The World Online

Chapter 116: Operation Dawn

On the 9th of May, the military operation codenamed "Dawn" officially kicked off.

After 5 days of preparations, the city defense unit from Qiushui Town and Friendship Town, along with the main base infantry's 2nd unit are all in position. At the same time, Qiushui Town's only cavalry squadron and Friendship Town's 2 cavalry squadrons have joined the cavalry unit and started the joint training.

In order to prevent startling the snake by beating the bush, the joint training location is not located in Friendship Town but on an open field on the west side of Shanhai Town, near the infantry unit camp.

Originally, Lin Yi proposed that before joining the infantry unit for the joint training, they should wipe out one or two bandit camps outside of the border for the purpose of training the forces for actual combat experience, but it was turned down by Ouyang Shuo.

There were several reasons. First of all, the armies that were dispatched now were all cavalries. The main force would be the cavalries if an attack were launched, so there would be not much of a problem in terms of their cooperation. Second, launching any attacks on any factions right now and causing extra casualties would be unnecessary before operation "Dawn". Ouyang Shuo was not taking it lightly and he didn't wish to start a war with an exhausted army, as the operation is extremely crucial.

In order not to attract attention from the Tian Feng tribe, this military operation was preparing to cross the Friendship river from Shanhai Town, and march straight into the west of the central area among the small tribes. This was to ensure that victory would be achieved in one killing blow.

At 4 PM, the navy unit garrisoned at Beihai Town travelled upstream with the Meng Chong warship and docked at the Friendship river bank located towards the south of the small tribes.

Meanwhile, the 800 cavalrymen in the operation "Dawn" set up their camping site on the other side of the river.

At 4 AM before daybreak, the entire force started to prepare food.

At 5 AM, the cavalry, along with the war horses, boarded the warships and sailed across the Friendship river. After a short break, in order to maintain their stealth, every cavalryman covered up his mouth. The horses' mouths were also covered up, and their hooves were wrapped with thick linen to mute the sound of their footsteps. After that, they started marching forward like an army of spectres, in dead silence.

They marched slowly for 5 kilometers and began to split into 4.

The front wing was of course the cavalry unit that was responsible for the main attack. Equipped with the Qingfu warhorse, the first squadron would be the vanguards. The first team in the first squadron, consisting of 50 cavalrymen equipped with Mingguang armor, would run ahead of the entire force under the lead of Li Mingliang. In order to prevent reflection from their armors and thus attracting the attention of the enemies, the armors are all fully covered with linen.

The back wing was Qiushui Town's cavalry squadron. With their leader, Zhang Daniu, they detoured to the back of the enemies. They were responsible for cutting away the nomadic tribe's escape path to the north. The north side was the direction towards the Tian Qi tribe, which was the most likely escape path for the enemies. Therefore, the responsibility carried by Zhang Daniu and his cavalry squadron was very heavy.

The right wing of Friendship Town's 1st cavalry squadron, with their leader, Hu Yibiao, marched towards the east. The east side was the direction towards Tian Feng tribe. Although the chances of the deserters fleeing towards the east were quite low, but the wing still carried a great responsibility to prevent the enemies from fleeing towards the east. This was because if not taken seriously, the fleeing soldiers might attract the attention of the Tian Feng tribe, and thus cause unwanted outcomes.