"The priority is the redistribution of Warriors and our Fleets." Zhou Yu began as Dom looked at the Map, surrounded by Generals new and old. Sun Ce wasn't there as he had taken Zhang Zhao and Lu Su to Serenity with Sun Shangxiang, and Gan Ning wasn't there as he had been sent as a representative to show Khaemweset and General Tau around Riverside, the Bodies of the Type 2's and 3's and then to the Underground Ancient Kingdom to the south. "Before we begin, Su Fei has an update of his own."
"I had dispatched our Louchuan to Riverside for the Kingdom founding and have passed temporary control to Ling Tong for this upcoming battle, however I can't spare any more ships at the moment." Su Fei began. Su Fei was Gan Ning's close friend and the Mayor of Renatus, as well as being a Naval General in his own right. "Fort Bronze and Santa Bronce to the north of Tongpai Lake have both increased their own activities recently. We are not sure if that is to fight against each other, ourselves or a potential enemy to the north that they have been dealing with. Regardless, with the loss of our biggest piece in the Lake, I can't afford to lose any more ships. Ideally I need some more Trireme being sent as a fast acting threat."
"Trouble in the North would not be ideal, with a new enemy to our West and Papaver to the far South, we are already having to defend on multiple fronts." Xun You replied, stroking his chin as he looked towards the map. "We do have new Trireme, but these are needed to defend our Ports and join Gan Ning in facing against the Papaver in the south."
"We can send two of the Persian Trireme to you, we have some that fully surrendered and we can mix their crews with those already on Tongpai Lake." Zhou Yu stated after looking at some parchment that was in his hand. He then turned to Mardontes, the Persian Admiral. "Can you recommend two?"
"I will have a message sent to their Captains and have them move to the Lake later today." Mardontes replied. Mardontes had an insignia on his shoulder of a Red Feather. Dom hadn't seen it before, but then when he looked across some of the other Generals, he saw that others had some matching insignia's on them. Some had Horses, Wolves or Tigers on them, signifying which Army they were assigned to. The Red Feather was most likely the emblem of Gan Ning's Navy, which meant that whilst Dom had been gone, Mardontes had been assigned to Gan Ning's fleet. Gan Ning's fleet would be the largest as it was the main Sea Fleet, so it made sense to Dom that Mardontes would join him.
"I will travel with them when they return." Su Fei said, nodding his head in thanks to Zhou Yu and Mardontes.
"As well as the Louchuan from Su Fei, I have also taken Xanthippus's ships and will be sending them to support Ling Tong. Ling Tong's River Fleet can cause trouble, but the addition of the Trireme will give him some power to back his flexibility." Zhou Yu continued, as Xanthippus who was stood with Pausanias and Nicomedes also nodded his head. Xanthippus could potentially become the Admiral of the Sea, but his current role would be to integrate the new Cities and defend the North of the Sea between Kos and Megara. The damaged Quinquereme from GeneralSlaughter would become Xanthippus's flagship once it was fully repaired. "Ling Tong departed earlier to begin scouting ahead, Gan Ning will join him tomorrow once the guests have left and take some of his elites as they have seen the most battle so far. Mardontes will head south to cover for Gan Ning in his absence."
Dom could see that Zhou Yu had put a lot of trust in the new Persian Admiral, but the fleet under Gan Ning's command was fiercely loyal to Dom, especially the Warriors and the Titanaconda Riders. The advantage was that whilst the fleet were loyal to Dom and Gan Ning, Mardontes had actual experience with directing Trireme in Battle and could train them as they guarded the Southern Coast from Vindictus to Elpis.
"Tomyris, I will need you to begin your Western Campaign in advance. We need to know what else is out there and how we weren't aware of an enemy coming to our gates again." Xun You stated, taking over from Zhou Yu, before turning to Andrew who was stood slightly shell shocked in the meeting of such a large scale. "I have high expectations of you to support on this."
"The Tunnels are ready to be opened and my forces have been training in covert warfare since the founding of Nakbe, we are ready." Tomyris replied confidently as Andrew nodded beside her, not knowing why he had been signalled out in the meeting, but Dom suspected he had now been put in Xun You's mental corner of trouble causer due to him drinking and dancing with Sun Ce and Gan Ning the night before.
"We have also taken a large number of our fast Cavalry from the Southern Tiger Army. General Zhao Yun will be leading five hundred of his White Horse Cavalry at Eruthros, as well as the Female Horse Lancers. I sent orders yesterday evening for them to be moved. Our new arrival Masistius has been training the Boatian Cavalry that arrived and training other Hoplite to join them. They will be dispatched to Eruthros in two days when I believe they will be ready enough to fight. We have also moved five hundred of our Horse Archers and will send our new unit of Cataphract Archers there as well." Xun You explained as Zhao Yun and Masistius nodded. "This should give us over three thousand Cavalry as a starting point. Once we are aware of the enemies position and strength, I will send the Batavi Cavalry on ships to the North shore of the Calm River to see if they can find a good ambush point."
