On May 3, Egil calculated that he was less than 60 kilometers away from Naples. And the scout troops of the vanguard also came with a lot of news, and began to exchange fire with the light infantry scouts of the opposing side,

In the Eastern Roman Empire, the light infantry with slings, javelins, bows and arrows was nothing more than a support in a formal war. But in such a small-scale scout battle, the power is quite good. Except for Egil's side, Sherwood marksmen and battlefield assassins, plus professional hussars, this combination did not suffer any losses, and the other light infantry scouts all suffered varying degrees of defeat. Egir thought about it, and the next day he ordered the armies of other countries not to send scouts, and the Normans took care of the reconnaissance.

In this way, the next day's battle between the Catholic coalition forces was a complete victory. All the monarchs except Egil were very happy. It's just that nearly two hundred elite troops were hung up at once. It hurts Egil's flesh very much.

"The javelin is really handy, you don't have to pull the bow to wind, you just have to lean back and throw it forward...... Well, that's right. ”

The next day, the scouts were all replaced by Viking warriors, the most versatile profession in the Norman kingdom. These guys with light axes in their hands beat the Eastern Roman light infantry to the point where they didn't even know their mother's head in the ensuing petty scramble. Javelins do deal effective damage to targets at close range. But for a professional Viking warrior wearing heavy chain mail, if he is not hit by a vital point, it is only a moderate level of damage at best, and it will cost him his life. However, in the case of flying axes, no matter where it is hit, it can cause heavy bleeding, and if it is hit, it will be dead.

Because there is no armor.

And just like that, the first round ended with Egil taking the win. Of course, this is just the beginning.

The next second round is a regular battle. A total of 200,000 troops from both sides gathered in Naples, on the outskirts of the city, within a radius of tens of kilometers. Immediately after that, they handed over war letters to each other. It was agreed that the next day would be played.

Of course, because there are so many people on both sides, it is unlikely that a single battle will decide the winner. Therefore, both sides were prepared for a long-term war, and the Eastern Roman side did not mention it, but the Catholic coalition army was sending a steady stream of grain and grass from France, Holy Rome, and Northern Italy to the front line. It can be said that the power of the whole of Europe can be used to feed this coalition army. Therefore, there is no need to worry about supplies at all.

On the 8th of May, 1003, the weather was fine and the wind direction was strong westerly. As a result, it can cause very serious damage to the projectile weapon. Therefore, it is not very good news for the Catholic coalition army, which has a large number of longbowmen, crossbowmen. Especially for the Normans, who have been quite accustomed to charging under the cover of a rain of longbows and arrows in recent times. Of course, even more sad than the Normans was the army of northern Italy, which blindly caused most of the crossbowmen to lose their combat effectiveness. Even though this group is equipped with the best scale armor or heavy chain mail, it is suitable to use even as hoplites.

The Italians, however, are afraid of death.

That's it. Invisibly, the battle was in favor of the Greeks from the very beginning. However, there is nothing to be done about such things. Because of the failure caused by the last miraculous snowfall event, if you want to change the local climate with the help of the system, you need at least 10 billion bonds, and if you convert it into a little bit of bonds per second, there are only more than 30 million bonds a year, 300 million in 10 years, and 10 billion Chinese New Year's Eve billion...... Okay, so there's no need to go any further. There was only one thing Egil knew, and that was that he couldn't afford to pay the money. That's it.

Opportunism doesn't work, so let's use strength to speak. Originally, Egil also wanted to shout in front of the two armies, asking his 100,000 troops to shout together: "Cuckold dead eunuch!" to beat the morale of the other party. But this proposal was completely rejected during the military council. The reason is that this is too ill. How can we, the crusaders of justice (at least on the surface), act in such a shameless manner?

So Egil's brilliant plan came to rest.

Egil was still commanding from the top of a makeshift tower. In this way, ascend to the heights and look far away, plus the monocular bonus. The command ability is much higher than that of an ordinary commander. In addition to Egil, there are his favorite nun Joan of Arc, the Norman Archbishop Peter, the Death Knight captain Alpha - in addition to Hilde Brand, the representative of the Papal States in this battle, and the mayor of Bologna, Maffeo. These two guys each represent the interests of their own forces in the coalition. But when it comes to commanding wars, it's two wastes. It's completely impossible to go to war or anything. So he followed Egil to this "safest place in the whole battlefield". ,

After that, there is the usual calling. The general situation is as follows:

"We are for justice!"

