King-Chapter 1379 - 265: Flooding of the "7 Counties

"The Orcs have gone mad!"

This was the unanimous thought of countless defending soldiers on the city wall. Using flooding as a siege tactic wasn’t unreasonable, but taking their own troops down with it? No one had ever seen such a move.

One had to admit, this kind of mutually destructive strategy could achieve the element of surprise most effectively. The unexpected arrival of the floodwater caught the defenders completely off guard.

Although Hudson had issued flood defense orders beforehand, implementing them took time. Up until now, many supply warehouses still hadn’t managed to complete their transfers.

The boats ordered to be crafted by the Logistic Department were still in the rear being processed, with very few delivered to the frontlines.

"Pass down the order—deploy all Air Force units and kill the Orc soldiers who’ve fallen into the water!"

Hudson, having snapped back to attention, immediately issued the directive.

Without an adequate number of boats, pursuing the enemy from the water was nearly impossible for the defending forces. At that moment, the only ones capable of taking advantage of the situation were the airborne Air Force units.

Kill as many as possible, no matter the count. As a competent commander, no opportunity to weaken the enemy should ever be missed.

The heavy losses suffered by the defending forces due to the flood were already an inevitable reality. Thankfully, they had the Orcs to keep them company; otherwise, Hudson would’ve wept in anguish.

Those unaware would simply assume the Orcs had gone crazy, perhaps guess it was internal strife, but Hudson knew this disaster stemmed from his own miscalculated cleverness.

Lacking any prior experience in hydraulic construction, he naively organized large numbers of laborers to dam a river, relying on a multi-species coalition for the work. For an accident not to occur would’ve been the greatest miracle.

The Orcs had built what amounted to a completely shoddy project, and he had poked his nose in, further exacerbating the uncontrollable decline in construction quality.

This was an assembly of people entirely lacking any knowledge of construction. Expecting control over the intensity of the destruction was clearly a pipe dream.

In construction, quality has never been dictated by its upper bounds. A single section of uncompressed fill soil is enough to destroy an entire dam.

Hudson had no doubt that these oblivious Orcs would dare to spread several meters of loose soil at once and only perform a single round of manual tamping.

Some Orcs might even believe that the less they compact the soil, the better—this way, they could reduce the volume they needed to excavate for transport, and finish the tasked assignments more "efficiently."

As for the consequences this might trigger, Hudson didn’t believe that the average bottom-tier Orc—boasting an IQ below 60—was capable of comprehending the larger ramifications.

There was even a chance the Orc Empire’s high levels weren’t aware: substandard construction techniques would cause the dam to collapse under the scour of water currents.

Perhaps in the minds of those Orc leaders, inadequate soil strength could just be patched using magic reinforcement. They likely had never considered that even magic reinforcement had its limits.

As water levels rose, so did the pressure created—far beyond what a few simple magic spells could handle.

Faced with the raging torrent, Hudson never gave an order to block the water’s entrance—not because he didn’t want to trap the flood outside the city, but because it was outright unfeasible.

Even if sealing the city gates were possible, there was no way to stop the sewer system. At this moment, the interior of Sateks Fortress was not only flooded but also infested with vomitus flowing out from the sewage system...

In short, the flood brought enormous trouble to the defending forces.

A tremendous amount of supplies couldn’t be transferred in time and were soaked by the floodwaters. Countless bacteria and viruses surged out from the sewers, significantly increasing the likelihood of disease outbreaks.

Staring at the rampaging flood before him, Hudson had already mentally prepared himself for an impending plague.

After all, the soldiers within the city could at least climb onto the buildings for refuge, but the Orcs outside the walls were directly carried away in waves.

If this flood didn’t kill millions, it would hardly justify its scale and devastation.

Deep in his heart, Hudson had already begun mourning for Daniel. Perhaps he wouldn’t even need to take any action; after the war, the Orcs would likely handle the planner of this water assault—the Commander of the Army—on their own.

Since ancient times, water and fire show no mercy; this was simply the price of incompetence. If Daniel had ever undertaken a large-scale hydraulic project, he’d have heavily scrutinized the construction quality before launching this operation.

Even for a temporary dam, technical expertise is indispensable.

Forget that this hastily erected soil dam would collapse—a poorly constructed concrete dam would face a similar fate, crumbling as soon as it stored water.

The Orcs went even further, piling up the dam ever higher under the weight of rushing water without any semblance of a construction workflow, completely neglecting basic stability.

As the floodwaters continued to wreak havoc, one city after another, each fortress in its path, fell victim—and the Seven Prefectures along the border were entirely swallowed by the deluge.

For the noble lords stationed at the frontlines, their hearts were already shedding tears. Years of effort had now been destroyed in an instant.

Unless a lucky few had their territories situated on elevated ground and managed to escape calamity, all other infrastructure would need complete reconstruction.

Theoretically, the Kingdom would compensate the border lords who suffered heavy losses after the war, but when they’d actually receive that money would depend on whether there was anything left in the Treasury’s coffers.

...

Out on the plains, Daniel, who had narrowly escaped the flood’s wrath, stood atop a small hill and gazed at the endless expanse of waters that had consumed the land. Tears streamed uncontrollably down his face.

Everything was over!

The Orc Empire’s most devastating defeat in history had come to life—under his leadership.

The "aftermath" was no longer his concern.

This defeat was enough to wipe away all his previous accomplishments.

Gazing into the distance, Daniel could faintly hear the desperate cries of struggling Orc soldiers and the furious curses that carried through clenched teeth.

It was as if countless voices were accusing him directly, pointing the finger at him: This entire tragedy was the result of his stupidity as Commander.

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