Chapter 371 Battle of Black Mountain (XV)
The two guard legions blocking Nedsal were the elite among the elite.

Unlike the Black Hats, which widely recruited prisoners of war and former imperial soldiers, the first requirement of the Guards was loyalty.

Therefore, the commanders of these two legions were both from the same hometown of Moulin Rouge Village. The commander of the First Guards Army, Das, was Horn's cousin, and the commander of the Second Guards Army, Monse, was the leader of his peers in Moulin Rouge Village.

Most of its core members, including brigade and division commanders, were former papal guards during the Gulag era.

However, considering that half of the old Apostolic Guards were elderly people, women, babies and even dogs, the number of Apostolic Guard groups was actually not large.

In terms of specific war monks, the Guards only recruit believers who have no criminal record, clean family background and good physical fitness.

The Papal States invested nearly 30% more in the political education and material supply of the Guards than in the Black Hats. Correspondingly, their training was more rigorous and their discipline was stricter than that of the Black Hats.

Senior officers such as Victor condoned the Black Hats' frequent extortion, petty theft and bullying.

As long as there are no serious acts of robbery, rape or death, the most that can happen is that these war monks will be put in solitary confinement for a few days.

If the Guards committed similar acts, they would be whipped without hesitation by the gendarmerie. In serious cases, they would even be sentenced to death or even hanged for desertion.

Therefore, the Guards have always been famous for their strict discipline and long training time. For example, the two Guards Corps left behind at the headquarters have theoretically not yet completed their training.

In this comparison, the war monks of the Guards were all from good families, and they naturally despised those soldiers of the Black Hat Army who had lost their high tastes.

This contempt comes not only from a sense of moral superiority, but also from a sense of pride in the name and honor of the Guards.

Even though their hearts were beating wildly due to the fear of the charging Cossacks, driven by this sense of pride, they were still able to fire the holy guns in an orderly and uniform manner.

The lead bullet was stuffed into the barrel, and the guards pulled out the cleaning rod in unison and pushed the lead bullet deep into the barrel.

They twisted the clockwork key until the pawl clicked after ten turns and the trigger popped up, and these elite war monks leveled the holy guns on the gun rack.

Viewed from the side, if one ignores the height difference, at first glance they look almost like one person.

This is very different from the Black Hats firing the Holy Guns, they are more relaxed.

The Black Hats did not strictly follow the "Holy Code". Some used cleaning rods, while others simply smashed the butt of their rifles on the ground a few times, using inertia to drive the lead bullets into the lower end of the barrel.

Anyway, as long as they can form a line for volley fire before firing, that's enough.

"Get closer to the center, countercharge, the first row moves diagonally upward, the second and third rows raise their guns." Mengsai's voice was extremely hoarse. He licked his pale lips and gave the order.

"Right foot forward, one and a half steps!"

At the command, the spearmen in the first row took a big step forward in unison, with their left and right feet forming a T-step with their front and back feet vertical.

The spear monks sank their bodies until their right calves and thighs were almost at ninety degrees, and the whole body was like a taut bow.

Fifty spears were put down in unison, and the spear shafts were held with both hands, with the front ends level with the spearmen's eyes and the back ends resting on the arch of the left foot.

The spearmen in the second row held the tail end of the spear, with their front hands holding it upright, and resting the spear shaft in the crook of their arms.

The spear shaft seemed to be held by the Spear Monk, pressed against his chest, while his back hand also gripped the end.

The spearmen in the third row stood in a staggered position with the first row, striking the same posture.

The fourth row pointed their spears forward at a small angle almost perpendicular to the ground, ready to lower them at any time to assume the same posture as the front row.

This is the Guards' exclusive counter-charge posture for training against cavalry.

The two hundred holy musketeers on both sides half-knelt in the front row and stood in the second row, ready to aim.

The holy gunners in the back three rows held the wooden butt with their right hands, resting the gun barrels against their shoulders and collarbones, ready to step forward and fire at any time.

Standing on the side of the spear phalanx, Mengsai's hand holding the lance was bulging with veins, and he was trying to suppress his excitement and fear.

But perhaps due to the rapid secretion of adrenaline, his body was shaking slightly.

