Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 160 Second Choice

   It was not the Hurd light cavalry that chased after him first, but the second lieutenant Bard, who was in charge of gathering the missing.

  When Bud led the riders to catch up with the group, almost every rider sat behind an extra person.

   "We found more than 20 people, and the rest of them can't be found." Bud reported to Lieutenant Colonel.

   But the lieutenant colonel cares more about another thing: "Are there pursuers?"

   "I didn't see it."

   Lieutenant Colonel Jesska had a gloomy expression, rubbing the stubble of his jaw, and it took a while to make up his mind.

   He ordered: "Let everyone stop resting, and start now."

The militiamen of the    Carriage Corps were reduced by 30% at once, and the lieutenant colonel had to order the distribution of the deceased's weapons to the drivers and traders.

   These civilians with no military training were temporarily formed and commanded by Bard—because they trusted only 2nd Lieutenant Bard.

   All the Dussacs who can still ride horses are under the command of the lieutenant colonel. Andre returned to the post of infantry officer to lead Bud's centurion.

  The original plan was to rest for two hours at the temporary camp, but in fact, half an hour was not enough. The carriage at the end of the team had not yet entered the camp, and the carriage in the camp was about to leave again.

  The militias, the coachmen, the merchants were grumbling—not to blame them either.

  The so-called pursuers can't even see their shadows, but the brutal one-eyed lieutenant colonel forced them to march, but it was real, and it was after a **** battle.

   Not only are the living exhausted, but the livestock are even more vulnerable.

   Many coachmen and traders begged for a break, as their animals were running out of steam.

   But the answer is only negative.

   Winters could occasionally see dead mules and horses by the roadside. While the owner of the livestock was still crying, others were already moving the contents of the cart to other carriages.

   The goods of the cargo team dare not be thrown away, and the goods of the merchants are reluctant to throw away. Although the pursuers may be not far away, no one can be sure if there are actually pursuers.

   As a result, the Paratus wanted to escape, but they dared not let go of their hands and feet to escape. In this way, dragging heavy cargo through the wasteland, dodging the invisible enemies behind.

   The convoy was able to maintain order, thanks to Dussac's saber and the prestige accumulated by several officers in the past.

   But even the second lieutenants were muttering: According to Lieutenant Colonel Jesska's interrogation method, it is not surprising that those Heards can say anything.

   "Remember that rabbit?" Bud asked.

   "What rabbit?" Andre was puzzled.

   Winters replied: "A rabbit who was beaten too hard to say he was a raccoon."

   After a few discussions, they decided to explain their concerns to the lieutenant colonel.

   Lieutenant Colonel Jesska set up a carriage as a temporary command post.

   When Winters approached the lieutenant colonel, the latter was hunched over a map.

"Sir, it's too dangerous to walk in the dark. Several horses stepped into the mouse hole and broke their hooves." Winters tentatively suggested: "How about we wait until dawn? Just in time, we can send more detectives to the back to check the situation. "

   "I have already dispatched." The lieutenant colonel said without looking up: "Instead of worrying about the back, it is better to think about how not to go the wrong way."

   "The forced march will damage too many mules and horses, and the road behind may not be easy."

   Lieutenant Colonel Jesska raised his head and stared at Winters, raising his eyebrows: "You also think I am a bow and snake shadow?"

   "I firmly submit to your judgment."

   "Small forces harassing supply lines is a consistent strategy of the Hurds." The lieutenant colonel leaned over to continue his work on the map: "But think about it, how many days have we not met the courier who came back?"

   Winters' hair stood on end for a moment.

The   supply line is also a communication line, and couriers along the way often encounter baggage teams. Occasionally, they will come to ask for saliva and exchange some news from the front and the rear.

   But in the past few days, I have only seen a messenger coming from behind, but I have not encountered a messenger coming from the front.

   "In any case, it is safest to return to the riverside camp first." Lieutenant Colonel Jesska handed a roll of parchment to Winters: "I suspect that the camp ahead has been lost."

   Winters unfolded the parchment, the map, and he finally understood what the lieutenant colonel was up to.

  The militia is not taken seriously, the map is only issued to the level of the brigade captain, and there are no centurions. Lieutenant Colonel Jesska is drawing maps for the three centurions under his command.

Lieutenant Colonel    said calmly: "You guys don't have to worry, I will take responsibility for anything. Just follow the orders with peace of mind."

   "Lieutenant Colonel, we are the least worried." Winters smiled: "The reason why I tell you this is just because of doubts."

   "Any doubts now?"

