Chapter 193: The Shadow of War (2)

“Mishen, I remembered your strength was about the same as the Orc Tribe’s. How did you suffer such a big defeat all of a sudden?” After everyone was seated in the meeting room, Su Lun voiced his confusion.

Mishen smiled bitterly. “We were too careless.”

“After defeating the Orc Army, we let our guard down. The Orcs avoided us after their defeat, which made our Warriors even more proud. Now when I think back, their actions were meant to trick us, to make us reveal our weaknesses.”

“Clearly, they succeeded.”

“But even if you were careless, you shouldn’t have been defeated so easily,” Su Lun asked in surprise.

“Indeed. Even if we were careless, we wouldn’t have suffered such heavy losses. After all, we could have run away if we couldn’t win.”

“But the Orcs were prepared. The Orc Shaman used Blur, and the Orc Army used the Blur spell and the cover of night to successfully surround our tribe.”

Su Lun nodded. He understood the Orcs’ plan. The Blur spell was not very difficult. After using it, a faint shadow covered a person’s body. Combined with the night, it was almost as good as Invisibility.

It wasn’t easy to cover tens of thousands of Orc Army soldiers with Invisibility. Even a Legendary Wizard would need to use a lot of magic power and cast it more than ten times.

The Orc Shaman was powerful but hadn’t reached the Legendary level. Using Blur along with the night barely achieved the effect of Invisibility. Also, Blur had another effect: the shadow it created made it easy for Archers to miss their shots.

Then, taking advantage of the Centaurs’ carelessness, they marched overnight and surrounded the Centaur Tribes. The strength of the Centaurs lay in their mounted archery and Heavy Cavalry Charge. Once they lost their speed and the Orcs got close, the Centaurs lost all their advantages. The Orc Army formed an elite unit. It wasn’t large, only two thousand, but together with the Worg Riders, they directly broke through the Centaur Tribes’ defenses. The Centaur Tribes were badly defeated.

To break out of the encirclement, the Centaur Tribes paid a heavy price. Some Warriors launched a desperate Charge, using their own bodies to open a path of survival for more Centaur women and children.

In the end, the Centaurs lost over three thousand elite Warriors, plus some women and children. Finally, less than four thousand Centaurs managed to escape. Even so, these Centaurs were chased and harassed all the way by the Orc Worg Riders.

The heavily damaged Centaur Tribes fled all the way to near Zhenbei City before stopping. Facing the Orc Army, they were unable to resist on their own. These Centaurs wanted to join forces with the humans of Zhenbei City to fight the Orc Army together.

War on the Wasteland was brutal. Once defeated, a race faced the danger of extinction. The Orcs would not give the Centaurs a chance to rise again.

“You plan to form an alliance with us?” Su Lun looked at the young female centaur Mishen and said.

“Yes, Lord Su Lun. Humans and the Orc Tribe are old enemies. Now we also have a huge grudge against the Orcs. We should join together to deal with those Orcs.”

“Moreover, after the Orc Tribe defeated us Centaurs, their strength is no longer something either of us can handle alone.”

“I don’t deny that,” Su Lun nodded and said. “The Orcs are indeed our common enemy. We agree to form an alliance with the Centaur Tribes.”

Upon hearing that Su Lun was willing to form an alliance, the Centaurs’ faces lit up with joy. This news was the best they had heard since the night of their defeat.

“Lord Su Lun, we have one more request,” Mishen said hesitantly.

“What request?”

“We need Zhenbei City to provide us with some food, tents, medicine, and weapons.” The Centaurs didn’t carry any food when they fled that night. Many didn’t even have weapons.

Su Lun rested his chin on his hand. “Chris, how much food and tents can our Territory provide now?”

“Master, the Territory just had a good harvest. After deducting what we need ourselves and the monthly food for new population, we can spare thirty tons of food,” Chris said. Of course Su Lun knew this was only a small part, but he was just putting on a show for the Centaurs.

“Arrange for people to send the thirty tons of food to the Centaurs immediately,” Su Lun said directly.

“Understood.”

“Thank you for your generosity, Lord Su Lun. You are the best friend of us Centaurs,” Mishen said gratefully.

“This is our support for our allies,” Su Lun said with a smile. “But we are also limited in weapons and equipment now, so we cannot provide you with much.”

Su Lun’s Territory was not large. His weapons and equipment were barely enough for his own army. He now had one thousand seven hundred Soldiers, and many still wore Leather Armor. Naturally, the equipment he could provide was limited.

There was another reason. After all, they were only allies. These Centaurs were not harmless. If he gave them too much equipment, what if these Centaurs turned around and attacked him? This was not impossible. They could plunder Zhenbei City, then continue fleeing south. Those Orcs wouldn’t keep chasing them.

