Chapter 289: Decision and the Eastern Expeditionary Force

The long candle burned out, and the turbid wax condensed into ugly wax prints on the table.

The collapse of the ratmen on the main continent was something that was expected, and no party had any doubts about it.

No matter how these guys wail or struggle, it cannot change the fact that they exist as consumables.

Even the temple of the great god collapsed under the attack of humans. At the last moment, the poor guy was still dreaming and dancing in front of the temple. That poor ratman from the main continent, the poor ratman priest chosen by the Rat War.

The temple collapsed in the desolate place where the provinces meet, and all the ratmen supervising team that came here fell in this desolate place.

In the final stage of the collapse, Shuzhan did not give these guys the order to retreat, so they still held on here.

The temple collapsed in the wilderness, with no one paying attention to it. The most loyal guards of the great god were unable to come and protect it, and they didn't even know the temple existed.

If we have to talk about fault, it must be Rat War's fault.

This arrogant guy put victory or defeat above the gods, which is a big taboo.

But for the time being, no one can judge him.

After taking this desolate area at the junction of provinces into their arms, the royal knights did not stand and watch from afar. The prince stood on the hill, with endless corpses piled up behind him.

There should be a different kind of glow on him at this moment.

Be a hero.

The royal knights now hold the initiative. It is feasible for them to wait and see or to force the great nobles to make some concessions by relying on the unfavorable situation of the noble coalition.

They represent the interests of the royal family of this corrupt empire, and they are not the true guards who are defending this corrupt and bloated empire.

But the final choice was unexpected.

There was no coercion, no waiting, and even no delay. Under the leadership of the leading prince, the wind-like knights rushed down from the barren mountains and launched an attack on the rear of the Eastern Expeditionary Force.

The outcome of a war is decided through repeated decisions and wins and losses, especially on a huge battlefield of this scale where two empires are competing against each other.

The decision made by this leading prince will change the situation of the war, but it is hard to say what the final outcome will be.

Shu Zhan was not qualified to make a complete and accurate judgment on what was happening on the battlefield. If he could do this, he would not have been blocked by the coalition of nobles and would have been left with no way out.

But as an excellent general, he was excellent in one thing: making decisions, implementing them, waiting for opportunities, and seizing those opportunities.

The Rat Warriors waited for their chance, and in the midst of fire and light, a powerful team launched an attack on the defenseless Ratmen's rear.

The moment of collision doomed the Eastern Expeditionary Force to suffer heavy losses.

In the huge battlefield with a long and continuous battle line, not all places are so guarded.

A large amount of supplies were piled up at the rear of the Eastern Expeditionary Force, there was an exchange office that was necessary for the merit system, and there were also batches of ratman caravans that came here continuously.

The supplies and goods were ignited by the fire almost instantly, and the Ratman Supervisory Team who were recording and exchanging them in an orderly manner and the terrified Ratman Supervisory Team were all killed in one encounter.

Spears, armor, and a batch of brand new chain mails have been sent to the Eastern Expeditionary Force. The workmanship seems to be very rough. You can see a lot of burrs and sharp protrusions on these chain mails. It can be foreseen that the experience of wearing these chain mails will probably not be very comfortable. They are obviously the products of rush work, but no matter what, these chain mails are real metal armors.

The words of the parliament masters are not empty talk. After all, no matter what it is, when the required quantity and all, and all the rat warriors, are linked to such things, the situation will inevitably change a little.

There is so much that is needed, and the quantity required is too great.

But now the first batch has been sent to the rear of the Eastern Expeditionary Force. It's a pity that before it could be used, fire and killing arrived first.

Of course, fire cannot shake steel, but this batch of goods and supplies includes far more than just these brand new chain mails.

Dried meat, dried cave mushrooms, leather armor, spears, wood, the vertical pupils of the ghost-eyed people, some miscellaneous spoils, and blood mushrooms.

Here, wood is the main burning substance. The construction of positions and tunnels allows the rats to continuously cut down trees from all over. These things are finally brought to the rear of the battlefield by the rat caravans.

Well, it's not just wood, those dried cave mushrooms are also a very good fuel, which suddenly explodes into a ball of fire when licked by the flames.

Then there are the blood mushrooms. The burning of the blood mushrooms does not bring any special effects. These evil creatures that absorb blood, flesh and death appear to be just like ordinary mushrooms in the flames. They are ignited and then turned into a ball of charred ashes.

Of course, the rats are not completely helpless against the attacks of the royal knights. In fact, there are indeed some tough guys in the rear.

The rat trolls were also left behind. As an item that could be exchanged for merit, they were locked in thick iron cages like the giant rats and placed randomly in this area.

A docile and stable character may be a good advantage for rat people, but it is hard to say whether it is an advantage for the rat trolls themselves, or for the giant rat people behind the rat trolls.

These deformed flesh weapons tore open the cages that bound them in chaos and fire.

The tall rat trolls were enough to withstand the charge of these royal knights, but there was a problem: the environment on the scene was obviously too chaotic.

Shu Zhan noticed the chaos in the rear, but he was not too panicked or angry, and kept waving the flag.

A large number of ratmen troops were mobilized.

It was a more fierce attack, like a horn, all the ratmen warriors in the frontline positions began to charge, these sneaky guys appeared from gullies and hidden tunnels, gritting their teeth, running forward with fear and excitement on their faces, holding their weapons tightly, but the ground that was bombarded by rounds of elemental chaos cannons really became bumpy.

