But in terms of equipment and racial characteristics, Hutot Khan is at an absolute advantage.
He had nearly 10,000 soldiers equipped with steel. The crushing power of steel over pig iron meant that Khutot Khan's personal guards could outnumber ten to one, not to mention that they were wearing steel armor.
In the composition of the army, the harpies formed the aerial reconnaissance and mobility force, and could also convey the communication orders of various tents through special spells. In addition, the tall trolls were also an indispensable member of Hutot Khan's army.
They are generally five to eight meters tall. They are equipped with full body steel armor and hold maces made of wood and steel spikes in their hands.
When they stand at the front of the team, they are like a small hill, and their most important duty in the field battle is naturally to attract the attention of the enemy's main force.
There were 100 of these elite trolls in Hutot Khan's army. They were deployed on both wings of Hutot Khan's army to attract the attention of the cavalry archers. And they never let Hutot Khan down.
As he watched, the Polans quickly attacked with the traditional recklessness of steppe nomads.
They rushed very fast, and the infantry was separated from the cavalry in front more and more. When the cavalry was about to rush to the face of the troll, the infantry even had to gasp to keep up with the cavalry's pace.
This is the traditional way of commanding and fighting nomadic armies - the so-called charge and that's it.
When facing a weak army, the cavalry charge can indeed tear open the battle line and provide a foundation for the subsequent infantry to expand the results of the battle.
But the problem was that the Polans let their infantry fall behind and their cavalry go too far, and more importantly, they misjudged the discipline of their own army!
“Go, go, go!”
Amid the loud threats and the sound of horse hooves from the Polan cavalry, the soldiers at the front of Hutot Khan's army squatted on the ground with sweat on their faces. After they had driven the counterweights at the end of their spears deeply into the ground to secure them, all the front-row infantrymen waited in an orderly manner for the enemy's charge.
This is not to say that Khutot Khan had some unique charm that could make all the lower-level soldiers die for their loyalty, but in Khutot Khan's military discipline, all front-line soldiers had salaries more than ten times that of regular soldiers. If they could withstand a cavalry attack, they could not only receive more than twenty times the salary on the same day, but even their families could receive the honorary title of "Warrior Family" and enjoy a superior status in the Khutot Khanate.
With money, honor, and most importantly, the confidence that they are destined to win, all soldiers are willing to abide by military discipline and rush to stand in the front row just to get their own rewards.
It was for this reason that when the Polan lancers shouted and rushed into the forest of spears, what they saw was not the rout of the infantry line under the horses' hooves, but the countless spears that pierced them, as well as the corpses of those infantrymen who had held their spears tightly in their hands even when they were knocked away.
The Lancers' charge was immediately stalled. The cavalrymen were blocked one by one in the tough pocket-like grooves formed by the infantry of Hutot Khan's army.
The cavalrymen in the front were pierced by spears and killed one after another. The cavalrymen in the back wanted to leave anxiously, but fell into chaos due to the crowded situation.
The screams of terror before death and the sound of spears piercing flesh were endless. The lancers were frantically looking for a way to escape. At this time, the archers and javelin throwers behind Hutot Khan's army raised their weapons and launched round after round of volleys at these densely packed live targets.
"Ahh?! I've been hit by an arrow! Get out of the way! Stop pushing forward! Get out of the way!"
"We can't turn back! The people behind us are still rushing forward - hurry! Get off the horse, get off the horse - jump out on the horse's back, quickly!!"
The Polan cavalry wailed and screamed, while the infantry of the Hutot Khan army gritted their teeth and supported themselves, not allowing them any room to advance, while also pushing them forward bit by bit.
On the other side, the Polan Centaur archers were also trying to relieve the pressure on their side on the flank, trying to resolve the threat from archers and javelin throwers for their comrades who were trapped in the enemy formation and unable to break free.
But even as these centaurs drew their bows and shot arrows, they were still unable to bypass the obstacle formed by the trolls deployed on the flanks of Hutot Khan's army.
The trolls were wearing armor that shone brightly in the sunlight, and the centaurs had no way of finding the archers and javelinmen in the reflected light from the trolls.
They could only howl and shoot randomly, but most of the arrows either hit the raised shields of the flanking infantry or directly hit the trolls' armor, not only causing no damage, but even just scratching a few white marks on the armor.
