novelden Chapter 2129 The Harassment Begins
Chapter 2129 The Harassment Begins
Night gradually fell, and the cold wind grew stronger.
Inside Youzhou City, the blackout was even more strictly controlled than usual, but a tense, suppressed atmosphere of anticipation permeated every corner of the army.
Three thousand elite cavalry have quietly assembled in batches at their designated starting positions, fed their warhorses, and conducted a final check of their equipment, awaiting specific attack orders from the central command.
In the dark wilderness outside the city, the lights of the Scorpion Clan camp twinkled, unaware that a wolf raid aimed at keeping them busy and unable to look south was already imminent.
The entire Youzhou garrison was like a slowly drawn bow, about to fire the first arrow that would break the deadlock and affect the fate of the nation.
Around midnight is the time of day when people are most tired and least alert.
Blackstone Fortress, an abandoned stone fortress for many years, was chosen by Gongsun Yi as the central garrison of his 100,000-strong army, taking advantage of its easy defense and high terrain.
Outside the fort walls, rows of tents, like clusters of black mushrooms, covered the grassland for miles around.
Apart from the occasional footsteps of patrols and the crackling of torches, the camp was filled with the sounds of snoring and the snorting of warhorses.
However, in the midst of this silence, about a mile away from the southwest corner of the camp, dozens of rockets with orange-red tail flames suddenly and without warning took off from the edge of a sparse birch forest!
These rockets did not fire directly at the camp, but rather flew in extremely high parabolic arcs over the outer sentry posts and low trenches.
It landed precisely on several open-air areas on the edge of the camp where flammable materials such as hay, saddles, and leather were stored!
"Swoosh—" "Swoosh—"
The arrowheads, soaked in kerosene, whistled as they pierced the haystack, and flames instantly erupted!
Almost simultaneously, dozens of rockets flew in from the darkness to the northeast, also targeting several seemingly inconspicuous material storage sites.
"Enemy attack! Rockets!"
"Fire! The hay is on fire!"
The piercing sirens and shouts instantly tore through the night sky!
The sleeping camp erupted into chaos within moments!
The sleepy-eyed Scorpion Clan soldiers frantically grabbed their weapons and rushed out of their tents, while the officers shouted orders to organize firefighting and defense.
In the firelight, shadows flickered everywhere, and chaos reigned.
However, the anticipated large-scale enemy charge did not occur.
Only from the birch forest and the darkness to the northeast, sparse but extremely accurate cold arrows were shot intermittently, specifically targeting officers who were directing firefighting efforts, shouting loudly, and centurions who were trying to assemble their troops!
The sound of arrows piercing the air was faint, almost imperceptible amidst the clamor of firefighting, yet people continued to groan and fall to the ground.
"Over there! There are archers in the woods!"
"Chase them! It's a small group of enemies!"
Several swift-reacting scorpion cavalry squads, led by junior officers, charged angrily toward the direction from which the rockets had been fired.
But when they reached the edge of the forest, apart from a few messy hoofprints on the ground and some arrow shafts that had not yet burned out, there was no one to be seen.
The dark woods and undulating terrain provided the attackers with excellent cover.
Just as the main camp's attention was drawn to the southwest and northeast, a rapid sound of hooves and an even louder commotion came from the northwest corner near the water source!
A small cavalry squad of about fifty men from Youzhou emerged like ghosts from a dry riverbed.
They used crossbows to quickly shoot down several sentries guarding the waterwheel, and then used sabers to cut several water pipes and wooden troughs.
They quickly threw several foul-smelling leather bags into the upstream water source, and then, without pausing, disappeared into the darkness again along the riverbed like a whirlwind.
When the nearby Scorpion Clan cavalry arrived, they only saw the damaged water intake facilities and the water source beginning to be polluted. They roared in anger, but couldn't even catch a glimpse of the enemy.
The raid that night did not cause numerous casualties at the Blackstone Fortress.
However, there were losses in several haystacks, temporary pollution of water sources, and especially the deaths of several mid- to low-ranking officers by sniper arrows.
The exhaustion and tension felt by the entire army, who were jolted awake from their sleep and tossed around until dawn, had an impact far greater than that of a small-scale battle.
More importantly, the attacks came from multiple directions, using a variety of methods that were unpredictable and elusive.
This made it impossible for the camp commanders to determine the enemy's true intentions and the location of their main force, so they could only strengthen their defenses on all sides and could not have a moment's peace all night.
A second wave of harassment was also underway at the same time.
Wolf Leap Gorge is a treacherous mountain gorge. A detachment of the Scorpion Clan, numbering about eight thousand, is stationed on a relatively flat plateau at the gorge's mouth.
They were responsible for guarding a vital passage connecting the main force with the rear, and monitoring the southeast direction of Youzhou.
At the darkest hour, the camp's sentries strained their eyes, keeping a close watch on the pitch-black ravine and the opposite bank.
Suddenly, a strange, abrupt, and dense whistling sound, like the howling of wolves, came from the bottom of the ravine.
Interspersed among them were the muffled booms of war drums and the clanging of metal, echoing through the silent valley and creating an especially eerie atmosphere!
"Enemy attack! There's movement down in the ravine!"
The camp instantly erupted in bugle calls!
The soldiers rushed toward the camp facing the ravine.
However, after waiting for a long time, the enemy did not climb or cross the ravine.
The whistles and drumbeats, however, shifted from left to right, sometimes near and sometimes far, continuing unabated and causing considerable annoyance.
Just as the camp's attention was drawn to the sounds from the bottom of the ravine, dozens of torches suddenly lit up outside the relatively loose perimeter at the rear of the camp!
A cavalry force of about a hundred men from Youzhou seemed to appear out of thin air, unleashing a hail of arrows like locusts towards the stables area behind the camp!
They did not attempt to storm the camp. After firing their arrows, some men used crossbows to suppress the patrol that had come upon hearing the commotion, while others fired arrows with oil-soaked cloth attached to them at the roof of the stables and the haystacks.
The horses were startled, neighing and struggling, trying to break free of their reins.
Although the flames on the roof were extinguished in time, chaos had already been caused.
"Behind us! The enemy is behind us!"
The scorpion general was both shocked and furious, and quickly divided his troops to retreat.
However, the hundred cavalrymen did not linger in battle. Once they had achieved their objective, they immediately extinguished their torches and retreated into the hilly area to the side as if blending into the night, at an extremely fast pace.
The Scorpion Clan cavalry gave chase, but were quickly hampered by the complex terrain and the deepest darkness before dawn, and dared not pursue further for fear of being ambushed.
The annoying whistling and drumming sounds from the bottom of the ravine also stopped abruptly after the attack on the rear of the camp, as if they had never happened.
All that was left for the Wolf Leap Gorge defenders was a disturbed morning, frightened warhorses, a few sections of the roof that needed repair, and a bellyful of doubts and frustration.
How many enemies have arrived? Where is their main force? Is this a feint or a probe?
The third wave of harassment occurred at the Fenglingdu supply camp in the northwest.
Fenglingdu was not a large river crossing, but a relatively flat riverbank with a road nearby.
The Scorpion Clan established a medium-sized supply camp here, storing some of the food, arrows and other consumables transported from the rear. The garrison consisted of about three thousand men, mostly infantry.
This place has already been designated by the Chu army as the location for their third wave of attacks!