When Gawain and the advance party arrived at the foot of the hillfort where Gabuzuk and 300 Assasin believers were staying, snow began to fall. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Snow falls early on the plateaus of Greater Armenia, and when cloudy clouds float and sink from the northern side of the mountains of Erzurum, the whole Sassoon region is covered in cold winds and heavy clouds, and then snowflakes sweep in. The black river cut through the humble hill forts occupied by the Assasin believers, and the cavalry battalions of the Kiratpasha country on the opposite bank, like a stark dividing line.

Kirat's cavalry, having previously refused to allow the fanatics to cross the river into their borders, left Gabzuk, Potrufis and 300 followers of the cult in the mountains retreating to the small city without even stone walls, where they were chased and surrounded by Tarsus' advance party.

However, even if they broke into the country of Kirat, they fell into Gawain's mind.

The wind was howling, and among the fields and hills ahead, which were getting whiter and whiter, the stragglers of Gawain's advance team had begun to march in groups, and then they had spread out in formation, holding various weapons in their hands, spread out according to the rules of the hundred-man team, like clusters of variegated trees in the snow, and the banners were swept around in the dissipating sunset.

Gao Wen, who was supervising the battle in the back formation, his eyebrows and beard were already full of snow, and he stared at the current precarious small city. It is surrounded on three sides by steep slopes of rocks, and on one side is a hillside with fences and tower gates, and it is a typical Armenian style, "Take it, and behead all the Assasin splinters in it, without any mercy, and without any scruples about the Kirat soldiers on the other side." ”

In the midst of the walled city, Gabzouk, wrapped in a turban, gathered all the believers together, and after a short and fervent prostration, in the direction of the eagle fort, "I, as the eighth section (the Assasin Ladder of Faith is divided into nine sections), have washed away all the dirt from your souls through secret rituals, and now it is time for us to be martyrs - to fight, with the blessing of faith we are invincible and do not know pain, and soon the arrogant group of Jesus believers will understand our strength." ”

The believers stood up in dense clusters, began to take out the small wooden cylinders that Gabzuk was carrying, removed the plugs, and drank all the liquid mixed with hashish resin to their necks, and then raised the skin bags they were carrying, which were full of purified mandala poisoned wine, and there was a gurgling sound, and they drank the wine one by one.

Then Potrufis, who was standing beside Gabuzuk, heard the clamor of the opening of the gates of hell: the three hundred believers began to turn red and sweat profusely, which was unbelievable in such a cold and snowy weather, and soon many began to roll their eyes rapidly, twist their spines, hands and feet, and their necks like marionettes, and let out muffled howls from their mouths, and began to carry all kinds of white machetes and daggers, twitching and spasming.

This is a state of euphoria that occurs after the nervous system begins to be poisoned by the effects of hashish resin and mandala wine.

This is also the terrifying thing about the Assasin believers: with powerful poison and fanatical faith, they can turn the originally honest villagers into killing machines that only know how to obey, and they don't know the pain!

"Why don't you drink it?" Portrufes looked at Gabuzuk in horror and amazement.

"I need to pray and cheer them on, and I need to command the whole battle." Gabuzuk replied calmly.

At this moment, the snow was getting denser and denser, the faint sunlight had sunk into the chaos, and the dark figures of the believers were like ghosts, jumping and moving towards the fortifications of the city with one strange cry after another.

Potrufis shrunk back and came to the fence, and in front of him was a trench that had not been dug at all (Assasin did not have such a combat concept), and then down the wide slopes, and further down the flat snow, there stood densely packed with Golwen stragglers and Oghuz volunteers, and then the Tarsus cavalry spread out in a winged formation.

On the other side of the river bank on the east side, the cavalry of the Kirat country still did not move, probably making up their minds to sit and watch.

The stragglers of Gawain's three brigades were almost all battle-hardened, and the lineup of thirty companies was as tight as a forest. The backbone of the stragglers of the Red Hand Brigade are the Italian veterans left over from the original George Warden, who wear bowl-shaped and saucer-shaped iron helmets, with chain mail around their ears and shoulders, and a half-body chain mail under them, and Norman irises and sharp knightly swords on their wrists protected by leather gloves; The Gimagis Brigade was mostly recruited from Syria, and was greatly influenced by the style of the Crescent army, wearing a Persian-style pointed round helmet, leather or chain mail covered with tunics (the standard Saracen style, later the Crusaders also influenced by it, preferring to wear armor over the burqa), some soldiers carried small light round shields and battle axes, and some soldiers also used a combination of kites and swords; The stragglers of the Guardian Brigade were the original German Guards of Branas, most of whom did not use one-handed swords, but used two-handed broadswords or curved blades, and some directly used Seleucian scythes, and the formation looked extremely terrifying.

Piles of flames are lit in front of each row of skirmishers to "warm" their blades, otherwise they will be affected by their use in windy and snowy weather.

Farther in the stragglers, closer to the walled city of Assasin, stood the Oghuz warriors on their horses, armed with finely patterned scimitars, quivers full of arrow feathers, and powerful horned bows in their hands, capable of using their own bows to shoot an Indian rhinoceros at close range.

An ichthyosaurus flag was planted on the left, and a horsetail gold ring flag was inserted on the right, and the wind snorted and swirled with the windbags, telling the Oghuz soldiers the direction and deviation of the wind, so as to ensure that they were not missing the arrows immediately.

Gao Wen, who finally pressed the formation, was immediately in his cavalry ranks, and at this moment, a frontier man Jinat wore heavy armor and his horse's hooves splashed with snow came to the eyes of the great lord and patron, "Please allow me to take the lead!" ”

Gawain looked at him and said approvingly, "It turned out to be Zhigata, come on!" I hand you the banner of the assault. ”

Over there, the military servant Muzafiadin also grabbed the reins and the anxious war horse, "Master, let me follow too." ”

"Then I will guide the trumpet of the whole army to you!"

Soon Zhigata rushed through the array in front of him with a red and bright battle flag with one hand, while Muzafiadin pointed his horn on his cheeks and mouth, and in a long and mournful whining, it marked the beginning of the general attack!

The Oghuz Volunteers, whose boots crunched on the snow on one leg, and then bent down to tie their arrows on the strings, their bows and backs made of mulberry and boxwood from the Khazar Sea, and the faces of their bows were made of the most beautiful goat horns, which were perfectly pulled into the shape of a full moon in the hands of the Oghuz who then stood upright, against a clamor of the mountain fortress fence, "Go, our arrows can shoot through all the truths of the world, like the sea sprinkled on the mountains!" ”