You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 233 Roman's Great Defeat

The next day.

The two armies observed each other's situation and advanced almost simultaneously.

They faced off in the open field, five hundred meters apart.

Kate was the commander of the anti-rebel army.

As was customary, he divided the army into five units.

The vanguard, also known as the forward force, was an army of believers composed of two thousand strong young men.

The central army is the main force of the armor-piercing army.

The rear guard consisted of three thousand believers, nuns, and priests of lower quality, led by the choir leader, Mapel.

The right wing consisted of three thousand mercenaries, who were pushed forward as far as possible to assist the vanguard, led by the mercenary marshal Grana.

The left wing, on the other hand, is the reserve force, consisting of a thousand soldiers from the Berchtes family. They are responsible for watching the show when nothing is wrong, and for putting out fires when something happens, playing a crucial role.

The formation is fairly standard.

The reason for dividing the troops was to facilitate troop deployment.

Generally speaking, dividing into three detachments is sufficient—namely, the right wing, the center, and the left wing.

With an army of several thousand men, dividing the forces into three groups is the most suitable approach.

However, an army of 10,000 men would be unable to transmit orders without setting up several detachments.

Even so, it still struggles to operate and feels quite sluggish.

However, people living in this era have become accustomed to this.

The army and Roman were locked in a standoff.

Because they were far apart, they could only see each other's general formation.

Now, there's no need for us to say anything more.

Roman, riding a white horse, waved his hand lightly: "Attack!"

The flag officer immediately waved the signal flag.

Four infantry squares, totaling 1,200 men.

They marched in formation and launched an attack on the enemy.
They were met by two thousand believers who served as the vanguard of the anti-rebel army.

Because half of the mercenaries are ranged units, such as archers and crossbowmen, they are not suitable to serve as the vanguard.

Two-fifths of the Cracked Armor Clan's forces are cavalry units, so they are not suitable either.

Although the believer army is extremely large and diverse, it will not easily become a defeated army.

It is an ideal forward unit.

……

In war, you can't expect everyone to rush in at the very beginning.

Wouldn't that create chaos?

In this medieval era, large-scale military operations—especially field battles between two armies—were commonplace.

They always started with probing engagements, and then increased their forces based on the subsequent situation.

You press down, I press down too.

As a result, the battle lines grew longer and longer, gradually evolving into a full-scale war between the two armies, and the scene became increasingly chaotic.

This is where the strength of organization and the resilience of soldiers are tested.

As long as we can withstand it.

Then we win.

There were no detailed tactics.

Because the foundation of tactics is military formation, without sufficiently strong military skills, it is impossible to complete most tactical maneuvers.

Being able to form even the most basic square formation means that these believers have been training diligently for a period of time.

Their equipment was not good; at best, they were a plain-clad army with very few armored suits.

Of course, the armor was incomplete, but the weapons were quite good.

For example, spears, axes, knives, swords, and shields.

This is military equipment provided to them by the Cracked Armor Family and the Holy See; they can't be expected to go to the battlefield with pitchforks.

As for why farmers were willing to go to the battlefield, it was naturally because of faith and money.

The five hundred nuns in the rear formed a choir and began to sing hymns.

The front and rear armies were about two hundred meters apart, so the chants could be transmitted.

The voices of those choral singers were extremely pure, orderly, awe-inspiring, and sacred... as if their souls had been cleansed.

This is the inspiring power that the nuns possess.

This power itself does not affect human sanity, but it can make humans extremely fanatical.

Because it has a terrifying appeal.

Farmers of this era suffer from both material scarcity and spiritual poverty.

Let's leave those premises aside for now.

Even a modern person can sometimes feel their blood boil when they hear stirring music.

If this music were the national anthem, calling you to fight when the motherland is in danger, with the capital city right behind you, then I'm afraid very few people would be able to remain calm.

This has nothing to do with supernatural powers.

It's simply because humans are very emotional and can get carried away.

"For the gods!"

"For the sake of faith!"

The two sides clashed in the open field. Then, the army of believers was pinned to the ground by Roman's infantry phalanx.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the former costs 2,000 while the latter costs 1,200.

