Chapter 76: Wool Shield

"Your Majesty, the news of your expulsion by the Empress Dowager and your coup d'état, and the death of the chief lady of the court, is well known in this camp, and the whole army will collapse if the enemy comes to attack. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoCan we still count on the prince of Nasicily to piggyback on us at this time? Tetisius raised his ugly face and replied in a low and hoarse voice, "According to the opinion of the servants, it is better to go by land on horseback than the whole army, and we are more familiar with the terrain and roads of Western Thrace and Macedonia than the Sicilians, and go directly to the city of Thessaloniki." ”

"Gawain has an army that has gone to Adrianople, and I just avoided them on the way here, but you still let me break out of the encirclement, if so, why did I come to you?" John was furious.

"Most of the armies we can control are cavalry, and as long as I protect Your Majesty, Gao Wenshan will not be able to stop a newly formed brigade." Tetisius was very confident, "Besides, if little Roger boards the ship and walks by sea, it will attract enemy fire, and we will take the opportunity to break through in reverse!" ”

Reverse breakout, and reverse breakout, as if John's uncle Isaac had done this at Fort Sophia, only to encounter a cavalry company of Gawain who had "closed the net", and his followers were shot and killed, and he himself was captured—the shadow of the family's fiasco floated in the emperor's heart.

"Believe me, servant!" Tetisius is here again.

While John was still hesitating and groaning, the outside of the camp suddenly boiled over, and he hurried out, only to see the Dalmatian soldiers and Magyar cavalry in the Razor Brigade over there abandoning the camp and the road like a tide, and began to flock to the shore on the north side of the port of Medea, "They are going to flee, Your Majesty." Axepocaus, who was on guard outside the camp, stood there, pointing his whip at the noisy torrent in the snow in the distance.

"Wait, take me, take me." John resented the disrespectful of the Sicilian prince, but he was about to mount his horse, but he was desperately held back by Tetisius, "Your Majesty can't go any further, and the army of Gawain on the opposite side will inevitably launch a flank attack on them, and take this opportunity for us to break through to the west." ”

The defensive line inside the port of Media stretched with wooden fences and wooden towers, and in the clogged fortresses on the periphery, there were a line of light artillery. Merlot, Branas, Algili, and Theognes climbed up the watchtower under the banner of the Fish of Christ, and before their eyes, white snow was spread on the withered yellow field, and many black enemies were fleeing towards the sea with a cry, and their camp was in disarray.

"Little Roger is running away? But there were only seven big ships there. Merlot looked at the ships and fireworks of Venice and Sicily surrounded by ice floes and the masts of fireworks on the black waters.

Because these large ships, even according to the standards of the Venetians who had previously consigned the Crusade (that is, the upper and lower floors were crammed with people, and then the sea was tossed like a wagon of tomatoes in heavy trucks) could only carry two or three thousand people.

But the other side has a combat power of 5,000 men.

It's a race to escape!

"Don't hesitate any longer, order the two brigades to attack on all fronts." Mellot soon realizes that this is a good time to build on a great feat.

And the sharp eyes of Diognis looked at the camp of Tetisius, which was hidden in the wind and snow and white mist, and the snow in Thrace this year was really heavy, and the guard was so angry that his eyes were bloodshot and his teeth were broken, and he pleaded to the Grand Count Merlot, "The lack of sight of the banner of Tetisius means that they may have fled by other means, but they must not let this murderer butcher get out of the way—hand over to me all the cavalry of Oghuz and the cavalry attached to the brigade—you attack the razor company that is now fleeing, and I will pursue Tetisius." ”

In the Medea camp, the soldiers roasted the dry and hard bread on the fire, and after preparing to eat quickly and fill their stomachs, they lined up, and the large infantry spears around them were set together according to the squad, and then I don't know who cheered, "The citrus sent by His Majesty the Emperor has arrived!" ”

The soldiers cheered, it was not easy for this citrus fruit to be brought here from Cilicia, and it was a sign of the Emperor's meticulous care for us, and how she really treated us as her sons.

Boxes of citrus fruits, which were also frozen and stiff, were brought up, and the soldiers simply tied them with their swords, roasted them on the fire for a while, and then ate them in a whirlwind.

In the end, each camp team actually issued a small jar of citrus preserves, the amount was not much larger than a small ornament, but it was made of citrus, lake salt, cane sugar and other expensive things, everyone was reluctant to eat, one passed one by one, and finally decided to give the skirmishers of the selection team to eat first, after all, they were about to rush to the front line, in case of an injury or death, it was worth it to eat this citrus candied fruit.

"Long live Rome, long live St. Paul!" With this loud slogan, the raging wind and snow seemed to be stopped.

Densely packed onto the shore of Sicily. The Venetian army also turned their heads in horror, and Gounletto, who was on horseback, saw that Roger, the prince of Sicily, did not look back, and ran away with his horse and the direction of the ship, as he himself said, "I am the most precious to the Kingdom of Sicily, and to the whole world in the future, and you (referring to ordinary soldiers or petty nobles) are not worthy of being Gawain's opponents." ”

Then, a large area of red flashes lit up, and the smoke from the mouth of the gun replaced the original snow fog, and a dense rain of lead shot from the flank of the Razor Company: the two brigades of Red Hand and Guardian formed two wings, occupied the slightly raised hillside, and began to shoot at them violently in turn, outflanking them from the left and right.

On the central front, the "light shield carts" hanging with sand bags and leather shields were lined up and walked in the forefront of the ranks, because it was difficult for the light boats to transport the caravans used for the standard bases, so the soldiers of the brigade and regiment temporarily built this kind of light shield carts according to local conditions, and two skirmishers could push it to accompany the brigade forward, and the rest of the stragglers between the light shield carts also held a "wool shield" every six people.

This kind of large shield, in fact, is a thin wooden shelf behind it, and the front is covered with wool from Meritane, and the large shield can be held to defend against arrows and bullets in advance, and it can also be turned over and transferred to the stragglers behind to attack, or it can be directly inserted into the ground as a field fortification.

Behind this moving line of defense were rows of brigades with large infantry spears held alof, with spear blades and cold light, which looked particularly terrifying on the snowy field.

In fact, the original Gonletto's razor mercenaries were also the elite who could compete with the main brigade of Tarsus, but now the commander clearly ordered to escape, and Constantinople behind him was also in danger, and morale and fighting spirit fell to the lowest point first, and everyone, regardless of officers and soldiers, had only one thought, that is, "board the ship as soon as possible and escape!" ”