Mount and Blade Central Asia

The main force of the Black Sheep People led by Hussein was the first to encounter the Kurds led by Saladin. The entire battlefield was covered in Li Rufeng's strategic map perspective, and he could see it clearly.

As far as Li Rufeng's first impression was concerned, the Black Sheep people were obviously much more elite than the Kurds. When the scouts of both sides discovered the existence of each other, the Black Sheep people took five minutes to complete the formation change, while the Kurds took twice as long.

Moreover, in terms of formation alone, the Black Sheep People's formation is much more orderly than that of the Kurds. In Li Rufeng's opinion, these Kurds have not yet gotten rid of the tribal conflicts. If it were not for Saladin who constantly restrained these soldiers, they might have rushed forward in such a disorderly manner and died.

If they really did that, Li Rufeng dared to guarantee that the Black Sheep people would be happy to completely drive the Kurds out of the battlefield at less than one-third of the cost.

The slow formation on the battlefield resulted in the Kurds only having enough time to prepare for the attack when the Black Sheep had already charged at them from three directions, and the speed of their horses had also reached the most comfortable rhythm at the most appropriate distance.

On the other hand, thanks to Saladin's efforts, the Kurds were only divided into two somewhat scattered wedge formations, trying to separate from both sides to create distance. They knew that they had gaps in speed and organization.

It was the right decision, but the Qara ...

Splitting to the sides did allow the Kurds to avoid the attack of the Black Sheep center, but the Black Sheep who came from the left and right wings still held on to the two wedge formations of the Kurds, preventing them from opening up enough distance to launch a counterattack.

If the six centuries sent by Li Rufeng had not temporarily blocked the cavalry on both wings of the Black Sheep with bows and arrows, slowing down their pace, the people of Hengyang would have prevented the Kurds from having another chance to launch a counterattack.

Even so, looking from the air, Li Rufeng could count that the Kurds had suffered at least forty casualties, most of whom were wounded soldiers, but those who fell off their horses would hardly have a chance to stand up again.

The Black Sheep Army's central army was slowly killing all the wounded. From this point, Li Rufeng could see that this army was determined to die and they would not leave any way for themselves to retreat.

Since they treat the enemy in this way, the enemy will treat them in the same way, and this is destined to be a bloody and cruel war.

Most of the people on the right wing where Saladin was located were his die-hard loyalists, so the right wing was the first to complete the U-turn. They began to accelerate slowly at a distance of about 400 meters from the center of the Black Sheep Army. The entire acceleration process will end when they are less than 50 meters away from the Black Sheep Army, allowing the horse speed to reach its peak.

But only the cavalry in the front row, led by Saladin, would charge directly into the enemy formation with their lances. The remaining Kurds would turn around after completing three rounds of volleys, and then look for another opportunity to launch another round.

The center of the Black Sheep Army just stayed there waiting for the Kurds to come to them. Li Rufeng saw clearly that the Black Sheep Cavalry that had previously chased Saladin used half of its men to entangle the Ranger Unit, while the other half turned around and started another charge under the rain of arrows.

Li Rufeng roughly calculated the route. If Saladin's men could successfully complete their charge, this black sheep cavalry would directly hit Saladin's troops from the side one hundred meters before they attacked the center.

This will be a charge of 150 people against 400 people, but for some reason, Li Rufeng feels that the Black Sheep people have a great chance of winning.

The center of the Black Sheep Army was too calm, without any sense of nervousness about being attacked, while the cavalry charging from the flank was too determined, as if they were sure that the center would not waver at all, and they would intercept the enemy at the most appropriate position.

This group of people definitely did not do this for the first time. They have experience, experience gained at the cost of human lives.

Li Rufeng wanted to remind Saladin, but his personal guards were too far away from Saladin. Even if he reminded Li Rufeng, there was no better way to give better orders at this critical moment.

This is essentially a game, a competition of who is more determined and whose soldiers can withstand more casualties.

If both sides were equally tough and brave, it would be a mutually destructive charge, with both the Black Sheep and the Kurds suffering huge losses.

