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 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 seems 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."

(LE) "Yes sir, are we going to do anything about the trouble makers outside then?"

(YF) "No need, there isn't much moonlight tonight so searching around for them will not be a good idea, plus what if they have planned for us and set up multiple ambushes? It's best to conserve our troops' manpower." Yue Fei replied to En as he waved him off. "Baron Magellan, I did not think you would employ such tactics on the very first day of battle. You are quite the surprising opponent, but I will not fall for your ploys" he thought aloud.

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In the morning the 200 troops arrived back at their camp just when the rest of the army had awoken from their peaceful night of rest. Baron had retreated back to the camp a few hours earlier to make more strategies. As he stepped out of his tent he noticed the 200 talking to the other soldiers and immediately called for an army briefing.

(BM) "Everyone, please give me your attention. I have sent these brave men into possibly the most dangerous situation they have ever been, and gave them objectives. They not only accomplished the tasks perfectly, but all of them have returned perfectly fine. Give these heroes of the night a round of applause everybody!"Suddenly, their camp exploded into a frenzy of applause and supportive shouts. Baron smiled in satisfaction at the surge of morale in his army.

"Thats what i'm talking about"

"Oooooh kill'em"

"Let's gooooooooo"

The 200 stared around them when they became the centre of attention, some looked around dumbly, while others grinned uncontrollably. They had actually accomplished such a simple errand and in return they became instant celebrities. This simple speech had an enormous impact on battlefield, this not only raised Baron's soldiers' morale it also kept the majority of Yue Fei's army up for much of the night. Yue Fei's army consisted of many fatigued soldiers, and this caused a loss of morale on that side.

(BM) "Alright everyone, eat your breakfast and prepare for war, the enemy should be fatigued right now and won't be able to perform as well as yesterday. Today, I will be joining you guys in the battle to take the wall and I don't want to see any of you slacking off, have I made myself clear!" Baron shouted to his army.

"YES, SIRRRRRRRR" the many soldiers shouted back in passion, causing another wave of increased morale.

(BM) "The 200 of you go back and rest, you will continue to do your assignments tonight if conditions remain the same. Good work all of you, at the moment the 200 of you have even more respect than some of my officers." Baron smilingly said to the 200.

(OP) "Thank you sir, praise from you is already encouragement enough, but the feeling of unity that we just had back there truly tugs at my heartstrings." Officer Phillips replied before ordering "alright everyone, please take your hard earned rest and be prepared to do it again tonight."

"Yes, sir" the 200 replied and dispersed into their shared tents chatting away at all the buzz they had created just moments ago.

The battle of the second day started with a huge morale boost for the attacking army while a hugeloss of morale for the defending army. With Baron personally taking the lead to charge into the enemy ranks with a glaive in hand, none of the soldiers beside him showed any sign of weakness and willingly threw themselves at the enemy soldiers. Baron didn't take to the field to thin down the enemy ranks with his huge hp bar advantage, but to actually draw out Yue Fei to attampt a 1vs1 battle against generals of two armies. However, no matter how low Baron's hp got, Yue Fei never showed up.

(BM) "Where are you Yue Fei? I know that you know I'm here, so why aren't you showing yourself?" Baron yelled out into the enemy ranks.

Just like this the second day of battle concluded without any major developments occurring. However, with Baron charging in first and the difference in morale of both armies could surely be seen in the number of surviving soldiers on each side. At the end of the day, Baron's army consisted of 4,250 to Yue Fei's 8,700. Most of these deaths were infantrymen, Baron had lost about 450 men, while Yue Fei lost almost a thousand. Although Baron's army managed to gain multiple footholds onto the wall that day, they were ultimately pushed back. This didn't cause too much of a drop in morale though, because of the existence of the 200 that would once again set out into enemy territory and cause even more devastation than yesterday night.

In the attacking armies side Baron Magellan was the only one that was not satisfied with the current situation. He had expected Yue Fei to at least show up when he had less than a quarter hp left but Yue Fei hadn't shown up. This caused him to feel a slight uneasiness, if Yue Fei continued to not show up then he would have to change his strategy. Baron approached Officer Phillips before he and the 200 left to set off firecrackers once again.

(BM) "Phillips, tell your men to not get too cocky. They still need to prioritize their own safety, and judging by the presence of even more clouds tonight than last night there might be some rain incoming. If the rain falls during the night then immediately have all troops retreat back to camp."

(OP) "You got it boss." He said as he turned around to relay Baron's orders and soon the group silently slipped into the night preparing to once again disturb the enemy soldiers with firecrackers.