Chapter 456: Battle of Piacenza (V)
When Petius heard this, he suddenly felt a headache: What should I do? Let the spearmen attack the opposing cavalry and light infantry? I'm afraid they won't be able to catch up with the enemy, and instead their formation will be scattered! But what if the spearmen retreat? That would expose the flank of the Eighth Legion, which was in the battle, and expose it to the long-range attack of the Nix crossbowmen... Oh, Caesar not only transferred the remaining cavalry, but also took away the second-line soldiers of the Seventh Legion, leaving my left wing with insufficient troops. How can I defend it? No, I still have the second-line soldiers of the Eighth Legion! Oh, and those Cretan archers!
Petius slapped his head and shouted to his men, "Hurry up and mobilize the second-line soldiers of the Eighth Legion to form a shield formation in front of the spearmen as soon as possible! And you, hurry to the barracks and transfer those Cretan archers to me!"
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
When Caesar left Egypt, considering that there was a new type of soldier, the crossbowman, in the Nyx army, he specially sent people to Crete to urgently recruit 500 Cretan archers.
Before the battle, he deployed these archers in the military camp because he considered that the Nicholas cavalry were very fast (the Nicholas scouts had fully demonstrated this feature in their previous battles with the Roman cavalry). In case the spearmen of the 13th Legion attacked from their flank, the Nicholas cavalry who were in the front chasing the retreating Roman cavalry might have been out of the attack range.
At this time, the Cretan archers in the Roman camp in front of them would rush out quickly, using bows and arrows to block their advance or force them to retreat, thereby cooperating with the spearmen to kill the Knyx cavalry to the greatest extent, laying a solid foundation for the next roundabout attack on the flank of the Knyx army.
Unfortunately, Caesar's plan failed to materialize because the Nyx cavalry did not pursue the retreating Roman cavalry, and 500 Celtic archers were still waiting in the barracks.
Just as Petius was scratching his head and finally coming up with a way to deal with the situation, the Nix crossbowmen who had completed their battle array had quickly approached within a hundred meters of the Roman spearmen's formation and began firing crossbow arrows.
After the first row finished shooting, the second row rushed forward to shoot, and then the third row rushed to the front to shoot; the three rows of crossbowmen at the back were responsible for pulling the strings and loading arrows, and they also moved forward in rows so that they could pass the prepared double-bow crossbows in their hands to their teammates in time...
Therefore, from the outside, the entire Nyx crossbow array was constantly approaching the Roman spear array, and at the same time, the crossbow arrows were also continuously shooting at the Roman spear array, just like this spring rain, continuous.
These soldiers of the Roman Thirteenth Legion were armed with spears and did not carry large shields. In order to attack the Nyx cavalry more quickly, they even replaced their iron helmets and armor with lighter leather helmets and armor.
With such thin protection and such a dense array, they were effectively hit by long-range attacks from double crossbows. The powerful arrows could easily penetrate leather armor and even the back.
The attack of the Nix crossbowmen was a disaster for the Roman spearmen. Every round of crossbow arrows fired was like swinging a huge scythe of death, harvesting the lives of a row of spearmen. After a few rounds of shooting, there were only a few Roman spearmen left standing opposite them.
Seeing that the formation of the Nix crossbowmen began to change direction under the command of the military flag, the nearby spearmen, who were already frightened by the tragic situation of their teammates, dared not stand there and be shot.
Although they were the most elite soldiers of the Thirteenth Legion under Caesar, they did not want to die in vain, so they turned around and retreated. No matter how the officers scolded them, they could not stop them. Especially after the Nix crossbowmen suddenly increased their speed to approach them, these spearmen no longer cared about the formation and order, and rushed to flee backwards...
Seeing this, Hargucus' eyes lit up, and he turned around and said to the messenger: "Go and tell Tinibazus (the commander of the right wing of the Nix army) that the opportunity has appeared! I will lead the cavalry legion to attack the Roman flank. I hope he will lead the second and fourth legions of the second-line troops to follow up as soon as possible and encircle the Roman left wing together!"
"Yes, legion commander!"
After sending the messenger away, Hagux looked around and excitedly waved the spear he held high in the air: "Boys, it's time to make a contribution! Charge with me!"
"Wooooooooooo!...Wooooooooo!..." The Nix Cavalry's brass trumpets sounded again, and thunder rumbled again at the southern end of the battlefield. Dust and fog were stirred up again, and they attacked the Roman spearmen who were retreating from Empress Shokura...
..........................................................................................
