Since reinforcements led by the Barov family and Haas arrived at Icewind Point, the command of this sentry fortress was handed over to the famous Alterac general Haas.
Neither the Teta brothers nor Polina had any objections to this. They were both natives of Alterac and had heard of Haas's reputation for a long time, so they willingly gave up command.
As expected, Haas lived up to his title as a famous general. After taking charge of Icewind Point, it took him just three days to initially knead the soldiers of the Syndicate, Ravenholdt and Barov into a whole. .
Of course there is a reason why Haas is already famous, but his own ability should not be underestimated.
Since all the scouts sent by Lordaeron were exterminated by Sarlayan and Valeela, the Knights of the Silver Hand are not yet clear about the changes within Icewind Point.
However, Uther still learned from the desperate news from Steinblade's scouts that the guard of Icewind Post had been replaced by the experienced Alterac general Haas.
During the Second Orc War, Uther and Haas were under the command of Alliance Grand Marshal Anduin Lothar, and they both knew each other to a certain extent.
Uther knew that Haas was by no means an easy enemy to deal with. When Haas had just arrived, Uther didn't want him to have time to reshape the defense of Icewind Hill.
However, Uther did not want to fight an unprepared battle. He was anxiously waiting for Andorhal to deliver the siege equipment needed by the Knights of the Silver Hand.
The Knights of the Silver Hand were dispatched lightly, and Terenas originally thought that this elite knights could easily break through the Syndicate's riddled defenses.
However, due to various objective factors brought about by the entry of Sarlayan and others, the Silver Hand's raid failed to achieve the expected results. They could only be patient and engage in positional siege warfare, with the craftsmen of Andorhal working overtime. Make a batch of siege weapons and push them to the front line.
On the third day after Haas arrived at Icewind Point, Andorhal's craftsmen finally hurriedly completed Uther's customization requirements.
The movement that Hass's emissary spoke of was caused by the siege weapons being pushed into the camp.
"Catapults, ballistas, battering rams, siege towers, hehe~ They're very traditional."
Time was running out, and Andorhal was unable to mobilize artillery nearby, so they could only build these traditional siege weapons.
With the cement produced in the Earl of Deep Shadow, Quel'Thalas has begun to invest heavily in reinforced concrete when building the fortress.
These traditional siege weapons have almost no effect on the reinforced concrete city walls, but the temporary wooden city walls used to attack Bingfeng Gang can still play a good role.
On the city wall, Haas, dressed in military uniform, looked thoughtfully at the camp of the Knights of the Silver Hand.
Uther did not immediately launch an attack because of the arrival of the siege weapons. The soldiers of the Knights were slowly pushing the siege weapons to the front of the camp.
"Earl of Deep Shadow, I'm afraid it's just as you said."
Haas's eyes were solemn and he said to Sarlayan, who had already come to him: "Uther probably wants to make a fuss about the habits developed by the Icewind Hills defenders during this period. They should turn the imaginary into reality at night. launch a siege."
Sarlayan nodded in agreement: "Human habits are terrible. Once formed, it is not easy to correct them."
"snort!"
Haas put his hands on his hips and sneered: "Thanks to your reminder, you gave us three days to adjust our schedule."
"Since Uther wants to attack at night, fine, let's prepare a surprise for him."
…
After all, the Syndicate only started as a thieves group. In terms of military management, even Duke Faculest himself has no outstanding talents.
After Haas arrived at Icewind Post, he immediately re-established the vigil rules. He adopted a three-shift approach and asked soldiers from the three families to stand guard for 8 hours respectively.
Haas did not make a quick move and mixed the soldiers from the three families for retraining. He wanted to do so, but with the enemy in front of him, he did not have the confidence to complete all training tasks before the war started.
After discussions with Sarlayan, Haas adopted a compromise approach, arranging their defense changes in time periods, retaining the unity of the three command systems to the greatest extent.
Taking into account Sarlayan's reminder, Haas specially arranged for the private soldiers of the Barov family, who were the most powerful, the most disciplined, and the easiest to use, to keep vigil. Ravenholdt and the Syndicate were responsible for the day and evening respectively.
It turned out that Haas's adjustment was correct.
Three o'clock in the night is the sleepiest time in human physiological habits. The people of Syndicate and Ravenholdt have already fallen asleep.
When the noise of gongs and drums sounded around the Icewind Point fortress, some Syndicate soldiers suddenly woke up, but they just turned over and continued to sleep regardless of the noise.
Taking advantage of the darkness and noise, the soldiers of the Knights of the Silver Hand quietly pushed the siege weapons not far from the front of the fortress.
Uther frowned and stared at the motionless Icewind Point Fortress, feeling an inexplicable uneasiness in his heart.
