53.

A history of the Commonwealth part 2.

The Clay War was one of the most important and one sided conflicts during the latter half of the 80th century. It was the final clash between the old feudalist order and the first full on citizen army.

For the army of Golden Queen was composed almost entirely out of feudal levies, who where obliged to provide their own equipment.

By contrast the Slayer Army by that point sponsored it's newest members with a full set of armor and weapons, and a complement of potions.

They could afford such extravagance from the sheer number of adventurers that survived goblin quest, this protected the territory under the direct rule of the Slayer Orders, as such a higher working population and a bigger tax revenue. All of which was fully spent on military affairs.

The other main difference between the two armies was it's organization.

The feudal armies only assembled for war, by contrast the Slayer Army was divided into regulars and volunteers. The regulars where adventurers who signed on for a minimum of one year and received the benefit of reduced prices for higher quality armor, weapons and conducted mock battles almost weekly.

But the biggest contrast was their way of conducting war, having adopted war wagons for the infantry, eastern nomad tactics from Kobra Khan and advanced sea warfare from the water tribes, one might forget the unsung hero of the Slayer Army during the Clay War.

Namely the bicycle.

Legends say that Goblin Slayer had seen this piece of equipment on the tenth year anniversary festival of the founding of Slayer Keep. The moment he gazed it, he saw it's huge potential.

Having tested it himself over several months, he immediately began to implement it in his forces.

A Slayer could to 20 miles with 30 kilos of equipment and 15 days rations, and 30 miles forced march. A trained Slayer on a bicycle could manage 100 miles daily with 80 kilos of equipment and 35 days rations or 150 miles forced peddle.

This created an infantry force that could keep up with the cavalry, who itself manage up to 160 miles a day because of the fact that every rider owned at least 3 to 4 horses, and all were breeds designed for endurance and distance rather than strength in battle or short bursts of speed.

This created the 'mechanized infantry' brigade- a 3.000 strong infantry unit, commanded by Noble Fencer that could keep up with Knight Captain and Kobra Khan's knights and horse archers.

The Slayer immediately mobilized the cavalry, horse archers and mechanized infantry, of which combined with Dwarf Shaman's roads and Cow Girls war rations, made it so that the vanguard of the Slayer Forces advanced almost 200 miles a day and as such managed to capture many vital bridges and towns, above all they did it without resorting to pillaging the villages for food, the rations they carried with them kept them well supplied.

By contrast the larger, yet more infantry based army of Golden Haired Queen, moved slowly each day, always stopping early in order to hold lavish feasts and tourneys.

Because of this the royalist forces was ambushed near Wolfwood on the fifth day of their march, and record indicated that they did not expect to encounter the enemy until they reached Water Town, which was another 10 days march distance from.

The Ambush at Wolfwood was as follows: Kobra Khan would strike with his swift horses, drawing the enemy cavalry away, they would be lured into an ambush sight where Noble Fencer's infantry would cut them to pieces from their squares of pikes and heavy crossbow shots and Knight Captain would cut of their retreat and charge them to pieces.

While the cavalry was away, a second unit under the command of Goblin Slayer Himself would attack the now bereath of cavalry camp and set supply wagons and many tents ablaze.

Come nightfall, Goblin Slayer would return once more, his force sneaking into the camps and slipping hemlock into the wine barrels and water jugs and conduct constant night raids, before retreating from the bruning camp.

On one occasion they tricked the royalist forces by shouting into the night 'The rebels are disguised as us and are attacking the camp'. Making one half of the army of Golden Queen fight against the other for the better part of the night, before stopping once the dawn came and they could see what was happening, during which another charge lead by Knight Captain and Kobra Khan struck them, after which they withdrew once more and the cavalry gave chase only to be lead to Noble Fencer's squares once more.

The infantry was powerless to help the royalist cavalry, the bicycles enabled the Slayer mechanized infantry to stay one step ahead of their counterparts and shoot them with arrows before withdrawing once more.

By the time the royalist army encountered the main Slayer Army, they were starving, demoralized and bereath of much of their cavalry.

What made it worse was the fact that the royalist encountered the Slayer Army not at Water Town, but 3 days march away from it. For under the leadership of Noble Fencer and Warrior, the infantry had performed a forced march, and arrived with an extra day to rest and create their fearsome wagon fort on top of a steep hill, before the royalist could reach them.

What made it worst was the fact that behind the hill was a river, on which boats of the Water Tribes came almost daily to resupply the Slayer Army from Water Town.

The psychological effect of this constant week of reversals on the royalists was aggravated by the fact that the entirety of the campaign had been fought on royalist lands, leaving the anti-monarchist forces territory still untouched by war.

In order to restore morale, Golden Queen ordered that supplies be taken for the royalist villages, in order to besiege the Slayer wagon fort.

The Siege/battle of Yellow Tavern Hill would drag on for 4 weeks, during which the royalist would be continuously repulsed when charging the wagon forth, and the cavalry, horse archers and mechanized infantry of the Slayers would constantly harass them and their foraging parties.

Speaking of which, the effect of the taking on masse of supplies from the villages gave rise to peasant revolts, who in time was joined by the frontier lords and knights, whose territory suffered the most from the war.

This lead to mass arguments within the starving and demoralized forces. This prompted Golden Queen and Golden Prince to abandon the troops and return to the Capitol, under the pretext of participating in a religious ceremony that was being held that month.

The effect on the royalist forces was felt the next day, many regiments refused to fight without the presence of the king, one of them going as far as to throw away their shields and spears at Knight Champion's feet, all in full view of the Slayer wagon Fort.

Upon seeing this Goblin Slayer immediately ordered a counter attack, sensing the moment was right. He had only about a quarter of his troops ready for battle, namely the ones on sentry duty, the rest of the army resting, but those 10.000 troops managed to route the remaining 70.000 strong royalist army.

The Clay War began with the royalist marching out with almost 120.000 troops and the Slayers with 38.000 troops, after Yellow Tavern, the royalist army withdrew with only 40.000 troops left. Out of the rest it is estimated that 20.000 switched sides and joined the Slayer Army, and the remainder simply dispersed and returned to their villages and cities.

Two days after Yellow Tavern Master Slayer arrived with 40.000 Water Kingdom, Slayer of Eight-Peaks by the Sea and Water Tribe reinforcements, along with 18.000 troops of High Dwarf King and 15.000 riders of Elf Lord.

With that the Clay War was now tipped in the favor of the anti-royalist faction, but despite that the war was not yet fully decided. The remaining royalist army had withdrawn to the Capitol, which was a formidable fortress. Almost impossible to storm by force, and stoked with enough grain to last for two years, the royalists immediately prepared for a siege.

What made the situation critical for the Slayers was that summer was coming to an end and with the autumn rains coming, any siege would be doomed to fail.

In short the Slayer now had to take a city that was impossible to storm and too well supply to siege and to it all in almost no time, less they be force to retreat for winter quarters or risk loosing their entire army to the autumn rain and winter cold.