Chapter 68: The Night of Rebellion

Suya's plan wasn't complicated.

First, he would feign movements of two large camp migrations, making it impossible for the enemy to discern which direction he truly intended to break through. Then, he would have Dagonet lead the infantry regiments in a suicidal charge against Seleucus's army on the Cornwall coast, committing all forces except the cavalry to the southeast flank.

Launching such a grand attack would undoubtedly provoke the enemy to investigate. At this point, the 1,000 light cavalry Suya had arranged beforehand to fake the camp migration would again feign a charge towards the Togus Legion's camp, attracting the attention of the entire battlefield.

The enemy would come to this conclusion: Suya Pendragon intended to abandon his infantry regiments on the southern coast, pin down the Conqueror King's main army, and use his elite cavalry regiment as an arrowhead to break through and escape from General Ptolemy's direction.

Suya himself, leading the cavalry regiment, would then arrive at the Conqueror King's main army encampment in the northeast. As the enemy expected, he would feign an attempt to break directly through the central camp to the Buttercup Plains, displaying his 'true objective'! This would draw away the Companion Cavalry stationed on the Cornwall coast.

Finally, he would immediately turn his horses, just as he had escaped from the Conqueror King's vast army before, relying on his powerful intellect to calculate the Companion Cavalry's route of reinforcement and 'brush past' them.

With the combined 4,000 elite cavalry, he would charge the Seleucus Legion, now temporarily without Companion Cavalry support, shatter the flanks of the Macedonian phalanx, rendezvous with his own main army, break through the Cornwall coast, intercept the pursuing Companion Cavalry in the unnamed gorge beyond the coast using the terrain advantage, and finally, lead his army to break through to the Buttercup Plains, completing the escape.

Of course, there were also some temporary arrangements, such as after Dagonet launched his attack, when scouts sent from the Conqueror King's main army to the Seleucus Legion were discovered.

He arranged for Lucan to intercept the enemy scouts sent from the main army to investigate the Cornwall coast, to disguise himself as an enemy Companion Cavalryman, and for Lucan to trick Hector, further solidifying the idea of drawing away the Companion Cavalry.

Ugh, it seems a bit complicated...

But simply put, this was a triangular attack framework.

That is, launching attacks on the enemy from three directions, in different stages and at different times, to confuse their judgment.

In psychology, when in doubt, people always trust their most recent judgment. Therefore, by showing the enemy a true objective, then immediately showing and reinforcing a subsequent 'false objective,' one can use the 'false objective' to conceal the initial 'true objective.'

This was the optimal arrangement Suya could make at the moment.

After all, his army truly lacked fighting power; once a battle began, it would completely disintegrate into scattered sand within a few hours. He could only rely on deception to carve out a path to survival!

However, when this crude plan—seemingly intricate, but ultimately relying on luck—was actually put into action, Suya quickly encountered an unforeseen development:

While leading the Royal Guard Cavalry to the hills on the northeast side of the Bern territory, adjacent to the Buttercup Plains, just before launching an attack on the Conqueror King's main army, he saw 'himself'!

"No, Suya, why are you there?"

Merlin looked ahead in confusion, tugging at Suya's cloak beside her, pointing to a spot 5 kilometers in front of the Conqueror King's main army encampment.

At that moment, there was a cavalry regiment that looked remarkably elite, with every member clad in silver-white plate armor and full-faced helmets. At the front of that cavalry regiment, leading the charge, was a golden-haired knight wearing Britannian-style plate armor. This knight, in appearance, stature, the white warhorse he rode, and even the equipment and cloak he wore, was identical to Suya when he killed Hammond in the Bern territory!

The only two differences were: Suya's white horse had already been melted by his own Noble Phantasm, and the other person didn't possess the obvious Instigator's Aura that Suya had.

And just then, that 'Suya Pendragon,' right in front of Suya and Merlin, drew the ceremonial sword from his waist, raised it to the sky, reflecting the torches and the blue-backed, red-dragon royal banner held by the cavalry behind him. His eyes shining, he looked at the Conqueror King's main army encampment before him and shouted:

"Knights of Halicarnassus—"

"To rekindle the glory of the empire, to restore Hecatomnid lost to the flames of war!"

