A Sudden Turn
Viscount Hawke looked at the hedgehog-like army formation before him and felt a headache coming on.
When he first received news that an army from the duchy had suddenly attacked their outpost, he had gone to great lengths to obtain the opportunity to command his troops in battle against the Duchy Army.
In order to stop the Duchy Army, he also borrowed a large number of Cavalry troops from Alex.
As soon as he led his Cavalry to meet the enemy, the enemy immediately abandoned their advance and formed a defensive formation on the spot, which made it difficult for Hawk and his Cavalry to deal with.
Ricardo rode up to Hawk: "Viscount, what do you think we should do?"
"The enemy has just changed formation and hasn't settled in yet. Should I lead the clan's Cavalry in a charge?"
Viscount Hawke knew Ricardo's thoughts. After all, in pursuit of speed, he was surrounded by Light Cavalry. If he were to charge into battle with these Cavalry, it would only be a waste of their lives.
Heavy casualties would be difficult to explain to Alex, since most of these Cavalry were under Alex's command.
Hawk had put in a lot of effort to get this chance to fight, and it would be a real shame to give it up. So Ricardo decided to lead the Pumpkin Territory Cavalry in a charge.
After thinking for a while, Hawk gave up, not only because he was reluctant to part with his Cavalry, but also because he was worried about Ricardo's safety.
"Alright, Ricardo, let's wait for the reinforcements. We'll rely on our infantry formations to engage the enemy then. We can't let you lead your family Cavalry in a direct charge."
Ricardo didn't insist any further and simply led a portion of his Cavalry to circle around the Fifth Legion's formation, looking for any weak points.
However, Kimberley was indeed a seasoned veteran of battle, and his troops were all his own loyal followers. He commanded them with ease, changing formations very quickly, and the entire formation was watertight.
In his attempts to find weaknesses, Ricardo sometimes got too close to the enemy lines, only to be met with repeated volleys of arrows from the Fifth Legion's archers. After suffering several losses, Ricardo had no choice but to lead his troops back in frustration.
Ricardo complained to Hawk, "They're like a hedgehog, clearly part of Kimberley's Fifth Legion, making them impossible to approach."
In the ensuing battle, the two men decided to completely abandon any form of attack on the Fifth Legion's formation.
Instead, they led their elite Cavalry to quickly deploy, on the one hand tightly blocking any possible retreat routes the Fifth Legion might choose; on the other hand, they did their utmost to intercept and eliminate messengers attempting to deliver important information or instructions.
After completing these arrangements, they patiently waited for the infantry reinforcements to arrive on the battlefield.
When the wait finally ended, the infantry army joined the battle in a grand procession, and Hawk and Ricardo launched another offensive without hesitation.
This time, they meticulously planned a larger-scale and more powerful combined arms operation: well-trained and well-equipped infantry formed an impregnable line as the vanguard, while highly mobile Cavalry were ordered to flank and outflank the Fifth Legion Corps, forming an encirclement and launching a charge!
Surprisingly, all efforts were futile against the Fifth Legion's formation, like throwing an egg against a rock—no matter how fierce and powerful the attack, it could not budge this impregnable wall in the slightest!
"Damn it, there's no other way. Let's stop fighting and just surround them and wear them down. I don't believe they won't retreat today."
"As long as he's ready to change formation and retreat, let the Cavalry charge their flanks. Let's see how he handles that then."
Just as Hawk decided to stall for time, Alex suddenly arrived on the battlefield with a Cavalry unit.
"Young Master Alex, what brings you here?"
Hawk didn't know what had happened, but seeing Alex's hurried manner, he knew something big was going on.
"We have just received intelligence from our spies within the Duchy Army 'Duchy Army that there appears to be internal strife, with the Coalition of Nobles and the Duchy's Direct Legion currently locked in an armed standoff."
The enemy troops in front of us are there to distract us; my father's main army is right behind us.
This large army is not only going to defeat the War Department in front of us, but also to take advantage of the situation to directly attack the Duchy Army Main Camp!