Grey skies, dark clouds, and the occasional thunder snake swimming through the clouds.

Stout, and hideous.

After a while, rain began to fall.

In fact, as early as yesterday, there was a heavy rainstorm that lasted for a long time on this land.

In the barren Kiraf Territory, because of its proximity to the wild land and the huge mountains that stretch across it, it rarely rains even in the late summer rainy season, and it is precisely because of the lack of rain that the land in the Kiraf Territory has always been very barren, and even there is very little prey. Therefore, for the inhabitants of Chirav, the rain is a very happy thing.

Of course, this is only for the residents, but for others, it is hard to be happy on this damn rainy day.

Because it took less than ten seconds before and after, the rain that was just a drizzle gradually became larger, and in an instant, the whole world was already gray, and the water vapor completely blocked people's vision, and the visibility was not even five meters. But if that's all there is to it, the hilly terrain is already uneven, and there are many potholes and mud, washed away by such a violent rain, not to mention the problem of stagnant water, the road is muddy and difficult to walk, that is for sure.

So, this will definitely slow down the march of the troops considerably.

Nock wiped the rain from his face, his frown fully expressing the anxiety in his heart at the moment.

According to the normal state of the march, the most important thing to do at this time is to find a place to stop and recuperate, and wait for the rain to light down or the vision is slightly better before continuing the march. After all, marching in such a situation, in addition to the fact that it is easy to lose touch and fall behind, because of many problems such as the reduction of body temperature and physical exertion, this will bring many negative effects to the entire team.

Not to mention anything else, the decline in combat effectiveness is certain.

It's just that at this time, even if you know these situations. But Nock still didn't dare to stop and rest.

Because today is the seventh day of their counterattack on the Kiraf Territory.

Originally, Nock led his 2nd Infantry Regiment to cut into the battlefield on the flank of the back valley hills at the first time, deal a heavy blow to the enemy, and support Stalin at the first time. However, upon receiving the news that the enemy forces leading into the valley hills from Burbis were only 15,000 men, Nock immediately changed his mind and chose to rush to the aid of Aldolph, who was attacking the second line of enemy defense in the valley hills.

I have to say that Nock's choice is indeed the right one.

In one day, with only 4,000 troops, Aldolf took the two important towns of Dabiang's army in the east and west of the valley and hills, destroying 5,000 enemies and taking 2,000 prisoners. The remaining 3,000 fled. Of course, Aldolf's losses were also quite heavy, and there were less than 2,000 people left after 4,000 men fought to the maximum, which was because Aldolph's first target for attack happened to be the enemy's armory, so he was able to take the second important town - the granary with the ordnance captured at the armory.

Immediately afterward, Aldolf did not give the enemy the slightest respite. On the night when the enemy learned that both important towns had been taken, they urgently sent 5,000 soldiers to the important town located in the granary. Aldolph led a force of 2,000 prisoners who had just been recruited. An extremely fierce night attack was launched on the base camp of the second line of defense.

In this battle, although Aldolph won a great victory, completely tearing through the enemy's defense line and making it impossible for the opponent to continue to take advantage of the geographical advantage, his losses also reached the level of breaking his muscles and bones.

In a strategic sense, this can only be considered a draw.

It was just at dawn the next day. Nock led his 2nd Infantry Regiment directly into battle.

At this time, the enemy had just experienced what could have been an almost nightmare defeat: in the night attack of the previous night, less than 5,000 of the 10,000 Dabion troops survived, and 3,000 of them were completely routed. At this moment, the enemy army is sending small teams to collect the rout, so there are actually less than 2,000 troops in the newly reorganized base camp.

But as long as they wait until the morning, the 5,000 troops sent out can return to the defense, and the battalion can still recover to 10,000 troops. And as long as they survive one more day, the 10,000 reinforcements on the side of the Falling Flower Valley of the Kiraf Leader will arrive on the battlefield, and their strength will swell to 20,000 at that time, and at the same time, they have also received the news that the Burbice Leader has sent reinforcements, as long as the reinforcements of their Burbice Territory converge, the total strength will be as high as 35,000 men.

At that time, let alone the Kiraf Territory, even the Panda Territory may be able to take it in one fell swoop, after all, there are still 50,000 of their own troops in the Yederbi Territory, and an infantry regiment of 10,000 people has already entered the Panda Territory first.