They fired several rounds in vain, and just when the Polan infantry was finally about to catch up with the tail of the Lancers trapped in the enemy's formation, Khutot Khan issued his order.
He ordered his own harpies to descend from the sky and chase down the enemy's Centaur archers in the dark, and also ordered his own Centaurs to advance from both wings and shoot at the flanks of the infantry.
He watched with satisfaction as the harpies swooped down from the sky and strangled all of the Polan centaurs. After confirming that his own centaurs were also continuously killing the Polan infantry with their mobility, his final order was to have the tall trolls charge into the enemy's troops from the side.
Like a pair of pliers, when the trolls and centaur archers completed the outflanking of the main force of the Polans, the war was destined to end with the victory of the Khutot Khanate.
The armored trolls were the invincible mountains in the wave of the Polans. The iron swords in the hands of the Polans could not cause any damage to the armor on the trolls, and every swing of the wolf-tooth iron clubs in the hands of the trolls could make countless Polans be blown into the sky and turned into pieces on the ground.
The Centaur archers shot arrows with steel arrowheads, which could even pierce through the iron-covered shields, pierce the hands of the Polan infantry, or directly penetrate their armor.
When Khutot Khan's personal guards officially entered the battlefield, the Polans were defeated.
Their proud iron swords were chopped in half by steel knives, and their armor was shattered like gauze in front of the steel weapons. They could not understand what kind of monster they were facing. In the crowded and shrinking pocket, only a few phalanxes at the back seized the opportunity to escape, while the rest were trapped in the pocket and suffered almost endless strangulation.
But by noon, everything was over.
The Khutot Khanate captured more than 20,000 Polans with less than 1,000 casualties. The remaining Polans were either killed or escaped. At the last count, it was found that more than 5,000 defeated soldiers escaped from this doomed war.
They fled quickly, but it was more because Khutot Khan did it intentionally.
"Let them spread fear in the territory of Polan! This way, we can reduce resistance when we attack the city next time." Hutot Khan ordered, "I plan to give those brave warriors a chance among these captives. As long as they can climb the city wall in the next siege, I am willing to treat them with more generous rewards than the Polan people - as for others, especially those cowards, just demote them to slaves."
On one side, there was the fear spread by the defeated army, and on the other side, there were the rewards and hospitality that the surrenderers received after proving their strength.
Khutot Khan believed that his psychological warfare strategy would be successful and provide a shortcut for the subsequent siege.
After collecting the spoils, Hutot Khan's army entered the town to rest and recuperate.
This town, which could threaten their rear at any time, has become their base. Next, they can continue to advance bravely and give the Polan people a beautiful early spring gift.
…
Back to February 5th.
At this moment, after spreading the news of the Khan's southward march throughout half of Polan, the defeated army, which was once the main force of Polan, has crossed their southern border and is trying every means to advance further south.
Their commander knew that Polan's demise was inevitable. Moreover, they were a defeated army, and even if they could escape back to the city, they would not be able to escape the pursuit of the nobles and elders.
As a defeated army, they will once again face the army of the Terrible Khan, and then either choose to die or continue to flee.
In this situation, instead of suffering successive defeats, it would be better to simply surrender to the Roman Empire in the south!
"We will tell the Romans about the Khan's march south, and then they will be willing to let us in. Then we can... we can save our lives temporarily!"
Some defeated soldiers cheered each other up while fleeing, but even so, their eyes were still filled with lingering panic and fear.
After all, the Khan's army was too powerful. They were worried that the Khan's army would follow them.
In addition, they only brought a few days' worth of food with them when they set out on the expedition, and lost a batch of supplies during their escape...
Under such circumstances, they were almost out of ammunition and food. Just when they were at their wit's end, the shadow of a city appeared faintly in the distance of the forest in front of them...
"Has there ever been a city here?" an old soldier asked in confusion, but the fear of hunger soon dispelled his confusion.
"Who cares! Let's go in first... There are definitely not many people in a city that suddenly appeared! Even if there are, we can just plunder the surrounding villages..."
"Not considering it?"
"Why go in? Are they as powerful as Roman? And they are stuck in the middle of Khan's southward passage. They will definitely be besieged by Khan's army! Let's go, let's go and plunder first!"
