Chapter 305
Chapter 305.
On August 10th of the Holy Calendar, four newly formed infantry battalions arrived in Fishtail Town, and Paul Grimes also arrived with the troops. The war has entered the final decisive stage, and as the supreme military commander of Arda, he doesn’t want to miss the moment of grabbing war credit …… er no, witnessing the enemy’s final wail.
Paul in the fishtail town has not rested enough, received Schroeder from the front line of the war report, the duke’s army with absolute superiority of force to launch an attack on him, the enemy’s strength is estimated to be nearly 10,000 people, Alda’s army lost the battle, and now has been retreated to a town called St. Mir to hold on to the fort.
An army of nearly ten thousand men? Lost in battle? Paul almost jumped when he read the report. He had gotten used to the constant victories of the Arda army, and suddenly heard the word “defeat”, which was a bit hard to accept.
In addition to the two regular infantry battalions, Schroeder’s troops had nearly 1,000 militia members and locally recruited auxiliaries, totaling about 3,000 men. Although Paul is very confident that his side’s training and equipment is greatly superior to the other side, but this gap in strength is also a bit disparate.
Paul wrote back to Schroeder: hold on and wait for help, he will take four battalions of infantry immediately departed to the south to join him.
So, just got off the boat more than two thousand people have not been much restoration began to run south wildly.
After two days of hasty march, Paul led the troops arrived in the town of St. Mill, and Schroeder’s troops to join.
The old knight said with some shame, “I’m sorry, Lord Count, it’s me who commanded improperly and disgraced the Arda army.”
Paul waved his hand, “It can’t be blamed on you, the soldiers under you are too few.”
Even though the battle was lost, the army under Schroeder’s command still had 2500 men. After detecting that the opposing side’s troop strength far exceeded his own, he decisively chose to fight in a way that preserved as many troops as possible and waited for Paul’s four infantry battalions to arrive.
The real fighting force in Schroeder’s army was the 1,000 or so soldiers of the 2nd and 4th infantry battalions, and the 1,000 or so Alda militiamen who were equipped with spears but had poor defenses, and as for the auxiliary soldiers recruited locally, it was better not to mention them.
“What are the particulars of the enemy?” Paul didn’t trust Maltz Kent to train 10,000 men for war now, or else there was a shitload of them.
“Based on our observations, there are between 3,000 and 4,000 truly trained soldiers, with nearly 1,000 cavalrymen, and of those nearly 1,000 cavalrymen there are roughly 400 regular knights.”
“Three to four thousand?” Paul clasped his arms, his head constantly comparing the strengths of the two sides.
If we compare the “regular army” alone, the strength of both sides is now almost equal. His own side plus the militia also has nearly four thousand people. Alda’s superiority lies in its balanced quality and strict discipline, while the other side’s superiority lies in the high mobility of its cavalry.
As for those remaining stragglers in the Duke’s army, they are basically not in Paul’s consideration. After crossing the border for such a long time, he knows what level these temporarily recruited cannon fodder are, if he lets these stragglers charge together, I’m afraid he will have to mess up first.
Paul asked Schroeder’s opinion, “Do you think we can win with our current strength?”
The old knight replied confidently, “If the other side doesn’t come with new reinforcements, there is absolutely no problem.”
Schroeder’s confidence is based on the fact that apart from the four infantry battalions, the Earl also brought 20 rapid-fire cannons, which can definitely make the Duke’s army drink several pots.
Paul patted a few large wooden boxes and smiled to his chief of staff, “In addition to strengthening the firepower, material incentives should never be lacking.”
……
Two days later, the enemy army appeared south of the town of St. Mir, the duke’s army that had finished repairing gave chase, Arda’s army quickly formed up south of the town, but there were only two battalions of troops, the rest of the army was hidden within the town.
“Good, they don’t seem to have replenished with new soldiers.” Schroeder held up his binoculars and roughly estimated the number of people on the opposite side, after the attrition of the previous battles, the enemy army was now over eight thousand in size.
