No Victory Without Risk
After reaching the walled city in the dead of the night, Baron looked to the sky. The moon covered a cloudy sky, and little moonlight made its way to the ground.
Perfect for a night operation. The men had received orders to cover any of their skin not covered up by their armour with mud so as to make it harder for their enemies to see them at night.
Baron turned to his men, and addressed them in hushed tones.
“Alright, boys. This is what we are going to do.” Baron said as he grabbed a torch from the nearby officer. “Everyone is going to grab a length of firecrackers, spread out around the walled city, and light them up once every hour until the sun rises. If any of you encounter enemies, don’t hesitate to throw away your torch and retreat to the rendezvous point. After you’ve thrown off your pursuers, of course.
“Our goal here is not to fight the enemy, but to annoy and confuse the enemy soldiers. Once the first crack of sunlight appears you are to immediately retreat back to camp.” He and the officer, Phillips, handed out the firecrackers to their men. They’d prepared them beforehand and had hidden stashes close to the city walls, camouflaged by underbrush and trees.
Officer Phillips spoke up following Baron’s instructions. “Alright everyone, you have your assignments. Good luck.” He grabbed a couple of firecrackers for himself and turned to leave with the rest of the men.
“Hold on Phillips, I need to talk with you before you leave.”
What is it, boss?”
“I just wanted to remind you to care for your own safety above all else — you’re a capable officer, and I absolutely need you by my side to win this battle.” Baron warned Phillips.
“Of course, sir. I'll do my best.” Phillips replied before setting out to his position.
A few moments later the first of the firecrackers could be heard exploding along the city wall. The first to light their firecrackers, naturally, were the ones assigned to locations closest to the starting point. As the first lit up their firecrackers, the ones assigned farther away picked up their speed, and quickly lit their own firecrackers.
These firecrackers quickly woke the entire city, including the soldiers within, who milled about, wondering if they were under attack.
***
“Sir, there seem to be firecracker noises sounding from outside the city, and these noises have woken up many of the soldiers.” Lieutenant En quickly briefed Yue Fei.
“Why haven't I heard anything?” Yue Fei asked while standing up.
“We’re at the center of the city here, and it seems these firecrackers are just quiet enough so as the noise doesn’t travel this far.”
As potential items to be used, firecrackers had been provided to both sides, along with many other things.
Yue Fei thought to himself before giving his orders. “They’re just doing this to annoy us and create confusion among the ranks. Double the guards on the walls just in case, but give the order for the rest of the men to continue resting.”
“Yes, sir. Are we going to do anything about the troublemakers outside, then?”
Yue Fei looked into the sky. “No. There isn’t much moonlight tonight, so it would be dangerous to search for them in the dark. They could have ambushes set just a few hundred feet from our walls, and we wouldn’t be able to see them. It’s better to stay within the city until the sun rises.”
“Understood, sir.” En left the room to relay Yue Fei’s earlier orders.
Yue Fei sighed.
Baron Magellan, I did not think you would employ such tactics on the very first day of battle. You are quite the surprising opponent, but I will not fall for your ploys.
***
Come morning, the two hundred soldiers arrived back at camp, just as the rest of the army woke from their night’s sleep. Baron had returned to the camp a few hours prior, but hearing the commotion, he stepped out of his tent to see the two hundred soldiers talking with the newly woken soldiers. An idea formed in his mind, and he quickly called for an army briefing.
Baron addressed his gathered troops. “Everyone, please give me your attention. These brave men have spent the night fulfilling their objectives in extremely dangerous situations — not only did they accomplish their mission flawlessly, but all have returned, safe and sound. Please give these heroes of the night a round of applause!”
Following Baron’s words, the camp exploded into a cacophony of applause and supportive shouts. Seeing this, Baron smiled in satisfaction — this quick meeting had greatly raised his soldiers’ morale. Suddenly, their camp exploded into a frenzy of applause and supportive shouts. Baron smiled in satisfaction at the surge of morale in his army.
