Munitions Empire

"The battlefield situation was extremely complex, and even with Tagg as their local guide, Tang Mo was still unsure as he walked along the narrow paths through the woods.

Looking at the dense shrubs on both sides, he asked Tagg, who was leading the horse in front, somewhat gloomily, ’Are you sure this path can definitely take us around to the enemy’s rear?’

Tagg nodded with certainty and then pointed ahead, ’I’m sure! I’ve walked here twice; it will definitely lead us to where we want to go.’

It was obviously impossible for 30 cavalry to change the battlefield situation, so the tactics that Tang Mo and his men came up with on their way, basically involved detouring to the rear.

When outnumbered, sneaking around the enemy and launching a crucial surprise attack from a key position at their rear was essentially their best option.

Leveraging Tagg’s advantage as a local familiar with the terrain, they did not head directly to the battlefield but took a small detour, choosing to approach from behind Suthers’ troops and cut diagonally to the rear of the battlefield.

Wes walked beside Tang Mo, leading his horse and surveying the surroundings, ’If we took the wrong path, that would be quite the problem.’

Behind him, the other soldiers led their warhorses. They chose not to mount due to the terrain being too narrow for riding, and also because they needed to conserve the horses’ strength and maintain stealth.

The thirty-odd cavalrymen were squeezed into a column nearly a hundred meters long by the narrow passage, all of them tense since cavalry in such a state were extremely vulnerable.

’We can already hear the sound of gunfire; it must be right,’ Tang Mo listened closely, then nodded his head and spoke, ’Everyone rest in place! Wes, Tagg, the two of you come with me!’

’If everything is as expected, we should be coming out of the woods soon,’ Tagg said as he pushed through the shrubs in front of him, moving forward with uneven steps.

They needed to scout ahead a bit to inspect the nearby situation and devise a plan for their next move. Just as Tagg was explaining their current position to Tang Mo, Tang Mo noticed that the thick bushes in the distance were gradually thinning out.

He lowered his voice, bending slightly, ’Wait! Stop! It looks like we’re about to come out of the woods! Stay concealed!’

Covered by their grey-green greatcoats, Tang Mo and his men weren’t very noticeable as they crouched and hid in the bushes.

Tang Mo gestured with his hands, while whispering very softly as a reminder, ’Be careful! There are people over there! Let’s go have a look.’

As they carefully pushed away the shrubs in front of them and peered through the gaps in the branches, they saw a group of Suthers’ soldiers setting up their cannon on the clearing at the edge of the woods.

The Suthers’ soldiers were weary as they fumbled with their field guns, unloading shells from the wagons.

Tagg counted roughly and saw that there were 10 field guns, all Shireck field guns, which looked very new.

He drew his head back and turned to Tang Mo, speaking in a low voice, ’It’s Suthers’ soldiers! They are on the clearing just outside the woods!’

’You’re kidding, right? Why would they be here?’ Tang Mo also saw those blue-uniformed Suthers soldiers and frowned, puzzled.

Tagg was also frustrated because they hadn’t anticipated this situation: ’This place is at least 3 kilometers away from the battlefield Lord Earl had estimated!’

According to their initial plan, Suthers’ troops were supposed to be on a more westerly position, clashing with Fisheo’s main forces.

If they emerged from the woods here and searched westward, they would have to travel another one or two kilometers before encountering Suthers’ troops.

But now, Suthers’ artillerymen, who should have been far from the battlefield, had unexpectedly appeared here, which was puzzling.

’You mean, these Suthers’ artillerymen are setting up cannons three kilometers away from the battlefield for what purpose?’ Tang Mo released his grip on the branches and asked Tagg.

’I don’t know why either, but they really did set up an artillery position here,’ Tagg replied after thinking for a moment, shaking his head.

’And there aren’t many guards!’ Wes added.

After saying this, Wes gave a self-deprecating chuckle, ’Well now, aren’t we supposed to be ambushing them from behind? Perfect, the artillery position is right in front of us.’

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’It’s possible that Lord Earl has routed Suthers’ troops, and they’ve fallen back here to reposition!’ Tang Mo quickly hypothesized.

Wes was taken aback, then somewhat incredulously said, ’Could things really work out that coincidentally?’

Tagg glanced again at the Suthers’ artillerymen busy with their cannons and urged Tang Mo, who hadn’t made a decision yet, ’I don’t know, but we’re running out of time... We need to make a decision quickly.’"