But it is obvious that the Black Sheep people who dared to launch such tactics had a deeper accumulation of the two qualities mentioned above. The central army, which served as bait, stood still and did not take this opportunity to move in other directions. They were like a target, allowing the Kurds to aim at them.

Then, when the black sheep cavalry, which launched a stunning charge, finally approached Saladin's troops from the side, the Kurds just realized that when they were aiming at the prey, they also became the prey.

As Li Rufeng had expected, the Kurds collapsed without any warning, and the entire team collapsed like quicksand along the direction of the Black Sheep's charge. Saladin was shocked to find that his left wing was gone in an instant, and a wedge formation suddenly lost a corner.

What's worse is that this time the Black Sheep cavalry rushed directly from the side, leaving Saladin little time to feel fear.

Rumble!

It was as if two streams of different colors merged in an instant, and water splashed everywhere, and people and horses flew. The Black Sheep people plowed through the side of the Kurdish team, leaving behind a trail of bloody tunnels, and sped away.

The Kurds' charge momentum was immediately crushed, and the Black Sheep People, who were much smaller in number, also suffered considerable losses, with their numbers reduced by more than half.

But this was just the beginning. Li Rufeng saw that the Black Sheep Army, which had been standing like a pine tree, began to move. They were like dump trucks, and began to crush the remaining Kurdish troops again.

Li Rufeng couldn't bear to watch such a scene. He didn't even know whether Saladin was still alive. He only knew that the Kurds had completely collapsed.

Then, the Black Sheep people did not linger on their victory, and began to gallop forward in the direction where Li Rufeng was.

The other half of the team watched from afar as their compatriots were crushed by the Black Sheep People. The leading officer did not issue even a single useful order. They just stood there, as if considering whether to fight or flee.

Li Rufeng guessed that the reason these people were still here and did not escape directly was because his main camp still had enough troops. They did not dare to leave, but they did not dare to fight, so they just stood there in a daze.

The gap is too big. Saladin's dream may not be realized in a short time. Moreover, Li Rufeng does not know whether the Kurds can elect another leader with such lofty ambitions after Saladin's death.

But no matter what, the war is not over yet. The six Ranger Centuries still maintain their own rhythm, containing and harassing the Black Sheep People. They are not panicked at all by the collapse of the Kurds, as if all this was supposed to happen this way.

Those experienced centurions had anticipated this scene long ago. Only Li Rufeng really had a little illusion about the Kurds. Now that the illusion was shattered, the war continued.

Li Rufeng gave a wry smile and turned to look at Bardock: "The Kurds are finished. The Rangers are still holding the Black Sheep back. They have hardly suffered any losses."

"As expected. I didn't think they would be stupid enough to charge the enemy face to face. They weren't ready for it." Bardock shrugged, not at all surprised. "We..."

"Wait." Li Rufeng suddenly waved his hand, because from the perspective of the strategic map, he saw a man crawling out from the pile of dead bodies, riding a lame horse, and raising the Kurdish flag with some difficulty.

It was Saladin. He was still alive. Li Rufeng even felt a sense of surprise.

The appearance of Saladin boosted the morale of the Kurds. The half of the Kurdish thousand-man team quickly reorganized and began to approach Saladin, and the originally defeated army also began to gather towards Saladin spontaneously out of shame.

In the previous devastating defeat, the Kurds left behind about one hundred to one hundred and fifty corpses and wounded. Adding to the previous casualties, the two hundred-man teams were wiped out. The Black Sheep seized the battlefield opportunity too quickly, so they paid a price, a price that was enough to defeat any army.

"Let them retreat and rest first." Li Rufeng looked at Saladin's somewhat tragic figure and gave a new order to his personal guards. The personal guards quickly approached Saladin and conveyed the order.

Then Li Rufeng received a somewhat unexpected response. Saladin and the Kurds refused to retreat and wanted to continue fighting.

