Chapter 56: Under the decisive battle
When the western half of the Roman Empire collapsed, an era belonging to the Roman Empire was declared to end. There was also an emperor's attempt to save the empire, causing the eagle flag to fly between the pillar of Heglis and Anatolia. That was Justinian I, the last emperor of the real Empire. Under the call of his grand wishes, the famous generals Belisarius and Nalcis destroyed the Vandals and Goths respectively, and brought the western half of the empire back to Rome's arms.
What a glory it is! Recalling the past, even though hundreds of years and dozens of generations have passed, the Romans still yearn for it.
Because of that time when the Western army and the Roman army clashed, the empire achieved an unquestionable victory. At that time, the Westerners had just broken free from the ignorance of the barbarians and converted to God. Faced with the super-heavy cavalry of the Roman Empire, Belisarius destroyed the Vandals in just one battle, and came to Italy, killing the Westerners' courage. Even though the wise king Charlemagne emerged later and intended to be involved in Italy, he was helpless against the Roman navy under the city of Venice and could only demand a truce. The empire agreed to the truce, but his attitude was extremely arrogant. On the surface, he recognized the orthodoxy of the western emperor of Charlemagne, but in fact he did not call him [Augusto], but used [Vasily] as a king of a different race.
However, time has changed, and before we know it, with the reduction of influence on the West, the reputation of the Roman Empire is no longer the same as before. Even the emperors of Constantinople were accustomed to calling themselves [Basselius] and abandoning [August]. The kings of the West no longer bowed their heads and called the old empire in the east the great Rome, but instead called it the Greek kingdom contemptuously.
This was the greatest humiliation of the Roman Empire by the West, and ultimately pushing it to the top, when the crusaders who nominally attacked the pagans pointed their swords at their fellow Gods, first looting Zara and then defiling the New Rome.
The empire declined, and the wise ruler who could not wait for it to revive it, fell into decline until a roar of cannons woke everyone up in 1453. Rome was destroyed.
In order to avoid such a fate coming again, Justinian led the heavily armored cavalry behind him who were angry with the Latins. They had accumulated strength and resentment for too long, and now they can finally get the Latins to pay their blood debts and they are confident that they can avenge their previous shame.
The Romans had realized that their meaningless internal friction was causing themselves to fall to the point of sinking, and now they were trying hard to catch up.
In the first wave of attacks, the Roman heavy cavalry broke through the defense line of the Latins outside the city of Argos and defeated the German knights who were trying to block the attack. The knights who fought on their own in front of the disciplined imperial cavalry could not break through the Byzantine wall charge. The one-sided massacre unfolded in the depression outside the city of Argos, and soon the muddy land was stained red by the blood of the Latins.
After destroying this Latin army, the Roman cavalry did not rest for a moment. They immediately removed the heavy horse armor and rushed south towards the main Latin force who was fighting fiercely.
On the other hand, Alexander commanded the army to crush the Roman army with a high-level power and attempted to crush the disadvantaged Roman army. During this period, he also tried to temporarily retreat and lure the Greeks to attack rashly, but the commander on the opposite side completely adopted the tactic of retreating and was not in a hurry to break through, but was stalemate with him here.
What exactly is the other party doing? Don’t they save Argos City?
Seeing the casualties rising every second, the war has completely exceeded Alexander's expectations when it reached this point. The resilience of the Greek army is so strong. I once saw the new Molia army under Justinian under the city of Thessalonika, but that was elite after all. However, now the people in Molia should be the old, weak, sick and disabled.
"Your Majesty, if we continue to attack, we may suffer too much casualties, and other nobles will not be able to bear it." Earl Senna said softly on the side.
This time, the coalition forces mobilized a total of 30,000 people, of which 10,000 were the Latin Crusaders. Now, if such a war of attrition continues, it will reach its limit sooner or later, which will cause dissatisfaction among the nobles.
But at this time, King Alexander completely couldn't listen to the reminder around him, "The same is true for the Greeks. As long as they persist for a while, the Greeks will not be able to hold on."
