World Conquest Online

The morning soon arrived and the units prepared themselves to depart for battle. Dom didn’t have much to do as Subutai and Cheng Pu walked around the camp and checked all of the units themselves, whilst Tomoe and Liao Hua went through some test scenarios with the unit commanders from both the Riverside and Sun units. The Sun Family Warriors were all keen to learn from the Riverside Generals and listened intently as they were told of different tactics and commands that may come at them. Cheng Zi, the son of Cheng Pu was also listening intently and preparing himself for his key role with Liao Hua.

Dom sat with his Guards and ate some food whilst he watched patiently, understanding that they had to not only win the battle, but win it with enough merits to claim the victory and save the civilians of Jiangxia from a massacre by the Sun Family Warriors. The Battle himself he was confident in, they had planned counter strategies for all of Huang Zu’s attacks and should win overwhelmingly.

Soon the preparations were complete and the detachment began to leave in a similar formation to the day before. The plan was to march for two hours and then take a short break, cover the horses hooves with material and then approach at a slower and more measured pace for the next two hours with the scouts further ahead.

"We will be in enemy territory in two hours." Cheng Pu explained as they marched. "We will have to take out any guard towers or forward bases on the way, and cover for our naval forces that will be travelling soon alongside us."

"We have our scouts arranged in a good net and we should be able to clear them all with little issue." Subutai grinned. "Both Tomoe and Liao Hua have a party each, both with forty Horse Archers and fifty of your Cavalry. It shouldn’t be a problem."

"I don’t expect it will be." Cheng Pu laughed in excitement, "I haven’t felt my blood run like this since we marched on Luoyang and defeated Dong Zhou."

"I have heard about those battles." Subutai explained, "The mighty Warrior Lu Bu who fought against the three sworn brothers."

"That was earlier in the war, but I have many tales to share over some nice wine." Cheng Pu smiled in response.

....

After travelling for a couple of hours, they made camp as planned and prepared the horses feet, as well as having a last break as when they arrived they could be needed to fight immediately. Liao Hua and Tomoe had both been gone for a while at this point, and they decided to wait for them to return before departing next, as they were clearing any guard towers on the route.

The Horses and Tigers were fed, whilst the Warriors made sure that their armours were fastened properly and their shoes fitting comfortably. Subutai was pacing in front of Dom, who was currently on his horse ready to depart.

"I was expecting them back by now." Subutai grumbled to Dom and Cheng Pu whilst they waited, the forces ready to depart again now.

"They will be unaware of the terrain fully, give them time." Dom replied to calm him, however he also felt unsure as to why they were taking so long, as they weren’t supposed to be that far ahead.

"My men know the routes." Cheng Pu explained honestly, "I agree they should be back, especially when they are trying to prioritise speed and surprise."

Soon there was a signal ahead from one of the Sun Family Spearman who was currently on watch duty whilst everyone waited to depart, signalling that the advance parties were returning. After a few more minutes, one hundred and eighty horses came in to sight, with their riders on their backs. Dom could see that both Tomoe and Liao Hua who were at the front seemed to be having a serious conversation, with Tomoe more relaxed than a stressed looking Liao Hua. The two headed straight towards the Commanders, whilst their forces quickly took advantage of the rest.

"Is the path clear?" Subutai asked them in a challenging tone, the frustration evident on his voice that they had taken longer than he intended.

"It is." Tomoe replied, not raising to Subutai’s tone. "All of the Guard Towers are now empty and we have seen the first signs of the Navy approaching. We will need to depart soon and clear the next few. I will take some fresher units so these can prepare for the battle."

"That is a good idea." Subutai agreed, before turning to the younger Cheng Zi who was stood nearby. "Cheng Zi, please get the units rotated and ready to depart."

Cheng Zi did as ordered, which caused Cheng Pu to smile in pride. Dom however, was watching Liao Hua’s face who seemed to have something on his mind.

"What is on your mind Liao Hua?" Dom asked him whilst the units were swapped over, Tomoe seemed to shrug her shoulders in response when Liao Hua looked at her for support.

"There were more enemies than expected." Liao Hua replied. "Forward Guard Towers should have minimal numbers, but we were finding numbers that if not caught by surprise would have caused us to have a real skirmish."

"How many would you suspect there to be?" Subutai asked Cheng Pu.

"No more than ten, definitely not enough to cause a battle." Cheng Pu replied seriously, his mind in thought.

"How many did you come across?" Dom asked Liao Hua.

"The highest we had was sixty, we had a slight clash but we were able to clear them without any damage." Liao Hua explained, "However, I think that was because they weren’t a normal unit."

"What do you mean by that?" Dom asked him, confused by his response.

"They didn’t seem to have comradeship. It was like smaller units that had been forced together." Liao Hou tried to explain, before turning to Tomoe. "Can you explain?"

"We killed them regardless, but their defence was poor." Tomoe stated, "I would have taken some as prisoner, but I wanted to get them cleared and returned. Liao Hua had a similar situation with his targets."

"Change worries me." Subutai explained as he turned to Dom, Cheng Pu had been made aware of the wider Riverside situation by Sun Quan and Zhou Yu, so knew that their allies had some information on the battle.

"Either they knew we were coming and Gan Ning’s scouting party was spotted, or something else has changed." Dom lamented out loud. "We need to get a move on and claim that hill so we can oversee the battle. We need to make sure that nothing else has changed."

"We will depart with our units and wait for you in the prearranged location." Liao Hua stated, "I will try and capture some prisoners and send them to you for questioning. If nothing happens we will see you there, if we find anything unexpected we will report back."

