landbeastnovel #421 - Preparation before the final charge
#421 - Preparation before the final charge
“Ooh-ooh-ooh——”
The sound of the horns still floated through the dark clouds, and a few crows, smelling the scent, arrived, circling greedily above the corpses.
Between the hills and streams, horseshoes clashed in constant pursuit, as Kushite knights and Church knights engaged in interception, chase, and entanglement.
Those separated from the main force by the Kushite and Norse knights were the rural knights from Lower Reifer.
Dense rows of long spears vibrated with each step, the steel forest formed by their tips merging with the forest on the hills behind, almost obscuring the dark clouds in the sky.
Fireballs trailed long tails of black smoke and flame, whistling as they landed in the shoulder-to-shoulder square formation.
One ball of fire after another exploded, and guards, wailing and covered in flames, danced a lively dance on the grass.
“What do we do? What do we do?”
Surrounded by a group of knights, Mizzam completely lost his previous sinister composure, grabbing Alman's sleeve in a sweat.
At this point, Alman lost his previous good temper and said coldly, “What else can we do? Prepare for battle.”
“Prepare↑ for↓ battle!” Mizzam's tone instantly soared to at least E6, and seeing the people around him looking at him, he lowered his voice, “The Holy Lord is merciful, I can't bear to see the slaughter, I must avoid the battlefield, can you send a few standard-bearer knights to escort me?”
“I'm afraid that's not possible.”
“Why?”
“It's just not possible, we can't leave.”
Mizzam became exasperated, raising his voice and reverting to his usual vicious demeanor: “Does the Church army really need me to fight this battle?”
“Hard to say.” Alman gave Mizzam one last bit of face, “Let me put it this way, the moment you leave, seeing you leave, the infantry square will collapse.
The routed soldiers will crowd the roads in chaos, and the enemy's cavalry, combined with the devil-gun infantry, will kill us like lambs to the slaughter.”
“Then what do we do?” With a last glimmer of hope, Mizzam asked, “Can't we just go around them?”
Alman wiped the blood from his armor with animal hide, his originally frivolous eyebrows almost pressing down on his eyes: “Go around? If we could go around, would I be waiting here?”
The Salvation Army had such a long battle line, with cavalry guarding both sides, that it would take at least a minute for the Edict Company to bypass them.
Considering the enemy's speed of advance, our speed of assembly, the enemy's holy-gun cavalry and infantry interference, and the hussars' and wizards' divination, it would be absolutely too late.
Even within a range of three hundred meters, or even two hundred meters, Alman would have been confident in leading the main force of knights to escape, after all, the infantry could be abandoned.
But now, thanks to Horne's actions, they were blocked here by the routed soldiers from Small Pool City and their own large infantry square, making escape impossible.
Scanning the battlefield, under the shouts of the various guard captains and sergeants, the guards were trying to turn around.
Their spear shafts collided, someone was pushed down and complaining, and others were pushing and shoving deserters.
The original three-man wedge formations were about to merge into one, becoming a chaotic mess.
At the current rate, it was estimated that the six rearmost squares were definitely doomed, and even if the six foremost squares changed formation in time, they would definitely not be able to withstand the Salvation Army's initial charge.
In summary, it was all over.
When Mizzam led the entire army past Horne's side, the battle was already over, only differing in whether it was a crushing defeat, a major defeat, or a minor defeat.
The overall battle situation was hopeless, but for Alman, it wasn't necessarily so, as long as he could preserve the strength of the main force of knights, it could only be considered a minor defeat.
Guards were like potato roots in the ground, growing back after each harvest, and at most it would only take two years to replenish them.
Alman glanced at Mizzam, and remembering his identity, he still said helplessly: “When we charge, you follow behind, and break through the enemy's line, that's the only chance.”
The ashen face of Mizzam finally regained some color, although this was a major defeat, as long as he had a pen and paper, although he couldn't turn defeat into victory, he could turn danger into safety.
“Squire knights, advance!” Alman mounted his horse and shouted at several knights, “Do your best to slow down the enemy's speed and allow the large square enough time to change formation!”
“As you command, sir!”
…………
Smoke drifted past his side, the swirling wind wrapping dust and forming light-black cloud scrolls. Ten legions formed a battle formation, moving forward at full speed.
Holding feather spears and wearing breastplates, company commanders ran back and forth, hoarsely blowing whistles and shouting loudly amidst the sound of footsteps, adjusting formations and speed.
The rapid march just now and the vanguard battle with Countess Marica had somewhat disrupted the Salvation Army's ranks.
Leading the forefront of the battle formation, Horne watched the chaotic formation of the Church army ahead, his pale face showing no expression, leading others to believe he was distracted.