Caesar hurried to the center and suddenly saw a wall of people in front of him, blocking his way.
At this time, Brutus led his men and rushed over: "Caesar——"
Caesar reached out his hand to stop him from talking, rode to the back of the human wall, and observed carefully: this was not a human wall, but actually a newly added line of battle between the Romans and the Nicholas infantry. After extending to the west for dozens of meters, it turned south, where the Roman line was deeper, but it was still slowly moving back... After the human wall extended to the south for a hundred meters, it turned north again and finally connected with the original array...
It is like a big abscess that suddenly pops up outside the human body. It is scary and will bleed once it is squeezed.
Caesar could see his soldiers defending firmly and tenaciously, but he could also hear the enemy's excited roars inside...
He could imagine the Knicks infantrymen pouring into this "pus" and trying desperately to break it...
"It's been so long, why haven't we stopped the Knicks' attack yet?!" Caesar finally spoke, but he expressed his dissatisfaction with Brutus. Brutus saw Caesar's gloomy face and didn't dare to respond, so he pushed someone next to him.
The man did not hesitate, and saluted vigorously with his remaining right hand, explaining: "Mr. Archon, the barbarian soldiers who rushed through the gap were led by hundreds of strong men completely wrapped in fine iron! Our soldiers performed very bravely, but our short swords could not cause them any harm. On the contrary, the iron hammers they held in their hands could smash our shields and break our breastplates!
The Nix barbarians obviously trained these iron men specifically to target our legion soldiers. The 13th Legion has paid a lot of sacrifices to resist them and slowed down their offensive pace, but it is indeed unable to completely stop their advance.
However, Lord Brutus has already mobilized all the second-line soldiers on the right wing and the center to block the gap in time, and the barbarians are still unable to break through our line."
Caesar recognized the person who was speaking in front of him as his most trusted centurion Urenas, and saw that his left arm was injured. However, he was in no mood to express his concern. He asked anxiously, "It's dangerous for us to keep on passively defending like this. Is there no way to completely stop these so-called iron men?!"
"There is a way!" Urenas said firmly, "Although these iron men have amazing defense, they are wearing such heavy armor that their physical strength is greatly consumed, and they cannot sustain a long-term battle.
I have been watching from behind and found that the speed of their hammer swings has slowed down, and some of them are even shaking. I believe it won’t be long before it will be our turn to fight back! "
"That's the answer I want to hear!" Caesar's face, which was full of clouds, finally relaxed a little: "Brutus, I will hand over the second-line soldiers of the Eighth Legion to you. It is up to you to arrange how to defend and attack from now on!"
"Yes, Caesar!" Brutus finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Where are the Knicks' heavy cavalry?" Caesar's expression returned to seriousness.
"Over there." Brutus pointed diagonally behind him.
Caesar turned around and saw a dense formation of hundreds of Roman soldiers fifty meters away.
Caesar rode around them and saw the target he was looking for about two hundred meters away. The armor worn by the men and horses flashed golden light under the setting sun. At a glance, there were at least two hundred riders.
Brutus rushed over and whispered, "After these barbarian heavy cavalry broke through our formation, they stayed there without moving. I was worried that they would continue to attack our army, so I sent six centuries to form a dense phalanx to keep an eye on them."
Caesar asked in a deep voice: "If they charge again, can we stop them?"
"It...it should be possible." Brutus answered hesitantly. He had seen with his own eyes the power of the Knicks heavy cavalry charging.
Caesar saw that his men were not sincere, frowned, and shouted back: "Galadea, I have a mission for you."
"Respected Caesar, you say!" responded a Gallic rider, who was the commander of the four hundred Gallic cavalry.
Caesar pointed forward and said, "I'll leave those Knicks heavy cavalry on the opposite side to you."
Galadia was stunned when he heard this. He shook his head desperately and said urgently: "No! No! They are outnumbered and all of them are wearing heavy armor. My tribesmen and I can't defeat them at all!"
Facing Galadia's refusal, Caesar did not get angry, but patiently explained: "I am not asking you to fight them head-on, I am just asking you to entangle them. They are all wearing heavy armor, they certainly can't run fast and can't catch up with you. You just need to keep harassing them and prevent them from charging at me, and you will have completed your mission.
I have sent people to gather the defeated cavalry. I believe they will arrive here soon. By then you will have enough cavalry to command to complete this mission. What do you think? "
Galadia hesitated: "Just harassment?"
“It’s just harassment.”
"Okay, leave this task to me." After saying this, Galadia blew a sharp whistle to his tribesmen, and then led them forward.
