The light cavalry lay low during the day and moved out at night.
This was to avoid being detected by the War Pigs, lest they grew cautious and refused to fight.
Furthermore, Aililan did not fear a large-scale battle, but she believed a hit-and-run strategy was best. She was not foolish enough to actually help the War Pigs fight their war.
A scout arrived with a report. “Saintess, shadows of the Wasteland Bovine Clan have been spotted ahead.”
“Give me the details,” Aililan said.
“The number is about 200 or 300,” the scout replied.
“Be more specific,” Aililan pressed.
“Eh? I… Saintess, is there anything else you wish to know?”
Aililan frowned. “Civilians, a small unit, or their logistics?”
After a long moment of silence.
“They should be civilians,” the scout finally said.
Aililan let out a cold snort. “Is this how you gather intelligence? If the army, based on your intel, went to intercept those civilians and missed a tactical opportunity, could you take responsibility for that?”
Aililan was somewhat disappointed with the scout’s work.
It was not to say that Orc civilians could not be killed, nor was it out of some misplaced sense of mercy. It was simply that this was not a war of extermination; the light cavalry’s purpose was to strike military targets quickly.
“Scout, listen well. The Wasteland Bovine Clan’s logistics, outposts, and small settlements—those are our targets. You must do your best to clarify their defensive information instead of just reporting whenever you see a stray Orc.”
She let out a deep sigh.
Aililan gave this military operation a definitive boundary.
“We aren’t here for a massacre.”
After the scout left again, Aililan could not help but sigh once more.
In truth, she could not blame the scouts for being unprofessional. For a long time, their only duty was to guard against Orcs moving south. Most scouts were not skilled enough to truly discern the motives of the Orcs; they only needed to observe the movements of large groups. Regardless of whether Orcs were civilians or not, nothing good ever happened when they gathered.
Aililan felt this was not good enough. After returning, she would have to have the Fourth Wing Army retrain the scouts to better adapt to future battles.
Two days later.
More intelligence arrived.
The War Pigs and the Wasteland Bovine Clan were gathered at the Aran Estuary in a standoff. They seemed to be in the middle of negotiations; the War Pigs intended to make the Wasteland Bovine Clan submit without shedding blood.
The intelligence indicated that the Wasteland Bovine Clan was not very willing to start a war either, but they wanted to fight for more benefits—such as standing on equal footing with the War Pigs rather than as a conquered people.
‘Negotiating?’
‘Hmph.’
‘Did I give you permission to negotiate?’
Aililan stared at the various intelligence reports.
The War Pigs had rallied several tribes they had conquered, forming a total army of nearly 20,000 stationed at the Aran Estuary. The Wasteland Bovines, on the other hand, had around 15,000.
Do not be fooled by the Wasteland Bovine Clan’s smaller population; their individual strength was not inferior to the previous War Pigs.
Furthermore, aside from the elderly and the young, the Orc race was terrifying because every member was a soldier. If one were to truly wage a total war against the Orcs, they could indeed pull together a 1,000,000-man army from their population of millions to march south.
This was where the value of Atester City became apparent. Even if it held them back for just one day, that time would be precious for the cities in the rear.
So far, the scouts had discovered two supply lines, three outposts, and five gathering spots belonging to the Wasteland Bovine Clan.
After a moment of silence, Aililan made her decision. “Renata, go pass the order. We prepare to strike in thirty minutes. We must destroy the Wasteland Bovine Clan’s logistics.”
—
As evening fell, the army of light cavalry emerged from a small forest on the plains like ghosts.
Amidst the sound of galloping hooves, a look of terror and disbelief flashed in the eyes of a Wasteland Bovine transport team of over 100 people.
“Hu—humans?”
“No, how is this possible?”
Even if they were beaten to death, they could not understand why human cavalry would appear here.
However, they had no time to think. The humans’ slaughtering blades had already arrived. After a volley of arrows from several hundred light cavalrymen, the Wasteland Bovine transporters fell in heaps. The survivors almost immediately abandoned their supplies and fled.
