Count Don Sanchod rode his horse and looked at the long, narrow and curving bay in the distance, and thought again and again about his previous plan, until he was sure that nothing had been missed, and a hint of relief appeared on his face.

Known locally as Moon Bay, this sea temperature is part of a seaside plain not far from Noto, which forms a small semi-arc basin around the bay, and the terrain gradually rises upwards at a distance that slopes slightly inland.

Rounding Moon Bay is the port of Noto, which now stands between the Aragon army and the port of Noto, on two sharp horns of a crescent.

"My lord, we are coming too fast," said an officer to Count Don Sanchod, laughing from the side, "and the barbarians may not have imagined that they were about to be unlucky. ”

Don Sanchod replied with a slight smile, but the officer was right, the Wallachians might have received reports that they were marching, but they would never have expected them to arrive at Noto so quickly.

The speed of only one day and one night is estimated to be no more than the army led by Gonzalo. Don Sanchord thought about it in his heart, and he knew that although Ferdinand was very disgusted with that Gonzalo, how much disgust meant how much he appreciated, and Ferdinand was angry at Gonzalo's unruliness and arrogance, but he trusted him very much.

Many of the Aragonese generals were very uncomfortable, they felt that they did not see much better than the Castilian, so there were already people who were dissatisfied with the importance that the king attached to Gonzalo.

Don Sanchord was one of them, and as Ferdinand's most trusted general, he was critical of the king's repeated assignments to the Casdirians rather than his own Aragonese generals, and this expedition to Sicily made Don Sanchord feel that it was a good opportunity to re-show the king what he was capable of.

The Aragonese army began to enter the basin of Moon Bay, and between the distant uplifted heights on the left and the white waves on the right were the Aragonese army.

At this point, of course, Count Don Sanchord did not think that the enemy had not received definite information that they were approaching the city, so Count Don Sanchord first ordered the Aragonese army to form up and occupy as much hilly territory as possible on the edge of the high ground on the left.

"My lord, what if those Wallachians don't go out of the city to meet them," the officer next to him suddenly remembered something, and looked at the port of Noto in the distance, the officer's face was slightly worried, "If we attack, we may have to attack the city directly." ”

Count Don Sanchord looked towards the port of Noto, and he knew what the officer was worried about, as the king had allowed them to decide freely whether or not the local Sicilians had participated in this "shameful rebellion" after landing in Sicily, which meant that as the commander of the expeditionary force, Count Don Sanchord had the final say on the Sicilians.

The result of this right was Ferdinand's acquiescence to the raids of the expeditionary force in this war.

It was clear that Ferdinand was going to punish the Sicilians for his betrayal in a much harsher way than before.

However, in the eyes of the expeditionary force, Sicily had become a good place for them to make a fortune, so if the Wallachians were really prepared to take the city, for the Aragonese people, even if they captured the port of Noto, the pots and pots that could be broken would become their own losses.

And if the other side really wants to rely on the city to stall for time, this will be a disadvantage for the Aragonese who are trying to make a quick decision, because it is likely that the coalition forces that received the news will rush to the rescue.

Count Don Sanjod looked at the harbor in the distance, and the port of Noto, which had so far remained quiet, seemed to indicate that the enemy might really intend to defend the city, which made him somewhat disappointed, but he was soon relieved.

"We're going to be much quicker than they thought, it's going to take at least 2 days for the Neapolitans to get to Noto, how long do you think we'll take to take this port?" The Count beckoned to his men as he beckoned to the herald, "Order our troops on the left flank to occupy the road to Port Noto." ”

At the behest of Count Don Sanchod, an Araganese cavalry immediately ran along the rising hills towards the looming avenue in the distance, the main road to Port Noto, which was cut off meant that there was no way to the interior unless by sea.

"Perhaps these Wallachians will escape from the sea, but that is nothing, we must first make sure that these barbarians do not trouble us," Count Don Sanchord explained to his men, "Our enemy is the Neapolitans, or the Neapolitan queen, and if these Wallachians escape, there is no threat to us, for if the queen is defeated, their brothers-in-law will collapse without a fight." ”

The cavalry quickly ran forward in the rugged field, and although the knights were proud to have a few horses, the army of Aragon did not attach much importance to the role of ordinary cavalry in the army, except for the noble knights who spent a lot of money.

Their infantry was fierce and formidable, especially the Catalans, and many times even the Swiss barbarians from the mountains were wary of them when they encountered them on the battlefield.

These cavalrymen were local mountain herders from Andorta, the largest mountainous pastoral region in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, for which the locals bred what would become known as the Spanish horse, and before these handsome animals gradually replaced the already backward tendencies on the battlefield, the Aragonese view of cavalry was at best scouting and pinning down the enemy cavalry.

The terrain in front was a little steep, and the horsemen who were at the front paused slightly, and one of them looked back at his companion, who had been left behind, and after thinking for a moment, he clamped his feet again and urged his horse forward.

The avenue was at the highest point at the end of the hill, and because it was so far away, it didn't look very high from below, but the cavalry who were running forward knew that the road was not easy to follow, and that it would take a few rounds to climb the terrain.

Just as the first few horsemen were once again circling back and climbing upward, they seemed to notice some swaying figures on the edge of the road overhead.

This immediately alarmed them, and someone had already raised a spear with a flag in his hand to warn his companion below, but that was all they could do.

When the first row of guns rang out, the first few cavalry happened to be advancing parallel to the avenue, which made each of them a bright target.