Li Rufeng saw Saladin shouting something to his people. He pointed his finger at the corpses on the ground, at the earth beneath his feet, at the sky above his head, and finally at himself and his people. The Kurds soon burst into shouts.

He didn't know what Saladin said, but it was obvious that these Kurds had once again boosted their morale to fight the Black Sheep People.

In this case, he didn't mind the Kurds showing their loyalty and bravery to him, and he couldn't care less now. Even without the strategic map perspective, Li Rufeng could already see those black sheep people rushing towards his main camp from a distance in a violent manner.

Li Rufeng had to admit that these Black Sheep people were able to restore their country and rise up immediately after Timur's death, and they were indeed not people who had earned their reputation for nothing.

"Form a battle!" Badak led his thousand-man team to form a somewhat complicated formation, just behind Malikye's thousand-man team. His troops were a mixture of infantry and cavalry, so the cavalry also lined up their troops and were ready to set off at any time.

Li Rufeng had previously calculated that it took the Black Sheep People five minutes to organize their formation while marching, while it only took Badak's cavalry three minutes.

Don’t underestimate these two minutes. When you are close to going online, every second faster means a completely different level of training and organization, let alone two minutes.

The Black Sheep People's journey was not smooth. The experienced Ranger Centurions kept a relatively safe distance and continued to harass them. From the perspective of the strategic map, the Black Sheep People left sparse corpses along the way, which were enough to serve as signposts for the Kurds behind them.

But obviously, the Black Sheep people don't care about these scattered casualties.

...

Hussein looked at the neatly arrayed Mongolian army in the distance, feeling a little dazed. He thought he was ready, but when the last moment really came, he still felt a little nervous.

He had said before that many of the citizens under his command could not tell the difference between 3,000 people and 5,000 people. After all, most of these soldiers could not count, and on the previous battlefield, they also found it difficult to have the energy to observe how many enemies there were, and thus judge the approximate number of enemies by sight. That was a skill that only officers needed to master.

But after they broke through the encirclement of 1,500 cavalrymen, they encountered an enemy force twice their number that was ready for battle, and their morale inevitably dropped.

"I know the enemy is numerous and you're afraid, as am I." Hussein's voice wasn't loud, but the soldiers around him could hear it clearly. "But don't forget who we are! We are the black sheep! When everyone surrendered to the great conqueror, we didn't!"

"We have paid a heavy price for this! Who hasn't lost their relatives and friends in the past few years? Who hasn't suffered insults from the conquerors?" Hussein asked loudly, and no one spoke.

"The great conqueror was lucky because he died in the far east, otherwise we would have killed him!" Hussein shouted again, and this time countless people responded to his cry.

"We also killed his son, the most brutal one! Some people call him a devil! Some people call him a demigod! Only us! We call him a dead man!" Hussein's voice began to become louder and louder, and almost everyone could hear it.

"Now the great conqueror is dead, his devilish son is also dead, and only a bunch of defeated soldiers are left, but they want to take away the fruits of our hard work. Do you agree?" Hussein raised his scimitar high and asked loudly.

"No!" Countless scimitars were raised, reflecting dazzling light in the sunlight.

"I don't agree either, so—" Hussein smiled, "Charge with me! No prisoners! Kill!"

The Black Sheep people came over like this. As a person who had some knowledge of war horses, Li Rufeng roughly calculated the distance these Black Sheep people had charged and traveled along the way, and he could easily come to a conclusion that their horsepower was only enough for this one charge.

So this was their first and last charge. If they failed, they would not even have a chance to escape. The enemy commander was either a madman or a gambler. The difference between the two was just how crazy he was.

Chapter 541 Virgin Mary!

When Hussein started his final charge, Hubbard was on a small hill on Li Rufeng's right wing, watching his brothers fighting desperately, with the reins clenched so tightly in his hands that they made a creaking sound.

He gritted his teeth and said nothing. In fact, when he arrived at the designated location, he realized one thing, that is, Wumail had been deceived by the black wizard. These Mongols could not have only 3,000 people, there were at least 5,000 of them.

Hubbard didn't know why Hussein was hiding this, or maybe he knew but didn't want to admit he knew.

