"Your Majesty, please retreat!" Two maids grabbed Helen who was about to run forward.
"Let me go!" Helen shouted.
"Your Majesty, you must not take any risks at this moment. We can see that the enemy is sneaking into the camp. If Your Majesty insists on entering the camp at this time, you may be accidentally injured in the chaos." A female official advised hurriedly, and another female official shouted loudly to protect the emperor. Although there were only two of them, there were always guards following Helen when she traveled.
"Let go! I want to see who is so bold as to attack the camp at night." Helen said angrily. After the battle during the day, all the legions had suffered more than half casualties, even Li Moli was killed in the battle. Helen simply reorganized the legions and formed two camps after eliminating the wounded. They were temporarily named the Left and Right Camps, with 30,000 troops in each camp. Although there were fewer people than the previous legions, the average combat effectiveness was improved a lot. It was just that morale would be difficult to raise in a short time.
But even so, the enemy still came to steal the camp, which made things even worse for Helen.
"If Your Majesty wants to know, just arrange for the guards to go there later. Your Majesty, the safety and honor of Tianjuan depends on you, you must not take any risks." The female official advised.
After the female official's advice and the sudden noise from the camps on both sides, Helen finally calmed down: "Guards!"
More than a hundred guards rushed over: "Your Majesty."
"Go and investigate immediately to see which enemy forces are trying to sneak into our camp." Helen gave the order. Judging from the current situation, in addition to defending Maritanija, Wu Lai also released a team to play the elusive trick in Kayikede. It would be fine if they were just doing guerrilla harassment or collecting food and grass, but their combat effectiveness and courage are ridiculous. In addition to these, they are particularly shameless - you captured our soldiers and either killed them or let them go, but how could you strip them naked and throw them back?
Helen had thought it through. If it was the "field army" under Wu Lai, she wouldn't have to worry about it. The commanders of the left and right camps were both capable, and their command ability and improvisation were enough to deal with it. But if they came from Marsalis, it would be hard to say. Putting aside other things, after a fierce battle during the day, the other side actually had the strength to launch a night attack. This seemed to mean that she had underestimated the opponent's strength.
Underestimating your opponent means danger, and huge danger at that - Woolley once said this to Helen, so she remembered it very clearly.
Now, the person who said this to her was reining in his horse a mile outside the left camp, observing the effect of the attack. On the left side of his horse was Caesar, wearing leather armor and holding a large shield and a mace. On the right side was Bailey, who was also holding a telescope to observe the enemy situation...
…
Woolley's plan to steal the camp was not a spur-of-the-moment idea. He had this plan when the enemy was retreating. When the signalman reported that Narsis wanted to see him, he had already arranged the selection of personnel and the deployment.
Sneaking into the camp, like ambush and positional warfare, is just a way and means to annihilate the enemy.
The appearance of Narsis made Wu Lai even more certain - the losses of the Tianjuan Army had reached an unbearable level, otherwise Helen would not have sent Narsis to persuade them to surrender and request a ten-day truce.
Surrendering and a ten-day truce are both delaying tactics in any way.
So Wu Lai simply left Narsis there and led his troops out to launch a night attack.
He brought a total of one thousand cavalry and six thousand infantry. The reason why there were so few cavalry was that there were indeed no extra horses in the pass. Therefore, Wu Lai was somewhat reluctant when he set out - although the soldiers going out were uninjured and in good spirits, Wu Lai knew that these soldiers had been fighting for a whole day. When they were notified to assemble, many of them had just eaten their first meal of the day, and some were even snoring.
But they still accepted the task without saying a word.
Therefore, Wu Lai decided to lead the army himself. In his opinion, it was a blessing and a good thing to be able to charge into battle with such soldiers.
