"Arrows, Lots of Arrows!"
The Eastern sky kept brewing it's glow, still the sun was nowhere to be seen. The Fog and the Clouds kept declining the offers of the Sun to expose it-
The Sanli river, splashing it's glaze between the Baohexiang's plain and feild like terrain was deafening the beauty of the whole long stretch of feilds, on which the Wavy shades of clouds showered it's whispering drops of fog- dampening the whole scenery of the river-plain.
While this cold and calm scenery seemed to be serenate and deafening, it engulfed the whole Mongol camp which stood beside the riverbank- housing about more than four thousand raiders; with their prized cargo of looted goods and weaponary.
Yesterday night, it was an implicating scene of Feast happening in that Camp- the reason is not really amplicable but yet predictable. They were just a few kilometers from the Jin City of Wuyang, and this type of celebrations can only be meant to be having more than some simple reasons.
If explained, This was a notorious Mongol tactic of luring the enemy out with their cunning methods of demoralizing the enemy or mocking the enemy; by any ways or means they can find.
But, yet it most likely failed as the orders sent by Yun unpredictably stopped any reckless Jin army movements in the area- causing their plan to fail as Wuyang's garrison just totally ignored them.
Still, the Mongol stance remained the same for the while, while some part of the camped army left for foraging and raiding to the nearby villages.
While Mongol raiders scarred the riverbank terrain being taking down cities and armies, the morning sun slowly got separated from the dense and deep fog of the Eastern horizon, which soon started clearing off as the sun started shining more bright and dominating.
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[Time: Dawn ; San-Li Khitan Eastern Camp]
The cradle of the fog being clearing off, the south to the riverside was still unclear because of the still condensing warm stream of riverwater going along it, creating a fluff of damp and smoky wall of Fog reverting the whole South of the still and quiet Mongol Camp.
"Danho, What do you think- why these Jins aren't reacting to our movements?"- one of the Khitan sentry spoke out.
"Heh...maybe they are just unable to keep up with our speed; I think they are too slow to even move alongside our speed."- Danho answered, looking at the fog-damped top of the unfurled black banner* under which they were standing.
"Danho! Thirteenth Lord has already scolded you because of this slacking."- The other soldier lightly bashed Danho's back, scolding him.
"Aiyo-Aiyo-Aiyo!"-exxagerating the impact of the hit, Danho stood up quickly holding his back. "Taiko! Why you are like this- bullying me everytime, everyday?"- he complained.
"HaHaHa...Danho, you can't blame me for this- you are bulliable enough to be bullied."-Taiko cackled.
"Oh!"-Danho sighed.
Danho was the young son of a north Khitan tribesman, who was sent to fight in this southern expeditionary army under the command of Third cheif. Still being a youngster- he was just coping up with this new job and misery, still not having taken part in any skirmish of the whole expedition.
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"Danho, What do you think when we will be able take part in this Battle?- Taiko asked Danho with a smirky smile.
"Ah...Well, I don't know how to say"- Danho added- "If there was a choice, I wouldn't have even been here; Afterall- who wants to be a killer or to be at the brink of being killed?"
"Yeah, you lad has a point.", The other one replied.
"But, who cares about this- if we make achievements we will get titles and position in Khan's horde; don't you think that's worth it?"-Taiko exclaimed.
"Heh...I will say again- I don't know much, I don't want much and yes, I don't have much."-Danho sighed.
"Ha-Ha-ha!"-Taiko added, "I wish I could say that..."
[CLIP-CLOP] [CLIP-CLOP]
"-Hey! What's that noise?"-Taiko got startled on the sounds coming from the Riverside- "It's the Enemy!!!"
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As Taiko got ready to run towards the Camp, he saw Danho standing still there, shocked by the sounds coming from the south.
Taiko shouted-
"Danho!!! RUN!!!"
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[THUD!] [THWAP!]
[SWOOSHHH!!]
"ENEMIES!!"-Danho shouted, as arrows swishhed and poured beside him.
"ALERT!!! Arrows, lots of Arrows!"- He shouted as loud he could, trying to alert the sleeping soldiers as he retreated back into the Camp running past the piercing barrage of Arrows.
As Danho and his comrades ran back, the surging barrage of arrows ran alongside the Camp, throwing the southern parts of the Camp into a total chaos.
The three sentries alerted the Southern camp- but, the 'shock' had set in; and this extreme shock of the arrows surged the Southern camp into a mess. It was a catastrophe for the Mongol morale, which was quite a high from the start of campaign to this point.
In panic, the southern Camp Leader ordered a general retreat to the Upper Camp-
The enemy being off their vision and expectations, Mongols and Khitan soldiers fell into an utter chaos- which elevated the direness of the situation.
But, what really happened?
Everyone was wondering. but, no one like Danho- he had just escaped past the death by a bit. When the arrows were purging towards him, he felt a feeling of 'Fear'; The 'Fear' which crept inside his senses- numbing them.
He was wounded.
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[Central Camp, San-li Khitan East Camp]
"Report!"- a Khitan soldier came running the huge tent and exclaimed.
"Ch-Chief Liu! Those Jins have attacked on our southern flank-" he added.
"Say w-what?"- Liu Zhong, the Chief of the Camp gave a serious look on the soldier- still panting because of the chaos.
"Chief, South camp has been attacked suddenly!", he took a breath-"The Jin army is finally attacking!"
The Chief immediately stood up, his face having a unrecognizable aura on it. Suddenly, His face expressions changed into a cunning smile; more cunning than like of a fox. He took his sword and rushed out of the tent, with the reporting soldier rushing out with him.
"This is what we needed."-He exclaimed with a smirky smile. "Tell Baohexiang to launch their Western attack!"-He shouted, patting the back of the reporting soldier- commanding him to go to the Baohexiang's Mongol Camp.
The Soldier smiled and rushed to his horse- riding off for Baohexiang. While this was happening, the Chief ordered the other soldiers to assemble a counter, until the Southern camp gets time to retreat to the upper camp
In a minute or two- the Alerting bells were ringing; echoing beside the whole surging mass of the Khitan raiders now ready to attack the south of San-li river. The south camp retreated to the Central, escaping the barrage of arrows coming through the river's other side.
As the the Khitan archers assembled to counter the enemy-
In a sudden-
The arrows stopped.
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Suspecting of a attacking Jin cavalry charge, Liu decided to charge the enemy before the enemy gets its ranks back on to the formation. He took a mere force of a thousand raiders, ordering his six hundred mongol archers to cover his charge-
The charged over the river-
The river, unexpectedly shallow for the crossing despite of the rains; favoured his decision and the mongol cavalry purged into the 'now-fading' fog on the south, immediately followed by the whistling arrows of the mongol archers on the northern riverbank.
But, the enemy was nowhere to be impaled by the charge. Khitan cavalry rushed down to the south, finding nothing but a handful of the Jin horsemen rushing back out of their range.
Liu was fooled.
But, how?
[Hehehehe- you again forgot that smart-ass Yun.]