The same sense of oppression as suffocation, the same sense of oppression as suffocation, the same sense of oppression as suffocation. Sarida Khan was neither tall nor majestic. Even the weapons and equipment on his body are no better than those of other cowards. But when he stands there, attention is rightfully focused on him.

This man has absolute authority, absolute power and absolute domineering.

That is, William's opponent this time.

"It's not a ...... of the same rank at all," a word popped up in William's mind for some reason. At the same time, I felt a huge sense of powerlessness.

Yes, in a sense, this is not a battle that he can participate in at all. The other party, Sarida Khan, was much stronger than he had imagined.

"Don't worry, my child. It was at the same time that William was almost devastated by Sarida Khan that the voice of Duke Otto sounded beside him.

The voice is steady, powerful, and fearless.

"General......" William was slightly excited, followed by shame.

"It doesn't matter. Duke Otto smiled and said, "You still have a lot of time." At my age, I'm afraid I'm not as good as you. ”

As Duke Otto's words fell. On the other side, Sarida Khan sensed that something was wrong. He squinted his eyes and looked at the human army opposite. After that, he made eye contact with Duke Otto.

"Good opponent. ”

"Rivals. ”

Almost at the same time, Duke Otto and Sarida Khan made almost the same judgment. The other party is not easy to mess with, the other party is definitely not under him, and even a stronger commander than himself.

"Count, return to your place. Immediately after this, the Duke of Otto gave William such an order - and the so-called "William's position" was the commander of the five thousand new troops of the Hereford family. This position rightfully belongs to the Hereford family.

"Yes, General. William nodded, then rode his horse towards his army.

Duke Otto's arrangement of troops was very particular. He placed the largest number of mercenary units with the most balanced combat power in the center of the array. These elite infantry units were organized into infantry phalanxes ranging from 150 to 300 people according to the mercenary groups and mercenary organizations to which they belonged. In the gaps of the infantry phalanx, there were their accompanying artillery. Usually a three-pounder light infantry gun. There were also some slightly heavier infantry guns of four to six pounders. In addition to this, there were a very small number of cavalry units, which were usually used as heralds or to cover the flanks of the phalanx.

More cavalry units were concentrated by Duke Otto, and were deployed in companies and battalions on both sides of various mercenary groups and large forces.

The armament of the mercenary units is basically the same, which is an extra-long spear, plus an arquebus. This varies depending on the financial situation of each mercenary group. Some large mercenary regiments with deep pockets equip all their soldiers with steel cuirasses, even musketeers. Some impoverished mercenary regiments were equipped with steel cuirassers and ship-shaped helmets according to the standard, only in the first two rows of the super-long spear phalanx.

The number of cavalry units that were concentrated was small. And the su zhì is also worse - it doesn't look like an infantry unit that already has a routine, regularized infantry. The cavalry of the mercenaries usually remained in a relatively primitive state. Most of them were quasi-hoplites composed of bankrupt nobles, minor nobles, and wandering knights.

Of course, there are also some mercenary groups, such as "Rose", which have a cavalry company with extremely strong combat effectiveness.

The cavalry company of 120 men was fully equipped with heavy plate armor and horse armor. Even men and horses are wrapped in steel - and they are not cheap to hire.

However, William was not optimistic about such a slightly outdated super-heavy cavalry.

Their speed is slower and their body is too poor. Although the power and deterrence are still there. But compared to the offensive weapons of this era, their defenses are not as strong as they imagined.

Despite being reloaded, it still has a high level of defense against traditional arquebuses. But the defense against the new flintlock pistol was terrible - this is what William came to after he had done the real thing.

"In any case, if you put them in the right place, then they might be able to play a little bit of combat power......" William comforted himself.

Deployed on both flanks by Duke Otto were the new army of the Hereford family and the army of the Wend-Gothic nobility.

The left flank of Hereford's new army had already been divided into three lines of defense consisting of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd infantry regiments under William's orders. At the same time, three cavalry battalions were deployed by William on the infantry flanks and in a separate artillery position.

Perhaps the artillery owned by the Hereford family was the largest caliber of the war - a total of twenty twelve-pounder guns, purchased from the Lanhat Merchant Regiment, as well as several other Polotsk merchant groups, and five eighteen-pounder guns, which were too large for infantry guns, were deployed in a separate artillery position. Protection was provided by a cavalry battalion. The smaller three-pounder and six-pounder guns were placed between the gaps between the infantry companies by William and used as infantry companion artillery.

