Winter had come , this was supposed to be a period when people stayed indoors to conserve energy but for the residents of Patagonia,work continued as usual. The defense force continued their training and were armed with spears with metal tips , short swords , crossbows and shields to serve as protection from enemy archers.
The tactics that was going to be employed against any enemy frontal assault was that the cannons would first bombard the enemy with solid shells and explosive shells then when they came closer canister shots and crossbows would be employed this would weaken their forces as much as possible before they got to clash .
Discipline was the core teaching of this defense force because an undiciplined army was in the long run no matter how large or no matter the types of wonderful weapons they get , they were always bound to be defeated eventually.
The individuals in the defensive force had no other option than to follow the course of the training because if they couldn't go through with the training or refused to go through with the training, then another much more zealous person would be ready to take their place.
Soon they could perform maneuvers flawlessly , they were able to fire the cannons twice in a minute for the 25 pound cannon and four times for the ten pound cannon. In fact Ceaser believed that with this they could definitely defeat an army ten times their size.
Cannon production stopped at ten each so that he could have enough men to be able to man them.
Everything was going so well but the situation was still tense as everyone was waiting for the bubble of conflict to break, and soon it broke just as the sun showed itself marking the end of winter.
Two weeks later one of the scouts had spotted a caravan carrying the Blackthorn flag and the sigil of the Bataglia family who ruled the region. The caravan was escorted by twenty heavily armored knights and about ten carriages, one of which carried the representative of the family.
As they came closer Ceaser ordered the men to allow them enter through the fortifications. But only after they had all entered did he give signal for attack and immediately six hundred men all armed with crossbows fired into the caravan, their main focus being on the heavily armored knights.
Though their armor offered major protection, most bolts found their way into the gaps in their armor wounding or incapacitating them . Some of the crossbow bolts were metal tipped which aided in armour piercing. Infact it was a massacre except for one knight who with great skill maneuvered his horse to break the encirclement even as he was quite injured from the bolts.
The others however, were quite dead within minutes leaving the representative alive who was then kept in the same cell as Inca. Inca was the only prisoner that wasn't allowed to leave his cell as the others had become avid supporters of Ceaser, it was a classic state of extreme Stockholm syndrome.
Four days later , the knight who escaped made his way to the castle of Baron Lejoy Bataglia, second son of Count Bataglia and brother to Inca.
A servant ran through the castle corridors till he came to the dining area when Lejoy was having lunch with his wife.
" My Lord... one of your Father's knights is here , injured."
Lejoy who wanted to gain his father's approval and become the next head of the house immediately rushed towards the great hall where the knight was being treated.
When he came to the great hall, he saw that the knight was already in a very bad shape but the proceeded to ask,
" What happened?"
The knight answered between raspy breaths one at a time,
" Rebels…at the… mines. " Before breathing his last.
But where other people saw tragedy, Lejoy saw opportunity. He saw an opportunity to advance and show himself in a better light to his father or even the emperor. If he could crush this rebellion at its infancy, his name would spread throughout the empire and he would be considered a hero who destroyed the empires enemies .
He then turned to a knight was quietly standing in the corner,
" Quickly sir Damian gather all the knights and select a thousand men from the guards, we are going to crush this rebellion by the end of this week."
" Yes my Lord." Damian replied before leaving.
He then spoke to the scribe ,
" Write a letter to my father, tell him that I am off to crush the rebellion at the mines."
By evening, preparations had concluded and by the break of light the next morning, they had started matching towards Patagonia.
The force consisted of one thousand scantily armoured soldiers mostly wearing breastplates armed with shield and spear and 200 heavily armored knights.
They marched for a week before they could reach the outskirts of Patagonia. But Lejoy was surprised, he had thought that taking the town was going to be easy but this was no town, it was a fortress.
" How do we approach my Lord." Damian asked.
" You know I was surprised for a moment because of this fortress, but ultimately it is all made out of wood. So burn it down and kill anything that moves inside." He replied.
At the other end, the defense force had prepped the cannons and fell into formation, waiting for their enemies to make a move. It was still early morning and the enemy has decided to rest for a little while before attacking, it was clear that they thought little of the rebels.
Seeing the uncertainty written on the faces of the defense force, Ceaser rode to the front of the men and announced in a loud voice.
" When I first came to this region, I saw you all as stray mongrels, undiciplined, starving and with lack of focus . Now you are a pack of hounds, sated and honed for the hunt .
Beginning today the world would learn to fear our names . Today, we all have a choice, victory or death and I Augustus Caesar choose victory over death, what do you choose?"
One by one they all shouted " victory over death " till they all shouted it in one voice " victory over death " the winds carrying their voices far that the enemy that camped two miles from them could hear them.