Battle of Arelbank

### Location

Hamlet of Arelbank, opposite the Arelle River where it empties into the Merkata River

### Outcome

Decisive Faramondian victoryAnnihilation of the force under Boju Zhihao Chen

The Battle of Arelbank was an engagement during the Tianguese River War, fought between the Faramondian Crown Prince Rimbaud and Boju Chen of Sujiang. It was the first major defeat for Tianguo during the war, and marked the beginning of Faramondian intervention in the conflict.

## Background

Few Tianguese forces had been able to cross the Merkata River since the beginning of the war, and many had been sent far afield to quell any Dalforean resistance before it became an army capable of challenging General Jin Huang's force of fifteen thousand beseiging Delfar.

Boju Chen was sent, along with Boju Ozhu and Gonju Gan, to secure the eastern end of the Merkata River and, afterwards, the Trade Lake coast. Chen was smart, skirting large towns like Ulfmell and Thaelon in favour of sneaking along the northern riverbank, in sight of Tianguese garrisons on the south bank.

The situation changed for him when he passed Kesnor - he was no longer adjacent to allied territory. on the southern bank now was hostile Lacrive, which reviled Tianguo more than it loathed Dalfore. He was ghosted by Lacrivian chevaliens on the south bank for several leagues before he reached the hamlet of Arelbank.

On the other side of the battle was Crown Prince Rimbaud. Sent by his father King Thancred, Rimbaud boasted four thousand men taken from the duchies of Kingheda, Calcherth and Armel, the cream of the crop.

Travelling due west, they passed through Lacrive and crossed the Merkata at Ville-Journier, several leagues east of the Arelle. Receiving intelligence of Chen's forces from sympathetic Lacrivian noblemen, the Prince decided to engage them. He reached Arelbank before Chen and arrayed his forces inside the hamlet itself.

Arelbank, for reference, was a fairly large settlement. Constructed of wood and stone in the Dalforean style, it boasted around two hundred interconnected buildings over an area of three square kilometres. The entire hamlet was surrounded by a wooden palisade which also formed a wall to many buildings.

## Battle

Chen arrived at Arelbank late on the 17th of February, and assumed nothing was wrong. He ordered his troops into the settlement and sent orders to forcibly acquire billets and take the villagers' food for his own.

It wasn't until half Chen's force was inside Arelbank that the gates swung shut, trapping the vanguard. Faramondian arrows scythed at the Tianguese ranks from every window, and heavy infantry poured from doors to engage them. The Faramondians were armed with short swords, axes and clubs, and made short work of the Tianguese who couldn't bring their long spears to bear in the crowded space.

Outside the walls, Chen could hear his force being slaughtered but could do little. He ordered his archers to set fire to the palisade, a decision which earned him the grisly but short-lived epithet 'the Baker' among his own men.

He wasn't safe though. The fires the Tianguese set in their braziers made perfect targets for Faramondian archers from the walls, and upon a horn-blow the missile-fire stopped to be replaced by a galloping of hooves. The Faramondian heavily cavalry set upon Chen's men from the murky dark in the direction they had marched from, making quick work of the Tianguese force.

Within two hours of the arrival of Boju Chen at Arelbank, his force was fleeing into the night or being taken prisoner inside the smouldering hamlet. The settlement was set on fire and around a dozen buildings burned down before the fire was brought under control later that night.

## Aftermath

Many of Chen's men outside the walls escaped into the night, proving difficult for the Faramondian heavy cavalry to track down. Chen himself was captured, identified by prisoners of war. The vanguard inside the settlement was killed or captured to a man.

As for Faramondian casualties, they numbered around forty, mostly unlucky archers hit by flaming arrows or men-at-arms caught inside burning buildings.