I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 276 Misfortune is Coming (Part 3)

The thunderous sound of hooves shook the earth. The second charge of the Bohemian light cavalry was imminent, their iron hooves trampling over fallen warhorses and player corpses, splashing up mud mixed with blood.

Aku stood on a high platform in the center of the formation, amidst the piles of carriage wreckage and horse carcasses, his hoarse voice piercing through the smoke of battle.

"Front row, crouch down, bayonets to the ground; back row, load your ammunition! Hurry up!"

The more than two hundred players gathered here quickly adjusted themselves. The people in the front row knelt on one knee, the flintlock pistols stuck into the soil, and the bayonets pointed diagonally forward, their cold blades gleaming in the sunlight, forming a wall of deathly thorns.

The players in the second rank crouched, their gun barrels extending over the shoulders of those in front, fingers on the triggers. The bayonets in the third rank gritted their teeth, blades clasped, ready to fill any gaps. Meanwhile, the reserve fourth rank kept a close watch on the flanks, preventing any cavalry flanking maneuvers.

"Stay calm...stay calm!"

"Don't bother yelling, we won't move!"

"Yeah, stop shouting, it's noisy... We know what to do."

As the shadow of the cavalry charge loomed over them, the Bohemian riders at the front could already see the players' faces clearly, yet the latter still had the leisure to tell jokes.

Because they were, after all, players, after experiencing the first wave of cavalry charges, all the initial tension disappeared, and they even became calm and composed. Although the cavalry's charge was painful and powerful, it was nothing special.

Just before the Bohemian cavalry were about to crash into the hail of bayonets, a player in the front row shouted.

"Fire!"

"Bang bang bang..."

The second volley of fire exploded like thunder, billowing white smoke, and the cavalrymen at the forefront fell to the ground, horse and rider.

A warhorse neighed and rolled, knocking over two riders on its flank. But the cavalry behind continued their charge, crouching low, sabers held horizontally, crashing into the square like an iron torrent!
"Stab these sons of bitches to death!!!"

The players in the second row who had run out of bullets roared and stepped forward in unison, thrusting their bayonets hard into the shoulders of the players in front. This caused several warhorses to neigh and rear up, throwing their riders off their backs.

A Bohemian rider fell into the phalanx and before he could get up, he was pierced by four bayonets at the same time. A player even kicked him like a soccer ball, ending his last chance of survival.

On the other side, a warhorse knocked over two players, but a burly man in the third row immediately rushed to the top, plunged his bayonet into the cavalryman's stomach, and with a forceful throw, sent the man flying, landing on another cavalryman charging in and knocking him off his horse.

"Left flank! The cavalry have circled around to the rear!"

A player shouted a warning, and Aku, who was shooting from the carriage, quickly turned his head to look.

Forty or fifty light cavalrymen were attempting to break in from the left flank.

The hollow square is a square infantry formation without any flaws. However, as the Bohemian light cavalry continued to charge the front formation, players on the other flanks had to rush over to provide support, resulting in the player's hollow square having five rows in the front.

The formation on both sides was reduced to two horizontal rows. This was something Aku had never noticed before, and when he realized what the other players had done, he was so angry he was jumping up and down.

"Wrong, wrong, brothers! If the enemy wants to rush in, let them in. The people on both sides shouldn't be pushing forward. The power of the hollow square formation lies in letting the enemy cavalry charge into our territory, then advancing with bayonets on three sides, squeezing out the enemy's space to maneuver. That's the essence of the hollow square formation's power."

Instead of keeping the enemy outside our lines, we must lure them in! Don't be afraid, let them in!

Aku is a failing commander, but then again, it's not his fault. The skirmisher players who were supposed to lead this battle are dead, leaving Aku to take over temporarily, empty-handed, with nothing but his mouth and not even an officer's uniform.

Amidst Aku's anxiety, the outflanking cavalry finally collided with the left flank of the double-row formation.

With only two ranks of soldiers in the battle depth, they could not stop the light cavalry charging at full speed. Under the slashing of sabers, one player's head after another flew off, and sparks flew as bayonets clashed with sabers.

A player was knocked down by a warhorse, but pulled the trigger before falling to the ground. The lead bullet shattered the horse's leg, and the cavalryman was hacked to pieces the moment he fell.

More than thirty Bohemian cavalrymen successfully charged into the hollow square formation.

The entry of these cavalrymen triggered a chain reaction, forcing players who were defending themselves to turn around and turn their guns and bayonets around. This gave the Bohemian cavalry, who were charging forward, an opportunity to finally break through the players' blockade and rush in.

Seeing this, Aku breathed a sigh of relief. He raised his flintlock musket and fired a shot into the chest of a cavalryman. Then he drew his sword and cut down a rider who was charging up on foot and trying to kill him.

The area inside the formation had become a battlefield, with corpses piled up and blood soaking the soil, but the players were still holding on desperately, bayonets flying everywhere, each thrust taking a life.

By now, the battle had devolved into a bloody, grueling affair. The Bohemian cavalry couldn't mount a charge, and the players were unable to form large formations. They could only huddle together in groups of three, five, or ten, struggling to maintain the framework of a hollow square.

However, after playing like this, players found themselves playing much more smoothly and enjoying the game even more.

What's the most troublesome thing for infantry when fighting cavalry?
Was it the cavalry's superior position?
No, it's the cavalry's speed, their ability to fight or flee at will, and the impact of their charge on their tall horses.

Now, the Bohemian cavalry, charging into the hollow square, lose these advantages. Without them, they are just a group of mounted infantry, and being on horseback gives them a larger attack area than ordinary infantry.

This resulted in a situation where, after the battle broke out, players could easily stab Bohemian cavalrymen, who were only 1.78 meters tall and had only a one-meter-long saber, off their horses with flintlock muskets that had bayonets inserted, just as easily as a child poking a swallow's nest with a bamboo pole.

The Bohemian cavalrymen who charged in got stuck in the mud, and casualties caused their numbers to plummet.

Outside the hollow square formation, the cavalrymen who were besieging and charging at other players' formations rushed over to support their comrades... In their eyes, the cavalrymen who charged in were not stuck in the mud, but were just about to defeat the enemy here.

The reason we haven't won yet is definitely because we're just one step away from getting reinforcements. If we rush over there, crush the enemy here, and make them escape, the enemy in other areas will also collapse.

Victory is within reach.

By now, the swordsmen and shieldmen who had left had turned around and were running towards this side, and more Bohemian light cavalry were also converging on this side, charging towards the wagon camp... They wanted to block these enemies pushing shield wagons, provide support to the enemy 300 meters away, cut off their communication, and buy time for friendly forces to eliminate the enemy.

(End of this chapter)