I'm not a lord

Chapter 145: A Great Victory (Thanks to the support of the leader Xiaohuhenkun!)
The reason why Lin En stood in the front row of the heavy infantry was mainly to facilitate command and boost morale.

Standing at the front gives you a wider field of vision and allows you to accurately control the timing of commanding the barbarian archers to shoot and retreat.

The training time for this group of archers is still a bit short. One hundred of them just joined the army in December last year. The lack of precise command may lead to disorganization of the army.

Similarly, the training time of the first two rows of infantry was not too long. It was the first time for these guys to face the charge of armored cavalry on the battlefield.

If Lynn had not led the charge and boosted morale, these young soldiers might not have been able to withstand the cavalry charge.

For infantry, formation is everything.

Once the formation is broken, it will be dispersed by the cavalry in an instant, and then be chased back to the north by the cavalry.

Although the cavalry on the opposite side cannot be considered elite, they are at least legitimate fiefdom knights led by a legitimate baron. They can launch a collective charge of nearly a hundred cavalrymen, so we should give them some face.

Coincidentally, the idea of ​​the coalition commander Baron Chixi coincided with Lin En's.

Baron Chixi knew very well that the cavalry under his command could not obey strict orders.

Seeing that the enemy was able to form a proper infantry formation, and was supported by longbowmen.

At short to medium distances, arrows shot by longbowmen have a chance of penetrating the cavalry's mail armor.

Of course, the weakness is also obvious. The longbow is a two-handed weapon, and using a longbow will prevent you from using other long-handled weapons.

At the same time, most longbowmen only wore simple armor and leather armor, and were very afraid of the impact of cavalry.

In order to break through the enemy's formation in one wave, Baron Chixi had to lead the charge.

Compared to "Brothers, charge forward", "Brothers, follow me" is obviously more likely to boost morale.

Since you are going to lead the charge, it will be most effective if you are in the middle of the team.

As fate would have it, the commanders of the two armies faced off against each other on the battlefield.

As for the result, there is no suspense.

Lin En noticed Baron Chixi very early on.

This guy's attribute values ​​are quite outstanding. The three stars also come with two positive characteristics. He is dressed in the most gorgeous clothes. Even his warhorse is covered with colorful horse clothes. It's like he has a halo on the battlefield.

Of course this is of no use.

Your attributes are not strong, your armor is not good, your long weapons are dropped, and you have lost the most important mobility and impact of cavalry. What can you use to fight me?

Just as Baron Chixi fell off his horse and stepped onto the river bank, the long-handled axe in Lin En's hand chopped down like thunder, aiming directly at the opponent's head.

Baron Chixi had no time to draw his sword and could only raise his left arm to block the attack in a hurry.

The next second, a heart-wrenching pain came from the left arm covered with chain mail.

But Baron Chixi did not scream in pain. Driven by adrenaline and fighting instinct, he used his hands and feet to try to retreat to the surface of the water.

But how could his speed compare to that of the long spear that could turn a slash into a stab?

The tip of the halberd can stab, the blade of the axe can chop, and the hook and sickle can pull.

The halberds that Lin En equipped the heavy infantry were specifically used to kill cavalry.

laugh!
The huge force carried the halberd straight into Baron Chixi's chest, piercing through the joint of the mail armor, and the tip of the halberd penetrated the armor and pierced it completely.

"Uh--"

Baron Chixi groaned and staggered to the ground. Blood gushed out from the gaps in his mail, staining the gorgeous robe outside the armor red.

The red pomegranate emblem symbolizing the Chixi Territory looks even more gorgeous when watered with blood.

The baron used his last bit of strength to raise his head with difficulty, and what he saw was still the pair of dark and calm eyes.

Lynn twisted his wrist, crushed the baron's chest with the halberd, and then pulled it out.

The body fell on its back, and blood spread in the cold river water.

In this chaotic battlefield, almost no one except Lynn noticed the Baron's death, including the coalition forces who followed the Baron in the charge.

Everyone can only see the enemy in front of them.

Forward, forward, and forward again, killing all enemies they can see, is the only thought in the soldiers' minds.

They all knew that victory was only truly won when there was no enemy in their sight.

