At the end of October, the weather was slightly cool, and dark clouds covered the day. 77dus

Between Kitsby and Aosta, in the northeastern pastures of a small town called Badonecchia, two armies lined up opposite each other. A battle broke out between an outpost of the Count of Burgundy's southbound legions and a rebellious army on the eastern border of Provence.

To the east of the pasture, near the dense forest, on a gentle slope a little higher, the outposts of the Eastern Legion were neatly lined up.

In the first row were the eight sentry horses of the Lusignan tribe led by Angus himself, and the nine men in the group were all dressed in a small amount of plate chain mail and iron scale armor, mostly chain mail, cotton armor and leather armor), wearing nose guards and barrel helmets on their heads, holding a riding spear in their hands, carrying armed swords or battle axes and page hammers at their waists, and throwing spears and throwing axe bags hanging from the saddles of the war horses, and several sturdy war horses under them snorted and kicked their front legs.

Ateodore and the two stood side by side with the Sentinels.

Behind the sentry cavalry were four squadrons of warriors, sixty men, who acted as the main force of the battle. The second and fourth squadrons stand in the middle of the queue, as the Chinese army, is the main force of the storm, the weapon system of the two squadrons is relatively unified, for the "four defenses and two attacks" Note) The standard weapons of the formation - short spear round shield and halberd chain hammer with short sword, tomahawk and page hammer and other personal weapons, the soldier's armor is also relatively unified, ordinary soldiers mainly half of the chain mail lined with cotton armor, wearing nose protection iron helmets, group leader and above officers wear full-body long-sleeved chain mail or deck chain mail; The new 1st and 3rd Squadron Mercenary Squadrons) are located on the left and right flanks respectively, and compared to the two squadrons in the middle, they have a wide variety of weapons and armor in different styles, some of the more affluent mercenaries can wear full-body chain mail lined with armed clothes, and add delicate armor such as nose guards, iron helmets and throat guards, as well as shoulder armor and arm guards, and the weapons in their hands are also broadswords, axes, heavy hammers or spears with shields; The poorer mercenaries were left to wear a shabby cotton armor and hold a notched battle axe and a wooden shield with a short spear. Note: Chapter 129 Battle Halberd Formation. ）

However, although the weapons and armor of the two mercenary squadrons are uneven, they are both veterans of the battlefield who have more than two years of mercenary experience or participated in more than five battles and can survive, so their combat power should not be underestimated.

At the end of the battle sequence are the crossbow squads led by Jason and Smith. The crossbowmen wore a hood lining), dressed in armed clothing lined with cotton armor and a small number of short-sleeved half-body chain mail, weapons were infantry bows and crossbows, with short swords and daggers at the waist, and each crossbowman also inserted two pointed thick logs in front of his body, and a dozen thick logs formed a fence, which was a "city wall" to prevent the crossbowmen from being attacked by enemy cavalry or broken infantry, and the crossbowmen stood behind the "city wall" to fire arrows.

A hundred paces behind the formation of the combat troops is the baggage team of the outpost team, composed of six miscellaneous baggage soldiers led by the baggage officer Spencer and two full-time medical clerks, they are not combatants, but they are also equipped with several weapons such as short spears, short swords, single-edged knives and other self-defense weapons, and the baggage team is surrounded by several four-wheeled carriages loaded with food supplies and weapons and armor, these carriages are special carriages that have been modified, these carriages are ordinary on weekdays, but when fighting in the field, these carriages will be connected end to end to form a chariot formation" Castle", a special large wooden board was added to the outside of the carriage to form a high side compartment, which greatly improved the defensive ability of the carriage array, and could protect the safety of non-combatants such as baggage and baggage miscellaneous service, and a large number of such carriages could also quickly surround the formation in an emergency, becoming a wall to defend against enemy troops, especially cavalry raids.

Between the outpost combat unit and the baggage team, there was also a group of more than 30 soldiers led by two local knights of Provence, and most of these 30 soldiers were just old and weak peasant soldiers who were temporarily conscripted, after all, the country was in turmoil, and most of the young and strong were conscripted by the army to go to the battlefield. Art did not expect much power from this local "army", whose main role was to build a strong presence and protect the outpost from possible enemy attacks in the rear.

More than 300 paces away from the opposite side of the Yate formation, the rebellious army of Provence was also lined up and waiting in order.

It can be seen with the naked eye that the number of the rebel army is about one hundred and twenty people, and in terms of the number of infantry, Yate is at a disadvantage, but Yate has a sentry cavalry and a crossbow squad and a local lord's army, so in general, the two sides are evenly matched.

Looking at the weapons and equipment of the soldiers in the opposite formation, Art knew that this group of rebels was stronger than he thought. It may be that there is the secret support of the Lombards, or it may be that they have taken advantage of the war to loot enough money and armament, the weapons and armor of these rebel armies are quite elite, and many of the rebels in the array are wearing chain mail and iron helmets, and even a small number of rebel leaders and elites are also equipped with plate chain mail and iron scale armor; The weapons in the hands of the rebels are also quite sophisticated, with standard weapons such as long swords and short spears and round shields and broad axes almost the same as those of each other, but it may be because this group of rebels has been active in the mountains and hills for a long time, they have almost no special cavalry, and the few war horses are also straddled by a few leader-like guys to grow majestic.

