The various weapons in the hands of the soldiers in the front row of the Bannerless Rebel Army were constantly attacking the strong kite shields of the shield soldiers in the front row of the defensive formation.
Bah, bah!
Rest, rest, rest!
The spearmen in the second row of the combined army of the North and the River Land kept stabbing with the blood-stained spears in their hands. The front row soldiers of the Bannerless Rebel Army surrounding them suddenly fell to the ground with blood pouring out in large numbers.
The archers on the inside of the combined army began to fire freely. Surrounded by such a large number of enemy troops outside the circular formation, they had no worries that they would not be able to shoot at the target.
After a while, a large number of rebel corpses began to pile up outside the defensive circle. However, the Union army's circular formation remained as stable as ever, completely unbreakable.
This defensive circle formation was originally a military formation that gave up attacking and only sought to protect itself. It could persist for a long time even when facing an enemy several times larger than itself.
In the previous life, the Overlord of Chu used twenty-eight cavalry to form a defensive formation to resist five thousand enemy soldiers, and finally successfully broke through.
Of course, this special case cannot be used directly as a reference.
However, the differences in weapons, equipment, physical fitness, and training levels between the United Army and the Rebel Army are indeed very large.
Therefore, the vanguard commander's initial idea of taking advantage of his own numerical advantage to find loopholes in the defense was shattered. Now that the rebel army was fully engaged, they could only start a hard-fought battle with the coalition army.
However, the situation on the battlefield changes rapidly and is affected by various factors including weather, terrain, etc.
But this time, what had a beneficial impact on the rebel side was the large number of corpses of their friendly troops.
In the short period of time when the two sides started fighting, at least thousands of rebel soldiers fell forever outside the defensive circle.
This was considered a considerable battle loss for the general army, but for the rebel army whose battle losses had not reached one-fortieth, it was completely insignificant.
This group of rebel soldiers, who didn't know whether they had benefited from the looting or were brainwashed by their faith, went to launch a crazy attack on the defensive circle one after another.
The large number of corpses piled higher and higher outside the defensive circle began to become steps for the rebel soldiers who followed the attack.
Pass!
A rebel soldier wearing shabby armor stepped on the corpse of a friendly soldier, luckily escaping the spear attack, and then jumped directly into the defensive formation of the United Army.
Tear!
As soon as he stood firm, he raised the sharply polished ax in his hand and struck the back of the neck of a spearman who had no time to react.
Blood splattered everywhere, and most of the unlucky spearman's head was cut off from back to front.
However, before the rebel soldier could swing his second axe, he was stabbed in the back of the neck by a United Army soldier holding a long sword behind him.
After killing the enemy, this soldier immediately threw away his weapon and picked up the spear on the ground to replenish his position.
But starting from that rebel soldier, people continued to step on the piled corpses and jump into the defensive formation.
Although these rebel soldiers did not cause much damage, unexpected loopholes began to appear in the United Army's defensive formation.
In the central area of the defensive formation, Count Tytos was riding a war horse, watching the battlefield situation from a high position, and from time to time issued orders to the messengers around him to mobilize troops to replenish their positions.
Surrounding Count Tytos, more than a dozen personal guards also riding on standing horses raised shields to cover him in order to prevent possible loss.
A guard captain holding a shield moved his shield slightly and looked at more and more rebel soldiers who had jumped into the defensive formation to fight hand-to-hand with their own soldiers.
He asked with some worry: "Lord Tytos, should we send out a signal?"
After hearing this, Earl Tytos turned his head and looked at the east where a large number of figures had appeared. Then he shook his head very decisively and said: "No, we must persist until then..."
The battle on the Crossroads Plain continues like this. With the nourishment of this large amount of blood and corpses, the flowers and plants in this area will definitely be more beautiful in the coming year.
Bah!
At the front of the defensive formation, a shield soldier gritted his teeth and tried hard to support the kite shield, which seemed to be getting heavier and heavier. Behind them, the spearmen's stabbing frequency had also been significantly reduced.
Although these pikemen knew by the feel of their hands that every stab hit them, they did not know that most of the time they stabbed just a corpse.
This was the cleverness of the vanguard commander. After he saw his own soldiers using the piled corpses to jump into the opponent's formation, he had an idea and ordered a large number of soldiers to use corpses to block the spearmen's thrusts.
The pikemen in the defensive circle usually start to withdraw their spears for the next stab after feeling that they have hit the body, instead of continuing to penetrate the body with force.
After all, on such a battlefield, any enemy stabbed by a spear will basically lose their combat effectiveness.
A large number of rebel soldiers took advantage of the corpse to withstand the spear attack, stepped on the steps of the corpse and jumped into the defensive formation.
When he saw more and more rebel soldiers jumping into his own army formation, the commander of the pikemen, who was conducting frontline command of the joint army, noticed this problem.
