Warfare's Ultimate Frontier 1

by Quasar Magellan

  Yue Fei smirked. “How could they not? Such a secretive project is sure to sprout seeds of curiosity. I’m confident they won’t be able to resist. I’m sorry, but you may have to suffer for this. But it has to be you — you’re the most senior engineer I have, and so you best fit the role.”

  “I understand, General.”

  “Thank you, Robert. You are dismissed.” Yue Fei turned to look at the weapon schematics spread out on the table before him — and missed the sinister expression on Robert’s face.

  Within days, Robert was reported missing in the camp. Despite an extensive search, nothing came up. Even the men Yue Fei had sent to tail him had been knocked out prior to the man’s kidnapping.

  Yue Fei was really confused this time — could there be multiple spies? Yue Fei thought the matter through for a few days, but couldn’t find a suitable answer. Then, a messenger arrived to report some news.

  “General Yue Fei, the matter with the missing engineer has resolved itself.” The messenger said in a respectable voice which instantly got Yue Fei's attention.

  “What do you mean resolved itself?”

  “Engineer Robert has returned to camp, covered in wounds.”

  “Take me to him immediately.”

  The two departed promptly then rushed over to the infirmary, where Robert was resting. Scars crisscrossed Robert’s body, and it seems that a few fingers were missing. There were even multiple stab wounds. Waking up, Robert stared at Yue Fei, then quietly began to shed tears.

  Robert whimpered. “You said you would come to save me, but you didn't. I had to escape their camp on my own.”

  “Yes, there was a rather unfortunate turn of events right as you were captured. We noticed that after your disappearance the small passageway that leads to the enemy camp nearly tripled their guards.”

  “But you didn’t even try!”

  Yue Fei shook his head. “We weren’t sure that was where they’d taken you. We couldn’t sacrifice thousands of soldiers for your sake alone.”

  “You could still have at least tried.”

  Yue Fei frowned. “Enough of this. Have you told the enemy my plans or not?”

  "...Rest assured, I haven't told the enemy anything.”

  “That's good to hear. You may rest now. I have some other business to deal with, so I’ll leave first. Rest well. Messenger! Go get me Lieutenant Bee, now!”

  Now that Yue Fei and the messenger had left the room, Robert laid there, alone.

  “Haha. Yue Fei, you fool. There is more than one spy in your inner circle.” Robert whispered to himself quietly and then smiled in satisfaction. His infiltration had succeeded so easily. The only thing that would need to be sacrificed, perhaps, was another spy.

  Upon meeting Lieutenant Bee, Yue Fei ordered him to do reconnaissance far from the battle. There was no point in killing him — it would only lower the soldiers’ morale.

  About two and a half weeks after the start of the battle phase of the simulation, Yue Fei finally sent out his first real attack.

  Chapter 30

  Two Secret Weapons

  Yue Fei had some of his most agile archers climb the area surrounding the passageway. These men were to continuously pelt the enemy with arrows while the infantrymen met with the spartan defenders. There was another part of this plan though. It wouldn’t be enough to just rely on the archers — Yue Fei had to take up the bow and arrow himself.

  Yue Fei was no slouch when it came to archery, as he had practiced the craft for many years. Once, he’d placed first in an archery competition by hitting a target from two hundred and forty paces out, nine times in a row. He was just a bit rusty, as he’d been too busy with his duties as an elder.

  Before the two armies met and clashed with each other, Yue Fei and about five hundred archers made their way to the high ground above the field of battle. They arrived just in time, as the two armies clashed. The other archers occasionally hit their targets, but Yue Fei was able to shoot with almost mechanical levels of accuracy. The reason for this was because he’d once spent a pretty penny obtaining a great bow blueprint from the community store. After a few years of practice, he was even better than he had been on Earth.

  Another reason was because he liked to use poison arrows — only a slight scratch. And another few hours they would meet their demise.