In the smoke and dust, he could hear the footsteps of the guards behind him and see the dust raised by the Cossacks in front of him.

He didn't know whether Das could stop the enemy's infantry column of 500 people with only 1200 people, but no matter whether he could stop it or not, he had only one goal - to prevent these Cossacks from advancing even a little bit.

Behind him are the friendly forces formed by Das, the beautiful home that has just been built, and the ordinary correspondents who are still suffering in Jinhe Township.

They must not be allowed to cross even a fraction of a second. "One hundred and twenty steps!" the scout in charge of observation shouted to Monsey from the tree.

"aim!"

The black muzzles of the guns were aimed at the attacking Nikossacks, but the Nikossacks did not continue throwing their javelins.

Each of them carried only six javelins, most of which had been used up in the recent battle, so they had to use them sparingly.

"Get down! The devil's wind is about to blow across here."

The Cossacks in the front row shouted in horror, and before the lead bullets even came, they had already lowered their proud heads and stuck to the soft manes of their war horses.

"Scatter, scatter!"

Even the stupid knight Nedsal was no exception. Although he was wearing armor made of white crystal steel, he would only be hit with a hole at a slightly longer distance.

But if it is fired at close range, like the close shooting of the Holy Gun Cavalry, it will still penetrate the armor, so he dare not gamble.

A series of screams rose from the enemy lines, piercing Nedsal's eardrums so much that they hurt.

He lowered his head, lead bullets flew past his side like locusts, and the Cossacks all lowered their heads.

From time to time, Niedersar could hear a howl, and the Cossacks would fall off their horses with blood spurting from their bodies.

Or there might be a whine from a warhorse, which would throw the knight forward.

This time the Devil's Wind blew for an unusually long time. Most of the time, after firing three rounds, the Cossacks had already rushed to the front of the battle.

But they had not rushed far before they were hit by five volleys of gunfire. Many Cossacks thought that the devil's wind had ended, and as soon as they raised their heads, they were pierced through the forehead by lead bullets.

The bodies of the Cossack knights fell to the ground one after another, and Niedsal felt his heart bleeding.

He had cultivated these with great effort and at great cost, and for this he even betrayed two gods at the same time to a certain extent.

He felt a little regretful. He was living well in the Red Copper Fortress, so why did he have to get involved in this mess?

The smoke and dust obscured Nedsal's eyes, but in the haze, he could clearly see the holy musketeers.

They were like a rotating conveyor belt. When one person turned and left, the people behind him all stepped forward, put down their guns and started shooting.

It will take no more than ten seconds from shooting to completing the rotation.

Five rows of Holy Gunners finished firing, and 200 lead bullets took away exactly fifty charging Nicossacks.

Niedsal raised his head from the mane, holding a bottle in his mouth, and drank the potion in it. He shouted: "Charge, keep charging, and after the battle, each of you will get five gold pounds and a woman!"

The Cossacks, who had been depressed, finally cheered up, but seven or eight of them still quietly left the team.

The Cossacks on both sides were blown by the holy wind, and because of their companions rolling on the ground and their wailing horses, they were forced to move closer to the center.

This would form a dense charge formation and break through the horizontal formation in front of them.

If he had no other choice, Niedsal would never have charged towards such a tight infantry phalanx.

He did not doubt whether he could break through these six thin rows of spears. The battlefield experience summarized by countless imperial men proved that at least twelve or fifteen rows of spears were needed to stop the square-flag knights who were charging at full speed.

However, even if they have to pass through these six rows of spearmen, the number of Cossacks they will consume will definitely be quite a lot.

But what else can we do? We can only charge!

Just as Nedsal's face was becoming increasingly ferocious, he suddenly heard a warning sound from the sky.

Is it a fireball crossbow? Nedsal glanced at it out of the corner of his eye. It shouldn't be able to hit him from that position and angle.

Turning our attention back to the front, although Nedsal and his men had slowed down a lot after a wave of volleys of gunfire, they were still approaching the front of the Black Hat Army.

He was surprised to find that the Holy Musketeers suddenly stepped to the sides and two leather-wrapped tubes stretched out from the team.

"What is that?" a Nikossack asked in confusion, wiping the sweat from his eyelids.

(End of this chapter)