The war had been going on for a long time. The Empire had been damaged from the war. However, under the restructuring by Emperor Abbas XI, who suddenly became wise, the Empire was revitalized. In addition, news of the victories of the Duke of the Tulip Family constantly spread to the Imperial Capital and inspired the people.
The war had been going on for some time. The Empire's old and rickety war machine, under the direction of the suddenly wise Abbas XI, was revitalized. In addition, news of the victories of the Duke of the Tulip Family constantly spread to the Imperial Capital and inspired the people.
However, one afternoon, the everything changed.
One afternoon, many people in the Imperial Capital saw a person on a horse, rushing urgently into the city from the North gate. The knight was in a sorry state. His helmet and armor were in disarray. His face was a mess of sweat and grime. A red flag fluttered on his back, signifying a military urgency.
The messenger immediately shouted, "Urgent war report from eight hundred miles away!"
The guards at the city gate did not dare to stop him and immediately gave way. They had also dispatched two cavalrymen to pave the way for the messenger.
As the three horses rushed through the main street, the people saw the serious and anxious expression of the messenger. The people who saw that felt nervous. Was there any bad news from the front lines?
The military office had been extremely busy with requests until the people in charge almost became crazy. For example, the Northwest Commander Elliot asked for supplies and reinforcements, the North requested for deployment of supplies for the war, manage all the garrison regiment maneuvers, the Southern Legion requested for mobilization of the army and also the request for weapons and horses... Yet, Marquis Garoline remained firm. However, even the unshakeable Marquis became restless when he saw the urgent report delivered to him.
The Marquis did not even have the time to prepare for a carriage. He hurriedly rode to the Imperial Palace, with his subordinates.
After all, Marquis Garoline was old. It was tiring for him to ride to the Imperial Palace. When he arrived at the palace, he almost fell off his horse from exhaustion. He was gasping for breath, but still pushed away the guards who were trying to support him. He then ran all the way into the palace.
Gossip was amongst the fastest things that could spread in the world. The only thing that could spread faster than gossip would be bad news.
At night, the news of defeat in the North came. Thunder City had fallen. The Duke of the Tulip Family had withdrawn and had taken the soldiers towards the Northern provinces to organize an internal defense. After a bloody battle at Thunder City, nearly thirty thousand of the Flame Warriors were annihilated.
The Imperial Capital was in an uproar.
The news of defeat created a gloomy cloud over the Imperial Capital. At that same time, a small force was on the way to the North.
In the unbounded wilderness, dense dark clouds covered the horizon. Oliseh, who was riding his horse, could not help but frown. "I hope it will rain, tonight."
Oliseh looked behind him and saw that the carriages were loaded with military supplies. At least half of the supplies were food.
The North was not a food producing region. On top of that, the large-scale war caused an even greater food consumption. Oliseh was leading a cavalry of eight hundred and was responsible for transporting the supplies to Kaka City in the North.
Kaka City was the Northern war zone supply station. All supplies from various places in the Empire were transported to Kaka City before the supplies were redistributed to the various armies. That place was one of Oliseh’s destinations.
At first, Oliseh hoped he would be sent to fight on the battlefield, but then he was only dispatched as a transport soldier. Naturally, that made him very depressed. However, when he looked at his new armor and uniform, he finally smiled.
That was the new Lightning God’s Whip’s standard uniform... armor, horse, spear and most importantly, a scimitar. In the Empire, the only group that used scimitars was the Lightning God’s Whip. He was wearing that armor and equipment. For so many days, all along the way here, whenever he encountered soldiers from the other armies and also civilians, they would look at him with respect and envy. After all, the Lightning God’s Whip was the army of His Excellency the Duke of the Tulip Family.
As the Lightning God’s Whip had gone through a massive reorganization before the war started, fifty thousand active soldiers were brought to the North by the Duke while the expansion of the army continued in the rear.
As he was transferred from the local garrison, Oliseh was pre-selected as the first batch of front-line reinforcement soldiers of the Lightning God’s Whip. He took eight hundred cavalrymen that had just completed training with him. The purpose of the trip was to escort the transport of supplies to Kaka City. From there, they would immediately go to the front line to report to Lightning God’s Whip Regiment and join in the fight.
Although Oliseh was excited and wished to rush to the frontline, the carriages of supplies continued to move slowly on the road. The horses were exhausted. No matter what the drivers did, the carriages continued to move forward slowly.
They had traveled for more than ten days. The more they moved northwards, the more shocking was the news.
Just the day before yesterday, they heard that Thunder City had fallen. Oliseh and the others were very surprised. Thunder City, which was amongst the most solid defensive position of the Empire, had fallen! On top of that, that stronghold was guarded by the troop of soldiers led by the Duke of the Tulip Family.
After receiving the news, that small group of soldiers had a heavy feeling. Since the news had arrived, it would mean that Thunder City had already fallen a few days ago. What should they do now? Where was the main force of His Excellency the Duke, the Lightning God’s Whip hiding?
All along the way, besides the eight hundred new Lightning God's Whip soldiers, there were also more than a hundred transport soldiers. As these soldiers moved northwards, they heard more and more news from the North and became more and more frightened. Oliseh who seldom clung to hope started hoping that he could depend on the Lightning God's Whip when something unexpected happened.
One morning, they met a few scouts from the Northern Legion. Oliseh inquired from them and found out that the battle had moved from the northern coastal areas to the inner regions. After capturing Thunder City, the Roland army rested for two days before their main army advanced towards Kaka City. It was as if the Roland army intended to capture Kaka City, with its huge storage of supplies, in one strike. Meanwhile, the main army of the Duke of the Tulip Family was on the road, arranging several lines of defense to block the progress of the Roland army.
After a few days of big and small battles, the armies from both sides were assembled on the Pamir Plains, a few hundred miles from Kaka City. It looked like a major battle was about to occur there.
As they approached the front line, Oliseh gave the order for the soldiers to be on alert. Although he was originally only a commanding officer of a small local calvary, amongst the new recruits, he was the most outstanding one. Besides that, he was actually the current commanding officer for these eight hundred soldiers.
A cavalryman rushed towards Oliseh and spoke in a soft voice, "Your Excellency, there are many corpses in front!"
"Corpses?" Oliseh narrowed his eyes.
Sure enough, a few hours later, many corpses were found on the low-lying ground, in front.
The scene before them was like a slaughter house and there were bodies everywhere. Broken weapons were also scattered around the place. Based on their clothing, some of them belonged to the soldiers of the Empire. However, most of it belonged to soldiers of the Roland army. The ground was scorched and there were signs of a burning of the ground. There were many charred bodies and some destroyed carriages on the roadside. Although most parts of the carriages were burned, there were still some things left behind. With a glance, Oliseh saw that those things were food. A partially burned banner was still attached to the carriage. Although the pattern on the banner had been blackened by soot, the vague design of the Roland banner was still visible.
"Your Excellency, this looks like a small supplies team of the Roland army. It looks like they were ambushed by our people!" A cavalryman beside him whispered.
Oliseh nodded and immediately ordered, "It seems like there are signs of activity from the Roland army in the vicinity. Everybody, be careful. Be on guard! From now onwards, dispatch twice as many scouts. Work hard, brothers. Once we reach Kaka City, I will treat you all to a drink!"
"Yes!"
After passing by the tragic scene, the group continued to move slowly forward. However, after walking for a few miles, they found an even bigger battlefield.
They have arrived in an open field with thousands of dead bodies.
The army of the Empire had clashed with the soldiers of the Roland army there. There were corpses with arrows and also bodies that were split into two. Besides that, there were also dead horses.
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