Chapter 184: New Army
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The war had been going on for a long time. The Empire had been damaged from the war. However, under the restructuring by Emperor Abbas XI, who suddenly became wise, the Empire was revitalized. In addition, news of the victories of the Duke of the Tulip Family constantly spread to the Imperial Capital and inspired the people.
The war had been going on for some time. The Empire's old and rickety war machine, under the direction of the suddenly wise Abbas XI, was revitalized. In addition, news of the victories of the Duke of the Tulip Family constantly spread to the Imperial Capital and inspired the people.
However, one afternoon, the everything changed.
One afternoon, many people in the Imperial Capital saw a person on a horse, rushing urgently into the city from the North gate. The knight was in a sorry state. His helmet and armor were in disarray. His face was a mess of sweat and grime. A red flag fluttered on his back, signifying a military urgency.
The messenger immediately shouted, "Urgent war report from eight hundred miles away!"
The guards at the city gate did not dare to stop him and immediately gave way. They had also dispatched two cavalrymen to pave the way for the messenger.
As the three horses rushed through the main street, the people saw the serious and anxious expression of the messenger. The people who saw that felt nervous. Was there any bad news from the front lines?
The military office had been extremely busy with requests until the people in charge almost became crazy. For example, the Northwest Commander Elliot asked for supplies and reinforcements, the North requested for deployment of supplies for the war, manage all the garrison regiment maneuvers, the Southern Legion requested for mobilization of the army and also the request for weapons and horses... Yet, Marquis Garoline remained firm. However, even the unshakeable Marquis became restless when he saw the urgent report delivered to him.
The Marquis did not even have the time to prepare for a carriage. He hurriedly rode to the Imperial Palace, with his subordinates.
After all, Marquis Garoline was old. It was tiring for him to ride to the Imperial Palace. When he arrived at the palace, he almost fell off his horse from exhaustion. He was gasping for breath, but still pushed away the guards who were trying to support him. He then ran all the way into the palace.
Gossip was amongst the fastest things that could spread in the world. The only thing that could spread faster than gossip would be bad news.
At night, the news of defeat in the North came. Thunder City had fallen. The Duke of the Tulip Family had withdrawn and had taken the soldiers towards the Northern provinces to organize an internal defense. After a bloody battle at Thunder City, nearly thirty thousand of the Flame Warriors were annihilated.
The Imperial Capital was in an uproar.
The news of defeat created a gloomy cloud over the Imperial Capital. At that same time, a small force was on the way to the North.
In the unbounded wilderness, dense dark clouds covered the horizon. Oliseh, who was riding his horse, could not help but frown. "I hope it will rain, tonight."
Oliseh looked behind him and saw that the carriages were loaded with military supplies. At least half of the supplies were food.
The North was not a food producing region. On top of that, the large-scale war caused an even greater food consumption. Oliseh was leading a cavalry of eight hundred and was responsible for transporting the supplies to Kaka City in the North.
Kaka City was the Northern war zone supply station. All supplies from various places in the Empire were transported to Kaka City before the supplies were redistributed to the various armies. That place was one of Oliseh’s destinations.
At first, Oliseh hoped he would be sent to fight on the battlefield, but then he was only dispatched as a transport soldier. Naturally, that made him very depressed. However, when he looked at his new armor and uniform, he finally smiled.
That was the new Lightning God’s Whip’s standard uniform... armor, horse, spear and most importantly, a scimitar. In the Empire, the only group that used scimitars was the Lightning God’s Whip. He was wearing that armor and equipment. For so many days, all along the way here, whenever he encountered soldiers from the other armies and also civilians, they would look at him with respect and envy. After all, the Lightning God’s Whip was the army of His Excellency the Duke of the Tulip Family.
As the Lightning God’s Whip had gone through a massive reorganization before the war started, fifty thousand active soldiers were brought to the North by the Duke while the expansion of the army continued in the rear.
As he was transferred from the local garrison, Oliseh was pre-selected as the first batch of front-line reinforcement soldiers of the Lightning God’s Whip. He took eight hundred cavalrymen that had just completed training with him. The purpose of the trip was to escort the transport of supplies to Kaka City. From there, they would immediately go to the front line to report to Lightning God’s Whip Regiment and join in the fight.
Although Oliseh was excited and wished to rush to the frontline, the carriages of supplies continued to move slowly on the road. The horses were exhausted. No matter what the drivers did, the carriages continued to move forward slowly.
They had traveled for more than ten days. The more they moved northwards, the more shocking was the news.
Just the day before yesterday, they heard that Thunder City had fallen. Oliseh and the others were very surprised. Thunder City, which was amongst the most solid defensive position of the Empire, had fallen! On top of that, that stronghold was guarded by the troop of soldiers led by the Duke of the Tulip Family.
After receiving the news, that small group of soldiers had a heavy feeling. Since the news had arrived, it would mean that Thunder City had already fallen a few days ago. What should they do now? Where was the main force of His Excellency the Duke, the Lightning God’s Whip hiding?