(End of this chapter)
When Petius heard this, he suddenly felt a headache: What should I do? Let the spearmen attack the opposing cavalry and light infantry? I'm afraid they won't be able to catch up with the enemy, and instead their formation will be scattered! But what if the spearmen retreat? That would expose the flank of the Eighth Legion, which was in the battle, and expose it to the long-range attack of the Nix crossbowmen... Oh, Caesar not only transferred the remaining cavalry, but also took away the second-line soldiers of the Seventh Legion, leaving my left wing with insufficient troops. How can I defend it? No, I still have the second-line soldiers of the Eighth Legion! Oh, and those Cretan archers!
Petius slapped his head and shouted to his men, "Hurry up and mobilize the second-line soldiers of the Eighth Legion to form a shield formation in front of the spearmen as soon as possible! And you, hurry to the barracks and transfer those Cretan archers to me!"
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
When Caesar left Egypt, considering that there was a new type of soldier, the crossbowman, in the Nyx army, he specially sent people to Crete to urgently recruit 500 Cretan archers.
Before the battle, he deployed these archers in the military camp because he considered that the Nicholas cavalry were very fast (the Nicholas scouts had fully demonstrated this feature in their previous battles with the Roman cavalry). In case the spearmen of the 13th Legion attacked from their flank, the Nicholas cavalry who were in the front chasing the retreating Roman cavalry might have been out of the attack range.
At this time, the Cretan archers in the Roman camp in front of them would rush out quickly, using bows and arrows to block their advance or force them to retreat, thereby cooperating with the spearmen to kill the Knyx cavalry to the greatest extent, laying a solid foundation for the next roundabout attack on the flank of the Knyx army.
Unfortunately, Caesar's plan failed to materialize because the Nyx cavalry did not pursue the retreating Roman cavalry, and 500 Celtic archers were still waiting in the barracks.
Just as Petius was scratching his head and finally coming up with a way to deal with the situation, the Nix crossbowmen who had completed their battle array had quickly approached within a hundred meters of the Roman spearmen's formation and began firing crossbow arrows.
After the first row finished shooting, the second row rushed forward to shoot, and then the third row rushed to the front to shoot; the three rows of crossbowmen at the back were responsible for pulling the strings and loading arrows, and they also moved forward in rows so that they could pass the prepared double-bow crossbows in their hands to their teammates in time...
Therefore, from the outside, the entire Nyx crossbow array was constantly approaching the Roman spear array, and at the same time, the crossbow arrows were also continuously shooting at the Roman spear array, just like this spring rain, continuous.
These soldiers of the Roman Thirteenth Legion were armed with spears and did not carry large shields. In order to attack the Nyx cavalry more quickly, they even replaced their iron helmets and armor with lighter leather helmets and armor.
With such thin protection and such a dense array, they were effectively hit by long-range attacks from double crossbows. The powerful arrows could easily penetrate leather armor and even the back.
The attack of the Nix crossbowmen was a disaster for the Roman spearmen. Every round of crossbow arrows fired was like swinging a huge scythe of death, harvesting the lives of a row of spearmen. After a few rounds of shooting, there were only a few Roman spearmen left standing opposite them.
Seeing that the formation of the Nix crossbowmen began to change direction under the command of the military flag, the nearby spearmen, who were already frightened by the tragic situation of their teammates, dared not stand there and be shot.
Although they were the most elite soldiers of the Thirteenth Legion under Caesar, they did not want to die in vain, so they turned around and retreated. No matter how the officers scolded them, they could not stop them. Especially after the Nix crossbowmen suddenly increased their speed to approach them, these spearmen no longer cared about the formation and order, and rushed to flee backwards...
Seeing this, Hargucus' eyes lit up, and he turned around and said to the messenger: "Go and tell Tinibazus (the commander of the right wing of the Nix army) that the opportunity has appeared! I will lead the cavalry legion to attack the Roman flank. I hope he will lead the second and fourth legions of the second-line troops to follow up as soon as possible and encircle the Roman left wing together!"
"Yes, legion commander!"
After sending the messenger away, Hagux looked around and excitedly waved the spear he held high in the air: "Boys, it's time to make a contribution! Charge with me!"
"Wooooooooooo!...Wooooooooo!..." The Nix Cavalry's brass trumpets sounded again, and thunder rumbled again at the southern end of the battlefield. Dust and fog were stirred up again, and they attacked the Roman spearmen who were retreating from Empress Shokura...
..........................................................................................
Caesar hurried to the center and suddenly saw a wall of people in front of him, blocking his way.
