Count Randy von Hoffmann, the commander of the Swabian army, was not promoted to the title of earldom by his father. As an upstart who rose to power through military exploits in troubled times, he did not have those almost pedantic etiquette concepts. Everything he did was within the lowest line tolerated by the nobility.
Matt felt extremely pressured to fight against such an opponent. The collision between two conspirators would never be exciting, so the conspiracy battlefield that Art had prepared for several days did not start as he imagined.
·After the horns of both sides blew the drums and thundered, there was no spectacular scene of one side charging with thousands of troops and hundreds of horses. Randy believed what Art said in the declaration of war, and he sent a team to charge into the battle. This so-called team was called prisoners.
Swabia has been in the country for several months and there is absolutely no shortage of prisoners, both civilians and soldiers.
Sixty or seventy Swabian captive civilian soldiers had their hands tied behind their backs with flax ropes soaked in sesame oil. Then, they were forced by the Swabian crossbowmen to line up in two rows and run towards the gap in the dense forest at the bottom of the mountain. Prisoners who hesitated for a moment would be shot by Swabian crossbowmen. The arrows shot down...
It was late autumn, and the prisoners were still wearing the same rags they had been in when they were captured a few months ago. They were crying and running towards the gap in the dense forest under the threat of arrows that were not nailed into their backs.
The captives were about to approach the gap a hundred paces, and fifty paces further they entered the trap area pre-set by the Burgundian army.
"These damn Swabian bastards actually used our people to step on the traps we set. They are so insidious!" Hans looked at the Burgundians who were crying and howling, running or being shot down, and the hand holding the battle ax turned white.
Hans, who had just been transferred to the Deadpool team, stood in the front row of the military formation. Also transferred to the Deadpool team with him was the butcher named Berry. At this moment, the butcher Berry was holding a heavy hammer, swallowing his saliva, and nervously staring ahead through the gap between the two commanders' horses.
Like Hansberry, they instinctively became angry when they saw the Swabians being driven like animals and killing their compatriots, especially since these prisoners were most likely to be their compatriots or even relatives.
The military formation moved slightly.
At the front of the gap, the two commanders Art and Odo immediately stepped forward, and their personal guards stood on both sides holding heraldic flags.
The two commanders seemed not to worry at all that these prisoners would destroy the carefully designed trap.
"Crossbow troops, fifty steps in front of the formation, prepare to shoot!" Art ordered the messenger beside him.
The messenger immediately raised a flag with a pattern of crossbows and waved it, shouting: "Crossbow team, fifty steps in front of the formation, ready to shoot!"
"Crossbow team, fifty steps in front of the formation, ready to shoot!" The soldiers around Art who heard the order shouted the order.
The thirty crossbowmen of the crossbow unit immediately took out a light arrow from the arrows stuck on the ground in front of them and put it on the bow string.
"Sir? These prisoners will not step into the trap. Should we leave them alive?" Odo also instinctively sympathized with his own people, not to mention the defenseless and helpless compatriots.
Matt looked at the prisoners who were getting closer and closer to the fifty steps in front of the formation, and said coldly: "They are scouting for the enemy and have become our enemies. What's more important is that you can't guarantee that they are all prisoners of the enemy. If I were Randy, I would mix some warriors who are not afraid of death among these prisoners, rush into the enemy's formation with short knives, stab them to death when the enemy's kindness is strong, and then disrupt the enemy's formation to charge!"
"Stop advancing, run to both sides, or shoot!" Art still planned to leave a chance for the prisoners to survive.
"Stop moving forward, flee to both sides, or else be shot!"
"Stop moving forward, flee to both sides, or else be shot!" Hans shouted.
"Stop advancing, run to both sides, or shoot!" Berry also shouted at the top of his voice.
The orderly soldier beside Art led the twenty or so dead waiters nearby to shout desperately.
The shouts of the twenty men could be clearly heard by the prisoners on the quiet battlefield where the fierce battle had not yet begun, even though they were fifty or sixty paces away. As expected, one or two prisoners who were clever and fearful of death understood the shouts on the other side, stopped sixty paces in front of the formation, then glanced left and right, and ran towards the left wing, twisting and turning, without the Swabian crossbows behind them having time to shoot.
Himmediately, five or six people followed and fled to the two wings, but most of them still ran desperately to their own army. They also instinctively ran towards the place where they thought they were safe.
After taking fifty steps, dozens of black shadows suddenly appeared diagonally above them, slowly turning into black dots, and then turning into sharp blades driven into their foreheads and chests.
Thirty-one light arrows knocked down five or six people at once.
The captives were frightened. If they stopped or retreated, they would be shot by the Swabians. If they advanced, they would be shot by the Burgundians. The anxious prisoners began to imitate the previous few people and fled to the two wings. However, the Swabian crossbowmen who came back to their senses had already aimed at their sides. Most of the guys who ran past had been shot because they could not run fast because their hands were tied behind their backs.
There were deaths all over the place, and the prisoners had gone crazy. They roared and rushed towards the place where Art was. Perhaps this was instinctive. They always felt that their comrades should have some sympathy and kindness towards them.
However, there was nothing but arrows aimed at them...
"Your Majesty, none of the prisoners fell into the trap. It seems that there should be no trap holes in the front. But those Burgundians are really bastards. They even shot and killed their own people!" On the gentle slope opposite the gap, the army advisor beside Earl Landi looked at the Burgundian prisoners who fell under the rain of arrows from his own people, and couldn't help but express a few words of emotion.
