110 – Battle of Hattin Forest (2)
The knights, including Colonel Charles, realized that they had fallen into a trap, and they were thinking this in their hearts.
‘f*ck, there’s no need for anything, just give me an order to retreat, or at least an order to reorganize!’
However, Major General Pompadour, who led the 10,000 troops of the Francois Republic, did not give the order to retreat even while watching the situation… He could not.
Because, unlike Colonel Charles’ view, in the eyes of the major general watching from afar, he is suffering some damage from the archers.
This is because it seemed possible to launch a meaningful attack to some extent on the right wing of the imperial army.
‘Colonel Charles and his knights will be sacrificed, but the Reich’s right wing will not be able to survive without 400 knights. So, if you target that time and attack…’
If that happens, it is as obvious as seeing fire that Francois’s army, with its overwhelming numerical superiority, will win.
With the two commanders having completely different thoughts, hundreds of arrows and magic fired from the imperial army rushed towards the left side of the 400 knights led by Colonel Charles.
As a result, the knights, who had been charging confidently in shining silver armor while being hit by arrows from archers just a few seconds ago, stopped.
“f*ck, f*ck!! “Help me, mom!!”
“This is hell, I am done now. “If I end up fighting for a country that has been kicked out of office and end up dying like a dog, I will end up in hell, right?”
“My body! My body is hot, hot! “Water, water!”
Even though the wedge formation was broken, the magicians and crossbowmen of the Reich Imperial Army fired as many arrows and magic as possible to kill as many enemies as possible.
The rain of arrows and magic quickly reduced the number of Francois knights.
So, it seemed likely that the infantry of the Reich Empire would come to the forefront here, but contrary to expectations, 300 knights led by Lieutenant Colonel Werner rushed out from the left of the right wing of the Imperial Army.
The lieutenant colonel shouted in a loud voice while holding his lance tightly.
“They are ugly bastards who plunder the innocent serfs of the Reich Empire, force them to sit on the streets, and serve idiots who were even dismissed! Crush them with your words, and skewer them with your lance!”
Then, 300 knights of the Imperial Army rushed towards the right side of the Republic Knights.
Enemies struck by the enormous force and weight of the war horse flew into the sky, were pinned to the ground and were unable to recover due to serious injuries, or died instantly from the impact of falling from the horse.
The knights hit by the lance escaped being pierced or stabbed to death thanks to their armor, but they flew towards their comrades who were riding nearby horses.
The knights who flew away mostly survived because their comrades acted as buffers, but when they collided and fell to the ground, their comrades who were crushed died instantly or became paralyzed from shock.
“François knights are so cruel! He’s trying to survive even if he has to use his colleagues as a rug! “He is truly a model knight!”
Under normal circumstances, the knights of the Reich Empire would have deserted in this case and then charged again with auxiliary weapons such as swords or maces.
As everyone was leaving, reorganizing, and waiting according to Brigadier General Jaeger’s instructions, one of the brigade’s staff came up and said.
“Brigadier General, this is your chance to annihilate 400 knights of the Francois Republic. “If we charge right-wing infantry right now and capture or kill them all.”
The brigadier general agreed with the intention of what he said, but he did not know when and where the enemy would attack given the current war situation.
And the knights of the François Republic are now on the verge of annihilation because they are the most combative and well-armed soldiers in the republic.
If the infantry actually goes in to attack and an engagement occurs, there is a possibility that the engagement may be prolonged even if the imperial army does not suffer major losses.
Moreover, later, the captain of the Francois Republic would lead the remaining infantry and attempt an all-out war.
I thought it was a somewhat hasty decision to start consuming infantry from now on.
“It’s as if they have already been wiped out. Send a signal for the archers and knights to retreat for a while and resupply with arrows and lances. Also, send the crossbow arrows that we have left as spare supplies to the right wing.”
With those words, the staff repeated his order and gave an order to some of the soldiers attached to the center of the brigade.