As long as it is converging, this is an army of 100,000 people!

So, at the moment their period of weakness is less than an hour.

And Aldolph's troops have been completely crippled, and they have absolutely no reason to worry and fear.

However, in this period of weakness of less than an hour, it was seized by Nock's Second Infantry Regiment!

So this battle can be said to be without a trace of suspense.

Nock easily captured the Earl of the opposing commander-in-chief, and on the battlefield, he also killed three barons and a viscount, and the enemy's 2,000 defenders were even completely annihilated. The second line of defense led by Chirav was thus completely destroyed, after which Nock joined up with the remnants of Aldolph's remaining less than a thousand men, and in turn ate the remnants of the enemy army in the valley hills.

At this point, there were only more than 10,000 of the 30,000 troops stationed in Dabiang's territory in the Kiraf territory, and two of the three lines of defense had been breached, and it was only a matter of time before the Kiraf territory was recaptured. Of course, the most important thing is the significance of the strategic layout, this move completely slowed down, and even ended, the enemy's large-scale invasion of the Panda Territory.

It's just that no one thought that in this situation that can be said to be a complete victory, there was an unexpected accident.

To the south of the valley floor hills, there was a reinforcement led by Berbis, and according to the scouts, the number of enemy troops was about 5,000. So at this time, both Aldolf and Nock, both of them knew that the Huigu hills that Stalin was responsible for were completely lost, and it was even very likely that the whole army would be destroyed. And seeing the arrival of Dabion's reinforcements. Nearly 4,000 Dabiang soldiers, who had been captured by Aldolph and Nock, immediately mutinied.

In this conflict, the earl, who could have been used as a good bargaining chip, was naturally killed on the spot, and nearly 2,000 soldiers were buried with him, but after Nock paid hundreds of casualties, the turmoil was finally completely suppressed. At this time, Nock also discussed with Aldolph and the others, and Aldolph led the remnants and the remaining nearly 2,000 prisoners to continue to entangle with Dabiang's army here in the valley and hills, while he immediately rushed to the battlefield on Stalin's side to check the specific situation.

After the two made an agreement, they immediately went their separate ways.

It's just that. For some unknown reason, instead of pursuing Aldolph, the reinforcements from Burbis focused on Nock and his 2nd Infantry Regiment.

Luckily, it was at this time that a sudden rainstorm struck. Slowed down the movement of Dabion's army, allowing Nock to escape the pursuit without any problems.

These. It was yesterday.

At this time, the march was two hours in the torrential rain. Nock finally felt the icy chill.

He knew that since even he had already felt the chill, it was obvious that the combat effectiveness of the entire army had definitely dropped to a very low level. The ensuing situation is likely to be the illness of a large number of soldiers, and this non-combat attrition is definitely an intolerable mistake for him. But. In this valley and hills, it is not easy to find a place to shelter from the rain.

As for the makeshift camps, this is even more nonsense - there is no army. Able to set up camp in a heavy rainstorm.

It can be said that Nock has fallen into a dilemma at this time.

As a last resort, he had no choice but to move on.

Next, there is a real war of attrition for will and physical strength.

It's just that the reality is cruel after all.

In half a day, more than 400 non-combat personnel fell due to the heavy rain, which was a painful loss for the Second Infantry Regiment, which had experienced a series of fierce battles with less than 2,000 men left. So when the rain began to fade, Nock even had a sense of relief, and he hurriedly chose a relatively flat terrain to camp, where all the wounded rested, and he himself took the soldiers who could continue the battle to rest for a while, and then set off in a hurry.

At this moment, it was not far from the place where Stalin had laid out a defensive line in the hills of the back valley.

And when Nock arrived, he saw a very tragic battlefield.

Countless corpses, scattered all over the battlefield, looked like a mass graveyard, and many of them were even mutilated.

The mutilated bodies were surrounded by a large scorched crater where they fell, and it was clear that they had died in the thunder-fire area that Stalin had set up. Judging from the layout, Nock knew that Stalin had fully considered the disadvantage of the disparity in strength when arranging the thunderfire area, so he expanded the explosion range as much as possible, rather than concentrating the lethality, but even so, the enemy soldiers who died in the thunderfire area occupied far less than one-tenth of all the corpses on the battlefield.

