The Ominous Lord of the Skaven

Chapter 52 The Gnoll's Intentions
The 10 minutes passed in a flash, and Ickert ordered Genil to start aligning the discovery time of the markers everywhere. Fortunately, due to the short time distance, the discovery time of most markers is relatively accurate.

Moreover, Jenier can also judge the approximate time based on the smell of feces and urine, not limited to the time when the smell was discovered. It is said that this is a technique he developed based on accumulated experience.

As a result, Ickert was able to make a more accurate analysis based on the intelligence of all parties.

"I'm sorry, Miss Maria, please take the irrelevant people out."

No matter whether his results are to be published or not, the less people who hear about the subsequent analysis, the better.

"My lord, I understand."

After Maria finished speaking, she led the Rat Man and the maids out of the chamber under the watchful eye of the knight attendants.

Ickert took a deep breath and announced to everyone present:

"Everyone, the strategic intentions of the Gnolls have been determined. This is not an ordinary investigation. They are uniting and may have formed an alliance to seize the territory!"

The reason is actually very simple. The earliest smell in time came from the direction of the highlands. There was not only the smell of gnolls, but also some bloody smell.

The second batch of smells was later discovered in the riverside forest, and finally it was the sighting report in the forest on the other side.

It takes time to transmit information. Things like tribes, in order to ensure that the surrounding resources are sufficient for the survival of the tribes, will be separated by a considerable distance.

If it is necessary to conduct investigations on the territory separately, the investigation time of the major tribes should not be so hierarchical.

And the tribes who came to check should be mainly highland tribes, because the tribes in other areas are in the lowlands and have poorer vision.

Especially for the southern tribes, the forests near Windsor are too narrow and long, and belong to the traditional sphere of influence of the undead.

Their tribe should be in the deeper forest, and they should not have arrived in the second batch.

There was a lot of movement when Ickert first came to the territory, and the dimensional lightning cannon did shoot very far, but as far as the tropical rainforest is concerned, it is still impossible to see clearly in the lowlands.

The situation was clear, the highland tribe took the lead and informed most of the wolf man tribes from west to east.

The final scent location plus date table reflects the activities of these gnoll tribes.

Ickert's words made everyone present look dignified. The territory has not even sown its seeds yet, and it will face the danger of being attacked. This is really true.
"Not only that, we were once attacked by jackals on the way to Windsor. That tribe can invest nearly a hundred jackal warriors at one time, and the number of jackals around the territory may be around a thousand."

Ickert analyzed again that if each tribe had that kind of scale, one Goll in Guanggao would be enough to organize hundreds of Gnoll warriors.

With the current strength of the territory, if they charged directly, they would suffer heavy losses no matter what.

Yarrow was taken aback immediately after hearing Ickert's words.

"Eleven thousand!"

"Yes, this is only a conservative estimate, and the gnolls on the other side of the river are not included. After all, the highland forest is indeed vast and fertile."

Eckert said that this made the atmosphere in the chamber even more heavy.

"But don't worry, the number of gnolls will never exceed 400, and the actual force they can mobilize is at most around [-]."

Being able to make this judgment is thanks to the tide of the undead. As the jackals who have lived here for three years, they are still alive, which means that the jackals have enough experience to deal with it.

And the attack on the convoy was probably intentional. If you win, you can plunder food for the tribe. If you lose, you can also reduce the number of mouths to eat.

Coupled with their behavior of retreating after reducing their number to a certain number, Ickert was able to determine that there was a high probability that they were all the strength of a tribe, and then they could infer the number of a tribe relatively accurately.

Such a large tribe needs a lot of living space. There are at most five on the high ground, and further away is the scope of other territories, where his fellow human beings are also active.

Considering the attrition caused by the undead and going out, ideally, he should only need to deal with a total of about 300 gnolls, and the combat force he should face is about [-] young and middle-aged wolves.

But even so, it was still impossible to deal with so many troops in the early stage when the fighting power of the territory had not yet recovered.

Two people and one mouse, you look at me, I look at you, they know that Ickert naturally wants the best of both worlds, but to be honest, they can't think of it.

After a long time, Aris suggested:

"Master, we are well equipped at present. If we start training the army in time, we should be able to fight! The problem of food. I can lead the caravan to buy supplies, and it should be able to survive this period of time."

Yarrow also quite agrees with this plan.

"Lord, although I really want to resume production as soon as possible, there are too many enemies right now! Let's focus on military affairs!"

"Yes! Clan Chief! Our loving clan is thirsty for blood! As long as you give an order, all the rat people are willing to fight for you!"

It is rare for Genier to reach a consensus with Yarrow, and he is also extremely looking forward to mastering a larger army.

However, not only did his move not strengthen his impression in Ickert's mind, but it made Ickert realize that he urgently needed a Mouse II to curb Genier's momentum, or prepare a more advanced binding contract for him.

After four hundred ratmen joined, his military power was a bit too big.

As for the suggestions of his subordinates, Ikert completely disagrees, because this approach will make Ikert lose the most important thing in military struggles—the initiative!

"You guys want to fight, that's good, but have you noticed that if the territory is fully transferred to preparations for battle, it is almost equivalent to putting on a nose ring for the jackal!"

"In this way, they have the final say on when the gnolls will attack! And we can only wait and waste a lot of time in the territory, even if it is to live, it is not such a way to live!"

"Also, Aris, you have to understand that Windsor has no supply lines now! I can't afford experienced soldiers to guard your convoy, and buying and selling food will exhaust the last deposit of the territory in the future!

So what if you win in the end?We will still have no place to die! "

"Whether those undead will erupt again in the coming year is not certain. The legendary necromancer may be hiding somewhere now, staring at us day and night!"

Ickert's tone was excited. After some deduction, it was difficult, too difficult. There were two or three big cats and small cats in the leadership. The army that was finally formed was scattered among the large number of recruits, and it could not recover its combat effectiveness in a short time.

Tell him to take these things and gain a firm foothold on the dangerous front line?Mad, he desperately needs a system!
But when it comes to the end of the mountain, Ickert thinks it's far from it.

What he needs most now is time. No matter what, he must find a way to control the invasion time of the gnolls, so that the attacker can follow the defender's trend.

Ickert began to think about how to break this situation of disregarding military and production.

To figure out how to break the situation, Ickert needs to know when the Jackals will launch an attack, their organizational methods and food mobilization capabilities, and comprehensive consideration of various factors.

These things were not difficult to analyze, and he soon had an answer.

Combining all the factors, taking out all the productive forces available in the territory, Ickert is already aware of Windsor's counterattack policy.

Snapped!
Determined, Ickert slammed the table, scaring the two people in the chamber to stand up straight.

Ickert took a breath of fresh air, then spit out all the dirty air freely, and ordered:

"Open the warehouse! Prepare to distribute all the weapons!"

"Yes, Lord!"

(End of this chapter)