The wind blowing away the smoke struck Horne's face, and unlike the surrounding hot air, it actually carried a trace of coolness.
This could not help but make Horne wonder about the principle of this wind-blowing spell, did they generate air, or did they propel air?
Riding on the back of the dapple-grey horse Grape, following the battle formation slowly forward, Horne gently stroked its mane, the heavy iron gauntlet covering the back of his hand, but it did not affect the gentleness of the movement.
Horne's mastery of the Second Stage Breathing Technique meant that wearing such a heavy pair of iron gauntlets was not too difficult.
“Your Excellency, should we go back?” Duvaron, holding a shield and covered in sweat, stood beside Horne, holding the shield high.
Around Horne's battle formation, squire knights were desperately maneuvering, arrows flying randomly in the sky, landing on helmets and armor with crisp clangs.
From time to time, a burst of scattered gunfire could be heard, and the next second, several knights who were too close fell from their horses.
Although the squire knights were quite far away, it would be terrible if a stray arrow flew over and hit Horne.
“What's there to be afraid of? What you should do yourself, you must do yourself, you can't leave it to others.” Horne put down his spyglass and said lightly.
But looking at the nervous eyes of the people around him, he sighed softly, grabbed the reins, and the legions around him flowed past on both sides.
“Did the two legions in the rear keep up?” Reining in his horse, Horne turned to Duvaron beside him and asked.
Because the legions rotated to the right as a whole, the two rearmost New Recruit Guard Legions had fallen behind.
To prevent the Edict Company from launching a flank attack on this weak point, Horne temporarily adjusted the formation.
The two foremost legions of the five thousand men in the ten legions currently marching on the grassland were the Guard Legions, which had always served as reserves.
“They kept up, and are currently staying at the rear as reserves.” Duvaron confirmed with the messenger before continuing.
“Has the formation been adjusted?”
“It's all adjusted.” Yeshka revealed his dark yellow teeth, “Just waiting for your order.”
Looking at the increasingly clear Church army in his field of vision, a trace of a smile finally appeared on Horne's face.
He never expected that the enemy would break away from their position and actively launch a slanting attack, although this was the result of him passively leaving bait, the effect was surprisingly good.
Horne started from the main formation, and although it seemed like he ran three or four hundred meters, if the entire battle formation was regarded as a whole, it did not move far.
A Galar line, when fully deployed and leaving enough maneuvering space for the gunners, had a battle width of about 90 to 100 meters.
Horne's diamond formation had a full four Galar lines on the first line, and Galar lines on both sides of the second line.
Therefore, including the maneuvering space between each line, the battle width when the battle formation was deployed was 500 to 600 meters, and it still had a battle width of more than 400 meters after turning into a marching formation.
Horne seemed to have run a long way, but horizontally, he only moved one position, plus turned half a circle.
The opposing Church army's infantry large square had far more rows than Horne, so even if the battle width of a large square was only 50 to 60 meters.
In addition, they were arranged in a staggered wedge formation, so with Horne's twice the strength, the battle width of the 12 large squares was only 300 to 400 meters.
This meant that it was difficult for the Church army's infantry to outflank Horne's Galar line, while the Galar line, after ensuring its maneuverability, could easily outflank others.
It was precisely this characteristic of the Galar line that made Horne decide to launch a flanking attack, and used spring-powered leather cannons to forcibly defeat Countess Marica and her personal guard knights.
After leaving the Ybe Knights and the remaining remnants of the Lower Reifer Knights to entangle, Horne began to hurry eastward.
When he learned of the enemy's whereabouts from the hussars, he was ready for a flanking attack.
But what he did not expect was that the other party seemed not to have noticed, and without making any defenses, they walked almost straight past Horne's face.
Horne saw them, but they were still stiffly moving forward.
From thinking about it just now until now, Horne could not figure out what trick Mizzam was playing.
But he quickly realized that this was an excellent opportunity.
Launching a flanking attack in the smoke, too far from the main formation, the Edict Company would definitely detect it in advance and flee the battlefield.
If he launched an attack from the side rear, he would not only achieve a greater tactical effect, but even have a chance to block the Edict Company.
This temporary decision brought Horne a rich reward.
On the opposite side of the moving steel forest, the Church army's fragile rear and flustered flanks were already exposed in front of Horne.
“Your Excellency, we have entered the enemy's range of one hundred meters.”
A distance of one hundred meters, calculated at a quick pace, would only take two minutes.
“The four legions on both sides of the second line turn to regular pace, prepare to meet the enemy's knight charge, the center army continues to move forward at a fast pace, prepare to charge.”