The Second Southern Province Defensive Battle was the only large-scale field battle fought between the combined forces of the Fisabren Family and the Four Central Duchies against the Northland Four Family Alliance. Nearly 160,000 troops faced the Alliance's 100,000. After the Northland
— Excerpt from Galentea Continent Military History: The Rise of the Bears Chapter — The Southern Province Defensive Battle.
Having won this battle,
The greatest losses were the two Flying Tiger regiments led by Tiger Ross and Pacike. They had crushed three charges by the Grass Barbarian cavalry, launched counterattacks that defeated the Fisabren Family's Fifth Frontier Ranger Corps, and then led their remaining lancers in a strike against both flanks of the enemy's center, becoming the final straw that broke the enemy and laid the foundation for the battle's victory. However, of the two lancer regiments numbering 30,000 each, fewer than 10,000 remained mounted after the victory — not counting the lightly and heavily wounded, the outright losses amounted to roughly 10,000.
Next came the Angry Bear Knight Corps. Three thousand Silver Knights and six thousand knight attendants fought the Fisabren Family's reserve corps of over 20,000. Though they left the reserve corps on the battlefield, they themselves suffered losses of over 4,000.
Then there were Count
The Kemis Family's heavy armor battalion suffered nearly 2,000 casualties during the pursuit when they encountered resistance from the Four Central Duchies' infantry and while assisting the Angry Bear Knight Corps in their battle against the Fisabren Family's reserve corps.
Finally, there were the two battalions dispatched by
The fewest casualties were suffered by the Stone Legion, which guarded the main camp's defensive positions. The Grass Barbarian cavalry left no fewer than three to four thousand corpses before the camp, but the Legion's own losses were fewer than five hundred. However, if the 4,700 watchtower garrison soldiers who had fallen at the first defensive line were included, then the Stone Legion's total casualties exceeded five thousand.
Total casualties numbered around thirty thousand, more than half of whom had fought and died bravely. Lorist heaved a deep sigh — only now did he truly grasp what it meant for one general's fame to be built upon the bones of ten thousand.
The Northland alliance's family forces suffered nearly thirty thousand casualties in the second battle for the Southern Province, but at that moment, Grand Duke Fisabren and the four Grand Dukes of the Central Duchies could not have shed a single tear even if they wanted to. The Fisabren Family lost an entire reserve corps — a twenty-thousand-strong unit that had been hailed as the finest fighting force among all family armies, now completely annihilated on the battlefield.
Next came the decimated Fifth Frontier Ranger Corps. Of forty thousand light cavalry, only slightly more than sixteen thousand escaped. Then there was the Third Frontier Ranger Corps, sent to provide support, which clashed fiercely with Baron Shahin's light cavalry regiment. The battle ended in a draw, with casualties on both sides numbering three to four thousand.
The most infuriating element was the Grass Barbarian cavalry. This time, Grand Duke Fisabren had thrown every last Grass Barbarian horseman onto the battlefield, splitting them into three groups. The group attacking the Norton Family's main camp defensive positions numbered over twenty thousand strong. Under the watchful escort of the Third Frontier Ranger Corps, they launched their assault, but after losing three to four thousand men, they refused to press on. However, the main camp was only a diversion anyway, and Grand Duke Fisabren could not be bothered to quibble with them over it.
But the Grand Duke had no intention of letting the forty thousand Grass Barbarian cavalry on the left and right flanks escape — though by now, of course, there were no longer forty thousand. Fewer than twenty thousand managed to retreat to the main camp. According to reports from several Family Knights of the decimated Fifth Frontier Ranger Corps, the primary cause of the rout was that the Grass Barbarians refused to follow orders. When they fled, they trampled through the longbow formation the Fifth Frontier Ranger Corps had established, creating a gap that allowed two lance cavalry regiments of the Norton Family to charge into the lines and slaughter at will. Unable to hold, the Fifth Frontier Ranger Corps had no choice but to flee in disarray…
The reserve corps was completely wiped out — over twenty thousand men. The Fifth Frontier Ranger Corps, which had a full strength of forty-five thousand, was reduced to barely eighteen thousand riders. The Third Frontier Ranger Corps suffered three to four thousand casualties. The Grass Barbarian cavalry lost twenty-five thousand men and horses. All told, the Fisabren Family's forces had lost nearly seventy-five thousand troops in this single battle.
