Three Thousand Against One Hundred Thousand?

Dud galloped up, offering a salute to Porter from a distance. "Chief of Staff Porter, the Second Legion is undergoing routine training!"

"Routine training?" Porter, intrigued, tip-toed his way around the camp. Dud followed close behind, gesturing towards the chaotic walls and tunnels. Gnawing on his fingernails, Porter muttered, "This certainly *looks* like routine training..." He then pointed at the recovered wounded soldiers, who were changing into black-armored uniforms emblazoned with the Lotus Seal. "But what about *them*?"

Dud remained silent.

Porter shot Dud a sidelong glance. "Your training methods are one thing, but expanding the Second Legion... Durkes City boasts the finest welfare benefits in Lanning. Everyone's scrambling to become Newin citizens! Your godfather has always strictly controlled the population of his territory! Enlisting nearly two thousand people into the military and granting them citizenship without approval, Dud, what exactly are you planning? This goes beyond mere military matters!"

Dud remained silent still.

Porter pressed on, "Hey, come on, spill the beans! If you don't tell me, I'll just go ask your godfather!" He blinked his large eyes, putting his hands on his hips, and fixed Dud with a stare.

Dud suddenly pulled a map from his warhorse's saddlebag. "As expected, nothing escapes Lord Porter's keen eye!" He unrolled the map in the snow. "This is a chart of the evolving battlefront since the war began, please take a look, my lord..."

As Porter listened to Dud's explanation, his eyes widened progressively. "That scoundrel Arges, he's actually using us as bait?!" Porter's small, flushed face puffed up with anger. "Dud, you're temporarily expanding the army and erecting fortifications because you mean to..."

Dud suddenly beat his chest. "Your Lordship has not guessed wrong. Please, my lord, grant me this!"

Porter stamped his foot. "Absolutely not! How can you risk Francis like this? That big idiot knows nothing about military strategy!" He rubbed his hands together. "Come on, let's go see Francis! We need to quickly arrange for the Second Legion and the wounded to evacuate this trap!"

Dud did not rise, but instead growled, "My lord, Dud has absolute certainty of completely annihilating the invading enemy!"

Porter was startled by his roar. He turned back to face him as Dud lightly brushed away the snowflakes from the map, revealing the battle situation more clearly.

Currently, the battle lines were stretched across a thousand li. On such a vast expanse of land, Lanning's million-strong army and the beastmen's six great legions, totaling eight hundred and thirty thousand troops, no longer seemed so formidable. Within this chaotic mess like scattered sand, however, the terrain and situation around the Lanning Command Post were surprisingly clear!

This clarity stemmed from the simple topography of the vast plains. To the west of the Lanning Command Post lay the Star River, the mother river of southern Einz, while the other three sides were entirely frozen grasslands. A single Star River providing water for the army, a stretch of grassland – that was all; there was no complex terrain whatsoever!

Dud's voice was low and cold. "My lord, observe! My Command Post is backed by the deep defensive line of Heaven's Ocean Pass! To the north are fifty thousand beastmen from the combined forces of the Bear and Tiger tribes. To the west, a tributary of the Star River is blockaded by twenty thousand Serpent tribe forces. And to the east, Charles's Second Division is defending against seventy thousand beastmen main forces, which include three thousand Golden Behemoths in their battle array!"

Porter grew interested, stopping in his tracks. Eating a sour plum, he asked, crouching, "So what?"

Dud said coldly, "In my judgment, once the beastmen take the bait, they will dispatch their fifty thousand Bear and Tiger combined forces from the front to cut off our defensive positions horizontally, linking up with the twenty thousand Serpent tribe forces to our west. They will coordinate by land and water, advancing down the Star River! Meanwhile, their main forces in the east will use the Golden Behemoth Battle Array to clear a path, fully assaulting Charles's Second Division. Then, these two armies will converge from east and west to pincer our Command Post! Excluding the peripheral forces the beastmen must leave behind to resist our reinforcements, this time, there should be around one hundred thousand beastmen assaulting our Command Post, including the Ninth-rank sacred artifact of war specifically used by the Golden Behemoth Battle Array – the Thick Earth Cannon!"

Porter frowned. "But our Command Post only has one Legion under your command, and a portion of them are recently recovered wounded! Dud, three thousand against one hundred thousand – are you joking with me, or do you truly have the confidence to create a miracle on the battlefield?"

Dud stared at the map, as cold and ruthless as ever. "War does not believe in jokes, much less miracles! Dud only believes in himself!"

Porter slapped the map with a "smack." "Give me a reason to believe you!"

Dud slowly raised his head; his half-closed eyes opened a sliver, and a crimson glow flashed within them. "Lord Porter, please take a look at the weather, then at the terrain, and finally, at the fortifications Dud has laid out..."

...

Inside his tent, Du Chen remained completely unaware of the unfolding events outside. His primary concern was how much profit he could 'bloom' from this new batch of incoming wounded soldiers.

Just then, Marshal Arges sent word to all General-rank officers at the Command Post: due to the ineffective supervision of the front-line Generals, he would secretly depart to inspect the front lines, accompanied only by high-ranking Generals and his Retainer guards. All other civilian staff and logistical support troops, such as the Second Legion, were to diligently perform their duties in the Marshal's absence and absolutely must not make any mistakes!

