Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 448 The Great Alliance Marches Forward (Part 21)

Loss of his second warhorse.

As the sun began to set, on the open fields north of the river valley village, cavalrymen who had kissed flags bearing the same design and sworn allegiance brandished their sabers and pistols, fighting to the death.

The church bell tower spire, adorned with the four-quadrant battle flag, disappeared behind the ridgeline of the earthen mound. Those there could not see the clash of the main cavalry force, nor could the cavalrymen know the situation on the main battlefield.

Perhaps the battle has already been decided, or perhaps the gunfire in River Valley Village has subsided, but those things are irrelevant now, because everyone in the chaos is struggling for their own survival.

The desperate counterattack by the Redfield County cavalry greatly surprised the New Reclamation Expeditionary Cavalry.

The Thundercrow County cavalry, who had been being hunted like prey, suddenly turned around and charged headlong at them. The half-turn tactic that the New Reclamation Expeditionary Cavalry had spent so much time and effort practicing had no chance to be used at all.

The newly established cavalry under Sanel originated from the remnants of Plato's regular cavalry and later absorbed four newly recruited squadrons by Adams, eventually expanding to a size of over a thousand cavalrymen.

However, its core strength still consists of the pistol cavalry force that the Grand Council quickly armed after receiving the armaments provided by the United Provinces following the coup in Kingsburg. They assembled the only remaining standing cavalry and patrol cavalry from various regions.

Sanel cherished them like the apple of his eye, keeping them close at hand since the start of the war, even allowing them to dismount and rest. However, under duress, Sanel was forced to send them to a battlefield unplanned by his plans.

The two cavalrymen crashed into each other like two giant waves. Initially, there were only gunshots and tongues of fire, but the rest was all about the flashing of swords.

It was in the very beginning that Loson lost his second warhorse.

A parliamentary cavalryman charging towards him fired two shots, the first hitting his breastplate and the second striking his horse in the forehead.

The bullet wound on the breastplate left only a deep dent, while the bullet that struck the horse in the forehead killed it instantly.

The saddle tip cushioned the fall, preventing Loson from being thrown off. But the captain still tumbled from his horse, his vision going black for a moment.

For a moment, Losang thought it would be better to just die. But something else forced him to stay awake, to open his eyes, and to stand up.

Loson's men, who rushed to the rescue of the captain, got into a fight with the newly established expeditionary force that wanted to kill the enemy officer.

A Thundercrow cavalryman dismounted and offered his mount to the captain without hesitation.

Without uttering any pretentious nonsense, he took the reins, raised his saber, and charged once again toward the nearest enemy.

The battle was fought in the traditional form of cavalry warfare. The exhausted Leiqun County cavalry faced the well-rested and ready New Reclamation Army cavalry. No one expected that it would be the New Reclamation Army cavalry that would be the first to give out.

With the arsenals of the United Provinces as their backing, the Grand Council of Kingsburg generously equipped each cavalryman with two revolver pistols and a saber.

The task of the newly established cavalrymen who were dragged into hand-to-hand combat was to empty both pistols, put the pistols back in their holsters, and then draw their sabers for melee fighting.

However, even with these three simple actions, the vast majority of the cavalrymen of the newly established land expeditionary force failed to complete them.

Because the hand-to-hand combat happened so quickly, the enemy had already rushed up to them before they even missed firing their pistols.

The New Reclamation Expeditionary cavalry didn't even have time to draw their sabers, and many had to use their expensive wheelbarrows as awkward hammers to barely fend off the Rayqun County cavalry wielding their sabers.

After switching to a third warhorse, Loson rendered the three enemies incapacitated in a few rounds.

He mechanically slashed with great force, and the enemy in brown clothes would raise his short gun to block each time, but each time he could not withstand the power of the long sword.

The blade pushed the gun barrel downwards, scraping out sparks, and finally landed predictably on the enemy's unprotected shoulder.

Loson also took two blows from the butt of the rifle, the iron butt slamming heavily onto his arms and the armor on his back. It hurt, but compared to the pain in other parts of his body, it was nothing.

