The night after this. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 Whether it was the camp of Sarida Khan, which stretched for more than ten kilometers, or the fortress-like fortress where William was stationed, the warring sides were silent.

Humans and centaurs. Or rather, the settled civilized man and the nomadic barbarian, both are recuperating. Accumulate stamina. In order to ensure that you can have sufficient physical strength in the daytime battle the next day.

That's it, at six o'clock in the morning, William got up on time, washed up, and changed into one of his most beautiful general's gowns. Put on your saber. After everything was dressed, the door was pushed open. Walked out.

"General!"

Outside the door, when the staff officers and soldiers of the guard company of the New Army led by William saw him, they immediately stood up and saluted.

"Star officer. William returned the salute and walked towards the parapet on the east side, near the Vistula side. At the same time, he asked, "How's it going?"

"The Tarta army has begun to cross the river, General. ”

In formal occasions such as the battlefield, William preferred to be addressed to a general rather than an earl.

"Hmm. Got it. William nodded, then waved forward

"Go to the front. ”

With his order, the guards of the two teams turned eastward in unison. Then it was divided into four columns from two columns, and they were guarded on either side of William.

With the sound of boots, William reached the top of the east parapet, and then extended his hand to the star officer.

The star officer immediately handed over the telescope that had been prepared for a long time.

"Hmm. After a casual yes, Wilhelm von Hereford looked at the Tartarian army opposite.

Their march was not very fast. However, some of the light cavalry had already crossed the Vistula first. Lined up on the west bank of the river.

"In order to prevent harassment by our light cavalry, we used light cavalry to defend in advance...... Well done, but it's a pity ......" William said this, and couldn't help but shake his head.

The other party is completely doing useless work.

Because their own side does not have enough troops at all, especially the cavalry units to take the initiative to enter the enemy.

"If you use artillery bombardment...... It's also completely more than worth the loss. The opponent's forces are not large, probably only a thousand people, and the array is loose. The effect of the shelling will not be too great......" William thought of this, and regretted it a little.

In order to avoid a tidal flat on the banks of the Vistula, William made concessions on the location of the fortress. This estuary fortress was built about two kilometers west of the Vistula River. At this distance, the role of artillery was significantly weakened. In other words, it is almost impossible for the side to prevent the other side from crossing the river by means of artillery bombardment.

But there is no way. Tidal flats become part of the Vistula when the river floods. On top of that, the soil is too soft to build a proper foundation. If you force a building there, you will face problems such as ground subsidence.

"No way. But it doesn't matter. The real battle has just begun. William thought to himself. The autumn wind whipped his black cloak hunting.

Behind the thousand light cavalry units were the main infantry and artillery units of Tartaria.

Still out of prudence, Sarida Khan was very particular about the order in which his troops crossed the river. He did not cross the river with infantry or artillery units in one go, but divided them into smaller mixed units and crossed the river together. This allows for a slow increase in troops, without fear of putting artillery units in danger because the defenses are too weak.

"It's just that it's not too fast...... After all, the Slavic army was overwhelmingly feudal. It is also a matter of course that there is a lack of organization. William thought to himself.

"Judging by the speed at which the other side crossed the river. In about half an hour, the opponent will be able to get through a team of three to five thousand. Beside William, Charlumi, who had heard the news, replied, "Do you want to ......?"

"It's not yet possible to determine the tactics of the other side. William put down the binoculars, and then threw it to the star officer: "So, observe for a moment - let the front-line troops rest and don't tense." Don't let your guard down, though. ”

In this way, after half an hour, four thousand people had already set foot on the west bank of the Vistula. Among them, two thousand-man detachments were one of the trump cards of Sarida Khan, the Slavic New Army. The other two thousand men were traditional Slavic infantry - mostly unarmoured, with a small number of scales, various battle axes, round shields, and broadswords. At the same time, a small number were armed with compound bows and smoothbore guns. Whether it is combat effectiveness, organization, tactics or will to fight, it is not too high.

As for the artillery units, there were about thirty light six-pounder guns, which were pushed or pulled by the opposing side with war horses and manpower, and crossed the Vistula.

"Four thousand-man infantry, plus one thousand-man cavalry, thirty infantry guns. William counted the opponent's strength. At the same time, they watched as the other side continued to send troops to the other side of the river.

