181 – Eastern Franchi Expedition (16)

There are many scenes like this in the novels I read in the past and in various war dramas, from the point of view of the main character facing a large army.

It is the appearance of a large army of enemies filling the land from one end to the other, wide and moving like waves, like a man-made sea.

I witnessed this in the last battle, and I have already fought against the enemy’s large army in several wars.

Even now, this scenery, I can’t get used to the tension emitted by tens of thousands of enemies.

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Just as he was so nervous and contemplating future plans in his head, the enemy soldiers on the other side raised their family flags and started attacking.

In line with this, the Marquis of Creutel also made sounds with horns and drums, and raised various flags to signal to the soldiers.

“The arquebusiers entered the left and right sides of the six rows of long spearmen!! Intercept the enemy as much as possible!”

“In this battle, all we have to do is hold on! No, just hold on!!”

“When you are afraid and scared! Just remember this, if you back down your family will be better off dead! But if you keep your seat, even if you die, His Excellency the Marquis will reward you! Don’t worry about the future of your family after you die!!”

As the enemy approached, junior commanders and dictatorships belonging to the allies wandered around the units and areas they were in charge of, giving orders.

Following that instruction, the soldiers formed a more compact formation and prepared to face the enemy.

“Adjutant, call the messenger and tell him to take out the 1st and 2nd battalions of arquebusiers from the rear of our left wing and subdue those who are attacking with His Highness Duke of Orléans’ unit. They should shoot autonomously, but instruct them to fire a volley the first time they apply. Also, after striking the enemy, follow the troops on that side and provide adequate cover. However, if you come to a place where our Red Eagle flag is out of sight of the troops, tell them to retreat.”

When the red eagle goes up, it is not visible beyond about one kilometer.

As long as we don’t completely drive the enemy, we won’t be more than a kilometer away from the main unit from that side alone.

If this distance is maintained, even if two battalions of matchlocks are ambushed by the enemy, how can they send reinforcements to protect them?

Now that I’ve prepared this much, I’m almost done with what I can do at this stage.

“Order all unit commanders to prepare for battle. Let the arquebusiers light the arquebuses, and the spearmen form thick lines. Instruct the knights to stand near their horses so that they can charge at any time when the order is given.”

Around the time my last order was delivered to the entire Marquis of Creutel, the sound of our soldiers colliding with the enemy was heard in the distance.

The war began in earnest.

**

The first to engage was the army of Count Iris of the French Empire and the army of the Duke of Orléans of Elaine.

As soon as the two faced each other, they started charging at each other with fierce momentum.

As if, even if the comrade next to me dies, I will surely survive.

And not long after, the two armies fired arrows at each other randomly.

While advancing, a considerable number of soldiers were shot and killed by arrows, but both of them advanced forward with such vigor as if they did not care.

Silver-shining spears flashed at the enemy, and several weapons pierced the arms, legs, and torso of the enemy and began to crave blood.

“die! These bastard henchmen of the Duke of Orléans!!”

“Even Deus will send Orléans to Hell like the heretics!!”

“If you don’t want to die, blame your parents for living as serfs under the Duke of Orléans!!”

A scolding word containing anger towards the soldiers of the Duke of Orléans who took away their livelihood.

The soldiers of the Duke of Orléans also shouted loudly at the soldiers of Count Iris.

“Because you are weak, you have taken away your territory and talk a lot! You trash bastards! Bastards who are buried here and only their souls will return home!”

“Your mother and father will be happy that the useless bread worms like you are gone!”

“I’m going to take you guys by the neck and make my parents happy. So, give me your head first!!”

While the soldiers of the two armies were intertwined and engaging in close combat, the armies of the Marquis Simon, Laurent and Louis began to charge at the armies of the Orléans and the Marquis of Creutel.

However, the 40,000 French soldiers who had not been trained not only could not keep pace with each other, but even the speed of each unit was different.

One unit walks a little faster than the one in the center, so it is 20 meters in front, and the other unit is 15 meters behind.

