Tucci was filled with curiosity about this Northern Ridge Troops his forces faced, and he even thought they might be the most elite legion from Northern Ridge.
Even more, he once judged that it was Lord Earl himself from Northern Ridge who, with a small number of troops, had tied down Suthers's forces at the front and personally led the most elite Northern Ridge Legion southward to confront him.
Through his telescope, he had witnessed the collapse of Romel's legion, which had, surprisingly, secured a victory with ease after two consecutive charges.
"It seems Viscount Romel won't have the chance to fulfill his promise," the adjutant standing by Tucci's side said to his superior.
"Indeed!" Tucci rarely shifted his gaze from the low wall, and with some regret mixed with excitement, he said, "It seems the forces on the other side are no mere medley of troops."
"We underestimated them before," the adjutant agreed with a nod after hearing Tucci's words, "The enemy is obviously very well-prepared."
This statement wasn't exactly accurate, and Tucci didn't quite agree with it in his mind either. If the enemy was indeed well-prepared for a defensive battle here, why would they have let that useless Viscount Romel arrive here first yesterday?
In fact, Tang Mo also had no choice; his troops were too heavily equipped, and despite dozens of carts, the marching speed was not fast.
His ability to arrive at the crossroads, albeit barely, was already an accomplishment. Forcing his trained troop to march quickly might compromise their combat effectiveness upon reaching the crossroads.
"Now that we cannot rely on Romel, it's all on us," Tucci turned to the several officers standing beside him, his gaze falling on a valiant officer, "Since frontal attacks won't break through, why not try a flank assault? The battle has progressed to this point, and there's been no sound from the flanks... Isn't that strange?"
He also speculated that the enemy's main force was stationed near the village and that the road was merely a feint.
That's why the frontal battlefield had been engaged for so long without a single gunshot from the flanks. As a renowned general on the battlefield, Tucci found this situation quite illogical.
Moreover, he had calculated the distinctive gunfire on the front, which, according to its intensity, meant that the enemy had deployed at least 200 people over there.
Similarly, referencing the military organization of the era, the number of infantry a battalion could use would be around 300 people, a figure unlikely to be much higher.
That is to say, even if the enemy had the strength of a battalion, it was essentially all deployed on the front, holding positions near the village.
For Tucci, this was in line with the tactical purpose of relying on the village to mount a defense, so he was almost certain that the enemy seemed to have concentrated their main force at the village and the low wall.
Furthermore, he had roughly guessed the purpose of the enemy's construction of that low wall: the enemy had no cannons, so they hoped to use this peculiar tactic to compensate for their lack of, or possibly complete absence of, artillery firepower.
As a veteran general, he quickly found the flaw in such tactical deployment: concentrating forces could indeed create local superiority, but exposed the flanks, an obvious disadvantage.
At the same time, without the support of heavy firepower, once Suthers's forces were fully deployed, the disadvantage of inferior artillery would become apparent, making it impossible to counteract no matter what.
Consequently, he almost immediately made battlefield arrangements, prepared to rapidly expand the area of contact between the two forces, fully exposing the enemy's disadvantage due to insufficient troop strength.
He looked at his trusted valiant officer and ordered, "You! Take a battalion and move 500 meters south, then cross the highway! Circle around to the enemy's rear!"
The officer, after hearing the order, immediately nodded. But before he could turn around, Tucci called out to stop him.
This Suthers veteran general extended two fingers, emphasizing with utmost concern, "Two tasks! First! Determine the Northern Ridge Troops' disposition and numbers! Then immediately send someone back to report! Do not make your own decisions, understand?"
The officer nodded once.
Tucci continued with a grave tone, "Second! If the enemy attacks you, hold your ground and defend that position! As long as you hold until reinforcements arrive, we will have won this battle!"
"I assure you, Lord Earl! I will hold that position to the end!" the valiant officer promised earnestly, with a hand on his sword at his waist.
"Good! Go!" Tucci was reassured, and then he continued to command another officer, "You take a battalion! Advance along the road! Prepare to pincer the enemy within the village!"
"By your command, Lord Earl!" the officer saluted and proceeded with his aide towards another distant troop.