In order to deal with the Skaven that suddenly became radical and dangerous, and also to deal with those dangerous deformed guys mixed in with the ordinary army, the noble coalition opened a buffer zone in front of the Skaven line, in order to keep distance, and also to activate and clear out in advance the Rat Trolls mixed in with the ordinary Skaven warriors.

The effect was not bad. However, the rats would obviously not let them clear the isolation belt as they wished. In order to make up for the disadvantage of weapons, close combat was a helpless choice, but it was also effective.

When the distance is large enough and both sides are crowded together, many things will no longer be so different.

The struggle between the two sides left a battlefield full of holes and depressions.

The noble coalition still pulled out the isolation zone, but the price was the never-ending sound of artillery fire on the battlefield. The roar of artillery fire was not without cost, as the elemental chaos cannon of the Ghost Eye people was not that mature either.

Excessive use leads to a terrifying rate of damage.

These things are not spears that can be cast at will. Every bit of damage requires tedious and complicated inspection and repair by spell masters and inscription craftsmen.

During this period of time, almost half of the magic chaos cannons in the noble coalition had been broken down, and the density of firepower on the battlefield had obviously dropped greatly. At this cost, this isolation zone was opened up with great difficulty.

The Ghost Eye people are not iron men or undead with cold minds. Their soldiers have a higher morale threshold, but collapse is also inevitable.

Especially after more and more soldiers who were forcibly conscripted into the army came to this battlefield in confusion.

The great nobles were not stingy. As smart people, they knew what to give in different situations, and they also put the opportunity to become nobles in the war.

It seems that as long as you work hard, as long as you are brave, then those things that seem to never fall into your hands will have a little more hope.

It was effective, but how should I put it, it worked on the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, and the war dragged on and there seemed to be no end.

Morale has begun to decline uncontrollably.

Every day there are crazy ratmen who launch desperate charges, and brutal battles go on every day. Even if you try your best, death is still inevitable.

The rats died more, the noble knights always emphasized this point, yes! That's right! It was indeed the rats who died more. In that indescribable miracle, in the charge of those noble lords, in the swing of their own weapons, so many rats died every day.

But damn it! Damn it! Why does this damn war seem to have no end?

This isolation zone was opened up for those ordinary human soldiers, for those farmers who were farmers not long ago but suddenly became soldiers and began to wield weapons.

In order to reduce casualties, to leave some space for human soldiers on the front line, to relieve the unbearable pressure, and to save the declining morale.

But anyway, although the commander of the noble coalition seems to be completely different from Rat Zhan in every aspect, they have only one thing in common.

Of course, he did not do this for the unfortunate people who were forced to go to the battlefield. It was not really for them. If he really had such good intentions, then forced conscription would not have happened at all, and the provinces behind the front line would not have been almost empty in such a short time.

Saving morale is for the sake of this war, and the same is true for forced conscription. You can clearly see this superior perspective in Rat Zhan, although compared to the commander of the noble coalition, Rat Zhan is more unconcealed and more naked.

Before they could catch their breath for long, the rats once again began their desperate attack.

The situation got very bad.

Just the same, the decision has to be made.

While the front-line troops were charging forward recklessly, more ratmen troops were gathering to surround the intruding team in the rear.

It seemed as if they had abandoned the troops and defenses in the front in a panic and were desperate to deal with the situation in the rear.

Of course, it doesn't matter what the situation is, the time has come to make a decision.

The safest option is to completely defeat the madly charging vanguard of the ratmen, and then start to advance forward. It won't be long before the defense line that the ratmen have finally conquered and the progress made in the war will be pushed back almost instantly, or even pushed back in large sections, making all the efforts in vain.

This is the safest option.

After all, the commander of the noble coalition, the somewhat ordinary middle-aged knight standing in front of the sand table, himself did not expect the appearance of the royal knight.

Or to be more radical, this is undoubtedly an opportunity. He swiped his arm across the sand table, and the black color representing the Ratman Eastern Expeditionary Force was instantly split into two.

How to choose, whether to sell the royal knights that suddenly appeared, no matter what, the weakening of the imperial royal family is not a disadvantage for him.

At this moment, the ordinary middle-aged knight, the commander of the noble coalition forces who had been stuck in a rat-fight for a long time, fell into deep thought.

Obviously, the Rat War overlooked a big problem, that is, the conflicts among various parties in the Human Empire are the same as those in the Rat Kingdom.

If he were to be killed one day, it would be most likely that there happened to be an army led by a rat priest not far away, and those guys would watch the rats being killed indifferently.

His plan might fail, but there was nothing that could be done about it. After all, apart from the military clash, the two sides were in a state of half-understanding in other aspects.

Whether it is the rat people’s understanding of the Ghost-Eyed People, or the Ghost-Eyed People’s understanding of the rat people.

One sees the other as a weakling who is bound to be defeated and sacrificed, while the other sees the other as a dangerous beast from the wilderness.

They are all superficial impressions.

The commander of the noble coalition made a decision. Should we say that the Ghost-Eyed People and the Ratmen are indeed different? If this happens, then it is almost certain that Rat Zhan will be beaten to death by the Ratmen priests.

However, the leader of the noble coalition gave the order to march.

After a long period of retreat and defense, the coalition of nobles finally began to advance actively again.

Finally, a crack appeared in this tough turtle shell.

(End of this chapter)