The 30,000 army led by Marquis Simon camped in a crooked rectangular shape and advanced toward the enemy.

Observing their advance, the Duke and the Marquis of Creutel quickly gave a signal and stretched their lines out to the side to avoid encirclement.

Then, towards them, the Duke of Orléans fired arrows, and the Marquis Creutel fired his guns at once when the enemy entered the effective range.

Thousands of arrows and bullets, perhaps ten thousand in total, flew towards the enemy, and the enemy soldiers screamed as they fell like fallen leaves from the overwhelming firepower.

“This crazy!!”

“I can’t die like this!!”

“mom!! Dad!! no Deus… why the hell why me… ”

The advancing soldiers of the Marquis Simon and other counts also returned fire with arrows, but most of the casualties were in the troops of the French nobles and those of the Duke of Orléans, where not all soldiers were fully armored.

After several more attacks were made against the enemy in the same way, a full-fledged battle began to take place.

The Marquis of Creutel fought part of the Marquis Simon’s army against Count Laurent, and the Duke of Orléans fought against the Marquis Simon, Count Louis, and Count Iris.

“Long live, Marquis Simon!! Let’s go get Orléans’ head!”

“It’s less valuable than the head of the Marquis of Creutel, but even if you kill the Duke of Orléans, you can live your life!”

“We have far more soldiers than they do, so what’s scary? If those guys were scared, they got scared!”

The army of the Duke of Orléans is being pushed back very little to face the 45,000 French army more than them.

However, the Marquis of Creutel is only outnumbered and is slowly pushing back the enemy with an appropriate combination of spears and guns.

“Pikemen, when the enemy approaches, pierce the enemy with a spear and remove the enemy’s clumsy spear! The arquebusiers, the pikemen in front will protect you, so don’t worry and aim for the enemy in front of you!”

“If you don’t even bother aiming, just point your gun between the two spearmen in front of you and shoot! Then go behind!”

“Do not be afraid of enemy arrows or swords! As long as you block the training base, the armor will save you!”

And the Marquis of Creutel’s army slowly began to kill the enemy’s momentum.

Enemies who came close were killed or pushed back with long spears, and enemies who were pushed back or even slightly farther were pierced to death by bullets.

Then, at first, Franchi’s soldiers, who were overwhelming with numbers and momentum, gradually slowed down their approach towards the Marquis’ army.

In line with the tide, two battalions with matchlocks emerged from the Kreutel army.

The soldiers who left the corps with orderly steps turned 45 degrees in unison and aimed at the enemy.

Due to the fierce close combat between Franchi and Elaine, most of the soldiers couldn’t turn their attention to that side…

Seeing the soldiers of the Marquis of Creutel with matchlocks, some of the soldiers of the Marquis Simon, who were targeted, shouted out loud.

“Damn it!! Why are Marquis Creutel’s gunmen pointing at us!”

“You crazy bastards!! The guys on the left quickly run and stab those bastards with their spears!!”

However, even when they shouted that, their commanders and soldiers did not respond at all.

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Moments later, bullets flew towards the poor French soldiers, accompanied by black smoke and a loud explosion.

Hundreds, no, 1,000 of the enemies in the firing line were killed by a volley, and the Duke of Orléans took advantage of the opportunity to order his soldiers.

“Inject the soldiers as much as possible into the gap created by the Marquis of Creutel!! No matter what, we have to drive it to a semi-siege!!”

After a while, the soldiers of the Duke of Orléans entered through the gap and raised their spirits to annihilate the enemies by any means.

As the engagement gradually expanded, the battle between the two armies gradually fell into chaos.

Normally, in this case, the knights had to bump into the foot soldiers in an attacking position to create a gap.

France’s allied forces, led by Marquis Simon, had yet to commit knights.

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Marquis Creutel, feeling the situation through the messenger’s report and her own intuition, muttered.

“Looking at the fact that he hasn’t written an article yet at a time like this… Damn you Frenchies, are you thinking of attacking when we’re completely out on the flanks or rear?”