As Banas brought some Archers and Cheng Pu ran in their direction to see what was happening, Dom looked below to gather his thoughts. Originally, Ling Tong would lead the vanguard and defeat the enemy, before retreating. This would lead to the Sun forces attacking and having the river blocked by Huang Zu's forces, causing some losses to both sides. After that happened, the Hill that they were currently occupying would be captured by the Sun forces and the blockage in the river would be cleared so the forces could strike Jiangxia and attack.
However, Dom didn't see the situation unfolding like that now. The River was full of enemy ships as far as the eye could see, hidden slightly from view from the oncoming Sun Navy where Ling Tong and Sun Ce stood proudly at the front ready to battle. It seemed that what ever had happened, had persuaded Huang Zu's forces to come out in full, causing a full naval clash. Thankfully, the Hill Fort was within the side of Huang Zu's forces and they could cause some chaos from their current position without the Sun forces being aware.
Dom knew that they didn't have long to hold this advantage though, once the battle began and no updates had come from the guard towers in front, the leadership in Jiangxia would be aware that something had happened, sending a force towards the Palisade Fort to retake it. Dom hoped that the numbers would be small, but the battle was definitely not going to plan.
"If we don't warn Sun Ce somehow, he is going to be caught in an ambush of his own!" Subutai declared as he watched the Sun Navy approach, with the rest of it not far behind. Dom could see the two Trireme of Riverside, the Enyo and Calypso with the rest of the forces, and worried for Tomyris and Gan Ning.
"We are going to have to shoot arrows down below, if our forces see we are attacking, they should know something is wrong." Dom ordered, his tone serious.
"I have some signal fires!" Cheng Pu declared, as he shouted at one of his men to get things prepared. "I will light a fire and hopefully they will see the smoke and know something has happened."
"The worst situation is the enemy send land forces to retake this position." Subutai replied, his mind on a similar route to Dom's. "We suffered minimal losses, but we now have prisoners to watch which means our defensive position isn't ideal."
"We could execute them all." Cheng Pu replied honestly, "I'll have Cheng Zi do it immediately."
"No, don't do that." Dom ordered quickly, knowing that Cheng Pu would be true to his word. "It's a waste of life and potential recruits. Instead, see if you can persuade them to fight for us, offer them some benefits."
"I'll see to that." Tomoe offered as she appeared beside them, having been clearing the camp in Cheng Pu's place. Dom trusted her and knew that the enemies would be intimidated by her in her heavy armour and multiple weapons. However, her tone was terrifying and Dom wasn't sure how loyal they would be.
"No, I think it's best I do." Subutai replied, rolling his eyes at Dom whilst Tomoe looked hurt by the comment.
Whilst they discussed, a rider appeared to inform them that Liao Hua had arrived with his unit and a small group of prisoners. Subutai ordered the rider to have Liao Hua brought to them immediately, with any officers among the prisoners and to bring his Archers with him. Whilst Tomoe was ordered to have the Warriors secure the camp for a potential siege and reinforce the walls as they had been taught by the Legionaries.
"If Sun Ce and Ling Tong do not stop, order the Archers to shoot a volley at the enemy ships." Dom ordered Banas, as the hundred Horse Archers and four hundred Foot Archers created a long line.
"I'll get some strong Warriors to move these stones as well and light the fire." Cheng Pu declared, pointing at the long line of large stones that had been gathered nearby in preparation to throw down at the Sun forces below.
"It's going to be a difficult Battle." Subutai stated as he looked at the ships, "Ours are definitely in a better condition, but the forces are quite even in size. It won't be the easy win that we hoped for."
"We just need to have the momentum." Dom replied seriously as he tried to think of a way to regain control of the battle.
Whilst they discussed and got all of the needed forces in to position, the vanguard ships of Ling Tong and Sun Ce drew closer and closer. Dom was surprised when a group of Huang Zu's ships moved out of formation towards them, following the original flow of battle.
"Hold the Archers for now, there may still be some hope." Subutai declared as he watched intently. There was some sound behind them as Liao Hua arrived, his Archers quickly joined their comrades whilst he dragged a tied prisoner along with him.
The Prisoner was wearing elaborate armour and had an swollen face where it seemed he had been hit hard. His face had a look of disgust on it as he looked across the people around him, however surprise was evident on his face when he looked at Dom, Subutai and the Horse Archers on the ridge who were clearly not from the Sun Family.
"Release me at once!" The man declared, "My brother in law is the rightful Lord of these lands."
"Unfortunately, I can't currently do that." Dom replied politely as he looked at the man, as Subutai sniggered slightly beside him, proud of Dom's response.
"You and your Navy are soon to be crushed, it would be good to be on mine and in turn my brother in law's good side." The Prisoner responded in a threatening tone. Dom didn't have the patience to speak with someone this arrogant, however he wanted the information from him.
"If he is Liu Biao's brother in law, then he must be the General Cai Mao." Cheng Pu said from beside Dom, as Cai Mao sneered at Cheng Pu. Dom tried to think back in his mind who Cai Mao was, but he didn't have anything that crossed his mind. Gu Kaizhi, Gan Ning and the others had all spoken a lot about this period of time, but there were many people to remember.
"I really don't care who the Lord of the land is, we are here to win this battle and that is all. Why are you here?" Dom asked him, "If you answer me honestly, I will think about letting you go."
"I think it is quite obvious, we are here to destroy the Sun family." Cai Mao replied in arrogance, as if the information was well known and not worth hiding, however for Dom this was big information as Cai Mao wasn't a name he was expecting in this battle, nor did Huang Zu have personality to request reinforcements.