"there is none left."

   "Then get out of here."

   "Yes." Winters saluted.

  …

   From the map, it is about sixteen kilometers from the ambush site to the riverside camp.

   But the 16 kilometers is only the distance on the map. Because of the undulating terrain, the actual distance far exceeds this number.

   Before encountering the Hurd cavalry, the convoy had gone for most of the day.

   After the life-and-death fight, there was no time to breathe, and the team immediately turned around and turned back.

   Lieutenant Colonel Jesska ruthlessly drove the Paratus people to march at the speed of their lives, and they just walked two days in one night.

The price of    was that 33 mules and horses were injured and died of exhaustion, 17 carts were abandoned, and 13 carts were lost halfway.

   The road was bumpy, and many seriously wounded people could not support it and died. Many people were injured in accidents while marching at night.

   Finally, when the morning light appeared on the horizon, the "Styx" slowly emerged from the outline of the hillside.

  The river like a silver ribbon meanders through the yellow-green field, and the undulating water surface flashes with ten thousand points of golden light.

Brother Ruid stood on the hillside with his hips on his hips, pointing to the river and tutting his tongue in praise: "Look at the Zuo Qinglong, the right white tiger, and the jade belt water in front of the door. This is a treasure land of feng shui! But this old man has no queen, it's useless to think about these, haha. Ha ha!"

Winters didn't understand what the old man was talking about again, and he shuffled through the motorcade and shouted: "The riverside camp is right in front of you! It's coming soon! Wine, meat, bread, warm blankets, everything! Hold on! live!"

  While Winters was trying to cheer up the crowd, a gunshot was heard in the distance.

  The sound of gunfire echoed through the valley, and Pierre ran down the hill behind him. He waved his flag and shouted hoarsely.

   Winters couldn't hear what Pierre was shouting, but he didn't need to.

   "Herds are coming!" Winters shouted: "Speed ​​up! Centurions, assemble!"

  Everyone was stunned for a moment, and the driver who had recovered his strength slashed at the animals that were on the verge of reaching their limit, and the militiamen of the Montagne Centuries rushed towards Winters in a panic.

   "Coming?" Lieutenant Colonel Jesska rushed to Winters on a brown horse.

   "Come on!" Winters replied.

On the ridge on the west side of the   , the Heard cavalry appeared one by one.

  In their eyes, a group of carts are slowly crawling towards the camp of the Paratus on the west bank of the Styx.

   They stopped, as if waiting for an order.

   Wintersmer counted the number of Heard's cavalry: "Less than a hundred came."

   "It's probably just the vanguard." Jesska said with a sullen face: "It's possible that there are other troops hiding on the backslope."

  The Dussacks rushed to the lieutenant colonel one after another and gathered in a mess.

   Winters, Andre's centurion is assembling rapidly. Bud and his motley crew stayed in the team.

The    Dussacks also came one after another, and they gathered in a mess behind the lieutenant colonel.

   At this juncture, the Hurds moved. They also realized that the Paratus couldn't be allowed to line up.

   One cavalry came out more and more, followed by a hundred cavalry rushing down the hill,

  The roaring hooves were reflected in the valley, and the overlapping echoes were like thunder.

   All the Paratus were captured by the momentum of Heard's cavalry, and the one-eyed lieutenant colonel didn't seem to be in a hurry at all.

   "Wangshan run dead horses, let them run for a while." Jesska took his left hand off the handle of the saber, and gave the second lieutenant an order: "Second Lieutenant Montagne."

"exist!"

   "You are the reserve team."

"Yes!"

   "Lieutenant Cellini."

"exist!"

   "Cover cavalry."

"Yes."

  The ridge and the ridge don't look far, but to get there you have to go through a big downhill and a big uphill.

   The Hurds were in control of their speed and were jogging towards the bottom of the ditch.

   There is still an uphill road ahead, and they don’t intend to waste horsepower in the first place.

   Lieutenant Colonel Jesska cleared his throat and yelled at the Dussacks: "Don't... he... Mom is like a headless fly! Line up like a spearman for me. Arrow formation! Control your horses!"

  The young Dussacks of the Palatine cavalry had no training in cavalry combat at all, and stood in disembodied wedge formations amid the scolding of the old Dussac.

The lieutenant colonel's eyes swept over the riders under his command, and his tone was cold: "The old marshal once said that the Hurd people are fierce in temperament, brave in combat, and skilled in bowing and horses. Two Hurd cavalry against three Plato cavalry is like Chop melons and vegetables."