At this time, Brutus led his men and rushed over: "Caesar——"
Caesar reached out his hand to stop him from talking, rode to the back of the human wall, and observed carefully: this was not a human wall, but actually a newly added line of battle between the Romans and the Nicholas infantry. After extending to the west for dozens of meters, it turned south, where the Roman line was deeper, but it was still slowly moving back... After the human wall extended to the south for a hundred meters, it turned north again and finally connected with the original array...
It is like a big abscess that suddenly pops up outside the human body. It is scary and will bleed once it is squeezed.
Caesar could see his soldiers defending firmly and tenaciously, but he could also hear the enemy's excited roars inside...
He could imagine the Knicks infantrymen pouring into this "pus" and trying desperately to break it...
"It's been so long, why haven't we stopped the Knicks' attack yet?!" Caesar finally spoke, but he expressed his dissatisfaction with Brutus. Brutus saw Caesar's gloomy face and didn't dare to respond, so he pushed someone next to him.
The man did not hesitate, and saluted vigorously with his remaining right hand, explaining: "Mr. Archon, the barbarian soldiers who rushed through the gap were led by hundreds of strong men completely wrapped in fine iron! Our soldiers performed very bravely, but our short swords could not cause them any harm. On the contrary, the iron hammers they held in their hands could smash our shields and break our breastplates!
The Nix barbarians obviously trained these iron men specifically to target our legion soldiers. The 13th Legion has paid a lot of sacrifices to resist them and slowed down their offensive pace, but it is indeed unable to completely stop their advance.
However, Lord Brutus has already mobilized all the second-line soldiers on the right wing and the center to block the gap in time, and the barbarians are still unable to break through our line."
Caesar recognized the person who was speaking in front of him as his most trusted centurion Urenas, and saw that his left arm was injured. However, he was in no mood to express his concern. He asked anxiously, "It's dangerous for us to keep on passively defending like this. Is there no way to completely stop these so-called iron men?!"
"There is a way!" Urenas said firmly, "Although these iron men have amazing defense, they are wearing such heavy armor that their physical strength is greatly consumed, and they cannot sustain a long-term battle.
I have been watching from behind and found that the speed of their hammer swings has slowed down, and some of them are even shaking. I believe it won’t be long before it will be our turn to fight back! "
"That's the answer I want to hear!" Caesar's face, which was full of clouds, finally relaxed a little: "Brutus, I will hand over the second-line soldiers of the Eighth Legion to you. It is up to you to arrange how to defend and attack from now on!"
"Yes, Caesar!" Brutus finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Where are the Knicks' heavy cavalry?" Caesar's expression returned to seriousness.
"Over there." Brutus pointed diagonally behind him.
Caesar turned around and saw a dense formation of hundreds of Roman soldiers fifty meters away.
Caesar rode around them and saw the target he was looking for about two hundred meters away. The armor worn by the men and horses flashed golden light under the setting sun. At a glance, there were at least two hundred riders.
Brutus rushed over and whispered, "After these barbarian heavy cavalry broke through our formation, they stayed there without moving. I was worried that they would continue to attack our army, so I sent six centuries to form a dense phalanx to keep an eye on them."
Caesar asked in a deep voice: "If they charge again, can we stop them?"
"It...it should be possible." Brutus answered hesitantly. He had seen with his own eyes the power of the Knicks heavy cavalry charging.
Caesar saw that his men were not sincere, frowned, and shouted back: "Galadea, I have a mission for you."
"Respected Caesar, you say!" responded a Gallic rider, who was the commander of the four hundred Gallic cavalry.
Caesar pointed forward and said, "I'll leave those Knicks heavy cavalry on the opposite side to you."
Galadia was stunned when he heard this. He shook his head desperately and said urgently: "No! No! They are outnumbered and all of them are wearing heavy armor. My tribesmen and I can't defeat them at all!"
Facing Galadia's refusal, Caesar did not get angry, but patiently explained: "I am not asking you to fight them head-on, I am just asking you to entangle them. They are all wearing heavy armor, they certainly can't run fast and can't catch up with you. You just need to keep harassing them and prevent them from charging at me, and you will have completed your mission.
I have sent people to gather the defeated cavalry. I believe they will arrive here soon. By then you will have enough cavalry to command to complete this mission. What do you think? "
Galadia hesitated: "Just harassment?"
“It’s just harassment.”
"Okay, leave this task to me." After saying this, Galadia blew a sharp whistle to his tribesmen, and then led them forward.
(End of this chapter)
