By the time the sky was a little brighter, a light rain had already begun to fall. This had a slight impact on the large Norman crossbow force under Egil's command. Looking at the sky, Egil estimated that the rain would get heavier and heavier as time went on - but from another point of view, the rain was a disaster for the Lithuanians who had already relied on cavalry archers. The damage to them should be much greater than that of their own.

Thinking about it a little like this, Egil's heart is balanced. muttered in a low voice: "Well, well, after all, it's fair, although it's a war thing." ”

And so the war began in earnest.

And Egil made a pact with the girls in the house that he would return within two hours. That's why you have to work hard. Therefore, at the beginning, the Norman army began a general attack, with a total of 70,000 troops divided into three routes, with 30,000 troops on the front and 20,000 troops on both flanks.

While Egil would like to see a quick victory, on second thought, this is also a good opportunity to train his troops. The effectiveness of one's own military reform can be seen from this war. Therefore, although a wave of cavalry can completely crush the opponent. But Egil opted for a more precise, more standard, or a more cumbersome general-purpose array.

The three columns of crossbowmen were in front, the Norman infantry and Norman assault infantry formed a three-line formation, while the longbowmen were interspersed between the second and first formations, and the heavy and light cavalry formations were scattered on the two flanks—a standard battle formation. No fancy, clear intent. It's simple, and it's versatile.

At the rear, the last array was formed by the Norman Praetorian Guards, like a miniature version of the main array. The Praetorian Heavy Infantry formed four phalanxes of five hundred men, while the Praetorian Assault Infantry and Praetorian Spearmen formed a five-hundred-man formation with a total of five hundred Assault Infantry deployed. The other five hundred men were deployed on the two flanks of the phalanx, interspersed with Praetorian longbowmen, and the Praetorian Knights on the two flanks of the infantry. Of course, Egil didn't actually want the army to come forward and fight. They are the general reserve, the last reserve, the final and most reliable force to lay the foundation for victory, or to save the tide of war at the most critical moment.

And in this war, with the Lithuanians, Egil could not see at all where they were needed.

Then, in the atmosphere of slaughter, in the drizzling rain, Egil, who was standing on the watchtower, waved his hand, and then the ten knights of the guard beside him began to blow their horns. Long, long syllables that blow out a whole breath of your lungs. Forty knights of the Guard, who were deployed around the watchtower, in front of them, left and right, and a little farther away, also began to blow their horns. This was followed by twenty-five knights of the Guards deployed on the left and right flanks of the army......

A total of a hundred knights of the Guards sounded their horns one after another, and there was only one long syllable, and only one meaning - an all-out attack.

With such a voice, the Norman army, which was weak, only more than 10,000 Lithuanians surrounded on three sides, began to advance. And the Lithuanian on the other side was pale. Seeing that the other party was taking a uniform step, one phalanx after another was moving forward like a knife-cut tofu block. And these tens of thousands of troops, plus because of the cloudy day and bad light, they can't see too far in advance. The army of 70,000 surrounded on three sides seemed to be endless. It makes Lithuanians feel unusually cold. Many Lithuanians subconsciously want to go back. The formation became a little messy for a moment.

"Steady! They don't have as many people as they seem! they're just bluffing! Steady! Steady! Steady, steady, to stay !!alive," shouted Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas hoarsely, though it was already at the end of his rope. But it is very difficult to get such a hero to admit defeat. To this day, Vytautas still thinks he has the ability to defy the sky. Can resist the attack of the Norman army.

It's just that Vytautas shouts like this, not too many Lithuanians believe. After all, people prefer to trust their own eyes. And their eyes told them that the Norman army was huge. You can't see the edge. such

Compared to what Vytautas said, Bacheng and the middle-aged man who was wearing sunglasses and drooling on the wall, wearing sunglasses and bare upper body, said: "Don't be afraid, uncle is a good person." "Same. The credibility is quite low. ,

But maybe it's to comfort yourself and cheer yourself up. After Vytautas shouted this, the other Lithuanians shouted to each other: "There are not many of them! just pretend to be a lot! Don't be afraid!!"

Seeing that the army was gradually stabilizing, Vytautas breathed a sigh of relief, and then thought, "As long as I can hold one game." When the time comes, the Slavs, who are still on the sidelines, and those Cossack exiles, will see that the Normans are not unstoppable. When the time comes, the two of them will join the fray, and my situation will be much easier. ”

After hypnotizing himself in this way, Vytautas perked up again: "Lithuanians! cheer up!!"

