Mercenaries and Adventurers

The militia camp is not too far from the bandits' lair, but the road there is all uphill, which is quite tiring.

The bandits were not idle yesterday. They really wanted to fight to the end. Outside the entrance of the cave, they set up many obstacles to resist the firing of crossbows.

The Crow Knight asked the militiamen to stop at a place away from where the bandits' weapons were thrown. Because the terrain was not good and there were not many places for the militiamen to spread out, the Crow Knight asked the spear militiamen of twenty people in each team to Launch attack waves according to the team.

Each militiaman carried two bags of fifteen crossbow arrows, a total of thirty, which was enough to launch a wave of crossbow arrows.

Kil followed the Crow Knight to the front, while the militiamen behind him either cut down the trees on the mountains, cleared the snow on the road, or waited for their turn to take the field.

The first wave of militiamen dispersed, standing in the distance at first, shooting at the top at will from below, so that the bandits hiding behind the resistance could not launch an attack.

Immediately afterwards, the fast-moving secretary and assistants in the camp delivered the first large wooden shield.

With the help of this thing, the frontline militiamen no longer need to hide in safe places with poor shooting angles. They can place this large wooden shield with supports in the middle of the hillside heading to the bandit's lair, and hide behind the large wooden shield. Militiamen can safely cock their guns and fire, greatly expanding the possibilities of frontal battlefield shooting.

As time went by, more and more large wooden shields were provided in the rear camp, which basically allowed a whole group of twenty spear militiamen to hide behind the wooden shields and shoot.

"Kiel, you go to the front. The bandits may not be able to accept the feeling of being beaten simply. They may send people to attack the wooden shields and engage in close combat with the militiamen." Knight Crow instructed Kiel to support the militiamen in close combat.

"Moreover, the first team of militiamen did not have many crossbows on hand. They spent most of the morning shooting. Although they failed to kill one or two, they at least stabilized the front."

Kiel picked up his spear and ran to the front line. At the same time, Knight Crow's order sounded clearly and loudly: "The first team retreated from the left one by one. The second team should be impatient. It's your turn to go up."

The first group of militiamen who had been shooting nervously all morning ran back quickly, while the second group of militiamen who had been waiting for a long time passed by the first group of militiamen.

The bandits who were hiding behind obstacles that were densely packed with crossbows and arrows immediately saw the right moment and rushed out howling excitedly.

The leading bandits naturally saw the opportunity in the militiamen's exchange. As long as they removed or burned the large wooden shields that provided the militiamen with shooting defense, they could make the militiamen's work all morning in vain.

Moreover, close combat with the militiamen is the only way that the bandits believe they can defeat these large numbers of militiamen. When it comes to killing people, these bandits don't find it difficult at all.

Kiel, who came to the front line earlier, was ready for battle. As long as he delayed the bandits for a while, the militiamen who arrived soon would be able to establish their position and shoot the bandits rushing out one by one.

But it was not the second group of militiamen who came over to achieve the victory first.

"Third team, shoot as you please across our wooden shields!" Knight Crow had already prepared. The third team of militiamen was far away. The entire team of 20 people lined up neatly and fired the crossbow arrows in their hands in the general direction of the bandits. .

Whoosh whoosh whoosh.

Crossbow arrows pierced the air and flew over Kil's head. He was so frightened that Kil hurriedly squatted down. He didn't want to be hit in the back by one of his own crossbow arrows.

"Damn it!"

"ah!"

Some of the bandits who rushed out of the obstacle were shot. After all, it was a volley of twenty people. There were always unlucky bandits and lucky militiamen showing themselves.

After a wave of arrows, the bandit closed the distance and hid on the other side of the big wooden shield. Kil dodged directly and slashed hard with the double-edged spear in his hand, slashing the bandit hiding on the other side of the wooden shield along the shoulder and neck.

Kil took two steps back, inflicting more damage on the bandit with his gun blade while drawing out his weapon. Then, without waiting for the other bandit who was also hiding behind the wooden shield to rush up, he directly let go of the opponent's weapon and stabbed the bandit in the stomach with one shot. .

He was hit behind him, but Kil didn't feel the pain, only his body was slightly shaken.

