Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 293 Celtic Wars

On the hills in western Britain stood a series of military camps. Scouts on fast horses quickly passed through the camps, dismounted in front of the central military camp, and reported the situation to Belisarius.

"They have now crossed the border and are heading towards us. I don't know exactly how many there are, but there are a lot of them, very, very many..."

Belisarius nodded slightly to indicate that he already knew the information. In fact, he knew more details than the scout. The barbarians claimed that they had an army of 80,000. Belisarius was afraid of affecting morale, so he did not tell the entire army about this matter. Only some officers knew that there was a huge gap in the number of people on both sides.

Belisarius imagined a map of the area in his mind and said to his secretary Procopius, "It looks like they are preparing for a decisive battle with us. They are coming with great force."

Procopius didn't know much about military affairs: "Do we have a chance of winning?"

He smiled generously, "My friend, have faith in yourself. I think we can not only enjoy a celebration banquet today, but also go down in history as another milestone in the Roman conquest."

He gave orders to the captains, ordering the army to assemble and prepare to fight the enemy in the field. The quartermasters opened the doors of the warehouses and distributed the various weapons stored in them. The militia that was originally used to deal with the Viking attacks were also mobilized to prepare for the Celtic invasion. The whole camp was filled with a solemn atmosphere, and everyone knew that they would face a fierce battle.

The reason for not choosing to defend was, on the one hand, to prevent these people from entering England to plunder, and on the other hand, to avoid losing his reputation. Belisarius did not want the locals to think that the Romans had to use defensive methods to deal with these barbarians, as that would cause the army to lose its deterrent effect.

The upper and lower levels of the army had no objection to this. On the contrary, they were full of fighting spirit and prepared to have a real fight with these barbarians, with whom they had always been in conflict.

.........

In reality, the barbarian army should not have 80,000 people, but the actual number is quite large. After a rough estimate, there are probably 50,000 to 60,000 people.

The number of people on Belisarius' side was much smaller: more than 6,000 legion soldiers, 5,000 of whom were Belisarius' own troops, and more than 1,000 were reinforcements temporarily sent from Gaul. In addition, there were more than 2,000 Viking mercenaries and 15,000 auxiliary soldiers composed of local Germans.

Generally speaking, there was a huge gap in the strength of the two sides, which gave the Celtic coalition great confidence. Facing Belisarius' army, they chose to take the initiative and set up a battle formation in the hilly terrain.

The legionaries and Vikings were fine, as they were used to fighting the enemy with a small force. However, this was not the case with the newly recruited German auxiliary soldiers. Belisarius could clearly see the hesitation and even fear on their faces.

He was prepared for this. He mounted his horse and came to the front of the army, shouting at the top of his voice: "You must not take the enemy's noise and bluffing threats seriously! Look at what kind of people they have. They even let women and children join the army to fight. They are not a qualified army at all! The enemy's fighting spirit is not high, the equipment is not good, they have suffered many defeats at the hands of the Romans. These loose troops will not last long when they encounter a strong enemy. They will collapse in a moment.

Only a few people can decide the fate of the battle. If you can defeat the majority with a small force and win a victory that only a large army can achieve, you will gain special glory. You only need to maintain the order of the team, do what you have learned in training, obey the orders of your superiors, show your martial arts and bravery, and don't rush to plunder wealth. After winning the war, you can naturally get everything.

Show your courage! Honor, status, wealth, everything is beckoning to you!! "

Now Belisarius could speak the local language quite fluently. He gave two speeches in Latin and the local dialect, which managed to stabilize the soldiers' emotions.

In the distance, they could vaguely see the barbarian troops all over the mountains gradually approaching their own line. Under the watchful eyes of the Celts, the Romans lined up and formed a semicircular formation to meet the enemy.

Although the terrain was somewhat undulating, it could not prevent the army from deploying. In order to prevent the barbarian army from attacking his flank, Belisarius had to lengthen his own line. It was obvious that the thickness of the infantry line was not as good as that of the barbarian army on the opposite side.