As a commander, Hussein was the best commander. They won victory again and again on the battlefield and saved each other's lives. They had long been like real brothers, no, closer than real brothers.

If Hussein wanted Hubbard to die, he would have carried out Hussein's order without hesitation because he believed that Hussein must have a reason.

But now, Hussein was taking all his brothers to die. He had completely ignored their lives and betrayed their trust. An impulse mixed with anger filled Hubbard's chest, making it almost impossible for him to think normally.

No, Hussein must have his reasons, otherwise he would not have done so... No, the matter was doomed from the moment they had to leave half of their troops behind and force their retreat from the front line.

Hubbad suddenly realized that this was the reason. Hussein had no way out. The Black Sheep King had given him a death order!

The Black Sheep King had no more troops to withdraw to resist the Mongol shaman. On the eastern front, those Iranians had broken the tacit understanding between them a month ago and were frantically attacking their defenses.

They were calling for help everywhere and were short of manpower everywhere, and behind them, a small, pitiful Mongolian shaman seized the opportunity and attacked cities in their heartland, encountering almost no decent resistance.

He even saw the Black Sheep People's New Kingdom being cut in half!

But the Black Sheep King could not muster more troops to stop all this. The chiefs of those damned big tribes forced the Black Sheep King to attack the Aries people. Now that the war was lost, they ran away one by one faster than rabbits. They only wanted to share the cake and did not want to take even the slightest risk.

The current situation of the Black Sheep is that whoever has more troops in his hands will get a bigger piece of the cake. In this case, who would be so stupid as to waste his troops to stop the enemy?

Even if the kingdom was cut in half, it would not be their own interests that were lost. The portion they have already taken is enough to satisfy them.

In Hubbard's darkest imagination, the Black Sheep King wasn't so clean. Was he really unable to send out a single soldier? Could it be that Dabli City could no longer mobilize even a single force?

Hussein... Hussein should not have advised the Black Sheep King before. He spoke too bluntly, so he ended up like this. He was the excuse that the Black Sheep King put forward to all the tribal chiefs to prove that the great king had tried to stop the enemy, but he just failed because he did not have any strong support.

When everything is over, this defeat will even become an advantage for the Black Sheep King to attack other chiefs!

Hubbard admired Hussein very much, but he felt that Hussein might never understand the rules of the game of those "big guys", and he was only suitable for leading troops in battle.

"We are all fools. We are not smart at all. Hussein, you have killed me too." Hubbard screamed, then raised his military flag high and shouted to his brothers behind him, "See? The battlefield is ahead, we are here for victory! Charge! We will win!"

"Victory!" A full six hundred cavalrymen, without any hesitation, followed their commander and charged forward.

Standing in front of them was only a weak defense line consisting of a thousand-man infantry team. Everyone in the team deeply believed that they would be easily pierced through like paper.

Hubbard also firmly believed so, but he just didn't know how far he could rush to, and whether they could really kill the general and capture the flag. It's not that they have no chance of winning, but it's very small, so small that it itself is a miracle.

However, Hussein had once led them to create miracles, and Hubbard only hoped that the miracle would happen again this time.

But what are those things placed in front of those infantry phalanxes?

...

"Diobiya, if you don't hurry up, we'll all die here!" An old man who was pulled over by Li Rufeng wiped the sweat from his palms on his greasy pants nervously.

He was no longer young, and was past the age where he could face a cavalry charge without batting an eyelid. He swore that after the war he would sail back to Genoa to enjoy life. He had earned enough money.

"Shut up and don't interrupt! I'll be there soon!" Diobiya muttered a little irritably, and then walked towards another cannon.

As a veteran, Diobiya knew very well that six hundred cavalrymen charging a thousand-man infantry unit would be like committing suicide, and anyone with a brain would not do such a losing business.

Even if Marcelino's infantry were wiped out today, he could raise a new one in three months at most. But after the cavalry charged through the infantry phalanxes equipped with spears, how many would be left?