  The Dussacks have different expressions, some are nervous, some are afraid, but more are unconvinced.

"Aren't you convinced?" Lieutenant Colonel Jesska shouted, "I tell you, before you were weaned, the Hart child was already hanging in the saddle bag and nomadic! When you were still crawling on the ground, the Hurd child had already Start learning to ride a horse!"

   Anglo in the queue heard a cold snort from the depths of his nose from Pierre beside him.

"But the old marshal also said that a hundred Platoon cavalry will never be afraid of a hundred Hurd barbarians! A thousand Platoon cavalry can easily defeat 1,500 Hurd cavalry! This is discipline and tactics. And the power of the array!"

   Everyone's breathing began to become rapid.

   "Most of you have not received full cavalry training, I know." Lieutenant Colonel Jesska shouted: "But it doesn't matter. What are these hundred or so Heard barbarians? Follow me! Cut them down!"

   Before he finished speaking, the lieutenant colonel took the lead and rushed down the hillside with a roar: "Uukhai!"

  The Platoon cavalry was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help following the figure to charge: "Uukhai!"

   Winters' swear words blurted out, and the top commander on the scene was the first to kill him, and he didn't even have time to stop it.

  Andre was also dumbfounded, but he quickly recovered.

   "All of them! Run, walk!" Lieutenant Cellini shouted and led his troops to chase the cavalry.

   In the blink of an eye, only Lieutenant Montagne and his centurion were left on the hill, shivering in the cold westerly wind.

   "Square formation." Winters reluctantly ordered: "Musketeer, prepare the match, and load the ammunition."

  In the valley, the distance between the two groups of cavalry was rapidly closing.

   The Hurds don't seem to have a formation at all.

The   Plateau cavalry barely maintained a wedge formation that was about to fall apart, and the lieutenant colonel himself acted as the tip of the spear.

   Seeing that the two sides were about to collide with each other, all the Paratus people on the hillside stared with bated breath.

   "Boom!"

   "Boom!"

   "Boom!"

  Three gunshots spread across the valley.

   Winters followed the sound, and several Heards were also watching the battle on the opposite hillside, and the gunshots came from there.

   After the gunshot, a mutation suddenly occurred in the valley.

  Hard's cavalry, which seemed to have no formation, was instantly divided into two, and they went around the left and right sides of the Plato wedge formation.

   "Oops!" Winters exclaimed in his heart.

   "Broken!" Andre also shouted in his mind.

The advantage of the    wedge formation is that it is easy to turn, and as long as everyone is following the person in front, the rider in charge of guiding can easily control the direction of the shock.

   But the Hurds were obviously not ready to face the Palatines head-on. They split into two groups and moved towards the flanks of the Palatine cavalry formation.

The    wedge formation can of course be divided into two parts, but that kind of formation change between the marches is not something that these rookie cavalry who only follow silly rushes can play.

   The one-eyed lieutenant colonel gritted his teeth and yanked the reins with his left hand. The charging wedge followed him and slammed into the Heard cavalry on the left flank.

   In an instant, the people turned their backs, and the Paratus and Hurds who had survived the first wave of hedging began to melee.

The half-hundred Herd cavalry on the right flank did not choose to support their companions, but bypassed the chapter and went straight to the convoy.

   At the ridgeline of the opposite hillside, nearly a hundred Heard cavalrymen rushed out from the reverse slope.

  Hard cavalry with feathers on their helmets, holding spears, screamed and charged towards the Platoons who were fighting at the bottom of the valley.

  Andre and his soldiers finally arrived and joined the battle together.

   More than fifty Heard cavalry on the right flank roared past the small phalanx of the Montagne Centuries.

   Winters' musketeers opened fire, but none of Heard's cavalry fell.

   Those Hurds ignored the militia formed and went straight to the clumsy convoy.

The    dilemma was pushed to Winters at once.

  Return to the rescue team?

   Support the battle in the valley?

   There are only Bud and civilians in the convoy, and a massacre awaits them.

   While the battle in the ravine looked evenly matched, the Paratus had a chance of winning.

  Between lightning and flint, he has made a choice.

   "If you lose, no one will survive!" Winters' roar seemed to suggest himself: "The phalanx is unfolding! Everyone! Come with me!"

  Bard's side...It's up to them.

   Touched a fish to finish writing this chapter.

   Thanks to the book friends who voted for the recommendation votes and monthly tickets, thank you, and share your heart.

   The time is short, so I won’t thank them all here. I’ll thank them all in the next chapter, sorry.

   (end of this chapter)