Zhao Yan had fulfilled his promise.
The 1st Division had held on for the most difficult half an hour, but the price they paid was that less than 2,000 people of the entire division had successfully retreated. The remaining 10,000 or so of the best soldiers had all died on the spot.
The division commander, Zhao Yan, was seriously injured and unconscious. He was protected by his personal guards from the battlefield and luckily survived.
With the retreat of the 1st Division, the first line of defense of the camp was officially broken. The price the Allied Forces had paid was the loss of more than 40,000 soldiers.
The wooden wall was piled with corpses, making it difficult to pass through. The blood directly dyed the wooden wall bright red.
The allied commander breathed a sigh of relief after taking down the wooden wall.
Logically speaking, when a camp's wooden wall fell, it basically lost its defensive ability. In the following close combat, the allies had an absolute advantage in terms of military strength.
The allied commander was confident that they could take down the camp within a day.
Who would have thought that after crossing the wooden wall, they would see such a scene.
They saw that about a hundred meters away from the first wooden wall, a second wooden wall had been erected.
In the open space between the two walls, there was a 1.5-meter-deep trench every five meters. Between the trenches, there were also tunnels that connected the trenches vertically, forming a complete defensive system.
Barricades, arrow towers, and other fortifications were dotted like stars in the sky. At each key point, there were three bows and eight bulls ballistae or catapults.
What was even more terrifying was that there were thousands of archers hidden in the trenches.
This was the second line of defense of the camp, jointly guarded by the 3rd Division and the 2nd Division of the 3rd Division.
Due to the limited time to build the camp, Fan Lihua's design for the camp wasn't the usual square, but a long and narrow strip along the east and west.
The entire camp basically blocked the allied army's way south.
The allied army couldn't break through even if they wanted to. They had to completely uproot the camp before they could pass.
For this reason, Fan Lihua only deployed a large number of troops at the front, and at the same time arranged for the 5th Division to be responsible for covering the two flanks. The 4th Division was responsible for guarding the second wooden wall, which was also the last line of defense of the camp.
There wasn't even enough time to erect a complete wooden wall at the back of the camp.
Such an arrangement could be said to have utilized the resources to the extreme, achieving the optimal deployment of troops.
The three lines of defense were interlinked, advancing layer by layer, forming a huge chain formation.
One of the reasons why famous generals were famous was because of this. Whether it was marching arrangements, logistical calculations, or setting up camps, they were all proficient in all of them.
Of course, the scientific organization of Shanhai City's army also played a big role. It was precisely because every division was equipped with a specialized engineering unit that they were able to build such a stronghold so quickly.
This was a huge problem for the alliance.
"General, what should we do?" the adjutant asked.
The Allied commander's face darkened and he said in a deep voice, "What else can we do? Let's attack! "
After a short rest, the allied forces launched their second wave of attack.
Since the beginning of the battle, the attacks had not been going well.
The vast army crossed the wooden wall and entered the open space, engaging in close combat with the sword and shield soldiers guarding the area. At the same time, they had to withstand the surprise attacks from the archers in the trenches.
With the cover of the trenches, the crossbowmen were merciless meat reapers. Each of them turned into a sharpshooter and shot accurately at the enemies on the battlefield.
From time to time, there would be arrow towers and ballistae providing cover.
Therefore, it was extremely difficult for the allied forces to advance. Almost every trench was built with human lives. What was even more speechless was that sometimes a trench that had been taken with great difficulty would be taken back by the enemy in the blink of an eye.
At one time, the two armies went back and forth around the trenches four times.
On the second wooden wall, Fan Lihua looked down from above. From time to time, she would flexibly mobilize the army according to the rhythm of the battlefield. She would command the crossbowmen in the trenches to concentrate their firepower and annihilate the toughest enemy.
The secret of Fan Lihua's command was in the five colored flags.
Every trench in the defensive area had been divided into three sections in advance: east, west, and west.
Therefore, each section had a specific area number.
Through different combinations of flags, Fan Lihua could convey different military orders. She could even do some of the more complicated military orders, such as commanding the crossbowmen in the middle of the second trench to support the west.
There were special messengers in the trenches who would timely change the target of attack according to the command of the colored flags.
In this way, the entire command was like a beautiful concert. Every note was a sharp killing weapon; every melody was a ghost song that took away lives.
Although the 'music' was beautiful, the scene was extremely cruel.
Under this formation, the vast allied army became restricted and could not display their advantage in terms of military strength. Close to a hundred thousand cavalrymen became like decorations and did nothing.
Until noon, the second line of defense was still as stable as a rock.
The terrifying thing was that another twenty thousand allied soldiers had been completely buried here. In just one morning, a fifth of the two hundred and fifty thousand allied soldiers had been wiped out.
More than seventy percent of them had died in the hands of the crossbowmen.
According to incomplete statistics, in just one morning, the Third Legion had used up one hundred and fifty thousand arrows. If not for the perfect logistics system established by Shanhai City's Combat Division, this alone would have been very difficult.
