"You are the key to victory." Wu Lai's eyes swept over Pu Ya and the four young men from the special forces company. "The enemy has increased its troops so much because they want to defeat us in one battle and then advance straight in. They will never play a tug-of-war with us. Therefore, once this battle starts, it is destined to be a fierce battle to the death."
Puya and the other five listened very attentively, their eyes burning with excitement and pride.
"For you, this is an unprecedented attempt. However, this is special operations. In a war like this, if the method and timing are used properly and the effect is outstanding, it will be enough to turn the entire situation around." Wu Lai walked to the commander's desk and sat down. It was already late at night. The arrangements for tonight's meeting were very detailed and laborious. Now he felt a little tired.
Pu Ya and others nodded. They believed everything Wu Lai said and were willing to obey all of Wu Lai's orders.
"The moonlight is not bright tonight, which can provide you with some cover." Wu Lai said as he stretched his arms. "After you get down to the cliff, just remember all the precautions. Now, go change your clothes first, and then gather here to get your things."
"Yes." Pu Ya and others puffed out their chests and agreed, then turned around quickly.
After watching the five people leave, Caesar, who had been sitting silently beside them since Pu Ya and the others came in, stood up and walked to Wu Lai: "Master, what about me?"
"You?" Wu Lai glanced at Caesar. "Your combat position tomorrow will be beside High Priest Shelley, and I will protect you the whole time."
"Archpriest Shelley?" Caesar immediately shook his head. "Master, that won't do. Teacher Vulture said that I am here to protect you and not others."
Wu Lai couldn't help rolling his eyes. He waved to Caesar to come closer, then he stepped on his heel and grabbed one of the guy's ears.
"Master, please spare me." Caesar chuckled, his big face filled with a pleading smile.
"Lower your head, lower your head, I have something to tell you in private."
"Oh, okay then." Caesar simply squatted down.
After Wu Lai whispered a few words into his ear, Caesar nodded repeatedly with a smile and patted his chest: "Master, I understand, don't worry."
Woolley smiled and let go of Caesar's ear.
After a while, Pu Ya and others came, fully dressed, and then left, so Wu Lai was the only one left in the tent.
Although he felt very tired, Wu Lai still had no desire to sleep. The enemy outnumbered his own by several times. Even though he thought his arrangements were very appropriate, he still felt vaguely uneasy, or even anxious.
After all, they were about to face a war with a huge disparity in strength. According to the most optimistic estimate, the enemy's strength was nearly four times that of their own army. The soldiers' military literacy and battlefield psychological quality were far inferior to those of the Salt Marsh Army. Moreover, the enemy was the best at fighting tough battles...
Therefore, even though Wu Lai shouted the slogan of victory, he was not sure of victory. The battlefield changed rapidly, and before the outcome was decided, no one knew which side the balance of victory would tilt towards.
What Wu Lai can do now is to add some weight to his side, such as solid fortifications, or to hit the enemy's morale and slow down the opponent's offensive rhythm...
All of this was not prepared for the purpose of achieving a complete victory. After all, Wu Lai was not so arrogant. What he wanted to do was to nibble away at the enemy bit by bit - to continuously consume the enemy with a series of small victories, forcing the enemy to give up on a quick victory and slow down the tempo of the battle to a level most suitable for the Salt Marsh Army.
The rainy season will come in at most half a month, Wu Lai said to himself.
While Wu Lai was pacing, in the commander's tent of the First Legion camp, Liehuo sat with his arms folded, his eyes slightly raised, frowning as he looked at the location on the map indicated by Nero. Hugo Simon sat leaning against a wooden pillar, turning the dagger in his hand from time to time.
"Although my army has traveled a long way, I am still confident that we can win tomorrow's battle, because you two are here." After explaining his battle plan, Nero laughed and took his hand away from the map. "In fact, what I said just now was a bit redundant, because it was basically equivalent to repeating what you two had already arranged in advance."
"General Nero, you are too polite." Liehuo said with a smile. Although Nero was two years younger than him, he had a high prestige in the army, was qualified, and was appreciated by Trajan. Now that Nero was so polite, he had nothing else to say.
