Queue, impact, fight.

One by one, the soldiers fell on the battlefield, and it was a piece of life.

Shouts of slaughter continued to be in the sky, gunfire was loud, and the rumbling sound of artillery resounded in the sky on the battlefield.

The people of Rometown had never seen such a hellish scene on earth.

They hid in fear in their homes or fled to distant fields, listening to the terrible noises coming from afar, and occasionally seeing small armies hurrying by.

The musketeer, Uomoto, leaned down slightly, allowing himself to hide behind a toppled carriage undetected.

Next to him, several of his squads of soldiers were also cautiously hunched over and waiting for his orders.

Soldiers who are familiar with Uomoto want to be his henchmen, as it means they can live longer.

Uomoto is very clever, which makes him more fortunate on the battlefield than others.

In head-to-head combat, Uomoto will choose to crouch or cat's waist, a small gesture that allows him to dodge an unknown number of bullets and arrows, and because he reloads faster, he always has more opportunities to spot possible threats.

Once separated from the group, Uomoto will find a way to find a safe place to dodge, and then shoot at the enemy with good marksmanship.

What's more, Uomoto will not let his men die easily, he will always rush to the defeated enemy to grab the loot after he is very sure, rather than putting himself in danger for money.

Not far ahead, several Aragonese soldiers were leaning close together, staring warily around.

The battle had been going on for a long time, and Uomoto didn't know what was going on on the battlefield, but he had seen more than a large Aragonese force retreat into the distance.

Uomoto was an experienced soldier, and although he was young, he spent much more time on the battlefield than he did in the countryside, so he was able to tell the difference between an orderly retreat and a completely panicked escape.

The Aragonese army was fleeing, and though they hadn't even thrown away their weapons to save their lives, they were clearly so frightened that they weren't interested in causing trouble even if anyone saw them.

Uomoto would keep an eye on the soldiers because he noticed that one of them, though his clothes were tattered and dirty, could still tell that the clothes were made of expensive materials and that he was a big man.

What's more, the man was still holding a spear wrapped in cloth.

No one on the battlefield would have wrapped a spear so closely, so Uomoto immediately guessed that it was a rolled-up banner.

Although far away, the occasional reflection of the sunlight on the rolled-up banner as the man walked around made Uomoto realize that it was the glow of the golden thread on the flag.

Uomoto licked his lips a little nervously, capturing a military flag was definitely a coveted honor for a soldier.

And those people are clearly lonely, and they are looking for companions, which is a golden opportunity.

"Follow me," Uomoto commanded in a low voice, as he checked his musket again and drew his sword and stuck it on the ground beside him, at a distance where the first shot would be left to hand-to-hand combat, "Listen, if we're lucky, we might be rewarded by Lord Gonzalo." ”

As he spoke, Uomoto raised his musket slightly, sticking out through the gaps in the wheels, aiming at the men who were passing near the carriage.

"Bang Bang Bang~"

Several muskets fired almost simultaneously, and the choking smoke instantly filled the eyes.

"Kill!"

As soon as the gunfire fell, Uomoto had already thrown away his musket, drew his sword next to him and rushed forward with a shout!

As soon as the shots rang out, some of the Aragonese had already been shot and fell to the ground, including the nobleman who was guarding the banner.

The Aragonese screamed in panic, and they desperately dragged the man up, a tall Aragonese soldier desperately carrying the wounded nobleman on his shoulder, and another struggling to grab the flag thrown on the ground and flee under the cover of his companions.

"Even if you run to the edge of the sky, don't even think about running away!"

Seeing that the loot was about to slip away, Uomoto shouted angrily as he ran forward without even caring about the enemies who had already been shot down, and ran directly past them.

The Aragonese were evidently panicked, and they ran to a dry ditch in a panic, and when they saw the pursuers in pursuit, the big soldier shouted something to his companion, and then jumped down the ditch with his companion with the opposing flag.

The rest of the men didn't jump down, they turned and clenched their weapons and stared at Uomoto and his men as they caught up.

This did not make Uomoto nervous but extremely excited, he knew that he was not mistaken, the injured nobleman must have been of high status, and the military flag must also be very important.

Looking at the Aragonese opposite, Uomoto suddenly smiled slyly.

His feet stopped, and almost at the same time a soldier who followed closely behind him picked up the musket that had just been lit.