However, none of the believers' army's combat maneuvers were decent, and their formations were not orderly.

Because of the choir, I got all fired up.

The choir could not grant them powerful and extraordinary abilities; they were merely a lower-level organization within the chorus.

It can only give the believers a buff similar to an adrenaline rush.

But war is not a problem that can be solved by those in power.

If you can't do a math problem, you just can't do it; no amount of extreme anger will help.

Things will remain the same as they always have been.

This kind of force is naturally no match for an infantry battalion that maintains its formation.

Tragically, the army that was sent to punish the rebels was defeated by the rebel army itself.

They suffered repeated defeats and dared not advance.

The extra-long spear is invincible in close combat.

At this moment, the mercenaries responsible for the right flank received Kate's orders and led their troops forward, as they could not stand idly by and watch their vanguard be routed.

There are 3,000 infantry mercenaries in the muddy swamp, and about 1,000 crossbowmen.

The mercenaries charged from the right and launched a volley of fire.

Arrows rained down, and the infantry formation was instantly subjected to fierce attacks.

Despite the swordsmen and shieldmen on the flanks taking precautions and raising their shields, they still suffered heavy casualties.

More than a hundred people died in this volley of fire.

"Run!" all the squad leaders shouted.

The infantry formation, which had initially held the advantage, collapsed instantly, breaking into smaller, disorganized units.

The spearmen threw away their spears to lighten their load and ran away.

Everyone was stunned for a moment.

No, man...

Kate reacted quickly!

"Pursuit!"

The vanguard received orders to pursue.

Meanwhile, the other squads also began to advance, but their pace was somewhat slow as they maintained their formation.

When they advanced a hundred meters, they were astonished to find that the enemy's routed troops had broken up their own formation.

It was visible to the naked eye that Roman's army was in disarray.

What started as a well-organized formation fell apart as more and more people fled, and it became impossible to maintain its shape.

During this process, the figure riding the white horse, seeing that things were not going well, also ran away.

That's it, we're completely out of formation.

A chaotic scene, resembling a routed army.

"Quick, after them!" Kate said anxiously, seeing that the other person was almost out of sight.

He immediately ordered the army to set off at full speed.

I didn’t expect it! I didn’t expect it!
He thought it was a tough nut to crack.

After all, the previous two battles demonstrated the strength of the valley army.

Two thousand against seven thousand against the six noble families, who were crying out in despair, with more than half of them dead or wounded.

Last fall on Bucks Heights, a thousand elite soldiers ran over Trek in the face, giving him no chance to fight back.

As a result, he broke down in a single encounter?

Kate tried to think.

Are tens of thousands of soldiers too many?
Because of the Holy See's banners of the gods?
Afraid of the choir and the knights of judgment?
Are the mercenary crossbowmen in the Muddy Swamp too strong?
Various speculations came to mind.

But the opportunity was fleeting, leaving him no time to think.

The entire army of ten thousand men charged forward in a massive wave.

Nobody cares about the formation anymore; everyone's rushing towards the abandoned weapons.

Those weapons were of high quality, including short swords, axes, and broadswords. Although they were all common styles, their quality was far superior.

More importantly, perhaps due to the haste of the escape, those weapons were lost along the way.

Every few meters there was a gleaming steel weapon, stretching for a full kilometer.

There was no concept of armies in the Middle Ages of collecting and distributing spoils.

Whoever gets this loot keeps it.

Otherwise, free riders wouldn't be so enthusiastic about war.

Not only the believers, but even the mercenaries were tempted.

Mercenary Marshal Grana quickly led his men to charge forward.

At this moment, no one was restraining their actions.

Because the Free Riders and Oath Knights under the command of the Cracked Armor Clan also rushed over.

They rode warhorses or packhorses, making them significantly faster.

Unfortunately, the further we went, the more complex the terrain became.

The gravel and hillsides made it difficult for cavalry to charge at full speed, so they didn't plan to use their horses' speed to catch up with the enemy. Instead, they dismounted ahead of everyone else to pick up their weapons.

(End of this chapter)