Odoli looked at the military formation on the opposite side on his horse, and said worriedly: "My lord, it seems that the enemy army also has the advantage of taking the initiative to write letters to fight us, and you can see that their armament and formation do not look like ordinary bandit deserters put together."

Angus spit out the grass roots chewed in his mouth, and said to Otto with a side face: "If this group of rebels is a patchwork of bandits and bandits, then there is no need for us to exterminate them, although the local garrison and the lord's private soldiers are really average, but they really have to be ruthless, and it is still possible to gather troops to deal with more than a hundred and so bandits." Since we need to clean it up, it must be a difficult bone to gnaw. ”

"Alright, I'm going to gnaw this hard bone today anyway."

"Odor, blow the trumpet and get ready for battle."

Art wanted to end this hard-fought battle sooner rather than later.

"Woo~~Woo~~Woo~~"

Three horns urged, and the soldiers behind Arter stopped all movements, and waited for the order to charge.

On the left flank of the military formation, Triduok was wearing a set of long-sleeved full-body chain mail, a nose-protecting iron helmet, holding a long-handled page hammer in his right hand, and an iron-inlaid round shield in his left hand, which was specially issued to him after joining the Yat army.

Triduok turned his head to see that the soldiers of the two squadrons of the Chinese army were all neatly arrayed and silent, completely different from all the armies or mercenary legions he had fought before, and muttered in his heart: "These guys~ make me a little nervous."

"Guys, three trumpets, get ready to fight! Cut open the enemy's belly and cut off their dog's head in a moment! Tridorkpin raised his hammer and shouted.

The dozen or so mercenaries beside him also struck the shields in their hands with their weapons, echoing loudly......

"Buzz~~~Buzz~~~~Buzz~~~" The rebel camp blew the horn of the charge first, and several horseback leaders led more than a hundred or so rebels to rush towards the Yate army on the gentle slope with a wedge formation of the Chinese army.

"The shape does not match the reality~" Odo looked at the enemy army who knew that they were in a low position and actually charged directly, and instantly felt that the enemy was just a wild dog in wolf clothing.

Seeing that the enemy's central advance had already rushed two hundred paces, Yate was unmoved.

One hundred and eighty steps, not moving.

One hundred and sixty steps, not moving.

One hundred and fifty paces, Art nodded at Angus, then turned his head and shouted to the crossbow squad at the rear of the army formation: "Crossbowmen, one hundred and forty paces ahead of the formation, the enemy is in the middle of the formation, five arrows are fired quickly!!" Art's order sounded.

When Jason received the order, he immediately shouted loudly: "Crossbow squad, enemy army, five arrows rapid fire!" Prepare for test firing. ”

"Put!"

"Rub rub rub~" The sound of a bowstring vibrating.

"Whoosh~~" Seven or eight light arrows crossed the formation of the army and flew towards the enemy formation that was rushing over.

Smith, who was in charge of observing the landing point of the arrow just halfway through, had already completed his prediction and shouted loudly: "Formation ~ front ~ one hundred and twenty steps, raise the shot ~ angle."

As he spoke, Smith took the lead in raising the elevation angle of the bow by an inch, and the crossbowmen beside him adjusted the angle of the bow and crossbow in their hands according to the size of their bows.

"A salvo, put!"

A rain of arrows rose and flew towards the enemy line.

The first round of arrows took off, and the second round began to prepare again.

"Two rounds of volleys, put!"

Another round of arrows rushed towards the enemy line......

The enemy army that rushed towards the front of the gentle slope howled was shot down five or six people on the spot by several waves of arrows that came one after another, and the enemy army was suddenly much slower than the enemy army in pain, and the enemy soldiers without shields in their hands avoided or hid behind the nearest shield soldiers.

"Sentinel, follow !!" Seeing that the attacking enemy army was blocked, Angus decisively seized the opportunity, rushed out of the formation with his horse's belly in his horse's belly, and led the eight cavalry of the sentry cavalry to rush towards the slowing down enemy.

Nine mounted spears were raised horizontally, their long shafts flush with the horse's head, and their sharp iron spearheads pierced the air with a muffled sound.

Nine sturdy horses rushed towards the enemy formation at great speed by the gentle slope of the hoof, and the distance of one hundred and ten paces was only a matter of moments.

Just when everyone thought that a cavalry charge could crush the enemy's charging formation and thwart the enemy's spirit, something happened suddenly.

The enemy Chinese army, which was about to be flattened by the sentry cavalry, suddenly squeezed towards the left and right flanks, and in an instant gave way to a road seven or eight steps wide, and the momentum was so fierce that the sentry cavalry did not have time to adjust the direction, so they had to rush through the gap in the enemy formation and pounced.

Something even weirder happened.

Originally, it seemed that the Chinese army was rushing forward, and the "pig rush" charging formation behind the two wings was actually >>

When he dodged the charge of the sentry cavalry and approached more than fifty paces in front of the Yate army, he suddenly changed direction.

