85_85536 So Jelich and Pelchberg sent another messenger, hoping to bring forward the date of the decisive battle. But this request was rejected by William.

And so it passed another day, and I saw the third breastwork gradually taking shape, and the horses and ditches on both sides of the breastwork. Jelich and Pelchberg were anxious. So they sent another messenger that night, claiming that they would start a battle tomorrow anyway, and even if William refused, they would attack tomorrow.

Things got to this point, and William had no choice but to agree. But in reality, with a two-day buffer, it is enough. William never imagined that his two opponents would be moral idiots like Song Xianggong, who would really sit idly by and ignore the large number of fortifications he had built. Let things get worse and worse.

That's it, the time was on the twenty-fourth of July, the combined forces of Sandomitz and Vitra, including a regiment of mercenaries, a total of 10,000 troops, against the 2,000 new troops of Circassia.

The ratio of forces between the two sides was five to one. If we follow the simple mathematical method of addition and subtraction, then the military blind will definitely say: five to one, how can you not lose. Such words that make you want to sigh come out.

It's just that things are far from that simple.

Looking at the position set up by the new Circassian army, the two counts, as well as the mercenary captain of the Starlight Corps, felt that it was difficult to handle. In particular, the seven guns of five small and two large guns were arranged on the second line of position. The power of the three-pounder falcon is not enough, but the six-pounder cannon is definitely a big killer in land warfare.

"If the other side does not have artillery, then it is one way to set up our artillery to bombard the enemy's position, force the other side to abandon the defense, and fight a decisive battle with our side. But the problem is now...... Hmm......" said the mercenary captain, frowning......

"So what should I do?" The two counts who were very self-aware and knew that professional matters should listen to professionals, and the two counts looked at the mercenary captain of the Starlight Corps, and then asked.

The mercenary captain did not answer his question for a moment. Rather, it's thinking carefully:

If you attack with infantry, then you can only use my troops, because the morale of the temporarily mobilized troops is very problematic. And they certainly didn't experience the shelling, so I'm sure that the next moment they were shelled, those bastards would have collapsed in the shortest possible time.

Therefore, if you want to fight, you can only rely on the more than 2,000 mercenaries under my command. The problem is that more than 2,000 mercenaries are my capital. It's not a good thing to die too much......

After thinking about it like this, the mercenary captain had an idea:

"Your Excellency. He told Jelic and Pelchberg: "Next, I think the tactics should be like this. We still need to set up the artillery. And this work can be done by my people.

In this process, we must not relax our attack and pressure on the enemy. The problem is that because the other side has the advantage in firepower, we need some coercive measures to prevent the levies from collapsing. ”

"Coercive measures...... The two counts are not fools, so they can naturally understand what the mercenary captain means by "coercive measures". That is, when Jelich hesitated, Pelchberg had already given a preemptive answer:

"Yes. But your men will fight the first battle. At the same time as agreeing, Pelchberg took advantage of the situation to make such a condition.

"Hmm. So the mercenary captain nodded and agreed.

At the same time, behind the first breastwork, William, who commanded the 2nd Infantry Battalion, was also holding a monocular, observing the movements of the enemy forces on the opposite side.

Although the multiplier is not enough, you can't see too far away. But the opposing forces are not too far away.

Five hundred meters. Enough for William to see clearly.

"What are they arguing about?" thought to William. Immediately after, I saw that the other party finally made a move - came. Arranged in a very loose, uncomfortable, and not at all neat array, about five to seven hundred spearmen armed with spears and shields, barely equipped with some leather armor, and some of them did not even have leather armor, began to advance slowly towards their positions.

Behind them, faintly, William could see two ox carts with two primitive bronze cannons without gun carriages. And around the artillery, there was about a company of mercenary phalanxes, and a group of people who looked like gunners. At the same time, there were also conscripts carrying sandbags and looking panicked.

"Do you want to set up the artillery...... It's a very primitive and terrible weapon with poor utility, but it's a bit of a hassle...... Never mind. Even if you're worried, you can't do anything right now. William thought as he observed the shield spearmen on the other side.

These shield-spearmen were more threatening in his eyes than primitive artillery, which was extremely inaccurate, had a very slow rate of fire, and had the danger of exploding.

"But it's only slightly better. William thought to himself. At the same time, he noticed that behind these shieldlancers there was another enemy force.

It was the private guard of the two counts. As in this era, the vast majority of the noble guards in Mazovia, like the elite archers.

