1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 366: The Battle of Tagus River

The wind was cold and the surface of the Tagus River was shining with a cold silver light under the winter sun. At the Talavera Ferry, the flag of the Kingdom of Aragon fluttered in the river breeze.

The flames of war in the camp had just been extinguished, and black smoke was billowing everywhere. The vanguard soldiers of Aragon and France were cleaning up the battlefield, and the defeated and surrendered private army of the Carlist nobles knelt on the ground dejectedly, waiting for the victor's decision.

On the high ground, the flag of King Carlos was still flying above the Talavera Fortress. Although the fortress was small, it was very strong. Under the leadership of Baron Jose, some remaining troops hid in it and held on for the rescue.

Fernando stood in the center of the camp, directing the clearing of the remaining enemies while scolding the soldiers who were fighting for the spoils. His eyes kept circling back and forth between the ferry and the fortress, his eyes full of anxiety.

Not long ago, his vanguard army successfully crossed the river secretly. A lightly armed force of 5,000 people quickly arrived at the south bank of the Tagus River and basically controlled the Talavera ferry.

The crude pontoon bridge was completed, the repaired soldiers formed up urgently, and the reconnaissance cavalry galloped to the east. Fernando's battlefield command was remarkable.

"Your Majesty, the commander of the fortress, Jose, refused to surrender and killed the messenger we sent!"

The messenger brought bad news to Fernando.

"Why? Are the others on the same page as Jose?"

Fernando asked, frowning.

"They have no loyalty to Carlos at all!"

"Your Majesty, there are still many knights hiding in the fortress, and their lords..."

The messenger said somewhat embarrassedly.

"We just killed him."

"Forget it, quickly notify the captains. I'll give them half a day to take down this fortress for me!"

Fernando sighed.

"Your Majesty, I do not recommend that you do this."

A French officer came over, covered in blood.

"Your army cannot break through their defenses in half a day."

Bethnes pointed to the Aragonese soldiers who were forming their battle array.

"Most of your soldiers are lightly armed. Since they need to cross the river, they can't bring heavy weapons such as artillery and catapults."

"And, if you please, Iberia's soldiers are a bit backward compared to other places."

Fernando was a little angry and opened his mouth, but had nothing to say.

By the end of 1475, the Iberian army was mostly composed of lightly armed soldiers. Neither infantry nor cavalry had any tradition of wearing heavy armor, and there were very few truly heavily armored knights.

This military tradition was gradually developed during the long Reconquista. On the vast Iberian Peninsula, light infantry and light cavalry had many advantages when facing Andalusian Muslims. The infantry was mainly composed of swordsmen with small round shields, while the cavalry was equipped with sabers, short spears or horse bows.

The Kingdom of France was the second country in Europe to start the reform of the standing army after the Ottoman Empire. The former King Charles VII ordered the cavalry as the main military force. In front of them, the old-fashioned soldiers of Iberia were really not good enough.

In history, a great general was the first to discover this pain point and successfully reformed the Spanish military system, allowing the Spanish army to dominate Europe for two hundred years.

However, this great general was standing opposite them at this moment.

"Bettenis, go find some superiors and ask them to cross the river as soon as possible and join the army attacking the fortress!"

Fernando looked at Bethanis.

"We'll have a celebration party later. Only after we capture the fortress can we be considered truly successful!"

"Haha, you really have a sense of humor, my respected king."

Bethany smiled.

"Who do you want to be the cannon fodder? The Knights of the Royal Order or the King's Musketeers?"

"The musketeers' strengths are not in siege. You don't even have the simplest siege tower. If you ask us to climb ladders, I'm afraid our effectiveness won't be much better than your soldiers."

"If the knights of the imperial decree abandon their horses and fight to the death, they may be able to capture the fortress within half a day, but these proud people will never do that."

"You dare to give orders, and they dare to disobey."

