Kekabudes remained cautious, knowing that if Anrotas’s tribe were destroyed or suffered great losses at the hands of the Nix people, it would be a significant problem alleviated for him. Even if he faced criticism from other leaders, as long as he ultimately defeated the Nix people, reclaimed the lost territory, and rescued the tribesmen who had been captured, he would be celebrated by the entire territory’s tribespeople, and his prestige would rival that of Andres!
Maximus led three full infantry legions and the newly formed Fourth Legion, which had less than 4,000 men, as well as auxiliary troops like crossbow soldiers, totaling over 24,000, to heavily surround Anrotas’s village. However, he did not use the fleet to block the side of the village adjacent to the river and the river port, allowing messengers from the village to continuously urge the Pannonian alliance to come quickly for rescue.
To this end, Maximus ordered the various units to launch probing attacks on the village while constructing camps in the harvested fields near the village, presenting a stance of not stopping until the village was conquered.
However, after waiting a day, the enemy didn’t come; after two days, still no enemy; finally, they received news from the scouts.
Upon receiving the news, Maximus immediately convened a military meeting.
The meeting was attended by the three main officers of the Military Department—Flanitnus, Quintus, and Lebilus, the four legion commanders—Fesaros, Torrelugo, Camillus, Oluus, and also the deputy legion commander of the Fourth Legion, Pequot.
"Gentlemen, I have just received confirmed information that this Pannonian alliance army has been stationed at Lin Kou Village for the past few days and hasn’t moved at all!"
Maximus’s words surprised some, while others seemed thoughtful.
"No wonder the Pannonians haven’t shown up until today; they haven’t moved at all!" Torrelugo realized.
"Could it be that the Pannonians have seen through our plan and are allowing us to attack this village?" Fesaros asked.
"It’s also possible that the Pannonians are waiting for us to fully attack this village before coming to the rescue. We’ve carefully scouted the village these past two days, and it’s not that easy to conquer. We might suffer some casualties to take it." Flanitnus said worriedly.
"Weren’t the Pannonians supposed to launch an all-out attack on us? Now it seems like they’re waiting for us to attack instead?" Oluus wondered.
"Leader, have our scouts obtained clear information about this Pannonian army?" Quintus asked.
Maximus responded, "According to the scout reports, this Pannonian army is composed of warriors from the Segestica and Desitia tribes, with the Desitia army led by their Great Chief, Temagis, who arrived at the Segestica Main Camp four days ago;
the Segestica army is led by their newly appointed Great Chief, Cabdes. These two tribes have a combined force of about 15,000 men, and they’ve been stationed at Lin Kou Village since their departure three days ago."
"The fact that both our side and the Pannonians took action on the same day indicates that our previous judgment was correct; the Pannonians do plan to declare war on us once the ceasefire ends!" Flanitnus analyzed, "But with only two great tribe armies here, and merely 15,000 men, I don’t think the Pannonians would be arrogant enough to believe they could defeat us with such a small force, so—"
Flanitnus looked at his colleague, "Quintus, your judgment was correct; the Pannonians indeed split their forces into two; their main force should be to the east, as they have five more tribe armies not present on this side."
Quintus didn’t show any self-satisfaction as he approached the wooden table and looked down at the map showing the situation around the Nix Tribe (this was hand-drawn by Maximus based on a year’s worth of scouting intelligence on the Pannonians, Aldeans, and Yapodes, although not very accurate). He then reached out and indicated, "From this map, it seems that gathering the armies of these other five large Pannonian tribes together saves time and also facilitates food transportation, as the Sava River, Delaware River, and Danube River connect the territories of these tribes."
"If that’s the case, then with the Pannonians having two great tribe armies here, amounting to 15,000 men, they would have four large tribes in the east, wouldn’t that be more than 40,000 strong!" Fesaros reminded with some astonishment.
"Likely more, don’t forget that Segestica suffered severe losses from us and can’t have sufficient troops, otherwise they wouldn’t have agreed to a ceasefire with us." Pequot reminded.
"Whether it’s 40,000 or 50,000 on that side, it’s all within our expectations, and we have confidence to defeat them!" Torrelugo cheerfully encouraged.
