Chapter 39: Defeat and Retreat
With a sharp and piercing horn, countless southern soldiers wearing gray fine armor poured out from the lush dense forest of Meirengou. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. biquge。 Although they were ambushed halfway, after all, the Grizzly Legion was one of the four elite legions of the Varu Empire, and under the command of the corps commander McShouner and officers at all levels, the soldiers of the Grizzly Legion did not panic because of the sudden appearance of the ambush.
"Take each battalion and each team as a unit! The shield armor is on the left and right, protect the two wings! The spearmen are behind, pay attention to the attack password! The crossbowmen are in the center, don't waste arrows, aim and shoot again!" The Grizzly Legion reacted quickly, and the order of the commander of the McHuner Regiment shouted from the commanders of each team, and quickly spread throughout the marching group.
With McShuner's order, the originally long serpentine marching group quickly shrank into formations, and moved in small steps, shortening the distance between them in order to support each other.
William Wagner, who was condescendingly observing the enemy's situation on the hill, saw that the Grizzly Legion had lined up in a short period of time, and couldn't help but sigh secretly: If there is such an elite combat corps in the south, coupled with the wealth of the three southern provinces, it is possible to unify even the empire, but it is a pity that such an elite army would be foolish and loyal to the dim-witted emperor.
"Shield Soldier Steady!" "Spearman Piercing! Stab Again!" "Crossbowmen Shoot Freely!" Orders came from the defensive position of the Grizzly Legion, and the gray armored southern soldiers rushed up with the sharp blades of the steel armor on their bodies, but they were blocked by the huge shields of the shield soldiers, and from the gaps in the giant shields, a spear with a handle stabbed diagonally, and the angle was tricky to avoid the heavy cuirass piercing into the neck of the southern soldier. With the spears retracted, a circle of Southern soldiers lay on the ground forever outside the Grizzly Legion.
The Southern Army set up an ambush in the dense forest to ambush the tired grizzly legion in order to wait for work, and the battle had already gained the upper hand at the beginning, but unfortunately when the two armies came into contact, although the soldiers of the Southern Army had fine armor and sharp blades, they were like waves crashing on the shore, surging and glooming.
"Damn!" William watched as the southern soldiers below the mountain launched wave after wave of attacks, but they could not break through the defensive formation of the Grizzly Legion, leaving the lives of countless soldiers there in vain.
"What are the officers in charge of the attack doing?!What about our archers?!Order all the archers to go up the trees!Shoot condescendingly!I don't believe you can't shoot these grizzly bears!" A roar erupted from William's mouth, but despite his anger, William still gave the right command.
With the Southern archers descending from the canopy, the Grizzly Legion was in a bind. Although the Grizzly Legion's crossbowmen fought back, they were in the clearing, and the southern archers were covered by a canopy, so it was unfair for the two sides to shoot each other, and it didn't take long for the Grizzly Legion's crossbowmen to be killed and wounded.
Without the restraint of the enemy crossbowmen, the southern archers even threw their arrows on the heads of the Grizzly Legion. Seeing the soldiers around him fall one by one under the enemy's bows and arrows, Captain McHuner closed his eyes in pain and asked the adjutant beside him, "Have the soldiers who asked the Marquis of Griffins for help have been dispatched?" Order the rear army to speed up the advance and be sure to clear the enemy troops in ambush! Also, the herald to shrink the formation so that the bear cubs can hold on!"
The decision to hold on hard was effective, because of the light ambush, the southern archers did not have many arrows per person, and the feathered arrows that were originally flying around their heads gradually became sparse, and they stopped after a while, although the formation of the Grizzly Bear Legion was as incomplete as if it had been bitten by a beast, but under the command of the officers of each team, it was quickly reorganized, but the formation of each battalion and each team shrank a lot.
"Why did you stop shooting?!" asked William Wagner at the top of the hill as if he were about to eat people.
"Yes...... It's because our archers have run out of arrows!" replied a Southern officer, cautiously.
"Waste! After the war, all the baggage officers will be demoted!" Hearing this, William walked back and forth in anger, and while looking at the situation down the mountain, he said: "Order all the legions to press, and be sure to destroy them in the shortest possible time." Regardless of whether it is an officer or a soldier, as long as you kill one person, you will be rewarded with a gold coin, and there is no upper limit. But if there is any cowardice, kill on the spot!"
As William's military order was transmitted to the ears of the soldiers of the Southern Legion under the mountain, the breath of all the soldiers suddenly became thicker, even in the rich south, a gold coin was enough to cover the expenses of a family of three for a month, not to mention that there was no upper limit.
With an order, the Southern soldiers pounced on the Grizzly Legion like tigers out of the flail, and the momentum of forgetting to die made McSciner's heart sink. I don't know what means the southerners used to make these soldiers, who were not originally determined in fighting spirit, so brave.
