Unknown Knight

Timing is very important for those who want to accomplish something. Once missed, it may not necessarily be a bad thing, but it will inevitably cause people to regret it.

For example, the situation that Aix is ​​facing now, the crude hedgehog-like formation of the snowfield bandits opposite, makes him feel somewhat regretful at the moment.

The reason was that he chose to set up camp before four o'clock yesterday afternoon and did not attack the largest snow and salt bandit settlement nearby. However, this confident decision made him miss the best opportunity to capture this largest settlement.

What he didn't know was that when he notified his generals to set up camp and rest on the spot, a snowfield bandit who was out of the settlement escaped the net. He was so scared that he lay down in a snow cave and escaped.

Then the snowfield bandit scrambled to the largest settlement to report the news. The leader of this settlement was a fierce bandit who called himself Wolfboye. He was also the chief leader of an alliance of more than a dozen snowfield bandit settlements nearby.

After listening to the report from the snowfield bandit, Wolfboye's first thought was to run away. However, when he remembered that there were more than fifty sharpshooters sent by Voldratboye in his camp, he became more confident.

When he asked about the number of people on the other side and learned that there were only about two hundred of them, he became more confident and immediately sent a messenger to notify all the hideouts of the surrounding snowfield bandits to gather all the capable fighters to him immediately, as there was a big business to be had.

When these snowfield bandits heard that there was business to be done again, they immediately became interested and gathered together in a disorderly manner. Before midnight, there were more than 300 people gathered.

Wolfboy felt that with these people, plus the fifty Vigerian archers, it should not be a big problem to deal with Aix's 200-man army.

The last attack was successful easily, which made him feel that the combat effectiveness of the soldiers in the Aix territory was just so-so. All it took was a few rounds of arrow rain and a charge to be successful.

It really proves the saying that 'confidence makes people blind'. Can a sudden attack be the same as a head-on confrontation?

They set out under the cover of night and arrived near the campsite in Aix just as dawn broke.

When Wolfboye was about to let his brothers catch their breath and then launch a surprise attack, he saw the soldiers of the Aix camp push open the gate of the camp, line up in an orderly manner, and prepare to attack them.

It turned out that the night patrols at the Aix camp had been going on very well, and Wolfboye and his men had been spotted by the sentries a mile away, which was why the soldiers were able to meet the enemy calmly.

Having been discovered by the enemy and having lost the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, Wolfboye was now a little nervous. After all, these men were his lifeblood, and he would find it hard to accept a heavy loss.

Moreover, seeing the enemy's calm and unhurried formation, he always felt that something was not right, but the arrow was on the string and had to be shot. It was too late to retreat now, and the enemy's cavalry was gathering.

Seeing that the enemy seemed to be preparing to use cavalry to charge first, Wolf Boyer, who had experience in battle, hurriedly ordered the snowfield bandits to gather together, with their spears facing outward, to form a hedgehog formation.

So the scene at the beginning of this chapter appeared. When Aix saw the enemy's crude military formation, he felt regretful at this moment. If he had known earlier, he would not have ordered the camp to rest so early yesterday.

Taking advantage of the weather, he could easily destroy one or two more camps of snowfield bandits before dark, and he wouldn't allow them to even dream of gathering an army to attack the camp, so he could deliver the goods to their doorstep.

Now it's a face-to-face battle. Although the opposite side's crude formation is crowded and chaotic, which makes people laugh, those two-meter-long spears sticking out are no joke. If you charge the cavalry forward, you will definitely suffer heavy losses.

After discussing with several military leaders including Fatis, Niza and Resarit, they decided not to let the cavalry charge first, but to take advantage of the powerful bows and crossbows in the territory, consume a wave from a distance, and launch a test attack.

So the cavalry that had gathered in front of the formation was led by Fatis, Niza, Ran Hu and others to withdraw to both sides of the formation. One hundred soldiers in the formation were in the front and fifty sharpshooters were behind, slowly advancing forward.

When the two sides were nearly a hundred meters apart, the soldiers in the array stopped and put up shields for defense.

This is the edge of the maximum effective range of the crossbowmen. With the advantage of distance, the commander can first consume a wave of snowfield bandits, hit their morale, and then act accordingly.

Now the sharpshooters in the territory are equipped with hard bows made of yew wood, with a maximum killing range of up to 120 meters.

Especially Shermi's group of Yakuts. Although the homemade hunting bows they used before were powerful, they did not pay much attention to the range, which was far inferior to the yew wood hard bows provided by the territory. Equipped with new bows and arrows, they are now more powerful, and their superb archery skills have made their power even more powerful.

The fifty-meter sharpshooters were divided into two groups, taking turns shooting arrows into the hedgehog formation of the snowfield bandits. For a moment, arrows rained down, and screams could be heard from the opposite array from time to time.

But suddenly, a neat rain of arrows came from the opposite formation, and the commander Resarit was so shocked that he shouted:

"There are arrows. Raise your shield! Raise your shield! Dodge! Dodge!"

The soldiers in the array who were still watching the excitement hurriedly raised the broad shields in their hands, and the archers also huddled under the shield formation. A series of "ding ding, duo duo" sounds were accompanied by the screams of their own people.

The rain of arrows from the opposite side was no weaker than ours. They were able to penetrate the five-centimeter-thick wooden broad shields. The sharp arrows pierced the arms of some of the soldiers in the array who were holding up their shields.

