Chapter 232: Breaking the Five Battalions at Night

"Alas, I can't buy horses, I didn't expect the imperial capital to be so short of horses, these days we have collected everywhere, and it cost twice the high price to get these dozen pack horses, all of which are used by adults to pull carts. Farea grumbled as she fiddled with the campfire.

Josk said: "We thought too well, thinking that we could buy mounts when we arrived in the imperial capital, but we forgot that the Kingdom of Antinac was not a horse-producing land in the first place, and the reorganization of six legions by His Second Highness required a large number of military horses, which caused a horse shortage. We walked over, but we didn't expect to walk back. ”

"Today we have walked more than 30 miles for most of the day, and tomorrow it is estimated that we will be able to walk 60 or 70 miles a day. This is very bad for us, accustomed to galloping in the Northland, and I really feel that such a long march is as slow as a snail. My lord, why don't we go to the nearby lords' houses and buy carriages to speed up the march. In any case, the island of Hilois will be developed and built, and these carriages can also be used for transportation. "It was El's idea.

After leaving the imperial capital for a long time, Farea, seeing that it was getting dark, Farea, ordered to camp on the spot. The five hundred soldiers of the Guards Battalion were well trained and quickly settled. Instead, a few knights of the clan began to complain around the campfire, and people like El, Jim, and the others had always marched on horseback in the Northlands, and were not used to walking on their own legs. When he came, he could still sit in the carriage that escorted the prisoners of the second prince, but this time he didn't have that treatment.

Lorist bought thousands of books in the imperial capital this time to take them back, although there were more than twenty carriages, but they were all filled with these books except for the loading of grain, grass and baggage, and there was not even a spare horse. Even Lorist had to walk on foot.

"Alright, tomorrow we'll change direction and head towards the Dhoni River, and we'll be at Samba Town for another day. There is the great crossing of the Dhoni River, and we will take a boat back to find a boat there, and along the river we will go ashore in this city of Domesgo, and it will take only two days to reach the port of Qilin, and we will get on the boat and go back to the island of Hilowas. Lorist looked at the map and decided.

"And will we buy carriages when we pass through those territories?" El asked.

"Forget about the carriage, buy a few horses, and let your guards ride up as scouts. If there is any danger, you can be warned in advance. Lorist said.

"Ha, my lord, our five hundred centaurs are elite, which lord of the Antinac Kingdom still has the courage and strength to provoke us?" everyone laughed.

This is true, now the lords and nobles of the Kingdom of Andinac have been packed up by His Royal Highness, and most of the lords' family weapons have been integrated into the reserve army. It's good to have a garrison of 100 people in the territory. As Caritok said, as long as it is not the legion of His Royal Highness, the five hundred soldiers of the Guards Battalion led by Lorist can walk sideways in the kingdom.

"My lord, why can't we bring horses from the Northland here to sell them? I think it's a good business. Schward asked.

"Hehe......" Lorist stroked Schward's hair: "It's good that you can think of this, it stands to reason that this is a good business, but you have ignored the most important point, who is the other party doing business? The army of 300,000 had already made him do his best, and he had no extra gold coins to pay for. The only thing we can get for transporting the Northland horses here is his white strip, and he will promise to compensate us when he unifies the Empire......"

"Alright, let's get some rest. Schward, boil some hot water and let everyone soak their feet. I'll have to walk a day tomorrow. Lorist said.

After a night of silence, he continued to drive the next day, and only got seven mounts in the four territories he passed along the way, five of which were still fifteen or sixteen years old, and El smiled bitterly: "My lord, did we buy this horse to go back to support them?"

In the evening, we arrived at Samba Town, which is the territory of Count Santos, and I heard that Lord Count is now the commander of the Third Legion of the Royal Guard, and is stationed on the border of the Kingdom of Redlis. In charge of Samba Town is a trusted butler named Old Sonny.

Steward Sonny treats Lorist with respect, and any count who has five hundred family soldiers dressed in standard equipment should be respected. He told Lorist that Samba Town is a very important inland river crossing in the Kingdom of Andinac, mainly to transport a large number of grain, grass, logistics and goods along this river to the front line, that is, the border between the kingdom and the kingdom of Redlis, saving a lot of manpower and animal power on the road.

Therefore, Lorist can be replenished here with supplies such as grain and grass, and some carriages can also be bought here. As for the river ferry that Lorist needed to get to the city of Domesgo, Sonny's butler said that he could help pull the strings and go to one of the captains in charge of the transport fleet to see if he had any options.

When he heard that Lorist was willing to pay eight hundred goldfords for his soldiers and more than twenty wagons, the captain named Horrison was immediately red-eyed, and ordered his soldiers to carry the grain and grass that had been loaded on the ships to the shore again, and to free up ten empty boats to turn around and prepare to make a trip to the city of Domesgow.

