Chapter 17 A great victory
Listening to the sound of fighting coming from the front, Paul's heart slowly became nervous.
This time the performance of the soldiers was improved compared to last time. There was no rash charge, because a company stayed with Paul as a reserve team, and Bryce and other senior officers also rushed forward. Although Paul was mentally opposed to senior officers going into battle in person, but this did improve morale a lot.
However, the situation is still getting worse. Their side is gradually showing signs of decline, and the warring parties are slowly moving towards Lake Center Town.
Paul was very anxious: "Let the reserve team take the lead."
Schroeder shook his head: "It's not the time yet."
At this moment, someone came to report that suspicious figures appeared on the trestle on the other side of the town, like another group of pirates.
Schroeder said: "Let the reserve team pass."
Paul sighed: "Fortunately, we left the reserve team just now, otherwise it would be terrible for another group of pirates to rush into the town. It’s not going to be good.”
The reserve company began to run quickly to the other side of the town.
It didn't matter as soon as the reserve team was transferred. The soldiers who were fighting in front thought that the lord was going to leave them and retreat secretly. Many people immediately broke away from the battle and ran here.
"The retreat horn was not blown, come back!!!"
Bryce and other officers saw someone running back, and shouted angrily while parrying the enemy. Some returned to the battlefield, but many refused to listen.
The disadvantage on my side became even more obvious...
At this moment, the old knight Schroeder made a move.
He galloped over, quickly approached a deserter, drew his sword and swung it.
For almost an instant, he didn't see his movements clearly. By the time Paul reacted, the deserter's head was no longer on his body. It fell to the ground and rolled under his horse.
The headless body fell to the ground with a plop, and the blood spurting from its neck quickly turned the ground red.
The soldiers who fled back and Paul and others were stunned by this violent operation.
At this time, the old knight's eyes were wide with anger, and veins were popping up on his red neck. People not far from him could almost feel something pushing on the air.
"This is the fate of deserters!!!"
The majestic roar like thunder was remembered on the battlefield, and it struck everyone's heart.
"The pickets obey the order, and those who dare to retreat will be dealt with accordingly, and will not be killed!!!"
All the pickets were stunned, you look at me, I look at you, no Know how to respond.
“Didn’t you hear my order?” The knight turned to look at them. His subordinate Joyce immediately drew his sword and faced the pickets who were still in a daze.
Just one look from the old knight made the still-bewildered pickets burst with fear. Fear made them quickly recall what they should do after receiving the order from their superiors. "Yes!!!" everyone shouted in unison, and then raised their hands one after another. He raised his spear and pointed it at the retreating deserters.
If you don't obey the order, I'm afraid you will be the next one to be dismembered.
"Fight the pirates!" I don't know who shouted first, and the defeated soldiers returned to the front line to fight the pirates. Anyway, retreating would mean death. It is better to go back and fight the enemy desperately. Kill one to cover your base, and kill two to make a profit. If he was really unfortunate enough to die in battle, he would still be able to leave a large amount of pension to his family. Count Grayman still kept his word.
The battle line was finally stabilized. Although he was shocked by the old knight's methods, Paul still breathed a sigh of relief.
The officers shouted loudly and gathered the soldiers under their command. Each company gradually restored its formation. In terms of numbers, equipment and organization, the army's advantage was originally to suppress the pirates. Now everyone has it. He was determined to fight to the death and immediately caused a lot of casualties to the pirates.
The results of the previous training were reflected. Under the command of the officers, the soldiers formed spear formations in platoons and advanced slowly but steadily, gradually forcing the pirates to retreat towards the water.
“All riders on horseback come closer to me!!!” Schroeder shouted as he and Joyce rode into the battlefield. After gathering all the knights, they first took a turn and quickly left the battlefield, and then Turning the horse's head and whipping it hard, the horse rushed towards the pirates in pain.
The fast-attacking cavalry almost split the pirate team in half, and a large number of unlucky ones who were in the way were knocked down and trampled to death. This became the last straw for the pirates, who had already shown their disgrace. The pirates dispersed and fled towards the shore. Some simply threw away their weapons, knelt down and raised their hands in surrender.
"Run forward!" Bryce, who dismounted and fought on foot, ordered. The soldiers maintained their formation while speeding up their pace and quickly pushed toward the water. When the pirates saw the guards chasing after them, they immediately pushed the boat away from the shore, jumped into the water and climbed onto the boat.