Fernando did not refute. He knew very well that although Bethnis's words were offensive, they were the complete truth. No matter whether they were the King's Musketeers or the Knights of the Royal Order, they were all regular soldiers directly under the King of France. Naturally, they were proud and would never yield their hearts and minds and rush to their deaths because of the requests of so-called allies.

"Then what do you think now?"

Fernando felt a little annoyed as he looked at the Carlos flag flying over the fortress.

"I feel bad. The defenses here are too lax. We have hardly lost many people, which is far beyond my expectation. It's as if the Greeks deliberately gave up this place."

"Do you think the Greeks would abandon such an important crossing?"

"I don't know, Your Majesty."

Bethness thought about it.

"Although I'm not a tactician, I know a little about military affairs. The distance between the Mora Camp and the Talavera Ferry is not very close. Even if Jose's letter for help successfully reaches the Cossack Emperor, it will take them three to four days to get here."

"They don't have many cavalry, so charging them by force won't have much impact on us."

Seeing that Fernando was still very worried, Betnis shrugged.

"I suggest you don't worry too much about the fortress held by Baron Jose. Once our artillery reaches the south bank, it will only take a few hours to capture it."

"If you have any ideas about the reinforcements from the Mora camp, you might as well follow the outcome of our previous meeting and send a cavalry to ambush them."

Fernando pondered and nodded.

"Well, that's the only way—"

"His Majesty!"

A scout cavalryman came on horseback.

"We found traces of the Greeks halfway, they are rushing here at full speed!"

"what!"

Fernando roared.

"How could they be so fast!"

"Your Majesty, according to observation, the Greeks loaded their infantry onto the chariots and rushed straight towards us, regardless of the horsepower!"

The scout trooper said anxiously.

"They are very fast, much faster than ordinary infantry!"

"Tell me slowly and in detail!"

Fernando bit his lip and his chest rose and fell.

"How many troops are there, how is the march going, who is the commander, and what does the carriage look like?"

"According to estimates, the vanguard has only 3,000 troops, 2,000 of which are horse-drawn infantry and 1,000 are guards dragoons. They are still half a day's journey from us. We don't know who the commander is yet, but we saw the flag of the Abaddon Dragoon Regiment!"

"Locust Corps, Abaddon..."

Fernando muttered through gritted teeth.

"Playboy, rogue knight, scourge of the Turks, Moorish butcher, companion cavalryman of the Cossack emperor, supreme blade of Justinian."

"Gonzalo de Córdoba, this is his regiment!"

Bethanis ignored Fernando's concerns and looked at the scout cavalry.

"Their vanguard only has 3,000 men. Have they spotted any other troops?"

"Not yet, my lord."

The scout recalled.

"According to our captain's speculation, although they somehow have so many extra carriages, they still can't carry nearly 10,000 Greek main forces. Two thousand people are already their limit."

"What about the carriage? What does it look like?"

Bethness asked again.

"Very crude, your Excellency."

The reconnaissance cavalry reported truthfully.

"It is no different from an ordinary freight carriage, except that it is equipped with rubber tires to ensure speed. Some carriages also have a wider rear cabin to carry more passengers."

"That's it, I understand."

Bethness nodded slightly.

"Come to think of it, it's unlikely that they could pull that heavy Saint George chariot to Iberia."

Then, Betnis looked at Fernando.

"Your Majesty, the Greeks played a trick. The threat is not that great. Their vanguard troops are out of touch with the follow-up main force, and the way the chariots march is also full of loopholes."

"I suggest you send your elite cavalry eastward as soon as possible to defeat the Greek vanguard on the road."

Bethness said.

"You already have nearly 6,000 men across the river. If you hurry up and give up the transportation to Zizhong, you can gather 5,000 elite cavalry within two hours, which is enough to deal with Gonzalo's troops!"

"The carriage march is quite risky. They don't have time to form a square formation and have no ability to resist the heavily armed cavalry."

"oh, I understand now."

Fernando's frown relaxed a little.

