Berserk, Total War: Second Son of Nobles

As the summer of 1462 approached, the suburbs of Padua were finally invaded by the Yoda army. The villages on the border were deserted, and the roars coming from afar heralded the beginning of a brutal war.

"boom!"

A shell whizzed across the sky and crashed straight to the ground with a breath of death.

The huge impact force caused the ground to shake violently, and the splashed soil was like a black torrent, directly covering the heads of the rebel soldiers.

Hiding in the trenches, they could only hear bursts of artillery fire from the opposite side. The sound was like a roar from hell, which hurt their eardrums.

The rainbow flag of the Kingdom of Heaven planted on the ground fluttered in the wind. Against the backdrop of smoke and flames of war, the flag looked particularly abrupt.

In the distance, Atun, who was riding on his horse, looked at the rebel positions that were constantly bombarded, and laughed triumphantly:

"See? This is the artillery-fired ground-battering tactic our family has inherited for hundreds of years! The rebels on the other side have been frightened. After the artillery bombardment, all the infantry will move forward. We must be an army that will penetrate the heart of the rebels!"

He waved the whip in his hand, his face full of confidence and arrogance. The artilleryman who was in charge of operating the artillery next to him thought to himself, were there artillery hundreds of years ago? They were blowing it here.

He curled his lips, but didn't dare to say anything. He could only continue to operate the artillery silently, loading shells into the barrel.

After the artillery fired all the shells, Atton drew his sword, pointed it at the opposite position and said:

"Infantry phalanx attack! Archers follow!"

Following his order, flags waved in the air, and the various infantry phalanxes stood at the forefront like a black tide, followed by rows of archers.

"Everyone, get up! The enemy infantry is coming!"

The rebel soldiers stood up immediately after hearing this. They were hiding in the trenches, but when they heard the shout, they all poked their heads out from their hiding places.

Then they saw the infantry phalanx advancing towards them. The all-black armor surged up like a black tide, with great momentum, as if to swallow everything.

The commander of this rebel detachment had sweat all over his face. It was unclear whether it was hot sweat from the sun or cold sweat from being frightened by the enemy's formation.

At this moment, he was staring at the wooden fences placed in the center of the battlefield. Min Ze'er had specifically instructed him that as soon as the Yoda army crossed the first layer of wooden fences, he should fire cannons, and as soon as they crossed the second layer of wooden fences, he should let the crossbowmen shoot.

Next to him, a three-pound cannon was pushed up from the slope inside the trench. The artillerymen from the Madge rebels were loading the cannon. Their movements were skillful and quick. Although their clothes were soaked with sweat, they did not stop for a moment.

Since the rebel forces in various places were gradually disintegrated by Yoda's army, the remnants of the rebel forces all gathered in Padua. Some soldiers who participated in the uprising directly served as instructors of the local rebel forces. The most rare were the artillerymen who came to surrender with their cannons. They formed the first artillery team of the kingdom of heaven on earth.

Despite this, the rebels still had very few artillery pieces and could only be concentrated on battlefields where there were more enemy troops.

Finally, when the first layer of wooden fence was overturned, the rebel commander immediately gave the order:

"fire!"

Following his command, the artillerymen quickly pulled the rope, and the flintlock immediately ignited the propellant in the barrel. With a loud "bang", the solid bullet was quickly fired directly from the barrel, hitting the opposing infantry phalanx with a powerful impact.

The solid bullet rushed through the infantry phalanx and opened a gap, which caused chaos in the opposing infantry phalanx for a while, and the soldiers stopped moving forward.

"Don't panic, fill in the back for me!"

The Yoda soldiers continued to advance under the shouts of their officers, leaving behind only the soldiers who were hit by the shells and fell to the ground, wailing and moving on the ground.

At the same time, the other two artillery pieces fired in succession, firing shells at the infantry phalanx.

Despite this, it was still difficult to stop the Yoda army on the opposite side. They had too few artillery pieces. Even though they risked overheating and causing the barrel to explode when firing shells, the infantry phalanxes of the Yoda army continued to advance.

As the second layer of wooden fence fell to the ground, the crossbowmen from the rebels began to shoot continuously at the infantry phalanx.

They pulled their bows and crossbows to their full extent, and shot arrows like raindrops at the opposing infantry phalanx.

But the archers behind the infantry phalanx also adjusted their angles and continued to shoot, and for a while both sides suffered casualties.

Arrows crisscrossed in the air, making a "whooshing" sound, as if it were the whisper of the god of death. Some arrows hit the soldiers' bodies, while others hit the shields, making a "bang bang" sound.

Finally, when the distance was less than fifty meters, the opposing infantry phalanx began to charge, and the mighty army rushed directly towards the opposite position.

Their footsteps echoed on the ground like bursts of thunder.

The rebel commander shouted:

"Spearmen go forward, sword and shield soldiers provide cover!"

