The Rise of the European Emperor

Just after the spearmen of the Allied Forces of the Eight Kingdoms rushed out, the black-shirted knights who had stopped to shoot comfortably also began to retreat in an orderly manner. The black-shirted knight didn't have a long weapon, so if he stopped to fight the spearman recklessly, he was looking for abuse.

Many people may think that cavalry is inherently restraining infantry, but it is actually wrong. Cavalry with only melee capabilities can't actually beat spearmen, especially European spearmen.

European spears are generally three or four meters long, and the longer ones, such as the spears of Swiss spearmen, can be 6 meters long. With such a long length, you, a melee cavalry, charge up with a saber, which is no different from dying. Even if you hold a 2.8-meter-long lance, you are still delivering food. Of course, if the spears of the infantry are about the same length as those of the cavalry, the cavalry must win. But if the infantry used the five or six meter long spears of the Swiss, it would be different. With the use of this kind of spear, and the fact that the Swiss are good at forming spear formations, both the plate armor knights of the Habsburg family and the plate armor knights of Burgundy suffered a lot...

In the ancient East, the reason why the cavalry on the grassland restrained the infantry was because the cavalry on the ancient northern grassland were good at riding and shooting. Before rushing to the front, a thousand arrows will be fired first, causing heavy losses to the infantry. After causing a large number of casualties to the Central Plains infantry, the prairie cavalry will charge with a scimitar. At this time, the morale of the infantry in the Central Plains was already low due to the huge casualties, and they collapsed directly after being rushed again.

Of course, there are exceptions. For example, the heavy armored infantry of the Song Dynasty were not afraid of cavalry charges because of their high armor. But that's not the case, the cavalry of the Liao and Jin Dynasties can't break through the front, so they just get out of the way. Anyway, your heavy infantry can't catch up with them. Moreover, wearing heavy armor is very energy-consuming. When you run out of energy, they will rush up to pick up the bargain...

What's more, the ancient Chinese preferred to use the red-tasseled gun about 1.3 meters long because of their martial arts practice. Because, if the spear is too long, it is inconvenient to move around, which will affect the display of martial arts. Therefore, the spears of ancient China were rarely longer than 2 meters, because they were afraid of affecting the performance of martial arts.

But in fact, although the longer spears are not flexible, if they are arranged in a dense array of spears, it is still terrifying. In particular, it restrains cavalry charges very well. The ancient Chinese used to use short spears more than one meter long, so the grassland cavalry had the confidence to charge with a machete.

...

For example, in the battle before us, when the coalition infantry armed with spears more than three meters long crouched still, Jurgen's Cossack cavalry did not dare to charge. Because rushing forward at this time is simply slamming into the spear actively.

But once these spears are activated, then their flanks will be completely flawed...

The main disadvantage of using a spear that is too long is that it is not safe to flank when charging. Because, with a spear several meters long, it is difficult to take into account the side protection.

If it is a fixed formation, there will be spearmen lined up on the flanks to guard against the impact from the side. But once they charged up, the spearmen in the front row were fine, but it would be difficult for the flank spearmen to maintain their formation, and there would inevitably be loopholes.

As for Jurgen, he obviously saw the flank loopholes of the moving coalition spearmen. Therefore, he brandished his saber without hesitation, and took the lead in rushing towards the gap in the flank of the coalition spearmen...

More than a thousand Cossack cavalry, wielding sabers and howling wolves, rushed towards the flanks of the coalition spearmen, causing great psychological pressure on those conscript spearmen.

When Jurgen's war horse rushed to the front and back, many spearmen did not think about jerking their spears to resist, but subconsciously dodged aside to avoid being mounted by the horses...

