In the battle when the wooden bridge was halfway crossed, Jafar and Red led more than a hundred cavalry, one man and two horses, and rushed from five miles away to kill the Lombard baggage guard and a small amount of baggage that were blocked on the south bank by the broken bridge.
Jaffar and his two men killed all the Lombard soldiers, even those who were seriously injured with only half a breath left.
After killing the enemy soldiers, the two left eight lightly injured cavalrymen to take care of the four seriously injured cavalrymen and clean up the battlefield.
Lead the remaining seventy or eighty horses and run downstream. Four miles downstream there is a ford that can be waded across the river. The war horses they just replaced are nearby and are guarded by several cavalry. After reuniting, they crossed the river and headed north to participate in the next battle.
….
Today's cavalry team of the Welsh Army has a total of two hundred cavalry, but only a hundred people appeared on the ambush battlefield just now, and the remaining more than a hundred people are being led by Reyek Harold, deputy commander of the cavalry company, to prepare an ambush position on a baggage lane that passes through low hills in the north.
Reyek Harold, also known as the Golden Barrel, was a wandering knight who was rescued by Art when he went south to Provence to fight against the Lombards.
He has fought many battles with the Welles Army over the years, but apart from his personal bravery, he has no outstanding commanding skills. Therefore, although he has been a wandering knight for a long time, he has been an ordinary knight in these years. He only has a mansion and thirty acres of land in the Wells Valley, and he is not even considered by the top brass of the army.
However, this man is still brave after all, and he is very brave in riding on horseback, so he has always served as the deputy commander of the cavalry. However, Reyek has an upright character and does not have many thoughts about commanding operations. As long as he can drink and fight, he has no pursuit of fame and fortune.
This time the ambush in the north was planned and implemented mainly by the weapons workshop and Lord Angus's adjutant. Reyek's order was to cover and assist those people in completing the ambush mission, and to follow the adjutant's arrangements at the appropriate time to attack on foot.
This place is less than six miles away from the wooden bridge. A hilly area lower than the gentle slope lies on the baggage lane leading to Santia City. This gentle hilly area is neither high nor large, and the road across it is less than a mile long.
Just this morning, under the guidance of people from five weapon workshops, the one hundred cavalry led by Reyek dug holes and piled earth and rocks on the half-mile road through the hill from the entrance to the middle of the hill, trying to turn it into a dead end road to block the passage of enemy baggage trains. This kind of digging holes and setting up ambushes was familiar to the Wells Army, and it just took some time and energy.
However, these visible potholes and earth and rock obstacles are just disguises on this section of the road, and even the dismounted infantry cavalry under Reyek are just disguises.
The really fatal part of this section of road is the short distance of two hundred steps out of the gentle hill area. After this distance, the rest is a flat plain.
Having been busy all morning, more than a hundred dismounted cavalry have dug holes into the road in the gentle hills with hoes and shovels. There are "small graves" half a person's height made of earth and rocks everywhere. There are similar holes and mounds of earth even on the gentle slopes extending on both sides of the driveway.
This kind of road can be passed by a single person and a horse, but carriages carrying a large amount of grain and baggage cannot pass easily.
A fast horse galloped from the south road, raising dust all over the sky.
Arrived at the entrance of the gentle hill, the man on horseback jumped off his horse and carefully led the horse around the potholes and mounds. After walking for a long time, he finished the rugged road and handed the horse to a soldier on guard. He climbed up the gentle hill to the top of the slope.
Reyek and Angus's adjutants were waiting on the top of a gentle hill. The man looked around and saw that on the gentle hilltops on both sides of the road there were soldiers holding spears, swords, axes, hammers and flails, lowering their bodies and resting quietly.
The man saluted Reyek and the two men and said, "Two sirs, the ambush in the south was successful. Most of the enemy's infantry was cut off on the south bank of the river and all were annihilated. The rest were mainly sixty or seventy cavalry and baggage convoys, who marched in a hurry. Come on, it’s less than half an hour away from here.”
Leyek looked to the south and found no whereabouts of the enemy troops, so he said to the adjutant beside him, “Brother, act as planned?”
The adjutant nodded.
Reyek shouted loudly to the dismounted infantry beside him and on the gentle hill opposite, "The enemy will arrive in half an hour. Remember the battle plan communicated in advance."
"We are not infantry. Don't rush down foolishly for a while, and retreat while fighting. We are not the main force today, so don't steal the limelight from others."
Reyek raised his voice, "Did you hear that?"
Sparse responses came from the side and the opposite side.
Reyek was also unwilling, "This is a battle, it's like a child's play."
"Sir Reyek, I'll leave this to you, I'll go to the rear to prepare." Angus's adjutant ignored Reyek's nonsense and led a soldier towards the back of the gentle hill.
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South of the gentle hill, the Lombard caravan with its tail cut off was marching quickly.
There are enemy cavalry chasing behind, and it is impossible for the red-haired Baron to conduct careful reconnaissance and march cautiously as he did in the first half of the journey.