Although the battle situation between the two sides on the battlefield was several times stalemate and the Roman army had shown resilience not inferior to any Western army, Alexander Ning Yuan believed that the Greeks on the opposite side had reached the end of their strength, and sooner or later the coalition forces could completely break through their defense line.
"You go and mobilize the cavalry and order them to charge again, and defeat the Greeks in one fell swoop!" Alexander said to the Earl of Senna beside him. This man has chosen to take a gamble. He has no chassis and will not be able to maintain his army sooner or later. He must rebuild the kingdom Molia and he is determined to win. If he fails this time, it will not only mean that he will lose his foothold, but also greatly hit his prestige among the many Latin nobles. Therefore, Alexander absolutely does not allow failure.
He placed all his hopes on the cavalry commanded by the Maximi Company in the rear, trying to get them to join the battlefield and make a final decision.
Earl Senna said nothing. He did not refute anything and said nothing. Instead, he nodded, turned around and went to Alexander who thought he was going to send someone to transfer Maximilian's German cavalry to the exhibition, but he did not notice the strange look that the other party had just turned around and disappeared.
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At this moment, the Roman army was indeed as close as Alexander expected, and the casualties were already huge. If this continued, morale would collapse sooner or later. Neusky could suppress the nobles of Molia, but he could not stop the fear of the cowardly people in the army. He had beheaded several officers Agontopuri who had escaped in the battle, but still could not stop the Roman army being retreating step by step. After all, everything was still invented, and it was not easy to be able to withstand the Latins who had been through many battles.
"His Excellency Neuski, if we continue like this, our soldiers will definitely not be able to support it." Focas of the Papadoros family reminded that when suppressing the rebellion of Leosgrace, he assassinated the thief leader and made great contributions, marrying Alikhia to become the head of Papadoros's current family, and one of the few Justinian supporters among the old nobles of Molia. He was originally responsible for guarding against the Venetians in the Yadong Fortress, and this time he also led his personal army to join the war. He saw the crisis of the situation and advised Neuski.
And Neuski knew what Fokas said, but now he is in trouble.
"We want to buy time for Lord Justinian. Once we retreat, we will inevitably be in chaos. Now we can only defend ourselves and not retreat." Neuski couldn't understand the noble army of Moria. The spoiled noble armed forces were completely flowers in the greenhouse. Once they retreated, they would never obey orders. Instead, they would run away and completely disrupt the formation.
But Focas shook his head: "I don't want the whole army to retreat. Lord Neuski, do you remember the Battle of Tripolis? Our army is also far inferior to the Latins, but how did Lord Justinian do it?"
This sentence suddenly reminded Neuski. The man of Valangi immediately ordered the messengers around him to give his instructions. The new army of Mistras, who was in charge of the central army, slowly retreated backwards in an orderly manner, forming a crescent formation with the field army and the garrison on the left and right wings. This gave the Latins a wrong signal. They thought the Greeks could not hold on and attacked the central army of the Roman army desperately. On the left and right wings, although the army of the Morian nobles was afraid that the new army of Mistras suddenly retreated, they immediately found that the pressure in front of them was much smaller in an instant.
The Latin army, which was only concerned about advancing the Pig Tu, thought that they could defeat the Roman army immediately, but when they pierced into the formation of the Roman army like wedges, the retreating new Mistras suddenly stopped, but under the leadership of Neuski, he suddenly turned around and attacked the Latins and caught him off guard. Although he broke one arm, Neuski's blood was still flowing with Varyag blood. A small shield was installed on the broken arm, and the Varangi man holding a short axe suddenly slashed and overturned the Latins.
"Dedicate your courage and loyalty to Lord Justinian!" Neuski shouted, and the passionate soldiers rushed forward and launched a counterattack. The Latins, who thought they would win, were suddenly stunned by the head-on blow, and could not resist the embarrassment for a moment.