But how could they outrun cavalry? Before long, the team of 100 or so was wiped out.
A cavalryman dismounted and sliced open a burlap sack, only to reveal a look of extreme disappointment. Inside the twenty-odd carts, there were nothing but grass roots and some low-quality iron tools.
“Why are they so poor?” the soldiers cursed under their breaths.
Then, they immediately poured oil and burned the Wasteland Bovine Clan’s food to cinders.
One thousand cavalrymen split into three teams, each destroying the supplies at their target locations.
Over the next few days, they struck everywhere, cutting off one of the Orcs’ only two supply lines. This caused the situation on the front lines at the Aran Estuary to grow instantly tense.
Finally, the human iron hooves attacked a joint settlement in the Wasteland.
And this time, they purposefully left behind some evidence, allowing the Orcs to discover that it was indeed humans!
—
At the Aran Estuary, inside the Wasteland Bovine camp.
“Curse them, it’s actually humans! How dare they venture deep into the plains? Do they not fear a total war with the Orcs?” the leader of the Wasteland shouted in uncontrollable rage.
“Chief, have you still not seen the situation? That human cavalry was definitely brought in by that bastard Baccus. The War Pigs and the humans are in bed together!”
“Chief, we can’t wait anymore. The War Pigs are clearly using stalling tactics. By the time the humans completely destroy our logistics, it will be all over for us.”
“Let’s start the war with the War Pigs!”
“Fight! We’re being bullied!”
“If we fight, we might win. If we don’t, we’re definitely dead. We might as well just fight!”
The analysis was well-founded.
The root cause was that the Mutual Market was too suspicious, and the War Pigs were indeed getting too close to the humans. Now that traces of human cavalry had appeared in their own rear, they wouldn’t believe it wasn’t the War Pigs’ doing even if you told them otherwise.
The Wasteland Bovine leader gnashed his teeth and finally made up his mind. “Fine, then we fight!”
“Secretly pass down my order. We launch a surprise attack at midnight tonight.”
Because they wanted to negotiate, the War Pigs’ defenses were not very high.
Therefore, when the Wasteland Bovines came knocking at midnight, most of the War Pig soldiers failed to react before the Wasteland Bovines broke through their camp. For a time, the sounds of slaughter shook the heavens, and many of the Gnoll-kin recently recruited by the War Pigs scattered and fled in a panic.
The War Pig leader, Baccus, did his best to rally his soldiers, barely managing to temporarily hold off the Wasteland Bovines’ offensive, but they were forced to retreat while blocking the onslaught.
It was not until the first rays of sunlight rose.
The original location of the War Pig camp was now a ruin, filled with the cheers of the Wasteland Bovines.
In this battle, over 1,500 War Pigs were killed, and the number of injured was beyond counting.
After gathering his remaining troops, Baccus, the War Pig leader, roared in fury, “Scoundrels! Those damned Wasteland Bovines! To think their negotiations were just to lure us into a false sense of security!”
“If I don’t avenge this…”
“I’m not fit to be a leader!”
Lady Naris, the daughter of the War Pigs, also had blood-stained bandages on her body. She asked, “Father, we failed to withstand their sneak attack. Should we avoid their momentum for now?”
Baccus widened his eyes. “What? Me, avoid the edge of those lowly bull-heads?”
“But, Father — “
“Shut up, Naris!”
Naris fell silent. “I…”
Cyril, the Sage of the War Pigs, also walked over and said angrily, “Lady Naris is wrong. We haven’t lost, and we cannot lose.”
“Our Mutual Market with the humans…”
“That is our foundation now.”
“War is not just about a moment’s bravery and numbers; it is about resources.”
Cyril’s analysis was very insightful. The War Pigs had an entire day’s access to the Aran River, and they could purchase countless human grains. Thus, it was impossible for them to lose.
War was a battle of logistics.
PS1: Why was Chapter 98 flagged for lewd content again? I’ve looked it over again and again, and I can’t for the life of me figure out how it’s considered lewd. Did you readers see anything?
PS2: The author’s mood after seeing the lewd content warning.