Eagle Flag of Epirus

The whole army stopped pursuing and retreated slowly.

This was an order from Justinian, but the Byzantine cavalry officer who was victorious in the front found it unreasonable.

It was only a matter of time before the Venetian line of defense was defeated, but at this time the Byzantine soldiers who wanted to expand their battles received instructions like Justinian, which is really incomprehensible.

"Master Justinian, this is a great opportunity! With one effort, we can defeat the Venetians."

"Please give us some more time, Lord Justinian."

The Byzantine rider who retreated from the front line still begged Justinian unwillingly, but Justinian was unmoved.

"I have already said, retreat! Violating military law is engaged." Justinian's face showed a stern face and refused the request of these young officers without hesitation.

"but……"

"Don't let me repeat it a second time-retreat!"

Under Justinian’s categorical words, the Byzantine officers who clearly had the advantage deserved to order their troops to retreat and give up the pursuit. Even though they were the guards of the Grand Duke Anastasius, they strictly adhered to their oaths to Justin. Nepal's order did not disobey the slightest.

On the other side, Maximilian, who organized the defense, also noticed that the momentum of the Byzantine army's offensive had obviously slowed down. However, he did not breathe a sigh of relief like his surviving subordinates, but revealed A completely opposite look.

"Strike out, the whole army goes out to stop the Greeks from escaping!"

damn it!

Maximilian, who was roaring in his heart, never expected that the enemy commander would notice his intentions all at once. In fact, although Maximilian’s army was indeed not prepared for this raid, it was not so vulnerable. Luring the Byzantines to the second line of defense is actually a countermeasure that the Venetians have prepared before. Once the enemy is lured into the trap, the defenders of the other two camps will attack and give the Byzantine army a fatal blow from behind.

However, before the defenders of the other two mountain passes came, the Byzantines had noticed this and retreated early, so their previous losses would be wasted. Never allow such Maximilian to immediately send out his troops desperately to attack the Byzantine retreat plan.

But what greeted the Venetians was a rain of arrows. As the back of the palace were Turkic light cavalry and lightly armed archers. The powerful fire suppression made the Italian soldiers who had just rushed out of the camp scattered and fled.

At this time, the Venetian reinforcements on both sides were too late. They immediately rushed to the Byzantine army who wanted to retreat, but Justinian had already prepared for this. And the Byzantine officers who saw the Venetian reinforcements came suddenly changed their colors at this time. They did not expect the Venetians to have backhands left. If Justinian hadn't let them retreat early, they would have encountered the small space in the camp. The enemy's front and back flanking will be catastrophic.

But even so, the large number of enemies that appeared at this time still doubled their pressure, but the expression on Justinian's face was still calm.

"After the left-wing infantry lined up, the archers suppressed the enemy army, looking for opportunities to retreat, don't love fighting!"

"Saleuus, you take the heavy cavalry assault on the enemy's archers, and you are not allowed to disturb the army and leave."

Justinian held up his horse whip and shouted, with an expression on his face as if he could easily cope with all changes, and such a performance also made the Byzantine army somewhat panicked calm down.

The officers who followed Justinian's command also reacted immediately and dispatched the army according to the orders of the young man in front of him.

And such a move was completely beyond the Venetians’ expectations. In their view, the Byzantine army had always been an army with a large number of loose military disciplines. When it was outflanked, the imperial army composed of peasants could easily be defeated. Just like more than a year ago, outside the city of Constantinople, Alex III led an army of more than 80,000 men and ended up fighting the Crusaders.

But now this small and poor Byzantine army is completely different. I saw that the Balkan mountain people formed archers and quickly took over on both sides, while the spearmen beside them ensured that the cavalry would not come to attack, only the militia archers crossed. The poorly equipped Albanian cavalry fired bursts of arrows. And the Albanians, who were undressed either by humans or horses, paid a huge price in an instant.

"It's over!" There were wailing everywhere. These cavalry were only bandits who joined the Venetians for money. Therefore, the Albanian cavalry, who did not have the slightest spirit of perseverance, soon lost the courage to fight against each other, rushing back and constantly. Someone fell to the ground with an arrow or sat down on a horse and was shot to death and fell to the ground.

On the other hand, the Italian infantry, dominated by infantry, performed even stronger. They are professional soldiers made up of the bourgeoisie carefully selected in the towns under the jurisdiction of Venice. Because of the wealthier conditions, they bought good armor and weapons. .

Facing the heavy armored cavalry under Justinian’s command with Latin-style assault ~www.ltnovel.com~, these soldiers took spears and shields and formed a square formation to protect the crossbowmen behind them.

But seeing the spear like a forest, this time has caused a huge threat to the Byzantine cavalry. One cavalry accidentally took a man and a horse on the spot, was pierced by a dozen spears, and died in the battle. On his back, and his horse also wailed in a pool of blood.

But this did not scare away the Byzantine heavy armored cavalry. Although they were the personal guards of the Grand Duke Anastasius, they were orphans from the armored cavalry left behind after the military reforms of Emperor Manuel. Innate pride.

As the captain of the bodyguard, Salius roared and ordered the adjutant beside him to blow his horn. The heavy armored cavalry who had been ordered to turn their horses adjusted their formation again, using a pig mouth formation to launch a final attack against the Venetians from the slope. charge.

In the dark night, only the dim firelight illuminates the field of vision, but the sound of heavy horseshoes is like a crack in the sky, so that even the Venetians who have not seen the situation clearly feel the terror of the enemy cavalry.

I saw countless cavalry rushing down like a stream of iron, and even though every Venetian bravely raised the sharp spear in his hand, the lance like the wormwood still pierced their fragile flesh and blood first. Above the body, and immediately after being smashed into pieces by a moving wall composed of cavalry, the infantry composed of Venetians was immediately pierced by a spear anyway. Either being trampled by horseshoes, or beheaded by the cavalry who followed, the Venetian soldiers fell down in pieces, screaming endlessly.

But even so, the Venetians still fought hard and wanted to drag the Byzantine army to retreat, and the look on Justinian's face sank slightly when he watched this scene.