BXBX NOVEL Chapter CHAPTER 99 – FORWARD CHARGE III
The United Rosyth, Equus, and Carlo Army and the Aldo Army had set up positions around two kilometers away from each other.
The first to make a move is Aldo.
After giving his troops the least amount of rest possible, he quickly made them take battle formation and ordered them to come closer to the United Army.
The United Army obliges and sets out for the front.
Both armies are beating huge drums. Little by little, they come into battle formation.
Both are armies exceeding 10,000 soldiers so taking up formation took some time.
“What’s up with that formation?”
Aldo leans his head while looking at the enemy’s battle formation channeled to him via sorcery.
The shields being held by the hoplites are concealing the left half side of their bodies. In order to protect each other with their shields, hoplites boast unrivaled strength so that the formation won’t break.
However, such a hoplite corps has a weak point just like Siegfried’s back.
It’s their right side.
Although this should go without saying, there’s no shield that would protect the right side of the right most soldier.
Consequently, it’s common knowledge that veterans are placed in the right flank to avoid having the formation broken.
Aldo has also learned that.
However, the enemy is taking up an exactly opposite formation. The enemy has amassed forces on the left flank to the extent that you could say it’s excessive. Even the tiger cub cavalry are all in the left flank. [TLN1]
“……….Is that to destroy my right side and lodge a flank attack?”
Aldo’s soldiers are also hoplites. Both armies’ weakness is the right side.
In order to thrust against that weakness, they dared to amass their war potential on the left side………it’s easy to imagine such a strategy.
“But such a right side for that strategy looks frail.”
Therefor it’ll become a battle of which one’s right side fails first.
“What shall we do, my King.”
“Let’s go as is. Our formation is mostly completed, right? We can’t change it this late. ….You lot should fly falcons constantly and monitor the enemy’s movements from the sky. Don’t get taken in even if you receive commandeering from enemy sorcerers. Also, contact the cavalrymen positioned on the left side. ……This war hangs on the gentlemen’s great efforts!”
It’s outbreak of the battle to decide the status of the DeMorgal kingship.
Wars in the Adernia Peninsula, in the beginning, starts with attacks from light infantry and cavalry.
The first to move was the United Army’s cavalry men on their left side.
The United Army’s cavalry number 600 while Aldo’s cavalry number 200.
Furthermore, 400 of the United Army’s 600 cavalrymen are natural born cavalrymen of the Equus Tribe.
After a while, the 600 cavalrymen push into Aldo’s cavalry.
However, Aldo has some room for maneuver.
“While the cavalry on the right side receives the enemy’s left cavalry, the cavalry on our left side will maneuver into the enemy’s right side. They didn’t place cavalry there. Our flank attack will be settled faster.”
“General Tonino! The enemy cavalry draws near!!”
“They took longer than we anticipated, huh. As expected, the right side coming slower than the whole has bore fruit, huh. This battle hangs on whether or not we can take on these cavalrymen…….call the light infantry. Begin throwing the spears!!”
When Bartolo gave his command, the sound of drums immediately resonate on the battlefield.
Then at the same time, explosions started rocking the battle.
“What is it? What the hell is happening!!”
“Shit! The horses are struggling…. Uwaaa!!”
The horses start thrashing from getting startled by the sudden explosions, flames, and smoke.
Aldo’s cavalrymen have completely stopped.
Amongst the horses are people who have forsaken their lords and are escaping the battlefield although there are also those who are dragging along their lords while fleeing at full speed.
The reasons cavalry is so effective are their mobility and assault capabilities.
Cavalry stopped dead isn’t worthy of being feared.
“Kill them all!!”
The light infantry as well as the hoplites headed by Tonino swoop in on the cavalry.
One by one, the cavalrymen get surrounded by several people and killed.
“Really, how wonderful, this weapon called bomb spear……. There’s no way we can steal at least one huh.”
Tonino sighs as he looks at the light infantry of the Rosyth Kingdom.
Just around the time Tonino repelled Aldo’s cavalrymen, the United Army’s cavalry also crushed the cavalrymen they faced.
They attacked Aldo’s right flank with the vigor of having just crushed Aldo’s cavalry.
The Aldo army’s right flank has been caught in a pincer by the United Army’s cavalry and hoplites.
Naturally, veterans are placed in the right flank. However, whether they are veterans or not is immaterial since they’ve been pincered from the right and rear.
Aldo’s right flank is routed.
