Chapter 180: The Truth
As the Genoese began to spread out of the river, the Bohemian cavalry, who were watching from a distance, could see it very clearly.
Because of this, the captain of the group sent back to inform the other companions, and prepared to harass the Genoese as before.
In addition to attacking the scouts, the Bohemians had chosen other targets, and now seeing that the Genoese had slowed down their march for fear of an enemy attack, as they had previously suspected, the Bohemians immediately ran from a distance along the undulating terrain in the direction of the Genoese flank.
Look for the enemy's weak points and unguarded areas, pounce on them like a wild wolf and bite mercilessly, then quickly flee, and then wait for the opportunity to find a new place to attack.
The Bohemians were so excited that they felt as if they had been galloping back to the plains and mountains they had been running again, and they rushed forward in desperation, towards the rear wing of the Genoese.
A group of Genoese soldiers slowly followed behind the army in front, although the march speed was fast, but as long as there was a slight stagnation, it would affect the whole team, so although the formation in front had been expanded, the team behind was still moving forward unhurriedly.
The Genoese were not in a hurry, even if they didn't move in such weather, they would sweat all over their bodies, and looking at the moving team in front of them, some soldiers even found a stone nearby and sat down, ready to rest enough and continue on their way.
It was at this moment that a figure suddenly appeared in a clearing above the embankment, followed by a second, and then a third.
Then the ground shook without even the sound of horses' hooves, and the Genoese were instantly confused, but before they could take up their arms, or even before some of the panicked soldiers could get up from the ground, suddenly the Bohemians had swarmed down from the heights and charged towards the group of Genoese, who were obviously already stunned!
The Genoese were indeed frightened, perhaps some were not, and few of them took up arms and prepared to resist in the face of the sudden appearance of the enemy, but from the moment the first man was overturned by the saber wielding like a full moon, these Genoese completely lost the idea of resistance.
No one knows who was the first to turn and run away, maybe a lot of people made the choice at the same time, but no one thought about how stupid it was to do so at first.
It may not be entirely stupid to face the desperate resistance of the oncoming cavalry, but it is certainly foolish to expose your back to the enemy.
The Bohemians almost drove the Genoese who had turned and fled, and many of them quickly overtook the pursuing enemy, rushing forward to the line of defenders who had just heard the movement in front of them.
A group of crossbowmen took off their crossbows as they lined up, and they put their hands into the winch and twisted the bowstring vigorously, and with a muffled "squeak, squeak", the crossbow was stretched wide open.
But the Bohemians clearly did not want to wait for the crossbowmen to finish their business, and although they saw that the crossbowmen had raised their shields, they took their muskets from their belts one after another, and as the horses were jolting and galloping, smoke erupted from the front of the rushing Bohemian cavalry.
And these bohemians are like a group of death messengers from hell, they rush out of the smoke of gunpowder, and then they wave their sabers violently, and slash at everything that passes by.
The bullets slammed into the shields, some of which were smashed into pieces, others out of bullet holes.
An unlucky crossbowman straightened up to see something, but by chance he was shot directly into his mouth, and as he fell to the ground and screamed in pain, his companion next to him saw that there was still a small piece of broken gum bone hanging from the wound on his face that had been torn by the bullet.
The Bohemians quickly dodged from all the obstacles that might stand in their way, and then seeped through all the crevices they could pass through like a stream of water that had spilled into the ground.
It wasn't until in front of them that a group of Genoese had been prepared for a long time appeared.
The group of soldiers calmly raised their crossbows at a great distance, and when they felt that the enemy was close enough, with the command of the commander and the terrible dull hum, a barrage of crossbow bolts struck head-on at the Bohemians who were rushing at the front.
Before the cavalry at the front could react, he was hit by several crossbow arrows, two of which pierced his body directly, and then the force threw him and his horse to the ground.
Two more Bohemians were then shot, which finally alerted their companions, who quickly changed direction and sent their mounts to the flank of the oncoming group of enemies, still with a shrill whistle that could intimidate the enemy.
The Genoese now used the power of their crossbows to full play, and their bolts were fired mercilessly at the Bohemians who tried to rush away from them, and for a moment some people fell off their horses.
"Kill all these barbarian mongrels!" The commander of the crossbowmen kept shouting, and at the same time the sword in his hand swayed, and he looked at the bohemians rushing from both sides with excitement on his face, and he believed that this time was enough to let these guys know how good they were.
The Bohemians, who had finally rushed past the crossbowmen, did not continue to charge at the enemy, knowing that this was the maximum action they could do, and seeing that the Genoese had begun to assemble, they quickly rushed into the distance along the gap formed by a group of still somewhat flustered Genoese.
The crossbowmen who had stopped the Bohemians let out a cheer of joy, and they kept yelling at the backs of the fleeing Bohemians in the distance, some of them twisting their butts to make a run away.
"See, they're just that!" The commander shouted to his men, and then he shouted to the soldiers who were still in confusion, "Hurry back to your ranks, there is nothing to be afraid of Bohemians, you are a shame to be like this, if it weren't for the fact that we would have killed more Bohemian mongrels if it weren't for you." ”
The Commander's words were unanimously agreed by his men, who laughed loudly at their comrades who were running around in panic, until they suddenly heard a vaguely familiar chaotic agitation and panicked shouts from another part of the group ahead.
The Genoese soldiers looked in the direction from which the sound came, but because it was a bit far away and it seemed to be chaotic over there, they couldn't see anything clearly except for the chaotic figures, which made them feel a little anxious about their recent victory.
At the same time, because they had just experienced an attack, the chaotic surroundings quickly mixed with the soldiers who had scattered and fled before.