So, he immediately ordered all the pikemen to stab the swordsmen in the front row diagonally toward the sky at a 45-degree angle from the flat thrusts that originally passed through the gaps in the kite shields of the shield soldiers in the front row.
Bah, bah!
The offensive of the United Army's pikemen suddenly changed. Many rebel soldiers who wanted to step on the corpse steps and jump into the defensive formation were caught off guard and directly penetrated by the spears piercing their bodies.
However, in the dying struggle, their blood-stained bodies continued to smash forward due to the inertia of jumping, knocking down the pikemen who could not hold their spears due to the weight into the defensive formation, causing small commotions.
But when there are too many small commotions like this, they immediately become a big loophole in the defensive formation!
There were constant rebel soldiers either jumping in directly through the gap of the pikemen, or taking advantage of the absence of pikemen to attack the front row of shield soldiers.
This is the battlefield!
The captain of the spearmen changed his response method after noticing that the opponent was being clever, but he did not want to directly create a bigger vulnerability than before.
The defensive circle that had basically maintained its formation before was now like an apple bitten by insects, with potholes of varying degrees beginning to appear around it.
The entire defensive formation of the United Army looks to be in danger!
"Haha, it's reinforcements! Our main force has arrived, brothers, please work harder!"
The commander of the vanguard force looked at the main force that was very close and shouted loudly with great excitement.
Of course, it was impossible for the more than 70,000 rebel soldiers left to hear his voice. However, except for the soldiers who were fighting fiercely in front, everyone else also saw the main force that was rapidly approaching.
As a result, the rebel army faced the strong backbone of the United Army, and its rapidly declining morale suddenly rose.
"Kill! We rush in!"
The coalition army, which was almost at its limit, could not adapt to the sudden surge in morale of the rebels. A gap was torn out of the already deformed defensive formation, and a large number of rebel soldiers rushed in with shouts.
Woo, woo!~~
Suddenly, the high and long sound of the horn resounded throughout the battlefield. It could be heard that the soldier in charge of blowing the horn must have been playing with all his strength.
Rumble!
A roar like muffled thunder suddenly sounded in the west, and the heavy sound of the hoofbeats of at least tens of thousands of war horses galloping together brought strong pressure, as if the air on the battlefield suddenly condensed.
"Made, I've been holding it in for so long. I must kill these little bastards!"
After this period of training, Little Jon, who has fully recovered, is wearing heavy armor, holding a steel spear and roaring loudly at the enemy in front.
"Hey, idiot, your body hasn't fully recovered yet, so take it easy!"
After his father, Earl Rickard, left with his troops, Ed, who replaced him in the Golden Tooth City, looked at this close friend who was as close as a brother and couldn't help but laugh and curse.
It’s great to be alive!
Feeling the familiar feeling of being disciplined by Ed, Little Jon, who had been through hell before, couldn't help but sigh in his heart, and also burst into laughter.
"You two, please be serious, we are at a disadvantage in the current situation!
Act according to the previous tactical plan!”
Brynden, who had a serious expression on his face, scolded Little Jon and Eddard, who had relaxed too much before the battle, and then stared closely at Count Tytos's troops in front of them, whose formation had been broken by the enemy.
Little Jon and Eddard looked at each other and immediately adjusted their expressions, then led their respective cavalry troops to disperse left and right.
The number of the combined cavalry force that launched the surprise attack from the west of the battlefield was about 11,000.
They were composed of the 8,000 northern cavalry that Robb had left at Lannisport, the 1,000 cavalry that Eddard had stationed at the Golden Tooth, and the 2,000 Riverrun cavalry that Brynden had gathered after joining Lord Tytos.
.
Among them, Brynden led 3,000 heavy cavalry to charge from the front as his trump card. Little Jon and Eddard each led 4,000 light cavalry to attack from both wings.
When the heavy cavalry carrying the overwhelming momentum of all enemies approached, the first to escape was the vanguard commander who had been commanding from the rear.
He had been an officer in the Stormlands before becoming a refugee, so he naturally understood what would happen if the ragtag group under his command were charged by nearly 10,000 cavalry.
Therefore, he did not hesitate to flee behind him with his direct soldiers. Now their only way to survive is the main force of more than 100,000 troops that is about to arrive on the battlefield.
Seeing the general fleeing without a fight, the rebel soldiers at the rear immediately reacted to the overwhelming cavalry intimidation. They also began to flee immediately after them.
I saw that the rebel army, which had already torn apart the defensive formation of the United Army, seemed to be torn apart.
The rebel soldiers in the front were concentrating on fighting fiercely with the coalition soldiers, while the rebel soldiers in the rear were fleeing like a flood.
Puff, pff, pff!
