Not to mention whether Leon deliberately tricked me, but as far as the current arrangement is concerned, I do not place the chips of victory entirely on the combat effectiveness of the 33rd Spartan Legion, although the role they have to play is very important.

important.

Seventeen thousand people followed the plan we discussed last night. Now the two Prussian infantry regiments are placed on both sides of the 33rd Spartan Legion. Their depth is not much thicker than their front width. They are not at all the same as the 33rd Spartan Legion.

The Thirty-three Spartan Legions were arranged in three lines. On the left and right wings on both sides, eleven thousand Prussians were arrayed according to the plan.

Each company is a line, and three companies form a battalion, and a battalion is the most basic charging unit in this battle. When 11,000 people are arranged in formation, the Prussian infantry on the left and right flanks have

The length of the 33rd Spartan Legion is more than 600 men, and the length of the 33rd Spartan Legion is 900 men. If you take a bird's-eye view from the air, our layout will be thick on the two wings, thin in the middle, and the front will be like a "concave".

The Prussians and Saxons were looking for hills near the battlefield to build artillery positions. At this time, the distance between the two sides was more than 600 meters.

As for our artillery positions, I am in no hurry to build them.

The two sides closed the distance to more than 100 meters, and the Saxon artillery position was completed. A total of 4 cannons that seemed to be 8-pounders were mounted on the slope behind the right wing, and then 3 8-pounders were mounted on the left wing, following us.

According to my observation, the Saxons still have three cannons that are still being dragged behind a few horses. As for those small-caliber infantry cannons, they are not included in the calculation.

Hippias said easily: "The Saxon cannons are similar to what you guessed, but there are fewer than expected. How did your Highness know?"

"You have forgotten that the Saida iron mine we robbed is an industrial area in Saxony. But there, we only saw cannon shell molds but no corresponding cannon casting molds. The few cannon casters only had small-caliber skills.

The manufacturing capacity of infantry artillery, coupled with the fact that Saxony has always been famous for its cavalry. So it is difficult to imagine that such a small place has both cavalry and artillery.

Financial resources." I even suspect that the cannons of the Saxons opposite are second-hand goods purchased from other areas, or junk goods obtained from the Russians. You must know that more than 4,000 cavalry means more than 4,000 men! If it is true

In that case, the Saxon artillery can basically be ignored. The artillery without any artillery practice at a distance of three to four hundred meters is simply useless.

"I see."

Soon, the facts proved that my malicious guess was right. The cannons fired by the Saxons were completely inaccurate. The Prussians got off to a good start. Their twenty nine-pounders were mixed with four-pounders.

Among the three artillery positions, one artillery shell bombarded the first line of Saxon infantry. The moment the iron projectile hit the human wall, the scene could only be described as a bloody mess.

The Prussian generals stopped at a distance of 400 meters, while I followed the infantry to a distance of more than 300 meters. At this time, the Saxons gradually found some sense. Artillery shells kept flying back and forth above our heads.

, watching artillery shells often explode behind or 40 to 50 meters in front of me. It felt like riding a roller coaster.

Hippias said anxiously: "It seems that the Saxons chose our bombardment location here!"

"It seems that the Saxons want to weaken us. Then they concentrated their forces to break through in the middle. Very good, tell the artillery to prepare for counterattack!"

The Prussians desperately tried to suppress the Saxon artillery fire, but their gunners' accuracy was a bit poor. During the two rounds of artillery fire, the shells either entered the infantry line or flew over the heads of the infantry.

The order arrived at the artillery frontline commander. Now it was finally the turn of the artillerymen of the 33rd Spartan Legion to go into battle. As a 3000-person infantry force, the 33rd Spartan Legion had 21 artillery pieces.

There were more doors than the Saxons, and basically the same as Prussia, which had more than 14,000 people. Now there were four eight-pound cannons on the left and right sides, and they slowly aimed their muzzles at the Saxons, and then they fought against the clock.

Alignment and loading of ammunition.

"Elevation angle 52°! Three hundred meters! Gunpowder filling!"

"Elevation angle 67°! Three hundred and seventy-five meters! Gunpowder filling!"

"Artillery test firing!"

"Fire!!!"

Two eight-pounders missed at the same time.

It doesn't matter, it's a test fire anyway, and then it's the second cannon's turn, and this one also reports the data, and then after shouting, the cannon fires again.

There was a loud thunder and thick smoke sprayed out in an instant. This second round of test cannons still missed, but the deflection was not much!

I was very much looking forward to the scene of the Saxon cannon being destroyed, but Hippias’s cry forced me to divert my attention. The Prussians and Saxons stopped advancing at the 130-meter line. This was the final compromise between our two sides last night.

