Volume 1 Dawn Awakening Chapter 1 Traces of the Orcs
The goose-feather-like snowflakes were falling quietly and flying in the sky, like flying dandelions, floating in the vast sky! The new wind blew, and in an instant, silver dragons rose into the sky, turning and wandering on the snowfield!
On the bitter cold snowfield, there is a team of more than 100 knights walking. They hold their horses against the wind and snow, and walk hard on the snowfield. These knights are all wearing uniform silver heavy armor and face-covering helmets.
Wearing a blue cloak.
In addition to a standard lance and 3 javelins hung on their horses, they also carry weapons of different types and shapes: some knights carry two-handed heavy hammers, some carry two-handed giant swords, and some knights carry two-handed giant swords.
Some people are armed with non-military standard weapons such as cavalry axes. Only the most elite troops can choose their own weapons.
The horses pulled by the knights are all white, and they are all wearing heavy armor, and even the horses' faces are covered with visors. Their feet are covered with fine long hair, and they walk as if they are stepping on auspicious clouds, which is very special.
Beautiful, and these long hairs can protect the horse's hooves from being hurt by sharp objects.
The withers of the war horse are as tall as a person. Counting the height of the horse's head, it actually reaches 2.5 meters. This is the famous Shire horse.
The Shire horse was developed by Edward Groth, Grand Duke of the Shire of the Albrex Empire 500 years ago, in order to improve the war horse. He used the best quality northern grassland war horses and elf war horses to breed them, and bred this tall half-elf war horse.
, named Sharma.
The Sharma combines the hard-working characteristics of human war horses with the tall and agile characteristics of elf war horses. Although overall it is much inferior to elf war horses, it has strong reproductive ability and relatively low breeding costs, and can crush most of the war horses of other human empires.
Relying on equipped with Shire horses, the Knights of the Silver Hand and the Knights of the Order of the Albrex Empire under the command of Edward Gloucester, the Shireland, made up for their shortcomings and built a reputation, making the Knights of the Silver Hand and the Knights of Order among the most powerful.
The second of the seven knights of Toril.
As an important strategic material, the breeding method of Sharma is an important secret of the Albrex Empire and is prohibited from being sold to outsiders. The Albrex Empire has promulgated laws on this, and any individuals or groups that smuggle, buy or sell Sharma will be punished.
The family property was confiscated and sent to the guillotine.
A group of knights and war horses just crossed the snowy field without fear of wind and snow. They did not know the purpose and intention of the trip. No one had any unauthorized conversation. The war horses only occasionally exhaled a white breath without any neighing sound.
Suddenly, there was a rapid sound of horse hooves in the distance. A silver heavy-armored knight riding a Shire horse quickly approached the head of the team. The knight was seen holding the rein in his left hand and the front saddle bridge in his right hand. He kicked with both feet and turned over.
He dismounted and stood on the ground with extremely graceful movements.
The knight walked towards the person at the head of the team and reported: "Your Excellency Elos, we found a small orc tribe ahead. Like the orc tribe we found before, the tribe was destroyed, and there were only a few adult male orc warriors.
The corpses and the rest of the orcs are nowhere to be found. According to the judgment at the scene, it was the same as before and it took no more than 2 days to be destroyed. Crow and Halfhand are surveying the scene and guarding it. Let me come and report to you."
The knight named Iloth wears a silver-covered visor. His face cannot be seen. He is of medium height and slightly thin. He can be said to be weak among the tall knights.
The difference is that Elos's silver heavy armor is thicker and more finely made than other knights. The occasional faint silver light shows that it is a set of enchanted armor. There are also two complicated and unique carvings on the armor.
The tacky lion pattern gives people a complex yet simple feeling. There is also an embossed emblem on the left chest. The emblem is a hand holding a war hammer, which is the emblem of the Knights of the Silver Hand of the Grand Duke of the Shire.
This team of more than 100 people is the Knights of the Silver Hand, one of the seven major knights in the continent of Toril.
After listening to the report from his knights, Eloise waved his hand and asked the knight who reported the news to lead the way, and ordered the other knights: "Everyone mounts their horses, be on battle alert, maintain the marching formation, and follow little Harry at full speed."
After saying that, he tapped the ground lightly, and his whole body was like a fallen leaf. He seemed to be very slow, but he turned over on his horse with extremely fast movements, as if the heavy armor he was wearing seemed weightless. The Shire horse under his crotch was not used.
