There is no doubt that Ofleiil has great ambitions.

This includes not only the idea of letting his wife Ashley give him more sons, but also the hope of becoming the top few on the Duke's knighthood list.

Since the announcement of the coronation of the Duke of Rome Thesia, the next thing everyone is most looking forward to is the knighthood.

So many people are born and die with you, what are you trying to figure out, why do you work so hard for you?

Knighthood has become the biggest goal of the courtiers of Rome Thesia.

It was only the duke who left the duchy first, which made the duke have to be delayed, and then the provocations and challenges of the French, and then the Austrians, which brought the emerging Duchy of Rome and Thesia into successive wars at once.

The knighthood was postponed indefinitely, but this gave the generals a new idea.

In the Roman army of Thesia, although not so obvious, traces between the different factions can still be faintly detected.

Among them were the old and new military officers, led by Ofleiyi and Gompati, the Lady officers, whose interests were represented by the women of Alexandria, and the foreign army, which were mainly military personnel from the Balkans, Catalonia, and other places.

Among these people, Ofleiyi certainly has a prestige that others can't match, but now he is not worried about whether he will be forgotten when he is knighted, but whether he will be ranked behind Gompati.

Although Alexander was now far away in Iberia, everyone knew that once the duke returned home, the matter of the knighthood would have to be settled.

As for what kind of status each person will get in the end, it may depend on the final performance before this knighthood.

Ofleiyi was no longer the stonemason's nephew he used to be, so he couldn't be content with just seeing the world or making a fortune.

And now there are more and more people standing behind him, everyone's eyes are looking at him, and his status is undoubtedly bound to affect the people around him.

In addition, what makes Ofleiyi more concerned is that he is different from the others, that is, he is always just a follower of Alexander, and whether it is Gompati, Macheni, Machiavelli or even the Kulash brothers, behind them, there are actually Alexander's women.

As for Uliu, Ofleiyi felt that no one could learn his skill of stepping on a few boats.

So Oflaiyi knew that he had to plan for himself.

A deep voice sounded from a distance, not very loud, and then he saw a dark shadow arc and land in the clearing some distance from his army.

The shell smashed a crater in the ground, jumped forward a few more times, and stopped.

Ofleiyi glanced at one of the officers next to him.

The officer was an artillery liaison officer.

The establishment of this position is somewhat inexplicable.

At Gompati's suggestion, he sent such a soldier to each regiment in order to coordinate the communication between the artillery and the infantry regiment.

When he made this suggestion, he was strongly opposed by some of the officers, who believed that Gompati was actually interfering with their command in disguise, and after a lot of noise, the position of artillery liaison officer was finally decided by Alexander.

Now, there is such an artillery liaison officer by his side, but the chief of staff more often treats this officer as his artillery explainer.

"My lord, this should be the Esmeri Falcon Cannon," the artillery officer replied at once at the signal of Oflaiil, "if the Venetians are all equipped with this kind of artillery, we may not need to worry too much." ”

"Don't worry too much?"

Noticing the words of the artillery officer, Oflaiyi frowned.

"I mean this kind of artillery is not very powerful, of course if there are too many of them......"

Offrey waved his hand to stop the artillery officer, he already knew what the other party meant, and it was clear that the Venetian army on the opposite side may not have many troops, but they were sharply armed.

"What a Venetian." Oflaiyi said with some envy.

The Venetians are rich, and they are not ordinarily rich, they are the kind of people who are particularly rich.

Therefore, their armies should also be more powerful and sophisticated than other countries in terms of weapons and equipment.

There were a few more dull cannon shots, and the flying shells were obviously much more accurate than the previous test shot.

In particular, one of the shells landed directly near the artillery position not far in front of the Roman-Thescian army, smashing a deep trench into the cracked ground.

"It seems that the Venetian artillery is quite a few."

Ofreiil glanced again at the artillery officer, and saw that the officer pursed his lips slightly, and he let out a barely audible "hum".

Then he gave the order: "Attack." ”

The sound of trumpets began to sound through the position, and with the orders of the various companies, the Roman Thesian army began to advance slowly in the direction of the enemy.

It is a hilly area not far from Westre, the gateway to Venice.

The surrounding hills are slightly raised, and many places are divided by large and small lakes.

Westerley is in a small, slightly concave basin clustered by these lakes.