On the other side of the main forces was a coalition of nobles numbering around seven to eight thousand. The quality of these aristocratic alliances is more uneven. Many traditional Wende nobles, as they did hundreds of years ago, only brought a few vassal nobles, and the rest of the main force was composed of conscripted peasant soldiers.

All these conscripted peasants were left in the camp by Duke Otto - what a joke, what time is it now. Do you still want everyone to die with you?

That's it, the nominal number of seven or eight thousand noble coalition has shrunk by a small half. Three thousand seven hundred.

However, the combat effectiveness of these 3,700 people can be guaranteed. Among them, more than 1,000 Wende-Gothic noble cavalry were knightly heavy cavalry in the traditional sense. The remaining nearly 3,000 men were border rangers on light horses. They were the most important cavalry force at the hands of Duke Otto.

It was divided into three parts...... Fight the enemy in the center, and then take charge of the counterattack with the troops on both flanks?" Opposite Duke Otto, Sarida Khan quickly saw through this arrangement of Duke Otto.

"So...... I don't want you to get your wish, so I'll attack your wings first!"

Thinking of this, Sarida Khan immediately opened his mouth and gave an order. Tens of thousands of nomadic cavalry and centaur cavalry moved to the flanks. Then he began to move slowly towards the two flanks of the coalition forces.

-- The charge of the war horse is extremely depleting. So the nomadic cavalry and centaurs were not very fast.

And this gave the artillery of the coalition forces room to play.

The firing range of ordinary three-pounder guns and six-pounder infantry guns did not exceed five hundred meters. However, William's twelve-pounder cannon and eighteen-pounder cannon were able to lightly hit heavy solid lead bullets at a distance of 800 meters.

So, while the opposing cavalry and centaur forces were advancing, the left and right flanks took very different approaches.

On the left flank, William's new army of Circassian waited for a long time, quietly waiting for the arrival of the enemy army. At the same time, artillery positions began to get busy. The artillerymen began to adjust the artillery according to the previously measured shells and gunpowder. Immediately after, a round of deafening roar. Five 18-pound buckshot and 20 twelve-pound lead bullets that were slightly smaller "boomed" out. In the opposing cavalry units ploughed out a few alleys of flesh and blood.

"Necessary losses. Stand to reason...... It's just this range...... Stationary artillery, artillery positions?"

Soon, Sarida Khan guessed the correct result - Sarida Khan had no sympathy for the cavalry who had been wiped out by the coalition artillery fire during the attack, and instead took their casualties as a matter of course.

In a sense, though, it's the right thing to do.

On the other side, the nobles and light cavalry units on the other side dealt with it very simply. After obtaining the permission of Duke Otto, a total of more than 500 hoplites and cavalry in the first array began to move slowly towards the center of the battlefield. Their target was the centaur cavalry opposite them.

"Heavily armed human cavalry. ...... with heavily armed centaurs When it comes to combat, human cavalry is no match for a centaur warrior who is a man and a horse. But the conditions are similar on both sides. That is, when both sides are in the 'sprint' phase. The casualties were very fair for both sides. Duke Otto had such a thought in his mind.

At the same time, both centaurs and human cavalry began to increase their speeds.

Other words. The impact is about to begin.

"It's still a necessary loss of course. Sarida Khan thought so in his heart - metal and metal, cavalry and centaurs. The perfect combination of power and speed, the collision of Mars and Earth is as intense. This extremely shocking scene only had such a meaning in the heart of Sarida Khan.

The right flank of the coalition forces was already shouting and killing.

Before the cavalry of the two sides actually made contact, the human knight had already raised the cavalry crossbow and handcuff in his hand, and aimed it at the centaur warrior on the opposite side. At the same time, the centaur warriors had already spread their recurve bows. Arrows with barbs, armor-piercing arrows with cones, and poisoned arrows smeared with black poison, in a burst of bowstring crashing, bows, crossbows, and lead bullets formed two dense barrages. weakened their respective opponents.

After that, the first column of centaurs and human knights charged at each other with super-long spears. All of them got their wish in the first place. Extra-long lances pierced the bodies of their respective enemies - and then the corpses. Almost instantly, the knights in the front row and the centaur warriors were in unison—they were all wiped out!R1148