Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 653: Where have you been? Is this still the Mediterranean Region?
Not long after receiving the warning, the corps headquarters sent a messenger to ask them to pay attention to the flank defense. After the notice, they galloped towards other brigades.

A few minutes later, Guo Kang could clearly feel the ground shaking. Fierce fighting and shouting came from the left.

Guo Kang looked to the right again. The battle lines of both sides were very long, and the end was not visible here. But it was obvious that on the right side of the battle line, the enemy infantry flags had begun to retreat significantly. Obviously, the Eighth Legion over there exerted strong pressure on them. The cavalry there was also relatively elite, and it was impossible to make a breakthrough in a short time. Therefore, the enemy would focus on them.

Thinking of this, Guo Kang called Zhu Wenkui and asked him to follow him. The two of them had a brief discussion and decided to take the guards with them to prepare for defense. If the Mamluks were too difficult to fight and Captain Jessica couldn't hold on, they would personally lead people to help.

Just as they finished discussing, they saw a large group of people running from the left wing. They didn't even want to leave their flags and weapons, and desperately fled to this side. Behind them, there was a relatively orderly group of cavalry, fighting and retreating, also moving towards this side. Judging from the flags, they should be the two knights and the Syrian Mamluks.

On the far left of the legion, the soldiers of the former Night Watch Battalion had already responded. When they discovered that the situation had changed, the soldiers who were fighting the enemy on the front line had already returned. Seeing the defeated soldiers running over, they blew the horn again, and the entire battalion immediately gathered together, forming a standard hexagon according to the military manual.

Guo Kang's entire brigade's coordination and reaction speed were far slower than theirs. All he could do was to prepare a separate line of defense against cavalry after the battle area with the enemy infantry.

The entire brigade was not deployed in a complete formation, but in two independent battle lines. Guo Kang's command structure and reserve force were deployed in the open space between the two lines.

Guo Kang himself was very worried about this configuration. But now, the quality of his soldiers could only support this arrangement. Moreover, the enemy did not give him much time.

As the remnants of the allies retreated, the smoke and dust on the left became more and more obvious. Guo Kang could clearly hear the sound of horse hooves. A large number of enemy cavalry also followed them and rushed over.

A moment later, the enemy's flag passed over a gentle slope and appeared in sight. They slowed down slightly, observed for a while, and then passed the position of the Dadu Battalion - anyone with a little military knowledge could see that such a team with a strict formation and rapid changes in formation would definitely not be easy to deal with. Therefore, the enemy did not choose to fight head-on, but immediately turned around and rushed towards Guo Kang's troops, which seemed easier to deal with.

Guo Kang was not very clear about their organization, but from their equipment and formation, he could tell that the quality of these people was very different from those of the previous infantry.

The enemy riders at the front were wearing a set of shining chain mail, a local pointed helmet, and a turban and outer robe to protect against the sun and wind. Their horses were not wearing armor and were very fast. As soon as they met, they rushed straight to the position of the big flag where Guo Kang was.

Zhu Wenkui's artillery fired again, and the bullets whizzed out, knocking the enemies in front of him to the ground. But the others did not stop, but immediately scattered to both sides, bypassing the carts placed in front and the Bohemian veterans waiting in battle, and ran to the two wings while drawing bows and arrows on horseback, shooting at the defending infantry. Some people threw lassoes to try to pull the people on the carts out.

Captain Jessica immediately ordered everyone to fight back. The crossbowmen and musketeers began to shoot at the Mamluk cavalry. Although the firing rate was much slower, their crossbows and muskets were incredibly powerful, and the Mamluk armor could not withstand them. Those who were hit by arrows and bullets all fell off their horses. Those who finished shooting immediately hid behind the carts and reloaded.

In the infantry formation, some people rushed forward a few steps with hook spears under the cover of their teammates' spears, specifically hooking the enemy's horse legs. The Mamluk cavalry could only move further away from their line, and the people behind them did not dare to shoot arrows leisurely, so they sped up and rushed to both sides.

However, Guo Kang and others had already prepared for this. The rest of Zhu Wenkui's troops were all guarding the two wings to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the opportunity. The Mamluk cavalry found that they could not find any flaws, so they had to turn back. More cavalry came from behind, but they did not charge hard, and began to shoot arrows under the command of the officers.

