076 The Art of War of One-Eyed Snitch
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Northern Norsen Plains
On the fourth day after the Human Alliance Legion crossed the river, following four days of continuous marching, the army was now only 150 kilometers from Highcourt.
Wu Fan’s conscript legion, which he led personally, was divided into five phalanxes at the very front of the column, scouting the way ahead.
In the center, maintaining formation, was Xue Hui’s elite corps. The Hammer Legion, one thousand strong and Xue Hui’s trump card, was commanded by Jin Li.
The war hammer cross flag, red with black markings, billowed proudly over the Norsen Plains!
At the rear, a four-thousand-strong Dwarf Shock Infantry Corps was led by the formidable Chieftain Butcher, Gautrek. The entire assault force was arranged into four great phalanxes, each commanded by Brun, Iron Mountain, Karan Lanovi, and Whitebeard Gree—four seasoned captains, each responsible for their own regiment.
If the Hammer Legion was Xue Hui’s ace, then the Shock Corps was his main force.
In addition, there was a logistics corps of three thousand—someone had to carry food and supplies, build camps, and carry the wounded, not to mention the cultural officers...
Stories where armies go to war without any logistics are nothing but a naked charge onto the battlefield.
The legendary Dwarf hero, Muradin Bronzebeard, walked shoulder to shoulder with Xue Hui, a testament to his status!
Such a grand assembly—that was the entirety of the retinue of the ruler of Parando Highlands, Sequence 23 of the Age of Darkness—the Dwarf King, Xue Hui!
The dwarves were a fiercely warlike race; if it came to a pitched battle on the plains, there was no one in this region who could match Xue Hui.
But Xue Hui knew all too well that the Andes Ratmen they now faced were not to be underestimated either. Judging by their sequence, they were at least as formidable.
He understood Wu Fan’s strength well; for Yang Jielu to have devoured Wu Fan’s corps of over two thousand so easily, he suspected Yang’s true power was far from fully revealed.
Bringing up the rear were the separate two-thousand-strong units of Feng Wanquing and Liu Wei. In terms of overall strength, they were somewhat weaker than Wu Fan, but were assigned to the back mainly because Xue Hui, positioned in the center, could readily support them if needed.
As the army pressed forward, the wild grass around them grew ever taller.
After another three hours’ march, just one hundred meters ahead of Wu Fan’s vanguard, the five hundred-strong Black Banner army led by One-Eye had long lain in ambush.
On the horizon, the ranks of the Human Legion stretched in a long, distant line.
One-Eye Sneech lay hidden in the grass, spying on the Human Alliance army before him, his brow furrowing deeply.
This human force was far stronger than he had anticipated! The column stretched as far as the eye could see, with a conservative estimate of nearly twenty thousand men.
“Relay the order—prepare for battle!”
“Target the human formation ahead—focus on attrition, do not get drawn into a protracted fight!”
“Yes, sir!”
From above, one could see the Black Banner force split into three groups, forming a semi-encirclement, lying in wait for Wu Fan’s three-hundred-strong vanguard to step into their trap.
“Archers, ready!”
“Loose!”
At the command, longbowmen a hundred meters away unleashed a volley of arrows into the center of Wu Fan’s formation.
Suddenly, men and horses were hurled about in utter chaos.
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“Reload—fire again!”
Another rain of arrows fell, and a dozen human conscripts collapsed, bristling with shafts.
The ratmen themselves had no skill for crafting longbows; these were all taken from Wu Fan’s forces—using the enemy’s weapons against them.
The moment these ratmen appeared within Wu Fan’s sight, a storm of fury swept through him. Revenge was all that filled his mind; ignoring everything else, he ordered a charge.
“All of you, charge!”
The borrowed human conscripts were caught completely off guard, but after losing a few dozen men, they quickly rallied and launched their attack.
On both flanks, Wu Fan’s units of three hundred men each converged rapidly toward the center.
