On Thursday, the third week of October, an army of more than a thousand people led a long queue from the rolling hills to the Po River plain, marching along the carriage path beside the Po River for a day.
Originally, Art arranged for three hundred cavalry to escort the bombs to the front line first, but Flanders considered that there were a thousand Lombard cavalry outside the city of Santia and was worried that these powerful weapons would fall into the hands of the enemy, so he changed the military order. The cavalry team that set out first waited for the rear of the army at the lake.
As a result, more than a thousand troops marched slowly and steadily.
The castles and fortresses that received orders along the way provided food, fruits and vegetables to entertain this "royal army".
It was evening, and the army had just marched to a military fort, and then camped and rested in the open space outside the military fort.
This place is only a day and a half away from the city of Santia. Hundreds of people and horses gathered around three huge tents. These three military tents stand side by side, facing the castle gate, like three canvas halls. These three military tents are naturally the residences of King Flanders, Earl Galvin and Archbishop Olof.
Yate, on the other hand, set up his military camp in a relatively dry place on higher ground away from the castle.
Hunting against the setting sun, two light cavalrymen galloped over from the south, and their fast horses disappeared into the camp. They are the cavalry that Roger sent to Santia City yesterday to deliver orders.
"Sir, the messenger reported that two days ago Lord Odo led 300 elites from Santia City out of the city and attacked the Lombard mercenary camp, killing more than fifty enemy soldiers in one fell swoop."
"Originally, the enemy had the intention of retreating, but they seemed to be stimulated by the surprise attack. They organized three thousand infantrymen to storm Santia City this morning. Lord Odo immediately organized a defense after the surprise attack, and more than three hundred enemies died under the city wall."
Ron repeated the news brought back by the messenger.
At listened carefully, thought for a moment, and replied: "We have to speed up the march. The Lombard army can no longer be used up. We must rush to Santia to fight with them in the field before they retreat, otherwise I will retreat after they retreat to the southern castle. We have to attack the stronghold again. "
Art knocked on the marching table in front of him, raised his head and ordered Ron: "Give Odo an order and ask him to find the right time to go out of the city and fight with the Lombards to whet the enemy's appetite and don't let them retreat easily."
Ron immediately left the camp to arrange the order, and Art also walked out of the military tent and went to Flanders' military tent to discuss how to speed up the march and strive to arrive at Santia City before tomorrow afternoon
On Friday afternoon, the Royal Guards Corps of the Burgundy Kingdom arrived ten miles north of Santia City with more than a thousand infantry.
After receiving the warning, the Lombard army also forcibly broke through Angus's cavalry barrier. More than 500 cavalry blocked the "royal army" and the city of Santia.
At almost the same time that the Guards of the Burgundian Palace arrived ten miles north of the city, the Duke of Lombardy led 500 cavalry from the western front battlefield to return to Santia.
The first thing the Duke of Lombardy did after returning with his army was to conquer the city of Lavati in one fell swoop. He killed several city consuls who "surrendered to Burgundy" and then looted the large and small granaries in the city. Five hundred cavalrymen personally escorted hundreds of grain trucks to the mercenary barracks outside the city of Santia.
The urgent needs of the Lombard mercenaries were relieved.
The five hundred cavalry brought by the Duke of Lombardy did not stay at the mercenary camp outside Santia. After unloading their baggage, the cavalry team immediately circled the city and came to the north to join the five hundred mercenary cavalry, forming a large cavalry regiment.
Faced with the confrontation of a thousand Lombard cavalry, the Guards Corps under Flanders also showed strong battlefield adaptability.
In just one day, they built a temporary camp.
This is a military camp that even Yate would approve of after seeing it - it is well laid out, well organized and impeccable. Deep trenches were dug around the military camp and sharpened wooden stakes were installed in them; tents were arranged in rows in the military camp, leaving wide passages. Eagle and Iris flags flew high on long poles around the camp. Sentinels in armor, armed with spears and crossbows, patrolled back and forth under the flag, monitoring the surroundings.
Five hundred Lombard cavalry tried to attack this temporary military camp, but they had to give up the attack after throwing more than a dozen dead bodies in front of the trench. Instead, they huddled aside and watched like wild dogs. As long as anyone in the military camp dared to come out, they would immediately attack and kill them.
In this way, the Lombard mercenaries besieged the city of Santia, and the cavalry led by the Duke of Lombard also besieged the Praetorian Guards of the Burgundy Kingdom. Within less than 20 miles from north to south of the city of Santia, four large armies appeared at one time. The northernmost Burgundy Palace Guards Corps has more than a thousand cavalry, and then southward are a thousand cavalry led by the Duke of Lombardy himself, the 3,000 Welsh Legion garrison in Sandia City, and the 3,000 Lombard mercenaries and 500 cavalry outside the city.
Including the nearby two hundred rangers led by Angus, nearly ten thousand troops have gathered here.
In addition, the garrison regiments led by Obote in the northern part of the Po River plain are also gradually gathering troops.