However, this subconscious move fully met the needs of the Cossack cavalry. Jurgen rode his horse into a path that the enemy's spearmen subconsciously gave way to. The moment he charged into the enemy's formation, he raised the saber in his right hand and held it horizontally in his hand, but he did not make any chopping movements (the cavalrymen in the TV series A bunch of martial arts shows on the horse is purely because the director is uneducated and does not understand horse warfare. Or, it is for the viewing effect. When charging at high speed on horseback, the slashing action is superfluous, and it will even be affected by the shock force hurt your hand),

Instead, it wiped the neck of a panicked enemy spearman...

The moment the blade touched the opponent's neck, Jurgen even withdrew the tip of the blade back...

This is a form of self-protection in cavalry battles. If you cut wildly, because the horse is very fast, it is easy to hurt your arm due to the huge shock force.

And this kind of slashing method with closing momentum can ensure that the swordsman himself will not be harmed by the counterattack... The reason why the prairie cavalry and Arab cavalry use scimitars is because the scimitar is easy to wipe the neck when people and horses cross. What's more, if the scimitar cuts through the armor and cannot cut through the opponent, the curvature of the blade makes it easy for the knife hand to retract the scimitar. If it is a straight knife, the opponent cannot be cut, and it is easy to let go...

After the men and horses crossed each other, a large head flew up. Then, from the remaining neck of the enemy spearman who lost his head, a bloody arrow spewed out...

After chopping off an enemy's head, Jurgen didn't stop, but turned his wrist, adjusted the height and angle of the blade, and wiped the head of another enemy along the way...

And behind Jurgen, there is a large group of Cossacks, just like him, harvesting each other's heads...

Then, a well-endowed infantry spear array was directly torn a huge gap by the Cossack cavalry. Thousands of Cossack cavalry were slashing and killing opponents in this hole-like formation of enemy spears...

What, why do you say those spearmen don't fight back with their spears?

That's because European spears are too long. Generally, when the infantry phalanx is in formation, only the spearmen in the front row and the outermost row will raise their spears horizontally to assassinate the enemy. The spearmen on the inside usually hold their spears upright. Because, if a three- to four-meter-long spear is held horizontally, then the space for the infantry phalanx will not be enough...

When the Cossack cavalry rushed into the enemy's spear formation, the enemy spearmen in the formation could not easily lay their spears flat to stab the enemy because of the space relationship and the length of the spears. Therefore, when the Cossack cavalry rushed into the formation, they became more passive...

Of course, if you are an experienced veteran, you may take a few steps back, and then make enough room to raise your spear to fend off the enemy. But the problem is that these coalition infantry are conscripts captured by temporary captors, and they have no combat experience at all.

Therefore, after being rushed into the formation by the Cossack cavalry, they immediately became chaotic...

Panic quickly spread among the conscripts, and some spearmen in the fringe areas even threw away their spears in fright, and ran away screaming in fear. And those Cossack cavalry didn't care about those who fled, but continued to attack the enemy infantry that got together, trying to disrupt the opponent's formation as much as possible.

At this time, the coalition commander Varok also realized that something was wrong. He gathered hundreds of elite spearmen who participated, broke away from the main formation, and formed a small spear formation by the river with their backs.

Facing the forest of spears, Jurgen ignored them, but continued to attack and slash the chaotic enemies. When the other opponents were almost dealt with, Jurgen called Durm and asked Durm to continue dispatching the black-shirted knights to shoot and kill the hundreds of enemy infantry who were standing behind the water...

Varok suddenly collapsed - there is no solution... The hundreds of spearmen he arrayed with his back to the water can only block the charge of the melee Cossack cavalry, but for the black-shirted knights who use muskets, they are fixed targets what……

The black-shirted knights had just finished a round and were changing their guns, and Varok couldn't take it anymore. He said loudly:

"We surrender, we surrender!"

In this way, the 4,000 coalition infantry on the southern line fortified on the west bank of the Elbe River were quickly wiped out by the Cossack cavalry and the black shirt knights. The charging Cossack cavalry only suffered a dozen casualties (three died). Moreover, the three unlucky ones who died were not killed by the enemy, but were trampled to death by the horses of the comrades behind after being stabbed off the horse...