The battle of Nameless Valley, Sekler defeated the Hurd alliance.
The chieftains, each with their respective troops, fled for their lives and were relentlessly pursued by Alpad.
Just from the ears cut from corpses, they counted over three thousand. The bloodied human ears were strung on grass ropes, filling two entire large carts.
Paratu’s fifth and sixth legions also suffered heavy casualties.
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Over seven thousand legion infantry, and more than five thousand conscripted auxiliary troops engaged in battle, totaling seven hundred seventy-two dead and nine hundred forty-three seriously wounded.
Minor injuries couldn’t be counted, because nearly every soldier who survived was wounded.
The standard for serious injuries had become whether one could walk on their own.
After cleaning the battlefield, the Paratu army continued marching northeast without stopping.
The Paratu People had undoubtedly won a victory.
In the past, they could already "return with laughter and triumphant songs."
However, the victory in the battle could hardly make up for the strategic loss.
Alpad had not managed to scatter the Hurd alliance—because the Hurd alliance was already loosely organized.
Although the various tribes didn’t fight vigorously, they excelled at fleeing. Once Suz Tribe’s cavalry at the rear collapsed, the battle became a "dog chasing rabbits."
Hunting rabbits with dogs wasn’t a problem. According to past experience, it was enough to hurt the Herders.
But now, the wolves had decided the foal was faltering, and even if the foal could kick to death one or two wolves, the remaining hungry wolves would still follow the foal closely, licking their wounds.
Just as there wasn’t an independent will called "Herders," the motives of the Herders in fighting the Paratu People were very complex.
For the lower-class Herd nomads, on one hand, they were coerced into fighting by violence, and on the other hand, they longed for the class elevation that came with war spoils, rewards, and military achievements.
Above the lower-class nomads was the professional warrior class of Hurd society.
Including the chieftains of medium and small tribes, the chieftains’ relatives, friends, and guards.
To some extent, their motives were similar to those of the ordinary Herd nomads. They drove their tribesmen, and the three major tribes drove them.
They were not willing to weaken their forces, but they also coveted war spoils.
Armor, weapons, firearms, ammunition, and craftsmen were resources that were hard to obtain for the tribes on normal days.
Older chieftains still remembered the good old days, and they truly hoped to destroy Paratu’s Standing Army and then rob Paratu—provided that their own troops didn’t suffer losses.
For chieftains with greater ambition and strength, this battle was an excellent opportunity not only to destroy Paratu’s Standing Army but also to establish prestige and control over the tribes.
Furthermore, for all Herders, there was an intangible collective sentiment that lingered in their hearts but couldn’t be articulated.
That was the "Herders’" hatred and resentment towards the "Paratu People," not connected to any one individual, yet present in every Herder’s heart.
This emotion might not be as strong as "the tribe across the river stole two of my horses, I hate them so much," but it definitely existed.
In short, White Lion’s strategy of "not letting go, but also not biting" was acknowledged by most Herders.
Except for the Red River Tribe and the Terdon Tribe, most chieftains only had their trusted troops left; they needed time to regroup their scattered members.
No one dared to directly confront the Paratu legions anymore, but neither was anyone willing to give up just like that.
Alpad and Sekler reached their goal; the Paratu army’s retreat became unusually quiet, without any further skirmishes.
Only the occasional presence of Herd light cavalry reminded the Paratu People: The enemy had not ceased.
...
Realizing the second Floating Bridge was also destroyed, the mood of the Paratu army became uneasy and tense.
Anyone with a sane mind could see that this army had reached a dead end.
The Paratu People hadn’t lost; they just had nowhere to go.
That night, two auxiliary soldiers stole horses and tried to run away.
They were caught by patrolling cavalry on the riverbank and were publicly executed the following morning.
A decision had to be made quickly—this was the consensus of all officers.
At the expanded meeting of senior officers, someone proposed, "Otherwise, let’s continue walking upstream?"
To continue walking upstream, a straightforward method.
The further upstream you go, the shallower the water and the narrower the river. Just go to a place where you can walk across, right?
"Go where?" Colonel Bod snapped back mercilessly: "Even if you walk another two hundred kilometers upstream, the Styx is still a hundred meters wide! Why not just head into the Sheltering Mountains and circle back from Monta?
"I was just saying..."
There was another silence.
Someone else proposed, "I have seen workers who log in the mountains. They chop trees in winter, transport them to the riverside, and nail them into log rafts. Come summer when the water rises, they float down the river, reaching Kingsfort and even the inner sea."
"We make log rafts too?"
"Maybe it’s possible..."
"Gentlemen." Colonel Robert had a splitting headache: "The principle of buoyancy!"
The buoyancy of an object is related to the volume of liquid it displaces. Whether or not the officers present remembered, at least all of them had learned this.
Colonel Robert picked up a pen and paper and began to calculate: "A log raft isn’t a ship; it has no hull, relying entirely on the buoyancy of the wood. Taking the density of wood as half of water, that means 1 kilogram of wood can carry 1 kilogram of load. You can’t actually get a one-to-one ratio, but I’ll calculate as generously as possible for you.
The entire army now has over twenty thousand people; taking 70 kilograms per person, that makes a total of one million four hundred thousand kilograms, which is 1400 tons! Where do we get 1400 tons of wood? Where do we find it?!"
The more he calculated, the more agitated Colonel Robert became: "This is just the weight of the people, not yet counting our weapons, armor, baggage, ammunition! Oh yes, and the horses! We also have thousands of Warhorses! Besides warhorses, there are draft horses."