I ordered a hundred or so men to drive him away, then summoned my thousand-strong force of loyalists. After a month or two of hands-on training, they had picked up quite a bit. They understood how to coordinate and had mastered my secret hand signals. That said, aside from looting, I hadn't actually killed anyone in battle yet; most of our previous skirmishes ended with the enemy routing at the first strike. If he ran, I wouldn't chase him—though, in truth, more often than not, it was I who was doing the running.
This time, I was determined to wipe out these 50,000 Elite Soldiers. I took out a map and pointed out the terrain. I had my men select 60,000 of the strongest recruits to advance at full speed, digging pits along both sides of the road. My previous traps had been mere inches deep and contained no spikes, but this time was different. I ordered them to dig trenches two meters wide and two meters deep, fill them with sharpened stakes, cover them with weeds, and lightly dust them with soil. I also had them dig ten such sections in the middle of the road, spaced 500 meters apart. Finally, 2,000 meters from the last one, I had them dig a larger trench, also two meters wide and deep, but with one difference: I ordered the wooden boards from our supply wagons to be removed and laid over the top. My men were to hide beneath these boards and await my signal. If time permitted, they were to gather stones. I also had them cut up all our spare rags into strips and braid them int…
Chapter 28