Others broke through the gaps and went straight through the soldiers hiding behind the shield formation, and casualties began to occur on the territory's side.

Originally, the sharpshooters here were standing in place, taking turns shooting in a leisurely and orderly manner. Now, they had to take advantage of the gaps in the opponent's rain of arrows to shoot from the shield formation, and then hide under the shield formation after shooting, looking a little embarrassed.

Moreover, after two or three rounds of shooting, the enemy seemed to have discovered a pattern and stopped attacking in batches. Instead, they fired randomly, causing casualties in the territory to increase.

Aix decided that they couldn't continue wasting time like this. He would feel sad if any soldier in the territory was lost. After calling Ran Hu over and giving him some instructions, he waved his hand and Ran Hu led fifty light cavalrymen to rush out from the rear.

These fifty light cavalrymen went to harass them, and after several waves of arrows, Aix observed that the snowfield bandits on the opposite side were already showing signs of confusion.

It's no wonder. They were all scattered soldiers from different settlements with almost no coordinated training. Now that they were gathered together, it was good enough that they could barely form a hedgehog formation. If it weren't for Wolfboye's fierce reputation and his personal command with a sword behind the formation, they would probably have been scattered as soon as the two waves of arrows fell.

Although fifty cavalrymen were not a large number, the rumbling of their horses' hooves stirred up the flying snow as they came rushing forward.

This was also a big shock to these snowfield bandits who lived in the snowfield all day long. Moreover, they were running and shooting, causing casualties before they even got close.

It was like an elder raising a whip to beat a child, the child was not frightened by the beating. Before the whip even fell, the oncoming snowfield bandits were already frightened, and they pushed, crowded, and dodged repeatedly, and their formation was still in chaos.

Moreover, Ran Hu also had sharp eyes and specifically attacked from the left side where the situation was more chaotic. When the enemy concentrated their shooting at the light cavalry, Ran Hu led his troops to approach and then leave, circling around to the rear of the enemy formation, directly causing the enemy formation to become even more chaotic.

Seeing that Ran Hu's light cavalry had circled behind the enemy's formation and disrupted it with minor losses, Aix looked at Fatis who was waiting on the side, waved his hand, and the thirty heavy cavalry who had been waiting for a long time rushed out of the formation.

Then one hundred soldiers and fifty sharpshooters formed a neat array and advanced forward while shouting in unison.

The snowfield bandits, who were still in disarray, were terrified when they saw the heavy cavalry in bright armor rushing towards them. Some of them even tried to resist and threw out their javelins to attack.

However, the heavy cavalry of Aix was specially designed for charging. Not only did the men wear plate armor, but the front armor and horse faces of the horses were also covered with slightly raised thick iron plates, which could relieve the force of the javelins and allow them to slide to the sides.

After a round of javelins, there was no substantial damage to the heavy cavalry, and the cavalry had already rushed to the front and used a round of javelins and flying axes to directly break up the already loose enemy formation.

The rumbling of the heavy cavalry tore open a gap, like the wind blowing through wheat waves, forcing the snowfield bandits to dodge to both sides desperately and become a mess.

The light cavalry, who had been circling around, also rushed over under the leadership of Ran Hu, and followed behind the heavy cavalry, shooting arrows non-stop, which directly stunned some of the snowfield bandits and put the enemy formation into complete chaos.

After the light cavalry followed the heavy cavalry through the formation, the infantry that followed closely behind had already arrived in front. They directly pushed forward with their shields in an orderly and rhythmic manner, shouting loudly with each push:

"Those who surrender will not be killed, roar! Those who surrender will not be killed, roar!..."

The snowy bandits in front of them could not stand steadily and rolled to the ground. Countless people were trampled to death or injured. In order to save their lives, they cried for mercy and knelt down in surrender in groups.

At this point the outcome was basically determined, but the bandit leader Wolfboye saw that the situation was not good, and when the heavy cavalry broke into the formation, he was the first to flee.

Also fleeing were the remaining Vigerian sharpshooters, but they were unlucky because the fifty light cavalrymen who had escorted the prisoners back to Tangquan Fortress yesterday afternoon also arrived early and met them head-on, spreading out on the snowy plain and surrounding them.

By this time, the battle was basically over, and the scattered fleeing snowfield bandits were being pursued by light cavalry forces in groups of five or ten.

The white snow made all the shadows on the field brighter. They had nowhere to escape or hide, but they could not escape the fate of being captured.

After the battle, the territory lost eleven array infantry and crossbowmen, eight were seriously injured, two light cavalrymen were lost, five fell off their horses and were injured, and three heavy cavalrymen died.

Fortunately, Aix saw the opportunity quickly. If the two sides had continued to shoot at each other, there might have been even greater casualties.

The casualties on the Snowfield Bandits' side were not as great as imagined. In total, more than fifty people died, more than thirty were injured, and more than two hundred were captured. The bandit leader Wolfboye resisted, but was shot dead by Ran Hu with an arrow.

Nearly half of the fifty elite Vaegir archers died, mainly because they refused to surrender when they fled and dared to resist. The heavy cavalry led by Fatis and Niza killed more than a dozen of them in a single charge, causing them to lose their fighting spirit and surrender completely.