Chapter 382, Blockade, Induction, Surrounding
The rats were very concerned about this battle, and there was almost no delay, conspiracy, or hypocrisy.
As soon as the sentry tower was cleared, the other three rat warlords on the battlefield all rushed to the battlefield.
However, some preparations and time were needed before the absolute main force arrived.
One by one, the big claw priests began to be active in the ruins, repairing roads and building bridges to provide the huge steam tanks with rapid passage.
During this period, the vanguard began to move forward.
The vanguard was almost all composed of rat warriors. Driven by rat priests or war priests, they gathered together and moved towards the center of the battle, the extremely solid fortress city.
On the human side, the defenders stationed in the Flame City did not sit idly by and watch all this happen. Many reconnaissance teams and various exquisite creations floating in the sky appeared on the battlefield and began to try to lock on any valuable or threatening ratmen.
Soon, the movements of the ratmen were determined.
There was almost no doubt that this was definitely a comprehensive and large-scale mobilization. In all directions and corners, no matter where they were, the ratmen were moving forward.
A ratman priest who was mixed in with the ratman warriors was dissatisfied with the magic energy reconnaissance machine hovering in the sky and this buzzing little thing. As he waved his staff, the sharp flying stone successfully hit the small ball floating in the sky. The human reconnaissance machine landed while spinning and exploded a large spark the moment it landed.
There was some panic among the rat warriors, and several unlucky ones were affected by such an explosion, but the rat priest did not feel anything wrong at all, and was proud of the accuracy of his spells.
Soon, such turmoil was quelled.
The rat team began to move forward again.
After Black Hair and his Storm Rat Squad cleaned up the sentry towers, there was no obstacle to the march.
The rat army that came from all directions belonged to three different rat warlords. After abandoning war equipment and various heavy weapons, they gathered at their respective locations in just two or three days.
This huge industrial city of humans, a solid fortress, a city that was as hard to eat as a hedgehog, was served on a plate in advance in the joint blockade of the three rat warlords.
The rats did not rush to launch an attack, and there were still many things that had not been prepared.
Lightning towers were built around this human city.
Various fortifications, underground tunnels, and transportation networks have all entered the laying stage.
There are two most important things in this phase of the rat people.
One is the lightning towers that have entered the construction phase. These diffused magic lightning can greatly destroy the operation of various magic equipment, which comes from the hands of gray stone.
Humans have not tried to crack these lightning towers, and have achieved certain results, but they still cannot prevent these lightning towers from infecting and destroying various small magic machines.
When these lightning towers fall completely and are connected in series, the Flame City will completely lose its ability to detect the outside world, and various magic equipment used for reconnaissance will no longer be able to play a role. They will be completely in the dark about the arrangement and mobilization of the rat people's army.
This is a very dangerous state.
The second is the railway that was slowly built from the rear. A surface railway connecting the rat people's underground railway network began to advance.
The significance of the existence of this railway is naturally to ensure logistics. As for why it was built on the surface, it is to deal with the attacks of various weapons designed to destroy underground tunnels developed by humans, and at the same time to better transport various overly large war equipment.
The first one is easy to understand. After all, with the Claw Priests, a group of highly qualified professional engineers, even if a large area of the railway on the surface is completely destroyed, it can be repaired and rebuilt in a short time.
If the underground railway is attacked, the repair work will be much more complicated.
Moreover, the various war machines of the rats are also adhering to the love of the Claw Priests, becoming more and more large and complex. These strange-shaped machines are inconvenient to transport underground. It is better to lift them directly to the surface for transportation, and then unload them directly after arriving at the battlefield.
These two are the top priorities of the rats in this war.
One is logistics, and the other is information.
But to be honest, the rats are indeed less anxious now than before. Perhaps they have been well educated by those overly solid defense measures, those overly dense magic barrages, those various magic machines with all kinds of tricks, and those various golems that are ambushed in the positions and suddenly jump out when the rats approach.
It must be admitted that compared to the fanatical charge in the barbaric era, the current war has become more and more complicated and slow.
Even those rat warriors who are not taken seriously by them and are used to fill the battle line may bring unacceptable consequences if they suffer excessive losses in reckless charges.
The leader of the previous war priests pushed too many of his rat warriors to the defense line of the Ghost Eye Tribe to die. In the end, the Ghost Eye Tribe seized the opportunity in the emptiness of the front line, tore open the front line he led, and completed a counter-encirclement of him.
That time, a grand rout occurred, and the leader of the former war priests was beaten to death in front of the flag by a team of steel golems that rushed over.
Fortunately, this rout did not cause any tragic chain reaction, but the imbalance of the regional battlefield also brought great trouble to the rats. The battle lasted for an extra year. After the war, even the rats took a full year to replenish the various equipment and personnel lost in the war.
Of course, the reason why it took so long to replenish is actually related to the connection of steam trains. In the flooding, too many rat workshops and breeding houses disappeared, while the three super industrial zones, namely the Desolate Mountain Industrial Zone, the Waste Slag City Industrial Zone, and the Furnace City Smelting Center, entered the process of renewal and iteration.
The supply of weapons, the maintenance and replenishment of steam tanks, and the complete deployment of rat warriors were once greatly affected.
