The Great Rout

As time went on, the battlefield became increasingly chaotic. Both the Beastfolk army and the human army were caught in the awkward situation of "soldiers not knowing their generals, and generals not knowing their soldiers."

Human soldiers are in a slightly better position; ordinary soldiers don't have as many mortal enemies. Even if they do have a few adversaries, the chances of encountering them on the battlefield are slim.

The Beastfolk army was different. Although they were fighting as a united force, the racial hatred that had accumulated over countless years could not be eliminated by a single military order.

After descending into chaos, the original military orders and laws lost their binding force on everyone.

Someone started a bad precedent by ruthlessly killing hostile aliens who had mistakenly entered their own race's army, and the practice quickly spread throughout the entire army.

Once Pandora's Box was opened, the situation spiraled out of control. At that moment, all of humanity's ugliness and depravity were laid bare.

First, they ruthlessly slaughtered any hostile races that strayed into their territory, then they actively sought opportunities for revenge. With so many such incidents occurring, it was naturally impossible to keep it a secret.

He's got a beastly mind to begin with, so his thinking isn't very sharp. Upon discovering his men had been killed, he didn't hesitate to grab a knife and go for revenge.

"Stop it, you bunch of idiots! Supervision Team, separate them..."

Balats roared.

Even at this point, the infighting is still happening; he's powerless to stop it. This team really has some "pig teammates"—they're simply impossible to carry!

As it turns out, the lower-class Beastfolk, lacking sufficient intelligence, don't think things through once they're blinded by rage. The intervention of the Supervision Team simply added another group to the melee.

Commanding a large army in battle?

At this moment, it had become a joke. Even though it was an expeditionary force, Hudson could only mobilize his reserves that had not yet entered the battle, and the cavalry that were roaming the edge of the battlefield.

The troops, deeply embroiled in the battle, were now in complete disarray. Their usual training could only maintain small, ten-man teams of soldiers maintaining coordination.

Officers who can gather hundreds of soldiers are all highly capable. As for larger armies, it's not a matter of whether they want to or not, but rather that it's simply impossible in reality.

In an era when communication relied on shouting, once the army was in chaos, the limit of the soldiers that a front-line officer could directly command was the range of his voice.

Beyond this limit, soldiers can't even hear their officers' orders, let alone carry them out.

Without a doubt, in such a chaotic scene, no matter how many troops are deployed, they will soon be dragged into a massive brawl.

The more they do now, the more mistakes they make. For soldiers deeply involved in the battlefield, any order issued will trigger a new round of chaos.

Sending more troops is pointless, so let's just watch them slaughter everyone!

Those who survived this bloody battle were all veterans. Those who couldn't withstand the test of war and fell on the battlefield were simply unlucky.

In chaotic times, the least valuable thing is "life".

"Cease fire at the south gate and begin shelling from the other three gates. No need to aim, just fire wildly, the farther the shells go, the better!"

Count Martins suddenly gave the order.

The battle in the south of the city has progressed to the point where the two armies are already locked in a fierce melee. If the Magic Crystal Cannon continue to bombard the enemy, they will be attacking their own troops as well.

On the other three sides, however, it was completely dark and nothing could be seen. Adding some artillery fire would put even more psychological pressure on the Beastfolk army.

"Fight back with the Magic Crystal Cannon!"

Balats, in his desperation, gave the order.

This is the second time he has made a mistake. He just ordered the besieging troops to come and reinforce the city, and now he wants them to organize firepower to fight back. Both of these are major blunders.

Unfortunately, Balats had no choice but to do something as he watched his army crumble.

Despite the ongoing melee, the Beastfolk army in the central area has nowhere to run. More and more deserters are escaping from the outskirts, some even fleeing as tribes.

The Orc Empire was not very cohesive to begin with, and the army obeyed the orders of the Five Great Royal Families purely out of respect for the strong.

Normally, they are beasts who are exploited. Asking them to pledge their lives to the Orc Empire is clearly a deliberate attempt to make things difficult for the "beasts".

The magic lamps atop the city walls could not ultimately illuminate the entire battlefield. Too many unknowns lurked in the shadows.

Beastfolk soldiers kept fleeing, and reinforcements kept arriving from the other three sides of the city walls to fill the gaps. The collapsing battle was thus dragged on in a haphazard manner.

Unfortunately, Balats was not happy at all.

The scene was extremely chaotic. The Beastfolk army had committed all its forces, the expeditionary force still had reserves, and not all of the city's defenders had come out to fight.

