Recaps

Victor’s Temporary Camp became a permanent military and civilian stronghold as the Northern Alliance Army assembled there and prepared to face the Barbarian army. After Alex reaffirmed the battle plan and warned the nobles not to underestimate the enemy, he ordered the allied forces north for the decisive battle.

• Victor planned the Temporary Camp as a settlement and defensive position linking the Border Fortress and Iron Mountain.
• Victor showed the nobles reports of Two Rivers County’s victories, impressing them with the army’s record against the Barbarians.
• Alex warned the nobles that hundreds of thousands of Barbarians remained and ordered every unit to obey orders and fight with full effort.
• Alex promised interior nobles who had funded the Northern Frontier forces the right to develop the grasslands if the alliance won.
• Dane’s five thousand men returned to the Border Fortress with supplies, including five hundred Flowering Shells.
• After the Northern Alliance Army assembled and rested at the Temporary Camp, Alex ordered the allied forces to march north for the decisive battle.

Heshima and Keledu decided to abandon the siege of the Border Fortress and secretly withdraw with the Iron Bone Tribe and the Faith Order’s core forces. Heshima planned to deceive the other tribes and leave them behind to delay the enemy while his people escaped to the grasslands.

• Heshima considered retreating as the Barbarian army’s food supplies dwindled and enemy reinforcements neared the Border Fortress.
• Keledu visited Heshima, and the two agreed not to attack the fortress that day.
• Heshima decided to withdraw overnight with the Iron Bone Tribe, while Keledu would take the Faith Order’s core forces with him.
• Heshima planned to tell the other tribes that the Iron Bone Tribe was going to the Blue Lake Bay Region, leaving the remaining food and tribes behind to distract the enemy.

Heshima secured the Iron Bone Tribe’s withdrawal only after agreeing to surrender half its livestock to the smaller tribes. As the Iron Bone Tribe and Faith Order packed to leave, the smaller tribes prepared to feast and attack the fortress, while discontent grew among Heshima’s people.

• At the emergency council, Heshima and the smaller tribal chiefs clashed over his plan to withdraw, until Keledu persuaded them to let the Iron Bone Tribe and Faith Order leave in exchange for half the tribe’s livestock.
• Heshima accepted the demand, ordered his forces to pack, and reflected that the Iron Bone Tribe could recover its strength if it returned to the grasslands.
• Keledu ordered the Faith Order to pack, and its disciplined members prepared quickly while waiting for the Iron Bone Tribe to catch up.
• After receiving the livestock, the smaller tribes agreed to attack the fortress, and their chiefs arranged a feast to reward their people before the assault.
• Many Iron Bone tribespeople felt disheartened by the withdrawal, and some officers began questioning whether Heshima remained fit to lead.

Heshima hurried the Iron Bone Tribe and Faith Order out of the Barbarians' camp, ignoring dissent and forcing the column to keep moving north. The tribe left under his tight control, while one of his commanders began to question his apparent weakness.

• Heshima rejected a Commander's suggestion to purge the low-ranking officers who criticized him and focused on preparing the tribe's withdrawal.
• Heshima's trusted troops forced the Iron Bone Tribe members to discard belongings and pack quickly, provoking resentment.
• Heshima ordered the Iron Bone Tribe and Faith Order to leave the camp and head north toward the grasslands as other tribes insulted them.
• Heshima used trusted troops to keep the resentful warriors in formation and prevent them from turning back to fight.
• The Faith Order loaded its elderly and weak members onto carts and marched even faster than the Iron Bone Tribe.

The Marquis’s Allied Army arrived at the besieged fortress just as the Barbarians attacked, lifting the defenders’ spirits. Victor, Alex, and the Northern Frontier nobles split their forces to surround the Barbarian army, while Alex arranged for the captured prisoners to be divided according to each force’s contribution.

• The Barbarian tribes renewed their assault on the fortress, and James ordered the garrison to hold its defenses.
• James and the fortress officers spotted a large force approaching and recognized the Marquis’s banners as the Allied Army arrived.
• The fortress defenders cheered as the reinforcements drew near, believing the siege was about to end.
• The Allied Army divided into three forces to approach the fortress and flank the Barbarians, completing an encirclement with the fortress.
• Victor offered Alex and the Northern Alliance Army all the captured Barbarians, but Alex insisted that Two Rivers County receive one-fifth and that the rest be divided by troop contributions.

