May 10, 1999, dawn.
The winds of the grasslands, carrying dust and the stench of blood, swept across the vast plains before Blackstone Fortress from east to west. The two armies, like two dark, imposing iron clouds, slowly spread out under the rising sun.
Aldor and Steppe Royal Tent are about to clash here!
Paul stood on a makeshift command platform, with the red Alda dragon flag fluttering behind him. He looked down and saw the Ausser Army already arrayed on the gentle slope.
Thirty-three thousand officers and soldiers were neatly deployed. Soldiers from the 1st and 2nd Divisions formed neat double rows, their dark blue uniforms gleaming coldly in the morning light, and their Type 98 breech-loading rifles stood straight as a forest on their shoulders.
Instead of forming dense squares, the Ausser Army stretched out in a firing line nearly two miles long, with passageways between each battalion to facilitate rotation and support. Officers rode through the lines on horseback. Fifty cannons were lined up in front of the formation, muzzles slightly raised. The gunners had opened their ammunition boxes and put the fuses in place, waiting only for the order to unleash their thunderous fury.
On the right flank, Baron Andrew's 4th Division was deployed in an echeloned diagonal formation, which could both cover the flank of the main force and be ready to launch a counterattack at any time, while the cavalry led by Derrick Heller and Garrett Duke Ferdinand stood by on the left flank.
Opposite them, Steppe Royal Tent's army surged like a black tide across the plains. The 150,000 orc warriors did not have perfectly orderly ranks, but they possessed their own rough and ancient order.
At the forefront were heavily armored warriors wielding giant axes, the fiercest suicide squads of each tribe, gathered in dense charging formations by clan. Behind them were countless lightly armed mounted archers, their manes flying, bowstrings taut, ready to unleash a rain of arrows that blotted out the sky.
High in the center, Abar stood on a chariot pulled by eight black horses, a white wolf banner fluttering above his head. Surrounded by Zhaerge Clan's personal guards, all of them bare-chested and painted with totems on their foreheads, holding spears and round shields, as silent as mountains.
The orcs launched the first attack. With a deep blast of a bull horn, dozens of rough ballistae and catapults roared into action in front of the formation. The machines, made of whole logs and animal sinews, groaned and hurled burning oil canisters and spiked stones into the air.
Black smoke trailed in an arc as it crashed into the Ausser Army's position. However, compared to the meticulously crafted war machines that had inflicted casualties on the Ausser Army in previous battles, these so-called long-range weapons were nothing more than inferior products. Some landed on the slope and exploded in flames, while others missed their mark, creating scorched craters in the open ground.
The orcs' frenzied ranged barrage lasted for less than three rounds.
"Target: Enemy grenade launcher group, 1200 paces away, load shot!" The Ausser Army artillery commander calmly issued the order.
In an instant, fifty Cannons roared in unison, smoke billowed, and blazing white flames spewed from their muzzles. Explosive shells shot out and exploded in mid-air, turning into a metal storm that sent screams of agony as the ballistae and orcs operating them flying. Solid shot slammed into the orc siege array, scattering wood chips, bone fragments, and limbs everywhere.
The first volley overturned seven catapults on the right flank, and the second volley hit a cluster of ballistae positioned together, also causing a fire—the orcs had piled barrels of oil next to their equipment in case they needed to be kept burning, which now became their own grave.
"Left flank, second group, adjust elevation and fire thirty paces behind that wolf flag!" Artillery Commander Bryce shouted, holding up his binoculars.
Another volley of fire erupted, dust billowing into the sky, and the orcs' ranged firing positions were destroyed one after another.
Abar finally reached his breaking point. After fighting the Aldor for so long, he had long lost his former calm and patience.
He drew his battle axe from his waist, raised it high to the sky, and roared like thunder, "Charge! Kill every human you see!"
Immediately, the orcs' horns sounded, and the 150,000-strong orc army surged toward the Ausser Army's position like a blazing grassland.
At the forefront were tens of thousands of light and heavy cavalry, who were like a black cloud. The sound of their hooves blended into a rolling thunder, and the earth trembled as the earth trembled. The dust they swirled up rose several feet high, seemingly blotting out the sky and making even the sun appear dimmer.
Paul, with a look on his face, spoke to the messenger.
"Switch formation!"
The Ausser Army's originally long, straight lines quickly contracted, turned, and reorganized. More than 30,000 soldiers, organized into regiments, transformed into twelve massive hollow square formations in less than ten minutes, standing three hundred paces apart like steel fortresses on the grassland.
Two rows of soldiers on the outer side of each square, either with their rifle butts on the ground or holding their rifles horizontally, formed a forest of bayonets, while the soldiers on the inner side were loaded and ready to fire in rotation. Cannon was quickly dragged into cover between the squares to continue providing fire support.
The torrent of Orc Cavalry finally crashed into the first phalanx.
It was not a battle, but a clash of natural forces, like the giant waves of a tsunami crashing against the rocks on the shore!
The first wave of Orc Cavalry roared and charged within thirty paces, only to be thrown into disarray by a volley of fire. Metal-loaded bullets pierced their armor, even piercing two orcs charging side by side. The fallen corpses tripped the hooves of those following behind, and chaos spread instantly in the high-speed charge.
But the orcs were fearless, and the second and third waves followed one after another, like giant waves rising up one after another, frantically rushing towards the four corners of the formation. Some tried to use their battle axes to split the wall of bayonets, while others spurred their horses to leap up and try to break through from above.
But the Ausser Army's formation remained unmoved!
The bayonet wall was like a solid iron wall, and the bullets were more powerful than hail. Whenever a defensive line was under pressure, the inner circle soldiers would immediately fill the gap. The wounded were quickly dragged to the center of the formation and bandaged by the medics. The officers stood in the center of the formation, shouting commands to maintain the almost ruthless order of this army.
The giant waves of Orc Cavalry crashed, shattered, and rolled back again and again. Corpses piled up in a low ring around the phalanx, and blood seeped into the ground down the slope. Those cavalrymen who failed to break through the phalanx were forced to turn under the intense fire, weaving into the gaps between the Ausser Army phalanx like scattered streams, only to be quickly riddled with crossfire.
The orcs' charge finally exhausted itself. When the last wave of troops was torn to pieces by bayonets and volleys, only the mournful neighing of warhorses, the wailing of the wounded, and the pungent smell of burnt blood in the wind remained on the entire plain.
The raging tide of 150,000 troops crashed into the steel-like hollow square formation of the Ausser Army, leaving piles of corpses and rivers of blood. Abar stood on a distant high slope, watching helplessly as his warriors fell one after another like wheat, but the twelve silent fortresses remained unshaken.
Paul slowly drew his sword, pointing the tip forward.
"All troops advance!"
At the command to attack, the twelve square formations simultaneously disintegrated and reorganized, quickly transforming into an attack formation and advancing in three echelons. Cannon was also harnessed back to a draft horse and advanced under the cover of infantry to re-establish his position.
The Ausser Army cavalry, who had been waiting in formation, also began to move, rushing towards the scattered orc army.