Warfare's Final Frontier

Chapter 6 No Victory Without Risk

After reaching the walled city in the dead of the night, Baron finally revealed to the 200 what his plans are for sneaking to the area outside the city walls were. The moon was covered by many clouds and there wasn't much moonlight shining through. Perfect for a night operation like this. The men had received orders to cover any of their skin not covered up by their armour to be smeared with a dark substance so as to be harder for their enemies to see them at night.

(BM) "Alright boys, this is what we are going to do," Baron said as he grabbed a torch from the officer he had picked to lead this night activity. "First of all each one of you is going to grab a length of firecrackers, spread out around the walled city and light them up once every hour until the sun rises. If any of you encounter any enemies don't hesitate to throw away your torch and retreat and come to the rendezvous point after shaking off your enemies. Our goal here is not to fight the enemy, but to cause the enemy soldiers to hear these firecracker explosions and go into a constant state of confusion. Once the first crack of sunlight appears you are to immediately retreat back to camp." Baron ordered as he started handing out the firecrackers to the men, he had prepared them beforehand and hidden multiple stashes close to the city walls camouflaged by underbrush and trees. He had accomplished this when the two armies had clashed earlier.

Officer Phillips (OP) "Alright everyone, you have your assignments. Once you reach your designated location immediately set off the firecrackers, wait for an hour then light another batch up again. Safety is most important, so if you are found out immediately light up all of your firecrackers, throw away your torch, try to shake the enemy, and return to the rendezvous points you are assigned to. Good luck men, and remember to prioritize safety" Phillips ordered before he himself grabbed a couple of firecrackers and turned to leave with the rest of the men.

(BM) "Hold on Phillips, I need to talk with you before you leave, everyone else you are free to go complete your tasks," Baron said before Phillips left, Phillips turned around.

(OP) "What is it, boss?"

(BM) "I need you to be the most careful out there, a good officer is worth a lot more than regular soldiers. Officers aren't just higher ranking than regular soldiers, they have been through much more warfare than the others, and therefore have capabilities to lead men. I cannot have you dying on me." Baron warned Phillips.

(OP) "Of course sir, I'll do my best" Phillips replied before setting out to his position.

A few moments later the first of the firecrackers could be heard going off in the distance, the first to light up the firecrackers would naturally be the ones assigned closest to the location they just met up at. The ones that were assigned further away got to their positions a little bit later so they lit up their firecrackers a bit later as well. This way loud firecrackers could be heard going off constantly, and while the firecracker noises couldn't even reach the halfway point inside the city, with so many noises a huge portion of the army that was sleeping was woken up immediately. They continued throughout the night without taking any casualties.

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(LE) "Sir, there seem to be firecracker noises resounding throughout the city, and these noises have woken up many of the soldiers." Lieutenant En quickly briefed Yue Fei.

(YF) "Why haven't I heard anything?" Yue Fei asked while immediately standing up.

(LE) "It seems these firecrackers are modified to create less noise than the ones we have in our storage."

(YF) "Are they going for quantity over quality?" Yue Fei thought to himself before ordering "they are just using this to create confusion among the ranks, double the guards on the wall just in case they are planning something else for tonight. Give the order for the rest of the men to continue resting."