"General, we've just received a messenger hawk from Lieutenant Colonel Murray of the 1302nd Regiment. Their scouts have found traces of the enemy and are now secretly monitoring them. They're requesting instructions from the division headquarters." Adjutant Major Anders came in to report.
"Oh, they've finally found them …" It had been a week since they found the bison herd, yet they only found traces of the enemy now.
It seemed like the retired soldiers of Canas were more interested in money than their lives. They knew their scouts were missing and that there was a high chance of them being captured and exposing their plan to hunt bison, but they didn't care about it at all.
Yet, they still came. Were they ignoring the five enhanced folk in Aueras' new war theatre? Or were they just too greedy for money?
"Where's the enemy?
How big is their scale? "
Claude was about to take a nap, but he didn't think that Anders would report the enemy the moment he laid down. He jumped up from his mattress and adjusted his uniform.
Anders helped Claude put on his belt and replied, "The letter didn't say, but it's probably not a small one.
Lieutenant-Colonel Moriad's messenger said that the scouts they sent out were because the light cavalry of Canas were massacring the wolf pack behind the bison herd and caused a huge ruckus. That's how they found the enemy. "
Massacring the wolf pack?
Claude nodded. It was obvious that the enemy had mobilized at least a full line of soldiers. That was why they had chosen to kill the thousands of wolves that were tailing the bulls.
They planned to deal with the pesky wolves first before hunting the bison herd. That way, they wouldn't have to worry about the wolves eyeing them from the sidelines when the hunt began.
Only a large and powerful army wouldn't have to worry about reprisals from the wolves. Perhaps they saw the wolves as prey as well.
"Sound the horn and have the troops prepare to depart. We'll break camp in half an hour and head for Line 1302's camp," Claude ordered.
Following the route the bison had taken, the army marched for another two days before arriving at the camp of Thundercrash Division's 1302.
It was a small mound four thousand metres away from the bison herd. From afar, one wouldn't be able to see the camp hidden in the mound.
Claude was quite pleased that Moriad had finally matured. He had chosen a good camp.
Moriad, who knew that Claude was coming with a large force, had already ordered his men to expand the camp to accommodate the two other lines.
At the same time, he came up to Claude and reported the situation to him.
Nearly a million migrating bison were scattered across the grassy plains that spanned more than five kilometers.
The enemy discovered by Moriad's Thunderbolt Regiment 1302 was on the west side of the bison herd. After killing nearly a thousand Grassland Green Wolves and Red Wolves, they had begun to hunt the bison in the past two days.
Based on his observations over the past two days, Moriad speculated that the enemy might have split their forces into two groups. Each group would have two regiments, one to the west and one to the east of the bison herd. This would increase the efficiency of killing the bison and allow them to reap more rewards …
Claude also sent out two lines of Thundercrash as the vanguard to search for traces of the enemy on the plains. Now that Moriad's Line 1302 had discovered the enemy's tracks, Claude immediately sent a hawk to Berklin's Line 1301 to cut off the enemy's retreat and flank them.
The Canasian light cavalry only sent a folk to hunt the bulls. Claude was confident that Thundercrash's folk would be able to wipe out the enemy folk in the Albatol plains and not let a single one of them escape to report back to their superiors.
However, before he ordered his men to attack, Claude still had to observe the situation.
Through his telescope, he could tell that the Canasian retired soldiers were skilled horsemen. They quickly separated a few dozen bison from the rear of the herd and killed them with ease.
The entire hunt took less than half an hour from beginning to end. After that, the transport team moved the bison carcasses onto the vehicles and sent them to a camp not far away for disposal.
Just like that, the process repeated itself, and it looked like a very smooth bison slaughtering line.
It was no wonder the captured Canasian scouts said that they killed more than 30,000 bison with a folk of their own last year and earned around 80,000 crowns worth of profit.
No wonder this volunteer light cavalry regiment still sent a division of soldiers to hunt the bison even though they knew that their scouts being captured could reveal their whereabouts.
Money was truly tempting. 80,000 crowns was indeed a sum that no one could refuse.
Of course, it might also have something to do with the fact that the five folk of the new war theatre had just been formed and weren't a threat to them yet, or perhaps they were confident in their own abilities.