Soon, several circles were broken by the high-morale southern soldiers, and the soldiers on both sides fell into a bitter battle of life and death. And the bad news came one after another.
"What did you say?!" Commander McShoner's eyes widened as he glared fiercely at the herald kneeling on the ground.
"Report to the Legion Chief, there are too many southerners, and the rear army cannot break through the enemy's blockade and is blocked out of the ravine. We didn't find the Marquis of Griffins, and the private battalion heard that the Grizzly Legion had been ambushed, and the whole army had fled in fear!" The herald cried out the bad news one by one.
Feeling a flash in front of him, Captain McSciena's regiment almost fell to the ground, but fortunately, the adjutant behind him stepped forward to help him.
"Griffins! You dog thief! As the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Counterinsurgency Army, you actually fled in a cowardly manner!" McSciena clenched his fists and roared!
Seeing the soldiers in front of him constantly being cut to the ground by the Southern Army, listening to the earth-shattering fighting and screaming in his ears, McSciner knew that he had lost the battle of the Grizzly Bear Army.
"Pass my order! All the soldiers will break through on their own in battalions and teams! I hope that the empire will protect the soldiers and use their lives so that we can escape smoothly!" As soon as these words came out, the commander of the McShoner Corps, who was in the prime of life, was paralyzed like a deflated balloon.
When the mournful retreating bugle sounded, both the grizzly soldiers who still maintained their formation and the grizzly bear soldiers who had broken through the formation and fallen into hand-to-hand combat all glanced at the location of McScioner's legion flag, and saw that the legion flag had been pointed diagonally to the rear, and all the grizzly legionnaires shouted in unison, and all the formations suddenly dispersed, and the soldiers all turned around and charged towards the way they came.
Seeing that the Grizzly Legion soldiers took the initiative to disperse the formation, the southern soldiers were overjoyed when they saw it, and they all rushed up to catch and fight, but unexpectedly, the grizzly bear soldiers did not dodge, turned a blind eye to the attacks on the left and right sides, and only cared about the impact on the way they came, and all the enemy soldiers who blocked the trade road were cut down to the ground by the grizzly bear soldiers who fought for their lives.
"No! The Grizzly Legion is fleeing!" Hearing the terrible trumpet, William's mind flashed with this thought.
"Order all the soldiers to stop with all their might! Be sure to leave the Grizzly Legion behind, and never allow them to escape alive!"
At this moment, the soldiers of the Imperial Army and the Southern Army have already killed the red eyes, although the Grizzly Legion soldiers are well-trained and brave, but the number of Southern soldiers is several times that of them, and no matter the weapons and armor, they are better than the Imperial Army. With every step the Grizzlies, countless soldiers fell, but even so, the Grizzly Legion's soldiers fought their way forward, risking their lives to fight their way for their Legion Leader, Master McSciner.
After the grizzly rear army outside the encirclement of the Southern Army killed the ambush circle and successfully took the corps commander out, McSciena, surrounded by the rear army generals, stood on the trade road with tears in his eyes and looked back.
"Chase, catch up, never let the Grizzly Legion escape from the Luman Mountains!" Hearing his subordinates' report, William Wagner waved his hand and led his generals to chase in the direction of McSciena's escape.
After a long march and a big battle, everyone was exhausted. It didn't take long for William's pursuers to see the Grizzly Legion.
"Report to the Legion Chief, the enemy has caught up!" The news from the rear moved McSciner again, and he didn't expect the Southern Army to pursue him so urgently.
"Please treat my family well when the Legion Elder and your colleagues return to the Imperial Capital, and I will lead the soldiers of this battalion to cut off the queen!" an officer in the rear of the Grizzly Legion gave a military salute to the Legion Commander McSciena, and then resolutely turned around and led his soldiers to meet the pursuers.
Just as the Grizzly Legionnaires were scrambling to sacrifice their lives for the Legionnaire, an archduke's personal guard appeared in front of William Wagner.
"What did you say?!The Grand Duke was kidnapped by Imperial spies?Impossible! This is impossible!What do you guard battalions do?What about your commander?" William glared angrily at the guard, unable to believe the news.
"Your Excellency, the Grand Duke has indeed been kidnapped, and the Lord Commander has been killed in battle! Even if I am given a hundred guts, I will not dare to lie about the military situation!" the guard knelt on the ground, and pleaded bitterly.
If it weren't for the fact that this guard was indeed a cronie of the Grand Duke's side, and his parents and relatives were also in the south, William would never believe his words, William knew very well that he could defeat the Grand Duke and kidnap him under the escort of the Guard Battalion, what kind of skills would this have to be able to do!
"Withdraw!" After a while, two words came out of William's mouth.
"What?" The officer next to him didn't hear clearly, and hurriedly asked to confirm it.
"Withdraw!" William roared hoarsely, his voice as desolate as a lone wolf.