At first, the commander didn't think anything was wrong with this, until the sound of horses' hoofs suddenly came from near and far from the direction of the Bohemians who had just fled.
What the commander saw at this moment was a large group of his own soldiers mixed with each other, almost completely devoid of formation, and outside this crowd that could only be described as a chaotic crowd, not soldiers, the familiar figure of the Bohemians, which had become terrible at this moment, had reappeared.
This time the Bohemians took revenge on the unexpected setback they had suffered, and they took advantage of the fact that the Genoese did not expect them to be so quickly involved in the accident and panic of the resurgence, and quickly followed the edge of a large crowd of panicked Genoese.
As they swept by, the muskets in their hands also emitted a "bang-bang" gunfire one after another.
At the same time, in the rest of the Genoese team, much the same drama was played.
Harass, attack, then quickly retreat, then see the moment before suddenly launching a new attack.
The Bohemian harassment thoroughly angered the Genoese, and some of them tried to pursue the enemy, but they regretted it after only a little departure from the ranks.
According to some of the soldiers who had fled, the Montina were clearly trapped, as they had been confronted by a strange group shortly after they had left the group, and according to the soldiers' descriptions, Calgino was surprised to find that his previous suspicions had come true so quickly.
"Huntsman?"
He asked Machiavelli in a tone that was more affirming than inquiring, and Cargino couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Florence's hot and silent nod.
"It's unbelievable that Gombray is actually here." Calgino looked into the distance with some curiosity, "I'm really curious to know what that Lucrezia is like, how can she make a man so crazy." ”
After saying this, Cardino gave an order to the herald beside him: "As I told us before, let our troops prepare for defense here." ”
"It's not a good battleground." Machiavelli looked at the rugged stretch of the river and frowned, "I don't think Count Montina would attack an army that has already been defended like this, so it doesn't seem to be of much use to do so." ”
"No, it must be useful," Calgino seemed a little stubborn at this time, "I know Combrai and will definitely come to me, don't forget what you told me before, the Venetians are already involved in Romagna's affairs, I believe that if Gombray does not want to watch Pisa fall into the hands of the Venetians, he must solve my problem first, unless ......" Cargino looked at Machiavelli with a little meaning, "You are telling me a lie." ”
"How is that possible," Machiav replied slowly in a small voice, his gaze involuntarily looking in the direction of Florence, "I just don't know what else will happen to the war in Romagna. ”
Alexander was waiting.
When the last rays of the sunset finally disappeared behind the distant hillside, the hazy night finally fell completely on the earth.
The armor of the cavalry beside Alexander shimmered slightly in the light of the rising full moon.
Everything in the distance was blurry, even the glow from the fireflies looked a little blurry.
"Night blindness." Alexander muttered to himself.
A physical defect that is scarcely a disease is so common in this age and in general that it is present in the vast majority of men, and that few who do not have such symptoms were once considered a gift from God or some kind of revelation because they could see everything in front of them in the night.
It was this widespread night blindness that made marching and fighting in the middle of the night extremely difficult in many cases, and Alexander believed that this was why Cardgino ordered the establishment of camp at such times.
Obviously, the Genoese were wary of the possibility of greater confusion and passivity by their blind actions in the middle of the night, so they changed their previous plans and seemed to be eager to flee quickly, and prepared to form a defensive position here.
"Master, it seems that there is nothing to do at night." Busaco breathed a sigh of relief, the middle of the night was certainly not suitable for an attack, and since the Genoese had stopped, it meant that Alexander's goal of intercepting them in Tuscany had been achieved.
Next, just wait for the arrival of the main force led by Oflaiyi.
Busako was so pleased with this idea that he even secretly thanked God for his grace, thinking that it must have been God who heard his hard prayers to make things go so smoothly in the end.
"Busako, what if we launch a night raid?"
The sudden arrival of Alexander's words made Busako slightly stunned, and he looked at Alexander's face with a little effort in the moonlight, and when he confirmed that the face seemed to be full of seriousness, the captain of the guard couldn't help but shake his head at once.
"This can't be a master, our soldiers can't see anything clearly at night."
"Can the Genoese see clearly?"
"But they are in the camp, and there is a campfire around them, and we may be able to continue to harass them, but as long as they do not want to leave the camp, we have no other way, and on a night like this, it is unlikely that either side will command their own army so smoothly, and this is more difficult for us, because we are cavalry."
Hearing that it was rare for the captain of the guard to say so much at length, Alexander was a little surprised.
"Do you think we can't sneak attack?"
"The point is that we may not even be able to find our own army, so how can we sneak up on the enemy?" Busako was a little anxious, and he felt that he had to find a way to stop Alexander's intention of attacking at night.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to be so stupid as to do something I'm not sure of," Alexander smiled at a somewhat uneasy Busako, "but I'm a little curious about why Cargielno changed his mind. ”
Hearing Alexander's words, Busako secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Maybe he heard something, or maybe something happened in Pisa," Busako said, looking at Alexander a little nervously.
Busako didn't say that in the eyes of many hunters, in fact, the latter sentence was what they thought was closer to the truth.
Alexander noticed the slightest hesitation on Busaco's part, and he turned his head slightly to look at Busaco, and then continued to look in the direction of the Genoese camp in the distance.
"I know what you're thinking, but remember that Lucrezia is the mother of my daughter."
"Yes, sir." Busako replied sullenly.
Pisa, what's really going on?
Busako didn't know that Alexander was also echoing this question in his heart, but the people sent to Pisa had not yet brought back the news, so he could only wait patiently.
However, neither Alexander, who was bewildered and suspicious, nor Cargino, who thought he already knew the truth, nor even Machiavelli, who inadvertently created the scene in front of him, did not expect that on this evening, several people who were indeed from Venice quietly entered Pisa.