"I want the Fort's Ballista ready to launch Bolts as soon as possible, get word to Xanthippus to make sure the Louchuan is disengaged from the Naval Battle as we need to strike the flanks of these beasts." Xun You ordered his Aide, the Flags waved for one moment, whilst another Aide ran down to pass on orders via horse. "Get our men in formation, I want Pilum replaced and word sent to Xun Yu and Ptolemy to send up more immediately. Our second lines need to be ready to engage."
Dom watched as the Cavalry swarmed through the enemy Elephants in the heavy downpour. He saw a horse tumble under an Elephant. Whilst another Elephant was panicking and trying to turn to away from the Horses charging towards it, as it veered in to the path of another Elephant that was beside it. Another Elephant had fallen to it's knees, with it's dying bellow striking fear in to the surrounding Horses and Elephants that swarmed around it. The Cavalry flanked south as they passed through the Elephant lines, with Dom now seeing the mass of enemies marching towards him clearer. Those that had been pushing against his forces earlier were running from the Battle to the south themselves, clearing way for the second wave of their forces which seemed to be the main part of the army.
"Zhao Yun is getting his men away from the enemy Infantry. They need to regroup and strike the flanks and rear as the enemy approach. There is enough dead beneath our walls that the Elephants will be able to charge straight through." Xun You commented to Dom as he looked down at the men below. He then turned to one of his Aides and quickly sent an order. "Have a report from Pausanias and Huang Zhong sent to me on the two Gates, I want to make sure they are defensible before I make my next choice, we do not have long so hurry!"
The Aide ran down the Tower stairs, shouting orders to the riders who quickly sped towards the two Generals who were having men attempt to fix the gates. Dom could see Pausanias himself with an honour guard inspecting the damage as some Legionaries tried to move the damaged gates. They seemed to be struggling, but the General stood calmly in front of his section as if it meant nothing to him regardless. Dom could see the clear headedness of the Spartan General and knew that his side of the wall would fight to the last if it was needed, which he doubted.
Dom watched as one of the Messengers came to a halt on his horse beside Pausanias and his men, the two conversed for a moment, before Pausanias passed some orders back. It was hard to see fully, but Xun You acknowledge the response. He seemed to pause for a moment, before looking towards Huang Zhong's location in the south. Dom couldn't see the old General himself, but knew he would be reminding his men of the basics, or discussing tactics with his other Generals in his part of the wall.
Xun You then turned to his Aide again, with the others running up and down as they passed on more messages to messengers who waited below, a plan formed in his head. "Have our men pull back behind the Towers, I want the Hoplite in the front row with their Spears. The enemy may break through our wall with the Elephants, but the Elephants and men behind will have a nasty surprise. I want the Legionaries behind them, ready to rotate in when the enemy break through in it's entirety. Also, have instructions sent for the Archers to prepare themselves to launch, once launched I want them to target any openings in the wall. The more their fingers bleed, the greater the rewards."
Dom turned to his Strategist, seeing the glint in his eyes of enjoyment. Dom wasn't sure enjoyment was how he felt seeing the new force arriving, the majority of their ambush tactics already being brought out during the initial clash with the Vanguard. Xun You had an air of confidence around him, the rain even heavier now as the day progressed onwards.
"Good." Xun You commented to himself, as Dom watched the Cavalry disappear to the south, as if fleeing from the Battle. Dom had expected them to come straight back in to the enemies flank, but Subutai had clearly decided on a different tactic and Xun You was acknowledging it. "We will have a tough moment at first, but as long as there is not a third wave, victory will be ours."
"What do we do now?" Dom asked, for a moment he imagined what his parents must have experienced when they were both Commanders in their own lives. Watching the carnage and having to take a step back from the Battle itself to move all of the little pieces.
"I would say this is the time our men need to see their King. Morale is good, but keep it high and do not needlessly engage the enemy yourself. Trust in our men and trust in their training and we will have pushed them back before night fall." Xun You replied, as he put his hand out to feel the heavy rain through his fingers. He turned to Dom and then one of his Aide's who had climbed the stairs again. "The enemy will be tired, cold and wet when they get here. The weather has been our friend today. Pass word to Xun Yu and Ptolemy, I want warm food ready to be handed out to our men when they rotate the lines."
Dom headed down the stairs with Actumerus, towards his Sabre Tooth Tiger Imperator. He climbed on to the back of the large Tiger, his guards also climbing on their own mounts as Dom headed south of the wall towards Huang Zhong's area, intending to ride up and down the lines in the remaining few minutes they had before the Elephants and following Infantry engaged the Eruthros Wall.
