Torismund also knew this, which is why he dared to confidently attack their rear.
The main force withdrawn from the Italian Peninsula was just to attract the enemy’s attention, causing them to deploy more troops near Lyon. The fourth and seventh legions of the Britain Kingdom have entered the Italian Peninsula and surrounded but not attacked, without taking a single city.
This performance, until now, is the mont for Duncan to take the stage.
At this ti, the Western Goths’ army has already split into two routes; one is blocking the main legion of the Britain Kingdom at Lyon, and the other has reached the outskirts of Paris. However, the battle line is stretched too long, leaving the troops more disconnected.
What Duncan has to do now is to lead the elite cavalry directly to harass the enemy’s rear, severing the enemy’s army supply, and strategically cutting off the enemy’s retreat.
This is the first step to turning defeat into victory by counterattacking.
As long as Duncan expands the results on this side, the Britain main legion that entered the Italian Peninsula will soon retreat completely, not to rescue Paris, but to attack Gaul outside the mountains, cutting off the enemy’s retreat.
By then, Torismund will be caught in a three-pronged attack.
Firstly, the third to sixth armies of the Britain Kingdom will attack in the direction of Lyon, recapturing the lost territories of Gaul in one stroke. Balton will gather the rear forces to launch a counterattack against the enemy, while Duncan will raid the enemy’s holand, cooperating with the Britain reinforcents landing in Normandy, trapping the entire 60,000-strong Western Goths army within the Gaul Province.
For Duncan.
The Italian Peninsula is just at in the bowl, and the Pseudo Emperor Maximus is nothing but a heap of dead bones. All these plans were just to lure the Western Goths Kingdom to take the initiative to attack.
If they do not move, Duncan’s forcible siege would cost too much.
Of course.
The most critical point of this strategic layout is that Duncan can indeed cut off the enemy’s retreat.
This step is crucial; if the elite cavalry led by Duncan cannot achieve a strategic victory, then the result will be completely opposite, with the Britain main force trapped at the Italian border, Paris unable to withstand the enemy’s military siege, and his elite cavalry heavily surrounded for having ventured so deep alone.
The strategy is risky.
The fundantal reason for such a risky tactical command is Duncan’s strong confidence in his own martial might!
Now, the elite cavalry he leads has been moving south from the Normandy plains, directly launching a long-distance raid on the enemy’s rear. The Frankish elite troops and the Celtic Barbarian Race reinforcent nearby are on standby in Normandy, ready to support the main battlefield at Paris any ti.
Balton now only needs to hold firm, guarding until good news from Duncan arrives from the frontline.
.........
Dinsion Space.
At this ti, Duncan’s strategic map had already been expanded to the maximum. He moved south from Normandy, passing Balrog, arriving near Ambilou.
There is a town nearby called Tuer, which has already been occupied by the Western Goths Kingdom’s army and used as a rear transit point. When Duncan led his cavalry to arrive here, there were still one to two thousand garrison troops, and a considerable amount of grain and fodder stored.
In ancient tis, the larger the scale of a military expedition, the longer the supply line for grain and fodder.
Duncan’s cross-sea expedition was tightly constrained by logistic supply. If he had not quickly defeated Molov and seized a large amount of supplies, the logistics would have been unsustainable after two or three months.
"Attack!"
Amidst the sound of galloping hooves, Duncan led hundreds of cavalry in a sudden assault. Naturally, more than two thousand elite cavalry cannot act all together; part of them, led by Duncan, attacked and captured fortresses, while another part harassed the enemy’s supply lines, completely cutting off Torismund’s retreat.
This sudden ergence of elite cavalry undoubtedly caused panic among the garrison of the Western Goths Kingdom.
Duncan, leading the way, charged in before they could close the gates. He took down the Nord Bow and fired five arrows in quick succession, instantly killing a feudal knight marked with two stars in the direction of the military camp. Behind him, a mighty cavalry force had already stord into the stronghold, causing the enemy to be routed in a single charge.
"Set fire!"
"Burn the grain and supplies!"
The entire battle took only a few monts. Unlike the last raid on the Frankish tribe, Duncan’s action this ti was even more resolute, leaving almost no prisoners. In a single battle, over a thousand Western Goths were slain, followed by a great fire, thick smoke spreading everywhere; no spoils of war were kept, everything was burned clean with a single fla.
History is the best teacher.
This move Duncan learned from Huo Qubing, who, when the Champion Marquis led elite cavalry raids against the Xiongnu, didn’t take spoils in order to maintain the cavalry’s mobility, even slaughtering a large number of prisoners.
He gave the enemy almost no ti to react.
About half a day later, a small unit of Western Goths’ assault cavalry arrived near Tuer, but by then the fire had already spread completely, burning all grain and supplies, and the elite cavalry which had harassed from behind had long since disappeared without a trace.
"Not good!"
"Imdiately inform Your Majesty! An elite enemy cavalry has bypassed and reached our rear!"
The commander of the Western Goths cavalry was also a veteran general, a feudal knight from the Iberian Peninsula. Staring at the smoking town in front, he said solemnly, "Imdiately have the nearby stationed troops on high alert, send out recon riders, and scout the enemy’s movents."
Reconnaissance?
There was simply nothing to scout.
The elite cavalry led by Duncan, although not entirely invisible, moved as swiftly as the wind. With the strategic map, he needed no guide, covering more than a thousand miles over several days, breaking through more than ten military outposts behind the Western Goths Kingdom, completely disrupting their rear supply lines in just one week.
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