Second World Novel

"What kind of bullshit is this?" Samuel exclaimed. "You think just by occupying a position will yield us victory? Did you not realize that we are currently in a desert? Anywhere is just the same here!"

The duke waved for him to be quiet, he then said to John, "can you explain the reason?"

??

"Considering the orcs are already situated at our SouthWestern side, if we place ourselves here, they would move toward us and came to us facing NorthEast. We just needed to shift our position a bit to make sure they were facing East instead. Added with their tendency to have an honorable battle, I reckon if we face one side, they will align themselves to face us in a straight line. So it is imperative that we move out before them and assume our formation at this position before the sun is up. Afterward, we just wait for them to come, do not engage them before they are close."

"What's so special about this position?" Commander Quintus asked.

"The wind and the sun," John answered. The others were still confused by it but the commander seemed to grasp something from it. "Trust me, just arrange your men there and you will see the benefit."

"All right, I will do so," the commander replied.

Samuel was surprised by the commander's approval. He quickly protested, "commander! Are you sure? It's our lives that are on the line here. How can you risk it just based on this ambiguous outworlder's suggestion?"

"The commander has the final say in terms of our placement, you will do as is instructed!" The duke reprimanded.

"Yes, Your Grace," Samuel lowered his head from the admonition.

John was not affected by the protest, he continued, "now this position might get us an initial benefit, but it will not provide us with a decisive victory. To do that, we need to strike the enemy's essential part."

"Which is?"

"Their supplies," John answered. "The desert is a harsh place. Impossible to acquire resources for a large army, if we take down their supplies, they will have no choice but to retreat."

The commander shook his head. "That's easier said than done. The resources will always be placed at the back. Before we can reach there, we would have been annihilated."

"That's why we will send small shock troops to circle around their back for a sneak attack."

"Are you dumb or something? This is a desert, the enemy will see you coming from a mile back!" Samuel exclaimed.

Still unfazed by the insult, John said, "that's why I asked the army to place their position here. Apart from the elements which I mentioned earlier, there is another reason."

"Which is?"

"These sand dunes," John pointed to a series of wavy landscapes on the map not far from where he had requested for the army to position the troops. "A small contingent of troops can hide behind these sand dunes as they make their way to the opponent's rear. Other places will be too flat, but this place here provides enough coverage for a sneak attack."

Commander Quintus reviewed the map while mumbling to himself, he seemed to be deep in thoughts.

John did not let him think for long though, he continued, "however, in order to assure the success of this sneak attacks, we will need to do one other thing."

"Which is?"

"Lure the tiger off its mountain lair."

The others simultaneously gave confused expressions.

Noticing their faces, Jack quickly explained, "I'm sorry, this guy likes to pretend to be a poet. It is just an idiom from our world. It means luring the dangerous opponents away from their positions."

"Exactly!" John exclaimed. "The shock troops will not be able to destroy the supply safely if the high-level leaders are still on stand-by. They will provide supports once the shock troops reveal themselves."

"Which is why I said this sneak attack is stupid," Samuel said.

"Which is why I need you to shut your mouth!" John finally did not ignore the insults any longer.

Samuel was stunned by the sudden outburst. Did all outworlders possess such bravado? Did they not realize how weak they are? He could send this low-level outworlder to death with one slap!

John returned to address the others,? "now, in order to ensure the success of our sneak attack, we would need to trouble the ones around this table here."

"We?" Commander Quintus asked. "What do you want us to do?"

"Reverse that custom where the powerful leaders fight later. I will need you to call out their strongest fighters to engage you all, so that the rear line is left unguarded. Try calling for a duel, since they value honor so much, I doubt they will reject such a challenge."

"This…" Commander Quintus was hesitant. "If we all go out to fight, the army would have no one in command. If something happened, the troops will have difficulty responding."

"That's easy," John said. "Just transfer the command to me."

"You… Preposterous! This is going out of line!" Samuel declared.

"I agree, you are getting out of hand," Lucia said.

"Halt," commander Quintus said.

"Commander, you are not thinking…"

"Although there are still many parts that need to be discussed in detail, I think we can try this strategy," Commander Quintus said.

"But, commander…"

"Do you have a better idea against this enemy that outnumbers us?" The commander cut Samuel's protest.

"I… What about if we focus our strength to defeat the warlord?" Samuel suggested. "Killing the chief of an army will usually cause the enemy's morale to drop and thus ensure us a victory! We can trick him into a duel and then we find a chance to deal a killing blow together."

"Amazing, I never thought you can think of such a despicable plan," John said. "But stupid though."

"You! Don't you slander me just because I oppose your plan! Mine had a better chance to succeed."

"Succeed my ass! Killing the chief might ensure victory if the enemy's soldiers only follow this warlord due to profits or fear. But from what Storm Wind described to me just now, this warlord is an influential leader with many loyal supporters. I bet most of his soldiers are loyal to him. If you kill him in front of them, and even in such a dishonorable manner to speak of, you will not get a demoralized enemy army. You will instead get an enraged army that is bound on revenge. At that time, even if we destroyed their supplies, they will still doggedly come at us until either one of us perishes."

Samuel wanted to retort, but he realized the truth in John's words. He lowered his head reluctantly.

"All right, if no one has any better idea, we will follow John's plan. However, for the duel part, Captain Salem and Lieutenant Bailey will not be joining. Captain Salem will take over the command of the army on behalf of me, with John as the advisor. Lieutenant Bailey of course will stay as the Prince's protector."

John shrugged. "No problem, but I will need the full control of the shock troops."

"You want to join the ambushing team?" Commander Quintus asked.

"Hell, no. I will leave that dangerous jobs to the less important persons. I will need 480 soldiers for the shock troops, which will be divided into 24 small teams with 20 soldiers each. I want them to be assigned to each of the 24 outworlders apart from me as their leaders. This way I will be able to command them directly using our special communication means."

'The heck, so I am considered as one of the less important persons?' Jack thought with annoyance.

"Why do you need to command them directly?"

"Things might change during the battle, and they will have little time to destroy as much of the enemy's supplies before reinforcement arrived. I'm sure once the enemy found out about the shock troops, a large portion of the front-line army will be pulled back. These 24 teams will operate separately to target as many supplies as possible in their limited time. They will need fast information to know where to strike for the most efficient ambush."

"All right, we will do as you say," commander Quintus said.

"Commander, if we sent out 480 soldiers, we will only have 2520 soldiers to defend against over 6000 enemy troops. I don't think that will be wise," Nicholas said.

"Not 2520. We will defend with only 2000 soldiers," John replied.

"What?"

"I will need around 500 soldiers for another thing."

"That is insane. We will be fighting an enemy three times our numbers then."

"Don't worry. If you put the army in the position I advised, we will have no problem fighting such a number. At least for a few hours of time."

"This…"

"We have agreed to use his plan, might as well follow it to the letter," commander Quintus said.

"I have a request!" Prince Alonzo suddenly spoke out.