This is also normal. Any Roman legionnaire should be mentally prepared for this when joining the army. When fighting against barbarians, they are often at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers.

As the enemy gradually approached their front line, the scorpion crossbows deployed behind the line began to shoot at the enemy's position. This torsion crossbow may be slightly inferior to the heavy equipment in the future, but it can really be regarded as a suppression of the technology tree for these barbarians in front of them.

The enemy's formation was relatively loose, but covered a wide area. The accuracy of the crossbow was not low. After aiming at the enemy's line and shooting, the accuracy was very high. It would not turn the enemy's formation into a string of blood gourds with one crossbow, but it could indeed nail a person to the ground alive, and even penetrate the human body to continue to cause damage to one or two people behind.

The miserable death of their companions frightened the remaining soldiers. They subconsciously further distanced themselves from their companions, making the formation more loose.

Most of the tribes that the Romans are facing now are not from Boudica's faction. Only Boudica's direct warriors participated in the last siege of Wessex. Only they know what it's like for these legion soldiers to fight seriously. These tribes generally only know what the composition of the enemy's army is like, and they don't have a very clear understanding of the specific tactics and equipment.

The Romans had already thoroughly understood the tactical habits of these barbarians in their long history of war, and they even considered the level of the British barbarians to be inferior even among the barbarians - at least the barbarians on the mainland almost never used horse-drawn chariots to charge infantry lines.

This is the result of a loss in intelligence. One side fought the war by guessing and responding to each move, while the other side had made relatively strict plans in advance and had a full understanding of the situation.

The opponent advanced a few dozen steps and was again within the range of the bow and arrow.

Before Orville left, he left behind a group of bow makers in Britain. Belisarius also recognized some of Orville's military ideas, such as the importance of ranged troops and cavalry units should be enhanced, so he also continued to invest money in making bows and arrows to equip the army.

Except for a few elite soldiers who equipped themselves with powerful crossbows regardless of the cost, most craftsmen followed the local customs and made simple and durable single wooden bows. The materials used were no longer the best Iberian yew, but various local woods, with the main principle of using local materials.

As for the performance, it is definitely not very good. Not to mention the high-performance composite bow that Orville built with money, it is a little different from the composite bows usually used by the Greeks and Romans. However, the disadvantage of expensive things is that they are expensive, and the advantage of cheap things is that they are cheap. Skilled bow makers can deliver bows every day. The production is more restricted by time. After each bow is made, it takes several months to finalize before it can be used normally. Even so, thousands of wooden bows can be produced in a few months, enough for a small army.

As for whether this kind of bow and arrow can kill people, it certainly can. Its penetrating power has been tested in history. Maybe its performance is not as good as that of a sophisticated composite bow, but it can still penetrate the weak points of chain mail and even some inferior plate armor. It is a weapon that can be equipped on a large scale on the battlefield.

Not to mention that Belisarius's opponent now is not the French knights armed to the teeth, but the Celtic barbarian soldiers. Their armor-wearing rate is very low, and only a very small number of them can be equipped with chain mail, and they have never seen anything with higher defense such as scale mail.

For this kind of enemy, a single bow is enough.

The distance between the two sides shortened, and the archers drew their bows and arrows and began to shoot.

The Celts had the advantage in numbers, but the training and command of their archers were not ideal, so they could only shoot at the Roman positions in a relatively scattered formation.

The situation on the Roman side seemed much more orderly. Even though most of the archers were auxiliary soldiers, they were able to use dense formations and follow the commander's orders to conduct concentrated fire.

The advantages of quantity and efficiency offset each other. The shooting density of both sides seems to be similar at first glance, but the effects show a polarized trend.

The Celtics' equipment level was relatively poor, and their formation could not protect their soldiers very well. They were easily injured by arrows. If they were unlucky enough to be hit by three or five arrows, they would be almost dead. After several rounds of arrow rain, the enemy would also suffer considerable damage.

