump over it.

The natives in the camp obviously noticed their uninvited guests and were organizing their formation in a panic to prepare to meet the enemy.

Levi could clearly see the movement of their lips when they were communicating, but since he didn't know lip reading, he could only stare blankly.

He deliberately observed the other party's equipment and mental state, and finally concluded that they were indeed a group of poor people in the wilderness.

I thought this mighty wilderness coalition would be a little better, but the goblins and kobold vassals, which accounted for 70% of the population, were still armed with the same old trinity of stones, sticks and iron sheets.

Even though 20,000 people were not enough to stop them, Levi was confident that he could chop them down with his fifty personal guards.

Only the powerful fighting races that constitute the main force are equipped with qualified iron weapons. As for the number of people wearing armor, Levi concluded based on his observations that if the main force has 10,000 people, less than 20% of them are wearing armor, and most of them are wearing animal skin armor.

It completely fits the lord's stereotype of the wilderness natives.

In other words, Derby's prohibition on selling ironware to the wilderness was implemented quite well.

No wonder Florina found it difficult to take this coalition seriously.

Even the group of soldiers in the Thorn Legion were wearing a layer of light armor. The heavy armored infantry regiment among them was not much worse than the Cliff Fort's team in terms of defense. It could even be said that it was a little better.

In particular, the group of thunder lizard beasts were pulling four or five small catapults forward and placed at a high place.

At the right time, it will deal a devastating blow to the opponent.

The Thorn Legion is fully equipped as a legion capable of undertaking a large-scale battle.

In addition to cooks, auxiliary soldiers and warriors, there are also craftsmen and blacksmiths.

This small catapult was made by this group of craftsmen working overtime over the past few days.

Although it is a bit crude and cannot compare to those large catapults that are specially crafted to deal with strong cities, it is definitely enough to deal with a group of wilderness natives.

There were even more than ten small crossbows shipped from Bailiu City. As a group of northerners, they had already prepared for the cold winter.

These crossbows are specially made, so even if they are in the ice and snow, their kinetic energy will not be lost.

With just these two things, no matter how powerful the opponent is, it will be of no use. Even if the Minotaur goes berserk, he will be shot to the ground by a crossbow as thick as his wrist.

He put down the telescope and stomped on the giant monster's shoulder. The giant beast slowly bent down and put the lord down, then happily took the piece of meat thrown to it and started to eat it.

The lord told his discovery, and then found that Sikai was looking at him eagerly, like a young wife waiting for her husband to return.

Unable to bear his little wife-like appearance, the telescope finally passed through the hands of several people before returning to the hands of the Lord of Gaoya Castle.

"Sir, this thing is really nice. Can I buy one from you?" Sikai asked with some lingering feeling.

"With our relationship, it will become distant if you buy one. I'll give you one later." The lord waved his hand and took the responsibility.

The craftsmanship of this telescope is not complicated, and the cost is only a few pieces of white crystal and a wooden tube, so it is not an expensive item.

"Boss, I want one too." Seeing that Lian Sikai, an outsider, could get a telescope, Zat, who was standing by, also raised his hand quickly.

Every time the boss observed the enemy situation, he would put it on his waist, walk around twice with his hands behind his back, looking very arrogant.

It also wanted to put one on its back waist, and take it out when it had nothing to do to pretend to observe the enemy situation, which would definitely make the group of soldiers under it envious.

"You want, you want, you want. You keep asking for things all day long. Now you ask for a telescope. I dare not even think about what else you will ask for in the future."

"Besides, can you read and write now? Telescopes are used to observe the number and deployment of enemy troops, not for you to show off."

Zat felt extremely aggrieved after being scolded so harshly, but the next sentence made him smile again.

"Go ask Mir later and see if he's willing to get one for you."

"Brother Zat, I will make a special one for you when we get back." Facing Zat's hopeful face, Mir nodded in agreement.

