Boom Boom Boom ......

Shouts of killing and gunfire came from the east bank of the Vistula River, and fierce fighting was clearly raging! Such a voice sounded ten times more beautiful to King Louis IX of France than a hymn of praise to God.

Because the military report on the east bank of the Vistula River has just arrived, countless Mongol troops have appeared in front of the "arc position", and a large number of artillery pieces have been dispatched, and now they are shelling the arc position of the crusaders! In the interval between the shelling, an infantry phalanx consisting of Rus' and Lithuanians was also dispatched to attack.

However, the valiant crusaders withstood the test and repelled several Mongol attacks. Now in front of the "arc position" lies the corpses of Rus' and Lithuanians.

Riding on a tall Andalusian horse, Louis IX's ever-melancholy face showed a rare hint of joy. God forbid, the crusaders are winning!

"God bless Hungary! God bless the king! ”

"Long live Hungary! Long live freedom! ”

Magyar cheers rang out, and a large contingent of Hungarian cavalry passed quickly in front of Louis IX. These cavalrymen were not European-style, but steppe-style, and they wore fur hats with feathers on their heads, and wore short red robes with a small animal skin shawl over them. Their weapons are also highly distinctive, armed with oriental-style scimitars and compound bows, as well as a teardrop-shaped shield. The hand-to-hand combat skills of these light cavalry were not necessarily outstanding, and the effect of using them to shock the infantry was not ideal, and was once ignored by the Hungarians themselves.

But the Mongol invasion more than two decades ago taught the Hungarians how to use the steppe cavalry - agility, speed, swiftness, and the ability to shoot arrows on horseback were enough to turn the steppe cavalry into a formidable force.

Therefore, after the withdrawal of the Mongols, the Hungarians quickly organized a mercenary light cavalry. Although there are only 10,000 people, it is a force that should not be underestimated.

This time, Béla IV once again ravaged his land in order to stop the Mongols. All the hussars were handed over to the crusaders. With them, the Crusaders were able to drive out the Mongol cavalry in the steppes east of the Vistula. Even if it's only temporary......

"God bless the Pope! Bless Rome! ”

The cheers in Italian were sandwiched between the shouts in Hungarian, the shouts of the Italian crossbowmen marching with the Hungarian hussars - pasta had not yet appeared in this era, so the Italians did not face at all! They had the most powerful navy and the best crossbowmen in all of Europe, as well as the best armor and swords.

Recruited, trained, and equipped by the Genoese or Venetian chambers of commerce (most of them were not Genoese and Venetian), these crossbowmen were by far the most popular mercenaries in all of Europe. Some of them also rode horses and could move with the cavalry. The crossbow was not as powerful as the horse bow, and with their cooperation, the Hungarian light cavalry could quickly expel the Mongol light cavalry from the battlefield...... Of course, only temporarily. After all, the Mongols had at least 200,000 light cavalry! By no means a thousand Hungarians and a few thousand Italians can deal with.

But in a few hours, 45,000 knights, hoplites (squire knights) and light cavalry (mainly knightly retinues), as well as 25,000 Italian crossbowmen, could make a detour back to the rear of the Mongol army and attack!

A French noble knight reported loudly to Louis IX: "Your Majesty, the Hungarian hussars have all crossed the Vistula!" ”

Louis IX nodded in satisfaction, the Hungarian light cavalry and the Italian crossbowmen who accompanied them were indeed well trained. With the same number of knights, it would have been impossible to cross the river so quickly by pontoons.

He turned half of his horse and looked at the knights behind him who were ready to go—at least forty thousand knights and heavy cavalry in chain mail! The French and German knights were almost outspoken. If he had been so powerful at the time of the Seventh Crusade, the banner of Christ would have flown over the pyramids.

Louis IX suppressed his agitation. In a voice that appeared to be high-pitched, he ordered: "It's time for the knights of Europa to strike!" The order of sorties was as follows: Teutonic Knights, Santiago Knights, Templar Order, Knights Hospitaller, French Legion, Habsburg Legion, Saxon Legion, Rhine Legion, Bavarian Legion, Bohemian Legion, and finally the Crossbowmen from Italy! ”

He drew his sword sharply and cried out, "Give us glory, God." Give us glory, not for us, God. It's for your name! ”

All the knights drew their swords and cried out with Louis IX: "Glory to us!" For God's sake! ”

Chief of the Teutonic Order, Hannon. Feng. Sangerhausen was the first of all the knights to set foot on the pontoon. The moment his war horse walked onto the pontoon. He suddenly began to sing in a high-pitched voice.

