In the dark night, it is difficult to see the situation ahead, and even many people can't distinguish the direction, in such a situation it is almost impossible to take advantage of a war, which is the same for both the attacker and the defender, Balhan did not order the attack, and Anastasia on the side of the camp of the Eastern Roman Empire did not dare to act rashly, after all, his main task was to protect the safety of Princess Eudosia.

When he came out, Balhan was well prepared, and each cavalryman was given a thick and wide woolen blanket, and the temperature dropped greatly at night, and it was very cold, so the thick blanket was wrapped around his body to protect him from the cold, and even the horses were kept warm.

Barhan does not attack, nor retreats, Anastasia is very anxious, the initiative is not in his hands, but in Balhan's hands, if he wants to protect the safety of the princess, he cannot fight with Balhan with confidence, and at the same time he has to guard against Balhan's tricks, so as not to fall into Balhan's conspiracy trap.

Anastasias knew that this could not go on like this, the temperature at night was very low, and it was easy for people and horses to freeze to death if they stayed outside bare, and the unknown army on the opposite side did not know how to get by, but he and his men and horses were absolutely not good, after thinking for a while, Anastasia shouted: "Come on, send someone to the front and ask who the opposite person is, what they want to do!" In addition, send people to collect wood and pile it up in the gap between the military formations to make a fire to warm the soldiers, don't fight yet, everyone is frozen to death! ”

"Yes, General!"

Anastasias's order was quickly carried out, and several horsemen, led by a centurion, rode to the opposite Balhan army, while soldiers from the rear of the army went to collect timber in a nearby oasis.

It didn't take long. The centurion who went to inquire came back with someone, "Report to the general, I went to ask just now." But the person on the other side didn't answer at all, and he wouldn't let me wait to get close! ”

Hearing this, Anastasias frowned and said, "What does this unidentified army want to do?" What do they mean by not fighting, not retreating, and not communicating with us? ”

A relatively young wing captain next to him suddenly said: "I understand, they are not letting us rest, but they themselves are actually resting, if the general is not bad." When we've stayed up all night and we're tired tomorrow morning, they'll attack! ”

Another wing commander disagreed. "No, how can they rest? Can you rest on horseback? Besides, aren't they afraid of a sudden attack from us? ”

"As far as I know, some soldiers of the nomadic people who have lived on horseback for a long time can sleep on horseback. Eating, drinking, and sleeping on horseback has become their daily habit. This is not surprising, the cavalry of the Great Qin Empire in the north, as well as many Saracens in this desert, can do this. As for saying that they were not worried about our sudden attack, it was the general of the other side who had calculated the situation on our side, and he concluded that General Anastasiaus would not dare to do so, because our task was to protect Her Royal Highness and send her to Carthage safely, if something happened to her. Even if we win this battle, our mission will fail! ”

The other wing captains all looked at each other when they heard this analysis. Obviously, they agreed that this analysis was correct in their hearts, and they saw Anastasiaus say: "Come, go and ask Her Royal Highness the princess, invite all the palace band members among the eunuchs, and don't forget to let them bring their guys for dinner!" ”

"Yes, General!" A wing captain said yes, and the horse turned to leave.

Soon, dozens or hundreds of eunuchs with various musical instruments lined up in four formations to the front of the military formation, and the captain of the wing who had just left came back and reported to Anastasiaus: "General, all the accompanying members of the court band have arrived with musical instruments, please give the general an order!" ”

"Go and call the person in charge!"

"Yes, General!"

An old eunuch was called, and he saluted Anastasiaus: "Honorable general, I don't know what to tell you to find a villain?" ”

Anastasiaus said: "Old man, I want you to lead your band members to start playing now, the louder the better, make sure that every soldier in the unknown army on the opposite side can hear it clearly, General Ben just doesn't want them to live in peace, doesn't want them to rest, do you understand what General Ben means?" ”

The old eunuch saluted and said, "Understood, respected general, as you wish, as long as my band starts playing, I guarantee that they will be very uncomfortable, let alone sleeping, even staying there is not a good time!" ”

Anastasias nodded and said, "Okay, go ahead!" ”

Under the command of the old eunuch, the court band lined up in several rows, all of them took the instruments in their hands and began to play, the old eunuch knew very well the intentions of Anastasias, under his command, the sound of the band was not very musical at all, but noise, it was real noise, not to mention that his own people could not stand it, and the soldiers on the opposite side of Barhan could not stand it, and some of the soldiers who had just fallen asleep were also woken up by this noise.