Looking at this scene, Alexander finally couldn't help but feel anxious. Why was Maximilian's cavalry not yet?! He subconsciously looked around, and Alexander suddenly found that the Earl Senna, who was following him, disappeared at some point.
Did he go to personally dispatch troops? King Alexander turned his head suspiciously and looked behind him, but the scene he saw made him stunned and completely gave up thinking.
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At this time, a loud trumpet sound suddenly came from behind the Latin army, but it was not blown by the Latin people. The crusaders who were fighting to the death all looked at their rear. And behind their positions was an empty space, but at this time, a row of black shadows entered the Latin people's vision in front.
The battlefield suddenly became quiet, and Neuski could even hear a panicked bird song.
What's going on? Why did the Latins suddenly stop attacking!
Just as Neusky was guessing what was going on, the Latins suddenly started to riot.
"It must be Lord Justinian! Only he would make the Latins so scary!" Faucas suddenly said loudly, and the news was soon heard by the soldiers around him. It spread to ten thousand times, which immediately made the morale of the Roman army high.
But looking at the cheers of the Greeks, the Latins who were at a loss became even more panicked at this time.
The heavy sound of horse hooves made them frightened. The Latin army at the end looked behind them. The Roman cavalry's speeding horses were crushing the muddy grass and advancing side by side towards the battlefield, charging forward under the guidance of the red black fox battle flag. At this moment, in the eyes of the Latin people, the flag was so big that it was simply covering the sky.
It was Justinian! How could Justinian appear there? Alexander finally reacted. Seeing the black fox with ferocious claws on the flag, his heart trembled. The memory of unwillingness to look back at the city of Thessalonica once again appeared in his mind. This little fox of Molia was still as difficult to guess his every move as before. It turned out that the other party had guessed his arrangement and set up this trap. In this way, the army led by Maximilian was probably destroyed by Justinian. At this time, the other party launched a surprise attack while he was in a fierce battle, and he had no way to stop it.
After abandoning the heavy equipment, the Roman cavalry were all naked horses and even the riders removed the outer layer of cotton armor to reduce the weight. As the super-heavy cavalry of the Roman Empire, they actually abandoned their advantages and went into battle lightly. Alexander was surprised to see this scene, but he immediately realized the other party's real purpose!
It is myself as the leader of the coalition forces!
Alexander realized this and his hands and feet were cold. Indeed, after such a cavalry unit destroyed the army outside Argos, his physical strength would inevitably be consumed very much. It was impossible to defeat tens of thousands of troops at this time, so he could only take beheading.
After touching Justinian's intentions, Alexander, who calmed down, sneered on his face.
Since you want to die, come on!
While sending his own personal guards to calm the morale of the army, Alexander ordered the archers to come forward and prepare to destroy the cavalry that rushed towards him in one fell swoop.
The distance between the two armies is getting closer and closer. The crazy Roman riders are catching bows and arrows on horseback. The arrows shot away are like a heavy rain. These Morian cavalry are not only proficient in the archery skills of fighting with their hands and hands at the moment. The rain of arrows immediately caused damage to the Latins, and most of the Latins were bleeding from their throats or chests.
The king's personal guards, who dared not neglect, also established a defense line at this time. Although the number of people was superior, the Latins did not dare to slack off, because the charge cavalry in front of them was a dangerous sharp knife, and the troops on the front line were too late to withdraw. Once the opponent cut their defense and drag King Alexander out to behead him, it would seriously affect the morale of the coalition.
The Roman cavalry, who were facing the rain of arrows, broke into the formation. At high speed, even if they were forcibly installed, the power of the charge was overwhelming, especially when the Latins did not have cavalry counterattack. The first level of mercenary defense was torn apart instantly, like a bubble, and the Roman cavalry, who were greatly energetic, flocked to the first attempt to complete their beheading operation. But the next moment, the formation of a square formation was slowly unfolding at the moment. They did not hold a spear to form a hedgehog array to resist, but they were holding another thing in their hands.
Chapter completed!