All along the way, besides the eight hundred new Lightning God's Whip soldiers, there were also more than a hundred transport soldiers. As these soldiers moved northwards, they heard more and more news from the North and became more and more frightened. Oliseh who seldom clung to hope started hoping that he could depend on the Lightning God's Whip when something unexpected happened.
One morning, they met a few scouts from the Northern Legion. Oliseh inquired from them and found out that the battle had moved from the northern coastal areas to the inner regions. After capturing Thunder City, the Roland army rested for two days before their main army advanced towards Kaka City. It was as if the Roland army intended to capture Kaka City, with its huge storage of supplies, in one strike. Meanwhile, the main army of the Duke of the Tulip Family was on the road, arranging several lines of defense to block the progress of the Roland army.
After a few days of big and small battles, the armies from both sides were assembled on the Pamir Plains, a few hundred miles from Kaka City. It looked like a major battle was about to occur there.
As they approached the front line, Oliseh gave the order for the soldiers to be on alert. Although he was originally only a commanding officer of a small local calvary, amongst the new recruits, he was the most outstanding one. Besides that, he was actually the current commanding officer for these eight hundred soldiers.
A cavalryman rushed towards Oliseh and spoke in a soft voice, "Your Excellency, there are many corpses in front!"
"Corpses?" Oliseh narrowed his eyes.
Sure enough, a few hours later, many corpses were found on the low-lying ground, in front.
The scene before them was like a slaughter house and there were bodies everywhere. Broken weapons were also scattered around the place. Based on their clothing, some of them belonged to the soldiers of the Empire. However, most of it belonged to soldiers of the Roland army. The ground was scorched and there were signs of a burning of the ground. There were many charred bodies and some destroyed carriages on the roadside. Although most parts of the carriages were burned, there were still some things left behind. With a glance, Oliseh saw that those things were food. A partially burned banner was still attached to the carriage. Although the pattern on the banner had been blackened by soot, the vague design of the Roland banner was still visible.
"Your Excellency, this looks like a small supplies team of the Roland army. It looks like they were ambushed by our people!" A cavalryman beside him whispered.
Oliseh nodded and immediately ordered, "It seems like there are signs of activity from the Roland army in the vicinity. Everybody, be careful. Be on guard! From now onwards, dispatch twice as many scouts. Work hard, brothers. Once we reach Kaka City, I will treat you all to a drink!"
"Yes!"
After passing by the tragic scene, the group continued to move slowly forward. However, after walking for a few miles, they found an even bigger battlefield.
They have arrived in an open field with thousands of dead bodies.
The army of the Empire had clashed with the soldiers of the Roland army there. There were corpses with arrows and also bodies that were split into two. Besides that, there were also dead horses.
Based on the amount of blood, the variety of postures of the corpses and the broken weapons, there was a tragic battle at that location. However, it still looked like the Empire had the advantage as about 70% of the corpses were the Roland army.
"Looks like an encounter battle1." Oliseh frowned. There was also a deep pit on the ground exploded by either some kind of sorcery or magic spell and it was still sizzling with smoke.
The captain of the transport soldiers was a veteran. He could not help but approach Oliseh and whispered, "Your Excellency, could it be that our people that ambushed those supplies carriages earlier, encountered the Roland army's main force here? It looks like there was a big fight."
Oliseh thought to himself for a moment. He then frowned and said, "We have to hurry up. We seem to be close to the frontline and there is a possibility of more activities by the Roland army. If we encounter our enemy, it would be unfavorable to us!"
A cavalryman proudly said, "Your Excellency, even if we encounter the enemy, they would probably just have a small army. By virtue of the eight hundred Lightning God’s Whip soldiers here, even if they attack with over one thousand soldiers, we will not be afraid!"
Oliseh glared and reprimanded him, "Nonsense! Our mission is to escort these supplies to Kaka City. We are certainly not afraid of encountering a small troop of enemy soldiers. However, if we were entangled by them, our convoy cannot move fast. What will happen if a big enemy troop run into us?"
Oliseh thought for a moment and then asked, "How far are we from Kaka City?"
The leader of the transport soldiers said, "If you go in this direction, without any interference, we would still need another three days."
Oliseh turned gloomy and muttered, "Let’s hope the journey is smooth."
He ordered the cavalrymen to form into a few groups of ten. Some walked in the front and some at both sides of the rest of the team. All of the soldiers were on alert. For all these soldiers, whether the transport team or the Lightning God's Whip, it was their first time witnessing such a large-scale war. They had never fought on the battlefield but had already seen two such tragic scenes. These were already mentally very disturbing.
In the night, they arrived at a short hill slope. Oliseh looked at the sky and whispered, "Let us take a break here. The carriages have been moving for the entire day and the horses are tired."