  A few hours passed, and Yue Fei and his archers were able to kill hundreds of Han Xin’s soldiers. They did this for the next two days of battle too, but Han Xin, strangely, didn’t choose to do anything about it.

  Finally, three weeks had passed since the first day of battle, and Yue Fei's men had finished the secret blueprint. It was a very weak imitation of Greek Fire. There are many victims of the Greek Fire, in history — many of whom were sailors. What made it so terrifying was that it continued to burn for a long time, even when submerged in water. But, this was just a pale imitation. Still, the flame could still eat through many things, and was horrifying to fight against.

  It’d taken three weeks to make, because the “Flamethrower” they’d made to utilize it had needed a great deal of fine-tuning to be used. And as this was Yue Fei’s first time using such a weapon, he naturally needed a bit more time.

  The dominance of the Greek Fire was apparent from the start of the next day of battle. At least, until Yue Fei’s troops were met with repeating crossbowmen and multiple polybolos. The polybolos was a Greek invention that could be almost said to be a predecessor to the gatling gun.

  After that, everything unraveled for Yue Fei’s army. The flames couldn’t reach the enemy troops, and they were slaughtered under the enemy’s ranged onslaught. The order to retreat was issued quickly, but in the panic, few heard the call.

  What made it even worse, was that back end of the passageway had somehow been blocked by Han Xin’s men. With Yue Fei’s men bottlenecked in the small passageway, Han Xin’s men were able to slaughter them with ease. By the end of the day, over half of Yue Fei’s men had fallen. In one day. Having lost any possible advantage, Yue Fei forfeited the simulation.

  Yue Fei had no idea what had just happened. He’d never been so outclassed by an opponent before. Granted, he hadn’t faced any of the old demons before, but he’d thought that he’d be able to put up a good fight with Baron’s blueprints. Now, though, he just felt depressed. Exiting the simulation, he looked at the other four in the room.

  An uneasy silence filled the room, until Han Xin spoke up.

  “Are you alright, Yue Fei?”

  “Yea...yeah. I'm just no match for you.”

  Han Xin waved his hands. “Oh, that's not true. The biggest reason I bested you wasn't because of my two secret weapons, or because of better tactics. In this case, it was because I had the necessary information to plan ahead.”

  “What? But I got rid of Lieutenant Bee.”

  “I had more than just one spy in your inner circle. My other informant was your engineer, Robert.”

  "... But the way he came back…"

  Baron laughed. “Allow me to explain this to him, elder Han Xin.”

  He shrugged. “Go for it.”

  “Deception and lies are everything to a spy. The more trustworthy you think they are, the more likely you are to tell them your plans. After Robert’s recovery, he went back to working on the weapons, yeah?”

  Yue Fei nodded. “I believe so, why?”

  “That's because he was trying to get enough information on the weapons to inform Han Xin of their full capabilities. You dropped your guard after you sent Lieutenant Bee away, and Robert was more easily able to keep in contact with Han Xin’s camp. With all of the information Robert gave him, Han Xin was easily able to devise a strategy that countered yours.”

  "...No way…"

  Han Xin again patted his friend on the shoulder. “Don't feel so bad about yourself. You’re still rather inexperienced when it comes to espionage. You’ll learn.”

  “One more thing.” Baron felt that another point had to be brought up. “Robb
y escaped your camp by tricking the people who were tailing him. After telling Han Xin what he needed to, he waited for you to rescue him. As it didn’t seem that you were going to get him, Han Xin had to change his original plan and had Robby brutalized before being returned back to camp. Pretty smart of him if you ask me. Brutal, but genius.”

  “So Baron, you were the one that gave Yue Fei that flamethrower blueprint?” Han Xin asked.

  “Yes. Is there something you want?”

  “No, no. I'm just curious as to how you have such a terrifying blueprint despite being here for such a short amount of time.”