Hanszer immediately stepped forward to Balhan's side and said, "General, the leading general of the Eastern Roman Empire seems to have insight into your intentions!" ”

Balhan nodded: "I don't know who this guy is, he actually has two hits, it seems that my plan to drain the energy of his army tonight will not work!" ”

Hans asked, "What if we show up?" If we stay here, we won't have the spirit to fight until tomorrow morning! ”

Balhan pondered for a while and said: "Order, the army retreats ten miles back and camps for the night, and sends people to monitor every move of the Eastern Romans, and they must not be allowed to disappear from our sight!" ”

"Don't worry, General, there are so many palace maids and eunuchs who can't do well in the Eastern Romans, they can't go fast at all, and it is impossible for them to disappear under our noses, but I will send someone to keep an eye on them!"

The withdrawal of the unidentified army relieved Anastasias and his officers, and he immediately asked the army to return to the camp, and arranged a guard to prevent the unknown army from returning again, it is impossible to drive out overnight tonight, and it is likely to get lost in the desert when setting off at night, if you are not careful, these thousands of men and horses may be buried in the desert, and now you can only hold on until tomorrow dawn to see the situation and then make plans.

Anastasia knew very well that this unidentified army was definitely the enemy, otherwise they would not have done so, but they were afraid that the other party would attack after dawn tomorrow morning, because of the drag of Princess Eudosia and her dowry team of more than 1,000 people, Anastasia could not let go at all, and now he could only hold on to the shore of the lake in this oasis, and build defensive camps and fortifications overnight, on the other hand, he urgently sent people to the nearest town near the front to ask the local garrison for help, Anastasia immediately issued these two orders.

A succession of messengers then galloped northeast and east, tasked with calling for reinforcements from the nearest garrisons in Sderot and Netiwater.

At the same time, the lakeside began to be lively, and the soldiers were sent out in groups to cut down the trees in the oasis for the construction of a camp, and in addition to arranging enough men for guard and defense, all the surplus were sent out to cut down the trees, and a strong and sturdy camp must be built before dawn to-morrow.

While Anastasias was fully directing the army to build the camp, the messengers who were sent to ask for help from the nearest town garrison were intercepted and killed one by one by Balhan's reconnaissance cavalry, and none of them ran away, and it was impossible for reinforcements to come, but Anastasias didn't know it yet.

In the middle of the night, Barhan, who had already slept, was woken up by Hans, "General, the situation may be a bit unexpected for us! ”

Balhan rolled over and sat up and said, "What's the matter?" ”

"Just now the reconnaissance cavalry came to report, the Eastern Romans seem to be building a camp by the lake, it seems that they want to defend to the death, and wait for reinforcements, in the near days he is impossible to wait for reinforcements, because our reconnaissance cavalry is ambushed on the way they must go to ask for help, the messengers they sent have all been intercepted by us, my fear is that if they build the camp and occupy the oasis, they can hold out for several days, but we don't have so much time, we must rush back to the landing site tomorrow afternoon, Otherwise, we probably won't be able to go back."

When Barhan heard this, he frowned and said: "It's really troublesome, if Anastasia is ready to defend it strictly, we really can't do anything about him for a while, he guards the oasis and the lake, he doesn't have to worry about drinking water, and he can dig wild vegetables in the oasis to satisfy his hunger after the food is eaten, and he should be able to hold on for a while, but we don't seem to be able to, our food and water seem to be insufficient, and we don't have time!" ”

Hans thought for a while and said: "General, I don't think we need to worry about food and drinking water, we can loot without food, we can look for it in other oases without drinking water, the key is that we don't have time, the current situation is that it seems that it is very difficult for us to complete the task without letting ourselves suffer heavy casualties, I think we can use the method of cavalry warfare, we can't fight them head-to-head, if we do, our own casualties will be too great, and we will not be able to deal with your majesty after we go back, I wonder if they should send someone to inform the fleet commander and let the fleet go back first, and then meet us at the same place after half a month, or if they can insist, they will solve the food and fresh water themselves? ”

Balhan thought for a while and nodded: "I think your strategy of using the Ranger method of warfare is feasible, but I am afraid that it is not possible for them to solve the food and fresh water by themselves, where is the fresh water in the sea?" There is no food to fish, but if there is no fresh water, they will die of thirst, so they can only go back first, and then come back to meet us in half a month! ”

"Since the general thinks it is feasible, is that what he decides?"

"Okay, that's it, you immediately send someone to the predetermined place to wait for the fleet to arrive, and let the fleet take those sick people with you!"

Hans saluted, "Understood! With that, he turned and left. (To be continued......)