The expert archer
After exchanging greetings and the knight's salute, Lorist invited Sir Jossk to the main tent for a talk.
Once inside the main tent, Lorist introduced his family knights, then briefly explained where the caravan had come from and how the afternoon's lancer attack had provoked him into storming the military camp. He then asked Sir Jossk the purpose of his visit.
Sir Jossk was equally straightforward. He said he had come to assess the caravan's strength — whether it could withstand an assault from one garrison battalion and one lancer company under Count Corbilly. His original plan that afternoon, when he had approached the camp under the pretext of scouting, had been to sneak in while defenses were thin and set fire to the grain and supply stores. That would force Count Corbilly's army — currently sweeping through the western mountains — to turn back, giving the resistance fighters there a chance to catch their breath.
Now that Lorist's caravan had seized the camp, it had done the resistance an enormous favor. Sir Jossk spoke bluntly. When he had watched Lorist storm the camp that afternoon with fewer than a hundred light cavalry, he had thought their numbers too few — at best, they would do what he himself had planned: grab what they could and pull back. At the time, he had been wondering when a cavalry force capable of matching the lancers had appeared in this region. Only when he spotted
Sir Jossk explained that Count Corbilly's sweep through the western mountains comprised one garrison battalion plus the garrison company originally stationed at this camp — five companies in total. Each company consisted of one longbow squad, one sword-and-shield squad, and two spear squads, with each squad at full strength of a hundred and twenty men. Five companies came to nearly twenty-four hundred men, plus one lancer company roaming the mountain periphery, bringing total military strength to nearly twenty-nine hundred.
Fatty Shi interjected. He said Sir Soria's intelligence had reported over a thousand lancers and over two thousand garrison troops — how had Count Corbilly's forces grown so quickly?
Jossk asked who Sir Soria was, and Fatty Shi told him about Baron Charles and Sir Soria.
Sir Jossk curled his lip. He knew Baron Charles — they had met several times. Sir Soria had not been wrong, either; it was just that his information was over a year old, from when Count Corbilly had only recently returned to his domain. Since then, Corbilly had been waging campaigns throughout the region, conquering and exterminating the local nobility by force — of course he had been building up his military. Besides the force sent to sweep the western mountains, his family domain still had three lancer companies, one full-strength garrison battalion, and two newly formed garrison companies.
The sweep force had recently broken through several mountain strongholds, capturing grain and supplies. Over the past two days, they had begun attacking Funiuling Fortress — the resistance's largest stronghold in the western mountains. Relying on the treacherous terrain and the fierce resistance of the Funiuling defenders, they had held the fortress so far, but at heavy cost. The situation was precarious, which was why Sir Jossk had planned to sneak-attack the camp and burn the supplies. But now that Lorist had taken the camp, once word reached the western mountains, Count Corbilly's sweep force was certain to turn back and attack at once.
Sir Jossk's advice to Lorist was this: if the caravan could not match the sweep force, they should evacuate as quickly as possible and burn the grain and supplies, forcing the sweep force to retreat to Count Corbilly's family domain. The western mountains were only a day's march away. If word reached the sweep force tonight that the camp had fallen, they could be back by tomorrow evening. If the caravan did not leave quickly, it would be too late.
Lorist shook his head. The caravan could not leave. Once on the move, they would be easy prey. The lancers had only to pin them down, and the main force would catch up; the caravan would still have to fight Corbilly's army. Better to hold the camp than fight a pitched battle on the retreat against a superior enemy. At least here they had the terrain advantage, which would reduce their casualties.
Lorist's eyes blazed with killing intent. "If they want a fight, they'll get a big one. I'm going to use this camp to annihilate three thousand men of the sweep force and teach Count Corbilly a lesson he'll never forget."
Lorist analyzed the situation: although Count Corbilly's sweep force outnumbered them three to one, their actual combat power was far inferior. According to the prisoners' testimony, the only real threat Corbilly posed was his lancers — all composed of soldiers who had awakened their
As for Count Corbilly's domain — even setting aside the military losses, he'd face censure. He couldn't bear the disgrace of losing two lancer squads and three bastard brothers. He had no choice but to turn back, destroy them, and retake the camp to secure his supplies.
Their strategy would be to give ground step by step. For the first two days, they would make the enemy feel that one more push would carry the camp. After two days, when Corbilly committed all his forces, they would let them in, use various obstacles to split the enemy up, then unleash the heavy infantry for the killing blow. At that point, wiping them out would be easy.
