Chapter 303: First Battle in the Valley (Part 2)

Whispering arrows crossed back and forth, and fierce shouts echoed in the valley. The sun was slightly setting in the west, and the mountains cast heavy shadows, and a faint smell of blood drifted in the wind.

Black Wolf Toltec stood at the entrance of the valley several miles away with a battle flag on his back. He looked at the shooting situation, and his face gradually became cold. The dog race in the valley was superb in archery, occupying the camp and the terrain. The longbow advantage of the legion archers was offset, and they were slowly at a disadvantage in the shooting. Black Wolf looked for a moment, raised his sword eyebrows, and waved the flag again.

"Dong Dong Dong!"

The sound of the war drum suddenly accelerated, accompanied by a sharp flute sound. Five hundred vanguard barbarians wearing cotton armor had been waiting for a long time. They all roared loudly, praising the name of the Lord God. Then, the barbarians, holding rattan shields in one hand and bronze spears in the other, charged towards the camp at the entrance of the valley from nearly a hundred steps away.

Although the terrain of the camp at the entrance of the valley was high, it was not particularly steep. In fact, it was just a slope. The vanguard barbarians strode forward, quickly rushed past the loose archers, approached within fifty steps, and quickly rushed up the slope.

"Toot! Rapid fire!"

Looking at the barbarians rushing by, Yoliki blew the bone whistle again.

The feather arrows "swooshed", and suddenly rose up like flying birds, falling on the camp in groups. The legion archers were speeding up their shooting to suppress the dog race in the camp. The dog races shouted, but the rain of arrows suddenly became much smaller.

Yoliki moved his shield away and looked carefully at the opposite side, his pupils suddenly contracted. He saw many conspicuous red-haired warriors, who were drawing their bows but not shooting, staring at the barbarians approaching in the charge, as if they were patiently waiting for prey.

Outside the valley, Toltec smiled. He watched the vanguard barbarians rush to within twenty steps of the camp almost unscathed, and were about to climb up the camp.

"Ding, swoosh!"

The black wolf's smile froze instantly. A sharp bone whistle sounded instantly, accompanied by the shrill sound of arrows breaking through the air. Then, the charging barbarians fell down suddenly, and the dying screams were fierce in an instant. At a distance of twenty steps, the red-haired warriors accurately avoided the cotton armor and shot the barbarians in the head, face and neck. More than thirty brave pioneers fell to the ground.

Then, hundreds of dog warriors roared, holding the stone spears and stone hammers in their hands, rushed out of the simple camp gate, and fought with the pioneer barbarians. A dog warrior swung the stone hammer with both hands and smashed the shield of a young barbarian with all his strength, almost without any defense. The barbarian sneered, blocked with his shield, and then stabbed the copper spear deeply into the chest and abdomen of the dog.

However, the dying dog was like a beast, not retreating but advancing, roaring and hugging the spear that pierced his chest and abdomen, grabbing the arm behind the spear. Another dog warrior immediately pounced on him, swung the stone hammer, and smashed it on the barbarian's shoulder. The barbarian soldier immediately howled and bent his body, like a curled shrimp, and then another hammer came to his head, and the howling stopped abruptly.

Seeing this tragic scene, the middle-aged barbarian soldier next to him, with red eyes, thrust out the copper spear, and stabbed the dog descendant who was swinging the stone hammer and exhausted his strength to death. Another dog descendant raised a stone spear and rushed forward at the cost of his life. The middle-aged barbarian soldier quickly stepped back, raised his shield to block, and then thrust out the spear with his backhand, and stabbed the dog descendant to death!

After all, the vanguard barbarians were selected elite soldiers. They were skilled in martial arts, fierce and agile, and with excellent equipment, they soon gained an absolute upper hand in close combat.

However, the red-haired warriors in the camp were merciless and did not care about the possibility of accidental injury. They just fiercely shot arrows down the slope. These deadly hunters squinted their eyes and kept shooting sharp bone arrows, accurately hitting the vital points of the barbarians at such a close distance. The barbarians suddenly fell down with a low roar, and died with the dog race, with their bodies piled up on top of each other.

The rapid drumbeats kept urging the attack, and the fighting in front of the valley camp became more and more brutal. Yoliki led the archers forward and approached the hunters in the camp to shoot at each other, and the casualties on both sides increased rapidly. Arrows continued to take lives, and also consumed the morale and physical strength of both sides.

Toltec frowned and said nothing. He watched the fighting for two moments. The charge in front of the camp showed no signs of a breakthrough. The two sides squeezed each other and gradually turned it into a protracted war of attrition. Although the dog race died in the battle of nearly 600 people, most of them were tribal warriors and ordinary men, and the red-haired elite suffered very little damage.

