Night Dance of the Wolves

The Northern Expedition Army's main camp.

"Duke Alvin, did you send an elite force deep behind enemy lines?"

Marshal Sebastian asked, looking puzzled as he read the news forwarded from the empire.

As time passed, the distance between the two armies had narrowed to two hundred li, and a great battle was about to erupt.

At such a critical moment, an elite force stirring up trouble on the grasslands would surely cause the enemy serious problems.

"No!"

Duke Alvin flatly denied it.

If he had another elite force, the battle on the grasslands would not have ended in such a crushing defeat, nor would he have found himself in the embarrassing position of losing Dragon Spine Pass.

The Northern Frontier Corps had only three main armies in total. Even if he wanted to divide his forces, he could not conjure up a fourth.

"If you didn't send them, then we have a problem!"

"According to intelligence from the Tuwu People, the empire's Third Army entered the grasslands and has been wreaking havoc around the Dragonbone Mountains.

"They have wiped out two major tribes in succession, inflicting tens of thousands of casualties on the enemy.

"The enemy has been advancing from victory to victory. There's no reason for them to fabricate a battle report like this and undermine their own troops' morale.

"To stabilize their rear, the Tuwu People have transferred a ten-thousand-man unit from the front."

Marshal Sebastian rubbed his forehead as he spoke.

Taken together, the battle report and the troop movement made it certain that something had gone wrong in the Golden Horde Khanate's rear.

No matter how much the enemy might be putting on an act, troop movements could not be faked.

The problem was that the Third Army mentioned by the enemy was currently serving under the Northern Expedition Corps. It could not be in two places at once.

Under the circumstances, the force deep behind enemy lines was most likely masquerading under the Third Army's banner.

All warfare was based on deception.

He had no objections to using psychological tactics to fool the Tuwu People.

But without knowing the force's exact designation, he would not even know how to contact them and coordinate their support for the fighting at the front.

A military order was not simply a written document. It also required a seal and a specific code phrase.

To maintain control over the army, every army had its own seal and code phrases. They were not part of a universal system.

A mistake at any step would render an order worthless.

Worse still, the messenger might be treated as a spy.

"Marshal, perhaps the 'Third Army' currently wreaking havoc on the grasslands is made up of routed troops from the Northern Frontier Corps who have regrouped.

"Because the officers and soldiers came from different units and couldn't agree on a designation, they borrowed the Third Army's banner.

"Other than them, I can't think of any other force operating on the grasslands."

Duke Alvin's eyes lit up as he spoke.

No matter where these friendly troops had come from, they had to be part of the Northern Frontier Corps now.

The more impressive the "Third Army's" accomplishments, the less responsibility he would bear as commander of the Northern Frontier Corps.

Both might be defeats, but total annihilation and heavy losses were entirely different things.

If they inflicted enough casualties on the enemy, he could even use those military achievements to offset his responsibility for the defeat.

"Hmm!"

"If that's the case, we can only let them act as they see fit."

Marshal Sebastian spoke with regret.

An extra force had unexpectedly appeared in a crucial position, yet he could not deploy it.

The thought alone left him speechless, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

News traveled poorly on the grasslands. They most likely did not know that the empire had formed the Northern Expedition Corps.

Even if someone took documents from the military to them, they would probably regard them as forgeries.

Considering the overall strategic situation, the best choice was to send a highly respected general to take command-and it had to be someone they knew.

Before the crushing defeat in the north, Duke Alvin would certainly have been the best candidate.

As commander of the Northern Frontier Corps, he was known to most of its officers and soldiers.

He was of noble birth, never drew pay for nonexistent troops or embezzled his soldiers' funds, and enjoyed considerable prestige in the army.

Unfortunately, for all his virtues, his military abilities were woefully lacking.

If he were sent to the front now, the officers and soldiers there might well tear him apart.

Even if the officers and soldiers of the "Third Army" still acknowledged him as their commander, his military abilities could not inspire confidence.

Rather than let him give reckless orders and sacrifice this force that had survived against the odds, it was better to let them act as they saw fit and continue causing trouble for the enemy.

Outside Heavenly Wolf Canyon.

"Big Black, the enemy is coming out. Have your underlings attack first."

Victor patted the wolf king on the head as he spoke.

The cattle were moving closer, making quite a commotion as they went. An even greater disturbance was needed to cover them.

Without the wolf packs, they could only pay in human lives and gamble that the enemy would not dare send out their entire force at night.

"Awoo... awooo... awoo... awooo..."

Victor could not understand the language of wolves and had no idea what the wolf king was saying, but the packs had already begun to move.

One wolf pack after another charged toward the enemy camp.

Whether because they were too strongly influenced by tradition or had run out of time, the Tuwu People had built no defensive works, just as most grassland tribes did when making camp.

A few wooden stakes thrown down at the entrance as horse barriers were the entirety of their defenses.

Perhaps they had never even considered that their camp might be attacked.

Now, faced with the wolves' assault, the Tuwu soldiers on night watch were thrown into a panic.

A burly middle-aged man brandished his spear and thrust at a wild wolf lunging toward him, but his body shook so badly that the spear went wide.

In the blink of an eye, he was knocked to the ground, and a scream followed.

The ten-man commander beside him, armed with a broadsword, fared even worse. After being knocked down, he escaped the wild wolf's bite, only for a comrade rushing to his rescue to step on his fifth limb.

The excruciating pain made him let out a heart-rending scream on the spot.

The wolves' advantage did not last long. It vanished as enemy reinforcements arrived.

Shield-bearers formed a defensive formation at the front, and rows of spears soon followed onto the battlefield.

"Whoosh, whoosh..."

The Tuwu People's sharpshooters appeared in the middle of their formation. A rain of arrows cut off the wolves' path, and dozens of them were killed in an instant.

It showed just how ineffectual wild wolves' attack tactics were against an organized army.

For a time, the wolves' howls of anguish rang through the sky.

Watching from afar, Victor chose to pretend he could not see the carnage on the battlefield.

"Commander, the cattle have come within two hundred meters of the valley entrance. We can light the fires at any time."

Jasper spoke up to remind him.

Deep down, he had no confidence at all in Victor's plan.

Using a herd of cattle to attack an enemy camp did not sound particularly reliable.

With their slow, leisurely pace, cattle would not charge as fast as horses.

But thoughts were one thing; military orders still had to be carried out.

"Light them!"

Victor gave the order at once.

It was his first time using a fire ox formation, too.

He was not sure whether it could break the enemy.

He had chosen this approach purely because it was a low-cost gamble with high potential returns.

If he won, he would make a killing. If he lost, at worst he would lose a herd of cattle and some wolves, while the army's strength remained intact.