Although Egil was quite reluctant, he was helpless. The next thing to do is not to suffer from gains and losses, but to adjust as soon as possible and defeat the opponent.

What the cone-arrow formation, or wedge formation, pursues, is to break through with a strong army in the center. Whether it was the hoplites, the Varangian army, or even the Germanic legions, these infantry were extremely capable of assault. This is exactly what it is. Egil felt relieved after getting angry. Because the one deployed in the middle is 40,000 elites under his command. And not the garbage of other countries. Otherwise, maybe the other party will really break through.

And now, Egil thought about it. As long as they have themselves, as well as their own two columns of France, Burgundy, the armies of the three countries can resist several rounds of enemy charges. Then the coalition forces, which are wider than the enemy in the frontal array, can form a semi-encirclement posture against the enemy from the flanks. After several unsuccessful charges, and after a failed charge, they were surrounded by the enemy. Then this battle can be won by eight achievements.

After trying to calm down, Egil raised his monocular and looked towards the center of the battlefield.

The cavalry clusters on both sides rushed towards each other like huge blue and purple monsters with fangs and claws, trying to kill each other with their fangs and claws, tear them apart, tear them apart, and then swallow them completely into their stomachs.

At the moment when the two sides were about to meet, it was a rain of arrows. Although the short compound bow in the hands of professional hussars has lost a lot of attack power due to the direction of the wind, it is better than nothing. The first shot was almost missed. But the second arrow was much better. What Egil didn't expect was that among the two so-called barbarian cavalry sent by the two so-called Germanic legions on the other side, there were also many cavalry archers. This startled Egil.

Previously, Egil, as the name suggests, believed that the opposing Germanic legions should basically be professional mercenaries recruited from the generation of Central Europe, Northern Europe, and even Western Europe. However, what Egil didn't expect was that this was not the case at all! The mercenaries recruited from these places were in another professional mercenary legion, the Latin Legion.

The so-called Germanic legions included barbarian soldiers recruited in Asia Minor, Crimea, Bulgaria, and even North Africa. These included Seljuk, Turkic, Tatar, Hun and Magyar mounted archers, Slavic light infantry armed with tomahawk round shields, spear infantry from North African Berbers, Serb, Croatian, Bulgarian and other ethnic groups from the Balkans armed with javelins, round shields and scimitars, and so on......

Egil felt that he was being despised as one of the Germanic branches, even if the Germans were barbarians. But not all barbarians are Germanic!!What's going on?!The people of the Third World are crying! And you barbarian mercenaries, is Rome so good?!Okay, so that you even forget your ancestors!?

However, in any case, the barbarian cavalry archers who were also equipped with short compound bows were similar to professional hussars in this round of arrows, and they did not play a role at all. In the end, both sides still have to rely on hand-to-hand combat to decide the winner......

After the heavy cavalry charge in the first round, almost losing both. The follow-up soldiers on both sides began hand-to-hand combat, and the Norman cavalry units wielding swords, tomahawks, and maces, blessed by the chant chanted loudly by the Field Order, soon gained the upper hand in the battle against the Eastern Roman lancers. Whether it's a tomahawk or a mace, they can have the upper hand against lancers armed with light chain mail. However, the long sword in the opponent's hand is difficult to deal effective damage to the heavy chain armor of the Norman heavy cavalry and the plate chain composite armor of the Norman royal knights. After a fierce battle, the Norman cavalry quickly gained the upper hand. On the contrary, some barbarian cavalry used maces, flails and axes were a little more lethal to the Norman cavalry.

At the same time, on the left and right flanks of Egier, the feudal knights of France and Burgundy, as well as knightly servants and other irregular cavalry, also joined in the excitement. The two states, which also had more than 1,000 light and heavy cavalry, outflanked them from both flanks, speeding up the retreat of the Eastern Roman cavalry. However, the Papal State army, which also had 600 heavily armed Italian heavy cavalry, did not send this force at the same time. This made Egil a little angry. ,

"Lord Bishop Hilde. Order your cavalry into battle. Egil turned and said to Bishop Heard in a slightly stiff voice.

"This, this ......," Hilde Brand smiled, but did not agree, of course, did not object.

"Our army is fighting and bleeding against heretics!Since your army is standing on this battlefield, it should unite and cooperate with friendly forces!" Egil's tone increased a little: "Otherwise, Yu, as the commander of this coalition army, has the right to kill commanders who disobey military orders on the spot!"

