Hand-to-hand combat requires not only superb combat skills, but also great courage.
Fortunately, half of the dozen or so main battle forces were veterans who were war slaves. Facing the Lombards who rushed into the fence, the bravery and bloodiness in their bones were aroused, and they did not flinch at all.
The broken short spears have been left behind, they took out the swords, axes and hammers from their waists, and almost fought face to face with the enemy.
There were several fierce and brave veterans holding the line. The miners of the second echelon also overcame the panic in their hearts that they couldn't help but run away. They raised their hammers and hammers and slashed at the enemies pouring into the hole.
The miners may not have fighting qualities, but they have developed brute strength through heavy physical labor every day. In addition, the hammers, hand axes and other items in their hands are really "heavy weapons" in front of the enemy's swords. Therefore, in just a moment, several Lombard soldiers who rushed into the breach in the fence were turned into corpses on the ground.
These corpses blocked the passage, and the resistance near the breach was too great. The Lombards actually gave up on widening the breach and dragged several corpses out of the fence.
The offensive and defensive sides fought again across the fence, but at this moment both sides basically had short weapons, and it was difficult to kill each other through the fence.
After fighting for a while, the Lombards realized that continuing to fight was a waste of time, so a Lombard officer who was leading the charge gave the team a retreat order.
This is how the first short offensive ended.
Spencer's heartstrings were no longer as tight as before the war. While he ordered the two corpses on his side of the fence to be carried to the back, he also asked the miners who had just been in the back to quickly find stones and sticks to repair and strengthen the breach in the fence gate.
After repelling the Lombards' first offensive, the miners could not help but feel excited. But those veterans and Spencer knew that the enemy no longer looked down upon themselves, and the second attack would be more violent than before.
And it is estimated that the third battle will not happen here...
An unknown village in the northeast of the canyon mining area. This was originally a place where the Christopher family took refuge in the mountains.
Deep in the mountains, there has been no human habitation for thousands of years, so there is no need for tall and solid walls for defense. What is used to prevent wild beasts from attacking is a fence as high as a person. In many places, it is just a section of fence made of wicker branches. It can be kicked down with a strong kick. This defensive condition is worse than the fence in the mining field.
It is actually a bit reluctant to call this place a village. More than a hundred people were crowded into about twenty thatched huts. Except for the wooden house where the lord Christopher and his family live in the center of the village and the small chapel for prayer, which is barely visible, the rest can hardly be called buildings.
After Christopher returned to Wales, the village was empty and weeds had begun to grow wildly.
If it weren’t for the recently built mining field that had to pass through this place, and the occasional pack team would come into the village to rest for a while, this place would probably have become a paradise for wild beasts.
At this time, two government officials led a large group of miners from the mining field to escape here.
According to Spencer's order, these miners should enter the village to strengthen the wall, and then wait for reinforcements.
However, when they entered the village and saw the so-called "village wall" in the village, they immediately wanted to retreat.
· Several timid miners immediately suggested to continue retreating and ran back to the lake in one breath.
"With such a broken village, how can it resist the enemy's attack?"
"The guys in the mining field will definitely not be able to withstand the enemy's attack. It is estimated that the Lombards have already come towards us with bloody butcher knives. If we don't run, we can't escape!"
"Run, it will be safe if we run back to the lake!"
Several timid miners urged the two officials to give orders to continue escaping.
"We can't just run away. Mr. Spencer has already asked us to hide behind to avoid the enemy. If we disobey the order and flee again, it will be a serious crime!" A bearded and sturdy miner stopped. He originally planned to stay behind with the miner brothers to fight against the enemy, but he still had a wife and children at home, so he really didn't dare to risk his life.
· Some courageous but concerned men among the miners also came forward to support the beard.
The two officials were also apprentices who had just graduated from the Government Affairs College. They had never experienced such extreme dangers.
From the bottom of their hearts, they hope to continue escaping as quickly as possible, so that they can get out of danger as soon as possible by reaching the lake area as soon as possible.
But unlike those miners who only want to save their lives, these two officials are educated and have some concepts of loyalty and fraternity in their heads. They also think that once the enemy is allowed to rush into the lake land, no matter whether Lord Odo's army can withstand it or not, the civilians in the lake land will always be threatened.
More importantly, the Province of Wales has always had strict laws. Before evacuating, Spencer ordered the two of them to lead the miners to reinforce the abandoned villages to await rescue by the garrison in the lake area.
Now they run away. If Spencer and the others can hold off the enemy, they may only face slight punishment. If Spencer and the remaining miners are all killed in the battle, then they will not escape death. At least they will be punished and become slaves, and they will be enslaved like livestock every day.
The miners were still quarreling, and the two officials were also confused in their heads.
“Shut up!!” the new official who often followed Spencer shouted to stop the quarrel.
"Everyone calm down and think about it, is there a way to have both ends of the world!"
After a heated discussion among a group of people, the two officials decided to lead the miners to make more efforts for the lake.