Many cavalrymen rushed up like a river, constantly washing away the army formation. Although they were still shooting at each other, Guo Kang's side had already begun to suffer casualties, even faster than in the previous fight. Originally, the two sides could still fight back and forth, but as the number of enemies increased, the pressure on the position also skyrocketed.

"Should we ask Captain Lu to stop fighting, stop defending, and send some people to support here?" Zhu Wenkui said anxiously when he saw the situation here.

Guo Kang also saw this kind of scene for the first time, and he always felt it was not safe. However, when he was still hesitating, Ma Wanjun took the initiative to object, saying, "Not yet. The enemy infantry has not retreated yet. If we withdraw them now, they will cooperate with the cavalry to attack us together. With these cannon fodders actively attracting firepower, we will be in more trouble, so we have to actively drive them to the other side. The situation here is not serious yet, we can hold it off by ourselves."

"Not serious?" Guo Kang felt that his judgment of the battlefield situation seemed to be different from theirs. But after thinking about it, he had never seen such a scene before.

Military books only say that when the situation is critical, you need to do this and that, but it is hard to say what is considered critical. After all, different armies will definitely have different performances in this regard, so it depends on your own understanding.

As for Zhu Wenkui... He had been beaten up before and had a fear of insufficient manpower. When he found out that he didn't have enough manpower, he started to panic. What he was thinking might not be reliable.

"Before, the legion took away all our cavalry. They must have waited until the enemy was entangled with us before launching a final blow." Ma Wanjun continued: "We all know that the enemy has few choices. So, there is actually no trick to use now. Everyone is just fighting. Whoever can hold on to the end can only use his trump card first."

"Look." He pointed to the side.

Several brigades around them were attacked by the enemy, and the Moria Brigade on their right was also attacked by many cavalry. However, the two brigades in reserve on the second line of the legion had also turned around and were now also engaging in fierce exchanges of fire with the enemy.

Their firepower was much stronger than Captain Jessica's. The enemy's cavalry archers could not gain an advantage in the exchange of fire and quickly withdrew following the flag.

But after this test, they seemed to find that Guo Kang was the real soft persimmon, so those who were evacuating began to gather here. More cavalry came roaring, passing quickly in front of the formation and shooting arrows at the infantry.

In the end, the number of enemies gathered in front of the battle array was much greater than the army itself. The movement of cavalry was much louder than that of infantry. When Guo Kang was training, he saw dozens of people galloping together, which was already quite impressive; hundreds of people were like a tidal wave, which could scare away the timid. And now, the number of soldiers trampled by the horses was so large that it was impossible to see clearly at a glance.

Ma Wanjun estimated that they and the two brigades next to them had attracted at least 3,000 cavalrymen. Among them, their side was especially the focus of the enemy's attempt to break through.

It was the first time that Guo Kang saw such a dense array of arrows from the enemy, and he was a little stunned for a moment.

Captain Jessica was more foresighted. He said he would refer to the experience of the previous defensive battle and had some carts placed in advance, the wheels buried, and wooden boards and sandbags piled in front. But now, these carts were also full of arrows, and the people in the carts were pressed down and couldn't raise their heads. They couldn't fight back properly, and could only make a small shooting hole on the wooden board to shoot at the enemy.

There was no shelter nearby, so the soldiers could only temporarily unload all the baggage carts and pile up the boxes and ration bags. They all lay down at the back. After discovering these obstacles, the Mamluks fired rockets, and everyone had to rush to put out the fire and use up the water they brought. "Can we still fight back?" Guo Kang began to worry again, and hurriedly asked Zhu Wenkui: "Hurry up and use all the weapons you can use!"

"It's already been used!" Zhu Wenkui hid behind an overturned cart and explained helplessly: "My people are all mercenaries from Alemanni. Except for the specialized crossbowmen, few of them have ever practiced shooting."

"Where's your old cannon? Fire it twice quickly!" Guo Kang urged again.

"The arrows are too dense, and the gunners can't reload at all." Zhu Wenkui shook his head again and again: "And you can see that they are always shooting rockets there. I don't even dare to put gunpowder there--"

"Okay, okay." Guo Kang really had no choice: "I'm also wrong. I didn't think it would be like this before. This situation is not right, is this still the Mediterranean world..."

"They are all Turkmen and Caucasians, and they are indeed not from the Mediterranean world..." At this time, Zhu Wenkui still had the energy to remind him.

"..."

Guo Kang didn't know how to answer for a moment.

