"Advance. Close in and fire," Isabella called out.
With that, she tugged on the reins, and her horse trotted forward.
The knights followed in turn.
They were at the edge of the battlefield, still several thousand yards away from the enemy camp.
The knights urged their horses forward at a brisk pace, reaching the front lines a few minutes later.
The deliberately cleared open ground on the battlefield naturally exposed their movements to the enemy.
There were fewer than a hundred riders in this group, and the enemy's response was rather perfunctory.
The soldiers in the front row had already donned armor. They shoved wooden anti-cavalry barricades forward and gripped their spears, staring fixedly in this direction.
Several cavalry units in the rear were mounting up. Once they had formed their ranks, they would come drive them away.
No one believed these few dozen men would charge the formation directly, even if they wore full armor—there were at least several thousand men on this side of the line. They could stand still and let these few dozen hack at them until they dropped from exhaustion.
Isabella led the soldiers onward, then raised her hand when they were less than a hundred meters away.
The knights all pulled on their reins, and the entire formation came to a uniform halt.
Some of the enemy soldiers drew their bows, and scattered arrows flew toward them.
The knights did not move. Most of the arrows missed, while the occasional one struck their armor with a crisp clang.
This distance was rather awkward. It was a little too far for firearms, while the bows posed no threat to the well-equipped knights. The defending soldiers had little desire to sally out and drive them off, so both sides simply stared at each other.
The Empire's