Chapter 6 First Battle - Night Attack
The cold moon of late autumn hung high in the sky, and the dark clouds were flowing like water in the ink-colored night. Du Yu was lying in the bushes, carefully observing the simple camp made of wood by the crescent-shaped lake under the mountain. The location of this camp was very good. The higher soil slopes of the dams on the small river beside the lake were used to build wooden fences. Outside the camp was a small river with a width of meter meters, which was like a simple small castle.
From a higher position on the mountain, Du Yu could clearly see that hundreds of soldiers in light leather armor were sitting around the bonfire, watching with enthusiasm that two big men were fighting each other in the middle of the circle center on the bonfire. Although they were using wooden long swords, he could clearly hear the noise caused by the wooden sword hitting each other from a distance. It could be seen that the strength used by these two big men was not small.
One of the strong men finally hit the waist of another strong man with a wooden sword in his hand, and then used the hilt of the wooden sword in his hand to hit the back head of his opponent that had bent over because of pain. His opponents instantly passed out, causing the soldiers around to cheer loudly.
"My lord, this should be the army of the Caistor House that attacked Lord Lato Cato. See the family flag on the tent over there? It should be the vulture battle flag of the Caistor House." Thun Starr, lying beside Du Yu, pointed to the biggest tent by the campfire and said with a cold face. Over there, a battle flag was fluttering in the air.
This time Du Yu decided to personally lead the two hundred peasant recruits who had just finished training to ambush the Caistor House’s army. Thun Starr was strongly opposed to it. Although these two hundred peasants had undergone a month of hard training, they were going to fight the army of Caistor House that was known as Battlefield Vultures. The odds of winning were too small.
"New recruits can't defeat the veterans of the Caistor House, not to mention there are thirteen knights who have experienced many battles in them." Thun Starr felt that his lord must be blind by his ignorance that he was leading two hundred peasants to fight with the knights and veterans of the Caistor House.
"Veteran came from new recruits. Without shedding blood, no matter how well trained they are, they will always be new recruits. So what if they have knights? Have you forgotten how you were forced to the wall by the shield wall? You hope the army you train will always be on the battlefield? You want them to be new recruits forever? If you hope so, what is the point of training them? You could just let them die on the battlefield.”
Du Yu’s harsh words made Thun Starr speechless. He could never understand what his lord was thinking. Just like how he could not understand the special training that they had gone through and the demonic flaming arrows that never stopped burning.
"Order everyone to get ready" Du Yu waved to Thun Starr beside him with a cold face. Everyone was trying to suppress their breath. This was not everyone's deliberate action. All soldiers were new recruits. Training and the real fight were completely different things, and everyone was so nervous that they dared not breathe.
This was also Du Yu's first battle, and he was also a new recruit on the battlefield. He felt that his fingers holding the short sword were already a bit stiff because he had been cleaning the dagger too tightly.
The lush bushes surrounding the camp provided a good cover for Du Yu and the peasant soldiers. The whole army had lurked forward to a distance of about one meter from the Caistor camp, and further forward was the range that the sentry could find them. Although most of the soldiers gathered by the campfire, they could still see the sentinel walking back and forth on the observation tower of the simple camp.
"Can you kill the sentry on the west side watchtower?" Du Yu turned his head and looked at the hunter leader Crow Sartre who was following him. His gleaming eyes shocked Crow Sartre, who had always hunted in the mountains. ‘It’s just like a pair of beast’s eyes.’ He thought.
Du Yu could clearly see a simple stable in the upper left corner of the camp. There were a dozen horses gnawing on the hay in the wooden trough. That should be the horses of the thirteen knights.
Whenever Du Yu thought of Thun Starr's sword skill that he performed on the horse in the castle square, he could not help but shudder. If these knights were able to mount their horses, no matter how brave his men were, half of those new recruits would die in the first battle. This was also the reason why he chose to attack at night.
As long as these knights could not ride horses, no matter how powerful their horse-riding skills were, they were nothing more than some good combat foot soldiers. As long as they encounter well-trained shield wall tactics, they would definitely be defeated.
"My lord, the wind is too strong tonight. It is difficult to kill the sentry from such a long distance. I’m only confident to kill him within forty meters."
Crow Sartre looked at Du Yu and shook his head regretfully. It was possible to kill a moving sentry with one arrow from fifty meters away in a windless area, but this camp was located by the lake, and the strong wind blowing from the open lake would prevent the arrow from accurately hitting the moving target.
"As long as you can kill him. Thun Starr, I will sneak in and kill the horses first, and when the camp is in a mess, you will organize the soldiers to attack." Du Yu ignored Thun Starr's hesitation, turned, and disappeared into the dark night. All they could see was only a black figure quickly lurking toward the camp.
Du Yu slid forward quickly against the grass, followed by a kick of his feet. Like a flying fish jumping out of the water, he easily crossed the small river about two meters wide outside the camp, and after a few small jumps, he actually arrived at the fence outside the camp. Then he even propped up his fat body with his hands, moving up the fence like a gecko, and easily climbed over a wooden fence as high as three meters.
Everyone was stunned by the agility of the idiot lord. Even the hunter leader Crow Sartre, who always thought he was as light as a swallow, was completely shocked. ‘Is this guy still a human!’