When Lorist asked the Horrison captain if this would affect the transportation plan of grain and grass on the front line, the captain replied nonchalantly: "It's okay, it's common to delay for ten days and a half on the road." It only took seven or eight days to go back and forth to the city of Domesgow, and it was just enough to bring back some of the supplies that had been piled up there, and no one would blame them. ”

When the Captain Horrison heard El complain that the Kingdom of Antinac couldn't buy horses, he laughed and told Lorist and El that you hadn't found a way. He volunteered to take Lorist and El to the camp of the transport convoy, and soon Lorist reached an agreement with the person in charge of the transport convoy, and Lorist spent a thousand gold fords to get one hundred and twenty riding horses from the person in charge, although not very good war horses, but more than enough to go into battle to pull the cart.

Captain Horrison did not run in vain, and two hundred Kingford fell into his pocket, but he had to free up four more empty ships to carry the hundred or so horses.

El asked him curiously: "How can you explain to the above that there are so many war horses missing from the transport convoy?"

Captain Holrison laughed: "There are many excuses, sickness and death, falling into the water, water and soil adaptation, horses are frightened, etc., these one hundred and twenty horses can find one hundred and twenty non-repeated reasons to remove them from the roster of the transport convoy without making people suspicious, and this matter will disappear without a trace in less than a month." As for the missing horses, he could report them and add them from the logistics department, and of course he had to share most of the 1,000 gold merdes with others......

El was silent for a long time, and after returning to the camp, he whispered to Lorist: "Locke, I understand why you are not optimistic that the 300,000 army of His Second Highness can unify the empire, according to the virtues of these people under him, let alone 300,000, even if there are 600,000 troops, it can't be ......."

Four days later, Lorist and the others arrived in Domesgow City, after handing over the remaining five hundred goldfords, Lorist shook hands with the smiling Captain Horrison and said goodbye, and then made a big purchase in Domesgow City, rested for a day before setting off for Qilin Port, as long as it took another day and a half or two days, the team could arrive at Qilin Port and sail to sea.

In the evening, Jim, who was the scout, arrived with two guards to report: "My lord, there is smoke and dust rising from behind, it seems that a large group of cavalry is coming, estimated to be about 3,000 men and horses, and it will arrive here in about ten minutes." Shouldn't we get out of the way?"

Lorist and the others looked back, and sure enough, there was smoke and dust in the distance behind them.

Farea: "My lord, no, this is for us. The smoke and dust filled so quickly, it means that these cavalry are sprinting with all their might, and there is no one else on this road except us, so the goal of these cavalry sprinting is self-evident that we ......"

Lorist pointed to a small mound next to the main road: "Go up, the carriage is in front, surround outside, defend the formation, everyone hurry up." ”

The mound is not high, only twenty or thirty meters, and there are sparse miscellaneous forests on it. As soon as they moved to the top of the mound, the cavalry from a distance arrived. They really came for Lorist and the others, and when they saw Lorist and them going up the mound, they also slowed down and began to set up guards around the mound, seeing that the posture was to trap Lorlist's group on the mound.

Dorus cut off a tree the size of a bowl with a sword, and two soldiers came over and took the tree away, which was used to defend the horse. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Dorus asked Lorlist, who was also cutting trees next to him: "My lord, the cavalry below is wearing the standard equipment of the Royal Guards Legion, did His Royal Highness send them to keep us as hostages?"

Lorist smiled wryly and shook his head: "I don't know. Second Highness, this person can be regarded as a hero, and he should not be so unwise. I defeated the great swordsman who was guarding him in front of him, and he should know that sending cavalry against me like this will not leave me behind, and even if you kill you all, it will be difficult to trap me. Once he turns against our Norton family, he will surely usher in waves of counterattacks from our family's armed forces. In such a situation, he would not have to dream of unifying any empire, and he would be lucky to be able to withstand our attacks. So I don't understand what went wrong to make him so aggressive......"

Farrea and Josk came over: "My lord, we have surveyed the terrain of this mound, and the slope leading to the main road is the easiest to come up, and we have now arranged all the carriages in this direction to form the first defensive front. Next, it is necessary to place the rejecting horses and dig trenches, which should be able to withstand the onslaught of the opposing cavalry.

On the left, there is a cliff more than ten meters high, and neither cavalry nor infantry can climb up here, so there is no need to arrange guards for the time being. The right side is also a slope, the height is different, the infantry can still come up, the cavalry cannot ride horses, I have arranged a squadron of a hundred people in this direction, there should be no big problem.

Behind us is this small forest, we need to cut down some trees, one is to clear the shooting range, the second is to build a few tree walls with trees, and the third is to prevent the enemy from attacking us under the cover of the woods. But the bad news, my lord, there is no water source here, and the water we carry with us will only last us for two days at most, and if the enemy takes fire, we will become roast pigs......" Fareia said very seriously.

"My lord," added Josk, "I have just estimated that the enemy must be a cavalry brigade of about 2,500 men, and they will form a semicircular line of defense in three directions, except for the cliff on the left side of the mound, as if they are ready to trap us on the mound. I suspect they are waiting for the arrival of the follow-up infantry before attacking. My suggestion is that it is better for the adults to break through first, and let us stay here to hold back the enemy. As long as the lord returns to the family territory, no matter what the enemy's schemes are, they will not be able to carry them out. ”

Lorist shook his head: "I brought you out, and I will definitely bring you back with me, I don't have the face to run back to the family territory alone." El, when it gets dark, you can take Jim down the cliff on the left and catch a guy alive and ask about it. ”

"Yes, sir. El replied.

