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Tiger of ZiChuan
After the battle concluded at Fort Warren, Central Army Commander Stirling didn’t wait to regroup with Central Army Deputy Commander Qin Lu’s Infantry Divisions. Instead, he only delayed slightly for the wounded to settle in before he led the thirty thousand Central Army Cavalries in pursuit of the Rebel Army fleeing towards the heart of Province of Yun. The quickness of his advances could very well be considered as reckless. Even the Capital was worried: “Could it be another Battle of Red Lake?!” The memories of the Battle were still fresh on everyone’s mind, how three hundred thousand of House ZiChuan’s finest were defeated at the Beach of Red Lake in the Province of Yun. They almost lost the entire army!
Both the Headmaster and the High Command had sent several urgent messages after Stirling, telling him to exercise caution! In their eyes, going after the heart of the rebel territory with only thirty thousand men was pure suicide! And House ZiChuan could not afford another Battle of Red Lake!
Yet the usually cautious and obedient Stirling acted very uncharacteristically of himself, responding only in short messages: “Opportunities in battle are fleeting. When the General is far away in battle, he does not have to obey all of Emperor’s orders.[[1]]” As if he was in such a hurry that he didn’t even have the time to explain.
At the time in the entire Capital City, only ZiChuan Xiu and Di Lin understood Stirling’s intentions:
First, due to the rapid development of the rebellion situation in the Far East, the Far Eastern Army which bolstered over a million troops seemingly collapsed over night. It was obvious that great deal of local garrison and border defence units still operated within the Rebel controlled provinces, but were unfortunately separated or surrounded by the Rebel forces. If he could get in touch and regroup with them, slowly and surely, he would be able to rebuild a force of respectable size.
Second, there were still two provinces, Deja and Iriya, under House ZiChuan’s control. The majority of the population within those two provinces were Humans, and thus they were not easily swayed by the rebellion. Through the rebel prisoners, Stirling had learned that the traitor Lei Hong was already on his way to Deja, with fifteen divisions under his command. No matter from a strategic or a humanitarian point of view, it was Stirling’s duty to rescue the five million citizens residing in those two provinces, who had remained loyal to House ZiChuan despite being heavily surrounded by the Rebel Army.
Third, and the most important reason, the couple hundred thousand Rebel Army after their defeat at Fort Warren, were now like a burnt child who dreads fire. They would likely run at the first sight of trouble. In ZiChuan Xiu’s words: “Anyone who doesn’t take advantage of the situation is a f*cking idiot!”
Stirling knew all too well how difficult it was to come by another opportunity like this again. If he let those hundreds of thousands Rebel Army rest up, regroup and come back at them. The situation in the Far East would likely drag on for months if not years. When both House ZiChuan and the Rebel Army had weakened each other, if House Liu Feng or the Demon Empire then decided to come and crash the party, the Far East would be forever lost to House ZiChuan!
However, given the amount of troops currently available to Stirling, to surround and completely annihilate the enemy was simply out of the question. Besides, if you back an animal into a corner, it’s going to bite! Therefore if the huge Rebel Army had no place left to run and decided to fight back, thirty thousand Cavalries would not stand a chance! But then, Stirling remembered six years ago, when ZiChuan Xiu defeated Liu Feng Xi Shan at the Capital…
Every time the Rebels stopped to recuperate or dined, Stirling’s pursuing forces would appear behind them, and several thousand lightning fast sabres would find its way between the Rebels and their meals. The Rebel Army might be large, but after a devastating loss, joining another battle was the last thing on their mind. And thus, “whoosh”, couple hundred thousand Rebels quickly scattered to the winds.
Stirling’s Calvary didn’t try to stop them either, only focussing their attention on dealing with those who chose to stay and fight. Not that there were many of those idiots to begin with, but soon there was none left! It was also a great consolation to the Rebels that Stirling only tried to hunt down those who got left behind, because that meant for the Rebels, they didn’t need to outrun the riders per se, they just needed to outrun their own!
After the same had repeated many times over, running as soon as they saw Stirling’s rider had quickly become a conditioned reflex.
