Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 157 Car Formation
The timing of the Hed's raid was impeccable.

When the attack was launched, the convoy was passing through the saddles of two earthen mounds.

To bypass the high ground, the long queue twisted into an S-shape. The beginning and end disappeared from each other's sight, unable to see each other.

Accompanied by the sound of horns, a troop of Hart's cavalry charged out from the reverse slope of the north side of the hill, cutting straight into the middle of the convoy.

The long queue, stretching for over a kilometer, made communication difficult, and Winters, who was at the very front of the convoy, couldn't see what was happening behind him at all.

Upon noticing something amiss, Winters immediately spurred his horse and climbed up the western slope.

The entire battlefield unfolded before him:

A group of unfamiliar cavalrymen clad in lamellar armor charged into the middle of the convoy, where the Paratus had already been routed.
The chaos spread rapidly like wildfire. A few militiamen with remaining courage tried to resist, but were killed by arrows and javelins coming from behind. Everyone was fleeing, and the brave died even faster.
The unfamiliar cavalry were few in number, but they did not engage in prolonged combat; instead, they drove the fleeing soldiers forward and backward like skilled sheepdogs.

"Centurion Montagne!" Lieutenant Colonel Jessica rushed to the front of the convoy, followed by more than twenty Dussacs.

"Sir!" Winters galloped down the hillside: "The middle is in chaos, the Heds are driving their routed troops over."

The one-eyed colonel spat: "Of course! Those bastards want to eat us all up."

"They don't have many soldiers. I'll lead a charge and try to break through! Maybe we can turn the tide!"

"No! Surround the wagons! Defend here and gather the troops together first."

Winters panicked: "Half the truck is loaded with gunpowder! If they set it on fire, we're finished!"

"You want to set fires now? You think a few dozen Heds dare to attack us?" Jessica sneered. "You only hit the waist? The Heds are masters of coordinated attacks; they want to swallow us whole!"

Winters figured out the key point and immediately changed the course of the carriage.

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica jumped off her horse: "The flag!"

The flag bearer presented the battalion's flag to the lieutenant colonel, and Jessica leaped onto the carriage, planting Plato's quadrant flag on it.

"Hold fast here!" the one-eyed lieutenant colonel roared from the carriage. "Anyone who cowers will be killed without mercy."

The lieutenant colonel had already made his stance clear, and Winters had retrieved the centurion's flag and placed it in the sack of the wagon.

The bugler sounded the assembly call, and the nearby militiamen and cart drivers rushed toward the military flag.

With two officers as the backbone, the militiamen and drivers knew what to do. One after another, the horses pulling the carts were untied and led into the center of the cart formation.

The cargo was unloaded from the vehicle so that the musketeers could stand on it.

At Winters's command, the musketeers frantically loaded their ammunition, and the pikemen began to regroup.

The double-column formation naturally has two barriers on the left and right. The coachman keeps the carriage as close as possible, and any unavoidable gaps can only be temporarily blocked with ropes.

However, the four-wheeled carriage was extremely difficult to turn, and it was impossible to close it in time. The gaps in front and behind could only be filled by spearmen.

Gradually, the fleeing drivers and militiamen were driven to the front, most of whom even threw away their weapons.

The military flags fluttering in the line of vehicles immediately caught their eye.

Behind them were the ferocious Hed barbarians. The terrified Parat people, finding a safe place in front of them, rushed towards the wagon formation.

"It's safe there!" a driver shouted as he ran. "To the military flag."

Upon seeing this, Lieutenant Colonel Jessica cursed loudly. He spurred his horse forward, knocking the Parat man who was running in the lead, causing him to vomit blood. With another horrifying slash, he sliced ​​off half of the head of the screaming coachman.

The remaining Paratus were stunned by the one-eyed colonel's brutality.

"Those who charge this line shall die!" Jesca roared at the fleeing soldiers, his saber dripping with the blood of the Paratists, "Go around the wagon formation!"

The lieutenant colonel stood at the front of the formation like a dividing line, and the panicked Parat people were divided into two groups. They bypassed the north and south flanks and eventually entered the wagon formation from the west.