If you subtracted the Grass Barbarian casualties, the Fisabren Family's own forces had lost no more than fifty thousand. But the annihilation of the reserve corps was a dagger plunged straight into the Grand Duke's heart. That corps had been the sharpest blade in the Fisabren Family's arsenal — composed almost entirely of elite captive Grass Barbarian riders. It had crushed rebellious Barbarian tribes, swept through the northeastern steppes to subdue those that refused to submit, and earned the family countless meritorious deeds. And now it was simply gone. The Grand Duke was filled with a thousand regrets — why had he, in a moment of hot-headedness, dispatched the reserve corps to rescue the retreating troops of the Central Duchies? Had he known it would come to this, he would have ordered an early withdrawal to preserve his strength. After all, in the end, barely any of those Central Duchy infantrymen managed to escape…
Compared to the Grand Duke's regrets, the four Grand Dukes of the Central Duchies were the ones truly weeping without tears. Eighty thousand — eighty thousand elite infantrymen, gone in an instant! In the end, only a little over ten thousand stragglers had trickled back to the main camp. The Sabagi Duchy was the luckiest, still fielding around five thousand infantry, primarily because their formation had been positioned at the rear. The Handra Duchy's infantry fared the worst — fewer than eight hundred made it back alive. Their formation had been at the very front, first pounded by massive stone projectiles, then swept by the steel crossbows on the war chariots, suffering the heaviest casualties. The only reason any survived at all was that they had been the first to flee.
The Fakkel Duchy saw nearly three thousand soldiers return, and the Fulanduo Duchy just over three thousand. Every soldier who made it back to the main camp was in a state of shock and numbness. There were even incidents of men waking in the dead of night from nightmares, crying and screaming so loudly that the camp nearly descended into panic. It was hardly surprising — many soldiers who did not know the truth had mistaken the stone boulders raining down on the battlefield for the forbidden magic known as Meteor Shower from the age of legendary magical civilization. To them, who else but mages could hurl so many enormous stones from the sky in such dense volleys? Fighting against legendary mages — we mortals are simply courting death…
In truth, it was this second battle for the Southern Province that made the Norton Family's thunderbolt catapults and chariot-mounted steel crossbows famous throughout the world. Nearly every nation developed a keen interest in the catapults and steel crossbows. Both the Central Duchies and the Fisabren Family, having captured the first defensive line, had seized a considerable number of steel crossbows from the watchtowers. After dividing the spoils, each ordered their craftsmen to begin reverse-engineering them, but not a single effort succeeded. The greatest obstacle was that they could not replicate the steel arm plates for the crossbow limbs.
However, catapults were successfully replicated by many. Although most nations hadn't seen the originals, the concept of hurling massive stones into the sky sparked the imagination of numerous craftsmen. Soon, sling-type catapults, torsion-arm catapults, and lever-based catapults appeared. While they lacked range, accuracy, and the size of the projectiles, they nonetheless added a new category of offensive and defensive military hardware to the Galentea Continent, symbolizing a degree of technological progress.
"Your Highness…" Aeldr lifted the tent flap and entered hurriedly. "Just now, our scout cavalry reported unusual activity in the enemy camp. The banners of the four Central Duchies are all gone."
"What?" Lorris looked up. Less than three days after the battle ended, the banners were gone? What did that mean—had they fled?
"Immediately send scouts to search along the main road leading to the Central Duchies. If they've run, they must have left some traces," Lorris ordered.
At three in the afternoon, the scouting riders returned. They reported finding fresh wheel ruts and horse hoof prints on the road to the Central Duchies. Based on experience, the tracks were likely left around four or five in the morning. Clearly, the four Central Duchies had abandoned the campaign in the Southern Province against the Northern Alliance and retreated home with their remaining forces. The Northern Alliance now faced only the Fisabren Family's forces.
"Your Highness, should we send someone to pursue them?" Schwartz asked from nearby.
Lorris stroked his chin in thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Leave them be. They're remnants, anyway. Our troops are currently resting and clearing the battlefield. Our own forces took heavy casualties this time and need time to recover their strength. Sending light cavalry from other family armies… I worry they might be too eager for glory and fall into an enemy trap. Let's not create unnecessary complications."