“That's what I'm talking about!”
“Kill ‘em!”
“Let's go!”
Some of the honored soldiers stared around dumbly, too tired from working through the night. Others, though, grinned from ear to ear. It felt great to be honored in such a way, even if it was for a relatively simple task.
Baron’s speech had greatly raised his army’s morale. As for Yue Fei, his army was now greatly fatigued. Despite his soldiers’ best efforts to rest through the night, few could with their nerves on tenterhooks, loud firecrackers going off in the distance.
Baron pulled the attention back to himself with a quick gesture.
“Alright everyone, eat your breakfast and prepare for battle. By the efforts of our nighttime heroes, the enemy should be tired, unready for combat. I will also be joining you in taking the wall, and I don’t want to see anyone slacking off! Have I made myself clear?!” Baron shouted.
“YES, SIR!” The entire camp roared in response.
Baron turned towards the troops who had toiled through the night. “All of you, go back and rest. Your services may be called upon again, tonight. Rest well.”
Officer Phillips responded for his men. “Thank you, sir.”
“Thank you, sir!” The two hundred echoed Officer Phillips’ words and dispersed into their shared tents, chatting away at all the buzz they had created just moments ago.
The second day of battle unfolded in a decidedly different manner from the first. With the defending soldiers fatigued, and the attacking soldiers surging with morale, the clear progress was made atop the city walls.
Baron himself led the charge up, glaive in hand.
His main goal wasn’t to take to the field to thin out the enemy ranks with his incredible stat advantages over them, but rather to draw Yue Fei out for a General’s duel. However, no matter how low his health dropped, Yue Fei refused to show up.
“Where are you, Yue Fei? I know that you know I'm here, so why aren't you showing yourself?” Baron yelled out toward the enemy ranks.
In this manner, the second day of battle slowly came to a close. However, the differences between the two sides could be easily seen. With Baron leading the charge, and the difference in morale for the two sides, there was a clear difference in the fighting strength. At the end of the day, Baron's army stood roughly forty-two hundred strong, to Yue Fei’s eighty-seven hundred.
Most of these deaths, for both sides, were infantrymen.
Unfortunately, although Baron's army had managed to momentarily gain footholds on the wall at several points throughout the day, they were ultimately pushed back each time. This didn’t dishearten them, though, as they had seen their General’s heroic exploits.
Actually, in Baron’s army, he was the only one dissatisfied with the current situation. He’d expected Yue Fei to show up at some point, at least when he’d fallen to less than a quarter of his health. But still, Yue Fei hadn’t. This troubled Baron, as if Yue Fei continued to refuse to show himself on the front lines, Baron would have to change his strategy.
Sighing, Baron made his way over to Officer Phillips as the sun was about to set.
“Phillips, make sure your men don’t get cocky from success. I would also note, judging by the clouds in the sky, there may be some rain tonight. If rain does in
deed fall, have your men retreat to camp immediately.”
“You got it, boss.”
Chapter 7
A Grave Mistake
The two hundred nighttime soldiers were able to fulfill their tasks safely, at least until the rain fell. By the time the sun rose, it was still raining, so Baron elected to postpone the day’s siege. In the meantime, he gathered the troops and gave another small speech in an effort to keep his force’s morale high. A few hours later, the rain subsided, and they made their way towards the city walls.
At the end of the day, even with Baron's help, the army could not keep up its momentum from the day before. Even so, the tally at the end of the day came out positively for them, with about thirty-eight hundred to Yue Fei’s eight thousand. Numerically speaking Baron had the upper hand if you counted his “missing” camp of five thousand soldiers, hidden from the eyes of Yue Fei.
However, Baron was still unsatisfied regarding Yue Fei’s lack of presence on the field. This had him worried, as the only reason why Yue Fei hadn’t shown up by now, would be because he was still confident in his chances of victory despite his army being oppressed in such an unfavourable way.