……
“Lord Jaaius, it has been carefully scouted, there are no ambushes around the town.”
A knight flew to Jaaius’ side and reported loudly.
Jaaius’ face was cloudy as he looked at the Arda army in the distance, he was wondering why the other side always found himself first. The previous encounter with Schroeder was like this, every time the Alda army appeared in his line of sight, they were all facing him in a tight formation, the eyesight of the other party’s scouts was also too good to be true, wasn’t it?
Could it be that it was really as father had guessed, that Gleiman had also secretly received the help of a sorcerer and gained some mysterious power? No matter what, let’s end this difficult opponent here, what reassures him is that the other party is still the same 2,000 or so people from the last retreat.
Jaaius instructed the officers around him, “Start the attack according to the previous plan.”
The tactic they adopted was to send a wave of cannon fodder miscellaneous soldiers to the forefront to consume the ammunition of Arda’s army, followed closely by spearmen and archers.
Because the Arda army’s flintlocks were straight shooting fire, the cannon fodder provided good cover for the troops behind them before they died out or ran out. The only thing that caused a lot of casualties to the troops behind them during the attack was the long range straddle fire of the thunder hammers.
After approaching Arda’s line of infantry, the cannon fodder was pretty much depleted, and after the archers had suppressed their fire, the spearmen closed in on their opponents and began to grapple.
In the process, the cavalry roamed around the enemy army, on the one hand, causing great psychological pressure on the other, on the other hand, looking for the weakness of the enemy formation to wait for an opportunity to break through.
The previous battles proved that this tactic was effective when one’s side had the advantage of strength and the other side lacked cavalry.
Being able to force the Alda army to retreat to the rear for what seemed to be the first time since the start of the war, Jaaius didn’t know whether to cry or laugh.
……
The sound of cannons rumbling, the sound of musket fire at one moment, and the sound of a short fight at another moment, the two armies were engaged in a fierce battle in the wilderness south of St. Mir’s town.
The soldiers of the Duke’s army stormed the enemy’s array again and again under heavy reward and severe punishment. Alda’s soldiers, on the other hand, were demoralized by Paul’s personal presence and the fact that they were paid several times more than usual, and they repelled the attacks again and again.
Looking at the corpses and wounded that littered the ground in front of the formation, Schroeder signaled to Paul, “Almost done.”
Paul nodded heavily, and Schroeder then ordered, “Retreat to the town!”
Taking advantage of the fact that the enemy had yet to launch a new attack, the Arda army collectively turned and ran towards the town of St. Mir.
Jaaius had already been informed of Paul’s presence by now, and one of the knights who had withdrawn wounded in the charge had brought him back word that the bastard who had disgraced the Kent family was across the street.
This made him even more determined to take care of this army that had the audacity to run into his rear and cause trouble, by killing or capturing Paul Gleiman, sweeping the entire Northwest Bay was just around the corner.
“The enemy are retreating! They’re running toward the town!”
More than one person noticed the movement of Alda’s army.
“Quickly! Gather all the cavalry and assault the town with me, the infantry will press on afterward! Jim, lead your men to block the other exits from the town.”
Jia Ace made the arrangements within a minute. Obviously, the other party couldn’t withstand the pressure and retreated, and except for a special few certain special cases, riding out a victory was a military no-brainer.
“Gleeman, you don’t want to run away!”
Rumbling hoofbeats resounded in the wilderness as the black cavalry rushed towards St. Rice Town.
Jaaius saw that some Aldar tried to pull Thunderhammer back into the town, but upon seeing the cavalry’s charge immediately left Thunderhammer behind to follow the people in front of them towards the town. Haha, these cowards.
They’re coming in! They’re coming in!
Jaaius gave his horse a whip and led the cavalry around a corner.
Then he saw a single blackened cannon muzzle that seemed to radiate an endless chill.
Sorry for the overtime yesterday ……
(End of chapter)