137 – Battle of Waine Plains (10)

Upon hearing Lieutenant Colonel Frost’s order, Duke Architel shouted in a loud voice.

“It’s Count Creutel’s trap! All troops, get out of here as quickly as possible!!”

No matter how capable a general is, when he is suddenly ambushed on a battlefield where there are no landmarks, he pauses in bewilderment.

This is because, when faced with such a situation, they panic and try not to act according to their survival instinct.

It’s like when we walk down the street and our bodies stiffen when we’re about to get hit by a car unexpectedly.

However, even if it is an infantryman, the knights will run into each other the moment they stop abruptly.

This will lead to huge damage, so going straight ahead is the best way to minimize the damage in this situation.

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Just as when driving a car, it would be less damaging if only a few cars were hit than to have a vertical collision.

I never thought I would make such a judgment while being shocked by being attacked on the weakest side.

“Riders, give orders to the matchlock regiment and infantry on the left! After the fire of Frost’s regiment, the horses will start panicking! Taking advantage of that gap, the infantry regiment strikes the enemy’s front, and our knights attack the enemy’s right side!”

“Yes, I understand!! Hellz! You ask for support from the rear next to you and tell them to call out troops to attack the knights in front!”

After I gave the order, Biermann completely stopped talking when our knights were about 200 meters out of range.

The enemy then sped up at full speed to get out of the face of Frost’s matchlock regiment, but it was too late.

As the smoke rose like a black dark cloud from where the regiment was standing, thunder that shook the sky resounded.

It looked like a black cloud seen during a storm, but it wasn’t thunder and lightning that came pouring out of it…

It was a lead orb that poured down like a shower more terrifying than a thousand feet of thunder.

As the orb flew away, hell unfolded between the guys who had been victoriously chasing us even though they had just been caught in a trap.

Horses and people who had been hit by bullets had holes in their thick iron armor like paper sheets, and blood, intestines, and muscles were scattered between them.

Seeing this, the knights next to me were astonished and said,

“It’s an unbelievable sight… The armor worn by the knights… How could he be so easily pierced and killed? Also, why did he die so brutally with blood spattered… ”

I didn’t answer that.

Soon after, the blood of the knights after being hit by bullets rose to the top.

Their blood splattered like watering the thirsty grass and grass of the Waine plains, and the knights and horses began to tumble down after spilling their blood.

The enemy’s people and horses who witnessed the scene started screaming and running wild, as if they had finally perceived the reality.

Some of the knights started cutting madly into the air with large movements that could be seen even from a distance.

The horses, as if shocked, began to ram their masters to the ground, shaking their bodies violently back and forth and from side to side.

The rampaging horses rammed the horses and people around them, determined to escape this hellish place whether or not their masters were trampled on.

In the midst of such confusion, some knights persuaded themselves with words.

“Hey! Leon… calm down!! I am your owner… ”

“Ouch! stop!! I am not the enemy!! Those next to me are the enemy!”

Some pulled out their sidearms, such as swords or maces, and fought the horses, as if they couldn’t be killed by the rampaging horses.

“You crazy bastard! No matter how much you are a horse head, are you trying to kill your master by stepping on it?”

“Hey, die!!!”

In that situation, Duke Architel and several knights pulled out their swords and shouted in order to rectify the troops.

“Calm down! If we stop here, we will fall deeper into the trap of the evil Count Kreutel!!”

“Whoever wants to live, follow me!! We get out of here and join the infantry!!!”

“Those who run away, those who are afraid will die here… Only knights who fight with the will to die will survive with honor!!”

Even if you shout like that, there are very few people who can move in a situation where you don’t know if the horses will rampage and slaughter allied knights, and gunfire will pour down from the side.

And when they cry out in frightened voices, who will hear them and regain their courage?

In the meantime, Lieutenant Colonel Frost, as if following my orders mechanically, continued preparing to attack even after seeing this devastation.

A white flag was raised ordering the first to third lines to be ready to fire, and the line of the Matchlock Regiment moved forward again.

Seeing that scene, I patted the shoulder of one of the distraught knights next to me and said,

“You go immediately to Lieutenant Colonel Frost and tell him to do one crossfire and wait. After that, say we hit them on the flanks.”

“Yes, yes… All right.”

The knight I told him to give the order heard and quickly ran to where Lieutenant Colonel Frost was.

And in front of our unit, infantry, numbering about 1,500, were coming at a speed barely sufficient to keep square.

What if the infantry strikes right at the timing of our flank strike?

The enemy knights will completely run away, and the foot soldiers who watched it will think that the war is over and run away.

If you aim for that timing and set up even a very simple trap, you will be able to inflict maximum damage on the enemy infantry.

When I put my thoughts together, I began to see foot soldiers approaching the enemy in a square formation.

“Order the messenger and tell Lieutenant Short’s troops to scatter caltrops about 500 meters behind the enemy.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Also, the horses and knights seemed to have recovered their stamina, and were breathing comfortably.

I turned my horse and looked in the direction of the enemy knights, drew my sword and pointed at them.

“Even though they are all dying under the fire of our matchlock regiment, they are the best knights! In other words, if Duke Architel and those knights survive on this battlefield, they will have to pay even greater sacrifices! So, gentlemen… We will give them a final blow, and we will not allow even one more to return safely from this place. All troops, follow me!”

After I said that, I spurred on my horse and drove it at high speed toward the right wing of the enemy knights.

Already in this war, Duke Architel would have suffered damage to the extent that it would be impossible to save him even if he brought in some of the world’s greatest commanders.

I didn’t receive a report on the situation of the infantry, but no matter how much I shut up and cast a charge, in a situation where the vanguard was ground, I couldn’t beat my allies unless a miracle happened.

So, surely the infantry led by Balt must be winning a landslide victory.

Also, the knights that Duke Architel is proud of were also bombarded with bullets…

Obviously, the combined dead and wounded exceeded 30%, and the damage would have been close to annihilation.

Despite the overwhelming victory in the war, Duke Architel has already shown his willingness to go as far as shooting arrows at the mercenaries who have suffered tremendous damage.

With that will, one day that nobleman will persuade the knights and nobles to start another war against us.

And that timing would be the worst time for us.

So, we must kill as many of them as possible to instill maximum fear.

Of course, there is a limit to that, so I have no intention of committing massacres after the war ends.

In any case, the rear is secure enough that his knights and serfs will have seizures and contemplate rebellion at the slightest hint of the duke’s attempt to reclaim the fief.

Only then can I, as Count, avoid showing Irina, Ella, and Victoria such a terrible sight.

As I drove my horse with such thoughts in mind, the knight next to me spoke to me.

“Your Excellency, we will encounter the enemy soon.”

“Okay.”

Hearing that, I looked at the enemies in front of me.

The enemies still couldn’t get out of the chaos from before, and the horses continued to run amok.

The knights grabbed the reins and tried their best to calm the raging horses, but to no avail, and some gave up and sat down.

Also, the shooting must have been only from the left…

The blood shed by the soldiers on the far left was flowing like a river to the other side of the formation.

I hadn’t seen hell yet, but I even thought that if there was a hell in the world, this would be it.

And the enemy knights who were in confusion now noticed our approach and started screaming.

“Sal, please save me!! I will surrender!!”

“We are knights!! I’ll give you whatever you ask for!”

“aaa!!”

As we started to approach, there were also those who fainted from fear…

War is originally such a scary and terrible thing.

To show them the least amount of mercy, I raised the sword engraved with my family crest.