"We were born with honor, and with honor shall we die!"

"Now,"

"We shall rewrite this corrupt nation!"

With that, the golden-haired knight spurred his horse, raising the beautifully crafted ceremonial sword, and directly led the five thousand cavalry behind him, with irresistible momentum, charging towards the military camp in front of the Buttercup Plains!

And at this moment, about half a kilometer behind the cavalry regiment, behind the hills, the two fakers who had come to scout using illusions instantly broke character.

Seeing such a living 'fake of a fake' leading a Britannian knight order that looked even stronger than their own group of fakes, charging the Conqueror King's main army without a word, Suya stared with wide, blank eyes at the golden-haired knight in front of him, an expression of utter bewilderment on his face.

No, buddy! Who are you?! Why are you cosplaying as me? And why are you saying all my lines?!

At this point, Merlin also turned her head in confusion and asked, "Halicarnassus? Isn't that a Persian vassal state?"

As she spoke, Merlin realized something was wrong and glared at Suya. "Why would you, a King of Britannia, say something like that?! You idiot!"

Suya covered his face, wanting to cry. "How would I know?!"

"Besides, that's not me at all!"

Suya, who was well-versed in the history of the Macedonian Empire, knew about Halicarnassus. It was a kingdom that the Macedonian Empire had razed when conquering Persia, and its king was Mausolus. And according to historical records, the hero who commanded the Conqueror King's main army at this time, Philotas, was precisely the one responsible for conquering that kingdom.

Now, why would such a group of Halicarnassian cavalry disguise themselves as him at this critical juncture and charge the Conqueror King's main army? In what capacity were they acting? And what objective did they hope to achieve?

In historical records, in December 330 BC, Philotas was accused. It was said that he knew of a conspiracy by a group of Macedonian soldiers to kill Alexander but failed to report it. Consequently, Philotas was subjected to torture by Alexander's generals and eventually confessed to the crime, ordered to be executed along with his father by Alexander.

But one peculiar detail was that—before his death, Philotas told Alexander: "My enemies' hatred for me has overcome your mercy!"

The truth of this rebellion remains a mystery to this day, and why Philotas didn't report the soldiers' conspiracy to Alexander is also an enigma.

Regardless, seeing this scene, Suya suddenly realized—

His plan had clearly failed!

Although the elaborate preparations and various intricate maneuvers seemed well-executed, and the psychological warfare strategy to deceive the enemy appeared flawless.

But, faced with a group of military strategists who had conquered countless nations and were among the most elite in all of human history!

The enemy had actually anticipated that he would lead a cavalry feint against the Conqueror King's main army to draw away the Companion Cavalry, and then turned his own tactic against him, using his name to execute their own scheme!

The reason these cavalry could disguise themselves as Suya when he killed Hammond, besides the magic and illusions available in this world, was more importantly—

As early as when Suya began to rally the routed troops, his intelligence had already been completely leaked.

This meant that even though Suya had realized this point and had deliberately fragmented his plan, assigning different people to execute it so that no one in the entire army knew the full scope of the plan, these people had still deduced what strategy Suya would use next, even down to every single step, based solely on Suya's initial preparations!

What Suya was facing at this moment was—

A group of the most terrifying monsters in the Macedonian Empire, who had left their names in all of human history!

Parmenion, Philotas, Seleucus, Ptolemy...

And his attempt to defeat his predecessors with the wisdom of posterity had utterly failed!

Thinking of this, Suya clenched his fists, somewhat unwilling, but had to acknowledge the fact. He swallowed the humiliation of being 'still somewhat useful, so allowed to jump around for now.'

He looked up at the Halicarnassus cavalry regiment, which had transformed into a line of fire in the night, charging directly into the vast camp before them, immediately ushering in the prelude to this night of rebellion.

Taking a deep breath, Suya stood up from behind the hills and said gravely, "Let's go!"

"Aren't we supposed to feint attack this camp to draw away the Seleucus Legion's Companion Cavalry?" Merlin looked up at him, realizing their current predicament, and asked dejectedly,

"Now... where can we go?"

Suya was silent for a moment, then suddenly revealed a relieved, grim smile:

"To fight to the death!"