A Desperate Battle
Fortunately, the Blazing Fire Tribe's chief, Volcano, was also experienced. He used his numerical advantage to divide the Blazing Fire Tribe's army into two parts: one part engaged the Iron Palm Tribe's blocking force, while the other part pressed forward relentlessly, forcing the Xita's troops to give up the entanglement.
Finally, the Blazing Fire Tribe broke out of Razor Ridge, where they lost more than 300 people. The short eight-kilometer valley path was dragged on by Xita for more than four hours.
After leaving Razor Ridge, Volcano realized that the Iron Palm Tribe had discovered their ambush, so he stopped controlling his speed and headed straight for the Iron Palm Tribe's Main Camp.
Meanwhile, Xita's troops also withdrew from Razor Ridge from another direction. Although they had the advantage of playing on home ground, the troops had suffered heavy losses. The entire Thousand-man squad had lost 20% of its men. These losses made Xita extremely distressed. These were the elite troops he had personally trained, and they had suffered such heavy losses in their first official battle.
However, Xita quickly adjusted his mindset, after all, there were even greater challenges waiting for him, and the slightest carelessness could lead to his death and the extermination of his clan.
It's probably too late to get back to the Iron Palm Tribe's camp now, as the Iron Palm Tribe has sealed off all the gates to the camp according to the agreement with the chief.
However, in order to ensure the supply of Xita and his Thousand-man squad army, Chief Xisa stored a batch of supplies in another place. Xita planned to retrieve the supplies and then take the opportunity to attack the Blazing Fire Tribe's army.
After determining the next step of the plan, Xita looked in the direction of the Iron Palm Tribe, then turned and led his troops away.
The scorching sun baked the grassland. As the wolf-headed battle flag of the Blazing Fire Tribe appeared on the horizon, the bronze bell of the Iron Palm Tribe had already rung for the seventh time. In the watchtower on the wooden wall, the old scout Batu squinted his one eye—five miles away, in the dust, at least five thousand cavalry and an equal number of warhorses were advancing towards the Iron Palm Tribe, the thunderous sound of hooves startling flocks of sand sparrows.
"Light the smoke signals!" With the roar of Chief Xisa of Iron Fist, three pillars of red smoke mixed with sulfur shot straight into the sky.
The scorching sun crackled and popped against the wooden walls of the Iron Palm Tribe, and Su He's fingers drew a third cut from the bowstring. This renowned archer of the Iron Palm Tribe gazed at the billowing dust on the horizon, the venom of the horned viper on his bronze arrowheads gradually solidifying in the intense heat—something Su He had specially prepared to welcome the Blazing Fire Tribe.
At 3 p. m., the 500 riders of the Blazing Fire Tribe launched the first charge. These warhorses, clad in bronze scale armor, foamed at the nostrils, and the riders brandished scimitars inlaid with wolf fangs; the copper rings on the back of the Iron Hoof hummed menacingly under the blazing sun. The wooden walls of the Iron Palm Tribe crumbled and crumbled with the pounding of their hooves, and the horn on the watchtower suddenly shifted to a mournful, drawn-out note.
"Release!" Su He's eyes were bloodshot. Under his leadership, the warriors and able-bodied men of the Iron Palm Tribe raised their bows and arrows, hurling them at the Cavalry outside the wall. A hail of arrows pinned the front-line Cavalry and their horses to the ground. But the Cavalry behind them did not retreat, continuing their charge over the corpses of their comrades, until the front-line warhorses suddenly plunged into a trap disguised as turf—the caltrops at the bottom of the trap pierced the horses' hooves, and the deadly poison coated on the caltrops drove these beasts into a frenzy, disrupting their own formation.
Chief Volcano, the Fire Chieftain, raised his battle axe atop the rear mound, his Adam's apple bobbing as he roared beneath his bronze mask. A hoarse cheer erupted from the Iron Fist Wall as the first wave of remnants retreated. Batu, using a lasso to retrieve enemy armor from a horse trap, was suddenly grabbed by the back of his collar and tackled to the ground by Su He —three poisoned arrows grazed his scalp and embedded themselves in the wooden wall.
As dusk painted the western sky crimson, the Blazing Fire Tribe changed tactics. Three hundred blindfolded warhorses were driven to the front lines, the strips of cloth tied to their tails burning. These beasts, driven mad by the caltrops piercing their hindquarters, charged towards the weakest point of the wooden wall, spurred on by whips.
"Shoot the horse in the eye!" Su He unleashed the last three armor-piercing arrows. The arrows pierced the mad horse's eye sockets precisely, but half of them still flew close to the wall, smashing several holes in it.
The Cavalry of the Blazing Fire Tribe dismounted and charged into the Iron Palm Tribe camp through these gaps, while the warriors of the Iron Palm Tribe launched a counterattack, attempting to retake the gaps.
At this moment, the battlefield was filled with smoke, shouts of battle, and the clash of weapons resounded through the sky, and both sides were locked in a state of extreme tension.
Just then, Xita led his Thousand-man squad into the battlefield, shaking the Blazing Fire Tribe's formation and forcing Volcano to issue an order to retreat.
After the soldiers of the Blazing Fire Tribe retreated like a tide, Su He leaned against the inside of the wall, panting heavily. When he called out to Batu for some water, no one responded. He turned around and saw that the old scout, who was usually respected by everyone, had fallen into a pool of blood and stopped breathing. Su He covered his face and sighed deeply.
The two sides did not engage in further fighting during the night. Both of these life-devouring behemoths needed to lick their wounds in preparation for another battle the next day.
All the Legion Commander gathered in Volcano's tent. "Chief, we only brought ten days' worth of food, and now we have less than four days' worth left. The Iron Palm Tribe has driven all the cattle and sheep into the camp, so we can't go out hunting. Xita and his hungry wolves are constantly lurking around. What should we do?" Huo Qing looked at Volcano anxiously, while the other Legion Commander waited for Volcano's reply.
"How many people have we lost so far?"
"Uh, my team suffered more than 200 casualties."
"My four hundred," "My three hundred"...
"So, we've suffered over 1,400 casualties in total. It looks like our food supply will last for another 5 days," Volcano said, stroking his chin.
"However, I don't plan to wait five days. Tonight, I'll tell the warriors to have a good meal and eat as much as they want. Tomorrow, I'll lead them to take down the Iron Palm Tribe. After we take it, the Iron Palm Tribe's herders will be at their disposal, and they can keep their swords at bay for as long as they want."
"Yes." ×5
All the Legion Commander looked at each other, and although they didn't know what ingenious plan the chief had, they all agreed in unison out of trust in him.
Meanwhile, inside the Iron Palm Tribe's camp, Xisa was patrolling with his Personal Guard. Xisa spoke to the tribespeople with a smile, encouraging them that the Iron Palm Tribe would surely be victorious.
When Xisa returned to his tent, he collapsed to the ground. His wife Sala helped him up. "It's alright, Xisa. We held our ground today. You've done enough."
"We held out today, but what about tomorrow, Sala? Do you know how many people from our tribe died today?"
Sala was stunned. She really didn't know, but judging from Xisa's performance, the number was definitely not optimistic.
"More than 2,400 people, most of them are men. Our Iron Palm Tribe only has a few people in total. On the first day, we lost almost half of our adult men. How many more days can we hold on?" Xisa clutched his head in anguish and collapsed to the ground.
Sala could only hold him and offer him comfort.