Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 746 Europe's First Rabbit

Around nine o'clock in the morning, the Ming army vanguard arrived at the Brandenburg army's camp.

This is a vast, open plain with only a small hill. The road cuts through the plain, around the hill ahead, and extends towards Brandenburg. The hill is sparsely wooded, with only small branches growing back after trees have been felled. On the other side of the road, however, lies a forest, becoming increasingly dense the further away from the road, the less logging has occurred.

The Brandenburg army had occupied the hill ahead of time and set up camp. Because they were well-prepared, their camp was not the typical European encampment—a chaotic mess with no defenses—but a proper fortified camp with trenches, fences, and even watchtowers. Some officers who had served as mercenaries believed this was the Italian style, suggesting they had been instructed by someone on the other side.

However, the enemy's formation was somewhat strange.

Some of the enemy was clearly still inside the camp, as soldiers could be seen behind the trenches and fences, clearly preparing to set up defenses. Other soldiers had already left the camp and were deployed on the side of the camp, extending to the gentle slope leading to the road.

There were no Italian mercenaries among them. Judging from the flags, the camp was likely the Duke of Brandenburg's own headquarters, while the soldiers arrayed outside were a motley crew. Some were minor nobles and mercenaries from Mecklenburg and Pomerania, while others were of unknown origin, probably cannon fodder recruited from who-knows-where.

Princess Jeanne was quite puzzled by this formation. Just to be on the safe side, she ordered her soldiers to deploy as planned while simultaneously sending out multiple scouts to thoroughly investigate all directions. The scouts soon reported that a group of mercenaries, presumably from Sweden, had gathered at the rear of the camp. Apart from that, no other hidden enemies were discovered.

"What is he trying to do?" Princess Jeanne found it increasingly incomprehensible.

“He probably thought we were afraid of being blocked by him, so we would do our best to break through the road,” La Hire speculated. “So he left a lot of mercenaries there to make up the numbers, so they could keep us occupied. Once we were stuck there, he would come out from his camp on the mountain and attack our flanks and rear.”

“If we don’t fall for his tricks and go straight to his headquarters for a decisive battle, then we’ll have to attack the camp head-on. At that point, the mercenary groups he’s sent out will cooperate with the camp’s defenders to attack us from both sides. I reckon that’s why he made the camp so well-organized.”

“What a strange line of thinking.” Princess Jeanne shook her head and decided to ignore it. She then turned and shouted, “Messenger! Go find Philip, the acting commander of the front line, and tell him to abandon those siege weapons. Leave them where they are, maintain five marching columns, and charge the defenders along the main road.”

Her attendants and messengers behind her all took out pens to take notes. The messenger even specifically asked, "Shouldn't we spread out?"

"No," Princess Jeanne shook her head. "Just charge forward in a column, let the enemy see you. Repeat!"

"Yes, sir! Acting Commander Philip, abandon the siege equipment and advance along the main road in a five-pronged marching formation," the messenger immediately relayed.

“That’s right, you two check it out, go ahead,” Princess Jeanne said.

The messenger and his attendant checked the note in their hands, then mounted their horses and galloped away.

"The rest of you, continue to spread out into two horizontal lines, following behind their column," Princess Jeanne continued, "have them prepare so that if the enemy comes out to attack Philip, we will surround him from the outside."

Her riders immediately began waving flags, and the various commanders responded by waving their own flags in return. Soon, the column was fully deployed, forming a wide horizontal line, and they marched forward.

Wu Fan's army was often oversized. A chiliarch (commander of a thousand households) consisted of anywhere from a few dozen to a hundred men, roughly equivalent to a hundred-man squad or company. The chiliarchs in Bazhou, on the other hand, had more substantial forces, ranging from one hundred to three or four hundred men. Therefore, the chiliarch was now the most common basic tactical unit in the Ming army.

Looking down at the current formation, it is a column of over seven hundred people, followed by two horizontal columns of over two thousand people each, forming a strange pattern of one vertical and two horizontal lines. Princess Jeanne and the French knights are in front of the first horizontal column, while the King of Wu, the officials of the royal court, and the royal guard of over four hundred people led by Sir Hans form a small square between the two horizontal columns.

