The Fall of the Blazing Fire Tribe, Part Two
"Sir, now that you put it that way, I understand what it means to not be fast, but I still don't understand why the main force of the Blazing Fire Tribe is not going to be slow." Jackson raised this question on behalf of the others.
"It's simple. The Blazing Fire Tribe is too big. We simply can't block the news of our attack on the Blazing Fire Tribe's main camp. What will they do if the main force of the Blazing Fire Tribe gets the news in advance?"
"Of course they'll come right away! Our hometown has been destroyed, no one can resist coming!" Ron clapped his hands and said.
"But Ron, do you know that the current chief of the Blazing Fire Tribe, Volcano, wouldn't do that? He's known for his cunning, and the Intelligence Department can attest to that."
Orlando stood up and said to the others, "The Viscount is right. This Volcano chief is just like that. He is thoughtful and always plans before he acts. He is feared within the tribe. He has the entire Blazing Fire Tribe firmly in his hands. The three major clans of the Blazing Fire Tribe all follow his lead."
Victor nodded and gestured for Orlando to sit down. "So I judge that after receiving news of the attack on the main camp, Volcano will not launch an attack at all. Instead, he will take the main force of the Blazing Fire Tribe and leave here to join Blood Scorpion Tribe or recruit herdsmen from their vassal tribes. At that time, we will not be facing a remnant force of 3,000 people, but may face an enemy of 5,000 or even more. We really don't need to take that risk."
"Therefore, in the next few days, I will lead all the infantry detachments of the First and Second Regiments to hold the enemy's main camp and prevent large groups of the enemy from leaving the Blazing Fire Tribe camp. Other Cavalry units will launch attacks on other settlements of the Blazing Fire Tribe to prevent the Blazing Fire Tribe's main camp from receiving reinforcements. We will launch a general offensive in three days."
Starting the next day, the Cavalry of the Two Rivers Territory launched a large-scale attack, in detachments, on the scattered settlements of the Blazing Fire Tribe.
In two days, the Cavalry force launched a total of 24 sorties, killing 701 Blazing Fire Tribe barbarian cavalrymen, capturing more than 8,100, and destroying almost all the herders in the settlements that had not retreated back to the main camp. In a short period of time, the Blazing Fire Tribe's main camp had lost all support.
On the third day, Victor received the latest intelligence from the reconnaissance team: the Iron Palm Tribe had been completely destroyed by the Blazing Fire Tribe. Except for a small number of women who were kept as slaves, everyone else had been slaughtered by the Blazing Fire Tribe, and the main force of the Blazing Fire Tribe began to return with their spoils.
Meanwhile, Victor has completed the clearing of the settlements surrounding the Blazing Fire Tribe's outskirts and will officially launch an attack on the Blazing Fire Tribe's main camp today.
Victor stood atop an elmwood observation tower. Three thousand infantrymen formed a crescent-shaped wagon formation three hundred paces away. The iron-clad chariots were linked end to end, forming a mobile barrier. More than thirty new-style Catapult, set up between the chariots, were adjusting their firing angles. The creaking of the winches and the shouts of the slaves blended into a suppressed roar.
More than two thousand captured Blazing Fire Tribe herders, dragging their blood-soaked shackles, piled up huge stones weighing dozens of kilograms in the ammunition area. Horseshoe Tribe warriors were in charge of supervising the work, and the whips of these supervisors could always accurately strike the shoulder blades of those who were slow to move. Victor planned to use Catapult to destroy the front wall of the Blazing Fire Tribe Main Camp.
Suddenly, three signal arrows shot out from the watchtower on the side. This was the signal agreed upon by Victor: to fire three signal arrows should the Blazing Fire Tribe attempt to launch a counterattack.
The command flag in front of the Bed Crossbow unit was then waved, and twelve Bed Crossbow fired simultaneously, their quenched fire arrows carving bowl-sized holes in the earthen wall. The hemp rope fletchings soaked in grease continued to burn in the cracks in the wall.
The Blazing Fire Tribe's counterattack came swiftly. Hundreds of assassins clad in wet cowhide rushed out of the hidden door, wielding iron hammers and charging toward the nearest Catapult, only to be stopped in front of the wagon formation by the spearmen in the wagon formation—these Two Rivers Territory infantrymen wore chainmail lined with double layers of tanned cowhide, specifically designed to defend against the slashing of steppe scimitars.
The group of fire warriors was quickly wiped out by spearmen and crossbowmen. As their heads were displayed on the cart shafts, the first wave of stone projectiles roared into the sky.
Eighty-pound basalt blocks traced parabolas in the air, precisely covering the arrow tower base behind the earthen wall. These catapults were new-style catapults produced by the Lianghe Ling Arsenal, and they also had specially tested firing tables, making their accuracy far superior to products of the same era.
After three volleys, the wooden arrow tower in the southeast corner collapsed with a teeth-grinding cracking sound.
There was a brief period of chaos within the Blazing Fire Tribe, but Victor did not launch an attack. He ordered the Catapult to continue firing until all the arrow towers and walls on the front were destroyed.
Led by James and Ron, the Cavalry circled around to the west of the tribe, and the hooves of two thousand Light Cavalry kicked up a lot of dust as their horses trod the ground.
They used lassoes to drag down the outer guard fortresses, and used horsebows to launch rockets at a 45-degree angle, setting fire to the livestock pens and haystacks inside the walls.
At this moment, the side gate of the Blazing Fire Tribe suddenly opened, and five hundred barbarian cavalry charged out under a rain of arrows. The Cavalry immediately split into two groups and used crossfire to force the barbarian cavalry back into the Blazing Fire Tribe's Main Camp. Their mission was to prevent small groups of troops from breaking out.
The midday sun baked the battlefield, creating a sweltering heatwave. Victor ordered a change of tactics. Twenty Bed Crossbow were fitted with specially made chain hammer projectiles. The spinning chain hammers peeled away the rammed earth layers on the surface of the earthen walls, revealing the reed stalks embedded inside.
The infantry detachment of the Second Regiment used the Tortoise Shell Formation- shell formation to protect twelve battering rams and took the opportunity to advance to the foot of the wall. These iron-clad rams had spiral patterns on their heads, which could generate shock waves when they hit the wall. Soon, large sections of the wall were pushed down by the battering rams.
The garrison commander of the Blazing Fire Tribe launched a futile counterattack in an attempt to destroy the siege equipment of the Two Rivers Territory. These counterattack forces were unable to make any progress against the Two Rivers Territory's wagon formations, and all their efforts were in vain.
As dusk fell, smoke rose from the watchtower in the northwest corner, the final signal that the city was about to fall. Victor's heavy infantry began to advance towards the breach, carrying barbed square shields and boots studded with non-slip copper spikes.
The warriors of the Blazing Fire Tribe leaped out of their burning tents, only to find that their arrows could not penetrate the enemy's armor, and their bronze swords chipped as they struck the cast iron edging of the square shields.
The Cavalry had by then cut off the escape route on the east side and were using fishing nets and lassos to capture the fleeing herders. When the last arrow tower collapsed under the concentrated bombardment of the Catapult, the resistance on the front of the Blazing Fire Tribe camp had been basically extinguished.
Victor did not expect that the Blazing Fire Tribe's base camp would be breached so easily, and he also underestimated the equipment advantage of the Two Rivers Territory army.
Victor looked up at the setting sun in the distance and immediately ordered a general offensive to completely capture the Blazing Fire Tribe's Main Camp.
Guided by the command flag, a large number of the Two Rivers Territory troops charged into the camp from the front, intending to completely crush the resistance of the Blazing Fire Tribe.