Clearing the Road

[Nagato the Great]

True Russia is preparing the mobilization of soldiers into the north region between it and Lu China. Since trading across land began, Lu Chinese merchants have come under attack from barbaric groups in that region. Thus, to ensure the safety of merchants in this region, True Russia is preparing a large scale attack against these armies. Our main goal is the elimination or suppression of the armies who are attacking the merchants; a secondary goal is the establishment of a port in this region, for sea trade.

OOC: I need someone to RP resistance, I would be thankful if someone did.

[lutai]

" Lu Empire shall assist True Russia our troops will prepare and be ready to march, our navy vessels will give support also by transporting troops to the designated port."

[loannes]

OOC: Drakedeath the Bored, at your service

IC: Scouts spotted the Russian army before they reached any resistance, and reported to their respective camps. The bandits that regularly attacked the road tended to travel in smaller groups, at max about 500-1,000. They would use their small size to stay in forests and ambush enemy forces. There was absolutely no coordination, but most brigand leaders knew the basic rules of war.

A total of about 35,000 brigands and thugs littered the land between Lu and Russia. They lacked the heavy equipment of national armies, but made up for it with experience, determination, experience, and grizzled commanders.

No brigand force appeared to combat the Russians yet. They would wait, and attack in more favorable conditions.

[Nagato the Great]

The Russian force of about 7,000 experienced and well armed soldiers marched across the cold Siberian tundra, bearing the biting cold along with 44 regiments of cavalry. Any villages along the way, scant as they were, that were suspected of being allied with the brigands were burned.

After almost 20 hours of straight marching, the Russian force stopped in a large group of trees and pitched tents all around, keeping them separated and secluded. This meant that if the brigands attacked one group of soldiers while they rested, the other groups would attack from god knows where. Moreover, the troops rested with their weapons in their hands, and half the soldiers were not even sleeping. The commander of the Russian forces, Aleksandr Leonov, knew that the brigands, being barbaric cowards, would try to attack the Russians as they slept. No such opening would be allowed, and his men, though tired, cold, and hungry, knew it was better than being dead.

OOC: Drake, how do you figure the 35,000? just curious, as you only have 12,000 men.

EDIT: Cavalry

Edited November 29, 2009 by Nagato the Great

[loannes]

The Russian force of about 7,000 experienced and well armed soldiers marched across the cold Siberian tundra, bearing the biting cold along with 44 regiments of cavalry. Any villages along the way, scant as they were, that were suspected of being allied with the brigands were burned.

After almost 20 hours of straight marching, the Russian force stopped in a large group of trees and pitched tents all around, keeping them separated and secluded. This meant that if the brigands attacked one group of soldiers while they rested, the other groups would attack from god knows where. Moreover, the troops rested with their weapons in their hands, and half the soldiers were not even sleeping. The commander of the Russian forces, Aleksandr Leonov, knew that the brigands, being barbaric cowards, would try to attack the Russians as they slept. No such opening would be allowed, and his men, though tired, cold, and hungry, knew it was better than being dead.

OOC: Drake, how do you figure the 35,000? just curious, as you only have 12,000 men.

EDIT: Cavalry

OOC: 1. I'm not using my stats.

2. Infantry is your max, not current, troops.

IC: The citizens of the burned villages fled to the brigands, pleading them to help, offering their assistance. The brigands continued to wait.

When the Russians set up camp, the nearest groups of brigands formulated a plan. The secluded tents worked to their favor; when outnumbered, isolate and destroy. While the Russian troops sat in their tents, about a dozen brigands would sneak quietly to a tent. They cut the ropes that tied the tent to the pegs, and when it collapsed, hacked a few times at the tent, then fled, and as they withdrew, two dozen flaming arrows would fire upon the collapsed tent, setting it alight, trapping the men inside. The brigands would flee into the dark of the woods before a larger Russian force arrived.

They repeated this six times before making their way away from the camp.

[Nagato the Great]

As the tents fell in, soldiers struggled and cut through the fabric, attacking the brigands. Other camps, hearing the racket, immediately charged out of their tents, attacking the brigands and firing arrows as they retreated. As the brigands retreated, the Russians sent a force of 200 soldiers to scout out the area around the camps, while outside in the open, Leonov informed his men that he planned to in fact, use the scouts as decoys, and to attack the brigands who attempted to attack the scouts. In the security of his tent, however, Leonov informed his second in commands of his true plan. There were so many men around Leonov's tent that the brigands would have had to be absolutely invisible to not be sighted eventually. He planned to leave the brigands waiting for an attack force to come to the scouts, whom the brigands would think were a decoy, and then use the scouts to attack the brigands from behind, taking them by surprise, and then a cavalry force would strike at the front.