The enemy did not respond, seemingly waiting for the situation to change. The Ming army, however, acted swiftly, charging headlong into the enemy troops blocking their path.

The enemy forces defending the camp seemed to have never seen such a direct attack by a marching column.

Wu Fan's forces at this moment were almost entirely infantry, but their offensive was extremely fierce. Philip personally led the charge, dismounting and standing at the forefront of the infantry ranks, carrying a halberd and leading the standard-bearers, charging straight into the enemy ranks.

The Pomeranian mercenaries directly in front of them were forced back under their onslaught. The others, in their haste, reacted and began charging forward, attempting to attack the long flank of the Brazilian soldiers.

All of these reactions were very simple and straightforward, and all within expectations. The Brazilian soldiers were not disturbed; those on the flanks spread outwards and began to engage the approaching enemy.

Seeing this, Princess Jeanne once again ordered the standard-bearer to wave the flag. The Fuzhou Left and Right Guards, which were located in the middle of the first row—that is, the ten chiliarchs of the Württemberg region, totaling more than nine hundred men—stepped forward from the ranks and marched to the left front, preparing to turn around and surround the advancing enemy.

She then sent messengers to relay orders to the left and right flanks of the first rank.

The right flank of the column consisted of over seven hundred men from the Bazhou Left Guard. They were originally positioned here to guard against ambushes from the forest. However, it seemed that the enemy's disorganized army lacked the discipline and the commander's intelligence, so it was left as is.

The left guard left two commanders in the rear as reserves, while the other three main forces also crossed the sparse woods and advanced along the edge of the forest to attack the leftmost side of the enemy formation.

On the far left of the first rank of the Ming army were three commanders of a thousand men from the right bank of the Rhine. They were the longest-serving troops under the command of the Prince of Wu and always considered themselves the true personal guards of the Prince. However, when the Prince of Wu was making strategic plans, he also sent them out to fight, so they missed the first decisive battle of the Prince's personal campaign.

Afterwards, because they were nearby, they were the first to return to help King Wu regroup his remaining troops and fight Sigismund again. However, the morale of the army was low, and the soldiers were exhausted, so they were repeatedly defeated by Sigismund. As one of the few relatively organized forces under King Wu's command at this stage, the Laiyou Army could only serve as a rearguard each time. When the other hastily assembled peasant armies were defeated, they were sent to the front to withstand the onslaught of the main Holy Roman Empire cavalry, so that everyone else could have a chance to escape. But in their eyes, this "victory" was rather shameful, and it also caused the army to suffer heavy losses, now reduced to only three thousand households.

Therefore, they had always felt very frustrated. This time, their forces were not strong enough to launch the main attack, so Princess Jeanne placed them on the left flank, preparing them to lead the other soldiers on the right flank to charge forward and gain the credit of being the vanguard when the enemy attacked from the right flank in the traditional way.

However, the enemy's current arrangement was so strange that their original plan was no longer needed. Princess Jeanne could only send them onward to the enemy camp entrance to wait for an opportunity.

The battlefield is now in chaos, with soldiers from all units tangled together. However, overall, the situation is becoming increasingly favorable for the Ming army.

Their main adversaries were mercenaries hastily assembled by Friedrich, whose fighting ability and willpower were unreliable. Although they outnumbered the enemy, their command efficiency appeared to be very low. Many seemed caught off guard by this hasty and unprepared engagement.

After the attack began, some enemy troops rushed to besiege the flanks of the Bashiwei (Baxi) garrison. Many others, who had never seen such a vertical attack before and didn't know how to fight, blindly charged forward upon receiving the order to attack, attempting to directly assault the more distant horizontal lines. Upon realizing that the Ming army had begun to counter-encircle them, some instinctively continued to spread out to the sides, trying to avoid being surrounded.

As a result, most of them were scattered between the columns and lines along this wide stretch of road. Some even failed to locate the enemy and remained rooted to the spot. Consequently, their numerical advantage did not materialize. Those at the very front were even at risk of being cut off and surrounded.