Swabian army commander Count Randy calmly looked at the tragedy down the gentle slope, without any disturbance in his heart, and replied casually: "It seems that the enemy commander thought that I planted wall nails among the prisoners who were walking on the road, so in order not to be involved in danger, he ordered to shoot them indiscriminately. Originally I did plan to use this trick, but now it seems that it is fortunately useless, otherwise I will lose a group of elite dead soldiers."
"Your Majesty, Earl? Do you want the cavalry to charge?" asked the adjutant next to Randy. He saw that the last few prisoners had rushed to the enemy's position and were pushed to the ground by the infantry who ran out of the enemy's position.
Being able to run up to the enemy smoothly at least shows that there are very few or even no traps on the front.
Randy raised his hand to stop the adjutant, "Don't worry! He himself admitted that this battlefield is full of traps. I don't think the front is as calm as what we saw. Moreover, according to the enemy's situation in advance, they still have an infantry that has never appeared. I suspect they are ambushing in the dense forests on both sides."
"Jeffrey! Where is Jeffrey?" Randy turned to the crowd behind him and shouted twice.
"Your Majesty, Baron Jeffrey is leading troops to guard on the right wing." The adjutant replied to Randy.
"Who asked him to protect the flanks? We are the attacking side and we don't need him to protect the flanks. Bring me Jeffrey." Randy knew that the timid frontier baron did not dare to face again the powerful enemy who had ravaged him to pieces.
Half a day later, the adjutant brought over the border baron Jeffrey, the lord of Biltenburg who acted obscenely.
"Jeffrey, do you still recognize the heraldic flag opposite?" Randy said with contempt.
Jeffrey quietly raised his head and glanced at the army down the gentle slope, and immediately looked back, "Earl, Lord Earl, I know you."
"Three years ago, he made you a laughing stock in the eyes of the nobles. Now the enemy is in front of you. I will give you a chance to regain your honor."
Jeffrey was frightened by the heraldic flag. He really didn't want to provoke the other party. "My lord, I have less than a hundred men under my command, and they are all peasant soldiers. Even if I charge up, I can't break the enemy's formation."
"I knew you were a useless coward! Who asked you to rush into the battle? Did you see the dense forest on the right side of the gap? Take your people and go around to the dense forest to have a look. Go immediately!" Count Randy yelled.
Jeffrey was trembling with fright, but he was relieved to hear that they were just sentrying out the flanks rather than rushing forward.
The tragedy arises from this.
Not long after Jeffrey led his hundred and ten men into two teams into the dense forest, the screams, roars, and curses never stopped...
After a long time, Jeffrey's people retreated into the dense forest, but many of them were supported or carried back.
When Jeffrey was carried to the center by his soldiers, there were still two spikes stuck in the soles of his feet. The spikes pierced through his feet, and Jeffrey didn't even have the courage to pull them out.
"Your Majesty, those bastards are still as cunning as ever. The dense forest is full of traps and pits. One step down is a pit with sharp stakes, the next step is a spring rope, and the next step is full of spikes under the fallen leaves. Is there a heavy wood or stone thrown over the head, ah~..." Jeffrey roared in pain while describing it, trying to exaggerate the pain he endured.
Randy glanced at the poor acting guy in front of him with disgust, "Get out!"
Jeffrey left as if he was running away, with a very brisk expression.
“Wait!” Randy immediately called out to Lucky Jeffrey.
"Jeffrey, call all those who are still able to move in your army to the center position, and let them test the enemy's front again."
"The Earl's Guard sent people to help Jeffrey. The baron gathered the uninjured soldiers, and Baron Jeffery let him rest and heal his injured foot."
Randy didn't plan to start charging just like that. He planned to test the enemy's front again...
….
Otto was a little puzzled when he looked at the forty or fifty soldiers who were sent to die again on the other side. He leaned on the prisoners who were shot to the ground in front of the formation and were still struggling, and chuckled: "Randy, this old bastard, is so timid. He has already tested the front once and he has to give us dozens more heads. This old bastard who doesn't know how to save."
With his words, forty Swabian infantrymen rushed into the gap a hundred steps away from the military formation. After all, it was the Swabians who were testing this time, so the crossbowmen behind them also followed up, preparing to cover the charge.
Forty Swabian soldiers, under the order of the war supervisor, raised their spears and shields and ran eighty paces away. The crossbowmen at the end of the formation behind Art began to throw arrows. The Swabian soldiers raised their shields to block the rain of arrows. The two unlucky guys were pinned at a distance of seventy paces.
The Swabian crossbowmen behind the charging Swabian soldiers also began to shoot at each other. Taking advantage of the slightly higher terrain, their arrow rain almost fell on the heads of the Deadpool team in front. The Deadpool soldiers raised their shields to resist, and Art and Odo's bodyguards also hurriedly stepped forward to block the arrows.
Forty Swabian soldiers had already rushed forty steps in front of the formation, but here their pace suddenly slowed down, and their eyes kept glancing left and right.
"Deadpool Team, come forward and drive away!" Art issued an order behind him.
The eighty-odd Deadpool soldiers behind Art responded and passed Art and Odo, entering thirty steps in front of the formation, intending to fight the forty-odd Swabian soldiers.
Obviously, the Swabian soldiers were not here to attack the military formation. They encountered the Burgundian soldiers more than 20 steps in front of the formation. When they encountered casualties, they immediately withdrew from the battle under the cover of the crossbow team behind them, and ran back to the center position on the gentle slope.
There are no traps in front of the enemy's formation. This is the answer that these dozen of Jeffrey's Swabian soldiers sacrificed their lives for.
Randy was still uneasy. He always felt that the gentle slope of the turf in front of the gap was not that simple.
However, since the two armies were facing each other, he could not waste too much time for a possible trap, so he finally ordered the attack.