Of course, this was not a good place for a long conversation, but the Bishop and General Gonzalo waited a while, and their squire examined the horse that had fallen first, and found that one of its hooves had been stuck in the burrow dug by the mole, so that it lost its balance, and broke another leg when it fell, and even after hundreds of years, there was no need to save such a horse, but another innocent horse, which only limped a little after standing up, An experienced knight thought that it was only a muscle injury in the legs and feet, "and it will be fine with herbs." He said.

The owner of the horse muttered sadly for a while, took off the arquebus from behind, slowly cleaned the fire hole and the primer pot, found the primer pot, opened the lid, and took out some primer from the inside into the primer pot, pressed it with his thumb, closed the lid of the primer pot, and then pulled a small bottle from the chest strap, poured all the powder in the bottle into the muzzle, and took out the projectile from the leather box on the right side, and also loaded it from the muzzle, after groping for a while, A slender strip was drawn from above the barrel of the arquebus, inserted into the muzzle, and smashed down four or five times back and forth, tamping the projectile and the propellant...... Light the arquebus and clip it onto the arquebus...... His eyes widened as he looked around him, and the curious Spaniards nodded, "Close your eyes, everyone." ”

Then he put the barrel of the gun on the horse's head, also closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger.

He heard the lid of the primer pot snap open, and the primer sizzled, igniting the gunpowder, and the wooden butt in his hand shook suddenly, and the projectile flew out of the barrel.

The projectile shattered half of the horse's face, but the horse did not die, but struggled more and more violently and painfully, and there were blood and spit everywhere, and after obtaining the consent of his master, the javelin knight, who was choking on the smoke and coughing, drew his short sword and gave the poor horse a good time.

"Do you have to use it?" The Javelin Knight asked, muttering to himself that this was enough time for them to launch two attacks back and forth.

Then he heard the other sigh: "What else?" The owner of the horse said: "We are arquebusiers." ”

————————————————————————————

The mercenaries' pretense was effective, and before dinner was time, Giulio had the pleasure of seeing how General Gonzalo's smile slowly faded.

The general, who was over forty years old and had a beard that was curled up to the sides, lamented from the bottom of his heart, what he needed now was a heavily armed army capable of dealing with the Edict Knights and Swedish spearmen, and when he heard that Archbishop Lukka had brought three hundred men, he had even expected that there might be a legendary Templar among them, but in fact, not only were mercenaries, but they were also hell arquebusiers—he didn't believe much at first, But there really wasn't anything unfamiliar with the arquebuses they wielded, and the young bishop showed him around their weapons boxes, yes, all arquebuses, from short to long, and an oversized arquebus weighing thirty pounds...... The poor general couldn't help but feel black at the thought of the cost of these arquebuses, and if he had so much money, he could have assembled a small army of heavily armored cavalry in full plate armor.

But when he saw Giulio's face eagerly anticipating a response, he could not say anything, and if he could, the general did not want to tell the boy who was trying to do a good job, that he had been deceived by the combination of his mercenaries and merchants, and that the arquebus would be of no use in the coming battle except to make some smoke to interfere with the enemy's vision.

"It's good." He said dryly.

General Gonzalo was indeed not a bad man, as Ralph and others had hoped, after landing on the Calabrian Peninsula, the closest to Sicily, and on the battlefield he had chosen with the French commander Aubigny, he placed Giulio's mercenaries in the rear with his two hundred arquebusiers, and also specially arranged for Giulio...... In case of horses and boats.

It was the first time Giulio had faced a real battlefield, and he was surrounded by six hundred Spanish knights, fifteen hundred swordsmen, eight hundred pikemen, fourteen hundred crossbowmen, and five hundred arquebusiers (all he had learned from General Gonzalo, in fact he could only see a black crushed human head, splendid clothes, and spears and muskets protruding from the shoulders - these words might have been ridiculed in writing by people hundreds of years later, but you are in the middle of it, and you see for yourself those cold weapons, shining armor, When you smell the grease of wiping steel, the smoke of burning grass and trees (to level the battlefield), the restless neighing of horses, and the heavy breathing of people, you don't feel like it's just a ...... In the small battle, even the mercenaries who were ready to retreat were all solemn and nervous.

Ralph's name means wolf in German, and he has a keen sense of smell as one might think, but at the same time he has eyes as sharp as a falcon, and he rides on his beloved black horse, looking at the formation of the French army, and the large area of restless Neapolitans, and can't help but shake his head, there are many times, numbers do not mean victory, the Spaniards and Neapolitans are at least half as many as the French, but as General Gonzalo said, A herd of sheep will only be driven away by the wolves - only now they cannot retreat, at the orders of General Gonzalo, or when the situation on the battlefield is already in shambles...... Otherwise, this defeat is likely to be held accountable to them.

As for why he said that......

