Phantasia: The Princess Knight

Chapter 145: Test Of Generosity Part Eleven

There out the entire canyon, large boulders were propped up on small rocks teetering on the verge of rolling over the cliffside. Alicia looked on as she watched the men at work doing their best to hurriedly prepare before the Dukedoms forces show up. Besides large boulders, there were also stacks of logs on lower ridges and below that were barrels of oil ready to be spilled down. Alicia's idea was to push the Dukedoms forces into the raging river or retreat back across the rivers bend. Ten of thousands of Kingdom archers with oil dipped arrows were also ready to let loose a barrage over the massive Dukedom army. Alicia's plan would not only reduce the damage to the Kingdom's forces but also maximize as much damage as they could towards the Dukedom's forces.

With the great number of soldiers, the Dukedom had amassed. Alicia already figured that they were using farmers and other untrained civilians for the forefront of the front line forces. Alicia never understood why any country would do such a thing since these so called drafted soldiers were not iron willed and would more than likely run away if their lives were at risk. And since more than anything, the number of actual trained soldiers was far fewer than what they could see it meant the strategy Alicia came up with was perfect. 

"Young Miss the Dukedom Army is about five minutes out!" A soldier who was on lookout came running up to notify Alicia.

"Alright then! Let's get everyone ready. Relay my message to the archers, when the oil barrels fall fire at will!" Alicia turned to the soldier and gave out an order. The archers would not be able to see her signal when the smoke started to rise so she had to relay this order now or things would go wrong. 

Time ticked by and a group of fifty thousand had marched its way into Alicia's ambush point. She waited until they were almost towards the end of the trap before giving the signal. A mass of boulders fell on each side of the valley thanks to the large river cutting through it there was not much space to traverse on the sides of the river. So these soldiers caught in such a trap had two choices, jump in the river or be crushed. 

The boulders landed on the unsuspecting Dukedom soldiers bringing along with them more rocks that had broken apart from the cliffside as the boulders smashed towards the ground. You could hear the cries of pain and yells for retreat as the Dukedom soldiers did their best to get out of the way of the falling boulders. Some people were even trampled in the process. But when the boulders finally stopped raining from the sky, they thought everything was now clear as those who survived picked themselves up and tried to push forward.

Alicia once again signaled with her hand and large logs tumbled down the cliffside next causing another panic. Not waiting for them to recover this time, Alicia, signaled a third time, and the hot oil was dumped down the side of the cliff. This oil was special in how once set on fire it would burn off even in water leaving no trace of it. But the burn time was normally a long time. To prevent any damage to the farms beyond the valley, Alicia had some Kingdom soldiers build a temporary dam to keep the burning oil from flowing into the villages below. Once it burned out the dam would be removed slowly allowing the water to slowly stream back into the villages. Alicia even went as far as to make sure that a supply of water was delivered to the villages for the just in case situations. She wanted to be safe, then sorry.

The old generals were all amazed at Alicia's quick thinking and attention to detail. When she explained her reasoning for doing such things.

"If the oil somehow spreads down to the village area, it would be best to make sure the citizens have water on hand until the oil fire goes out!" Was her reasoning.

With the hot oil burning away and firey arrows raining down, the Dukedom army scattered in every direction they could, some even jumped in the water to only be met with an even worse fate of burning and then drowning. Alicia refused to turn her head from such scenes as this was another form of training for her. It was steeling her mind for the worst atrocities that could come if she ever had to go to war to protect the Alastine Kingdom. Which she would not hesitate to do if it meant protecting her homeland. 

After seeing such things happening to the front lines, The Dukedom finally retreated back over the bend in the river that connected to the Empire. The commanders on the Dukedom side knew it would be pointless fighting in the valley at this rate. They could only retreat back a bit from their border with the Kingdom and hope to come up with a new plan.

But what they did not expect was how quickly the Kingdom moved. Using the method that Toyotomi Hideyoshi used during the siege of Inabayama Castle, Alicia had a few thousand men prebuild parts of a fort allowing them to quickly move in and build up forts that blocked off both sides of the river. They destroyed part of the bridge that the Dukedom built over the course of a few weeks to cross the bend of the river and making sure no one could pass. With such a feat, in one fell swoop, they not only managed to push back the Dukedom's soldiers but also annexed a major water route for the Kingdom. 

Cheers of victory could be heard across the river on the Kingdom side causing the Dukedom's morale to drop significantly. "Sir!" A Dukedom soldier ran into the command tent, sweat dripping from his brow.

"I know! I do not know who their tactician is, but they are damn smart! We came to annex some lands but they annexed ours in a matter of a day! For now, let the men rest. They marched far too long and are too tired..." The head of the Dukedom forces waved his hand as he let out a sigh. He never would have thought such a situation would occur.

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