Dynasty: The Glorious Strategist (Dynasty Saga Book 3) (14 page)

“I agree,” Lymee nodded. “Pillaging our own country side is not exactly the best way to win a war anyway. And I doubt the Empress would sacrifice her own safety to protect others.” Lymee let out a sigh scratching her head as she continued to think. “Alexander invented the Trebuchet when he encountered this situation, but we left them back in Su. Hannibal was terrible when it came to sieges and that was part of what did him in at the end. The Mongols, I hear, were surprisingly good at siege warfare but I haven’t actually studied up on them much to know what made them so special. I only know they were the exception to just about everything.” Lymee put two fingers to her temple as she shook her head.

Lymee glanced around at the others but they seemed at just as much of a loss as Lymee was.

“I am starting to regret not bringing the trebuchets,” Lymee sighed letting her hand flop to her side. “If we could just take down those walls their numbers would be nothing. We wouldn’t even need half the men that we have.” Lymee bit down on her lower lip her arms crossed as she tried to think of something. “If only there was some way to open the gates.” Lymee chewed on her thumbnail as she looked the map over once more. “See this is what Special Forces would be used for,” Lymee said remembering her conversation with Alia earlier that year during her birthday celebration. “We would use them to somehow sneak inside and open the gates for us. Then our armies would just march in and take the walls.”

“Well if that’s the case,” Sai shifted a bit where she was standing across the table from Lymee. “We brought Special Forces with us.”

Lymee shot up in surprise looking at the woman. “Really?”

“Lord Alia told me about them once you had departed from Su City after your birthday celebration,” Sai said. “She told me that she wanted me to start training a few soldiers as best as I could using what you had described as a basic template. I did not want to mention them as I am still not sure if they are what you had in mind but I have trained them to be good at fighting in small groups and with a multitude of weapons. I have also done my best to instill into them the concepts of stealth and going unnoticed in order to achieve their objective.”

“How many do you have?” Lymee asked feeling hopeful for the first time since this war council had started.

“Two fire teams,” Sai answered. “I did not dare train more until I truly understood their capabilities and uses as well as had a better understanding of what worked in training them.”

“I understand,” Lymee nodded. Two fire teams was eight men. Not a lot but a good start.

The question now was how to use them. What they needed now was a way to get them on the other side of the walls so they could open the gates. Using the cover of darkness was the obvious choice but any kind of climbing equipment to scale that high of a wall would be too large and cumbersome not to be seen. Not to mention scaling the walls even at night was very dangerous and easy to spot.

Her first thought would be to use the mountain paths to sneak them behind the walls but that was far too dangerous and she did not trust in their abilities enough to count on them surviving such a treacherous path undetected. Especially given that the paths were now covered in snow.

“Dang it,” Lymee griped, leaning forward against the table. It was like she had been handed a key to a door but had no way of reaching the door in order to open it. “Do we have any way of getting them on the other side of the walls?” she pleaded looking up at each of them.

They all looked at each other shaking their heads unable to come up with any ideas.

“Could always try tunneling under,” Gea suggested taking a look at the map. “We brought a variety of construction tools with us. If we started digging about half a mile out it would only take a few weeks for us to get to the other side. Barring any major problems.”

“The ground has long since frozen,” Keo stated shaking her head. “It would take months before we even got passed the first walls. Not to mention the second.”

“I do not think we need to get passed the second wall,” Haru spoke up.

“Why’s that?” Lymee asked looking over at the woman. She was standing at the end of the table a stern look on her face her arms folded across her hips as she stared down at the map.

“Well it normally takes several minutes for the gates to open or close,” Haru explained. “As such, they usually leave both gates open. This allows for merchants and other people to pass through quickly. While I am sure the first gate is closed by now if they intend to use the second gate as a fall back point…” Haru traced her finger from the first wall to the second.

“Then they would not want to waste the time opening them for a retreating army,” Sai nodded in agreement. “They would leave them open so they can have them open for as long as possible before they have to close them again.”

“Meaning that if we can sneak our Special Forces past the first gate,” Keo said with a smile. “Then they should be able to sneak past the second one with little trouble. Assuming they were sufficiently hidden.”

“Still don’t have a clue as to how to get them past the first gate,” Lymee reminded. “What we need is a Trojan Horse of some kind to sneak them in.”

“A what?” Keo inquired cocking her head to the side.

Lymee sighed as she realized that they did not know what a Trojan Horse was. “It’s a very old battle tactic that was used in a similar situation. An army was invading a city with walls so strong they could not be breached even after ten years of constant siege. It was ironically also one of the first times Special Forces were ever used.” Lymee froze as she realized what she had just said, her eyes going wide.

Her hands started to physically shake as she realized that in this world something like the Trojan Horse had probably never been done before.

“Dear Lord almighty,” Lymee gasped burying her nose into her clasped hands. “I never thought in a million years that such a strategy could ever work. It is so well known in my world that anyone in this situation would see it coming a mile away, but here.” She looked up at the four women who were staring at her with baited breath. “Just so we are clear. No one that you know of has ever hidden soldiers inside a giant statue and then let the enemy bring it into their own city before right?”

There was a resounding no of confusion from the four woman as they all glanced at each other trying to figure out what Lymee was on about. Lymee could barely contain her laughter. This could actually work. For the first time in over three thousand years she was actually going to do
exactly
what the Greeks had done at Troy. But first they were going to need more men. Even if the plan worked perfectly they would need more than the five thousand men that Lymee had brought with her.

***

Lymee let out a long calming breath as she stepped inside the tent. The inside of the tent was very well furnished and even had a nice, thick rug that covered most of the ground. There were curtains that divided the tent off into different rooms leaving the front of the tent as an almost living room like area.

