Chapter 178

The terrifying river surged, turbulent and mighty, churning with muddy yellow silt, as if countless angry monsters were hidden beneath, waiting to devour people.

Because of the lack of preparation, dry alfalfa leaves, large pieces of housing material, reed woven pieces characteristic of Gondor, and even an astonishing fishy smell that made people almost vomit could be seen floating in the white foam everywhere on the river.

Such a scene can be said to be completely different from the previous impression of the Anduin River with its blue sky, white clouds, white sails, and mirror-like surface! Fortunately, although the flood seemed monstrous and overflowed onto the vast Pelennor Fields, the water level was not deep—reaching the calves in shallow places and only waist-deep at most in deep places. To be honest, a flood of this magnitude would probably pose the greatest threat to Gimli, while the rest of the people only needed to keep themselves from being knocked over, and the chances of drowning were small.

In the final analysis, the Anduin River is the longest river in Middle-earth, on the same level as the Mississippi, Amazon, and Nile rivers on Earth. Therefore, it is unrealistic to cut off the river's flow without heavy engineering machinery and use it to flood an army.

In fact, as early as the previous Nightmare Space, Jazz's think tank team had proposed a plan to dam and breach the river, but the plan was rejected because they had calculated and analyzed that water attacks needed to be kept secret. Under the surveillance of 200,000 Orc legions, it was theoretically impossible to create a large-scale breach. At most, they could only flood the Pelennor Fields once along the annual flood channels created by Minas Tirith and fertilize the land.

What good would that do?

It might seem cool to let the Orcs drink water and roll around in the mud, but don't forget that a very important reinforcement for the Human Alliance is the Rohan cavalry. Without them, the Human Alliance would never have been able to hold out until Aragorn led the army of the dead back.

Therefore, for the Human Alliance, slightly irrigating the Pelennor Fields could only disgust the Orcs, but on the contrary, it would be extremely detrimental to them!

Imagine the miserable state of the poor Rohan cavalry losing their momentum and struggling in the swamp. Therefore, when Jazz's think tank team proposed this plan, it was quickly rejected and they were asked to keep it a secret. These people kept praying that the other party would not think of this key factor.

The flood peak roared past, and the morale of the remaining soldiers of the Human Alliance gradually recovered, because they felt that the torrent had only washed away dozens of people in the initial waves, and then became weak. Not only that, even at the peak, the water level only reached their waists, so a fearful heart that had been hanging slowly began to let go.

However, as the saying goes, the less you know, the happier you are. At this time, Jazz and the others were in an even darker mood. In fact, they already knew that these guys would definitely have a backup plan, and it would be a series of interconnected and extremely vicious backup plans!

Soon, those who were struggling in the mud saw a dense number of sampans and rafts coming from a distance! These small boats were probably very shallow, and it was estimated that they could travel freely in the swamp. Without exception, they were all filled with pirates who were shouting and screaming excitedly!

These pirates were dressed in ferocious and strange ways. Their hair was disheveled, and their clothes were mainly black and very tattered. Because a parasite similar to fleas was prevalent on the Middle-earth continent and liked to hide in the hair, causing a lot of trouble and spreading diseases, about 30% of the pirates were bald, having shaved their heads to prevent the breeding of these parasites.

However, the pirates were also wearing standard-issue leather armor, which showed that the Corsairs of Umbar had almost formed a country, and it was not just empty words. The leather armor was made of two layers of animal skin tanned, with a cushion made of local red coconut tree fibers placed in the middle, which had very good protection against arrows and swords. At the same time, it could also prevent the spread of fire. Some small boats even had flaming fire barrels, which seemed to be used to light torches and fire rockets.

For the confidants left behind by Fang Senyan, persuading these highly suspicious pirates to do things was very smooth and natural. Compared to going to the battlefield and shedding blood face-to-face, they still felt that building a dam to weaken the enemy was the most cost-effective method. In fact, if it weren't for the faith in the Dark Lord Sauron supervising the battle, this group of unscrupulous guys might have scattered long ago.

It can be seen that the biggest weakness of the pirates is the lack of organization and discipline, a chaotic mess. In the competition with the regular army, this kind of rabble is often looked down upon a lot. If it were under normal circumstances, tens of thousands of Corsairs of Umbar would inevitably be defeated if they fought against the thousands of elites remaining in Minas Tirith on land. No wonder the existence of the Corsairs of Umbar is so weak, and it is not unreasonable that everyone looks down on them.

