Chapter 446: Thunder

Dom watched as the enemy pushed through the traps that had been laid bare before them, the water falling heavy on their heads as they climbed through the traps towards the base of the wall. The enemy had spread their lines now, less compact than earlier. In the distance he could see some approaching the Walls border with the Red Hare Valley, knowing that only death awaited any enemy that tried that route. Tomoe would be at that border, with the Wu Dang Warriors and the large number of Skiritae, both units designed to fight in the dangerous terrain, that had been prepared to kill anyone that entered.

"I think it is key you watch this defence unfold." Xun You said to Dom, his tone of that of a teacher. "The Lazarus Kingdom will have many battles to come, all those that we have been involved in so far have been minor. Even the Battle on the South Coast was multiple small skirmishes with our elite troops. However, if we are fighting against an enemy who can defend or fight back, as we expect Papaver will. Then you need to be prepared to loose warriors like our enemy is now."

Dom looked as the first ladders were pushed through the front ranks to the enemies that were approaching the ditch before the wall. Thousands of enemies had died before they had even climbed the wall yet, but the enemy kept coming on regardless. Dom looked to his Legionaries and Hoplite, who were all ready and prepared to repel the invaders, wondering if he would have the same attitude as the enemy commanders, to send forwards his own men in to a knowing death.

The rain was even heavier now, with the sound of the enemies voices passing over the wall as they shouted their glutaral screams of war, some in death as more death fell from the sky, whilst others was to their fellow Warriors, pushing them on with a war cry and encouragement. Dom could still hear the noise from the Stone Throwers as they released in to the never ending mass of enemies that approached, whilst the Ballistae, Archers and Slingers continued to loose their own death at the enemies beyond them.

Xun You waited patiently, as did the Legionaries below for his order. He waited until the first Ladders were pushed against the wall, their lower rungs resting on bodies of the warriors who had first fell in to the spike ditch below the Eruthros Wall. Dom wasn’t sure how many enemy had died at this point, but he couldn’t see beneath the wall from his position as the approaching enemy seemed to slow as those at the front prepared to climb.

"Throw Pilum!" Xun You ordered, his flag waving as the order was passed up and down the long line. Soon thousands of Dom’s own Warriors would be engaged in battle as well, and he would leave the Command Tower and join them, his Sabre Tooth Tiger Imperator waiting for him at the bottom with his other guards.

The order was followed immediately, as over two thousand Pilum raised in to the air over the wall and in to the crowd below. Ladder runs could be seen hooking to the top of the wall, but from the sound of screams from the other side, Dom expected a lot less would be climbing it than he thought.

"At least eight thousand, if not more." Xun You muttered as more of the enemies approached. Soon his Ballistae would be unusable, and then the Archers. Eventually even the Stone Throwers, but the enemy continued to come, at least half of their number killed before the Legionaries and Hoplite had chance to wet their blades.

The rain was pouring heavier now, with the sounds of Thunder crackling in the wind from the far west, the clouds above getting darker and darker, a complete difference from the normal weather that Dom was used to since playing World Conquest Online. He could feel his hands getting cold beneath his armour and knew that he would need to start moving soon so he didn’t lock up before he joined the battle himself.

He had been ordered by his wives to not get involved, but he had to for the Morale of his men, even if it was only brief engagements. Regardless of his wives opinion, he had played this game to Battle and that is what he intended to do.

"Ready for engagement!" Xun You shouted again as the first heads began to appear on top of the ladders. The front line of Archers up and down the wall all changed their angle, aiming for any exposed heads, the first ones all being hit and falling before those following could climb the slippery rungs of the wet ladders, both from the blood of the men they had been pulled through, and the heavy rain above.

Dom turned to look at the fleet engagement, two of the Trireme seemed to be engaged in deck fighting, much to his dismay, whilst the others had disengaged their sinking enemies to prepare themselves to join in the fray with their engaged colleagues. The large River Fleet under Xanthippus continued to rain Arrows and Bolts on the enemies northern flank, causing constant chaos and reducing the amount of enemies aiming for the heavily armoured Fort itself. The Fort Walls were causing the most damage to the enemy army, as the majority of them pushed further and further south.

"Signal Huang Zhong, he will be taking the brunt of it soon." Xun You ordered, as his flag waved towards Huang Zhong’s tower. Dom couldn’t see the older General in the distance, but knew that he would already be preparing his men to engage. Dom felt that who ever came across Huang Zhong would regret their decision.

More faces began appearing above the ladders now, especially as the Archers were moving their aim and reducing the damage to the enemies beyond. Dom was proud of them though, as they had caused an alarming amount of casualties amongst the enemy forces.

The Ballistae had now been abandoned on the wall as enemy javelins of their own reached high and came crashing down amongst them and the wall beyond. Their Bolts were thrown down as the crews retreated to join the reinforcement lines of Legionaries and Hoplite, having done their work so far for the day. The enemy Javelins that came down didn’t cause any damage amongst Dom’s ranks yet, but he knew that it wouldn’t last.

