Tang Qi Tan

Chapter 557
A few days later, on the eastern border of the Principality of Brabant, near the city of Liege on the border with the Principality of Limburg.In the wilderness full of puddles and swamps, the mountains and deep forests meandering along the side of the muddy ancient road have become silent again with the scattered and frightened birds and beasts.

And on a boulder at the commanding heights deep in the forest, Jiang Tian was also looking down; amidst the faint sound of drum music, a long team was marching along the ancient road made of stones.As the new Duke of Brabant, Gismund introduced the lineup below in a low voice:

"This is the North Rhine United, the largest contracted mercenary 'Silver Hands Group', and an old-fashioned mercenary group that has served the princes of the United States for more than three generations; it is known as the Minions of the North Rhine, and at its peak it had five branches. Regiment, about [-] soldiers and thousands of affiliated personnel."

Under the gray banner depicting a silver gauntlet, groups of soldiers wore leather foam nail armor, half-length iron armored chest armor, and rather simple small round helmets; There were round crossbows, and others carried round shields and carried lances and halberds.

Therefore, compared to most dirty and messy mercenaries in the world's impression, their overall appearance, morale, and equipment level are more like a regular army that has been battle-tested; Cannon on the carriage.Followed by a cavalry.

Each of these cavalrymen wore light ring mail, reinforced a disc-shaped iron plate on the chest, and wore oriental ear protection helmets; Astride two rows of throwable and stabable light throwing spears, it seems to be adept at horsemanship.

"That is the only cavalry unit 'Rage and Gale' among the five major contracted mercenary regiments of the North Rhine United; it has three sub-regiments, eleven cavalry companies and five auxiliary infantry companies. The remaining soldiers are mainly It is the militia and partisans of the United North Rhine."

The cavalry sequences of countries in the Western Continent in this era are roughly divided into three categories: the first category is the retinue/lancers who follow the knights in armor; The third category is the rangers/hussars who only have leather armor or armor.

The first type is derived from the typical feudal fiefdom system of the Western Continent; the second type is the continuation of many Eastern nomadic Khanates that entered the Western Continent after the Khazar Khanate that once straddled the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea began to decline. Influence.Among them, the most famous hunting cavalry originated from the Eastern and Western Empires.

And the third category is most of the regions that can't support enough knights, some kind of cheap alternatives and alternatives.And this 'Raging Tide and Gale' is a typical example, and it is obviously specialized in a certain way, targeting spear-throwing cavalry attacking heavy infantry and shield formations.

As for the militia groups with different flags and uniforms, they are a bit lackluster; they are basically similar to most local militia groups during the Kingdom Civil War.From long cloth shirts, leather holsters, dyed armor, short leather armor, nail armor, most people wear felt hats or turbans instead of helmets.

The most common weapons are various long-handled sickles and double-pronged forks, as well as long-pole flails that are also agricultural tools.Walking on the main road is also full of loose and undisciplined flavor; even groups of people distanced themselves from each other, and gathered together as if there was no one else, making loud noises, and some people even sang.

On the other hand, those guerrillas who carried all kinds of bows and arrows and throwers, only wearing short cloth clothes or fur vests, and still showing their thighs and arms in the frosty autumn weather, seemed more calm and resolute...

According to Gismond's introduction, the combined army of the North Rhine is basically divided into three parts: the first part is the five major (long-term) contract mercenary regiments, which constitute the standing force.The city-states/lords will contribute funds to support and maintain them according to the ratio of the Aachen Agreement signed at the beginning of the joint establishment.

Therefore, although it is still called the Mercenary Corps, it is actually almost the same as the United Standing Corps. It is responsible for encircling the sphere of influence of the North Rhine United, but it does not intervene in the daily disputes between the internal city-states and lords.When the alliance is invaded by powerful enemies, more mercenaries will be hired.

In addition to the "Silver Hands Regiment" and "Raging Tide and Gale Regiment" that went out this time, there is also a "Salian Regiment" that is good at water warfare, fighting against the Avar Khanate from the Danube River Basin and the lower Rhine River in the south; There are "Rhine Shield" and "Starlight" to guard the border in turn.

In addition, as the meeting place of the United States of the North Rhine, the city of Frankfurt, which originated from the northern frontier fortress of the ancient Roman Empire, also has a small but elite chief prince/consul guard.But unless the chief prince/consul goes out in person, he basically does not leave Frankfurt.

The second part is the private soldiers of various city-states and their lords of different sizes; they are basically used to protect the territory and maintain commercial interests on the trade line.Unless there is a call-up order for the large-scale Norman invasion known as "Winter Scourge", there is basically no chance of uniting to fight.

The third part is these local militias/short-term conscripts.According to the Aachen Agreement, all city-states and lords, among the villages and towns under their rule, provide a certain proportion of armed men to form a number of militias as a joint reserve army and source of supplement.

As for the guerrillas, they came from the gaps between the city-states and territories in the United North Rhine, those so-called outlaws who gathered in dangerous mountains or woodlands, rivers and swamps, and were unwilling to accept the constraints of the lords and city-states; citizens, fugitive slaves, and bankrupt lords.