The master ordered, snorted and then galloped away with the knight named Little Harry. The knights behind him got on their horses one after another and followed closely in a marching formation.
After galloping for half a quarter of an hour, a destroyed orc tribe stronghold appeared in front of everyone.
This is a small stronghold that can accommodate about 500 orcs. Dozens of simple houses made of large Kodo skeletons and furs have been burned to the ground, and are almost covered by heavy snow. Only some of the remains are left.
There are bursts of green smoke.
Without the knight leader saying anything, some of the knights went straight around the orc stronghold and dispersed around to provide warning, while the remaining knights formed a formation in front of the stronghold and were on standby.
After seeing the arrival of the knights, two knights walked out of the orc stronghold. They were the scouts Crow and Halfhand who had been sent out to investigate.
As they walked forward, the crow said to Eloth on the horse:
"Your Excellency Elos, there are about 500 orcs in the orc tribe there. What is strange is that this stronghold was destroyed, but the number of orc warriors killed was relatively small. Logically speaking, the battle for merger and expansion between orc tribes has always been
All the adult male orcs on the losing side were slaughtered, and there were only about ten adult male orcs who died in this stronghold. Judging from the decoration, they were an orc tribal chief and his personal guards. Apart from that, there were no other orc corpses.
Except for items that were inconvenient to take away from the ruins, all the items used by the orcs in daily life were taken away. It seemed that they were leaving in a calm and orderly manner, which was the same as the stronghold we saw a few days ago."
After listening to the crow's report, Eloth got off his horse and walked into the smoke-y stronghold under the guidance of the crow and Brokenhand.
In the open space in the center of the stronghold, more than a dozen male orc corpses were half-buried in the snow. The skin of these orcs was green, with two fangs growing from the inside out of their mouths. With their dead eyes, they were very ugly.
One of the corpses was wearing a simple armor made of unknown beast bones and an unknown metal. The gaps in the armor were large. In the eyes of the Silver Hand knights, this simple armor was full of holes in defense and had limited protective capabilities.
, it can only be said to be better than nothing, barely usable among the orcs with low productivity.
There was a huge wound on the neck of the corpse, which almost cut off the neck, leaving only a layer of skin and flesh connecting the back of the neck.
There is also a dilapidated and crude flag stuck on the back of this corpse, with an extremely simple pattern painted on it. It can barely be distinguished as two crossed axes. According to the naming habits of the orcs, this orc tribe should be called the Ax Blade Clan.
The rest of the orc corpses had no armor, only leather armor made of beast furs, and the wounds were huge wounds almost like decapitation, with only a little bit of skin and flesh remaining. Judging from the difference in clothing, the armored death orcs should be from this tribe.
The chief.
Elos pondered for a moment, "The strength of this tribal chief should be at the level of a mid-level warrior. He can be fatally struck by someone, and can also cause the same damage to his personal guards, exactly. The person who attacks him is at least a high-level warrior.
The attack is crisp and clean, and it is a one-hit kill in frontal combat."
"Yes, and the invading enemy only killed the chief of the tribe and his bodyguards and took control of the situation. Logically speaking, the orc tribes annexed each other, and massacres were relatively common, but usually the adult male orcs of each other were killed.
After all the slaughter, only women and young orcs remained. According to the size of this tribe, there should be at least more than 100 corpses of adult male orc warriors here. Wow, this is really strange."
Duanzhang sighed.
"Also, the several teams of rangers sent out on patrol before have not been able to find any trace. The damn heavy snow has covered everything."
Crow said with a heavy and confused look: "Although the heavy snow has covered the footprints and other traces, I can vaguely smell the scent of the wargs raised by the orcs. According to the intensity, there are at least 50 wolf-riding cavalry. I
I am sure that our rangers must have been killed by orc wolf riders, and both humans and war horses have been eaten by wargs. But the strange thing is that the orc wargs did not eat the corpses of their own kind. Generally speaking, orcs
In order to save meat, even the corpses of the same kind were not spared. They probably ate all our men and horses. The wargs were full, and armor and weapons were also good things for them. They were also looted and taken away. This group of damned people
livestock!"
After saying this, the crow's eyes turned red, and a murderous aura filled the air.
"In the past few days since we came out, we have almost penetrated into the core area controlled by the orcs. The scattered small tribes of orcs have encountered these situations, and this year the orcs have not gathered in one place to harass and plunder the border. This is too abnormal. It seems necessary to continue
To find out, there are many female orcs and young orcs among these orcs. They should not be far away." Iroth got on his horse and said solemnly. "Send my order to attack the whole army to the north."