Everyone knew that they were near the front line and there might be small units of military active around the area. If they meet their own people, then there would be no problem. However, if they meet their enemy, things would turn troublesome. That was why Oliseh gave the order not to set up a fire and just sleep in the open air.
In the middle of the night, when Oliseh was feeling sleepy, a cavalryman whispered to him, "Your Excellency, something is not right!"
Oliseh turned over, sword in hand, and stood up. With his back bent, he rushed towards the soldier, who was acting as the night watchman. He then asked, "What’s wrong?"
"Your Excellency, listen…" The soldier lied down and put his ear to the ground.
Oliseh also lied down on the ground and immediately heard a faint sound. He then stood up and said, "Sounds like it is coming from the right."
The soldier then replied, "Yes, it sounds like a cavalry but we do not know if they are Roland men or ours."
"Wake everybody up and prepare a defensive formation!"
All the soldiers were awakened. The Lightning God's Whip was elite and truly worthy of the name. Even though they were awakened in the middle of the night, they were immediately alert and vigilant. They readied themselves in a tense but orderly manner. On the other hand, the transport soldiers differ a lot. Some of them fluttered around and some could not even find their weapons.
Under the dim moonlight, Oliseh and a few of his men climbed on the short hill slope to look. They could hear the sound of hooves and sure enough, a large troop of armed soldiers appeared on the right of the plain. With the moonlight, they could vaguely see flashes from the silver armors of the enemy soldiers. Oliseh said coldly, "A group of idiots. They are marching at night but they do not know how to hide their whereabouts. They wore such bright armors. Do they think we are all blind?"
A cavalryman beside him said, "Yes, look at them. They do not even know how to dampen the sound of the horses' hooves with cloth. With such a big move, aren't they afraid that they meet us? They are definitely not our people. Our people cannot be so incompetent!"
Although they said all that, as the enemy got nearer Oliseh and his men were startled. It looked like their enemy had about three to four thousand soldiers.
But Oliseh was not afraid of them. Even if he were to encounter a few thousand enemy soldiers, with his eight hundred Lightning God’s Whip, he would be able to break through. However, his current mission was to escort the supply team.
As the other side got closer and closer, he finally could clearly see that the armors, equipment, and banners were familiar. He had seen them before that day. They looked similar to those used by the Roland army who died earlier.
All of them lied down and held their breath. Although Oliseh felt agitated and wanted to head out and fight, he didn’t. He had confidence in his eight hundred Lightning God’s Whip. Even if he were confronted by these three to four thousand soldiers, he would not be afraid. Even if they could not win, they would be able to retreat. However, the transport team was behind him. When faced with the enemy, the transport team did not have the speed of the calvary.
Oliseh saw the enemy soldiers getting closer. However, when the enemy soldiers were about two hundred meters away from them, the enemy soldiers turned eastwards. The enemy soldiers did not seem to have noticed them. Oliseh secretly sighed in relief.
However, his happiness was short lived.
"Sorcerers!" One soldier suddenly pulled Oliseh.
Sure enough, there were two sorcerers floating in the sky. As they were too far away and clothed in black robes, it was difficult to see them in the night sky. The moment they got nearer, the two sorcerers could be clearly seen.
At the same time that Oliseh and the others saw the sorcerers, the sorcerers saw them too from the sky.
Without any hesitation, the sorcerers each quickly formed a ball of red light and immediately threw the fireballs at them.
"Damn!" Oliseh cursed. At that time, it was already impossible to go back into hiding. He could only jump out and raised his sword to block the fireball.
The fireball had exploded at his sword and sparks flew. His body was abruptly thrown several meters away. Fortunately, the enemy sorcerer was not a high-ranked sorcerer and was quite ordinary. That fireball, which was hurriedly thrown, was not very powerful. Oliseh only felt startled. Although his hair was singed by the sparks, he did not suffer any other injuries.
"Shoot the arrows!" Oliseh shouted from the ground as he tried to get up.
The Lightning God's Whip was already prepared and immediately shot a few hundred arrows into the air. That sorcerer had gotten too close and did not have enough time to move back. He was immediately struck by a few arrows before falling from the sky.
The remaining arrows fell into the enemy's military formation. As the sorcerer had shot a fireball earlier, the Roland army was already aware of them and many of the Roland soldiers had lifted their shields. As a result, the volley of arrows by Oliseh's men did not yield heavy casualties. There were miserable cries and only less than a hundred men were killed by the arrows.
Oliseh finally got up from the ground. Seeing that the enemy soldiers were shot by their arrows, he immediately shouted, "All the soldiers in the front, raise your shields! They are going to shoot their arrows!"
The Lightning God’s Whip had all gone through rigorous training. Although these soldiers were new recruits, they immediately acted accordingly as soon as they heard the order.
After that, they heard a whizzing sound. Sure enough, numerous arrows were shot over from the other side.
1. A battle where opposing sides made no preparation. It is something like two armies enter the woods and ended up accidentally encountering each other.