Chapter 64 Running Rabbit (2/2)
The reason was, General Ruhr seemed to have an extremely special talent: He could always predict or sense an imminent danger then ……quickly leading his army to evacuate before the danger arrived!
Noting that, each withdrawal was not running away! On the grounds that this fellow never violated the military order of abstaining from combat. If that was the case, he would be punished by the military law. General Ruhr’s unique element was he can always find a way out of the most dangerous situation and led his men to safety by withdrawing.
Once during a war, General Ruhr was also only a centurion of a legion and commanded the army’s vanguard. With the enemy’s sudden advance detour, they circled the rear and directly led a surprise attack on the main force and defeated it. This caused Ruhr’s troop to be stuck in the enemy-occupied territory without any reinforcements.
As a result, Lord Ruhr displayed a type of ability that made all Byzantine generals gasp in admiration: He led his 2000 subordinates and found a slit to escape through an area which was blocked by 40,000 enemies. He used the complex terrain to trick the enemy who were pursuing and blocking him!
Except for some soldiers who had a sprained ankle during the escape, his soldiers unexpectedly didn’t take any damage!!
If it wasn’t a miracle such command could still be considered a masterpiece of art!
During General Ruhr’s 30 years of service he never fought a tough battle. However his forces always managed to provide an assistance or hit enemy’s rear and so on. His army’s advance was rapid but its withdrawing speed was too scary!
Furthermore, he even set a record among all military officers in Byzantine Empire which made people gasp in admiration: His army won a head-to-head confrontation with the continent’s most valiant general, the Odin empire army’s God of War Hasting!
Hasting was this continent’s recognized most valiant General and also Odin imperial army’s proudest God of War! All Byzantine Empire’s armies and Odin Empire’s armies had pretty even victories and losses during all the battles. However, when they faced against Hasting’s army, they always had more defeats than victories. Even the iron army, the 13th Cavalry Army corps received some big losses.
However, it was actually different for General Ruhr……
About six years ago a war between both countries erupted when Ruhr was just promoted to a general and he was commanding the military strength of a full army. What was very unfortunate was that his army encountered Hasting’s army on the battlefield.
The military order which Ruhr received was that he must at least stall Hasting’s army for two days!
General Ruhr suddenly decided to send boldly a letter of challenge to Hastings, in which he asked for a decisive battle on the battlefield! His letter of challenge was written full of integrity and also explained that although he knew that he wasn’t Hasting’s match, however……
“I will defend the dignity of a warrior and guard the glory of the Imperial Army. In every echelon of my army, I promise a battle to the death and use the blood of my men to show a Byzantine’s soldier’s integrity!”
“If I can fight with your Excellency, I can die with no regrets!”
– The above were the word written in the letter of challenge!!
Seeing an opponent with such a cavalier ideal, Hasting burst out with happiness in his heart. He accepted such a request with the mentality of heroes and also sent back a reply to the letter of challenge written in extremely respectful words.
As a result, when Hasting prepared to fight a decisive battle two days later and led his troops towards the big camp of Ruhr, he actually discovered that it was completely empty with not one human soul left!
It turned out that after General Ruhr received Hasting’s reply he dropped all military baggage and equipments as well as the ordnance logistics at night and ran away with his troops at the same night.
When Hasting angrily ordered his men to chase them down, Ruhr’s troop was already 200 miles away……
Although, he discarded all ordnance supplies and military baggage since Ruhr successfully delayed Hastings for two days he didn’t receive any punishment from the military headquarters.
Hasting gave this despicable opponent an evaluation: Among all the generals in Byzantine, this Ruhr was the most despicable and cunning; he was simply a fox ……No! Even a fox was more courageous than him, he was simply a rabbit! A quickly running rabbit!
Henceforth, General Ruhr obtained the nickname – “Running Rabbit”!
There was another interesting matter……After Hasting discovered that he was cheated, he became so angry that he ripped The letter full of brave words which Ruhr initially wrote to Hasting to pieces. However, when this Odin’s valiant general calmed down he stuck this letter of challenge back together and kept on him in order to remind himself in the future that he should not be blinded by his pride when dealing with his enemy.
After this event was spread it gave General Ruhr’ side another boost of fame.
※※※
After watching Ruhr’s troop pass, Shaar heard the magnificent past events of this Running Rabbit general from the mouth of a cavalryman. However, he had a different opinion compared to the cavalrymen. Watching as the distant caravan moved out of sight, he didn’t have a slightest disdain towards them but instead he thought deeply for a moment in admiration.
(That fat person was absolutely not a simple coward……)