In the Nanlu Valley in early autumn, the slowly rising sun gradually dissipates the gray color that permeates the mountains. When the fog dissipated, a camp surrounded by logs was revealed. The corpses on the ground had been cleaned up after the fighting, but the bloodstains staining the ground were still dazzling.
This temporary camp, which was built less than three days ago by the Lombardy "Northern Expeditionary Army", was built in a relatively open valley basin, less than half a mile from the river.
At this moment, it has become the garrison of the southern expeditionary force of the Welsh Army of Burgundy, and the offensive and defensive roles are transformed in just a moment.
Most of the soldiers in the temporary camp fled before the Wells Army launched its attack. The remaining thirty or forty soldiers were almost killed by Jafar's cavalry and Klaus' heavy armored infantry. The relatively loyal Lombard commander was also beheaded in the chaos.
When Wadbury led the main force to return to attack Rock Castle, he took away most of the military pay, equipment and weapons, but basically left the food and baggage in the camp. Therefore, at this moment, the mountains of food piled in the barn of the camp became the military ration supply for the Welsh Army.
…According to statistics, 280 bags of wheat, about 30,000 pounds, and 23 carts of wine, fruits, vegetables, and bacon were seized. In addition, there were more than 80 tents, more than 70 sets of weapons and armor, and a small amount of gold and silver." The deputy minister of the baggage department took a statistics list of war gains and reported to the deputy commander of the army, Odo, who had just taken over the baggage responsibility of the army.
In the past few months, Odo twice commanded the frontline troops to defend against the enemy, spending a lot of energy. Yesterday, Art personally led the entire Welsh Army to Nanguan Army Fort and ordered that the task of commanding the army's combat operations be handed over to Angus. Odo returned to his old job and was responsible for the logistics and general affairs of the entire army. This was a kind of rest for him.
"Didn't the Lombards carry a lot of fire oil cans? Why didn't they mention it?" Odo sat on the carriage in front of the barn, lowering his head and rubbing his eye sockets.
"The prisoners of war confessed that Wadbury took away most of the fire oil cans, and the remaining thirty or so were burned in the battle just now. Along with Wadbury, all the craftsmen and construction equipment were taken away. In addition, the enemy's military pay was also taken away, so we only seized some scattered gold and silver, estimated at less than 20,000 pfennigs."
Odo opened his bloodshot eyes, glanced at the barn behind him, and said with a smile: "That old bastard at Wadbury predicted correctly, knowing that sooner or later this camp would have to be dedicated to us."
Deputy The minister also laughed a bit and said seriously: "Lord Odo, to be on the safe side, do you want the convoy to transport all these grain supplies into Nanguan?"
Odo stood up and patted the hem of his armor skirt. , glanced at the south, "No, Lord Angus has brought two companies of soldiers and half a heavy armored infantry. They will not let the Lombards come back. These military provisions will have to be transported south soon."
On the north side of Rock Castle, in a small open field beside the road, the commander of the Lombard "Northern Expeditionary Army", Earl Wadbury, who had just regained his composure, stamped his coat of arms on a parchment note that had just been written, and handed it to the messenger beside him.
This parchment note was an urgent request for help written by Wadbury himself. In the letter, he explained that the Burgundian kingdom would march south to invade Lombardy, and begged the Lombard court to immediately recruit troops from various places to go north to fight the enemy.
As early as noon yesterday, he had already sent an order to the 300 northern garrison troops and 200 conscripted peasant soldiers remaining outside the mountain pass, asking them to immediately enter the mountainous area and storm the south gate of Rock Castle.
Having just finished writing the letter for help, Wadbury saw that the soldiers around him had rested for a while. Wadbury stood up and shouted: "What are you doing here, a bunch of bastards? Immediately organize your team and start an attack. Throw all the kerosene on me!"
Several officers drew their swords and kicked and beat the soldiers and labor craftsmen to start the third round of attack.
Wadbury waved his hand and called his adjutant, "The enemy must have been chasing me. I need time to capture Rock Castle. I will allocate my thirty Earl's Guards to you, and pick fifty elites to gather the broken troops who escaped from the temporary camp to block the enemy's pursuit. I need at least a day and a half, remember, a day and a half, defend the defense line!"
Wadbury's adjutant is a tall knight with a skinny figure, especially his bone-skinned cheeks. Very few people know his real name, and they call him the Skeleton Knight.
However, he got this nickname not because he was so thin that only withered bones were left, but because he was cruel and bloodthirsty. He especially liked to kill his enemies and then pick off the flesh and bones to reveal the bones. Countless people were turned into skeletons by his hands.
In a desperate situation, this perverted adjutant showed a scary smile. He turned his head and glanced to the north, and pulled out the boning knife from his waist. The dark red blade exuded a faint ferocious aura...
.........
Two hours later, the Skeleton Knight had brought more than eighty of the most elite Lombard soldiers to an abandoned village five miles north of Rock Castle.
