A punitive expedition against the barbarians

The barbarians to the east are a major problem. Though not an existential threat, their pillaging of the border territories and harassment of the rare but rich caravans going to and from the Sultanates are major obstacles to your kingdoms progress. An expedition to destroy a few strongholds will pacify them for a while and safeguard trade. Plus, a little loot and a victory will help to strengthen your new rule, if you can pull it off.

You leave court to assemble a small strike troop of soldiers. You gather the veterans who best know barbarian territory and their tactics. In your royal plate armor and on horseback, you join the marching column on it's way toward the wild forests of barbarian territory.

In due time, you cross the border and begin coming across barbarian hovels. Small clearing in the vats, dark forests are the only sites of habitation you come across. You note that they seem to prefer sunken-roof dwelling, and you hear plentiful bleating and other noises from the animals they keep with them. A rough existence if ever you've seen one. On occasion a soldier seems drawn to loot these poor villages, but he invariably gets snapped back by his more disciplined comrades. You have not come to pillage villages like a barbarian yourself, you have come to destroy the scattered small forts that shelter raiding parties.

Your patience is rewarded as your scouts return with news of just such a fort. Your column redirects itself, preparing to engage. The usual noise from your forces, talking and singing to kill time, dies out. The element of surprise, as far as you know, is on your side and you'd all like to keep it that way. The grim column approaches a line of hills in the distance. You order a halt and break off with your strategic council. Together, you move near the end of the tree line, not breaking from cover. "Up there milord, on the highest hill," your scout commander whispers, pointing it out. You follow his finger and see a typical barbarian fort atop a hill over a hundred feet tall. It has wooden walls approximately ten feet in length, and earthen reinforcing. From this distance you can vaguely make out the movement of a handful of sentries.