Deference
The Northern Expeditionary Army was troubled, and internal disputes also arose within the Beastfolk army. The Northern Expeditionary Army was blocked, but how to deal with it next had become a problem.
Defeating the enemy is not difficult; the difficulty lies in defeating the enemy in a short period of time while ensuring that one's own strength is not greatly diminished.
Forced by the circumstances, the Five Great Imperial Courts couldn't even afford to fight amongst themselves. They had originally planned to seek an explanation from the Behemoth Clan, but now they had no choice but to cancel that plan.
The only change was that the Behemoth Clan had fallen from the top of the Five Great Royal Families to the bottom. This was something that the new Behemoth Emperor, Alex, had brought up himself.
There was no other way; in the previous battle of the Imperial Courts, the Behemoth Clan had suffered heavy losses and could no longer suppress the other four Imperial Courts.
Rather than being driven off, it's better to back down voluntarily. Besides, the old Behemoth Emperor has made a huge mess this time, and he needs to appease the other four royal courts.
"The situation is not good. Many large tribes have moved away, as if they are deliberately avoiding us. I guess they have noticed something."
In the past ten days or so, our people have been experiencing one accident after another. We initially thought it was the work of the humans, but judging from the current situation, it seems that these large tribes are also involved.
They no longer take the imperial summons seriously; it seems they're planning to wait until we've fought a bloody battle with the humans before jumping in to reap the benefits.
The Eagle Emperor said with a livid face.
The Orc Empire was a mixed bag, with all races nominally bearing the name of Beastfolk, but in reality, each race looked after its own interests.
With the Five Great Imperial Courts severely weakened, their subordinates couldn't hold back any longer. Their hasty intervention wasn't due to a lack of patience, but rather the ruthlessness of the Five Great Royal Families.
If one obediently accepts the conscription, their fate will be to be slowly worn down in the struggle against the human race.
Throughout the millennia, every major war between the two races has been a time of misfortune for the tribes below.
Countless powerful races were sent to the battlefield as cannon fodder, which is why the brutal rule of the Five Great Royal Families has been able to remain standing.
It was obvious that everyone had had enough, and upon seeing the opportunity to break free from the rule of the Five Great Royal Families, they immediately took action.
However, the Five Great Imperial Courts had accumulated too much power over time, so the choice they made was to avoid them rather than confront them directly.
If these tribes dare to gamble, taking advantage of the fact that the main forces of the Five Great Royal Families are away, we can slaughter their entire tribe and bring them down.
Alex was extremely embarrassed; this was again his father's fault. Losing the battle was bad enough, but he hadn't even managed to eliminate his cannon fodder troops in time—they were practically digging holes and planting mines.
"This is a conspiracy by the human race. Since they cannot defeat us head-on, they are trying to divide the empire from within."
We cannot sit idly by and wait to be defeated; we must launch a fierce counterattack and show the enemy what strength they have!
Crown Prince Alex tried to deflect blame.
Having encountered a father who specializes in harming his son, this is all he can do now.
Forget about the parts that can't be cleared up; as for these uncertain charges, we'll try to shift the blame and deflect responsibility whenever possible.
"Alex, don't get so worked up. We do need to retaliate, but we have to carefully consider where to start."
The current situation is not about how many human soldiers we kill, but about stabilizing the Orc Empire first.
The tribes currently exhibiting unusual behavior are only a portion of the Beastfolk race; if this situation continues, many more large tribes will follow suit.
The Lion Emperor said calmly.
As the war has progressed, all Five Great Royal Families have suffered significant losses, but the Lionmen have suffered the least damage.
In previous important battles, the Lionmen did not make a significant appearance and consequently suffered few losses.
This incredible luck was truly the envy of the other Four Great Royal Clans. Unfortunately, envy couldn't change the fact that the Lionmen's influence within the Orc Empire had greatly increased.
If it weren't for the lack of convincing achievements, the position of leader would have belonged to the Lion Emperor.