This village was built on a gentle slope next to a valley road. It originally had seven or eight wooden houses and a dozen thatched huts. However, since the war between the Principality of Lombardy and the Principality of Burgundy, this village has become a no-man's land due to its strong walls and clear wilderness.
Not only here, but the two villages and three settlements along the way from Rock Castle to Nanguan Army Castle have become no man's land. When Wadbury was building Rock Castle, he ordered soldiers to drive all the Lombardy people out of the mountainous area. Of course, those who would rather die than leave became withered bones buried in the deserted villages.
Just after arriving in the deserted village, the Skeleton Knight immediately ordered that all the wood and stones from the houses in the village be piled at the narrowest pass on the north road of the village, blocking the north-south road.
As soon as a temporary "wall" was built on the road with wood and rocks, a group of deserted Lombard soldiers appeared.
This group of guys escaped from the temporary camp. They had no horses, so they couldn't outrun the guys who reported the news on horseback.
At this moment, the pursuers of the Welsh Army were already approaching, and the two teams were only half an hour away.
The fleeing Lombard soldiers were very surprised at first. They did not expect that one of their own people would turn around to come to meet them, and their pace speeded up.
But when they saw clearly that the "Guan Wall" hastily piled up with wood and stones had completely blocked the road going south, their hope turned into despair, and soon their despair turned into anger.
At the beginning, a man who looked like a small officer walked out of the broken troops, talked humbly to his comrades standing on the "Guan Wall", and then started to climb the messy "Guan Wall". But just as he was about to climb up, a stone as big as a fist hit him. The little officer was hit and his body was covered with wounds.
The little officer was angered. He got up and cursed at the top of his lungs despite the pain.
But just before he cursed a few words, the young officer's voice suddenly stopped, and a sharp arrow had already shot through his throat.
The sudden change caused an uproar in the broken troops. They looked in the direction of the arrow and saw a skinny, skeleton-like knight pulling out a second arrow and putting it on the bowstring.
"According to the military order, you should all be beheaded in front of the formation! Turn around immediately to defend against the enemy, otherwise you will be killed on the spot!" The skeleton knight rounded up the bows and arrows in his hands, and the dozen crossbowmen standing beside him on the "Guan Wall" also rounded up their walking bows.
"Sir, the Burgundian army is coming after them. There are thousands of them. How can we resist it. Please help me, please let us pass." Someone in the broken army had already fallen to his knees with weak knees and kept wailing and begging for mercy.
Following them, there was another large group of kneeling soldiers. They had been frightened by the posture of the enemy behind them, and concluded that there was no way to survive through forceful resistance.
Seeing that the brothers on the "Guan Wall" did not respond, the defeated soldiers thought they had acquiesced, and a few people who were eager to survive began to climb again.
But just after climbing a few steps, a burst of arrow whistle came, and several defeated soldiers were shot over on the spot.
The remaining people did not dare to move and could only kneel down and beg for mercy.
His voice was not loud, but all the defeated soldiers kneeling outside the "Guanqiang" heard it and were frightened. They knew that every word spoken by this evil ghost would be fulfilled.
"I count three, if you don't turn around to fight the enemy, I will let you die here immediately." The Skeleton Knight drew the bowstring full again.
Excluding the forty-odd people who were hunted down and surrendered on their knees along the way, and the twenty-odd people who left the brigade and went into the deep mountains and forests to escape for their lives, there were less than a hundred Lombard soldiers who were forced to turn around and resist at this moment.
It should have been a trapped beast still fighting, but at this moment, the eyes of the defeated Lombard soldiers were full of fear.
The broken soldiers occupied a narrow section of the road, and seven or eight soldiers crowded the road in a row.
Angus, who was riding on horseback, tightened the reins, turned his head, and glanced at the heavy armor commander Klaus who was sitting on the flat-bed grain carriage.
Klaus understood it clearly. The heavy armored infantry who were chasing after the enemy's abandoned carriages were already itching. In the early morning battle, the enemy fled too quickly. Thirty or forty enemy soldiers were not enough to kill. In addition, the heavy armored infantry failed to outrun the cavalry and light armored soldiers, so Klaus's men only killed seven or eight enemy soldiers.
At this time, Angus handed over the large group of enemy soldiers to the heavy armored infantry, and they were naturally excited.
More than fifty heavily armored infantrymen jumped down from a dozen carriages, lined up for a moment, then picked up heavy hammers and battle axes and charged towards the Lombard army on the opposite side...
There is really no need to dwell on the process. More than fifty heavy infantrymen wearing improved infantry plate armor, holding heavy weapons, and chasing leisurely in carriages faced a group of broken troops who had abandoned their armor and fled all morning. The result was natural.
Thirty Lombard soldiers were routed in formation and forty were captured. The rest either went into the dense forest to wait to be devoured by wild beasts in the mountains, or jumped into the river and were submerged in the rapids.