Summoning Total War - Chapter 11
Chapter 11: Kill (Part 1)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It took less than five minutes to treat the injured and round up the gnolls who had yet to die.
Five minutes later, the Greek infantry cleaned up the battlefield and continued to pursue the matured gnolls. At the same time, the soldiers who had suffered severe injuries, and therefore wouldn’t be able to participate in the upcoming battle, took their spoils back to Athens.
Gnolls didn’t like objects that glitter, but they had a habit of collecting metals, as they had no idea how to forge metal themselves. Gnolls who acted on their own would eat up all the food they could find, but those from the gnoll clan who traveled in groups would raise the cubs they captured and enjoy a hunting lifestyle. Their main food source was the beasts and intellectual creatures that they captured.
These humanoid beasts were uncommon in the mainland, and they treated intellectual beings as food.
To the aborigines of this world, they were known as Humanoids.
They weren’t considered intelligent beings.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Cleaning up the battlefield was a job for auxiliary soldiers and inferior soldiers. However, since Murphy had yet to form the auxiliary troops, the Greek infantry was tasked with cleaning up the battlefield for now.
In the cold weapons age, behind every regular troop was a large number of auxiliary and inferior troops, including slave merchants.
This was similar to how a knight needed one or two more knights to accompany him. Similarly, behind a regular troop were several auxiliary troops that were required to clean up the battlefield.
The Greek city-states’ fighting patterns included long-range troops as support for the auxiliary soldiers. In battles, they used harassing tactics to attack, and they would pursue the enemies that had been defeated by the spear phalanx formation. Afterward, they would collect the corpses.
Due to time constraints, for Murphy, the only feasible replacement for auxiliary soldiers was the General Guards.
Consequently, Murphy couldn’t help but envy Rome.
This was because Rome’s javelin soldiers were known for being the best auxiliary troops.
The Spartan infantry began pursuing the gnolls as soon as they finished treating the wounded. These strong warriors were full of energy and had incredible endurance. They had already caught up to the matured gnolls by the time Murphy led the General Guards into the valley.
Their scattered formation in a semi-encirclement drove the gnolls to escape in the direction that Murphy had predicted. In order to avoid a possible desperate counterattack from the gnolls, the Spartan soldiers didn’t chase them right away. Instead, they only charged and increased their speed from time to time, killing the gnolls that fell behind the others. It was a long-distance run that spanned 15 kilometers. At the end of it, there would be half a team of Greek infantry soldiers who would finish the gnolls off.
According to common knowledge, a person wouldn’t consume much energy if they jogged at a slow pace for ten kilometers. However, if that same person were to run at a fast pace for a distance of five kilometers, then chances are he would quickly run out of energy.
This was what Murphy wanted to happen.
He wanted to drive the gnolls to desperation and exhaust their energy. Then, he would finish them off after they had run out of stamina.
These humanoid beasts were strong. If Murphy put too much pressure on them, and they desperately counterattacked, it might cause serious casualties.
Warfare tactics could be effective and strange at the same time.
Murphy hadn’t thought of this when he was devising his strategy, so he could only deal with the gnolls using a straightforward tactic.
The terrain within a fifty-mile radius of Athens was relatively flat, and there weren’t any dense forests in the surrounding area. Murphy had already calculated an escape route that he wanted the gnolls to take. The distance from the starting point of the gnolls’ gathering grounds to Nidoria River was roughly fifteen kilometers, which wasn’t a short journey. Not even the cavalry, let alone the gnolls, would be able to gallop across that long of a distance.
The Spartan infantry had excellent endurance, so they would be the key to driving out the gnolls.
All that was needed was half a team of General Guards to assist in killing the scattered gnolls, and the goal of driving them to the river would be achieved.
The Greek infantry, who had just finished cleaning up the battlefield, pulled out of their phalanx formation and formed a larger encirclement outside the one that the Spartan infantry had already formed. Their goal wasn’t to kill the gnolls but to pressure them by creating a kind of illusion.
The illusion that enemies weren’t only in front of them, but also to their left and right.
In this way, the plan of driving the gnolls out to the intended destination could be achieved.
The Art of War: “Look at the macro, focus on the micro!”
That was what Murphy felt after commanding the army for the first time.
In this case, the macro (big picture) was to create an environment that would cause the gnolls to become fatigued, while the micro (small picture) was to consider all sorts of variables and find a solution for them.
If they had tried to kill off the gnolls right away, they would have had at least 25% casualties against the three hundred mature gnolls!
This would have been a huge defeat for Murphy, who was lacking in manpower!
His goal was simple. He would get rid of the gnolls’ gathering grounds and keep their casualties below twenty. If their casualties exceeded this number, then their losses would far outweigh their gains.
There was a large colony of gnolls in the wild, while his town currently only had a population of just over 2,000 people.
He wouldn’t be able to win in a head-to-head fight!
The light cavalry’s strengths were their high endurance and quick speed.
Of course, this high endurance only referred to their running. The reason for this was that the horses the light cavalry were equipped with weren’t the best, and the soldiers’ endurance was rather weak in melee combat.
This was especially true for the Greek city-state, where the cavalries were extremely weak.
The speed of four-legged creatures exceeds the speed of two-legged creatures. It was only when Murphy rushed to the valley and laid out the formation did the escaping matured gnolls start to appear from the West.
The remaining gnolls were mostly males or really strong females. The weaker female gnolls had already been killed by the Spartan infantry, since they had already fallen behind the others.
Murphy calmly gave his orders as he stood behind the phalanx. “Pull out of formation! General Guards, throw your javelins!”
Although deep down he had a man’s bloodlust and wanted to join the fight and kill the gnolls, he restrained himself. Even though his strength had increased significantly after coming to this world, it still wasn’t enough for him to join the battle.
As the old saying goes: “The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger.”
As the military commander, it obviously wouldn’t be a wise decision for him to go fight the enemy in person.
So Murphy told himself that his role was to merely boost his troops’ morale and not to charge in by himself.
The first round of javelins brought despair to the gnolls, who had been chased and had already run fifteen kilometers.
To the gnolls’ dismay, they realized they also had enemies in front of them.
They had been completely surrounded!
What was worse was that the fifteen-kilometer run had consumed most of their stamina. Even if their endurance was much better than an ordinary adult man’s, they no longer had much strength left for combat.
However, their eyes soon lit up with hope.
They saw a gentle river stream!
As long as they could get past the first line of defense right in front of them and jump into the river, they would be able to escape.
Gnolls were pretty good swimmers, and the river was the last trap that Murphy had laid for them!
And the infantry wouldn’t be able to pursue them if they jumped into the river.
Even the gnolls were able to realize something as simple as this.
As long as they could jump into the river, it didn’t matter if they followed the stream or swam to the opposite bank, because they would already have successfully made their escape. Enemies couldn’t possibly throw away their weapons and armor to go and pursue them in the river.
Looking at a bunch of gnolls who had rushed toward the frontal defense after much commotion, the corners of Murphy’s mouth finally showed a hint of a smile.
This was because he already knew it was over.
For this bunch of exhausted gnolls, breaking the Greek spear phalanx formation defense was as good as impossible!
In the cold weapon age, the Greek’s spear phalanx and ultra-long spear phalanx formation were unbreakable. Even the late Roman army only defeated Macedonia’s ultra-long spear phalanx formation in hilly terrain.
Southern plains.
In the plains, the power of the Greek spear phalanx formation could definitely make a person tremble!