"Mir, I knew that you and I have a close relationship. I'll go kill a wild bear and stew its bear paws for you to nourish your body." Zat grinned and put his arms around Mil's shoulders.

This made Mir look at his left shoulder armor with a distressed look. Under Zat's huge force, it had been somewhat deformed.

"I want one too." The lord, who was discussing specific matters with Sikai, turned around and added.

Forced by the fact that a higher-ranking official can crush a person to death, and faced with this kind of dictatorial hegemony that only allows officials to set fires but not ordinary people to light lamps, Zat could only silently add another wild bear to go back and capture.

"Just now I saw that the other side has organized people to fight the enemy. Leading them is a group of bear goblins holding wooden shields. It is roughly estimated that there are more than a thousand of them." Sikai pointed to a place in the distance where only black dots could be seen moving, and gestured with his hands.

"How strong is it?" Levi asked.

As a supporting team, they did not follow the main force and are currently located on a high slope behind its right side.

The visibility here is excellent, and if the opposing troops discover them and want to deal with this team, the gentle slope in front of them can also consume their horsepower.

"He was only wearing simple leather armor, and his weapon was also a simple spear."

"Why hesitate? Just throw stones and shoot a few times, and these unarmored bumpkins will lose their temper." The lord was not interested.

The two sides are still in the exploratory stage and it is impossible to add all the codes.

If it was a strong fighting race like the Minotaur, Centaur, or Pig-headed Man, he would still be interested in watching.

However, this group of bear goblins may be quite powerful compared to the goblins, but the lord thinks they are really mediocre.

On the other side, Fujiro, riding on a tall horse, watched the bear goblins gradually advancing towards the Legion of Thorns, and did not relax his vigilance because of their simple equipment.

This war was his chance to ascend to the nobility, so he could not afford to make any mistakes.

Even though the other party was not really a match in his opinion, the arrangement was still very safe.

The three blades were as high as a wall. The old people, wearing iron armor, advanced forward with huge shields raised at the command.

Finally, the steel shield fell on a gentle downward slope, forming an insurmountable steel wall.

Countless spear tips gleaming with cold light poked out from the gaps between the iron shields, thus forming a simple spear-shield formation.

This formation is not difficult to say, as almost every legion knows how to use it. However, this does not mean that it is not good. This formation is definitely synonymous with simplicity and practicality.

Especially when dealing with a group of wilderness natives who don't have any large-scale weapons, it can be called a crushing defeat.

The natives attacked very quickly. After just a few words, the bear goblins had advanced to a position fifty steps away from the shield formation, and the head-on fight officially began.

They seemed to see the dawn of victory, and they shouted excitedly to give themselves courage. Unfortunately, the subsequent rain of arrows frightened them so much that they quickly hid behind the wooden shields in front of them.

Although the two sides were fighting on flat ground, the Legion of Thorns could barely be considered the defending side and naturally had some advantages. The archers occupied the most powerful positions in advance, and waves of arrows rained down on the enemy, reaping lives.

They were like experienced hunters hunting hares, silently and slowly plucking the bowstrings.

If you look at it, you will find that the frequency of each of their shots is almost the same.

This is the result of years of training, which allows the soldiers to work together well.

Putting aside the casualty rate, a rain of arrows fired all at once is often more terrifying than a rain of arrows falling sparsely.

Therefore, the legion archers are required to achieve a consistent frequency when performing collective shooting.

The bear goblins finally dodged the rain of arrows and rushed to the shield formation, happily thinking that they had escaped a disaster. Unfortunately, facing the unshakable steel shields, they were pierced by the spears just outside the two edges, and finally they could only leave their bodies behind with regret.

This is far from being a war, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that it is a massacre.

Faced with these giant shields with three blades, the bear goblins had no choice but to rely on numbers to charge forward.

Unfortunately, in the end, only corpses were left behind.

Especially as the giant shield was raised and slowly moved forward, the group of bear goblins were easily killed one after another like dominoes.

