The Lombards are wise. If they hesitate for a moment, the outpost led by Art will definitely bite them from behind.
However, an army that is stuck in a stalemate cannot evacuate at will with just one order. Not to mention that the two infantry flags have entangled the Lombards' front line. The cavalry team just cruising around the periphery will not let the Lombards leave easily.
If there had not been a sudden reinforcement, perhaps this cavalry would have wisely protected themselves and taken the initiative to withdraw from the battle to preserve their strength before their own side was defeated. But now that the war situation has taken a shocking turn, they certainly will not miss a good opportunity to beat the drowned dog.
The natural advantage of cavalry over infantry will never change. The legionary cavalry sensed the Lombards' intention to retreat and attacked them without hesitation.
The seventy-odd cavalry troops holding Lombardy were divided into two teams. A group of more than 40 people kept circling around the Lombards to block their progress, and from time to time they rushed close to throw a few throwing axes or threw a few spears; another group of more than 30 people formed an arrow-shaped cavalry formation under the leadership of the cavalry captain, and rushed towards both sides of the fleeing Lombards.
In this way, due to the delay and interruption of the cavalry fighting, the fleeing remnants of the Lombards were once again consumed bit by bit. By the time the Lombards were about to escape to the edge of the dense forest, less than a third of the more than 200 people left the city when they left the city. The others were either corpses lying in the mud or prisoners begging for mercy on their knees, and more were surrounded by soldiers from the chasing legions...
"Lord Art, the deputy commander of the legion ordered you to lead the outpost to pursue the remnant enemy commander. The commander of the Lombard army is Viscount von Bilen. If we can capture him, we will have achieved great success!" The messenger soldiers of the legion adjutant found Art, who was commanding the encirclement and annihilation of a lone Lombard remnant army.
"Why don't you go after it yourself? Are you willing to give up such a great thing to us?" Jason, the leader of the crossbow team beside Art, sneered at the messenger. Jason knew that the adjutant of the legion did not dare to provoke the heavy armored infantry around von Bilen, but he was reluctant to let go of this piece of fat, so he asked Art's outpost to touch the nail, and then the adjutant of the legion led others to reap the benefits.
"Well, the deputy commander of the legion wants to command the army to annihilate most of the Lombards, and he has no energy to pursue small groups~" The messenger himself felt a little embarrassed to continue.
“Okay, I just can’t defeat the group of plate armored infantry around the commander!” Jason laughed.
"Lord Ater, you have to be careful. That group of heavy armored infantry is really difficult to deal with, otherwise the deputy commander of the legion would not let the elite outposts pursue it." The messenger had obviously experienced the terror of that group of heavy plate armored infantry in the previous battle.
Seeing that Odo had led his men to surround and kill all the dozen or so Lombard remnants, Att glanced at the elite Lombard team that had been chased to the edge of the dense forest by the cavalry step by step, and said to the messenger: "You Go tell the Vice-General of the Legion and ask him to eliminate the remaining enemies as soon as possible, clean up the battlefield, and reorganize the army. It is best to capture Solburg immediately. Solburg is almost an empty city with its doors closed now. Whether it is to persuade them to surrender or to attack hard, it must be in our hands."
"In addition, you'd better send someone to retrieve the Legion Commander. We need the Legion Commander and the two hundred elites he took away as support."
"As for the remaining plate armor soldiers, leave them to the outpost. We can kill as many as we can. We must remind the deputy commander of the Legion that Solburg is the core. Only when the Legion flag is planted in the Lord's Hall, Solburg truly belongs to us. "
Att told the messenger a few things and then ordered to Jason (the crossbow squad temporarily served as the escort): "Blow the trumpet to assemble and charge to the commander of the remaining army!"
At the order, seventy or eighty soldiers from the outpost gathered from all over the battlefield, and under Art's personal leadership, they rushed towards the Von Bilen plate armored heavy infantry who was tightly held by the legionary cavalry.
There were only about sixty soldiers left around Von Bilen, including more than twenty of his most trusted elite plate-armored heavy infantry. At this time, these plate-armored heavy infantry had dismounted and fought on foot, blocking the legion cavalry at the periphery and retreating while fighting. Once they retreat into the dense forest, the enemy's cavalry can no longer cause fatal damage to them.
Seeing that there were only a hundred or so steps left from the edge of the dense forest, a sharp-eyed Lombard officer discovered a black-robed army rushing towards them.
"Sir, that black-robed army is getting in trouble again!"
