The Pursue and Attack (Part II)
The Pursue and Attack (Part II)
Marching at night would be dangerous. They would be easily attacked by wild beasts and snakes without being able to see the road clearly. Besides, it would be easy to lose bearing and get lost, while torchlight would attract wild beasts. That was why Roland had to wait until the next day at dawn to have the troop march and follow the duke's army.
To ensure the success of this plan, Prince Roland decided to follow the First Army in person. Of course, he chose to stay on the Littletown instead of ridding horses on bumpy roads.
After a half month of training, Hummingbird could already stabilize timing for light fraction conversion of the 12-pound cannon. Considering a longer enchantment process, Roland ordered Hummingbird to convert the cannons at dawn. He hoped that the first cannon would take the longest time for conversion and the time would gradually lessen with each subsequent cannon.
Benefitting from Hummingbird's ability, the Littletown could load four cannons and all the mortar team members on a trip. The large concrete boat was occupied by people, besides the cannon team and Roland, the rest of the members on the boat were Anna, Nightingale, Nana, Leaf, Echo, Hummingbird, Tigui Pine and Wendy who was responsible for providing the power along with Brian who was working as the captain.
It could be said that except those not good at combat such as Scroll, Soraya, Lily and Mystery Moon, almost all the witches in Border Town participated in. Initially, Anna did not need to fight on the battlefield. However, Roland could not refuse when he saw the determination in Anna's eyes.
The land army was the flintlock troop of the First Army and was directed by the Chief Knight Carter and Iron Axe. Lightning took responsibility for locating and tracking. The group of people quietly followed the enemies. Their distance was outside of the investigation zone of the enemy's scouts. Once Lightning found any activities of the scouts, the troop would stop marching. They captured many lost mercenaries and freedmen along the way. However, they could not deal with these surrendered enemies and so Roland had them disarmed and brought them along.
It was the first time that Roland had led "a huge army" to conquer the enemy. Standing at the front of the Littletown and feeling the wind that was blowing on his face, Roland felt quite motivated.
"What makes you so happy?" Anna suddenly appeared beside him and asked.
"Umm..." Roland took back his smile. "Nothing at all."
"Really?" Anna handed her handkerchief to Roland. "Wipe your saliva."
"..." Roland suddenly felt a compulsion to jump into a river. "Thanks."
It was already sunset when Lightning reported that the enemy had set up its base camp. Compared with the relentless investigations when coming, the Coalition was demoralized heavily after such a total defeat. The moment it was just sunset, the scouting knights ran back to the camp, afraid to miss the horse meat at night.
Roland's troop camped beside the lake two kilometers away from the duke's army.
They were not discovered so the annihilation plan was already halfway successful.
Next, they only had to wait to besiege the enemy before their departure.
This was the first time that Roland had camped overnight in the wild. Compared with the camp that was full of insects, he would rather choose to sleep on the boat. The wooden shed where cannons were placed was emptied and the members of the mortar team took the 12-pound cannons off to rest in the camp. The Littletown became the temporary palace for the prince. Except Roland, all the other witches would also sleep over on the boat. Everyone covered the tent with blankets and lay down side by side.
Roland wanted to avoid the situation. However, he found that the witches paid no attention at all. Except Anna, they had all experienced some degree of hardship. In the days of wandering, it was normal to spend a night in the wilderness. Soon, everyone fell asleep except Roland and Anna who found themselves sleepless. The former was because he was used to a soft bed and was unaccustomed to a hard bunk bed, but the latter with her unknown thoughts, was staring at Roland. Every time the prince turned his head, Anna would close her eyes immediately and pretend that she was asleep. However, against the moonlight, her eyelashes were shaking slightly. If Roland was not afraid to disturb the others, he really wanted to pinch Anna's small nose, force her to open her eyes and hug her in his arms.
It was a sleepless night for both of them.
It was not yet dawn, but Roland had already started his annihilation plan. 270 infantries with flintlocks would be separated into two teams. One of the teams would take two cannons to the back side of the duke's army through the Littletown and finish the defense line from one kilometer away. Lightning was responsible for monitoring the movements of the duke. After the cannons were set up, she would make signals and the other team led by Carter which would launch an attack from the front.
The unified transportation by concrete boat avoided the possibility of separation. After Nightingale went into the Mist, her black and white view could be used as a night vision appliance. As the pilot, she could help the Littletown to sail at night.
After they practiced the process many times, everyone knew their responsibilities very well. Wendy boosted the wind power so that the Littletown was able to transport all the members to the back side smoothly. After two hours, the interception team led by Iron Axe was all set. Then Lightning flew to the top of Carter's camp and showed an orange flag.
It was just dawn.
The annihilation plan had just begun.
Because Echo was assigned to the back side, the members of the flintlock team who were assigned to attack in the front did not need to move. All they had to do was to line up and protect the two cannons. The 12-pound cannons were pushed onto the battlefield and were fired toward the enemy's camp. At this time, the duke's army was still asleep.
With the roaring noise of cannons, the solid shells went straight to the enemy's camp. The knights and mercenaries, who just now realized the situation, rushed out of the tents but to find that the First Army had already lined up and was waiting. With the previous disastrous experience, no one dared to challenge this seemingly weak defensive line and all fled to the east.
However, Iron Axe had been waiting in the backside for a long time.
When enemies appeared, it was finally the closing time for this annihilation plan.
With the reverberating marching music, the 150 members of the First Army lined up in. To impose pressure on the duke's army, the enemies would have soon abandoned their mounts and fled through the forest.
Duke Ryan was in a state of desperation. He could not understand how Roland's army appeared behind them.
Recognize the failure and surrender? He did not know how Roland Wimbledon would treat a duke that dared to attack the royal family. Perhaps he would be imprisoned or exiled, or more likely sent to the scaffold. Regardless of the choices, Longsong Stronghold would have nothing to do with him.
Roland's troop came closer and closer to him, so did Roland's formidable weapon that roared and shone from time to time. The duke knew that if he did not run now, he would not have the chance anymore. He only had 30 members left with him and this was his last resort.
"They couldn't stop us with their small troop," Duke shouted, "and as long as we cross over that line, they won't catch us without any transportation means. It would only take us half a day to arrive Longsong Stronghold! My knights! Follow me!"
Then duke started to command the mount to enhance its speed. However, not everyone had the mindset to fight regardless of their lives. He had only 10 people including his guards with him but he could not care too much at this point.
The marching music suddenly stopped.
Roland's troop stopped their march in a good order and stood before the duke like a wall.
Then the duke saw the troop raise their short wooden sticks.
When duke was only 100 steps away from that defensive wall, a range of noises blasted. He felt a shock on his breast and his stomach as if he was stricken by a massive hammer. Then he felt a feeling of paralysis and powerlessness. He leaned backward and fell from his horse to the ground.
The duke wanted to say something but could not make any noise. He coughed and smelled a strong scent of blood. The sticky liquid blocked his throat. Soon, darkness engulfed him.