Under Jiang Tian's visual observation, these militia groups holding high colorful flags have at least dozens of numbers and nearly tens of thousands of people; therefore, the sparse formation walked on the road for more than an hour. finished.However, after a while, Gismond gave another snort:
"Why did the knights of the Prayer Order and the attached armed warriors of the Aachen diocese appear in these North Rhine combined armies? Shouldn't they have gone to support and assist Utre in accordance with the Treaty of Protection of the Holy See originally promulgated by the Holy See of Rome? Will the bishop state resist the invasion of Friesland?"

It was a special armed group surrounded by several militias; there were hundreds of cavalrymen with single-piece breastplate and white cloak, a white ring cross on the chest, and feather clip helmets; Robes and short chain armor, bare heads, and groups of armed warriors holding clubs and hammers.

And when these militia groups from the North Rhine were about to finish, and the first "Silver Hands Group" also arrived at the city of Liege; they kept calling and negotiating with the defenders, and at the same time they wanted to enter the city for repairs, they marched again from afar A team, but Gismund changed color on the spot and said:
"Damn it, there is actually a banner of "White Flame"! These are the most barbaric and backward Norman clans living in the swampy areas of the northern coast, and they are composed of berserker groups; it is said that as long as the order is directed, the last enemy will not fall Or Berserkers will never stop."

It was a conspicuous huge bearskin banner with white abstract flame patterns; it was also hung with special ornaments made of strings of human and animal skulls that rattled in the wind.The soldiers under the bearskin banner all wore bloated animal skins and fur hats, and the leaders and leaders also wore animal heads and horned helmets.

There are hardly any shields or other blocking armor on them, only odd-shaped axes, heavy-throwing spears, and long-handled hooked knives that are so huge that they protrude from the back; they walk like furry upright beasts Usually, the face is painted with creepy paint or sinuous tattoos.

And on some carts and pack animals mixed in their ranks, there were impressively a lot of property looted along the way; and women who were tied up.And on some of the long spears raised near the animal skin banner, there are still a number of bloody heads, both human and alien.

The next moment, Jiang Tian saw the city of Lieyang, and several bright fireworks suddenly rose; and then, following the cover that was suddenly lifted on the top of the wall, the roar of shelling resounded for a while, sweeping across , the unsuspecting array of "Silver Hands" waiting to open the door.

Amidst the screams and screams of people turning their backs, all the cavalry and knight commandos of the Dutch princes gathered; they also rushed out from many open city gates; In the "Silver Hands Group" that disrupted the formation and killed many generals and leaders.

The 'Raging Tide and Gale Group' that followed them reacted as if they had just woken up from a dream; quickly opened up their formation, divided them into several offensive momentums, and rushed towards the flanks of the Dutch coalition cavalry; The moment they were about to reach the effective range of projection, they began to fall down one after another from the front row.

However, on the ground where the dust and smoke were billowing, there appeared without warning many potholes where horseshoes had fallen, and several caved-in sharp trenches; their throwing offensive was immediately stalled, and people turned back and forth and crowded together; then, It was scattered by the rapid shelling of the city head after loading.

When the "Silver Hands" and the "Raging Tide and Gale" were forced to intertwine in chaos; they spontaneously gathered together and fought and retreated, trying to reorganize their formation in an attempt to counterattack; but they were rushed out from the other side of the city The army of the Dutch princes retreated step by step under the impact, and once again lost their formation and order.

At this time, the militiamen and guerrillas who were scattered on the road, and the officers and leaders who were galloping across the field, shouted loudly and rushed forward together.Prepare to support and respond to the retreating "Silver Hands" and "Rage and Gale" soldiers in the city.

However, a large swamp of reeds hundreds of meters away from them suddenly fell down in pieces; in the smoke and flames of the muskets, a large rain of bullets flew fiercely; Sweeping like grass, these vigilante crowds huddled together in a mess on both sides of the road.

As the panicked militia fell down or dodged in all directions, only the scattered guerrillas reacted, shot sparse counterattack arrows, and successfully threw some pungent smoking jars on the ground with throwers. The reeds were already on the edge, temporarily blurring each other's vision.

With such a buffer, the knights of the Prayer Order and the affiliated armed warriors of the Bishop of Aachen mixed in the battlefield on the main road raised many conspicuous ring cross flags.It immediately became the backbone of most chaotic militias, and they gathered together amidst the blowing of horns and loud prayers.

At this time, the whistling sound that resounded through the field sounded again; it was the knights of the Royal Army and several cavalry regiments who suddenly got up and galloped down from the hidden forest on the other side of the road.In the rush, it unfolded a fan like a mountain whistling and a tsunami, and crossed the obstacles of rocks and shrubs in a blink of an eye.

Like a heart-pounding hammer, it slammed on the rear of these militias and bishops, who had almost no time to react; and under the screams and screams, as well as the dull collision and trampling, countless human bodies The sound of brittle cracking, smashing and flying bursts, breaking it up and passing through it.

(End of this chapter)