"Leader, what exactly is the situation in the east? Haven’t our scouts returned yet?" Fesaros anxiously asked.
Maximus shook his head, "Not yet, considering the mountain ranges in the east make the journey longer... but by the time, they should be back soon."
"Leader, we overlooked something." Quintus suddenly appeared regretful, "I remember that this new chief of Segestica, Cabdes, once led his army into our ambush, losing his village in the process and becoming our Westeni.
I’ve heard he’s not as decisive as Andres, and having suffered such a loss and with fewer troops, that should be the reason why he’s been staying inactive at Lin Kou Village, not daring to come to the rescue!"
"Even if we conquer this village, they still won’t come?" Torrelugo asked further.
"...Yes." Quintus hesitated briefly before affirming.
"If that’s the case, we can’t afford to waste time here any longer! We should immediately lead our army back south, focus all our forces on defeating the enemy’s main force coming from the east!" Torrelugo straightforwardly suggested.
"But if we leave, perhaps the enemies here won’t remain stationary and might advance rapidly, attacking our territory and besieging Westeni!" Fesaros was somewhat worried.
"The Pannonian army would take at least a day to move from Lin Kou Village to here and another day to reach Westeni from here..." Oluus confidently stated, "As long as we can swiftly defeat the enemy coming from the east and then return, we’ll be perfectly in time to stop the Pannonian army here from breaching our Westeni."
"You think the Pannonians will only attack Westeni Village!" Fesaros reminded, "They would also burn down our houses outside the city! Destroy our newly planted fields! —"
"There will always be losses in war, but as long as our losses are far less than the enemy’s, it will be worth it!" Oluus was slightly dismissive, having gone through many such experiences in his decades-long military career.
"But they could also destroy the wooden bridges and water wheels, water mills that we painstakingly built, or might even send troops along the north bank to destroy our important workshops! Are those losses also acceptable?!" Fesaros emphasized.
Oluus was momentarily speechless; he clearly understood how important these buildings were to the tribe compared to some fields and houses and how much manpower and time it had taken the tribe to build them.
"Stop arguing." Maximus finally spoke up.
He realized after hearing what Quintus said, that he made a mistake by not thoroughly analyzing the Pannonian army’s commanders, leading to a plan where the enemy did not take the bait. This was also due to the Pannonian tribes timing their arrival at the gathering place precisely to save food and then marching immediately, making it impossible for him to timely understand the enemy’s troop configuration and leader situation.
Maximus felt some self-blame, but he wouldn’t show it. Instead, he racked his brains to find a way out of the current predicament and quickly came up with an idea.
He confidently addressed the leaders, "If we have confirmed that the enemy in the east has dispatched troops and their direction of advance, then to intercept and defeat them swiftly while ensuring that the enemy here does not immediately advance into our territory once we leave, I have a strategy, which is deception!"
The plan proposed by Maximus convinced everyone, and they all contributed ideas to perfect it. After the meeting, the entire army began acting according to the newly devised plan.
The number of probing attacks on the enemy camp was reduced, with most soldiers focused on building the camps, creating a land-based encirclement of the village...
At the same time, the Nix fleet struck the village’s dock, setting fire to the docked ships and blocking the waterway. Additionally, a detachment of a thousand men was stationed on the south bank of the pontoon bridge near the village, posing ready to block any Pannonian reinforcements.
By noon, scouts who were lurking in the western mountains and borders of the Brochi Territory, as well as sentries on the few watchtowers in the southern mountain ranges of the Nix Territory, returned with reports: besides Andizeti, the other four large Pannonian tribes, Brochi, Mazi, Perustai, and Disone, assembled an army of over 40,000, led by the great chiefs of each tribe. They set off from the western part of Brochi’s territory—the confluence of the Kupa River and Sava River—and marched west along the Kupa River. About half a day’s march later, their vanguard left the Kupa River and continued west along one of the Kupa River’s tributaries...
From the marching trends of this Pannonian army, it seems they do not intend to continue west along the Kupa River to eventually enter the middle reaches of the Kupa River plain to join forces with the Pannonian troops here and attack the Nix Tribe together; nor do they intend to follow the previous route taken by Pequot through the mountains, but genuinely aim to cross the hills directly to the east bank of the Kolana River.