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Book 3-2. 2 The Wikaly's Plan
"The first oasis we need to take is the Oasis of the Rising Moon where the Greatest Warrior named Abham Shuttra is located. Abham does have some reputation as a Greatest Warrior, but I heard that because the oasis he is associated with is small, he does not have much influence."
Another Greatest Warrior, Chlodeh, followed up on Egane's words.
"However, they received reinforcements from the central oases, and the Commanding Greatest Warrior is Ebinong Albarooque. He is a greedy man, but still decently smart and strong."
Yulian started to talk after listening to the two of them speak.
"It is kind of odd that they wouldn't put the Greatest Warrior in charge of the oasis as the commander."
"Ebinong is probably the representative Greatest Warrior of the Wikaly tribe. As Chlodeh mentioned, he has decent strategy, so that is probably why they made him the commander."
Yulian nodded his head and asked many of the Greatest Warriors.
"We need to work in tandem with the division that is going up the quicksand river. In order to do that, we need to pull down as many Wikaly warriors to this oasis as we can. How do you think we should move?"
"We absolutely cannot do a frontal charge. If they focus only on defending, we will suffer a lot of damage by charging into whatever they have prepared."
"If the level of warriors was the same, our method to victory is to draw them out of their oasis. Since we have significantly more warriors at the Greatest Warrior level, a field battle will be to our advantage."
Egane answered, followed by the Broken Shamshir Windaoz.
"Even so, the enemy numbers over 30, 000. If you consider the fact that we only have 20, 000 warriors with us, wouldn't it be better to divide them up and eat them up little by little rather than facing them head on?"
Egane answered.
"In order to do that, we will need to divide up our forces as well, which might actually end up putting us in danger. However, we have not had the first battle yet, and since the enemy expects to have more warriors than we do, it would be great if we can capture the entire division that comes out to do a reconnaissance battle."
While they were discussing different suggestions, the Angry Brandistock Vibli spoke to Yulian.
"Please leave 3, 000 warriors to me and 3, 000 warriors to Trebol. If you do that, we will annoy them from both sides of the oasis. We will make it so that the enemy will have no choice but to divide themselves. The two of us work well together after having faced Venersis together for a long time, so the enemy will have no choice but to pay attention to us.
Trebol stepped forward and started to speak as well.
"It is a good idea. Our goal right now is not to wipe them out, but to make more enemy warriors come down from the rear oases. I think it is a good idea."
"If they choose to attack us instead, since our number of remaining warriors will only be about half of their number, it might actually put us in danger if the middle is breached."
The Greatest Warrior Neitu, The One Who Slashes Three at Once, was worried about the problem that might arise from dividing up the tribe's warriors.
"Think about the reason we could not reverse the situation even though we had more warriors than Venersis. We needed three of our Greatest Warriors to stop Venersis and start the battle. Right now, the Glow is with us. I believe that the Glow-nim and Red Storm is enough to defend the middle. Furthermore, should they choose to attack the center with full force, Greatest Warrior Trebol and Greatest Warrior Vibli can strike them from both sides, which will make the battle much easier."
"I agree. Although we came to attack, we should create a defensive formation and wait for them. We can then use any gaps we find to our advantage to counterattack. It can make the enemy fall into chaos, and if they choose to attack, we will be able to solidly defend. So wouldn't this be catching two birds with one stone?"
With two other Greatest Warriors taking Vibli and Trebol's side, Neitu lowered his head as if he yielded to the others.
Yulian thought for a while before starting to speak.
"Our real war will start once the division going up the quicksand river strikes through the middle of the Wikaly tribe. Keeping that in mind, I think the two Greatest Warriors are correct. Greatest Warrior Vibli!"
"Yes, Glow."
"Greatest Warrior Trebol!"
"I am waiting for your command, Glow."
The two Greatest Warriors came up to Yulian and bowed as they answered.
"Please each take 3, 000 warriors and press from both sides of the oasis. Please keep in mind that the most important thing is protecting our warriors. I'm sure you will each make the right judgment calls, but if you sense even a bit of danger, retreat. This is an order. Even if you can take down 5, 000 with your 3, 000, you must not fight."
"I understand, Glow."
"I will do as you commanded, Glow."
Once the two Greatest Warriors responded vigorously and retreated, Yulian started to speak to the other Greatest Warriors.
"I'm sure you are all aware that the reason we brought so many Greatest Warriors to this war was to make our progress smoother. In terms of the battle, we should not be pushed back by anyone thanks to the Red Storm, but there is nothing the Red Storm can do in terms of maneuvering the warriors. In this aspect is where we really need the abilities of our Greatest Warriors, and I will be paying attention to each and every one of you. Do not forget that our main goal is to drag down even one extra warrior to this oasis and away from their central oases. I leave it to you to keep our warrior safe and do what you need to do to keep their morales up high while they wait anxiously for good news from the center."
"We will make sure to keep it in mind."
