Marshall Yat commanded the seige of WardensFall, General Tso's task was the taking of New Stendmark. Despite the Marshalls young age he held seniority over Tso this was because Tso was a follower of the Earth Party and Yat of the Fire Party. Tso's values were, like most Khanian nobles solidly anchored into ways of the past. Tso's seige would undoubtedly be conventional whereas Yat's would not be for Yat knew of the cannons. Neither he nor any of his general staff had seen one operated before but Emperor Si Fu had insisted that before marching to war he should meet with Ga Yao, the envoy who had spent weeks gleaming as much knowledge of the foreign world as he could during his extended travel. Ga Yao had told him of Aznavors’ own cannons guarding their settlements and that Ambassador Duloire had frequently of their range, probably in an effort to convince the Yao to advise the Emperor into purchasing Aznavori Cannons. Yet, in truth, to a military man like Yat such boasts meant little and could not be relied on. Ranges could be exaggerated, errors could be made in translation and Yao may have his own vested interests in cannons. Yat was a cautious general and would not risk his soldiers’ lives in an assault unless he knew what type of enemy he faced. On the first day of the twin sieges he had summoned 50 men who had disgraced themselves by failing to take the farmhouses that they had been assigned. These men were ordered to go beyond the palisade, beyond the trench into the wide stretch of land between the walls of Wardenfall and the siege camp with looking glasses and measuring instruments. They were told nothing of the enemy weapons and were tasked with examining the enemy battlements, towers and gates to find out what type of weapons their enemies wielded and what manner of men manned them. The men were told to go look from different points the first from 1,000 metres away the second from 500 metres away and the last from 100 metres away. When the men came back three hours later with a report of solid defences beign manned by what appeared to be disciplined uniformed men Yat learned two things. First that the enemy had not taken the bait and opened fire on his party revealing the range of the cannons second that city’s defence was in the hands of a competent commander who knew when to hide his strength. Without having met the man Yat admired him, for the man had not panicked at the sight of his vast forces, there had no tell-tale signs of paniccoming from the city. No ships departing carrying away the women, the children and the aged. This commander knew his business.
Marshall Yat was practicing his calligraphy when a messenger arrived from General Tso who informed him that his own counterpart in New Stendmark was not quite as competent and had been unable to prevent his nervous men from firing off three cannon blasts at the party of fifty disgraced soldiers that had been sent to ‘scout New Stendmarks defensive perimeter’. The first two shots had missed wildly but the third had struck the party as they retreated back towards their palisade (OOC: Gowia feel free to decide how many men this projectile would have killed out of the party of 50). The loss of men was regrettable but the former disgraced warriors had redeemed their honour by determining what seemed to be a rough estimate for the maximum effective long range of the enemy cannons at just over 890 metres. Even if he did not know of the varying types of cannons used by the enemy this gave Marshal Yat a wide berth to avoid having his forces strafed by the enemy weapons. The success of the scouting mission outside New Stendmark had also been successful insofar as it had introduced the soldiers who were participating in General Tso’s siege to the sound of the guns from a position of relative safety. Now they knew what to expect in battle, they would not run quite as easily as if they had experienced the thunderous sound for the first time.
Yat summarised what he knew of the enemy weapon to his aides and officers. He knew that such weapons fired stones and great iron balls over great distances, with impressive strength and could be fired slightly faster than his own siege engines. When the as the enemy organised their defences and shuffled their troops around Yats men set to work assembling and arranging 8 Khanian ballistas 10 trebuchets and half a dozen Onagers in a semi-circle all along the siege lines between the two palisades. Similar weapons were assembled in General Tso’s siege lines. Unfortunately the distance from the walls, that the cautious Marshall had insisted upon, meant that these siege weapons were nowhere near able to strike the walls from within the protection of their own siege camp.They would have to be moved up and platforms were being made for just such a plan when the enemy sallied out of the WardenFall. Soldiers were instructed to abandon the plans to move the engines and ordered to man the palisades, occupy the trench and brace for a sortie but it never came. Instead the enemy had elected to stay in the no-mans-land and to entrench themselves. As it became evident that the two armies were led by defensive generals and that neither would attack the other. Yat knew just enough about the cannons to refuse the enemy commander battle and he imagined that the enemy commander knew little enough of his weapons to remain cautious as well. It seemed there was a standoff as neither party willing to give up their fortified positions for a risky attack.Perhaps a peaceful solution would be possible?
Yat sent an emissary.
Emperor Si Fu had been making preparations for the arrival of two guests. The first would be the Emissary of the Kamalao Republi who had made his way over bearing an important message of friendship. He was given honeyed milk and told that he would be granted an audience with the Emperor and his Steward the very next day. Fresh accommodation was given to the man and inquiries were made as to whether the emissary required a bed warmer during his stay.
There was no reason to believe that the Kamalo Republi should be anything less than a friend to Khan.
(OOC: Want to do a Collaborative post Sako?)
The next guest to be received was the eldest son of Khans only current ally and trading partner who was to be married in Khan. Usually custom dictated that the wife go to the lands of her future husband for the ceremony but due to the Emperor power and his status as King Duloire’s elder brother, the foreign King had relented and agreed to send his son to Khan. This would truly be a ceremony to remember. Eunuchs and artisans were draping the entire capital in red, the colour of the Khanian Royalty, red silken Banners were hung from the city gates, red flowers were being bought in huge numbers and assembled, red wine had been bought from Aznavor. The Wedding would be a beautiful ceremony that would concretise the relationship between the people of the New World and the Old. All that was needed now was the groom.
Finally orders for the raising of more soldiers were made. 2,500,000,000 was put aside for the training of new warriors with a focus on crossbowmen and cavalry as enemy cavalry was scare and the Empire already had many spearmen to deal with this threat.
Summary:
Siege engines ( trbutchets, Ballistae and mangonels) are built in both siege camps.
Marshall Yat refuses to attack and sense the enemy refuses to fully commit to a sally so sends an emissary to negotiate.
Republi Ambassador is received
Preparations are made for a Royal wedding
More soldiers are being recruited to make up city garrisons as 30,000 more soldiers make theirway towards the two siege operations.
Both General Tso and and Marshall Yat have been secretly building tunnels into the bases. Marshall Yat has dismissed a direct assault as too costly. New Stendmark is having two collapse-able tunnels built under two areas of its walls and one general transport tunnel. Wardenfall has similar arrangements but the project to have tunnels stretch to the city has been abandoned due to the change of circumstances. Instead,as negotiations drag on, the existing tunnel network is expanded beneath the assembled enemy forces, ready to be fired and collapsed.
30,000 more men on their way 10,000 Spearmen, Swordsmen and repeating crossbowmen.