...
"Masistius and I will draw their Cavalry away. We will take them towards the Red Hare Valley again and deal with them there. You head West and strike the enemies rear guard, weaken them and stop their retreat. We will both then return and strike the enemy in the rear and flank together." Subutai explained to Zhao Yun, the two of them riding together as their units merged as they left the Battlefield.
Zhao Yun had been reluctant to charge the enemy spears and was grateful for Subutai's order to pull away, but the sight of the enemies Cavalry had made him realise the other reason behind it. They outnumbered the enemy Cavalry, they had around two thousand compared to the closer to three that the Lazarus Kingdom had, but a direct head on clash would have shrunk both of their numbers and made the advantage of the Cavalry disappear. Zhao Yun could also tell that Subutai was reluctant to waste his best resource as the senior General.
"Will you be fine?" Zhao Yun asked, he was taking half of the Cavalry with him, it would probably draw some of the enemy away with them, but he was leaving Subutai with the hardest challenge of drawing the main enemy Cavalry away and then dealing with them without substantial losses.
"We will be, leave in batches so they only send small numbers after you. Whilst the land is unexplored, it is mainly plains as far as we can see, make sure to gather sufficient numbers before you hit their rear guard. We will not be far behind you." Subutai commanded, before grinning slightly as he patted his side where he still had plenty of arrows. "I have surprises arranged for those stupid enough to follow us."
Zhao Yun nodded as he shouted orders to one of his Centurions to take his unit and leave first. A group of White Armoured Horseman soon left the formation and headed South West whilst the rest headed West. Zhao Yun could see behind him a small unit of enemies also left their formation to follow, but had trust that his men were not only faster, but also more elite.
For the next five minutes as they fled, more and more of Zhao Yun's men, either his own White Cavalry or some of the Boatians that had been assigned to him, left the formation and headed towards the South West, before he also departed himself with a small honour guard around him. He turned as saw that Subutai was heading directly through the Red Hare Valley now and the majority of the enemy were still following the mass with Subutai.
"Good luck General." Zhao Yun whispered as he urged his horse on, knowing that his own task was key in securing the victory today.
...
When Dom had arrived at Huang Zhong's part of the wall, the sound of fighting could be heard further south within the Red Hare Valley Mountain that was connected to the Eruthros Wall. The main sound was screams and roars of anger, as well as the clash of blades and the shouts of orders. The rest of Huang Zhong's forces were moving to take positions under the new formations that Xun You had ordered, and the General himself had seemed calm of the situation.
"Tomoe has it under control." Huang Zhong had said, before Dom had departed further south himself to investigate, his small unit of mounted guards following as he rode down the lines, between the Hoplite and the Wall itself. The Sabre Tooth Tigers were leaving large footprint as they ran, their feet squelching in the water soaked ground.
The sounds of the Elephants closing could be heard as the ground shook even harder under them and Dom heard the first twangs as arrows were released by the Archers over the walls towards the field of death beyond the wall where the Elephants were now charging through. Dom knew it would be minutes at the most before the giant Animals crashed in to the Wall or charged through the gates broken beyond belief in the initial attack from the enemy Vanguard. Soon behind them would come the enemies infantry, thousands of them to break against the Spears and Swords of the Lazarus Kingdom.
Dom soon arrived towards the edge of the wall, where the initial fleeing Vanguard had come across the forces of Tomoe hidden amongst the Forest on the Mountain itself. Dom had assumed the enemy would have fled West towards their own lines, but with his own Cavalry their as a barrier they had to flee south instead. The Cavalry were themselves fleeing south, so as to not be caught under Dom's forces, they had tried to pass through the Mountains where Tomoe's unit had laid traps and made the Forest a place of death.
Dom found Centurion Macro and a unit of Legionaries at the Walls Edge, waiting patiently for their call to join in the Battle. Macro was one of Dom's first Legionaries and had shown a level of ingenuity that would have been ideal in the Civilian Branch of the Kingdom if he wasn't so good at his actual job.
"Where is General Tomoe?" Dom asked, having expected the General to have been in this location herself.
"Slaughtering the fools that enter. I pride myself on my skills as a Legionary and my men are all trained Romans merged from the First and Ninth. We are the best of what Rome can offer and will defend this wall to our last if needs be. However, after seeing the traps created by the three Wu Dang Centuries and the blood lust in the eyes of the Skiritae, I feel our need at this position is pointless." Centurion Macro replied honestly with a sigh. Around six hundred of Dom's forces were hidden within the Mountain beyond and the echo of screams and death cries passed through the Valley itself and to the battlefield beyond on the wind.