“Send signals using flags, trumpets, and drums to the archers and knights to resupply arrows and lances and tell them to wait. Lieutenant Humphrey, have your platoon deliver three carts of arrows to the crossbow battalion on the right!”
“Yes, I understand!”
“Hurry up, every minute is urgent. “You don’t know which direction the enemy will attack from.”
So the archers and knights quickly returned to the main base in the center, and the soldiers of the central army handed them water containing salt.
“I had to kill all those damn bastards, isn’t it a pity?”
“But we only lost a few people. “Are there any injuries?”
“There are four seriously wounded in the archer cavalry and knight units. “I can’t even count how many enemy knights have died.”
Brigadier General Yeager listened to their words, although he did not show it because he was in the middle of a battle.
He clenched his fists and was glad that the casualties were lower than he expected.
‘If possible, if the Francois attack our left or right wing again, we can repel them with the same strategy. ‘That can’t be possible.’
In this way, Colonel Charles of the Francois Republic retreated with only 150 knights, and Division Commander Pompadour gave the order after thinking as hard as he could.
“Have the decent knights under Colonel Charles get off their horses. Then, put them at the forefront and charge an infantry regiment into the enemy’s left wing! Then, when the attack makes progress, the entire army will advance together and destroy the enemy brigade!”
With those words, his adjutant relayed the order again.
“Okay! Among the knights under Colonel Charles, those who can move will get off their horses and stand at the vanguard of the infantry regiment to support close combat! “This time, we will defeat only 4,000 piglets!”
When the knights who heard that sound got off their horses, sighing as if they had no choice.
The sounds of soldiers chatting noisily were heard from all over the camp of the Francois Republic Army.
“f*ck, barbarians on horses have appeared!”
“Please save me…”
“Evil!”
Towards Francois’ soldiers, who never thought that the Reich Empire’s archer cavalry, which was smaller in number than them, would follow their camp and attack first.
The archers continued to circle while shooting arrows, and the officers who saw this gave the best instructions they could before the orders from their leader arrived.
“Archers and crossbowmen, fire back in the direction they are coming from! Just shoot if you can!”
“Don’t stand there like an idiot, pick up your shield! “It’s okay because we’re not directly fighting the enemy right now!”
“If you want to live, never go outside the camp. “If you go out, you’ll die!!”
However, when they saw some of the soldiers freely extending and shortening the distance and shooting arrows at a speed that they could not keep up with, they were unable to hold back their fear and ran out.
Those guys were soon killed by archers.
“Reich Empire, you bastards the size of a dog!”
“Let’s fight fair and square. “Does it make sense to ride a horse and shoot arrows?”
And some began muttering with an expression that seemed like they had completely given up on everything.
“Deus has abandoned our Francois Republic. Otherwise, how could there be barbarians in the imperial army who ride horses and shoot arrows?”
Hearing that sound, Division Commander Pompadour pulled out his sword and cut down a soldier who made a sound of despair.
“Brave soldiers of the Francois Republic, we will never lose! We will definitely win and prove that it was they who blindsided the Holy Father! So don’t say nonsense that only cowards would say! “Kill the archers, crossbowmen, and wizards by shooting them in the direction they appear to be passing by!”
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Under Pompadour’s orders, the Francois Republic gradually began to return to normal.
When the counterattack was ready to some extent, Major Anastasia, who was in command of the archer cavalry, gave an order.
“Don’t be greedy anymore and go back! If you hesitate for no reason, you will end up like an archer from the Töner tribe who got hit by an arrow from the brigadier general! “Let’s have fun again later and now we’re heading back!”
At those words, the archers quickly turned around, swept up the main camp and military camp of Francois’s army, and fled.
Pompadour, who thought this situation could no longer be tolerated, fiercely gave orders.
“All troops advance! The whole army is moving forward to kill the damn Reich Empire! “We will crush them with an overwhelming number of 10,000!”