ALL NOVEL
Chapter 84: The Blood Eaglet
“Regent! Our scouts encountered the Eastern Romain Empire’s soldiers up ahead,” a military commander galloped to Hunyadi and reported, “They have constructed their barracks against a mountain, blocking our path.”
“They dare to launch a counterattack?” Hunyadi was surprised.
The severely weakened Eastern Romain Empire hadn’t dared to venture beyond the safety of its towering Theodosian walls for half a century now. This led him to think that their people were city dwellers who timidly hid in their fortresses and fervently prayed to the Lord for protection.
Granted that the Eastern Romain Empire had become a fearsome force in the past year, decimating whoever it got its hands on, those who had eyes could tell that it was all due to the Khitan Caesar, the Scourge of God.
The Eastern Romain Empire were merely freeloaders profiting off him… Saying that they were a cheerleading squad would be an insult to all cheerleading squads out there.
Hunyadi thought it was refreshing to bump into an army of Eastern Romains here. To him, it felt like a hamster was trying to put on a tough front before him, and he welcomed it.
I was still thinking about how I should deal with you people, but you’re throwing yourselves at my doorstep?
“How many people do they have?” Hunyadi asked.
“Our scouts estimate around 10,000,” the military commander replied.
“Who’s their commander? To dare to confront us like that…” Hunyadi murmured.
Opposing my army of 20,000 with just 10,000 soldiers? Not even the Ottomain Sultan was that brave!
“Is it Constantin? I’ll have to admit that he has guts.”
All of a sudden…
“KHITAN CAESARRR!”
“Scourge of God!”
“It’s the Scourge of God!!!”
Sharp screeches echoed, and Hunyadi’s advancing army began to panic. Many people began screaming their heads off while running in all directions.
“What’s going on?!” Hunyadi was initially flustered too.
Thinking that Shu Yichao had slaughtered his way here, he quickly ordered his personal guards to get into formation. They waited for a while, but when the legendary Khitan cavalrymen failed to appear, their nervousness morphed into anger.
“I’ll behead anyone who dares to kick a fuss!”
The commanders quickly intervened and eliminated some of the troublemakers. With that, the army finally regained the order.
The main culprit behind the uproar was arrested and brought before Hunyadi.
Hunyadi looked at the main culprit—it was a minor noble, which meant that he couldn’t make an example out of him. He began questioning, “Why are you spreading lies?”
“I-I wasn’t spreading lies!” the minor noble replied in fright. “I-I saw it! The Eastern Romain Empire’s barracks was flying the blood twin-headed eagle flag!”
The faces of the surrounding crowd paled, knowing that they would be doomed if the Scourge of God was here.
“…Impossible.” Hunyadi denied the possibility.
The Scourge of God was a lunatic who would charge at any enemy in sight and not rest until all of them were vanquished. He wouldn’t quietly sit in his barracks like that.
“I’ll take a look.”
Hunyadi led a small group of people up a hill to examine the enemy barracks.
What they saw induced goosebumps. It was a blood-red flag with a majestic golden eagle spreading its wings!
Is it really the Scourge of God?
Some of Hunyadi’s aides trembled and sweated profusely. One even lost strength in his legs and kneeled to the ground.
Hunyadi’s heart skipped a beat too, but he quickly noticed that something was amiss. He took a closer look, and anger surged into his head. “Damned Eastern Romains! Do they think they can fool our warriors with such trifling trickery? Look! Is that even the Khitan Caesar’s flag?!”
The aides took a closer look at the flag. Seconds later, their faces contorted with anger.
While it was a blood-colored flag, the eagle only had one head! They would have been fooled if they hadn’t taken a closer look!
“Damned Eastern Romains!”
“They only know how to resort to such petty tricks!”
“Shameless knaves! Idiots!”
“I shouldn’t have expected more from those weaklings.”
The commanders cursed as if they could erase their earlier embarrassing display like that.
“Stop,” Hunyadi silenced them. “We’ll return to set up our barracks, explain the situation to our soldiers, and prepare for the battle with the Eastern Romains.”
He was seething with anger.
Just the sight of a similar flag had already nearly caused his army to crumble; they hadn’t even met the Scourge of God in person yet! How humiliating this was? Never in his career had he felt so humiliated.
The other soldiers also exploded with anger when they realized that their enemies had tried to mislead them into thinking that the Scourge of God was around by using a similar flag.
Those bastards! Fight us head on if you dare instead of resorting to such cheap tricks!
Just you wait! We’ll beat you up!
…
In the Eastern Romain Empire’s barracks, in the tent flying the blood-colored eagle flag, Sophia took the main seat with two Elite Horse Archers standing solemnly behind her. The commanders of the new army obediently sat in their places, not saying a word.
As Shu Yichao’s follower, Sophia had the power to mobilize some of his summons as long as it didn’t directly contradict his orders. Shu Yichao had left around 200 Elite Horse Archers behind in Thessaloniki to serve as the new army’s instructors…
The sharp-witted Sophia quickly realized that she had the means to mobilize the new army too.
The Elite Horse Archers were courageous soldiers who were well-versed in academics and warfare. Even though Shu Yichao had extravagantly treated them like normal soldiers, they were competent enough to serve as military commanders in the Eastern Romain Empire.
That, coupled with the fact that the Elite Horse Archers had been the new army’s instructors, allowed Sophia to easily take the new army away with her.
I can’t let the Caesar charge alone at the forefront. As his follower, I ought to share his burden.
Such a thought floated in Sophia’s head.
“Basilinna,” the new army’s scout commander respectfully reported, “it’s as you have expected. Hunyadi’s army panicked at the start, but now they are now seething with anger. Our scouts can hear their curses from a distance away. Many of their soldiers, knights, and nobles can’t resist the urge to cuss us out at the frontlines.”
“Hmph!” Sophia harrumphed.
She had known from the start that Hunyadi would struggle to maintain a tight rein on his army—it was too diverse. If their armies fight, hers would win despite having the numerical disadvantage.
However, she was aiming for more than that.
If a fight was inevitable, she would rather cripple the enemy for good just like the Khitan Caesar always did, so that the enemy couldn’t come back to haunt them.
“Continue feeding them with more fodder,” she said, “Make sure they remain well-provoked.”
“Yes, Basilinna,” the scout commander replied before retreating with a lowered head.
“Have you prepared the wooden raft?” Sophia asked.
“Yes, everything is in place,” another commander respectfully replied.
“Good.” Sophia’s eyes gleamed in slyness. “Bring me my horse. Let’s pay a greeting to the enemy barracks. We have to let them know that they are up against a six-year-old girl.”