It is customary to call the formation, and the general situation is as follows......

"We are for justice!"

"We are the ones who stand for justice!"

"Our faith is correct, and you are heretics."

"Our beliefs are right, and you are heretics."

Taking advantage of this time, the commanders of both sides also began to give their subordinates a final morale boost.

"Money, beauty, glory, faith!"

Immediately, the war began......

With the earth-shattering shouts of killing, all the wild animals within a radius of dozens of kilometers were trembling with fear, and the two cavalry units that rushed to the forefront began to strangle.

Before that, Narcisse had studied the tactics of the Western heavy cavalry, and carefully deduced the wave charge tactics used by Randy, and knew in his heart that the other party was definitely an expert in the use of cavalry, and his own infantry array was not enough to see, and the only way to fight against it was to fight fast, move to impress, and ride to ride.

But the Normans weren't the only ones in this battle!

The 100,000 coalition forces were lined up by Randy in the following formation......

In the middle is Randy's headquarters, 40,000 Norman elites.

On the left flank were 20,000 Burgundian troops and 5,000 Genoese troops.

On the right flank were 10,000 French troops and 10,000 Papal States.

The rest of the Bologna Army, as well as the vagrants and rangers who participated in the crusade in their own capacity, were deployed at the very edge.

Elite troops garrison the center, a strong array in the center with weak wings!

The Narsis formation on the opposite side was different from Randy's.

Five regular Roman legions were lined up, still three formations of twenty-five columns, two Germanic legions and one Varangian legion were deployed at the front of the battlefield in a zigzag shape, and on either flank were two garrison legions, each numbering a few thousand men, so that it appeared to be a slightly improved cone.

Because Narcis knew that if he wanted to fight the Norman iron cavalry, he had to use the same cavalry in order to win, so Narsis struck five Roman legions, two thousand five hundred Roman lancers, and two Germanic legions of one thousand barbarian cavalry, a total of three thousand five hundred light heavy cavalry, as the tip of the conical formation of this huge army of nearly 100,000.

Randy looked at the enemy army in this formation, sighed softly, and frowned.

Joan of Arc, who was standing next to her, dressed in a nun's dress and wearing a hat that barely covered her eyes, also sighed and walked over to take Randy's slightly cold hands.

"They died for Jesus Christ!" Joan of Arc comforted.

"Fart, they died for Yu Zhan!" Randy almost couldn't hold back, saying this, but finally slowly pulled out his command knife, and his eyes erupted with a terrifying glint of hunters seeing their prey.

"All cavalry!"

"All charge!"

A heavy horn sounded, and the Norman 4,300 elite cavalry rushed towards the Eastern Roman cavalry formation.

"This ...... What happened to Randy's Majesty? Why did you lose your temper so much just after the war? Cardinal Heard asked in a whisper as he grabbed one of the knights of the Guard.

"You see, the enemy has arranged a cone formation, and even brought out a large number of elite heavy cavalry, this posture is intended to storm the center of our army, and the center is His Majesty Randy's troops, so whether this battle is won or lost, the Norman army will suffer heavy losses."

"I see!" Cardinal Heard nodded, indicating that he understood.

Although Randy is quite reluctant, he is helpless, and the next thing to do is not to suffer from gains and losses, but to adjust as soon as possible to defeat the other party.

The advantage of the cone-arrow formation is that it breaks through from the center with a strong army.

Whether it's hoplites, Varangian troops, or Germanic legions, these infantry are extremely capable of assault, and they fit the bill.

After Randy got angry, he felt a little relieved, because the 40,000 elites under his command were deployed in the middle, not the garbage of other countries, otherwise he might really be broken through by the other party.

Now, as long as he and his two columns of French, Burgundian and tripartite armies can resist a few of the enemy's charges, then the coalition army, which is wider than the enemy's frontal array, can form a semi-encirclement of the enemy from the flank.

If several charges are unsuccessful, and the charge is lost and then surrounded by the enemy, then the battle is 80% victorious.

After trying to calm down, Randy lifted his monocular and looked into the center of the battlefield......

The cavalry clusters on both sides were like a blue and a purple, and two huge monsters with fangs and claws pounced on each other, trying to kill each other with their fangs and claws, tearing them apart, tearing them apart, and completely swallowing them into their stomachs.

