A Jade Dragon

Chapter 10: Finding a Solution

Benjen swung his sword across the belly of a Jogos Nhai just as he tried to make a pass at him on his zorse. The force was so strong that it knocked the large-headed man off of his mount and with a deep cut in his abdomen.

But unlike some of the troops in his brigade, the former First Ranger knew what it was to kill and he had to move on from one Jogos Nhai to the next. Again, he had to appreciate the irony of his current situation. From fighting wildlings to fighting men on black and white horses, both of whom hate southerners, he mused lightly.

The purpose of the flying column was to advance ahead of the main army to scout out enemy presence and disengage when faced with large threats. The column's mixture of light infantry and cavalry allowed them much greater flexibility than most brigades in the army, and from the manuals that he read, the black powder weapons would help them fend off all of the threats from the steppes.

But following Lord Joon's orders and not taking their heavy weapons such as the hwacha with him, they had to rely on the tanegashima and ceramic casings filled with black powder. The hwacha would have been quite useful for them in scattering the large-headed mounted men.

What struck Benjen more was how the Jogos Nhai fought. Usually, they would conduct a skirmish with an imperial patrol and disappear back into the plains, knowing full well that they didn't stand a chance against the organized might of the Yi-Ti armies. However, they were just charging on his brigade in full bands, one hundred at the most, and kept coming. Something's driving them to fight like this. Maybe they really want to avoid the winter, but this is something else.

Knowing that they were not on favorable terrain and it was likely that there were more Jogos Nhai out there, Benjen made the decision to order a fighting withdrawal back to the main camp. Directing the battalion captains to organize their men into squares, with pikes arranged in two rows and the missile troops positioned between them, he also had the cavalry arranged along the flanks. Remembering something that he had learned from his ranging beyond the Wall, he told each of the battalion captains to step back a few paces after they fended off a band of mounted Jogos Nhai.

Seeing the first band of Jogos Nhai emerge, he nodded to Lieutenant Lim, who wiped the sweat from his brow. "At two hundred paces, ready repeating crossbows!" he ordered.

There were fifty men armed with those repeating crossbows in each of the three squares, each carrying ten bolts. A good characteristic of them was that they could let off a constant volley and cause much damage to the enemy quickly. However, their main drawback was that while the bolts could be easily loaded, their fast rate sometimes sacrificed accuracy, which they sorely needed against their adversaries.

The first band of Jogos Nhai entered the effective range of the crossbows, their large bronze swords and spears lowered to strike at their enemies. "Loose!" Lieutenant Lim gave the command.

A score of crossbow bolts flew through the air before striking at the Jogos Nhai, cutting down many and forcing several of their zorses to stop. Seeing how many of their brothers were dying, the first band of Jogos Nhai fell back and galloped back into the plains.

The troops cheered as they saw their adversaries run away, and their spirits rose as they got their first kills after suffering from their previous commander. However, Benjen remained silent, knowing that it was not over. "Lieutenant, begin the withdrawal."

Lim nodded, also knowing that they couldn't stay in the plains indefinitely and away from the main army. Relaying his orders, the infantry took a few paces backwards while keeping their weapons pointed at the opposite ends of the steppes. It might have been a slow process of rejoining Lord Joon's main formations, but Benjen kept saying to himself, "Slow is fast. Fast is slow." If we tried to make a run for it, our rear will be exposed.