Over the next two days, there were sporadic battles between the four armies of both sides that intertwined with each other. In particular, the cavalry team led by Angus and the Lombard army who were forcibly collecting food and grass broke out several bloody battles, with both sides suffering casualties.
Hate and Flanders have been holding on to the military camp for the past two days. On the one hand, the military camp is surrounded by elite Lombard cavalry. Under normal circumstances, the infantry is definitely not the opponent of the cavalry, and the outcome of a rash attack is unpredictable.
But it is obviously impossible to say that Art and Flanders will be unable to escape because of this. If there is no trump card in hand, Art will not go south to conquer Lombardy.
The main reason is that the two of them knew that the Duke of Lombardy was returning with 500 elite cavalry, and the Principality of Provence would definitely take action. Especially Bellian on the eastern border of Provence would not let go of such an opportunity.
The two men's guesses were not wrong. Just when the Duke of Lombardy led 500 cavalry back to Santia to stabilize the situation of the mercenary army, Balian decisively seized the opportunity and led the Eastern Army, which had just strengthened its combat effectiveness, to launch a fierce offensive against the 3,500 Lombard army contending with it. He won another victory and pushed the front line twenty miles beyond the direction of Santia City.
Att and Flanders were besieged in the military camp by more than a thousand Lombard cavalry because they did not receive this battle report.
But since the morning of the third day, the Duke of Lombardy has been gradually gathering the mercenaries who besieged the city of Santia to the temporary camp of the Guards in the north. Art and the two guessed that the Duke of Lombardy could not stand it any longer.
At night, in the camp of the Guards of the Palace of the Marquis of Burgundy, the candlelight in the central tent filled the wooden pillars around the tent. There was a circle of officers and nobles sitting in the tent. They all went south to fight with the passion of Pengbai, but now they were surrounded by the enemy in the military camp and unable to move. However, the monarch strictly ordered not to go out to fight, which made everyone feel very aggrieved.
"Your Majesty, my lords, our food and fodder can still last for a week, but our firewood is only enough to burn for two days." The person who spoke was the stablemaster of Flanders, the officer in charge of supplying officials.
The army was surrounded by the enemy's cavalry for the past two days. There was no shortage of food and fodder, but not much firewood was carried with the army. In the past few days, the nearby trees had been cut down to build military camps. Now under the heavy siege of the enemy, cutting down firewood has become the most dangerous job. Those servants and army workers who were originally responsible for logistics work are unwilling to go out to collect firewood.
On the way south to Lombardy, Art and Flanders had repeatedly discussed the evolution of the war. Now they had expected this situation. In addition, both of them knew that there was a big killer hidden in the military camp, so they were not panicked.
Flanders did not answer the stablemaster's question, but turned to look at Art, who was sitting next to Galvin, "Earl of Art, have the military orders for Santia been sent out?"
At He stood up and replied, "A group of messengers went out, but they haven't come back yet. The enemy's blockade on the outskirts of Santia City is very strict, and it is difficult for news to come in and out."
In fact, this question is not too difficult for Art.
The Earl Guards around Art are not just powerful bodyguards, many of them are masters of special skills such as assassination, espionage, and stealth. In the medieval army that basically suffered from night blindness, the soldiers of the Earl Guards were all able to walk at night.
In the past few days, the guards under Ron have successively sent out three intelligence teams, mainly to inquire about the dynamics of the Lombard army, and at the same time to get in touch with Odo's army in Santia City. The most important thing is to give Odo an order to start a counterattack out of the city the next morning.
Att no longer wanted to spend time with the Lombard army near the city of Santia. The cost of maintaining a long-distance battle with thousands of troops was too high for the Province of Wales.
"In the past few days, we can see the number of Lombard infantry outside the military camp gradually increasing. I think the Duke of Lombardy can't stand it anymore and wants to transfer the infantry to us to attack us."
There was a lot of discussion in the military tent. Counting the Earl of Ater's guard, there were only less than 1,300 troops here. If the Lombard army came in full force to attack, they might not be able to survive.
While everyone was discussing, the guard officer Ron gently opened the curtain, took a look, then walked around the edge of the curtain to Art's side and whispered a few words.
"I know, go down and get ready." Art waved Ron away softly, then stood up and walked to Flanders.
· Everyone who was discussing saw Art and Flanders talking in low voices, and their voices gradually weakened, and they all looked at the two of them.
After listening to Art's words, Flanders' eyes gradually brightened, and he raised his voice and said to everyone: "Everyone, we have made contact with the army in Santia City, and the Lombard army outside Santia City has begun to move closer to us."
Everyone was attentively waiting for Flanders to follow.
"Tomorrow morning the Guards will set out from camp to fight. In this battle, infantry will be the main force, relying on the camp as a backing to attract enemy troops to attack our headquarters. The more enemy troops we can attract, the more able the Welsh Army in Santia City will be able to kill the enemy's back."
"This battle is the first battle of the Palace Guards going south. The first battle is the decisive battle, and victory or defeat will be determined in one battle."
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