Logically, the Lion Emperor should be strongly advocating for war at this moment, in order to eliminate the Alpha Kingdom's Northern Expeditionary Army force and lay the foundation for his ascension to the top.
The current situation is clearly not like that. Warlikeness is innate, but that doesn't mean the Lion Emperor lacks political acumen.
The human army must fight, but stabilizing the rear is clearly more important. It's true that humans and Beastfolk are sworn enemies, but that doesn't mean they can't cooperate in the short term.
If the unstable elements within the Orc Empire were to collude with the humans, it would be the end for all five races.
As the dominant species on the continent, the human race cannot tolerate "a powerful Orc Empire".
If each race can establish its own independent state and dismantle the Orc Empire from within, they will lose their value in being suppressed by the Human Alliance.
On this issue, the smaller clans below might be able to compromise with the human race, but the Five Great Royal Families are not.
On the vast plains, the two armies remained locked in a stalemate. It was as if the arrival of the Beastfolk army had had no impact on the battlefield whatsoever.
The strategy of "encircling without attacking" only on one side still put pressure on Marshal Campbell.
There was no other way; as time went on, more and more Beastfolk fodder troops gathered.
"The Beastfolk have split up their forces. Are you sure you didn't see wrong?"
Marshal Campbell asked in surprise.
The Northern Expeditionary Army is no weakling; its overall strength is at least 60% of the Beastfolk army. To dare to divide its forces and leave—who do they think they are?
"Marshal, rest assured, we have sent people to verify this intelligence three times, and we also had the scouts record it with Projection Stone."
Preliminary estimates suggest that at least 80,000 Beastfolk soldiers have left. Judging from the direction of the enemy army's movements, they are likely returning to their home base.
Perhaps something happened in the rear of the Orc Empire, forcing them to divide their forces and return.
The middle-aged officer's words only confused Marshal Campbell more.
The upheaval in the rear of the Orc Empire is a topic completely beyond our scope. Nothing like this has happened in the past few centuries.
Even though they knew the Orc Empire was riddled with internal conflicts, it had never caused any major chaos in the countless years that had passed.
Experienced commanders are often constrained by their rich experience; when faced with such an unexpected event, Marshal Campbell's first reaction was to be on high alert.
"Pass down the order to all units to be on high alert. Immediately begin slaughtering the livestock, reserving the precious fodder for the warhorses. We must prepare for a prolonged standoff with the enemy!"
Send men to monitor the Beastfolk group's movements and find out their true intentions as soon as possible.
Bathed in the spring sunshine, the Southeast Front Army once again embarked on its journey. Logically speaking, after more than a year of continuous fighting, it was time for the Southeast Front Army to rest and recuperate.
However, there are always exceptions. With the kingdom in crisis and the Southeast Front Army playing the role of savior, it was natural that they could not return to rest.
The army advanced steadily, growing ever larger. Caesar III issued another mobilization order, including the severely weakened Fengyun Province and the seven provinces in the southeastern part of the kingdom.
The issue of prisoners of war caused some delays, but the mobilization in various provinces was almost complete.
As expected, the fourteen army corps mobilized from the seven southeastern provinces were assigned to the Southeast Front Army.
With an additional 140,000 troops, Hudson felt no joy. His intuition told him that this was just the beginning, and more rabble would be assigned to his command.
The biggest difference between having many soldiers and having few soldiers is that if the former loses a battle, it's because the commander is incompetent, while if the latter loses a battle, it's understandable.
If he were allowed to reorganize the defenses, these serf soldiers who had only received basic military training could still be used to some extent.
Expecting him to lead a large army to relieve the northern expeditionary force would be a complete sham.
One can only hope that those guys in Royal Capital didn't get carried away and issue a stupid order.
Out of concern for the future situation, Hudson decisively chose to concede defeat. Apart from briefly tightening military discipline, he essentially let things drift.
The expanded Southeast Front Army, in terms of marching speed, perfectly exemplified the disorganized nature of a rabble.
