Locked in a Stalemate

The retreat of the Serf Soldiers gave the Heavy Infantry phalanx of the Golden Sunflower Territory a chance to regroup. After all, the assassination attempt had left many spears with foreign objects stuck to them, and the spear shafts were too long to shake off easily.

However, considering that the Heavy Infantry phalanx was indeed difficult to move, Victor directly ordered the archers behind him to move forward and put down their bows to help clear the Heavy Infantry phalanx.

The Longbowmen, gripping their longswords, stepped out of the Heavy Infantry formation and lowered the corpses and wounded from their spears. In addition, a number of wounded Serf Soldiers were wailing in front of the formation.

Normally, Victor would have arranged for the Logistics Department troops to provide basic medical care to these wounded enemy soldiers, but today Victor did not bring Logistics Department, and the small number of the Medical Department were also on the ship, so the Longbowmen directly relieved the pain of these wounded soldiers.

Seeing this scene caused a stir among the Vanguard Army troops. Even the Serf Soldiers were still considered fellow villagers, and their fate affected their morale to some extent.

However, the Vanguard Army quickly retaliated. A group of Serf Soldiers who had just fled were pushed to the front and were killed one by one by a squad of Viscount Isold's personal guards, totaling more than a hundred people.

Then, Viscount Isold's messenger relayed the two viscounts' orders to the Vanguard Army: "His Excellency the Viscount orders that no unit may retreat without orders. If any unit does so, the commanding officer will be executed, and one in ten ordinary soldiers will be executed. The first to charge into the enemy lines will be rewarded with 5 silver, the killing of one enemy Heavy Infantry will be rewarded with 1 Silver Maple, the killing of an enemy officer will be rewarded with 1 to 10 gold, the capture of the enemy's battle flag will be rewarded with 100 gold, and the capture of the rebellious nobleman Victor Golden Sunflower will be rewarded with 1000 gold, regardless of whether he is dead or alive."

A dozen loud-voiced messengers repeated the order back and forth between the two sides, and the morale of the Vanguard Army soldiers, which had just declined, was immediately boosted by this military order.

Victor overheard this and sneered, "Me, a dignified viscount of a duchy, with a territory of tens of thousands of people and tens of thousands of troops under my command, and I'm only worth 1,000 gold? I thought the two viscounts would at least offer me a recommendation to be promoted to baron!"

Just after the Vanguard Army's messenger finished shouting, the Vanguard Army's bugle sounded again, and dozens of war drums covered with cowhide were pushed to the front of the formation. Dozens of burly men with bare upper bodies began to beat the war drums, and the sound of the drums was deafening.

At this moment, the Vanguard Army officers began to give orders. Victor noticed that the steel jungle of enemy Pikemen directly in front of him began to advance slowly, while the lightly armored infantry with swords and shields on both flanks also began to move quickly, flanking around the two ends of the arc formation.

Regardless of Ron's previous denigration, Victor could tell that the troops in front of him were no ordinary soldiers. Even during their rapid advance, the Sword-and-Shield Soldiers's formation remained intact, and the soldiers at the forefront were all equipped with leather armor and their weapons gleamed coldly. In terms of both equipment and tactical skills, they were among the best in the field.

Victor couldn't help but sigh, "It looks like this is going to be a tough battle. The tougher it is, the more we must not let this army go. If we can wipe them out here, it will definitely help our full-scale offensive next year."

At this moment, at the Vanguard Army command post, Viscount Isold looked at the army formation surging forward like a giant wave and couldn't help but laugh out loud, "We didn't have a chance to be active during the Civil War, so let's use this Viscount Golden Sunflower as our first stepping stone this time."

Leo nodded in agreement. Both of them had indeed given their all in this battle, and they were confident that they would not lose.

When the two armies were less than 120 meters apart, Victor gave the order, and the 300 Heavy Crossbowmen who had been waiting behind the Heavy Infantry phalanx finally began to unleash their power.

The Heavy Crossbow fired arrows at the Sword-and-Shield Soldiers on the left flank. The iron arrows pierced through the three-finger-thick leather shields, pinning the charging swordsmen and shieldmen to pieces.

The Heavy Crossbowmen knelt on the wet leather mats, using their feet to pull the crossbows and continuously unleashing a rain of arrows at a rate of three rounds per minute, firmly holding back the Vanguard Army on the left flank.

Viscount Isold also noticed that the left flank of the army was being held back by a hail of arrows. "Damn it, they even hid so many Heavy Crossbow!"

Viscount Leo quickly reassured him, "It's alright, the right wing is fine."

As soon as he finished speaking, Victor's longbowmen also launched an attack on the right flank of the Sword-and-Shield Soldiers. This time, the longbowmen used Armor-Piercing Arrows directly. The specially made triangular barbed arrowheads would cause the wounds to tear and bleed continuously after penetrating the leather armor.

Although Longbowmen have less stamina than Heavy Crossbowmen, their instantaneous rate of fire far surpasses that of Heavy Crossbow. Although the lack of range allows the Sword-and-Shield Soldiers on the right flank to advance further, they still firmly block the path of attack.

Seeing that the attacks on both flanks had stalled, Viscount Isold had no choice but to accelerate the attack of the central pike phalanx. Fortunately, at this time, the Vanguard Army archers also brought the Heavy Infantry phalanx into range, providing support to their own central army.

As the drumbeats quickened, the spearmen charged towards the shield wall, while the Heavy Infantry began to receive ranged attacks from the Vanguard Army. Fortunately, the arrows only sparked against the heavy armor, and only a few unlucky ones were hit by gaps in their armor and let out a muffled groan.

A dozen or so breaths later, the two steel formations clashed head-on. The Heavy Infantry of the Golden Sunflower Territory gained the upper hand with their longer spears. The first two ranks of Pikemen in the Vanguard Army were either killed or wounded, and the corpses impaled by the spears became human shields to block the subsequent charge.

However, once the two rows of spearmen were fully engaged, the vanguard pikemen who followed finally achieved their goal. Even the double armor composed of plate armor and chainmail, which provided excellent protection, could not withstand the thrusts of the steel spearheads. The first rank of the heavy infantry square began to suffer casualties, and screams and the sound of clashing steel filled the front of the battlefield. The two sides began to be locked in a stalemate.