The battle formation of thousands of people may not really be considered a big scene in Art's later memory, but for ordinary soldiers of the Welsh Legion who have lived in a sparsely populated environment since childhood, this scene is shocking enough.
· There is no need to attack or defend the castle in the Wilderness Battle. Hundreds of people from both sides raised their weapons and charged at each other in the flat and vast wasteland outside the city. The visual impact and auditory tactile shock were the most intense.
The most effective infantry of the Wells Legion is the flag corps under Kazak and Tuba. These two flag corps do not have absolutely excellent weapons and armor. In fact, since Art went to Paris through borrowing money and harvesting from the Dean family, the weapons and equipment of the Wells Legion have made great improvements. For ordinary infantry, everyone's weapons and armor are roughly the same.
The reason why the banners of Kazak and Touba are the most powerful is because these two banners have the highest proportion of veterans. Almost half of the soldiers in these two banners have more than five war experiences. Most of them joined the legion before the Provence War. Other flag teams do not have such a configuration. Among the rest of the Wells Legion, generally only the squad leader is a veteran. Even the very brave heavy armored infantry team has less than one-third veterans. The heavy armored infantry is just a selection of soldiers with a slightly stronger physique.
Why would Yate spare no effort to spend a lot of money to build the most elite medical team possible? Nowadays, the status of a medical soldier in the Welsh Army has exceeded that of a combat squad leader. The reason is also very simple. Art needs to treat more wounded soldiers. The combat effectiveness of the wounded soldiers who can survive on the battlefield with the enemy's sword will be in vain. Maybe even they themselves don't know why after being stabbed by the enemy, their hands and feet will no longer be so trembling the next time they go into battle, and the spearheads that stab the enemy and the swords that slash the enemy will no longer deflect.
However, the two most powerful flag troops left the military formation, so the Welsh Army, which faced the Western Army in the open space east of Vaal City, not only had no advantage in combat strength, but was at a disadvantage from the beginning.
The ones who attacked Vaal City were the Palace Guards Corps and the elite Western Border Army, especially the Guards Corps. Needless to say, they were equipped with heavy armor and sharp weapons. Their training was not comparable to that of ordinary armies. For an ordinary standing army, training for two days a week was considered normal, and three days was considered to be a well-disciplined and well-trained army. The training of the Guards Corps reached five days a week.
The Welsh Legion trains six days a week, from dawn to dusk every day. This kind of training intensity can be called devil training. However, the Legion of Wales was officially formed less than a year ago. Most of its soldiers were farmers, laborers, miners, hunters, woodcutter and even bandits from civilian backgrounds. Before joining the Legion of Wales, the only iron tools they had contact with were the iron hoes they received from their ancestors. What’s more, many people even borrowed the iron hoes from the lord’s farm tool room.
On the other hand, the Praetorian Guards, an army affiliated with the palace, was established after Burgundy became an autonomous margrave county. Over the decades since its establishment, the Praetorian Guards has grown step by step from the initial army of a hundred or so servants, until it has three An infantry regiment and a cavalry regiment, they enjoy the tax support of the entire Burgundy county, and all the outstanding craftsmen in the county make weapons and armor for them. An army that has been in the army for decades can accumulate enough combat experience even though it rarely fights wars (note).
Such an army is not accessible to ordinary civilian farmers.
Most of the soldiers in the Royal Guards are elite soldiers selected from the armies of various parts of the country. Every year, the palace selects a group of soldiers from various places to join the Palace Guards. After a few years in the Palace Guards, they will also be sent to the borders and provinces of the country to serve as military officers. Another major source of the Guards Corps is the sons of the "middle class". Most of them are the second sons of low-level knights and nobles who have no inheritance rights, the sons of merchants and officials, or outstanding professional mercenaries. These people are all rushing to the Guards Corps for their generous treatment and broad prospects.
Whether they are selected soldiers or sons of the "middle class", these people all have physiques and innate fighting abilities that exceed those of civilians (at least they have had access to weapons since they were young).
The differences in the resources of the two armies, their formation history, and even their weapons and armor were reflected in the first moment of the battle.