The sky was full of stars, and the mounds were lit with fires, whether it was the Norton family forces on the mounds or the cavalry of the Royal Guards below, they all lit numerous fires to prevent the enemy from breaking through or attacking while it was dark.

But this was not a problem for El and Jim, who slipped off the cliff where the enemy was not looking, and soon took a prisoner and slipped back.

In front of everyone, El used a sharp dagger to cut a thick branch into chopsticks, threatening the captive to cut him off as a branch if he didn't tell the truth.

The devastated captives soon confided everything out.

"What! You said you came to entangle us on the orders of the Commander of the Corps, Earl Aslan, and waited for him to come with two infantry brigades to encircle and suppress our Norton forces, and it would take him two days to get here?"

It was already clear that it was the Earl of Aslan, the elder brother of the Viscount Aslan who was beheaded by Lorlist's order, the Golden Knight Count Aslan, who was the head of the Royal Guards, who privately sent troops to hunt down Lorist and his party. Fortunately, Lorist changed the route of his march and took a boat to the city of Domesgow, leaving Count Aslan to chase in the wrong direction, otherwise he would have crashed into a massacre three days ago.

Now the cavalry of the following brigade received an order to entangle Lorist and the others, and wait for more than 5,000 infantry brigades of the two infantry brigades of the Earl of Aslan to arrive before encircling and annihilating them. Count Aslan walked quickly, and did not know about Lorlist's defeat of the great swordsman Clemondo. He was very confident that with the 7,500 men of the three brigades in his hand, he could not escape any of the more than 500 people in Lorist.

"Pounce" Lorist spit out the grass root in his mouth: "Since he wants to play, let's play with him." ”

It's still dark, but dawn is coming to start the day.

A small group of horsemen patrolling below the mound looked up at the top of the mound, and through the faint light of the fire above, the faint figures of the besieged Norton guards and the spearheads illuminated by the firelight could be seen.

"Let's go, go back to the camp, we can change the guard. The leader of the squad said.

Behind him came the sound of running water, and a few neighing horses. The team leader didn't care: "Can't you just get off the horse and pee, you're really a lazy." ”

Then he smelled a hint of blood. No, he quickly turned around, but what caught his eyes was a sharp blade that flashed with cold light......

Everyone was stunned, and watched as Lorist began with the last horse of the patrol and killed with a single sword, without the enemy even making a sound. Lorist then flew on his horse and drew his sword and handed the body to El and Jim, who followed behind, who gently placed it on the ground. The team of three men slaughtered from the back to the front, and the most surprising thing was that the enemy was unaware of it, and none of the killed enemies made a sound. Lorlist's swift and accurate sword made everyone in ambush shudder.

This is the fourth patrol cavalry team of about twenty people, and in total, more than eighty war horses have been harvested.

"Alright, everyone get on their horses, follow the horses and do a good job of concealment, let's go into the enemy's camp, remember to set fire, this side of the fire will be on the side of Farea, and the action will start immediately. ”

The cavalry of this brigade arranged five camps in three directions of the mound, each camp was about 500 people, and a cavalry team of more than 20 people was dispatched to patrol around the mound constantly, but they did not expect that Lorist and the others would slip down from the cliff side of the mound to counterattack.

"Kill!" Lorist took the lead in the first camp on the far left, followed by Josk and El and others resolutely carried out Lorlist's strategy, one was to set fire, the second was to control the mount, and the third was to kill.

Two silver knights were killed by Lorlist's spear, and the cavalry of the first camp collapsed, and they ran to the second camp in disheveled clothes, and Lorist followed them and rushed into the second camp with a great slaughter.

By this time, the patrol cavalry of the three camps to the fifth camp had already reacted, and one hundred and twenty cavalry gathered together and rushed to the second camp for reinforcements. Unexpectedly, they were only halfway through the rush, and there were shouts of killing behind them, and Farea led four hundred soldiers from the Guards Battalion to rush into the fifth camp. The cavalry, which had not yet mounted their horses, was no match at all, and the fifth battalion collapsed faster.

The second battalion was also broken through, and Lorist was rushing the hundreds of cavalry who had fled barefoot in front of him to charge the third camp, while the fourth camp was also attacked by Faria and others.

When it was dawn, Fareia rode his horse happily to Lorist's side: "Great victory, great victory! My lord, we broke through five battalions in one night, and all the enemies who did not run became prisoners, and most of their horses fell into our hands. ”

"Are our casualties heavy?"

"About half of the soldiers of the Guards Battalion were killed and wounded, one hundred and forty-seven were killed, and more than one hundred and twenty wounded. The main reason is that the cavalry that gathered together at the end caused us so many casualties, after all, the soldiers of the Guards Battalion are used to fighting defensive battles, and they are not good at sneak attacks like this......" said Farea.

"Let's clean up the battlefield first, and I'll wonder if I'll wait for the Earl of Aslan to arrive in two days and give him a greeting gift......," Lorist said viciously.

...... (To be continued.) )