He completely abandoned the southern end of the broken bridge and fled north with two-thirds of the baggage. He just hoped to move quickly, even if he joined the Lombard army coming to meet him.
Although he did not dare to be overly cautious and slow down the march, the red-haired baron still sent out sentries in four directions, front and rear, left and right, searching within a half mile of the army and two hundred paces to the left and right. A sentry was left behind to keep an eye on the movements of the cavalry team on the other side of the river.
The range of the sentinel is compressed, and the speed is naturally much faster.
In less than an hour and a half, the baggage team arrived at a gentle hilly area.
There is an ambush ahead.
This is the most intuitive feeling of the red-haired baron. This is not his first time on the battlefield. In addition to the ambush on the wooden bridge just now, he firmly believes that the opponent will definitely set a trap ahead, which is also something he is mentally prepared for.
That gentle hilly area is not very large, can it be bypassed? Yes, it can indeed be bypassed. In the middle of the flat Po River plain, there is no terrain that can completely block the progress.
For infantry and cavalry, it is not difficult to bypass the gentle hilly area.
But for a carriage loaded with a large amount of weapons and baggage, it is not practical to march off the road. A leg-high ridge can stop the carriage, and there are many such ridges.
If the surroundings are safe, you can slowly explore a road that is not blocked by ditches. However, at this time, there is an enemy army of more than a hundred cavalry chasing behind you, so you may leave time to slowly explore the road.
After about a quarter of an hour, both cavalrymen returned to the main group on the road and reported to the red-haired Baron what the sentry had discovered.
Based on the situation of sentry scouts, there are indeed many traps and pits set up in the gentle hill. Even the enemy troops ambush on the top of the gentle hill can be vaguely seen.
At this moment, the sentries staying near the river bank quickly reported back. The Burgundian cavalry that had defeated the infantry on the south bank had crossed the ford downstream of the river and was slowly chasing the group.
The red-haired Baron was in pain. He could simply give up all the baggage and take a detour with his soldiers to leave without risking his life. However, he had already lost a small part of the baggage. If the remaining baggage could not successfully reach the legion camp under Santia City, he would definitely not be able to escape military law.
After weighing the pros and cons, the red-haired baron decided to risk his life to gain a chance. The Burgundian cavalry behind him had just finished a long-distance attack. At this time, he should not pursue too fast in order to restore his horse power. He still had some time to organize his soldiers to break through the ambush in the gentle hills in front of him.
"All cavalry and infantry come forward and line up."
"Half of the young men in the baggage train are dispatched, and weapons and armor are distributed from the baggage cars to act as infantry."
"Tell everyone, as long as you cross this gentle hill, the back will be safe."
"If anyone dares to escape, the cavalry will immediately pursue and kill them."
The red-haired baron thought for a while and shouted loudly, "As long as you fight out of this gentle hill, each person will be rewarded with two silver coins, and there will be enough food and wine for tonight."
The red-haired baron's several temporarily selected personal guards turned around to convey orders to the army, and organized the soldiers to prepare for the station.
The ordinary infantry and most of the laborers in the baggage team actually did not want to continue fighting. They preferred to abandon the baggage and escape around the gentle hill. However, the cavalry all obeyed the orders of the red-haired baron. In front of the cavalry, they could not escape with only their legs.
Although there were ten thousand reluctances in their hearts, the infantry and the young and strong laborers drawn out of the baggage had to come to the front of the brigade and began to form an attack formation with a sad face.
The Lombards began to march towards the gentle hilly area, and the temporarily organized baggage laborers were pushed to the front. It was obvious that they wanted to use these scraps as pathfinders. The makeshift infantry consisting of more than a hundred baggage soldiers was unwilling to move forward, and they moved slowly.
The red-haired Baron personally led the soldiers and supervised the formation from behind with a long sword. He personally rushed up and killed two baggage workers who were stripped at the back, and then asked the cavalry to use spears to force them to speed up.
More than a hundred makeshift infantrymen walked into the entrance of the gentle hill, crying and willing to die, followed by more than twenty infantrymen and cavalrymen on horseback who were nervously alert to the surrounding cavalry.
The arrows in the sky and the sting traps behind the potholes that the Lombards expected did not appear. The potholes and mounds all over the driveway and the gentle slopes on both sides did block their way forward, forcing them to move forward slowly in twists and turns, which slowed them down a lot.
It was not until the infantry and cavalry entered the gentle hills that enemy ambush began to appear on the low hillsides on both sides. However, the intensity of the ambush attack was completely beyond their imagination.
Other than thirty or forty cavalry bows shooting arrows continuously towards the carriage path, no enemy soldiers took the initiative to attack.
"...What? The enemy troops did not attack us?"
"What on earth are these bastards going to do?" The red-haired Baron was even more collapsed at this time. He could not even guess the enemy's intentions.
"Pull all the baggage laborers behind, fill up all the potholes that day, and push away all the mounds of earth!"