"Go tell the senior officers of the Imperial Order Company that this is a real decisive battle and they must go all out!"

"If they can win, all the spoils will be theirs to choose from!"

"Don't worry, this is not an unreasonable request. We will follow King Louis' instructions and help you."

Bethness affirmed.

"The Imperial Order Company we sent has two hundred heavily-armored Imperial Order Knights, and the rest are retainers. The total number of combatants is about one thousand."

"Try to gather five thousand light cavalry, plus a thousand-man imperial company, which will be enough to drive Gonzalo back home!"

"Okay, I will ask the civilians at the ferry to do their best to transport the Imperial Order Company. If one person with five horses is not enough, I can guarantee one person with three horses!"

Fernando nodded again, mounted his horse and galloped towards the ferry.

……

On the dirt road from the Mora camp to the Talavera ferry, war horses and carriages were galloping at full speed. The dragoons on the horses were carrying plank axes and mushkot heavy muskets, and the infantry on the carriages were also ready for battle. There were complex emotions in their eyes, including excitement to fight for their country, but also indifference to be about to kill the enemy.

These people are the most elite central army of the Eastern Roman Empire. In the 30 years since their establishment, they have become an extremely efficient killing machine. Even if they are tired and exhausted, they are not easily matched by ordinary people.

The road spread out before us, with some low hills on the left and the wide Tagus River beach on the right.

On a carriage, Gonzalo stretched out his arm, the flag moved, and three thousand vanguards slowly stopped.

"General Gonzalo, why don't you leave?"

An officer rode up on horseback. He was the commander of the Third Legion of the Guards and one of the commanders of Operation Scipio.

"Just stop here."

Gonzalo said simply.

"General, why is this?"

The legion commander was very puzzled.

"Our friendly forces are still waiting for our rescue. The longer we delay, the less effective our operation will be."

"Also, I have never understood why you only want 2,000, since our carriage can hold 3,000 people if we squeeze them together?"

After thinking for a while, the legion commander asked again.

"The dozen or so carriages behind are loaded with all kinds of weird stuff. What do you want those things for?"

"Of course I have my plans."

Gonzalo spoke calmly.

"The middle reaches of the Tagus River are at a lower level, and the flow rate is not very fast. If that old dog Fernando had not attacked the fortress and instead chosen to transport as much as possible, their military strength would have probably expanded to a very scary number."

"We are rushing over here with such a huge momentum, it is unlikely that they are unaware of this. If Fernando is not blinded by the easy victory, he will definitely choose to send troops to intercept us."

"We won't move on. We'll stop here and wait for Fernando to attack!"

"But...what would we do if Fernando didn't send troops?"

The legion commander asked.

"If Fernando chooses to defend, once he moves all his troops across the river, we will be at an absolute disadvantage in terms of manpower!" "This is different from Justinian's original plan. You are gambling!"

"Haha, you finally understand the true meaning of war, dear legion commander."

Gonzalo smiled.

"War is the dirtiest gamble, and I am the smartest gambler!"

"We only have 3,000 soldiers, all of whom are exhausted from the long march. We are far away from the rear army. I think Fernando should think that the chances of winning are very high."

"But, for me, one thousand dragoons and two thousand guards are enough!"

Gonzalo jumped off his horse, drew Justinian's sword, and faced the troops.

"I am Gonzalo Cordova, the Count of Samson appointed by the Emperor, and I now require all of you to stand by!"

"There is still some time before the war. I order you to be prepared to fight the enemy. My personal soldiers will guide you!"

Gonzalo turned his head and looked at the legion commander.

"Sir, I know that you are a member of the Constantinople family and married to an Oriental wife. You have never liked me very much."

"But now, I'm your superior!"

The legion commander was stunned for a moment, his eyes became firm, and he knelt on one knee.

"The war is imminent, so why should we distinguish between factions? I am willing to obey your orders!"