“Lord Sun,” a voice greeted as an older woman walked out from one of the back rooms. “You honor me with your presence.”

“Forgive the lateness of my visit, Lord Niimu,” Lymee said as she stepped inside. “I hope I did not wake you.”

Lord Niimu was only wearing a simple green and black robe with the Gon Dynasty symbol embroidered on the back. She did not wearing anything else underneath but that was to be expected in this world were things like undergarments did not seem to exist. Her robe was partly open in the center showing off some of her chest. Lymee thought the woman would probably have been very attractive in her early life. But the years had not been so kind to her looks or her skin.

“I only just now returned from the Lords’ Council meeting, so I was still very much awake,” Niimu assured raising her hand and smiled. “Would you like something to drink?”

“Some tea would be nice,” Lymee said moving further into the tent.

Niimu pushed her sleeve out of the way as she grabbed the tea kettle in the center of a short table near the front of the tent. Sitting down on a cushion she poured two cups that were also placed at the center of the table. She set the kettle down and leaned back as she waited for Lymee to sit down on the cushion across from her.

Lymee realized that Niimu was waiting for her to choose which cup she wanted. Lymee leaned forward grabbing one of the clay cups and immediately took a sip from it. As she did so Niimu took the remaining cup and started to drink from it as well. The tea was actually very good and Lymee had to fight the urge to gulp it down.

“How goes the council meetings?” Lymee asked setting the cup down on the table in front of her.

“Same as they did the first day,” Niimu said with a bite of bitterness. “No one can agree on who should be giving the orders. As such nothing else has been discussed, much less has there been any kind of strategy on how we are going to attempted to take the walls. While no lord has left with quite the flare that you did,” she looked up at Lymee with half smile on her face. “Several of the lesser lords have stopped attending, apparently waiting for some kind of resolution.”

“Any more threats from lords to leave all together?” Lymee asked genuinely curious.

“Many,” Niimu stated almost letting out a laugh. “I fear it is only a matter of time before a Lord makes good on such a threat and pulls their forces out. Once that happens the flood gates will burst and every lord will be on their way back to their respective Dynasties in a matter of days.”

Lymee could not help but laugh as she listened. “And I am sure future historians will often joke about the large army that met at the gates of Xia, argued for a few weeks then went home never once attempting to take the city.”

Niimu nodded her head smiling herself. “I fear that might very well be the case if something does not change soon.” Niimu then slid her cup to the side as she leaned forward focusing her full attention on Lymee. “But I do not imagine that talking about the Lords’ Council is what brings you here so late into the night.”

“Let’s dispense with the pleasantries’ then shall we?” Lymee said meeting Niimu’s gaze. “No dancing around things. No using fifty words when two will do. Let’s just be completely honest and frank with each other.”

Niimu’s eye cocked slightly with intrigue. It was doubtful that any lord had ever said such a thing to her. “Alright,” Niimu nodded. “I only promise that I will do my best however. Centuries of bullshiting are not ending in a single night.”

“Good enough,” Lymee laughed. Letting out a breath she looked down at her cup sitting in front of her as she started collecting her thoughts. “I have a plan for taking the city,” she stated still staring at her cup. “But I need your help in order to do it.”

“My help?” Niimu leaned back raising her chin as she looked at Lymee. “Why do you want my help?”

“Let me make this clear,” Lymee looked up and stared the woman straight in the eyes. “I do not come to you out of some sort of admiration for you or for Gon Dynasty. I am not in any way throwing my support behind you in any kind of grab for the throne.”

Niimu did not say anything but her chin lowered slightly signifying that she understood.

“I’ll be blunt. I am here because I lack the troops necessary and you are the only lord with the troops that I require whom I would even dare ask,” Lymee continued. That seemed to cause a reaction in the lord but she did a good job at hiding it, keeping her face expressionless as she listened to Lymee.

“What of the other lords?” Niimu asked. “Both Song and Fu Dynasty have just as many, if not more troops at their command.”

“Lord Tuwa of Song Dynasty is far too single minded and brash,” Lymee stated. “Not to mention she probably despises me after our little tat a tat.”

“That would be a safe assumption,” Niimu nodded.

“Lord Yung of Fu Dynasty is either far too passive and timid for this, or her persona is all a lie. Regardless of which case is true there is no way I could ever trust her.”

“But you do not know which she is?” Niimu asked seemingly curious as to Lymee’s true thoughts on the matter.

“Let’s say it doesn’t matter either way and leave it at that,” Lymee said flashing a smile. In all honestly Lymee had no clue as to what to make of Lord Yung. But one thing was for certain, after her little encounter with her in the tent she did not trust her nor did she like her all that much. “I could go to Lord Voy of Hong Dynasty but she seems to answer to you anyway. So I might as well cut out the middleman.”

“That is quite a statement,” Niimu said though her voice did not show any signs of offence. “I would think that if such a powerful Lord as Lord Voy truly answered to me then I would be in a much different position right now,” she joked.

“Then let us say that you two agree more than you disagree,” Lymee smiled. “At least when it comes to matters of this campaign. Meaning if you advise her not to help me she will be far more inclined not too.”

“I think that if the request was coming from you, you might be surprised,” Niimu mumbled taking a sip from her tea.

“I could go to Lord Sol of Jien Dynasty,” Lymee stated. “I seem to have made a good impression with her younger sister, but I need far more than the three thousand troops that they brought. I could go to several of the other minor lords and bring them all together but then I fear the sheer number of people involved will only lead to more infighting as each lord will wish to gain the most glory or whatever and then we’re right back where we started. That is why I need a single lord with a single large army.”