Mushroom Fortress Puchi Update Log: In order to let the Empire army have a better combat experience, we removed the newly added [Combat Instinct] and downgraded the strength of some Puchis from Elite to Cannon Fodder.
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The main force of over four thousand dispatched by Duke Eugene was commanded by a general named Renard, an old Lizardman with Palace-tier strength.
Renard was not a native demon born in the Empire, but was born in a tribe. Because his tribe was close to the Empire's border, it was frequently harassed and plundered by the Empire's border defense forces under the guise of military training.
Unable to bear the harassment, Renard once led the tribe to resist and even achieved some battle results.
But when they truly caught Duke Eugene's attention, facing the large army tightly encircling the tribe, they could only choose to surrender.
The Duke appreciated his command and combat skills and took him under his command. Now, thirty years later, the former tribal resister had long become one of the Duke's highly-placed confidants.
Duke Eugene sending him to command this time was also valuing the point that he had more experience regarding the Northern Territory and tribes.
Besides Duke Eugene's troops, the Demon-kin side also sent a team of eight hundred people.
Although the number wasn't large, the Demon-kin, as a war race created by the Demon King, relied on magic crests engraved since birth, plus attribute values that were quite dazzling even among demons. A Demon-kin of the same level fighting two to three other demons was considered normal; if replaced with useless Half-Demons, it could be even more.
If morale and other factors were added, it could be said that these eight hundred Demon-kin were not at all inferior to the team under Renard's command.
Due to the issue of command authority, the two sides didn't merge their troops into one place, but advanced side by side, separated by a certain distance.
General Renard's expression was not good at this moment; he had just received news of the vanguard army stalling to a halt.
Marching for only two days, he caught up with the vanguard army.
They were stationed on a treacherous terrain backed by a steep ice cliff and surrounded by a frozen river in front. Defensive fortifications were layered one upon another, completely presenting a posture of strict defense. If one didn't know, they would probably think they were the side being attacked.
"Halson, according to the plan, you should be opening the way for the large army. What are you doing now?" Facing the vanguard army commander who came out to greet him, Renard questioned.
Halson lowered his head, making no defense, just leading the general toward the camp.
The scenes along the way were shocking.
Most soldiers sat silently around campfires. Many had blood-seeping bandages wrapped around their bodies, their eyes hollow or carrying undispersed palpitations.
The air was permeated with herbs, bloody stench, and a faint smell of corpses.
After returning to the commander's tent, Halson finally recounted the vanguard army's encounter.
Simply put, just one engagement beat Halson into not daring to act rashly.
The opponent's strength and numbers far exceeded expectations. Winning a tragic victory, the soldiers' morale plummeted. Fearing the risk of the whole army being wiped out if continuing to penetrate deep alone, he chose to set up camp here and wait to merge with the large force.
"Hmph," the general let out a cold snort after hearing this, carrying obvious dissatisfaction, "fighting a battle like this and stalling. Do you want to let those Demon-kin see our joke? Duke Dean's people are watching not far away!"
Although dissatisfied, Renard still kept Halson's rhetoric in mind. He didn't continue reprimanding, but summoned all officers.
After another round of discussion, Renard put away his contempt for the Northern Territory and changed the initial deployment.
First, ordered the main force and vanguard army to merge into one place and reorganize. The marching distance between various units was shortened, flanking patrols and scout density were strengthened, ensuring that if any point was attacked, adjacent units could quickly respond and support.
Second, changed the established marching route.
Preferring to detour for half a day's journey to avoid several locations potentially suitable for ambushes or surprise attacks.
Finally, and also the most critical strategic objective adjustment.
He temporarily shelved the main task of "searching for the cause of the Northern Territory's abnormal temperature drop" and clarified the primary objective as "prioritizing finding and routing the resistance forces of the Northern Territory tribes."
To avoid the situation where they separated to search everywhere, and then the Northern Territory tribes found opportunities to defeat them one by one, suffering heavy losses.
After deploying, Renard thought for a moment, then sent someone to deliver the details of the encounter battle along with the summary of the adjusted marching plan to the Demon-kin troop commander marching a distance away.
Although there was a situation of secret rivalry between the two sides, Renard wasn't a reckless youth who couldn't distinguish importance.
Then, right in this cautious atmosphere of the whole army, they encountered Puchis again.
Still a quantity of four thousand Puchis.
The centurion who encountered the Puchis set up a defensive formation immediately according to Renard's request and notified other units for support.
A vast white expanse of Puchis charged up. The demon troops went from engagement to gaining the upper hand, and finally exterminated the attacking Puchis completely.
Not falling into a bitter fight at all; when Renard rushed over with manpower, the battle had already ended.
This thousand-man troop only suffered about ten casualties.
However, what they killed were all Puchis. Those tribal Puchi Masters, seeing the battle situation was unfavorable from afar, abandoned the Puchis and ran away.
Due to Renard's orders, the centurion could only hold back from pursuing.
Facing this kind of battle result, the eyes of all officers couldn't stop darting toward the vanguard army commander Halson. The latter's face flushed red, but he couldn't say a single word.
In front of facts, any defense would look like quibbling.
Finally, it was still Renard who came out to smooth things over: "Cannot rule out the enemy deliberately showing weakness. Those tribes wanting to resist the Empire must play some tricks. All units continue to maintain caution, don't make any mistakes for me!"
But afterward, they successively encountered Northern Territory Puchi troops several more times. The mentality of the demons gradually lost its initial caution.
To say these Northern Territory Puchi troops couldn't withstand a single blow was definitely wrong.
Puchis were numerous and didn't fear death. As long as they didn't all rush up to feed at once, pairing with some tactics still annoyed these demon generals quite a bit.
But besides that, there was nothing praiseworthy.
Especially the individual strength of the Puchis; it wasn't as powerful as Halson described at all.
Then the reasonable explanation was: Halson made some low-level mistakes in command leading to the vanguard army's tragic victory, and to cover up his own faults, he deliberately exaggerated the Puchis' strength!
For a time, everyone's look at Halson faintly carried contempt. Even Renard didn't give him a good look anymore.
The general could even imagine how those Demon-kin would mock their incompetence after receiving the warning from his side and then truly fighting a few rounds with the Northern Territory Puchis.
It was just that they were still marching and fighting now; otherwise, he would have had to punish Halson no matter what!
However, although the Puchi's strength wasn't worth mentioning, the quantity was quite outrageous.
Looking at the report that the right army had once again exterminated over a thousand Puchis and repelled the Puchi Masters, Renard frowned.
Over the past few days, adding large and small battles together, they had almost killed twenty thousand Puchis.
In this freezing and frozen Northern Territory, exactly how many Puchis did those tribes still have?
(End of Chapter)
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