At this time, Suthers's troops, the first to move, an entire battalion of soldiers, bearing the flag and beating the war drum, had already begun turning around, heading south along the road.
"Lord Earl! I saw a detachment of enemy forces breaking away from the main body, heading southward…" a lookout tasked with scouting the enemy, after lowering his binoculars, shouted to Tang Mo in the hollow below.
Tang Mo glanced at Luff and Wes beside him and said with a wry smile, "Ha! I must really be lucky, always running into such tough enemies! They've realized they can't beat us head-on and have started to flank to the other side."
It was an inevitable situation; he had hoped the enemy would be stubborn enough to keep stalling with him on the road.
As long as the enemy continued their assault, he could guarantee that with the absolute advantage of the K1 Quick Gun's rate of fire, he could hold out here with a single company of troops until dark.
Unfortunately, the enemy was clearly not foolish and had immediately changed tactics after suffering heavy losses in two consecutive attacks.
At this point, Luff was feeling a bit nervous again; this scale of battle was truly his first experience, and it was already quite an achievement for him to have held out this long.
He heard Luff asking Tang Mo, "Then what should we... "
"There's no other way... our numbers are few, and it's already not easy to have fought to this stage," said Tang Mo, shaking his head. "We can only stick to our prior plan and reveal our strength now."
Luff felt a bit of regret, unwillingly retorting, "But..."
"There are no buts... compared to losing our strength, casualties are what we would rather avoid," Tang Mo explained.
He signaled to the attendants waiting with horses in the distance, "The enemy is about to engage with Redman's troops, and I need to take command personally. Now we only have two options, either to obliterate this advancing troop or to abandon the position and retreat back to the village."
"I'll leave this to you," Tang Mo said to Luff as the attendant brought over the warhorse. "Your opponent here is just a straw man. Just hold this position and wait for our return. Don't be nervous!"
"Lord, I will hold the line until you return," Luff promised.
"Good!" Without saying much else, Tang Mo took the reins from the attendant and mounted the horse with some difficulty. "Follow me, Wes!"
Wes also mounted his horse, following Tang Mo's lead, "As you wish, my lord!"
"Do you think... we have a chance of winning?" Tang Mo, without looking back, charged down the roadbed toward Redman's troops in the distance.
"I think there's still time to run," Wes quipped, providing Tang Mo with the safest option. "You're just a merchant. There's no need to take risks."
"If I ran today, then for the rest of my life, I would be just a merchant," Tang Mo said seriously to Wes. "A merchant who could sell anything; don't you think that's tragic?"
"Being dead is even more tragic," Wes shrugged.
"One must take a gamble, right? In life, we're always a bit discontented, aren't we?" Tang Mo said with a laugh, spurring his horse to gallop forward.
"Do you know why I must fight this battle today? Because I've expanded production, trained students, and recruited workers... if no one buys our weapons, everything ends!" Tang Mo explained while galloping, not looking back.
His resolute voice echoed across the wilderness: "So today, I must win here! My weapons must become the sole hope for victory! The sound of my guns must be heard by the entire world! Let them remember a name... Great Tang Weapons Group!"
"You're right!" Wes easily caught up on horseback with the less experienced rider, Tang Mo. "I find that following you, I become crazier and crazier."
Tang Mo didn't respond but simply laughed heartily.
Redman, who had kept his unit concealed and unengaged as previously agreed, anxiously set down his binoculars. An intelligence soldier had just brought news that less than a kilometer to the south of his position, an enemy troop had begun to cross over the roadbed.
Unable to wait for Tang Mo's orders, Redman knew he had to do something to buy precious time.
So he looked at his signal officer and commanded loudly, "Prepare for battle!"
The signal officer saluted him and ran toward the direction where the troops were stationed.
Afterward, some officers who heard the order stood up from behind the half-human-high weeds, sticking out their heads as their hoarse voices echoed across the open field: "All rise! Prepare for battle!"
"Rest is over! Check your weapons! Prepare for battle!" Soon more shouts joined in, and in patches, soldiers stood up from the grass, looking over toward the enemy on the roadbed.
Just as Redman tensely prepared to issue more orders, a relieving shout came from behind him: "Lord! Lord Tang Mo has arrived! He and Lord Wes have come!"