"That I can see." Dom replied as he looked back across the enemy Navy below. "However, I think it'll be an interesting battle regardless. My question is, why are 'You' Here? Not Huang Zu's forces."
"Huang Zu is a spiteful, arrogant and aging man who thinks he knows best." Cai Mao spat unrestrained, "But he supports our family well. He had an idea to trap you all here based on some information he received from a visiting General and my brother in law felt it was a good opportunity to show our might. I will be honest with you, I thought it was a ruse at first which is why I am here as you say, but it seems it wasn't."
Dom was taken aback by his response, the honesty in Cai Mao's voice was clear. Dom's mind wondered who the visiting General was, and when Dom caught Subutai's eye, he could tell he was thinking the same thing. This battle was not supposed to have any support from Liu Biao and was a straight fight between Sun Quan and Huang Zu.
"What was the visiting Generals name?" Dom asked Cai Mao, more politeness in his voice as he needed the information. Cai Mao seemed to notice and a slight smile appeared at the sides of his mouth, realising that he had some power now in the conversation.
"Will you unbind me if I tell you?" He challenged. Dom felt frustrated that he had given away some of the negotiation power but agreed, knowing the information could be key to their victory.
"I will, however you will stay with us until the battle is over. Be that our victory or yours." Dom replied, before catching Subutai's eye and carrying on. "However, I must warn you that if your side is victorious, you may not make it back."
"That is acceptable." Cai Mao agreed, knowing that he wouldn't have done the same thing in this situation, a slight tint of respect in his tone as he realised that Dom and the surrounding Commanders were different from what he expected. "He is called General Li Shang and was accompanied by a group of interesting Warriors. However, compared to yours and those Tigers I just saw, I would say they are less interesting."
"Li Shang?" Dom demanded, his tone serious. Dom knew of one Li Shang, the player Prince Li Shang who was ranked tenth in the Lord Rankings and was a frequent poster on Golden Sun's blog. Doms mind wandered for a few seconds. He didn't remember their being a Li Shang in this time period from what he had been told and definitely not in this battle that he had memorised from Gan Ning's information.
"Yes that was his name." Cai Mao responded as he moved back slightly, surprised by the dangerous tone in Dom's voice, however his back ended up touching the front of a Batavi Guard that was stood there.
"This changes everything." Dom said with a long exhale as he turned to Subutai, who understood what he meant. There was another Lord involved in this battle, who could also have knowledge of this battle. He wondered if it was a random choice or if he had a linked General as well, regardless he needed to change his plans around.
"Can you tell me what he said?" Dom asked Cai Mao, who contemplated for a few seconds. His brother in law was the Lord of the area, and even though he was confident in the win, he couldn't betray his family. As a loss would impact his own plans for his family.
"There is only so much I can willingly tell you." Cai Mao replied, whilst watching the threatening stares from Subutai, Cheng Pu and Liao Hua. As he began to speak, their was commotion below as the two vanguards clashed against each other.
The ships of Sun Ce and Ling Tong smashed in to their enemies, whilst arrows and ropes were shot and thrown across the River at each other. Dom could see around forty ships on each side begin fighting and he wondered what tactic Huang Zu's forces were following.
"They have the same plan as us." Subutai commented as Cai Mao watched beside them. "They will feign retreat and draw ours forwards."
"What happens when both feign retreat?" Dom asked, guessing the answer himself.
"Then one side will get overly confident." Cai Mao said in response, "I fear you will win this clash."
"Is your officer in the vanguard that type of person?" Subutai asked, whilst Dom was surprised by Cai Mao's response.
"Zhang Shao is not known for his patience." Cai Mao replied. "This battle could go on for a while."
"Then let's continue to talk." Dom declared, before turning to Cheng Pu. "If they retreat I want you to throw down some rocks and arrows to cause chaos on our potential ambushers. Banas, fire a single arrow to Sun Ce's ship, with your aim it will cause him to question what is happening. He shouldn't attack if something strange happens."
"Something strange normally happens when we are involved." Subutai countered with a slight smile.
"I'll get the fire ready then. What should I signal?" Cheng Pu asked.
"Make a mess, they need to know that the situation has changed." Dom replied, before turning to Liao Hua, "dispatch some fast riders along the coast near our lines, try to get some messages to the Navy and to our lines."
As they spoke, some Warriors grabbed some stools and brought them forwards so the Commander's could take a seat, whilst the horses were tended to. Cai Mao cast his eyes over Dom's Zhan Lu sword on his waist a couple of times as he was given a seat.
"I am treating you well, so please tell me what you can, without breaking your bottom line." Dom offered as Subutai sat beside him. Cheng Pu and Liao Hau had headed off to follow their orders.
"General Li Shang came to Huang Zu, explaining that the Sun family would attack and Huang Zu would lose if he didn't get reinforcements." Cai Mao explained, "Huang Zu obviously didn't believe him, but he somehow was persistent and persuaded him enough that he was sent to Lord Liu Biao's court, whilst Huang Zu sent messengers for reinforcements."
"And that is why you are here." Dom asked, understanding that it was very likely Li Shang had ways of persuasion like Dom did.
"Exactly that, Lord Liu Biao dispatched me to oversee the battle with some additional troops that I gathered on the way." Cai Mao explained honestly. "What was strange though, was that General Li Shang requested specific Generals as reinforcements. Some arrived, whilst some denied with varying excuses and others sent proxies in their place. It was strange how he knew our forces and our nearby allied forces so well."