Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 446 The Great Alliance Marches Forward (19)

Colonel Bode looked down from the church bell tower at both sides of the valley, the thick smoke blurring the distant view into a hazy afterimage.

But that didn't matter, because the entire battlefield was already in his mind. Thousands upon thousands of humans and warhorses seemed like a single, colossal living entity, and Bode Gates could clearly hear its pulse:

To the south, Colonel Gaisa Adonis's White Mountain County forces are advancing triumphantly, with the vanguard of a hundred men piercing the river like an awl, capturing one after another enemy-held farmhouses along the riverbank.
To the north, Colonel Skull's troops from Bianjiang and Leiqun counties were engaged in fierce fighting with the enemy. Skull's front line had outflanked the enemy's flank, and enemy reinforcements had also outflanked the Bianjiang and Leiqun county troops.

The two sides were like a pair of ouroboros, frantically tearing at each other's remains, just to see who could bite the other first until they were hurt, scared, or killed.
The fiercest fighting took place on the eastern hill where the enemy had set up artillery. The area was no longer the desolate wasteland it once was; horses' hooves had ravaged the ground. As far as the eye could see, there was no green to be found, only black mud and red blood.

The Thundercrow cavalry surrounded the enemy, launching repeated assaults. The enemy formation, almost swallowed up by warhorses and dust, seemed on the verge of collapse, yet it refused to crumble.

The three battlefields—south, north, and east—are locked in a fierce struggle. Whichever side emerges first could determine the outcome of today's battle.

The most “insignificant” place is actually the river valley village, which is currently at the center of the vortex.

Captain Loson lacked Colonel Bode's strategic vision; in the frenzied fighting, he gradually became driven only by instinct. He feared nothing, desired nothing; he roared, swung his sword with all his might, cleaved open chests, and severed necks.

A lead bullet, seemingly flying from nowhere, struck Loson's horse. The horse neighed and collapsed, then fell to one side. Had the captain not reacted quickly and pulled his leg back in time, the impact would have broken his shinbone.

Before he could even mourn for his beloved horse, Loson, who had just pulled his right leg from under the steed, rolled to the ground, narrowly avoiding the thrusting spear. The spear tip grazed his back, leaving a shallow mark on his armor.

The captain roared and lunged at the enemy who was about to thrust his spear again, but he felt a tremendous force clamp down on his arm and shoulder—a soldier pulled him onto his horse and then whipped him away.

The two men retreated until they were out of musket range, and the other Thundergroup cavalrymen also gradually broke away from the enemy and retreated to regroup.

The sergeant led back a warhorse that had lost its master to the captain. Loson took the reins, stepped into the stirrups, and saddled the horse.

"Saber." The captain gritted his teeth and untied the tassel from his wrist.

The sergeant then brought the captain an un-dulled saber. As he handed the saber to the captain, the sergeant noticed that the captain's arm was trembling involuntarily.

"Line up."

The bugle call to assemble sounded again, and the remaining Leiqun cavalrymen regrouped. Those still armed drew their swords, while those who had lost them picked up spears discarded by the enemy, and once again charged into the enemy ranks.

However, even though the Redfield cavalry still had the will to launch a new charge, their horses were exhausted from the constant strenuous exercise.

No matter how the riders used whips and spurs, the horses could no longer sprint at full speed as they did at the beginning; they could only trot slowly.

Riding an exhausted warhorse, the less than two hundred-meter charging intervals felt as long as a kilometer.

At the other end of the killing field, in the square formation, the provincial officer leaped onto a carriage, shouting and waving his military flag to encourage his men to continue fighting.

Sparse red flames burst from inside the spear wall; the enemy was no longer able to organize their musketeers for a disciplined volley.

However, out of the corner of his eye, Loson noticed a disturbance in the corner of the formation: the gunners at the rear were pouring gunpowder into the firing ports, and the enemy pikemen in the front were hurriedly giving up their firing space.

Another enemy cannon has been loaded.

As the Ryghurst cavalry charged repeatedly, the four surviving enemy cannons fired rapidly and relentlessly. They inflicted more casualties on Loson's men than the combined musketeers of the two phalanxes.

Now, the leaden rain of death is coming again.

