Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

On the hills in western Britain stood a row of military camps. Scouts on fast horses quickly crossed the camps, dismounted in front of the central army camp, and reported the situation to Belisarius.

"They have now crossed the border and are rushing towards our position. The exact number is not clear, but there are a lot, very, very many..."

Belisarius nodded slightly to indicate that he already knew. In fact, he knew more details than the scout. The barbarians claimed that they had 80,000 troops. Belisarius was afraid of affecting morale, so he did not tell the whole army about this matter. Only some officers knew that the number gap between the two sides was huge.

Belisarius casually said to his secretary Procopius, "It looks like they are ready to fight a decisive battle with us, and they are coming in full force."

Procopius did not know much about military affairs: "Then do we have a chance of winning?"

He smiled generously: "My friend, have confidence in yourself. I think we can not only enjoy a celebration banquet today, but also go down in history as another milestone in the Roman conquest."

He gave orders to the captains, ordering the army to assemble and prepare to fight the enemy in the wild. The quartermasters opened the door of the warehouse and distributed the various weapons stored in it. The militia originally used to deal with the Vikings' harassment was also mobilized to prepare for the Celtic invasion. The whole camp was filled with a solemn atmosphere, and everyone knew that they would face a fierce battle.

The reason why they did not choose to defend was, on the one hand, not to allow these people to enter England to plunder, and on the other hand, not to lose their reputation. Belisarius did not want the locals to think that the Romans had to use the defensive method to deal with these barbarians, so that the army would lose its deterrent power.

The upper and lower levels of the army had no objection to this. On the contrary, they were full of fighting spirit and prepared to fight with these barbarians who had always been in conflict.

………

In reality, the barbarian army should not have 80,000 people, but the actual number is quite large. After a rough calculation, there are probably 50,000 to 60,000 people.

The number of people on Belisarius' side is much smaller: more than 6,000 legionnaires, 5,000 of whom are Belisarius' own army, and more than 1,000 are reinforcements temporarily sent from Gaul. In addition, there are more than 2,000 Viking mercenaries and 15,000 local Germanic auxiliary soldiers.

In general, the gap in the strength of the two sides is huge, which gives the Celtic coalition great confidence. They chose to take the initiative to attack Belisarius' army and set up a battle formation in the hilly terrain.

The legionnaires and Vikings are fine. They are used to fighting against the majority with a small number, but those newly recruited Germanic auxiliary soldiers are not so good. Belisarius can clearly see the hesitation and even fear on their faces.

He was prepared for this. He mounted his horse and came to the front of the army, shouting at the top of his voice: "You must not take the enemy's noise and bluffing threats seriously! Look at what kind of people they have. They even let women and children join the army to fight. They are not a qualified army at all! The enemy's fighting spirit is not high and the equipment is poor. They have suffered many defeats at the hands of the Romans. These loose troops will not last long when they encounter a strong enemy. They will collapse in a moment.

Only a few people will decide the fate of the battle. If you can defeat a large army with a small number of people, you can win. If you win the victory, you will gain special glory. You just need to maintain the order of the team, do what you have learned in training, obey the orders of your superiors, show your martial arts and bravery, and don't rush to plunder wealth. You can naturally get everything after winning the war.

Show your courage! Honor, status, wealth, everything is waving to you! ! "

Now Belisarius can speak the local language fluently. He gave two speeches in Latin and local dialect, which stabilized the soldiers' emotions.

In the distance, the barbarian army all over the mountains can be vaguely seen approaching their own front line. The Romans lined up under the gaze of the Celts and met the enemy in a semicircular formation.

Although the terrain was a bit undulating, it could not prevent the army from deploying. In order to prevent the barbarian army from attacking the flank on his side, Belisarius had to lengthen his front line. The thickness of the infantry line could be clearly felt to be not as good as the barbarian army on the opposite side.

This is also normal. Any Roman legionnaire should be mentally prepared for this when he joins the army. When fighting against the barbarians, they are often at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers.

As the enemy gradually approaches their own front line, the scorpion crossbows deployed behind the front line begin to shoot at the enemy's position. This torsion crossbow may be slightly inferior to the heavy equipment in the future, but it can really be regarded as a suppression of the technology tree for the barbarians in front of them.

The enemy's formation is relatively loose, but the area is very wide. The accuracy of the crossbow is not low. After aiming at the enemy's front line, the accuracy is very high. It will not hit the enemy's formation with a string of blood gourds, but it can indeed nail people to the ground alive, and even penetrate the human body to continue to cause damage to one or two people behind.

The miserable death of their companions shocked the remaining soldiers. They subconsciously further distanced themselves from their companions and made the formation looser.

Most of the tribes that the Romans are facing now are not from Boudica's faction. Only Boudica's direct soldiers participated in the last siege of Wessex. Only they know what these legion soldiers look like when they fight seriously. These tribes generally only know what the enemy's army is like, and they don't have a clear understanding of specific tactics and equipment.

The Romans have long been familiar with the tactical habits of these barbarians in the long history of war. In their opinion, the level of the British barbarians should be inferior even among the barbarians - at least the barbarians on the mainland almost don't play horse-drawn chariots to attack the infantry line.

This is the loss of intelligence. One side relies on guessing and countering the moves, while the other side has made a fairly strict plan in advance and has a full understanding.

The other side moved forward a few dozen steps and was within the range of the bow and arrow again.

Before Orwell left, he left a group of bow makers in Britain. Belisarius also recognized some of Orwell's military ideas, such as the importance of enhancing long-range troops and cavalry troops, so he has been investing money to make bows and arrows to equip the army.

Except for a few elites who equipped themselves with powerful crossbows regardless of cost, most craftsmen followed the local customs and made simple and durable single wooden bows. The materials used were no longer the best Iberian yew wood, but various local woods, with the main principle of using local materials.