This situation clearly did not develop as the enemy had anticipated, and their main force finally could no longer remain idle. Several gates of the camp opened one after another, and large numbers of troops filed out, forming ranks at the gates. It was presumably preparing to assemble and immediately launch a flanking attack on the Ming army.

"Do you see that?" Princess Jeanne immediately turned around and pointed to the main gate at the very front. There, a large group of people clad in armor, carrying their own flags, and even riding brightly colored horses, were organizing their ranks.

“Those must be the vassals of the Duke of Brandenburg,” La Hire said. “They’ve finally brought out their trump card? Now it’s our turn.”

Princess Jeanne nodded.

“You all come with me,” she said to the men. “They should be attacking our first line of infantry from there from the flank soon. I’ve already spoken with Philip and his men; if this happens, we should hold them off as much as possible. While they charge and engage, we can then flank their knights.”

“You should stay here and take command. Even after we defeat them, there’s still a lot of work to do.” La Hire shook his head. “I’ll take care of it.”

"We don't need to wait any longer. Sending them to attack friendly forces will result in unnecessary additional losses. And even if the infantry can hold out, doing so will bring greater uncertainty and risk."

“I know, but in commanding operations, one cannot be too merciful. I certainly won’t let anyone sacrifice in vain; taking risks here is also to reduce the overall risk of the war.” After Princess Jeanne finished speaking, she asked suspiciously, “When did you become so compassionate? Do you know how to care about friendly forces?”

“Isn’t it normal for the strong to care for the weak? We are stronger than them, so naturally we can be more considerate.” La Hire didn’t care: “I understand what you mean. Don’t worry, I’m a knight. Even without skill, defeating them head-on is my duty.”

"Hey, hey, hey!" He tapped his shield and shouted to the French cavalrymen beside him, "Our chance has finally come! Now, Her Highness the Princess has ordered us to deal with those Alemanni. Now, we will show everyone before this noble lady who the most powerful knight in Europe is! Would you like to come with me and demonstrate?"

"Whoa!" The crowd roared excitedly and raised their weapons. La Hire spurred his horse forward, pointed to the group of Brandenburg knights, then pressed down on his helmet visor and charged ahead.

"Hey!" Princess Jeanne wanted to ask them to wait a little longer, but the knights were too hot-blooded to listen to her. They raised their lances in salute to her, and then, ignoring what she said, they rushed forward in a swarm.

A group of soldiers from the Fuzhou Left Guard were still acting as rearguard at the front, preventing the Pomeranians from rushing over. The knights, ignoring what they were doing, seemed to only know how to walk in a straight line, squeezing through the ranks and drawing a chorus of curses.

Then, the two hundred-plus men organized themselves into a formation and, led by Lahail, charged straight toward the camp on the hillside.

The commotion they caused naturally attracted the attention of the Brandenburg army. A large group of knights and heavily armored soldiers turned their horses and rode down the slope to meet them.

The enemy had also dug trenches on the slope, so the road wasn't very wide. La Hire took the lead, charging into the crowd along the dirt road. The other knights followed, and soon, a fierce fight and shouts of battle erupted.

Princess Jeanne, not daring to remain idle, quickly arranged the actions of the other units. She ordered the commanders of the second rank to advance and fill the gaps in the line, then commanded the right-hand men of the Leyte army and the four commanders of the second rank attached to them to run forward and support the French knights. She also gathered the more than five hundred light cavalry from Bavaria, who were serving as reserves, and ordered them to also maneuver to the left, bypass the enemy camp, and attack their flank to distract the enemy.

As for the remaining men, she personally led them forward, aiming to quickly defeat the Pomeranians, crush the enemy forces positioned on the perimeter, and drive them back towards the camp.

Some of the non-main force units weren't very familiar with the flags, so she had to personally ride back and forth to inform them, lest any problems arise. However, before she had even finished running, she heard some soldiers exclaim in surprise.

"Don't make a scene!" Princess Jeanne immediately stopped them.

"No, Princess, look! Look over there!" One of her attendants quickly pointed in the direction of the enemy camp: "The enemy's banner has fallen!"

"what?"

(End of this chapter)