A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 1174 The Ability to Overwhelm - Part 7
1174: The Ability to Overwhelm – Part 7
1174: The Ability to Overwhelm – Part 7
“Wait just a moment..!” Colonel Yoran said.
“What do you mean to say, Patrick?
Is this an insult, simply to be directed at me?
Have you no shame?
Have you put personal squabbles above the mission at hand?”
The man seemed to be failing to see the irony of those words falling from his mouth.
“You will have your part to play as well, Colonel Yoran, do not despair,” Oliver said icily.
“But you will not be left in charge of all those men that you have brought.
Two hundred is the most that I can see you have earned.
We shall attack, five groups of two hundred.
Lombard, I hope you will forgive me for splitting up your own men as well.”
“They are yours to do what you will with, whilst I am under your command,” Captain Lombard said calmly.
“Who might be these leaders of yours?
You mentioned more names than a mere five, and I suppose that you yourself shall be leading one, no doubt.”
“Indeed.
Colonel Yoran, myself, Lombard, Verdant, and Blackthorn.
Verdant, you shall take Commander Yorick and his men under your command.
Blackthorn, you shall do the same with Commander Jorah and his men.
I will take Commander Firyr,” Oliver said.
“You go too far with your favouritism,” Yoran said.
“Do you make no attempts to appear as a leader?
You have delegated the lions’ share of these positions to your own men, and you have given thoughts to their placement above any others.
You haven’t even looked at my own Commanders.”
“For good reason, Colonel.
I do not know you, nor your men.
Though we will be functioning independently, make no mistake, this battlefield belongs to me.
They will operate under my orders, and this is a balance that I believe shall work.
You yourself I have made allowances for.
Though you talk loudly enough that it is tempting to confront you with a blade, I am supposing that there is at least some degree of competence in you.
You did once lead a thousand men, after all.
I am supposing that you might be able to handle a mere two hundred,” Oliver said.
The look on Yoran’s face was hot enough to melt through steel.
It was a rage that he was unable to suppress.
He purpled with it.
His hand was on the hilt of his sword, and he showed just an inch of steel as he tried to reach for it from its scabbard.
Verdant twitched, showing his willingness to move.
The rest of the Patrick Commanders were not a single step behind it.
Before they could do anything, however, Lombard drove his horse in the way.
“Colonel,” he said, his calm icy enough to put a blanket even on Yoran’s rage.
“I would not make that mistake if I were you.”
With a growl, the man allowed the blade to fall back from where it had come, but that didn’t free him from Lombard’s careful staring.
“What now then?” Yoran said.
“You would divide up my men, and then insult me in the process?
Even Lombard you shame – you’ve given his Vice-Captain no position to command of his own, as he should rightly be allowed.”
“I hope you will forgive me for that, Tolsey,” Oliver said with a dip of his head.
“Rightly, you would be deserving of a place.
I have fought alongside you before, and I know your strength.
It is with a degree of haste that I have made these organizations, and with the years that I have fought alongside them, I feel much more at ease putting my own men in charge.”
“You need not make any explanations for me, Captain Patrick,” Tolsey said, keeping his chin jutted proudly.
“I am but a servant of victory.
I need not play a leading role, as long it is the side of victory that I end up on.
However you deem it fit to use me, I shall obey without complaint.”
“I appreciate it,” Oliver replied.
“And now, I suppose it is for me to inflict some results, now that I have forced upon you all another stir.
Even though you and I seem destined to be at odds, Yoran, you speak truthfully enough when you state that I haven’t done nearly as much as my post would require.
I shall hope that we can rectify that.”
Yoran made no response.
His rage did not seem like something so easily forgotten, even if he had quietened down for now.
“We will move at once,” Oliver said, “whilst the battlefield is still unbalanced from the changing of momentum.”
…
…
They took to the field, all five groups, and they split apart in their different directions.
It wasn’t long before the five of them had the Zilan army surrounded in its entirety, from all directions, with a group all the way down by the siege weapons, and another group down by the camp, and a near even split on the east and west sides.
Oliver had given them no more instructions than their starting positions, and their intentions.
They were simply to begin assaults, wherever they could, and to escape when they did not think it would be profitable.
He trusted the Commanders’ own instincts for that.
One could not rise to a position of leadership without having some sort of predatory instinct, enough to eye out the weaknesses of an enemy formation, and to sniff out prey that their fangs were strong enough to take down.
The young Captain was confident in the strength of his own two hundred man group.
He almost felt ashamed for snatching FIryr away from the rest.
Rightly, he should have sought to make his army more balanced.
One strong front attacker ought to have been enough for the group.
“We’re the main force then, aye?” Firyr said, seeing no problem with it.
His spear rested against his shoulder, and his eyes were thirsty for further blood.
“It’s going to be up to us to cause the most amount of chaos then, ain’t it Captain?”
