Chapter 364 The Battle of Black Mountain (8)
“Bounce--”
Amidst the sound of the bowstring playing, Zelakken couldn’t help but blink his eyes, the arrow was dazzling The reflection caused him to lose consciousness for a moment.
But the next second, the other guards around him shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, Earl, be careful!"
Zelaken didn't even have time to react, and felt a huge impact on his side. Come on, the whole person flies out.
The two guards raised their shields, and arrows flew out from the edge of the iron-wrapped oak shields.
"锃——" Zelaken heard a clear sound of metal friction, and then he felt a painful warmth in his right ear.
He subconsciously touched his ear, but his palms were full of blood.
After realizing that he had been sniped by the longbowmen of the Salvation Army, Zelakken immediately squatted on the ground and used the large phalanx marching around him as a cover.
The scorching sun was shining in the sky, distorting the air.
Under the dazzling cold light, more than two hundred feather arrows pierced the distortion, roaring and pouring down like a midsummer rainstorm.
Wherever the arrow strikes, blood jumps up like raindrops.
The ripples of blood spread outward in circles, accompanied by the continuous cries of the soldiers.
The arrow rain came so suddenly that the soldiers in the large infantry formation did not react at all.
Especially where Zelaken was, the vengeful boar knights performed exceptionally well. Eight arrows fell around Zelaken from a very long distance.
If it weren't for the family guards holding up their shields and using their bodies as cover, Zelaken would have been shot through his organs and bleeding like a river.
How did they find out where they were?
Zelaken was pinned down by the guards, still thinking about this problem. Is it possible that they can see him clearly from such a long distance?
But at this moment, Zelaken couldn't think too much. He leaned out from the bunker formed by the guards, raised his fists high and shouted at the infantry under the battle flag:
" Raise the shield! Raise the shield!”
After hurriedly removing the shields from their backs, the night watch guards raised their arms and lowered their heads, erecting the round shields in front of themselves and above their heads.
These thick wooden shields may not be able to stop arrows, but they can greatly reduce the possibility of being hit in vital parts.
The arrows swished through the air and slammed into the wooden shield. The team that was still advancing slowly was stopped by these six waves of arrows and more than a thousand arrows. pace.
If they were a small formation like Horn, they would probably have retreated by now.
But the great thing about the formation of the large square formation is its huge scale. It is quite difficult to change the formation itself, and it is even harder to run away.
This pause is the monks' opportunity.
The infantry phalanx settled in place for a few minutes, and several light balls representing divine blessings rose from the phalanx.
Then, the large phalanx of 2,500 people moved forward again amid the shouts of low-level monks and infantry knights.
Victor looked at the slowly moving array, then looked at Murat, as if he wanted them to shoot again.
Putting down the observation glass in his hand, Murat shook his head: "Brother Victor, our heavy arrows are limited in number and must be used at critical moments."
For the archers on the side of Knight Ibe, making arrows is very simple. They just use branches or even reeds and simply trim them with bone fragments and iron fragments.
But in the hands of longbowmen like Murat, war bow arrows are much more difficult to make than hunting bow arrows, especially the arrow shafts, which even require the use of special wood and straighteners.
Because these arrow shafts have to withstand nearly double the bow power of hunting bow arrows, which is not something ordinary arrow shafts can withstand, and the manufacturing difficulty is not comparable to that of ordinary arrows.
The cost of making an arrow of this war bow is as high as 1.6 dinars. This price is enough to buy two pounds of lead bullets, and there are about 20-30 lead bullets per pound.
Just now, Murat and the others shot out almost 20 gold pounds.
Victor estimated that after this battle, the lead bullets they fired might not even contain 2 gold pounds.
If the large infantry formation on the opposite side had not been blessed by monks, they might have collapsed after this wave of arrows passed. Victor couldn't help but sigh, the only drawback of expensive things is that they are expensive.
"Your Majesty's order to me is to shoot a wave in front of the formation to consume the opponent's magic." Murat got on the horse again and controlled the erratic horse. The body said seriously, "Next, it's your turn to use the holy wind and counterattack. We will use ordinary wooden arrows to support the side."
With the long bow half-opened, Ordinary wooden arrows are perfectly fine for harassing this infantry phalanx.
Victor turned his attention back to the battlefield. The blazing sunlight shone on the iron helmet, burning his head painfully.
Wearing square-toed wooden shoes or straw sandals with their feet stepping on the lush green grass, Victor watched them for two minutes and had a rough idea of their moving speed.
In order to maintain the formation of the grand square, they had to advance at a speed of about 30 to 35 meters per minute.
According to Jeshka, this was considered fast walking in the old army, at least they didn't stop to form a team every ten steps.
According to the Holy Scriptures, the Salvation Army steps 40 meters per minute and trots 50 meters per minute.
These two speeds seem very slow, slower than normal walking, but they are already the best among the old army of the empire, which are generally not good at running.
What's more, the Salvation Army also has two footwork summed up in actual combat, the charging step of 80 meters per minute and the running of 130 meters per minute.
At this time, these large square formations of the Ibe army were still 60-80 meters away from them, which meant that there were at least two minutes left.
After estimating the speed of his own formation change, Victor made up his mind.
"Coleman, get ready, let's charge with a volley."
This is a rather risky decision, but if it succeeds, the night guards and armored sergeants of the Chinese army will be incapacitated for the next day.
The sound of sudden footsteps sounded, and Zelaken looked up suddenly. The slanting sunlight made him squint his eyes, but immediately, he opened his eyes wide regardless of the sunlight.
"Change of formation, at this time?"
The distance between the two of them is only seventy or eighty yards (sixty or seventy meters). What is the purpose of changing formation at this time?
In the eyes of the soldiers in the front row of the Ibe army's square formation, they saw an unprecedented strange scene.
The commander on the opposite side was stunned by the heat, and suddenly began to be confused in a form that they could not understand.
Rows of soldiers turned left and right, walking across the grass at a fast or slow pace.
Several captains of the fifty-man team held quills, one across the chest of the first row of soldiers, and one against the back of the last row of soldiers.
The sounds of yelling and swearing could be heard constantly, and some people were even slapped in the face.
“Hurry, they are in chaos, let’s rush forward.”
The guards were overjoyed and sped up their original steady pace.
"Go faster, before they end the chaos!" An armored sergeant captain kicked the guard's buttocks, kicking the procrastinating guards until they screamed.
As the pace became more and more relaxed and the formation became more and more chaotic, the rebels in front of them became clearer and clearer.
I don’t know when, when they didn’t expect it, the original formation changes and footsteps stopped.
I don’t know when, the soldiers holding long iron pipes stood in front of the pikemen.
They placed heavy iron pipes on the gun racks. The black openings of the iron pipes made the guards feel palpitations for no reason.
“Rush, keep rushing up.” With his back to the Salvation Army, a tall armored sergeant was still shouting, “Don’t be afraid, keep going. The bishop has made a price. It’s really short-haired for one head. Gold pounds..."
"Bang!"
But before he finished the second half of his words, his whole body suddenly trembled.
He covered the back of his neck, and blood flowed down like a waterfall, forming a pool of blood in the gray-green hood.
Immediately afterwards, these soldiers heard the uniform prayers of one person when they had countless nightmares in their lives - "Praise the Holy Wind."
(End of this chapter)