Chapter 110: Battle Of Hattin Forest (2)
Colonel Charles and the knights realized they had fallen into a trap, and deep down, they were thinking,
“Damn it, we don’t need anything else. Just give us the order to retreat or at least to reorganize!”
However, Division Commander Pompadour, leading 10,000 troops of the Francois Republic, did not… rather, could not issue an order to retreat, even while observing the situation.
Because, unlike what Colonel Charles saw, from a distance, the Division Commander saw that although they were suffering some damage from the archer cavalry, it seemed they could still launch a meaningful attack on the right wing of the imperial army.
“It will sacrifice Colonel Charles and his knights, but the Reich’s right wing won’t be unscathed after clashing with 400 knights. If we attack at that moment…”
Then, it would be obvious that the overwhelmingly numerically superior Francois army would win.
In this state of completely different thoughts between the two commanders, hundreds of arrows and magic spells were already raining down on the left side of the 400 knights led by Colonel Charles, fired by the imperial army.
As a result, the knights who had been proudly charging in their shining silver armor, despite being hit by the archer cavalry’s arrows, came to a halt just seconds later.
“Damn, damn!! Mom, save me!!”
“This is hell. I’m finished. Fighting for a country that’s been excommunicated and dying worse than a dog; I guess I’ll go to hell.”
“My body! My body is hot and burning! Water, water!”
Even though their wedge formation had broken, the Reich Empire’s wizards and crossbowmen continued to fire as many arrows and spells as possible to kill more enemies.
The rain of arrows and magic rapidly diminished the number of Francois knights.
Just as the Reich Empire’s infantry might have taken the forefront, breaking expectations, 300 knights led by Lieutenant Colonel Werner charged out from the left of the imperial army’s right wing.
The Colonel, gripping his lance firmly, shouted loudly,
“These are despicable scoundrels who serve idiots excommunicated after plundering the innocent serfs of the Reich Empire! Trample them under your horses and skewer them on your lances!”
Then, 300 knights of the imperial army fiercely lunged towards the right side of the Republic’s knights.
The enemies, struck by the immense momentum and weight of the warhorses, were either thrown into the air or pinned to the ground with severe injuries, incapacitated, or killed instantly by the impact of the fall.
Knights hit by lances avoided being pierced or stabbed to death thanks to their armor, but they were thrown towards their comrades riding nearby horses.
The thrown knights generally survived due to their comrades acting as shields, but those crushed under them upon falling were either killed instantly by the impact or severely injured.
“The knights of Francois are truly vicious! Using their own comrades as mats to survive! Truly a model for knights!”
In a normal situation, the knights of the Reich Empire would have disengaged and then recharged with secondary weapons like swords or maces.
But following Major General Yaeger’s orders, they all disengaged and reorganized, waiting in standby, when one of the staff officer approached and said,
“Major General, this is an opportunity to annihilate all 400 knights of the Francois Republic. If we immediately charge with the infantry on the right wing, we can capture or kill them all.”
The Major General agreed with the intention behind the suggestion, but given the current situation, he didn’t know when and where the enemy might attack.
And while the knights of the Francois Republic, being among the best in combat ability and armament in the republic, were close to annihilation, if the infantry were to go into attack, there could be a prolonged engagement, even if the imperial army didn’t suffer significant losses.
Moreover, the commander of the Francois Republic might later lead the rest of the infantry in a full-frontal attack.
He thought it was somewhat premature to start using up the infantry at this point.
“They’re practically annihilated already. Signal the archer cavalry and knight units to retreat temporarily and resupply with arrows and lances. Also, send the crossbow bolts kept as reserve supplies to the right wing.”
Upon hearing this, the staff officer echoed the order and then commanded some soldiers of the central brigade.
“Send a signal to the archer cavalry and knight units with flags, horns, and drums to resupply with arrows and lances and wait. Lieutenant Humphrey, have your squad deliver three cartloads of arrows to the crossbow battalion on the right wing!”
“Yes, understood!”
“Hurry, every minute and every second are critical. We don’t know from which direction the enemy might attack head-on.”
Thus, the archer cavalry and knights quickly returned to the central main camp, where the central army soldiers handed them water with salt.
“Isn’t it a pity that we didn’t kill all those damned bastards?”
“But we didn’t lose many, did we? Are there any injured?”
“There are four seriously wounded among the archer cavalry and knight units combined. As for the enemy knights, there are too many dead to count.”
Major General Yaeger listened to their words, and, though he didn’t show it during the battle, he clenched his fist, pleased that there were fewer casualties than expected.
‘If possible, if the Francois scum attack our left or right flank again, we could repel them with the same strategy. But that’s unlikely.’
Thus, Colonel Charles of the Francois Republic retreated with only about 150 knights, and after much consideration, Division Commander Pompadour issued an order.
“Get the healthy knights under Colonel Charles off their horses. Place them at the forefront and charge one infantry regiment on the enemy’s left wing! If there’s progress in the attack, the whole army will advance and crush the enemy brigade!”
Upon hearing this, his aide repeated the order,
“Understood! Those knights under Colonel Charles who can still move will dismount, stand at the forefront of the infantry regiment, and support the melee combat! This time, we will crush those 4,000 pigs!”
As the knights, hearing this, sighed in resignation and began dismounting, noisy chatter from the soldiers could be heard throughout the Francois Republic’s camp.
“Damn, those barbarians on horses have appeared!”
“Save me…”
“Agh!”
The Francois soldiers hadn’t expected the numerically inferior Reich Empire’s archer cavalry to pursue and attack their camp.
The archer cavalry kept circling and shooting arrows. The officers, seeing this and before the orders from their commander arrived, issued the best directives they could.
“Archers and crossbowmen, adjust your firing to the direction from which they are coming! If you can shoot, just shoot!”
“Don’t stand there like idiots. Raise your shields! It’s okay, we’re not directly confronting the enemy right now!”
“If you want to live, don’t ever leave the camp. If you go out, you’ll die!!”
However, a few soldiers, unable to withstand their fear upon seeing the archer cavalry effortlessly maintain distance and shoot arrows at a speed they couldn’t match, ran out.
Those who did were soon killed by the archer cavalry.
“The Reich Empire, you’re less than dogs, filthy pigs!”
“Fight fair and square. Does it even make sense to shoot arrows from horseback?”
And a few began to mutter, their expressions as if they had given up on everything.
“Deus has abandoned our Francois Republic. Otherwise, how could there be barbarians in the imperial army who shoot arrows while riding horses?”
Hearing this, Division Commander Pompadour drew his sword and immediately slashed to death a soldier who had spoken in such a resigned tone.
“Brave soldiers of the Francois Republic, we will never lose! We will surely win and prove that those scoundrels have blinded His Holiness, the Pope! So, stop making cowardly nonsense talk! Archers, crossbowmen, and mages, shoot in the direction they seem to be passing and kill them!”
Thus, following Pompadour’s orders, the Francois Republic gradually started to return to normalcy.
When they were somewhat ready to counterattack, Lieutenant Anastasia, commanding the archer cavalry, ordered,
“Don’t get greedy. Let’s turn back! If we hesitate, we’ll end up like the T?ner tribe’s archer cavalry, who got shot and died by the Major General’s arrows! We’ll play with them again later. For now, let’s return!”
At her words, the archer cavalry quickly turned around, wreaked havoc on the main camp and military encampment of the Francois army, and fled.
Unable to tolerate this situation any longer, Pompadour shouted out an order in fury.
“All troops, advance! To kill those damned Reich Empire scoundrels, the entire army will advance! We will crush them with our overwhelming number of 10,000!”
The sourc𝗲 of this content is fre(e)webnovel