From Londoner To Lord

Chapter 332 - 327. Tactics

Soon, the outer door opened and Duvas and Hudan walked in together. Feroy woke up from his sleep, and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Report," Kivamus ordered immediately.

Hudan set both of his swords down and began, "Now that it's daytime, and there is no risk of them giving out their positions easily like during the night, all three groups have lit fires. They seem to be cooking something—probably rabbits or whatever they managed to trap last night."

"It's like these bastards are having a bloody barbecue like nobles!" Feroy scoffed.

Hudan continued, "Anyway, each group still has around the same number of men. A man or two go off now and then—nature calls, or to speak with the others—but mostly they're staying in their general positions."

Kivamus nodded. "Are they still outside the range of bows and crossbows?"

"Yeah," Hudan said. "They're well out of crossbow range. Yufim and Nurobo tried shooting again with their warbows, but they didn't get any hits at all. The bandits are too far even for them."

"That's fine," Kivamus said.

Duvas frowned. "Why's that fine? We still don't have a plan! I ordered the villagers that nobody is to exit the gates today, but most of the workers are still waiting by the manor gates for news or to see if there are any new orders from us. They're more nervous than I've ever seen them! Getting a surprise raid in the night is one thing, but knowing that the bandits are sitting right outside the gates, ready to attack the village any time is taking a toll on everyone."

Kivamus gave the first smile he'd had in days. "Don't worry. I think I have an idea that'll put those bandits right where they belong - which is six feet under."

Feroy blinked and sat up straighter. "What are you thinking?"

Hudan and Duvas leaned forward as well, waiting for him to explain.

Kivamus looked at Hudan. "By now you must have a better count of the bandits. How many of them are there in total, and in each camp?"

Hudan rubbed his jaw. "Our count last evening was more or less accurate enough. From the latest report I got, there are eleven men sitting in front of the northeastern gate, ten at the southwestern gate, and twelve at the southeastern gate. These numbers could still be off by one or two—someone might have been away when the crossbow women took their counts."

Kivamus nodded. "Does it look like they're going to attack any time soon?"

Hudan shook his head. "I don't think so. It will only take them a short time to pick up their swords and get ready for battle, but right now they're just sitting there, roasting meat."

"Good," Kivamus grinned. "It was a good idea to wait and observe them. If they stay like this, my plan will work. Here's what we'll do - we'll defeat them in detail."

Hudan blinked. "What do you mean, in detail?"

Kivamus explained, "Defeating in detail basically means to divide and conquer. It means we'll use our full force against a small group, beat them, then repeat the same tactic on the other small groups of the enemy."

Feroy nodded slowly. "I think I understand what you mean... The mercenary group I ran with used to do something similar when we were hunting a pack of wolves for their fur."

Kivamus explained, "We will start by using this day to let the villagers rest. They haven't had a proper day off since I arrived here. They can't afford to skip work and spend time with their families - since they need to earn their food, and they won't get their weekly rations if they don't work enough. The foremen of each group track their work hours everyday for the very same reason. So let everyone have today as an off day. That includes the clay diggers who are working on the trench." He looked at Duvas. "Tell them to stay inside."

He turned back to the guard leaders. "The same logic applies to our guards. Most of 'em have been awake for days since we first spotted these bandits, with barely any rest in between, and that tiredness is adding up." He pointed at Feroy. "Even you—someone who is called a ghost by other guards since you barely need any sleep—look battered. It would be much worse for the other guards. So we'll give them a good rest today."

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The others shifted in their seats but kept listening.

"The guards also don't need to scout the hills or do mounted patrols outside the village right now," Kivamus went on. "So, just for today, we will rotate everyone's watch duties in shorter shifts so they get enough rest during the day. Torhan and his men will certainly notice that nobody left the walls, which'll make them think that we are too scared and huddling in fear. That works in our favor - since that's exactly what we want them to think."

"But..." Duvas interrupted. "If it's just for today then it may be okay, but we can't afford to postpone the sowing too much or it will be too late."

