Chapter 288, Gambling and the Turn of War

Rat trolls are tearing the battlefield apart. These guys with tenacious vitality can even briefly resist the suffocation caused by the collapse of the tunnel.

Struggling to climb out from underground the desolate area that had been plowed over and over by the Elemental Chaos Cannon.

Their vitality is so strong that it is hard to imagine, but not surprising, because deformed creatures are beyond the scope of ordinary creatures.

Shu Zhan equipped these guys with heavy armor and heavy maces.

I want to use these rat trolls completely as a kind of heavy-armored monster.

The effect shown was exactly the same as Shuzhan's judgment, except for a slight deviation in the details.

The rat troll gave up the specially customized mace and the heavy metal armor.

Under the influence of the deformation, these guys' arms have grown excessively, becoming hideous and huge. They are no longer the same as ordinary ratmen. With their hands dragging on the ground, they look more like something else than ratmen.

Chimpanzees.

A larger gorilla with a rat-man head.

Such body structure restricts their ability to hold a weapon. Once they start running, they will unconsciously use their hands and feet together. The huge maces in their hands will often be thrown away casually in the process.

These guys are just more stable, able to accept certain orders and wisdom, but not smart enough, at least not smarter than ordinary ratmen warriors.

The distortion still had some impact on these guys' minds.

But this also brings advantages. Although these guys are not as smart as ordinary ratmen warriors, they are not like those guys who are always assessing the situation and preparing for strategic shifts at all times.

And weapons are not necessarily needed. With the blessing of such extremely huge power, even with bare hands, those human knights are probably no different from toys in the hands of the rat trolls.

For these reasons, most rat trolls do not use additional weapons or wear armor.

The reason for not wearing armor is not complicated. At least it is not because of Shuzhan’s poverty, but the characteristics of the deformed creation itself.

Under the chaotic bombardment of humans, deformation will be accelerated, and the flesh and blood will become extremely active at this moment. Heavy armor will not play any protective role in such a situation, but will become a hindrance.

The broken and rolled armor will be quickly wrapped in flesh and blood in the accelerated deformation, and pulled into the body, which will not only make the originally disordered deformation even more chaotic, but also cause great pain. The sharp metal fragments will continuously create wounds in the rat troll's body in the squirming of flesh and blood.

This is not a pretty situation.

It also made Shu Zhan give up on putting armor on these guys.

They run wildly on the battlefield in a savage manner similar to the skinned giant rats, but compared to the skinned giant rats, these rat trolls are more controllable and safer.

Rat trolls were rapidly being added to the Skaven army.

If the battle situation was not so intense, the first use of these expensive guys after their birth would undoubtedly be to guard the rat priests, or to serve as a personal guard.

However, in this crazy tug-of-war at this moment, the current situation did not allow for waste. The rat trolls had just made their mark on the battlefield and were incorporated into the entire Eastern Expeditionary Force as a scattered unit.

In the Second God War, the division of the army in Rat War was based on the nesting of small formations.

Although he gave up this division not long after, the enemies he had to deal with in the past did not require too many tactics. Gathering together and driving forward were enough.

But at this time, the abandoned thing was picked up again.

Senior ratmen, young ratmen, rat trolls, military priests, and various ratman squad leaders.

In fact, the structure of the ratman army has not made any progress during this period of time, and has even regressed. With the rapid expansion of national strength, the ratmen have not encountered a difficult opponent for a long time.

Well, maybe we have encountered tough opponents on the vast grassland, but the vast environment of the grassland and the enemy's cavalry-dominated army structure meant that sticking together would be a wise choice.

It is different now.

Trench warfare and positional warfare required the command of the army to be distributed more finely. Wars were raging at every point on this long front, and the troops were being consumed in the tense situation. The ratmen warriors who were stretched too thin were gradually losing command.

If this continues, the rat people themselves will face chaos.

For such a situation, Shu Zhan's solution is very simple, or rather, he has always tended to deal with complex problems in a simple way.

The division of the squads was left behind, and the position of squad leader was put on the merit exchange table, and it didn't matter who wanted to be the captain.

As long as you can survive in this war for a long time and accumulate merits, it will not be difficult to get the position of a team leader.

Young ratmen are still being sent to this battlefield in a steady stream, and the ratmen have never been short of manpower.

Unexpectedly, the team leader position issued this time is quite valuable, with a clear organization.

You can gather a team of a thousand ratmen warriors, which can be exchanged for a rat troll, and the high and mighty ratman priest is also within the scope of assistance.

The ratmen's team inherited their usual characteristics and was called a squad, but this scale was like a small army.

The leaders of these teams are simply beggar's version of rat-man warlords.

The main body of the team is a mixture of thousands of young ratmen and veteran ratmen warriors, rat troll monster units, ratmen priests, giant rats, war machines, and big claw priests.

Well, unknowingly, the Rat War merit system has included all kinds of messy things.

Of course, those rat priests and big claw priests did not sell themselves to the Rat War or the Eastern Expeditionary Force, but existed as a hired force. As long as you can afford the merits, these guys will temporarily be under your command.

This is a very flexible architecture.

It was also a helpless compromise. After the display of his prowess was completely exposed, Shu Zhan made this compromise in order to increase his control over the huge army in his hands.

The rat warlords whipped the rat warlords, the rat warlords whipped the rat squad leaders, and the rat squad leaders whipped the rat warriors in their hands.

This layer-by-layer progression will prevent everything from being so chaotic.

The rout of the ratmen warriors in the front-line fortifications was stopped, and the newly appointed leaders of the ratmen squads showed great enthusiasm in order to avoid being hanged on the battlefield by the ratmen priests above them.