"General Liehuo, you are so polite. Tomorrow I will have to trouble your men to lead the charge. It looks like my central army has gained a ready-made advantage along the way." Nero stroked his beard and looked at Hugo Simon with a smile.
Hugo Simon knew that Nero wanted him to express his opinion. After a slight hesitation, he put away his dagger and nodded: "We are all fighting for territory. There is nothing to say. My right army will go through fire and water without hesitation."
"Good! After we capture the enemy's pass tomorrow, I will have a drink with you two." Nero was very happy. You know, if you look closely, his central army is not necessarily stronger than the left and right armies. At most, it is slightly better in terms of equipment. This time, when he knew that Commander Trajan had named him as the main force, he was still quite uneasy, because in terms of qualifications, he did not have the confidence to suppress Liehuo and Hugo Simon. On the way here, he was also worried that these two would suddenly raise some objections to affect the battle arrangements.
"Of course there is no problem with drinking, but General Nero must not underestimate the enemy. Although the opponent's main general is a young man in his twenties, he not only defeated the Third Legion, but also made Old Liehuo suffer a little." Hugo Simon said with a laugh.
"I didn't suffer a loss at his hands." Liehuo frowned and retorted. What he hated most was Hugo Simon's squeezing him anytime and anywhere. "I admit that I misjudged the enemy's strength. I attacked with more than 10,000 people, while the enemy's main defense force was 20,000, and the ambushers were nearly 30,000. How can I win with more than 10,000 against 50,000?"
"Well, why should I tell you this?" Hugo Simon has always enjoyed making fun of Liehuo and would never miss an opportunity.
Nero rushed over to smooth things over upon seeing this. Although he had long known that the two were only arguing verbally and that the victory or defeat would be determined by killing enemies and gaining military merits on the battlefield, he could not just sit there and watch the two of them making a fuss.
"You two, it's almost midnight. You should put aside your disputes and return to the camp to make arrangements. Take a nap. Tomorrow the three of us will go to the battlefield in person to let the enemy see our power. What do you think?" Nero advised with a smile.
"Well, I like to hear that. Well, I won't bother with Old Liehuo anymore." Hugo Simon waved his hand and left quickly.
Liehuo watched him lift the curtain and walk out, then turned around to look at Nero, shook his head and left.
Nero didn't think about Liehuo's intention of shaking his head. The war would start tomorrow. Since he had reached a consensus with the left and right armies, some things really had to be arranged tonight...
…
The next day, as if to set off the atmosphere of the war, the blue sky that was still full of clouds yesterday was simply covered with gray clouds. Although there were golden beams of light pouring down from time to time in the places where the clouds were not completely closed, often illuminating the distant mountains and nearby rocks with golden red, but for some reason no one was willing to pay attention to these. Instead, everyone felt the oppressive solemnity in their hearts, whether it was Hulett's First Legion or the Salt Marsh Army...
If we have to find an exception, I'm afraid Caesar is the only one.
Standing on the parapet and watching the enemy troops gathering in the Shitan Camp, Odo couldn't help but tremble slightly, not because of fear, but excitement, because he knew very well that he was in a legend -
The enemy on the rocky beach was the famous Hurriyet First Army, an enemy that no Assyrian army wanted to see or even hear of. Although the Hurriyet First Army had suffered defeats in the confrontation with the Assyrians, except for the one commanded by General Rini, any of the other failures had two things in common. First, it was only the defeat of a part of the troops, such as the defeat of the left army or the center army, not the defeat of the entire army. Second, every failure would trigger a retaliatory counterattack by the Hurriyet First Army, and this kind of fierce and murderous counterattack was often so fierce that it was difficult to resist. Therefore, it often happened that a part of the Hurriyet First Army was defeated yesterday, but was beaten up by it today.
The latter's actions frightened the Assyrian army and made the reputation of "devil" of the Hurriyet First Army even more prominent.
Odo also knew that if General Lini had not defeated the demon army to pieces and made it unable to recover, the Assyrian border would not have been peaceful for so many years.
