Pendor Calendar 358 August 9, overcast.
Seren Wasteland.
His Majesty King Li Ang of New Kingdom of Pendor and Emperor Marius Gaius of the Bacchus Empire made a huge bet on this day.
At first, we all thought this was a bet that had no technical content and relied entirely on luck, just like a fair duel in ancient times...
It wasn't until halfway through the game that I realized that good gamblers never let anyone know all their chips.
Moreover, it is never skill that determines the outcome of a gambling game, but mentality.
Ramon once said this to me, but I didn't understand what it meant until now.
--Excerpted from <New Pendor Battlefield Diary>, written by Risadiran Aino.
--
The next morning, the sky was a little gloomy.
Clouds covered the sky, but there was no breeze on the wasteland, and the hot summer day became more and more dull.
Horns sounded from time to time in both lineups.
The French horn of the Bacchus Empire is deep and long, while the trumpet of Lion Territory is crisp and exciting.
The two armies faced each other hundreds of meters apart in the wilderness.
However, neither side stood motionless in the formation. There were many cavalrymen on both sides moving back and forth.
Some are messengers, some are specially arranged roving rangers, and some are disguises that constantly change their positions to confuse the enemy.
Although this kind of fair and open battle seems like some kind of gentleman's battle, no matter how gentlemen's battle is, it will not be a mindless hedging, and the two sides will not stand still in military postures - in fact, both sides will constantly test each other.
They are all looking for loopholes on the other side.
Bacchus Empire's military formation looks extremely solid, with spears and giant shields forming two hedgehog-like phalanxes, with crossbowmen surrounded in the phalanxes.
There is a large cavalry unit behind each of the two square formations, and some cavalry are dispatching to both sides.
In the middle of the two square formations is Immortal Legion, the one with the best equipment and the highest level of training in the entire Bacchus Empire. They already have the broad-bladed throwing spear in their hands.
In front of the Immortal Legion, Emperor Marius's iconic battle flag was hoisted--the flag was not a golden eagle, but two beam-shaped symbols surrounded by cinnamon branches.
This symbol symbolizes that Marius Reform treats the Pende natives and Baxian equally, and both nations are the backbone of the empire.
But there are only battle flags, no military caps, and no ceremonial guards that an emperor should have.
"Is that really Emperor Marius? So simple?"
Risadiran has the best eyesight. He can see a commander standing in front of the Immortal Legion array. That person is also wearing an immortal officer's armor, but the champion helmet on his head is made of dark gold tassels.
Bacchus Empire's helmets all have broom-like tassels. The tassels have different colors and arrangements. This is also the military rank of the Bacchus Empire, mainly to quickly distinguish between duties and responsibilities.
The dark gold solid-color helmet usually means the supreme commander.
But Risadiran is not sure if that is Emperor Marius - that person's ceremonial guard looks too simple, and he doesn't feel like an emperor.
"Simple is the right thing..."
Li Ang looked back at his battle flag - he himself also had no hood, and was dressed similarly to the Noldo Rangers around him. The Alice riding underneath him also wore the same horse uniform as Noldo Guard. Only the hood lining with gold edges under the helmet could reveal his identity.
If it weren't for the worry that some soldiers might not recognize him, Li Ang wouldn't even wear that black-on-gold lining. The gold lining is really woven with gold threads, which cuts into the flesh and makes it uncomfortable to wear.
"Your Majesty, they have begun to march..."
Risadiran reminded.
Li Ang looked back and saw that Bacchus Empire's military formation was already moving forward slowly.
"Boom! Ta... ta... ta... boom!"
Bax's array moves forward very slowly, but very steadily. Every ten steps forward, it will drop its shield and stop its spear, and then move forward again.
The military formation of tens of thousands of people almost followed the same steps, and their movements were uniform and orderly.
The large-scale military formation full of discipline brought a terrifying pressure. The troops behind Li Ang also became silent at this time, and only the pacing of the war horses could be heard.
Li Ang slowly drew out his sword and looked back at the troops behind him.
Morale seems to be low...
Li Ang stands at the forefront of the Chinese army, next to him is Noldo Guard, on the left is Isildur's Noldor troops, behind is Griffin Knights and Lion Lake City heavy cavalry led by Forster, followed by Horn Summon Ranger Corps's rangers and Lion Territory cavalry brought by each lord.
Li Ang The Chinese army deployed today is all cavalry, with a total of nearly four thousand cavalry.