Once it became a habit, many patterns began to appear:
The best time to get attacked was before the breakfast, because then the air would be fresh, they would be fresh. It was the best time for a jog. Besides, jogging in the morning increased your appetite and provided many other health benefits as well…
Getting attacked during dinner was… acceptable. Five thousand human riders shouting warcries chased behind them, as hundreds of thousands rebel army of different races trampled over each other trying to get away, all the while holding their bowls and utensils. Due to all the practise opportunities they were getting, some even learned how to eat and run at the same time…
“What we really can’t stand is if Stirling attacks after dinner!” Rebel Army claimed: “It is the single most inhuman act! When you just filled your belly, and had to run for miles on end, can you even imagine how painful that is?!”
And it happened all the time, when a rebel soldier on the run would suddenly fall to his knees, screaming in pain. Since diarrhea and appendicitis were so common amongst the rebels, sometimes they would even catch the pursuing riders unawares and trip them over, and whose fault was that…
It would even be ok if was only during the meals, but frankly, Stirling had given a new meaning to the phrase “make sure they are cared for”. Every morning he would come and say “Good morning”, every noon he would “pay them a visit”, every afternoon he would show up to “say hi”, and every night he would tell them “Good night”! Even after midnight he would still express his “concerns” by making sure that everyone could have a good night’s sleep. Of course, the way he showed his affection and friendliness might have been a bit crude, with several thousand sabres swinging and all.
As the chase went on, Stirling’s attack became more frequent as well, often when a group had just gone by, another had already appeared. As a result, many of the exhausted Rebels would rather be taken as prisoners than to keep running. Many of them did wonder: “Why does Stirling’s Army never get tired?”
Stirling divided his thirty thousand Cavalries into six groups, with five thousand riders in each, and ordered them to attack in turn. Which was why whenever a group attacked, they would have the stamina to carry through. He even gave each group the specific instruction: “Never chase too far, always leave a road for them to escape.” Due to Calvary’s superior mobility, no matter how fast or how far the Rebels ran, Stirling’s forces could always be found within ten kilometres from them.
Chasing superior forces and do so by dividing a smaller force into even smaller groups. A manoeuvre that directly contradicted everything the military strategists believed in.
If the manoeuvre wasn’t executed by a famous General such as Stirling, and even succeeded, the commanding officer in question would likely have been condemned as an idiot by all the military experts and historians alike. But now they could only accept it as a miracle, and then hectically try to find theoretical basis to support Commander Stirling’s tactical genius.
Either way, whatever happened, happened. Some historians would even claim it was inevitable.
But Stirling knew that the chase only appeared to be dangerous, it had in fact very little risk. Under his relentless attacks, even if the rebels wanted to set up traps or ambushes, they wouldn’t have the chance to do so. The Rebel Army of mixed races had to fend off over a dozen attacks a day, harassing them when they ate, and when they slept. Every day, their numbers grew smaller and their morale grew weaker. Other than keep on running, there was very little else they could spare the time or energy for!
This long drawn out pursuit took them across six provinces, over three thousand kilometres and lasted twenty three days. It would later be known as “The Great Race of Far East”.
Close to a “million” Rebels had gathered at the feet of Fort Warren on August 12th. (Based on Far Eastern Army Deputy Commanders, Luo Bo and Lin Bing’s rough estimation, they had at least seven hundred thousands) By September 9th, only less than hundred thousand made it back, with tails between their legs, to where the rebellion first began, the Province of Yun.
And so, Stirling had thoroughly avenged House ZiChuan’s defeat at Red Lake. He peeled away at the large Rebel Army like an onion, one layer at the time.
In the midst of countless gazes, a shining new star rose over the Far Eastern Region of the continent! Its blinding radiance reached all the way to the Demon God Fortress of the Demon Empire in the east, and the Great Square of House Liu Feng’s Capital City in the west. From Di Du’s High Command down to every secret hideout of the Rebel Army in the Far East… Everyone, everywhere across the continent, mixed with all kinds of different emotions, spoke repeatedly in every language in every way, the exact same name: “Tiger of ZiChuan – Stirling!”
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[[1]] A Chinese idiom: 将在外，君令有所不受 – It means that the general should judge and act according to the real situations at the battlefield and thus doesn’t need to obey all the orders given by his superiors far away from the actual battle.
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