At the end of the brief skirmishs, six camps, with 40 men each, had been destroyed, with many of the men killed; 200 of the soldiers were killed. However, the men took comfort in that they had surely killed some of the fleeing brigands, and that they would soon strike back.

OOC: Here, if i'm a Dark Ages tech level, what do my tanks count as? Do they still count as cannons?

[loannes]

The Russians were overconfident. Firing a volley of arrows in the pitch black of the night, into a dense forest, would hardly yield results. Two of the men were wounded, and one was killed, although it was debatable as to whether the Russians killed him or if the man whose wife he'd slept with had stuck an axe in his intestine.

The scout force would find naught but the dead brigand, hanging from a tree in the woods, his red organs hanging from his open belly, blood dripping from the end of the string, a crow sitting in the hallowed out area, and a warning scratched onto his chest with a knife. No marks or clues were on his person.

The warning said simply...

LEAVE

The fifty brigands had already fled the area; they'd left the dead man there as a warning to the Russians as to what they would do to them if they were caught or killed.

[Nagato the Great]

OOC: Hardly realistic. You attack a tent, the army hears it, and attacks the brigands. I should think there would be MUCH more than 1 death: at least 15 deaths, and certainly much more injuries.

IC: The Russian's roared in laughter. "The Barbarians hope to scare us with their inhuman ways," one of them roared. "But True Russia is no bunch of flimsy men."

The scout army moved forward, and the men camped and talked heartily to each other of how easily the brigands would fall for their trap, though they gave no more than that.

Back in the army encampment, the soldiers were alert as ever, still with their weapons, and this time not giving a single opening.

Edited November 29, 2009 by Nagato the Great

[loannes]

OOC: Hardly realistic. You attack a tent, the army hears it, and attacks the brigands. I should think there would be MUCH more than 1 death: at least 15 deaths, and certainly much more injuries.

IC: The Russian's roared in laughter. "The Barbarians hope to scare us with their inhuman ways," one of them roared. "But True Russia is no bunch of flimsy men."

The scout army moved forward, and the men camped and talked heartily to each other of how easily the brigands would fall for their trap, though they gave no more than that.

Back in the army encampment, the brigands who were wounded were rounded up and brutally injured; their hands were lopped off along with their ears, and their eyes were gouged out. Only one did not receive this treatment; he only had his tongue sliced off as well as his fingers. The True Russians left the sole man to lead the others back to the camps; a note was slipped into the jacket of one of the blind and deaf brigands. It read simply:

You brought this upon yourselves

Never

OOC: A few things.

1. The entire army would not hear a dozen men cut ropes, swing their axes, and flee. If they're really that far apart, then at most, one or two tents would hear it.

2. You fired a volley of arrows into the pitch black night, at a dense forest, intending to hit 12 guys. Most of the arrows would hit trees.

3. Yeah, I didn't leave the wounded behind.

[Nagato the Great]

OOC: No, but likeliness is when the tent fell the soldiers yelled. And the ones that heard it yelled to other camps in the proximity. Get my point?

2. I closed in as well

3. Very well then

[loannes]

OOC:

1. That doesn't change the fact that they ran the second they were done

2. That doesn't change the fact that you were still firing into a dark forest in the pitch black night at 12 guys

IC: The grizzled old brigand leader had another plan to harass the Russians, but he realized that a forest was a bad place for it, and so, the brigand army withdrew to fight again another time.

[Nagato the Great]

OOC: You attacked six times. After the first time the troops were on high alert. I highly doubt you would have attacked six times against troops on high alert, and slipped away with one death.

IC:

The Scout Army stealthily moved through the forest; the leader told his men to use leaves and other greens to disguise themselves. They eventually emerged on the other side of the forest, and were soon moving across the tundra, where nothing could hide from them unless it was behind the scant few trees. Several of the soldiers took cover behind the trees, ready for any possibility of attack.

Edited November 29, 2009 by Nagato the Great

[loannes]

OOC: The fact remains that you fired into a dense forest in the pitch black night in an attempt to hit 12 guys.

