Eagle Byzantium

Afterwards, Godfrey's infantry regiment line, with the reinforcement of the Brocade Brotherhood, resisted Alexios's continuous attack from the city gate. At the same time, Gawain and Baldwin gathered their men and horses, and after a short rest, they mixed infantry and cavalry, abandoned the bridge and river positions, and rushed towards Godfrey's position.

"Crack!" The spike of Birrel's iron spear intersected with the spear of a Byzantine standard-bearer, and then both sides gritted their teeth and swung the spear handles at each other, trying to push away the other's spear tip and then give a fatal blow. In the end, the strong and powerful Birele gained the upper hand. After suppressing the opponent's spear, he swung the iron club and hit the helmet of the standard-bearer. The man's neck swung violently, and then blood splashed out, but he still refused to discard his weapon. A soldier from the Lombardy company next to him thrust out the thorn spear in his hand and stabbed it into the abdomen of the standard-bearer. The brave man knelt down helplessly, curled up on the ground, and died.

Then the Byzantine infantry battle line in front of Birele showed signs of weakness in the battle of spears. The Greek soldier companies on the left and right sides of the Lombardy company also performed well, tightly biting Diogenes' offensive and preventing him from escaping.

The imperial guard officer, who was riding a horse and shouting his voice hoarse to encourage the battle, looked more and more uneasy: he could clearly feel the signs of collapse in the ranks. In this kind of fierce spear battle between infantry teams, once a gap appeared on one side and the formation was shaken, it would collapse. He looked at the faint light in the snow. Behind the enemy infantry, there were cavalry teams with strict formations and Italian veterans on both wings. All of this indicated that it would be difficult for him to replace the team: replacement would inevitably loosen the formation; loosening would inevitably collapse; collapse would inevitably be pursued by Birrel's troops, and that would be the end of corpses everywhere.

In the end, it was the reserve team of Taitius that pressed forward. The infantry and cavalry that saved the guard officer's field, which spread throughout the valleys of the imperial mausoleum, shouted and attacked densely.

Exhausted, Birrell raised his iron spear: trumpets and horns sounded, and the Italian veterans on both wings joined the battle at the same time. Giovanni also led the half-full St. Cyril Cavalry Company, raising the flag. Slowly pressed forward. The scale of the battle between the two sides was constantly expanding, and the stakes were also increasing. If either side failed, it would suffer fatal losses.

Shouts rang out again, and the spears of the two armies in the horizontal array stabbed fiercely again. Under the spears that came and went, there were bloody corpses lying horizontally.

"The soldiers are very tired, and many of them are injured. I'm afraid I can't live up to the Grand Duke's instructions. What should I do?" Birrell thought of this, and he was so anxious that he almost cried out. His snot was running out and frozen. Beside him, the Lombard militia were breathing heavily with white gas, and they were holding the gloves on the handles of their guns. The bloody frost had already condensed on them, but they were still holding on to their fighting positions. This was an uncompromisingly hard battle. Anyone who retreated or wavered would be pushed into an eternal hell.

The Greek infantry on both sides also ignored fatigue and casualties and engaged in a fierce fight.

"Surrender! I am Diogenes. We fought side by side in Italy before. You have no chance of winning and have angered the great emperor." Diogenes rode his horse back and forth in front of the battle and shouted.

"Never!" The soldiers of the Red Hand Company on the opposite side shouted in unison. "You are now just an enemy we despise."

One or two thousand enemy and our own spears, with the will and courage to fight to the death, stabbed and chopped each other along the thousands of feet long snow, fiercely restraining and pulling each other, stirring up a storm more terrifying than winter snow, sweeping the land in front of the imperial mausoleum: on the tall hill, the huge rusty bronze statue of Emperor Saint Basil stared with majestic "eyes" and overlooked everything.

Taitishius, who was in command, rode on his horse and looked at the entire battlefield. "It is very rare for Gawain to achieve this, but my detachment will live up to the power of the empire and be the first to achieve a decisive breakthrough on the enemy's front. I hope that my merits can extend the life of His Excellency Caesar."

But soon, a cavalryman hurried over and reported to General Nobi, "A large number of troops suddenly appeared on the left wing of our army."

"What." Taitishius' heart sank, and then he followed the direction pointed by the cavalryman, and on the left side of the hill, there was indeed a large number of armed troops with flags.

This happened to be mobilized by Gottschalk from the pilgrim camp. Originally, Gawain gave him a quota of 3,000 people to take on logistical chores, but Gottschalk pulled out 4,000 to 5,000 people. This group of civilian pilgrims had not received any formation and tactical training, but at least they could hold weapons. Under the encouragement of Gottschalk's fanatical speech, they fought and rushed hard with blood and courage.

At least, in the eyes of Titishius, these thousands of people were "combatants" with flags and weapons, and once they arrived at the battle site, they would launch the most dangerous "flank attack" on their own formation in a stalemate, unless their commander was an idiot and mentally retarded.

"Retreat." Titishius gritted his teeth and made up his mind, ordering the trumpeter beside him to blow the signal.

The guard officer Diogenes could hardly believe his ears. When he looked back at the flags on the hill, he officially confirmed Titishius's order...

But retreating from the battlefield, for the ancient army, was almost equivalent to "defeat". First, the horses that came from the rear retreated in a hurry, and then the soldiers on the front began to collapse and flee. The guard officer also mixed in the crowd, and did not dare to look back. He ran for about half a li before stopping.

Then he looked back and saw that the half-li area was covered with the bodies of his own soldiers. Most of them were killed on the way to escape. Diogenes was in great grief. Then the Byzantine soldiers began to guard the imperial mausoleum, and the guard officer drove his horse to the battle flag angrily and asked Taitishius, "Why did you blow the horn to retreat in the battle?"

"Because there are dangerous reinforcements from the enemy over there." Taitishius pointed to the pilgrims who came and answered.

Diogenes looked down carefully, "What kind of regular army is that? They are just civilians with weapons. With more time, we can completely defeat Gawain's infantry company and completely turn the tide of the battle. The group that came here temporarily was sent by Gawain to intimidate and deceive you and me - but the tragedy is that you were fooled."

A correct version at a glance in 1619 Books and Bars!

"Please calm down, officer." Taitsius was not angry, "You were supervising the battle just now, but I observed the entire battle situation. I believe that even if His Majesty is here, he will agree with my behavior." (To be continued ~^~)