The Greatest Warriors shouted and Yulian instructed all of them to be on their way before leaning his body on the chair.
Nervousness filled his body. This was the first campaign that he started on his own free will. If this takeover of the Wikaly fails, he might have to flail around once more in that boring balance of power that has existed for over a hundred years.
This was a war he definitely needed to win. He needed to conquer the Wikaly!
Since things have progressed smoothly until now, all he could do was hope that it continued to be that way.
"We have been preparing for a long time for Pareia's invasion."
At Runa Brink's words, Ebinong, the Commanding Greatest Warrior just looked at him with disinterest before asking.
"How so?"
"We have dug many traps around the oasis. It should be able to defend against Pareia that will try to shake the flanks with a small amount of warriors. The most important thing in this defensive battle is that we must not move our main forces forward."
"Runa Brink, that is something for me to determine."
"It is a tactic that Abham-nim has approved of as well. Greatest Warrior Ebinong-nim. We must use a tactic to defend our oasis. We need the main forces to defend while using small-scale specialty groups to shake Pareia."
"Runa Brink, you seem to misunderstand something. I am the commander for this war, not Abham. So you should be explaining tactics and strategies that I approve of, not what you explained to Abham. Plus, you are not yet at a level you can speak to me like this."
Although Ebinong answered calmly, the hidden meaning was that Runa Brink was not qualified to talk to him."
Although Ebinong really wanted to bring this character Runa Brink under his command, Runa would need to throw away his loyalty to Abham to serve him. In order to make people only loyal to himself, he needed to kill their pride.
"Commanding Greatest Warrior Ebinong-nim, this is a tactic for our Wikaly. I hope that you can listen to the tactics that I have prepared."
As Runa Brink continued to urge him, Ebinong casually responded back.
"Isn't that why I am listening to you right now? However, I have come prepared with a plan as well."
"I'm sure you cannot tell me about it?"
Ebinong shrugged his shoulders as he answered.
"Isn't that obvious? You are not a Greatest Warrior. For security reasons, the movement of our warriors is something only the Greatest Warrior level warriors are allowed to know. But since you have come like this, I will listen to your plan and keep it in mind. So, how do you plan on defending against Pareia?"
"We must not face them head on. Lately, the Pareia's morale has been on the rise. I believe that Commanding Greatest Warrior-nim is fully aware about not facing a brigade charged up on morale. Our basic strategy should be tightly defending the oasis with our troops while sending around 5, 000 warriors to each wing and using the prepared traps as a wall to block Pareia."
"And then?"
"Then we wait for the right moment. The oasis has many fences prepared to defend against the charges of pirmas, and we have more warriors than the enemy. If Pareia cannot wait and attack against our prepared defenses, we should be able to keep them out. Furthermore, if they come down and charge to the middle, the warriors on the wings can attack their side. If we focus only on defending, we cannot lose. They should also have issues maintaining supplies for such a large number of warriors while we have no such problems. Pareia will have no choice but to retreat as their supplies start to dwindle, and our Wikaly warriors can strike as they are retreating. We should then be able to achieve great success."
Ebinong scratched his chin as he spoke.
"Isn't that too simple? That level of thought is something anybody with even a tiny bit of knowledge about war would have."
"I'm sure you are aware of how hard it is to put such simple plan into motion. The warriors are going to get fidgety if a battle does to happen and they are just sitting still. But it is the same for the enemies. This simple plan is the method to bring us an overwhelming victory. It was to make sure we can put this simple plan into perfect motion that we have dug many traps, prepared the fences, and saved up enough food to feed many warriors."
"We are 30, 000 while they are just 20, 000. If we just defend while we have the numbers advantage, the morale of our Wikaly warriors is more likely to fall. For 30, 000 warriors to defend against 20, 000, how cowardly would that seem? Plus, Pareia's warriors might mock us and it would raise their morale instead."
"That is why it is difficult to put this simple plan into action. Pareia's total number of warriors in the tribe number over 80, 000, while our Wikaly only has a little over half of that at 45, 000. This war is not going to be the last time that Pareia tries to invade us."
Runa Brink's voice started to rise little by little.
"Plus, we still have the Baradona tribe, the strongest tribe in the Eastern desert to our North. If we suffer a lot of casualties from this war, we might get eaten by Baradona instead. We must think about how we can protect our warriors the most."
"Baradona cannot move because of the Rivolde. The relationships between tribes is what has kept us in this balance of power for over a hundred years. If Baradona strikes us, do you think the Rivolde will let them do as they please? Especially when the Rivolde do not need to worry about the Shuarei to their south because of the Shuarei's defeat to Pareia?"
"That was why Abham-nim brought up creating alliances with either Baradona or a different tribe at the last meeting of Greatest Warriors. Our Wikaly is in a central location, so which tribe would reject it if we were the ones to offer up an alliance? Even if we manage to win this war, we must continue to push for creating alliances."
Ebinong's face turned red. It was the Glow and himself that rejected Abham's suggestion at the last meeting.
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