Chapter Seventy-Three: The Norman Iron Crown (13)
So what Joan of Arc did meant nothing to Artoria at all.
She only knew that the French in the south not only did not surrender voluntarily, but boldly attacked their own army, and obtained good results in the case of their own carelessness.
"Shame!"
After snorting coldly, Artoria was furious, she originally wanted to give Randy a perfect answer, just like ordinary women like to show off their faces, figures, clothes, gold and silver jewelry, Artoria wanted to show off her great achievements in conquering France!
But all of this is ruined by Joan of Arc, and although she still has the absolute advantage, losing thousands of troops and being unprepared to let people fight outside of Paris is not a good answer in any way, and it is even likely that Randy will laugh at it.
Artoria is still the extremely arrogant woman in her bones, the experience of being hunted and subdued by Randy back then is the biggest shame in her life, and she doesn't want to wash it away all the time, and now she conquers France with her own strength, such a great achievement is not inferior to Randy, Artoria can finally get rid of the self-pity when facing Randy in her heart.
But alas, everything was disturbed by a woman named Joan of Arc, and Artoria's anger can be imagined.
"In one day, gather all the troops in Paris and kill the woman."
"But...... Your Highness, we have quite a few troops, all spread across the newly occupied territory, and we can't even deliver the order to assemble in a day. β
"It doesn't matter! But a rabble, can't the 17,000-strong army in Paris deal with them? β
Artoria snorted coldly, and then asked, "Where is Your Majesty?" Any news? β
"Three days ago, I received a message from the flying pigeons, the fleet has sailed out of the Γresund waterway, and if all goes well, it will be there in another twenty days."
"Twenty days...... Enough is enough! β
Artoria made up her mind that she would no longer wait for Randy to arrive, but planned to set foot in Orleans, Anjou, and even all of France in the next twenty days.
The battle on the outskirts of Paris began under such circumstances.
In this battle, the supreme commanders on both sides are women, although Artoria is much stronger than Joan of Arc in terms of birth, prestige, and combat record, but Joan of Arc has also shown excellent combat talent in the last ten days of fighting, and this series of battles has also made the soldiers who were originally just a group of thugs gradually condense into an army, but the real test has just begun.
"I won't say anything like justice will win, because there is no reason at all, all I have to do is to hold high my banner and do my best, victory is justice!"
So, the two girls went to the battlefield with this realization, and the battle that decided the fate of France began......
In terms of combat power, Artoria had the advantage, especially the more than 500 heavy cavalry troops under her command, including 100 heavy plate armor knight guards, and more than 130 Celtic guards, such a gorgeous lineup that the French could not compare with in any way.
In addition, both the Norman regular army and the Celtic regular army had strong combat effectiveness, and such an army numbered tens of thousands under Artoria.
In addition, there were many French soldiers under Artoria's command, including French nobles from the local area who surrendered to Artoria, totaling more than 3,000 people, but this army made Artoria feel a little uneasy.
If they don't do anything, they're going to riot, right!?
So Artoria invited all the wives and children of those nobles to Paris under house arrest as hostages, which did alienate the French aristocracy, but at the same time ensured that these guys would not turn against each other on the battlefield.
The Joan of Arc Front, although it has increased its numbers to more than 20,000 in recent times, is still inferior to Artoria's Norman regular army in terms of combat effectiveness, and the organization and discipline are very poor.
In order to compensate for such shortcomings, Joan of Arc had to resort to such an approach.
Organizing the soldiers together according to their origins, selecting the most prestigious people by themselves, as the commanders of this small force, and giving them a certain degree of command, although the order and prohibition are not counted, but there is a rough idea.
Of course, Joan of Arc's behavior also aroused the dissatisfaction of the French aristocracy, and under their strong protests, such a system was only practiced in the volunteers, and did not affect the most elite thousands of professional soldiers, who were still controlled by these nobles, such professional mercenaries, professional soldiers, knights, and knights.
On September 2, 1102, the Battle of Paris began!