However, the thousand-man camp that went into battle fell a full 300 people. Half of them were militia archers who shot at each other, and the other half were warrior barbarians who charged. Lightly armed archers are easy to replenish, with simple equipment, and casualties are actually insignificant. The vanguard barbarians are carefully selected royal guards, and they are also his direct troops. How can they be so exhausted!

Thinking of this, Black Wolf clenched his hands and shook his head slowly.

The special valley terrain restricted the deployment of troops from both sides and limited the scale of the front-line battle. Although the Central Legion had 8,000 people, only about 1,000 people could be deployed to the front line. The same was true for the Dogs, with a large number of warriors gathered behind the camp waiting. Once the battle was carried out in tribes, it covered up the weakness of the Dogs who were not good at coordination, and instead played to their advantage of being good at small-scale battles.

"We can't fight like this anymore. Crossbowmen go forward to cover! Blow the conch, and the front 1,000 retreat!"

Toltec took a deep breath and waved the flag. Five hundred temple crossbowmen strode forward, and when they were more than a hundred steps away from the valley entrance, they stood with their legs apart and held the heavy crossbows in both hands. In the puzzled eyes of the Dogs, they suddenly raised their heads together and fired a wave of fierce crossbow arrows.

"Swish, swish, swish!"

Sharp crossbow arrows came all over the sky, shooting at the top of the camp and then nailing on the wooden fort. More than a dozen dog hunters died on the spot, including several red-haired warriors. The dog hunters in the camp were suppressed instantly, and the retreat conch was blown immediately. The vanguard barbarians fought and retreated, shouting to each other, and retreated out of the range of the camp.

The attacking dog warriors wanted to continue to entangle. However, once they left the narrow valley entrance and the cover of the camp hunters, the exchange ratio with the barbarians increased significantly, and morale dropped rapidly. The vanguard barbarians retreated while waving their weapons, killing hundreds of dog hunters, and the retreat horn sounded in the camp.

The temple crossbowmen shot ten rounds in a row and then stopped shooting. The temple crossbowmen retreated with the archers, and the heavy crossbows and longbows were mixed together, colliding from time to time. The crossbow arrows used by the heavy crossbow need to withstand several times the pressure, and solid hardwood must be used. Compared with the wooden poles and reed poles used for ordinary bows and arrows, the arrow poles of crossbows are more expensive and more laborious to manufacture.

In this northern expedition, facing the lightly armored or even unarmored dog tribes, the power of the longbow is enough. Because of these reasons, the coalition forces carry very limited crossbows and cannot shoot at will.

"Red Fox Valley, Red Cat Tribe"

Toltec stared at the mountain cat flag on the camp and fell into deep thought. There are tens of thousands of dog tribes in the valley, and it is really difficult to occupy the terrain and hold on. Black Wolf frowned and thought for a moment, then looked at Mespa beside him again.

"Mespa, call the nobles you mentioned before, I want to ask them carefully!"

Mespa called several nobles who escaped from the valley and carefully told them about the incident that day, the fighting between the dog tribes, and the surrounding terrain.

After listening for a while, Black Wolf's eyes lit up. He grabbed the middle-aged Otomi noble in front of him.

"Iko, you just said that there are narrow mountain roads in the mountains to the north and south of the valley, which can accommodate hundreds of warriors?"

"Yes, Captain Black Wolf. Although the mountains to the north and south are high, there are mountain roads that have been explored. It's just that the mountains in the north are slightly gentler and easier to pass than those in the south. The Pams scouts often scout the valley from the mountain roads. On that day, the Guajiri people also sneaked in hundreds of red-haired warriors from the northern mountain roads to create chaos in the valley. In the past half month, scouts from both sides have often fought in the mountains. In order to complete your scouting order, I lost several elite family warriors!"

The middle-aged noble Iko felt a little distressed. Toltec thought for a moment, then grabbed Iko's arm, but asked a question that frightened him even more.

"Iko, you are an Otomi noble who was born in the valley. You are very familiar with this place. The Guakiri dog people occupied your fiefdom and killed your people. They have a huge hatred for you! Don't you want revenge?"

The black wolf paused, stared at Iko's eyes, and said in a deep voice.

"I will give you 500 Pams warriors who are familiar with the terrain! You will fight your way in from the mountain path, cooperate with the army inside and outside, and attack the camp at the entrance of the valley from behind at night. Although this attack is dangerous, as long as it succeeds, it will be a great achievement! I will personally report your name to His Highness! What do you think, do you dare?!"

I am asking for monthly tickets at the beginning of the month!