The Lord Of Blood Hill

Chapter 569: A Troublesome Foothold

After the Ogiro army begins its attack, it immediately experiences very different treatment.Some lucky ones land on easy targets and beat the Justice Army before them into a panicked rout.

Plenty of unlucky ones crash headfirst into the forces controlled by Peace Haven.

The result is ugly.

When Diversion Bay receives the battle reports, the people there think their eyes must be wrong.

The reports are almost absurd.

Some say the rebels are weak and collapse at the first contact. Those forces are now pursuing the victory and will soon be able to present Howell's head to the king.

Others say the enemy is extremely cunning, using all kinds of traps and schemes to torment them until they suffer endlessly.

The strangest part is that one standing legion and one garrison legion send back no reports at all.

Are they busy hunting down rebels?

Or are those two armies chasing the fleeing Howell?

Everyone comes up with all kinds of bizarre explanations, but no one imagines that those two legions could have been defeated.

After all, those are regular kingdom legions. Even the weaker garrison troops have weapons, equipment, and soldier quality far beyond anything rebels can compare with.

Then a cavalryman covered in blood rides back and reports that both legions have been wiped out.

Naturally, no one believes him. Everyone decides he is a deserter and executes him on the spot.

But as more and more soldiers flee back afterward, everyone begins to feel that something is wrong.

After repeated confirmation, they finally realize there is a problem.

Those two legions truly were wiped out, and their opponents were only two warbands.

Ogiro immediately realizes there is something suspicious here and quickly orders the attack to stop.

Howell, who had originally been preparing to flee, suddenly discovers that the enemy has withdrawn.

Over the next half month of investigation, both sides learn what happened at the time.

One force was the warband led by Elia. The other was a warband led by someone called Beethoven.

Through analysis of the battle, Diversion Bay quickly discovers that this cannot be strength the Justice Army should possess.

Lumir has elites of this caliber, but it would never be willing to send them over just to trouble Ogiro.

Then it can only be Peace Haven.

Thus, on one hand, the kingdom gathers heavy forces again to encircle and suppress the rebels.

On the other hand, Ogiro launches its attack against Peace Haven's eastern front.

And then?

Then the Mudfield Battle erupts.

Ogiro is knocked senseless.

For several days, they cannot understand what exactly happened.

A considerable number of people inside the country firmly believe that Henwell violated the Continental Convention and used war-level magic, leading to the destruction of Blue Warhammer and the severe damage to the Gloomwood Knights.

At this moment, the nobles and officials in Diversion Bay are sweating as they stare toward Peace Haven.

As for the Justice Army, they cannot spare any attention for it.

They pull out the elites that were supposed to encircle the Justice Army and send them north to prevent Peace Haven from advancing into Ogiro territory while the opportunity is open.

Howell, the King of Justice, finally catches his breath and also realizes something is wrong inside his own forces.

Since when did he have two armies that could fight this well?

Naturally, such elites would be best held in his own hands, so he orders Elia and Beethoven to lead their troops closer to him and serve as his personal guards.

Of course, the two of them ignore him. Right now, they are busy loading captured soldiers onto cargo ships and selling them to Lumir in exchange for slaves.

With the indulgence of Obilian, Lumir's second prince, large amounts of military equipment and supplies fill ships and are secretly transported to a small port inside Ogiro.

Elia and Beethoven have already begun selecting local soldiers.

Carrying the momentum of their great victory, the two recruit quite a few soldiers.

Then, without resting, they immediately lead their main forces out while the recruits are training, sweeping through all the surrounding noble territories.

The nobles are so frightened that they hide in their castles and tremble. But the two men's target is not the nobles themselves, but the serfs under them.

After making a circuit, the two return to their main base with nearly twenty thousand serfs.

Their territories are dozens of kilometers apart and support each other like two horns.

In front of them lie both the kingdom's defensive zone and the territory of the King of Justice.

No matter who attacks them, that side must worry about the safety of its flank.

The area the two control is not large. Added together, it is only a little over two thousand square kilometers.

However, after years of management by administrative personnel sent from Peace Haven, it can already support itself.

In addition, this convoy has transported a large amount of supplies over.

This means the two of them are meant to stay here like embedded footholds and fight a long war.

The King of Justice's envoy is brushed off, but the Peace Haven style of military training in the two regions, along with the fortresses being hurriedly built, proves one thing.

These are not Howell's troops. They are the troops of the lord of Blood Hill.

After learning about the situation in Peace Haven, Howell understands as well. Henwell wants to use him to divert attention.

Howell is furious, but he can say nothing.

He even has to smile and reward the two generals, waving his hand and granting both of them the title of count in the Justice Kingdom he founded.

Elia and Beethoven do not fall out with him either. The legions they form are still called the Justice Army in name.

The First and Second Legions of the Justice Army will become Howell's only support for a long time after this.

Elia and Beethoven each use their own core force to form a cavalry battalion.

The horses are all warhorses sent over, and the personnel and equipment are all Peace Haven products.

These two thousand-man cavalry battalions have no opponent in this region.

The two cavalry battalions move like the wind and begin raiding all the surrounding noble territories. Under unexpected circumstances, they even break through a city.

But they do not occupy that city. They simply seize people and supplies as before.

In half a month, they torment every force within a radius of one or two hundred kilometers so badly that no one dares sleep.

Large numbers of nobles demand that Diversion Bay send elites to wipe out this band of fierce raiders as soon as possible.

But ordinary cavalry cannot stop such a mobile and elite cavalry force.

As for infantry, they cannot even see the backs of these riders.

The best method would be to send a knight order.

But the Gloomwood Knights have just suffered heavy losses and clearly cannot come.

That leaves only the kingdom's other knight order, the Silent Sea Knights.

However, this knight order leans toward naval warfare and is not very suitable on land.

That makes the kingdom extremely embarrassed.

Fortunately, Elia and Beethoven had already estimated the psychological endurance of Ogiro's decision-makers.

After stirring up enough trouble, they withdraw the cavalry.

Now Ogiro has to consider how to drive away Peace Haven's embedded footholds.

The combat strength of Peace Haven's army has already been proven by facts.

For Henwell to send these troops over to irritate Ogiro, they are obviously no soft target.

But with Blue Warhammer destroyed, the Ogiro Kingdom has only two remaining ace elites: the Sharp Spear Legion and the Iron Thorn Legion.

Those two ace legions are both holding the eastern defense line against Peace Haven and do not dare withdraw at all.

In the end, after discussion in Diversion Bay, Count Divarak and his cousin Pavaro are transferred over.

Both men have an elite legion. Now, to prove their innocence, they happen to be the right people to attack the footholds Henwell has placed here.