They entered the border of Bayezids fully armed, and as soon as they appeared, the border soldiers informed Basilisa of Constantinople and the future Caesar of this urgent news through magic.
Faced with the urgent report from the soldiers, Yang Hao and Theresa looked at each other and made a decisive decision. Without affecting the celebration, they let the garrison equipped with new weapons and on duty cooperate with Golem to block the fleeing troops.
"It's a good opportunity to test our weapons - I'll go and explain the situation to Finn now. It's also a good opportunity for the elves to test the strength of the northerners."
After saying that, Yang Haobian left first. Theresa sighed as she watched him leave. If even he didn't take the defeated army seriously, then so be it.
"Men are responsible for external affairs, so shouldn't I take care of my own affairs first? Alas, there is no such thing as a peaceful life. In fact, it's just that someone helps people bear everything."
Basilisa's sigh made Barry think.
…
Yang Hao immediately found Fen, explained the situation to her, and then went out of the city with Fen.
Outside the city, the garrison on duty in Constantinople was taking Gorem to the place where the defeated army was found.
Fen looked at the direction of the forest thoughtfully, then she stood beside Yang Hao, tiptoed slightly and whispered to his face:
"We can't let them escape into the forest. It will be very troublesome to deal with them if they escape into the forest. I will let the elves set up an ambush in the forest and try to annihilate them. Do we need to capture them alive this time?"
"It would be best if we could keep them alive. We need to learn more about the situation in the north. By the way, does your ranger have any new intelligence?"
"The only information is that the Khan has launched an attack on Polan, the small country."
In fact, this is almost the same as nothing - Yang Hao shook his head, and after asking Fen to be prepared again and again, he came to the elves' base through teleportation with the help of Fen, and after gathering a group of elven archers there, they walked towards the expected assembly point as quickly as possible.
Half an hour later, they arrived. The defeated army in the distance no longer looked like an army. They were like robbers, sweeping resources on the road. It seemed that they had no leader, or their leader did not have the corresponding ability.
These defeated troops had neither formation nor order, nor any goals - to be precise, they had the general goal of "advancing south", but where in the south they were heading was still a question.
They would make contact with Bayerjans' camouflaged position in an hour.
Bayer Zhans dispatched a 1,000-man army, half of which were equipped with Bayer Zhans small-caliber rifles, and the remaining half could only use old cold weapons and shields due to production problems.
Then, a thousand elves also came - but each of these thousand people was an archer, and there were also several elven wizards.
Yang Hao immediately ordered Bayerjans' cold weapon warriors and half of the elves to lurk in the forest to form an encirclement. Then he mixed 500 elven archers with Bayerjans archers and asked them to hide in the uphill and waist-high grass in the form of a skirmish line to gain the advantages of concealment and terrain. Then they patiently waited for the arrival of the defeated army.
The defeated soldiers seemed unaware of the movement ahead. They continued to advance in a chaotic manner, and at this moment, Yang Hao, who was observing from afar with the help of Fen using magic, suddenly realized something:
"Their equipment doesn't look too damaged... Could it be that these defeated troops didn't even fight with the Khan's army and just escaped like this?"
Yang Hao was puzzled. After all, according to his understanding, if a defeated army had exchanged fire with the enemy, then their equipment should have more or less traces of battle.
But the problem is, the equipment of this defeated army is not only worn out by the battle... Yang Hao can even see that many of the people's equipment is still relatively new...
In fact, this is not a defeated army at all, but an advance force heading south to prepare for invasion, right
"But even if you say so, how could the advance army be in such a mess?"
Fen also had a strange look on her face. She knew that this defeated army looked abnormal... But if they were a regular army, they would be too undisciplined...
Never mind. Just kill it first.
The two reached a consensus. After the defeated army entered the archers' optimal shooting range, they immediately met the shooting of Bayerjans and the elf archers.
Gunshots rang out one after another. The large-caliber rifles of the elves could directly punch a large hole in a normal human body, and could even penetrate the armor after penetrating the shield. It could be said to be a typical case of excessive power.
Although the Bayer AG's small-caliber rifle could only make a small hole in a person's body, judging from the fact that the opponent fell down with a single blow, and the high rate of fire of the small-caliber rifle, this weapon was actually comparable to the Gappa 1404 rifle in terms of overall performance.
