Chapter 443: Enemy At The Gates

Dom sat through the long session of Dean Pellistri with Andrew and Kai. Dean Pellistri had mainly spent the session explaining the importance of history and the lessons that could be learnt from it. Dom was hoping for some useful information about different Kingdoms of History, or notable people and armies. However, it was today mainly about the different historical era’s and an overview of history itself.

He prioritised the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age initially, explaining the overall progress of the three key founding Era’s of modern Humanity. Before moving to the Classic Era of the Greeks, Romans and Chinese Dynasties, where History was the most well recorded. Dom thought back to his own Kingdom and could understand why Dean Pellistri had stopped at that stage, as it seemed the games characters in his own Kingdom, except for Tomoe and Subutai, were all from those Era’s. Tomoe and Subutai were closer to early Middle Ages, but the difference wasn’t massive.

He did open the floor for some questions, with most asking questions around the Era’s he had covered and how much they would be in the game. One Student asked if he could predict when the Era’s of the game would start to become slightly more modern and hit the Middle Ages, but Dean Pellistri responded that he had no idea, but suspected it would be far in the future based on how much happened across History.

After the session, the three of them spent some time looking at the different volunteer roles that had become available. Dom already had his assigned but after looking through them, he knew he would have chosen that anyway. Andrew and Kai went and signed up their prospective jobs, with Andrew choosing to join the Guards like Dom, whilst Kai was going to join the Logistics Team. The Three of them would be given high positions within those volunteer roles due to his Aunts hidden influence, but they all suited their long term ambitions.

After returning back to the house, Kai made them all some food as they sat down and tried to mentally prepare themselves for their log in, knowing that for all three of them, it was an important moment in their World Conquest Online journey.

Andrew was preparing to explore and strike in the North West, with the aim to find these new enemies and where they had come from. Tomyris had made it clear that once they found the enemies bases, they would begin guerrilla warfare to disrupt them whilst they brought a larger army forwards to remove the potential threats.

....

Dom awoke in his Command Tent in Eruthros, he felt refreshed but his shoulder ached in the morning cool air. Realisation hit Dom that the Lazarus Kingdom was normally warm when he awoke, and quickly began dressing himself to head outside. The noise of him awaking must have notified his guards, as Actumerus soon walked in offered to help him fasten his armour.

"Xun You is at the Fort Headquarters with an update, General Subutai left yesterday evening. We believe the enemy will be within sight of the wall within two hours according to the updates from our Navy." Actumerus unloaded the information as he strapped Dom’s shoulder straps on. "Imperator is outside, our Sabre Tooth Tigers arrived on a Transport Ship yesterday evening."

"Thank you Actumerus." Dom replied, still feeling the cold in his shoulder. "What is the weather like?"

"Surprisingly grey, it reminds me of home." Actumerus replied evenly. "The temperature is lower, but I expect this is due to the clouds above. It may rain today."

"Not a good omen for the attackers." Dom replied, knowing that if the ground was wet or at least damp, it would be harder for the enemy Infantry to progress. He just hoped it didn’t impact the arrow ranges they had prepared or Subutai and his plan to draw the enemy Cavalry away.

Dom was soon dressed and walking towards the Fort by the Calm River, leaving his Tiger with the others for when the Battle began, so he could travel up and down the wall if needed. His main aim was to stay with his Praetorians in the middle though and keep morale up in that place.

The units were all currently getting themselves in place, with some still eating breakfast around the small camp sites that had been constructed up and down the wall. Dom could see a large number of onagers had been built and were located up and down the open ground between Eruthros and the Wall. There was also three large wooden Towers that had been constructed that could see beyond the wall amongst the Onagers.

The large hall in the Fort, that was normally used by the guards for their food and entertainment, was an extremely busy place. Centurions and Optio’s were speaking with members of Xun You’s growing staff as they were given orders and instructions. Xun You was having a conversation in the middle with Pausanias and Huang Zhong, their sub Generals currently making final preparations up and down the lines.

"Good morning, our preparations are ready." Xun You explained as Dom arrived, with the two Generals bowing their heads in greeting. "We have made some slight changes to our command structure. General Huang Zhong will look after the South half of the wall with Tomoe by the Red Hare Valley and Nicomedes in the central south. Pausanias will look after the north with Penthesilia looking after the side next to Nicomedes, and Arimnestos managing the side next to the Fort and the Fort itself."

"That makes sense." Dom replied, seeing the logic of having each part of the Wall and the units assigned to it under one commander. Some units would be held back as relief so that fresh Warriors would constantly be at the front.