The Northern Alliance Army surrounded the Barbarian force through a rapid flanking march, while the Barbarian chiefs struggled with their disorganized command and failed to understand how the enemy had gone undetected. Confident in their numbers, the chiefs chose to concentrate their attack on Victor’s central army.

• The Allied Army advanced rapidly, with Alex and Count Hawk leading the wings and Victor commanding the central army.
• The Northern Alliance Army cut off the Barbarian force from its camp and surrounded it before its leaders could react.
• The small and medium-sized tribes’ abandoned patrols and gaps in their watch left the Barbarian army unaware of the approaching enemy.
• The Barbarian chiefs trusted their numerical advantage and planned to defeat the enemy before joining forces with the tribesmen left in camp.
• The chiefs decided to charge Victor’s central army, believing its smaller numbers made it the easiest target.

Victor’s central army repelled the Barbarian cavalry while preparing its Mortar unit to bombard the larger force. The Barbarians’ divided leadership stalled their advance, leaving the battle poised for Victor’s planned artillery strike.

• The Barbarian chieftains attacked Victor’s central army, expecting to overwhelm it with their numbers and reconnect with the Main Camp.
• Victor ordered the rear ranks to make way for the Mortar unit while the Allied Army’s vanguard held its formation.
• The Barbarian Light Cavalry slowed before the pikes and shields, then were crushed by the Guard Corps and Santos’s infantry phalanxes and scattered by crossbow fire.
• The surviving Barbarian forces hesitated as their chieftains weighed their own interests and feared wasting troops against the Allied Army.
• A messenger told Santos that Victor wanted him to follow the original plan, and Santos held the vanguard back to keep the Barbarians within mortar range without risking friendly fire.

Victor discussed the Barbarian forces’ disorganized command with Shikele and agreed that the tribal chieftains were too frightened to attack Santos’s formation. The Iron Bone Tribe’s withdrawal left Shikele grieving over his relatives, and Victor promised to pursue the tribe after the battle.

• Victor judged that the Barbarian chieftains would hesitate to attack and that the Northlands army’s mortars could win the battle at minimal cost.
• Victor asked Shikele to assess the enemy, and Shikele confirmed that the chieftains feared being the first to advance against Santos’s formation.
• Victor explained that Shikele grieved because the Iron Bone Tribe’s withdrawal might leave his relatives at the mercy of High Chieftain Heshima.
• Victor promised to pursue the Iron Bone Tribe after the battle, and Shikele asked to join the pursuit to find or avenge his relatives.
• Victor had sent Shikele’s adult son into the territory and kept him there as a hostage after Shikele surrendered.

Victor ordered the Two Rivers Army’s mortars to bombard the trapped barbarian army, using up the heavy mortars’ ammunition before abandoning them for the coming pursuit. The bombardment shattered the enemy’s command and drove many units to flee or surrender, while the remaining barbarians held on as the shelling diminished.

• Victor ordered the 100mm and 120mm Mortars to fire all their ammunition while the 60mm Mortars conserved half of theirs.
• The Two Rivers Army’s mortar batteries devastated the barbarian army, killing many soldiers and tribal chiefs and throwing its ranks into panic.
• A small barbarian unit fled toward Alex’s troops, surrendered, and prompted other disorganized units to surrender or scatter.
• Alex and Baron Hawk sent cavalry to round up fleeing barbarians as the enemy force dwindled to about a third of its original strength.
• The heavy mortars exhausted their shells, leaving only the 60mm Mortars firing in smaller, rotating batches.

Victor’s forces used mortars and Flowering Shells to break the Barbarian army, forcing its chieftains to surrender. As the battle ended, the Northern Alliance nobles quietly discussed Two Rivers County’s frightening new weapon.

• The Barbarians tried to flee, but bombardment and the arrival of more than twenty thousand cavalry convinced their chieftains that escape was impossible.
• The Barbarian forces surrendered one after another, ending the battle after a little over an hour.
• The mortars and Flowering Shells devastated the Barbarians’ morale, and the Northern Alliance Army was stunned by their power.
• Northern Alliance nobles gathered to whisper about Two Rivers County’s weapon, wary of attracting Victor’s attention.

After defeating the Barbarian host, Victor and the Allied Army took control of its camp and prepared to pursue the Iron Bone Tribe and the Faith Order. Victor left with nearly thirty thousand troops, while his discussion with Alex revealed the Raine Kingdom’s reluctance to commit more legions to the Vela Region.