There weren’t many rules in the Wilderness. Here, survival of the fittest was the belief. If Zhenbei City was still like the old Northguard Keep, without tall city walls, these Centaurs likely wouldn’t be seeking an alliance but would directly plunder and run.

Thirty tons of food sounded like a lot, but since it was only Potatoes with no other meat or supplements, and considering the Centaurs’ appetites, one Centaur needed about two to three kilograms per day. A horse needed to eat five to six kilograms of hay and about two kilograms of feed per day. The Centaurs’ appetites were even more astonishing.

Thirty tons of food, plus their own hunting, could feed the Centaur Tribes of over three thousand people for half a month. If they tried to keep running with just this food, they wouldn’t last long. With the Orcs chasing them, these Centaurs might all starve to death in the end.

Su Lun remained cautious towards any force. Even with allies, he would think of the worst intentions. In this world, schemes and killings happened all the time.

The Centaur Tribes lacked weapons, but they had bows. What they lacked was Iron Armor. During the chaotic battle that night, they had no time to put on their armor. This also resulted in the Centaur Tribes lacking Heavy Cavalry. Although Heavy Cavalry had disadvantages like slow speed, poor turning, high cost, and high wear and tear, their irreplaceable role on the cold weapon battlefield could not be denied.

If the Centaur Tribes had one thousand, no, five hundred Heavy Cavalry, they could completely break through the Orc Tribe’s army on the front lines.

Su Lun gave the Centaur Tribes three hundred sets of Iron-Reinforced Leather Armor, along with a batch of Throwing Spears and Charge spears. These were sent to the Centaur Tribes together with the thirty tons of food.

At the same time, Zhenbei City entered a wartime alert state. All one thousand seven hundred Soldiers returned to their units. Two hundred Northguard Keep guards were on standby at all times. Two thousand Militia reserves were assembled again. The Blacksmith Shop also worked at full capacity to produce armor.

Su Lun planned to equip all Elite Spearmen and above with Iron Armor. The strength of Elite Spearmen was still a bit below the Knight-tier. But after equipping them with good Iron Armor and weapons, ordinary Orc Soldiers were no longer a match for them.

Most of the Spearmen in Zhenbei City had already reached this level, and some had reached the strength of Heavy Spearmen (Knight-tier).

These Heavy Spearmen were the backbone of the army, so their equipment was the best. The Plate Armor forged by the Territory’s Blacksmith Shop was first given to the Heavy Spearmen. Also, all the Tower Shields made from Burrowing Worm shells were given to them.

The Barbarians also used Plate Armor and were issued Double-Bladed Greataxes and Hand Axes. These people could only be used to launch counter Charges or to disrupt enemy formations.

All the Archers had Iron-Reinforced Leather Armor, Longbows, and were also issued close-combat weapons. Only some of these Archers used Centaur Longbows and Elf War Bows. The rest used ordinary Birchwood bows.

The Birchwood bow’s range was half that of the Elf War Bow and the Centaur Longbow. Su Lun originally planned to replace all Archers’ bows with Centaur Longbows or Elf War Bows, but the oak wood used for the Elf War Bow wasn’t ready yet, so they had to use Birchwood instead.

Although the Birchwood bow had a shorter range and less power, it required less strength. While it wasn’t very threatening to Orc Warriors wearing Iron Armor, those ordinary Orc Soldiers didn’t have Iron Armor. The Birchwood bow could still pose a threat to them.

Su Lun issued a war conscription order in Zhenbei City. There were still quite a few Mercenaries in Zhenbei City, and all were drafted into the army. The Half-elves were also within the conscription scope. Last time, Su Lun promised Grace to only recruit one hundred and fifty Half-elves into the army, but when the Territory faced a great threat, he could continue conscripting. So this time, a total of three hundred and fifty Half-elves joined the army. The same applied to the Drow Elves.

To deal with the upcoming Orc Army, Su Lun had essentially mobilized all the Territory’s forces. But even so, excluding the Militia, Zhenbei City’s army only numbered two thousand five hundred people.

All the Scouts were sent out. Every three hours, Scouts reported the latest movements of the Orc Army. This Orc Army had over ten thousand soldiers. Among them, there were about five hundred elite Orc Warriors, three thousand Worg Riders, and a full eight thousand other Orc Soldiers. Besides that, the Orc Army also had over five thousand soldiers in its servant army.

After the Orc Army defeated the Centaur Tribes, many Gnolls, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears joined the Orc army. As for ordinary Goblins and Kobolds, they weren’t even qualified to join the army. Zhenbei City’s only allies were the less than four thousand Centaurs.