Lorist's words lifted everyone's spirits in the tent. Everyone knew this battle was unavoidable — just as Lorist had said, even if they left now, they would inevitably be caught and forced into a field battle. Better to fight from the camp. Moreover, Lorist had proposed a strategy that sounded quite promising. If carried out properly, they could really annihilate those three thousand-plus men.
Fatty Shi immediately brought out the camp's terrain map and began discussing with everyone how to lure the enemy in, how to set the battlefield within the camp, where to lay traps and ambushes, and how to divide the enemy's forces. The discussion was soon in full swing.
Sir Jossk seemed somewhat envious of the easy harmony between Lorist and his family knights. Watching everyone debate one defensive plan after another, he turned to Lorist and volunteered to contribute to the battle if he could.
Lorist nodded. He told Sir Jossk that the entire
Sir Jossk's spirits soared. He replied that it would not be a problem — he would return at once to rally the resistance and trail secretly behind the sweep force. When they were attacking the camp and bogged down, he would kick them out of their lair. With that, Sir Jossk took his leave in haste.
---
The following evening, Count Corbilly's sweep army appeared before the camp as expected, with the lancer company leading the vanguard. As they charged up to the camp, they quickly spotted the heads mounted on stakes lining both sides of the road to the gate — the head of the brown-haired giant at the very front was particularly conspicuous.
The lancers were livid, screaming curses at the camp. Some even tried to charge the gate, only to be driven back by a volley of crossbow bolts from the hundred-plus crossbowmen stationed on the defensive wall, leaving behind a dozen or so of their own struck down.
Once the garrison battalion arrived, the commander of the sweep force dispatched four squads of sword-and-shield troops. Under the cover of shields, they retrieved the heads on stakes and the bodies of the dead lancers, and only then did they begin making camp.
Lorist stood on the defensive wall and nodded. "This force's commander has a clear head and conducts his operations by the book. Let's go, Fatty, El. Nothing should happen tonight. The main show begins tomorrow morning."
Fatty Shi was still uneasy. "What if they don't attack from the gate and instead launch a surprise assault on some other part of the wall? We've concentrated all our forces at the gate!"
"They won't." Lorist pointed outside the wall. "Look — Count Corbilly chose this site for his permanent camp for good reasons. First, the terrain is flat with no high ground nearby. The camp sits only about two meters above its surroundings, which is ideal for lancer charges and prevents enemies from observing activity inside. Second, apart from the three-meter-wide road leading to the gate, the entire camp is ringed by a moat over two meters wide — we've tested it; the water is over two meters deep. On this side of the moat is a row of wooden stakes, and behind the stakes rises a four-meter-high stone wall. The interior wall is only two meters high, with a wooden palisade one and a half meters tall on top. Defenders can stand on the wall behind the palisade while fighting."
"If they want to breach the defenses, they'd first have to fill in that section of moat, then clear the stakes along the bank — only then would there be room to place ladders, and those ladders would need to be over five meters long. Don't forget, this camp used to be theirs — they know perfectly well which points of attack would be most effective. Given the time pressure, I don't think they'll even consider breaching the walls. Honestly, this camp's defenses are stronger than some lords' castles. Count Corbilly would never have imagined that the excellent defenses he'd built against resistance attacks would now be turned against him. Isn't that just asking for trouble?"
"Besides the main gate, there's a small gate at the back of the camp, but using it requires lowering the drawbridge over the moat, which is very inconvenient for moving troops. I think they'll just send a lancer squad to the rear to lock down the drawbridge and make sure we can't escape. As for the main force, attacking through the gate is most convenient — from their perspective, once the gate falls, we're finished. Tomorrow morning, have the old men and children put on leather armor and carry spears as they walk the walls. Let the enemy confirm that our strength is so depleted we've had to press even the elderly and children into the defense."
El asked, "What if they send a Gold-tier expert to sneak into the camp tonight?"
"Their strongest fighters are Silver-tier at best. The rest absolutely wouldn't risk sneaking in alone. You have to understand — solo combat is different from battlefield warfare. On the battlefield, you can overwhelm an enemy you can't personally beat with sheer numbers, and they have soldiers to spare. But if someone sneaks in and gets discovered, no one will be there to back him up, and he could easily lose his life. They won't take that risk. Besides, Bodfenger and his comrade Ross are patrolling at night — what do we have to worry about?"
...
The night passed peacefully.
Count Corbilly's sweep force had marched all day, so a good night's rest without disturbance was only natural. Lorist's group, having seized the camp, also refrained from sending out raiding parties. Combined with the old men and children strolling along the defensive wall early that morning, the lancers monitoring the camp easily reached one conclusion: the enemy occupying the camp was weak — so weak they'd had to press even the elderly and children into service.