All the horse hooves were wrapped in "boots" made of thick cloth and thin leather. These were authentic "horse boots" that could minimize the sound of the horse hooves hitting the ground. Not only the horses, but the soldiers' soles were also tied with a layer of thin leather or something. It was more than ten miles from the checkpoint to the enemy camp, and if they didn't move their legs and feet and run, it would waste time.
The Special Forces Company once again demonstrated their abilities as military kings. Setting out earlier than the main force, they took on the task of clearing the way for the army and completed it perfectly - the enemy's visible and hidden sentries, as well as cavalry along the way were either killed or captured, but they took them all down without exception.
This was actually taking advantage of the victory during the day. When Wu Lai led his troops forward, the Tianjuan camp was in chaos - noisy, cursing, wailing, calling for help... There was no strict inspection of the sentries as in the past. Wu Lai brought ten mortars and sixty shells. The guns were borrowed from Bailey, and the shells were his own.
When he saw that the two new camps of Tianjuan were surprisingly close to each other, Wu Lai ordered the ten mortars to fire at them evenly - all with five-round rapid fire.
The first round of bombardment awakened the sleeping Tianjuan Army and also frightened Helen who was about to return to her tent.
The second round of bombardment caused the two camps of Tianjuan to go haywire. The soldiers were running around like flies without heads. Many soldiers who had managed to escape the bombardment during the day but were frightened and had psychological trauma simply started to yell...
The third round of bombardment...
The fourth round of bombardment...
As soon as the fifth round of bombardment ended, Wu Lai smiled and raised his sword: "Riders, attack in a roundabout way!"
A thousand cavalrymen with bows and crossbows on their backs and at least four quivers hanging on the sides of their saddles set off with a roar. They did not rush forward all at once, but divided into five teams, each with 200 people. Two teams rushed to the left side of the enemy camp, two teams rushed to the right side of the enemy camp, and the last team rushed straight to the passage less than a mile wide that was visible between the two enemy camps...
At the same time, six thousand infantrymen also quickly dispersed, with two thousand lined up in front of Wu Lai, and four thousand divided into two to protect Wu Lai. Among every thousand people, there must be two hundred archers ready to fight - at night, the archers' medium and long-range killing power is a powerful weapon to defend against the enemy.
The thin clouds and light moon became Wu Lai's best cover. In addition to killing, wounding and causing chaos among the enemy troops, the mortar bombardment also set fire to the enemy's tents, firewood piles, and weapon racks. This undoubtedly provided the cavalry with good sight conditions, allowing them to shoot more accurately and fiercely.
Yes, that's what they did. With their excellent riding skills, they didn't need to control the reins at all. Just squeezing their legs and shouting was enough to make the horses leap and run as they wished. With their free hands, they could naturally draw their bows and arrows or aim their crossbows. They ran around the enemy camp and shot arrows at the right opportunity...
Although there were only a thousand people, they posed a great deterrent to the enemy camp of tens of thousands of soldiers. In the firelight, Wu Lai's cavalry galloped back and forth, and their shadows made it impossible for the enemy to judge how many people were attacking. They only felt that as long as they showed their heads and moved forward, a wave of cavalry would "greet" them. Otherwise, why would a wave of cavalry fall every time a wave passed by?
"Light it up!" Wu Lai shouted.
"Yes!" Caesar grinned, took out a match, scraped out a small flame with a "hiss", then carefully protected it and moved towards the huge torch handed over by a soldier.
Of course it was a huge torch - it was twelve cubits high and as thick as an adult's forearm. In order to dip the thin cloth tied on the top into oil, Caesar poured nearly ten kilograms of oil on it, and his mouth twitched with pain.
"Bang!" Caesar thrust the torch hard at his feet. The huge flames swung violently, splashing out many small flames, several of which dripped onto Caesar's face, instantly burning him so much that he grimaced.
"Be careful." Wu Lai couldn't help laughing.
"Okay, okay." Caesar smiled and wiped his forehead with his hand. "Master, you lit such a big torch, aren't you trying to warn the enemy?"
