Castle of Black Iron

To occupy Solanet and to kill all the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty in Solanet were two tasks with totally different difficulties. In the eyes of the decision makers of the army, there was no question whether the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division could complete this task, or what price it would have to pay for achieving it.

As a whole battalion of the Iron-Horn Army was killed by the troops of Sun Dynasty in Solanet, their heads chopped off and piled on to a granary’s floor nearby, the Iron-Horn Army had to also chop off the heads of all the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty who occupied this area and pile them on a granary’s floor.

That was simple, no matter how many people would be sacrificed, they had to complete this task.

Generally, rulers of the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty were wrestling hands in Kalur region, It was displayed by conflicts between colonels and the close fights between numerous soldiers.

This was the first time that all of the battalion’s soldiers of the Iron-Horn Army were killed by Sun Dynasty in the combat zone. To accomplish this deployment, the amount of soldiers that Sun Dynasty had to have used to surround and attack had to have been at least twice as large when compared to the Iron-Horn Army’s strength.

At this time, the advantage that the Sun Dynasty’s soldiers had by outnumbering the Norman Empire in Kalur region started to be outstanding. Even if it was only a small-scale encounter or a skirmish between two battalions, the party with more soldiers could easily gain a small advantage and take the initiative.

What happened in Solanet was just the epitome of the problem that the Norman Empire faced in Kalur region.

Therefore, the Iron-Blood Camp had to fiercely beat up the soldiers of the Brilliant Feathers. This way, they had to boost the morale of the entire division.

As annihilation was totally different from occupation, the fighting plan had to also be adjusted.

Major Guderian decided to have the Iron-Blood Camp attack from the south of Solanet instead of the north. After making a circle, the Iron-Blood Camp would launch an attack from the back of its enemy to cut off the escape road for those bastards of the Sun Dynasty who occupied Solanet.

This adjustment was simple, fierce, and decisive. Facing the attack from the south, the troops of Sun Dynasty in Solanet could only fight the Iron-Bloody Camp desperately. There would be no chance for them to escape to the north. Because of terrain, they would also have a great difficulty in escaping to the east and the west.

However, if this strategy was adopted, the Iron-Blood Camp would also face a great threat. Once it entered a stalemate with the troops of the Sun Dynasty in Solanet, unable to kill those guys at once, if one more enemy troop showed up behind them, the Iron-Blood Camp would be surrounded by its enemy and could only react passively.

Of course, the appearance of the Iron-Blood Camp in the south of Solanet would shock the enemy, however, at the same time, the Iron-Blood Camp would put itself into the ring of encirclement which could be easily closed down by the enemy.

This plan seemed a tad crazy because few commanders would jump into the enemy’s ring of encirclement to fight, however, Battalion Commander Reinhardt was one of the crazy ones. The moment Major Guderian proposed it, Reinhardt immediately adopted it without a moment’s hesitation.

Because they had to take a detour, when the Iron-Blood Camp arrived in its designated place, they had walked more than 10 km’s on mountainous road.

Finally, when the first ray of sunshine cast onto Solanet at dawn, the 1000-odd members of the Iron-Blood Camp had already arrived at a place near a mountain slope to the north of Solanet and quietly lurked there.

This place was less than 1 km away from Solanet. After making a rapid march of over 30 km, the Iron-Blood Camp quietly lurked at the entrance of Solanet.

They hid in an elm forest. Although they had over 1000 people, they made no noise at all. Everybody half squatted on the ground, resting, drinking, and eating, so as to supplement physical strength as soon as possible.

They had 20 minutes to recover their physical strength.

Finally able to take a deep breath, Zhang Tie pulled out some dried meat from the inside of his coat and started to wolf it down. Meanwhile, with eyes open wide, he stared at the small village on the small hillside, which was Solanet.

At this time, several wisps of heavy smoke rose up from that village, seeming like the final breaths of several buildings that had burned over the night and now were about to die. After occupying Solanet, the bastards of Sun Dynasty burned down several houses in the village in case of being raided in the evening, so the houses kept burning through the night like several huge flaming torches.

By then, there were no local residents in Solanet any more. Before the troops of both parties started to confront each other, the residents surrounding Kalur had escaped in all directions, whether to Kalur, to the south, or to the north. Nobody wanted to stay between the two armies.

It was said that Kalur had already gathered hundreds of thousands of refugees.

The small village was filled with moving soldiers of Brilliant Feathers who wore blue military uniforms. Many of them seemed to have just woken up as they were washing their faces at the riverside in the distance.