The heavy cavalry troops charging in a straight line were unstoppable and crashed into a large number of rebel soldiers. A large number of bodies or parts of their bodies were directly knocked into the air.
The numerous rebel soldiers blocking the front of the heavy cavalry troops were like a pair of dominoes, easily knocking down a large number of them.
Tear, tear!
When the rebel soldiers who entered the defensive circle heard the sound, they wanted to turn around and run away. However, the infantrymen of the United Army, whose morale was also aroused by the reinforcements, immediately began to counterattack and bite them hard.
Bah, bah!
Hahaha, cool!
When Little Jon's troops, who were detouring on the left wing, arrived at the battlefield, they found that most of the enemy troops had begun to flee. Of course, he would not easily let go of this opportunity to beat a drowned dog.
So he decisively led his cavalry troops to pursue the deserters. He himself laughed heartily and continued to harvest the lives of the enemy soldiers with the steel spear in his hand.
Ed, who was detouring on the right wing, was different from Little Jon. He immediately chose to attack the rebel soldiers who were trying to escape, but were bitten by Count Tytos' troops.
The situation on the battlefield changed again. Brynden and Little Jon's troops pursued a large number of fleeing enemy troops. Count Tytos and Ed's troops cleared out the small number of entangled enemy troops.
There were originally more than 70,000 flagless rebels left, but they were easily defeated by the coalition's more than 10,000 cavalry troops!
"All troops slow down!"
For some reason, Brynden, who was charging at the front, suddenly raised his hand and gave an order for the entire army to slow down.
You must know that the full power of heavy cavalry depends on charging speed. On the battlefield, the moment they stop is the moment they die.
After Brynden's order was issued, not only the heavy cavalry troops in the front, but also the Little Jon troops in the rear also began to slow down, as if they were waiting to see what was going on.
"Run away, run away! The enemy has tens of thousands of elite cavalry, how can we possibly defeat him!"
After the commander of the vanguard force approached the main force with his direct soldiers, he loudly exaggerated the enemy's strength.
When the soldiers of the main force at the front, who were attacked by a large number of their own defeated troops, heard this, they immediately turned around and ran away. They were afraid that they would run slower than the others.
Seeing the soldiers in the front row of the main force also starting to run away, the commander of the vanguard force couldn't help but smile and nod.
Since everyone fled in the face of the battle, there is no way to punish everyone! It is impossible for the supervising team to kill all such a number of soldiers!
Also smiling and nodding was Brynden. He looked at the main force of the Bannerless Rebel Army, which was attacked by the fleeing soldiers, and began to flee, with a rare smile on his face.
As a well-known veteran who became famous since the Battle of the Nine Copper King, Brynden has greatly improved his layout and vision of the war after he often heard some famous battles from previous lives told by Robb in the form of stories.
In this battle with the rebel refugee army, he was well aware of the terror of the opponent's two to three hundred thousand troops. But at the same time, he also understood the fatal shortcomings of the rebel refugee army that was not strictly trained.
Therefore, in this battle on the Crossroads Plain, he first asked Count Tytos to lead the infantry to form a defensive circular formation to induce the enemy's vanguard to besiege.
Then when the enemy's main force approached, he launched a group charge with nearly 10,000 cavalry troops who had high hopes of victory.
If the timing is wrong, or the enemy's main force has not been overwhelmed, then he can only abandon the infantry unit of the combined army and retreat with the cavalry unit.
After that, the Riverlands, with the possible exception of Riverrun, will only be able to get what they want from the rebel refugee army, without the slightest ability to resist!
Fortunately, facing the torrent of tens of thousands of steel from the United Army, the enemy troops began to flee as expected, and they successfully overwhelmed the main force.
"Charge! The enemy is defeated!"
"Kill them all and stick their heads on the tips of spears!"
"Run away! Survival is important!"
Seeing that the situation on the battlefield was excellent, Brynden and Ed's cavalry troops continued to press forward, forcing these fleeing vanguard soldiers to continue to attack the enemy's main force.
At the same time, they continued to add fuel to the fire and shouted loudly behind the fleeing soldiers.
When the tens of thousands of vanguard soldiers heard the shouting, they ran away with all their strength in the direction of the main force.
There were constantly unlucky people in the crowd who were either squeezed by others or fell down on their own. After they fell, they were heavily trampled by countless friendly troops, and eventually turned into soft balls of flesh.
After the front troops of the main force began to flee, the supervising team behind them immediately reacted and drew their swords to prevent an even greater rout.
Facing the sword-wielding supervisory team, these fleeing soldiers did not dare to resist. However, compared to the tens of thousands of fleeing soldiers, the supervisory team of less than a thousand people could not kill them, and it was completely useless.
In the end, the fleeing soldiers of the vanguard force carried forward soldiers of the main force, forming an avalanche-like rout.