"I didn't realize you've become smarter." Wu Lai laughed and thought to himself, I'm just reporting information to the enemy.
At the same time, more than 30 people from the second platoon of the first special company ran quickly to Wu Lai, and the battalion and company commanders of the 6,000 infantry also ran over.
"Pay attention!" Wu Lai glanced around, "I'll repeat my order again. The mission of your 6,000 men is to lure, kill, and contain the enemy. I don't need you to play a positional battle with the enemy. The cavalry's attack won't last too long. When they retreat, it will be your turn. Remember, try to buy us as much time as possible, but I don't need you to sacrifice your lives! Do you understand?!"
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"Understood!" All the commanders responded in unison.
"Second row!" Wu Lai shook his hands and took off his windbreaker, revealing the black clothes and leather armor underneath.
"The second platoon is here!" More than thirty soldiers from the first special forces company answered in unison.
"Let's go!" Wu Lai waved his hand, dismounted, and ran quickly to the back of the team...
…
Helen had retreated to a small hill two miles behind the left camp. More than 4,000 guards and soldiers formed a three-layer defense formation around the foot of the hill.
Such a distance was certainly not safe, but Helen insisted on stopping here because she felt that as an emperor, she should not stay too far away when her generals were attacked, as that would make them think that she, the emperor, had abandoned them.
The hill was no more than sixty cubits high, but it was high enough to overlook the camp. From Helen's perspective, there were blazing fires in the two camps, with scattered figures. In the wind, there were faint shouts and sounds of fighting.
"Report!" A servant ran to ten steps away from Helen and knelt on one knee.
"Your Majesty." A lady-in-waiting gently reminded Helen who seemed to be in a trance.
"Let him talk." Helen withdrew her gaze.
"Your Majesty, according to observation, there are only nearly 10,000 enemy troops attacking, including 2,000 cavalry, all of whom are archers. They have already circled our main camp and launched arrow attacks for more than ten rounds. Now our left and right camps have deployed counterattacks to suppress the enemy archers. In two more rounds, the enemy cavalry will retreat. One and a half miles in front of the left camp, there are about 8,000 enemy troops lined up to watch the battle, and they seem to be waiting for an opportunity to attack. The commanders of the two camps ask Your Majesty whether to defend or attack." The attendant reported loudly.
"Humph, is it so difficult to decide between defending and attacking? Tens of thousands of people facing less than ten thousand people, and you are still afraid to move forward?" Helen asked coldly, "I asked you to find out where the enemy troops are from, why didn't you report it?"
"Your Majesty, the enemy's armor and clothing are in disarray and cannot be distinguished, but their formation is neat and well-trained. They look like guerrillas sent by Marsalitania, not the enemy's main defense force." The attendant replied hastily, "The commanders of the two camps said that we dare not make a firm statement before confirmation."
"Useless!" Helen clenched her right fist, "Pass on my order, attack!"
"As you command!" The attendant quickly bowed his head in agreement...
…
As the shouts and cries of killing came from afar, Wu Lai quietly turned his head from the bushes to look at where the infantry were lined up. The huge torch was still burning, but from his current position, it really looked like he was looking at a small matchstick.
Wu Lai raised the telescope and zoomed in. He saw a large area of shadows and archers in the infantry formation who were continuously shooting at the approaching enemy.
Wu Lai couldn't help but sweat. Even though he only took a quick glance, he could basically conclude that the number of enemy troops rushing over was definitely over 10,000...
It seems that the cavalry has retreated. Wu Lai thought so and slowly put away the telescope.
He had to be so careful not to make any noise. Not only him, but also the more than 30 soldiers from the second platoon of the first company of the special forces lying around him had to do the same, because just half a mile in front of them, there were thousands of soldiers standing in formation, and they surrounded an inconspicuous hilltop so tightly...
If it were me, I wouldn't make my position so conspicuous. Oh, women's vanity. Wu Lai muttered to himself.