There was only a bright stream between the French and the Spaniards, and the Neapolitans, and the French commander Aubigny was the first to launch a powerful attack, and he personally led more than a thousand knights to charge towards the Neapolitans, among whom were about three or four hundred edict knights who terrified their enemies, all covered with bright iron armor, and carrying thick cavalry spears with thick arms, the metal cones of which shimmered in the sunlight, and they made several columns, spread a wide line, and the horses' hooves stepped into the stream, Countless splashes of light were sprinkled on the crowd like a torrential rain, and with this torrential rain was the sound of hooves like thunder, which almost uniformly stepped on the ground, and even the earth shook, and as they moved forward, it was like a whole steel shell, and the spiky walls were like hedgehogs moving.

This is a sight that even the battle-hardened mercenaries or knights will shake it, not to mention the Neapolitan soldiers who were originally just some peasants, although they are armed with weapons, they have long been frightened by this terrible sight, their eyes are blurred with tears, and their knees are even weaker and unable to move, and when the Neapolitan front and the French front first come into contact, people hear a strange sound, which can only be heard on a few battlefields, a loud and dense crackling sound that fills through the sky— It was the sound of a spear piercing into the body and breaking from it, and the people who were stabbed by the spear did not fall down slowly with their guns in their hands, as in the play, they were thrown high into the air, falling into their camp like cannonballs, and hitting two or three people before rolling to the ground. The sight was accompanied by the sound of the horse's hooves breaking and the horse's hooves stomping on the ground, and even the sunlight would be temporarily obscured.

The Neapolitans' seemingly heavy front was suddenly torn apart by a huge gap.

General Gonzalo roared, and the Spaniards had gone round to the side of the French, and they threw their javelins at the enemy, who, while the latter pursued them on horseback, they galloped swiftly to the rear of the Neapolitans with great dexterity, and then, as Ralph had predicted, the worst of the worst had been—the Neapolitan soldiers, who had not worked with the Spaniards, had not read a book, and who had joined the army did not know what tactics were, and as soon as they saw the javelin knights scattered, they considered them defeated, wanted to escape, so they immediately laid down their weapons, threw away their leather armor, and ran towards the desert.

The javelin knights can be said to have initially restrained the French charge, if the Neapolitan army can cooperate, Aubigny may not be able to get any benefit, in this way, the French can directly drive straight in, threatening the key point of Naples - the position of the king of Naples, seeing this situation, the javelin knights and the only five hundred tribute cavalry had to rush forward, with their own flesh and blood to resist the royal knight's several attacks, Gonzalo's lieutenant urged the captains to rush up and down the battlefield, like shepherds driving the soldiers back to their original positions, but the Swedish spearmen behind the knights had already crossed the stream and taken their positions, and they formed a phalanx, marching forward to the beat of the drum, their spears sticking out of their heads, protruding more than the length of a grown man, dense as the warp on a loom, and the speed at which they thrust in, if not comparable to the cavalry, seemed to be much slower. The soldiers who dared to confront them were the first to be strung with spears, and those who fled with their backs to them did not end well, and there were those who were agile or lucky enough to escape the spearmen's penetration, only to be singled out and killed by the halberdiers or crossbowmen who surrounded the phalanx of spears.

The Neapolitans' battle line, which had been barely bridged under the command of General Gonzalo, was once again torn apart, and even General Gonzalo could not save them. Seriously, he was going to start worrying about himself now, because after the Neapolitan rout, his entire right wing was exposed to the French, and his left wing was being destroyed by the French

Julio. The Medici had been watching the situation on the battlefield, his body was tense, his hands were tightly gripping the reins, his face was pale, and Ralph was about to ask him if he needed to wait any longer, when he suddenly pointed to the side of the battlefield: "That's the king of Naples!" He exclaimed excitedly, "He doesn't seem to be doing well!" The mercenary captains around him immediately caught the name of the symbol of wealth and glory, and they looked towards the chaotic battlefield, and sure enough, they saw a man dressed in extraordinary sumplenty, wearing a crown on his head, getting up from the ground in disarray, his horse was dying, and he was surrounded by some Neapolitan peasants, and no French had noticed him yet.

"Go and save him." Giulio commanded, "That's the king, and no one knows when they'll be able to save a king." ”

The two mercenary captains have long been eager to try, a king! In addition to a great reward, they may also receive a knighthood, a territory, and go from wandering mercenaries to nobles, and they rush into battle almost without hesitation, without even summoning soldiers to follow them - they believe that they are skilled enough to bring back the king without the need for others to share the credit. Ralph hesitated for a moment, after all, he was still entrusted with the Medici and Neri families, but Giulio smiled very tolerantly, "Go ahead," he said, "I will wait for you in that woods with these lads, and promise not to go anywhere." ”

Ralph glanced up, and sure enough, he saw a grove of trees not far away, growing on a pair of raised hills, with a narrow road below, and some distance from the battlefield, and finally greed overcame his duty: "I'll be back soon." He said.