Chapter 441: New Faces, New Ideas

Dom entered the large food hall of the Fort at Eruthros, that was formally the Red Hare Valley Fort. The Hall had been converted to a War Room, whilst other buildings were being constructed on the east side of the Eruthros Border Wall. Whilst it felt familiar seeing the Warriors running around as they passed on messages, and the impressive Subutai leant over a map and pointing out different directions, what felt unfamiliar was the people in the room. Some of his usual Generals were in the room such as Gan Ning, Sun Ce and Tomoe. However, Dom also had Ling Tong, Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong in the room who he hadn’t thought beside properly yet, even if they had been key Generals to this stage of his Kingdom’s growth. The room however had a lot of new faces for the Lazarus Kingdom, with Pausanias, Nicomedes, Xanthippus, Masistius, Megabyzus, Arimnestos, Penthesilia and even Ptolemy who was stood beside Xun You and Xun Yu talking.

Dom was impressed to see the different groups talking already though, the Cavalry unit were all stood near Subutai as he pointed to the map, whilst those that would be leading the Infantry were gathered at a different section and having a heated conversation. Xanthippus, Ling Tong and Gan Ning were stood even further away, each drinking from a wooden cup and seemingly more relaxed than their counterparts. His arrival had been noticed though as the groups all went quiet at his arrival in the room, with Subutai smiling at Dom.

"How is preparation and do we know who we are fighting yet?" Dom asked as he walked towards his Heroes, his guards staying outside and passing on orders of their own as they prepared for Dom’s prolonged stay in Eruthros.

"Who they are, no, but we have seen sightings of enemy scouts." Subutai replied as he stepped forwards, pointing down towards the Map. Dom could see that this mas very much the Western Border of the Lazarus Kingdom, with the Border Wall of Eruthros being clearly defined against the natural terrain, with wide open space beyond it. The Calm River ran through the map, seemingly forking again further onwards to the north and south.

"The enemy have Cavalry, or at least we have seen groupings of them as they seem to be scouting ahead of the enemies main forces. We took one of our smaller transport ships up the River as cover." Ling Tong explained as he pointed at points along the waters edge where they had stopped. "I believe here is where the enemy main force is located, they have a marching camp and whilst we couldn’t get close, they have at least one legion, if not more."

"Did we get an idea of the unit types, their weapons, or even their background?" Dom asked, as Subutai shook his head.

"Unfortunately not, we tried a night raid on some of their scouts, but we were discovered and after a brief clash we made it back to our ship and here." Ling Tong replied, his disappointment clear on his face.

"We didn’t lose anyone though, so the enemy haven’t gained anything from this and they could believe that Ling Tong’s men were thieves or brigands on the River." Xun You explained, taking over from Ling Tong. "But he did bring back some items didn’t you."

"I did, one of my men took an enemy spear, whilst another grappled an enemy to the ground and in the fight stole his axe." Ling Tong replied, a slight smile of reminiscence on his face and pride in his men.

"Both are of a quality similar to that of our Legionaries, or at least Iron and not Bronze. Thankfully all of our Warriors have Iron Weapons, but this would not be great for others." Xun You continued, before pointing at the Map. "We believe the enemy have at least four thousand Warriors here, and some Cavalry. The Axe we believe from speaking with our own Warriors could be from Northern Europe, either the Celts, Gaul’s, Britains or Germanic."

"Crassus would have been a good General for this battle, as the Legionaries are built to fight against this enemy. It is just a shame most of them have been trained but aren’t actually original Legionaries." Huang Zhong commented, with the nods of some of the other older Lazarus Kingdom Generals.

"We expect that they will arrive in two days as expected, if they force marched they could be here tomorrow, but it wouldn’t make sense as an attacking force to come unrested and tired before an assault." Xun You explained, "The wall has been being constructed for a while, so I expect they will be coming with the intention of a siege, if they weren’t aware, their scouts will be when they begin arriving later in the day."

"Their scouts will not be returning, I have Banas and a group of my Horse Archers spread across the open ground to counter enemy scouts." Subutai replied. "If anything, the delay in their scouts returning will slow their progress as they will be more cautious, allowing us more time to prepare."

"Four thousand enemies is a large number for our current forces, we do outnumber that, but if this is just a forward force." Dom stated, "Do we have enough arrows being brought for the Archers?"

"We do, the fletchers are working day in day out to make more." Xun Yu smiled, "as are the other materials that have been requested."

"What other materials?" Dom asked, seeing the knowing smile on Xun Yu’s face. Xun Yu turned to Ptolemy at this stage, who also smiled.

