Mine all mine (task)

Scouting ahead

Zhou Yu lay as still as a corpse his body ridged with strain as he struggled to remain motionless. He breathed so lightly his chest barely moved as he watched quietly the picture taking place before his eyes. A force of warriors guarded the local village near the mine and patrolled the country road leading threw the forest to the site. The Ro Yin mine itself was clearly heavily guarded as well by the forces of this warlord. He could see signs of their occupation tents and smoke from cooking fires in the direction of the mine. The terrain itself was however favourable to attack. The forest along the road to the mine was dense and filled with tickets and huge trees. The hills near the villagers were covered with thick grass such as the clump Zhou Yu had concealed himself within. He was no more than a mile from the village itself he guessed. He could even spot a few of the locals as well, those not taken to the mines as forced labourers.

He was taking a risk coming here himself if he was captured no doubt he would be killed as a spy or forced to serve this warlord until he was killed. However he never liked to make his men do all the leg work beside he would rather see this first hand than via the report of one of his men. Trustworthy although his scouts were it just wasn’t as good as seeing things for yourself. The young strategist was already formulating his plans for attack as he carefully surveyed the area around the mine taking in weaknesses in the enemy defences and the layout of the land. He believed he had good chance of success even against superior enemy numbers and heavy defences.

“Iv seen enough.” Zhou Yu whispered to his scouts who waited just behind the ridge of the hill next to him. He crawled back slowly out of sight of the enemy before standing up. He and his men quickly moved away into the cover of the nearby wooded area before he gave them their marching orders.

“Xian Lei i want you to go and order a 3rd of my troops including all our archers to gather their weapons and approach the village from the wooded foothills to the south. Bian Xin you bring word to another 3rd of our men and have them sneak into the hills to the north of the village they are to block the road toward the mine and prepare an ambush. I will return and take command of the rest. We will strike at midnight tonight there will be no moon and he will be as hidden as the darkness itself. Tell the men to stuff there armour with cloth to reduce the noise it will make and anyone talking will be heavily punished make no sound that will give us away.” Zhou Yu instructed laying his eyes on each of his messengers before he let them go. They would ride like the wind and bring his messages to his troops. Within 5 hours they would be ready and wait for the coming of night. Zhou Yu felt a slight exhilaration this would be his first real command. It was only a shame his genius would lead the deaths of so many evil men though they might be.

Night Raid

On his return Zhou Yu was again as silent as a predator in the dead of night, in fact he guessed he was exactly that this night. Only he was no longer alone or as still as a large body of his men followed him through the hills toward the village. They used paths he had chosen the morning before that would take his men down to the village with the least chance of being spotted. His men already knew their orders today there could be no mistakes or they would be forced to retreat threw these very hills. Still the attack would not commence yet not until his archers in the hills gave the signal. If all went as planned it would be less of a fight more of a massacre just the way he liked it. Any battle that lead to a fair fight wasn’t one worth fighting in his mind. Once his men were in position or at least close enough he stopped them and waited for the signal.

“There it is, not yet.” Zhou Yu whispered as the sky above light up in a blaze of fire and light. Flaming arrows descended on the village fired by his hidden archers to the south. Where they landed fires sprang up taking quickly in the summer heat. But more importantly it highlighted the men below in the darkness as targets. Quickly his archers rained down a shower of arrows at anyone they could see. This tactic might lead to some civilian casualties but Zhou Yu deemed them acceptable against the lives of his men saved. Besides when it was raining arrows most peasants tended not to run outside into them. Instead of leading his men in sneak attack to attack the warriors in their bed which would be spotted by sentries he preferred this approach. Soon the enemy gathered there weapons and instead of taking the fire headed out into the darkness of the hills to attack his archers.

“Alright now with me.” Zhou Yu said giving the order to his men as he stood up and drew his sword. Like dark phantoms they dashed down the side of the hill toward the flank of the enemy heading into the hills towards his archers. In the dark and confusion very few men heard them coming until it was too late. Blood splashed the young strategist face as he hacked down the first enemy he saw, then the second and later a third. Before it had really got started it was over, the enemy fleeing back toward the village and the road to the mine.

“Don’t bother to pursue them, secure the village.” He commanded as he wiped the blood from his sword on the uniform of the last man he had killed. His troops began to flood into the lower village securing the houses and dowsing the fires. The enemy meanwhile headed toward the mine some dropping their weapons and armour that slowed them down. His men made no attempt to stop them they would never make it.

As the enemy reached the wood along the way to the mine the rest of his troops came out of hiding and sprang there ambush. They surrounded the fleeing men and gave them a chance to surrender or die. Having already suffered badly most gave it quickly his men disarmed them and escorted them to the village under guard. Zhou Yu’s men had doused the fires by this stage and formed up by squadrons in front of the village.

“Fifty men will stay at the village to protect the remaining villagers and guard the prisoners the rest of you come with me we must secure the mine. Do not worry I have good plan.” Zhou Yu reassured his men as he smiled leading them off toward the next stage of the operation.

Final attack

The Wu forces moved up silently through the woods taking precautions not to be seen as they surrounded the mine complex. The mine had one entrance guarded by towers on either side. The outside was patrolled by sentries with the enemy troops mostly massed down in the mine. They would be hard to root out in a terrible battle in the mine passageways. However he had no intention of making a frontal attack. He turned to one of his men and gestured for them to proceed with the plan. His ten best marksmen were in position and opened fire on the sentries on the towers. They aimed only for headshots or places that would cause them to go down without a sound. In moments the sentries were out of the way. The men on the ground still had no idea.

“Attack.” Zhou Yu yelled as he darted out from cover. His sword was drawn in a flash as arrows flew over his head at the men he attacked. All his archers opened fire as all his troops came out of hiding and rushed the enemy at the mine entrance. Heavily outnumbered by the men of Wu the enemy ran back down the mine to meet up with the rest of their forces.

“Hold the mine entrance against counter attack and bring down those towers we are going to need the wood.” Zhou Yu said pointing to the supports of the tower. His men went to work with axes to hack them down as his archers set up position to fire at anyone coming at them from the mine entrance. His men began to pile up the wood around the entrance and bring up some of their stock pile of oil. They soaked the timbers and set them aflame setting off a bomb fire at the entrance of the mine. The smoke began to drift up into the air and also down the mine shaft. With no other entrance the men below would soon be choking on smoke, without fresh air they would soon all be killed. It was a ruthless tactic for certain but it would be better this in the end with minimal casualties. Soon enough some of the enemy came screaming up from the mine weapons flailing. His archers drove them back from behind a wall of spears and shields. It was easily to repulse them.

“Surrender now and your lives will be spared.” Zhou Yu demanded a few minutes later once the enemy had realised they could not retake the surface. In a short time the enemy had thrown down their weapons and the fight was over, for tonight anyway.