As night fell, Baron decided that his nighttime soldiers wouldn’t go out to light firecrackers again, as they had the previous nights. Instead, Baron had his officers distribute some wine to the soldiers in an attempt to keep their spirits up.
***
“Sir, it seems that the enemy has chosen to not engage in their petty activities tonight.” Lieutenant En told Yue Fei with a sense of relief. “Our soldiers will finally be able to get a good night’s rest.”
Yue Fei shrugged. “The only reason they're not doing anything is because the moon’s shining brightly tonight. It’d be far too easy for us to leave the city and hunt them down. Baron’s pretty smart to have realized this.”
Lieutenant En paused before responding. “Sir, we’ve also found the location of the enemy camp.” En showed a fearsome smile.
“Hmm.” Yue Fei scratched his chin. “I think it's best if I personally go and have a look at their defenses. Have some cavalry join me at the front gate in an hour for scouting.”
“As you command.”
A short while later, a group of about fifty could be seen leaving the walled city on horseback.
Once they were a kilometer from where they thought Baron’s camp was, they dismounted and slowly approached. Once the camp was in view, they slowly made their way around the camp, observing all the while. Yue Fei took in everything, from patrol routes, to the timing of shift changes. After a few hours, Yue Fei sighed to himself. If only he’d brought more troops, he could’ve stuck a spear into Baron’s chest that very night.
He’d seen many of Baron’s army drinking and celebrating, clearly with their guard down.
How unfortunate.
Yue Fei couldn’t help but sigh with disappointment. If only he’d been a bit more daring, and had moved to immediately attack Baron’s camp tonight, he might’ve been able to end the simulation here tonight. Even if he sent word back to the city, now, by the time his troops arrived the sun would almost be up, and the impact wouldn’t be the same.
Yue Fei signalled with his hands, and he and his men retreated as quietly as they’d come. Once back at the city, Yue Fei immediately relayed his orders to his lieutenant.
“Lieutenant, we have a few more hours until daylight. Have two thousand cavalry spread out around Baron's camp, but make sure they are a good distance away. And do make sure to let them know, they’re not to be seen. Once the sun is down tonight, they are to attack Baron’s camp at these three points.” He pointed to three locations on the map.
Lieutenant En took the map and looked it over. “Excellent. The enemy won't know what hit them.”
Yue Fei grabbed Lieutenant En by the shoulder, as an older brother would. “Lieutenant En, you are to personally lead one of these attachments to break into the enemy camp. For the other two attachments, choose the best under your command.”
“Rest assured, sir. Our cavalry have been itching for battle. They’ll be ready to go.”
“Quickly make the necessary precautions and set off before the sun rises, speed is of the essence. Remember En, whether you succeed or fail will determine the outcome of this battle. Don't let me down.” Yue Fei cautioned his lieutenant.
“Worry not sir, leave everything to me. There’s little chance Baron will be prepared for such an attack.” En left the room to lay the groundwork for Baron's demise.
***
With the night behind them, the two armies once again faced each other head-on, but today Baron had a little surprise for his enemy. An hour before noon Baron ordered all forces to retreat outside the range of the enemy archers and had his 500 cavalrymen run to just inside the enemy archers' range and drop off wagons that they had brought with them, all around the city.
These wagons contained many dead sticks and chopped wood. The soldiers quickly lit this kindling, still somewhat damp, with the help of animal fats and other flammable materials. Within a few short minutes, the lit-up branches had created a makeshift smoke-screen that blocked the city defender’s view. It was Baron’s good fortune that he’d had the wood hidden and covered well enough so that they could still be lit after the rain. Now, he was able to bring forth one of his plans ahead of schedule. With an extra added bonus,
Baron had quite a surprise waiting for Yue Fei's army.
