99. Stormwind City

"If I were facing an enemy cavalry force that strong, I would find a way to build enormous shield wagons or something of the sort that cavalry could not charge through. So long as their cavalry could no longer make use of its speed, and we could also block most of their arrows, I would be able to find other ways to strike back."

"Shield wagons? What are those?" Mo Fei had never heard of such a thing.

"They are mobile shields fitted with wheels beneath a huge barrier, so they can be moved and assembled at will, and they are very effective against cavalry. It would be much like mounting a huge shield on the front of our crossbow carts."

"Right. If it were me, I would fit spikes to the front of those shields as well, and put wheels under them so they could be moved easily. That way, the cavalry's speed and mobility would be rendered useless. As long as the shield is tall enough, then once cavalry charge, they will certainly suffer terrible losses. Are they really making things like that?"

"The Bear Tribe does not seem foolish. They have risen to become the largest race on this continent. They must have their share of men who are good at schemes and stratagems." Kane no longer dared to underestimate the Bear Tribe. The fact that they had not rushed to attack him already was reason enough to take them seriously.

"That you can think this way is good. Of course the Bear Tribe is not stupid. I think their young chieftain must already have been granted some of the authority, and the man I saw last time was someone of considerable ability. He knows how to choose, how to decide. Once he makes up his mind, he will not hesitate."

"Why does the young master say he has only some of the authority, rather than all of it?" Kane asked in confusion.

"From what I understand of him, he is not the kind of man who likes to solve everything with force. Moreover, he is remarkably pragmatic. He can see himself clearly, and he can see his enemies just as clearly. If he cannot swallow an opponent in one bite, he would rather return later than cling on and refuse to let go." Mo Fei let out a faint sigh. "As for why I say he holds only part of the power, the answer is simple. If he truly held most of it, then given his character, he would have come at once to negotiate with me and ask us to withdraw our troops. But instead, he is actively preparing for war. Why? Because that is not the sort of man he is. If the war continues, we will be able to seize some of the things we want from this side. Just like now, we may eventually gain a firm foothold on this continent. If that happens, it will be disastrous for the Bear Tribe. Kane, if you were in his place, would you allow a powerful enemy to establish itself right beside you?"

"I honestly don't know how to answer that," Kane said, scratching his head. "Things over there are not quite the same as here. If there were a strong nation beside our empire, and if they did not threaten the security of our empire, then I think I would not have any reason or excuse to strike them down or destroy them."

"But if, on that continent, there were only our nation, ruling the whole land in practice, and then a clearly hostile force appeared?"

"Then of course I would uproot them completely," Kane said without hesitation.

"But what if fighting them would bring enormous losses, and at the same time allow other powers to grow under the cover of the conflict, eventually threatening your real control? What if there were a chance to make them vanish through negotiation, preserving your own absolute strength instead?"

"Then I would certainly talk to them."

"Exactly." Mo Fei said, "That young chieftain knows we are not easy prey, but the elders do not. I think those elders must have forced him, by surrendering part of their own authority, to launch a full-scale campaign against us. They cannot afford to lose face, and they cannot possibly persuade us to withdraw from this continent by negotiation. What they want is to destroy us and use that victory as a warning to the peoples on this continent who might dare to resist their rule."

"Then let them come," Haan said loudly.

"If they do not come, that is one thing. If they do, they will give us quite a shock." Mo Fei smiled. "But we have a much bigger surprise waiting for them."

"Young master..."

"Kane, tell me again: with their current ability, how long would it take them to produce enough shield wagons to withstand the impact of our ninety thousand heavy cavalry? And once they are made, how long would they need to learn how to use them?"

"Making so many shield wagons would take at least half a year. But mastering them is another matter. They are not like our cavalry mounts, which, once trained, are more or less ready. These shield wagons are huge and mobile. If they want to fully withstand cavalry's rapid assault and maneuvering, they will need a year at the very least, perhaps even longer, before they can form any real fighting strength."

"My estimate is that from the moment they finish making them to the moment they can use them skillfully, it will take them at least a year. But in that year, look at our Storm City. Even the city walls are already as high as those of the old capital. A year from now, the walls here may be taller than those of our Death Empire's capital. You may not have seen the Bear Tribe's ability in siege warfare, but I have. They could not even break through the low walls of the Flying Dragon Empire, let alone the walls built by Elder Ove, that madman when it comes to city building."

"That's true." Kane laughed. "We are inside the enemy's nest now. By my reckoning, if Elder Ove's walls were not even higher than those of the City of Death, that would be strange enough."