"The Lord is my strength, and the Lord is the strength in affliction; The Lord is my help. The Lord is always there to help; The Lord is a refuge, my refuge; The Lord is a strong refuge, and the Lord is my strength; But the Lord is a refuge, and though the earth may change, and the mountains may be shaken, and the sea will be churned, and the waves tremble, we shall not be afraid......"

As the song of the chief of the Teutonic Knights rang out, all the Teutonic knights sang generously and sang Christian hymns and rode their horses to the other side of the Vistula River, to the battlefield that would ultimately decide their fate.

The Christian warriors seemed to be infected, and all of them sang "The Lord is Our Strength" as they crossed the pontoon. The priests stood on the edge of the pontoon bridge, constantly drawing crosses on their chests, praying for the warriors, some sprinkled the holy water they carried with them on the knights, and some hung the "holy relics" that they did not know whether they were true or false on the saddles of the knights, and no longer collected money, but just prayed over and over again.

"God is with you!"

"God bless you!"

It was Louis IX's turn to cross the river, and the king, dressed in chain mail and crusader robes, also sang hymns and stepped onto the pontoon bridge in the sun. He stopped his horse abruptly and stopped singing.

A French knight rode up behind him: "My Majesty, do you have any orders to give?" ”

"When everyone has crossed the Vistula, burn the pontoon!" Louis IX ordered loudly.

"Burn the pontoon? My Majesty, how are we going to get back to the west bank of the Vistula? ”

Louis IX said: "We will either win and pursue the Mongols all the way east, expelling them to the cold Rus' steppe." Either...... We will die on the east bank of the Vistula! Our souls will ascend to heaven and we will be with the Lord! ”

……

The shouts of killing echoed around the arc-shaped position on the east bank of the Vistula, and the roar of the explosion of the heavenly thunder arrow rang out one after another, shaking the ground and shaking the mountains.

Chen Chongguan held a telescope and stood on the east-facing balcony of the church, staring at the offensive and defensive situation in front of him.

The Mongols now have cannon fodder available again, not the Han army but the Rus and Lithuanians. They were numerous, and under the cover of the artillery and muskets of the Mongol Han army, they launched a charge in waves. But not not in dense formations, but in loose formations pounced on the artillery positions of the Crusaders. Lure the artillery to open fire, and as soon as the cannon sounds, these Rus' and Lithuanians will immediately lie down in the grass. Then the three-bow bed crossbows and cannons erected behind them opened fire together, bombarding the artillery positions of the Crusaders. Although there was no threat to the Crusaders' cannons with bunker protection.

But it has to be admitted that the Mongols made rapid progress in firearms tactics...... It has even surpassed the Ming army! With the coordinated attack of this kind of firearms and hand-to-hand infantry, the Ming army will not be able to fight!

In terms of firearms tactics, the Ming army was obviously a bit dull -- before Chen Chongguan left the army academy, the students of the military academy were experimenting with a tactic called "lining up to shoot," that is, two three-column horizontal teams used "light muskets" with an effective range of 60 or 70 paces to bombard each other, and then inserted a special knife into the barrel of the main gun to fight hand-to-hand combat......

This style of play, no matter how you look at it, is stupid and stupid, how can the Mongols be so flexible?

Chen Chongguan couldn't help but start worrying about the future Mingmeng Armageddon. Although he is the one who formulated the plan for today's decisive battle. However, he really did not think well of the crusaders, because among the crusaders with more than 400,000 people, only 100,000 mercenaries at most were considered real troops, and the rest of the 300,000 people, including the tens of thousands of knights, were not real soldiers—although these knights were good in martial arts. However, these knights, who were not bad at martial arts, were unable to perform more complex combat missions......

……

"Great Khan, there are a lot of Europa light horsemen in the north, all equipped with bows and arrows like us, and some with crossbow arrows! Our horse exploration rangers have lost a lot! ”

At this moment, the Mongol Great Khan Kublai Khan, who was on the other side of the battlefield, had received a report on the activities of the Hungarian light cavalry. As soon as these Hungarian light cavalry entered the area of activity of the Mongol horse rangers, they immediately collided with each other and engaged in the most fierce confrontation. And they soon took the top with the advantage of numbers and physical strength (they are a new force)!

"Great Khan, subordinates, please fight!"

"Great Khan, let his subordinate Zhenghuang Flag Horse Team fight!"

"Great Khan, the subordinate Zhenglan Banner is asking for battle!"

Before the sound of the horse's return fell, several Mongol generals jumped out to ask for battle. Kublai Khan laughed, waved his hand and said, "Just withdraw the horse rangers from the north!" ”

"Withdrawn?" The crowd will be amazed.

"Withdrawn!" Kublai Khan smiled coldly, "If you don't withdraw, how dare the Europa brigade cross the river?" They can't cross the river, so how can we destroy them? (To be continued......)