With the enemy making for Mijndorp, it was now untenable for Carlo to wait for Domatburg's Army, even if that might be wiser than going to face over four thousand troops with under three thousand of his own. He didn't even know precise mercenary numbers for the enemy since Karoline Blaumann had been unable to confirm exact numbers with her contacts. All she had been able to tell Carlo was that their enemies had anywhere between one and four thousand mercenaries to supplement their combined army. That wasn't the only problem either, as a flotilla of nine enemy ships had been spotted sailing west along the coast toward the port of Ijssel. Not only had the expected Galleons and Galleasses of Costa Negro sallied out, but somehow, Khypris had managed to build and hide a trio of twenty-gun frigates in the various small coves they used as seaports.
Accordingly, Admiral Karolski and Capitano Marino had sallied the fleet in order to meet the enemy before they could blockade the port of Ijssel. The enemy had the advantage in firepower, though not in tonnage. Admiral Karolski had intimated that he had a plan, and Carlo wished him well because he had to deal with the ground war and had no time to worry about the war at sea at the moment. Instead, he sent a dispatch rider to find the Domatburg Army with news of the Khypriot allies crossing the border, and a request that the Count Palatine's forces rendezvous with him near Mijndorp if possible. With that done, he took his army to the northeast. Passing through the more fertile coastlands at the mouth of the Tana Dante River and heading for the Desert around Mijndorp.
It was that very desert that made Mijndorp such an attractive target, for the late Count Maartin van den Meer had recognized what the Khypriots hadn't about the terrain. That beneath the rocky desert hills lay a bounty of sulfur and saltpeter. Mijndorp itself was near a stream bubbling out of a desert oasis before it finally joined the Tana Dante to flow into the sea. It would make it impossible to cut the town off from water. The mines were further out into the desert, likely they had already fallen. Thankfully, the road system that Carlo had insisted be built allowed the army to travel quickly from Ijssel to Mijndorp and they were making excellent time. A journey that would have taken six days before the roads had been laid down only took three.
As Carlo and his army marched along the road to Mijndorp, they came across several groups of travelers fleeing the Khypriot army. On the first day of march, they came across three caravans from small desert oasis villages closer to the border with Khypris. They bore stories of Khypriot troops raiding their villages for valuables as they crossed the border, taking coin, jewelry, and even the date wine that they made for consumption in the village. Those that could flee did, and those that couldn't had to suffer the ravages of looting. Carlo recalled that there were three villages of around a hundred people apiece near the Khypriot Border, clustered around small desert oases. Three hundred people in total lived that close to the border. The Caravans he passed couldn't have held more than fifty people each, leaving at least one-hundred-fifty of his citizens to suffer the tender mercies of Khypriot occupation. They would have to be freed as soon as was practicable.
On the evening of his second day of march, Carlo's army came across a larger caravan of a hundred-fifty people. These had come from the villages a half day's travel from Mijndorp, initially as separate caravans of fifty people. They were filled with the elderly, women, and those too young to fight. The grown men had stayed behind their newly built village walls of stone, armed with whatever equipment they had to hand, in order to drive off any raiding parties the Khypriots sent to forage. One woman, the wife of a Village Headman, claimed her husband and the men of her village had seen off one small foraging party of fifty spear-armed men in Khypriot tabards and leather armor, by firing flatbows and slingstones at them from the village walls to drive them away from the village. The caravan had left the day after.
Two other women from the two other villages had similar accounts, with one adding that her husband had fought in a war when he was younger and had made the decision to send her and their teenage daughters with the caravan in case the village's defiance provoked a stronger response. Thankfully, as Carlo's army passed the trio of villages on the third day of march, it seemed that said stronger response hadn't done much. Thanks to his insistence on rebuilding village walls in stone, it seemed that the most the Khypriots could do without compromising their siege of Mijndorp was to burn some of the outlying fields and buildings. Carlo met with the Headman of the village near a burned-out barn outside the walls.