"Scatter!" Loson shouted, raising his hand. "Scatter!"

Just then, the cannons opened fire.

Loson felt a wave of heat rush straight to his face, the air stinging his cheeks. Loson thought he was dead, but it was the soldier beside him who had died first.

The sergeant's left arm was severed at the shoulder by a cannonball, and blood gushed from the wound with each heartbeat. He glanced at the captain in pain and fell off his horse.

In the fierce fighting, the enemy learned new tricks.

They concealed the artillery within the human wall, preventing the attackers from seeing the artillery's loading progress, and only dispersed the front-line spearmen a moment before firing.

The sudden artillery barrage tore a gap in the Thundercrow County cavalry's charging formation, but the screams and howls coming from the enemy ranks were even more pitiful than the mournful cries of the Thundercrow County warhorses.

Around the heavy cannon that had just sprayed fire, a scene of utter carnage unfolded, with mangled human bodies and pieces of wood scattered everywhere.

A horrifying, ripped-out gash appeared at the rear of the heavy cannon, and the metal that had been ripped from the cannon body turned into deadly shrapnel, directly blasting a corner of the already collapsing formation.

"Up! Up!" the officer shouted frantically.

"That's it!" Loson's blood boiled, and he pointed his sword directly at the location of the exploding cannon: "Follow me!"

The heavy cavalry of Leiqun County roared as they charged into the last enemy formation on the earthen mound, rampaging and trampling the brown-clad infantry, causing chaos and disarray within the formation.

The council's front-line pikemen on other flanks either fled in disarray or turned to fight. But as soon as they wavered, the Thundercrow light cavalry, patrolling outside the range of their muskets, charged in.

Amidst the thunderous roar of hooves, no matter how bravely the provincial officer led from the front, no matter how much he encouraged and spurred them on, the last parliamentary contingent on the artillery position collapsed irrevocably, like ice blocks struck by a heavy hammer.

Amidst the chaos of battle, Losang searched frantically for the provincial officer, but he couldn't find the light blue provincial uniform anywhere.

Loson Lema looked around at the scene: the brown-clad soldiers were fleeing in all directions in a panic, with the Redfield cavalry chasing after them and hacking and slashing wildly. Both the fleeing soldiers and the pursuers had completely fallen into a frenzy.

"Sound the retreat!" Losong shook off the blood dripping from his saber and habitually turned to order his bugler, "Order everyone! Regroup!" No one responded; his bugler had already been killed in the charge.

Loson pursed his lips and rode toward the location of the flags of the third and fourth companies, in order to find the bugler of the light cavalry company.

Just then, Losang heard the familiar sound of horses' hooves.

It wasn't the chaotic roar of ten thousand horses galloping, but the sound of hundreds or thousands of warhorses advancing in unison with the same gait—the sound of charging hooves.

Loson looked back in alarm and saw that the enemy cavalry, who had been resting at the southernmost end of the battlefield, had somehow completed their preparations for attack.

Three cavalry squadrons of the New Reclamation Expeditionary Army spread out across the plain, forming a huge net, and were rapidly sweeping toward the earthen mound where the artillery positions were located.

Loson immediately rode to the banner of the light cavalry squadron, and the mournful bugle call to retreat echoed across the hill. The cavalry of Leiqun County abandoned their pursuit of the fleeing enemy and, following Captain Loson's banner, withdrew from the artillery positions from the west like the receding tide.

Loson wanted to lead his troops to the outskirts of the battlefield to regroup, but the New Reclamation Legion's cavalry had no intention of giving him that opportunity.

They circled the hill from the east, briefly disappeared from Losson's sight, and then reappeared behind the Rykeshire cavalry.

The Rayqun cavalry were already exhausted, many carrying wounded soldiers and comrades who had lost their horses. In contrast, the New Reclamation Expeditionary Force's cavalry had not yet been deployed in combat.

The two sides moved at different speeds, and the distance between them was rapidly closed. Cavalrymen from Leiqun County kept falling off their horses and disappearing under the hooves of their pursuers.

Loson's warhorse was drooling, its nostrils flaring as it panted heavily like a broken bellows. No matter how much Loson urged the horse on, it couldn't outrun the pursuing steeds.