Speaking of which, Cardinal Hilde could no longer refuse, and in the face of Egil's intimidating eyes, he did not dare to test whether what Egil said was true or false.

"I see, right away. Cardinal Heard finished and glanced at one of his knights, who nodded and ran down from the watchtower. Then he mounted his horse and ran towards the army of the Papal States.

Then, very quickly, six hundred Italian heavy cavalry from the Papal States also rushed towards the cavalry cluster in the center of the battlefield.

At the same time, on both flanks, the small nations of the coalition (Venice, Genoa, Bologna), as well as the rabble who volunteered to participate in the holy war in the hope of washing away their sins and going to heaven, achieved some success.

Because the Eastern Roman commander Narcisse concentrated all his cavalry in the middle, there was no cavalry on the two wings. In this way, the cavalry of the small states and the rabble will be able to devote all their strength to striking at the flanks of the opposing side.

However, the hoplite phalanx of the Eastern Romans, although the melee combat was slightly worse. But it also has his advantage - those Italian heavy cavalry, as well as the ranger cavalry, rushed over and were stunned to take much advantage. After being weakened by the opposing crossbowmen, slingers and javelinmen, many more were killed on top of the hoplites on the first layer. immediately drew his sword and fought hand-to-hand, but let the opponent rely on the numerical advantage to fight and retreat.

Of course, I don't mean the cavalry that attacked the flanks and at the same time the last array. Rather, the Germanic legions that attacked the second array—the infantry that were disorganized, lightly equipped, and did not have much to counter the cavalry, were dealt a very serious blow in an instant, and the second array of the Eastern Roman legions was in disarray.

"The seventeenth, eighteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first corps advance, and the formation spreads. Cover the Germanic 1st and 2nd corps. Narsis ordered.

After that, with the exception of the 19th Legion where Narciss's legion was, the remaining four Eastern Roman relegaries began to move in an orderly manner to the northwest and northeast of the two flanks, spreading out their formations and helping the two Germanic legions regroup.

"The formation has unfolded...... Seeing that the opposing army began to advance, the front line was also stretched a lot at once, although there was still a gap with the long snake of the coalition army. But I can't find much more. This kind of development is a little different from what Egil had imagined before.

"Army, forward. ”

So Egil also gave such an order.

With the sound of a heavy horn, the shouts of nearly 100,000 troops shook the sky, and the coalition forces began to advance towards the center of the battlefield little by little.

"Varangian Corps, forward. Replace the lancers at the front, and the lancers retreat. Seeing that the other side was approaching in full line, Narsis immediately gave such an order.

They couldn't wait, and the Varangians, whose ancestral home was also from Scandinavia, immediately rushed over to the center of the battlefield with a wild shout after receiving the order. Dressed in scale armor or heavy chain mail, with round shields on their backs and spare hand axes at their waists, these warriors with two-handed axes in their hands were extremely lethal to cavalrymen who had lost their impact power.

"At the forefront, the Viking duel warriors charge!

As a result, Egil made almost the same adjustment.

Originally, the entangled cavalry units were actually very difficult to separate. However, the commanders on both sides gave the same order to retreat, and both cavalry were equally well-trained professional units - however, the Norman and Eastern Roman cavalry were able to separate quickly. But the cavalry of France and Burgundy and the Papal States were not so easily receptive to the order to retreat.

"We are on the verge of defeating them! Why should we retreat?!" protested the arrogant knights of the feudal system, as if they had no idea of the big picture, as if they had defeated the opposing lancers in this battle.

Egir rolled his eyes when he received the news from his heralds, and didn't care if the scum lived or died—only to find that when the lancers were about to retreat and the knights were about to pursue, they found a new enemy in front of them with fierce beards and two-handed axes— They couldn't help but wave the battle axe, with the strength of the whole body to slash wildly, whether it is to use weapons to parry, or to use shields to block, for them are completely ineffective, the heavy battle axe, and the fierce Varangian warriors concentrated all their strength to slash, the sword to the sword, the shield to the shield shattered, the cavalry up and down to cut the horse's legs, extremely fierce.

In this way, the cavalry of several other countries suffered great losses. One shot all over the street and rode hundreds of ......

(To be continued.) [