"Just listen," Kivamus said. "It's only for the daytime today." He looked at Hudan, thinking about it. "You know what, I think we need to give our male guards a complete rest for this to work. After this meeting, go and change the shifts, and call up the usual older villagers who keep watch and send them to the towers. One crossbow woman will stay with them until noon, then another will replace her from noon to evening. The older villagers will stay the whole day."

"But what about our male guards?" Hudan asked. "They've been helping to keep an eye too. I don't see why you don't want them to help."

"Listen to me first," Kivamus said. "It doesn't seem like the bandits will attack during the day, but the female guards and the older villagers can still blow the horn if the bandits decide to attack, and the swordsmen can still answer the alarm in time. This way our male guards will get some proper rest by evening. We need to take off men even from the watch post duties, so we'll put a couple of servants to cover the western manor gate and lock the eastern one. As for the village gates, nobody is supposed to leave the village today, so they will be locked and barred up as well, while the women at the watchtowers will continue keeping an eye out."

He continued his explanation. "Make sure that the old watchmen and female guards keep a close track of where all the bandits are when it starts to get dark. The bandits were careful yesterday and didn't make any fires in the night, but we might get lucky tonight and they'll light fires thinking they're safe enough. Every villager and guard staying within the walls during the day will make these bastards think we're huddling inside in fear — and that'll make them feel safer themselves. If everything remains the same, they'll likely keep their positions and stay in the same groups of ten to twelve in front of each gate even tonight."

Hudan nodded. "That's how it was yesterday. And then...?"

Kivamus grinned. "Even after the hunting groups left, we've got twenty-one swordsmen, including you both. That can still give us a numerical advantage of two against one."

Feroy smirked. "I see where you're going with this. I like this plan! Making them feel safer by not trying to attack them even once since they arrived here is going to work in our favor now."

"Exactly," Kivamus nodded. "This tactic is going to work only because by now we know that the bandits are staying separated in three groups and until today, we have given them no reason to unite and defend against an attack from us."

Duvas looked at the others in confusion. "I don't understand..."

Kivamus explained, "Here is the plan. We're going to move all our swordsmen under the cover of night as close as we can to one of the camped groups. If the bandits don't light fires, it'll be dark enough until the moon rises near dawn, so they won't spot our men until they are very close. And if they do light fires tonight, we won't have anything to fear with their ruined night vision."

Duvas frowned. "But even with our numbers, our guards will still be at a disadvantage in the dark, won't they?"

"No," Kivamus grinned. "Here's where our crossbows come in. We have twelve crossbows plus two good archers. The archers won't be of much use in a night assault, so I'll post Yufim and Nurobo in separate watchtowers, and put four armed crossbow women in the other towers to cover the remaining directions. That gives us eight free crossbows to hand over to the swordsmen. If the latest reports in the evening still say that the bandits are staying grouped in their three camps, we can even use the remaining crossbows, since we won't have to fear them flanking us from another side."

Hudan nodded. "I've been making the swordsmen practice regularly in the usage of crossbows, and by now everyone is a decent shot with them, not that they are difficult to use at all. What about the rest of the female guards?"

Kivamus replied, "We'll also post them on the towers to keep watch during our counter raid and to give a signal if the other two bandit groups notice and try to flank us. If they do, the horn will be blown and the swordsmen will pull back. If they don't, the swordsmen will continue."

The room went quiet for a moment as everyone considered the plan. Kivamus watched their faces to see if anyone would oppose it.

When no objection came, he continued, "As soon as our men get close to the first camp of bandits, the ones we've given crossbows will shoot—eight bolts at the minimum, maybe twelve if we can arm them all—into that lazily sitting group of bandits who might be roasting some more meat by then. If we're lucky, that first volley will take out or disable most of the bandits from that first group. Even if that doesn't happen, it'll still cut down their numbers sharply. Our guards will immediately put away the crossbows after that volley of bolts, and in the resulting chaos between the bandits, our twenty-one swordsmen will rush in to finish any survivors before they've even gotten their swords out of their scabbards."

Hudan finally grinned. "Now that's a good way to show these bastards what happens when they dare to attack our homes!"