The soldiers jumped off the carriages, and Gonzalo's personal guards walked to the end of the convoy and lifted the curtain.

"Soldiers, these wagons are not loaded with soldiers. What's inside are shovels, spades, pickaxes, chevaux de frise, triangular spikes and various building materials!"

Gonzalo yelled.

"This is the only road between Mora and Talavera. I ask you to dig a trench between the mountains and the river, build a breastwork that can accommodate musketeers, and place carriages, chevaux de frise, and triangular spikes in front of the breastwork!"

Gonzalo stamped the ground beneath his feet.

"This place is right next to the river beach, and it just rained a few days ago, so it won't be hard to dig the trench!"

"I'll give you two and a half hours!"

"Sir, it's cold now, so concrete isn't that easy to form!"

A voice rang out.

"Use fire! It will help the concrete solidify quickly, but be careful not to actually burn it!"

Gonzalo yelled.

"Don't keep asking questions! Since I dare to give this order, I must be confident!"

The soldiers did not dare to ask any more questions and immediately got busy. The soil here was soft, and with the use of a shovel, the trenches were quickly formed, and a simple concrete breast wall was also quickly built.

In fact, the initial solidification of concrete is divided into primary setting and final setting. The initial setting time is generally 2 to 4 hours, and the final setting time is generally 12 to 24 hours. If you use fire to appropriately increase the temperature, you can indeed speed up the hardening time. The disadvantage is that it cannot last long and its service life is greatly reduced.

However, on the battlefield, no one cares about the service life of these disposable war projects.

"Captain, what about us?"

The deputy commander of the Abaddon Guards Dragoon Regiment came to Gonzalo.

"Are we going to dig trenches too?"

"No, you go hide behind the mountain in the south and wait for my signal."

Gonzalo pointed to the low hills to the south.

"You are all equipped with the best weapons. It's time for the Aragonese to have a taste of your power!"

"Haha, I will obey your orders, my lord."

The deputy commander's mouth curled up into a cruel smile.

"The Aragonese will become another powerful enemy that Abaddon's army will completely defeat!"

……

The rumble of horse hooves hit the mud of the Tagus River Valley heavily. Sitting on the tall horse, Gonzalo narrowed his eyes and exhaled his last smoke ring.

"They're coming."

Here they came, five thousand Aragonese light cavalry, two hundred imperial knights, and more than eight hundred imperial attendants, all the elite troops Fernando could muster.

The Aragonese light cavalry was no different from the ordinary Iberian army. They used sabers, swords and short spears, wore light armor and pointed helmets. The Knights of the Imperial Order changed into full body heavy armor, and the spears on the spare horses flashed coldly.

The invading cavalry seemed hesitant when they saw Gonzalo's carefully prepared defensive line.

Several light cavalrymen ran quickly in front of the position, apparently counting the number, weapons and artillery of the Eastern Roman army.

After a while, the intruder seemed to have received a satisfactory answer and made up his mind.

The Aragonese hussars shouted, and the Knights of the Imperial Order changed horses and took up their lances.

"Everyone, be prepared to engage the enemy!"

Gonzalo roared, and the central army flag fluttered rapidly, conveying the commander's order to every junior officer, who then passed it on to every soldier.

"Muscles, axes, spears, lime bottles, and kerosene cans!"

The enemy had the advantage in numbers and quickly split into four groups. Three Aragonese light cavalry teams were divided into left, middle and right teams and attacked the front line in turn, while the Imperial Knights trotted behind them, ready to strike a heavy blow at any time.

"Santiago!"

The enemy's roar reached Gonzalo's ears and made him feel very familiar.

“Our Father in heaven, your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”

"May you bless my most loyal servant, and may I return victorious!"

Gonzalo prayed softly, kissed his sword, and his eyes suddenly became sharp.

"Soldiers, for God, for the Emperor, kill the enemy!"

bang-bang-bang-

There was a volley of musket fire, and a cloud of smoke rose up. Behind the smoke, a dozen Aragonese light cavalrymen who were at the front fell down.