As Loson gritted his teeth, just as he was about to give the order to "turn around and fight," an unexpected reinforcement suddenly appeared between the Thundercrow County cavalry and the pursuers.

In the ranks of the four-county allied forces, the cavalry of Bianjiang County were poorly equipped, had inferior warhorses, and received little training. They were always assigned the "odd jobs" that cavalrymen hated the most, rather than being regarded as a force that could determine the outcome of battle, like the cavalry of Leiqun County.

But this time, it was the cavalry of Bianjiang County who saved the cavalry of Leiqun County.

Lieutenant Lejeune, commander of the light cavalry of Bianjiang County, realized that the battle situation had changed and immediately gathered all the troops he could muster, rushing to provide support.

Lieutenant Lejeune seized a perfect window of opportunity to launch an attack, catching both allies and the enemy off guard. Although the enemy cavalry tried their best to adjust their formation, they were still cut off in the middle by the light cavalry of Bianjiang County.

"The men of Bianjiang County have held off the puppet troops!" The officer in charge of the light cavalry of Leiqun County caught up with Luosong and shouted hoarsely, "Tushechang is just ahead!"

Captain Loson turned to look back at the friendly forces from Bianjiang County who were fighting fiercely through the dust and smoke—they were too few in number and, having been tasked with covering the battlefield, were equally exhausted. All they could do was slow the enemy down.

The lieutenant of the Thundercrow light cavalry repeated: "Tread the field!"

"Halt!" Loson yanked on the reins, causing his horse to rear up. The captain drew his saber and roared, "Turn! Engage the enemy!"

……

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, Gaisa Adonis easily captured the east bank of the upper reaches of the nameless stream.

When the two enemy battalions deployed on the riverbank exchanged fire with the Baishan County troops across the river, they were able to fight back to a draw. However, once hand-to-hand combat began, they immediately fled in disarray.

The swordsmen and shieldmen of Baishan County swept the brown-clad soldiers out of the small farm on the east bank like dogs chasing rabbits.

However, Colonel Gaisa's unease grew stronger—the enemy's fighting strength was completely different from Colonel Bode's pre-battle predictions.

The three enemy battalions deployed in the rear did not take any action, and watched as their friendly forces defending the riverbank were repelled.

Since he couldn't figure out what Sanel was up to, Colonel Gaisa Adonis decided to stop thinking about it. Whatever tricks Sanel had up his sleeve, a single punch would do the trick.

"Beat the drums!" Colonel Geza shouted. "Marching!"

Just as Gaisa was determined to confront them head-on, Sanel arrived at the left flank of the parliamentary army.

Colonel Sanel Caroj—the nominal commander of the Parliamentarian army—marched straight into the central square of the three squares on the second line of battle, and sternly and harshly demanded of another soldier in a field officer's uniform: "Aren't you moving?!"

The officer being questioned gave Sanel a cold glance: "We are of the same rank, Colonel Sanel. I am not your subordinate."

"Good! Good!! Good!!!" Sanel said "good" three times, suppressing his anger, and asked through gritted teeth, "When are you finally willing to attack? Colonel Naji!"

"When the time is right, I will give the order to attack."

"The plan has changed! It's too late!"

"The Sixth Legion is the ballast of the Republic. It is because of the existence of the Fifth and Sixth Legions that villains have no choice but to kneel and pledge allegiance. If the Sixth Legion loses too many strength here, the Grand Council's rule over Palatour will be shaken." The colonel, known as Nagi, glanced at Sanel and said calmly, "As for your men, it doesn't matter if a few more die."

Sanel practically shouted, "If all my men are dead, yours won't survive either!"

"Is that so?" Colonel Najib said calmly. "I don't think so."

Having said that, he nodded slightly and ignored Sanel.

Sanel stood frozen for a long time, then finally roared angrily and rode away.

[I'm late, Orz]
[Updates once a day are still too difficult, so... how about aiming for three updates a week, one update a day (T_T)(T_T)(T_T)]
[Thank you to all the readers for your collections, reading, subscriptions, recommendations, monthly tickets, donations, and comments. Thank you everyone!]
(End of this chapter)