Even without counting resources like war horses, it would take the Black Sheep people one or two years to fill the gap today.

But just one look at the tragic battle on the left wing and Diobiya knew that today's battle was not normal, and those black sheep people were not afraid of death.

Diobbia was afraid of death, so he didn't want to be buried with the Black Sheep People. That's why he had to make those cannons more effective, or at least have them fire at the same time, creating a wall of firepower to stun the Black Sheep People in one fell swoop.

What threat could shock cavalry pose without its impact force?

Diobbia looked up at the approaching Black Sheep Man while silently calculating in his mind. Then he snatched the torch from the apprentice's hand and lit the fuse of one of the cannons. He counted a few numbers silently, walked forward a few steps quickly, walked to another cannon, looked at the length of the fuse, paused for a moment, and then lit it.

Then Diobbia trotted to the next cannon and hurriedly lit the fuse.

In this way, Diobbia personally ignited all four cannons and ran back to the infantry phalanx under the cover of the apprentices. He could even hear the dull sound of arrows falling from the sky hitting the shields.

One unlucky apprentice was shot in the thigh. Fortunately, Marcelino had been keeping an eye on them and rushed over to pull the wounded man into the formation and protected him.

At this time, the Black Sheep cavalry was less than fifty meters away from the infantry phalanx. The horses' hooves trampled on the ground, bringing a terrifying tremor. Because of excessive physical exhaustion, Diobia, who was lying on the ground gasping for breath, felt this fear more clearly than anyone else.

"It's over, I'm going to die!" Diobiya curled up into a ball with a sad face, as if he had already seen the scene of himself being trampled into a meat paste by a warhorse.

"Everyone hold on! Follow your superiors' orders! Leaving your back to the enemy means death! The only way out is in front! First row, squat down! Tilt your shields! Second row, keep your spears at an angle!" Marcelino kept repeating the order, which he had repeated countless times. He didn't know if anyone heard him, and he didn't care. He was just using this method to relieve the tension in his heart.

Marcelino, who was experienced in combat, certainly knew that no matter how sharp their spears were or how strong their shields were, the soldiers in the first row would most likely not survive. There was no need for the Black Sheep Men to kill these soldiers with swords, spears, and halberds. The moment the war horses rushed in, those soldiers would die, being hit to death.

Then these cavalrymen will be like stones thrown into a pile of persimmons, splashing a lot of juice, and will not stop until they are satisfied.

"May the Virgin Mary bless you!" Marcelino, who was in the first row, took out an exquisite statue of the Virgin Mary from his arms at the last moment and prayed devoutly.

The next second, a cannon less than ten meters away from the infantry formation suddenly sounded, and Marcelino instantly lost all his hearing. In fact, what he really felt was that the world seemed to slow down, with only a buzzing sound whispering in the silence, as if the Virgin Mary was whispering in his ear.

He saw a true miracle. He saw that the Black Sheep Cavalry, which was less than five meters away from the cannon, seemed to suddenly crash into an invisible wall, and the momentum of the entire charge paused for a moment!

Then, the world turned red, and along with a large amount of blood fell, Marcelino also heard. He finally heard clearly that what surrounded his ears was not the whisper of the Virgin Mary, but the screams of the black sheep.

The overloaded grapeshot caused unimaginable casualties. As for why Marcellido had tinnitus, it was because one of the cannons finally exploded due to disloyalty.

He saw dozens of cavalrymen in the front fall down in an instant, along with their horses. Regardless of whether they died on the spot, their bodies became the best cover for Marcelino and his men.

The following cavalry inevitably slowed down, and then many of them were tripped by the corpses of their companions. As for the cannon that exploded, because the gun mount was not strong enough, it jumped two or three meters high and smashed heavily on a cavalryman who was lucky enough to avoid the grapeshot and was still charging.

Holy Mary, Marcelino had never imagined such a way to die on the battlefield. The moment the cannon fell, the cavalryman's head was smashed directly into his chest, and then his body and the horse under his crotch were smashed under the cannon.

Juice splashing!