And your scouts can't have outrun the brigands and gotten around them if they were starting to leave before the scouts were even out.

[Nagato the Great]

OOC: The fact remains that you fired into a dense forest in the pitch black night in an attempt to hit 12 guys.

And your scouts can't have outrun the brigands and gotten around them if they were starting to leave before the scouts were even out.

OOC: Yeah i wrote that one kind of quick

And you're ignoring the fact that we closed in to close range attack.

[lutai]

Lu Invasion force was ready to march onwards north and was prepared to face the cold environment's that would face them as they would march day's on end until their enemies fall at their feat.

The Lu Imperial army had assembled:

8,000 infantry

4,000 bowmen

and 34,000 cavalry

OOC:Edited

Edited November 29, 2009 by lutai

[Nagato the Great]

OOC: Yeah there's no multipliers, so what you have IG is what you have MRP.

[lutai]

OOC: Yeah there's no multipliers, so what you have IG is what you have MRP.

OOC:I edited infantry and bowmen,but the cavalry number is ok as it is multiplied by 50 which came out to be 56k for my nation last time i checked in the 1st page of map thread.

[Nagato the Great]

This message was sent to the Lu Chinese forces from Leonov, when the Chinese forces opened it they would read:

"Let's crush these insolent barbarians. If we sandwich them between our forces, superior numbers will allow us to annihilate all resistance. Our main concern is the region around the path we take to trade. We advise using the forests as cover. Beware--I do not recommend letting your men rest their weapons for a second

True Russia,

Leonov"

[lutai]

This message was sent to the Lu Chinese forces from Leonov, when the Chinese forces opened it they would read:

"Let's crush these insolent barbarians. If we sandwich them between our forces, superior numbers will allow us to annihilate all resistance. Our main concern is the region around the path we take to trade. We advise using the forests as cover. Beware--I do not recommend letting your men rest their weapons for a second

True Russia,

Leonov"

Lu Empire replied to the letter sent by True Russia,when they would open it it would read:

"We Shall go with plan you have gracefully thought out for us our forces shall march north as soon as possible I hope we will meet your forces after the battle's are over.

Lu Empire,

General Cao Shingyuan"

Edited November 29, 2009 by lutai

[Nagato the Great]

"The Lu Chinese forces are marching from the South," Leonov spoke to his men. "We from the North-East. The battle will come to the brigands on both sides. Superior numbers, equipment, and training will surely destroy them."

"Is there no diplomatic end to this, sir?" one soldier piped up. "Can we not negotiate with them?"

"Negotiate!" Leonov snarled. "I doubt these men know more words than a five year old, and you expect them to negotiate with us? I would sooner have them all brutally destroyed."

[loannes]

The small brigand force of fifty was already far from the forest, having not stopped since their initial attack. These fifty men were just the tip of the iceberg.

[Nagato the Great]

The scouting army had since travelled for without stopping for a rest; if anyone wanted to eat or drink, they did so as they marched. They were waiting for the cowardly brigands to face them in a straigh fight.

[loannes]

The march continued. The brigands lived on the move, relying on their speed and stamina to get them out of an area after an attack. They'd avoided organized resistance for years, and this day was no different. The brigand commander had contacted other bands and tribes, calling in favors from previous times. Their responses were favorable; all he had to do now, was get the scouts into a clearing, far away from the main army.

The natives were rising.

[Nagato the Great]

The Scout Army had, meanwhile, done a complete search of the surrounding tundra near the main army, and now had orders to return to the main army, not far away. They were then to await the arrival of the Lu Chinese army, and then march, laying waste to all between them and Lu China.

[loannes]

With most of the Russian army away, a few bandit armies, numbering about 2,000, decided to strike them where they were vulnerable; their homeland. Two thousand bloodthirsty warriors crossed the border into True Russia, burning villages and slaughtering civilians. Creative bandits would make a fine show of the corpses. Eyes were gouged out, skin shaved from the bodies in some cases. If they captured a politician, he would be hung from the town center, heart torn from his chest and forced into his mouth, jaw broken if necessary to fit it in, and his organs strung together, the rope that tied them together also binding his hands. A board would be nailed onto his back, with the words "You reap what you sow" written on it.

Entire villages would be burned to the ground, after the bandits took what supplies they needed or wanted from it.