Most of the corpses died in the confrontation between the two armies.

Nock saw a young man belonging to the First Battalion, with four or five spears stuck in his chest and abdomen, which had come out of his body, revealing a small tip of the spear in his back, but he still did not fall. His body fell forward, leaning on the spear that came out of his body as a support point, and his right hand still clutched the sword, but the sword was full of crumbles, and there were six or seven corpses lying at his feet, and the look on his face was a smile of satisfaction.

And corpses like this abound on the battlefield.

The torrential rain for two consecutive days still couldn't wash away the blood on the entire battlefield, and even the bloody gas was still permeating.

Looking at the hellish Shura blood scene in front of him, whether it was Nok or the soldiers of the other Second Infantry Regiment, everyone's face was shocked.

The First Rank Corps, which had only 4,000 men, faced an enemy army of up to 15,000 men, and held out on this land alone for four days and three nights!

Although more than 5,000 people finally broke through the bloody defense line laid by Stalin, at this moment, no one would think that Stalin lost the battle.

"Find!" Nock let out a frantic roar, "Even if I die, I want to see Stalin's body!" ”

In the face of Nock's order, the soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Regiment quickly rushed into the Shura field. Start tidying up and cleaning up the battlefield.

The sound of splashing water is one after another on this battlefield.

And when the soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Regiment pulled out the spears, arrows, and swords that had pierced the corpses of their comrades, there was not the slightest blood splashing out of the wounds, because the blood in their bodies had long since dried up.

Many soldiers were in tears at this moment.

This kind of cleaning work requires a lot of physical strength and energy, but at this moment, every soldier of the 2nd Infantry Regiment is very serious.

As time passed, the inventory on the battlefield was soon coming to an end.

When the last corpse was removed from the battlefield, I don't know what it was. The entire 2nd Infantry Regiment felt a sense of relief.

Everyone's eyes couldn't help but look at the young soldier who had moved out of the last corpse.

Seeing that there was a touch of joy on the soldier's face, he turned his head to look at Nock, and then shook his head suddenly: "My lord." Not the corpse of Lord Stalin! Lord Stalin is still alive! He's alive! ”

Hearing this, Nock's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Your Excellency. What do we do next? An officer immediately asked.

The earliest combat style of an army is formed. Much depends on the tactical style of the first commander of this army. As the commander of the 2nd Infantry Regiment, Nock was not as offensive and aggressive as Aldolf, and he was not as decisive as Stalin in terms of defensive command, but he also had a talent that Aldolf and Stalin did not possess at all.

If it is said. If there is one of the generals under Sean's command who has the sharpest intuition, then this person must be Noke.

Although William's sense of war was also very keen, he relied more on the formation of strategic layout and tactical guidelines, because once the war situation was clear. A famous general like William can naturally judge the movement of the entire war situation at the first time. Nock, on the other hand, was completely different, and when it came to commanding, he relied entirely on his personal keen sense of smell to make judgments, and his approach has always brought him great victories.

Of course, it wasn't without his chances, but most of the time, he was very fruitful.

Like the decision to rush to Aldolph's aid not long ago, his presence was the last straw that crushed the second line of defense that Dabion's army had set up in the Kiraf territory. At that time, if it wasn't for his help, once the enemy army was reinvigorated, then not to mention Aldolph, even his Second Infantry Regiment would probably not be spared. However, because of his decision, it also led to the almost total annihilation of the isolated Stalin.

But can this be said to be Nock's fault?

On a strategic level, Nock's reinforcement of Aldolf was far more important than the reinforcement of Stalin.

"Go north!"

"To the north?"