In a moment, when all the knights heard the news, they quickly formed a rapid march formation, like a silver python, rushing through the wind and snow, and galloping away to the north.
The knights galloped for nearly half a day, and the footprints left by the orcs became more and more obvious and clear, indicating that they were getting closer to most of the orcs. When they were about to climb over a snow beam, Iroh was in the front.
Si stretched out his right fist and made a movement to stop. All the knights pulled the horse bolts and stirrups together, and they all stopped without making any sound.
Elos said: "Everyone rests on the spot for a quarter of an hour, eats, and feeds the war horses. After climbing over this snow beam, you can see the tails of most of the orcs. After a quarter of an hour, we will launch an attack. Remember, once you touch
Leave immediately, and at the same time, capture a few living orc warriors or shamans and take them back for interrogation."
After hearing this, all the knights dismounted and took out dried meat, oats, eggs and other food from the bags on the back of the Shire horses to feed their mounts. After their mounts were full, they took out the black bread and dried meat and ate them in the snow.
Swallow and eat.
A knight wearing an armor that was slightly different from the other knights walked towards Iloth. Judging from the fact that the armor had several more patterns, better workmanship, and military rank insignia than the other knights' armor, this knight was a squadron leader.
The military establishment of the mainland of Toril is based on the knights, and is generally divided into squads, squadrons, groups, and knights. The number of squads is about 10, the squadrons are between 100 and 200, and the squadrons are about 100.
There are about 800 to 1,000 people, and the Knights generally have between 4,000 and 5,000 people.
Among the seven major knights in Toril, the six major knights have about 4,000 to 5,000 formal knights. Only the Holy Empire's Holy Knights have a total number of formal knights of more than 20,000, ranking first in Toril.
The reason why the knights of the major empires generally maintain around 5,000 people is because the official knights are all nobles. Although they are only the lowest nobles, they are still a privileged class after all. The limit that the major empires can maintain is about 5,000 people.
It’s not just a matter of the knights’ fiefdoms and fiefs. The equipment, armor, horses, salaries and other expenses of the heavy knights are astronomical. The annual expenses of the official knights of the seven knights are as high as 200 gold galleons. This amount
The money is enough for an ordinary family to have enough food and clothing for half a lifetime.
The reason why the Holy Empire can support more than 20,000 knights is because the Holy Knights are the most loyal believers of the God of Light and are proletarians. The Holy Empire can maintain more than 20,000 people as long as they meet the most basic food, clothing, housing, transportation and provide equipment.
The size of the knighthood.
The Holy Knights not only have a large number of people, but their beliefs are also deeply rooted. They are all extremely fanatical believers of the God of Light. They are not afraid of death when they charge. Therefore, the Holy Knights are the strongest knights in the mainland of Toril.
The captain of the knight squadron said to Ilosu: "Your Excellency Ilosu, I just looked over the snow beam. In front of me are all the old and weak women and children of the orcs. There are about 5,000 people. There are about 2 adult orc warriors.
More than a hundred people, including 50 orcs and wolf cavalry."
"After resting, we will launch a charge, kill all the orc soldiers, capture a few prisoners and take them back. The orc army should be not far ahead. Let's end the battle as soon as possible to avoid encountering the orc army. We have been out for so many days and need supplies.
We are about to bottom out. Return to Storm Fortress as soon as possible to report the abnormal behavior of the orcs to Archduke Gross."
Elos nodded to the knight squadron leader.
All the Knights of the Silver Hand quickly took action, tidied up their own armor and that of their horses, checked their weapons, and formed their formations according to the arrow formation, waiting for the commander's order. Following Iloth's gesture, the Knights of the Silver Hand began to
Sharma controlled his crotch and slowly increased his speed.
Before charging, the knight should not always charge at the highest speed of the war horse. That would tire the horse to death. After all, the horses of heavily armored knights have high load-bearing loads.
The knight's own weight and heavy armor plus weapons and horse vests can reach 500 pounds. In the early stages of the charge, they advance in an array at a constant speed. When they are within the furthest range of the enemy's long-range weapons, they start to charge at a faster speed.
Arriving in front of the enemy's formation, the heavily armored knight reaching its peak speed will be a nightmare for any enemy.
Therefore, the only way to deal with heavily armored knights is to use heavy armored knights.
[Author's digression]: I am a new writer. I hope readers will feel free to correct me. Thank you.