The Italian heavy cavalry was not inferior to the Greeks in terms of impact, morale, and equipment defense, although the discipline and training were slightly worse, but what really determined the difference between the two sides was the equipment.

After a round of cavalry guns collided with each other, the first row of knights on both sides shot and died, and the screams of knights and horses were incessant, followed by the second row of knights competing for riding and spearmanship.

For an extremely short period of time, adjust the angle of the mounted spear in your hand to stab the opponent, and dodge or block the opponent's mounted spear with a shield.

If everything is normal, the shield will be damaged under the strong impact of the opponent, and at this time you can see the difference between the two sides, and the training level of the Italian heavy cavalry is obviously not as good as that of the ironclad paladers, and they will suffer heavy casualties in the process.

Immediately, the cavalry of the two sides became entangled, and it was very difficult to separate the second charge, and it was easy to be chased by the enemy, so the knights on both sides discarded their cavalry guns and drew their secondary weapons to engage in hand-to-hand combat, which was the weapon gap mentioned before.

Western knights like to use the long sword as their off-hand weapon, but as a cavalry, the performance of the long sword is not as good as the scimitar when chopping, and the armor-piercing ability is not as good as the battle axe, war hammer, mace, although it has been popular in the knight class for a long time, the knight's swordsmanship has been widely spread, and the knight's sword thrust tactics can also effectively kill and injure the opponent, but it is still the same sentence, if you want to stab the opponent with a long sword of one meter two on horseback, this is only possible for a small number of elite knights.

In fact, the Italian heavy cavalry, adhering to the pragmatism of merchants, used not long swords, but broad-edged swords with thicker blades and larger blades, which were more suitable for chopping, which were still slightly cheaper than ordinary knights, but still a little more tragic than the mace of the ironclad paladier.

Neither in terms of numbers, nor in terms of armament, nor in terms of organization and training, they were inferior to the ironclad paladions, so the Italian heavy cavalry had no better adjective than tragedy to describe these guys.

However, even so, this outcome still did not satisfy Basil II, because under the desperate resistance of the Italian heavy cavalry, the losses of the ironclad paladers were also very large, although the visual measurement was not accurate, but it can also be seen that for every three Italian heavy cavalry killed, one ironclad paladon died.

"Dispatch the Bow Wing! Guards Cavalry Wing! Latin Heavy Cavalry United! Basil II continued to order.

The Italians on the opposite side could only have 1,500 cavalry, but Basil II could dispatch more than 14,000 light and heavy cavalry in three wings with a single order, which was a terrifying number that exceeded the entire army of an ordinary small country. ”

"Cavalry! It's the cavalry of the Greeks! ”

Seeing the opposing cavalry swarming like a tide, the Italians felt like a flat boat in a stormy sea, and they could capsize at any time.

But again, money burns people's courage, merchants and citizens roar wildly in such adversity, the Italian elite spear militia and other militias are closely lined up to form a thick shield wall, and behind them the heavily armed giant shield crossbowmen from Genoa, Bologna, and Venice frantically pull their bows and string their bows, shooting desperately, it is the Venetian archers with oriental-style compound bows who stretch their bows and shoot out special rockets smeared with fire oil, and dense arrows form a fire net in the sky, Shoot a large number of Greek cavalry.

Then the Scythian archers from Asia Minor, and the Vadateri archers from Hungary, who had just formed a group, also opened their compound bows and began to fire, and the rain of arrows quickly overshadowed the long-range attacks of the Italian coalition, while tearing several gaps in the Italian formation, after which the heavy cavalry in scale armor, a total of two companies of Guards cavalry, and the Latin cavalry rushed towards the Italian army.

"It's over!" Part of the Italians shouted in despair.

At this moment, a frenzied roar erupted from the coalition forces: "For the glory of Christ, charge!" ”

The pilgrims, who had been despised by the Italian soldiers, who had been ridiculed as serfs, filthy mud, maggot-like creatures, fanatically shouted slogans, brandished oak sticks, wood-clad crosses, daggers, short swords, and other crude and rudimentary weapons, and rushed madly towards the galloping cavalry in a fanatically twisted manner.

Shock the Greeks' ironclad heavy cavalry head-on with flesh and blood!

Crushed, kicked, smashed, pierced,

And yet still crazy, fanatical, extreme.