The headman was a gruff man, nearing the end of middle age, but not quite elderly just yet. He wore a padded jack that seemed a little tighter than it ought to have been due to having been made for him when he was a younger man. He also bore a worn steel shortsword and a buckler. He was accompanied by a man in makeshift armor made of a thick leather smith's apron over a layered cloth tunic. The man carried a smithing hammer with a large square head for a weapon. Aside from the makeshift equipment, there was nothing wrong with the man, who was both young and quite physically fit. Clearly, this was the village smith, a man who would be considered far too important to send to the militia.
"My lord. I am Sigismund, headman of our village. This is Jan, our blacksmith." Introduced the Village Headman in perfect Tilean, which was Lingua Franca in most parts of the southern and western Border Princes.
"You speak Tilean quite well, Signore. How long have you lived in these lands?" Carlo questioned.
"Most of my life, my lord. My parents moved the family here from Nuln when I was just a boy to escape a gambling debt owed by my older brother to people not worth mentioning. I learned fast." Answered Sigismund.
"I see. This would have been the territory of the Lordship of Las Rojas then, yes?" Queried Carlo.
"It was. I fought for Don Ignacio's forces against the forces of Uvetosk. Helped take the baggage train of the heir of the Voivode's Army after one battle near the Tana Dante and retired to help run the village of Fluss here along the River Blase. Uvetosk took Don Ignacio's Castillo and the Lordship around five years after that. By the time your predecessor put paid to the Voivode and Uvetosk with him, I'd already been headman for two years." Answered Sigismund.
"I see. So you've seen combat before. Tell me, how have the raids been?" Asked Carlo.
"They would have been a lot worse had we still been using the palisade, my lord. After we sent one of the Khypriot's militia groups running when they tried extorting us for loot, they sent a group of Mercenary Light Cavalry to retaliate. Without the stone walls, it's probable that they could have burned part of the palisade down and gotten into the village. Instead, they could only burn the fields and some of the outlying structures. You have the thanks of the entire village for that." Nodded Sigismund.
That was when the taciturn blacksmith spoke up. "Aye, it isn't just us. The other two villages along the Blase had the same thing happen. Both times they saw off an extortion attempt by Khypriot Foragers, and both times the retaliation was from Mercenary Light Cavalry. If any of us had still been using the palisades, a lot more would have been lost." He spoke. His Tilean belied a moderate Marienburger accent, clearly, he hadn't been here long enough to lose it.
"Well, we're going to drive off the Khypriots. You need not worry about any more retaliations. With luck, you should be able to replant your fields in time for a late harvest." Nodded Carlo.
With that, Carlo returned to his army. The Border Oasis villages being looted and the extortion attempt here painted a picture of an enemy who only cared for the material gain that came with conquest. If Carlo lost to Faramond of Khypris, the people would suffer. That alone was reason enough to hit his opponent as hard as he could and drive them off. The fact that Faramond seemed to be personally opposed to him as well, just meant that he wouldn't stop after one loss. Carlo would have to annex his entire principality on top of defeating his army. Possibly Vloedan and Mont Blanc as well, depending on how complicit they were in the extortion and looting.
His army marched out and a few hours later, around three hours after noon, the army came within sight of Mijndorp. The walls of the town were blackened with fire and Carlo could see spots here and there where cannon bombardment had attempted to break through the stone of the walls. A siege tower lay charred and blackened near the southern wall where the enemy had tried to assault and been rebuffed. It seemed the last few days had seen quite an active siege, but Mijndorp had rebuffed all attempts to break into the town. Now the Khypriot Alliance had seemingly drawn up siege lines and settled down to attempt to starve out the defenders. They couldn't kill them of thirst, but hunger was still on the table. Carlo was determined not to allow them to get that far.
Carlo ordered his army to draw up in battle formation as horns sounded in the enemy siege camp and the enemy scrambled to face them. It was fortunate that the Khypriot cannons were still oriented toward Mijndorp since that meant they'd start the battle with an artillery advantage over the enemy. The enemy numbers however dwarfed his, having just under twice his numbers mustering to face him. That didn't include the skeleton troops still maintaining the siege, which must have been at least another nine hundred men. Quite frankly, the amount of effort they had put into squashing him would have been honestly flattering if it weren't so damaging to the people. For that, Carlo was going to ensure that the enemy royally got their asses handed to them.
