Chapter 448: Sinking

Zhao Yun ducked low as the enemy mount’s trunk swung in his direction. He raised his spear to stab in to the flank of the giant creature, the sharp tip piercing the thick hide of the Elephants skin, before he dragged it across and removed it as the Elephant reared in pain. Above him the rider directed the enraged creature forwards towards the Eruthros wall, struggling to control the giant beast in it’s enraged state. Whilst the Archers and Spearmen above aimed at the Cavalry that swarmed through the Elephant line, they held on with the straps that tied them to the giant saddle that held them all, whilst Zhao Yun’s men tried to avoid any projectiles coming towards them.

After the first Elephants, came the second line, he avoided a clash in the second line himself as the Elephants were placed in the gaps between the forward line. He looked around him as he charged through though, seeing a rider down the line to the right of him being caught by a tusk of a swaying Elephant, lifting him high in to the air off his horse before he fell beneath the hooves of the Elephant and the following charging Cavalry.

"A new recruit." Masistius commented in frustration at the loss, as he noticed the same sight to the right of them. His General had intended to take the charge of the right flank in this attack, but Zhao Yun hadn’t dismissed him yet in that direction so they could plan quick counter measures to what ever was beyond before they moved on.

An arrow flew past them at this point from the same Elephant, missing Masistius by a tails width and by some miracle landing in the ground between the horses that charged forwards. Zhao Yun ignored the arrows flying by them, keeping his head forwards as he looked at the new sight in front of him.

Beyond the Elephants was a gap of around sixty metres, before a densely packed line of enemy infantry came forwards, holding shields and short spears. Zhao Yun’s men struggled to regroup in to their wedge formation and they swarmed around the Elephants, and worry hit him as he directed his men to the spear tips that were facing them. Zhao Yun was prepared to charge straight in to the enemy lines regardless, his men knowing their role and the impact it would have on the battlefield.

"Wheel South!" Zhao Yun heard as horns sounded from their Southern Flank where Subutai’s unit unleashed a barrage of arrows on the enemy front lines, with only his best Archers aiming at the Elephants that were on the southern part of the enemy formation. He turned his own horse south, past the enemy lines, knowing that they had a limited time frame to avoid the enemy spears. Part of him was frustrated that they had charged straight through, not knowing what the enemies were, and intended to redeem himself quickly with another attack. Thankfully the enemy had left a large enough gap to react to their own Elephants reactions and it gave enough space for the Cavalry to avoid engagement with them.

"Have our light cavalry strike their rear!" Masistius shouted to Zhao Yun from near him, pointing at the Charging Elephants as most of the Cavalry passed through. Zhao Yun couldn’t see the damage of the brief charge, but some of the Elephants were collapsing and there were riderless horses amongst the mass of his men.

"Do it!" Zhao Yun replied, a tinge of anger in his voice at the thought of the losses, as Masistius shouted some orders of his own, a group of his Cavalry turned through the mass crowd and charged to the rear of the elephants, aiming for the rear of the ankles and to strike a line down their rear as they all headed to the south to avoid the oncoming Infantry.

.....

Ling Tong directed his ship forwards as they followed in the wake of the second group of enemy transport ships. Gan Ning had got a message to them, that they couldn’t cross until further up the River as there was more enemy ships. As soon as they passed, Ling Tong knew it was there time, the enemy forces were on the far bank, with towering Elephants and another few thousand Warriors marching in unison. He also noticed some Riders amongst them, with a carriage being pulled at the rear.

He had already dispatched Centurion Hector with a warning and hoped he would reach them in time, but for now, his mission was to sink these enemy ships and cause more chaos in the Calm River. Beneath him, the Titanaconda unit swam, hiding amongst the small Doujian ships that were unleashing Bolts from their crossbows at the enemy ships in front of them.

He watched as they dived, their drivers having swim bladders full of air that could keep them underwater for a longer period than they could breath themselves, as well as long hollow sticks if they needed to wait in ambush underwater. They swam towards the bellies of the enemy ships, to use their tools to create openings and sink them before they were even engaged.

The initial battle further down the River was coming to a conclusion, with the first wave of Transport ships having been sank, or at least pushed in to difficult locations to slow any further approaches. Ling Tong knew his men would have performed well and that the Trireme from Xanthippus would have easily dispatched the other ships. However he wanted to get rid of this second group quickly so he could try and locate Gan Ning himself behind the enemies lines.

