175 – Eastern Franchi Expedition (10)

After a total of five shots were fired as I ordered, thick black smoke was so thick that it was impossible to see in front of my eyes.

At the same time, the faint smell of potassium nitrate, a raw material for gunpowder, the smell of rusty iron from the blood of enemy soldiers who were shot by bullets, and the strong smell of internal organs stung my nose.

When the smoke clears, you will see the corpses of soldiers who died miserably, bleeding through bullet holes, and soldiers urinating in fright.

After a while, the aftermath of the tremendous noise caused by the matchlock shooting went away…

Although less than when he fought the Duke of Architel, no, now the Count of Architel, a desperate scream was heard.

“Martin! Brack! If you don’t want to die, grab the spear right away! If the square collapses, everyone dies!”

“Henry! What are you talking about… The centurion is already dead… Now there is no other way than to bounce!”

“uh… mom… . fat… let me… it hurts… ”

The groaning of seriously injured or dying soldiers, the desperate words of frightened soldiers, and the encouragement of the soldiers to stay alert and fight back against their allies.

It is difficult to guess the exact situation as the gunpowder smoke has not cleared.

However, from what I have heard so far, the enemy is in a state of considerable confusion due to the shooting now, but the troops will be rebuilt soon because there are soldiers who have come to their senses.

“Anyone who retreats here will be cut off! And when we go back, we’ll remember who we killed, and we’ll find out who it is!!”

“Anyone caught running away will die and never return to the arms of Deus! Also, the family will be expelled from the countryside!!”

“Your wives will live by selling their bodies in the city, your daughters will be enslaved, and your sons will die begging on the streets!!”

“Hey bastard, where are you running!! die!!”

“If you win, His Excellency the Marquis Simon will reward you generously!! The owner of the flag in front of you!! Following the head of Marquis Ciel von Creutel! If you kill the marquis, he will give you the title of baron, regardless of rank!”

Seeing how self-defense officers scold and soothe soldiers trying to escape from the rear of each unit, they will soon regain their momentum.

So, the most effective tactic would be to take advantage of this gap and increase the enemy’s damage by mobilizing all the forces of the allies as if splitting trees with an axe.

I retreated the matchlocks for a while, quickly removed only the lead from the barrel, and went to the reserve army to resupply the ammunition…

Again, the most effective strategy is to reduce the enemy’s infantry as much as possible in the front line.

Also, the role of the reserve force is to entrust the battle in front of me to the left, right, and center forces, and to take advantage of the opportunity to deliver critical hits.

So, even if I monopolize the achievement of annihilating the enemy’s central army by mobilizing all forces, no objection will be raised.

However, in order to develop this war in the direction I want, I need to share some amount.

It also serves to minimize the sacrifice of allies.

“Allies retreat and resupply ammunition from the supply cart behind them, while removing any remaining lead residue from the gun. Then, in cooperation with Count Valiere, who commands the infantry, pursue the enemy’s central army until it is reduced to powder.”

“Yes, Your Excellency! Riders raise retreat flags and resupply flags!! Resupply the ammunition, clean the barrel and go back!!”

Soon after, the flags were raised at the direction of the adjutant, who repeated my order, and we briefly separated from the battlefield.

In the meantime, I instructed the messenger to instruct Count Valiere as follows.

‘In the next 30 minutes, I will mobilize all matchlock soldiers and strike the enemy’s central army. However, although the matchlock is powerful, it has its limitations, so please mobilize the pikemen under the command of Her Majesty Orléans to support us when the enemy approaches.’

If the arquebusiers under my command and the pikemen of the Duke of Orléans work together to break through and destroy the enemy’s central army, the achievement will of course be split half between us in charge of the main attack and the Duke of Orléans who assisted it.

Then we won’t lose our honor, not because we didn’t do anything, and the Duke of Orléans won’t hold us accountable for the fact that the central army suffered heavy losses.

“Your Excellency, Your Excellency Count Valiere said that he would move to the vanguard with his knights and pikemen. What would you like to do?”

“I’m going to the vanguard with all the arquebusiers except for the seriously wounded.”