The Aragonese also quickly changed their formation, with the cavalry dispersing to avoid concentrated firepower.

The horse archers began to shoot, but most of their arrows fell on the breastwork, like stones thrown into the deep sea, without causing any waves.

The Aragonese cavalry were getting closer and closer, and their speed was getting slower and slower. The barricades, triangular spikes and carriages on the road posed a great obstacle to them. While clearing the obstacles, they endured the dense rain of bullets.

Casualties began to mount, and the Aragonese cavalry became impatient. More and more cavalry were blocked in front of the defense line. They were close to the Eastern Roman soldiers, but they were still unable to shake the solid line.

"The time has come, throw the kerosene can!"

Gonzalo yelled.

The soldiers in the trenches picked up the kerosene cans beside them and threw them at the Aragonese cavalry with all their strength.

In an instant, the sea of ​​fire spread, the light cavalry screamed, their horses were frightened and began to flee in all directions. The Aragonese soldiers who were thrown off their horses swung their swords blindly, but they only became living targets for the Eastern Roman muskets.

At the commander's shout, the first round of charge of the Aragonese light cavalry collapsed. They gathered the remnants, retreated out of range, and waited for the charge of the Knights of the Imperial Order.

The armor of the Knight of the Imperial Decree gleamed in the winter sun, a proud look was beneath the cold visor, and the feathers on the helmet fluttered up and down in the winter wind, elegant and deadly.

Over the decades since its establishment, the Knights of the Royal Order have become the sharpest spears in the Kingdom of France. They are well-equipped, have a high status, and have never been defeated in a large-scale battle. Naturally, they are somewhat arrogant.

Their opponents looked much more shabby. The uniforms of the Guards were certainly beautiful and majestic, but the continuous marching and digging had left them covered with a lot of dirt and dust. The soldiers hid in the trenches, set up their muskets, and waited for the charge of the Knights of the Imperial Order.

Another round of volleys, and more than a dozen Order Knights fell. The full body armor they were so proud of seemed so insignificant in front of the gunpowder weapons. The lead bullets shot from the front directly penetrated the armor of the Order Knights, drilled into their bodies, and took away their lives.

Compared with the crossbow, the musket is the real "devil weapon". Any musketeer who has received regular training can easily kill a heavily armored knight who has been practicing swordsmanship since childhood.

The speed of the Imperial Knights had increased, their spears held horizontally, their bodies tense, and their attendants also rode their horses to follow them, charging towards the breastwork together.

boom--

The Aragonese light cavalry had cleared a path for the chevaux de frise and chariots, and under the fierce charge of the Knights of the Imperial Order, the hastily built breastwork collapsed, revealing the infantry in the trenches.

Some knights fell into the trenches and entangled with the Eastern Roman soldiers. Some knights were tripped by the trenches and fell heavily to the ground. More knights of the imperial order were well-trained and jumped over the not-too-wide trenches on their horses and charged towards the central army flag.

In their view, victory would be within their grasp once they had eliminated the Eastern Roman soldiers' defensive line.

"Spear formation! Get ready!"

Gonzalo shouted under the central army flag.

The large square formation of infantry moved forward, pointing their sharpest spears at the rapidly approaching enemy.

The Knights of the Imperial Order had no time to look back and were heavily smashed into the spear formation, causing another round of people and horses to fall to the ground, horses neighing and people roaring. Their weight and speed turned into a powerful impact force, which indeed caused considerable damage to the infantry phalanx, but also hurt themselves.

When the Aragonese light cavalry saw the knights of the imperial order breaking through the enemy's formation, they immediately charged again, holding their sabers and lances high, and joined the chaotic battle.

"Okay, fire the flare!"

Gonzalo commanded.

blow--

Several fireworks shot up into the sky, bursting into brilliant light.

"kill!"

