Muskets, even arquebuses, also have an unparalleled advantage in battle, that is, its killing ability, in reality, even if a well-armored soldier is hit by a bow and arrow, his body is inserted into his body several, and he still jumps alive if he misses the vital point, and the musket shoots out lead bullets, once he is shot, he basically can't move if he doesn't die, and basically loses his ability to fight.

In addition, unlike the bow and crossbow, which is not a critical point and cannot be killed, the lead bullet of the musket is as long as it hits any part of the body, you can not move, including any part of the hands, feet and limbs, it will be contaminated with the terrible lead poison carried by the lead bullet, under the backward medical conditions at that time, even if the treatment is timely, it will be amputated, if it is not treated in time, it is definitely 100% killed.

In the case of the same casualties, the soldiers who were hit by the crossbow arrows and injured can quickly return to the battlefield as long as they are treated in time, and after the people who are shot by lead bullets, even if they are lucky enough not to die, they will have to amputate their limbs, which can be regarded as permanent attrition.

At the beginning, the Genoese crossbowmen and the Norman musket phalanx fought at a distance of more than 120 meters, they took the place of the Lombards, and wasted a lot of time in order to cover the withdrawal of friendly troops, so that the Norman musket phalanx quickly closed the distance between them and the Genoese crossbowmen, which greatly offset the range advantage of the Genoese crossbowmen.

At this distance, the Genoese crossbowman could only shoot one round of crossbowmen, and then he had to hide behind the shield and bend down to reload.

The wave of crossbow arrows fired by the Genoese crossbowmen did not actually cause much casualties to the Norman musket phalanx, because the crossbow arrows fell quickly due to the velocity of the crossbows, and they were greatly affected by the wind, so they could not guarantee the accuracy of shooting at long distances, and many of the crossbow arrows were either blown out of direction by the wind or plunged into the ground.

When the crossbowman reloads the crossbow, he needs to pull the string manually, which not only wastes a lot of physical strength, but also requires strong arm strength, and the reloading is extremely cumbersome, and sometimes even requires the assistance of two people to complete.

In the interval between the reloading of the Genoese crossbowmen, the Norman musket phalanx quickly approached the enemy, closing the distance between them and the enemy to within the effective range.

"Fire! Fire! ”

With the order to shoot, the Norman musketeers lined up in six rows and began to shoot continuously, almost every dozen seconds, the musket phalanx would fire a volley, taking the lives of hundreds of Genoese crossbowmen in front of them.

The crossbowmen's line was a skirmisher formation, and in the face of the volleys of the musketeers' guns, they were unable to organize an effective counterattack, and they were completely suppressed by the fire barrage of the musketeers.

As the Norman musket phalanx approached, not only did the Genoese crossbowmen begin to suffer more casualties, but also the Italian spearmen, Italian light infantry, and chivalrous or feudal knights behind them, who were responsible for protecting them, became unbearable.

They couldn't bear the fact that their comrades around them were killed by the Norman muskets and were powerless to fight back, and finally they couldn't bear it anymore, and no longer estimated the Genoese crossbowmen in front of them, and charged directly at the Norman musket phalanx.

At this time, another disadvantage of the Genoese crossbowmen was also exposed, and the cooperation with other troops has always been one of the weaknesses of the crossbowmen, because the infantry cavalry in the rear suddenly charged, they did not have time to retreat at all, their formation was scattered, and many people were coerced to rush forward.

The Genoese crossbowmen, who were left behind by the infantry cavalry in front of them, had to shoot in the rear, but in the rear, the Genoese crossbowmen could not see where the enemy was at all, nor could they estimate at what angle to throw them at.

What's more, the crossbow arrows fired by the Genoese crossbowmen have a high probability of being superior to their own soldiers, greatly dampening their morale.

Relatively speaking, this problem did not arise on the Normans' side, because they had already developed an infantry phalanx that allowed the musketeers and spearmen to work closely together under William's guidance - the Spanish Great Phalanx tactic, that is, the musketeers were placed on the four corners of the phalanx, so that no matter which direction the enemy attacked, the spearmen only needed to advance a few steps in that direction to protect the musketeers. If the enemy is attacking from multiple directions, the spearmen advance while the musketeers retreat, taking advantage of the gaps left to retreat into the phalanx.

At this time, a cavalry suddenly burst out of the Norman army, this cavalry diagonally into the line of Genoese crossbowmen, and the Genoese crossbowmen in the rear could not see the situation in front clearly, and could only hear the constant roar of muskets not far away, and they had no time to react in the face of sudden situations.

A battalion of cavalry rushed into the line of Genoese crossbowmen like a tiger, and against the unsuspecting Genoese crossbowmen, the Norman cavalry slashed and trampled them with impunity, and completely routed them.

Originally, the Genoese crossbowmen were a force of mercenaries, they were just fighting for the employer's money, and an army of idle ruffians and blood-licking bandits, could they be expected to have a sense of honor, this was simply impossible, so the moment the Normans rushed into their front, the Genoese crossbowmen immediately broke and scattered, along with the infantry in front of them.

The Normans pressed the enemy with a phalanx of spears, and the musketeers on both sides fired lead bullets at the enemy without interruption, and behind the Genoese, the Norman cavalry, who had already routed the Genoese crossbowmen, began to charge the rear of the enemy army.

Faced with flanking attacks from all sides, the Genoese unsurprisingly collapsed.

For the first time, William sent his own Guards Musket Phalanx Brigade of 4,200 men to attack the Genoese Legion, which numbered as many as 8,000 men, with the assistance of a battalion of Norman cavalry, the Guards Musket Phalanx Brigade killed and captured more than 3,500 Genoese soldiers with insignificant losses.

The Guards Musket Phalanx Brigade, having routed the Genoese legions, marched in one blow and launched a series of assaults on the main positions of the Lombards.

As the commander-in-chief of this operation, Duke Richard naturally saw the performance of the Guards Musket Phalanx Brigade, and seeing that the Musket Phalanx Brigade had defeated the Genoese Legion, he immediately ordered the whole army to start an assault.

With the Guards Musket Phalanx Brigade as the arrow, under the cover of numerous infantry cavalry, they broke through the enemy line one after another, and finally reached the home camp of Duke Ezzo II of Lombardy.

The army flying the white eagle banner on a blue background is undoubtedly the Duke of Lombardy's guards, looking at the Duke of Lombardy's guards in front of them, everyone is bright, showing bloodthirsty looks, because before the start of the war, William had promised that as long as someone captures the Duke of Lombard or breaks through the enemy's main position, he will be honored to be canonized as a noble earl, such a high reward makes everyone present excited.