In terms of performance, it is definitely not very good. Not to mention the high-performance composite bows built by Biauville with money, it is a little different from the composite bows usually used by the Greeks and Romans. However, the disadvantage of expensive things is that they are expensive, and the advantage of cheap things is that they are cheap.

Skilled bow makers can deliver bows in units every day. The production is more restricted by time. After each bow is made, it takes several months to finalize before it can be used normally. Even so, thousands of wooden bows can be produced in a few months, enough for a small army.

In terms of whether this kind of bow can kill people, it is definitely possible. The penetration has also been tested in history. Maybe the performance is not as good as that of a sophisticated composite bow, but it can still penetrate the weak points of chain mail and even some inferior plate armor. It is a weapon that can be equipped on a large scale on the battlefield.

Not to mention that Belisarius's opponent now is not the French knights armed to the teeth, but the Celtic barbarian soldiers. Their armor rate is very low, and only a very small number of people can be equipped with mail, and scale armor and other higher defense goods have never been seen.

For such an enemy, a single bow is enough.

The distance between the two sides is shortened, and the archers draw their bows and arrows and start shooting.

The Celts have a numerical advantage, but the training and command and dispatch of the archers are not ideal, so they can only use a relatively scattered formation to shoot at the Roman positions.

The situation on the Roman side seems much more orderly. Even if most of the archers are auxiliary soldiers, they can use dense formations and follow the commander's orders to conduct concentrated fire.

The advantages of quantity and efficiency offset each other. At first glance, the shooting density of both sides seems to be similar, but the effect shows a trend of polarization.

The Celts were poorly equipped, and their formations could not protect their soldiers well. They were easily injured by arrows. If they were unlucky enough to be hit by three or five arrows, they would be dead. After several rounds of arrow rain, the enemy was also seriously injured.

On the Roman side, the legionnaires were at the top of the semicircular formation and faced the attack first. Their equipment level was not low. They had helmets and extended mail to protect their bodies and heads, and a large shield made of laminated wooden boards for self-defense.

The soldiers raised their shields one by one, forming the famous tortoise shell formation. Perhaps those strong bows could penetrate the shields, but these Celtic inferior wooden bows could not penetrate the shields at a long distance, not to mention that there was mail behind the shields to protect the body, so the enemy's long-range firepower did not cause much trouble to the Romans.

The Romans maintained a suppressed silence. The captains held whistles in their mouths, ready to issue new orders on the spot according to the situation of the battle. The soldiers were determined and tense, which undoubtedly gave people a feeling of being well-trained and well-organized.

On the two wings of the position, the auxiliary troops were not in a good situation. The resource tilt phenomenon was inevitable. Their equipment level and training level were not so good. The armor they were equipped with was very chaotic. The weapons they used were mainly spears, slings, light javelins, etc., and they did not have good shields and armor.

They still suffered considerable losses in the face of scattered arrows, but this loss was not an unacceptable problem for them. The auxiliary soldiers were also regular soldiers rather than mobs, and they had a certain tolerance for casualties. Both sides silently endured casualties and waited for the moment of engagement with different expressions.

Luo Luo held his sword and shield, observing the state of the soldiers on his left and right - excited, numb, confused, fearful, hesitant...

[If they were my warriors, they would not be like this. ]

With some contempt for these soldiers in his heart, Luo Luo stared at the soldiers on the opposite side and began to think about how to kill these enemies more efficiently.

He was very optimistic about this war. There was no doubt that this was another good opportunity for him to make a fortune. Without much hesitation, he invested all his belongings. Among the more than 2,000 Vikings, 1,500 were his subordinates, and the remaining 500 or so were from other families.

At this time, the three people who performed the duties of the patriarch on behalf of Ivar were [Snake Eyes] Sigurd, Ubbe, and [White Shirt] Havdan. They were very hesitant at this time, saying that the army suffered heavy losses in the war with the Irish, and at the same time they had to maintain the fleet on the sea to prevent the Franks from landing.

Under the excuses, only three to five hundred people came. Belisarius understood their thoughts, but did not force them to send troops, and just passed.

In Rollo's view, this was a typical fence-sitting speculation. Pirates have always treated the struggle for power on land in this way. It was certainly not wrong in the past, but now this approach is no longer appropriate. Ivar's brothers may be brave and cunning, but they are not as rare as Ivar in the overall view, and can see the changes in the situation and the times.

He believed that if Ivar was present, he would never do this. He would choose to bet on the Romans to win to show his loyalty like himself.

Now this hesitant fence-sitting policy is seen by the Romans as a manifestation of disloyalty. If you don't contribute in the war, you will naturally not share the honor and benefits after the war. This is a certainty.

This is a good thing for Rollo. His foundation is much thinner than the family foundation accumulated by Ragnar for two generations. Now the wrong judgment of the Rossbrook family will give him an opportunity to develop, and he can catch up.

These things flashed through his mind, and Rollo shouted loudly to encourage the soldiers around him. The deafening and loud sound also gave the soldiers around him some courage.

——

Soldiers from both sides quickly entered close combat. The Roman soldiers threw three rounds of javelins at the enemy's line, and the javelins splashed blood in the enemy's position. After several rounds of javelin throwing at close range, it was a more tragic and bloody melee.

The opponent's commander made another serious mistake at this time-he placed all his superior forces and most of the elite troops in the central position of the Romans, hoping to capture the thief first and directly break through the central position of the Romans.

But then he found that he had hit a wall. The continuous tide-like offensive did not directly break through the Roman position. Instead, the morale of his attacking troops was low due to heavy losses and no progress.

The barbarian tactics seemed helpless at this time. They relied too much on the wave charge. Once the momentum of the charge was frustrated, the situation would become extremely unfavorable to them.