Ironvine Territory (65)
Upon hearing the bugle call, James did not hesitate any longer. He took the lead and charged forward, followed by his guards and then the Heavy Cavalry who were already lined up in formation.
After charging out of the front lines, James did not launch a reckless charge. Instead, he first rode forward slowly. Then, with a wave of his hand, the standard-bearer in his guards raised his battle flag.
The entire Heavy Cavalry force extended to both sides from the center of James and his battle flag, forming a dense horizontal line.
Once the first rank of Heavy Cavalry was basically parallel, and the formation was adjusted,
They each pulled out an iron chain from the side of their warhorses, about half a meter long on each side, and linked it to the adjacent Cavalry horses, ten men in a group.
Soon the entire first rank of Heavy Cavalry, including James, was chained together.
This was a piece of equipment that James had prepared long ago, in order to increase the impact of the entire Heavy Cavalry force. After all, without heavy armor and cavalry vests, the impact of the Heavy Cavalry force had decreased significantly. Connecting them with iron chains would increase their overall cohesion.
After all this was done, all the Cavalry began to gradually increase their speed, from a leisurely stroll to a trot.
As James heard the horns growing more urgent, he spurred his horse to gallop faster. This was Ron's signal that their troops would arrive soon.
The Heavy Cavalry who charged alongside James understood the meaning of the bugle call, knowing that another unit led by Regimental Commander Ron was about to arrive, and their morale was boosted.
Thus, in the eyes of the soldiers in the ducal army, the Heavy Cavalry charging towards them grew stronger and stronger as their speed increased.
"What's going on with this horn?"
The Duchy Army also heard the horn. The Regimental Commander, Jindio, was puzzled. What was going on with the horn? The enemy Cavalry had clearly shown signs of retreating earlier, so why did they immediately launch a charge after hearing the horn?
At that moment, his adjutant suddenly said, "Regimental Commander, this bugle call doesn't sound right; it's not coming from the other side."
After hearing his adjutant's words, Jindio began to carefully determine the direction of the horn sound, and soon he determined that the sound came from the fork in the road to their left.
At that moment, the adjutant shouted, "The enemy's Heavy Cavalry is accelerating! Regimental Commander, should we notify the central command to prepare for the charge?"
While still listening to the bugle call, Jindio turned to look at the front of the battlefield. He saw the Heavy Cavalry begin to accelerate, their speed increasing rapidly.
"Jax should be fine. He's experienced in dealing with Cavalry. The enemy's accelerated pace is almost like a response to the bugle call."
After saying this, Jindio's expression suddenly changed, and he instantly looked pale and powerless. He understood why the enemy had suddenly started charging and why their momentum had become so fierce.
"Quickly, have the Cavalry turn around and maneuver to the left flank of the battlefield to protect the left flank of the central army."
Jindio gave the order hastily, knowing it was too late to react, but he couldn't just do nothing.
Right after he gave the order, the two armies clashed on the main battlefield.
Jax promptly ordered the central army to halt, forming a diamond formation to directly confront James's Heavy Cavalry.
The center line, composed of two large infantry battalions, was much larger than James's Heavy Cavalry. The center line resembled a giant anvil, while the Heavy Cavalry formation looked like a thin sheet of iron.
When the two collide, everyone thought the anvil would be the winner, but when they actually collided, the iron piece flattened the anvil's edges.
The salient of the central army formation was crushed by the Heavy Cavalry. The impact of ten Heavy Cavalry linked by iron chains was terrifying. Even if one horse suddenly fell, the other nine could drag the horse and crash into the enemy's spear formation.
In the instant the spears clashed, James turned his horse around, dodging the oncoming spears. Then, he gripped the reins tightly with both legs, causing the horse to rear up and stomp heavily onto the duchy's soldiers.
With screams of agony, James spurred his warhorse forward a few steps, shattering the front line of gunfire.
At this moment, James's warhorse began to whinny, because a Heavy Cavalry beside him had fallen heavily to the ground, along with his horse. James noticed that the fallen Cavalry was motionless, while his warhorse was still trying to get up.
James shook his head as he looked at the horse whose front legs were clearly bent. On such a battlefield, a warhorse with a broken leg had no chance of survival.
The next second, James drew his sword from his side, gripped it with both hands, and slashed it forcefully to his side. With a "clang," the iron chain snapped.
James's warhorse suddenly broke free of its pull and charged forward two steps, knocking a duchy soldier who was about to attack them flying. The soldier coughed up blood, rolled a few times on the ground, and then fell silent.
Other Heavy Cavalry also began to draw their swords and cut the iron chains to prevent themselves from being pulled down by fallen or dead allies. Once the chains were cut and they were freed from their restraints, these Heavy Cavalry directly swung their swords and slashed at the duchy's soldiers.
Although the spear formation at the front of the central army's formation was breached, the Sword-and-Shield Soldiers behind it began to surround them. They directly surrounded the lone Cavalry with their shields and then attacked the horses' legs with their swords. Many Cavalry fell from their horses due to this attack and were then killed by the duchy's Sword-and-Shield Soldiers.
When James looked up at his side again, he noticed that of the dozen or so guards who had been following him closely, only six remained, including the flag bearer.
His Guard Corps said anxiously to James, "Regimental Commander, it's too dangerous here. We've broken through the enemy's gunfire. Please retreat."
James shook his head, pointing to his battle flag. "Where my flag is, my men should be. If I retreat now, our troops' morale, which is already difficult to maintain, might collapse. Hold on a little longer, and things will turn around soon."
As they spoke, the Light Cavalry behind them caught up, and the duchy soldiers who had surrounded them were scattered by these Light Cavalry wielding lances.
Seeing this, James said to his Guard Corps with a relaxed expression, "See, isn't this much safer?"
The Guard Corps knew he couldn't change the Regimental Commander's mind, so he could only shake his head and begin to be on guard as the duchy's soldiers approached once again.
With the addition of Light Cavalry, the Heavy Cavalry, who were now bogged down in a quagmire, breathed a sigh of relief, and the central formation of the Duchy Army suffered another blow.
Jax, seeing his army's formation twisted into a chaotic mess, angrily cursed at Ves, "You son of a bitch, Ves, where are your archers? Why aren't they firing?"
Ves was a little angry. They were clearly equals, yet Jax's attitude was so bad. But the Regimental Commander had put Jax in charge of command, so he couldn't do anything about it.
Ves said, "Our troops are still ahead; if we fire arrows, they'll get hit too."
Jax's face contorted with rage. "Forget about our army, just fire!"
Ves was startled. He realized Jax's ruthlessness once again. When they used a rain of arrows to stop the fleeing soldiers from charging into the army formation, he had thought that Jax was able to be so decisive because these soldiers were from the First Battalion.
The entire central front line, now torn apart by enemy cavalry, is mostly Jax's troops. I never expected this guy to be so reckless.
However, since Jax, his direct subordinate, didn't care, Ves decided not to play the good guy either. He directly ordered his three archer squads to fire a volley at the front line, determined to bring down the rampaging enemy cavalry.
As the arrows rained down, James realized they were the very target, and he quickly ordered his soldiers to prepare to take cover.
As the arrows rained down, the entire battlefield fell silent. Even with the order to avoid the arrows given, a considerable number of Northlands Cavalry were unable to dodge, and men were constantly struck by arrows and fell from their horses. James was heartbroken to see this.
However, compared to the ducal soldiers who were also caught in the rain of arrows, James's Cavalry suffered far fewer casualties. The ducal soldiers didn't even notice the arrows coming from behind and made virtually no attempt to dodge.