Eagle Byzantium

There was a sudden and violent noise of shields and weapons. The Red Hand Cavalry swarmed and smashed their lances and caltrop hammers directly into the emperor's heavy armored spearmen array. This was a cruel tactic that the weak could not endure. However, although the front row of heavy armored spearmen were smashed to pieces, they continued to stay together, shouting angrily to maintain their formation. Some brave soldiers in the back row even picked up their lances and threw them back.

"Swish, swish, swish!" Brenus, who had just arrived at the left wing, saw with his own eyes the horror of the emperor's army's archers. They stacked up in layers, taking turns to shoot with bows, the sound of bowstrings was almost as continuous as thunder, and those arrows formed a hurricane of iron and dark clouds, swaying on the plains, falling towards the enemy's approaching spear formation. Brenus saw many soldiers holding huge spears fell in the formation, but the others quickly filled the positions of the dead and wounded, and continued to maintain a tight formation and move forward. Some two or three people held a spear in front and behind, and began to shout, running and attacking here.

The distance was five hundred feet, but it seemed that in the blink of an eye, Gawain's large spear formation suddenly leveled many spear blades towards here, reaching a distance of three hundred feet, then two hundred and fifty feet, two hundred and ten feet...

"How many rounds of arrows can our archers shoot?" Brenus asked the Bulgar mercenary officer beside him amid the deafening trumpet sounds and shouts of killing, and the answer he got was, "You are really joking, at most there is one round of volleys."

"Then fight hand-to-hand?"

"No, then run away!" The Bulgar officer answered straightforwardly. Just as he finished speaking, the archers of the various ethnic groups on the left wing shot the arrows on the strings again and for the last time, and then scrambled to turn around, carrying quivers and sabers, and ran wildly to the back like an unstoppable torrent.

"Your Highness Penipasebastos, run with this group of people!" Brenus came to his senses and saw that the barbarian officer had already run away without a trace. This was shouted by his famous guard. There was a lot of smoke and dust all around Brenus. The Italian veterans in front of Gawain, holding shields and swords, leaped forward like leopards, beheading the lagging imperial archers. Brenus saw how several archers who failed to escape had their heads and arms chopped off. "Change position! I hope this term is a tactic, not another way of saying rout." Brenus also rode his horse hurriedly, following his own running team and rushing further back. The rows of spear tips of the Red Hand Brigade's large spear formation were chasing after him and his mount's buttocks, scaring him to the point of falling off his horse several times. A guard beside him was not so lucky. He failed to control his horse and fell down. "Instantly, he was pierced into pieces by more than a dozen spears."

At this time, the fog on the plateau had completely dissipated. The time was just right for both camps. Gawain's infantry and cavalry took advantage of the fog and forced the emperor's army to within 800 feet without harassment from bows and arrows. The emperor's archer team was able to accurately and fiercely attack the invading enemy after the fog dissipated, causing heavy casualties to Gawain's team. The whole battle situation was generally chaotic. Within a minute, the emperor's two wings retreated far under the sudden attack of the spear formation, and lost the role of protecting the emperor's central army. After the same time, the red-handed cavalry, who suffered considerable casualties, tore and defeated three teams of the emperor's heavy spear formations. Those who lost their horses also raised their weapons and charged on foot without flinching.

Soon after, the emperor's heavily armed spearmen scattered and retreated to the sides, avoiding the advance of Gawain's cavalry, and continued to fight with the large spear formation that Gawain surrounded.

"The emperor's camp and flag are right in front of us, follow me and take it!" A red-handed cavalry flag officer was brave and roared at the position where the road ahead was open, urging the horse's hooves, holding the lance like the wind, and behind him followed a dozen comrades who shouted in response. "Charge, charge! Hallelujah, Holy Mother!" Even Gawain and all the other cavalrymen were ruthless, or it could be said that everyone's fighting spirit could not be cooled down at this time. Looking around, there were scattered infantry fighting each other, so this group of brave cavalrymen seemed even more fierce and invincible. They trampled and tore all the people and horses in front of them, and rushed towards the emperor's purple camp.

"Hunting this evil beast!" The emperor immediately drew out the sword of Athos in front of the imperial camp and chopped it down. Hundreds of archers suddenly stood up in the bushes behind him. They were all the "Royal Guard Archers" raised and trained by Alexius. They were composed of pure Roman noble orphans and children. They trained hard day and night at the shooting range of the Brahena Palace. There was the sound of rapid and fierce bowstrings shooting. The red-handed cavalrymen beside Gawain were constantly shot and fell off their horses.

"Long live the emperor!" The three ambushes that Alexius had set up between the rear and front formations suddenly rose up at the same time, surrounding the red-handed cavalrymen who had suddenly entered the core, swinging long axes and gathering spears in a bloody fight.

"Long live the emperor!" At this moment, when Alexius drew out the Holy Sea Sword and chopped it down, his reserve of 400 Pronian heavy cavalry, mostly wealthy peasant soldiers and landlords from Bithynia and Southern Opskin, came on horseback wearing armor and holding maces and broadswords, followed by a dense crowd of serfs holding short knives and slingstones, coming to harvest and slaughter Gawain's life. At this time, the light infantry and cavalry on both wings of the emperor who had retreated, once again swarmed back to occupy the high ground under the command of the flags, and fired a rain of arrows at the core of the battlefield, killing Gawain's Red Hand Brigade spear formation from the back.

Typical Turkic tactics! Use the advantage of luring the enemy and retreating, and then use the advantages of their own speed and archery to form a crescent shape of encirclement, encircle and annihilate the enemy.

"Gawain, you are just a beast in the end. You will slowly experience my military skills after you go to Hell." Alexius sneered and looked at Gawain in the distance with pride: this great patron has been trapped in a personal fight, and the Turkish army servants loyally guarded him. "Master, you are too impatient in the battle today." Muzafi Adin held a shield on each side to resist the spears that kept stabbing, and said to Gawain who was waving the Macedonian hand halberd.

"Really? My only regret is that I rushed too slowly." Gawain dodged the spearman who came with the stab, and then hooked the opponent's chin with the hand halberd, causing the opponent to fall headfirst and roll to death.

The Red Hand Cavalrymen behind them came one after another. They were all good at fighting tough battles. They risked their lives to break through the formations, and used lances and long hammers to smash the emperor's ambush troops that had originally surrounded Gawain into pieces. They rode their tall horses back and forth and rammed and trampled. The emperor's Varangian guards were often stabbed to the ground by the lightning-like lances before they had time to swing their axes. Those who retreated had no chance to regroup and were chased and killed one after another.

"Your Majesty, your ambush troops, your three-wing ambush troops were all dispersed and defeated!" A guard stuttered, pointing at the ambush troops running around in the dust.

Alexios' face was livid, but he still had the upper hand in the battle situation - 400 Pronian cavalrymen were coming forward as substitutes, fighting with Gawain's cavalry, while the large spear formations on the two wings of the enemy were firmly pinned down and unable to function properly in the rain of arrows. "I will personally go!" After saying this, the emperor actually held a bow and arrow, led all the inner guard cavalry, and rushed towards the "bloody battle core" in anger. (To be continued ~^~)