They probably believed that it would be safe to hunt the bison this year and that the five folk of the new war theatre had just been formed and wouldn't attack them.
Although the enemy had such a view, they were still an army of veterans with rich battlefield experience.
Their camp was well-guarded. A two-metre-wide and three-metre-deep trench was dug around the perimeter of the camp.
The excavated soil was then built into a three-meter-tall earth rampart. Together with the log rafts that were transported from the rear and the earth rampart, they formed a well-proportioned defensive wall of varying heights, forming an extremely high security barrier for the campsite.
Had it been Ranger from last year, they would've had to pay a heavy price to take down such a well-defended camp.
But now that Claude had the powerful grenades, he was confident that he could turn the enemy's wall into their own shackles.
However, before attacking, the soldiers of the Thundercrash Regiment still needed to do some preparatory work, such as crossing the trenches and climbing the ladders on the walls …
"General, Lieutenant-Colonel Berklin sent an eagle message saying that they've discovered the enemy's follow-up folk. They're two days away from us," said Anders as he handed Claude the latest urgent letter.
"What?
The enemy has a follow-up folk? "
Claude grabbed the letter and opened it. Berklin said that he had sent a small group of scouts to the border of Buckhana and Cromwell to take a look. It was just an unintentional order. If they were lucky, they might be able to capture a few enemy scouts or signallers.
But what they didn't expect was that when the scouts reached the border, they suddenly found a large group of enemy cavalry marching. It was estimated to be close to a folk's strength.
The entire volunteer light cavalry corps of Canas soldiers were mobilized?
Why?
Claude looked at the time the scouts discovered the enemy. It was around ten in the morning, which meant it was now four in the afternoon. Almost a day had passed since then.
If that was the case, the enemy's main force would arrive a day or a day and a half later. Thundercrash didn't have much time left.
"Pass down the order. Have Lieutenant Colonel Berklin lead the 1301st Regiment to find a suitable location and wait for further notice. If necessary, resolutely block the enemy's follow-up troops so that the division headquarters can buy time to annihilate the enemy's bison hunting troops.
Also, pass down my orders. Dinner is to be an hour early. All soldiers are to rest after dinner.
Thundercrash will attack the enemy camp in the wee hours of the morning, "Claude ordered decisively.
"Yes, General." Anders saluted in high spirits and prepared to go out to pass down the order.
"Wait. Have all the officers in charge come over immediately. We'll have a pre-battle meeting to confirm the missions and actions of each division," Claude ordered.
It was already deep into the night. Bonfires burned brightly outside the enemy camp.
As expected of the elite troops that had experienced five years of war in the eastern region and suffered the heaviest casualties in the battle against Rimodra Principality. Their measures to prevent night attacks were perfect and in place.
The piles of bonfires were divided into two layers in front of the trench, with a distance of twenty to thirty meters between them. The area of fifty meters in front of the encampment wall was illuminated by the bonfires.
At that distance, any enemy that tried to ambush the camp wouldn't be able to escape the eyes of the sentries on the perimeter. The moment they entered the range of the bonfires, they would be fired upon by the sentries.
From afar, Claude and the others saw a spotted cheetah that was attracted by the smell of blood and smoked meat. The moment it approached the trench, it was fired at by seven or eight muskets on the walls.
Following the flashes of fire and smoke on the wall, the spotted cheetah trembled and fell to the ground.
Ten minutes later, a small group of men and a carriage came out of the camp. They tossed the cheetah's carcass onto the carriage and returned to camp.
All the high-ranking officers who saw the scene looked grim. It was obvious that the enemy wasn't a pushover. They were probably as strong as walnuts.
It was an elite unit and not the Shiksan standing corps that everyone thought they were.
"Alright, let's go back."
Claude put away his telescope. "I'm sure everyone knows how strong the enemy is. They aren't much weaker than us.
However, all you have to do is remember your assigned missions. Guerrilla will take over the perimeter wall and the main gate at the first sign of trouble.
All you have to do is attack the perimeter wall and the main gate according to the arrangements. "
"General, are you sure Guerrilla can take over the perimeter wall and the main gate?" Moriad asked worriedly.
"Of course," Claude said with a smile, "Because we have a secret weapon."