Du Yu jumped over the three-meter-high wooden fence and landed on the ground quietly. Because his movements were too fast, it did not attract the attention of the sentry. With the memory of observing on the mountain just now, he easily found the stable where the horses were, but then he realized that he had missed an important question.
‘How do I deal with those horses?’ The horse had a strong vitality. Unless the horse's head was chopped off in one fell swoop, they would definitely make noises. The dead horse would also cause other horses to make noises. Du Yu looked at the stable. For a while, he didn't know what to do.
‘That’s it. Set the stable on fire. These horses will run around when they are frightened.’ Du Yu suddenly fixed his eyes on the torches on the pillars of the stable. He took a torch burning pine oil from the pillar of the stable, opened the wooden fence door of the stable, and set the thatch of the stable roof on fire.
The night breeze by the lake was very strong, and the fire quickly spread to the entire stable. The scorching flame immediately made the horses rush out of the fence in terror. The sound of wind, fire, and the frightened screams of the horses mixed together and quickly spread out in the camp.
Seeing the stable was on fire, the Caistor House’s soldiers surrounding the campfire ran to the stable in panic. But they did not notice that the soldiers on the watchtower had been killed by the cold arrows shot from outside the camp.
"Why are you in a daze! Waiting for the enemy to shoot at you?! Hurry up, get a few people inside to open the gate." Thun Starr hurriedly ordered these new recruits.
The sentry had been killed by the hunters. But these new recruits were still in a daze under the fence, not knowing what to do after rushing under the fence. So Thun Starr, who considered himself the commander, shouted furiously.
Hearing Thun Starr’s words, the flustered peasant soldiers finally reacted. A few physically strong soldiers began to climb up the wooden fence. At this moment, the camp door opened with a “creak” from the inside. Then Du Yu's fat figure appeared from the door.
"What are you still standing there!? Move out in a group of six! Follow the training, and form an assault formation! Remember, if there are people still alive, don't turn around! Anyone who turned around will be killed!" Seeing his soldiers were still hiding under the fence, Du Yu was furious.
At this time, the Caistor House’s soldiers had already discovered the anomaly. A knight leading a dozen soldiers had already rushed to the camp gate. The peasant soldiers who were arranged in groups could even feel the bellows-like gasping of the Caistor House soldiers on the opposite side.
"Attack!" As Thun Starr yelled, the shield wall formed by thirty squads moved quickly forward like a moving mountain against the stunned enemy in the dark night.
"Enemy attack! They broke into the camp!" The knight on the opposite side immediately panicked. Although the fire in the stable just now had made him vigilant, he didn't expect to encounter the enemy's night attack. Who would dare to attack the Caistor House’s army!?
The knight’s stern shout attracted dozens of soldiers who were putting out the fire in the distance. Looking at the approaching shield wall, these veterans drew out their weapons one after another and formed two straight lines calmly. This was a very traditional formation of infantry in the field, which was conducive to putting the attack power of every soldier on the front.
The moving shield wall finally ran into the Caistor soldiers who were ready for the battle. The sound of weapons striking the shield was like drums appearing continuously. From time to time there were some quiet stabbing sounds. Then dozen of Caistor soldiers who were blocked by the shield wall fell to the ground all of sudden. This inexplicable method of death shocked the Caistor soldiers who rushed up from behind.
"Be careful, their short swords! These despicable bastards!" a knight backed in grief and yelled in pain, with a short sword stuck in his blood-stained waist. The chainmail jammed the peasant soldier's short sword, so the knight survived the attack.
This shout caused many soldiers who were trying to attack the shield wall to retreat, but they had lost more than half of their men. Just like what they did during the training, after the shield wall had broken through the Caistor House army’s defense line, they began to surround Caistor House’s army from both sides.
"This is a slaughter!" Thun Starr felt like he was going crazy. Judging from the soldiers who had fought him just now, they were all veterans who had been on the battlefield. Although it was a surprise attack, they still formed a defensive formation to resist calmly, but all of this was useless in front of this strange shield wall.
Thun Starr even saw that one of the most cowardly peasant soldiers kill one enemy with his eyes closed.
"Surrender! Or die." Du Yu waved his hand to stop the soldiers from attacking. There were only a dozen soldiers who were still resisting in the circular formation surrounded by the shield wall. There were only three knights wearing scale armor. This made Du Yu, who had been watching for the attack of the knights, let out a sigh of relief. ‘It seems that most of the knights are not in the camp.’
"We surrender, we demand fair treatment, and our house will pay the ransom for us!" the three knights dropped the weapon in their hands. There was no point in resisting now.
"Where is your lord, Marquis Caistor? Where is he?" Du Yu was thinking about the bigger fish. Those small fish were not as valuable as their lord.
"He and Captain Storey went to negotiate with Lord Lato Cato." The captives' answers made Du Yu who was wondering even more puzzled.
‘What is going on here? I'm here to fight with his enemy. But this strange father-in-law of mine started negotiations with the enemy?’ The feeling of being deceived made Du Yu angry. ‘This old fox, I will let you know the consequence of lying to me!’
"Go, take all these people away, and pack everything up. Let's go to Lord Lato Cato's castle." Du Yu shouted to the soldiers who were cleaning the battlefield around him.
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