The daylight will be their end, or perhaps they won't even have to wait for dawn.

Time ticked by, and the battlefield descended into complete chaos. By this point, even if Balats wanted to give an order, he wouldn't know who to pass it to.

All the commanders of his various legions had lost contact, leaving him, the commander-in-chief, with only his own tribe's personal guards to rely on.

The major crash finally arrived, but this time it was a bit too dramatic.

The increasing number of deserters led the arriving reinforcements astray, causing them to flee wildly through the darkness.

By the time the tribal chief realized they had strayed off course, it was too late. In the darkness, they couldn't find their troops at all. The chaotic army behind them pushed the troops in front of them away on their escape route, never to return.

Whether it was a coincidence or intentional, it no longer matters.

Without reinforcements, the Beastfolk soldiers exposed to the light quickly realized something was wrong.

If your comrades have all run away, anyone who stays to fight to the death is a fool.

They all rushed off, taking cover in the darkness and unafraid of the enemy's pursuers.

"Sound the retreat and treat the wounded!"

Hudson suddenly gave the order.

In the vast darkness, with only the faint light of the moon, he dared not order his troops to continue the pursuit.

Reason told him that if he sent his soldiers out to attack now, the number of those who would get lost by tomorrow morning would definitely be more than the number who would die in battle tonight.

As the battle progressed, the scattered Beastfolk soldiers had vanished without a trace, and regrouping them would be no easy task.

Moreover, all the siege weapons they carried were left outside the city, so even if they were rebuilt, they would lose the ability to threaten Dapes.

Hudson was speechless as he watched the soldiers collect Magic Crystal Cannon and ballistae. They were indeed very Beastfolk, much larger than any he had ever seen before.

The fact that they were able to transport so many large creatures is enough to prove how hard the Beastfolk worked.

Unfortunately, these burly machines were destined to be out of use for the expeditionary force and could only be given to the Moxi people as defensive equipment.

The Magic Crystal Stone and Magic Core that served as the energy emitters were most likely taken away by the Beastfolk, leaving none behind.

Hudson was greatly disappointed after searching all the Beastfolk camps but finding no valuable loot.

The pile of broken copper and scrap iron on the ground didn't interest him at all, so he simply left the cleanup work to the Moxi people.

"Your Excellency, a victory banquet has been prepared at the palace. Please..."

Before the visitor could finish speaking, Hudson interrupted, "We're tired today. Beastfolk reinforcements could arrive at any moment, and the expeditionary force still has follow-up work to handle."

I will not attend the victory banquet. Please convey my gratitude to His King for my sake!

The news of King Chris IX's illness was kept strictly confidential, and all decrees were still issued normally in the name of the King, without even Hudson knowing about them.

Hearing the rejection, Renato felt both embarrassed and relieved.

Refusing to attend the banquet was a minor matter; the key issue was that the expeditionary force did not request entry into the city. Military discipline was generally poor in those days, especially among visiting troops.

It's one thing if other places are ravaged, but Dapes Royal Capital. If it gets messed up, the losses will be devastating.

Even though the expeditionary force was rumored to be disciplined, the high-ranking officials of the Moxi Duchy dared not gamble.

They hadn't known how to refuse the expeditionary force entry into the city, but it turned out that Hudson had no intention of letting them in at all.

With his worries resolved, Renato became even more eager.

Unfortunately, Hudson wasn't a diplomat and had no interest in engaging in in-depth discussions with this Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Moxi Duchy, dismissing him with a few words.

Should we take this opportunity to deepen the friendship between the two countries?

That's a problem for the King and the Royal Capital in the capital to consider. As the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, all he needs to do is fight well.

Those in positions of authority should fulfill their responsibilities; meddling in others' affairs is not a good virtue. After all, Hudson is still a rookie coach.

His current position was earned through battle. His foundation within the kingdom is extremely unstable, and he has no right to be a powerful minister.

If it were a certain old noble family, they would probably already be in full charge of the affairs of the Moxi Duchy, taking as much of the pie as possible and leaving no chance for others.

In fact, Hudson is also making moves. However, he is doing so in a personal capacity to build goodwill, and it won't have any effect in the short term.

The harvest will come after the war ends. He may not be qualified to touch the overt political interests now, but that doesn't mean he can't get involved in the hidden commercial interests.

As a commander-in-chief, a certain aloofness is necessary. The more cold and indifferent one is in official business, the more warm and welcoming one is in private. Smart people understand each other without words.