• The Allied Army secured the Barbarians’ main camp, suppressed unrest, and guarded the prisoners.
• Victor, Alex, and the nobles divided their forces, leaving half the private armies behind and preparing the rest to pursue the Iron Bone Tribe.
• Two Rivers County supplied the pursuing force with horses, provisions, wagons, and nearly three hundred 60-millimeter mortars.
• The Allied Army departed within two hours with nearly thirty thousand troops as Victor warned that the Iron Bone Tribe and the Faith Order might find another escape route.
• Alex told Victor that his victory had made the nobles willing to follow his demands and complained that the Raine Kingdom had withheld two promised legions from the Vela Region.
• Victor argued that the Vela nobles could pursue expansion into the Northlands Steppe without depending on the Raine Kingdom’s southward campaign.

Alex, Victor, and the Northern Alliance Army set out into the grasslands to finish off the Iron Bone Tribe’s remaining forces and secure trade routes. James stayed at the Border Fortress to manage the battlefield and hundreds of thousands of Barbarian prisoners while Ron led a cavalry detachment on the expedition.

• A messenger reported that the Northern Alliance Army, Two Rivers County’s troops, and their logistical units were ready to depart, and Alex and Victor ended their discussion.
• Alex noted that Northern Frontier nobles had adopted Victor’s standing-army and militia system, improving their forces’ combat strength with fewer troops.
• Alex, Victor, and the other commanders led the expeditionary force into the grasslands to eliminate the Iron Bone Tribe’s remaining army and protect trade with the Raine Kingdom.
• James watched the army leave from the Border Fortress and remained behind because his troops were depleted and exhausted.
• James took command of more than forty thousand troops and responsibility for nearly four hundred thousand Barbarian prisoners, while Ron led a cavalry force after the expedition.
• Victor assured James that he would rank first in Two Rivers County’s assessment of military merit for the campaign.

James organized care and relocation for nearly four hundred thousand Barbarian prisoners, hoping to keep their losses below the nobles’ accepted ten-percent limit. Powell set out from Two Rivers County to help redistribute healthy prisoners to the heartland, while the sick and weak remained for treatment and observation.

• James telegraphed Two Rivers County to request medical teams and supplies, and proposed sending officials and militia to redistribute prisoners away from crowded border camps.
• Powell agreed to lead a team to the border and coordinated with the Transport Department to prepare for prisoner transfers.
• Two Rivers County’s departments welcomed the prospect of gaining more than a hundred thousand prisoner-slaves to ease labor shortages and support future production.
• James and Powell’s teams planned to examine prisoners first, transfer those in good health to the heartland, and keep suspected cases in the border region until they recovered.

James organized the transfer of Barbarian prisoners into Two Rivers County, while Victor and Alex led the Expeditionary Army’s pursuit of the Iron Bone Tribe and the Faith Order across the grasslands. The army stayed rested and prepared for battle as it rescued abandoned Barbarians and continued toward the Shattered Ice River.

• James and Powell began transferring fit Barbarian prisoners into Two Rivers County, assigning ordinary prisoners to labor and keeping combat-trained warriors confined under militia guard.
• The Expeditionary Army followed the retreating Barbarians’ tracks and found dead livestock, exhausted stragglers, and unconscious people who described Heshima’s relentless pace and Keledu’s acceptance of it.
• Ranger Cavalry scouts confirmed that the Iron Bone Tribe and the Faith Order were moving faster than the Expeditionary Army, but Victor and Alex rejected proposals to speed up and risk exhausting their troops.
• Victor and Jereks kept the Expeditionary Army on its planned pace, aiming to coordinate with the Northern Alliance Army at the Shattered Ice River and prevent the Barbarians from escaping in scattered groups.
• The Expeditionary Army rescued abandoned Barbarians, detached a unit to care for them, and maintained high morale and strong fighting condition with ample supplies and food from collected livestock.

Heshima forced the Iron Bone Tribe to keep marching despite mounting unrest, and reports of the border defeat and an enemy pursuit vindicated his decision. The tribe’s chiefs and followers began cooperating, though Heshima and Keledu doubted they could escape the pursuers.

• Iron Bone Tribe minor chiefs demanded that Heshima slow the march, but he drove them away and suppressed those who tried to storm his tent.
• Barbarian Ranger Cavalry encountered fugitives who reported that the southerners had defeated the small and medium Barbarian tribes at the border.
• Heshima’s scouts found signs of an enemy force following the Iron Bone Tribe and reported that it was pursuing them rapidly.
• The news silenced the protesting minor chiefs, who began cooperating with Heshima’s plans to move faster.
• Heshima and Keledu doubted that the Iron Bone Tribe could shake off the determined southern pursuers.