The Western Army's shock formation used a slightly complete infantry regiment of the Praetorian Guards as the front, another infantry regiment and a regiment of the Western Army as the two wings, and rushed straight towards the Welsh Army.
Before the Western Army infantry charged into battle, a group of thirty cavalrymen had already set off from the right wing and thrust diagonally toward the right and center of the Welsh Army. The Palace Guards Corps had a full-time cavalry regiment, so the infantry regiment was not equipped with heavy cavalry. The only thirty or so cavalrymen were light cavalry responsible for delivering military orders and battlefield sentinels. They rarely joined the battle. This is one of the few superior forces between the Welsh Army and the Infantry Regiment of the Guards.
The enemy's cavalry attempted to rush over and interfere with the military formation. Lusignan immediately led more than 20 cavalry from the Welsh Army to rush over, intercept and drive away the Western cavalry, and chased the Western cavalry to the flank...
While the cavalry was fighting, the crossbowmen in the two armies also began to continuously fire at the opponent's formation. Almost everyone in the Welsh Army had a shield, so they were not seriously damaged in the rain of arrows. However, the Western Army made full use of the weapon advantage of their siege side, using small trebuchets in infantry field battles. Stones the size of fists kept coming towards the Wells Army. The stones flew hundreds of steps and could break people's bones as long as they touched the edge. Several screams were heard from the Wells Army from time to time...
In order to minimize the battle damage caused by the stones thrown by the trebuchets, Art's people blew the horn of a high-speed charge, forcing the two armies to engage in battle as soon as possible. Once the two armies merged, the trebuchets on the opposite side would stop.
However, the initial combat advantage of the Welsh regiment's cavalry did not come to the infantry.
As soon as the battle began, the formation of the infantry center of the Wells Army was immediately pushed in. Odo, the adjutant of the regiment who commanded the infantry in the rear formation, immediately pushed up the prepared heavy armored infantry team. With the strong men of the heavy armored infantry team headed by the fierce Klaus, the retreat of the center army was stopped.
Him Both armies were unable to advance, and the front ranks of both sides began to attack with swords, spears, and halberds. The captains and squadrons of the Wells Army tried their best to stabilize the soldiers' positions. The soldiers with spears and shields protected their bodies with their shields, and at the same time pointed the short winged spears in their hands at the enemy's weak shields. The halberd flailmen on both sides kept swinging their halberds and flails. The halberd's undercut hooked through the flesh and blood of the enemy soldiers and tore them apart desperately. The flail hands' hammers also swung and smashed the enemy soldiers' armored helmets. The Western Army also relied on their thick armor to wield their long swords and axes to harvest the lives of the Welsh Legion infantry...
Such a melee is absolutely indispensable for soldiers who are afraid of death in battle, so both sides have sent military law teams responsible for supervising the battle or the commander's personal soldiers to hold back the battle. However, any soldier who has the slightest intention to retreat will be immediately killed by the supervising soldiers. The soldiers have no way out and can only fight the enemy with all their strength...
............
"My lord, the central army has withstood, but the right wing is beginning to show a disadvantage. Bangeda's flag force has already lost a squadron, and the right wing may break the formation." Odo rode a war horse back to the rear formation where Art was located, and reported to Art the situation on the right wing.
Matt stepped on the stirrups and immediately looked out. The right wing was indeed rushed in by the enemy troops. He could see several Western troops who looked like officers slashing and killing in the military formation.
Although the left wing was relatively more stable under Angus' personal axe-fighting, it did not have the slightest advantage.
The Welsh Army can no longer stand it.
"Send the order to raise the smoke, and the guards will follow me to support the right wing!" Art roared to Ron beside him, then took off the bow and arrow from the saddle, kicked his horse and headed towards the right wing.
Hence Ron turned his head and asked Matthew to wave the military flag three times in the direction of the barracks in the back room. He also raised the spear in his hand and followed Art towards the right wing.
After a while, three plumes of thick smoke rose from the barracks behind the Welsh Army, and the thick smoke shot straight into the sky...