All tricks

"We're back!" At the entrance of the Great Tang Group, where only the sign remained, an old worker who had followed the scout troops to the Northern Ridge excitedly raised his arms and shouted.

Escorting a motley assortment of items, the scout troops returned out of the blue to the place from which they had set out just over a dozen days ago.

When they had departed, it was an imposing crowd, comprising 360 musketeers from three infantry companies, over 30 elite rangers led by Luff, more than a hundred temporary artillerymen, as well as over 40 cavalry under Tagg's command. The team also included six C64-model field breech-loading cannons, and more than 40 corresponding carts.

The return was likewise a long procession, but it was clear that most of the people had not returned to Brunas.

The most numerous in this team were carts, one after another, as Tang Mo had brought back more than 130 captured warhorses and dozens of carts to his own base.