Heshima and Keledu sent ten thousand cavalry to delay the pursuing Expeditionary Army, but Victor’s cavalry under Ron kept the Barbarians from disrupting its march. The Barbarian commander devised a plan to lure Ron’s cavalry away from the main force and attack them.

• Heshima persuaded Keledu to contribute two thousand troops to a ten-thousand-strong cavalry force meant to delay the Expeditionary Army.
• Alex and his officers decided to send four or five thousand cavalry to keep the Barbarians away from the army, and Victor assigned Ron to lead them.
• Ron repeatedly intercepted the Barbarian cavalry, while Expeditionary Army reinforcements helped his men avoid being overwhelmed.
• The Barbarian commander failed to destroy Ron’s cavalry near the main army and planned to use two or three thousand cavalry as bait to lure them away.

The Barbarians used an Iron Bone Tribe cavalry force as bait to draw Ron and the Two Rivers County cavalry away from the Expeditionary Army. After confirming no other Barbarian riders were nearby, Ron pursued in earnest, and the decoy force signaled the hidden main body to charge.

• The Barbarian Cavalry split off a decoy force and hid the main body nearby, waiting for a signal.
• The decoy riders threatened the Expeditionary Army's flank, and Ron led the Two Rivers County cavalry in pursuit.
• Ron received a scout report that no other Barbarian Cavalry was within ten kilometers and decided to destroy the decoy force.
• The decoy commander sent a falcon signal, and the waiting Barbarian Cavalry charged toward the pursuing forces.
• The decoy riders, Ron's cavalry, and the Barbarian main body raced onward in a straight line, with Ron's troops close behind the bait.

Ron’s Two Rivers County Cavalry ambushed the Barbarian Cavalry’s bait force, then met the main force in a cavalry charge. Ron’s men unleashed grenades that devastated the Barbarian vanguard and threw their army into chaos.

• Ron slowed his pursuit to let his cavalry recover, then prepared for battle when scouts confirmed the Barbarian Cavalry’s main force was approaching.
• Ron charged the exhausted bait cavalry and used hand crossbows to inflict heavy losses before they joined the main force, losing nearly half their men.
• The Barbarian Cavalry circled around to block Ron’s retreat, while Ron formed his troops into an Arrowhead Formation with heavy cavalry at the front.
• As the armies charged, Ron’s cavalry threw grenades at the Barbarian vanguard, killing the Commander of Ten Thousand and causing explosions that plunged the Barbarian force into chaos.

Ron’s Two Rivers County Cavalry used grenades to panic the Barbarian Cavalry and break its formation, then routed the enemy with a frontal assault and Jackson’s flank attack. After the Barbarians began fleeing, Ron decided Victor should make grenades standard cavalry weapons and charged back into battle.

• Grenade explosions panicked the Barbarian horses, throwing the vanguard into chaos.
• Ron led the Two Rivers County Cavalry into the disordered Barbarian ranks before they could regroup.
• The Two Rivers County Cavalry pressed the Barbarians back, while routed troops spread confusion through the rear ranks.
• Jackson led the rear cavalry around the main fight and struck the Barbarian flank, accelerating the collapse.
• Ron cut down a Barbarian Centurion, saw the enemy fleeing, and decided to have Victor make grenades standard cavalry weapons.
• Ron wiped the blood from his face, raised his longsword, and charged back into the enemy cavalry.

Ron defeated the Barbarian Cavalry with the Two Rivers County Cavalry, using horse-tail grenades to break their formations, then escorted prisoners and spoils back toward the Expeditionary Army. Victor joined him on the way, and the nobles celebrated the victory as a chance to improve Vela’s standing in the Raine Kingdom.

• Ron’s cavalry routed the nearly 9,000 Barbarian Cavalry, capturing over half and killing the commander, though they suffered four or five hundred casualties.
• Ron learned from prisoners that the toughest Barbarian Cavalry belonged to the Faith Order, then set out with prisoners and captured horses for the Expeditionary Army.
• Victor, worried after Ron pursued the enemy, rode out with nearly 4,000 cavalry and met Ron’s returning force after receiving news of his victory.
• Victor’s troops joined Ron’s in escorting the prisoners toward the main force.
• Alex and the Vela nobles praised the Two Rivers County Cavalry’s victory and hoped it would improve Vela nobles’ standing in the Raine Kingdom.

