Chapter 363: Battle of Black Mountain (VII)

The chain mail slid across his body, rising and falling with the horse.

In the morning sunshine, the breeze is gentle, and the lush bushes and green grass reflect a soft light as gentle as jade.

When this light shines on my face, not only does it not cause stinging or burning, but it instead feels like the gentle brushing of butterfly wings against my cheek.

Beautiful days like these should be spent on picnics with the muddleheaded, status-hungry chicks around the estate.

They lay in the shade of the trees, and he rested his head on their soft bellies and chests, which was the right thing to do in this kind of weather.

What he has to face now is not young girls, but thousands of burly men.

Upon hearing Nedsal's instructions, Zelakon led his slow-moving infantry phalanx forward.

After actually entering the battlefield and seeing the horizontal formation in front of him, Zellaken began to rub his nose.

This was a habitual action that he felt was awkward and anxious.

The rebel formation in front of us had a width of about 200 meters, which was very rare in normal battles between imperial armies.

Because with the same amount of troops, if the array is stretched too wide, it means that the formation is too thin and can be easily broken through by the knights.

The previous knights had already charged once. Normally, they should have been able to break through easily and bring back victory.

Unfortunately, these brave gentlemen were blown back by the devil's wind before they could get close.

These knights who possessed extraordinary powers, after being stripped of their extraordinary outer garments, were not even as good as the knights of the same period in Horn's hometown.

But this is understandable. After all, in Horn's hometown, with the century-long development of musket technology, corresponding cavalry tactics have also developed.

It took about hundreds of years for the musket to develop from the crude matchlock gun to the heavy matchlock gun. In the dynamic game, both sides had already become familiar with each other's existence in the war.

But for the extraordinary knights of this world, it only took half a year to develop from the crudest Cannedy Type I to the currently mature Cannedy Type III heavy gun.

The Morris tactics that Horn picked up from his hometown were mature tactics after hundreds of years of development of muskets.

This tactic was quite advanced even for its time.

Some knights even saw this kind of weapon for the first time. If it weren't for the extraordinary, their performance would probably be much worse.

Zerakon rubbed the nose on his fingers and flicked it aside: "Brave knights, can you charge again?"

The servant shook his head numbly. "They said they would not fight unless the Devil Wind Wizard was defeated. They said they were noble knights and should not die so undignifiedly. Menial tasks should be left to menial people."

"What a bunch of cowards! They fight back hard against the mobs, but they act submissive when they meet the rebels!" Zaraken couldn't help but curse in a low voice, feeling angry.

"Mr. Knights, the effect of the medicine has just worn off. You need to rest for a while."

"If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. What's the point of taking a break?" Zeraken cursed a few times and turned his attention back to the battlefield.

Looking up, he finally reached a position where he could roughly see the battlefield in front of him amid the clattering and chaotic footsteps.

Without continuing to vent his dissatisfaction, Zerakken narrowed his eyes and carefully observed the battle in front of him.

In the dim sunlight directly opposite, he silently counted the number of people.

根据他自己的估计，对面应该是按照“巫师20人、长枪手50人、巫师20人、巫师20人、长枪手50人、巫师20人”来排列的。

This is easy to distinguish. Anyone wearing armor is a spearman, and anyone wearing only a helmet is a wizard.

This means that Horn has 100 melee soldiers facing the enemy, while Zerakon's phalanx has only 50 soldiers in front.

There is a relatively large space for movement on the sides of the phalanx, and Zelaken must consider the possibility that the opponent's other horizontal formation will use L-shaped tactics to launch an attack from the side.

However, the large square formation has been formed and there is no time to change the formation, so we can only continue to march forward.

"Hold steady, don't panic." Zerlaken shouted to the messenger, "When you are 160 yards (145 meters) in front of the formation, the archers will suppress you with a volley."

100 archers were placed outside the four corners of the Dunjar infantry square. After the messenger passed the order, the archers who were former forest rangers began to order other archers. At a distance of about 160 yards, the archers stopped one after another, pulled out arrows from the quivers behind them, and put them on the bow arms.

They clenched their teeth, veins bulging on their strong arms, and pulled the hunting bows in their hands until the bow arms formed a semicircle shape.

The arrows trembled, and the archers trembled with them. According to their experience, they pointed the arrows at 45 degrees, although they did not understand what angles were.

"Fire arrows!"

A series of "bang bang" sounds instantly rang out among the archers' array.

"Watch out for arrows, dodge!"

Before Victor's eyes, a thin black mist rose from the enemy's formation, and he immediately shouted to the soldiers behind him.

A large number of arrows landed on the flying saucer-shaped brimmed helmet, and the sound of clinking was endless.

In just over ten seconds, a lot of arrows appeared on the helmets and bodies of the war monks on the ground.

These arrows only injured a number of people without being fatal, and did not even have much impact on the subsequent battle. Some of them even failed to penetrate the woolen cloak.

These archers are hunters and rangers, and longbowmen, as elite ranged troops, need to be trained.

But in the honor system of the Imperial Knights, the longbow was seen as a weapon for cowards and the weak.

Unlike the dry Flesh and Blood Court, due to the relatively humid climate, the Empire has not yet developed the technology to mass-produce composite bows.

If you want to achieve the lethality of a war bow with a single bow, the requirements for the bow material are very high. It is estimated that only the rare yew wood can meet the requirements.

But these archers are not standing soldiers, so where do they get the yew bows?

Moreover, to meet the requirements of using a war bow, one must have at least a hundred pounds of arm strength.

For these hunters and rangers, bows weighing more than sixty pounds are beyond their hunting needs, and they will not deliberately train for them.

There are excellent longbowmen who can cause enough damage in the Thousand River Valley, but their name is - Mountain Kush.

Due to the cultural traditions of the Kush tribe, as well as their daily hunting and abundant timber resources in the forests, the Boar Riders are elite longbowmen.

Yes, facing the clockwork gun, the elite longbowman that Zerakken needs most is on the opposite side.

"Brother Murat, why are you here?" The sound of horse hooves was heard behind him. Victor, who was directing the loading, turned around and was overjoyed.

The person who came was the boar knight leader Murat who had exchanged his donkey for a horse. Murat reined in his warhorse and said, "Your Majesty sent me to help you and kill their spirit."

Two hundred and fifty Boar Riders and Kush Riders dismounted and appeared on the left side of the formation. They held onto their saddles and jumped off their horses nimbly.

After handing the war horses over to a special person to take care of them, Murat encouraged the morale of the boar riders.

"The commander on the opposite side is Zelaken. He hired us to fight the Black Snake Bay two years ago. We fought for a whole year and only paid us one-third of our salary."

The boar riders were stunned at first, and then started shouting and cursing.

"Fuck you, how could it be him!"

"It was him last year who caused me to be scolded by my wife for a whole year."

"I've wanted to beat him up for a long time!"

The morale of the boar riders who were in arrears of wages suddenly soared and was even continuing to rise.

"Shoot all six arrows into their leather swallows within one minute!"

As Murat shouted crudely, more than 200 longbows made of poplar wood instantly bent into a semicircle, followed by the nightmarish sound of bowstrings snapping.

(End of this chapter)