~Attack the source of your enemy's strength~36 Strategies of ancient china
PROBING THE EMPIRE
Palindros's army was in a state of deep agitation. They had nowhere to flee to save the desert, their position had been dislocated and they'd been forced to reposition many key defenses, as well as send out parties to round up routed troops. All this had taken time, and no sooner did the Hegemony troops settle down to a well deserved rest, than they were roused up by alarm from the scouts and pickets just beyond their line. These human wave attacks displayed a complete disregard for the lives of those involved, many of them not even regular troops, and after the first charge most turned and ran, a few stayed long enough to cross swords, but conscripts against regulars is a mismatch made in hell, and the whole thing quickly fell apart. Palindros took advantage of this unlooked for victory, and sent his cavalry out in heavy pursuit, killing more than a few and driving the rest into the forrest beyond immediate pursuit. He then sent his own infantry up, the expendable ones that had betrayed the empire. Traitors were of little use to Palindros, even enemy traitors, and so he sent them remorselessly into the wood to do battle. Some returned with cuts and bruises or severed limbs, some didn't return at all, and some returned with trophies, enemy heads or goods looted from the corpses. The grass ceased to be green in some spots. The general advance had netted Palindros the greatest prize to his mind; he was granted information. Enemy positions were better known now due to the resistence he had met. He redrew his plans for the coming battle, and ordered the patrols increased to prevent a second wave attack from getting through. There would be no more breaches in the line.
GREGOR'S REVENGE
The traitor fell to the ground in a pool of his own blood. One of the few captured in the forrest while pursuing his erstwhile bretheren, he had been beaten, tortured, interrogated, and then executed before the army's formation. his body was tossed aside, into the small pile of his fellows who had suffered similar fates. Their deaths heartened the loyal soldiers. The wave assault of humans had proved fruitful, the other races were not only jealous because of their lost opportunity for glory, but ready to show them up in the next assault. The positions of enemy troops had been well scouted, and a small number of rangers had slipped well behind enemy lines in the chaos, Nearly everything was in readiness, only one detail remained, positioning the newest arrivals, and then the attack could once more commence.
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