Even with more than 5,000 troops, the Tartarian army still had no intention of attacking the fortress. And in this case, as the garrison, it is naturally impossible for the Maisti runner-up to take the initiative. The two sides are at a stalemate.

This stalemate made William extremely uncomfortable -

"Damn it...... Originally, at this time, it should have been the appearance of the river fleet to prevent the other party from crossing the river. The cowardly Polotsks. ”

William angrily scolded the group of Polotsks in his heart - yes, compared to the previous days, the coastal artillery group in Tartaria has been weakened a lot, and it is the Polotsk river fleet that has come out to bombard and interfere with the other party's crossing of the river. It's just that, it seems, the Polotsks were frightened by the defeat a few days ago. So no matter what Willian said, they refused to play.

"Don't move forward when it's time to advance, don't retreat when it's time to retreat. If they were my subordinates, I would have shot them!"

That's it. In the first round of the fight, the Tartarians had the upper hand.

Practically unhindered, the Khan's army was constantly passing over pontoon bridges to the west bank of the Vistula. In this way, the morale of the Tartarian army naturally increased, and the morale of the Mystian army decreased, correspondingly.

"No problem! No problem at all!" William thought to himself, "It is impossible for the other side to transport all 200,000 troops to the west bank of the Vistula, can they?" In this case, the other side can only transport 20,000 or 30,000 troops for a morning. That's all. No problem!"

While William was thinking this, on the east bank of the Vistula, there was a commotion.

With the earth-shaking sound of the cowhide drum, a group of centaur heavy cavalry wearing heavy scale armor roared and tread water—

As if receiving a signal, the Tartarian army on the west bank of the Vistula River also began to move. Under the cover of the light cavalry of two thousand people, the Slavic infantry, which barely formed a team of two thousand people, carried the ladder, maintained the array, and slowly advanced in the direction of the fortress.

Around these two 10,000 men were nearly 100 six- and nine-pounder infantry guns.

"The opponent's formation is very spread out, and it is in a semi-encircled posture against our army's fortress. East, Southeast, Northeast, South, North, all five directions were targeted. William thought to himself. At the same time, he secretly praised: "The other party's command ability is not bad." An army of more than 20,000 was commanded. In the ancient city, the formation was scattered little by little. Tartaria ...... In addition to Sarida Khan, there are commanders of this rank......"

William was sure that it was not Sarida Khan himself who commanded this army. Because of the Khan's representatives, Jiu Bai Xuan and the cowardly Xue army did not cross the river.

"Who is it...... The man ......" Soon, William captured the suspected commander, the strongest centaur in golden armor, and the coldest in appearance, under the guard of the centaur heavy cavalry who had crossed the river last.

"He's ...... Kublai Lai?" William couldn't help but think of such a name.

“...... Before, I probably underestimated him!"

Such thoughts flashed in William's mind. Immediately after that, he waved his hand, and then ordered: "Fortress artillery, aim at the enemy infantry and fire freely!"

Although William wanted to give the order and concentrate all his firepower to kill the centaur Hutenji, reason prevailed over emotion.

The artillery hits of this era were very low. At this distance, despite having already entered the firing range. But at most, it can only diffuse some large targets, or hit the main forces of the opponent. The result of the concentration of fire is likely to outweigh the losses. The probability of actually killing Kublai is very, very low.

With William's order, the fort batteries were immediately put into operation - five 32-pounder guns, two 48-pounderers, 20 18-pounder guns, and more than 30 twelve-pounder guns deployed in the five directions of east, southeast, northeast, south, and north opened fire one after another.

In an instant, the earth-shattering roar of artillery overshadowed the centaur drums on the opposite bank. The fiery projectiles of steel hail left the chamber of the cannon under the power of gunpowder, whipping up large shards of corpses and flesh in the Slavic phalanx. Screams rang out one after another. Under the action of a large number of shells, several Slavi thousand-man detachments, who were unlucky and were taken care of, instantly lost a tenth of their troops. The array is faintly showing signs of collapse!

"Terrible firepower. Escorted by the centaur heavy cavalry, Kublai lamented, "Humans are indeed useless. If fought one-on-one, even the weakest centaur can easily kill a human. However, their manufacturing capacity is really ......"

Speaking of this, Kublai stopped sighing. Ordered loudly: "Speed up! Deploy artillery positions, return fire - ask for support from Father Khan! Give me two centaur archers of a thousand men! I will use them to suppress the long-range fire of the opponent's fortress!"