The moment the two sides were about to meet, it was a rain of arrows, and the short compound bow in the hands of the professional hussars, although the attack power was lost a lot because of the wind direction, but it was better than nothing, the first arrow basically did not hit, but the second arrow was much better.

In addition, what Randy didn't expect was that among the two so-called barbarian cavalry sent by the two so-called Germanic legions on the other side, there were also many horse archers, which made Randy startled.

Previously, Randy, as the name suggests, thought that the other Germanic legion should basically be a professional mercenary recruited from Central Europe, Northern Europe, Western Europe, and this area, but what Randy didn't expect was not the case at this time, and the mercenaries recruited by the Eastern Roman Empire from these places were all in another professional mercenary legion, the Latin Legion.

And this so-called Germanic legion includes barbarian soldiers recruited in Asia Minor, Crimea, Bulgaria, and even North Africa, including Seljuk Pu, Turkic, Tatar, Hun and Magyar cavalry archers, Slavic light infantry armed with tomahawk round shields, spear infantry from Berber in North Africa, Serbs, Croatians, Bulgarians and other ethnic groups from the Balkans armed with javelins, round shields, scimitars, etc......

Randy feels that as one of the branches of the Germanic people, he seems to be despised by others, even if the Germans are barbarians, but not all barbarians are Germanic, you barbarian mercenaries, is Rome so good? Okay, so that you have forgotten your ancestors?!

In any case, the barbarian cavalry archers who were also equipped with short compound bows were similar to the professional hussars, and they did not work at all, and the two sides ultimately had to rely on hand-to-hand combat to decide the victory.

In the first round of heavy cavalry charges, almost defeated, the follow-up soldiers of both sides began hand-to-hand combat, and the Norman cavalry units wielding long swords, tomahawks, and maces, blessed by the chant chanted loudly by the Field Order, soon gained the upper hand in the battle against the Eastern Roman lancers.

Whether it is a tomahawk or a mace, it can have the upper hand against the lancers equipped with light chain mail, while the long sword in the opponent's hand is difficult to deal effective damage to the heavy chain mail of the Norman heavy cavalry.

After a fierce battle, the Norman cavalry quickly gained the upper hand, but some barbarian cavalry used maces, flails, and axes that were more damaging to the Norman cavalry.

At the same time, on Randy's left and right flanks, the feudal knights of France and Burgundy, as well as the knights' servants and other irregular cavalry, also began to join in the fun.

The two countries, which also had more than 1,000 light and heavy cavalry, outflanked from both flanks to speed up the defeat of the Eastern Roman cavalry, but the Papal States army, which also had 200 heavily armed Italian heavy cavalry, did not dispatch this force at the same time, which made Randy feel a little angry.

"Bishop Hilde, please order your cavalry to go into battle!"

"This, this ......," Hildebrand smiled, and did not agree or object.

"Our army is fighting and bleeding against heresy! Since your army is standing on this battlefield, you should cooperate with friendly forces, otherwise, Yu, as the commander of this coalition army, has the right to kill those who disobey military orders on the spot. ”

"I understand, right now!"

Cardinal Hilde glanced at one of his knights of the guard, who nodded and stepped on his horse and ran towards the Papal States.

At the same time, among the two wings, the small nations of Venice, Genoa, Bologna, and the rabble who volunteered to participate in the holy war, hoping to wash away their sins and go to heaven, achieved some success.

Because the Eastern Roman commander Narciss, he concentrated all his cavalry in the middle, so that there was no cavalry on the two flanks, so that the rabble of cavalry of those small countries could devote themselves to attacking the opponent's flanks.

However, the hoplite phalanx of Eastern Rome, although the melee fighting is a little poor, but also has his advantage, those Italian heavy cavalry and rangers, after launching a charge, did not take much advantage, after being weakened by the opponent's crossbowmen, slingers, javelinmen, and weakened by a layer, and killed a lot on the hoplites on the first layer, and then drew their swords in hand-to-hand combat, but let the opponent take advantage of the numerical advantage to fight and retreat.

However, the infantry of the Germanic legions was severely attacked in an instant, and the second array of the Eastern Roman legions became chaotic.

