Riding and Slashing

Chapter 394 Spear and Shield

On August 358, 8 in Pandeli, Yin.

Salem Moors.

On this day, His Majesty King Leon of the New Pendor Kingdom and Emperor Mario Gaius of the Bacchus Empire made a big bet.

At first, we all thought that this was a gamble with no technical content and pure luck, just like a fair duel in ancient times...

It wasn't until the middle of the battle that I realized that good gamblers never let anyone know all their chips.

Moreover, it is never the skill that determines the outcome of the game, but the mentality.

Ramon said this to me once, but I didn't understand what it meant until now.

—Excerpt from "New Pendor Battlefield Diary", by Lisadiran Aino.
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The next morning, the sky was a bit gloomy.

Clouds covered the sky, but there was no breeze on the wasteland, and the hot summer day became more and more dreary.

Horns sounded from time to time in the lineups of both sides.

The French horn of Bacchus Empire is low and long, while the trumpet of Sarleon Realm is crisp and intense.

The two armies faced each other hundreds of meters apart on the wasteland.

But neither side stood in the formation without any movement, and there were many cavalry on both sides.

Some are messengers, some are specially arranged roving rangers, and some are constantly changing their positions to confuse the enemy.

Although this method of making an appointment for a battle in an upright manner looks like some kind of gentleman's battle, no matter how gentlemen's battles are, they will not be brainless hedging, and the situation where the two sides stand still in military postures will not happen—in fact, both sides They will constantly test each other.

They are all looking for flaws on the opposite side.

The army formation of the Bacchus Empire looked extremely solid. The spears and giant shields formed two hedgehog-like phalanxes, and the crossbowmen were surrounded by the phalanxes.

Behind each of the two phalanxes is a rather large cavalry unit, and some cavalry are dispatching to both sides.

In the middle of the two phalanxes was the Immortal Legion with the best equipment and the highest training in the entire Bacchus Empire, and the broad-bladed spears were already in their hands.

In front of the Immortal Legion, the iconic battle flag of Emperor Marius himself was displayed—not a golden eagle on the flag, but two beam-shaped symbols surrounded by osmanthus twigs.

This symbol symbolizes the equal treatment of the natives of Pendor and the Bacchus after Marius reformed, both of which are the backbone of the empire.

But there are only battle flags, no helmets, and no guards of honor that an emperor should have.

"Is that really Emperor Marius? So simple?"

Lisa Dilan had the best eyesight. He could see a commander standing in front of the Immortal Legion array. That man was also wearing the Immortal Officer Armor, but the champion helmet above his head had a dark gold plume.

The helmets of the Bacchus Empire all have broom-like helmet tassels, and the helmet tassels will have different colors and arrangements. This is also the military rank of the Bacchus Empire, mainly for quickly distinguishing positions and responsibilities.

And the dark golden solid color of the helmet usually means the supreme commander.

But Risadiran wasn't sure if it was Emperor Marius—the man's ceremonial guard looked too modest to be an emperor.

"Simple is right..."

Li Ang looked back at his battle flag—he also had no helmet, and was dressed similarly to the Noldor rangers around him, and Alice who was riding under him also wore the same horse clothes as the Noldor guards. The gold-rimmed hood lining under the helmet can clearly show his identity.

If it wasn't for worrying that some soldiers might not know him, Li Ang wouldn't even wear the black gold lining. The gold lining is really woven with gold thread, which pricks the flesh and makes it uncomfortable to wear.

"Your Majesty, they have begun to march..."

Risa Dilan reminded.

Li Ang looked back, and saw that the Bacchus Empire's army was slowly moving forward.

"Boom! Tap... Tap... Tap... Boom!"

The forward speed of Bacchus' array is very slow, but very steady. Every ten steps forward, the shield will drop and the spear will stop, and then move forward again.

The army formation of tens of thousands of people almost stepped on the same step, and their movements were uniform and orderly.

The large-scale army formation full of discipline brought a terrifying oppressive force, and the troops behind Li Ang also became silent at this time, only the pacing of war horses could be heard.

Li Ang slowly drew his sword, and looked back at the troops behind him.

Morale seems to be low...

Li Ang stood at the forefront of the central army, with the Noldor guards beside him, Islandil's Noldor troops on the left, the Griffin Knights and the Lion Lake City heavy cavalry led by Fawcett, and the horn behind them Summon the Rangers of the Rangers and the Sarleon Riders brought by the Lords.

The Chinese army deployed by Li Ang today is all cavalry, with a total of nearly [-] cavalry.