Even though the rat warlords and those adults who promoted the war wanted to pursue the victory, they could only wait for replenishment and repair in such a situation.
The war is indeed different from before. Of course, for these rat warlords, the most intuitive point is that even if they don’t take the rat warriors in their hands seriously, they can no longer push these humble guys onto the battlefield as before.
First, this will not bring any advantages, and second, the training and replenishment of the army have become troublesome in various aspects.
Death is still the absolute theme of war for rat warriors.
The massive increase in intensity made the war more brutal and cruel. Their lives were still of little value, the lives of these lowly guys.
Although the situation was better than before.
Now, these rat warlords, these high-ranking bigwigs, before pushing them to death, at least think about whether doing so can bring some value and whether it can promote the victory.
The war entered a short period of silence, and both sides were preparing for the upcoming war.
Of course, such a silent period will not last long, and the city's ghost-eyed human defenders will not allow the rats to prepare smoothly.
Even if the rats have basically surrounded the Flame City, under this premise, such harassment will not change the rats' preparations for the war.
Even if it will be delayed for some time.
Even if those lightning towers that have not fallen completely collapse again and again, they will eventually be successfully built.
The rats have been preparing for this war for a long time. After all, in the last battle, they simply could not fully enjoy the sweet fruits of victory.
However, those precious warriors and various expensive magic equipment will still be pushed out of the city again and again to fight with the rats.
This is also for victory.
This is a rehearsal before the official war. In any case, the rats pay more costs and delay more time in the preparation stage, just to add a chip to the final victory of the war.
Of course, there is actually another option, that is, to break through, while the rat encirclement has not been completely built.
Mobilize all the troops, break through the blockade, and push to the rear of the empire, but let alone abandoning this city and a large number of civilians in this city, just from a strategic consideration, this is very likely to be a trap.
The rat army that arrived first to clean up the sentry towers has now completely disappeared.
It is not that the activated sentry towers have not given information about that army.
But this also represents a kind of misleading.
If you don't know the full picture of this rat army and what the flag represents, then you may make some irrational choices in a panic.
After all, the other three industrial cities were burned into ruins. So at this time, the Flame City, which is struggling to support itself, can it really rely on only one city to survive?
But a little nurse who escaped back exposed the hidden danger.
Of course, as a rat warlord, the power in Heimao's hands is really not enough compared to the other guys.
It seems that he is just a powerful rat captain, but no, this is just an appearance. The scale of the rat army in his hands is indeed not as large and complete as that in the hands of the other three guys, but in the evaluation of the four rat warlords in this area by the Youyan people, he can be ranked second.
Higher than the flag and the head of the private guard.
Heimao has a full-strength storm army of 100,000 people, all composed of storm rats, who almost never carry any war equipment or use steam tanks, but are dangerous enough.
He and his army were a sharp enough blade.
At this time, except for slightly showing the tip of the blade when cleaning up the outposts in Flame City, the rest of the blade was almost hidden.
If the defenders in the Flame City had strange ideas after witnessing the ratman's loosely built encirclement.
Then this sharp blade that almost completely concealed itself would give them an unforgettable surprise.
A sinister enough arrangement.
But unfortunately, it was completely exposed. The cleaning of those watchtowers should be done by the pioneer storm rat team under Black Hair.
But Black Hair seemed to be a little impatient.
But even if it was exposed, it would not be a big deal. The high-hanging blade was still a deterrent.
War will always come.
………….
In the trenches that were randomly dug out and a little rough, several ratmen warriors were gathering together. The brief calm before the war made them a little too relaxed.
The trenches they dug out were really unqualified, but considering that they were almost all incorporated into the army last month and had not even seen their serious commander, then this was not surprising.
Obviously, after a brief training in the Rat School, they were sent here.
However, this cruel war would not let them off just because of their inexperience, and these young Rat guys did not realize how close they were to danger.
Not far away, a steel tower had been built for half of its construction.
The big claw priest whipped many slave rats and was working hard on the construction. He looked as anxious as if he was being chased by some terrifying monster.
In the trench not far from the tower, several Rat warriors gathered together and chatted idly.
The content of the chat was not complicated, mostly some very practical things.
Food, blood mushrooms, merits, and gods.
When one of the Rat warriors kicked the soil out of boredom, he suddenly felt a strange and slippery feeling.
He lowered his head and saw a fat worm. He stepped on it and bent down as if nothing had happened.
I was lucky today. I could have a meal before eating the extremely unpalatable mushroom soup.
He thought happily.
The bent-down rat warrior quickly grabbed the fat worm.
But just when he was about to stuff the worm into his leather armor and raise his head, an accident happened.
The guy next to him, who was still waving his arms excitedly and repeating his achievements and gods, suddenly disappeared and fell straight down in front of the rat warrior.
The rat warrior saw the burnt hole on the head of the fallen guy.
The trench they dug was too shallow. Standing in it, half of the head could be exposed, and nothing could be covered at all.
Obviously, this was a long-planned attack, and the enemy seemed to have been observing this place for a long time.
Amidst the screams of fear, the lucky ratman warrior tightly grasped the magic gun in his hand.