"The Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-first Legions advance, and the formation is spread out, covering the 1st and 2nd Germanic Corps." Narcis ordered.

In addition to the 19th Army Corps, where Narciss's legion was, the remaining four Eastern Roman relegaries began to move in an orderly manner to the northwest and northeast of the two flanks, spreading their formations and helping the two Germanic legions to reorganize their formations.

"The formation is unfolded!"

Seeing that the opponent's army began to advance, the formation was also stretched a lot at once, although there was still a gap with the young one-word long snake, but it was not too much different, but it was a little different from what Randy had imagined before.

"Forward!"

So, Randy gives the order to move forward!

With the sound of heavy horns, the shouts of nearly 100,000 troops shook the sky, and the coalition forces began to advance towards the center of the battlefield little by little.

"Varangian corps, advance, front-line lancers retreat." Seeing that the other side was approaching on all fronts, Narcis immediately gave such an order.

The Varangians, whose ancestors were also from Scandinavia, rushed to the center of the battlefield with cheers after receiving the order, these warriors wearing scale armor or heavy chain mail, carrying round shields, armed with hand axes at their waists, and holding two-handed axes in their hands, were extremely lethal to cavalrymen who had lost their impact.

"At the forefront, the Viking duel warriors charge, and the cavalry retreats!"

So, Randy, you made almost the same adjustment......

The originally entangled cavalry units were actually difficult to separate, but the commanders of both sides gave the same order to retreat, and the cavalry on both sides were also well-trained professional troops.

However, the Norman cavalry and the Eastern Roman cavalry were able to separate very quickly.

But the cavalry of France and Burgundy, as well as the Papal States, were not so easily receptive to the order to retreat.

"We are already on the verge of crushing the other party, we should take advantage of the victory to pursue it, why retreat?"

The arrogant knights under the feudal system protested loudly, and this group of guys, who had no overall view at all, seemed to think that defeating the light cavalry on the opposite side was equivalent to winning the battle.

When Randy received the news from his heralds, he rolled his eyes and didn't care if the scum was alive or dead, only to find that when the opposing lancers were about to retreat and the knights were ready to pursue, they found a new pile of fierce enemies with beards and two-handed axes in front of them.

They couldn't help but wield the battle axe, with the strength of the whole body to slash wildly, whether it was to use weapons to parry, or to use shields to block, it was completely ineffective for them, the heavy battle axe, and the fierce Varangian warriors, concentrated all the strength of the body to chop, sword to sword, shield to smash, up and down to chop the horse's legs, extremely fierce.

The cavalry of several other countries suffered a great loss, and hundreds of horsemen rushed into the streets.

This situation was improved when the Viking Death Warriors entered the battlefield.

Speaking of which, both sides are almost the same kind, very similar troops.

The same race, the same weapons, the same methods of attack, language, appearance, and habits are very similar, and in fact the Varangians are indeed a part of the Norman race.

But now on the battlefield, the soldiers on both sides fought bravely, and they didn't have the idea of sitting down and recognizing their relatives.

With the collision of the two medieval infantry troops, which can be called the ultimate unit of the medieval charging infantry, the whole battle entered a small climax, and the Viking decisive assault warriors, as well as the Varangian warriors also brandished heavy two-handed battle axes, shouted loudly, and went forward, giving up their lives, completely not defending, blindly attacking.

Under this kind of fierce duel, the heavy chain armor on the Varangian people, or the scale armor, is a little unsightly, of course, the plate chain composite armor on the decisive charge warrior is also difficult to offset the opponent's attack, and the two sides are hugged together in the vast majority of the time.

However, this crazy, brutal, and brutal battle made the two armies more and more courageous!

The two sides originally fought on different battlefields, belonging to the two poles of Europa, and rarely encountered opponents on their own battlefields, but today they encountered enemies exactly as strong as themselves, which is simply the best gift from God for these bloodthirsty warriors.

"It's hard!"

The commander of the Varangian Legion, who was also the mercenary leader of the 6,000-strong group of Varangian mercenaries, Harold Hadrada laughed and said these words after cutting down the third Death Charger, and then pounced on the fourth, also the captain of the Death Soldier wearing a non-commissioned officer medal.

(End of chapter)