This was Oumoto's cunning, and he kept one or two of his muskets in them for ammunition every time he fired, in order to prevent the enemy from appearing suddenly.

The burning sparks of the arquebus became a symbol of death at this moment, and the Aragonese rushed forward with a little hesitation.

The two sides immediately launched a tragic hand-to-hand encounter.

But neither in numbers nor in morale, the people of Aragon could not compare with the people of Uomoto,

With a muffled "thud", the arquebus rang out almost against the chest of an Aragonese.

A scorched black appeared on the man's chest blouse, and a stream of blood poured out.

The Aragonese seemed to be frightened by the shot, and their courage vanished in an instant, and they couldn't help but froze there, while Uomoto took the opportunity to put his sword on the neck of an enemy on the opposite side, while shouting at the others.

The Aragonese threw away their weapons, our courage had been worn out in the previous battle, and now the last bit of bravery had vanished with the sound of that shot in the face of this sudden attack.

"Go after those two guys!" Uomoto snatched the sword of the Aragonese on the other side and ran towards the ditch, not wanting his loot to be lost.

But when they ran to the edge of the ditch, they found the nobleman lying in the ditch, and judging by the twisted appearance of his body, he was already lifeless, and the two men were trying to light the flag with flint.

"Don't even think about it!"

In a fit of rage, Uomotto threw a sword at the two men, and the hilt slammed into the back of one of them, sending the flint out of his hand and flying out of his hand.

The two soldiers held the flag tightly, staring at the Castilian who stood on it and looked down at them, but after a brief confrontation between the two sides, the two men finally reluctantly placed the flag on the ground.

Uomoto immediately jumped into the ditch, and while he took care of his companion and stared at the two men, he hurriedly picked up the military flag and quickly tore it away.

A bright banner with yellow and red stripes appeared in front of Uomoto's eyes, and looking at the pattern of the two swords in the middle of the banner crossing each other on the shield with a crown blessing, Uomoto was stunned for a moment, and then his body trembled because of excitement.

His gaze fell to the nobleman who had fallen to the ground and had swallowed his breath, and the two soldiers said in a somewhat trembling voice: "Who is he?" ”

"His Majesty's Flag Bearer." The big soldier replied sullenly, "I am the retinue of the flag bearer." ”

"Of course," said Umomoto, who did not know whether it was disappointed or relieved, then he laughed out loud, "Behold, we have made a fortune this time, this is the banner of Aragon, the second only to the king's banner." ”

The captain's words made the Castilian soldiers rejoice for a moment, and the honor of capturing the enemy's flag was enough to pay them a large bounty.

Uomoto's companions escorted the soldiers away, and he crouched down to search the dead flag bearer.

A gold ring, an ivory amulet, and a coat that was tattered and still good to be mended, as well as a belt and a pair of well-made boots, were his trophies.

It was enough to have this, and he no longer cared about the captives' possessions.

In fact, that banner was already his greatest gain, and he had even seen the bounty that Lord Gonzalo had given him.

Of course, he didn't own the money, but even that was enough for him to make a fortune.

The battle continued, and continuous fire could be heard from artillery positions not far from the banks of the Ebro River.

The Aragonese army had tried to seize the Allied artillery positions, and their cavalry repeatedly attacked the Allied forces along the banks of the river, but they were stopped by the Sicilians who had been prepared for it.

The Sicilian musketeers were at that time to exert their peculiar power, and with the favorable terrain of large areas of pebbles on the river beach that were not conducive to the rapid approach of the cavalry, the musketeers were constantly tilting their projectiles at the enemy on the opposite side.

At the same time, the Castilians began to move forward to meet the opposing Aragonese army in formation.

However, before the enemy could go head-to-head, the Aragonese army was first bombarded by Allied artillery.

The artillery, which was not of great caliber, but was quickly transported to the battlefield on wheels by wagons and manpower, became a nightmare for the Aragonese army.

The shells whistled overhead, or came head-on, and the bones and muscles of those who were hit were immediately broken, and the flesh and blood were blurred, and what was even more terrifying was that no one knew if the next shell would fall on their heads.

This great fear hung over the hearts of the Aragonese soldiers, and to their dismay, because the army had been assembled too hastily, the Aragonese had very few artillery to pull into battle.

As a result, the Aragonese had to endure heavy fire from the enemy's flank artillery, and gradually approached the enemy on the opposite side.