At the beginning of the battle, Artoria looked down on her opponents very much, so she directly arranged the formation into a conical formation, with heavy cavalry as the lead, light cavalry to protect the two wings, and infantry in the center and rear, such an assault formation.
On the opposite side, Joan of Arc adopted a defensive formation with a wide frontal multiple array, arranging 20,000 light infantry into eight lines, the last three of which were a Swiss halberd unit hired from Switzerland, which Joan of Arc used as a counterattack force, and the hoplites and professional troops were arranged on both sides to protect the flanks.
The battle officially began at around 9 a.m., and Artoria immediately ordered the whole army to assault, hoping to end the battle as quickly as possible.
So as soon as the battle began, it entered a white-hot state.
Unlike Randy, who was hiding behind and watching the show, Artoria took the lead, her cursed armor bouncing off all long-range attacks, and rushing headlong into the first line with more than 500 hoplites.
Although the volunteers who were inspired by the spirit of Joan of Arc fought desperately, their strength was too poor, and they had no armor to compete with the well-armed knights!
After being knocked over, he was directly crushed, and the Celtic two-handed swordsman who followed him rushed over and slashed through the chaotic enemy army.
The first array did not do anything in the slightest, and was crushed by Artoria's army in just a dozen minutes.
After that, the second ...... The third ...... Fourth ......
Like a black torrent, Artoria kills gods when she meets gods, and kills demons when she encounters demons.
In the blink of an eye, the French Front had been halfway breached, and Artoria showed no signs of being stopped at all.
If this continues, the final outcome of the war will end in her victory, as Artoria had predicted.
However, things are not as simple as they seem!
Standing on the hill behind the strategy, Joan of Arc watched the opposing army cut through the French army's line like a shadow blade, easily cutting through the French army's line like butter, and still raised his battle flag quietly.
"It's not that simple!"
After saying these five words, Joan of Arc's special effects covered the entire battlefield.
The physical strength of all the French soldiers on the battlefield recovered instantly, and at the same time, their morale and defense increased significantly, making the French array as impregnable as a copper wall.
At the same time, Artoria suddenly noticed that the enemy's resistance ability had increased N times!
"Damn! What's going on? β
In this way, Artoria finally had no difficulty in breaking through the fifth battle line, and perhaps she herself was still capable of continuing to charge, but most of the soldiers under her command were already wounded, out of breath, and unable to fight again.
Artoria realized that she had underestimated the enemy before, and the opponent was not as useless as she imagined! Although the rabble is still a rabble, the morale is unexpectedly high.
"If only those gods were here!" Seeing that the Norman Legion was shaken by the inexplicably high morale, Artoria couldn't help but think of the Field Order.
Of course, it's not for nothing that there are alternatives to the Battlefield Order!
"You're professional fighters, and they're just a bunch of mobs, fighting like this, and you're still going to be shameless? Aren't you afraid of being ridiculed by women and children when you return home? β
Artoria roared and unleashed her Death Brutality skill, and the eyes of the Norman and Celtic coalition instantly turned blood-red, and they rushed towards the enemy with a wild shout.
After all, the vast majority of Artoria's army was a regular army, and although the thousands of French soldiers in the middle did not want to kill their own people, but they did not work hard, but the overall combat effectiveness of the remaining army was still higher than that of the French.
"Wings, strike!"
The array in front of her began to loosen again, and Joan of Arc sighed imperceptibly as she gave such an order, but Lahair, who was beside her, was a little impatient.
"It's that queen, that black witch, if you can kill him, the war will end." Lahail thought so, and took his tomahawk and prepared to rush forward.
"Come back, Lahair, you're no match for him."
Joan of Arc couldn't help but stop Lahair, and I don't know if he really didn't hear it, or if he pretended not to know.
"This ...... Lahair was France's most famous warrior, wasn't he the woman's opponent? β
On the other side, Baron Gilles was a little puzzled, in his impression Lahaire was definitely the strongest warrior he had ever seen, he had witnessed that during training, Lahaire alone knocked down more than 30 veterans with his bare hands, and he had also seen it on the battlefield, he swung his tomahawk faster than others could draw their swords, and he couldn't think of anything else, Lahaire was not a woman's opponent.
