World Conquest Online

"Lord Lazarus, Lady Sun, it’s good to see you both." Xun You welcomed as he was escorted to the entrance of the Cavern by some of Qin Ming’s men. He was escorted by his own Batavi Guards, with two Centuries of Legionaries having arrived with him to support. He looked exhausted as if he had travelled at speed, but that couldn’t be compared to those of Dom and Sun Shangxiang’s forces. "I brought some reinforcements, but it seems that you didn’t need them."

"It seems my wife brought some for me!" Dom laughed in response as he clasped his Strategist’s arm in greeting, whilst Qin Ming stood nearby shouting orders at the Legionaries to clear up the battlefield and look for survivors.

"I noticed!" Xun You exclaimed in response, seeing Thucydides and Zenodotus both walking the battlefield with blades had shocked the Strategist. Zenodotus was a quiet librarian, whilst Thucydides has passed his prime centuries before.

"Zhao Yun had to take the Cavalry south to deal with an unknown force." She explained to Xun You, who was still in a form of confusion at her appearance at the battle. She was coated in enemy blood, as well as thick layers of dust from her travels through the underground tunnels. "We discovered an underground tunnel in the abandoned town we were excavating. Without Zhao Yun and the majority of the army, I had to make a decision."

"And decided to explore for in case it was a possible escape route?" Xun You asked with a nod of his head, aware that it was the original plan, even if it wasn’t Sun Shangxiang that was supposed to be doing the exploring.

"That is correct, I haven’t yet visited the Ancient Underground City, but what we have seen so far has been impressive." Sun Shangxiang stated, "One impressive part was that there was a giant mosaic of a monster of a man with tusks, that seemed to be staring down at us from above. We passed lots of rooms and Zenodotus has created an excavation plan. Centurion Linos took a mixed century and explored in the other direction, whilst we headed towards the Cove."

"If it is anything like the other Ancient Underground City, then we can hope for a good haul of rewards." Dom commented with a grin as he looked at some commotion taking place near to them. Qin Ming seemed to be in a conversation, before he started laughing to himself. He then kicked the body of a dead enemy that was nearby as he headed towards the group.

"So where is General Subutai?" Sun Shangxiang asked, having expected he would have arrived and not the Strategist. Dom was also supposed to have over a thousand men in this battle, whilst instead he didn’t have even half that number.

"Lord, it seems that the enemy had arrived here by ship." Qin Ming explained as he interrupted them and shook his head to himself as he approached them. "But, the ships won’t be going anywhere soon."

"Why what has happened?" Xun You asked the General, whose usual fierce personality seemed to have softened now he had released some rage in battle.

"It seems that someone has sank them all." Qin Ming replied with the shrug of his shoulders. "It sounds like something a certain General would do."

"I’m surprised Gan Ning hasn’t shown his face if it was him." Dom laughed in agreement. "He had departed earlier to look for any other entry points. It seems he may have found one and found something more interesting to do."

"He may have left to reinforce General Subutai, there was a large enemy force spotted by the coast." Xun You explained, which Dom nodded his head to as he suspected this based on what he had been told earlier.

"That is strange to hear, as we spotted an enemy force and they wouldn’t have been visible to you due to the distance." Sun Shangxiang thought out loud, with Xun You nodding in response.

"If that is the case, then that could be two battle’s that are taking place right now as well as our own." Dom agreed, a slight worry running up his spine. The battle had been on difficult terrain, but the enemy forces hadn’t been powerful. Instead they had been strange and he hoped that the other battles had been easier.

"We should head back through the tunnels to Zhao Yun’s camp and send word to Liao Hua to send reinforcements and scouts." Xun You commented in frustration, "We can not afford to fight an invasion force with our current force allocation."

"I’ll have someone sent ahead to get word to him." Sun Shangxiang agreed as she shouted towards Centurion Decimus. "We can then gather all of the Senior Generals at the camp to plan ahead."

"That’s a great idea Lady Sun, I’ll get word to General Subutai." Xun You agreed as a plan was formed in his mind. First he needed an understanding of the wider landscape, and then he could build a wider plan of response.

"Gan Ning left behind two Trireme as a retreat force, it may be faster to travel via the coast to warn Liao Hua." Dom put forwards after some thought, thinking it would be a faster route.

"Whilst it may be, we do not know if the enemy has a naval force and we shouldn’t take any risks until we have a better picture of the wider situation." Xun You countered. "Let’s dispatch one to send word to the fleet, but it’s best if we travel through the tunnels."

...

"How is Linos doing?" Gan Ning asked as he dismounted his Titanaconda and left it to feed on the giant rodent that they had just fought against. The Titanaconda’s were natural hunters and they had naturally worked together to kill their prey, however they were currently hissing at each other in anger.

"He’s unconscious but he’s breathing." The Legionary who was monitoring him responded. "He has a nasty cut on the back of his head from when he was thrown back, I have seen men come back from this, and others that haven’t."