More than half of the 10,000 pilgrims were killed or wounded in this counter-charge, but their earth-shattering roar and noble devotion inspired the Italian soldiers and greatly shocked the Greek cavalry, after which a small number of 200 Crusader knights in the Crusaders charged the Greek cavalry, which outnumbered them forty times, and the Italian Crusaders dominated the battlefield at this moment.

The Crusader Knights were all willing to participate in this holy war, intending to wash their sins under the banner of Catholicism, and some of them may have participated in the war for money and honor, but this does not mean that their faith is not strong, especially in this atmosphere, the pilgrims died generously one after another, the Crusader Knights were both encouraged and felt depressed, people are all the same, the Crusader Knights are only two hundred people, but they dare to charge the Ten Thousand Heresy Cavalry, this is the same.

"Holy! Holy!! Holy !! Lord of Hosts!!! ”

The Crusader knights roared and shouted, raising their horses to the fastest speed, basking in the frenzy of chasing the wind and lightning, as if they could poke a hole in the walls of wrought iron even if they were hindered by the walls of wrought iron.

The pagan archers from Scythia were frightened in an instant, and the knights, who were covered in white and only had a blood-red cross painted on their chests, scattered and fled as if they had seen a monster, and the Vadaduanthai archers from Hungary had also lost the courage to fight, and although they had not yet collapsed, it was difficult to get them to go further.

In the end, it was the two wings of the Guards cavalry who mustered up their courage and roared and rushed forward to fight with the crusaders, and the Guards cavalry were also equipped with scale armor with men and horses, and chain mail was hidden under the scale armor, and leather armor was hidden under the chain mail.

Although the defense is slightly weaker, the faster speed is exchanged for more impact, although it is still not far behind the Crusader knights who are like the wind and fire, and there is also a numerical advantage.

The two wings of the Guards cavalry were 2,000 men, twice as many as the Crusader knights, and the ratio of 10:1 was 10:1, and if the other side could muster up the courage to fight back, if no miracle happened, there was only one way left to defeat.

In the face of such adversity, the Crusader knights fought undiminished, and with their own will and piety, they bravely attacked the cavalry of the Guards in a frenzied and even tragic manner, completely ignoring their own wounds, their broken spears and their swords, until the moment they were killed, the shouts and battles continued, and the name of the Lord of Hosts resounded in the sky.

In such a tragic atmosphere, the Italian coalition abandoned its defensive formation, and all its men turned to attack the Greek army, even the priests and bishops from the Papal States, who held large crosses that had been seen as decorations, brandished heavy scepters, and wore splendid but undefensible silk robes, which were full of holy scrolls of religious flowers, and were now about to be stained with blood.

"Are the Italians crazy?"

Seeing the behavior of the Italian army, Basil II was first surprised, then angry, since when did a group of insignificant little bugs dare to challenge the great Roman Empire? These damn guys all deserve to be hanged.

Basil II gave an order, attacking against attack, and the front line of 80,000 Greek troops, four regular legions, and four levy legions all turned into offensive formations and rushed towards the Italians, while the remaining two wings of the ironclad paladers, and the remaining eight wings of the Guards cavalry, and tens of thousands of iron cavalry also rushed towards the Italians.

Moments after the start of the war, the conflict between the two sides was in full swing.

The soldiers on both sides fought bravely, the soldiers shouted wildly, and fought mercilessly, such a fierce tactic is actually not suitable for the use of contradictory soldiers, the most suitable tactics for these soldiers are to close together, form a shield wall with shields, and constantly stab with spears in their hands, relying on the strength and formation of the group to fight, rather than relying on impact and personal lethality like two-handed swordsmen and two-handed axes.

But at this time, it is useless to say so much, besides, in this chaotic battlefield, the main forces of the two sides are scattered everywhere with heavy cavalry and pilgrims, and it is simply impossible to attack forward in the posture of a large phalanx, and the northern Italian army at this moment has not yet learned to make a more miniaturized phalanx, in fact, even if there is such a tactical skill, with the ability of this group of small citizens, there is no way to materialize it, so it can only be such a chaotic battle.