Something in the back of his mind was worried about his fellow General’s attack. The enemy had clearly brought a lot more men that they had expected, and whilst the Lazarus Kingdom forces were vast and the terrain was in their favour. He still worried as Gan Ning and his small force were clearly separated from any nearby allies in terrain that they still hadn’t explored as a Kingdom.

"Brace!" The Captain of his Doujian shouted, a leader of the small crew on the small fast attack boat. His crew held themselves against the sides as the Doujian heavily banged in to the back of one of the transport ships, a Titanaconda near to them cutting holes in to the side of the ship with a serrated blade, his trident on his back.

"Attack!" Ling Tong shouted as he threw a rope with an metal hook across the top of the enemy Transport Ship, the ships around him doing the same thing as they began to swarm aboard.

He climbed first, jumping on to the ships deck in the heavy rain, his sword in his hand as he cut down the first enemy that came towards him. The enemy had dark brown skin and a light spear and wooden shield. Ling Tong kicked the enemies shield, before slashing in to his extended spear arm as the enemy tried to balance himself, with his sword, taking the arm just above the elbow. A heavy stream of blood poured out as the enemy screamed a glutaral scream. He dropped his shield to grab his stump, but Ling Tong cut again, taking the man’s head as he fell back, his blood pumping out and making the already wet floor even wetter.

More of Ling Tong’s men appeared around him, cutting a deadly path through the enemies ship as it slowly began to tilt in the water. The Enemy were unsure what was happening, trying to defend themselves as they began loosing balance. However Ling Tong’s men were used to the waves of the River’s in their original home and fighting on uneven water was when they fought best. They continued to run down the deck of the ship, killing all they could see, with the aim to make sure that any that were in the bowels of the ship could not reach the surface.

"Over here!" One of his men shouted, pointing towards one of the entrances to the staircases below. Ling Tong nodded in response, as oil was poured on to it as men tried to fight their way up it, before another of his men threw a torch that was still lit even in the heavy downpour.

...

"Keep the Tent protected!" Chariovalda shouted as Gan Ning dismounted and ran inside, he knew that it was a risk to be in here, the enemies closing in and his men wouldn’t have long to hold them back before they were encircled and they would begin taking losses that they didn’t need to take.

The enemy Command Tent had several guards around it, all heavily armoured Celt who were cut down by the Batavi Horseman without a chance to respond. His own men were now circling the tent, setting everything that surrounded it on fire to create an easier place to defend, before they would push further in to the camp, before breaking free and either retreating via their entrance on the River or to the east where the enemy were currently attacking Eruthros.

Gan Ning stepped in to the tent with three of his own guard, quickly rolling and dodging a downward strike from an enemy guard that was in side the Command Tent, clearly hiding or preparing to ambush and protect the contents inside. One of the Batavi Emperors Guard who had travelled with them as his own body guard, quickly slashed at the enemy with his powerful axe, cutting him in half as the other Batavi that had dismounted with him quickly spread around the camp and cut down the other enemies within.

Gan Ning walked to the centre, ignoring the carnage as he recovered from his roll. In the middle was a round table with a map on it, surrounded by five chairs. Each chair had a different coloured cover, with a flag behind it. Gan Ning looked at the five flags, not recognising any of them at first. It took him a few moments to recognise one as he shouted one of his guards to roll up the map to take with them. He signalled another to grab any of the paper work that they could find around the room, whilst another was grabbing the flags to take with them, so they could work out who their enemies were.

"Wait!" Gan Ning said as he grabbed the second one, the picture of a religious symbol he had recently on some of the newly arrived Trireme with the Grand Harbour of Serenity. He also recognised the fourth one, it was a simple green square with the a word written in calligraphy that he recognised as Five Creeks Wuling. He felt his head ache as he read the words, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath as if there was a danger to this flag.

"General, we have some plans of attack written here." One of the Guards said as he rolled some parchment and put it in to a pouch within his armour.

"The Map doesn’t show all of our Kingdom, it only shows a few of over northern cities!" The one rolling the map said, as Chariovalda shouted them to hurry from outside.

Gan Ning walked out his head swarming with thoughts as they quickly mounted, the Batavi Emperors Guard setting the Command Tent on fire as he also mounted. Gan Ning looked around the enemy camp, seeing hundreds of figures running towards them from the different directions. He closed his eyes and exhaled as he came to a decision.

"We head east, towards the enemies rear. We need to get back to our lines the quickest way. We shall flank south and try to avoid the enemies outer scouts. If anyone gets in our way, we cut them down!" He ordered, before kicking the sides of his horse and spurring it on to charge forwards towards the nearest of the enemies open gates.