"This opportunity cannot be missed."
Seeing that nearly half of the pirates were not on the shore, Paul immediately ordered the trumpeter to blow the charge horn.
"Dee~dee dee dee dee dee~dee~dee dee dee dee~"
The loud bugle sound sounded on the battlefield.
“Come on!!!”
In the eyes of the retreating pirates, the territorial guards seemed to have been suddenly beaten to death. They suddenly sped up their running speed and rushed towards them one by one, regardless of their formation and with wide eyes.
“Get out of the way!” “Let me go first! I’ll go first!” “Fuck you!”
For a time, there were sounds of begging and yelling on the lake.
I don’t know where the bearded leader from before has gone. The leaderless pirates will naturally not have any thoughts of fighting back and kill each other. They can only push and yell at each other for fear that they will not be able to climb on the ship.
Seeing the soldiers rushing to the shore, the pirates who had boarded the boats began to paddle, and all the boats were getting further and further away from the shore.
"Wait for me!!!" "The guy who gave birth to a son without an asshole!" "You must die a good death!"
The pirates who had jumped into the water before they had time to board the ship cursed their companions who had left them alone, and some Then he swam desperately toward the direction the ship left.
There were also some minions who stayed on the shore. After resisting for a while, they were either killed or surrendered.
At this time, a group of soldiers rushed to the shore. They were firearms soldiers who were sent to beat up the drowned dogs.
The six musketeers had already loaded their ammunition and picked up their guns to shoot in the direction of the pirate ship. The other soldiers took out their bamboo fire tubes and took out grenades and started lighting them.
Although the accuracy of the musket was impressive, the ship had not sailed too far and the ship they were targeting was crowded with people, so the shooting achieved good results.
As the white smoke of matchlock guns rose, blood mist suddenly appeared on the bodies of four pirates on a pirate ship. The huge kinetic energy carried by the lead bullets caused the two pirates who were shot to fall into the lake immediately. Here, I don’t know life or death.
One of the remaining two people was hit in the chest, and there was no air left on the spot. Another pirate was hit in the arm, and all the strength in his body seemed to be drained away in an instant, followed by a huge pain.
"Ah~~~!!!" He howled desperately and sadly.
The people nearby immediately checked the injuries of their companions. They had never encountered such a situation before. The enemy did not shoot an arrow or use a crossbow, so why did they injure the person? They took off the injured person's clothes. Then they all took a deep breath.
"Witchcraft! Magic! This must be black magic! The son-of-a-bitch noble used evil black magic!"
Then something more exciting happened, some round things flew over from the shore, and every time There was a flaming rope floating on it. Even with his buttocks, he knew it couldn't be a good thing. The pirates mustered up all their strength to row their oars so that they could run faster.
The first arriving grenade was thrown quite accurately. It was thrown just over a ship. There was only a loud noise and it exploded before it completely fell. The pirates next to the explosion point were The explosion was bloody and bloody, and the pirates on the entire ship exploded at once.
If the muskets did not attract much attention because of the small number, the grenades made a big noise. Although a small half fell into the water, the remaining half was enough to make the pirates look like It was like hell, grenades exploded one after another, splinters and nails were scattered in all directions, explosions on the lake and the pirates' cries of ghosts and wolves came one after another.
“Blow up you sons of bitches!” Makarov laughed and threw a grenade onto the pirate ship. Today’s victory swept away the haze of the last failure. As for Sora, he finally let out a bad breath.
The pirates endured the explosion while rowing desperately, and finally got rid of the firearm attack.
At this time, the reserve team that had just gone to the other side of the town sent someone to report. The other group of suspected pirates just waited and watched for a while. They probably saw that the reserve team had more people and had been prepared, so they did not launch an attack. , disappeared immediately after seeing the failure of Big Beard, so they were ordered to continue to be on guard.
After a great victory, all the officers and soldiers were very excited. There were endless cheers on the battlefield. The pessimism that had been weighing on the army for a long time finally dissipated. After seeing the enemy disappear from sight, the earl ordered the battlefield to be cleaned and asked the pickets to preach two orders: all seizures must be returned to the public, and prisoners must not be abused privately.
At the suggestion of the old knight Schroeder, the two cavalrymen set out in the direction of the pirates' retreat to investigate the enemy's situation and prevent possible counterattacks.
(End of this chapter)