Chapter 302: First Battle in the Valley (Part 1)

September comes at the end of the rainy season, bringing sunshine to the sky and hope of harvest to the earth. It rains at the beginning of autumn and everything harvests. South of the Leman River, the Lake Kingdom still has plenty of rain, providing sufficient moisture for crops. Messengers were boating on Lake Patzcuaro, delivering orders to seize the autumn harvest. As far as they could see, they saw tall cornfields everywhere, so lush and green that there was no end in sight.

Farmers in the Lake District are busy in the fields, smelling the aroma of ripening grains on their noses, and showing the joy of the autumn harvest on their faces. Now the pumpkins have been harvested, the beans are just ripening, and the corn is on the cob. Under the supervision of the priests, the kingdom's spring plowing this year was more timely than last year, and the weather has been smooth all the way. It is looking like a good year!

In the wilderness of the North, the short rainy season has just passed, but the clarion call of war is getting louder and louder. The plateau is desolate and undulating, with thousands of Otomi militiamen running back and forth. They carried it on their shoulders, carried it with their hands, and pushed some wheelbarrows supported by the kingdom to transport military supplies from the mountain city to the north, and then escorted the prisoners from the north to the mountain city.

The three-way coalition rested for many days and after replenishing the latest batch of food, they followed the Central Army's order and took action again. The black wolf Toltec took the lead in breaking out of camp and attacking. The army scouts spread out far away and fought with the harassing canine squad. The eight thousand middle legions were unstoppable and marched all the way north. The marching horn blew for three days before they arrived at the Red Fox Valley where the dog descendants gathered.

There was not a single white cloud in the sky, and the earth was filled with Xiao Ran's murderous intent. The intersection of mountains and rivers creates rare fertile soil in the North, attracting cruel fighting in the wilderness. Eight thousand coalition troops set up camp in the southeast of the Red Fox Valley, and then slowly spread out to the surrounding area, surrounding the southeastern valley entrance. Tens of thousands of Guakili tribes immediately shrank into the Red Fox Valley. Each tribe only sent a few tribal warriors to harass, and most of the main force could not stand out.

"Is this the Red Fox Valley?"

Toltec and his troops stood in front of a valley mouth in the southeast of the valley, carefully observing the terrain of the valley mouth from a distance of several miles. Soon, he frowned.

The narrow mountain road extends for several miles, with the terrain slightly upward. At the end are several wooden and stone forts built on high ground. A red lynx flag was planted on the fort.

Under the flag are the guarding Guakili dog descendants. They were armed with short bows, javelins, and stone spears and hammers, and numbered more than a thousand in number. Among the more than a thousand canine warriors, there were also two hundred senior red-haired warriors who were howling loudly, waving weapons, and provoking demonstrations against the southern coalition forces. From a distance, although the canine descendants were poorly equipped, they seemed to have high morale.

"Dear Captain Black Wolf, this is the fertile Pa Valley! In the coalition, many nobles have their fiefdoms here, and one-third of the Pamus warriors are also from here. This is the territory of our Otomi people, He was just taken over by a shameless canine and changed his name!”

Mespa led hundreds of family warriors and stood next to the black wolf. He shouted angrily and looked at the canine descendants in the valley with hatred in his eyes, as if he wanted to kill each other with his eyes.

"Well, the terrain at the entrance of the valley is narrow and it is difficult for the army to deploy. The enemy is condescending and has built a defensive camp. There are thrown stones and wooden blocks on the camp. Hey, this wilderness dog descendant is actually somewhat decent in defense! Could it be? Learned it from the Otomi people?"

Toltec looked at it for a while, a little surprised. He turned to Mesper.

"You said there is a small city in the valley? What is the terrain there? Are there any remaining Otomi people holding on?"

Hearing this, Mespa's expression darkened and he shook his head bitterly.

"Captain, the terrain of the valley is natural, and the defense relies entirely on the mountains that close together, plus the camps at the northwest and southeast valley entrances. The small town in the middle of the valley doesn't even have a defensive wall. It just gives the nobles a decent place. Living. The only thing that can be considered solid is the stone temple in the center of the town."

"The cunning Guakili canine descendants attacked so quickly that no one had time to prepare! They sent hundreds of red-haired warriors in advance to sneak into the camp at the mouth of the valley. The northwest valley entrance fell in less than half a day, and thousands of canine descendants howled like wild beasts. They rushed in with their eyes red, they killed everyone they saw, and they ate whatever they could get. They were like demons coming out of the ground! The nobles and their family warriors retreated to the vicinity of the temple and stood bravely for a long time. There are more and more canine descendants, and the flags of more than a dozen tribes appear in succession."

"Seeing that the situation was over, the noble leaders discussed it together and decided to take their family warriors with them and retreat from the southeastern valley mouth that they still controlled. When they left, they left hundreds of brave militiamen to hold on to the temple. Now they are all Already returned to the kingdom of God!"

Toltec patiently listened to Mesper's words. He thought for a moment, filtered out useless words, and asked in a deep voice.