"Kill them all!"

"Kill them all!"

The soldiers on both sides were shouting slogans frantically to dispel the fear.

The shouts of killing could be clearly heard several kilometers away.

The two armies gradually became confused and close in the battle, making it impossible to distinguish between cowardice and bravery.

Everyone is moving in the direction ahead, and the order of events changes as a soldier repels or kills the enemy and takes his place.

The sounds of metal clashing, the neighing of dying war horses, and the muffled sound of bones breaking intertwined, as if the furnace of hell was overturning the world.

But no matter what, the outcome of this war is already determined.

Baron Bogdan of Green Lake Territory saw it clearly from the city wall.

He saw hundreds of coalition cavalrymen suddenly slow down, and then run head-on into a thick wall that seemed thin but was extremely solid.

He saw with his own eyes Baron Chixi being pierced by a halberd, and his eldest son Bogdan the Younger being hit by several spears and then trampled by countless feet.

The knight, forced to slow down and fall off his horse, had only one fate when facing the jungle of spears and halberds of the heavy infantry advancing continuously.

That is death!

Bogdan could also see that some of the knights who had laid down their weapons and surrendered were still mercilessly pierced by axes, halberds, and spears, and thrown into the freezing Green River like deflated pig bladders.

The heavy infantry formation even gradually advanced into the river, crushing all the knights who stood in their way.

The entire green river was dyed a striking red.

"It's over, it's over, everything is over"

Bogdan looked at the despairing battlefield from afar, his head felt dizzy and he almost collapsed on the city wall.

Fortunately, he still retained his last bit of sanity. He used all his strength to hold on to the city wall and quickly stopped his cavalry who were about to rush out of the city gate to support the friendly forces.

Although they say they are providing support, in reality they can only be cheerleaders on the sidelines.

After all, the city gate was filled with barricades set up by the enemy, and the cavalry couldn't charge at all.

This group of cavalrymen were lucky. They could only hear the deafening shouts of killing outside the city wall, but could not see with their own eyes the battle formation that would make them collapse on the spot.

The more than one hundred attendants who were watching the battle in the south were much more unfortunate. They witnessed the tragedy with their own eyes.

What they never expected was that the knights who were usually so arrogant and domineering were slaughtered mercilessly like pigs.

Expensive armor and noble emblems are meaningless in the face of death.

"Run, run away!"

It is unknown who turned their horse around first and fled south in panic.

Seeing someone taking the lead, this group of servants and senior conscripts left the battlefield in an instant.

The army was defeated like a mountain.

At this time, they didn't care about the life or death of the knight above them, nor did they care about the life or death of their mounts. They whipped the horse whips desperately just to make the inferior horses under their crotch run faster.

Behind them, the enemy's roar was as loud as thunder: "Drop your weapons, dismount and surrender, or you will die!"

Lin En naturally would not let go of these knight servants and high-level conscripts.

As early as the moment when the two armies clashed fiercely, the third brother had already led the cavalry troops to bypass the village on the east side and head south, directly attacking the reserve cavalry who were watching the battle in the rear.

Not only that, the 300 people led by Lao Si marched at the fastest speed, heading south along the Baihe River and then outflanking to the west, blocking the way for these deserters to move south.

Faced with being surrounded from both front and back, the more than one hundred people fled in all directions, were either knocked off their horses or forced to surrender, and some of them managed to escape into the depths of the forest.

On the front battlefield, Lin En was directing the soldiers to count casualties and clean up the battlefield.

The losses in this battle were not great, with six infantrymen killed and more than ten wounded, for a total of no more than twenty casualties.

The allied forces suffered 96 deaths and 2 captured.

Lin En issued a strict order before the battle that no prisoners of war should be accepted when facing a cavalry charge, and those who kneeled down to surrender should be stabbed to death with axes and spears.

Accepting surrender on the spot would cause the formation to loosen, thus shaking the originally neat infantry formation.

The two prisoners survived because they lay in the Green River pretending to be dead and were only discovered when the battlefield was being cleaned up.

The war was over, and Lin En didn't make things too difficult for them. He just stripped them of their armor and weapons and tied them up in the barracks cells.

