Just south of Gengqiu, a plain area twenty miles away from the main battle force of the Welsh Army.
A river called the Po by the Lombards runs across it, so this vast fertile land is also called the Po Plain.
Compared to the southern coast where commerce and trade are prosperous, this place is not absolutely wealthy, but almost all of the wheat and more than half of the fruits, vegetables and meat in the Principality of Lombardy are produced in this plain.
Riding his horse and stopping on a gentle slope at the northern end of the plain, Odo, the deputy commander of the Welsh Army and the commander of the first division, raised his eyebrows and sighed, "I thought that the fertile plains of the Saone Province were wide enough. Now when I go south to Lombardy, I realize that the word "plain" on the topographic map turns out to be so vast~ This vastness is very..."
Angus held a leather bag filled with liquid in one hand, bit open the cork and spit it out, letting it sway back and forth under the pull of the string. Then he put it into his mouth and took a big sip, squinting his eyes and letting out a sigh, "Brother Odo, now we are here." He became a professor at the Military Academy, and his speech became more formal."
Odo turned around and smiled, "I came from a poor place, and I have never seen such a flat and open land. You think it can be used. With the farming techniques of Wales, such as rotating fallow tillage, manure accumulation and deep plowing, how many people can be fed on such a vast land? Isn’t it a problem? ”
Angus threw the leather bag to O. Duo, looking up at the Po River plain, sighed: "What I care about now is not how many people these lands can support. I'm just worried about how the Welsh Army can defeat enemies multiple times their own when fighting on such an open plain."
"In this place where we can't even hide our butts, there is no need to think about ambushes and sneak attacks. There is no hope for flanking raids or roundabout harassment."
"If you weren't worried that old man Von Bilen would not fight us decisively, you would never have chosen such a place as a battlefield."
"In this southern expedition, we must fight quickly, in the Principality of Lombardy. It's not good for us to delay for a long time. If Von Bilen divides his troops and holds on to the fortified city, we will be even more passive. As long as we can annihilate the so-called Patriots here, the northern part of Lombardy will be open." Otto took a sip of the wine bag thrown by Angus and found that it was actually a medical distilled liquor used to sterilize the wounded. The yield was very low and the strength was extremely high. "Man, you actually drank this stuff. Thomas warned that this stuff can make people drunk."
Angus raised his hand and shook his shoulders, "Do you think I'm dead drunk? Haha, since I drank this thing, the ordinary wine is as tasteless as well water."
Odo shook his head and returned the wine bag, "I will never drink with you again, for fear of being drunk to death."
Angus corked the wine bag and hung it on the front saddle. He jumped off the saddle and said, "Okay, let's get to work. Bring the combat map up right away and have people from the staff and operations department come up."
After a while, seven or eight company-level commanders of the Welsh Army, led by Colin and Weitz, gathered around Odo Angus. They began to combine the on-site survey terrain with the previously drawn combat map to plan the details of the decisive battle three days later.
Otto was the first to speak, "According to my lord's plan, the core of this decisive battle is two sentences - coordination between near and far, and slant attack to win. Everyone, let's start discussing the specific battle formation deployment..."
Arriving at the Riverlands, which is less than thirty miles away, it is estimated that the enemy will camp in the city of Santia in the Riverlands, and they will arrive at the agreed battlefield tomorrow evening." At the Wells Army garrison camp, Ron reported the enemy's movements to Art, who was writing a military report to the palace of Besançon in the camp.
Att dried the ink on the straw paper, rolled it up with wax, stamped it with heraldry, and handed it to the soldiers around him, "Is there a secret message for sneaking into the enemy's hidden stake?"
Ron bowed and said, "Sir, Von Bilen is extremely cunning. He has been under internal control many times in recent days. We don't know whether our hidden stakes are alive or dead, and there is no news."
Art felt a little strange, "That old guy fought with us. He has suffered losses, so he must be extremely cautious."
"Fon Bilen led 4,500 soldiers to go north, but what about the remaining 7 to 800? Could it be his back-up force? Or an attacker?"
Ron replied, "Stanley was also suspicious, so he personally approached the outposts. The seven or eight hundred people left behind were all old, weak, disabled soldiers and laid-off hard laborers. These people failed to pass Von Bilen's selection."
Matt nodded, "Perhaps I have used too many plots and tricks over the years and have developed a heart problem. But I still want Stanley to be more cautious. We are going deep into the enemy's country alone. If we are not careful, we will die."
Rowan responded to the order and turned around to make arrangements...
............
A few miles north of the city of Santia, near a military fort called Fort Aliche, Jafar, the deputy commander of the cavalry company directly under the Wells Corps, led thirty sentry horses non-stop in the plains near the military fort. The horses under them were high-quality prairie horses from Norman in the northern part of the Kingdom of France. They were vigorous, flexible, and very good at running. They were excellent sentinel horses.
Originally, the cavalry company already had 100 light and heavy cavalry and more than 250 war horses. After defeating Wadbury at Rock Castle, more than 30 superior war horses were captured, so the cavalry company was immediately expanded to 120 cavalry.
Now adding the fifty cavalry brought by Felix and Baron Antayas as well as a small number of cavalry from the Palace Guards Corps and Provence friendly troops, the number of cavalry that the Wells Legion can directly use in the battle formation has reached 200 cavalry. This does not include Art's thirty-cavalry Earl's Guard and the cavalry escorts around senior officers.
At this time, the main battle force of the cavalry company was led by Lusignan and was stationed in the military camp. Jafar was ordered to lead thirty cavalry forward to screen the battlefield, scout out the enemy's situation, and harass the enemy by the way. It was regarded as an outpost battle.
In plain fighting, especially in this true plain fighting, the Welsh Army has no advantage at all.
The plains are the stage for cavalry, and they are the masters of the plain battlefield. However, the heavily-financed cavalry of the Welsh Army was somewhat powerless in the face of the Lombard cavalry.
Not to mention that the opponent used nearly a hundred cavalry to drive them away, the shining horse armor and the cavalry with heavy armor and spears on horseback were enough to shock people.
After two rounds of contact, Jafar could only rely on the strong and flexible characteristics of his horse to attack back and forth, but he could only fight and retreat, unable to spy on the enemy's movements.
The sun is setting in the west, and as night falls, the enemy army will definitely be stationed in Santia tonight.
Jaffar had no choice but to leave a few rangers behind before reining in and returning to report to the Chinese army the military situation of the enemy's garrison in Santiya.
But just after Jafar left with the main force of the Sentinel Cavalry, a black-armored team in Fort Aliche took advantage of the cover of twilight and moved towards the few rangers who stayed behind to monitor.
Just after nightfall, the gate of Santia opened quietly, and two thousand heavily armed black figures disappeared into the long night...