And at this moment, those who are still willing to follow Vytautas are either his cronies, or they have decided that Vytautas is dead-headed, or they are guys who have a grudge against the Norman Empire. These people originally wanted to fight with the Norman Empire

See life and death. Although morale was slightly low, and he was frightened by the horror of the Norman army. But the voice of Vytautas spread hundreds, hundreds, thousands...... After this spread throughout the army, the Lithuanians also wanted to give themselves

He mustered up, dissipated his fear, and roared.

Tens of thousands of Lithuanians roared loudly, while the Norman army was silent, still advancing slowly, methodically, and neatly. Such a scene. It's as if a rat with its teeth and claws is provoking a cat lying on the ground and not moving. It's kind of funny.

Anyway, though. The morale of the Lithuanians was slightly boosted, and gradually they also had the determination to resist. Even the silence of the Normans was misunderstood as fear by the other side. Some Lithuanians who were overly optimistic burst out laughing.

"Norman, but—"

But then, after a moment's effort, they couldn't laugh anymore.

An overwhelming storm of bows and crossbows and arrows was fired at the Lithuanians. It was the result of a combination of 6,000 longbowmen and 4,000 crossbowmen—a total of 10,000 projectile troops, armed with ranged and lethal crossbows, firing arrows at the Lithuanian positions in a continuous and continuous manner. The Lithuanian people were caught off guard and suffered heavy losses.

"Their range - why is it so far?!"

The range of the longbows and crossbows of the Norman army was at least one and a half times that of the Lithuanians. At such a distance, the lethality of the Norman projection unit was indeed reduced slightly. But in the face of the Lithuanians, such a half-toned army is enough.

Lithuanians rarely wore armor, and not even many wore large shields. Most of the Lithuanian army was improvised, peasant soldiers with a mess of weapons, and the regular army was mostly short spearmen with spears in both hands. extremely

Even if it is connected to form a shield wall, it cannot defend against a rain of arrows. And a small number of shields equipped with only a small number of mercenaries, small round shields that are better than nothing, large shields such as tower shields, kite-shaped shields, kite-shaped shields, etc., only a very small number of mercenaries,

Or maybe it's only available to professional samurai.

Thus, under this round of arrows, the Lithuanians suffered heavy losses. Of the 10,000 Norman projection troops, the longbowmen drew their bows fifteen times in a row, shooting 90,000 of them

Light arrows - because it is too wasteful to use armor-piercing arrows. The giant shield crossbowmen wound five times on average, firing 20,000 arrows. In this first round, the almost slaughter-like performance of 10,000 projection troops was over. Look again at the camp of the Lithuanians

- In their outermost circle, at least 3,000 men, that is, a third to a quarter of the army, died in this terrible rain.

At the time of the Norman projection troops to release arrows, Lithuania

It's as if people are seeing hell. The sky is like an endless number of arrows, and in my ears are the miserable howls of my comrades who have been hit by the arrows. I couldn't tell the difference between the east, the south, the north, the west, the front and the back, the left and the right - not even whether I was alive or not

I don't know. And when this nightmare finally stopped, there was a large number of corpses around me, like hedgehogs, covered with arrows, and dead without eyes......

The little morale that the Lithuanians had just raised quickly disappeared like snow burning in a red furnace.

The Norman army, led by a rain of arrows with longbows and heavy crossbows, taught the Lithuanians a hard lesson. Then came the main event of the knight's charge, the Norman horseman, armed with a heavy lance, a full suit of mounted horsemen and full-body armor

The Norman royal knights formed a series of attacks, with a hundred-man team as a unit, a column of fifty people, and formed a two-line horizontal formation to perform a wave charge - this improved wave charge. The two wings of the front, as well

On the two flanks of the two wings, a total of 3,000 hoplites (4,000 according to the regulations of the military reform, but only 3,000 were actually armed, and some of them were unreformed Norman heavy cavalry) formed a formation of thirty centurs. Take turns in the direction

Attack with the formation of the Lithuanians......

Such a modified band charge is smaller, more dexterous, more targeted, and easier to control. Although the power is not as powerful as the wave of terror cavalry with hundreds of people in a row. But the accumulation adds up, and the actual damage is greater than that of the first version of the band charge......