When a battle between the kings happen for kingdoms, it happen not only just on the battlegrounds outside their kingdoms but it also many times happens inside the kingdoms. The external battle was won by the use of force and the internal was won by show of force. If the a king fail on any one of them, then he could forget his kingdom at best and his and his family's life at worst.
There were many instances where the king won the external fight but couldn't show the force internally. Then in those cases the whole royal family were usually massacred on the eve of celebration or a coup d'état happened after a few weeks.
So the king not only had to prepare for the external aggression but also the possible internal coup before the start of the battle and if possible crush the internal coup before the battle.
....
"Hehe… this is my chance to show my family guards' battle strength to those scared dogs.
Such a heaven sent opportunity. So what if I had to sacrifice some men but after the battle this will surely increase the fame of my Family Guards.
After the battle I can recruit as many soldiers as I want without objection of that senile king. After all not just his but our soldiers will be also sacrificing themselves for protection of his throne."
The first grand noble of the Prayag Kingdom when first brought up the idea of using the soldiers who were under nobles' command, he started thinking and weaving a whole web of crafty plans. The plan had many benefits.
The first and the foremost was to not let Prayag King escape by surrendering, cause if he were to surrender then according to the letter send by the prince, he would remain the king and all the internal aggression or rebellion against the Prayag King will be extinguished by the Kashyapa Clan itself.
So if surrender was to happen then there would be no chances of success of his plan. The plan he and his father was weaving for a at least more than half a century. The plan to make the first grand noble's family the royal family of the Prayag Kingdom and the first grand noble to be the king of the Kingdom.
But there were more than ninety percent chances that they would loose if they were to fight with that Kashyapa Clan army lead by the Prince Shantanu.
But again what if they lost. If would be not that bad if the kingdom lost. Then he could use this loose of the kingdom as motivation to recruit more soldiers and eventually rebel against the newly appointed king by the Kashyapa Prince. And there were more than eight percent chances that the people of Kingdom will also take part in the rebellion actively as no one would ever want their king being appointed by another kingdom.
In most of the battles when the winning side kill the king of the defeated king, he used to appoint someone on his behalf to take care of that kingdom and that was when the nationalist feeling of the people of that kingdom surfaced above and that slowly and steadily causes rebellion against that new king and ruler.
But most of the time the rebellion used to be crushed by the sheer force and then the kingdom would be then ruled by just oppressive force and nothing else.
But according to the first grade noble's plan, after doing the rebellion and crowning himself, he would then ask the help of the great clans to ward off then upcoming battle with Kashyapa Clan. And with the people of Prayag Kingdom already supporting him, there would be no chance that the ancient clan would force a new ruler to do a battle with it, against the wish of all the great clans.
The second benefit of that plan was showing his command and increase his influence as the first grand noble and solidifying his and his family's position second only to the royal family.
If he could show an exceptional battle strength of his Family Guards and contribute even more than the royal army then there was most likely that the people of the kingdom see him second only to the king, in both power and influence.
And then that would make easy for him, when he were to summon citizens of the kingdom for a rebellion against a puppet or a foreign king.
And lastly the third benefit, it was also one for the most important, the support of the nobles of the kingdom. Even if the nobles of the kingdom sat together side by side in the throne room, they were in nowhere together and there were also those who even criticize and were against the first game noble and there were even those who were die hard supporter of the royal family and the king.
He had heard a popular saying, 'Loyalty cannot be bought with money or force, but it could be gained or even shifted.'
By displaying the unbelievable and unrivaling strength of his family guards he could display the capability similar to royal army, then there were many possibilities that many nobles would not mind to come up with him after the fall of the royal family. As for the die hard loyalist nobles, what use of that loyalty when the tree they were loyal to had already fallen, then either they can choose a new tree or wither and die with time.
So the day when the Prayag King announced that the nobles army should be commanded by nobles and it was instantly decided that the first grand noble will command the noble faction. He felt like he was close to his dream one step more.
"Just to wait, Your Majesty.....heh."
His chariot was galloping towards a section commander of the Kashyapa Clan. He saw he was sitting in his chariot and showering arrows from in it.
But before he could reach his destination he was distracted by something else on his way there.
The scene just before his eyes on the battleground was totally unexpected for him. He had already done a brief thinking of almost every strategy that the Kashyapa Prince can deploy on the plain battlefield and then planned counter strategy of every possible strategy he could think of.
After considering every battle strategy and techniques or even formations the Prince's army could use, there was all kind of outcomes he had imagined already. But the view before him was telling him a new and something totally unexpected strategy of the Prince.
Before him there was mountain of corpses, which was still increasing in height. He should have not been shocked even if this was the hundredth corpse mountain he would have seen but it was a total strange and unusual mountain as it was made of the soldiers who were dressed in red metal armor and had Prayag Kingdom symbol was carved on those armors but they were noble faction soldiers as there was another symbol carved just beside the royal army, the carving was of a roaring lion looking at sky, this armor was worn by every corpses of that mountain.
For confirming his suspicion, he even dugout some corpses from deep inside that mountain but his suspicion was on spot. A premonition started taking place in his mind.
He asked his chauffeur to take him to the next mountain, he checked once again. He did once again then again then again.
....
It was almost after mid of day, the sun was already moving towards west, and below it a man was standing with disheveled appearance, his hair look messy as if it was rubbed with hands quite some times, sweat was dripping from his heavily dark lined forehead continuously and his whole face had an ugly appearance. The hands were dyed in crimson liquid that had already coated and made a thick layer covering the hands.
His white robe was full of yellowish brown as well as crimson colored patches everywhere as if he was a playing on that battleground like a new born child on ground. The armor that was previously magnifying his majestic and mighty appearance was thrown in the chariot along with the sword and spear. Before his foot were at least hundred soldiers laying dead. Most of them were dressed in a red metallic armor with the same Prayag kingdom's royal army symbol along with another symbol which looked like a roaring lion looking at sky.
"Nooo…."
"It can't be…."
"These were just coincidences nothing more."
"But this was the eleventh time I'm seeing the same scene."
This was First Grand Noble of the Prayag Kingdom. Standing there he kept on muttering. The more he was staring at the ground in front of him filled with corpses of soldiers from noble faction, the more his face was turning ugly, and the forehead was filling with black lines.
The premonition had already took place in his head. The premonition was turning unshakable in his head. He looked up and surveyed the area around him.
Clang….Clang….
Thud….Thud…..
"Killl...."
The area was filled with chaotic sounds metal clashing each other, mounts falling and war cries.
"If what I am thinking right, then there must be someone keeping an eye in me."
He said inwardly while surveying the area.
"Where is that traitor?" In the end he jumped to his chariot and immediately put his armor. He decided he had to make out alive of this battle at any cost as he had to punish a traitor and reveal his true face.