If one did not experience it personally, one would not be able to imagine the cruelty of war.
Behind the fifty thousand dead soldiers were fifty thousand families, and more than two hundred thousand people were implicated. The total population was comparable to that of two fully populated third-class counties.
In the wilderness, this was extremely terrifying.
In just one morning, the war had destroyed the dreams of fifty thousand families.
…
Baishi City, on top of the southern gate tower.
"What's going on? There's no progress at all?" Ruan Ping summoned the frontline commander and scolded him.
In the eyes of Ruan Ping and the others, taking down the wooden wall was not a battle achievement.
"This general is ashamed!"
The allied commander did not dare to refute.
"Don't be stingy with your troops. Press forward with all your strength. We must break through the enemy's camp in the afternoon," Ruan Ping ordered.
There were some things that Ruan Ping could not say too directly. He could not tell the frontline commander that the lords were not stingy with their troops and that their goal was not to win, but to destroy the Fan Lihua Army and take revenge on Shanhai City.
If he really said that, the frontline troops would immediately be in chaos.
NPC soldiers were not just a pile of data. Every soldier had their own thoughts and complete experiences. If they knew the calculations behind this war, they would probably lose all fighting spirit.
How could a group of soldiers without fighting spirit talk about defeating the enemy?
"Yes, sir!"
The allied commander's voice was hoarse. He seemed to have noticed something from the strange expressions of the lords. His heart turned cold, and he did not dare to continue thinking about it.
Looking at the commander's back, Ruan Ping was a little lost in thought.
It was not that Ruan Ping and the other lords were radical, but that they understood their opponent, Shanhai City, very well. This was especially true after the destruction of the Teleportation Formation this time around.
Shanhai City's actions were bold and unconstrained, but they were also extremely meticulous.
Once they attacked, they would not give the enemy a chance to turn the tables. They would use all their strength to consolidate the fruits of victory. As such, the allied forces did not have much time left.
Ruan Ping was really worried that if they dragged on, the other armies of Shanhai City would already be at the city. Facing such an opponent, Ruan Ping did not dare to have any thoughts of luck.
"If we can fight, then fight!"
…
In the afternoon, the war continued.
With Ruan Ping's words, the allied commander steeled his heart and decided to use his troops to buy time. For this, the commander did not hesitate to arrange for a team of supervisors to force the soldiers to charge forward.
"Anyone who dares to retreat will be killed without mercy!"
Apart from this, the commander also set up a reward. "Whoever is the first to reach the second wooden wall will be rewarded with 5,000 gold coins and promoted to Brigade Commander."
With such a generous reward, there would definitely be brave men.
The allied soldiers who did not know what was going on howled as they stepped on the corpses of their companions and charged forward. No matter how fierce the rain of arrows was, it could not stop their desire for glory and wealth.
The soldiers of the Third Army clearly felt that the enemy's attacks were becoming fiercer.
"What a bunch of freaks!"
The commander of the Second Army was Song Jia's younger brother, Song Wu.
Although Song Wu was stupid, he was really a fierce general. For the entire morning, Song Wu charged at the front line. During the battle, he was stabbed in the thigh by the enemy, and after bandaging the wound, he rushed back.
Other people did not leave the front line with light injuries, but Song Wu did not leave the battlefield even when he was heavily injured. If not for the unique physique of players and Song Wu's deep internal energy, he probably would not have been able to hold on.
In the afternoon, it was still the same.
Seeing that the allied forces had suffered such heavy casualties, they still charged forward. Song Wu could not understand.
This was the fundamental difference between the armies of the wilderness and the armies of ancient times.
The armies of Shanhai City were all professional soldiers, and the elites of the other territories were the same.
The feudal lords were not fools. They knew that if they did not form professional armies, they would not be able to stand on the same level as the armies of the other territories.
Because of this, the war in the wilderness was far crueler than in ancient times.
For example, the allied forces had lost one-fifth of their troops, but they still maintained high morale.
"Damn it, they are really going all out!" Song Wu spat.
The last division commander to say this was Zhao Yan of the First Army. Until now, Zhao Yan had not woken up yet.
He just did not know what kind of fate the Second Army and Third Army would face.
The fierce fighting was endless.
The air was filled with a strong smell of blood. If it was an ordinary person, they would vomit when they smelled it. Even some of the soldiers who were still fighting couldn't stand such a strong smell.
Of course, there were also exceptions.
Some soldiers with special physiques, under the stimulation of blood energy, were filled with killing intent. Their blood boiled, and they gradually lost their minds.
All that was left was the desire to kill.
This war was entering the most critical moment.
As the saying goes, the first drum of spirit, the second was weak, and the third was exhausted.
This was the Alliance's most intense, most reckless, and most morale-boosting wave of attack.
Now, it all depended on whether the Third Army could withstand this wave.
Success or failure depended on this!
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