Kloze and Sigismund led Silver Hand and Free Legion on the left wing, several hundred meters away from the cavalry. Silver Mist Ranger Corps was also there, with nearly two thousand people.
On the right wing are the levies led by Leofric and other lords. There are almost two thousand people, standing under the flags of seven or eight different lords.
This is the lineup of Li Ang, with cavalry in the center and infantry on both wings - this is completely deviant.
Under normal circumstances, the infantry will be placed in the center and the cavalry will be on the wings, because the cavalry needs more space, and it is also necessary to try to avoid letting the war horses directly face crossbows and spears.
But things are different today.
Because there are no other tactics planned today...
"Your Majesty... how should we act?"
Risadiran looked at the Bax military formation that was slowly approaching five or six hundred meters away, and seemed a little nervous.
"Don't panic... let Leofric move forward and Kloze move back..."
Li Ang glared at Risadiran, turned around and gave instructions.
The messengers on the left and right waved their command flags - this is all plains and the view is very good, so just use the command flags to send messages.
The infantry on the right wing began to slowly move forward in formation, while the left wing paused for a few seconds before gradually retreating.
"Why did Your Majesty ask us to retreat? We haven't engaged in battle yet. Could it be that the messenger made a mistake?"
In the Silver Hand array, Sigismund said to Kloze in confusion.
"Even if we are wrong, we still have to obey orders..."
Kloze held up the big sword and stepped back step by step - this is the biggest advantage of Kloze. No matter how many doubts he has in his heart, he will resolutely obey the instructions.
Sigismund had no choice but to follow Kloze back step by step.
If you look at the battlefield from the air, Li Ang's lineup has been adjusted to a diagonal distribution.
The infantry on the right wing hung alone in front, while the left wing retreated two hundred meters behind.
This kind of adjustment seems like child's play, but strangely, Bacchus Empire's military formation suddenly stopped moving.
They no longer continued to move forward, but stopped and began to gather sideways.
The two hedgehog-like phalanxes moved closer, the Immortal Legion in the middle also made the queue denser, and the cavalry behind them also began to spread out to both sides.
This is a defensive posture.
"They stopped? Why?"
Risadiran looked confused. He neither understood why Li Ang asked Kloze to retreat nor why Baxian stopped.
"Hahaha... because they have no confidence... they have no confidence at all to win!!"
Li Ang laughed and answered Sadiran's question, then raised his sword and turned around and shouted, "Brothers! Did you see it?! They stopped! They were scared!!"
"Those cowards are no match for us!"
"We only need to face one enemy! It's Emperor Marius under the opposite flag!! Just an enemy!!"
"Everyone! Charge with me!!"
"Ha!!"
Each team let out a war cry in unison, and the charging horn also sounded behind Li Ang.
"Woo... Woo... Woo..."
Lion Territory's charge was urgent and loud. Li Ang stopped talking nonsense and took the lead directly towards Emperor Marius directly opposite.
The distance between the two sides was about 400 meters, which was the most suitable distance for a cavalry charge.
Alice accelerated to a running state after thirty meters, with its golden pony tail flying at high speed.
Li Ang glanced back. The soldiers behind him had bright eyes, either looking at themselves or at the battle flag of Emperor Marius opposite.
Great... morale is up!
The infantry on both wings also began to move forward quickly. They were far away and could not hear Li Ang's morale-boosting words, but they definitely knew what to do when the charge horn sounded - block the two wings and prevent Baxian from interrupting the cavalry charge.
Li Ang did not look back and raised the rifle in his hand.
Baxian certainly didn't stop because of fear. Li Ang just said that deliberately to boost morale.
Baxian would stop, in fact, it was because Li Ang's blind operation made Emperor Marius a little confused - fighting on the battlefield, facing a neat military formation approaching him, but the two wings reacted completely differently, and everyone felt confused.
With the cavalry as the central army, this is understandable. Marius also knew that Li Ang would definitely not want to fight with him. He had already expected that Li Ang might gather a large number of cavalry to forcefully charge into the formation.
So he asked Bax's military formation to move forward in order. This was both a test and a compulsion. He wanted to force Li Ang to move the troops and use Li Ang's response to determine the specific tactics Li Ang would implement.
As a result, Li Ang did respond, but Emperor Marius really didn't understand it - the troops on both wings of Li Ang were all infantry, and it was not the cavalry that needed to increase the charging distance. What does it mean for the right wing to advance and the left wing to retreat? Is it possible that there is an ambush somewhere?
