bookpower #365 - Battle of Black Mountain (VIII)
#365 - Battle of Black Mountain (VIII)
"Bang, bang, bang——"
In the sound of the bowstring flicking, Zeraken couldn't help but blink, the dazzling reflection of the arrow causing him to lose focus for a moment.
But the next second, the other guards beside him shouted loudly: "Earl, be careful!"
Zeraken didn't even have time to react when he felt a huge force hit him from the side, sending his entire body flying.
Two guards raised the shields in their hands, and the arrow flew off the edge of the oak shield wrapped in iron sheet.
"Clang——" Zeraken heard a crisp metallic friction sound, and then his right ear felt a painful warmth.
He subconsciously touched his ear, but his palm was full of blood.
Realizing that he had been sniped by the Salvation Army's longbowman, Zeraken immediately squatted on the ground, using the large formation moving beside him as cover.
The scorching sun was in the sky, distorting the air.
Under the dazzling cold light, more than two hundred arrows pierced through this distortion, whistling down like a torrential summer rain.
Wherever the arrows went, the spurting blood jumped up like raindrops.
The ripples formed by the blood spread out in circles, accompanied by the continuous wailing of the soldiers.
This rain of arrows came so suddenly that the soldiers in these infantry squares did not react at all.
Especially the position where Zeraken was, was over-performed by the revengeful wild boar knights, and eight arrows fell around Zeraken at ultra-long distances.
If it weren't for the family guards holding up their shields and using their bodies as cover, I'm afraid Zeraken would have been shot through his internal organs and bleeding into a river by now.
How did they find their position?
Zeraken, pressed under the guards, was still thinking about this question, could they see themselves from such a distance?
But at this moment, Zeraken couldn't think so much, he poked his body out of the cover formed by the guards, raised his fist, and shouted at the infantry under the battle flag:
"Raise your shields! Raise your shields! Raise your shields!"
Hastily unloading the shields from their backs, the night watch soldiers raised their arms and buried their heads, holding the round shields upright in front of their bodies and above their heads.
These thick wooden shields may not be able to stop the arrows, but they can greatly reduce the chance of being hit in vital areas.
The arrows swishing pierced through the air, thudding stuck into the wooden shields, and the team that was still moving slowly was stopped by these six waves of arrow rain, more than a thousand arrows, forcibly.
If they were a small formation like Horn, they would probably have collapsed by now.
But the good thing about the large square formation is that it is huge in scale, and it is difficult to change the formation itself, let alone run away.
This pause was an opportunity for the monks.
The infantry square settled in place for a few minutes, and several light balls representing blessed divine arts rose from the square.
Then, this large square formation of 2,500 people marched forward again amidst the shouts of low-level monks and foot battle escorts knights.
Victor looked at the slowly moving formation, then looked at Mura, as if wanting them to shoot another wave.
Putting down the binoculars in his hand, Mura shook his head: "Brother Victor, our heavy arrows are limited, and we have to use them at critical moments."
For the archers on the Ibe Knight's side, the production of arrows is very simple, using branches or even reeds to simply trim them with bone or iron pieces.
But in the hands of Mura and these longbowmen, war bow arrows are much more difficult to manufacture than hunting bow arrows, especially the arrow shafts, which even require special wood and correctors.
Because these arrow shafts have to bear nearly twice the bow force of hunting bow arrows, which ordinary arrow shafts cannot withstand, and the manufacturing difficulty is not comparable to ordinary arrows.
The cost of such a war bow arrow is as high as 1.6 dinars, which is enough to buy two pounds of lead bullets, and each pound of lead bullets has about 20-30 pieces.
Just now, Mura and the others shot out almost 20 gold pounds in one volley.
Victor estimated that after this battle, the lead bullets they fired might not even cost 2 gold pounds.
If the opposite infantry square hadn't had monk blessings, they might have collapsed after this wave of arrow rain.
Victor couldn't help but sigh, the only downside to expensive things is that they are expensive.
"His Majesty's order to me is to volley in front of the formation to consume the opponent's divine arts." Mura re-mounted his horse, controlling the fidgeting warhorse, he turned his body and said seriously, "Next, it's your turn for the holy wind and counter-charge, we will use ordinary wooden arrows to support from the side."
With the longbow half-drawn, ordinary wooden arrows are completely fine for harassing this infantry square.
Victor turned his attention back to the battlefield, the scorching sunlight shining on the iron helmet, scalding his head.
Feet wearing square-toed wooden shoes or straw sandals stepped on the lush green grass, and after watching for two minutes, Victor had a general understanding of their marching speed.
In order to maintain the formation of the large square, they had to advance at a speed of about 30 to 35 meters per minute.
According to Jeshka, this would be considered fast in the old army, at least they didn't stop every ten steps to align the team.
According to the 《圣典》(《圣典》: The scripture), the Salvation Army's normal step is 40 meters per minute, and the fast step is 50 meters per minute.
These two speeds seem very slow, slower than normal walking, but they are the best among the imperial old armies that are generally not good at running.
What's more, the Salvation Army also has two kinds of marching methods summarized in actual combat, a charge step of 80 meters per minute and a running speed of 130 meters per minute.
最⊥新⊥小⊥说⊥在⊥六⊥9⊥⊥书⊥⊥吧⊥⊥首⊥发！
At this time, these Ibe army squares were still 60-80 meters away from them, which meant there were at least two minutes left.
Estimating the speed of his own formation change, Victor made up his mind.
"Colman, get ready, let's use a volley charge."
This was a rather risky decision, but if it succeeded, then for the next day, the central army's night watch soldiers and armored soldiers would be in a state of incapacitation.
A sudden sound of footsteps sounded, and Zeraken suddenly looked up, the slanting sunlight made him squint his eyes, but immediately, he opened his eyes wide regardless of the sunlight.
"Change formation, at this time?"
The two sides were only seventy or eighty yards (sixty or seventy meters) away, what were they trying to do by changing formation at this time?
In the eyes of the front row soldiers of the Ibe army square, they saw an unprecedented and peculiar scene.
The commander on the opposite side was dizzy by the heat, and suddenly began to chaos in a form they could not understand.
Rows of soldiers turned left and right, moving back and forth on the grass with paces that were either fast or slow.
Several fifty-man team captains held feather spears, one across the chest of the first row of soldiers, and one against the backs of the last row of soldiers.
The sounds of scolding and commands were endless, and some people were even slapping faces with a smack.
"Quick, they are in disarray, let's rush up quickly."
The guards were overjoyed and accelerated the original steady pace.
"Walk faster, we have to take advantage of them before they finish the chaos!" An armored sergeant kicked the butt of a dawdling guard, kicking the dragging guards howling.
As the pace became easier and the formation became more chaotic, the rebels in front of them became clearer and clearer.
But at some point, without them noticing, the original formation change and footsteps stopped.
Unbeknownst to when, those soldiers holding long iron pipes stood in front of the spearmen.
They placed the heavy iron pipes on the gun racks, and the dark opening of the iron pipes made the guards feel a burst of inexplicable palpitation.
"Charge, continue to charge up." Facing away from the Salvation Army, a tall armored sergeant was still yelling, "Don't be afraid, keep walking, the bishop has offered a price, one gold pound for a rebel…"
"Bang!"
But before he finished his sentence, the whole person suddenly trembled for a moment.
He covered the back of his neck, and blood flowed down like a waterfall, accumulating a pool of blood in the gray-green hood.
Immediately afterward, these soldiers heard the sound of prayer, as neat as one person, that they would dream of countless times in their nightmares—"Praise the Holy Wind."