"That sounds like something General Gan Ning will want to lead." Zhou Yu put forwards, with Subutai nodding in agreement.
"We can also dispatch some Wu Dang Archers to the Red Hare Valley to make that location a painful place to try and flank us." Subutai replied, with nods of agreement from the other Generals.
"Whilst we aren't aware of the enemy numbers, this is the most Cavalry we can pull without exposing ourselves to the South which is still a huge unknown for us, as well as the unexplored South West." Xun You commented, before pointing at the map again. "Eruthros has the Calm River on it's north, the Red Hare Valley to it's south and a solid palisade wall being built to connect the two. Beyond that is open plains and the occasional bunching of groves or thickets of trees. The land is ideal for our Cavalry if we decide to leave Eruthros and bring the fight to them."
"I do have a plan, but let's outline the Infantry first." Subutai laughed as everyone had turned to him when the numbers of Cavalry had been announced.
"Between General Cheng Pu, Liao Hua and Tomoe, we have been able to redistribute three Cohorts of trained Legionaries. These are primarily made from the Roman Legionaries and those that have been retrained with enough experience. We also have three Cohorts of newer Legionaries from Huang Zhong that will be arriving. This will take us to nearly three thousand Legionaries. These six Cohorts will be under General Huang Zhong and General Tomoe. Due to the situation on both South and North borders, General Cheng Pu and Liao Hua need to move back to these areas." Xun You continued as Dom listened to the numbers being moved quickly to defend one of their newest Cities. "Pausanias will also take two thousand of the newly arrived Hoplite with Nicomedes. We will also be sending seven hundred Archers, mainly the Han Archers that have been retraining and some of the Forbidden Guard. So in total nearly six thousand Infantry."
"So over Nine thousand Warriors and the reinforced River Fleet." Dom commented as everyone looked at him in silence, as if their King's words could change the direction of the conversation. But Dom was just surprised they were able to move so much of their forces. Dom checked the system and saw that they had over fourteen thousand Warriors in Riverside now, not including the Sailors. "I am confident."
"And so we should be." Subutai agreed, as everyone calmed. "Once Ling Tong has discovered the enemy and scouted their size we will have a better idea. I have a tactic that should allow us to win with minimal losses. I have used it several times before and as long as their Cavalry aren't as fast as ours or have the range, we should be able to thin them and stretch their lines."
"Is this your fake retreat tactic?" Xun You asked him, as a lot of the Generals turned to Subutai. Most were not aware of his impact in history unless they had heard from those that had been in Riverside for a while, but everyone respected his position as the Supreme General, an earnt position and not one given due to past relationships with Dom.
"It is, it is just a shame that we don't have longer to prepare. I intend to depart today and meet up with the Cavalry at hand. My Horse Archers will do most of the heavy work, everyone else will need to be ready." Subutai grinned as Dom knew a lot about Subutai's Fake Retreat tactic. He had once retreated for two hundred miles, completely thinning the enemies lines over that long distance, before ambushing them finally at a prearranged point.
"General Subutai is of course in charge of the overall Battle, but as he will be engaged with his tactic that role will fall to me. Look for my orders on the day." Xun You declared as he then turned to all of the gathered Generals. "General Zhao Yun will be in charge of the Cavalry with Masistius acting as his second, Megabyzus will be in support. General Huang Zhong will be in charge of the Legionaries with Tomoe as his deputy, Penthesilia will also support. General Pausanias will be in charge of the Hoplite, with Nicomedes and Arimnestos as his deputies. General Sun Ce will lead the Archers. As Admiral Ling Tong will be scouting and Admiral Gan Ning will be looking at Ambush points, that means that Admiral Xanthippus will be in temporary charge of the main force of the River Fleet. All other Generals and Mayors are to return to their locations and be on extra guard due to your reduced forces. Are there any questions?"
There was silence as everyone waited for Dom to speak first, but Dom listened to the names that were mentioned and the numbers of Warriors and felt that this was lining up to be the biggest Battle his forces had ever fully been involved in. He felt it was a shame that some of the other Generals wouldn't be available, as Heroes like Qin Ming, Hua Rong, the Halberd Twins and even his senior Heroes like Tomyris, Cheng Pu and Liao Hua were all busy defending the borders.
"With our forces and you as my Generals, I have full confidence in this plan." Dom stated confidently, knowing that if they couldn't defend Eruthros, then his Kingdom would be over before it even had chance to start. He looked at Andrew and could see the same look in his face, they didn't want to be the first Kingdom to launch and for it to also be the first to fail. There was silence for a few moments, before Nicomedes asked about food provisions and Xun You responded. A few other Generals began asking other questions about resources, unit movements and Dom listened in for a while, learning from some of the most experienced Generals in History.