Seeing the more than one hundred ratmen archers ahead, the human rabble rushed forward, believing that once they closed the distance, it would be a massacre in their favor.
...
But what they did not expect was that the ratmen archers stood their ground, not even trying to retreat, loosing arrows from their posts.
Another volley—several of the foremost human warriors were struck down, turned into pin-cushions.
After losing over eighty men for nothing, the remaining two hundred or so finally closed in on the archers.
Yet just then, a group of ratmen spearmen rose from the grass in front of the archers.
The grass was about a meter tall on average; with their short statures, the ratmen were nearly invisible when crouched.
The spearmen worked in perfect unison, pressing tightly together, with shield-bearers in the front ranks. Facing the approaching human conscripts, they showed no sign of panic, forming up to receive the attack.
Seeing this formation, Wu Fan’s conscripts were stunned. Haphazardly assembled, they were no match for the well-drilled Black Banner soldiers!
They crumbled at the first clash—some lost all strength after a hundred-meter charge, some threw away their weapons and fled outright, and only about half the soldiers continued their foolish charge.
The outcome was inevitable; these scattered, undisciplined troops were no match for the Black Banner army, which suffered hardly any casualties while devastating the human vanguard.
Wu Fan gnashed his teeth in fury—the soldiers sent by Zhang Wenyuan were nothing but a disorderly mob.
The situation was dire: pressing the attack was hopeless, retreating would be disgraceful—but they weren’t even his own men, so he felt no compunction.
Five hundred meters to the rear, Xue Hui naturally noticed the ratmen’s forward skirmish.
“Tell Gautrek and his charge corps to move up and help Wu Fan!”
“Yes, sir!”
Soon, Gautrek led five hundred dwarves to reinforce the front.
At the center, just as Wu Fan prepared to order another advance, hundreds more Black Banner soldiers emerged on both flanks of his formation.
Their intention was clear: with minimal losses, completely wipe out the three-hundred-strong ragtag force.
The Black Banner spearmen on both sides quickly closed in; the hundred or so remaining human conscripts at the center abandoned all thought of fighting, tossed aside their weapons, and fled.
But One-Eye Sneech would not let them escape—he ordered the archers on both flanks to open fire freely, picking off the deserters one by one.
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In less than ten minutes, half of the three hundred were gone; the rest scattered in all directions.
One-Eye Sneech’s adjutant, Hank, came up beside him and remarked,
“These humans are feeble, aren’t they? If this is all they’ve got, the chief needn’t go to such trouble, treating them as a grave threat.”
One-Eye Sneech shook his head.
“These are just the expendable scouts in the vanguard—they’re here to die, nothing more. The real main force is behind.”
He gestured toward Gautrek’s position.
“That’s the real core—clearly a different caliber.”
“Don’t get bogged down—prepare to withdraw!”
“Understood!”
With that, One-Eye turned and left.
The Black Banner army didn’t linger, withdrawing when they were still a hundred meters from Gautrek’s advancing forces.
In barely twenty minutes, the original three hundred of the central vanguard were reduced to only thirty-three, half of them gravely wounded.
Wu Fan felt as if his lungs would burst with rage, but there was nothing he could do—his troops were utterly useless. The battle in the center was over, the ratmen had withdrawn, and the supporting wings had yet to arrive...
Xue Hui, riding his mountain goat at the head of his men, passed over the corpses left by the fallen conscripts, his heart unmoved.
“Tell Gautrek to keep on the heels of the retreating ratmen—just keep pressure on, but don’t pursue recklessly. There’s bound to be more ambushes ahead!”
...
He finished and walked over to clap Wu Fan on the shoulder.
“Get your head straight. What does it look like for the commander to be so downcast in front of the troops?”
“The battle has only just begun. Pull yourself together and keep your spirits up—there’ll be plenty of chances for you to show your worth.”
“Understood, big brother!”
With Xue Hui’s words of comfort, Wu Fan’s mood lightened considerably. He composed himself and continued to lead his conscript legion forward...