"Well, he’s the Centurion, so make sure he is one that comes back from it." Gan Ning ordered, not wanting to lose anyone if he could avoid it. He looked around and saw that some of the other Legionaries had injuries, most of them bruises that were appearing. One Legionary seemed to have a nasty wound on his arm, that was being strapped up by another.

"What are these?" Hector exclaimed as he looked over one of the dead enemies. He wasn’t sure how the Titanaconda’s would feed on them, as they would all be keen on taking the full kill if they could. "Someone cut some meat from these and feed the Titanaconda’s before they end up fighting each other!"

"Doing it now!" One of the other Titanaconda riders shouted back from behind one of the carcasses.

"I want to know where these came from." Gan Ning commented as he looked around, "They clearly haven’t come from within, so they must have swam here."

"The water does seem to continue further." Hector said from beside him, "Do you want me to continue exploring?"

"No, let them eat, we can do this another day. For now, I want to find out how the Battle is going, and why we have suddenly found one of our own Centuries in an ancient underground tomb." Gan Ning replied in thought.

...

"Direct the navy to continue westwards!" Subutai ordered one of his men, who was holding some signal flags to pass messages to the small fleet that had just sank the enemy navy. The battlefield around him was a mess of enemy bodies that were being tidied up. Tomoe was strolling the battlefield with her guards, looking for survivors.

"They still won’t talk." A Legionary explained to him, they had captured a few enemies by disarming them and using brute strength to pin them to the ground. Most of their eyes seemed lost and confused, others seemed to shake and snap angrily towards those that guarded them. Subutai had already discounted them as a wasted resource.

"They are pawns, we need their commanders." Subutai stated back to him, before looking out to where Tomoe continued to stroll the battlefield.

"The Navy has responded that they will move westwards now." The signaller responded, whilst the Cavalry detachment of Zhao Yun waited beside them.

"So the enemy had over two thousand warriors landed and we weren’t aware?" Subutai asked one of the messengers, who nodded in response. Subutai kicked a stone that was nearby in frustration as he looked eastwards towards the Cove. He worried for Dom, but knew that there was little he could do for him at this point, his priority had to be securing the southern coast and trusting in the Generals that Dom had with him.

"Leave four Centuries to clear the battlefield, the rest of us will march towards Zhao Yun’s central position." Subutai ordered, before turning back to Zhao Yun’s messenger. "Did you send a warning to Liao Hua?"

"We sent warning General." The Messenger responded, a new member of Riverside that had joined as part of the wider group of White Cavalry that had appeared after Guan Yu’s message to them. Subutai had defeated their own illustrious General, and Zhao Yun had praised Subutai and the others highly.

"Very good." Subutai nodded as he climbed back on his horse. He took one last look towards the Cove and nodded, knowing that he had no reason to worry with those that were there.

...

"General, the battle is ours." Huang Xin smiled as he approached Liao Hua. Liao Hua sat atop his horse, leaning his arms on the back of his horses mane. He watched as San families were reunited on one side of the battlefield, whilst the other was the bodies of the enemies and allies that were being gathered for burial.

"Not totally." Liao Hua replied as he looked out to the water, the enemy had around twelve ships originally. They had been able to capture two of those that had come in shore to take away San Prisoners that they had captured. Liao Hua had originally laughed at the sight, as they had clearly prioritised trying to take captives over rescuing their allies.

Ten of the ships remained and whilst none had taken San Prisoners that he was aware off, he couldn’t be sure. They were now heading south and out of sight slowly, whilst the two captured ships were beached and had been claimed by a combination of warriors from both his own forces and the San who rushed the ships or swam in the water and climbed the sides.

"Their captains seem more willing to talk than anyone else, I have them tied and ready to be interrogated." Huang Xin replied, knowing that the enemy ships leaving meant that more trouble could return in the future.

"How are our allies?" Liao Hua asked, seeing the celebratory dancing taking place. Some seemed happy, whilst others were mourning their losses.

His own forces had minimal losses and injuries, whilst the San had fought more wildly and furiously on their flank, they had taken some more losses than Liao Hua had expected, having lost about an eight of their men.

"They could do with some training." Huang Xin agreed, knowing what Liao Hua was hinting at. "Kabbo seems to have done well from this and his faction is the louder in the celebrations. Their Chieftain also did well, but Kabbo brought us along and we have saved their captured people and helped secure their land."

"Maybe those ships escaping will come to be in our favour in negotiations." Liao Hua commented as he nodded in agreement.

"An unknown enemy can push allies closer." Huang Xin added, as some commotion came from their east.

"Rider’s are approaching General." A scout informed them a few minutes later, "They have the flag of General Zhao Yun, it seems he is wanting some assistance."

"Send a message to Kabbo, and bring the talkative captains as well. I think this is a much bigger problem than we had expected." Liao Hua commented, a smile on his and Huang Xin’s faces as they knew that whilst this situation hadn’t developed in the ideal way for their new Kingdom, it had for gaining closer allies.