Klose and Sigismund took the Silver Hand and the Freedom Corps on the left flank, separated from the cavalry by a few hundred meters, and the Silver Mist Rangers were also there, with nearly 2000 people.

The right wing is the conscripts led by Leofric and other lords. There are almost 2000 people standing under the banners of seven or eight different lords.

This is Li Ang's lineup, the cavalry is in the center, and the infantry is on the two wings-this is completely deviant.

Under normal circumstances, the infantry will be centered, and the cavalry will be on the two wings, because the cavalry needs more space, and try to avoid letting the horse directly face the crossbow arrows and spears.

But today the situation is different.

Because there are no other tactics planned today...

"Your Majesty...how shall we act?"

Lisa Dilan looked at the Bacchus army that was slowly approaching 600 meters away, and seemed a little nervous.

"Don't panic... Let Leofric move forward, let Klose back..."

Li Ang glared at Lisa Dilan, then turned his head and ordered.

The messengers on the left and right waved their command flags—this place is full of plains, with a good view, just use the command flags to send messages.

The infantry on the right began to march forward slowly, while the left flank gradually retreated after a pause for a few seconds.

"Why did His Majesty tell us to retreat? We haven't engaged in battle yet. Could it be that the orderly made a mistake?"

In the Silver Hand array, Sigismund said to Klose in a daze.

"Even if we make a mistake, we have to obey the order..."

Klose stepped back step by step holding the big sword - this is the biggest advantage of Klose, no matter how much doubts there are in his heart, he will resolutely obey the instructions.

Sigismund had no choice but to step back with Klose.

If you look at the battlefield from the air, Li Ang's lineup has been adjusted to be distributed diagonally.

The infantry on the right hung alone in front, while the left retreated to 200 meters behind.

This adjustment seemed like a child's play, but the strange thing was that the army formation of the Bacchus Empire suddenly stopped moving.

Instead of continuing to move forward, they stopped and began to gather sideways.

The two hedgehog-like phalanxes got closer, the Immortal Legion in the middle also made the formation denser, and the cavalry behind them also began to spread out to both sides.

This is a defensive stance.

"They stopped? Why?"

Lisa Dilan was at a loss. He neither understood why Li Ang told Klose to retreat, nor why the Bacchus stopped.

"Hahaha... because they don't have confidence...they don't have the confidence to win at all!!"

Li Ang laughed and answered Sadiran's question, then raised his sword and turned around and shouted: "Brothers! Did you see that?! They stopped! They're scared!!"

"Those cowards are by no means our opponents!"

"We only need to face one enemy! It is Emperor Marius under the opposite banner!! Just one enemy!!"

"Everyone! Charge with me!!"

"what!!"

All the teams uttered battle roars in unison, and the charge horn sounded behind Li Ang at the same time.

"Woo... woo... woo..."

The charge horn of the Lion Realm was urgent and loud, and Li Ang stopped talking nonsense, and rushed directly to Emperor Marius who was directly opposite.

The distance between the two sides is about 400 meters, which is the most suitable distance for cavalry to charge.

After 30 meters, Alice accelerated to a galloping state, her golden ponytail fluttering at high speed.

Li Ang glanced back, and the soldiers behind him had bright eyes, either looking at themselves or at the battle flag of Emperor Marius opposite.

Great... morale up!

The infantry on the two wings also began to move forward quickly. They were far away, so they probably couldn't hear Li Ang's words of encouragement, but they definitely knew what to do when the charge horn sounded - block the two wings, and don't let the Bacchus cut off the cavalry's charge .

Li Ang didn't look back, and raised the lance in his hand.

Of course, the Bacchus didn't stop because of fear. Li Ang just said that deliberately to boost morale.

The fact that the Bacchus would stop was because Emperor Marius was a little puzzled by Li Ang's foolish maneuvers. He faced the battle and approached him in the face of a neat army formation. As a result, the two wings reacted completely differently. feel confused.

It is understandable that the cavalry is the central army. Mario also knew that Li Ang would definitely not want to fight against him. He had expected that Li Ang might gather a large number of cavalry to forcibly charge into the formation.

So he ordered the Bacchus army to move forward in an orderly manner. This was both a temptation and a persecution. He wanted to force Li Ang to mobilize the troops, and use Li Ang's response to determine the specific tactics that Li Ang would implement.

In the end, Li Ang did make a response, but he really didn't understand the response to Emperor Marius - Li Ang's troops on both wings were infantry, not cavalry. What does it mean for the right wing to advance and the left wing to retreat?Could it be that there are still ambushes somewhere?
But this is plain...