A group of sword and shield soldiers wearing various armors rushed forward, and behind them were spearmen with few pieces of armor, who picked up their spears and raised them in rows and rushed towards Yoda's army.

The two groups of people immediately rushed together, and in an instant, the sounds of shouting, screaming, and the collision of weapons were intertwined.

The spearmen raised their spears high and thrust towards Yoda's army.

The soldiers of Yoda's army used shields to block the spear attacks, while trying to squeeze through and slash at the rebel spearmen with swords.

The battle became fierce, and both sides paid a heavy price. Although the rebel soldiers fought bravely, their equipment and numbers were inferior to Yoda's army.

Yoda's army, relying on its numerical advantage, continued to advance towards the rebel positions.

"Huh, huh, it's so vulnerable."

Atton couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment when he saw this. In the distance, the rebel positions were collapsing at a speed visible to the naked eye. The dark phalanx of Yoda infantry was like a moving steel forest, constantly harvesting the rebel soldiers with daggers and maces.

"It's more refreshing to massacre this kind of rebel made up of peasants."

Atton licked the corner of his mouth, his thoughts drifting back to the border conflict with the Kingdom of Midland three months ago. At that time, even with the help of the "Blue Whale Heavy Knights" left by his father, they did not gain any advantage there.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at the flag of the Kingdom of Heaven fluttering on the rebel camp. At this time, the flag made of coarse cloth was already tattered. He seemed to see his new achievements that would be engraved on the family's wall of glory.

On the other side of the battlefield, the commander of the rebel army was in dire straits. He was originally a centurion in the Earldom of Madger. After the failure of the Madger uprising, he took 300 of his old men and defected to Münzer's army.

At this moment, his armor was covered with gaps and bloodstains. Half of the elbow pad on his left arm was chopped off, and there was a hideous knife wound on the exposed forearm.

He was swinging a dagger with a broken edge, slashing it hard into the neck of the Yoda soldier opposite him. The blade went straight into the throat and blood splattered on his face.

He didn't even have time to wipe off the blood. He immediately turned around and stabbed the dagger into the back of the soldier's head, twisting it twice like piercing a rotten watermelon to ensure that the other party was completely dead.

"Damn..."

He gasped and looked at the increasingly sparse phalanx behind him. The team originally had thousands of people, but now it was lucky if half of them could still fight standing up.

At this moment, a burst of hurried horse hooves sounded from afar, coming closer and closer, making the ground rumble.

The rebel commander turned his head sharply and saw a cloud of dust rising in the distance.

"It's our own cavalry!"

A dozen lightly armored riders were rushing out of the woods from the northwest, with the leading knight holding high a black flag embroidered with a red diagonal stripe.

His eyes lit up, and then he pulled out the horn from his waist and blew it with all his strength. The sharp sound of the horn penetrated the noise of the battlefield and reached the ears of every rebel soldier who was still able to fight.

"Pass it on, all units should fight and retreat at the same time!"

The commander swung his sword and cut down a Yoda soldier who tried to sneak attack him, then turned and yelled at the adjutant beside him.

"Have the artillery bury all the remaining gunpowder beside the trench!"

The adjutant was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted, grabbed a rag artillery flag and rushed high up, waving it.

Upon hearing the order, the rebel soldiers in the rear immediately began to retreat in an organized manner.

The spearmen in the front row covered each other and retreated to the woods, while the sword and shield soldiers in the back row swung their daggers to kill the approaching Yoda soldiers while using their shields to protect their companions behind them.

The commander personally led the team and rushed to the front to fight with the enemy. A Yoda officer tried to lead people to intercept him, but he was cut off half of his ear by a sword and retreated screaming.

"They're going to run!"

The cavalry in Yoda's army discovered the rebels' intentions and immediately reported to Atton.

Atun saw this scene from a distance, and his smile deepened:

"Want to run? It's not that easy!"

He was about to order the cavalry to pursue when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a cloud of black smoke rising from the rebel position.

The rebel cavalry lying in ambush in the woods immediately took action, each of them carrying a leather bag filled with kerosene in their arms, and torches soaked in resin hung on both sides of the saddle.

They rode their horses to the edge of the trench and without hesitation poured barrels of kerosene into the bottom of the trench.

"ignition!"

The rebel cavalry captain roared and threw the burning torch into the trench.

In an instant, the kerosene ignited when it came into contact with fire, and the orange-red flame shot up more than three feet high, and sparks mixed with burning wood chips shot into the sky.

The Yoda soldiers in the trench screamed in pain. Some of them were stepping on wooden stakes and trying to climb over, but were instantly engulfed by the flames. Some retreated to the edge of the trench and were knocked to the ground by the heat wave. What's worse, the armor on their bodies was ignited by the flames, and they looked like rolling fireballs.

The fire spread rapidly, spreading to both sides along the wooden piles and dry grass at the bottom of the ditch, completely blocking the last escape route.