He released the handle of the gun with his right hand, touched the long sword on his left waist, turned around and pulled it out, Clang! He fought with a bandit who came from behind.

The robber didn't expect that his sneak attack was useless, and he had to fight with a real knife.

But it didn't keep him excited for long. Kiel glanced at the second group of militiamen coming from the right, clamped the spear on his waist with one hand, and then swung the sword and took a few steps back.

Immediately afterwards, the bandit who was about to kill Kiel who was retreating was shot into a honeycomb by the militiamen who were half crouching on the ground and raised their crossbows.

The crossbow arrows pierced through the bandit's leather jacket, nailing his arms and body together through flesh and blood.

Kil shook off the bandit who was impaled by the spear, quickly retracted the sword with his right hand, thrust out the spear again, and stabbed the wounded bandit to death.

Several militiamen ran to the big wooden shield behind Kiel, put down their spears, picked up their strung crossbows, and started shooting.

"Some people, come with me!" Kil yelled.

Four militiamen came to him with their spears raised. The five stood in a tight row, leveled their spears and spears, and rushed diagonally towards the bandits who were about to push the big wooden shield down the mountain.

Kiel's spear was much shorter than the spears of the militiamen, so it was the militiamen who stabbed the bandits first. It's just that their impact speed is not fast, and the bandits with some combat experience either dodge or swing their weapons to miss the militiamen's spear tips.

But Kil had expected it. He was one step ahead of the militiamen and aimed his spear directly at a bandit who was about to rush over. He raised the gun against the ground and directly slashed one of the bandit's legs.

Next to them, the militiamen's spear thrusts had no effect, so they raised and lowered their spears, using the sharp tips of their spears to continuously rise and fall to attack and drive back the bandits who wanted to get closer.

Moreover, if these heavy spears are smashed when they rise and fall, it is not a light attack.

When Kiel wounded a bandit, he immediately raised his spear and knocked it down. Compared with the militiamen's spears, which only had a small bit of metal on the tip, Kiel's double-edged spear had a sharp, long and wide blade.

As he lifted and lowered, Kil accurately controlled the gun blade to split the leather cap on the bandit's head, shattering the bandit's skull.

I don't know if the bandit is dead, but seeing the bandit rolling his eyes and falling to the ground, Kil stopped caring about him and yelled directly, waving his spear left and right, and drove away three people who wanted to get closer. Bandits.

Immediately afterwards, the previous training of the militiamen came into effect. The four militiamen took two steps back, and then the four yelled at which bandit they should attack together. The sharp tips of the four spears pierced the bandit, directly killing him. Four large holes were poked in the bandit's body. As the militiamen shouted again and retreated, a large amount of blood continued to flow from the wounds on the bandit's body.

Upon seeing this, the remaining two bandits immediately turned around and ran away, but were immediately shot down by five or six militiamen behind large wooden shields with crossbows. The other was hit by an arrow in the leg, and fled back while hopping on one foot and screaming. Behind the obstruction on the bandit's side.

Kiel and the other five took down the large wooden shield, and immediately a second team of militiamen came over and erected the large wooden shield that was knocked down and destroyed by the bandits.

The bandits cut off the wooden sticks supporting the large wooden shield, and a militiaman had to squat down and prop up the large wooden shield.

With his men in tow, Kil immediately rushed towards another large wooden shield that was on fire.

The bandits brought a bottle of strong liquor they didn't know where to get, poured it on the big wooden shield, and then lit it on fire, and the flames immediately burst into flames.

The five men from Kiel arrived and directly aimed and stabbed the bandit who wanted to escape.

This time, the four militiamen had a little experience. They no longer tried to attack all the bandits separately. Instead, two of them aimed at one person and stabbed the bandits together at the same time. If a bandit tried to open a militiaman's spear, another spear would pierce him, so this time, several militiamen achieved some success.

Kil then caught up and stabbed a bandit in the face with a shot, killing the bandit directly, and then drove away the other bandits with a spear.

Seeing that the large wooden shields had been set alight and that Kiel and the others were coming to drive them away, the remaining bandits gave up their thoughts of supporting the other bandits and turned around and ran directly to where they came from.