"Thank you." Dom replied honestly as he sat on his horse trying to think what could have changed. Liao Hua ordered his fresh unit to follow him, whilst Tomoe did the same thing soon after.

"Let’s prepare for the worst and hope for the best." Subutai smiled forcefully, "Our plan is sound and we should stick to it, whilst trusting in our allies."

"I want to get that hill before our allies arrive." Dom declared, a niggle in the back of his mind.

"I don’t disagree." Cheng Pu stated, "If Huang Zu had gotten over his stubbornness then this battle will be more difficult than planned."

....

A few minutes later Dom the main forces also departed and continued travelling for another hour in near silence so to try and keep their presence as secret as possible. After a while two of the Sun Family Cavalry that were sent with Liao Hua’s arrived in front of them, with a bound and gagged soldier between them.

"General Liao Hua has caught this prisoner and asked us to bring him to you. He said you will want to hear his words." The Cavalryman explained as he handed the prisoner over to the Batavi Guards that flanked Dom, Subutai and Cheng Pu.

"Speak." Cheng Pu declared to the terrified prisoner, his calm demeanour vanishing.

"We were sent as reinforcements from Changban." The prisoner squealed in fear. "We were training and guarding the territory, but we were told that reinforcements may be needed at Jiangxia and were dispatched."

"Who told you that reinforcements were needed?" Cheng Pu asked, his eyes wide and glaring in anger.

"I do not know, I am just a Soldier!" The prisoner replied terrified, fear that his life could end any second.

"How many reinforcements have come?" Subutai asked, his face also terrifying to the slightly overweight Prisoner.

"There was around two thousand of us from Changba, but I know others have come as well." The Prisoner replied honestly, "We all thought it was a hoax, who knew it was true!"

"Was there any Naval reinforcements or just land?" Dom asked, not as intimidating as the others but still scary for the Prisoner who had no control over his life. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"I do not know! I only know about land Warriors, Lord Huang Zu controls the majority of the Navy so I don’t think so!" The Prisoner replied, answering quickly. Cheng Pu looked at Dom and Subutai, who both nodded that they wouldn’t get any more information out of the Prisoner.

"Cut his throat." Cheng Pu ordered the Batavi Guards, who instantly did so to the shock of Dom, however Subutai didn’t seem to flinch. Cheng Pu then turned to the Warriors of the Sun Family. "We may have a slightly tougher battle ahead of us, let’s not embarrass ourselves Infront of our Riverside Allies!"

"Tell Liao Hua and Tomoe to increase the pace, we will attack the Hill as soon as we arrive." Subutai ordered the two waiting Horsemen, "I want a full understanding of the situation when we arrive."

The two Horsemen accepted their orders, before running off towards the locations of Tomoe and Liao Hua. Cheng Pu ordered the detachment to begin marching, whilst Dom tried to understand why the reinforcements had arrived.

"How far is Changba from Jiangxia?" Dom asked Cheng Pu as they began to move again.

"Five to Six days at a fast pace." He replied, which reassured Dom that the change wasn’t due to his arrival. However, it did show that even though they knew the history of the battle, there was no evidence to say it would be the same. It was a reminder to him that it was a game and not a historical re-enactment. Subutai also seemed confused by the response from Cheng Pu and was trying to re-work the plans in his head.

....

They soon arrived at the bottom of the hill, hiding the majority of their forces in a small forest that was at the base. Tomoe and Liao Hua were both huddled together, whilst their forces were also hidden in the forest. The top of the hill was in sight, however their was a small temporary palisade wall around it and what seemed to be a small enemy force.

"They are not supposed to be here." Tomoe declared to Dom as he arrived, "Especially the small fort."

"It definitely wasn’t in the brief." Liao Hua agreed, "The forces seem better organised than those we have seen so far, they have alert Warriors on patrol around the camp."

"How many have you seen?" Cheng Pu asked, having expected no more than five hundred enemies when they eventually fought at the hill.

"At least two thousand, if not more, we haven’t been able to scout the other side." Tomoe replied her tone serious unlike usual, "Their commander was spotted earlier, a tall Warrior in white armour and wielding a long spear."

"We saw him riding a white horse with a small detachment of Cavalry." Liao Hua explained, "Our Lancers should be able to deal with them though."

"So we need to attack the fort and draw them out?" Dom asked them both as he looked.

"Let’s send the Sun Family Infantry and keep all of the Cavalry hidden for now." Subutai declared, "Those walls are new and will be more of a hinderance than a barrier, we should be able to pull them down if we can overwhelm them."

"We need to protect our numbers for the main assault." Dom agreed, "Attack fast at the southern side, so that the enemy come out of the eastern gate to flank us, we will then send our cavalry to flank them and go through the gate."

"I’ll keep half of the Infantry behind and they can follow up the Cavalry in to the fort." Cheng Pu agreed.

"None of the Guard Towers expected us, so we should be able to take them by surprise." Tomoe stated, "It is clear that they expect something, but primarily from the water and not the land."

"Then let’s take them by surprise then." Dom ordered, before turning to the group. "Cheng Pu, Cheng Zi, take half of the Infantry and the four hundred Archers and cause chaos. We need to take this camp quickly so that we don’t start the battle before the navy. Tomoe, Subutai and myself will lead the remaining forces to flank and strike in to the camp when they open the gate. Liao Hua, flank around the back with the remaining Archers and some of the Sun Family Cavalry. Do not let anyone escape, if the numbers are more than you can handle, then pull back, your lives are more important."

"What if they don’t open the gate?" Cheng Zi asked politely, his interest peaked.

"Then we just pull down the wall." Tomoe replied with a grin, her bloodlust beginning to seep out around her.