"I haven’t been here long, but I did notice one thing that was missing from your forces. Especially when it comes to attacking Cities." Ptolemy explained, "When I used to travel with Alexander, we always had some materials for Catapults and Ballistae. I have spoken with some of the Centurions and it seems that a lot of the Legionaries have worked around them before as well. Even our Han friends here had Ballistae as seen on their ships. I asked for a good craftsman, and was sent the daughter of the Lumberjack Lars. She drew up some schematics based on my memory and the materials are being sent and some construction has began."

Dom looked at Ptolemy in surprise, they did have Ballistae on the Louchuan, Sibylla and Bellona. However, they hadn’t began using them in other situations yet, as they didn’t have the schematics, engineers or the need for them.

"Stones are being sent from the Quarry at the Calm River Mountain, Bolts are being constructed and the Onagers and Ballistae are being built. We should have enough Ballistae to cover the south and middle of the wall, with the ships giving cover for the north." Xun You explained, taking over from Xun Yu and Ptolemy. "We should have enough Stone Throwers, but we need to test their range before I am confident in using them."

"They will be fine, we should have time to test them today, or at least in the morning. We will aim them to the open land at our back and then once we are aware of the ranges, we will set markers for the defence." Subutai added as he pointed towards the Red Hare Valley on the map. "Our Wu Dang Archers are currently in here setting traps and making the land impassable until we remove the traps after the battle."

"They should be finished by this tomorrow evening based on our current progress." Huang Zhong stated, being the most senior of the Generals and taking command of the overall defence of the Border Wall.

"I intend to have my Cavalry placed here and here." Subutai then continued, pointing a small forest area beyond the Red Hare Valley on the western side. "I will attack the enemy before they attack us, our intention is to draw their cavalry away. We will retreat at a catchable pace towards the south of the battlefield, leaving their Infantry exposed. Masistius will be in wait here with five hundred Cavalry and will ambush the enemy Cavalry, whilst my Archers will turn and finish them. Zhao Yun will stay hidden in the Forest with the remaining two thousand Cavalry to hit the enemies flank when needed."

"We will be drawing four lines of defence." Xun You began. "The first line will be for our Stone Throwers if they work, with the second line being our Archers. The third line will be our Ballistae, followed by Zhao Yun’s hit and run Cavalry Charge. If the enemy still continue at this stage, we will meet them at the wall."

"Whilst this happens, Gan Ning will be travelling west through the forest on the Northern Shore looking for a crossing with the Batavian Cavalry. When the Battle is commencing, he will cross and attack the enemies camp. We will not give them a point of retreat. I will defeat the enemy Cavalry and attack the enemy from the rear." Subutai finished, as everyone nodded in agreement. Dom felt the plan sounded good. If the Projectiles and Cavalry didn’t win the Battle, then he had five thousand Infantry that could do that instead.

"We have entrance and exit points throughout the Wall, as well as ramps to cover our own Ditches if we intend to counter attack, which I expect we will." Xun You explained after Subutai concluded his part. "My intention is to defeat this first Legion, as we shall call it, and then hold fast. I do not believe an enemy force of four to five thousand is a huge threat to us on our own ground, with our forces. Ling Tong is going to head further westwards tomorrow with a handful of disguised ships to scout further ahead and either get a better idea of our enemies forces, or see if there are any others further afield."

"So it seems our defences are prepared?" Dom asked, seeing that all of the Generals seemed to be looking positive. Xanthippus would defend the Water with the Louchuan and the River Fleet. There were some of his Trireme hidden behind in case the enemy attacked by the River as well. Pausanias and Huang Zhong would take command of the infantry with their sub commanders. Subutai and Zhao Yun would take control of the Cavalry who were going to be the most busy. Ptolemy, who was now the Governor of this area, would stay with the Stone Throwers and use his limited experience to manage the small number that had been built.

Xun You would be in overall control of the Wall, the Ballistae and the movement of the forces throughout the Battle, whilst Dom as the King would have final say on any movements if he wished. Dom wanted to join the Cavalry of Zhao Yun, but had been told he was needed on the Wall to keep the morale high for the Army. Xun Yu would also stay, liaising with Riverside and Plataea throughout for additional resources to be sent forwards to Eruthros.

"As much as they can be." Xun You replied, "This isn’t the only Battle though, I suspect that Tomyris will be aiming to use the Tunnels to search for the enemies bases as well. I am sure her and Andrew will be busy, hopefully causing some distractions."

"I just want to know who we are fighting." Dom said, after acknowledging that everything was as organised at it could be. They had the Papaver to the south, the Tongpai Towns to the North, the Type Three’s that had been in Noctus and Nakbe in the Tunnels and further afield, and this new Western Enemy on the Plains of Eruthros. Whilst the North was the calmest, Dom did feel that his Location on the map was getting squeezed from all sides, except for the Sea.