Chapter 5

"Understood, sir." En left the room to relay Yue Fei's earlier orders.

Yue Fei sighed.

No, I did not think you would employ such tactics on the very first day of battle. You are quite the surprising opponent, but I will not fall for your ploys.

__

Come morning, the two hundred soldiers arrived back at camp, just as the rest of the army woke from their night's sleep. Neo had returned to the camp a few hours prior, but hearing the commotion he stepped out of his tent to see the two hundred soldiers talking with the newly woken soldiers. An idea formed in his mind, and he quickly called for an army briefing.

Neo addressed his gathered troops.

"Everyone, please give me your attention. These brave men have spent the night fulfilling their objectives in extremely dangerous situations - not only did they accomplish their mission flawlessly, but all have returned, safe and sound. Please give these heroes of the night a round of applause! "

Following Neo's words, the camp exploded into a cacophony of applause and supportive shouts. Seeing this, Baron smiled in satisfaction - this quick meeting had greatly raised his soldiers' morale.

"That's what I am talking about!"

"Kill 'em!"

"Let's go! "

some of the honored soldiers stared around dumbly, too tired from working through the night. Others, though, grinned from ear to ear. It felt great to be honored in such a way, even if it was for a relatively simple task.

Baron's speech had greatly raised his army's morale. As Yue Fei, his army was now greatly fatigued. Despite his soldiers' best efforts to rest through the night, few could with their nerves on tenterhooks, loud firecrackers going off in the distance.

Baron pulled the attention back to himself with a quick gesture.

"Alright everyone, eat your breakfast and prepare for battle. By the efforts of our nighttime heroes, the enemy should be tired, unready for combat. I will also be joining you in taking the wall, and I don't want to see anyone slacking off! Have I made myself clear?" Baron shouted.

"YES, SIR!" The entire camp roared in response.

Baron turned towards the troops who had toiled through the night. "All of you, go back and rest. Your services may be called upon again, tonight. Rest well."

Officer Phillips responded to his men.

"Thank you, sir."

"Thank you, sir!" The two hundred echoed Officer Phillips' words and disappeared into their shared tents, chatting away Al all the buzz they had created just moments ago.

The second day of the battle unfolded in a decidedly different manner from the first.

With the defending soldiers fatigued, and the attacking soldiers surging with morale, clear progress was made atop the city walls.

Neo himself led the charge up, glaive in hand.

His main goal wasn't to take to the field to thin out the enemy ranks with his incredible stat advantages over them, but rather to draw Yue Fei our for a General's duel. However, no matter how low his health dropped, Yue Fei refused to show up.

Where are you, Yue Fei? I know that you know I'm here, so why aren't you showing yourself? " Neo yelled out toward the enemy ranks.

In this manner, the second-day o battle slowly came to a close. However, the difference between the two sides could be easily seen. with Neo leading the charge, and the difference in morale between the two sides, there was a clear difference in the fighting strength. At the end of the day, Neo's army stood roughly forty-two hundred strong, to Yue Fei's eighty-seven hundred.

Most of these deaths, for both sides, were infantrymen.

Unfortunately, although Neo's army had managed to momentarily gain footholds on the wall at several points throughout the day, they were ultimately pushed back each time. This didn't dishearten them, though, as they had seen their General's heroic exploits.

Neo's army was the only one dissatisfied with the current situation. He'd expected Yue Fei to show up at some point, at least when he'd fallen to less than a quarter of his health. But still, Yue Fei continued to refuse to show himself on the front lines, Neo would have to change his strategy.

Sighing Neo made his way over to Officer Phillips as the sun was about to set.

"Phillips, make sure your men don't get cocky from success. I would also note, judging by the clouds in the sky, that there may be some rain tonight. If rain does indeed fall, have your men retreat to camp immediately."

"You got it, boss."

The two hundred nighttime soldiers were able to fulfill their tasks safely, at least until the rain fell. By the time the sun rose, it was still raining, so Neo elected to postpone the day's siege. In the meantime, he gathered the troops and gave another small speech to keep his force's morale high. A few hours later, the rain subsided, and they made their way toward the city wall.

At the end of the day, even with Baron's help, the army could not keep up its momentum from the day before. Even so, the tally at the end of the day came out positively for them, with about thirty-eight hundred to Yue Fei's eight thousand. Numerically speaking Neo had the upper hand if you counted his "missing" camp of five thousand soldiers, hidden from the eyes of Yue Fei.

However, Neo was still unsatisfied with Yue Fei's lack of presence on the field. This had him worried, as the only reason why Yue Fei hadn't shown up by now, would be because he was still confident in his chances of victory despite his army being oppressed in such an unfavorable way.

As night fell, Neo decided that his nighttime soldiers wouldn't out to light firecrackers again, as they had the previous nights. Instead, Baron had his Officers distribute some wine to the soldiers in an attempt to keep their spirits up

__________________________

"Sir, it seems that the enemy has chosen to not engage in their petty activities tonight." Lieutenant En told Yue Fei with a sense of relief. "Our soldiers will finally be able to get a good night's rest."

Yue Fei shrugged. "The only reason they're not doing anything is that the moon's shining brightly tonight. It'd

be far too easy for us to leave the city and hunt them down. Neo's pretty smart to have realized this."