Although having no fighting experience, Zhang Tie could estimate that there were around 2500-3000 soldiers of the Brilliant Feathers in Solanet.

As there was only one main road leading to the village, the attack plan also became very simple. The Iron-Blood Camp only needed to rush into the village up the main road and kill all the guys in blue military uniforms on the way. The key to this manouver was speed. They had better not leave enough time for the troops of the Sun Dynasty to assemble.

After eating two slices of dried meat and drinking two mouthfuls of water, Zhang Tie rested for five minutes. He felt that his physical strength was gradually recovering. They all didn’t eat much, for if they did, it would influence the upcoming fight.

The rapid march with half a ton’s equipment was also an all-around test for Zhang Tie’s physical strength. If there were ten more km, Zhang Tie knew that he would really not be able to take it. With the half a ton’s equipment, it was not funny at all. Thankfully, Solanet was in sight, and Zhang Tie let out a deep breath.

Although this ’Man’s Certificate’ was the number one weapon for him to show off himself, in the battle field, Zhang Tie felt it was like making a cocoon around himself.

Two weeks later, when the Iron-Blood Camp was going to re-supply itself, he considered changing his main fighting weapon. If he had to escape or make a long-distance raid, this heavy sword would really put a heavy load on him.

Zhang Tie then made a decision inside. He felt this was the first law that he understood since he jumped off the train—never slap your face until it’s swollen in an effort to look fat. If not, you will suffer a great loss.

In less than two minutes after Zhang Tie made such a realisation inside, he soon learned the second law—no one would wait until you’ve prepared well.

The promised time for a rest before the attack was 20 minutes. However, less than 10 minutes after they started to rest, a team of soldiers rushed out of the village towards this area where the Iron-Blood Camp had hidden itself.

About 50-600 people were moving towards them. Of course, they did this not because they had discovered the Iron-Blood Camp lurking but because they were ready to leave Solanet.

When Zhang Tie thought that Reinhardt would let these soldiers leave in case of exposing their camp to the greater troop of Sun Dynasty, Reinhardt delivered his order, ”Prepare for battle, kill them all!”

Because the division’s headquarters’ order was to kill all the bastards of the Sun Dynasty that had occupied Solanet, Battalion Commander Reinhardt didn’t plan to let any of them leave alive.

After receiving the order, the two companies’ brothers that had been equipped with light crossbows silently moved to both sides of the mountain path with their bolts notched and their narrowed eyes on the team of soldiers and horses.

Because this was Zhang Tie’s first battle, he became a bit nervous and forcefully swallowed his saliva twice.

At this time, a powerful hand fell on Zhang Tie’s shoulder. He turned to see Freo half squatting behind him.

”When the battle breaks out, all the brothers of Third Platoon will follow you and you just follow me. Don’t be afraid...”

Zhang Tie nodded.

The team of soldiers and horses kept marching on, swiftly shortening that distance of 1 km between them and Zhang Tie.

They were really a team of soldiers of the Brilliant Feathers. At the front rode the cavalry, holding wing-like banners. Armored soldiers came after with weapons in hand, four people per row. Lastly were another batch of riders like those at the front, however these wore relatively more brilliant armor; they looked like the military officers of this troop.

The army of the Sun Dynasty took three hundred as a unit while the army of Norman Empire took five as a unit. The two troops were different in many aspects. The 500-600 soldiers and horsesmight be a battalion of Brilliant Feathers.

The team of soldiers had not imagined that they would be ambushed not long after leaving Solanet. When bolts were shot from the elm forest on both sides of the road, instantly, half the soldiers were wounded, causing howls and cries to rise up in an instant.

”Kill them all!”

Battalion Commander Reinhardt was the first to rush out of the elm forest like a fierce tiger. With only one fist, he punched a cavalryman who had been left unstable by his flurried horse into flesh and iron pieces, and sent him flying back through the air, causing a great amount of soldiers of the Sun Dynasty to fall to the ground.

The soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp all jumped out of the elm forest like fierce tigers and instantly cut the team of 500-600 people into several sections.

The main fighting weapons of First Lieutenant Freo were two huge double-bladed axes which were like wheels. When the robust, tough, bald man wove his huge axes, he looked like a humanoid meat grinder which would grind all the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty once he touched them.

In the timeframe of a wink, First Lieutenant Freo had already torn open an over 10-m long bloody path before Zhang Tie...