The difference between friendship and love is that friendship means two people and the world, whereas love means two people being the world.

– Rabindranath Tagore (Indian poet, philosopher, and Indian nationalist)

On the unevenly spacious deck of the fine iron bridge, the white flag cavalry, which charged side by side, easily broke through the first five rows of defense of the defending infantry, and the defensive infantry of nearly 20 people lined up in a row suffered casualties among hundreds of soldiers in an instant after the battle.

Compared to the middle infantry who were directly trampled into mud by the enemy cavalry, the infantry standing on both sides of the bridge did not even have a chance to react, and were swept away by the rampaging war horses' hooves into the Xingyue River and swept away by the turbulent current.

The ferocious blow of the white flag cavalry did not break the defenders' will to defend, they still blocked the bridge, slashed their weapons at the enemy cavalry who were gradually losing their speed advantage, and at the same time, the archers of the defenders did not stop.

Facts have proved that the narrow bridges in the combat area are not suitable for ordinary infantry defensive operations and large-scale cavalry charges; the white flag cavalry, which is unable to quickly defeat the defending infantry, immediately falls into a bitter battle with the defending infantry after losing its mobility.

The weapons used by the White Banner cavalry were bows and scimitars, and in hand-to-hand combat, bows and arrows that were difficult to use and scimitars with a limited killing range were not as simple and efficient to use as the long swords in the hands of the defending infantry.

However, the white flag cavalry sat on their horses and attacked condescendingly, which was more advantageous than the defenders' infantry wielding their swords with difficulty, but the presence of war horses was not necessarily an advantage, and the arrows constantly fired by the defending archers had a great impact on the horses.

Many of the white-flaged cavalry who could not rush to the front line for a while and a half were in a state of rising casualties under the rain of arrows from the archers of the defenders, but the battle situation of friendly forces in front and behind them put them in a situation where they could not advance or retreat.

The brave and warlike cavalry of the White Banner may be able to withstand the rain of arrows from the defenders' archers under the lure of wealth, but the horses under their seats do not have the ability to do so, especially the wounded horses, which are restless and wandering around the bridge.

The already narrow bridge can accommodate up to six war horses advancing side by side, and now that there are wounded war horses rampage on the bridge, the formation of other cavalry will inevitably be disrupted; in fact, the two bulls with white flags on the bridge have long been chaotic.

Even without the continuous rain of arrows from the archers of the defenders, it was difficult to control the cavalry who were injured and mad on their horses, and from time to time they would squeeze their comrades into the Xingyue River, and the white flag cavalry who were unlucky enough to fall into the river and die had already surpassed the white flag cavalry who died in the battle ahead.

After more than 10 minutes of charging to no avail, less than 300 cavalrymen remained on the bridge, and more than 200 of the more than 300 cavalrymen who died were killed by falling into the river, rather than being killed in battle.

The 500 defending infantry who desperately defended were less than 200 soldiers at this time, but they successfully held the bridge port, and with the assistance of the archers behind them, they began to slowly occupy the initiative in the battle, maintaining a comfortable defensive counterattack posture.

The death of more than 300 cavalry was an acceptable loss for the Zhengbai Banner Commanders, who each had five Niulu 1,500 cavalry, but the bridge battle, which could never be opened, made the Commanders who only wanted to plunder their property feel retreated.

Fighting to the death with the defenders of the empire was never the goal of the Jurchen tribes, the purpose of their southern invasion was only to plunder the property; if their own losses were too heavy, then they could not save the property they plundered, after all, the competition on the steppe was still very fierce.

The fact that there are three bridges on the Xingyue River is known not only to the imperial army stationed in Besançon Province, but also to the Jurchen tribe cavalry who occupy Langxiang Province.

The first senator to make such a suggestion was immediately supported by the other two senators, and the senator, who wanted to open the bridge in one go, saw that the other three senators did not want to continue the attack, so he had to withdraw his troops with the other three senators and find another bridge.

When the white flag cavalry that was fighting on the bridge sounded behind them, symbolizing retreat, the white flag cavalry, who were decisive in battle, quickly retreated, and the defending infantry, who had been fighting for a long time, were exhausted and did not even have the idea of pursuing.

After nearly half an hour of fighting, the attacking and defending sides lost more than 300 soldiers each, until the cavalry of the Zhengbai Banner slowly withdrew from the battlefield, and the cavalry sent out by the bridge defenders before the battle for help arrived at the main army garrison fifty miles away.

"General, the defenders of the second bridge have an urgent report: half an hour ago, about six thousand cavalry with white flags appeared on their north bank!"

Bai Feng, who was inspecting the training of soldiers in the barracks of the 58th Legion, after hearing Luculus's report, turned his head and ordered Steve beside him: "Steve, you immediately go and gather all the legion commanders to discuss the military situation in my military tent!"

"No!" Steve, who understood the seriousness of the matter, quickly answered the order and left.

"Luculus, go and draw out your four teams of royal pikemen and eight teams of Spartan hoplites, and then transfer three teams of Cretan archers from Wink, form three advance troops, and immediately rush to the aid of the defenders stationed on the three bridges. ”

"No!"

"Goto Kiji, you immediately lead your officers and men to rush to the second bridge that is being attacked, and at most half an hour after the advance troops arrive at the bridge, you must lead your troops to the second bridge to ensure that the second bridge is foolproof!"

"No!"

After issuing three orders in succession, Bai Feng, who was in a hurry, turned around and strode towards the camp of the pro-guard army where his military tent was located; the battle that broke out in advance caught Bai Feng off guard, but also had a strong sense of crisis.

As long as the control of these three bridges is in his own hands, Bai Feng will have the initiative to control the war and gradually defeat the 100,000 cavalry of the Eight Banners that occupy Langxiang Province.

If the three bridges on the Xingyue River are lost, then the flat province of Besançon will become a battlefield for 100,000 cavalry of the Eight Banners, and although their own infantry army will not necessarily lose the war, they will definitely fall into passivity.

The reason why Bai Feng did not send heavy troops to handle the three bridges before was that the cold winter in the north had not completely passed, and it should be impossible for the Jurchen tribe to start a war in winter, and on the other hand, he wanted to seize the time to improve the combat effectiveness of the various legions under his command.

Unexpectedly, such an arrangement and deployment actually gave the Jurchen tribe an opportunity to take advantage of, but at this time, it was too early to judge whether the Jurchen tribe was doing its best to launch a southward invasion, or whether the current battle was only a separate action of Zhengbaiqi.

Bai Feng, who could not figure out the true intentions of the Jurchen tribe's move, had to implement his own counteroffensive plan in advance to deal with the sudden southern invasion of the Jurchen tribe;

As for the Lance Legion, which did not even have time to take up the post of the Legion Commander, Leonidad's Spartan Legion would temporarily fight under the name of the Spear Legion, and the Spear Legion, which had almost no combat effectiveness, would be left by Bai Feng at the garrison to guard the barracks.