But this is a plain...
However, after all, it was Li Ang on the other side, and Marius didn't believe that Li Ang was fooling around, so he stopped and planned to observe again.
But in fact, Li Ang is really just messing around...
Li Ang is not good at commanding large-scale battle formations - he has no experience in commanding nearly ten thousand people before. A battle of a few hundred people is completely different from a large-scale battle of ten thousand people.
When facing Agason yesterday, he had enough time and space, so he could set up an ambush and try to double-team his opponent with Woodpecker Tactic.
But today was different. He had neither time nor confidence, so he had no intention of deploying any complicated tactics last night.
It is very important to see yourself clearly. Most people lack sufficient understanding of themselves.
But Li Ang knows himself very well.
He knew his weaknesses. A modern man, a man who had never led a large army of ten thousand people before, could not possibly be better than Emperor Marius, who had decades of experience in commanding large-scale battle formations.
People are everywhere talking about war on paper, but when faced with a war involving tens of thousands of people, most people will just feel at a loss.
Li Ang also knows what he is good at.
Every smart game player is good at testing psychology and making use of it.
Li Ang asked Kloze to step back. In fact, it had no special meaning. He was just testing Baxian's mentality in this way.
If Bacchus Empire continues to move forward without wavering, it means that Emperor Marius has absolute confidence in defeating himself.
But if Bax's military formation stops...
The right time, right place, and right people. If the right time, right place, and right people are fair to both parties, then Li Ang will naturally seek out the right time and right place.
On the battlefield, the morale and belief of the troops are the greatest unity among people.
Since Emperor Marius does not have the confidence to win, other Baxian naturally will not have either...
In this way, Li Ang gained confidence - and he knew how to bring confidence to his subordinates.
To outsiders, Baxian is just a normal march and stop, but on the battlefield, every action will bring a different mentality to the soldiers - the two states of moving forward in formation and stopping are, for the soldiers, the difference between offense and defense, and the difference between spears and shields.
Under different conditions, soldiers' courage and morale are different.
Following the coach to charge, compared with forming a defense, the mentality and fighting spirit are also different - the former means that the coach is sure of victory, while the latter means that everything is uncertain.
Of course, in fact, Li Ang is not sure of winning.
But the soldiers didn't know that they only saw their own king rushing to the front, looking as if he was afraid that the enemy would run away...
This is the tactic Li Ang is pursuing - if this kind of psychological application can be considered a tactic.
Immortal Legion In front of the array, Marius saw the oncoming cavalry.
He couldn't see that far, but he could guess that the person rushing at the front must be Li Ang.
Emperor Marius was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and smiled bitterly, "I knew you would charge... but I really didn't expect you to charge now..."
Then, he raised his sword. "Let Agason attack! Arrange the spears in formation!"
"Everyone, please be determined to die on the battlefield... Our cavalry will not reinforce us. I can only ask you to fight to the end! I will always stand among you!"
"Honor is immortal! The empire is immortal!!"
Emperor Marius was certainly aware of the ebb and flow of morale. He made the final mobilization in the short period of time before Li Ang's cavalry rushed over, and then stood under his own battle flag holding a sword and shield.
"Immortal!!"
Immortal Legion also responded to their emperor with a neat war cry.
Subsequently, the two armies formally joined forces.
Of course Li Ang would not use cavalry to charge the spear formation. He did not pay attention to the Bax infantry square formations on both sides, but rushed directly to the Immortal Legion in the middle.
But this is actually a very dangerous move - Marius would arrange this to induce Li Ang to attack his central army.
The spear phalanx on both sides will restrict Li Ang's battle line, and the crossbowmen can also deal damage on the sides, while the Bax cavalry in the back row will protect the two wings and move towards both sides of Li Ang's cavalry.
In other words, the cavalry led by Li Ang could not bypass the two phalanxes and break in from the side, and could only break through the Immortal Legion's array head-on.
The width of the frontal array is only two hundred meters, and the two infantry phalanxes will continue to fire crossbows.
If Immortal Legion cannot be broken through quickly or Bax's other troops are forced to move, then Li Ang's cavalry is likely to be forced to stop, and then be blocked by the Bax cavalry on both wings - this is also Woodpecker Tactic.
Of course, the Bax cavalry must first defeat the Li Ang infantry following from both wings.
This is a contest of spears and shields, but also a contest of determination and confidence.