As the two talked, the rain of arrows shot by the enemy became sparser. Guo Kang quickly stuck his head out and took a glance, and found that the enemies riding and shooting in front of the formation began to retreat to the rear. Some turned around to attack the Moriah Battalion next to them and the First Battalion of the Legion that was slowly advancing, while others turned to the left again and began to try to attack the junction between them and the Night's Watch Battalion.

Guo Kang was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he felt the ground he was kneeling on continue to vibrate, even more obviously. However, the soil here was relatively dry, and the smoke and dust created by the enemy was too thick to see the situation in the distance.

Soon, all the horse archers in front of him had run away. Without their cover, Guo Kang discovered that a large shadow was approaching from the smoke and dust.

A moment later, a figure wearing a ferocious mask and wrapped tightly in iron armor rushed out of the dust. He roared and threw the iron spear in his hand at Guo Kang without hesitation.

Guo Kang's vision quickly moved downwards, and after a bang, he felt a slight pain on his face from the collision and friction. He spat and turned his head, only to realize that Ma Wanjun had pushed him to the ground. Looking back, he saw the Mamluk's short spear still stuck diagonally in the ground behind him.

He didn't need to make any more judgments now. Ahead, a large group of Mamluk armored cavalry was already in sight. Unlike the previous cavalry, although the running speed was not fast, the pressure of the armored cavalry was even stronger. They didn't plan to turn, and the front row of people had already rushed straight into the position.

Most of Guo Kang's men had been hiding behind bunkers before, and only when they saw the enemy preparing to charge did they hastily pick up their weapons to resist. Even Captain Jessica, who had experienced many wars, obviously lacked experience in dealing with this kind of tactic and was unable to take care of it for a while. As a result, many enemies had already rushed in before the order was issued.

The carts and various shelters at the front of the line blocked the enemy's arrows and also divided the troops into a series of separate teams. Although some people tried to stop them, the Mamluk cavalry had no intention of stopping. Many enemies rushed in, and some were even thrown out by spears. The front-line formation was immediately broken into pieces.

Fortunately, the enemy could not defeat the defenders there for a while. Captain Jessica waved the flag and commanded his men to rely on the carts and piles of debris to fight the enemy fiercely. Although the situation was very dangerous, these people seemed to have gotten used to it, so they recovered from the sudden shock and picked up long sticks, swords and muskets to fight the enemy.

"Which army is this?" Guo Kang saw a new flag appearing behind the enemy and asked Idris hurriedly.

"It's Kassaji." Idris recognized him at a glance: "The Sultan's guard."

"I%…&*(" Guo Kang couldn't help but curse: "What's going on with today's room allocation? Why are we worthy of so many people's attention?"

"What is room allocation?" Idris had never heard of this Chinese word.

"Nothing..." Guo Kang responded casually, looking up at the enemy: "There are quite a lot of them, I'm afraid we can't hold on. We have to ask Captain Lu to reinforce us this time - even with them, I don't know if we can win."

"In fact, we have already won." Ma Wanjun was still optimistic. He calmly stated and explained to him: "As long as this unit is deployed here, we have already won."

Guo Kang had a look on his face that said "Are you crazy?" However, now was obviously not the time for a debate...

Although many Mamluks went to besiege the front-line infantry, the enemy at the front did not pay attention to their flanks and rear, but only rushed deep into the formation and had already come into contact with the Russian auxiliary soldiers in the second line. The Russians did not seem to be their opponents.

When the enemy approached, the auxiliary soldiers could still maintain a dense formation and stab them with their spears. However, these enemies and horses were all covered with thick and large pieces of armor, and even after being hit several times, they could not cause fatal damage. It was just that the horses were in pain and refused to move forward. Some Mamluks simply took off the shields on their backs, jumped off their horses, and brandished axes and scimitars. They rushed straight into the crowd despite the stabs of the spears.

The Russian soldiers' spears were not very effective against these people, and they were even more ineffective in close combat, and they were soon chopped down. Deuterocanon Dmitri, who was specially left by Guo Kang to lead the troops, rushed over with a sword, but after parrying twice, he was hit on the head by a Mamluk and fell straight to the ground. The Russian soldiers were completely panicked and began to flee everywhere, and Father Ivan could not stop them even if he shouted.

The Mamluks did not waste their energy chasing them. The enemies on horseback and on foot continued to rush towards the most hateful symbol - Guo Kang's flag.

"We really have to fight this time." Guo Kang muttered.

(End of this chapter)