1st formation
Legend:
Blue – United Army
Red – Aldo Army
Square – Hoplite
Triangle – Cavalry
Diamond – Light Infantry
“Hey! Don’t flee!! Fight until the end!!”
Aldo raises his voice.
However, the hoplites, whose formation had been destroyed from being flanked, don’t stop fleeing.
“Milord!! Please escape the field!! The formation here has already broken!! We will hold them back for you so please make haste!!”
“Ku…….I understand. Shit!!!”
Aldo strikes the horse’s abdomen and tries to withdraw from the battlefield.
The Aldo army has been completely routed. There’s no formation nor command left.
A retreat is possible if they had a commander with quite the experience with this but…..to ask that of a young Aldo is quite harsh.
The only thing he could do is just to survive.
“You’re Prince Aldo, huh? We’ll be taking your life.”
“Na! Why the hell are cavalry here!!”
Aldo looks around his surroundings.
The soldiers that had been escaping towards north have suddenly begun escaping south.
There’s an explanation for this. They’ve been surrounded and flanked by cavalry.
In other words, the Aldo army is being pincered by hoplites in the front and right while they are being pincered by cavalry from the rear.
2nd formation
“Shit, shit, shit!! Why the hell, why the hell is this happening!!”
Aldo desperately kicks the horse in the stomach to try and escape.
Spears, stones, and arrows swoop down on him.
“Jeez…..what do I do with you.”
At the next moment, all the projectiles heading for Aldo have been caught with a net and fall into the surface.
Alice saves him.
“Lord Aldo. For the meantime, please escape to the east. That place is still safe. If you don’t hurry, the east side will also get overrun by hoplites and we’ll get completely surrounded.”
“A, Alice……Good job!! When we get back, I’ll increase the amount of your feed!!”
Aldo heads towards the east at full speed.
The cavalry of the United Army tried chasing fater Aldo but the next moment, a horse magnificently falls over.
It’s been struck by Alice’s thread.
They won’t be able to chase after Aldo unless they kill Alice.
The cavalrymen realize this, so they surround Alice.
All of a sudden, all that’s left in the area are Alice and the cavalrymen.
“You’re quite the devoted slave, aren’t you? Perhaps you were loved and cherished?”
“By no means. Prince Aldo would never embrace such a dirty spider like me. Yes……why in the world did I help him?”
The answer is simple. Aldo is scary.
This is not a problem of logic. It’s a problem of emotion.
So long as Aldo lives, and so long as a choker is attached on Alice’s neck, Alice needs to protect Aldo.
If she doesn’t do that, she’ll get hit. To not get hit, she needs to hear Aldo’s orders.
She’s succumbed to such a strong unreasonable but compulsive idea.
“Well, fine. You’re a bother so die!!”
The cavalrymen simultaneously swoop down on Alice. Spears, swords, arrows, all of them rain down on Alice.
However, Alice defends herself from all those attacks while making metallic sounds.
In both her hands, Alice holds small knives.
“Shit! You’re quite good, huh!!”
The cavalrymen aim for Alice and simultaneously lauch spears against her.
However, the spears fall not on Alice’s body but silently on the ground.
“From above, huh!?”
The moment the spear should’ve pierced Alice, she had jumped high into the sky.
However, this was a bad move. Jumping into the air would temporarily save you but you’d immediately come falling due to gravity. She’d get killed by the spears that lay waiting at the spot she’ll land.
Yes……normally, that is.
Alice heads towards the soldiers waiting for her fall and throws her knives at them.
As expected, the cavalrymen, without being able to react against knives that came flying at great speed, fall from their horses.
Alice lands on the ground, stands, and immediately rides the horse that his lord lost.
She forcibly makes the horse head east and strongly kicks it on the stomach.
She doesn’t have experience riding horses. She just learned from watching others and is relying on the horse.
“I’ve probably bought enough time, right? It couldn’t be helped……if we’re to die here.”
Alice blurts out while clinging on the horse.
In this war, 7,000 Aldo soldiers were captured. Their dead reached more than 7,000. Among them, around 2,000 are thought to have died by being trampled to death by their own allies.
The only remaining soldiers had escaped and became scattered so the number of soldiers that remained at Aldo’s disposal had been reduced to 100.
The dead in the United Army numbered 53 people. The injured numbered 80.
It’s a good result that can even be called a huge victory.
As such, the winds of the civil war had, in one stroke, turned into Carlo’s favor.
Author’s notes:
Bartolo is unparalleled.
I thought it’s about time I need to think about battle formations apart from diagonal lines.