***
Yue Fei could see the smoke from the center of the city. “Why would they expend so much effort into blocking our view of them? What could they possibly want to hide from us?” Yue Fei mused.
Officer Mike responded. “I'm not too sure, General, but we'll find out soon- ” A messenger suddenly burst into the room, breaking Mike’s words off.
“Apologies for my rudeness, but I have some news. There have been multiple sightings of siege towers emerging from the smokescreen.” The messenger hurriedly said.
“Siege towers? Why have they chosen now to use such gadgets? Hm… it doesn't matter. Just shoot it down with fire arrows. Once they’re on fire, they won’t be able to use them anymore.”
“I'm sorry sir, but the troops have already tried. It seems that the siege towers are rather damp, probably from the rain from the previous day. They’re not catching on fire.”
“Mike!”
“Sir?”
“Bring what troops we can spare to the walls and relay to the other officers that no matter what, we must not fall today.”
“As you wish.” Mike moved to leave the room but nearly collided headfirst into another messenger, who promptly relayed his message.
“Sir, the north and east walls are having difficulty holding on, and are requesting immediate backup.
Yue Fei groaned. “Dammit, those two walls are the ones where their lieutenant killed our officers yesterday. Officer Mike, head to the north wall. I'll personally lead the soldiers on the east wall. Make haste.”
The two quickly left the strategy room and headed for their respective walls. At the end of the day, they’d managed to hold on to their respective walls, but had paid a huge price to do so.
However, Yue Fei was confident in his chances of victory. Tonight, Lieutenant En would lead two thousand fresh cavalry into battle against Baron’s tired army, which would need time to rest before reaching its full battle potential.
Yue Fei wouldn’t give them that opportunity.
Chapter 8
The Most Sincere Sacrifice
After the day’s siege, Lieutenant En caught word of the grave situation that their army was in, this made En even more fired up to bring down Baron tonight. Soon the darkness of the night came along, and Lieutenant En sent a messenger to both of the other two officers he had picked the previous night to lead this night incursion.
With accuracy and precise timing, the three large bodies of cavalry struck mercilessly at the weakest points of Baron’s camp and easily broke through its defenses.
“Find their General and kill him!” Lieutenant En shouted as the camp began to wake.
Some of the camp’s soldiers shouted, “Enemy attack!” , while others were cursing for being woken up in the middle of the night. Most were just confused as to what was happening.
A soldier ran into Baron’s tent. “General, our camp has been breached by multiple cavalry units.”
Baron could already hear the rumbling of thousands of cavalry in the distance. “How many enemy troops in total?”
“At least a thousand, perhaps two. It’s hard to tell in the darkness of night.”
“How many losses have we taken so far?”
“Not too many, only about a hundred.”
“That little?” Baron was confused, as the point of a night incursion was to use the element of surprise to deal a serious blow to the enemy.
“They seem to be avoiding most of the troops, sir.”
No wonder.” Baron finally realized what Yue Fei were planning to achieve in this night raid. They wanted to kill him while his soldiers were running around in confusion.
“Hm.” Baron thought for a quick moment, then grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled something on it, then handed it to the messenger and said, “Quickly, send this message to Lieutenant Ben.”
“Yes, sir.” The soldier grabbed the piece of paper and ran out of the tent.
After the messenger left, Baron grabbed a spear from his weapon rack and stepped out of his tent to rally his troops. When the messenger left, Baron grabbed the weapon closest to him, a spear, and set out to lead a counterattack against the marauders.
But despite being able to rally troops close to him, his troops were far too tired from the day of battle and being woken up in the night to hold the enemy forces back. Soon enough, Lieutenant spotted Baron and his men battling it out with some of his cavalry.
“Men, follow me! We can take the enemy General’s head!”
Just as Baron’s forces seemed destined to crumple, a ray of hope arrived from the darkness. Officer Phillips, who had set out to light firecrackers with his two hundred men, had returned back to camp to rescue Baron.
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