Equipped with two bows of different curvatures, they are very good at both foot and mounted archery. And at this time, they were behind these shield spearmen, on foot, and at the same time holding in their hands a bow with a longer range and greater power than the cavalry bow. A bastard who "if you don't listen to orders, I'll kill you."

"Warlords...... Speaking of which, Charlumie's guards aren't equipped with specialized infantry bows......" William thought to himself. At the same time ordered: "Musketeers, prepare!"

With William's order, behind the breastwork, a total of three companies, the new army musketeers lined up in three rows entered a state of imminent battle. At this time, the enemy soldiers were still three hundred meters from the position. Fifty meters behind William, the 1st Infantry Battalion of the New Army, Shalumi had already ordered the gunners to shoot-

Whether it is a falcon or a six-pounder cannon, it is a flat-fire gun with a relatively straight trajectory. However, in the case of a movable and telescopic wedge on the gun carriage, the muzzle of the gun can also be raised or lowered to adjust the trajectory. This is also the reason why William will put these guns on the second front.

In his preset tactics, the first line of defense he is stationed will have a high probability of being breached, in that case, his most precious heavy firepower, these seven artillery pieces will fall into the hands of the enemy, and it is very likely to cause unnecessary casualties to his own soldiers.

That's it. William turned his head to look at it, and saw that the seven guns had been loaded one after another. The gunners are using an artillery ruler to measure the direction of the wind, the force of the wind and the distance. While measuring, they talked to the students around them. It's just that looking at the faces of these students who don't seem to understand it, you know that they may not have listened to anything.

This made William feel very helpless.

The people who are currently using the artillery are all hired at high prices from the Blue Hat Merchant Order. And those who they are teaching are William's artillerymen.

After more than three months of study, these semi-literate people still do not understand and do not seem to understand. I don't know anything about how to operate artillery and fight from a distance. I don't know if this group of guys is really stupid and hopeless, or if their teachers don't teach well for the sake of high salaries.

However, in any case, the role that these guns can play is self-evident. As the gunners loaded the prefabricated projectile, they ignited. The roar of the huge cannon instantly rang out with the efficiency of bursting the eardrums. At the same time, seven solid projectiles of various sizes shot out of the smoke-emitting muzzles, and at a speed that broke through the sound barrier, they shot towards the enemy's shield spearmen.

"Three hits—" William hurriedly turned his head and looked at the front of the battlefield - three shells shot straight into the enemy's group, opening three shocking alleys of flesh and blood in the enemy's group. And the other four shells fell to the ground not far in front of the enemy's array. Fortunately, however, after withstanding the trampling of the new Circassian army, Sandomits and Vitra forces, the land has been trampled hard.

The solid projectile, which had not yet lost its kinetic energy, slammed into the ground, bounced up, and slammed into the array of shield spearmen......

Under such an attack, no shield, no armor will work. Flesh and blood collide with cannonballs, and if you do, you're dead.

In the blink of an eye, dozens of people in the shield spearmen's array had fallen. The rest of the soldiers froze in place. Looking at the front and back, left and right, those dead and scattered corpses, those flesh and blood corpses and human organs. This was followed by a shout of "Whoa!" Turning around, he dropped the shield and spear in his hand, and ran towards him as if he was dead.

The other soldiers, led by them, did the same, and turned and ran—but before they could go a few paces, the guards with their bows drew their bows and fired arrows at them.

The rout who was at the forefront was shot like a hedgehog and fell to the ground. The rest of the rout was so frightened that they stopped.

"Stop, don't run, no one can run! Attack! Keep attacking! Whoever dares to run away will be killed!"

At the sound of such shouts, the shield-spearmen were pushed and shoved tremblingly, regrouped their ranks, and then walked towards the battlefield again under the watchful eye of the warlords.

At the same time, the two ox carts with old-fashioned guns also drove into the battlefield. The draftees, carrying sandbags, piled up the sandbags up two gentle slopes, and then lifted the heavy barrels of the guns up with all their hands, ready to shoot.

Seeing this scene, William instinctively wanted the artillery to shoot at the opponent's artillery. But when you think about it, I think it's better to forget it.

The accuracy of the artillery of this era was very problematic, and the practical solid shells had a straight range of damage, not a face. Aiming at large groups of enemy infantry is barely suitable. But it would be too difficult to shoot specifically at the enemy's artillery and ask for the enemy's artillery to be destroyed