Chapter 190: An Unexpected Harvest
The battle was at its most intense, and fierce hand-to-hand combat broke out between the two sides, not only the knights who rushed into William's position were fighting to the death with William's infantry, and then the Count of Vendée Count Volk also led thousands of heavy infantry into the battlefield, and he was followed by tens of thousands of light infantry and levies.
In the afternoon, both the Anjou side led by the Count of Jofroy and the Normandy army under William were exhausted, and of course, in terms of the current battlefield situation, William had the advantage in all aspects.
William knew that the Anjou cavalry, which had lost more than half of them, was on the verge of collapse, and if it weren't for the large number of infantry behind the Anjou cavalry blocking their retreat, they would have retreated a long time ago, they were knights, noble noble knights, and they could not die like humble heavy infantry and levies.
"Hubert, it's time for this battle to end, order the two flanks to be encircled, all the cavalry to storm the opponent's flanks, the counterweight trebuchet to bombard the center of the enemy formation, and the infantry to press forward and drive them all into the river to feed the fish!" William sat on his horse, waved his right hand, and ordered Hubert at his side.
"Yes." Baron Hubert still meticulously carried out William's orders, allowing William to think and command independently, so as to exercise his command and combat ability.
In a few moments, at the sound of trumpets and flags, the Normandy army, numbering as many as 30,000, was completely mobilized, and the first to strike was the fifteen counterweight trebuchets arranged at the rear of the position.
Whew... Whew...
As a whistling sound resounded across the battlefield, black cast-iron projectiles emitting a trace of smoke flew over the heads of the Norman army, and finally smashed into the center of the Anjou army.
Silky... Boom, boom, boom...
As the slightest sound from the blood-stained iron balls stopped, the iron balls exploded with a bang, and the swept air waves blew away the soldiers who were more than ten meters nearby, and the iron filings and eggshell fragments scattered everywhere kept harvesting all the living creatures within a radius of tens of meters, and no one could be unscathed within a radius of 100 meters.
Only 11 of the 15 bombs exploded, and the damage caused was even more than half of the results of the battle that had only taken several hours, as high as more than 2,000 people.
Never-before-seen weapons, deafening roars, mutilated and broken friendly bodies, huge casualties in an instant, all of this made Anjou's army completely crushed in an instant, and there was no need for William to let the cavalry on both flanks storm the local flanks.
"Good opportunity, the whole army will attack, and we must capture them all." William shouted and laughed excitedly, and everyone present was also very excited about the victory that was about to come.
Woo woo woo ... Woo woo...
Accompanied by the trumpet, a huge army of up to 30,000 people killed and captured the remaining remnants of the army like rabbits. Even the fastest knights were not spared, and although they tried to resist, the Anjou knights surrendered with great amusement in the face of the menacing Normans.
It's not that they're greedy for life and afraid of death, but that as a member of the nobility, even the lowest-ranking knights, they won't be harmed if they're captured, and they can regain their freedom as long as they pay enough ransom.
Countless Anjou soldiers fled in a panic, except for most of the routs who fled backwards, some soldiers who tried to flee from both sides were driven back by William's cavalry, and the Norman cavalry rushing back and forth made the routs cry for their mothers.
"Count Volk, what's the matter, why did the lowly infantry in front stop, didn't they know that behind them were the most vicious Normans?" In the midst of the rout of Anjou, the Count of Jofroy said to the Count of Vendée at his side, Faulke.
"Behind us there is a small Varenne River, which blocks the way for the infantry in front of us to escape." Falk, Count of Vendée, pointed to Varenne in front of him with his right hand.
"Damn, did this lowly bastard William even calculate this? He must not be allowed to succeed. The Count of Raftroy whipped his horse into the air in hatred, turned to the man beside him and ordered: "Don't care about the life or death of these infantry, let all the knights rush and kill the rout in front of us, we must wade across the river and flee here, and as for these soldiers, leave them all to the bastard William to clean up, so that he will not have the strength to care about us." ”
"Yes, Lord Count." Baron Raymond did not feel guilty that in his opinion these infantrymen, made up of scum, mercenaries, freedmen, and serfs, were not at all worthy of the slightest sympathy, and their only mission was to die in the service of their masters.
Under the leadership of Baron Raymond, less than 800 knights and more than 1,000 cavalry attendants gathered around the Count of Joyfroy launched a deadly charge like wolves and tigers against the routs in front.
The defeated Anjou soldiers were not in the hands of the enemy, but were stabbed to death by the sharp blades of the knights, trampled to death and wounded by the heavy hooves of the horses, and drowned in the rushing river of the fierce knights.
"Count Furk, Baron Raymond, let's go." The Count of Jofroy glanced back at the approaching Norman infantry, and anxiously urged the generals around him to leave quickly.
However, he did not know that his splendid armor, the nobles and knights gathered around him, was as bright as the full moon in the night sky, so attractive, but it only attracted the eyes of all Normans who wanted to make great achievements.
"Haha, this is what God wants me to do! Quick, quick, the knights of Rouen come with me, storm the knights in front of you, and capture the Count of Jouphrois of Anjou. "Baron Andrew, who led the Knights of Rouen to charge the enemy, saw that the Count of Joufroey of Anjou was only a hundred meters away from him, and immediately shouted to the more than seven hundred knights beside him:
"As long as you catch him, whether it is a knight, a vice-baron, or even a baron, it is within your reach, and His Royal Highness William will not forget the meritorious nobleman!"
"Oh! Oh! Roar! The knights of Rouen howled excitedly, and despite the fatigue of the day's fighting, they rode their horses towards Baron Joffroy, who was about to flee.
Not only Baron Andrew, but also the Knights of Mortain led by Faller, the Praetorian Legion led by Hubert, and Rodrigo on the left flank saw the figure of Count Jofroy.
But they were also more than 150 meters away from the Earl of Jofrois, and even if they were in a hurry, they were always a head behind Andrew, and as for ending the life of Count Jofroy with bows and arrows or crossbow arrows, they did not think at all, long before the start of the war, William had ordered all the generals to capture each other alive in this battle, and only allowed to shoot them as a last resort.
"Commander of Anjou, Count of Jofroy, has been captured by my Andrew of Lillebonne!" With a loud shout, the Count of Buffroy was captured, and almost all the soldiers of the Anjou army, both nobles and infantrymen, had no choice but to lay down their arms and surrender to William.