The bombardment of the howitzer golems and machine gun golems made the defeated troops feel like they were in hell - the moment explosions and fire occurred everywhere, they collapsed.
As expected, these troops, once again fleeing, were moving towards the forest.
But the United Nations also set up ambushes in the forest, so this time, Yang Hao and Fen had no intention of issuing additional orders.
They just watched the fleeing soldiers, watching them prefer to flee to the forest rather than run back.
"There are indeed enemies behind them who would rather die than face them."
Yang Hao stated seriously.
"We must immediately build our defenses on the western ranch. Barbed wire, trenches, and walls made with earth magic - Fin, I'll leave it to you."
"Although our archmages may not like this kind of civil engineering work, you never know what ideas they will come up with one day when inspiration strikes. Just leave it to us."
They waited patiently for news from the ambush in the forest. Soon, news came that the defeated army had been captured.
Those defeated soldiers claimed that they were the reserve troops of the Polan army. They were completely crushed in the battle with the Great Khan. They had no choice but to go all the way south, hoping to find a good place in the Roman Empire.
…
At the same time, in Panlan, the capital of Polan, the Great Khan's army was surrounding the city.
This was the last important city of Polan that they needed to capture. As long as this city was captured, the entire Polan would become the possession of the Khutot Khanate. More importantly, only by capturing this city could Khutot Khan obtain the submission of Polan.
This city is a stone-walled city built on a plain with no natural defenses.
On the grassland where there were almost no quarrying sites, the town with a stone wall nearly 10 meters high was indeed an impregnable fortress for the nomads at that time.
But to Khutot Khan and his army today, this former "fortress" is now nothing more than a branch that can be easily broken.
He personally inspected the assembly of the siege tower with Qiexue, watching the shirtless trolls assemble the siege tower section by section with the help of a crane, making the top gate tower level with the height of Panlan's city wall.
"This will allow us to transport a large number of our warriors up there... But the battle on the city wall is not the focus - our core is still to break through their city gates. Only when the city gates are breached can my personal guards steadily break through their militia's defenses and finally directly attack the inner city in the center of the city."
Hutot Khan stated that after the siege tower was assembled, the final siege in Polan began with the sound of horns.
The counterweight catapults threw stones at the most vulnerable and thin section of Polan's wall. The crossbows pushed to the front position by the soldiers fired accurately at various defensive nodes on the wall. The battering rams and siege towers were pushed by the soldiers holding up their shields and moved little by little towards Panlan's gatehouse or the other side of the wall.
For the Panlan people, the right side of the city wall was in danger and could be broken at any time to create a gap for soldiers to climb in, so they could not withdraw the soldiers on the right side. However, the gate tower and the left side of the city wall were in danger under the threat of siege towers and battering rams.
The local commander had no choice but to deploy his elite troops to the city wall, then order the militia to raise their guns behind the city gate and let another part of the temporarily recruited conscripts stand by on the right side of the city wall.
Then he realized the problem: the trolls of Hutot Khan's army were not as easy to deal with as they imagined.
Trolls wearing steel armor can completely ignore ordinary arrows and move forward steadily.
After reaching the bottom of the city wall, they will directly try to attack the defenders on the wall with the weapons in their hands.
Even if the maces could not reach the city wall, they could simply lift the ladder and then use their own strength to firmly fix it on the city wall so that the Polan slave soldiers and ordinary soldiers in the rear could climb up.
In addition, some trolls even rushed to the gate tower, forcibly propped up the iron fence in front of the wooden supporting gate, and created an advantage for the battering ram in the rear to break through the gate.
This was a tactic that the Polan defenders had never seen before. He stared in amazement at the approaching siege hammers and siege towers. He panicked and ordered his men to try to stop the trolls from taking further action, but found that they had no weapons that could threaten the armored trolls.
The rocks thrown from above couldn't even make the trolls stagger! Not to mention ordinary arrows and regular magic.
"Our army has been defeated!" The commander looked as pale as death. Faced with a war that was doomed to fail, he wisely chose to surrender.
"Raise the white flag! Raise it quickly—the ones rushing in front are not only the armored trolls, but also our former warriors who have been transformed into slave soldiers. Even if we withstand this attack, we cannot harm the Khan's main force. We surrender, we surrender!"
The white flag was raised on the gate tower the moment the siege tower approached the city wall.