Within twenty minutes both sides had drawn up for battle, staring each other down across the sun-baked plain west of the town of Mijndorp. Carlo's left was anchored by the River Blase as it flowed out of the steel sluice gates from its origin within the walls of Mijndorp and was guarded by his Bouellian Voulgiers, a unit of militia pikemen, and Bouellian Men-at-Arms. On his right, he placed himself and his pike guards, along with Zwingli's Blue Banners. Beyond his position, he placed his Bouellian Knights, their job was to ensure the enemy didn't try to flank around him with their numbers to attack the canon, which were placed behind the front line, along with his longbowmen and crossbow militia units. The center was held by his best militia units. It was as strong a position as he could get when his opponent had twice his numbers.
Across from him, the Khypriots had chosen to place their best mercenary troops. Three hundred Imperial Greatswords, one-hundred-fifty Tilean Crossbowmen, and three hundred Imperial Halberdiers of three separate companies faced off against him and Zwingli, while one-hundred-fifty Estalian Caballeros faced off against his Bouellian Knights. Predictably, Prince Faramond had his banner in the rear with the enemy reserves. Instead, the attack was being led by the Captain-General of Vloedan, Piers Dijkstra, cousin of the Minister-President of Vloedan Edvard Dijkstra. The state banner of Vloedan flew from near their left, where Vloedan's professional Pike and Crossbow units, as well as a unit of mercenary swordsmen, opposed Carlo's Bouellian Voulgiers, Bouellian Men-at-Arms, and Militia Pikemen. Their lines were filled out by militia from Vloedan and Khypris, with Khypris's professional units, some Vloedan and Khypriot militia, and two companies of mercenaries, one of swordsmen and one of Ogre Heavy Infantry as reserves.
The Forces maintaining the Siege seemed to be commanded by Baron Charles Gusteux of Mont Blanc, judging by the way his personal banner flew in the camp still. Those forces seemed to be comprised of a hundred-fifty Mont Blanc men, a Dwarven Mercenary Unit of a hundred-fifty Dwarven Rangers, a hundred-fifty mercenary Woodsmen, a hundred-fifty mercenary gunners, and six hundred other troops from various Vloedan and Khypriot militia units.
It was going to be the largest clash of arms mounted by the Border Principalities in a century. Carlo hoped he was prepared. As the two sides maintained formation, daring each other to do something, neither side moved. A few long moments passed as the two armies baked in the mid-afternoon sun, daring each other to make the first move. Carlo decided that if the enemy wouldn't come to him, he would make the first move and force them to come to him.
"Cannons! Give them a volley!" He ordered.
His gunners obliged, firing their guns in well-drilled unison, sending cannonballs skipping off the sun-baked dirt and into some of the enemy formations. A few cannonballs went skipping into a formation of mercenary swordsmen, wreaking havoc on the enemy left and killing a score of men outright. Other cannonballs had similar effects along the enemy line, resulting in the enemy's right and center weakening from casualties. A horn rang out from the enemy lines as formations redressed. Then they began marching forwards for Carlo's line.
The battle of Mijndorp had begun. . .
XXXX
AN: So yeah almost twice Carlo's numbers, over three times with mercenaries. All told, there are eleven thousand combatants on both sides fighting at Mijndorp
Those are numbers you usually don't see in the Border Princes, since populations are so decentralized between over a dozen petty kingdoms, and coalitions don't tend to form unless something drastic happens.
You can bet that the other Principalities are going to be watching this war very closely, as will certain other people outside of the Border Princes, such as certain Tilean Princes and Dwarf Kings.
As for Khypriot behavior, Prince Faramond is a greedy man. Canonically, he was seduced by the promises of power given by a Chaos Sorcerer from the Black Mountains and had to be killed and replaced as prince by his Captain of the Guard. Here, he's trying to take what he wants by force of arms instead. Looting and extortion are part of that.
Anyway, next up will be the battle proper. Stay tuned