272 – Side War – Conquest of Britannia (7)
The Hastings Plain is a place with considerable weight in the history of the United Kingdom of Britannia.
Speaking of this, some might think that there is a huge metropolis near here that serves as a center for commerce and transportation.
On the plains of Hastings there is only one country barony with only a small castle of about 2,000 people and about 20,000 serfs.
Although it has degenerated into a mere village corner that shows little presence in the political, cultural, and economic aspects of the United Kingdom.
1,000 Years ago, it was the battlefield where Count Charles Britannia, the founder of the United Kingdom of Brittanya, subdued Grand Duke Jinx, who was harassing the people with harsh politics at the time. Is that why?
William von Creutel, who made the cause of liberating the suffering people under Edward, looked back at the over 150,000 soldiers under his command, feeling the coincidental overlap of history.
From stories I’ve heard, from noble officers to the lowest-ranking soldiers.
Everyone was proud that they had come to free Brittanya from Edward’s tyranny and starvation, and their faces were filled with anticipation for the future and the land they would receive in return for their military exploits.
William looked at the formations of the Britannian soldiers on the other side through the commander’s telescope invented a few years earlier.
Their faces were mostly sunken in from not eating well for a long time, and some looked like corpses with skin and bones sticking together.
The moment he saw that, William was once again confident of his victory.
Finally, the troops of the United Kingdom of Brittanya began to move slowly.
William returned to command the 1st Army, as previously agreed, and the foot soldiers who followed the advance order advanced slowly, accompanied by a military song that sang the speed and death of the artillery like a comedy.
Those who had participated in the war several times began to talk with sloppy jokes as if the situation was nothing.
“To my village. There was a girl named Arya, and she had a big ass! The waist was as big as my thighs. Ha, I have to touch it when I get back.”
“Wake up, you damn bastard. If there was such a woman, the nobles would have taken her by now. Would you have left it for me to come back and knead it?”
“The lord of my village doesn’t turn 30. So there’s no such thing, you bastard.”
So, on the outside, the new recruits stuck out their tongues inwardly when they saw the seniors relaxed as if they were leaving for a picnic.
In reality, they are just struggling to feel less pressure from the fear of death in order not to show shame before they die.
As evidence of that, the hands of the senior officers of both the Britannia Kingdom Army and the Croytel Empire Army were trembling mercilessly, and their clothes were drenched in cold sweat.
It took 20 minutes to move to the range of the cannons possessed by both armies.
In the meantime, all the soldiers felt like time was passing slowly like a snail, and mental fatigue was building up.
The more this happened, the officers of both armies gave orders to the soldiers with fierce momentum, as if whipping them.
“You have to fire your cannon even 1 second faster than the enemy! Don’t pick up tent poles like you did with your wife, use your strength!”
“You crazy bastards! If you fire later than those who put herring in pie dough and bake it, I’ll put you in the gun the next time I fire and shoot you! Even if you spill a drop of gunpowder, I will kill you even if you return alive on the battlefield!”
“Show the dignity of the artillery of the Kreutel Empire! When they fire 2 shots, we fire 3 shots!”
And when the Kreutel Imperial artillery, divided into 4 units, raised the ready-to-fire signal before the enemy.
William von Kreutel commanded, brandishing his porcelain baton.
“Fire all cannons at once at the enemy in sight! Wipe out every single one of them!”
As soon as the order was given, more than 200 cannons of the Kreutel Imperial Artillery spewed fire and spewed cannonballs at the same time.
The iron round shot fired towards Brittanya’s soldiers with a thud, a thud, and a thud.
But even at this time, Britannia’s artillery continued to load, preparing for a counterattack in order to somehow survive.
From Noble mtl dot com
“Damn it, I… Can’t believe I’m going to search like this!!”
“Move your hands fast! If you don’t want to die!”
But the cannonballs did not understand the words of the Britannians and tore limb and torso the Britannians in their path.
William and the officers of the Creutel Imperial Army who saw that scene cheered.
“When cannons collide with cannons, the one who shoots first always wins. We shot first We won!”
“The enemy’s artillery and infantry have already been wiped out. Tear it to shreds at this point!”
“Dirty Brittanyas, they got pretty after being hit by a cannon and punching a few holes in their bodies.”
The soldiers of the United Kingdom of Brittanya lamented in a voice mixed with despair.
“We already have very few cannons, but even the firing is slow.”
“Are we finished now?”
“Ha, I don’t want to die like this. sh*t, even now.”
Muttering so, the soldiers of both armies continued to load and fire their cannons at the opposing unit.
My comrades who laughed and chatted with me every time the enemy’s cannons spewed fire lost their lives, but there is no time to grieve over the death of a comrade who died spattering blood.
Now, when the distance between each other was reduced to about 300 meters, the corps commanders commanding each corps of the Croytel Empire shouted in unison.
“Preemptive strike is important! Shoot more and more accurately!”
“Please send me comfortably to Deus!”
“Go to the sniper shooter position! If possible, aim for their commander!”
According to that order, the sniper gunners of the Creutel Empire aimed their loaded guns at the enemies.
According to the command of the unit commander, they fired all at once.
As tens of thousands of gunshots and gunpowder smoke spread across the battlefield, a faint smell unique to black powder covered the battlefield.
The smoke from the gun began to obscure the view to the point where it was difficult to see except for an inch in front.
When this happened, William von Creutel changed his course from commanding his men by voice or flag to commanding them by horns and drums.
For the first time, the order he sent to the entire army was ‘Each unit must fight voluntarily in company units, but do not leave their positions unless specifically instructed.’
Apart from that order, Britannia’s soldiers were attacked by the long-range sniper rifles of the Croytel army from a distance that their guns could not reach, and a considerable number of them began to die.
The nobles knew that the Kreutel army had a gun with a long range for sniping, so they were not taken aback, but the rainbow troopers didn’t know that such a gun existed.
“Why are guns flying from that street, not cannons?”
“f*ck, run forward if you don’t want to die! Bastards!”
“If you run out without any countermeasures, you crazy bastard will be shot and beehive!”
Even crazy people who were astonished at the long range or ran out of reason began to appear.
In this way, the Imperial Army of Creutel began to cut down its troops by killing enemies one after another using its superior range.
In the process, countless Britannia soldiers died as scapegoats.
Some of the Imperial Army soldiers started shouting loudly.
“Even now, if you kill your centurion or nobleman and surrender, you and your family can live! I will make sure that you who fought until now, hungry, can eat to your heart’s content. Surrender!”
“Surrender and find a way to live!”
“You can turn into a piece of meat there and rummage through it, but look only at you and think of your living wife and children! What do you think it will look like?”
If I had said this in normal times, I would have deserted late at night, but there were enemies in front of me and allies who would kill me immediately if I tried to desert.
The Britannia’s soldiers couldn’t make an attempt to escape.
Is it a sin to think of their wife and children, which they shouldn’t do on the battlefield? Fear and fear began to take root in their hearts, and overall movement slowed down.
William von Kreuttel ordered without missing the opportunity.
“All troops fire a volley and reload! After reloading, advance step by step with crossfire and fight! If you approach the enemy less than 5 meters, after a volley, the arquebusiers insert bayonets and charge! Soldiers with long spears and halberds assist them!”