If the stalemate continues, defeat will be the only outcome for these bear goblins.

……

Inside the Wilderness Alliance camp.

"If Leighton doesn't attack, we'll lose!"

The pig-headed leader looked at the defeated bear goblins in the distance and spoke in a muffled voice.

It knocked the huge machete to the ground impatiently.

Behind it were five hundred pig-headed warriors wearing a layer of iron armor, with only a pair of scarlet eyes exposed on their bodies.

These pig-headed warriors were as silent as stone, with only the hot breath coming from their mouths and noses proving that they were alive.

"Tikli, be patient. We are not dealing with those big tribes in the wilderness. This is a genuine human army. If we are not careful, we will lose everything."

Leiden, who was in charge of military affairs and was a goblin, rubbed his hands anxiously in the face of this situation, his eyes fixed on the battlefield ahead.

As a hobgoblin who grew up in the wilderness, it has unimaginable talent in military affairs.

When he just came of age, he organized a group of goblins to defeat the kobolds.

Later, he led the goblins and bugbears to victory again and again in the deep wilderness, which further proved that in the wilderness, his military talent was unmatched.

This time, it was facing a genuine human army, which made it overjoyed and it wanted to compete with the human commander to see who was better.

Leiden knew clearly that it was almost wishful thinking to defeat this group of human armies by sheer numbers, so some arrangements were very important at certain times.

Just like now...

With a loud whistle, a team of two hundred men bypassed the front battlefield and arrived at the left side of the Thorn Legion.

Logically speaking, for such a large cavalry unit, the sound of their hooves hitting the ground alone could not be concealed even for four or five miles.

However, this group of people was only less than one or two miles away from the Legion of Thorns, and were not discovered until they appeared in sight.

Upon closer inspection, I discovered that their hooves were wrapped in thick cotton cloth.

Making their movement silent.

"Wow, there's another expert on the other side."

Levi looked through the telescope at the group of emerging forces with excitement.

The technique of wrapping the horse's hoof with cotton cloth seems simple, but someone who is not familiar with military affairs would never think of this.

It's really commendable that a group of wilderness bumpkins can pay attention to such details.

Unfortunately, as an experienced commander, Fujiro had anticipated this and gave orders one after another.

A team of well-prepared shield soldiers and spearmen turned around and faced the centurions directly. If this group of centurions dared to charge directly into the battle without knowing the consequences, they would definitely be stabbed into a hornet's nest by the spears, leaving behind a lot of corpses.

“There may be a commander on the other side who has some knowledge of military affairs, but that’s it.”

Fujiro smiled confidently. He often used this method of attracting the main force and sending cavalry to attack weak points in defense.

It is definitely enough to deal with a group of guerrillas, but it is just a child's play to deal with a legion with high discipline and obedience.

"I'll leave Tikli to you guys from now on."

Looking at the movements of the human army in the distance, Leighton smiled slightly and felt completely at ease.

This human commander might be proficient in military affairs, but he is definitely no match for it.

The two people's gazes seemed to collide fiercely across the crowd.

……

"Tsk tsk, these pig-headed people are really fearless of death." Levi exclaimed in amazement while holding the telescope.

With the addition of the pig-headed warriors, the pressure on the Legion of Thorns increased greatly. From facing the massacre of the bear goblins in the beginning, they have begun to suffer minor casualties now.

Not a lot though.

But as we all know, going from 0 to 1 is often the most difficult. As long as the front line is no longer indestructible, it will feel like it is right in front of you, which greatly stimulates the natives' desire to attack.

"Brother-in-law, is it my turn yet?" Mil on the side asked pitifully.

This telescope was clearly made by him, but it has only fallen into his hands twice.

"Right away." The Lord responded verbally, but he was not prepared to let go at all. He even scratched his ears leisurely, "I'll give it to you later... No..."

The lord's face froze, as if he had seen a ghost, and he couldn't help but gasp.

(End of this chapter)