Chapter 381 Before the Decisive Battle
A few days later, Barou Province.
Through the Noxian military Hexgate, Vladimir arrived at the Empire's frontline military camp in the Wuji Mountains.
Accompanying him were the Scarlet Order mages under his command, as well as Elise and her Church of the Vile Maw.
Iris, the Spider Queen, the chosen one of the evil god Vile Maw, and a high-ranking member of the Black Rose organization.
Her situation is somewhat similar to that of Flamikir.
Vladimir is an old monster over 1,500 years old. He needs the flesh and blood of countless living people to maintain the strength and eternity of this body.
Iris is a "young person" over 500 years old who needs to regularly sacrifice living people to the evil god Vicious Maw in order to continue to maintain the power and youth given to her by the Spider God.
So whether it is Iris or Vladimir, they are destined to be unable to coexist peacefully with the Leader.
Now the rise of the leader is almost unstoppable. The two people who are usually used to playing it safe have to personally lead their respective trusted relatives and go out in full force to support this war.
Of course, Vladimir and Iris did not appear in front of people in their original appearance.
Because just like LeBlanc’s treatment - Vladimir and Elise, as senior members of the organization, have also joined the "Black Rose Expansion Deluxe Card Pack" launched by Zaun last month.
Now the whole world knows their names and what they look like.
Thus, Vladimir transformed into a pale young nobleman, and Iris transformed into a charming and cold noble lady.
"Please take a seat, both of you!" Du Kecao received the two guests from the Black Rose in the tent with a gloomy face.
The general's appearance and temperament were obviously much more haggard and depressed than when he first arrived a month ago.
There is no other reason, because this battle is too difficult to fight.
Before coming, he thought that the former commander, General Lester, had ill intentions and was deliberately slacking off to preserve his strength.
After arriving, he took charge of the battle himself, and after fighting for a month, he realized how difficult this task was.
During this month, what Du Kecao did most was to make phone calls and urge the Immortal Fortress to send more support.
Moreover, those who come to support must be the elite of the empire, first-class extraordinary strongmen. Otherwise, no matter how many ordinary imperial soldiers come, they cannot defeat the "sea of machines tactics" of the leader.
But Noxus is now fighting on four fronts and has already reached the extreme of militarism. How can it mobilize so many extraordinary and powerful people to support the Ionian battlefield?
Therefore, Du Kecao had to keep calling the Black Rose to ask for support.
But these bastards have been holding on to their own private troops and refused to let go, always fantasizing that they could squeeze out a few so-called elite troops from the empire's "public account" and come to support them to turn the tables.
But the facts proved that this was a ridiculous tactic. Apart from increasing the number of kills for the leader and adding to the personnel and logistics pressure on the empire, it had no other effect.
"It seems that now you have realized that this was a stupid mistake."
Facing these two mysterious guests from the Black Rose, these two extraordinary strong men who could make him feel extremely oppressed with just a little bit of their aura, Du Kecao did not show a single bit of respect in his words.
Because over the past month or so, he had seen through the fragile nature of this mysterious organization from the Black Rose's timid and slow performance.
Yes, fragile.
He used to think that the top leaders of the Black Rose were a group of omnipotent ghosts, but now it seems that they are just selfish and futile human beings bound by conflicts of interest.
"I've been waiting for you for a month! Where are you?!" Du Kekao couldn't help but curse: "One month, who knows how many more believers the Leader will have in Ionia in this month!"
"You all know how generous the goddess Janna is to her believers. If this continues, until next year or the year after, until these tens of millions of Ionians become leaders who can harness divine power, then..."
"That's enough!" Vladimir finally couldn't help interrupting him.
It would be fine if Leblanc just taught him a lesson like this.
How dare you, an employee, scold your boss like that?
Even if you are doing this for the good of the company, you must first understand who the company belongs to, don’t you understand? !
"General Du Kekao." Vladimir choked him back with one sentence: "Do I need to remind you that your good daughter has betrayed the empire and become the leader?"
"..." Du Kecao's face was gloomy: "Don't worry about it, sir."
"I will kill her myself."
He really could do this.
An assassin who failed in his mission had no right to live, and a traitor was even more so. This was the rule of the Kekao family. Even his own daughter was no exception.
But Vladimir only said mockingly: "The Midalda family said the same thing. So did many other families."
“……”Du Kecao was speechless.
He knew that the other party was taking advantage of the situation , but his own daughter did surrender - just like Mel Midalda, who was now secretly regarded as a "role model" by many smart imperial nobles.
"I understand that you want to hedge your bets," Vladimir said unceremoniously, "but since you are still betting heavily on the Empire, you should listen to us. Otherwise..."
"General Du Quocao, you don't want your wife, your little daughter, and your family to be sent to the guillotine for conspiracy to treason, do you?"
"Yes..." Du Kecao was dragged down by the shame of Catalina's treason and had to swallow his anger and agree.
After successfully giving the disgruntled general a beating, Vladimir slowly stood up, walked to the middle of the tent, and looked at the three-dimensional war sand table on the command podium, which was restored in full proportion.
"I've brought the support you requested." Vladimir looked at the lifelike mountains and rivers on the sand table and said slowly, "As you wish, we will have a decisive battle with the Leader tomorrow."
"What?" Du Kecao frowned, "Tomorrow?"
Although he had been looking forward to a quick victory, the short preparation time of just one day was really too hasty.
An army of one hundred thousand, plus several troops that have been supported by the empire in the past month. Now, not counting the huge number of logistical slave corps, there are more than one hundred thousand regular combat soldiers under his command.
How could a decisive battle involving hundreds of thousands of people be so simple?
