The cavalry captain and infantry captain of Donic City met and agreed that although the human soldiers lacked courage and fighting spirit, they were quite numerous, at least as many as their own troops.
"Now that the main force has gone south to fight, can you be sure that this unit is the Duke's troops over there, or the remnants of those earls?" The infantry captain was burly and his voice boomed.
"It's hard to say. I saw troops in bright armor, and I also saw troops in tattered clothes. The composition is quite complicated..." The cavalry captain had blond hair and was exceptionally handsome.
"Could it be the vanguard?" the infantry captain asked warily.
"The vanguard is carrying way too much stuff... Who brings their families along as a vanguard?" the cavalry captain frowned. "Still no news from the White Tiger Knights?" the cavalry suddenly asked.
"The lack of news means that the main force has not yet arrived here, otherwise we would have been informed to prepare by now."
"Where did they come from? Didn't everyone say there are no organized troops left on this land?" the cavalry captain said, clearly dissatisfied.
"Could it be that the scattered and defeated troops were gathered together? Do you think it's possible that those defeated troops saw that well-armored unit and then all gathered around it..."
"What are you doing here? Attacking us?" The cavalry captain raised his eyebrows. The infantry captain's statement made some sense, but their behavior was audacious.
"Don't think about why they came. Keep a close eye on them. The supplies will arrive in two or three days. Just make sure nothing happens in the meantime." The infantry captain scratched his head. The behavior of the human troops was indeed somewhat incomprehensible. Adhering to the principle of not thinking about things he couldn't understand, the infantry captain comforted him.
"This human commander has some issues," was the final conclusion of the two captains.
Unknown to those inside and outside Donic Castle, on the very afternoon they met, the elven army annihilated the human forces on Lunlang's lands. While the prince's forces faced off against the elven forces, the cavalry covered the rear, and the infantry flanked them. The sudden appearance of these two elven columns utterly shattered the royal army's will to fight.
Upon learning that their rear had been cut off, the Galician royal regular army crumbled and fled within a single encounter, offering not even the slightest symbolic resistance. From the supreme commander to the cavalry captains to the centurions, no one cared about the lives of their men; they all fled south in disarray, each looking after their own fate. The elves expended considerable effort to kill or wound over a thousand and capture just over a thousand more.
After running for about twenty miles, the human army gradually began to regroup. By the time the sun had completely set, only about two thousand soldiers had been regrouped; the rest had either deserted or gotten lost. In short, the army of six thousand men had completely lost its ability to fight, and didn't even have the courage to follow the elves to take a look.
"Didn't you say there were only five thousand elves in front of us? There are definitely ten thousand here!" General Lviv, a high-ranking officer of the Royal Cavalry and commander of a thousand cavalrymen, complained bitterly to his superior, Norton Bandera, a favorite of the Galician royal family and the nephew of Queen Bandera.
Norton, meanwhile, stared at the general who had risen to power through flattery and betraying his wife and daughter with obvious delight. “What do you mean 10,000? I think there are at least 50,000 elves. We have 6,000 against 50,000. Although we lost, it’s not a disgrace, is it, General Lviv?”
At first glance, Lviv thought the kid's excited expression meant he'd lost his mind from the defeat. But after hearing his words, he couldn't agree more. "Yeah, what five thousand elves? The intelligence must be wrong. They clearly had fifty thousand elves! Five thousand was just the vanguard. If they could win like that, it would be a miracle! Hahahaha!" The two laughed gleefully, finally finding a plausible excuse.
"Breze! Quickly tell the soldiers what I just said to them. Tell them they were defeated by an enemy ten times their size, and there's no need to be discouraged. Go now!" Lviv kicked the young man beside him. The young man was quick-witted; he jumped back half a step and then ran towards his cavalry camp.
This young man named Blaze was Ars's cavalry captain. After Ars's death, Blaze experienced a period of wandering and eventually came to the royal territory with the defeated army of the Lunlang family.
Blaze, who had no particular strengths, was recruited into Lviv's cavalry because of his skill in riding horses and his familiarity with the terrain. He also survived a confrontation with the elven scout cavalry and was taken in by Lviv as a capable young man.
In short, Lviv was a benefactor to Blazer.
He couldn't ignore the words of the important person, but their shameless attempt to cover up their failure still opened the eyes of Blaze, a young man who had never seen the world.
Blazer felt deeply worried about his future. How could he have a good future working for such an incompetent and shameless boss?
However, this general seems to be a favorite of the emperor at present. At least by staying by his side, he might have a real opportunity to demonstrate his abilities.
Harboring this fantasy, Blaze recounted their encounter with fifty thousand elves to his fellow cavalrymen. They all expressed admiration for their general's wild idea. Although they were in a sorry state, they could at least discern the difference in size between fifty thousand and five thousand dust particles. But considering that telling the story would avert punishment for defeat and perhaps even bring rewards, they readily accepted the idea.
Gradually, the entire human force came to believe that they had encountered 50,000 elves, instead of the 10,000 elves that everyone knew they had encountered.
Soon, news of the 50,000 elves reached the capital, and those in the capital who were qualified to know about it were all shocked.
Fifty thousand elves—that's far more than the current twenty or thirty thousand men can handle. So the emperor immediately ordered the second wave of royal reinforcements to be halted. Then, unusually, he issued a conscription order, requiring all soldiers under the age of forty-five who had previously served in the army to return to their camps. He also ordered all dukes and marquises to begin providing reinforcements and provisions.
News from the capital and some decisions were delivered to Duke Sald's desk that very evening. However, Duke Sald simply didn't believe there were 50,000 elves at the front lines; he and his advisors were more inclined to believe that the royal family was using this as an excuse to expand their army. As for the purpose of this expansion... Duke Sald naturally understood as well.
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