Haas is not an easy enemy to deal with, and he should not be so defenseless at night. Uther always feels that this night attack will not go as smoothly as expected.
But the arrow was already in the string and had to be fired.
As Uther waved silently with a calm expression, the Silver Hand soldiers who had been prepared placed the boulder in the catapult's throwing bag.
"put!"
Dathrohan lowered his voice and gave the order, and three catapults almost simultaneously threw huge rocks at the Bingfeng Ridge city wall.
"boom!"
"Crunch!"
The kinetic energy brought by the parabola coupled with the mass of the stone itself, the huge boulders falling on the city wall made the temporarily installed wooden wall creak. One huge boulder even penetrated the city wall and fell into the interior of the fortress, causing a panic. Voice.
Seeing that the progress was going smoothly, Dathrohan continued to order: "The archers and mages suppressed the counterattack firepower on the city wall, and the rams moved forward! The siege tower followed closely! Hurry! Don't give the enemy a chance to counterattack!"
The first round of sneak attacks was successful, and the Knights of the Silver Hand no longer needed to cover their whereabouts. The heavy siege weapons were pushed towards the city gate by the soldiers shouting slogans.
The paladins riding war horses are ready to charge. Once the city gate is knocked open, they will form a formation and rush into the city immediately, hoping to capture the enemy general Haas in one fell swoop.
But... will things really develop as the Knights of the Silver Hand expect?
The answer is no.
"quack!"
Before the battering ram could reach its position, the heavy wooden door suddenly opened inwards without any warning.
The paladins could no longer suppress their desire to rush into the city, and looked expectantly at Dasohan, the deputy leader who was responsible for issuing orders.
However, at this time, Dathrohan did not use his loud and passionate voice to boost the morale of the Lordaeron soldiers as usual.
Like Uther, he looked dully at the entire cavalry team that was already waiting behind the open city gate.
Uther was the first to react: "Damn! We've fallen into a trap!"
"Push back the siege! Lancers, step forward and set up your guns!"
"Yes Yes!"
The development of the situation was completely different from the predictions of the officers of the Knights of the Silver Hand. The well-trained spearmen subconsciously followed Uther's orders, raised their spears and moved forward.
But before they could get into position, the cavalry unit that was ready to go moved first.
Haas, who was standing at the back of the team, loudly ordered: "Listen to my order! All members of the cavalry team attack, with the primary goal of destroying the enemy's siege weapons! Don't be reluctant to fight!"
"yes!"
The mobility of the cavalry was undoubtedly revealed in this local battle. The Barov cavalry, who took the lead, held a lance in one hand and a torch in the other. They ignited the heavy wooden siege troops before the siege troops of the Knights of the Silver Hand retreated. City weapons.
Although they lost more than a dozen cavalry due to the bombardment by the mage troops and archers of the Knights of the Silver Hand, the cavalry of the Barov family successfully completed, and even exceeded, the tasks assigned to them by Haas.
"Offensive formation! Charge with me!"
The cavalry captain with four scars on his face charged forward bravely.
At this time, they had thrown away the torch in their left hands, holding the lances tightly with both hands, bypassing the hastily arranged spear array of the Knights of the Silver Hand, and entered the Knights of the Silver Hand's position from the side.
The Barov Cavalry was not interested in fighting, and they only knew that the Paladins of the Silver Hand were also ready to fight.
After using the impact force to penetrate the enemy formation, the cavalry captain did not try to expand the victory, and calmly took the lead in retreating to Bingfenggang Castle.
When the most holy knights of the Knights of the Silver Hand were dispatched, they could no longer catch up with the Barov cavalry who started speeding up first. They could only watch helplessly as they dropped more than a dozen corpses and successfully rushed into the castle gate.
In this cavalry battle, the Barov family lost 34 cavalry, burned most of the enemy's siege weapons, and caused hundreds of casualties to the Knights of the Silver Hand.
"Damn it!"
Uther blamed himself and punched the big tree next to him: "I should have been on guard! I was careless. I didn't expect that Haas would dare to take the initiative when his morale was low!"
Looking back at the scene of people tumbling behind him, Dathrohan, the main combatant, asked with a grimace: "Uther, do you want to fight again?"
"Hit me!"
The Lightbringer, who had always had a gentle personality, rarely cursed. He glared at Dathrohan angrily.
"Withdraw the troops! Let Mayor Matthew report tonight's battle situation to His Majesty Terenas and ask for His Majesty's next action plan."
"Oh fine……"
Dathrohan reined in his horse and left dejectedly. Uther, somewhat unwilling and relieved, took one last look at the still impregnable Icewind Point fortress.
"Perhaps this war should end here?"