However, after all, Li Ang was on the opposite side, and Mario didn't believe that Li Ang was messing around, so he stopped and planned to observe again.

But in fact, Li Ang is really messing around...

Li Ang was not good at commanding large-scale battle formations - he had no experience in commanding nearly [-] people before, and a battle of hundreds of people was completely different from a large-scale battle of [-] people.

When facing Agathon yesterday, he had enough time and space, so he was able to set up an ambush, trying to double-team the opponent with woodpecker tactics.

But today is different, he has neither time nor confidence, so he didn't plan to arrange any complicated tactics last night at all.

It's important to see yourself clearly, most people don't know enough about themselves.

But Li Ang knew himself well.

He knew his weakness. A modern person, who had never led a large army of [-] people before, could not be better than Emperor Marius who had decades of experience in commanding large-scale battle formations.

People who talk about war on paper are everywhere, but when faced with a war of tens of thousands of people, most people will only feel at a loss.

Li Ang also knew what he was good at.

Every good gamer is good at probing psychology and using psychology.

Li Ang asked Klose to back off, but there was no special meaning in it, he was just using this method to test the mentality of the Bacchus.

If the Bacchus Empire continues to move forward unwaveringly, it means that Emperor Marius has absolute confidence in defeating himself.

But if Bacchus' army stops...

The right time, place and people are harmonious. If the right time and place are fair to both parties, then Li Ang will naturally seek harmony.

On the battlefield, the morale and belief of the troops are the greatest harmony.

Since Emperor Marius didn't have the confidence to win, the other Bacchus naturally wouldn't either...

In this way, Li Ang has confidence—and he knows how to bring confidence to his subordinates.

In the eyes of outsiders, the Bacchus are just marching and stopping normally, but on the battlefield, every movement will bring a different mentality to the soldiers-the two states of marching forward and stopping , For soldiers, it is the difference between offense and defense, the difference between spear and shield.

Under different conditions, the courage and morale of soldiers are different.

The mentality and fighting spirit of following the coach's charge is different from that of defending in formation - the former means that the coach is sure of victory, while the latter means that everything is uncertain.

Of course, in fact, Li Ang is not sure of victory.

But the soldiers didn't know, they only saw their king rushing to the front, as if they were afraid that the enemy would run away...

This is the tactic that Li Ang wants to pursue—if this kind of psychological use can be considered a tactic.

In front of the formation of the Immortal Legion, Mario saw the cavalry rushing towards him.

He couldn't see that far, but he could guess that the person rushing to the front must be Li Ang.

Emperor Marius was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and smiled wryly: "I knew you would charge... but I really didn't expect you to charge now..."

Then, he raised his sword: "Let Agathon attack! Spear array!"

"Everyone, please be determined to die on the battlefield...Our cavalry will not reinforce us, I can only ask you to fight to the end! I will always stand among you!"

"Honor is immortal! The empire is immortal!!"

Of course, Emperor Marius was aware of the ebb and flow of morale. He made the final mobilization in the short time before Li Ang's cavalry rushed over, and then stood under his battle flag holding a sword and shield.

"Immortal!!"

The Immortal Legion also responded to their emperor with a neat battle cry.

Subsequently, the two armies formally joined the battle.

Of course Li Ang would not use cavalry to charge the spear formation, and he ignored the Bacchus infantry phalanx on both sides, but directly rushed to the Immortal Legion in the middle.

But this is actually a very dangerous move - Mario's arrangement in this way was to lure Li Ang to charge his central army.

The phalanx of spears on both sides will limit Li Ang's battle line, and the crossbowmen can also output damage from the side, while the Bacchus cavalry in the back row will protect the two wings and move to both sides of Li Ang's cavalry.

In other words, the cavalry led by Li Ang could not bypass the two phalanxes and break in from the side, but could only break through the formation of the Immortal Legion head-on.

The width of the frontal array is only 200 meters, and the two infantry phalanxes will continue to fire crossbow arrows.

If they couldn't quickly break through the Immortal Legion or force Bacchus' other troops to move, then Li Ang's cavalry would probably be forced to stop, and then they would be hit in the middle by the Bacchus cavalry on both wings-this is also a woodpecker tactic.

Of course, the Bacchus cavalry had to defeat the infantry following from both wings on Li Ang's side first.

This is a contest of spear and shield between each other, and it is a contest of determination and confidence.

(End of this chapter)