Chapter 49: Battle of Kai(1)

Kai is a hill located near the border between Meath and Oceanhall, not too high but not too short, either. If a battle happens here the hill will give considerable advantages to those who deploy their troops up on the hill.

Spring has come, which marks the fifth year of the Kingdom of Fortuna under the ruler of King Ivar and the first Lyrion-Fortunian war comes to the second year. On the Lyrion side, Hadrian Bronzenand has led 2300 ships and 120000 Lyrions to attack Summervalley by sea lines while his comrade, Eunice the Impaler led 100000 men to march on the mainland toward Meath.

To repel the marching of the Lyrion armies, Impetus of house Greyrat, Harry of house Rosewood and Bishop Richard have combined their armies to one, reach the number of 80000 soldiers and 800 ships of the Royal Fleet. In terms of fighting the army of Eunice the Impaler, Ivar has led 52000 soldiers to confront her army himself.

And two armies, one of King Ivar and one of Eunice the Impaler have their first battle in Kai.

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The signs of snow still show on the Oceanhall's roads while the Lyrion army marching through them. Leading the army are Eunice and her retainers, not all of them are riding horses since horses are luxurious for a sea-raiding army and their main cavalries have been wiped out in the Battle of Summervalley.

- How many miles away until we reach the Apollo Fortress? About 10 miles, your mighty, we'll be there before noon.

Apollo Fortress is built by the remaining of the defeated army in Rose Habour and 10000 recruits. Although its' defense systems are not as strong as that of a city or a castle, Eunice predicts that they'll be able to hold on until their reinforcements arrive, she wants to take the fortress by surprise and use it to fight with King Ivar's army when he arrives.

A scout ride toward Eunice from afar and informs her:

- Your mighty, a Fortunian army is interrupting our path, they set up their formations on a hill.

- How many are they?

- At least 40000, should I inform the captains and ask them to prepare for battle?

- Go ahead.

The rider continues to ride toward further ranks and inform Eunice's captains. One of her retainers asks her:

- Isn't it wiser not to fight them? Charging uphill might bring us certain disadvantages. We can't risk that, you have lost many men in the Rose Harbor.

- Shut up Hansel, remember that I'm the commander, not you, just use your magic at a suitable time. Otherwise, just be quiet.

-Tsk!

Eunice doesn't like this man. If he wasn't appointed by Hadrian himself, she would throw him to a random chamber in Rose Harbour and lock him there. But she has more important stuff to do now.

( Change POV)

I have marched inside Oceanhall as soon as the rangers send reports about the movement of the Lyrion army, defending in Apollo Fortress will be useless. The commander of the enemies, Eunice has taken Rose Harbour, a much more fortified and well-defended location, so I decided to deploy my army here on this hill to face them. I've set up several traps here from 3 days ago; now, this hill is my playground and if I play my cards well, the enemies will dance inside my palm.

The Lyrions soon show up on the opposite side of the battlefield, about 80000 Lyrions, similar to what the rangers say. I should consider raising their wages if I manage to be alive after this battle, they work more efficiently and effectively than I expect. I bring 60000 men in total here, miserably, 25000 of which are soldiers who have never fought a battle before, I hope harsh training methods of fighting and disciplines will give them the strength and courage to hold the line and point the swords and spears to the right place.

I put my most strong legionaries in the front while the less experienced ones on two flanks, while archers and my personal troops- the demon riders in the back. Charles has hidden in a forest 3 miles away from here with 7000 cavalries. With a signal and good support unity, a cavalry charge will destroy their army.

The Lyrions form a shield wall, their slingers and archers come forward to fire projectiles on my army, but in Testudo formation, rarely do Fortunian soldiers fall under these rocks and arrows. I order:

- Repay their favors.

10000 archers with Japanese longbows-yumi knock their arrows and fire. My missile units deal much more damage than they do to us, their slingers and archers are pinned down like flies. Unluckily, my arrows are not strong enough to pierce the metal-reinforced shields of their infantries staying in the shield wall. Realizing that they have lost the skirmish fight, the Lyrion missiles are called back to their ranks while the shield wall of the Lyrions advances slowly.

I am not happy with their steady paces, my traps won't deal much damage to them if they continue to advance as slow as turtles. So I have to give them something to move faster.

- Bring out the toys.

The engineers of my archers remove the cloths wrapping 200 machines and reveal 200 Chinese Chu-ko-nu, the fastest and most deadly crossbows known in the feudal world. These beasts can fire constantly with double the speed of experienced bowmen and deal three times the damage. The weaknesses of this weapon are that they're hard to make and since they fire very fast, I have to prepare a sufficient number of bolts to keep up with their firing speed.

The long bolts are fired, they pierce the shields of the Lyrions and pin the holders to the ground. The formation of the Lyrions is disrupted. After several rows, I hear a shout:"CHARGE" among the enemies' ranks. They all run to their full speed against my legionaries' formation, but just 5 meters from our formation, the earth collapses while the Lyrions run over and spikes under the ground pierce them.

Hundreds of them are killed before they manage to slow down, the traps are not too deep so the Lyrions who fall manage to fill in the ditches. My legionaries follow my orders and change to wedge formation and charge at the confusing Lyrion army. On the ground, trap doors are opened and the samurais raise from the ground and cut down every Lyrions they see, their demon masks strike fear among the Lyrions' ranks.