At the very least, these are two valuable adult male laborers who can be sent to the salt mountains in the north to mine.

After calculating the casualty ratio, Lynn was quite satisfied with the outcome of the battle.

War is not a game of house. As long as there is war, people will definitely die.

Often, non-combat casualties even outnumbered battlefield casualties. The six infantrymen killed were all unlucky enough not to be assigned plate armor, while the infantrymen equipped with plate armor suffered almost no casualties.

This fully demonstrates the excellent defensive power of plate armor and also confirms the feasibility of Lin En's route to improve armor performance.

When the enemy cavalry lost their mounts and impact force, it was indeed difficult to harm the heavy infantry equipped with plate armor with only long swords.

Today's victory is not due to spiritual factors such as morale or bravery.

The enemy's morale is equally amazing and their courage is admirable.

They dared to charge forward under a hail of arrows and to cross the Green River to attack the infantry formation that was ready for battle.

After being forced to dismount, they were still able to launch an attack with their legs and the long swords at their waists.

They lost more because of their understanding of war and the generation gap in military concepts and equipment.

Times have quietly changed.

The old feudal knights are no longer suitable for this version.

After taking the prisoners and counting the casualties, the next step is naturally the joyful harvest time.

In this era, the winner of every war can make a fortune.

Mail armor, helmet, longsword, lance, warhorse. Each one represents the glittering golden shield of the North.

Before the last rays of sunlight faded from the horizon, Lynn led the soldiers to complete the cleanup of the battlefield.

A full set of chain mail consists of 98 pieces, and each set is worth more than ten gold shields. These cavalrymen who can afford high-quality war horses naturally won't be short of money for armor.

There are also 98 helmets, with many styles, including pointed, round, pot-shaped and so on.

Of course, under the damage of heavy long-handled weapons such as axes and halberds, most of the mail armor and helmets were damaged to varying degrees, and their value was greatly reduced.

Some helmets were even split in two, and their owners' fate was self-evident; they all became "skullbreakers."

Although the mail armor was badly damaged, it was still usable after some repairs. This was one of the great advantages of mail armor, as the lock rings could be replaced.

The value of various weapons is far lower than that of armor. Whether it is a lance or a long sword, they are both worth two or three gold coins, which is far less than a full body of chain mail.

As for the horses, Lin En finally collected a total of four intact war horses.

Many horses were hit by arrows during the charge, and when they rushed into the Green Water River, they had to suffer the destruction of the chevaux de frise. Even if they survived by chance, they had to face the ruthless stabbing of halberds and spears.

Lin En had taught his soldiers countless times that when facing cavalry, they should always prioritize dealing with their mounts.

Without the impact and mobility of horses, cavalry is nothing.

Because of this, very few war horses survived this battle.

Lin En could only bear the pain and cut off the fresh horse meat so that the soldiers could have a full meal tonight.

As for the bodies of the fallen enemy soldiers, Lin En picked out a few of those who were dressed gorgeously and left them behind, and buried the rest in a pit dug on the spot.

The random accumulation of corpses can easily lead to epidemics and must be dealt with as soon as possible.

As for the labor force for burying the bodies, they were recruited from local serfs.

Lin En did not take advantage of these serfs for free. He gave each of them a large piece of horse meat and everyone had fun together.

For the serfs, the life and death of the knight had nothing to do with them.

On weekdays, the ones who exploit them the most are the masters above their heads.

They and the master are not from the same world, so naturally they have no empathy.

As long as the soldiers under Lin En's command did not plunder or bully them, these serfs were willing to cooperate with this foreign army, not to mention that they would get free meat to eat.

After dark, the third and fourth brothers in the south sent people to report the situation, saying that a total of more than 110 people were captured, including prisoners and surrenders. The other attendants fled into the forest or the villages in Green Lake Territory, and were being hunted down all night.

This situation was within Lin En's expectations.
These attendants all had horses, which, though of inferior quality, were always faster than their legs.

Once they escape into the forest, it will be extremely difficult to catch them.

If nothing unexpected happens, the Chixi leader in the south will know the outcome of this battle by the morning of the day after tomorrow at the latest.

Within four days, the scattered knights' squires would carry news of the defeat to the various baronies of White River.