The two men looked at one another and burst into laughter.

......

Day after day passed. Apart from staying within their encampment and training from dawn to dusk, the Bear Tribe made no serious attempt to attack the already taking-shape Storm City.

In their usual patrol clashes, it was Mo Fei's side that always launched the first attack. But the Bear Tribe's shield tactics grew better with each passing day. It seemed they had never let their guard down, and in the end the Bear patrols could withdraw from battle without losing a single man. That frustrated the elite warriors for several days.

But after only a few more days, the patrol units found a way to counter the Bear Tribe's shield formations. They trained inside the camp to shoot arrows into the sky, relying on the arch of the flight and the arrows' own weight to bring them crashing down from above. So long as the distance was judged correctly, the arrows would fall from over the Bear warriors' heads.

The first time they used this tactic, the Bear Tribe saw their opponents, who had always shot straight at their shields, suddenly firing upward instead. They laughed heartily, wondering if their enemies had finally gone mad. But when those arrows came raining down from the sky and took the lives of their comrades, the shield bearers were stunned. The moment they raised their shields to block death descending from above, their bodies, left without protection, were instantly riddled with arrows.

In the first real clash they had faced in months, the Bear warriors suffered heavy losses. After that, they were forced to adopt a two-layer formation, with some shields raised overhead and others held to protect the body. But in doing so, their shield formation lost all offensive power and could only retreat while defending.

When reports of these patrol battles were brought back, Mo Fei smiled with relief. The Bear Tribe seemed to have run into trouble in training and had actually begun using the field tactics of these small units as a way to test their results. But it was plain to see that they were still experimenting with one tactic after another. In that case, there was no way they could pose any immediate threat to Storm City.

So, just as the walls of Storm City were nearing completion, Mo Fei took Aileen and Vivian back to the Death Empire. Aileen had been away for nearly a year and was missing her mother dearly. Mo Fei himself also wanted to know how things had been going on the side of the Death Empire. Thus the three of them decided to make a return to the continent, and at the same time see what people thought of his actions there.

As Mo Fei had expected, all the empires of the continent greatly admired the Death Empire's method of repaying others in their own coin. In the face of such external pressure, every empire treated the Death Empire with unusual goodwill. Some even sent permanent representatives to the Death Empire. They told the dwarf officials remaining in the imperial capital that, whenever the Death Empire needed them, they could dispatch troops commanded by the Death Empire at any time, not for the sake of the Death Empire alone, but for the sake of the continent as a whole.

After hearing this information from the dwarf officials left behind in the capital, Mo Fei finally let his heart settle. Though there was conflict and turmoil across the continent, when an outside enemy appeared, they still knew how to unite as one. That at least prevented troubles in the rear and spared them from becoming a laughingstock.

Mo Fei's return stirred excitement throughout the continent. Many large and small empires sent him invitations. But he did not have the time to deal with all of them, and besides, he was not suited to such matters. In the end, he went only to the Golden Stone Empire. On the way, when passing through the Doma Empire, he stayed for two days under the pretext of inspecting the troops stationed there, met briefly with the emperor of the Doma Empire, and then set out for the Golden Stone Empire.

No matter what, he had to make a trip to the Golden Stone Empire. In these past years, its support had spared him a great deal of worry in everything he did. He should at least pay a visit. Besides, there were still three thousand heavy cavalry stationed in the Golden Stone Empire's capital.

The Golden Stone Empire prepared a level of reception for Mo Fei that even he had never imagined. The whole capital was a sea of flowers, and the welcoming crowd stretched nearly ten miles beyond the city. From what he learned, the Golden Stone Empire had originally planned only to decorate the capital with lanterns and banners. But its people were too eager to see the ruler of the Death Empire. They wanted to see with their own eyes the legendary figure who had built a nation in so short a time and, despite being at such a severe disadvantage in numbers, had still crushed the army from Demon Isle.

When Mo Fei appeared on the horizon with Aileen and Vivian at his side, the citizens of the Golden Stone Empire who had come to greet him fell into silence. They watched that legendary figure draw nearer and nearer, and they had never expected that the ruler of a mighty empire would come to their land without bringing even a single guard, only his beloved women at his side. Was this his trust in them? Or had he always been like this?

At last, at last, the welcoming crowd erupted into thunderous cheers. From the depths of their hearts, these citizens of the Golden Stone Empire had come to acknowledge Mo Fei.