"We are the ones who represent justice!!"

"Our faith is correct, you are heretics!"

"Our faith is right! You are heretics!!"

That's it.

And taking advantage of this period of time, the commanders on both sides also began to give their subordinates a final morale boost. Usually something like this:

"Money, beauty, glory and faith. ”

Above.

If you still feel that it is too troublesome, you can simplify it again and turn it into two words, fame and fortune. This makes it clear and understandable.

Subsequently, the war officially began. With the earth-shattering shouts of killing, all the wild animals within a radius of dozens of kilometers were trembling with fear. The two cavalry units at the front of the two sides began to strangle.

Prior to this, Narcisse had studied the tactics of the Western hoplites, and had heard of and carefully refined the method of band charging used by Egil. I knew in my heart that I would encounter this kind of expert in the use of cavalry. Your own infantry array is simply not enough to see. The only way to fight it is to use cavalry against cavalry.

However, the Norman army was not the only one in this battle.

The 100,000 allied forces were lined up by Egil in the following formation:

In the center, there was Egil's own headquarters, with a total of 40,000 Norman elites, while Egil's left flank was 20,000 Burgundian troops. On the right flank were 10,000 French troops and 10,000 Papal States troops, on the left flank of the Burgundian army were 5,000 troops from Genoa, and on the right flank of the Papal States were 7,000 troops from Venice and Bologna. And the rest, the unemployed vagrants, ranger knights, and the like who participated in this crusade in their personal name, were deployed at the very edge.

That's it, with the most elite troops guarding the center, the strategy of being strong in the center and weak on the flanks.

The position of Narcisse on the opposite side was not the same as that arranged by Egil. A total of five regular Roman legions were lined up, still a standard phalanx of three formations and twenty-five columns. Two Germanic legions, as well as one Varangian legion, were deployed at the forefront, in a zigzag shape. On either flank were two garrison legions, each with a few thousand men. This looks like a slightly improved cone.

As I said before, Narcisse knew that if he wanted to fight the Norman iron cavalry, he had to use the same cavalry, and the cavalry against the cavalry. That's how you can win.

So Narcisse concentrated five Roman legions, a total of two thousand five hundred Roman lancers, and two Germanic legions of a thousand barbarian cavalry. A total of three thousand five hundred lightweight hoplites. This serves as the tip of the awl of this huge cone-shaped array of nearly 100,000 troops.

Seeing the formation of the army opposite, Egil sighed softly, and then frowned. Standing next to him, Joan of Arc, dressed in a thick nun dress and wearing a hood that barely covered her eyes, sighed softly before stepping over and taking Egil's slightly cold hands.

"They died for Jesus Christ. Joan of Arc comforted.

"Fart—they died for Yu Zhan!!!" Egil almost couldn't hold back his words. In the end just sighed. He slowly pulled out his command knife, and his eyes erupted with a terrifying light like a lame old wolf who had been hungry for several days in the vast jungle and met his prey.

Whatever it is, whether it's a bear, a tiger, or a human, it's the same for a hungry wolf.

"All cavalry, charge !!!!!," Egir roared.

A heavy horn sounded, and immediately afterward, the Norman 4,300 elite cavalry rushed towards the Eastern Roman cavalry......

"What's wrong with Your Majesty Egil?, why did you lose your temper so much when the war began?" asked Cardinal Hilde, who was standing diagonally behind Egil, as he grabbed one of the knights of the Guard, and then whispered.

"This ...... We don't know very well either. The Guard Knight replied with a strange expression.

In the end, it was a paladin beside the cardinal who whispered to him: "You see, now the enemy is arranging a cone formation, and a large number of elite heavy cavalry have been taken out. Look at this posture is to storm the center of our army. And in the middle was the army of His Majesty the Norman King Egil. Therefore, whether this battle is won or lost, His Majesty's army will suffer heavy losses. That's what Sister Joan of Arc said before. I want to reassure His Majesty Egil a little. It doesn't seem to have any effect, though. His Majesty Egir was still very angry. ”

"I see. Cardinal Heard nodded, indicating that he understood.

Egil's ears are quite sensitive. Bishop Hilde muttered something like this, though it was already very quiet. But it was still listened to by His Majesty the King. So he didn't look back, and snorted coldly. Cardinal Heard touched his nose slightly embarrassed and stopped talking......

(To be continued.) [