"Mespa, let me tell you, you Otomi people only held on to such a dangerous valley for one day?"

"Ah, it was more than just one day. From the time the scouts reported the enemy's situation, we probably held on for two or three days!"

Hearing the question, Mespa looked ashamed and his face turned red.

"The main warriors were unprepared, and the nobles had no subordinates. In addition, the canine descendants at that time went south to seek survival. They were too ferocious."

"How many residents were originally in the valley? How many militiamen and men were withdrawn? Are there any Otomi people who have not been captured, who can be quoted as echoes?"

Toltec continued to ask, interrupting Mesper's explanation. Mesper paused, lost his voice for a moment, and then answered.

"There were originally 20,000 to 30,000 people in the valley. When it fell, only 1,000 nobles and warriors escaped, and then 2,000 to 3,000 militiamen were gathered. As for the other ordinary residents who fled, the nobles had no time to care about them, and no one knew how many escaped. Not long ago, scouts looked from the mountains and saw that there were thousands of captured Otomi farmers in the valley, cultivating the fields for the Dogs. But they were all scared by the Dogs, and at most they could pass on the news, and the rest could not be counted on."

"Captain Black Wolf, I was in the city of Pams at the time, and I don't know much about the situation in the valley that day. If you need, I can call a few nobles from the Pa River Valley out and report in detail."

"No need! I have seen a lot of Dog Tribes along the way, but they are just some mice in the fields, but there are more of them here. As for the camp at the entrance of the valley, fight for a while and see what it is like!"

Toltec raised his head, waved his hand, then took out a small red flag and pointed to the camp at the entrance of the valley.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The low drums of war sounded, and the messenger's flag waved. The warrior battalion leader Yoliki blew the bone whistle, and five hundred lightly armed archers wearing paper armor, lined up in a loose formation, and quickly entered the narrow mountain road. Behind the large group of archers, followed five hundred vanguard barbarians who were about to charge.

Soon, the archers came to more than a hundred steps away from the valley mouth and deployed a shooting formation. They held longbows in their hands, raised their heads and approached in small steps, ready to shoot at any time. The camp opposite relied on the terrain and was more than ten meters high! There were hundreds of dog hunters on it, each holding a short bow, with bone arrows, and also ready to go.

Yoliki narrowed his eyes, raised his shield, and estimated the distance of the upward shot. He kept approaching to sixty steps from the camp. In the camp, an impulsive dog hunter couldn't bear it, raised his hunting bow, and "whoosh" shot a short arrow downward. The surrounding dog hunters were affected and also shot arrows.

"Swoosh, swoosh!"

The rain of arrows came towards them, bringing with it gusts of wind, faintly mixed with the scolding of the red-haired warriors.

"Bah! These northern barbarians, barking dogs! They just swarmed and shot without hearing orders, even worse than the Tekos, with no discipline at all!"

Yoliki said "bah" with disdain. He was a surrendered soldier of Tarasco, and had fought for many years, and was proficient in both archery and spearmanship.

Both the Kingdom and the Alliance Legion strictly required the warriors to obey orders, especially in large-scale battles, and they must act in unison. In comparison, the discipline of the dog warriors was even far inferior to that of the Kingdom's long-lance militia.

"Duh, duh."

Several feather arrows were nailed into the wooden shield, making a low muffled sound. The warrior battalion commander felt the strength of the arrows shot from the shield, and then blew the bone flute around his neck fiercely.

"Toot! Mass shooting!"

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!"

A rain of arrows rose from behind Yoliki and shot at the fortress sixty steps away. Eight or nine dog hunters screamed and fell from the fortress with a "bang", leaving a long trail of blood. The rest of the dog hunters paused, then crouched down and shot more fiercely. Soon, nearly ten legion archers also covered their throats or faces, groaned and fell to the ground with their heads raised.

From a high position, with the advantage of the terrain, even the short bows of the dog hunters can injure the longbowmen of the legion at the same distance. Some red-haired warriors are particularly skilled in archery, and every arrow is shot at the head, face, throat and heart.

Yoliki had just moved his shield away to observe the effect of the shooting, when a bone arrow came fiercely and hit the rattan helmet on his head. The warrior battalion leader felt a pain in his forehead, trembled in his heart, and took two steps back before reaching out to touch his head. The bone arrow had lost its power and only stuck in the dense rattan helmet, scratching the forehead and leaving a shallow wound.

"Damn! What a sharp shooting skill. This Guakili dog descendant is quite powerful!"

The warrior battalion leader muttered to himself and covered his body with the shield again. Behind him, the drums kept beating and the shouts became louder. Inspired by the war priests, the vanguard barbarians prayed loudly to the Lord God, ready to launch a desperate assault at any time. The archers of both sides shot at each other, and the arrows rained back and forth, splashing blood, and soon hundreds of people died.

The bodies of the warriors fell to the ground, exuding warm vitality. The vitality flowed at the mouth of the valley, seeping into the streams in the valley, and stained with a faint bright red. By the stream, the cactus flowers were stained with blood and bloomed more brightly, like a sign of death.