Von Bilen swung his sword to deflect a thrown spear, and glanced at the black-robed soldiers who were charging towards him, "It's the black-robed dogs again! Let the plate-armored infantry abandon the perimeter and concentrate on the front to break through the obstruction of the enemy's cavalry. Let's break out into the dense forest as soon as possible!" He did not let his anger get the best of him and wait for a decisive battle with Art's outpost, but chose to break out as soon as possible to save some of his strength.
But the legionary cavalry was not so easy to break through. They also saw the reinforcements rushing over, so the legionary cavalry gave up the circle encirclement of the remaining Lombard enemies. Instead, they concentrated more than twenty cavalry to block the dense forest in front of the Lombards, and used a "wall charge" formation to suppress the Lombards from the front...
"The infantry followed up and attacked the enemy from the left and right front wings to block their retreat. Otto led the 1st and 3rd squadrons to take charge of the left front wing, Kazak led the 2nd and 4th squadron to take charge of the right front wing, and the sergeant major led the sentries to chase down the remnants of the enemy who had slipped through the net. The crossbow squad followed me to detour to the front of the remnants of the enemy." Art controlled the horse to advance in step to keep pace with the infantry, while giving orders to several officers following him on the left and right.
The outpost quickly divided into four parts and accelerated towards the Lombards.
"After approaching the left front flank of the remaining Lombard enemy, Colin's 1st Squadron moved forward and Tuba's 2nd Squadron came behind. They first squeezed the remaining enemy's outer formation, and then surrounded and annihilated them with a shield formation. If there are sporadic enemies who break away from the formation, do not pursue them. Our own cavalry will take care of them!" Odo ran fiercely and approached the Lombards, making final arrangements for the two squadrons behind him before the battle.
Hundred ten steps away, it only took one face-to-face time to reach him.
Odo took out the two throwing axes from the pouch on his waist, raised his left and right hands at the same time, and threw them towards the Lombard enemy formation more than 20 paces away with the power of a fast running charge.
The throwing ax circled in the air and smashed into the Lombard formation. One of the throwing axes hit the chest of an ordinary Lombard, cutting off several of his ribs. His chest and lungs were slashed, and blood flowed out from the wound. The other throwing ax hit the iron helmet of the heavy armored infantry, knocking the unlucky guy to the ground.
"Throwing axes!!" Colin, the first squadron leader, saw that the two throwing axes thrown by Odo hit two enemies, and ordered his soldiers to pull out the throwing axes issued from their waists and throw them towards the enemy formation. Although ordinary soldiers did not have the strength and accuracy like Odo, more than a dozen throwing axes fell to the ground head-on, and four or five Lombard soldiers in the dense formation fell to the ground.
"Shield formation! Charge the formation!" Odo gave the order, then raised the iron-inlaid oak buckler in his hand and crushed it towards the Lombards' left front wing.
In the Lombard remnant camp, von Bilen charged desperately toward the dense forest under the cover of several personal guards and a dozen plate-armored heavy infantry, while dozens of ordinary Lombard soldiers on the periphery had been completely killed by the besieged black-robed soldiers.
Seeing that the enemy soldiers in black robes had been overtaken and surrounded, a Lombard officer knew that it was futile to lead his army to break through. He squeezed to von Bilen's side and said anxiously: "My lord, it is impossible for everyone to break out. You can quickly get on your horse and I will lead the soldiers to cover your breakout."
Von Bilen, who has always been calm and steady, was also a little panicked at this moment. He originally wanted to break out with dozens of soldiers and the remaining elite plate infantry, so that he could use these elites to regain his strength after returning to the south. However, it seems that this wish cannot be realized at present.
"I can't leave the soldiers and run away alone!" Von Bilen said to the officer. He didn't want his men to think that the commander was greedy for life and afraid of death.
"It's too late, sir. If you are all caught, we will really lose miserably." The officer said sincerely.
"I am your guard knight, and it is my innate duty to keep you alive!"
"If I am still alive, please don't forget me~"
It turns out that this officer was trying to leave a way for himself to survive - only if Viscount von Bilen, the feudal lord, could survive and return to the south safely, would he, a knightly officer, have a chance of redemption. In other words, once von Bilen left safely, he would immediately lay down his weapons and surrender to the enemy. Anyway, as long as someone pays the ransom, as a noble knight, his life will not be in danger.
Von Bilen pretended to refuse a few words and followed the advice of his subordinates. He mounted the war horse that had been prepared for a long time, and under the desperate cover of several personal guards and a dozen elite plate-armored heavy infantry, he tore through the encirclement of the enemy. He opened a gap, galloped out of the gap, and fled toward the southwest~
"Von Bilen escaped!!!" Jason, with his keen eyesight, saw a cavalry rushing out of the enemy formation, and saw the commander who was being escorted by everyone.