After all, with such a large-scale rout and in such a chaotic environment, it is unlikely that everyone can be captured and executed.

But it is not too difficult to just keep an eye on these team leaders.

How should I put it? During this period of time, there was even a situation of fighting to the death on the front line. This was a very direct plan. After being incorporated into the system of the rat warlords, although he was only the leader of a small team, it was different from before.

The rats, who are afraid of death and cowardly, should resist this not-so-small position, but in fact, the opposite is true.

Some ratmen warriors began to take the initiative to adventure.

Rat War has always used the same old tactics, and it has always been effective. In the past, it was the Rat Warlord, and now it is the Rat Warlord plus the leader of this Rat Squad.

Same old thing.

With a big pie hanging high up, would he really care about the rat warlord in his hands? Not necessarily. It is certain that he hung this big pie up for himself.

But at least the pie he hung was real. However, no matter how useful the routine was, after using it continuously, the effect would no longer be as good as before. The solution was also very simple, just put the pie that was hanging high down a little lower.

In the Eastern Expeditionary Force, the merits required to become a team leader this time are the lowest in history. It seems that one can really get it just by standing on tiptoe.

But everything has a prerequisite. Only if you survive, what you hold in your hands is real.

The leaders of the ratmen squads who were fighting to the death did not understand this. They had only been in office for a few days, yet they were fighting so desperately.

Although it’s not surprising, after all, these guys are ratmen, greedy ratmen.

The noble coalition forces were defeated one after another. After the appearance of the rat trolls, the rat war officially put the pie down for a distance.

It seemed that the war was about to enter a stage where the balance of power would tip.

But the environment of this battlefield is not so friendly.

The Rat War failed to capture the central plateau, and they retreated in a panic in the biting cold wind. The Rat warlords' brazen invasion also failed to completely take over Lianyan Province.

This is not a good situation.

Shu Zhan had been seeking an opportunity to quickly end the war, but the commander of the noble coalition was steady enough and did not give Shu Zhan a chance.

The fight between the two sides when they first met, the fact that the coalition of nobles did not rush to pursue Rat War and venture deep into the battlefield, the fact that they did not take advantage to advance when the Elemental Annihilation Cannon was brought onto the battlefield, the fact that the Eastern Expeditionary Force became too powerful, and the fact that Rat War once again divided the Eastern Expeditionary Force, these were all opportunities.

However, the commander of the noble coalition chose the safest way of fighting.

This left Shu Zhan helpless.

It’s not that he didn’t have a plan for such a situation. In fact, the preparations for the rat war were not limited to this.

He knew very well what the ratmen's advantages were. They were good at attrition warfare, but this would just be too protracted.

We shouldn't be so anxious. The logistics of the Eastern Expeditionary Force have been completely taken care of by the Ratman Council. Even the merit system is solely undertaken by the Ratman Council.

To be safe, even if we retreat to the Golden Province and start an endless confrontation, it would not be an unacceptable thing.

But what can I say? The Eastern Expeditionary Force can afford it, the Ratman Parliament can afford it, but he cannot afford the Rat War.

If the war can be sustained simply by providing enough resources and weapons, then what is the need for him, the leader of the ratmen,?

Shu Zhan had already begun to regret his compromise. Simply bowing his head put him in trouble.

He had to prove himself with victory, to declare his indispensability, but he happened to meet a turtle.

Rat War is really annoying, and this annoyance comes from many aspects.

During this period of time, Shu Zhan was really selling flaws, just to lure the enemy generals to attack him regardless of everything. Those were real flaws, and as long as they were seized, a major defeat would be inevitable.

But the opponent had no intention of taking advantage of these loopholes.

Shuzhan was a guy with a strong gambling nature. Among many ways to break this situation, he chose the most radical one.

As long as the coalition of nobles begins to advance and a loophole appears in the long line of defense, Shu Zhan will not hesitate to abandon the rat warlords under his command and lead his own direct troops to tear a hole in the line of defense.

There was no retreat, Shu Zhan was always thinking about advancing.

He wanted to force this huge Eastern Expeditionary Force into the rear of the Noble Alliance, and wantonly wreak havoc and roam the heart of the Human Empire. These guys would never have the chance to organize a solid line of defense to hold him back.

Compared with humans, Rat War has never been overly worried about the fall of the rear. After all, at the junction of the two continents, the group of guys guarding there are really stinky and tough.

Well, it’s not the first time that Shu Zhan has thrown the temple guards out to help, and it’s not a psychological thing at all.

This is the true strategy of Rat War, a radical and risky choice.

But it died in the womb before it even started.

Such a failure is really hard to accept, and what is even more unacceptable is that he seems to be the only one who is anxious about the current situation.

This shouldn't be the case. The old guy should be more anxious than me. Why can he be so calm?

"Damn old man, why don't you just die sooner!"

Such angry shouts were heard from a large tent on a high ground behind the battlefield.

In various aspects and situations, many things were beyond Shu Zhan's expectations, which made him very angry, but after being angry, he also had to think more about what to do.

No matter how you look at it, the current situation is extremely unfavorable for him. Perhaps it would not be a bad thing to retreat to the Golden Province and start defending it.

After all, as long as the war does not result in an unprecedented major defeat, he will have neither merit nor fault. Although his prestige will inevitably be damaged in the process of retreat and consumption, he is still the dominant one on this battlefield. As long as the final outcome is decided and the war is won in his hands, the damage to his prestige will not be a big deal.

But Shu Zhan was not willing to accept this.

Still preparing for the final gamble.

A rare opportunity should arise soon, it all depends on whether the commander of the noble coalition will take action.

The ratmen on the main continent are about to burn out.

(End of this chapter)