Tang Mo calculated the strength of his troops, "We only have thirty men, and though we have 60 revolvers, we still need to be cautious."

Actually, this was already a considerable force; this troop could fire over 300 rounds of ammunition in a short time, enough to rout an entire enemy battalion.

Moreover, combined with a cavalry charge, they would appear more forceful than they actually were, seeming even stronger to the senses.

But appearing strong and being truly strong were two very different things. Every family had its own issues, and Tang Mo knew that his thirty cavalrymen were good for harassment and surprise attacks, but certainly not enough for a war of annihilation.

As a military layman, Tang Mo could only come up with a conventional strategy: "Let’s just mount up and charge over there, take out the artillerymen by the cannons, and then blow up these guns!"

"Is that the plan?" Wes asked as he, following Tang Mo and Tagg, slowly retreated.

"Roughly," Tang Mo didn’t speak until he was sure that the Suthers soldiers at the edge of the forest definitely couldn’t see them anymore.

"Looking at the distance, it seems they have quite a number of men; we probably won’t have time to destroy the guns," Tagg offered his perspective at this time.

"Got any better ideas?" Tang Mo asked, agreeing that it was indeed the case.

"Alternatively, we could just keep charging forward and not look back…" Tagg thought that leveraging the mobility advantage of his cavalry to breakthrough the enemy’s artillery positions might be a better choice.

"Then we’ll probably all die here," Tang Mo was highly dissatisfied with Tagg’s suggestion.

Tagg was also aware of the great risk involved in his proposal, so he made another suggestion: "Lord Earl! You and Wes stay back; I’ll take the men over!"

"What a joke. The men you want to take are my precious stones; the death of even one pains me, yet you want to lead them all to their doom here?" Tang Mo shook his head after glancing at Tagg.

"..." Tagg’s face turned red, feeling that such a decision was indeed too hasty.

Tang Mo clapped his hands, brushing off the dirt stuck to them, and started walking back, saying, "Alright! Let’s go back."

He went back to the cavalry troop without saying a word, looking at the young faces. After this battle, he didn’t know how many of these faces would still be there.

Thinking of this, Tang Mo became somewhat irritated. He mounted his horse and commanded, "Get ready! Everyone check their weapons! See if the caps are all in place! Then check your saddles again!"

Following his command, all the cavalrymen became busy. They checked their weapons, painstakingly inspected their sabers, calmed their steeds, and checked the saddles.

"Once we attack, line up and charge at the enemy’s artillery positions, try to kill as many as possible, and do not slow down!" Mounted on his horse, Tang Mo looked at all those who were also mounted, ordering in the most stable voice possible, "If we pass that low hillock and still see more enemies, then we don’t turn back. We keep charging!"

Tagg was startled by Tang Mo’s order, then suddenly looked at the young figure. Something was stirring inside him, and at that moment, a thought suddenly came over him: to die for him.

"Attack!" Tang Mo drew his left-wheel handgun, squeezed his horse with his legs, and loudly gave the order to attack.

Before his voice had dissipated, he saw a figure charging forward, surpassing his horse. It was Tagg, holding a revolver in one hand and the reins in the other, leading the charge ahead of him.

The knights following Tagg also spurred their horses forward, surpassing Tang Mo, who was not particularly skilled at riding.

A Suthers soldier squatted in the bushes, tending to his physiological needs and just cleaning himself with leaves when, before he could pull up his trousers, he saw a knight on a tall horse flashing past him.

Still struggling to recover from his shock, he saw even more knights bursting out of the forest and heading towards the disoriented Suthers artillery positions.

"Bang!" A gunshot echoed through the sky as a Suthers officer, who was just about to draw his musket from his waist, fell screaming to the ground.

At the very moment this Suthers officer fell, the Suthers soldiers who had been busy moving cannonballs and setting up cannons suddenly scattered like headless flies.

And so, the confused shouting spread with the disorderly fleeing soldiers: "Northern Ridge! The Northern Ridge army is attacking! Run for it!"

No one thought about resisting. The Suthers artillerymen were chased by the cavalry from behind, running up the flank hillock that blocked their view.

After only a few shots, Tang Mo’s thirty cavalrymen had routed the Suthers artillery unit and left the unguarded cannons far behind them.

Mounted on his horse, Tang Mo was swept along by Wes and two other knights to a nearby small elevated point.

Then, his view suddenly opened up. Before him lay a vast, dense mass of Suthers infantry sitting on the ground, resting as far as the eye could see.

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