Chapter 70: Shotgun vs Cavalry
The artillery on the high ground had noticed the approach of the enemy, and the spearmen who came to assist them set the bottom of their spears on the ground and prepared to defend against the cavalry.
After Paul's order was transmitted, the artillerymen adjusted the direction of the artillery loaded with shotguns, pointing at the necessary place on the route of the Knights of Bairding.
Abt saw the Arda soldiers who turned around in a defensive posture. snort! Gleiman only arranged two thin layers of spearmen to face them, and they could charge away in one fell swoop.
The knights of this era have their own fiefs, wear the best equipment, eat the best food, and have a high social status. After repeated indoctrination of virtues such as loyalty and bravery, they regard honor and faith more than their own. Life, all of the above endow the knight with strong material and spiritual strength.
Once the virtue of loyalty and bravery is violated, such as receiving the order of the lord to charge but shrinking, they will lose it all, which is a more terrible punishment than death for knights.
Therefore, although charging is dangerous, they will still rush to the enemy without hesitation. The first knight to contact the enemy will receive supreme honor and reward, regardless of whether he survives or not.
The knights and their horses are all wearing thick armor, which makes them natural heavy cavalry. There is also a special iron mask on the head of the war horse. This mask only leaves a slit in the front. The horse's viewing angle is 360 degrees. Through the slit in the mask, the terrain and obstacles in front can be seen clearly, and the vision becomes smaller and larger. So that the horse will not be distracted by the things on both sides or be afraid of seeing the endless spear forest.
When facing the spear array, the knight's impact is not to hit it head-on. Even if the person has the determination to die, the horse will instinctively avoid sharp objects. It is only when the battle situation is absolutely necessary that the horse's eyes are completely blindfolded. Yes, but also need to meet certain terrain and distance requirements.
Under normal circumstances, the first row of knights throws spears or shoots with short bows, and then spreads out to both sides. The knights behind decide to continue throwing or directly attack according to the situation. After opening a small gap, the follow-up cavalry will quickly expand the breakthrough and rush into the phalanx to kill.
Unless they have undergone long-term and rigorous training, most people will collapse psychologically before the opponent starts throwing spears when faced with the powerful force of cavaliers charging, and those infantry phalanxes composed of temporarily recruited militiamen will often disperse.
Although Abt led only dozens of cavalry, when they got closer and closer, they still caused a huge sense of oppression to Arda's army, and many soldiers were sweating nervously.
"It's broken, it's too big!" Looking at the smoke and dust rising in the distance, Paul felt regretful, and the two rows of spearmen might not be able to stop him.
He and the two battalion commanders whipped their horses hard and ran along the formation, hoping to quickly convey the new order to the entire army: "The third to sixth rows all face backward!"
The sudden change order caused some confusion in the team, especially when the enemy cavalry rushed over at high speed.
Abt watched the changes in the ranks of the Arda people, and sneered in his heart: "Hmph! It's late! The queue is so thin, it's courting death." He picked the gap between the two infantry battalions and prepared to go from there. Break through, and have a back and forth attack with the infantry in front.
Then the artillery of the army of Arda rang!
It is a terrifying thing for 8 cannons to fire shotguns at the same time. With the flash of fire and the rise of thick smoke, each cannon sprays hundreds of shotguns, creating an arc length within 400 meters in front of it. In a fan-shaped area of 30-50 meters, a terrifying and deadly metal storm rushed towards the Berdin cavalry.
Just when Abt and the knights around him raised their spears, countless deadly projectiles also hit them from the right side. Nearly half of the 30-rider shock team were directly swept down, and even their horses and men were beaten. into a sieve, and the protection they wore was of no use.
The rest are almost all wounded. The undead horses either fell to the ground and neighed in pain, or ran wildly around uncontrollably. The fallen knights struggled to avoid being trampled by their mounts, or wailed uncontrollably because of the pain of their wounds.
The few knights who followed at the end of the team were very lucky not to suffer any injuries. The tragedy happened in front of them made them lose their judgment directly, and they let their mounts be frightened and carried them around on the battlefield.
Paul stared blankly at the tragic scene in front of him, feeling a little familiar, and said to himself: "The morale is gone."
He quickly reacted and ordered the four rows of spearmen in the back to turn around and deal with the infantry in front with all their strength.
In fact, the will of the Beldin soldiers in front had been shattered. In the process of approaching Arda's army again, they were fired twice by the musket company and fired by mortars again. The fear of death made them They instinctively resisted going forward, allowing the whips of the war-supervising knights to lash themselves.
Just when the war-supervising knight drew out his sword and was about to slaughter some cowards, he saw through the gap between Arda's army the terrifying process of his companions being completely annihilated. under the horse.
Many Bairding militiamen standing in front also saw it, "The whole army of Lord Knight who outflanked the enemy is wiped out!" The terrible news quickly spread among the crowd, it was Lord Knight who is usually majestic and majestic!
The militiamen beside the supervising knight begged him not to let them continue to die. The knight slammed his whip to disperse the crowd, and urged his mount to run backward without looking back.
Seeing that the Arda people in front raised their spears and were about to rush towards them, the abandoned Bairdin militiamen cried and knelt on the ground begging for the enemy's life, and they didn't even have the energy to escape.
The overall situation has been settled, Paul said to the officers around him: "Everyone, it seems that we can have dinner in Butuya today."
The order was quickly issued: the 1st Infantry Battalion and the Musket Company approached the gate of Butuya, and the 2nd Infantry Battalion gathered the prisoners.
…
Angelo and the others have been observing the battlefield, and now they finally realize that failure is inevitable.
"About that idiot, bastard, he failed!"
He cursed at Abt, and now it was all over.
"My lord, what should we do now? Should we retreat to the city and defend to the death?" The faces of the two barons were filled with despair.
An Qiluo shook his head: "Even if some routs are brought back, they can be used as an ass, but Butuya can't defend."
He pointed to the south and said: "We can't stay in our own territory anymore. The remaining old, young, women and children can't resist Graeman's army at all. Now, let's go back to our respective homes to collect some belongings, and take our family to go south to Kent." Count, he will take us in."
The three of them immediately reached an agreement and ran in the opposite direction of Arda's army.