If the weather is good, just cross the streets of Westres and see the island of Venice in the distance from the coast.

And now, the Roman Trician army was less than half a dozen miles outside of the city of Westre.

The city of Venice is already close at hand.

The distance from Padua to Westre was about 10 fataries, and after a march in the morning, the Romanesian army had reached the outskirts of Westre when it was dark.

On this way, apart from the sporadic Venetian scouts, they did not encounter any enemy troops.

However, it was not until the town of Västerre approached, behind a series of defensive trenches that appeared in front of it, like man-made on a naturally formed dry slope dam, that a Venetian army appeared.

It's just that what Oflaiyi didn't expect was that such an army, which seemed to be only a local garrison in Westerray, would actually have such a thing as an Esmeri falcon.

"The Venetians are really rich." Oflaiyi muttered again.

Although he did not actually envy the Venetians much, the thought of the enemy on the opposite side with such sharp firepower could not help but feel both envious and annoyed by the wealth of the Venetians.

A roar of artillery came from a short distance away, and the Roman army began to counterattack, while at the same time, Ofleiil saw that the left flank led by Maceni was approaching the enemy's entrenched levee.

Macheni stared closely at the enemy behind the slope in front.

He was actually a little nervous as well.

Like Oflai, he didn't expect to get to where he is now.

Now in front of you are the Venetian defenders, behind is the town of Westre, and behind you is Venice, the wonder of the water.

"Forward!" Macheni shouted, he raised his sword and swung it, listening to the rumbling footsteps of the soldiers around him, he took a deep breath, glanced in the direction of the central front, and walked forward.

Although he couldn't see it at all, Maccheni could imagine Ofleiyi waving his command staff as he gave the order.

Like Oflei, Macioni has his own ambitions.

And his goal is to one day have his own command staff.

With the gradual improvement of the military structure, the Roman tertesian army already had a set of military systems that were very different from those of other countries.

But in this new military system, Alexander also borrowed some things from ancient Rome.

One of them, inherited from the Roman army and symbolizing authority, is the scepter.

And now the only people who have the honor of using the command staff, apart from Alexander himself, are Gompati and Oflai.

An enemy shell landed not far away, but fortunately the shell smashed directly into the mud pond, rolled twice and then did not move.

Maccheni wiped away the painful mud that had been splashed on his face, and was secretly startled.

"Go ahead, don't stop!"

He commanded loudly, and at the same time looked behind him with some anxiety, he didn't know why Ofleuil hadn't given the order for the artillery to counterattack, and seeing the shells that kept falling on the left and left of his ranks, and even in the formation, Macheni couldn't help but feel a sore throat and cursed secretly.

The musketeers in the front row, some distance from the brigade, raised their guns one after another, and the formation of the advance seemed to slow down at this moment.

The characteristic long-pitched command of the musketeer officer rang out on the battlefield, and the sound of gunfire instantly enveloped the empty position ahead.

In the smoke of gunpowder, the Roman Thescian army, which had seemed to slow down, suddenly accelerated its advance.

The Romantesians charged.

Beginning with the suppression of the fire of the musketeers, followed by the fierce attack of spears and sword and shield men, the Roman-Tescian bayonet charge began.

The Venetian position was again filled with the sound of cannonballs, and the almost direct fire of the cannonballs tore a terrible gap in the Roman Thesian army in an instant, but the men who rushed up quickly filled it, and the muskets and spears gleamed in the evening sunset.

"They have more artillery than I thought," Ofreil said, glancing impatiently at the artillery liaison officer, "So, hasn't it been measured yet?" ”

"Wait a minute, sir." The liaison officer measured it again with the triangular instrument in his hand, and gave a series of orders to the herald waiting next to him, before he said to Oflaiyi, "It's okay, our troops are in this position right now, and they can avoid the shooting."

Oflaiyi nodded, looked ahead again, and calmly gave the order: "Open the cannon." ”

There were loud bangs, and one after another scorching shells flew towards the enemy's sloping slope with terrifying destructive power.

For a while, smoke and dust billowed out, and then the flames soared into the sky.

The sudden rise of smoke from the dam caused the armies on both sides of the battlefield to stagnate.

"It seems that the gunpowder was detonated......"

Looking at the enemy's positions, the artillery liaison officer muttered a report.

Oflaiyi nodded.

He actually disliked the man Gompati very much, he thought that Gompati's character was too reckless, he was adventurous in everything, and he would have to suffer one day.