On the Roman side, the legionaries were at the top of the semicircular formation and the first to face the attack. Their equipment level was not low. They had helmets and extended mail to protect their bodies and heads, and a large shield made of laminated wooden boards for self-defense.

The soldiers held up their shields one after another, forming the famous tortoise shell formation. Perhaps those strong bows could penetrate the shields, but these Celtic inferior wooden bows could not penetrate the shields at a long distance, not to mention that there was mail behind the shields to protect the body, so the opponent's long-range firepower did not cause much trouble to the Romans.

The Romans maintained a depressing silence, with captains holding whistles in their mouths, ready to issue new orders at any time according to the battle situation. The soldiers were determined and tense, undoubtedly giving people a feeling of being well-trained and well-organized.

On the two wings of the position, the situation of the auxiliary troops was not very good. The resource imbalance was inevitable. Their equipment level and training degree were not so good. The armor they were equipped with was very chaotic. The weapons they used were mainly spears, slings, light javelins and other weapons. They did not have good shields and armor.

They still suffered considerable losses in the face of the scattered rain of arrows, but this loss was not an unacceptable problem for them. The auxiliary soldiers were regular soldiers, not mobs, and they had a certain tolerance for casualties. Both sides silently endured the casualties, waiting for the moment of battle with different expressions.

Rollo held his sword and shield, observing the states of the soldiers on his left and right—excited, numb, bewildered, fearful, hesitant...

[If they were my warriors, they wouldn't be like this. ]

Feeling a little contemptuous of these soldiers, Luo Luo stared at the soldiers opposite him and began to think about how to kill these enemies more efficiently.

He was very optimistic about this war, and there was no doubt that this was another good opportunity for him to make a fortune. Without much hesitation, he invested all his property in it. Among the more than 2,000 Vikings, 1,500 were his subordinates, and the remaining 500 or so were from other families.

At this time, the three people who performed the duties of the patriarch on behalf of Ivar were Sigurd [Snake Eyes], Ubbe [White Shirt], and Halfdan [White Shirt]. They were very hesitant at this time and declined, saying that the army had suffered heavy losses in the war with the Irish, and at the same time they had to maintain a fleet on the sea to prevent the Franks from landing.

Because of the excuses, only three to five hundred people came. Belisarius understood their thoughts, but he did not force them to send troops, so he just let it go.

In Rollo's opinion, this was typical fence-sitting and speculative behavior. Pirates have always treated the power struggles on land in this way. It was certainly not wrong in the past, but now this approach is no longer appropriate. Ivar's brothers may be brave and cunning, but they do not have the same rare overall view as Ivar, and cannot see the changes in the situation and the times.

He believed that if Ivar were present, he would never do this. He would choose to bet everything on the Romans to win to show his loyalty, just like himself.

Now this hesitant and fence-sitting policy was seen by the Romans as a sign of disloyalty. If they did not contribute in the war, they would naturally not be able to share in the post-war honor and benefits. This was a certainty.

This is actually a good thing for Rollo. His foundation is much thinner than the wealth accumulated by Ragnar's two generations. Now the wrong judgment of the Rosebrock family will give him an opportunity to develop, and he can catch up.

As these things flashed through his mind, Rollo shouted loudly to encourage the soldiers around him. The deafening and loud voice gave the surrounding soldiers some courage.
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The soldiers of both sides soon entered into close combat. The Roman soldiers threw three rounds of javelins at the enemy's line. The javelins splashed blood in the enemy's position. After several rounds of javelin throwing at close range, a more tragic and bloody hand-to-hand combat ensued.

The enemy commander made another serious mistake at this time - he placed all of his superior forces and most of the elite troops in the center of the Roman army, hoping to capture the leader first and break through the Roman center position directly.

But then he found that he had hit a wall. The continuous tide-like offensive did not directly break through the Roman positions. Instead, the morale of his attacking troops was somewhat low due to heavy losses and lack of progress.

The barbarians' tactics seemed helpless at this time. They relied too much on a one-shot human wave charge. Once the momentum of the charge was frustrated, the situation would become extremely unfavorable to them.

(End of this chapter)