Chapter 20: Civil war (9)

I am on my way to the meeting room accompanied by my guards and wolves. Recently, there have been several assassination attempts to take my life. Luckily, the wolves' smelling ability prove its' worth, the assassins are all killed or captured. Those who become prisoners don't leak out any news about their master even after being tortured for hours, which surprised me since their master can train men with such loyalty. Anyway, I guess they must be house Pyrell or Mathel's men. They want to finish this war in some dishonorable way. If I were them, I would do the same. The situation for their side is very troublesome, house Crayton's head is captured, house Aetherwolf's heir has surrendered their home city.

The guards open the meeting room door after they see me, the generals are discussing inside. When they see me, they stand up and bow to show respect; I see Impetus is among them, his army has just reached Kursk last night so he looks a little tired. I get to the main chair and sit down:

- Enough for the protocols, Sir Manuel, what news do you have about the enemies' actions?

- Milord, Lord Aetherwolf has quarreled with Mandred Pyrell and separate his army from the Royal Army after hearing about his family is captured and the fall of Veronica. We don't know if he wants to surrender to us or not but we know that he'll not attack us.

- How about Mandred?

- He decides to lead 8000 men to include soldiers of house Mathel and Pyrell here, Milord. My little birds say that he has the blessing that can multiply his strength by ten, but he can't use it frequently. The longest time he has been seen to use his is about 10 minutes.

- 8000 men is not a problem, the problem is Mandred. How far is the Royal Army from here?

- No more than 2 days, Milord.

- Does anyone have ideas about how to fight them?

The discussion starts to erupt between generals, one of them says:

- Milord, in my opinion, I suggest we set up a defense here in Kursk, we have 7500 soldiers. With the advantages of the wall and our superior long-range weapons, there is no way they can defeat us with just 8000 men.

- That's a good point.

I catch the glance of Impetus, who seems not approval with this plan, I ask him:

- You don't look satisfied, Impetus. What do you think about his plan?

- Milord, although this tactic makes sure that we'll have a certain win if they besieged Kursk, I believe it has some disadvantages that can not be neglected.

- And what are they?

- First and foremost, they can ignore Kursk and attack other places such as Ostrovic, or even worse, they'll match straight to Neverwinter. Secondly, now is the time that we show our military might, we can't hide behind walls. I suggest we match out and confront them in a field battle, if we manage to crush Mandred's men, the Royal Family has no choice but to beg for peace, Milord.

- I'm impressed by your plan, Impetus. But Mandred's chivalry is not something to be messed with, especially when facing him on the battlefield.

- That's true, Milord, but I have a plan, Mandred is known as a hot blood man, we just need to bait him to our formation. 2 years old, your longbows killed giant creatures like minotaurs and trolls, I believe if we utilize our longbows to kill him. No matter how strong he is, he'll not be alive after a bunch of arrows hit him.

- Explain further, Impetus, everyone here needs to understand your idea if we want to carry out your plan.

- Yes, Milord.

Impetus explains his plan; after listening to him, I realize that this guy is totally a genius in terms of tactics. In general, we have 3500 spearmen, 2500 archers, 1000 samurai, and 500 knights. Impetus's plan is simple, we will form a bow formation protected by wooden spikes in the front line. 2000 archers will be deployed on two wings of our army while 500 in the middle, spearmen will be put on two wings to protect archers from the enemies while my most elite troops, the samurais and knights will stay with me in the middle. We will provoke Mandred, use words to irritate him to charge straight toward me. They don't know about the power of our bows which can pierce iron armors, if Mandred bites the bait, his army'll be destroyed by arrows before they can recognize it.

I agree with his plan. This battle plays an important role in this war, if we win, we'll have an overwhelming advantage on the negotiation table, but if we lose, the Royal Family will regain their confidence and the situation will become worse. But how can you achieve great things if you don't want to take risks? I will face them head-on and defeat them, I'll show them that they've messed with the wrong person.

**********

My army places wooden spikes in front of them. The archers formed a formation in the front line. Look from the sky, I'm sure that we can see my army forming a bow-like formation, which is created to lure the enemies into the middle and crush them from three sides. I'm sure that Hannibal had used similar tactics to defeat the Roman army which was two times larger than his. In this world, Impetus is the first one to come up with this idea, at least the first one recorded in history. As a noble, I'm taught many historic lessons of this world but none of them is about similar tactics that have been used. That's why I think that Impetus is a genius, maybe he'll be Hannibal of Neverwinter someday.

The banners of house Mathel and house Pyrell starts to appear. Leading their army, I see a huge man with a tough appearance, to be precise, he is like a meat tank with tons of muscles. They see us and under Mandred's command, they start to form a simple battle formation. Mandred with some of Pyrellian Knights rides forward to our formation. Haizz, this world has a tradition of generals chatting with each other before the battle starts. But this is part of our plan, I need to irritate him so that he'll charge toward the center. I call some knights to follow me.

When we encounter them, he is the first one to speak:

- Ivar Fortuna, I order you to lay down your weapons, release my family immediately.

- Or else?

- I'll destroy you.

Haha, some simple threatens, now I have to say something to anger him.

- I expect to see a snake today, but unfortunately, an eel shows up. Why don't you change your banners to eel instead of snake? I believe it'll suit you more.

His face reddens, I can see him tighten his fists. Muscle-brain man is easy to manipulated, after all. To increase his anger further, I continue:

- You have beautiful wives, don't you? I suppose they'll be the suitable mates for my wolves, I'll let you observe that after taking you as a prisoner.

Cannot withstand further, he erupts:

-YOU FUCKING CRIPPLE, I SWEAR I'LL CRUSH YOUR BONES LIKE A PIECE OF CAKE WHILE HEARING YOU BEGGING FOR MERCY.

- I don't fear you, Mandred the Bonecrusher, if you are a man, stop talking and let us begin the battle.

He doesn't speak anymore words, he just turns around and rides back to his men with an ugly face. I ride back to my men, but with a smiling face, mission completed, now I just have to raise my flag high in the center so that he knows where to find me.