Firstborn: Return of the heir - Chapter 42
In theory, it was unwise for Saulus to risk his own skin in a small skirmish like this. His sword alone was far from making any kind of difference in the fight, especially with how he managed to momentarily create an overwhelming advantage. But those soldiers of the enemy, those cavalrymen that had caused so many losses to the second legion already…
They had to witness his presence, his banner and his wrath before escaping and spreading the news!
“Attack!”
Shouting at the top of his lungs, Saulus dashed forward. Given the relatively minor scale of the skirmish, he didn’t really have anything to worry about. Unless some insanely unlucky hit found its way through the gaps in his armor, there was hardly any chance of him getting injured, not to mention sustaining lethal wounds.
“Follow the general!”
Obeying the previous agreement, the legionaries didn’t hold back their shouts either. In the end, this entire plan wasn’t about defeating a single unit of the enemy skirmishers but sending the message back to their main camp.
In just a few moments, Saulus’ unit crashed into the mix of bloodied human bodies. There was hardly anyone left in the saddle. Only about half of Saulus’ bodyguards managed to remain atop their mounts, spreading destruction to anyone unlucky enough to appear beside them. Out of the enemy soldiers, only a few at most could still overlook the fight from the level of their saddles.
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“Kill them all!”
“For the General!”
“No mercy!”
Soon, what was initially a pretty organized fight, turned into the typical chaos of a proper battlefield. Rather than keeping the formation, both sides split apart. Thankfully, the great numerical advantage on Saulus’ side quickly turned the tide of the skirmish, forcing the enemy into a retreat.
“Give chase! We can’t let them escape!”
As soon as the first of the enemy soldiers started to flee, Saulus shouted as loudly as he could. Announcing the fact that the fight was already won should serve a productive effect; the enemy learning that now was the time to escape. That is, if Saulus had ever planned on keeping the news of his arrival hidden!
“Retreat! Retreat!”
Mixing with Saulus’ voice, the desperate orders of the commander of the enemy unit sprung the remaining soldiers from the South into a decisive retreat. With only a few people remaining in the saddle, Saulus played along for a moment before recalling his troops back to his side.
“Okay, we don’t have much time. Beneth, it’s your turn now.”
Once the field where the skirmish took place cleared out, the entire area exploded with human activity. All across the entire line of fortifications, men would run towards the ditches to pull out the materials stored at their bottoms. Others would dislodge the barricades that protected the front of the ditches and move them to the side, enclosing the free space between each separate ditch.
“This ruse should buy us some time. How much will depend on what the enemy’s general thinks of our play, but you should have more time than necessary to at least set the defenses for the perimeter. Once you are done with that, you can use it as a cover while reinforcing the deeper defenses.”
Instead of organizing the urgent work himself, Saulus advised the new commander of the frontline before turning his back and moving towards the safety of the camp. Taking part in the fight had already been enough of a huge risk, a risk that Venna would surely get angry for once she learned about it. For the sake of his safety within the walls of the capital, Saulus had no other choice but to turn tail.
“It will be done, sir. I already ordered staff to look busy around our backline. With all the movements and bustling, even if the enemy has spies in our camp, they won’t be able to tell that the appearance of reinforcements is nothing but a ruse.”
That was the core of the entire plan. By exposing Saulus’ banner and his face directly to the battlefield and reinforcing this by creating activity within the camp, they could suggest to the enemy that something big was about to happen here. Be it an infusion of fresh forces into the battered frontlines or preparation for a huge-scale attack, southern forces would have to take countermeasures against it.
Saulus bought quite a lot of time for his troops with this plan. Because even if the enemies to the south learned that today’s skirmish was nothing but a ruse, it would still take them quite a while to confirm. And that would allow Beneth to fulfill his urgent mission of reinforcing the joke of the current fortifications and turn them into proper defenses!
“Good. I will be leaving things in your hands then. I have to stay here for yet another night, otherwise there won’t be enough witnesses to my presence. Once things are moving smoothly, you can pay me a visit at headquarters. I will try to devise some emergency tactics for you to implement if the situation suddenly worsens.”
After the near-miss of a total collapse of Saulus’ flank, the young general was unwilling to just let things be as they were. If he wanted to make use of his superior economic situation over his southern enemies, a total stalemate on the front was the one thing he couldn’t risk.
“Sir, if I may…”
Clearly not used to his role yet, Beneth tentatively sought Saulus’ attention.
“Go on.”
Rather than scolding the man for his lack of self-confidence, Saulus blessed him with a gentle smile. It was basically his first day as chief officer. The first day when he would take main responsibility for the fates of all the soldiers on the frontline. Installing some confidence in him with just a smile was a small price to pay for a great result.
“I’m quite positive that the enemies will try to attack once the sun sets. Would you be so kind as to observe how the situation develops during the clash? While I’m sure I can construct the desired defenses properly, I don’t want to lose more men than necessary because of some, even slight oversight.”
Lowering his head despite Saulus’ gentle expression, Beneth asked while tightening his fist. With his face turning slightly more towards the whitish side, his knuckles seemed to tremble a bit.
“Sure thing. We wouldn’t want too many unnecessary losses, would we?”