The enemy's central army was divided into two parts for the central line from the gap formed by the evasion of the cavalry just now, and the two divisions led about fifty rebels on the left and right flanks respectively towards the left and right flanks of the Yat army, leaving behind more than 20 rebels armed with spears to hold back the pace of the sentry cavalry......

Otto saw the enemy's conspiracy, "Not good! The enemy is pretending to attack our Chinese army, and their real intention is to attack our left and right flanks! ”

"My lord, do you want the two squadrons of the Chinese army to join the left and right flanks to defend against the enemy?" Otto came up with a formal and decent coping strategy.

Art did not answer, and from the outset he felt that the enemy would not choose to rush into the threat of bows and cavalry in a disadvantaged position.

And when Angus led the sentry cavalry to charge from a high place, the enemy army did not have the slightest intention of retreating and defending, considering that the enemy sent people to monitor and shield the battlefield in advance, the enemy might only do something on the way of this charge, so Yate expected that the enemy would definitely not attack the Chinese army as he saw.

Considering the difference between the two squadrons of the Chinese army and the two squadrons on the flanks in terms of weapons and armor and the military discipline of the soldiers, Yate roughly deduced that the enemy would attack the left and right flanks that looked "weak", but Yate did not expect that the enemy would cleverly dodge the cavalry charge in a "split" way of the Chinese army, and at the same time divided into two parts on the left and right to attack the flanks respectively, so that Yate's Chinese army could not react to the reinforcements for a while......

"Avoiding the enemy's elite, taking it by surprise, and attacking weakly" - a very ingenious tactic, the enemy commander has a talent for intrigue.

But Art is not a good type.

Instead of taking Odo's suggestion to break up the 2nd and 4th Squadrons of the Chinese Army to support the left and right flanks separately, he concentrated his forces on besieging an enemy army from the flank, chewing one bone before tearing another piece of fat.

Yat's adventurous decision was based on the fact that the unsupported side could support the Chinese army in the unfavorable situation of relatively weak troops, otherwise once the flank collapsed, the remaining part would face the danger of being flanked.

Fortunately, the enemy's misjudgment made it seem that the left and right wings, which were poorly dressed and unarmed, were not as weak as they had seen, on the contrary, these selected mercenaries not only had the advantages of mercenary combat experience and strong combat ability, but also had the tenacity and courage that mercenaries rarely had.

"Basron, lead the team to follow me on a detour to attack the rear of the enemy on the right flank!"

Art pulled the soldiers of the two squadrons of the Chinese army out of formation, bypassed the front of the enemy army that had engaged the right flank, and ran behind the enemy's flank......

"Behind the enemy's flanks, all charge!!" Art drew his knight's sword and swung it at the enemy on the right flank.

"Rush !! me" Otto led a heavy axe and led Basroen and their two squadrons towards the enemy on the right flank.

When the enemy commander on the right flank caught a glimpse that Art's army was not splitting the two flanks of the central support as he had expected, he panicked, and if it had been according to the predetermined plan, they would have maintained absolute superiority on both the left and right flanks.

But now that Art has chosen to risk losing one of its wings, it is no longer possible to concentrate on the right flank, and the numerical superiority that the rebel army expects no longer exists on the right flank......

In less than a moment since the horn of the charge sounded, the fiercest battle broke out in this pasture.

On the left flank, the Provençal rebels attacked more than a dozen mercenaries with a team of more than 50 people, although the bow and crossbow team in the rear saw that there was no support on the left flank and kept firing arrows to accurately shoot at the rear of the enemy on the left flank, but as the two armies blended, the bow and crossbow squad had to stop firing arrows, and watched the squadron on the left flank resist and retreat step by step.

On the right flank of the formation, the battle was also deadlocked. There were about 50 people in the Provençal rebel army and more than 40 people in the army of the Count of Burgundy, and there was not much difference in the strength of the two armies, and the soldiers under Arte were stronger.

With a flurry of stumps and blood splattering, the Arts' side began to show signs of superiority.

Art did not directly participate in the charge, he stood on his horse with the unsheathed knight's sword in his hand and observed the battle.

Although the right wing began to gain advantage, the situation on the left was very dangerous, and it was only a matter of time before it was defeated.

"Reserves support the left flank!!" The Pegasus of Art cut through the gap between the two flanks and roared at the army of the local lords of Provence, who had been watching the battle.

"Lord Yate, the left wing can no longer hold on, and now the right wing needs us even more, so we will immediately join the right wing warband." The knight, who was in charge of commanding thirty or so local soldiers, peasants, and soldiers, had just replied to Art, and began to run towards the right flank, which had already established a superior position.

"Bastard!" Art scolded fiercely in his heart.

"Crossbow squad, abandon the firing position and support the left flank with weapons!" As soon as he had given the order, Art turned his horse's head and rushed towards the retreating left flank, while at the same time the sentinels, freed from the entanglement of the spear soldiers, also galloped in a large circle towards the weak left flank......

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Chapter 178: Purging the Rebellion (2)