In such a chaotic battle, the hoplites of Venice and Bologna shined, these heavy infantry holding square shields, holding armor-piercing hammers, and wearing plate chain composite armor The impact power is considerable, and the attack power is even higher, and the armor-piercing hammer in the hand is also one of the sharp weapons against the heavy armor soldiers, if you put aside the shield and wave your luck with both hands, then you can even make the ironclad paladier suffer heavy losses, but unfortunately the number of these soldiers is pitiful, and the two cities together are only more than a thousand people, It is completely impossible to have much impact on the situation of the battle.

The main battle arms of both sides are contradictory soldiers, the only difference is that the Northern Italian Front is not as good as the hoplites of Eastern Rome in terms of equipment and quality, and although the hoplite phalanx of Eastern Rome is a bit outdated in Randy's opinion, it is more than enough to deal with the rabble of Northern Italy!

Under the cover of their own contradictory phalanx, the Eastern Roman cavalry gradually regained their formation, re-energized their morale, and joined the war with the Italians, so that the Eastern Romes besieged the Northern Italian army with 100,000 men.

The Northern Italian army was originally only about 35,000, and most of the remaining 15,000 crusaders died heroically in the previous battle, and the Italian army was less than 30,000 at this moment, and the 100,000 Eastern Roman army was able to gain the upper hand for a while, and even defeated the opponent one after another.

"Kill! Kill them! Kill them all! ”

Basil II was furious, shouted loudly, seeing that the other party blindly broke through, and even broke through the phalanx of five brigades of heavy infantry in a row, and the cavalry was completely unable to use it on such a chaotic battlefield, although the opponent's spear looked a little ridiculous when dealing with the ironclad paladier, but as long as the ironclad paladier fell off his horse, he would be beaten to death.

The morale of the Northern Italian army was like a rainbow, desperately marching forward, getting closer and closer to the Eastern Roman army commander's banner, Basil II scolded angrily, couldn't care much, waved his hand, thousands of Trabizon archers came forward with bows and arrows, a rain of arrows shot out indiscriminately, barely interrupting the posture of the Northern Italians, and then hurriedly replenished four brigades of hoplites on the front line, which was a sigh of relief.

But today, this group of northern Italia was determined to get along with Basil II, and seeing that the attack on the front line was frustrated, Bishop Hilde, who was in the midst of the chaos, gritted his teeth and said: "The Papal Guard advances!" Swiss Guards march! ”

With the cardinal's words, the army of the Papal States, which had the intention of preserving its strength, finally came up with the army at the bottom of the box, two thousand papal guards wearing plate chain composite armor, armed with cross-shaped short guns, square shields and Swiss guards with two-handed halberds, these three thousand elites are the core of the Papal States. Take out all the two armies, and tell Hilde not to use them until he has to.

Seeing that the so-called last resort is almost there, if you don't use it now, you won't be able to use it after a while.

Amid the rhythm of a large number of clergy chanting hymns, the elite troops built by the Papal States at the cost of gold and silver appeared in a grand manner, and a total of 3,000 elites of the Papal States stepped forward, and the friendly troops on both wings automatically made a way for them.

The armor they wore was shining silver, a layer of unstained, and the weapons in their hands were cold and shining, which was very powerful.

The 1,000 Swiss guards held halberds, and the five-element two-person wide phalanx leveled the Swiss halberds, and the 1,000 people were like one person, and their footsteps were all stepping on a drum to move forward, and the halberds in their hands were all handy.

The phalanx of Eastern Roman hoplites was completely unable to stop their advance!

As for the arrows fired by those composite bows, it was difficult to break through their sturdy armor.

The war has made waves again, the two wings of the phalanx composed of the Swiss Guards, the two thousand Papal Guards closely form a ten-by-ten phalanx, slowly advancing to protect the two wings of the Swiss Guards, the phalanx soldiers are all facing outwards but can still walk in unison, the front five rows are advancing, and the back five rows are backwards and forward, this ability seems to be more rare than the Swiss Guards, the whole phalanx is like a moving iron hedgehog, which makes people completely unable to speak.

At the same time, the cross spears in the hands of these soldiers were more lethal than the ordinary one-handed short spears or spears, and the cross-shaped tips were thickened and lengthened, making them more powerful than ordinary spears.

The barbs at the ends of the cross are much heavier, looking like a pickaxe or a short-handled, and can be used to pierce armor when wielded with all your might, and the heavy head of this cross-gun requires a counterweight of tapered iron at the tail to maintain fitness balance and stab paralyzed enemies on the ground when lifting.

(End of chapter)