  Baron smiled. “Oh, that's because I researched weapons and warfare a great deal when I was alive. It’s benefited me greatly here. I see you have the blueprint for the repeating crossbow. I have that too. I’m just wondering how you gained the blueprint for the polybolos. That’s a magnificent contraption, elder.”

  Han Xin scratched his head. “I received the blueprint when I entered a tournament with the Greeks. It was the prize for the tournament winner.”

  “Hoh… that’s pretty interesting. Might I ask as to how many blueprints you have?”

  Han Xin’s face twitched. “You are still fairly new here so I don't blame you, but the way to judge a strategist’s strength in blueprints is not to know how many they have, but how good they are. My most prized blueprint would have to be either the repeating crossbow, the polybolos, or the exploding gunpowder that I used against Ban Chao. These three are all fairly rare.”

  “I have to agree that they are all impressive. What do you think about my flamethrower?”

  Han Xin mused. “Going by my experience very few people have it, so I believe it is slightly rarer than any of mine.”

  “I see. It's time for our duel, isn’t it. Han Xin?”

  Chapter 31

  Siege of Baghdad

  The two put on the simulation helmets and set it to random. After a moment of silence, the system announced the scenario. It was to be the Siege of Baghdad, of 1258. This war had been a particularly devastating one for the Islam.

  It was fought between the Mongolian army and the Abbasid Caliphate, with the latter being the defenders. It had taken only twelve days for the Mongolians to win the battle, and only another week to slaughter another two million citizens. This one battle effectively ended the golden age of Islam in 1258.

  It was decided that Baron would be on the defending Caliphate side while Han Xin would be on the attacking Mongolian side. The advantages that each side held were clear. Baron was in one of the most technologically advanced cities of its time, along with fifty thousand soldiers.

  Han Xin had a stronger army with soldiers from multiple countries, totalling nearly a hundred thousand strong. His soldiers were also better equipped and more experienced. The preparation for this scenario was particularly long for its scale, at nearly three months. Almost simultaneously, the first thing each side did was to begin to build their weapons. The second was to try and recruit more troops.

  This was why they’d been given three months to prepare for battle. This siege was not fought in a vacuum. The nearby cities had had a huge impact on the battle.

  Baron and his trusty officers ventured out to the nearby Islamic cities to request more soldiers as his citizens began building all sorts of gunpowder weapons. The talks between Baron and the other cities’ representatives went back and forth for weeks, until he was finally able to garner thirty thousand additional men.

  Baron wasn't happy with the number of additional troops he’d mustered, but he’d done what he could. Now, he just had to wait for them to arrive. Baron returned to the city and began supervising the construction of his blueprinted weapons. A few days passed, before news came by his door.

  “Sir, I have news for you.”

  “What is it? I'm quite busy.”

  “Sorry sir, this is of the utmost importance.”

  Baron sighed. “Alright, what is it?”

  “The enemy commander Han Xin has negotiated a deal with the surrounding cities. They have promised to not send you any soldiers in order to guarantee their own safety.”

  "...Alright. Damn. What should I do now?” Baron didn’t know what to do — but panicking wouldn’t help either. In the end, he chose to make his move roughly a month into the planning period.

  It was forbidden to engage the other strategist in battle during the preparatory period, but it was allowed for each strategist to interact with what could be considered NPC’s. So, Baron used his newly built weapons and revitalized army to lay waste to the three cities nearest to Baghdad that had promised him soldiers.

  In just a month, he’d taken all three by force, had many times more citizens to build his weapons for him, and had increased the number of his soldiers by twenty percent.

  Han Xin hadn't spent his time idly either. After negotiating with the cities surrounding Baghdad, he had spent most of his time back in Mongolia trying to rally more soldiers for his cause. As such, he didn't hear about Baron’s actions until there were only two weeks left until the battle phase — and by then he didn’t have the time to do anything about it.

  The final two weeks were quiet as the two sides geared up for battle.

  As the attacking army, Han Xin peppered the city with siege weapons from afar. Baron responded in kind. This continued, until a fair bit of the siege weapons on both sides had been destroyed.