The militiamen who had secured a shooting position tried to shoot at the bandits, but were forced back by the weapons thrown by other bandits hiding behind the shelter, and had to retreat behind large wooden shields to resist.

Kiir and the militiamen dodged the weapons thrown at them, ignored the large wooden shield that was set on fire, and rushed directly to the next place, trying to kill as many bandits as possible.

The bandits at the last two large wooden shields were suppressed by other militiamen with crossbows from a distance, making it difficult for them to destroy the wooden shields, so after Kiel led the men to rush over, they immediately slipped back to their original place.

In this way, the militiamen who were shooting from behind caught up and occupied the large wooden shield, maintaining the status quo before the team change.

Seeing that the battle line was stable, Kil received the summons from Knight Crow and returned to him.

"Well done." Knight Crow praised Keir.

"Sorry, I still let the bandits burn a large wooden shield." Kil took out a piece of coarse cloth and wiped the blood and hair on the blade of the spear.

"It's okay. On the contrary, after you and the militiamen fought hard, we only lost a large wooden shield that we could make quickly, while the bandits lost several people. Haha. It won't be a problem to advance the front fifty meters in the afternoon. ." Knight Crow was very satisfied with the performance of the militiamen, while Kiel's performance was completely within his expectations.

Just now, Kil defeated several bandits by himself, but this was because the bandits didn't know much about his activity. After the bandits became wary of him, it would be very difficult for Kil to perform well.

But it doesn't matter. For Knight Crow, if the battle does not include the intervention of knight-level warriors, then the bravery of one or two people on the battlefield is not very important.

Soon, a newly made large wooden shield was delivered from the camp behind, which made everything the bandits did just now look ridiculous. From here, Kil could hear the frustrated curses of the bandits when they saw the newly delivered wooden shields.

"Kiel, look, isn't this all very interesting? The battle is actually very interesting, the enemy's curses and pleadings, the moment of false victory and the desperate defeat. All of this is difficult to see elsewhere except on the battlefield. If you want to be a brave warrior, you must learn to understand and enjoy fighting." Knight Crow patted Kil's helmet and said.

Kil nodded. He tried to understand some of the fun between people fighting against each other. Otherwise, the battlefield would be too boring.

Unlike the battles that most people imagined, the battle process that Kil saw did not appear to be very fast. It was basically a stalemate and slow advancement between the two parties, and then a fierce confrontation suddenly broke out.

He could barely tell that Knight Crow had been avoiding large-scale close combat between the militiamen and the bandits. The reason becomes clear as soon as you think about it. Compared with the militia, the advantage of bandits is that they have the brutal experience of traditional close combat, so the militia must avoid large-scale close combat with bandits.

But small-scale close combat can be done. Once the militiamen have the numerical advantage, although the battlefield is not wide enough to deploy two spear militiamen, by repeatedly replacing the frontline militia teams, the Crow Knights can let the frontline combatants on their side of the frontline, Always ensure the best fighting condition.

The bandits seem to have no experience here. Their team is composed of bandit leaders. The bandit leader on the front line only has so many people. Unless he retreats and lets other leaders lead people, it is necessary to Otherwise, it will always be the bandits who are fighting against Kiel and the others.

The bandits had been on the front line of the battlefield since dawn in the morning. By this time in the afternoon, the long hours of fighting and tension had made the bandits not only tired, but also mentally very fragile.

Not only did his fighting skills decline rapidly, but his will to fight was also running low.

The second point is that Knight Crow boldly let Kiel fight on the front line. He is like a firefighter. Once there are bandits about to rush over, Kil will rush forward immediately, using armor and spears to hinder or block the bandit team rushing down. Then another team behind the front line will cross the front line. , covering the rear of the bandits in the shooting battle, intercepting the bandits that rush over next and those who want to retreat.

The militiamen behind the large wooden shields lined up one after another would shoot at the unprotected bandits against Keir, trying to gain more manpower to kill and injure the bandits.

In this way, many small-scale close battles between the bandits were resolved by Crow Knight.

Once or twice, when Kiel was not aware of it, the bandits wanted to rush towards the militiamen, but Knight Crow, who was experienced in the battlefield, saw the bandits' intentions first, and he would immediately adjust the response. The several waves of militia teams that came down were asked to move forward and arrange their bows and crossbows in a dense array.