“I will do as you command.”

**

When he moved to the front line where he was confronting the enemy with his allies, he saw enemy soldiers who had regained some momentum.

The situation in which such an enemy is confronted using the infantry under the Duke of Orléans.

I first placed my men in an appropriate position behind the Duke’s foot soldiers, and sent a messenger to Count Valière to make contact.

‘Soldiers handling matchlocks will be placed in 6 rows, then fired at the same time to pierce a large hole in the enemy’s square. And using the gap, soldiers with long spears, halberds, and pole arms were put in. After that, when the enemy’s momentum is restored to some extent, retreat quickly. Soon after, we attacked again all at once. Repeat this action until the enemy’s central army is completely destroyed.’

Shortly after sending the messenger, Count Valière opened a large hole between the squares made by his infantry, probably intending to show it through action rather than answering directly.

“My family soldiers, follow me.”

With that, I spurred the horse and ran toward the gap in the square.

The soldiers saw me like that and followed me as fast as possible, and after about 10 minutes, the soldiers built a square.

“Spread them left and right a little wider than the distance between your arms! After opening, fire in order from the first row, but those who have finished shooting quickly kneel down. Soldiers in the next row should confirm that the soldier in front of them is seated and open fire!!”

Then, I raised the knife in my hand from the back of the square and ordered an open fire.

Soon after, the firing continued at a rapid pace from the front to the last six rows.

“load! After reloading, do not fire recklessly until the firing order is given! And now Count Valière’s elite will pass by, so watch out! Don’t bump!!”

In a war like this, we tend to imagine that our knights on horseback fall from their horses or die from being collided with while on horseback…

In reality, when there is a clash between infantry… They are often injured by the impact of fast-moving infantrymen.

No, if he went even further and fell, he could be trampled to death by countless allied soldiers.

In fact, in battles between infantry, it is common for them to fall and be trampled to death by their allies when retreating hastily.

As the saying goes, even a tiger will come when called, and it was strange how Count Valiere’s elite infantry stopped paying attention to them and came.

Also, because it was an elite soldier, it was nice to see all the soldiers moving in order with proper armor and weapons.

“Hurry up!!”

“When the enemy is in confusion, you have to push it as far as possible!!!”

“Right now, enemy camps are like chickens that lay special forces! So do your best for Mr. Broil, who will soon be promoted to a knight!!”

“It would be quicker for me to get married than for our centurion to become a knight. Zero car!!”

And not long after, the first soldiers with long spears entered the holes in the square of the enemy.

The soldiers rammed straight into the hole with their long spears forward, followed by those with halberds and those with swords.

Those with halberds cut their heads with hammers, slashed their necks with ax blades, and killed serfs next to them as their polearms passed through, and soldiers with swords occasionally slashed the spearheads of enemy commanders or spearmen in sight when they confronted them.

As a result, the infantry of the Marquis Simon, the enemy, broke through to the rearmost single combat unit.

So Count Iris’s foot soldiers hurriedly tried to come to support, but…

The knights of my family, whom I had ordered to detour in advance, attacked the left side of Count Iris’ formation, while the knights led by Count Isra and Count Ilias returned and attacked the rear.

At the same time.

“Baron Diphe, who was guarding the headquarters of the enemy commander Marquis Simon, is already dead!!”

“The supply line where the food you have piled up, I personally cut Baron Marin, a vassal of Count Laurent, who was in charge of supplying it!! Surrender! Or die!!”

When the headquarters and supply routes were robbed, the generals of the enemy army were forced to retreat in order to survive.

Since supplies are all gone, there must be a huge number of deaths from starvation or deserters on the way back.

Also, it will take a lot of time to reorganize… It is profitable to use the gap to occupy as wide a land as possible.

Otherwise, we will continue to fight battles that we do not have to fight.

“Cherald, suggest to His Highness the Duke of Orléans that we use the warlord to rest until tomorrow, and then go on a rapid march, leaving only the minimum number of soldiers to tidy up the battlefield.”

Usually people tell me to go back if I’m in a hurry, but in this case, if I go back in a hurry, I’ll be an idiot.