War Breaks Out
The warrior called out several times but received no response from the camp. He then decided to charge over on horseback, but he had only gone less than ten steps.
"Bang!" A long arrow shot him off his horse, the arrowhead embedding itself in the ground like a nail.
The startled warhorse immediately ran westward, but it was soon lassoed by several scouts and led back to the Allied Army camp.
In the camp, Shang Ye stood next to a Bed Crossbow. He patted an archer on the shoulder and said, "You shot very accurately. That's the kind of momentum we need. Now these barbarians should behave themselves."
"This is the weapon of mass destruction you were talking about," Jell said, examining the Bed Crossbow closely. "Yes, the Viscount has given me a company full of Bed Crossbow, all made by the Two Rivers Territory itself. Their power is indeed unparalleled; they can even penetrate a ten-centimeter-thick earthen wall."
"Indestructible. I've seen Bed Crossbow like this before, but none have this power and accuracy at such a distance. Who could withstand such a weapon?" The distance from here to where the samurai was hit by the arrow was more than three hundred paces. The arrow hit and pinned the samurai to the ground seven or eight meters behind him, demonstrating its immense power.
"Tonight I will arrange for three Bed Crossbow to form a group, divided into four groups to take turns watching the gate of Tribe Number Two. There will also be a company of infantry to guard it. Chief Jell, I would also like to ask you to arrange for one hundred men to participate in the guard duty as well."
"Of course, I'll arrange it right away."
By this time, the Bed Crossbow attack had already stunned the Barbarians camp, and even the torches at the main gate had been extinguished, making the entire Main Camp quiet.
Seeing that they were so sensible, Shang Ye and Jell arranged the sentries and then went to inspect the camp.
The rest of the night was quiet, and nothing was said.
Early the next morning, the Logistics Department had prepared soup for the Allied Army. After all the troops had finished breakfast, Shang Ye and Jell ordered an attack.
All troops filed out of the camp. The infantry slowly approached the camp of Tribe Number Two, while the Cavalry of the Horseshoe Tribe dispersed to the flanks of the infantry squares. A troop of Light Cavalry patrolled the perimeter of the entire camp to prevent the herders of Tribe Number Two from escaping.
The entire infantry square was not large, with only a little over five hundred men, but their armor was clearly visible. The Pikemen and swordsmen in the front row wore half-body iron armor, while the crossbowmen in the rear were equipped with iron-plated leather armor to reduce their load. Guided by the rhythm of the drums, the square advanced in perfect unison, like a metal city wall.
When they reached a distance of 100 paces from the Barbarian Tribes and saw that the Barbarian Tribes had not yet reacted, Shang Ye immediately ordered a halt to the advance. The entire formation began to change formation. The swordsmen and shieldmen in the front row set up their shield towers in front of the formation, while the Pikemen stood behind the swordsmen and shieldmen, extending their spears beyond the shield formation. Meanwhile, the crossbowmen in the rear row began to take out their crossbow bolts and load them on the spot. The Bed Crossbow were pushed to the left and right sides of the formation, aiming their arrows at the Barbarians camp.
The Barbarians camp had no city walls, only a wooden fence a little over a meter high. Inside the fence, the mobilized Barbarians warriors and able-bodied men nervously watched the infantry formation outside. The Tribe Number Two had lived under the protection of the Blazing Fire Tribe for too long, and they found it difficult to cope with this situation.
Furthermore, the samurai who went to question them last night was shot dead by Bed Crossbow, so now no one dares to leave the camp, as if this wooden fence can protect them.
Just as the Fourth Infantry Detachment finished adjusting its formation, Jell rode up to the camp of Tribe Number Two and shouted loudly in the Barbarian language: "We are the army under the command of Victor Viscount Golden Sunflower, a great nobleman of the Northlands. Our purpose in coming here is to attack the Barbarian Tribes that refuse to submit. You must lay down your weapons, come out of the camp and surrender to us. All of you will become our slaves."
The Barbarians in the camp began to discuss the conditions, saying they were far too harsh, demanding that everyone surrender and become slaves, not even as vassals, which aroused their hatred and resentment.
The tribal chief realized that everyone had become rebellious because of Jell's words, so he immediately began to organize the warriors and the able-bodied men to prepare for defense.
Soon, hundreds of warriors and able-bodied men gathered behind a wooden fence, armed with bows and arrows. Although these men were in good spirits, the chief knew that expecting them to leave the camp to fight would be suicide, so he decided to find a way to defend the camp by relying on the wooden walls.
The terrain here is high enough that even with a hunting bow, arrows can be launched over a hundred paces away. Soon, at the command of the Barbarians chieftain, with a 'bang', hundreds of arrows rose into the air from inside the camp like a dark cloud, falling in parabolic arcs towards the square formation of the Fourth Infantry Detachment.
However, upon seeing these arrows, the soldiers in the square formation did not panic. The Pikemen simply raised their spears above their heads and began to draw circles with the shafts of their spears. Most of these arrows were light arrows used by herdsmen for hunting, and they were easily deflected by the spears. The occasional arrows that slipped through did not cause any harm to the armored soldiers.
Seeing that the arrows had no effect, the Barbarians soldiers' morale immediately plummeted. The Barbarians chieftain quickly ordered them to continue shooting arrows, refusing to believe that they had no effect at all.
As a result, apart from the first volley, the Barbarians soldiers basically fired their own arrows, failing to form a neat rain of arrows, which put even less pressure on the 5th Infantry Detachment's square formation.
However, Shang Ye did not intend to just take the beating without fighting back. He directed the Bed Crossbow to adjust its direction and unleashed a volley of arrows directly at the location from which the Barbarians camp had fired its arrows.
Six crossbow bolts pierced through the wooden wall, one of them even shattering a plank. The bolts were powerful and heavy, and after passing through the wall, they shot down more than a dozen warriors in the front row. Seeing the Barbarians warriors strung together, all the Barbarians soldiers began to panic, and several of them at the back simply ran back into the camp.
The Barbarians chieftain sent his warriors to intercept and kill the fleeing men. He then ordered everyone to scatter and not stand together in close proximity, thus bringing the situation under control.
At this moment, outside the camp, the crossbowmen in the Allied Army' formation also began to exert their power. They also used the volleying method, with the crossbowmen of the two companies taking turns firing in unison. In a short while, arrows rained down. The crossbow bolts of the Two Rivers Territory were heavy arrows that could penetrate armor, and the arrowheads had blood grooves. They were extremely powerful, and those hit by the arrows were either killed or wounded.
Soon, the sound of arrows piercing the air and screams mingled together. At this moment, the Barbarians chieftain could no longer suppress the situation. After all, the entire tribe only had two hundred-man squads. Due to the heavy losses caused by the blockade and strangulation by the Horseshoe Tribe's cavalry in the early stages, the chieftain now had only a little over a hundred warriors under his command, which was simply not enough to suppress the able-bodied men whose morale had collapsed.
All the able-bodied men scattered and fled, some even running outside the camp. Upon seeing the Allied Army forces approaching, they immediately knelt down and begged for mercy.