The platoon guns were firing quickly, or rather that the attackers were trying to shoot a large piece of buckshot in their direction, rather than trying to hit any of them.

But because of the excessive density and layers, almost every one of the Andolph cavalry who rushed to the front was hit by a different number of projectiles.

The men and horses were instantly beaten to a blur of flesh and blood, and with the characteristic roar of the Wallachians, the bullets fired immediately from the second row exploded the second round of bloody images even on the corpses that had not yet had time to fall.

The Andanti cavalry, who followed closely behind, were first startled by the unexpected sight, and then immediately let out a burst of shouts, and they drew their weapons and began to charge up the slope, for they had already noticed that the enemy who had just attacked them was scrambling to reload.

They were close now, and although they still had to make a bend up to reach the avenue due to the rough road, it was only a blink of an eye for the Antituan cavalry.

A bend appeared in front of them, and the Andolph cavalry had raised their characteristic conical swords and were ready to rush forward to slash the enemy.

At this moment, they saw several carriages waiting quietly on the oncoming avenue.

The person running at the front froze for a moment, he instinctively sensed that there was some danger, but it was too late.

He saw the muzzle of a cannon on the wagon, which on a light wagon did not look large, but it was certainly a terrible weapon capable of killing a man.

The horseman tried to pull the reins out of the way, but he could only twist his horse's head to the side when he heard a roar that pierced his eardrums.

The cannonball roared and rushed towards the newly emerging Andolph cavalry, the huge impact force first pierced the slender horse's neck, and the blasted horse's head hung a large piece of torn flesh and blood in the air, and then the unstoppable huge projectile carried the upper half of the horse's owner and continued to fly forward, until it fell in an arc to the distant lowland, and then rolled up the sticky flesh and rushed all the way downhill.

At this moment, the attention of the Aragonese was drawn to what was happening on the avenue.

"Yes, ambush?" When he said this, Count Don Sanchod's tone was slightly puzzled, he was not frightened by this sudden turn of events, but somewhat surprised.

Before marching on Noto, he had already imagined that the Wallachians might be waiting for reinforcements to wait for reinforcements.

However, as far as he knew, the place of Noto was not conducive to fortification, and the port of Noto was located in the low part of Moon Bay, so as long as the Aragonese occupied the road leading to Port Noto on the high ground outside Moon Bay, they could not only cut off their retreat inland, but also launch an attack on Port Noto from a high position.

It's just that Don Sanchud didn't expect that his enemy not only did not defend but took the initiative to attack him after setting up an ambush, which surprised him, but compared to the surprise that the Wallachians seemed to be going to fight them head-on, Don Sanchud felt that the Wallachians really helped him a lot.

"Let the left flank attack." The Count gave the order quietly, in fact, even now he still doubted whether he really had such good luck, after all, according to the information he had received, the Wallachians were far less powerful than him, which made him wonder who had given the enemy the courage to attack in such a disadvantageous situation.

Therefore, even though there were already traces of the enemy on the road, Count Don Sanchod was very careful to let the left flank attack, while he continued to advance in the direction of Port Noto, with the main force of infantry.

But then another burst of heavy cannon fire aroused Don Sanchod's suspicions, for he noticed that this time the cannon fire seemed to be coming from another direction.

This made him wonder how many enemies he was facing.

As far as he knew, none of the troops with artillery could move their positions so quickly, which meant that the enemy was not as few as he thought on the high ground on the left flank, and since the Wallachians could have so many troops to ambush, how many men were waiting for them in the port of Noto on the front?

Don Sanchod began to think that things might not be as simple as he thought, and as the left flank advanced towards the high ground, he was surprised to hear the increasingly dense gunfire.

The gunfire was more intense than any other battle he remembered, and it was impossible for him to think that even the model army of Gonzalo, who was so proud, could have had so many muskets.

Don Sanchod looked unexpectedly into the heights, and he saw the smoke rising from time to time, accompanied by the sound of gunfire and the occasional roar of cannons.

Don Sanchod hesitated, he looked at the port of Noto, which was not too far away, it seemed quiet, it was obvious that the civilians in the harbor had already hidden, and he could faintly see the shadows behind several houses, but there was no trace of the enemy.

The Count looked to the side, and his already unfolded column was still moving on, with the troops on the far right advancing slowly near the beach.

The Count raised his hand slightly, and he noticed that the herald's gaze immediately looked at him, which made him withdraw his arm, and at this moment the Count suddenly felt that the quiet harbor opposite looked like a great trap waiting for him to throw himself into the net.

Suddenly, the gunfire on the left flank fell silently, and Don Sanchod immediately looked towards the high ground, and soon he saw his soldiers rushing onto the high ground with shouts, and then disappearing into the distance of the avenue, while the enemy could be seen retreating farther away.

"It's just an ambush lord," said an officer on horseback, sweat on his head and a big gash on his forehead, though it was winter, but he looked excited, "those Wallachians probably threw all their elite there, and now the door is open to you in Port Noto, my lord!" ”

Listening to the excited shouts of his men, Count Don Sanjod laughed, ashamed of his momentary wavering, and secretly surprised by the audacity of the Wallachians.

"I have heard that there is the Grand Duchess among them," said the Count to his men, "to give me my command, and if she is captured, she is to be given due respect, for her bravery has been respected by me." ”

After speaking, Don Sanchod raised his arms high and waved vigorously towards the port of Noto: "Attack!" ”