It wasn't without Aragonese generals who wanted to take down those pesky artillery, but they soon discovered the Coalition's cunning intention to place artillery positions near the riverbank.

A large rocky strip was the best protection for the coalition forces, and the Sicilians reaped the Aragonese who tried to rush through the dead strip with their sharp firearms behind the impassable strip.

The pace of the battle was not fast, and unlike the Aragonese army, which was eager to fight a decisive battle with the enemy, the coalition forces held their positions steadily, and Gonzalo even had some felled trees and a large number of branches temporarily tied together in front of the position in advance.

This may seem to be of little effect, but when the Aragonese rushed to the front of these obstacles, they were forced to stop and pass slowly.

It was at this time that the coalition forces began to fire heavily at the Aragonese army.

In addition to the musket, the bow and crossbow also exerted great power at this moment.

The Aragonese who were held back by the obstacle fell to the ground like the French at Agincourt.

But unlike the French, the Aragonese began with an orderly retreat.

They wanted to retreat out of range of the enemy's weapons before attacking, but Gonzalo clearly didn't want to give them that chance.

When the Aragonese cavalry, which had not been able to capture the artillery positions, began to retreat, the musket units, which had been holding their positions, began to counterattack.

At the same time, the Sicilian grenadiers, who had been gathering on the terraces higher in the town of Rome to watch, marched forward in a neat manner to the sound of war drums.

"Gonzalo de Córdoba."

Standing high on the terrace and looking at the battlefield below, Alexander whispered to himself with a slight sigh.

Next to him, Schell was breathing heavily and his face was full of excitement.

In the past, because I was in the middle of a battle, the tension and danger of every moment made people not in the mood to care about other things.

Now he can see the entire battlefield like a bystander, which makes Schelle can't help but be completely shocked by the scene in front of him.

"Master, if I were to go back to the countryside to farm now, I think I would suffocate to death." Schell suddenly said this without a clue.

His words made Alexander smile lightly.

With Schelle's current net worth, even if he returns to the countryside to farm, he will be a landlord who makes those big nobles jealous.

So he understood what Scheer meant.

"Then don't go home," Alexander said, looking back at Scheer, "follow me to a new and unknown world, where I will build a new empire, and you can always follow my side, and maybe one day you can follow my son." ”

Schell looked excited, he knew what Alexander was hinting at, and he knew who the "son" he was talking about would be.

Now hearing Alexander's personal promises, the Balkans seem to have a faint glimpse of their own future.

"Schelle, the world is very big," Alexander sat on his horse and spread his arms as if to embrace the entire battlefield and beyond, "one day I will go to the New World, and I hope that many of you will continue to follow me by then." ”

The drums of war are like thunder, the sound of artillery is shaking the sky, the battlefield is full of fighting, and there are lives dying in the smoke-filled wilderness anytime and anywhere.

Eventually, there was a rush of confusion on the left flank of the Aragonese ranks, and the confusion was so abrupt that by the time the Castilians on the other side reacted, the Aragonese troops had begun to retreat in a hurry.

"What happened?" Gonzalo asked with some surprise.

"My lord, it seems to be ...... The formation of the Aragonese collapsed! ”

An officer climbed a tree and looked into the distance, then stood on it and excitedly shouted to Gonzalo: "The enemy is fleeing, our men are pursuing, God!" Catch up, catch up! ”

Listening to the officer's words, Gonzalo also tried to straighten up and look into the distance on tiptoe, but he saw swaying figures and drifting smoke.

"Forward." Gonzalo gave the order.

The Sicilian grenadiers stepped forward, glancing to the right out of the corner of their eyes, because the commander of the grenadier column would be on the right side of the queue.

The commander blew the whistle, and the grenadiers took their muskets off their shoulders.

Reload, tamp, raise the gun, aim.

The movements are neat and oppressive.

Someone in the ranks of Castilian soldiers on the side licked their dry tongues, and at that moment someone remembered the moment when they had stood opposite the muzzles.

The sound of shooting rose and fell, and the smoke of gunpowder enveloped the open area between the two armies, and also covered the bloody scene.

Men began to flee from the ranks, retreating enemies were driven down the platform, and the Aragonese formation gradually showed signs of collapse from disarray.

The signs of disintegration became more and more obvious, especially when the flag team that was originally in the center of the formation was found to be shaken, and at that moment, even Ferdinand, who was far behind the line and knew nothing about commanding operations, suddenly realized that perhaps the most critical moment of this battle had arrived.

