Chapter 193: Operation Wildfire (2 / 3)
Translator: TeamTWO
Editor: Nova
7th month 24th, night.
The vanguard unit sneaked out of City North Camp, while two units from the mixed regiment took over their place.
First light tomorrow morning, the mixed regiment’s two units would start their usual morning training in the camp, while disguised as the vanguard unit. Tian Feng scouts couldn’t come too close to the camp. Hence, they wouldn’t know that the troops had all been replaced.
Vanguard 1st unit left their Qingfu warhorses and Mingguang armors behind in the camp. Then, they wore and mounted their alternate equipment and horses. The four cavalry units all dressed themselves as raiders—the clothes plundered from the raider captives.
That’s right, for this operation, they had disguised themselves as raiders.
Their destination was far from the border, so they had to venture deep into the savanna. Hence, in order to reduce risk and avoid being spotted, the four cavalry units would travel their own paths, as they rode their ways toward Tian Qi tribe ZhenXi camp. The units used their specially-trained hummingbirds to communicate through the intelligence team.
At the same time, the five squadrons from every unit would also spread out two kilometers from each other.
ZhenXi camp was situated 160 kilometers away from the Friendship River. Traveling alone would take three days if the journey was smooth and steady without mishaps.
Because it was savanna—an open field grassland—there was simply nowhere to hide. Therefore, the cavalries would not hide by day and come out by night. Instead, they would march at a steady pace and eliminate every nomad they encountered to cover their existence.
Lei Xun led Military intelligence team two. They had finished their preparation work, the pathways they chose for the four cavalry units were all routed away from the tribal camps.
Ouyang Shuo personally followed the expedition force, and he would ride between the vanguard first unit second squadron and the third squadron. The newly established lord’s guards rode beside him. As for Lin Yi, he led the cavalry first squadron at the forefront.
July 25th, morning 5 a.m. dawn.
With the help of the Beihai navy, the expedition force crossed the Friendship River. From here onward, the force would separate and ride their own paths. They would only gather together when they reach their final destination.
On the first day, everything went well because they crossed the site of the Tian Lian tribe that had been wiped off. Although the Tian Feng tribe had taken over the area, they had not arranged any pastoralists. Tin Feng tribe had only taken this area as a ranch to use.
Therefore, on this day, the overall progress of the expedition forces was relatively rapid. In addition, without infantry dragging them down, they could travel a full 60 kilometers. At seven o'clock in the evening, the scattered squadrons regrouped to rest on the spot.
Military tents and military grain pills, these two logistics weapons, began to show their importance.
In the morning, each soldier took one military grain pill. For the rest of the day, they would not need to eat anymore. Without the need to create fire for a meal, they had minimized the risk of exposure. As for drinking water, they had long since stored enough water in their backpacks for three days. In addition, in Ouyang Shuo's storage bag, there was still a quantity of drinking water.
Tomorrow, the troops would have to cross the site of a medium-sized tribe, and the risk factor would greatly increase.
Five o'clock the next day, the squadrons departed. They kept a two kilometer distance from each other and took advantage of the early morning when there were fewer people to travel some distance.
At noon, Ouyang Shuo was riding Black Tornado, while his guards rode beside him. Just then, a group of herdsmen appeared in front of them. There were about seven or eight people, driving and grazing the flock.
"My lord?" Guard Captain Wang Feng immediately rushed in front of Ouyang Shuo.
Ouyang Shuo naturally understood Wang Feng’s intentions and nodded.
Then, Wang Feng made a gesture toward the rear. As a result, half of the guards immediately left the ranks like a group of hungry wolves and rushed toward the pastoralists.
When the pastoralists saw the guards, they thought they were raiders. They panicked and immediately fled.
The horses that served as the mounts of the pastoralists were naturally not Qingfu horse. Even in the nomadic tribes, Qingfu horses were somewhat rare. It wasn't so common that the ordinary grazing pastoralists could ride them.
The guards’ attacks were very tactical. Instead of directly hurling toward them, they first flanked them on both sides to form an encirclement that surrounded the herders. This action prevented them from slipping through.
The guards surrounded the pastoralists, who panicked. Their mouths grumbled with unintelligible words, and it was estimated that they were begging for mercy. While talking, they pointed their fingers to the flock not far away. These gestures denoted that the flocks could be taken away in exchange for their pitiful lives.
Sadly, what they met was not the bandits who robbed money, but the officers and men of Shanhai City.
The lord's guards were soldiers of life and death, so their hearts were as cold as ice and hard as stone. They held an emotionless poker face, as they rode on their horsebacks. They raised their bows and released a volley of deadly arrows that shot their victims down from their horses.
According to Ouyang Shuo's original intentions, he was naturally reluctant to harm the innocents, especially civilians.