However, as for Gompati's insistence on developing artillery, Oflaiyi was still very much in favor of it.

According to Gompati's point of view, the only thing that can destroy the enemy's artillery is artillery.

So when both sides had enough artillery to threaten the other, Gompati always gave top priority to destroying the enemy's artillery positions.

Now, it seems that Gompati is not useless.

Oflaiyi secretly gave Gompati a fair evaluation in his heart.

"Attack!"

Marchini in front of him saw more clearly.

He clearly saw the chaos in the enemy's position, and the sudden detonation of gunpowder even blew up a section of the dam.

From there, he could faintly see the Venetians fleeing for their lives.

Marcheni roared, and he led his team towards the breach, and almost instantly, the banner of the Roman Tescian army was already planted on the embankment.

But then, Macioni suddenly discovered a scene that surprised him.

In the rear, the horn of the attack on the whole front was not sounded!

As the smoke cleared from the positions of the defenders of Westerray, Ofleiil noticed that the enemy seemed to be beginning to retreat.

"Are they retreating?" Oflaiyi asked the people around him a little strangely.

"It seems that the Venetians don't have as much money as they do."

The attendant next to him laughed.

Listening to the ridicule of his attendants, Oflaiyi frowned.

He thought about it, and simply beckoned the people around him to help him stand on horseback, looking at the Venetian army that was constantly moving in the distance, Oflaiyi couldn't help but feel a little uncertain.

He fought in the defense of Pisa and even in the First Romagna War, and it can be said that he had more dealings with the Venetians than Alexandria in the Roman army.

Because of this, Ofleiil never had the slightest contempt for the Venetians.

The fact that the enemy had now begun to retreat after only one round of shelling was incredulous.

"My lord, are we going to attack?" The attendant beside him asked excitedly.

Looking at the enemy who began to retreat, Oflaiyi instinctively raised his hand, but before putting it down, he paused again.

He looked at the Venetian army in the distance, pondering in his heart, but the hand he raised never fell.

Finally, he said slowly, "Wait a minute, let's see." ”

The faces of the attendants around him showed anxiety, and some of them tried to hold back what they wanted to say, and they stared at Oflaiyi eagerly, with eager expressions in their eyes.

But Ofleiil never spoke again, and his eyes were fixed on the enemy in the distance, until Macheni hurried to his horseback.

"God, why don't you attack?!"

Marcheni was almost about to shout, he jumped off his mount a few steps and came to Oflei, his face flushed and he lowered his voice and asked urgently: "My lord, isn't this the best chance, one charge, we can take Westerre with one charge!" ”

"And then?"

Ofleiyi looked at Marcheni and asked coldly.

"And then?" Maccheni was stunned.

"Yes, I ask you what to do with us, don't forget that we don't have boats, even if we have you, do you think we can beat the Venetians on the water?"

"But at least then we can threaten Venice directly," Maceni argued eagerly, "that we can cut off the Venetians from the land, which must be intolerable to them, and then we can force them to sign an armistice, as the duke intended." ”

"Nikolai, you forgot that the Venetians have a navy, so even if we blockade Westerray, they will still be able to get in touch with the land."

Oflaiyi looked in the direction of Westerray, the weather was very good today, and from here he could even vaguely see the outline of Westley Town, it really seemed that he could get the town as soon as he stretched out his hand, which made Ofleiyi secretly lick the corners of his mouth.

"But that's all, we're here," Marcheni looked at Ofleiu in disbelief, "and what are we venturing here for?" ”

"To win," said Oflei, beckoning to Macheni to come closer, and then whispering in Macheni's ear, "Listen, I know you're not satisfied, but look at the location of that town, it's surrounded by high ground, and if we attack it, we might get stuck in it, understand?" ”

"But, only a little, just a little!" Macheni lowered his voice and said fiercely.

"You're not me Nikolai, I'm responsible for the entire legion," Ofleiyi lowered his voice, "so listen, whether you're satisfied or not, you have to follow my orders, understand?" ”

Macheni looked at Ofleiil with a grim face, and after a long moment replied, "Yes, my lord." ”

"Let our men take the dam at once and build fortifications before nightfall," Ofleiyi ordered as he looked back into the distance, muttering to himself, "I must be responsible for the entire Legion." Rondoba Barbarig, where are you? ”