Pacing twice around the command tent, Lorris asked, "Besides the missing banners, has there been any other unusual activity in the Fisabren Family's camp?"
Aeldr replied, "No, the scouts report that the Fisabren forces are inside their camp, forcing those grassland barbarian cavalry to dig trenches and establish new defensive works. However, our people cannot get around to the rear of the enemy camp. The border patrol cavalry legion's vigilance is extremely tight."
"So, even though the Central Duchies have run, that old fossil Fisabren has decided to fight us to the bitter end," Lorris chuckled softly. "We can now revisit our original campaign plan for the Southern Province. Once our troops have rested, we'll go smash Fisabren's turtle shell. Driving the Fisabren Family's forces out of the Southern Province will complete the first step of the plan. After that, there shouldn't be any more large-scale battles. Once we fortify the Southern Province into an iron bastion as planned, the Fisabren Family will be locked out on the great plains. I'm quite curious to see when that old man finally bows his head to me..."
In this great battle, the Fisabren Family's reserve legion was wiped out, the Fifth Border Patrol Cavalry Legion was devastated, and the Third Border Patrol Cavalry Legion fared only slightly better — already undermanned, it now had fewer than thirty thousand men. With the remnants of the Central Duchies' forces having also fled, the balance of military power had shifted firmly to Lorris's side.
As long as the Fisabren Family was driven onto the Great Eastern Steppes and the Southern Province fell into the hands of the Northland Four-Family Alliance, cutting off the trade routes to the Central Duchies, then the Snow Salt Trading Company's monopoly on commerce and supply throughout the Fisabren Family's territories alone would be enough to torment them beyond endurance. No matter how much gold the Fisabren Family mined from the Greater and Lesser Jinchuan regions, it would ultimately all end up enriching the Northland Four-Family Alliance.
Still, Lorris would have to exercise patience for a while yet. With the great battle concluded, there were far too many matters to attend to. The Central Duchies had committed eighty thousand elite infantry, of whom over thirty thousand were killed or wounded and another thirty thousand plus captured — nearly seventy thousand in total. That was why Lorris couldn't care less about the escape of the Central Duchies' remaining forces. They were nothing but broken remnants; that pittance of troops wasn't worth his attention.
In addition to the infantry prisoners from the Central Duchies, over eight thousand grassland barbarian cavalrymen were also captured, and Lorris handed every last one of them over to Count Filim to be thrown into the iron mines. As for the thirty-odd thousand infantry prisoners and ten-odd thousand wounded captives, Lorris turned them over to
On the twenty-eighth day of the seventh month of the year 1778 of the Galentea Common Calendar, the third Southern Province offensive and defensive battle commenced. This time, it was the Northland Four-Family Alliance's seventy thousand-strong family forces on the attack, while the defense was held by nearly fifty thousand Fisabren Family troops and over forty thousand grassland barbarian cavalry. Though the defending forces under Grand Duke Fisabren's command outnumbered the attacking force under Lorris, the initiative on the battlefield was in Lorris's hands from the very start, while the Grand Duke was reduced to passively taking blow after blow.
"I have all the time in the world," Lorris hummed smugly. "Everything can be taken slowly…"
Perhaps Lorris's humming was too grating, because Sward, who stood beside him, could no longer stand the noise and had to cover his ears. But the guards nearby paid no attention to Sward's behavior — everyone was looking up at the sky, where massive boulders rained down like a storm upon the Fisabren Family's defensive positions, producing deep, muffled impacts and kicking up enormous clouds of dust.
Under
Lorris didn't mind spending a few extra days reducing the Grand Duke's encampment and defensive positions to flat ground, but Grand Duke Fisabren had no desire to continue the game. On the third night, he withdrew his army. By the time Lorris realized the old fox had fled the next morning and was about to send forces in pursuit, the last few Fisabren Family knights remaining in the camp set it ablaze. The inferno blocked the Northland Four-Family Alliance's pursuit, and it wasn't until three days later that the fire finally died down — by which time the camp had been reduced to nothing but ashes.
"You can't run forever, old man," Lorris said with bitter resentment.
…(To be continued.)