Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 353 War
After a tense confrontation, the war between the two sides officially began.

Orville was replaced as the commander-in-chief and temporarily served as the commander of the 9th Legion [Spain]. He was deployed on the right wing of the entire formation, which was the main attack direction designated by Tia.

The first to arrive were the scattered cavalry units of the Pontus, who were cruising around the battlefield, looking for an opportunity, ready to attack the Roman formation at any time.

Tia sent out her own cavalry to drive them away, but due to the relative disadvantage in numbers, the restrictive effect they could play was limited. They could only slightly confine the enemy cavalry to a very wide range so that they would not be able to go around the back of the formation in one breath.

They did not dare to go too far forward. Mithridates now knew that the Romans' bows and crossbows were powerful and could shoot from a long distance. He had also done his homework in advance and knew that the new pilum (heavy javelin) had a longer range and was specially designed for cavalry.

The cavalry of both sides tested each other, and the infantry gradually engaged in battle. The first to start shooting were the Pontic skirmishers, who were mainly slingers, supplemented by some javelin throwers. In terms of numbers, they could suppress the sparse skirmish line of the Romans, but Tia simply chose to push the archers forward to shoot at the enemy soldiers, and the situation suddenly became unfavorable for them.

The weakly protected spear phalanx in the middle was under the protection of the heavy infantry on the left and right wings. With the restrictions of these soldiers, the enemy's skirmishers did not dare to move too close, for fear of being trapped from both sides, and could only shoot at the legion infantry on the two wings.

In this stage of shooting, the damage they caused to the Romans was generally insignificant - with large shields and complete armor, stones were naturally not worthy of being dealt with. Even their javelins had not been specially designed and could not match the Romans' javelins in range, so the Pontic people were often attacked first.

In addition, the performances of several centuries-men were particularly eye-catching: they propped their large shields on the ground, relied on the shields for cover, and at the same time leaned out their upper bodies to shoot at the enemy with the crossbows in their hands.

The firing rate was not fast, and the accuracy was only satisfactory, but the Bendu people on the opposite side really had no way to deal with this tortoise shell. After several rounds of shooting, it could be said that there was little effect, and they could only take the beating.

As the enemy's spearmen gradually pressed forward, the Roman skirmishers and a small number of crossbowmen retreated, the main infantry line pressed forward, and the archers and crossbow positions behind also began to open fire.

Orville was on a small hill. He stood on a platform made of boxes and wood and observed the situation from above. His view was pretty good.

From his point of view, the Romans had a slight advantage in numbers on the left and right wings, but the position in the middle was very dangerous, with only a thin layer. If it was pierced, they would be destroyed in the center.

Suppressing the vague uneasiness in his heart, Orville raised the long sword in his hand. The long sword turned slightly red under the blessing of special power. All the soldiers within a radius of dozens of meters felt refreshed, and an indescribable self-confidence rose from the bottom of their hearts.

"Long live the emperor!! Kill the traitors!" "Ah!!!" Orville shouted simply, and the soldiers responded.

Several captains blew the whistles hanging around their necks, and their centurions led their own centuries forward and began to fight with the enemy's sword and shield infantry.

First there were two or three rounds of javelin throwing at each other. The Romans took advantage of the range and fired one more round. Then there was a bloody and brutal hand-to-hand combat. Both sides were the most elite troops on the entire battlefield. Their combat coordination and willpower were impeccable, which made the hand-to-hand combat quite brutal, and it was difficult to tell the winner for a while.

At the same time, Orville sent several centurions to the flanks and front of the enemy's pikemen and began throwing weapons at them. They were not javelins, which were used against heavy infantry and cavalry, but smaller javelins, which were less lethal but could carry more. Each soldier could carry five to eight javelins.

The enemy's spearmen were undoubtedly a bit crude in Orville's opinion. Only the spearmen in the front row had an arm shield to block attacks. The armor protection was quite chaotic, and to some extent, almost non-existent. For such soldiers, not to mention javelins, even this kind of javelin could still cause considerable damage.

These legion soldiers quickly shot out all the javelins in their hands, then retreated to the main position before the enemy's spearmen rushed up, restocked their ammunition, and then went forward to shoot.

The effect was so good that even Orville himself was a little surprised. In order to deal with the legionnaires, Mithridates arranged the spear phalanx too densely, so the javelins had a good killing effect even if they were not aimed.

He felt a little regretful now, regretting that he had made too few javelins, only enough for these people to shoot a few rounds to test the effect.
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Outside the main battlefield, Cu Chulainn was hiding in the forest on horseback alone.

Although she had never seen with her own eyes what Cu Chulainn looked like after he went berserk, Orville had explained the matter in great detail. His normal combat power was about the same as that of a first-rate talent, and his combat power after going berserk could barely trace back to the mythological era, so Tia was more careful when using Cu Chulainn.

In her mind, this kind of soldier is similar to a war elephant, a double-edged sword. If used well, it is a weapon of victory, but if used poorly, it can easily burn oneself.

So she placed Cu Chulainn in this relatively remote position so that he would not accidentally hurt his own people.

Cu Chulainn understood this order very well. It was actually what he wanted. It was better to be able to fight freely than to be timid. Now he was waiting for orders from Tiya.

After a while of fighting on the front line, the Pontic cavalry also began to move and tried to go around behind the Roman position.

At this time, Cu Chulainn finally saw the signal he wanted to see - the crossbows in the position began to fire outward.

As the crossbow was firing, Cu Chulainn rushed out of the forest and headed straight for the cavalry.

On the way to the charge, his figure kept twisting and expanding, and finally turned into a terrifying, menacing little giant. He jumped off the horse and started sprinting on foot, even a little faster than when he was riding a horse before.

The opponent's cavalry officer was obviously also a talented person, and after all, he was a talented person from the edge of the civilized world. He was quite strong and confident in his abilities. He led his soldiers to charge towards Cu Chulainn without dodging.

(End of this chapter)