After the Vela Nobles annihilated most of the Steppe Barbarians in the northern grasslands, Alex assessed how the victory could open vast new territories for development. He and Victor projected that continued expansion could transform the Four Counties of the Northern Frontier into secure inland regions and reshape Vela’s counties.

• The Vela Nobles’ victory destroyed over a million Barbarians and left the remaining Steppe Barbarians too weak to threaten Vela for generations.
• The chapter contrasted Vela’s victory with the Raine Kingdom and Fas Kingdom, which remained tied down defending against the larger Barbarian Alliance of the Skyline Grassland.
• Alex’s intelligence suggested Vela could develop at least 800,000 square kilometers of northern land, including enough arable land to nearly double the region’s cultivated area.
• Alex and Victor projected that Bria County and North York County could become inland counties, while Durham County and Two Rivers County continued expanding northward.
• The Great Fish River was expected to become an inland river and a major lifeline for the Vela Region.

Alex considered the Vela Region’s future unity and his plans for an Iron Birch Family spy organization, then discussed the threat of further Barbarian attacks and the value of the captured Barbarians as slaves. The nobles ended by considering cooperation to keep slave prices high, while Victor was expected to retain his share for his own use.

• Alex reflected on the canals that could link the Vela Region and on the possibility that he and Victor might seek independence if the Raine Kingdom lost control of the region.
• Alex thought about the Iron Birch Family’s small spy organization, which had cost him over ten thousand gold coins to build and maintain.
• Alex asked the nobles whether the Barbarians would continue harassing them, and Count Hawk argued that the Barbarians could not spare another force after losing ten thousand cavalry.
• The nobles estimated that the captured Barbarian slaves could sell for 1.2 to 1.3 million gold coins, with Victor receiving a large share that he was likely to keep.
• The nobles proposed coordinating their slave sales to prevent prices from falling and force slave traders to pay more.

Alex pointed out that acquiring hundreds of thousands of slaves would bring major costs and risks before they could be sold. The army welcomed Victor back with few losses and many Barbarian prisoners, then resumed its march with renewed morale.

• Alex warned the nobles that feeding, clothing, and treating the slaves during a long journey would consume supplies and risk deaths that could lower their sale price.
• Messengers announced that Marquis Victor Golden Sunflower was returning with his troops and Barbarian prisoners, and Alex led the nobles out to welcome him.
• Alex and the nobles saw Victor arrive with Ron's Cavalry, apparently with only slight losses, and a large number of bound prisoners.
• Alex embraced Victor and praised his victory, while Victor credited Ron's decisiveness and said the greater battle against the Barbarians still lay ahead.
• Victor's force joined the expeditionary army, which resumed its march as the troops' morale and confidence rose.

After confirming that the enemy’s mysterious weapons had routed his cavalry, Heshima prepared to retreat across the Shattered Ice River. He and Keledu speculated that rain might disable the weapons, leaving Heshima hopeful but Keledu unconvinced.

• Heshima and Keledu questioned returning soldiers and learned how the enemy’s weapon had thrown the Barbarian cavalry into chaos before a devastating charge.
• Heshima decided the Iron Bone Tribe had to flee toward its ancestral lands, then offered the Faith Order people as compensation for its losses.
• Keledu argued that the Northern Alliance Army would not pursue them beyond the Shattered Ice River, but Heshima warned that the enemy’s speed and Former Tribal Alliance guides made pursuit possible.
• Heshima asked Keledu how to counter the enemy’s weapons, and Keledu suggested that water might weaken weapons that relied on fire and explosions.
• Heshima concluded that rain would disable the weapons and planned to tell his warriors to delay battle until the rainy season, while Keledu kept his doubts to himself.

After the Iron Bone Tribe's harassment force was routed, Heshima restored the commanders' confidence by claiming the enemy's mysterious weapon could not be used underwater or in rain. The council began planning to fight during the approaching rainy season.

• Heshima returned to the Iron Bone Tribe's camp and convened a military council.
• Heshima announced that the harassment force had failed, and the commanders recognized the scale of the defeat.
• Heshima told the council that he and Keledu had discovered the enemy weapon's weakness: water and rain prevented its use.
• The commanders accepted Heshima's claim and began discussing how to defeat the enemy during the rainy season.
• Heshima was pleased that the council had regained its will to fight.