However, this operation was so important that it could not tolerate any accidents. The blood and tears of others had long since covered his hands.
Those pastoralists looked at the arrows in their chest with shock.
They could not understand why these raiders were not like the rumors, who only took money instead of lives. Instead, these raiders took away their most precious lives away from them. Even being taken away to the raiders camp as captives was still a better ending than this.
They guards paid little attention to the flocks, as they rode to the corpses. They pulled out their Tang swords and slashed the corpses to ensure no loose ends. After that, they removed the shovel prepared in advance from the backpacks and dug a large pit to bury the dead bodies. Then, they covered the dead with a layer of weeds as a simple disguise.
When the night arrives, the relatives of the dead pastoralists became aware that they were missing and did not come home. Coupled with the time required to search for them, it was estimated that it would take one or two days before they could find the land where the dead bodies were buried. Even so, it would be nothing more than an incident identified as a raider attack that simply could not attract the attention of the tribal leaders.
This was but only a small incident that happened on the way. Similar things also took place in the four cavalry units. The Military Affairs Department had formulated this set of handling measures in advance, and they had given detailed explanations to every soldier. This was the function and value of the Military Affairs Department. They were responsible for the development of a very detailed war plan. A variety of small details, as far as possible, were taken into account.
At night, the team stopped again. Tomorrow, they were about to enter the territory of the Tian Qi tribe. The camp of ZhenXi was located on the western edge of the Tian Qi tribe, which made it a full 50 kilometers away from the Khan tent beside the Shen Juan Lake.
After they entered the territory of Tian Qi tribe, the number of pastoralists around the area increased. Occasionally, they would meet with tribal warriors that patroled the border. At times like this, they would try to avoid them, but if a fight was inevitable, they could only eliminate the warriors.
However, when the night fell, and the ZhenXi patrols returned to their home base, they would realize that their fellow warriors were missing. It would raise their alarms. But this was not something Ouyang Shuo could control. It was inevitable, as it was not that easy for an army to sneak into their enemy's hinterland.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the cavalry units stopped 10 kilometers away from the ZhenXi camp. If they headed further, they would step foot in the core area of the camp. Moving into the camp recklessly during the day would be tantamount to suicide.
In order to hide their whereabouts, they once again spread out and hid in the pastoralists' homes. As for the original owners of pastoralists' home, their fate could be imagined. Just like a monster, the two thousand troops secretly lurked outside of the ZhenXi camp, as they eyed their prey.
In the evening, after the centurion in the ZhenXi camp routinely counted the patrols, they noticed that some of the warriors who were on patrol duty on the frontier had not returned on time.
The abnormal situation was immediately reported to the captain, and the captain again reported to the camp commander Lhakhshen. After hearing the report from the captain, Lhakhshen frowned and asked, "Have you sent anyone to check?"
"General, I have sent a hundred men to the border to investigate. I find the situation rather odd, and that is why I have specifically come to report." The captain was not negligent.
The town had not experienced any war for many years, and matters like this seldom happened.
Thinking of the exhortations from the Khan, Lhakhshen did not dare to take this matter lightly.
"Give my orders. Tonight, the camp shall maintain a full alert, and we will increase the patrols on duty." Lhakhshen decided to take cautious measures.
For some unknown reason, he had felt a little restless during these two days. It was as though a ruthless beast was eyeing him in the dark, yet he still couldn't see any traces of the beast. This made Lhakhshen very uneasy, and the disappearance of the patrollers further aggravated this uneasy sentiment.
However, in front of his subordinates, Lhakhshen remained as calm as usual.
"Understood!"
……
10 kilometers away from the camp, there was a very humble pastoral tent.
At six o'clock in the afternoon, Lei Xun, who had disguised himself as a pastoralist, opened the tent and walked in. Then, he respectfully said, "My lord, as expected, the camp was alerted."
It turned out that Ouyang Shuo had settled here.
Ouyang Shuo nodded. The reaction of the enemy did not go beyond his expectations.
According to the report, the town commander Lhakhshen was not a simple person to deal with, “Contact the units. Tonight, we will act according to the plan.”
“Understood!”
Seven o'clock in the evening, Ouyang Shuo exited the tent and rode Black Tornado. He took advantage of the night, and under Lei Xun’s guidance, Ouyang Shuo visited the units one by one. Every time he reached a unit camp, Ouyang Shuo would remove a barrel of alchemical fire oil from the storage bag and pass it to the soldiers.
In the savanna of July. The starry night sky and the cool monsoon breeze that blew waves of green grass. Under the starlights, the cavalries walked out of the tents one by one, as they carried the barrel of oils and tied it on the horse’s saddlebags. These saddlebags had been specially modified, so each side of the saddle could contain two barrels of alchemical fire oil.