They had no intention of solidifying the abandoned village. In fact, not only did it have no basis for defense (the human-high fence was almost negligible), but the most important thing was that the hammers, skewers, and a small number of axes and other tools they brought with them when escaping from the mining area were impossible to reinforce the walls of the village within a period of time.
So they decided to abandon the abandoned village and run three miles further east, where there was a narrow pass with dozens of feet of gravel cliffs on both sides.
More than a month ago, they passed by this place when going to the mining site. Since there were many gravels on the steep cliffs on both sides of the pass, they, as miners, instinctively paid attention to this quarry, which is very easy to mine.
The pass here is about a hundred paces long and only a dozen paces wide.
Him Arranged for two young and clever miners to go back west to find a hidden position to spy on the enemy's movements, while the remaining people carried their tools and continued eastward.
Soon, two officials led dozens of miners and hammer tools to the pass.
Building houses and walls is not their specialty, but breaking rocks and digging mountains is their skill in seeking food.
They were divided into two teams and climbed up the cliffs on both sides of the pass with hammers and skewers respectively. After a clanking sound, the rocks on the cliffs on both sides kept rolling down towards the pass. A few miners simply climbed to the top of the cliff and pried a few stones half a man's height off the cliff...
Soon, high "stone walls" were piled up on both sides of the pass.
"Don't block it yet. If the two brothers report that the enemy is coming, then seal it. If it's sealed now, how can we get through if our army arrives in time?" The young officials prevented the miners from completely sealing the pass. Instead, they asked them to continue to knock loose rocks on both sides, and if necessary, knock them down at any time to seal the pass.
"If we had thought of running to this pass to seal the pass earlier, Lord Spencer and the others might not have to stay and fight for their lives. I wonder how those guys are doing now~" Another official looked at the "stone wall" that had basically taken shape behind him and sighed.
「若是没有斯宾塞大人在前面死顶，我们还能安心在此处断路？」
年轻吏员轻轻在胸前画了一个十字，「愿圣主庇佑！」
............
时间回到两个小时前。
· To the west of the abandoned village, on the top of the hillside on the northeast side of the quarry, two panting young men secretly stuck their heads out of the grass.
From the position where they climbed, they could clearly see the mining field under another hillside.
As soon as the two cowering heads stretched out, they saw the tragic scene in the quarry - a hundred figures in basically uniform clothes gradually submerged the dozen or so people in different clothes behind the quarry fence. They waved their swords, axes and hammers in their hands to desperately greet the dozen or so people who were surrounded.
Under the wave of swords, a dozen figures were as thin as small boats in the strong wind and waves.
Those flimsy boats are the "temporary soldiers" left behind in the mining field to fight for their lives, and they are lying in a pool of blood one by one at this moment.
The two young miners on the hilltop sentinel did not know that in the three hours they escaped from the mining site, fled to the abandoned village, and then were ordered to return to the sentinel, three bloody battles had occurred here.
The first wave of attacks by the Lombard enemies did not cause much damage to the mining site. After a short rest, they began to attack from a long range, shooting bows and arrows at the miners prostrate behind the fence and behind the ore parapet.
Even with the protection of the parapets, the thrown arrows still caused a lot of casualties to the miners' soldiers behind the fence. Two miners died on the spot, and the four unlucky ones who were hit by the arrows kept wailing.
Then the Lombards rushed towards the fence under the cover of bows and arrows. The rain of arrows did not stop until they were ten steps closer to the fence.
Spencer was not stunned by the arrows. The rain of arrows suddenly stopped, and he immediately stood up to organize his defense.
Maybe the miners were indeed the best source of troops, or maybe the Lombard soldiers were exhausted from walking through the mountains for a long time. The temporary army led by Spencer actually blocked the second offensive of the Lombards after the fence was breached.
Of course, eleven of the thirty-five temporary soldiers were killed in this round of fighting, and everyone was injured.
The Lombards were indeed tired. There was nearly an hour between the second wave of offensive and the third wave of offensive.
The third attack was still launched from the main entrance, because the "defenders" in the mining field no longer had the strength to repair the fence that was breached last time.
Seventy or eighty Lombards with blood-red eyes rushed into the fence and hunted and killed the remaining dozen "defenders"...
"Lord Spencer! That's Lord Spencer!!" One of the young miners on the hillside had tears in his eyes as he saw the last "bloody man" standing with a sword in the enemy group. His golden hair dripping with blood was very easy to identify.
Spencer was not good at fighting, and now he had spent all the courage and fighting power in his life, and he was exhausted.
Spencer looked at the enemies who were surrounding him more and more tightly, and tried to lift the dagger full of gaps to retreat, but his trembling hands were already struggling...
On the hillside, two young miners seemed to see Spencer roaring something, but the sound could not be heard.
Then, a Lombard soldier raised the melon hammer in his hand and hit Spencer's thigh hard.
Spencer fell...