But under Fang Senyan's plan, even scrap iron must bloom with its own light, and even a piece of toilet paper must be used to wipe the face first, then the table, and then the butt before it is discarded, and it must play its greatest use!

Although the Corsairs of Umbar were chaotic at this time, were the Minas Tirith defenders who were washed around by the flood and looked like mud monkeys any more disciplined? Fang Senyan had no way to make the Corsairs of Umbar abide by discipline and order in a short period of time, but he could find a way to make the well-trained enemy a mess!

This is precisely to use one's own chaos to fight against the enemy's disorder, and the pirates are coming by boat, which innately has an advantage and makes up for the lack of combat power.

Even more vicious is that the amount of water accumulated in this short period of time is ultimately limited. After waiting only ten minutes, the water flow will slowly recede from the higher-lying Pelennor Fields, and this place will become a temporary large swamp within two or three days!

This means that when the pirates see that the situation is not good and their morale collapses, they will not be able to escape by boat. In such a muddy environment, the mobility of both sides is weakened to the extreme, so once a battle occurs, the weaker side has a very low chance of escaping, then the weaker side is destined to have to fight desperately!

What Fang Senyan wants to fight is such a chaotic battle! To conduct a tragic war of attrition with the enemy in the way of exchanging pieces. Do you remember the initial battle plan formulated by Fang Senyan? Personal strength is insignificant in the face of the power of the war. The strength of Fang Senyan's team in the great battle of thousands or tens of thousands of people is like a small wave, which will be quickly annihilated and can only affect a region. However, when this battle is over, the strength of the ace team itself plus their contribution will be crucial!!

The overall situation of the endgame initially conceived by Fang Senyan has taken preliminary shape!

Of course, as the saying goes, "One general succeeds and ten thousand bones wither." As for how many of the Corsairs of Umbar will be left after this battle, he has not considered it. Tens of thousands of pirates can leave a thousand or so people to provide faith for the Dark Lord's Hall, and he believes that the great Dark Lord Sauron will not bother with these trivial details...

This bloody battle may not be exciting enough compared to the previous battles, but the tragic atmosphere is extremely chilling!

Under Fang Senyan's calculations, neither side had too many retreats, and could only detonate a desperate fight. On the Pelennor Fields after the flood receded, the high-lying areas were extremely muddy, but the low-lying areas would leave puddles, but these puddles were filled with pools of shocking red, and everywhere you could see the terrifying scene of mutual fighting and both sides suffering.

In this muddy environment, it is really a paradise for ranged attackers. The attacks they launch are difficult for the other party to dodge, and almost every shot hits. However, if attacked, then this place is a nightmare-like hell.

In this environment, Fang Senyan was also helpless with Legolas, the Elf Prince. His sharp longbow almost took the upper hand, and even the Sea Alliance and Blue Light Team, who had rushed over after hearing the news and wanted to beat a drowning dog, had more than a dozen people die tragically under his arrows!

You must know that those who can stay alive until now are all core figures in the team! The deaths of more than a dozen people in these two teams can be said to have greatly damaged their vitality. Of course, Aziz, Zi, and Aldaris in Fang Senyan's team also gained amazing benefits.

Finally, relying on the Elf Prince's solo dance, and Jazz's adaptation to circumstances, using several contractors who are good at earth-based spells and abilities to create a dry road, the troops that finally escaped into Minas Tirith still numbered one or two thousand, but most of these warriors were exchanged by contractors.

Compared with the regular army, the biggest disadvantage of these exchanged soldiers is that they belong to a large number of different masters and fight on their own. War is about death, but the selfishness of the contractors is often much greater than that of others, and they often let the plot soldiers stand in front. Precisely because of this, it can be generally recognized that the combat power of the soldiers exchanged by the contractors is 2/3. Three hundred soldiers exchanged by the contractors can be worth two hundred plot soldiers. Therefore, the more soldiers belonging to the contractors escape, the more Fang Senyan is happy to see it happen.

In contrast, nearly three thousand Corsairs of Umbar actually survived. It cannot be said that this muddy area is like a home field for them, with great advantages. Fang Senyan is not blindly cruel and oppressive. He will not let these guys who can survive be cannon fodder to attack the city. It is enough to do a good job of defense. Their role is to provide faith for the Dark Lord's Hall and keep it unbreakable.

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