Chapter 53: Battle in the Wasteland 5

"Well, we need to go check on the left wing."

As we moved toward the enemy's rear on the left flank, we saw a cavalry unit approaching from the distance. They were our allies.

"Ryu, good work."

"We somehow managed to defeat the enemy cavalry."

"With twice their numbers, wasn't it an easy victory?"

"Well, we had our struggles, but we only lost about a hundred horsemen."

"Well done."

"Alright, send messengers to Lord Schwartz to inform him that the enemy cavalry has been annihilated on both right and left wings."

Multiple mounted messengers departed.

When the messengers reached the headquarters, a blue Phoenix flag was immediately raised. The Phoenix flag signaled the crane wing formation—an order to encircle the enemy.

Then, the Kingdom of Italica forces that had been positioned in the rear smoothly spread out beside the enemy's left wing. The spear units on the right wing also untangled their formation and spread out beside the enemy's right wing. In the rear, four thousand cavalry were deployed. The central unit at the front was still intact.

The enemy was now surrounded on all sides—front, back, left, and right. Here, the perfect double encirclement, known as a tactician's dream, was completed.

Pressured from all four directions, the enemy lost all escape routes and became congested in the center. They could barely move and were in no condition to fight. From this densely packed state, the enemy was gradually worn down from the edges.

At that moment, white flags were raised on the enemy's right and left wings. It seemed the troops on both wings had been reluctantly conscripted from conquered nations and had no intention of dying for the cause. Seeing this, the central Imperial main force became angry, and infighting broke out among them.

I partially opened the rear encirclement to move the surrendered troops to the back. The enemy had already lost more than 20,000 men, including the dead and those who surrendered. Only 7,000-8,000 men in the center continued to fight fiercely. They were surrounded by about 40,000 of our troops. The outcome of the battle was decided.

The enemy refused several offers to surrender and continued to resist stubbornly. Lord Schwartz, considering further friendly casualties meaningless, maintained the encirclement from a distance and mainly attacked the enemy with arrows. The enemy repeatedly attempted to break through by concentrating their attacks at a single point, but each time they were met with our cavalry charges, became disorganized, and retreated.

During this stalemate, all movement from the enemy ceased. When cavalry scouts were sent to investigate, they found that all the enemy soldiers had committed suicide.

"Do they really have to die just because they lost? What a terrible country." "I feel the same way. What's wrong with becoming a prisoner?" "Exactly."

Suddenly, I noticed Shenlong stripping the enemy of their possessions. "Tch, there are only this many wagons. I'll have to make do with these." About 20 wagons were fully loaded with Imperial weapons, armor, and helmets. He's as greedy as ever.

"I've also received payment from Schwartz, so it's about time to head back." "Are you leaving already?" "Yeah, next will be castle sieges. There's no role for us in that." "We've done enough work for the money, right?" "Well then, see you. Come visit sometime." "I'll visit you soon."

The Kitai cavalry left, pulling their wagons. Some things never change.

In any case, the Battle of Bazus Plateau ended in a complete victory for the Kingdom. Next would be the siege of Romulus.