"Yes." Nock nodded, "To the south is the valley and hills, and the enemy army appeared on our flank after breaking through Stalin's defensive line, but we did not see the remnants of Stalin, which proves that Stalin did not retreat south after the defensive line was broken by the enemy." The east is the Luohua Valley, and the west is the Panda Territory, and there are large enemy forces in both directions, so going in these two directions must be self-defeating, and the only one who can survive is the north. ”

"Your Excellency...... Do we need to join up with the follow-up forces first? ”

"No, you don't!" Nock shook his head, "Stalin, they will definitely not escape too far, they will break through after a fierce battle to the death, and there will definitely not be much physical strength left, plus two days of heavy rain, so Stalin They will definitely choose a place to hold the most." …… Truth be told, if Stalin were still alive, we would really have to thank the two days of heavy rain, because the weather was not affected by one side alone. ”

No one refuted Nock's words, because as soldiers of the Second Infantry Regiment, they all knew very well that Nok's battlefield instincts had always been extremely accurate.

Soon, the 2nd Infantry Regiment set off again.

This time, the speed of their march was no longer a rapid march, but the speed of the march was not slow either, and the formation was still a cordon line. This formation ensures that the 2nd Infantry Regiment will not be defeated by a surprise attack, and can also switch to attacking or defending formations as soon as the enemy is spotted. Usually when the 2nd Infantry Regiment formed this formation, it meant that Nock was ready for full battle.

When night fell again, Nock finally spotted Stalin and the others.

In fact, in the present situation, it is absolutely impossible for a person who is not blind to find Stalin.

……

This is a high-lying slope, it is a peak of the side branch of the Luohua Mountain Range, and the height is only about 100 meters.

Although the height is not very high, this slope has a very steep slope, and there are only two flat terrains, which means that if you want to go up this slope. The only way to do this is from these two relatively flat terrains.

It was the first corps that chose to break through after the defensive line of the hills of the valley was broken through by the Dabiang army.

At this time, there were less than thirty soldiers of the First Rank Corps who survived here.

Although there were still about 100 people at the time of the breakthrough, they continued to be attrition in the subsequent pursuit, and by the time they reached this high ground, there were only about 70 people left. Followed by. It was another round of extremely fierce offensive and defensive battles on the high grounds, perhaps because the gods were pitiful. The First Infantry Corps, which was about to be wiped out, finally escaped this lore in a sudden heavy rainstorm.

It's just that. Because of hunger and exhaustion, coupled with scarred bodies, more than a dozen soldiers eventually died as a result of the torrential rain.

Today, after the second rainstorm, there are only about 20 people still alive.

Stalin, albeit still alive. But his face was already very pale, almost bloodless. The set of leather armor on his body, I don't know if he took it off or for other reasons, anyway, it wasn't wearing it on his body at the moment. In its place was a red bandage that wrapped around the entire upper body - a bandage soaked with blood and rain, and it was logical that Stalin would have needed to clean his wounds and change the bandages at this time, but it was clear that there were no such supplies in this high ground.

Of course, the most shocking thing is not.

But at this moment, Stalin's whole person was tied to the flagpole of a flag, but if you look closely, you can see that there is a hideous wound on Stalin's right leg that runs from the base of the thigh to the ankle. It was clear that Stalin could no longer stand because of this wound, but his pride and honor did not allow him to lie down like this, so he fixed himself on this flagpole - as long as he could still hold his weapon, then he would never give up.

"My lord, it seems that the enemy is already preparing to attack." A man about twenty-six or seven years old said in a deep voice.

There was a scar on his face that ran from his forehead to his left eye, this scar was bloody and purple, and there was blood flowing from time to time, it was obvious that this was a very "fresh" wound. And in addition to such a hideous scar on his face, he was also not wearing leather armor, but was wrapped in a blood-red bandage like Stalin, but fortunately he was able to stand here on his own without steady.

On that bloody defensive line that defended honor with blood and lives, nearly 100 officers of the First Infantry Corps who belonged to all levels of the command system were all killed. This man was only a squadron leader with a relatively low rank in the First Rank Corps, and he was far from being able to enter the command system, but at this moment he was the highest-ranking person among the soldiers of the First Rank Corps who were present except for Stalin.

And this hideous scar on his face also fell to save Stalin.

Hearing the man's words, Stalin glanced at the downhill of the high ground, where a dense mass of torches had been lit, and it was not very dark at this time, in fact, there was no need to light torches for illumination, so the enemy's purpose could easily be guessed - morale strike. In the face of a besieged enemy, lighting torches at night to besiege can greatly weaken the morale of the enemy army, which will lead to a decrease in the enemy's combat effectiveness, and even win without a fight.

