Black Pine Territory (10)

Mammon stood behind Shang Ye, watching the retreating Black Pine Territory soldiers, and clicked his tongue, "So easy? They retreated after only a few rounds?"

"That's normal. The enemy only numbers around 400 people. Our two crossbow squads have a total of 50 Repeating Crossbow. We just fired three rounds, shooting nearly 5,000 arrows."

In less than five minutes, faced with such a massive rain of arrows, it's no surprise that the enemy collapsed.

Although he spoke calmly, Shang Ye was inwardly shocked by the effectiveness of the Repeating Crossbow.

Although he had already considered the potential effectiveness of a weapon capable of firing dozens of arrows in a short time when Makarov introduced it to him.

But looking at the scene before him now, the Repeating Crossbow's effectiveness had far exceeded his expectations.

Seeing that the three infantry squads had not yet launched a pursuit, Shang Ye quickly ordered them to capture prisoners and search for the wounded, but not to venture deep into the Black Forest.

After receiving orders from the Detachment Commander, the three squads, led by their Squad Leader, set off from the camp to pursue the enemy.

Soon the antlers under the watchtower were pushed aside, and the pursuing soldiers launched an attack in multiple directions.

Upon seeing that they were being pursued, many soldiers of Black Pine Territory gave up their escape and surrendered on their knees, throwing down their weapons.

The entire pursuit went very smoothly. The soldiers of Black Pine Territory either surrendered or fled towards the Black Forest, while the pursuing forces of Two Rivers Territory took the opportunity to ambush and capture prisoners. Finally, the pursuing forces stopped their pursuit when they reached the edge of the Black Forest.

Several soldiers, perhaps too excited by the favorable winds of battle, charged straight into the Black Forest, but before their comrades could call out to them, they disappeared into the forest.

Some people wanted to go in and search for them, but the squad leader stopped them. "Have you forgotten the orders? All troops are not allowed to go deep into the Black Forest. The pursuit must stop at the edge of the forest."

But what about them?

"There's no other way but to shout outside the woods. After all, Black Pine Territory the advantage of terrain, and we can't determine whether this is a trap to lure us in."

The pursuing troops began to retreat. During the search for prisoners, they found many prisoners who were only wounded but not dead. Only a few of the Black Pine Territory soldiers actually died in battle; most of the deaths were due to stampedes during the retreat.

Shang Ye also left the camp with his personal guards to inspect the results of the night raid.

He discovered that most of the enemies killed by the Repeating Crossbow had already entered the camp and were hit by multiple arrows or vital organs, while the enemy corpses at the back had not been hit by many arrows.

After he rejoined the pursuing troops, the Squad Leader reported what they had discovered, and Shang Ye finally understood why some of the enemy corpses had not been hit by arrows.

They captured about 100 prisoners, most of whom were wounded, and some even had been hit by two or three arrows.

Just as Shang Ye and the Squad Leader were pondering the cause of this situation, a horse team arrived at the camp.

Hearing the sound of hooves, Shang Ye looked up and saw that it was Regimental Commander Santos and Master Makarov.

He quickly saluted the Regimental Commander, "Regimental Commander, what brings you here? And Master Makarov too."

"Well done, Shang Ye, this counter-night raid was brilliantly executed." Santos returned the salute, then surveyed the battlefield before dismounting and speaking to Shang Ye.

"Thanks to your guidance and the masterpiece of Makarov."

Upon hearing this, Makarov chuckled, quickly dismounted, and followed Santos to Shang Ye.

"How are the battle results tallied? What are the casualties in your unit? If the casualties are relatively high, I can arrange two more squads to reinforce you."

"No, our casualties were negligible. Only five soldiers went missing after rushing into the Black Forest, and the others were injured. They all fell and twisted their ankles while running too fast during the pursuit."

According to statistics, nearly 200 enemy soldiers were killed, more than 100 were captured, and only a few escaped into the Black Forest.

Meanwhile, inside the Black Forest, the Night Owl Platoon had regrouped, and one of them reported to their former leader.

"The retreating troops have been regrouped, but the situation is not good. All four Squad Leader who led their teams to the front have either been killed in battle or captured."

Fewer than 100 men escaped back into the forest, all abandoned and demoralized. These four infantry squads were essentially rendered ineffective, and rebuilding them in the short term would be impossible.

Upon hearing this, the Night Owl leader sighed, "Fine, you take eight men and lead them back to the territory. The rest of you will stay here with me to continue scouting the enemy's things."

The reporter nodded.

At this point, another owl chimed in.

"We killed three of the enemy soldiers who rushed into the forest and captured two. We can take them back to our territory and see if we can dig out any intelligence, preferably how the enemy has set up their defenses tonight."

"Okay, let's do it this way. Except for those who need to retreat, everyone return to their positions and stand by."

Soon the owls disappeared again, leaving only the leader and the owl who had interrupted earlier behind.

The leader gazed in the direction of Santos's camp and muttered to himself, "What a terrible army, what terrible weapons. I really don't want to be their enemy."

"Boss, they are indeed powerful, but there's no need to be so afraid. They don't dare to charge into the Black Forest either, do they?"

"I am not afraid of their weapons, and even though their soldiers are elite, what about their other aspects?"

"Other aspects?"

"Think about it carefully. When they were chasing, they stopped at the edge of the Black Forest. Most of them began to retreat, forming small groups. I was thinking of launching a counterattack, but their performance made me give up on that idea."

"So the other side is indeed very strong, but there's no need for you to be so wary, boss. You're a veteran who fought alongside the Viscount in the forest."

The leader shook his head. "Of course, that's not all. Did you notice that from the start to the end of the night raid, apart from the camp in front of us where troops were mobilized, the other camps across the way were completely silent?"

The owl seemed to understand something. "It seems they didn't send a large force to deal with our night raid at all."

The leader nodded, glancing back in the direction of Black Pine Territory Castle. "This battle is going to be tough. I hope the Viscount is prepared and can lead us to victory."