章 167: All or Nothing II
I hope no one minds if I upload the chapter on tuesday...there is a possibility, a small one, that tomorrow there will also be a chapter, but I don't promise anything, it all depends on my mood.
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third person pov seventh moon 286 AC
The war camp of Tyrosh was full of life as everyone moved in preparation for the great battle approaching with the enemy coalition that had been pursuing them. But there was no fear in the camp, only confidence in another victory.
The soldiers of Tyrosh had their chests swollen with pride and their morale sky-high, as ever since their beloved dictator had taken absolute control of Tyrosh's possessions, they had only known victory. For them, this new battle was just another nuisance that Lothar would crush as he always had.
The cult of personality around Lothar had exploded with the repeated victories achieved by the perpetual dictator. The various religions of Essos had begun to declare Lothar as some sort of living god due to the constant feats that seemed impossible to the eyes of people desperate to find hope anywhere: the strength of ten men, skin impervious to steel, wounds that healed in mere seconds, the ability to consume poison with no effect, and an overwhelming rage unleashed in combat.
The mere presence of Lothar completely changed the mood of the Tyroshi soldiers, erasing their fear. No matter which god they worshipped, they all saw Lothar as the hope their god had sent after the darkest moment they had lived. All of this was reflected in their smiles full of happiness when they saw Lothar's armor, inscribed with Valyrian runes, entering their camp once again, victorious, bringing the heads of a governor's family who had foolishly chosen to resist.
After being momentarily distracted by the sight of Lothar, everyone returned to their work, filled with determination. Many sharpened their weapons in preparation for the conflict, others continued with their training, while the logistics officers moved hastily from one side of the camp to the other, trying to distribute the armor shipment that had recently arrived to the army's most veteran soldiers, all doing their part like cogs in the war machine built from Tyrosh's ashes.
"How many men were you able to count?" Lothar asked as he sat down in his chair after drinking water from a chalice and throwing the heads he had carried onto a small pile of skulls.
"Around one hundred and twenty thousand men, ten thousand horses, and thirty war elephants. I must highlight the presence of the Golden Company; those are professional mercenaries. They have standardized equipment and a fixed hierarchy, as well as about twenty thousand Unsullied that Lys bought after we paid them a visit some time ago and burned one of their cities. Again, having those slaves is important; they are trained to never surrender. Some say they are the ancient legions of the Ghiscari Empire," Antti said as he read the reports handed to him by the scouts.
"They outnumber us… We should continue guerrilla warfare, forcing them to split up. It's not wise to face an enemy that so heavily outnumbers us in infantry. If they keep pursuing us, we'll force them to overextend, and attacking their supplies should be easy," said a Prussian officer to Lothar.
"From what I understand, you encountered the army of Lys some time ago, before Myr's forces joined them. We could have destroyed one of those armies before they became a real threat," Lothar said, looking at the Prussian officer, who continued to stare at him.
"It was too good to be true, Graf Lothar. The men of Lys camping in open fields, with little cavalry, everything screamed trap to me. I was cautious because our most veteran forces were besieging the city with you, Graf. Considering they have Unsullied, victory would have been difficult," the officer calmly replied.
"We can't keep running, or we'll show weakness. The cities that recently changed hands might attempt to rebel against the garrisons… Besides, this is a great opportunity, even better than defeating Lys's army separately. If we can strike a strong enough blow, we could win the war in a single battle," Antti said.
"A single battle won't make those degenerate slavers surrender. Even if we massacre everyone in this battle, they'll keep fighting. Surrendering means losing everything," another Prussian officer responded to Antti.
"Certainly, they'll fight to maintain their way of life and will be terrified of what will happen if they fall into Lothar's hands. But Myr is facing a massive Dothraki invasion, and the fools moved several mercenary companies to fight us… Some of them were our puppets. They might try to switch sides if we remind them who they're fighting against. If Myr loses enough men, they won't be able to stop the Dothraki, and they'll distract them while we destroy Lys, which will be the weakest. The war galleys will arrive next month, and we'll have sixty war galleys produced in the Wilhelmshaven shipyards. We'll be able to isolate the island and lay siege to it," Antti said, stabbing his dagger into the island of Lys.
"Good plan, but first, we have to win…" Lothar said, looking at the map of the area where they would fight.
"Our men are trained and disciplined enough to break formations, let the beasts pass, and close the ranks when the enemy infantry tries to charge," said the Prussian officer closest to Lothar.
"I expect nothing less from you, officer… I'll take a thousand of my knights, and we'll go on foot on the right flank, accompanied by the most veteran tercios. We'll move in oblique order and try to break the enemy infantry's formation before they can exert much pressure with their superior numbers. The battle on the flanks should be won easily; we outnumber them in cavalry. Once they've won, they must return immediately to charge the center, and then it will just be a matter of killing the stragglers who try to escape," Lothar said without much concern.
Lothar's tent opened.
"Ave, Dictator! The generals of the pagan cities wish to speak with you," said one of the Tyroshi soldiers, striking his chest.
Lothar did not respond and simply exited his tent, mounted a horse, and went to see his counterparts.
Lothar presented himself alone before a delegation of twenty men, including the two generals of the Free Cities.
"So this is the foreigner… Too foolish to come here alone," said the general of Lys.
"Very foolish to think that twenty men can stop me… What do you want?" Lothar said, disinterested.
"We feel magnanimous and offer you this: we offer your weight in gold and that of ten of your horses if you agree to leave these lands immediately with your men, never to return," said the general of Myr with an arrogant tone.
Lothar remained silent as he observed the faces of the two generals.
"Tybero… Eye-Stabber, well, this will be interesting… Today you'll have the chance to prove whether you've learned anything or, on the contrary, be crushed once again, ha, ha, ha," Lothar said with a mocking smile hidden by his Valyrian steel helm.