A Hart cavalryman, brandishing his scimitar, hacked and slashed his way through the enemy lines until he crashed into the wagons. He stopped thirty meters away from the wagons, somewhat bewildered.

One of the musketeers on the wagon flicked his right hand, and the firing lever was pulled down. A shot rang out, but the Heard rider was unharmed.

One gunshot triggered more shots, and the tense musketeers fired in unison, beyond Winters' ability to stop them.

After the continuous gunfire subsided and the smoke cleared, the cavalryman, Hart, was still sitting perfectly fine in his saddle.

The Hed people laughed wildly, their piercing laughter striking the courage and spirit of the militia like a hammer blow.

"Laugh at your mother!" Winters could no longer contain himself. He jumped onto the wagon and shot Hart's cavalryman dead with a single spear thrust.

A mass of flesh and blood burst from the back of Hurd's head, and he fell straight off his horse, never understanding why he had been shot until his death.

There was a moment of silence in the traffic jam, followed by a deafening cheer.

Winters tossed the rifled spring-loaded gun to Charles with a blank expression, and Charles gleefully reloaded it.

This thing is useful, but it's too expensive and too troublesome to fill.

With the wagon formation temporarily safe, Lieutenant Colonel Jessica immediately ordered the preparation of a signal flare. The militiamen began collecting hay and horse manure, removing planks and unloading gunpowder from the wagons.

Small groups of cavalry raiding supply lines was a common tactic of the Hed, and the Palatul had countermeasures. Smoke signals would be relayed through camps along the way, drawing nearby Palatul rangers to the area… to help avenge their demise.

Scattered Heds rushed from the east to the wagon formation, but seeing no opportunity to turn their horses around, they left to continue killing and driving the fleeing Palatul soldiers eastward.

The number of Hart's cavalry was indeed small, but the disorganized spearmen and musketeers were unable to protect each other's backs and sides, and faced an almost one-sided massacre by the cavalry.

“That won’t do.” Winters approached the lieutenant colonel: “I’ll take some men and launch an attack.”

Jessica understood Winters's meaning; if things continued this way, they wouldn't be able to gather many people.

A stalemate is not a solution; a defensive counter-attack is necessary. The hastily assembled vehicle formation has no supplies; they will likely be the first to crumble.

The one-eyed lieutenant colonel gave the second lieutenant a deep look and nodded: "Don't go too far. Come back when you hear the bugle call."

Winters grabbed a spear and leaped onto the saddle.

Looking at the faces of the twenty-odd Dussacs in the car formation, he calmly instructed them, "Don't be afraid, stay with me."

The spearmen parted to make way, and the riders roared out of the chariot formation. Behind them, a thick plume of smoke rose into the sky.

Upon spotting the Paratulans launching an attack, a Hed cavalryman sounded his horn.

Two long and two short.

The Hurds who had been chasing and roaming the large workshop withdrew, deliberately avoiding direct confrontation.

Everyone was riding horses, and no one could easily catch up with anyone else.

The Hed's superior mounted archery skills became apparent; they maintained a delicate distance and turned to fire their arrows.

Arrows whizzed past the Palatine cavalry, who ducked as low as they could. Their archery accuracy wasn't great, but no one was willing to gamble their lives.

Winters' objective was not to annihilate the enemy, but simply to drive them away and cover the Paratians as they entered the wagon formation.

What worries him most right now is the situation of Badr and Andrei:
Andrei went to trade with the shepherd and then disappeared without a trace;
Meanwhile, Bard led the containment team to sweep up the rear of the convoy—the very back of the convoy that included merchants and speculators seeking protection, with hardly any soldiers around him.

Winters was eager to rush to the back of the convoy to check on Bud's safety.

But after running only a few hundred meters, three gunshots rang out from the direction of the car formation; this was the agreed-upon signal.

Winters gritted his teeth and pulled on the reins, and the powerful engine reared up with a neigh: "Retreat!"

The Paratul cavalry turned around and returned to the wagon formation along the same route. The Heds who were running ahead also turned around and followed.