"I will be in the central command tower to oversea the battle, with a deputy on each side to repeat my orders." Xun You explained as he looked down at the map in front of him. Dom could see that the Second Tower which Xun You would be using was just behind the deployment of his Praetorians, which weren’t assigned to any of the Generals. "It would be my honour if you joined me until a time when your men are needed."

"Thank you, I will do that. However I want to make sure that the Army know that I am around to keep Morale up." Dom replied, which received a nod of agreement from the two Generals. "Has Ling Tong found any more information on who we are fighting?"

"We do not know who we are fighting yet, but we have a much better idea of the make up of their forces. They have a large number of Cavalry, which is mainly light spear Cavalry. Subutai is confident he will be able to dispatch them quickly, as whilst their horses may look fast, his are faster." Xun You began as he pondered for a moment. "They have light infantry that makes up a large number of their forces, they have a warm golden-brown skin tone and have wicker shields and spears. Against my best wishes, Ptolemy travelled with Ling Tong and says they remind him of some of the challenging light infantry the Indians used against them when he fought alongside his brother."

"So the forces are mainly light units?" Dom replied, sure that they had mentioned European Warriors last time they had spoken, either Celtic or from one of the Gallic Tribes.

"There are three other units we are aware off. They have lightly dressed Archers with pale skin, we are unaware of their origin or the quality of their equipment. They then have two further types of Infantry that we have seen. The ones that Ling Tong fought in his brief skirmish, they seem to be Celtic Warriors of some kind, they fight with Sword, Axe or Spear, with a shield." Xun You continued, "I am not overly worried about these units and feel that if they do get to the wall and breach it, our men will take care of them. The only unit I am worried about is the final unit. They are heavily armoured swordsmen, we didn’t note many of them but we believe they could be Germanic and are most likely their elite unit. Ling Tong’s scouts could not get close enough to find out more, but it was enough for us to act on."

"I assume we don’t know the numbers of these unit types?" Dom replied, knowing that whilst his Hoplite and Legionaries were better equipped than their own versions in history, both unit types were eventually replaced due to the warriors they fought against. It felt like the majority of the units they would be ok against, but heavily armoured swordsmen could prove a challenge if they came in high numbers.

"We don’t, but we believe due to the make up of the enemy forces, that they are not a naturally found force such as those we have fought against on Quests." Xun You explained, "Which means they are either a collective of forces or a fellow Lord as yourself. They number at least four thousand in this army, but we are not aware of any reinforcements of a second legion. If they have another unit of this size, it could be a closer battle than expected."

"If they are a Lord such as myself, it would make sense but the number of troops shouldn’t be close to ours, unless it’s a high ranking Lord." Dom thought out loud. "However, there shouldn’t be someone even close to our size near to us, the World is so vast."

"It could be a collective then, either of Lords as yourself or natives." Pausanias stated as he listened to the conversation.

"Or both." Huang Zhong added. "We have called a small unit of Forbidden Guard from Riverside, they will stay in the rear and target the enemies Elites."

"What of the River, do they have a fleet?" Dom asked Xun You, as it seemed Ling Tong, with Ptolemy with him, had progressed much further than they had expected possible.

"It seems to be only transport ships, but Ling Tong didn’t want to push any further than necessary at this point. Ptolemy has returned and is liaising with Xun Yu on supplies, whilst Ling Tong has hidden his raiding fleet along the north bank." Xun You replied, "The Onagers have been tested and we are confident in their capability, however the teams are under strict command to monitor the tension as we do not want any snapping and killing our own men."

"What of the Ballistae?" Dom asked, knowing that the Fort and the River were well covered by that, but as the rest of the wall didn’t have them, the enemy may begin go flank to the south to avoid the bombardment.

"Some have been built and tested, based on the schematics that have been made. They are placed across the Fort Wall at different stands that have been built for them. They are being managed by Hoplite units in those areas, and we have the Han Archers spread behind the wall as well in seven units of one hundred. There are also two hundred Slingers and one hundred Forbidden Guard Archers as well. If each of them could take down four enemies, we could all be back home and in our own beds by this evening." Xun You smiled, making light of the situation and reinforcing his own confidence in the battle to come.

"Commander, enemies have been spotted!" A scout blurted out as he came running through the door. Xun You nodded towards Huang Zhong and Pausanias, who both bowed towards Dom and ran out of the Fort towards their units, a horse waiting for both of them outside.

"I think it’s time we go then?" Dom asked Xun You, as the experienced Strategist smiled in response, finally having an opportunity to use his well trained armies that he had been working with and improving since his arrival, in a proper battle.