Traveling fifty or sixty li a day is a thing of the past. The current Southeast Front Army has halved its marching speed.
Their snail-paced progress would have led to Hudson ordering his Supervision Team to kill them long ago, had it been in the past.
For now, it's better to be slower. Ideally, the Alliance's first reinforcements would arrive at the front lines just in time.
If the Northern Expeditionary Army still fails to break through, then joining forces to relieve the siege shouldn't be too much of a problem.
If the front lines were to suffer a defeat, Hudson would have no choice but to accept it. He wanted to preserve the kingdom's resources, but his own strength did not allow it.
"My lord, the King's envoy has arrived again."
Hearing the word "again" sent chills down Hudson's spine. Now, just seeing Count Lauren annoyed him; that guy would just keep nagging and nagging.
"Please invite Count Lauren in!"
No matter how unhappy he was, he still had to see the person. The person represented the King; Hudson wasn't that "courageous" to simply turn them away.
Caesar III was not someone to be trifled with; once you offended him, he had a multitude of methods to deal with you.
So many powerful nobles in the kingdom had been subdued and rendered powerless. Countless tragic examples lay before him, and Hudson was unwilling to repeat those mistakes.
"Your Excellency Count Hudson, I bring you new orders from His Majesty the Great Caesar III."
From this moment forward, the Southeast Front Army will be reorganized into the Central and Southern Front Army, with you as its Commander-in-Chief, responsible for the unified command of the newly formed legions in the central and southern provinces of the kingdom.
After announcing the King's new decree, and seeing that Hudson did not react, Count Lauren couldn't help but remind him, "Count Hudson, what do you think?"
Look, what are you looking at!
At this juncture, the newly mobilized legions are all trash troops with the worst combat strength in the kingdom.
I don't know who gave Caesar III the confidence to believe that he could command such a rabble.
The mere rabble of over 100,000 men from the seven southeastern provinces was enough to make him give up, but now another 200,000 have arrived. Are they trying to kill us?
"Count Lauren, please convey my message to His Majesty the King: Hudson's abilities are limited; he is not capable of commanding the Central and Southern Army. Please ask him to select someone more capable!"
The sincerity in his tone surprised Count Lauren. There are commanders who complain about having too many soldiers, but genuinely, they are few and far between.
Hudson wasn't very enthusiastic about transferring troops from the southeastern provinces last time, but he still accepted it. This time, however, he refused outright.
"Your Excellency Count Hudson, please don't say that! The kingdom is in dire straits and needs a capable general like you to serve the country."
They were all forced into it. The most important thing for King is to maintain a balance. Originally, Caesar III had no intention of handing over so many troops to Hudson.
Previously, the commanders of the Southwest Front Army and the Central Front Army were appointed, but unfortunately, those two were really incompetent and caused a lot of trouble on the way.
"An army marches like a comb" is no joke. Especially a motley crew of soldiers, whose destructive power is astonishing.
As expected, both the Southwest Front Army and the Central Front Army demonstrated the destructive power of a mob through their actions.
The Southeast Front Army, the only one that hadn't run into problems, suddenly stood out from the crowd. In stark contrast, Caesar III immediately decided to replace them.
The newly formed corps had terrible discipline, and in addition to a lack of training, another important reason was a severe shortage of qualified officers.
In other words, there weren't enough capable noble sons. The rest were a bunch of spoiled brats who had been forcibly conscripted into the army.
A group of incompetent officers, along with a motley crew of soldiers, led to the tragic scene of "the army being swept away like a comb."
The families of many nobles were brutally murdered by the marauding soldiers, even though these nobles were fighting on the front lines.
Such a major event could not be ignored by the kingdom. The commander-in-chief, who was directly responsible, should naturally be dismissed, and those involved in the rebellion must also be held accountable.
After all the commotion, the space was cleared out. Knowing it was a mess, the bigwigs in the Royal Capital naturally yielded to the available space.