"Want to escape? It's not that easy." Art chuckled and jumped on the horse.
"Command the soldiers to quickly eliminate the remaining enemies! Let the sergeant major lead the sentry team to pursue me!" Art ordered Jason and kicked the horse's belly. The horse neighed and chased in the direction where Von Bilen escaped.
When passing by the legionary cavalry, Art said to the cavalry captain: "Lord Allen, the enemy commander has broken through. I am going to lead the troops in pursuit. Please join me in pursuing the remnant enemy."
The cavalry captain glanced at the small number of elites led by von Bilen who had run more than thirty steps, and then at the majority of the remaining Lombard army who were surrounded by cavalry and unable to escape, and hesitated.
Matt saw that the cavalry captain did not want to bite a hard nut, and said: "I will lead the people at the front, and you will be responsible for supporting me. They must have a lot of money with them, and all the money captured by von Bilen will be yours."
The cavalry captain originally did not want to pursue von Bilen anymore, partly because he had killed enough enemy soldiers today, and his military merit must be considerable. Secondly, his cavalry were still intercepting most of the remaining Lombard army and did not want to escape easily. The most important thing is that he also knows that the guards around von Bilen and the group of mounted plate armored heavy infantry are a tough nut to crack. Otherwise, he will have to lose a lot of soldiers.
However, Art proposed to lead the first charge, and he was only supporting the battle. With the temptation of the word "gold coins", he quickly made a decision and said to the messenger beside him: "Send the order, leave the first squadron of the cavalry to continue to unite. After the encirclement, all the remaining cavalry withdrew to pursue von Bilen."
Hence, the legion cavalry and the outpost cavalry, a total of more than 40 cavalry, chased the fleeing von Bilen...
…
At noon, when the commander of the Eastern Army, who had set up an ambush in the south, returned to Solburg with a sullen face, an extremely thrilling battle had ended.
The flag of the Eastern Legion was planted on the city walls of Saulburg. Saurburg, which had been besieged for several months, was recovered in this unexpected way.
In the Lord's Hall of Sauerburg City, Viscount Jeffrey slapped the table and got angry at a room of officers.
"How could you let that old guy von Bilen run away? Forty or fifty cavalry can't catch up with a dozen enemies? Incompetent!!!" Legion Commander Jeffrey vented his anger towards Art and the legion's cavalry captain.
In fact, what really made Jeffrey angry was not that he let von Bilen go, but that his thought-provoking ambush plan almost led to the destruction of the entire Dongdu Army.
“Legion Commander, the guards around that old guy von Bilen are too powerful. Our cavalry was led into the dense forest and was unable to exert its combat effectiveness.” The cavalry captain explained to Jeffrey.
At the side stood in silence in a daze. He did not respond to Viscount Jeffrey's questioning.
This morning's pursuit battle was full of drama, and Art didn't want to talk about it at all.
Time goes back to the battle to pursue von Bilen. At that time, Art led the sentries and the legionary cavalry to pursue von Bilen for more than ten miles. If the pursuit continued along the southern road, von Bilen would definitely not be able to escape. Not only would the pursuers getting closer and closer behind him bite, but don't forget that there was an ambush set up by the elite first company of the legion led by the legion commander in front of the southern road.
Von Bilen also knew that he could no longer run on horseback, so when he saw that the situation was wrong, he immediately asked all the soldiers around him to abandon their horses and go into the dense forest.
Hunting into the dense forest, it is not impossible for the legionary cavalry to dismount and fight. Seeing the remnants of the enemy abandoning their horses and entering the dense forest, Art and the cavalry captain also jumped off their horses and pursued them.
Just when the pursuers were about to catch up with the remnants of the enemy, von Bilen made a trick that caught people off guard - he ordered his soldiers to take the large amount of gold and silver coins they carried with them (it seemed that they had made a conspiracy, but failed, and fled immediately) Throwing them everywhere...
The shiny gold and silver coins were particularly dazzling under the sunlight, causing the pursuing legionary cavalry to stop and eliminate the "traps" scattered on the ground one by one...
Von Biron "bribed" the pursuers with gold cakes and silver coins worth twenty to thirty thousand pfennigs.
Art could only look at Fon Bilen's retreating back and bitterly shot out the quiver in his waist~
No matter what, it can be considered a great victory.