"Actumerus, get ready to move." Dom ordered his guard, who was still stood holding a shield before him and Xun You. Dom turned to his Chief Strategist, seeing his eyes in deep thought as he looked to the distance, before a light smile appeared on his normally calm face.

"Signal Huang Zhong to relax, they will be moving north again shortly." Xun You ordered. Dom couldn’t see clearly what Xun You had seen in the distance, the dark clouds and the mass of enemies blocking out most of his sight. Eventually he noticed it though, as some enemies in the enemies southern flank were turning to defend themselves as a fresh batch of Arrows rained from the sky in to their flank.

Amongst the sound of the surrounding battle, what Dom thought was a second lot of thunder, turned out to be the sound of thousands of hooves as they charged in to the enemies flank. The recognisable white on Zhao Yun’s Cavalry leading the front in a wedge formation, with the Boatian’s taking up the rest of the wedge. Dom couldn’t see Subutai’s forces, but could see the Arrows raining in areas that Zhao Yun’s Cavalry weren’t hitting. Dom felt a tinge of excitement and regret as to not be part of that charge himself.

Zhao Yun’s men seemed to be cleaving a way through the enemy, heading for the heart of the formation, before turning westwards to leave through the back of it, cutting off a quarter of the enemies currently non engaged units. Whilst this happened, Xun You signalled the Stone Throwers to go silent, allowing the Cavalry the free reign to use their own tactics at this point.

"I was worried they may go too deep and get stuck, but Zhao Yun has followed my instructions clearly." Xun You commented, a slight praise for the former Shu Han General. Dom still couldn’t believe the chances that Zhao Yun had joined him, and knew he needed to thank Prince Li Shang if he got chance for allowing him the opportunity to poach him before he did.

Enemies started to come over the wall now, but as they landed from the fall, they were met with the deadly blades of the Legionaries or Hoplite, depending where they landed. Each unit stayed in formation as they dispatched any enemies, and the pace of them climbing the wall was not quick enough to cause major issues at the moment.

"They need to retreat soon, they can not win." Actumerus commented, with Dom agreeing with his Guards comment. They had easily lost five to six thousand Warriors at this point, Dom wasn’t sure just how many there was, with the enemy seemingly having continued for miles. But they must be aware that they couldn’t win. Dom’s Navy was successfully dispatching the last two Transport Ships that were engaged, with some of the Mengchong in the Louchuan’s support fleet, also engaging them alongside the trireme. The Mengchong had a large contingent of Han Sailors onboard, that whilst they were not as well trained as the Elite Marines on the Trireme, they easily out numbered them and were excellent in River Combat.

"Signal Pausanias, the enemy are bringing forwards a ram to his section. We can not engage the Ballistae or Stones currently. He needs to prepare to reinforce the section of the wall that they fall through." Xun You ordered, knowing that Pausanias would have seen it from his own Command Tower. Dom could see that his General had reacted before Xun You’s order had been relayed, as a section of the reinforcement line was brought forwards behind some of the Legionaries in that section.

Dom watched as his Cavalry disengaged and began turning around in a giant loop, thousands of horse’s turning in the rain in what Dom felt was almost an art Form, as they prepared to engage themselves to hit the rear of the enemies formation again. Dom realised that even if the enemy did run, his Cavalry would easily dispatch them now. Dom felt that if the wall wasn’t there, his men must now outnumber the enemy and they could march through them.

.....

The rain continued to pour heavily as Gan Ning and his Batavi approached the enemies sprawling camp. He had intended to charge straight in, but the camp was much larger than he expected. It was almost like a coalition of units had been gathered, with several camps sprawling to the south along the open plains that were far west of the Eruthros border.

Parts of the camps were still guarded lightly, not towards the approach of Gan Ning, but to the approach of anyone. Gan Ning realised that the enemy at least had some intelligent Generals amongst the group, he just wondered how aligned these forces were.

"We need to get word to Eruthros, there must be a lot more enemies than they expected." Chariovalda commented, his mouth agape as he looked at the sprawling camp that made even a City look small. "This is like when multiple legions would gather for war, with their camps and attached units."

Dom wasn’t listening to his Centurion though as they made their approach, trying to use the rain to mask their approach. They may not be able to cause as much damage as they intended, but he had every intention of charging through, finding a torch, and setting the camp on fire. However, that wasn’t the reason Gan Ning wasn’t listening.

"Chariovalda, how many horses would fit on a pen like that?" Gan Ning asked, confusion on his face as he looked at a large pen with surprisingly high fences.

"Horses wouldn’t live in a pen like that." Chariovalda responded as Gan Ning nodded in response.

"I was hoping you wasn’t going to say that." Gan Ning replied.

...

Ling Tong watched as enemy reinforcements marched past his position, he had taken one of the Titanaconda’s and travelled with a small honour guard further up the river as stealthily as possible. He had headed further down as no more enemy ships seemed to approach by that point, before quickly hiding again when a few more appeared in his peripheral. His men would deal with those ships he decided, his attention focused on the enemies that were marching down the shore.

"We are so...." Ling Tong stated, his eyes wide as his men turned to him in shock at the words he used.