Water Margin people

"Move out 10,000 troops!"

Conrad III coughed a few times and spoke to Philip I beside him.

“Is ten thousand people too few?”

Philip I said that he had also seen the terrible power of the Qi army. Now that the Qi army was coming to attack by surprise, an army of 10,000 was no match at all.

"Qi State only has a few thousand troops. How many people can they send? Only one or two thousand! Ten thousand people will be enough!"

Conrad III spoke.

"But the enemy has guns!"

Philip expressed his worries.

"Those guns are not that scary. Remember, don't be afraid when you see the enemy's guns. Just charge forward on horseback. As long as you engage in close combat, the enemy's guns are no better than a stick!"

Conrad III said that since his last defeat, he had studied Qi's firearms and artillery. These things were invincible at long distances, but were no better than a dagger in close combat.

"kindness!"

Philip I immediately went out to make arrangements.

"Your Holiness, the infidels are just ahead. When will we launch the general attack?"

Louis VII asked, looking at Pope Eugene III.

"We still have to wait for the navies of the Viking Empire and Byzantium. This time we are going to annihilate all these pagans!"

Eugene III said that he planned to use the navy to block the entrance to the bay and wipe out all the Qi people.

"So when will the Vikings and Byzantines arrive?"

Conrad III asked, they didn't have time to wait like this, the Black Death had caused great losses to their country and it has not subsided yet, they urgently needed to destroy these Qi people and seize the method to cure the Black Death.

This is also one of the reasons why these empires, kingdoms, and principalities gathered together. They were afraid of the Black Death and needed a feasible way to deal with it. Qi had the solution and medicine.

They couldn't ask Qi for support, so they could only rob.

"The Vikings should be here soon! They assembled their fleet before we set out, and we crossed the Alps. How could they not come?"

Louis VII said that, in theory, the naval fleet should be much faster than them and should have arrived a few days ago.

"That's not clear. Genoa and Rome haven't received any news from the Vikings yet."

Pope Eugene III spoke.

"These Vikings are just a bunch of barbaric pirates. They have no chivalry or noble honor! They might be burning, killing and looting in some port right now!"

Richard I said with a sneer on his face that he knew the habits of the Vikings very well and that these barbaric robbers were capable of all kinds of evil.

Many people nodded in agreement. The many coastal countries in the north knew best what the Vikings were like.

"Wait two more days. If the Vikings don't arrive, it will be the same if the Byzantines do."

Pope Eugene III spoke up. He knew something about the Vikings' habits. If they really couldn't wait any longer, then there was no need to wait. The Byzantine navy of 80,000 should be enough.

King Philip I led an army of 10,000 and began a patrol along the Po River.

"Your Majesty, there is a discovery over there!"

A scout came hurriedly to report.

King Philip I brought his men to a forest, and everything he saw made him shudder.

"It's so close!"

Philip I's voice was trembling. He looked back at the city of Parma. The woods were only five or six miles away from the city of Parma, and the cavalry would arrive in a moment.

"Your Majesty, these traces are very recent, and seem to have been left last night! There are probably several hundred people!"

Several knights checked and came to a conclusion.

"Last night? That means they were so close to us last night, and no one noticed!"

King Philip I was shocked. You know, they had already assembled more than 200,000 troops and set up several lines of defense, but they didn't notice the enemy approaching. Fortunately, there were only a few hundred people. If there were tens of thousands of people, they might have launched an attack last night. At that time, they were sleeping. Even if the enemy couldn't break into the city, their losses would be great.

"Go back and tell the army to double the guards and search the surrounding area thoroughly!"

Philip I gave the order to a cavalryman.

"Your Majesty, should we give chase? The enemy only has a few hundred men and they just left."

A knight spoke up.

"Chase."

Philip I gave his order, saying that he had an army of 10,000 while the enemy had only a few hundred people, so wasn't this an advantage for him?

The army pursued in a mighty manner, and the traces went westward along the Po River. Philip I and his army chased for a long time but failed to catch up.

"Stop!"

King Philip I frowned and called a halt to the army. It was not a good idea to continue the pursuit.

"Your Majesty, the traces are very fresh, they must have just left!"

The knight pointed to the broken branches of the bushes ahead and said.

"It's the same sentence again. I've heard it so many times! The enemy is so few in number. How can our army catch up with them?"

Philip I said that their 10,000-strong army was definitely not as fast as a few hundred cavalry.

"We have the cavalry. I will pursue them quickly, and the infantry will follow!"

King Philip I ordered that the infantry was too slow and unsuitable for pursuit, so he had to send the cavalry ahead.

Philip I left quickly with two thousand cavalry, and the remaining eight thousand infantry fell behind.

"These idiots have been fooled!"

On a small hill not far away, Xin Qiji watched the separated army with a smile.

The traces outside the city of Parma were left intentionally by them, otherwise how could the enemy catch up with them.

"Eight thousand people is not easy to deal with!"

Lu You looked at the eight thousand infantrymen. They only had two thousand men, so charging directly into the battle formation was still somewhat risky.

"Wait a moment, let's go straight to the baggage at the back!"

Xin Qiji pointed at the baggage train at the end of the team. These people were carrying the army's baggage and their marching speed was the slowest.

After several more days, the 8,000 infantrymen also became disconnected. The 7,000 men in the front had already walked a long way, but the baggage train behind them stopped to rest.

As the sun gradually set, the baggage train actually stopped to rest and eat.

"Your Excellency Baron, are we just going to rest like this? The team ahead has gone far away."

A knight asked, looking at the leading baron.

"Don't you see that the soldiers are tired? They are traveling lightly, but we are carrying equipment and food. If they don't wait for us, what can we do?"

The baron said with a resentful look on his face that Philip I was only concerned with chasing the enemy, and riding a horse was naturally comfortable and fast, and he did not consider the situation of his soldiers at all.

Smoke rose as the baggage train rested in a swaggering manner by the roadside.

"kill!"

Just as the baggage train was enjoying food and wine, shouts of killing were suddenly heard, followed by intensive gunfire.

"Kill me!"

Xin Qiji roared, and the soldiers took turns shooting. The defenseless enemies fell to the ground wailing.

"Enemy! Run!"

The leader of the baron was so frightened that his face turned pale. Although he had heard about the power of Qi's firearms, he was still shocked when he saw it for the first time. The enemy could kill them from two or three hundred steps away. This was too scary. (End of this chapter)