The thunderous sound of hooves came from the west, and a group of more than forty Hed cavalrymen charged out from the ravine on the west side, their blades pointed directly at Palatour's vanguard.

But to their surprise, they didn't find the panicked farmer, but instead saw a large circular array of carts surrounding the area.

This was a coordinated attack, but the coordination was poor, giving the Paratists a glimmer of hope.

The Hed people from the west were not prepared for a direct assault and hesitated for a moment, stopping a hundred meters away.

The Hards on the east side bypassed the wagon formation, and the two groups of Hard cavalry merged. Winters climbed onto the wagon and carefully counted them: there were about sixty riders, some wearing lamellar armor, and the rest only wearing iron helmets and leather coats.

Roughly estimated, more than half of the Heard cavalry who launched the initial attack are here, so Bard's side might have an easier time.

“A hundred-man squad?” Lieutenant Colonel Jessica muttered to himself, waving his hand to order: “Get the musketeers on the truck.”

The Paratites hurriedly unloaded the wagons, piling the supplies between them as a barrier, while the musketeers, carrying matchlock guns, hastily climbed into the wagons.

"Load the ammunition! Put your chin on the butt and aim!" Winters yelled. "Listen to my orders, anyone who dares to fire again will be shot dead!"

Suddenly, the Hed cavalry in the distance moved. Accompanied by unfamiliar shouts, the Hed men charged towards the wagon formation with murderous intent.

The momentum of six hundred infantrymen charging is no match for that of sixty cavalrymen.

In the old days, a single charge by heavy cavalry could decide the course of a battle. Even before blood was drawn, psychological pressure alone was enough to crush a weak or unyielding front.

With a thunderous roar, an enormous 800-pound object crashed into them; no one was unafraid.

At sixty meters, the militiamen's legs trembled uncontrollably.

"Hold on!" Winters roared with amplification, "Take your hands off the launcher and wait for my command!" The magically enhanced roar even slightly drowned out the sound of horses' hooves.

Fifty meters away, the earth seemed to tremble from the trampling of the horses' hooves.

"Hold the line!" The blood on Lieutenant Colonel Jessica's saber was still fresh. "Anyone who tries to run will be killed!"

At forty meters, Winters could already make out the Hed man's beard and feathers.

Thirty meters later, the man from Hed turned.

Instead of charging headlong into the wagon formation as everyone expected, Hart's cavalry adjusted their direction at the last moment and began to run around the wagon formation.

A collective gasp of breath filled the large workshop.

A javelin swept over Winters' head, flew into the wagon formation, and pierced the thigh of a coachman.

Amid screams, more javelins and arrows rained down on the Paratians. They were largely inaccurate, but still forced everyone to scatter.

"Hahaha, nothing special!" Lieutenant Colonel Jessica almost grinned maliciously. "Lieutenant! Fire a volley to lure them in!"

"Ready!" Winters didn't understand the order, but he did as he was told: "Fire!"

After the thunder and smoke cleared, four or five of Hart's cavalrymen fell from their horses, their fates unknown.

The remaining Hart cavalry immediately rushed towards the wagon formation. Instead of charging directly at the spearmen at the open entrances on the east and west sides, they leaped through the gaps between the wagons on horseback.

"Don't be afraid!" Winters roared, "Load!"

The musketeers on the wagon trembled as they reloaded their guns, while the young man beside him poured gunpowder into the barrels of his guns, crying as he did so.

The routed soldiers who had just abandoned their armor and weapons were now of no use. They had lost all courage and were desperately trying to hide behind others or crawl under the carts.

Only the militia initially drawn into the wagon formation dared to fight the Heds, with spearmen stabbing men and horses with ferocious force, and Dusak hacking haphazardly with his saber.

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica and Second Lieutenant Montagne, dressed in officer uniforms, were the most obvious targets.

Winters jumped onto the roof of the carriage, and a Hart cavalryman charged at him with a screech and a long spear.

"Boom!"

Winters killed his opponent with a single shot; at that distance, there was no need to aim.

Seeing this, another Hed rushed forward to avenge his companion.

"Boom!"