Distance. You know, the Prussians still wanted to shoot at a distance of 150 meters.

I immediately issued an order to the front line to build an artillery position. During this period, the Prussian infantry and the Saxon infantry, under the shouts of the officers on both sides, made a series of shooting preparations, holding guns with both hands and raising the guns to fire.

"Fire!!!"

Boom!

Bah! Bah!

Bah! Bah! Bah! Bah!

White smoke immediately filled the front of the first infantry line after firing. The next second, more than ten Prussians fell to the ground. The Saxons over there also paid the price of four or five casualties.

The second line of Prussian infantry stepped up to the vacated position of the first line of infantry, then squatted down with the first line of infantry to reload their ammunition, while the third line of infantry stepped forward to fill the vacancy of the second line of infantry.

At this time, the second column of infantry raised their muskets and listened to the officer's call, and began the second round of attacks. This time, while the Saxons were loading ammunition, four or five more unlucky guys fell to the ground, but the Prussians' attack

Before it was over, the infantrymen in the second column squatted on the ground, leaving the shooting space to the infantrymen in the third column.

There was another round of gunfire, and only a handful of Saxons fell this time. It seemed that the Prussians were not very lucky this time.

So at 130 meters, more than 1,400 people from both sides exchanged fire, and the price paid was similar, with 20 to 30 casualties on each side.

The 33rd Spartan Legion also lost more than ten people to the Saxon volley fire, but the Saxons on their opposite side did not suffer any casualties because they did not fire back.

After the artillery position was constructed, the Saxons began to move forward again, but they did not go far and stopped at about 110 meters. They continued a volley here, with more than fifty Prussians on both sides.

The man fell to the ground, and the casualties paid by the Saxons in the exchange of fire were basically the same. It seems that the distance of more than 20 years did not significantly increase the damage of the exchange of fire between the two sides.

"Look! The Saxon artillery has been destroyed!" Viscount Imas shouted excitedly and asked us to follow his fingers. We saw that the Saxon artillery position on the right was hit, and many limbs were lying on the ground, but

Those gates were widely spaced apart, so they should have been undamaged. Seeing this scene, I finally let out a sigh of relief that was lingering in my chest. Sure enough, the reason why Rome's first-line legions were so elite was not only the morale and clothing of the infantry, but also the

The level of artillery.

Leon swore last night that their artillery could suppress the enemy's artillery. There was no doubt that the Saxons who were hit wanted to come back to seize the artillery and move their positions, but in the next round of shelling, our artillery defeated those artillerymen.

They fled in panic, leaving one eight-pounder behind to continue bombarding the Saxon artillery position on the right to prevent the Saxons from coming back to get the cannon. Three eight-pounders turned their muzzles and raised their angles, preparing to suppress the Saxon infantry.

Counting these 3 eight-pound cannons and the 10 six-pound cannons, a total of 14 cannons were aimed at the Saxon infantry.

The fourteen shells fired violently from the muzzle were like the scythe wielded by the god of death, cutting dents in the neat Saxon walls. The flying flesh and blood dyed the lawn at the feet of the Saxons red, and splashed the Saxon infantry next to them.

Half of his body was blood red, and his broken limbs were flying everywhere.

Nearly seventy Saxons fell in one round of shelling. If the shells of the three eight-pound cannons behind them had not fired along parabolic trajectories, the damage would have been higher. However, although the casualties from the shelling were not high,

But the throbbing and twitching severed limbs scared some young recruits to the point of walking.

I called the messenger: "Tell Leon to prepare for the Saxon charge!"

The artillery firepower was greater than that of the Saxons, and the damage it caused was greater than them, so it was the Saxons who were anxious to come up. Not long after my order was conveyed, the Saxons moved.

"Saxony's main attack direction is here in the middle."

Without Moritz shouting, I also knew that the two wings were thick and the middle was thin. If the Saxons were not too stupid, they also knew that if they defeated us, the two wings would retreat without a fight: "That was just a tentative attack."

However, this tentative attack by Saxony was enough to suppress an infantry regiment and a half. In order to cooperate with the attack of this infantry regiment, the Saxons on both wings continued to advance. There were only 2,500 people, divided equally among the three sides.

In fact, there are less than 800 people per side.

Nearly an hour has passed since the battle started.

On the flat plain battlefield of Leipzig, six infantry companies on the left and right flanks of Saxony fired a collective salvo at a distance of 80 meters. However, the Prussians' will was stronger than the Saxons imagined. Nearly a hundred people fell to the ground, and the morale of the infantry was reduced.
Chapter completed!