The Royal Guards Dragoons appeared on the hill one after another, brandishing their weapons.

They used the hillside to charge towards the rear of the Aragonese light cavalry.

"Switch to the revolvers! We don't have to engage the enemy head-on!"

The deputy commander ordered.

The dragoons pulled out their loaded wheelbarrows and roamed around the Aragonese cavalry, taking their lives one after another.

After a round of shooting, the Aragonese cavalry became more and more scattered, the horses screamed, and the soldiers wailed.

"Take out your saber and axe and kill the enemy at close range!"

The dragoons switched to close-range weapons and charged at the crumbling Aragonese cavalry formation.

The infantry hiding in the trenches also rushed out shouting, holding plank axes and chopping at the cavalry above and horses' hooves below.

Finally, under successive attacks, the Aragonese cavalry began to collapse, and one after another they broke away from the battle circle and fled to the west in a panic. The Knights of the Imperial Order were trapped and surrounded by a large phalanx of soldiers with their spears raised high.

"Damn Spaniards, they sold us out!"

Some of the Knights of the Order swore aloud.

"Surrender, we surrender!"

"I am a noble, I demand a respectful reception!"

More and more voices emerged.

"You are allowed to surrender, but you won't be killed if you kneel down!"

Gonzalo brandished his sword.

"I don't care whether you are nobles or commoners. Your fate will be decided by Emperor Justinian and King Carlos. Before that, you are just my captives!"

"Someone, clean up the mess and clear the battlefield!"

……

On December 1475, 12, under the pressure of the chariot march tactics of the Eastern Roman Empire's Iberian expeditionary force, the eager King Ferdinand adopted the advice of his close ministers and used all his transportation capacity to transport a large number of elite cavalry across the Tagus River and rushed straight towards the Eastern Roman vanguard, trying to deal with this small force that was seriously out of touch with the follow-up army.

At noon that day, a fierce battle broke out between the 3,000 Eastern Roman main forces led by Gonzalo and the 6,000 cavalry of Fernando on the banks of the Tagus River. The Aragonese cavalry and imperial knights, who were confident in their bravery, saw that Gonzalo's army was small in number and had no artillery or chariots, and thought they had the upper hand, so they decided to get rid of them as soon as possible and rushed forward directly.

However, Gonzalo had anticipated the arrival of the enemy and used a series of means such as trenches, breastworks, muskets and spear phalanxes to counter the cavalry, failing to allow the invading cavalry to gain any advantage.

Of Fernando's 6,000 cavalry, more than 3,000 were captured or killed, more than 1,000 fled in all directions, and only a few thousand retreated to the Talavera ferry to report the situation to Fernando.

In this battle, the Eastern Roman Empire lost only more than 800 people. Gonzalo was the first to perfectly combine trenches and muskets in the war, defeating the larger force with a smaller one, breaking the myth of the invincibility of the Knights of the French Order and creating a precedent for early trench warfare.

On December 1475, 12, Fernando, who had lost all his elite troops, dared not stay any longer and boarded the ferry to the north of the Tagus River. In order to prevent the Eastern Roman army from getting the boats, after leading part of the troops back to the north bank of the Tagus River, he immediately drove the boats downstream and asked the soldiers remaining on the south bank to resist firmly and guard the ferry.

After crossing the river, Fernando continued to flee all the way to the city of Madrid, and completely revealed his kindness, allowing his soldiers to plunder and preparing to flee back to the country at any time.

On the morning of December 12, the main force of the Eastern Roman Empire arrived at Talavera, quickly wiped out the demoralized remnants of the Aragonese army, and re-planted Carlos' royal flag on the ferry.

After this battle, Fernando fled north in panic. Having lost most of his elite soldiers, he no longer had the ability to launch a large-scale offensive. The strategic balance under the city of Toledo was completely broken, and the balance of victory finally tipped towards Carlos. The conflict in Iberia was about to come to a successful conclusion.

(End of this chapter)