Volume 1: The Rise of Elanhill Chapter 0008: Beacon Fire
"Ah!" After a loud yawn, the guards from Seris City stationed on the border looked towards the direction where the sun was rising with sleepy eyes.
The sun was so dazzling that he squinted his eyes and looked away involuntarily. But soon, he realized something and looked towards the eastern horizon again.
"Hey! Hey! Wake up!" He shielded his eyes from the sun with his hands and looked into the distance, while kicking his companions: "Maine's soldiers! So many of Maine's soldiers!"
"Why are you kicking me? Maine's soldiers? Why are they coming to the border for training at this time..." Another sleeping soldier struggled to stand up, and the collision of armor made crisp sounds.
"What did you say, Maine's soldiers? Huh? Damn it! Sound the alarm! Maine is attacking!" Rubbing his eyes and looking in the direction his companion pointed, the soldier who had just been woken up lost all sleepiness and shouted loudly.
"Light the beacon! Quick! Maine is invading!" He immediately lay on the edge of the watchtower and shouted to his companions under the tower: "Light the fire quickly! Quick!"
"Rain of arrows!" Before everyone could react, a volley of arrows flew over from Maine's direction. These arrows fell from the sky and landed on the high watchtower .
"Ah!" Caught off guard, a soldier, his body pierced by arrows, struggled and fell off the platform. Where he fell, Seris's soldiers poured a bucket of black kerosene on the dry firewood.
"Shield! Shield!" Kicking away the arrow shaft stuck in the ground, the officer in charge of the lookout tower drew out his sword, raised up a huge shield, and loudly reminded his men.
The Mayne cavalry had already swarmed in at this time, as numerous as ants. After serving here for three years, it was the first time that the officers of Seris saw so many Mayne soldiers.
Finished... This was the thought in his mind. Beside him, a huge beacon fire had been lit, and the enemy's second round of arrow rain had already fallen. All the soldiers raised their shields.
"Bang!" The Maine soldiers carrying the huge tree began to bang on the gate of the beacon tower. The soldiers on the beacon tower clenched their weapons in fear.
The enemy attacked suddenly, and they had no chance to retreat. When Mayne's soldiers rushed in, they would have no choice but to face death.
"We can't let them put out the beacon fire! Long live Elanhill! Long live Seris!" Looking at the crumbling gate, the officer raised the sword in his hand.
"Kill!" Several lonely soldiers around him raised their shields and blocked the stone stairs leading to the beacon tower, with their sharp swords pointing at the gate.
"Bang!" With a loud noise, the gate of the beacon tower was finally knocked open by the huge tree, and the soldiers of the Principality of Mayne swarmed in. What greeted them were solid shields and sharp swords.
Metal collided with metal, and the first few soldiers of the Principality of Maine who rushed up the stone stairs fell down screaming. More Maine soldiers rushed up with weapons in hand.
The Seris guards fell one after another, and the remaining ones had to retreat back to the stairs. Behind them, the beacon fire had already rolled up to the white clouds, covering the sky and the sun.
At the battlements of the beacon tower, the Mayne soldiers who had climbed up the ladder surrounded the few remaining Serien guards. Soon, the Mayne soldiers overwhelmed their opponents.
When Ensel climbed onto the platform, the blood had not yet dried and solidified. The body of the Seris officer was still lying next to the fire, and the ground was still full of unrecovered feather arrows.
After kicking the corpse, Ensel said with a look of disgust: "Put out this fire! Quickly!"
Behind him, in the direction of the heart of Seris, one black smoke column after another stretched into the distance and disappeared at the end of the horizon.
"Speed up the march! Don't give the Elanhill family any time to react!" Ensel looked down at the body of the Seris officer and ordered with a frown.
…
With an angry expression, Chris pushed open the doors of the meeting room with both hands. Because the force was too great, the two doors hit the walls on both sides with a loud bang.
He was wearing a black armor, and the armor plates on his body collided with each other with his firm steps, making a pleasant rustling sound.
"Maine actually came here to seek death?" As soon as he entered the room, his angry voice echoed off the sorghum, making people's ears buzz.
"Ensel is greedy and treacherous... and he is fighting against us without declaring war! His troops crossed the border yesterday and are probably at the edge of the eastern forest today." Deans said to Chris worriedly.
"General Wagron has already prepared the army. 500 cavalrymen and 500 new troops are ready to set off at any time." Wagron's adjutant stood beside Chris, holding a helmet, and reported on the battle preparedness.
"Let's go immediately! Let's block the enemy at the exit of the eastern forest and have a decisive battle! There we can take advantage of our firepower!" Chris looked at the map and made up his mind to stop the opponent.