Winters's wheel gun was double-barreled.

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica, wielding a heavy halberd, was fiercely fighting and was being attacked from both sides by three Hedmen; his situation was extremely precarious.

“You stay here.” Winters tossed the revolver to Charles in the carriage, grabbed a nail in his left hand and a saber in his right, and leaped off the wagon.

Startled, Ciel blurted out his name from when he was in the Blue Ocean: "Brother [Winters]!"

"My lord!" Heinrich and Berlion, who were usually taciturn, exclaimed at the same time.

Charles wielded a musket and followed Winters into the wagon formation.

Heinrich and Berlion gritted their teeth and jumped off the carriage, each grabbing a knife and gun to join the melee.

A Had climbed onto the carriage from outside, drew his bow, and shot the Paratus. This time, not on a jolting horse, the Had's arrows were deadly.

Winters raised his hand and struck down the archer with a nail. After a year and a half of training, his requirements for flying arrows were no longer as demanding as before.

He suddenly appeared near the lieutenant colonel, grabbed the belt of one of the cavalrymen who was besieging him, and plunged his blade into the man's back. The cavalryman screamed and was dragged off his horse by Winters.

Winters used another arrow to pin down another Hurd cavalryman, and Lieutenant Colonel Jessica used his heavy halberd to take down the third Hurd, temporarily relieving the siege.

"We won!" The one-eyed colonel, his face covered in blood, laughed wildly. "We won!"

Winters couldn't help but roar, "Let's fucking get through this first!"

The cavalry is at its most vulnerable when its charge fails to eliminate the enemy and it loses its speed advantage in close combat.

The Hurds thought the wagon fortress was a fortress, and that victory would be assured once it was breached. But the wagon fortress was actually a trap; once inside, there was no escape.

Heavy cavalry might be able to fight on foot, but for these mostly unarmored Hart light cavalry, this place was a death trap.

The cost of a cavalryman is far greater than that of a Palatine militiaman with only a spear, yet they are being worn down by Lieutenant Colonel Jessica at a ratio of one to two.

Furthermore, the exchange ratio continues to decline.

Rost Layton liked to say, "Whoever lasts one more minute wins."

But for the Paratul and Hed people, whoever dies first, loses.

The number of Hards still alive in the wagon formation was dwindling, and the scales of victory were slowly but firmly tipping in favor of the Paratists.

"Kill them! Are you just waiting to die?" Winters dragged a militiaman who was weeping and praying from under the cart like a sack of slag: "If we lose, will you live?"

But fate always likes to play tricks.

The thunderous sound of horses' hooves came from outside the wagon formation again, getting closer and closer.

The morale of the people in Hede soared, and they shouted excitedly in an unfamiliar language.

The Parat people gradually realized what had happened, and their expressions grew increasingly desperate, as the fighting spirit that had sustained them until now began to fade.

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica felt dizzy and lost his grip on the halberd, which fell to the ground.

The lieutenant colonel gripped Winters' arm tightly, giving a bleak smile: "We still lost."

"Not yet." Winters, supporting the lieutenant colonel, had tears welling in his eyes. "Not yet."

“I originally wanted to take care of them first, and then deal with the rest.” Jessica shook her head bitterly. “But the remaining Herds still came. Their hundred-man squad is a real hundred men… Fighting is all about spirit. Winters, you are a good soldier. I am honored to have you as my subordinate.”

Winters laughed heartily: "I'd find it incredibly annoying to be your subordinate."

The belated reinforcements broke through the wagon formation with the force of thunder, their leader's battle cry piercing the clouds and splitting rocks:
"Big Vinetta!"

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感谢书友蓝清影、春风何豫人、95小队长、无聊的莫邪、开普勒B22、书友20200227214355974、Drectr_D、阿咪、95小队长、我不知道该叫什么、behere370、斯普特尼克1号、书友120325172509365、鲲鹍、大爱潮神、苏打鸟、月夜之锋、栖凤梧H、狼七宝、淡定的灰过、无就是小高、江雪钓翁的推荐票，谢谢大家。

Bihart.

(End of this chapter)