But what disappointed him soon followed, as Ferdinand watched as his flag team was attacked and routed.

As the soldiers retreated, the Aragonese were shocked to find that their flag had disappeared in the chaos of the war!

The battle continued, but even the most optimistic did not think that the Aragonese had any chance of recovering their defeat.

Ferdinand's royal camp began to move, and he hurried into the carriage under the protection of a group of attendants, and after glancing at the already desperate battlefield, Ferdinand patted the roof of the carriage with a grim face, and the carriage drove along the bumpy road towards the lower Ebro under the protection of the guards.

Shortly after the king's royal camp left, the first defeated Aragonese army arrived.

When they saw the empty camp, littered with all sorts of discarded debris, the last hope of supporting the Aragonese was shattered.

The Aragon army began a great retreat.

Listening to the sound of the Cassie coalition army chasing and killing from afar and near behind, the Aragonese army ran faster.

By this time the sky had gradually darkened, and the short days of late autumn were the best helpers for the Aragonese people.

On the battlefield that was gradually shrouded in darkness, there were flickering and trance figures everywhere, and the sound of gunfire and fighting cries from time to time sounded so close, but so far away.

Ferdinand's carriage was moving forward in the dark, and his attendants had quietly ordered the banner to be hoisted, which was detrimental to the king's dignity, but safety was paramount at such times.

After all, anything can happen in the darkness where you can barely reach your fingers and can cover up all evil, and sometimes your own people are even more terrible and dangerous.

I don't know how far it had gone, but the carriage that had been speeding down at last slowed down, and under the guidance of the head guard, the team walked in the direction of the city of Gawell in the lower reaches of the Ebro River.

It was the last city on the south bank of the Ebro River to Zaragoza, and after passing through Gaeul, the road to Zaragoza was unobstructed.

A detachment of cavalry suddenly passed by the path near the guards, which immediately caused a commotion.

The captain of the guard stared nervously at the uninvited guests, and when he noticed that they did not seem to have any malicious intent, it was only after a hurried pass that the captain motioned for his men to hide the muskets and crossbows that were already about to be lit.

In the darkness of the night, from time to time, people hurried past the vicinity of the procession, perhaps because the coalition forces had stopped their pursuit, and the retreating Aragonese army was not exhausted.

More and more retreating troops gathered around the procession, and it was clear that on nights like these, people were more willing to gather together because of the instinctive fear of the darkness.

A complaining grumble entered the carriage, and Ferdinand looked out through the window.

Everything was blurry in the night, except for countless figures swaying in the fields.

Torches were lit, which caused a wave of rebuke, but when it became clear that the light did not cause any danger, more and more people lit up their various lighting tools.

The stars in the whole wilderness are like the starry sky overhead, and when the night wind blows, the "starlight" in those fields is sometimes disillusioned, and sometimes it flashes brightly like a phantom void light.

It was supposed to be a pleasant scene, but it seemed to Ferdinand to be a silent sarcasm at him, and the faintly audible curses and whining made him feel as if an invisible blade was piercing his heart.

"Your Majesty is windy outside," the attendant beside him cautioned, trying to pull the baffle on the window, but was stopped by Ferdinand.

"Gawell must be guarded." Ferdinand said in a dull tone, "You rush back to Zaragoza tonight, and ask them to mobilize all the forces at their disposal to support Gawell, and you must not let that Gombray go any further." ”

"But Your Majesty, the rebellion in Valencia has not yet been quelled, and we may not have so many broken troops to support Gawell." The attendant officer cautioned.

"Then mobilize Chen Fangjun from Zaragoza." Ferdinand said with some annoyance.

"But then Zaragoza will become an empty city," the attendant said, fearing that "if anything happens......

"But if that Gombray is allowed to go under the city of Zaragoza and cut off from the outside world, then we may lose not a single Zaragoza, but the whole of Aragon."

The guard looked in amazement at Ferdinand's melancholy eyes in the darkness, the first time Ferdinand had admitted that someone might threaten his throne.

"Gawell, that will be the place where absolutely me and Gombray will be the victors."

Ferdinand's eyes were cast ahead in the night, his voice low and lonely.

"General, let our soldiers rest well and enjoy today's victory," Alexander was saying to Gonzalo at this time, "and then wait until dawn for us to move on." ”

"Where is Your Highness our target?"

"Gawell!"