Although the enemy had an advantage in terms of manpower, Chris was still confident that he could defeat the enemy. Now he was thinking about how to quickly expand the victory after defeating the enemy.
"Don't let Wageron take part in the battle! Order him to take 300 cavalrymen and 300 new troops, carrying 10 artillery pieces, to take a shortcut to bypass Maine's main force and directly attack Maine Castle!" After thinking for about a second, Chris decided to take a two-pronged approach.
He has no time to waste. It is a more reasonable way to fight to defeat the opponent while seizing the opponent's rear base, expanding his own territory and solving future troubles.
But in this case, Chris's troops facing Ensel head-on were only a pitiful 400 people. Even if the soldiers retreating from Maine were included, Chris's troops would not exceed 500 people.
The enemy is four times as many as Chris! This battle seems to have no suspense: there are battles where the outnumbered side wins, but they rarely happen.
"Sir! Dividing the troops in this situation... isn't it a bit risky?" Wagron's adjutant asked worriedly.
"Is it risky to defeat 2,000 people with 10 cannons?" Chris looked at the adjutant with a cruel smile on his face: "I'm afraid they will surrender too early and not give me enough revenge!"
"It's arranged like this! I will personally lead 500 soldiers to fight Ensel in the Eastern Forest! You and Wageron will attack Maine directly... and eliminate the trouble once and for all!"
"Yes, sir!" The adjutant clenched his right fist, pressed it to his chest, and bowed his head to respond: "Long live Ailan Hill!"
"Deans! You will be in charge of Seris City in person!" Chris looked at Deans and Strid who looked a little nervous, and began to assign tasks.
After instructing Deans, he looked at Strid and said, "You will personally escort 1,000 gold coins to the Alante Empire! Be prepared to pay Maine's taxes after our victory!"
Now is not the time to turn against the Alante Empire. Chris has planned to give an explanation to the Alante Empire after occupying Maine.
As long as the Alante Empire does not pursue the occupation of Maine, Chris can develop and expand his power with peace of mind and make his territory even stronger.
A day later, Chris led 400 soldiers and joined more than 80 retreating soldiers on the outskirts of the eastern forest, blocking the main road leading to the city of Seris in the eastern deep forest.
In the afternoon of the same day, Ensel led 200 cavalrymen and 1,800 assembled infantrymen and appeared in the distance of Chris's camp.
Because it was already late and neither side had any intention of starting a war that day, Chris sent someone to deliver a letter to Ensel, condemning Ensel's despicable act of declaring war without declaration.
As a result, Ensel also wrote back a letter, demanding in a arrogant manner that Chris surrender immediately and offer all his wealth and territory.
Of course, the two sides would not stop fighting, but would just rest and prepare for the final battle. The next morning, Chris organized his soldiers to leave his camp and prepare for a decisive battle with Ensel.
Ensel also intended to achieve his goal in one battle, so he led 1,000 main infantry and 200 cavalry and set up a battle formation 3 kilometers away from Chris's troops.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The dull sound of war drums hit everyone's chest, making the air sticky and breathing difficult.
The battle flag fluttered in the wind, and straight spears stood in front of Chris like a forest.
The dark vine patterns on his body were entwined on his armor, delicate and exquisite, gleaming with a faint cold light. The warhorse under his crotch snorted restlessly, and the bowl-sized hooves kept kicking the ground.
This was Chris's first time experiencing a real battle, and no matter how rich his knowledge was, he could not help but feel a little nervous. Fortunately, judging from the number of people, this was only a battalion-level battle, which was not beyond Chris's imagination.
"We have too few infantry on the front, less than 100 people! We can't let the enemy launch an attack! Otherwise, we won't be able to survive!" Chris was thinking about the next tactics in his mind, tapping his fingers lightly on the hilt of his sword. This was a habit he had in his previous life, and whenever he was thinking, he liked to tap his fingers on hard objects.
The two hundred cavalrymen in his hands would be used for counterattacks and cleaning up the battlefield, so they could not easily join the battle at this time.
Therefore, he had no capital to consume the enemy, and could only rely on firepower to defeat the opponent unexpectedly, quickly turning the decisive battle into a one-sided attack and pursuit.
"Give the order! Artillery load grenades! Five bases of ammunition...get ready to fire! Wait for my order!" Chris thought of this, turned sideways and instructed a messenger beside him.
The messenger pulled the reins and immediately went to convey Chris's order. At this moment, on the horizon, Mayne's phalanx began to move forward slowly to the accompaniment of war drums.