The brown-clad cavalry's initial volley of fire before their charge knocked many Thundergroup cavalrymen off their saddles, but they quickly found themselves at a disadvantage in close combat.

Loson looked around. The two armies' cavalry were locked in fierce combat, and those left on horseback were all his own men. In cavalry warfare, horsemanship was paramount, and in the captain's opinion, the enemy's horsemanship was truly poor.

The newly established cavalry, having emptied both of their pistols, were eager to shake off the enemy, reload their ammunition, and fight back.

They would disengage from the battle, reload, and then return. Pistols were their most effective weapon, but this also made them unwittingly overly reliant on them. The actions of a few New Reclamation Expeditionary Pistol Cavalrymen attempting to shake off the enemy and reload triggered more New Reclamation Expeditionary Pistol Cavalrymen to disengage from the battle.

When everyone was avoiding close combat, a temporary retreat turned into a full retreat, and a full retreat turned into a complete withdrawal.

This is cavalry warfare—explosive and swift, arriving quickly and ending even faster. Once one side chooses to withdraw from the combat zone, the other side has almost no way to stop it, and can only choose whether to pursue.

The brown-clad cavalry surged forward like a tidal wave, then scattered and fled like a flock of crows. The battlefield resembled a forest washed clean by a great flood, leaving only the lone, towering trees of the Thunder Group and White Mountain cavalry.

Lieutenant Lejeune of Baishan County immediately approached Captain Rosson.

The blood and sweat on the lieutenant's face had turned into a mud-like substance.

"Should we pursue them?" the lieutenant asked.

"Withdraw." The captain's answer was simple and straightforward.

The Baishan and Leiqun cavalry, who were still able to move, only spent a little time collecting unclaimed warhorses before retreating with the wounded.

They didn't have the time or the strength to take their comrades' remains with them, so they could only abandon them on the battlefield along with the enemy's corpses.

……

[Fifteen minutes later]
“The Redfield cavalry need to strike again,” Colonel Bode told Captain Loson.

Loson remained silent, standing atop the clock tower, where the situation on the battlefield was clearly visible.

The cavalry units of Leiqun County and Bianjiang County withdrew intact to the west bank, but the infantry units of Leiqun County and Bianjiang County were trapped on the east bank and could not get away.

Two infantry battalions from the New Reclamation Army, supporting the right flank from the central army, are constantly pushing the Allied forces' left flank northward, forcing them to retreat step by step away from the river valley village.

The coalition's left flank has been squeezed and bent, almost shrinking from a line into a circle.

Only the silver-edged military flag floating in the smoke of battle proved that the troops of Bianjiang County and Leiqun County were still fighting.

The right wing of the Allied forces also became separated from the center, for the exact opposite reason to the left wing—the troops from White Mountain County stormed the east bank and caught up with the three phalanxes of the Parliamentarian army on the left wing, which were retreating in alternating formations.

The battle erupted on the edge of the farmland on the east bank, leaving a huge gap between the village of River Valley and the right flank of the Allied forces—the same was true for the Parliamentarian army.

"The battle has come to this point," Colonel Bode said to the captain. "It's no longer about who wins, but about who loses first. We, they, are all waiting for a signal, a signal of total defeat."

Loson pursed his lips: "My cavalry alone is not enough."

This statement sounded like cowardice, but Colonel Bode knew the captain was simply stating the facts.

“So I’ve prepared a fresh force for you.” Colonel Bode’s eyes were piercing: “The last fresh force.”

……

Losang stepped into the stirrups and mounted the fourth warhorse.

He put on his helmet, cracked his whip, and said as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world: "Let's go!"

The last of the Leiqun County cavalry and Bianjiang County cavalry galloped down the earthen mound created by the cannon fire and roared toward the battlefield to the north.

The Second Infantry Battalion of Baishan County, the Sixth Infantry Battalion of Baishan County, and the Second Infantry Battalion of Leiqun County followed closely behind them.

Just as the Allied forces were deploying their last fresh troops, at the southernmost point of the entire battlefield, a force that had never appeared before emerged on the horizon.

[It's still dark... Q_Q]
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(End of this chapter)