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But now the most formidable Assyrian army is right in front of them. In a little while, they will launch a charge on the defense zone. This may not seem like a big deal, but this is the first time in nearly 20 years that the Hurlit First Army has used almost full strength in an active charge. This alone is enough to make the Salt Marsh Army famous in history - this move by the Hurlit First Army can be interpreted as respect for the Salt Marsh Army or even fear...
Of course, the premise is that the Salt Marsh Army can resist the enemy for at least a period of time, but will this be a problem? Obviously not. Based on Oddo's understanding of Wu Lai, he believed that Wu Lai would not choose to fight unless he was 50% sure. In fact, Oddo felt that he should estimate Wu Lai's chance of winning higher, because he just heard that Wu Lai did not arrange for someone to ask for help from Kayikede City, but instead invited two generals arranged by Date to watch the battle.
Yes, just watching the battle - if Wu Lai was not sure, how could he do this? After thinking about this, Odo became more determined.
To put it another way, as long as the defeat is not too disastrous, the Salt Marsh Army will become famous, and Odo will also gain a great reputation because of this battle and become one of the brave generals in the Assyrian army.
After all, this was a battle that no fully-strength Assyrian army had a chance of winning. After all, the Salt Marsh Army had only 10,000 men at most.
Ten thousand versus forty thousand, Oddo really hoped that this battle would be exciting rather than just brutal.
As Oddo was thinking about this, a rumbling drumbeat sounded in the Shitan camp. This drumbeat meant that the assembly was complete and that the battle was about to begin...
After a loud horn sounded, nearly a thousand Hurley soldiers slowly pushed four catapults, allowing these four huge machines to move forward dozens of steps along the laid log "tracks" until they stopped at the foot of the slope.
"General, the enemy is trying to demonstrate." Oddo frowned and said to Wu Lai. Although the catapult was dozens of steps closer, its range still could not cover the protective wall area, so it could only be a demonstration.
Wu Lai nodded: "Let them play for a while. After a while, I guarantee they will be in tears."
Oddo's eyes lit up and the corners of his mouth curled up.
At the same time, three miles upstream from the rocky beach, among the bushes on a cliff by the river, Pu Ya listened carefully for a while and waved his hand: "The enemy's drums have sounded, get into the water."
There was no response, but four figures suddenly emerged from the bushes and rocks, and they jumped into the water more than ten elbows away. Puya untied the rope buckle behind her waist and hung it on a protruding strange rock, then jumped into the water. She was immediately shivered by the cool river water, and the numbness and discomfort in her knees and legs caused by squatting for half a night disappeared immediately.
"Disguise." Pu Ya shouted at the four boys who were approaching quickly. The two boys closest to the cliff pushed and pulled, and a "rotten big wood" floated over from a pile of driftwood foam on the cliff. Pu Ya and the other two boys moved their bodies and dived under the big wood...
This is really a big piece of wood, a piece of wood that has been split into two halves, about twenty cubits long, nearly eight cubits wide, and about four cubits thick. At first glance, its brown and black mottled bark and the green spots on it would certainly make people think that it has been soaked in this river for quite a while, but in fact, it was made like this the night before yesterday.
To be more precise, it was like an upside-down canoe, but of course you could think of it as an upside-down pig trough. Now, Puya and four young men from the special forces company hid under this "rotting log", holding a built-in handle in each hand and standing in a row - the upside-down "hull" left them enough space to dive without holding their breath, and the holes on the wood that were camouflaged in varying sizes did not expose their presence and also brought them enough fresh air. If there was anything wrong, it was that the observation hole reserved for Puya was a bit small, which made it a bit difficult for her, the on-site commander, to detect the movement ahead, but it didn't have much impact anyway.
So, this piece of "rotten wood" floated downstream at a speed slightly faster than the water flow. This speed was obviously a bit unusual, but who would pay attention to a piece of "rotten wood" floating down from upstream?
"Catapults! Get ready!" Nero's flag bearers waved their flags, and four catapults dropped their huge booms at the same time...
When he saw this scene, Wu Lai narrowed his eyes, raised his left hand slightly and clenched his fist.
"General's order! Everyone on alert!"
"General's order! Everyone on alert!"
The command spread throughout the entire defense zone like a relay race...