The Decisive Battle Begins
Before the army set off, Victor had already arranged for Baron Brown and Knight Jack to carry out the mission of luring the enemy.
The plan to lure the enemy was simple: use hay to disguise large wagons, creating a very large convoy, and arrange 600 Light Cavalry as guards, along with 300 Auxiliary Troops from Victor's logistics detachment. The horses pulling the wagons were all packhorses that could be used for both riding and riding. By letting Barbarian Rangers pass by, they would let them know the situation of the convoy, especially the vultures and the Fierce Horse Tribe.
This transport caravan of nearly a thousand men will stop at Black Stone Prairie. Once the Barbarians army is attracted, at least two or three Thousand-man squad will be drawn to it. The chieftains of the Fiery Horse and Vulture tribes will take notice of the caravan's presence. Once they see the Barbarians army, Baron Brown and Knight Jack will abandon the caravan and lead all their troops on horseback east or west, leaving Black Stone Plain and hiding on the ridge on the southeast side of the valley.
If the two tribes take action against this Transport Convoy separately, it will inevitably lead to escalation. When Victor arrives at Black Stone Plain with his army, Bloodhoof and Gubai will have no choice but to commit all their right flank forces to protect their tribe's army, thus initiating a decisive battle.
Once the main battle begins, Count Brown Knight Jack will lead the decoy force and two infantry battalions of the Fourth Regiment, totaling 2,000 infantry and cavalry, to Hot Water Fortress. They will cooperate with the garrison of Hot Water Fortress to repel the Barbarians forces besieging the fortress, establish defensive fortifications directly in the valley, completely block the retreat route of the right flank army, and achieve the greatest possible annihilation.
Victor believed that Baron Brown, Knight Jack, and Captain Marvin could accomplish the task. He only needed to lead the majority of the Second Legion to defeat the right flank on the main battlefield, and he was absolutely confident in this.
After gaining command, Victor completed the consolidation of the Second Legion's forces, drawing on the elite troops of various noble families' private armies to form a Heavy Cavalry force of 1,000 men, led by Raymond. This sharp blade would, at the most critical moment, break through the Barbarians forces and decapitate their command system.
Everything went smoothly after that. As expected, Chieftain Bloodhoof led the main force of the Barbarians right flank to the Black Stone Plain, seemingly hoping to break the stalemate and finish the job in one fell swoop. Unfortunately, they Count Colt the Second Legion. In order to allow the Second Legion to quickly eliminate the right flank, the Second Legion's elite forces indeed surpassed those of the Allied Army First and Third Legion.
As the tranquility of Black Stone Plain was shattered by the Iron Hoof, Victor stood on the Oak Command Platform, watching the gilded banner of the Fifth Regiment sway precariously in the center. Viscount Hawke's jeweled breastplate gleamed lavishly in the morning sun; the obese nobleman was strapped to the base of the command flag, the halberds of four overseer knights always three inches from his throat.
"Third Regiment, begin flexible defense!" The messenger's shout swept across the left flank. Victor watched as the light infantrymen in their multicolored cloaks retreated in alternating shifts.
Ron, the First Cavalry Detachment Second Regiment, was patrolling the flank with three hundred Light Cavalry. Suddenly, he raised his horn, and his mounted archers immediately unleashed a hail of arrows on the exposed Barbarians flank.
On the right flank, Viscount Benjamin's Personal Guard, Pim, was adjusting the Cavalry formation. The veteran, who wore a black eyepatch over his left eye, tapped James's visor with his sword sheath. "You brat, take your men and fill the gap in the fourth rank!" Young James spat out blood and kicked his horse hard in the flank with his silver spurs.
Suddenly, the horizon began to boil.
The dust kicked up by the Barbarian Cavalry billowed like a black tide, and the Vulture Tribe Light Cavalry on the left flank were the first to break into the trap zone. The light infantry of the Third Regiment suddenly scattered to the sides, Jackson, the deputy Detachment Commander of the Second Regiment, led two hundred mounted infantrymen out of the ditch, their long-handled axes aimed specifically at the horses' legs. A Barbarians warhorse neighed and knelt down, its Cavalry pinned to the ground by a javelin thrown by Ron.
"Right wing, prepare!" Victor pointed his sword at the clay mountains on the sand table.
Pim's right-wing Cavalry had already mingled with the Barbarian Cavalry, while James led three hundred Light Cavalry on the flank, raising dust.
At the center of the army, the moment Bloodhoof's main force crashed into the Fifth Regiment's defensive line, three hastily assembled ballistae fired out iron chain nets, tripping twelve Barbarians Heavy Cavalry into rolling messes.
Even so, the Fifth Regiment's defenses were crumbling. Viscount Hawke frantically yanked at his chains, screaming, "I'm a cousin of the Iron Birch Family! You can't..."
The soldiers of the Fifth Regiment were terrified by the heavy axes of Chieftain Bloodhoof's Personal Guard, and their bodies, encased in gilded armor, were slowly retreating.
Victor suddenly leaped off the command platform, his two-handed greatsword severing the head of a fleeing nobleman from the Fifth Regiment. The spurting blood stained the legion's banner, and the family crest on the headless corpse's armor floated in the blood.
"Anyone who deserts in the face of battle shall be executed!" His roar caused Viscount Hawke to collapse to the ground, and the pike phalanx of the Second Regiment immediately felled several fleeing soldiers.
As the Heavy Cavalry of the Fierce Horse Tribe on the right flank broke through the second line of defense, Raymond's Heavy Cavalry finally accelerated. A battle cry erupted from beneath the one-eyed veteran's visor, "For Golden Pear Territory!" A thousand iron walls crashed into the enemy ranks, with James leading Light Cavalry to finish off any stragglers. Ron's horn sounded at the opportune moment, and the First Cavalry Detachment of the Second Regiment cut into the battlefield from the flank.
The crisis in the central army reached its peak. The chieftain's Personal Guard's iron-clad battleaxes cleaved through the last shield wall of the Fifth Regiment, and Jackson arrived with mounted infantry to provide support. The silent deputy Detachment Commander used his long-handled axe to hook down the Barbarians standard-bearer, and the blood-stained standard was trampled into mud by Jackson's mount.
"Now!" Victor severed the fuses of three rockets. The instant crimson flames shot into the sky, Raymond's Heavy Cavalry shifted into a wedge formation and charged towards the Barbarians right flank's banner. James excitedly blew his bronze whistle, and his Light Cavalry hurled caltrops into the air, blocking the Barbarians reinforcements' path.
As Raymond's lance pierced the Chieftain Bloodhoof's Golden Wolf Banner, the battlefield resounded with the distinctive wails of Barbarians. The one-eyed veteran, his boots pressing against the chieftain's breastplate, tore off the blood-stained wolf-headed crest and held it high above his head.
Pim led his Light Cavalry to mop up the remaining enemy forces, Ron's horse archers specifically targeted Centurion attempting to regroup. James also led his Light Cavalry in pursuit of small groups of Barbarians soldiers; the new arrow marks on the young man's visor only made him appear more formidable.
As the setting sun dyed the Black Stone Plain blood red, Victor stood beneath his command flag, strewn with broken arrows, while Jackson silently sharpened his dulled long-handled axe beside Victor.
Victor did not let his guard down. Instead, he immediately sent out messengers to instruct the right-wing Cavalry to abandon the mopping-up operation against the Barbarians troops and head directly to Hot Water Fortress.
Gubai of the Vulture Tribe escaped with a portion of his remaining troops. Fortunately, Baron Brown and his men should have already succeeded at Hot Water Fortress. Gubai is now facing a dead end. The right wing Cavalry is needed to fill the last gap.