Under the starry sky, the soldiers lit a bonfire in the barracks.

The enthusiasm for victory spread like wildfire, and the tense faces during the battle all relaxed, replaced by unbridled laughter and rough singing.

The cooks brought out the horse meat that had been roasted overnight, and the fat dripping into the fire made a sizzling sound.

The aroma of meat mixed with the smell of sweat and rust has a strange sense of freshness.

"Cheers to Lord Lin En!" A young veteran who had participated in two battles raised his wooden cup with a hoarse voice.

"Cheers to Lord Lin En!" Everyone responded loudly, and the sound of cups clinking one after another.

Of course, they didn't drink any alcohol, they just drank boiled water instead.

Lynn was very strict about military discipline, and drinking was only allowed on very rare occasions in the barracks.

There are still dozens of enemy soldiers in the Green Lake Castle next to us, so it is obviously not the time to drink.

Beside the campfire, little Thorward and several young barbarian archers put on the captured knight's robes and broken helmets, and were dancing the ancient barbarian war dance.

Lin En naturally shared the joy of victory with the soldiers in the crowd, and even showed off his always out-of-tune singing voice.

Soldiers need to vent after the battle.

Especially the new recruits who were killing someone for the first time.

Fear, excitement, fear... these emotions must be washed away by excitement and noise, otherwise they will sooner or later turn into collapse on the battlefield.

Suddenly, a burst of laughter broke out in the distance.

Lynn looked up and saw that two infantrymen were hitting their shields with captured and broken knight swords, making rhythmic drumbeats.

More soldiers immediately joined the impromptu concert, their boots thumping on the thick frozen ground.

Lynn's eyes swept over the soldiers with interest, but what was on his mind was the future expansion plan.

According to the original plan, after taking over the Shoal Territory, he should have first helped Leon capture the Three Rivers City, forming a closed-door attack on the White River Basin, and then slowly dealt with these local barons.

The plan can't keep up with the changes.

Due to a series of changes from last year to now, Lin En modified his plan in line with the times, and decided to unify the six baronies first, and then wait for an opportunity to seize Sanhe City.

Although the order has changed, the result is undoubtedly good.

In the battle this evening, he wiped out almost all of the core forces of the Baihe Alliance.

The three baronies in the south are basically left with only some weak levies.

All he had to do was lead his army south with the momentum of a great victory and capture the three baronies in one fell swoop.

It is only the end of February, and he still has enough time to reorganize local agriculture and promote the advanced production experience of White Bear Territory.

As long as his land can grow until this autumn, there will be more food than ever before and he can recruit soldiers without restraint.

By this time next year at the latest, he will have a professional army of more than 3,000 people.

Even if the main force of the Duke of Swamp arrived in person, Lin En still had the confidence to fight.

Of course, before that, he had to clear a small obstacle.

It is the Green Lake Castle to the west of the camp.

"My lord, hold on to the castle. As long as we hold on, there is hope!"

In the castle's bedroom, Floren, the Knight of the Green Lake Territory, is trying to cheer up his baron and lover.

The disastrous defeat on the Green Water River and the death of his eldest son dealt an extremely heavy blow to the already elderly Bogdan.

After getting off the city wall, he locked himself in his bedroom, saying nothing and just drinking.

"Sir, you still have two sons serving in the Duke's army. Your bloodline is not cut off, and Green Lake Territory has not lost its heir!"

But no matter how Floren encouraged and comforted him, Bogdan just kept pouring wine with a cold face.

Floren was very anxious because he had a blood feud with the Baron of White Bear.

His only sister, Flora, the former regent of the Shallows Territory, died at the hands of the Baron of the White Bear Territory.

He had vowed to avenge his sister.

But before he could avenge himself, his enemies came to kill him and were about to break through the not-so-strong Green Lake Castle.

At present, some knights and servants in the castle are plotting to surrender, but Baron Bogdan, the only one who can boost morale, is in a state of depression.

How could Floren not be anxious?

"grown ups."

Just as he opened his mouth to offer comfort, Bogdan suddenly shook his hand away and shouted angrily: "What do you know!? Where is the Duke now? Where is the enemy? Defend? How can we defend?"

(End of this chapter)