Joan of Arc did not answer the baron's question, after all, she was still the commander-in-chief of this army, and she needed to take care of the big picture, not the lives of individual people, even though the guy was her friend.
Artoria soon found in the midst of the chaos that the warrior who was armed with a different two-handed axe, shouted loudly and fought bravely, and was often able to deal with several missions without falling behind.
In addition, the guy also led a large group of troops wearing only single-layer chain armor and holding halberds in their hands to slowly advance, like firefighters, roaming around the battlefield, filling up the battle lines that were about to collapse everywhere.
Although there are only 300 people, their combat effectiveness is extremely strong!
"That guy is interesting!"
Artoria gave Lahair an interesting assessment, and then rode his horse without any suspense to cut off the heads of several French soldiers around him, and rushed towards the group of French soldiers who looked like commandos.
Behind Artoria were a hundred heavily armed, men and horses, wrapped in heavy plate armor, like knights of the Guards of hell following their queen.
Completely oblivious to the surrounding battlefield environment......
Completely ignores nearby enemies and allies......
The madmen began to charge through the chaotic battlefield, raining down blood with their heavy maces.
Perfect class, in fact, Artoria's suspicions are not unfounded.
She had never imagined that there would be such a terrifying warrior in this world!
Unrivaled impact, invulnerable armor, and the perfect combination of attack and defense, this terrifying knight ......
If Artoria had 10,000 of these knights under her command, she would be able to conquer the entire world.
But the problem is that she didn't!
But a hundred horsemen were sufficient, especially under Artoria's leadership, just as a sword with the sharpest blade, or an arrow with the sharpest arrow, the knight of the Hundred Guards under Artoria's leadership doubled in strength, and Artoria still took the lead, and there was no one in his hands.
Artoria's knightly forces collided with Lahaire's assault troops.
Looking at Artoria's signature black demonic armor, Lahail, who had already killed the red eye, became excited.
"Death, you witch!"
Not at all like other knights with funny heads, who showed mercy because the other party was a woman, Lahail was the strongest attack as soon as he struck, swinging the giant axe in his hand with all his strength.
With a bang, Lahaire's axe was blocked by Artoria's shield, and although the pure steel round shield was slightly deformed by the attack of the battle axe, neither Artoria nor the war horse under her crotch were shaken by this.
His strongest blow was easily blocked by the other party, Lahaier withdrew his tomahawk and took a step back to make another move, but the next moment the sword light flashed, and Lahaier didn't have time to react, so he was splashed with blood on the spot.
"It's okay, there's still a breath!"
After watching Lahel be rescued by his own soldiers and seemingly alive, Joan of Arc continued to observe the battlefield.
The elite of France arranged on both flanks, including more than 300 noble knights and retainers, had already rushed out of the flanks and engaged the allied light cavalry guarding the flanks.
Artoria did not have any strong light cavalry under his command, and it was very strange in Randy's order that he did not talk about the ownership of the hussars in the English garrison, so Artoria naturally could not recruit professional hussars from the English garrison.
In the Normandy Legion, because Lufos opposed Artoria's private decisions and did not support her, Artoria had only a small number of mounted militia under his command.
Artoria didn't have much hope for these guys, and not long ago, Artoria thought she could cut through the opponent's entire formation and defeat them.
Then the flanks don't matter if they're not sturdy.
But Artoria's idea turned out to be wrong.
All the elite of France, were arranged in the wings.
But it's completely useless to talk about it now......
After Artoria chose to kill the enemy herself, her control over the entire army had been reduced to a minimum, and her vision was limited to a certain range, and it was impossible to make effective adjustments to the opponent's strategy.
The two flanks of the Norman and Celtic coalition were broken without suspense, and together with the forward troops rushing headlong into the enemy group, the coalition forces seemed to be surrounded by people, and they were in an extremely disadvantageous situation in terms of formation.
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