486: Chapter 78, New Plan _1 486: Chapter 78, New Plan _1 Trudging along with intermittent rests, Bruno and, to be more precise, the whole Orc Army, were filled with restrained anger.
The route is littered with traps, they had stepped on more pits these few days than they had ever stepped on in half of their life.
The most frustrating part was that according to the intel from the Hawkman scouts, there was still a team ahead causing destruction.
While the Expeditionary Army was fighting on the frontlines, several engineering corps were left behind to carry out sabotage.
The more difficult the route was to navigate, the more extensive the sabotage was.
Especially those sections near water sources were not only full of holes but also flooded, turning them into muddy roads.
If it weren’t for the Hawkmen’s reconnaissance, I suppose dam-building and flooding the army could have been implemented.
While the flooding of the entire army didn’t occur, water flowing onto the path was unavoidable.
The poor road conditions significantly slowed down the advance of the Orc Army.
The distance that the Expeditionary Army covered in five and a half days took them four days to cover just under a third of it.
Such a slow pace was mainly due to road repairs.
They had no choice but to repair the road.
As the nearest relief army, they were also burdened with the important task of escorting the logistical supplies.
The war had reached a stage where the Moxi Duchy, whether passively or proactively, had implemented a scorched earth strategy in the combat zone.
The various Noble Castles they passed on their way were all empty.
They either went to defend Dapes City or joined the various armies.
The Duty to Guard the Land does not mean that one cannot be flexible.
As soon as the King issued a Conscription, the original job limitations were no longer a problem.
The flexibility of the Moxi People put the Orc Army in a tight spot.
The nobles massively destroyed the supplies they could not carry with them when they withdrew.
Whether they poisoned food supplies or lit a fire to destroy everything, even if there were some left over, it had already been grabbed by the armies before.
In order to acquire more supplies, the Orc Army could only resort to looting in more distant areas.
The Orc Army besieging Dapes numbered more than three hundred thousand.
One could imagine the consumption of food supplies by such a large army.
Local areas had long been ravaged.
One hundred miles around Dapes City, one does not expect to see smoke from the human settlements.
Even if the range is expanded to three hundred miles, there are only some military fortresses left.
Common serfs or freemen had either fallen under the blade or had already fled.
Unable to obtain ample supplies in the occupied areas, they could only gather food from the rear.
After all, not all Orcs could survive by chewing on leaves or eating bark.
Without sufficient nutritional supplementation, they simply couldn’t sustain high-intensity combat.
It was originally thought that the Bearman Imperial Court was the closest to Dapes and should have been the first to send over some emergency supplies.
Regrettably, the first team which should have arrived is now at the very back of the pack.
Bruno had several times wanted to order the army to bypass, but considering the reality, he eventually gave up.
People could take detours, but war beasts and carts couldn’t.
Besides, the time it would take to detour may not be much less than the time it would take to repair the road.
Who asked them to be outsiders?
With all the people gone, there wasn’t even a guide.
It was alright to continue walking along the main road, but if they ventured onto the small paths and lost their way, then it would really be embarrassing.
Bruno’s mood worsened on seeing the appearance of a strange Hawkman.
His intuition told him that this was someone who had come to rush him to speed up again.
He also wanted to hurry on his way to get revenge against the Expeditionary Army, but the problem was that they must now first repair the road!
…
As the army marched on, when they were about thirty miles away from Dapes, the Bimon Cavalry finally encountered the Orc Soldiers in a frantic fleeing.
The Bimon Army officer leading the front was a smart fellow, he knew what his prince wanted right now.
As soon as he saw the fleeing soldiers, he caught and brought them to Prince Butzweig.
“Tell me, what happened in Dapes?”
Facing the sharp gaze of Prince Butzweig, several unlucky soldiers were dumbfounded and stood motionless.
“Idiots, didn’t you hear me ask you a question?”
Prince Butzweig grabbed one of the unlucky fellows and scolded angrily.
As a high-ranking Bimon prince, speaking to these lowly species was a huge favor.
It was simply unforgivable that these creatures dared to daze off.
“Your… Your Highness, we…we don’t know anything!
Everything went dark, and then the army collapsed, we really don’t know what happened.”
Getting a confused answer, Prince Butzweig threw away the fellow in his hand, causing him to fly through the air.
After hearing a “thud” sound, he landed seven or eight meters away, twitched instinctively for a while, then fell completely silent.
Nobody would even think about saving him, now no one dares anger the Prince.
It was just a lowly Boar Person, he wasn’t worth anything.
“What about you guys?
Are you like this stupid pig, not knowing anything?”
From Prince Butzweig’s murderous gaze, several Boar People could smell danger.
The one who was chosen could only tremblingly answer: “No…
Your Highness.
I remember that at dusk yesterday, the Expeditionary Army appeared on the battlefield and immediately launched an attack.
The commander ordered half of the army to intercept the Expeditionary Army, and then the city’s defenders also came out and attacked us from both sides.
Then it got dark, the enemy put a large light on the city wall, illuminating the battlefield like day.