If the bandits dare to swarm down, he dares to let these bandits lose less than half of their people on the road. In this way, he will lose at most half a small spear militia, while the bandits will have to bear the burden of a large number of attacks and retreats. Casualties caused by intensive strikes from crossbows.

No bandit would want to be shot to death by crossbows on the way to attack. Bandits are not militiamen. They can bear being killed in close combat if their skills are inferior to others, but they cannot accept being forced to attack by the leader, and then they will be killed in vain. It's like dying on the way.

Knight Crow saw through the identity limitations of the bandit gang, so he repelled the bandits' attempted large-scale attacks twice without a fight, which completely weakened the bandits' arrogance.

The militiamen's advance continued.

Once a row of large wooden shields is erected, another row of staggered large wooden shields behind will be lifted up by the militiamen, and then lifted forward little by little. At the beginning, the bandits wanted to throw torches to burn these large wooden shields, but if they huddled behind obstacles, they still couldn't get the right place. If you lean out and throw a torch, you will be shot to death with a crossbow by the militiamen who have been waiting for a long time.

In this way, it was the militiamen who used torches first to burn down the shelter where the bandits were hiding.

After Knight Crow first saw that the number of large wooden shields reached eight, he stopped the work of making large wooden shields in the camp and asked them to start making torches.

With eight large shields on the front line, the militiamen advanced much faster, and soon reached a distance where they could throw torches from the lower ground to the bandits' shelter above.

Then, behind the first row of shields on the front line, the militiamen no longer used crossbows, but used torches to start throwing out, trying to burn the bandits' shelter from the crossbows.

Once a bandit wants to attack the torch-throwing militiaman who leans out, the crossbow-wielding militiamen in the back row with shields will shoot the person into a sieve with a volley.

Soon, as dozens of torches were thrown out, all the wooden boxes covered by the bandits were burned. Choked by the heat and smoke, the bandits couldn't hold on any longer, so they had to abandon this line of defense, turned around and fled to the higher ground behind. a line of defense.

When Knight Crow saw the bandits retreating, he immediately sent out an elite melee militia led by Kiel, who quickly rushed forward to put out the burned shelter.

It's not that these shelters have any use, the main thing is that these shelters are densely packed with crossbow arrows that the militiamen shot today.

These small crossbow arrows with wooden shafts and iron heads cannot be made by the militia camp, and can only be repaired in small quantities. Therefore, it is very important to recover these fired crossbow arrows.

Kil and the others each held a large puddle of cold snow. As soon as they received the knight's order, they rushed over and sprinkled the snow on the torches and various burning wooden box shelters.

Then the militiamen behind carried large wooden shields and quickly moved forward to occupy this area.

Arriving here, Knight Crow looked at the sky. It was already afternoon and it was getting dark quickly in the mountains, so today's battle was over. Next is the time to consolidate the process.

The idle militiamen had previously cut down many surrounding trees blocking the road. At this time, these trees were made into campfires, filling the battlefield, and would be lit when it got dark.

First, it can provide night lighting so that the militiamen can clearly see the actions of the bandits. Secondly, it can form a flame barrier that hinders bandits from raiding at night.

If not arranged in this way, the bandits will definitely try to launch a large-scale raid on their side after night arrives to regain the positions lost during the day.

But Knight Crow could have used this to set up a trap, causing heavy losses to the bandits and speeding up the battle. However, he considered that after clearing the bandit's lair this time, he still had the experience and ability to train the militiamen to attack fortresses, so he gave up the plan of setting up an ambush at night.

He directly asked the militiamen to prepare two continuous campfires. When night came, these campfires were lit, completely blocking the front of the battlefield, which was not very wide. Dispel any plans by the bandits for a night battle.

Of course, the front is impassable, and other places with more difficult terrain can still be walked, but at night it is impossible for many people to move together in an orderly manner. A few people can come out along the steep hillside, but these few people can't do much.

It's possible to escape by yourself, but it's unlikely to be used to cause trouble for the militiamen.

Knight Crow has already set up an encirclement, and those bandits who escape at night will not really be able to escape, but will only die under his arrangement.