In the morning, the sweep force sent several loud-mouthed garrison troops up to the camp gate, shouting threats and demanding immediate surrender, or else they would hang everyone once they broke in. Lorist found them too noisy and had the crossbowmen turn them into pincushions. He then ordered the old men and children off the wall — the real battle was about to begin.
Sure enough, the killing of those envoys enraged the enemy. They poured out of their camp in a swarm — sword-and-shield troops in front, longbowmen behind — and engaged the camp's crossbowmen in a shooting exchange. But the crossbowmen had the cover of the wall and palisade, and their crossbows were easy to aim and shot in a straight line, making them far more lethal than longbows, which could only arc their shots in from a distance.
The longbowmen found themselves in an awkward position. Move too close, and they risked being picked off by crossbows; stay back, and they could only lob arrows that did no damage to the crossbowmen at all. After several volleys, the only result was a few long arrows embedded in the palisade — not a single crossbowman had been harmed.
The longbowmen were pulled back. The enemy changed tactics, sending sword-and-shield troops forward in a feint, hoping to bait the crossbowmen into expending their bolts. Lorist ordered his men to hold their fire, letting two squads of sword-and-shield troops advance all the way to the gate. Then the gates swung open, and Terman, who had been lying in wait, led the knight order into the sword-and-shield troops like a tiger among sheep, cutting them down with savage glee. Of the two squads — over two hundred men — barely fifty made it back.
The lancers wanted to charge in but were blocked by crossbow fire. By the time they dragged the longbowmen forward, Terman had already led his knights back inside the camp. In this exchange, the sweep force lost over a hundred and fifty sword-and-shield troops, while Terman's men were completely unscathed.
Though they had lost a round, the sweep force's commander felt it had been worth the price. Piecing together the lancers' accounts from the second attack on the caravan, the forces occupying this camp amounted to the hundred-plus crossbowmen guarding the gate, the forty-odd knights who had just charged out to butcher the sword-and-shield troops, and a few hundred spearmen. But the spearmen seen that morning were all old men and children — presumably they had suffered heavy losses when storming the camp, and their combat effectiveness could be safely ignored.
In the afternoon, the sweep force suspended their attacks on the camp, sending only lancers to keep watch from a distance. The bulk of the garrison troops were dispatched to fell a small forest, then drag the timber back to camp. Standing on the defensive wall, Lorist watched the garrison troops busily building wooden shields and battering rams inside the enemy camp.
"Looks like they're getting serious tomorrow. Are our fire oil jars ready?" Lorist asked Fatty Shi, who was standing nearby.
"Fifty-five in total. Not sure if that's enough." Fatty Shi looked worried.
"It's enough. Tomorrow we'll give them a fire bath first, and then it'll be our turn to deal with them." Lorist grinned.
...
That morning, Lorist had just finished his dawn training and was about to wipe himself down when Fatty Shi came running over to say the enemy forces had already mobilized.
Damn — so early, and the sun wasn't even up yet! Lorist looked up at the sky and saw thick, dark clouds blanketing the horizon. Heavy snow looked like it would come that afternoon or evening. It was January, and there would be more snowfalls to come. The sweep force had probably noticed the weather turning and decided to launch their attack ahead of schedule.
Lorist told Fatty Shi, "Go check on the families traveling with the army. With the weather turning, they need extra layers — we can't have half the caravan falling ill. Take care of that. I'll handle the fighting out there. You can rest easy."
...
Standing on the defensive wall, watching the enemy hiding behind wooden shields and slowly pushing them forward step by step, and amid the shields, three crude battering rams creaking along the main road, shoved by dozens of men —
Lorist turned to Bodfenger, who had been on patrol all night, and grinned. "Today's going to be a hell of a fight. Looks like they're getting desperate."
Bodfenger nodded. "The sudden weather change hits them hard. If it keeps snowing for a few more days, they're finished even if they retreat now. Supplies insufficient, no way to sustain the campaign — they have to take the camp quickly to keep their army going. All that's left is a frontal assault, no matter the cost, no matter the casualties. We may not even have to wait until tomorrow to spring the trap."
Lorist said, "Fine. If they keep pushing, we'll abandon the gate and lure them inside. A day sooner or a day later doesn't matter — in this weather, they won't get far even if they try to run. Reidi, go tell everyone to get to their positions. We're going to give the enemy a surprise."