"Do not ignore us, foreigner," said the Myr general with fury.
"I have nothing to discuss with you... I have already accomplished what I wanted to do. Now I will be able to recognize your faces in battle as well as your armor. When this is over, and after breaking every rib in your body, I will take your skulls to keep me company in silence as my armies march east and witness the destruction of your cities, your way of life... everything you love," Lothar said in a grim tone, then turned and returned to his camp, leaving the generals staring at each other and swallowing nervously.
Both sides returned to their camps, and night soon fell. Everyone began to rest for the battle.
The Tyrosh camp showed signs of life in the early hours of the following day, even before the sun had risen, but Tyrosh's camp was already preparing.
Orders were given to sacrifice hundreds of heads of cattle and other animals, and double or even triple rations of fresh food, freshly gathered or recently arrived supplies, were distributed to all soldiers. This was a stark contrast to the dried meat and bread they were accustomed to—an elaborate feast for a grand day.
After eating, everyone was allowed to pray to their gods and prepare for the battle still in the dark before dawn.
In the darkness of the night, the Tyrosh army began to form, concentrating much of the infantry on the right flank and distributing their cavalry in the same manner, with heavy cavalry also on the right flank, leaving light units on the left.
Noticing that Tyrosh was preparing for a night attack, all the forces of the coalition camp quickly formed up, although there was great chaos due to the surprise of such an early attack.
Both armies stared at each other for several minutes, and the minutes turned into hours.
"What are we waiting for, Lothar? We could have attacked them without their elephants," said one of the knights beside Lothar.
"To make them hungry... are you hungry?" Lothar said while continuing to observe the enemy army.
"A bit, but…" the knight tried to say.
"Imagine them, who haven't eaten since nightfall... The elephants are a problem, but not as big as their numerical superiority. At least I will deny them food to win the moral battle," Lothar replied.
The wait continued until Lothar observed that several hundred slaves from the camp came out bringing food for the soldiers, and a large group of them broke formation to go get food.
Trumpets and drums sounded, and Tyrosh's left flank began to advance, guided by the knight in his Valyrian armor.
The coalition army had to reform its lines and fight with empty stomachs. They noticed that only part of the enemy army was advancing with considerable advantage, until the rest began to march. Similarly, the order to march was given.
As both forces approached, the Golden Company's elephants were deployed. Beasts with chains and spikes on their tusks, and small towers with archers on them.
The Tyrosh army continued advancing, unaware that tons of muscle were approaching to crush them.
As the elephants drew near, a harpoon for hunting whales was launched from Tyrosh's left flank, piercing the elephant's armor and striking its heart, causing the beast to fall dead, along with the archers. Subsequently, Tyrosh's tercio opened up, forming disciplined corridors, and at the same time a rain of crossbow bolts was shot at the multiple beasts continuing to charge, even in those circumstances.
The vast majority of the elephants passed through the corridors, where they were surrounded by hundreds of soldiers attacking their legs to make them fall. At the same time, the corridors closed immediately for the infantry charge. Some were less fortunate and were crushed or destroyed by the movement of the elephants' tusks, which collided with Tyrosh's forces.
The elephants and their handlers were surrounded by thousands of men doing their best to kill them all.
Lothar's forces charged and clashed with the Lys Unsullied, who honored their discipline by withstanding the assaults of the Ruppin knights. But no amount of discipline could stop giant knights with enormous strength, who hurled themselves against their ranks with demonic fury.
Several minutes passed until the rest of the army joined the battle, allowing the Prussian knights to penetrate the Unsullied's tough defenses, but even the Unsullied could not stop the advance of the monster from the west.
It didn't take long for Lothar's elite forces to split the Unsullied. His mounted knights, who had been waiting while fighting continued on the flanks, charged against the forces of slave soldiers.
This allowed Lothar to charge against the rear forces, where the enemy generals were likely to be.
While all this was happening, the center of Tyrosh was under brutal pressure, severely outnumbered, to the point of being forced to retreat to prevent their formation from collapsing.
The left flank remained stable as their numbers were equal, but it was the Golden Company's mercenaries who were causing heavy casualties. However, for some reason, the accompanying mercenaries did nothing to attack Tyrosh's forces and avoided combat.
The brutal battle continued for almost an hour. The center of Tyrosh was on the verge of breaking and only held out due to the determination of soldiers and commanders to make every centimeter of the battlefield as costly as possible.
But when Tyrosh's cavalry began to charge against the coalition army's rear, the tides quickly turned. Everything was decided when, in full view of most, Lothar's hands plunged like daggers into the body of the Lys general after making a great leap over his bodyguards, trapping the general in the knight's grasp, who was covered in the blood of the hundreds he had slain with his greatsword and colossal strength.
Seeing that everything was lost, the Myr general, who was far enough from the majority of the Tyrosh army, took whatever he could and began the retreat, leaving tens of thousands of mercenaries and citizens surrounded. He took the Golden Company and other mercenary companies back to Myr for the upcoming siege. But at that moment, several thousand mercenaries switched sides and began attacking them during their retreat.
The light cavalry focused on pursuing small groups but ignored the organized retreat of the Myr general.
Meanwhile, the rest of the army focused on completing the encirclement of the massive group of mercenaries and citizens from both cities.
After several minutes, Lothar arrived with one hand holding the lifeless body of the Lys general and offered surrender terms to stop losing men in a battle that was already won.
As they began to chain and disarm the captives and receive the mercenaries who had served with Lothar against the Dothraki, Lothar looked to the east.
"Every day closer to earning your forgiveness... There will be no obstacle I cannot overcome... Everyone will kneel before you or I will break their legs to force them to do so," Lothar said, not letting go of the Lys general's neck.
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