~Victory lies in making no mistakes~The Art of War
The battle had been hard fought and long against the riverbank of Boaam, the great leader, the khan of the Kingdom of Stym, had not shrunk from sending his troops against a fortified, preprepared position. That had been his first mistake, attacking an army on fatal ground is the surest path to defeat. And the only insurance against defeat is to make no mistakes. Nonetheless the Khan of stym had been no fool, he kept the archerers raining death on the entrenched position, caused many thousands to die during the course of the battle. However, the arrival of several thousand reinforcements to the rear, and their subsequent diversion, was what allowed the chariot forces to make their break, they rode out with nightmarish fury, the few archerers of the duke's that had survived, mounted the chariots to fire their remaining arrows, warriors who had jumped aboard, used the opportunity to get close to the hated archerers that had slain their comrads. the chariots themselves would prove almost impossible as targets, due to their great speed. And the charioteers wheeled around the khan's position, peeling it like an apple. With the loss of archerer support, and the duke's soldiers on fatal ground, the weight shifted. and the subsequent loss in morale that seeing the chariots inflict terror on even the elite archerers, and the threat to their khan, it all fell apart.
But the battle had cost him dearly. The Duke of Yellow Rock, had lost almost half his force. The remaining troops were exhausted, but euphoric in their survival, and that euphoria rose to new heights, when it had been learned that the Khan himself had fallen in the battle. The Duke of Yellow Rock dismounted, and bowed to the corpses of those who had died.
Those who were in retreat, he sent only his chariots out to harry their rear, only hard enough to keep them running, and from reforming for a second engagement. The Charioteers were under strict orders to pursue them only until they were within sight of the Stymese border. Then they were to halt and return to the Duke's force.
With the town taken, and his objective (to prevent stym aid from reaching central or southern boaam) the Duke set about the task of tending his wounded and increasing his fortifications, and building of rafts to reach accross the river. The War of Intervention, to ensure the victory of Chulom, had been finished in the eyes of the Duke, and of the Emperor. Now all that was to be done, was settle the treaty and return home.
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