"First, hoofprints from over four hundred horses, and now two thousand men crossing the border..."
Inside the border fortress in Tavitsky Province, Lieutenant General Norton merely glanced at the intelligence in his hand, then strode over to the map. After tracing their routes with a finger, he knew where the two groups that had crossed during the day and night were headed.
"Tavitsky?!"
Lieutenant General Norton jabbed his finger hard against the map, his nail gouging a deep mark into the spot marking Tavitsky City. Confusion appeared on the battle-hardened veteran's face.
"First, around two to four hundred light cavalry during the day, and now about two thousand infantry. What is that Bagnian general trying to do? Attack Tavitsky by surprise?
That can't be right. Tavitsky has over ten thousand troops gathered there. Can fewer than three thousand men crossing the border accomplish that?
Intelligence officer, I ordered you to gather intelligence on the enemy earlier. Do you now know who the Bagnian general commanding those two regiments, nearly five thousand regular troops, is?"
Lieutenant General Norton's head was full of questions. He felt that the Minisian general facing him was a madman, a fighting lunatic whose limbs no longer worked properly or obeyed his brain.
Who fought a war like this?!
In late spring that year, when Lieutenant General Norton received word that Bagnia had sent troops to attack the border castle his side occupied, he had already thought that they truly lived up to being Bagnian Barbarians. Their minds simply worked differently from his.
What time of year was it now?
Summer was almost here!
Fighting in summer meant scorching weather. Soldiers tired easily and suffered heatstroke, noncombat casualties were high, and supply lines became more vulnerable because of the heat.
Lieutenant General Norton knew that once fighting