It would probably take several days just to discuss the specific tactics, decide how to deploy the troops of each regiment and legion, and what tasks each would be responsible for in the decisive battle.
Although Du Kecao and his staff had made many plans in advance for this decisive battle, the war situation was changing rapidly, and these plans could not be changed at any time at the command of the superiors.
"Sir, I think we should spend a few more days carefully adjusting the combat plan." Du Kecao was polite in his words, but he was cursing in his heart.
It turns out that this military supervisor from the Black Rose is simply an amateur who knows nothing about military affairs.
Did he think that this was the battle flag board game that kids in Zaun played, and that they could win by simply using F2A with the advantage in numbers?
Du Kecao was complaining in his heart, but he didn't expect...
"There's no need to go through so much trouble. No tactical plan is needed." Vladimir coldly rejected his proposal.
As he spoke, he casually picked up the command stick on the table and pushed all the chess pieces representing the imperial army on the sand table forward:
"You just need to order the entire army to attack and have everyone charge together."
Du Kecao: "..."
There was an eerie silence.
Finally, Du Kecao's face became extremely cold.
Even if he was accused of treason, he would still curse out loud: "You lunatic!"
"I think you are an undercover sent by the Leader... No, even if you are an undercover sent by the Leader, you wouldn't dare to be as crazy as you!"
Du Ciao is an elegant old nobleman, but Vladimir's order instantly turns him into a grumpy old man in Zaun.
Because Vladimir's order was indeed extremely stupid.
More than 100,000 people, with no reserve troops, no suicide squads, no distinction between left and right center armies, no distinction between forwards, flanks and rear guards, and then infantry, artillery, archers, musketeers, rangers, heavy cavalry, flying knights, Warcraft troops, rune swordsmen, battle mages... each type of army attacks mindlessly together without considering their own roles?
Even pigs wouldn't fight like this!
"You want us to die!" Du Kecao cursed: "Hundreds of thousands of people charging together..."
If an ancient army with poor military discipline and communication had fought like this... if someone shouted "The empire is defeated" in the crowd, it would probably immediately trigger an avalanche-like rout.
Still charging? They might not even be able to get out of the camp, and would lose more than half of their troops due to trampling on each other.
Fortunately, Noxus has strict military discipline and a solid structure, as well as a communication and command system based on communication spells. It is already a modern army with a high level of informatization.
"We can barely organize such a large charge. But the question is, what's the point?"
The Leader is not afraid of the Empire's human wave tactics at all.
More than 100,000 people charged together across the mountains and plains, and in front of the suicide drones of the leader, they became living targets all over the mountains and plains.
"Don't worry about that." Vladimir said, "We will naturally be able to deal with those little tricks of the leader."
"You guys?" Du Kecao looked at the two people in front of him thoughtfully: "But the reinforcements you brought this time are only a few hundred people, right?"
"That's enough." Iris also spoke.
The hundreds of people she and Vladimir brought with them this time were all elite mages they had trained for many years. Together with the two of them, they were the real trump card of the imperial army...
So Iris confidently said: "In front of a truly strong person, numbers are meaningless."
"This..." Du Kecao frowned.
He could understand Iris's confidence. If Iris, Vladimir and the others were really as strong as they claimed, or even stronger than Irelia and the others on the Leader's side, then this mindless charge tactic would indeed be successful.
After all, the battle tactics of mortals are meaningless to the top-notch supernatural masters. The most suitable tactics for these "Gods of the World" have always been F2A.
But the problem is:
"Since numbers are meaningless..." Du Kecao felt something was wrong: "Why do you still ask for these hundreds of thousands of troops to charge with you?"
The terrain of the Wuji Mountains is narrow, and a large army cannot deploy even if it rushes in.
More than 100,000 people were crowded into the mountains. Even if they were not killed by drones as targets, the human wave tactics would not be effective at all.
Therefore, the correct approach should be to select the best from the best, pick out an extraordinary force of at most a few thousand people from the 100,000 troops, and concentrate forces to break through the enemy's defense line.
But Vladimir and Iris need so many people...why?
Don't they realize that in this unusual war, numbers have lost their meaning?
Don’t they know that those ordinary soldiers can do nothing but go up and die?
"Wait! You, you guys..." Du Kecao's expression froze, his eyes filled with extreme anger: "What on earth do you want to do?"
"You want to know?" Iris stretched out her tongue stained with poisonous saliva and licked the corner of her mouth: "It's okay to tell you--"
"My god needs enough high-quality sacrifices, and his magic also needs high-quality nutrients with abundant blood and energy."
"Only in this way can we face the tripartite alliance of the Windward, Ionia, and Demacia with the strongest attitude, and face the goddess Janna who may appear at any time."
"Do you understand, General?"
“……”Du Kecao felt cold all over.
He was never a merciful general, and in order to gain victory, he had more than once used his subordinates as cannon fodder.
But this time, even he felt that the two guys in front of him were a little too extreme.
Du Kecao instinctively wanted to dissuade him.
But Vladimir only needed to look at him, and he was as stiff as a piece of wood, unable to move.
"Don't be afraid." Iris smiled and said, "This is just a necessary sacrifice."
…
The second half was not finished. I wanted to write about the leader's reaction before the war, to contrast it with the villain. But I ended up writing it as the main theme of the Spring Festival Gala, and the readers didn't respond well, so I deleted it directly.
This is also the problem that this book has always had. I often get too excited and want to describe the noble side of the leader in my imagination. But my lack of experience and limited writing skills make it impossible to write with that natural feeling.
As a result, what is often written is a Spring Festival Gala-style main theme, which makes people feel embarrassed... I can only say that this subject matter is indeed much more difficult than I imagined.
I will try my best to pay attention in the future and try to avoid committing this kind of low-quality literary disease...