These are conventional tactics.

It's just that Stalin's face is a little disdainful when he still makes such a move under the current circumstances. And not only Stalin, but also the soldiers of the other first steps that still survived at this moment, also had a strong look of disdain and mockery on their faces.

If it can really break their morale, or make them surrender, will the First Infantry still do the worst fight in this kind of place? Knowing that the next time the enemy launched an attack would be the annihilation of their first regiment, all of them had already put their lives on the line. As long as you can pull one more person to accompany the burial. For them, it is not a loss, if they can pull two people to accompany the funeral, it is basically a sure profit.

"Are you scared?" Stalin asked, his face pale, but his voice was still very powerful.

"Scared!" Everyone burst into laughter.

"yes, I'm scared too." Stalin laughed, "but ......"

"Like a hero!" Stalin's words were interrupted, and this was a young man - not so much a young man as a teenager, because there was still a little immaturity on his face. It's just that his eyes are very resolute, and he is not afraid of the impending death.

Everyone laughed again.

The smile on Stalin's face was still there, and he said softly: "Everyone, allow me to sincerely thank you. …… I'm glad to have you with me in the last days. You are in my eyes. All true heroes, you not only defended your dignity. The same also defends the honor of our first step corps! I think. We've managed to let those damn Dabion soldiers know that our first legion is not a soft persimmon to pinch, and although we can't completely stop them this time, we have managed to break their teeth, so let's break their teeth again! ”

"Crack their teeth!" The soldiers shouted loudly, and everyone's face glowed with vitality again.

Even if they know the truth. This may be the so-called return to light.

Behind Stalin, more than forty corpses were neatly arranged, each of them with a serene and contented smile on his face. Although the leather armor on his body was tattered, it only took a glance to sweep it away. It is still possible to find that their posthumous appearances have been sorted out, and these are the soldiers of the First Legion who followed Stalin all the way to break through until this point and died in battle.

If Stalin had any regrets at this time, it was probably that he failed to collect the corpses of the robes who died in the hills of the valley.

However, he believed that Panda Ling would definitely have someone to collect the bodies for them.

Of course, there will be someone who will avenge them!

"Your Excellency!" Suddenly, the squadron leader let out an exclamation.

"What's wrong?" Stalin asked.

"My lord, look over there!" The squadron leader stretched out his hand and pointed not far away from the slope.

Stalin's vision was not particularly good at this time, but he could still vaguely see that a flash of fire suddenly appeared in the direction that the squadron leader was pointing.

It was supposed to be a torch that had been lit.

Could it be the enemy's reinforcements?

The people on the high ground were a little stunned: "Those guys are really cowardly, hahaha!" I even have to send reinforcements over! ”

But the next moment, near this lit fire, flames began to be ignited.

One by one, orange flames spread out densely, covering a large area, looking like the blooming flowers on the other side of the River Styx.

Then, this army of flames, like a sea of flowers, quickly rushed towards the high ground.

From far to near, the shouts of killing gradually became louder.

The Dabiang army below the heights soon became chaotic.

"My lord, look at that flag!"

Stalin struggled to keep his eyes open and look at the square flag fluttering in the wind a hundred meters away.

The pattern on that flag may not be incomprehensible to others, but for Stalin and even the entire First Infantry Corps, it is a pattern that is absolutely impossible to forget.

The radically unfolded left wing and the fully integrated right wing.

That's the family crest that belongs to the Connelly family!

It's the banner of Panda's team!

Exactly the same pattern as the flag that Stalin tied behind him at the moment!

"My lord! It's reinforcements! The squadron leader shouted excitedly, "It's our army!" ”

Tears slid down Stalin's face, he clenched the long sword in his hand hard, wiped the tears from his face with his left hand, and scolded with a smile: "That guy Nok, every time he chooses this kind of critical moment!" …… Everyone listen, keep in mind their combat position, hold on! Our reinforcements have arrived, and victory is ours! I have only one request, to live! ”

"Yes!"

How far is the distance between hell and heaven?

Stalin didn't know what to do.

But if he had to give an answer at this moment, he would definitely answer: one second. (To be continued......)

PS: After a day of hesitation, I finally revised the ending and didn't let Stalin die.