The siege of Dapes is only halfway over. The real victory will come when we withstand the Beastfolk counterattack.

After seeing Renato off, Hudson was already secretly planning how to deal with the Behemoth Cavalry. This, too, was a battle against time.

All five Beastfolk Five Great Imperial Courts have sent reinforcements, the fastest of which will be at the gates of Dapes City in five days. The slowest are still building roads, and it's unknown when they will arrive, so they can be disregarded for now.

If they want to severely damage or annihilate the Behemoth Cavalry, they only have five days left, or even less.

News of tonight's battle will soon reach the Beastfolk Royal Court, and may very well prompt them to change their minds and send their cavalry ahead of the main force.

So what would normally be a five-day journey could be completed in two days at most. If one dared to run at breakneck speed, it wouldn't be surprising to reach the front lines in Hudson in a single day.

Of course, the probability of such a thing happening is extremely low. If they were to launch a long-distance raid, their combat effectiveness would be greatly reduced, and they could suffer heavy losses if they were not careful.

Taking advantage of the different arrival times of Beastfolk various orc reinforcements to create a gap is undoubtedly the best option.

Hudson had the confidence to plan this. The Beastfolk had reinforcements, and so did the Moxi Duchy.

Although the reinforcements from the southern provinces were defeated by the Behemoth Cavalry, no news of their complete annihilation has been received yet, which means the situation is not too bad.

Moreover, the other two reinforcements are still in good condition. In fact, they arrived a tiny bit faster than the Beastfolk army.

Even ignoring the regular army, the elite legions of the Moxi Duchy are always useful. The Knight Order, in particular, are the absolute main force.

If we can take advantage of our superior numbers and create a time gap for the enemy, turning the Beastfolk's encirclement plan into a piecemeal tactic, then it will be perfect.

Regardless of whether it can be achieved, a plan is always necessary. The success rate may be low, but what if the enemy is foolish?

Open a history book and you'll find that 99% of legendary battles were filled with a lot of fools.

On the contrary, those epic clashes rarely become legends. Unless there is an absolute difference in strength, the outcome of two strong opponents meeting is most likely to end in mutual destruction.

Bathed in the first rays of dawn, Prince Butzwig turned and glanced at the Behemoth Cavalry standing ready for battle. With a wave of his hand, he commanded, "The entire army, march forth and return to Dapes!"

Count Fedris, who had repeatedly considered ordering a full-scale attack to provoke the Behemoth Cavalry, ultimately resisted the temptation to watch them depart.

They are truly not to be trifled with. With the small number of cavalry he commands, if they anger the Behemoth Cavalry, few of them will survive.

As for the Behemoth Cavalry, let alone go and cause them trouble.

Suddenly, an eagle-man descended from the sky and landed in front of the Behemoth Cavalry. The bloodshot glint in his eyes revealed that he hadn't slept well the night before.

Despite the Eagleman's excellent eyesight, he still inevitably strayed from his course in the dark.

In order to deliver the intelligence as quickly as possible, all the eaglemen in the Beastfolk army, after suffering a major defeat, traveled day and night to search for Prince Butzwig's camp.

In the end, it was this messenger who had made the trip twice before who found the Behemoth army first.

"Quickly... quickly tell Prince Butzwig, the army... something happened last night!"

He fainted right after he finished speaking, thus successfully delivering the bad news to Prince Butzwig.

"Ritual, save them quickly!"

Upon receiving the news, Prince Butzwig hurriedly issued an order.

He could disregard the life or death of a single Eagleman, but he could not ignore the lives of the 300,000-strong besieging army.

Even if these troops were defined as cannon fodder from the beginning, they shouldn't be wasted so inexplicably.

As the ancient Ritual chants began, the eagle-man, who had been unconscious, slowly opened his eyes. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but suddenly stopped.

The Ritual in charge of the treatment changed his expression. He was only thinking about waking the person up as soon as possible, but he didn't expect that the side effects of the spell he cast would be too great, and he sent the person away directly.

He inwardly groaned, but outwardly remained composed, saying, "Your Highness, this eagle has been injured many times and its body is long since exhausted. It has now returned to the embrace of the Beast God!"

Having not obtained any useful information and wasting valuable travel time, Prince Butzwig looked quite displeased.

However, he was powerless to help the fearless Ritual. As an outsider, he had no right to speak on such professional matters.

"Keep going!"

As he spoke, he had already flipped and leaped onto the war beast.