Warlord: King of All Clans

The day after Leo left, the River Bend Legion began to assemble urgently.

The current River Reach is equivalent to a complete Northern Earldom, with four cities, twelve castles, and a population of less than one million.

In addition to local residents, there was also a continuous influx of foreign population. There was an endless stream of fleets on the Anzeno River, and pedestrians were shoulder to shoulder on both sides of the river.

The concentration of population has also caused many public security problems. Not only foreign forces, but also horse thieves and bandit gangs have set their sights on this fertile land.

In the past, in order to save military expenses, the castle's garrison was composed of serving militia, with only a few regular soldiers responsible for management and training.

Now, in addition to the First Legion stationed in the city of Abros, the Second Legion stationed in the city of Vidanlan, the cities of Isenbol and Xingtao and other major towns and castles all have regular garrisons.

After receiving the military order, Strong, who was still leading the Splithoof Tribe to farm, immediately led his troops to Abros, took over the First Legion and the naval fleet, and headed straight for Tiamus.

With the combined drive of steam and sail, coupled with floating downstream, they finally arrived before the city of Tiamaus was captured.

At Strong's command, all the sailing warships in the river bay opened fire.

A specially developed naval gun, it is an extended version of the river bay cannon, with a longer range and superior armor-piercing capability, and is designed specifically for destroying ships.

Although the lower reaches of the Anzeno River were spacious, it was not the sea after all. The Kurolov naval fleet was all crowded together, and two warships were severely damaged after only three rounds of artillery fire.

Eros, the naval commander of the Kurolov family, looked at the battleship slowly sinking in front of him and couldn't believe it. "How can the artillery in the river bay reach so far!"

Their large warships are also equipped with the latest artillery, but their maximum firing range is only half of that of the enemy!

Although the warships of the Kurolov Fleet were larger and more numerous than those of the other side, Eros was unwilling to fight the River Bay Fleet head-on and could only shout: "Fog! Fog!"

Under his command, the water wizard on the deck began to cast spells, and soon the river was covered with fog, enveloping the naval fleet.

Among the feudal nobles of the entire Orlantis Empire, there are only a few who can form a naval fleet, and even fewer who can become qualified naval commanders.

Eros happened to be one of them. He had fought in naval battles all his life and had killed all kinds of skilled pirate captains. He could estimate the quality of the enemy's sailors just by looking at the movements of the enemy's ships.

Although they rarely come to inland rivers, the basic tactics of naval warfare can still be used.

The cloud and fog technique, which is not very effective on the sea, is very effective in inland rivers with small winds and waves.

Now the enemy is in an advantageous position and they don't need to take the initiative to attack. The River Bay Fleet will run into the thick fog on its own and fall into their encirclement.

As long as they get into the boarding area, they can use their high ground and superior numbers to seize these enviable advanced artillery.

There was nothing wrong with his decision-making and tactics, the problem was that the river warships were steam-powered.

Seeing the fog gradually spreading, Strong did not rush in, but just ordered: "Keep the formation, guard the river, and let the troops behind land first."

Following Strong's instructions, the captains of each ship gave orders one after another, "Reverse the oars and stand by, stay where you are!"

The propeller lurking underwater slowly stopped after the drive was disconnected, and then began to reverse. The huge force stirred the water flow, and all the warships stopped on the river surface.

The entire fleet only moved downstream for a few dozen meters before stopping close to the thick fog, almost unaffected by wind direction and water currents.

The latest modified steam warship in Hewan is a paddle boat that does not require rowers. It has the freedom of movement of a sailing warship and the flexibility and agility of a paddle boat.

While the navy in front was confronting each other, the transport fleet behind was gradually approaching the shore.

Except for the supply ships that sailed directly into the port of Tiamus, the remaining combat barges bypassed the city and chose to land directly on the battlefield.

One sampan after another was launched into the water, and the sailors operated frantically on the water, and soon several large floating bridges were built connecting to the shore.

Teams of one-horned pig knights charged forward and occupied the plain area along the river bank.

Then came countless orc laborers, tauren laborers and ogre laborers, carrying heavy boxes of supplies and dragging heavy cannons ashore.

On their side, teams of musketeers quickly crossed the pontoon and gathered on the shore.

The Blood Bishop in charge of the siege watched the Hewan Marines landing from afar and ordered: "We can't let them land. Attack with all our forces!"

Outside the north city gate, an extremely messy military camp was built. Countless blood slaves sat on the ground to recover their strength. If they felt hungry, they would pick up the corpses of their companions and eat them.

Because there are not enough blood mages, the blood slaves are not well controlled.

Many blood slaves would suddenly regain control of their bodies, howl miserably, and crawl out of the camp.

But then they gradually fell into a daze and took the initiative to return to the team.

Upon hearing the order from the Blood Bishop, the blood mages under his command could only ignore their fatigue and continue to control the blood slaves to rush towards the city wall, trying to block the River Bay Legion that was landing on the beach.

The Boar Knights hid behind the bronze armor, poked out their dog heads and looked timidly at the blood slave army rushing in front of them, but no one retreated.

Seeing that the defensive position of the landing camp had not been established in time, Romon, who was in charge of the landing, quickly ordered, "Where's Ilewen? Hurry up!"

The herald behind him hurried back to the battle barge and looked everywhere for the ash-beating shaman Ilwen. Unfortunately, all the dog heads on the boat looked exactly the same to him, and he couldn't tell who was who.

The herald remembered shouting, "Lord Ilevan! Lord Ilevan?"

He grabbed a kobold musketeer by the neck. "Where is your Ilven shaman?"

The Kobold Musketeer looked at him stupidly.

Fortunately, this group of stupid dogs did not disappoint. At the shouting of the herald, Ilven was pushed out of the pile of dogs by his companions.

The herald stopped calling him "Sir" and shouted, "Ilewen, it's your turn!"

Ilevan wagged his tail quickly, "I know!"

He turned around and shouted, "Steam tanks, move out!"

Soon, Fraser's steam tank slowly emerged from their battle barge, emitting black smoke.

As soon as I stepped onto the floating bridge, the entire bridge suddenly sank one meter and almost sank into the water.

Fortunately, there had been drills before, and the parameters of these pontoon bridges were reliable enough, so they did not break or capsize.

One, two, three, three huge tracked steam tanks slowly crossed the pontoon bridge and came to the shore.

During this period of time, the Gnoll King accumulated a lot of wealth, built two more steam tanks, and made a lot of improvements to them.

At least it won't be like at the beginning, where we would walk for five minutes and then be anchored for ten minutes.

The various metal components that originally required Fraser to use the alchemy table in the Mage Tower can now be mass-produced at the Riverbend Ironworks. The manufacturing speed and cost of the steam tanks have been reduced by at least half.

The cost of a steam tank is only 20% to 30% higher than that of a steam locomotive.

Because Frasa was caught stealing her son and was once again imprisoned by the Riverbend Mistress, she was unable to see with her own eyes the scene of her war creations being put into actual combat.

The person now responsible for maintaining the steam tanks is her deputy, Ileven.