It was four in the morning. The darkest part of the night had passed and a hint of white could be seen on the horizon. However, it was quickly dyed red.
On Nubissia, the color red was a common sight. The sky was red, the land was red, even the sea was red.
The peaceful night allowed the sentries on the perimeter wall to let down their guard. It would be daybreak in another half a day. It was going to be another stressful and fulfilling day.
Hunting bulls would tire everyone out, but after half a month of hard work, everyone would be able to earn two to three gold lunis. Was there any better business in the world than that?
It was said that the corps had decided to hunt as many bulls as they could and try to double last year's harvest. That way, everyone would be able to double their earnings.
(Note: Gold lunis are the legal currency of Canas. The exchange rate with Aueras' gold crowns is three for two.)
Most of the bonfires on the outskirts of the camp had been extinguished. While the bonfires made of dried cow dung were still burning, they didn't smell good. There was a faint burnt smell to it.
But on the plains, without using dung as fuel, there was no way to build so many bonfires to defend against night attacks.
It was almost daybreak and the extinguished bonfires were still giving off white smoke. It looked like the morning mist and obscured the view of the perimeter of the camp.
However, the sentries on the walls of the encampment were already used to such a scene. Not long after, a gust of morning wind would blow away the smoke around the encampment.
Even if they heard some commotion on the perimeter, they guessed that some wild beasts were attracted by the smell of meat and weren't willing to leave.
But that didn't matter. When the sky brightened and most of the riders in the camp moved out, the wild beasts outside wouldn't be able to escape even if they wanted to.
Therefore, when countless smoking black iron cans flew into the camp and landed on the walls, most of the sentries did not realize what was going on. They just stared blankly at the black iron cans that landed near them. A soldier even tried to pick one up to take a closer look at what it was ….
Then, a loud explosion sounded. The perimeter wall and the perimeter wall turned into a living hell. Flesh and blood splattered everywhere and even a small part of the perimeter wall collapsed.
"Enemy attack!" one of the sentries who was lucky enough to survive yelled.
There was no need for him to remind them. The explosion had already explained everything.
The retired Canas soldiers in the camp were true elites. They picked up their muskets and charged at the wall the moment they reacted.
This was the strongest defensive position in the camp. Even if they were ambushed, they wouldn't give up on it. As long as one of them was there, the enemy wouldn't be able to take the perimeter wall so easily.
None of the soldiers were shocked by the heavy casualties around the walls. Even if their comrades were wailing because of their injuries, no one stopped to help them. They were used to such a tragic battlefield a few years ago in the Principality of Rimodra.
The soldiers who charged the perimeter wall as reinforcements knew that only by repelling the enemy would they have time to help their comrades.
Otherwise, if the perimeter wall was taken, there would only be more casualties. The entire unit might even be wiped out by the enemy, including themselves.
But just as these fearless soldiers rushed up the wall to search for traces of the attacking enemy, another batch of burning iron cans fell on the wall and around them, and then exploded. Fire, smoke, flying human body parts, countless wails and screams connected together.
The cans landed on the perimeter wall four to five times. Not a single Canas soldier dared to charge up the perimeter wall anymore.
The perimeter wall was full of holes from the explosions and more than ten wooden rafts had collapsed.
But that wasn't important. What was important was the scene inside the perimeter wall. Flesh and corpses covered almost two metres of the perimeter wall and ground. Puddles of varying sizes could be seen on the ground.
When the first Thundercrash soldier stepped onto a ladder and poked his head over the wall, he aimed his musket at the camp. He glanced at the wretched state inside the wall, and immediately lowered his head. He vomited …
The outcome of the battle wasn't hard to predict. With the help of the grenades, Claude and Thundercrash easily won the battle.
Two lines of enemy were wiped out and the fruits of their labor fell into Claude's hands.
What Claude wasn't satisfied with, however, was that even after expending nearly a thousand grenades and inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy, they still managed to easily take over the perimeter wall of the enemy camp.
But when three of his lines charged into the camp to wipe out the remaining enemies, they still suffered heavy losses from the stubborn resistance.
The 370 casualties infuriated Claude and cursed the two lieutenant-colonels, Moriad and Dyavid, for their recklessness.