A Crushing Victory
When Shang Ye saw herdsmen running out of the camp to surrender to them, he immediately realized that the enemy had lost control of the army, although he did not know whether it was due to a mutiny or the killing of chiefs or other commanders.
He immediately shouted to Jell to clear the wooden fence and open a passage for his troops.
Jell immediately ordered a squad of his Cavalry to approach the wooden fence and throw out lassos. After the lassos caught the fence, they secured the ropes to the horses. At the riders' shouts, dozens of horses pulled in the opposite direction, and with a 'crack', a section of the wooden fence, nearly a hundred meters long, was pulled down.
Shang Ye, wielding his greatsword, shouted, "Forward!" and charged into the gap with his swordsmen and shieldmen, followed closely by Pikemen and crossbowmen. Seeing this, Jell led half of his Cavalry into the camp, leaving the other half outside to work with the Light Cavalry to capture any herders who had escaped from the camp.
By this time, the chief had already led his warriors back into the camp, leaving only some herders and wounded still in disarray on this side of the wooden fence.
These herders had already fallen into a state of sheep-herding. Shang Ye directly led a line of swordsmen, shieldmen, and spearmen to surround these herders and ordered them to lay down their weapons and kneel down to surrender.
As for the herders who were not surrounded and scattered and fled, Jell was in charge. Jell and his three hundred Cavalry immediately split into three groups of iron shuttles, and lassos and horse bows wove a deadly net over the heads of the fleeing herders.
A Barbarians boy tried to rush into a nearby tent, but Jell's lasso hooked precisely around his neck, dragging him back into the encirclement.
Just then, thick smoke began to rise from inside the camp. "Damn it, they've set it on fire." Jell realized that the tribal chief wanted to stop their attack by setting fire.
"I'll take some men to control the fire. You stay here and guard the prisoners." With that, Shang Ye led his infantry detachment into the camp.
There was no time to find a water source to extinguish the fire. Shang Ye directly ordered the Pikemen to push the burning tents with their spears and drive the herders inside the camp to run out. Fortunately, the fire was not large at first and was quickly brought under control. Shang Ye continued to lead his troops deeper into the camp and found a fire that was being lit.
Several Barbarians warriors were pouring Fire Oil onto a tent when Shang Ye grabbed one of his men's shields and charged forward. The iron-clad oak shield knocked away a Barbarians warrior who was trying to ignite the oil canisters. Then, Shang Ye threw away the shield, raised his greatsword with both hands, and with a backhand slash, cut down two warriors who tried to attack him.
At this moment, a Barbarians warrior raised his spear and charged at Shang Ye, but was suddenly struck by two arrows and fell to the ground. The crossbowmen squad followed.
The Barbarians warrior who had been knocked away tried to stand up, but Shang Ye pressed his greatsword against his throat and said, "Where is your chief? How many men does he have? Tell me and I'll spare your life."
"He...he ran that way. That's his big tent, modeled after the ones built by the southerners. It's surrounded by an earthen wall. The chieftain only has a hundred men left. Please spare me, sir." The warrior pointed in a direction.
After receiving the answer, Shang Ye kept his word and immediately ordered his men to tie him up. He led his troops in that direction, and sure enough, after passing through a group of tents, they came to a mud wall with a two-story wooden building inside.
Several warriors were already standing on the wooden arrow towers at the four corners of the wall. When they saw Shang Ye and his men appear, they immediately shouted the news and shot arrows at them. Shang Ye quickly led his troops to retreat.
After carefully observing the earthen wall, Shang Ye did not choose to launch a direct attack. Instead, he ordered a squadron of spearmen and crossbowmen under his command to guard the area while he led the others to continue clearing the camp. He also sent someone to notify the Bed Crossbow squadron to bring their Bed Crossbow over.
More than an hour later, the shouts of battle in the camp had mostly subsided. Shang Ye and Jell had taken control of the entire camp. Because of the timely capture, there were not many losses except for some tents that were burned.
In particular, the livestock pens, which were of most concern to Jell, were taken over by Jell troops as soon as they stormed into the camp. All the herders, regardless of age or gender, were driven outside the camp and surrounded. It can be said that the objective of this operation was basically achieved.
Shang Ye and Jell left the troops guarding the prisoners behind and led the rest of their troops to the chieftain's tent. Looking at the rammed earth wall that was more than two meters high, Jell said, "Looks like it won't be easy to take this place. I'll lead my men to make a charge first." With that, he ordered his Cavalry to dismount.
"Wait a minute, let's leave it to the Bed Crossbow. This earthen wall can't withstand the Bed Crossbow of our Two Rivers Territory."
The Bed Crossbow squadron had already knocked down a group of tents on the south side of the wall and set up six Bed Crossbow. They also built a watchtower with arrow shields next to it, which was taller than the arrow towers at the four corners of the earthen wall, allowing them to easily see the situation inside the wall. The arrow towers along the earthen wall had already been shot down by the Bed Crossbow.
Just then, a shout rang out from the watchtower, "Northwest corner!" Three Bed Crossbow fired in an instant, their iron spears tearing through the air and pinning the rammed earth wall and the three archers behind it to the ground.
Looking at the devastation inside the breach in the earthen wall, Shang Ye said to Jeller, "I told you, this kind of rammed earth wall can't stop our ballistae. These are powerful weapons that even the Iron Birch Territory is willing to spend a lot of money to buy."
In the following time, based on the lookout's reports, the Bed Crossbow team fired three shots at a time at a rate of three, and soon several breaches were created in the earthen wall.
Shang Ye led his swordsmen and shieldmen close to the base of the wall. The Barbarians warriors inside the earthen wall also spotted them, but they dared not approach the wall now. They could only stand next to the two-story wooden building and throw arrows and stones at the outside of the earthen wall.
With his left hand, Shang Ye used a round shield to deflect arrows and pebbles, while his right hand, with a longsword, scraped sparks against the earthen wall. "Raise the kite shield!" In an instant, thirty giant shields painted with Golden Sunflower formed Tortoise Shell Formation, charging through the gap despite the rain of falling rocks and arrows.
Seeing Shang Ye lead his troops into the earthen wall, the chief of the Tribe Number Two also led his men in a counterattack. As long as they were engaged with the enemy's infantry, they no longer needed to worry about the giant arrows fired from the Bed Crossbow.
Soon the Barbarians chieftain rushed in front of Shang Ye. He had realized from the beginning that Shang Ye was the commander of this enemy force, and he wanted to use his personal bravery to defeat Shang Ye and turn the tide of the battle.
The Barbarians chieftain's battle axe came crashing down with a whooshing sound, Shang Ye spun around and used the edge of his shield to catch the axe handle.
The Iron Birch Wood shield was cleaved with deep gashes, but this also locked the axe blade in place. In that split second, his longsword slashed upwards, the blade cutting through the leather armor and plunging into the heart along the gap in the ribs. The Barbarians chieftain died instantly; he had underestimated the strength of Victor's former captain of the guard.
At this moment, Jell led his reinforcements in and stormed in. They pushed directly down the already crumbling earthen wall. In the dust and smoke of the collapsing wall, Jell was using a lasso to wrap around the neck of a warrior. He grinned as he looked at the chieftain's head, which Shang Ye had impaled on the tip of his knife. "We won!"