  Then, Han Xin had his men charge the city in full force. This lasted for several more hours, until the darkness of night fell and Han Xin ordered the retreat.

  Casualties for both sides were about the same, with each side losing about three thousand soldiers each. The next day went by in a similar manner to the previous day. The third day was different, though, as Han Xin had used the first two days of battle to develop a new strategy.

  While fighting a war of attrition would definitely yield him the highest chance of success, there was no honor to be had in playing the numbers game. It was more admirable to take the city in a single day. He was no fool, though. This wasn’t the reason he was committing his forces to a single offensive.

  It was just the feint, a leadup to the bigger blow.

  While the bulk of his forces clashed against the defenders of Baghdad, Han Xin would take the rest of his army to retake the other three cities. He had to deny Baghdad anymore aid from the three cities — and if he could steal the weapons Baron was having made, it would be even better.

  But this was still just part of a bigger scheme. He would use this event to send one of his messengers into Baron’s camp to feed him some false information.

  It started off well for Han Xin — his original army was able to keep Baghdad preoccupied, while he was personally able to conquer the nearby cities within five days. This was mostly because Baron hadn’t left many defenses there, choosing to focus his troops in Baghdad.

  They quickly confiscated Baron’s weapons and returned to Baghdad.

  By the time they returned, their soldiers had been sieging Baghdad for over a week straight. Han Xin quickly ordered a full retreat from the city. Without his leadership, his forces had somewhat suffered — the two sides’ forces had more or less equalized. Han Xin still had about ninety-five thousand soldiers, while Baron had about ninety thousand. Compared to the start of battle, where Baron had thirty thousand fewer troops, the difference was far less.

  Baron had naturally guessed that Han Xin would try to retake the other cities. THis was why he’d withdrawn the garrisons — and he’d prepared surprises for Han Xin to find. What he didn’t expect, though, was that Han Xin had another goal in retaking the cities.

  A messenger arrived. “General Baron, we have received word that Han Xin and his men have taken over the nearby cities and are planning on staying over there for the time being.”

  “Is that so? I'll take that into consideration. You are dismissed.”

  Baron instantly knew that something wasn’t right — there was no reason for Han Xin to keep his troops
in the other cities. He didn’t care too much, either. Since Han Xin’s troops had surrounded Baghdad, there was no point in having the other cities build him goods as the final products wouldn’t be able to reach Baghdad anyways.

  As the siege began the next day, Baron noticed that the Mongolian army had lined up multiple cannons that looked to be the same as Baron’s. The first thing he did was order the messenger that had told him that Han Xin was still in the other cities to be executed.

  He then waited for the enemy to experience the surprise he’d left them.

  “You're planning on using my own weapons against me? You must be dreaming, Han Xin.”

  Chapter 32

  Surprises

  Han Xin was feeling impressed with himself. Not only had he taken three cities in just a week, but he’d also stolen his enemy’s weapons and resources. This was a mighty win for him — and what better way to rub it in his opponent’s face than to use the captured weapons against their original owner?

  It would provide an interesting end to an otherwise boring map, Han Xin thought.

  When time came around for him to use the weapons, he had his men line the cannons around the city, to be shot at the same time.

  But when the shells were shot… all that happened was that the cannons exploded where they stood. Many of the soldiers surrounding the cannons were instantly killed or heavily wounded.

  The surprise had quite the impact on both sides.

  On Han Xin's side, the soldiers were mortified at the sight. As for Baron’s side, they’d previously felt incredibly depressed, seeing so many cannons pointed at them. But with this, they roared with all their might, cheering their leader’s exploits.

  And for Baron, he now knew that all the officers and engineers he’d had to clue in on the plan, were trustworthy. At the very least, they hadn’t notified Han Xin of the plan.

  And even Han Xin wouldn’t have sacrificed so many soldiers and his army’s morale to get someone into Baron’s inner circle.