The order specifically warned Du Chen: if he dared to make any mistakes, he would face military tribunal upon the Marshal's return!

Du Chen scoffed at this. Not having to see Arges's detestable face was, in fact, cause for celebration. The Lanning Command Post passed the day according to its usual rhythm; everything was as usual, with no anomalies whatsoever. Oh, except for the Second Legion, which was still "undergoing routine training"!

A few days later, as night fell, Du Chen, having just propagated the doctrines of Du Chen, the Divine, alongside Deboning in the army mess hall, was making his way back to his tent.

Snow fell heavily, already blanketing the resplendent General's stars on Du Chen's shoulder. He gently brushed away the snowflakes, listening to the distant rumbling while the snow beneath his feet crunched softly. "Deboning, have you seen Porter? Why has that rascal been nowhere to be seen all day?"

A faint smile played on Deboning's lips – he had just been revered as an idol by the soldiers for quite a while. "Porter went to the camp this morning, to assist Dud with routine training!" He furrowed his brow slightly. "Young Master, the tremors from the eastern front are extremely intense. Charles's Second Division must be under considerable pressure!"

Du Chen also looked towards the west, but his words differed from Deboning's. "Charles is at least fifty li from us, yet the cannon fire can be heard all the way here. One can only imagine how brutal the front lines must be. No rest tonight. Soon, a large number of wounded will undoubtedly be sent..."

*Clang, clang, clang, clang...*

A rapid succession of alarm bells interrupted Du Chen's words. Immediately after, two men, covered in wounds, galloped into the camp on swift horses, their chaotic hoofbeats hammered at their hearts. "Brothers, run! The Second Division's defensive line has been breached! The Golden Behemoth Battle Array is less than thirty li from us!" Their voices were heart-wrenching. They were scouts from the Command Post, who had also been kept in the dark!

Almost simultaneously, two wounded soldiers, dressed as logistical personnel, rushed into the Command Post camp from the west. "The beastmen have suddenly reinforced their troops along the Star River to the west! Tens of thousands of beastmen have broken through the defenses and are charging this way!"

Du Chen's expression changed dramatically. "Deboning, immediately inform Dud, tell him he absolutely must lead his troops in a breakthrough! Of my fifteen hundred brothers, at least... at least a thousand of them must be brought back!" He leaped and soared towards the camp. From high above, he looked down to see the dense walls below, like a labyrinth. In the blink of an eye, he looked up again, and faintly visible in the sky were the beastmen's griffin battle teams. He cursed, "Damn these annoying obstacles! Deboning, you and I will team up and clear a path for our brothers!"

From a bird's eye view, to the east, a vanguard of golden behemoths led the beastmen legion, advancing like an iron flood. To the west, tens of thousands of water serpents raised their heads, flicking their tongues as they surged downstream, while on the riverbanks, tens of thousands of Bear and Tiger beastmen roared, clearing Lanning's fortifications as effortlessly as slicing melons and dicing vegetables, without the slightest pause in their steps! Yet their target – the Lanning Command Post – contained only the Second Legion, over a hundred abandoned civilian officers, a small number of peripheral alert forces, and the temporary fortifications hastily constructed with ice and snow in just one day!

"Dammit, what are the front-line troops doing? We still have a thirty thousand strong army near our Command Post! Why have the beastmen broken through so quickly!?"

"Stop whining, hurry up and go! The scouting brothers just said the beastmen have brought at least one hundred thousand this time, one hundred thousand!"

"It's over, we're finished. Just now I saw that yellow glow... it's the Ninth-rank Thick Earth Cannon! It's the Golden Behemoth Battle Array that's coming; we can't escape..."

"Stop your damn crying! Can't you see yet? We're the abandoned bait! Damn it, let's fight! Even if we die, we'll drag a couple down with us!"

The abandoned civilian officers and alert forces instantly fell into disarray. Yes, they were well-trained soldiers, but being abandoned by their Marshal and facing the fate of being slaughtered by one hundred thousand beastmen completely shattered their psychological defenses. Within the vast Command Post, the civilian officers burst out of their tents like a boiling pot, scattering and fleeing, but the moment they stepped outside, they were met by a confusing maze of ice walls and earthen passages.

Just then, a cold voice rang out, "Follow the markings on the ice walls, proceed along the passages, and the underground tunnels will lead you safely out of here!"

Though the voice was cold, to their ears, it was no less than the sound of heavenly music!

Du Chen also heard it. He had just arrived at the Second Legion's encampment, and upon seeing the situation before him, he was momentarily stunned. All the wounded soldiers had donned the Lotus Seal insignia of the Durkes City Defense Force. Alongside the men of the Second Legion, each held a military spike between their teeth, crouched low behind the fortifications, uniformly armed with crescent halberds. Compared to the rumbling footsteps and cannon fire of the beastmen outside, it was deathly silent here!

Dud's eyes were slightly closed, his halberd held horizontally, his cloak billowing as he stood before the battle array. "The Second Legion, with its full complement of three thousand warriors, stands ready to completely annihilate the invading beastmen for my godfather!"