Great time travel

Chapter 3. The Knight from the East

Howling arrow rain, muddy grass;
Fallen knights, broken lances;
The cry of the dying, the discarded banner.

Under the cloudy sky with the misty drizzle, Lord Li Wei, who was splashed with mud all over his body, hugged the beautiful girl Zhao Na, sitting on the bumpy gun carriage running south with a gloomy expression, looking back at the northern sky, Lost in a daze.

Lost!As in the original history, the French army was still defeated in the Battle of Crecy!And it failed miserably!Very stupid!How embarrassing!
In just one night, tens of thousands of soldiers lay dead in the wilderness, and the French heavy knights who once looked down on the European continent were almost wiped out on the battlefield!

Although Li Wei had prepared for the worst from the very beginning, he still greatly underestimated the strangeness of this battle, the terrifying power of the English archers, and the stupidity and brain damage of the French pig teammates!

In the Battle of Crecy, the [-] British troops at a disadvantage fought well, but the French army made almost all the low-level mistakes they could make!
——Before the battle broke out, King Edward III of England carefully chose the battlefield. He set up a position on the high ground near the village of Crecy, and seized the time to dig trenches and build fortifications so that he could commandeer and give full play to his own bow and arrow advantages to fight head-on. The French who were forced to climb the mountain and attack.

On the other hand, just two days after the main god system collapsed and the veterans were forced to eject collectively, 5000 French troops finally arrived near the Crecy battlefield, and they joined forces with a "village commune" with a population of [-]. "Volunteers" gathered—although they were actually just a group of serfs who were driven by the lords and lords, dressed in rags, carrying pitchforks and sticks. On paper, the total strength of the French army has further expanded to as many as [-]!

From the perspective of the French, even if the serfs who make up the numbers behind are not counted, the 1 heavy knights and [-] light cavalry as the main force alone are enough to defeat the opposing team with light infantry and archers. The main force, the British army with a total of less than two thousand knights, was trampled to death.

In short, such a huge force made King Philip VI of France and a group of French dignitaries more and more complacent, thinking that they were sure of victory, so they didn't do any reconnaissance or formulate tactics at all, and they didn't even figure out where the British army was. , continued to advance along the avenue in a mess.Finally, at noon on August 26, a French lord named Mony with several knights rushed to the king of France and reported that Edward III's British army had set up a position at Crécy and advised the king to suspend his advance and camp for the night , so that the rear team can catch up, and then attack with the whole army the next morning.

As a "knight king" who has always been known for his bravery, the military quality of Philip VI of France is actually not bad, at least much better than those emperors of the Song and Ming dynasties in China who stayed in the deep palace, so He was still sensible at the moment, so he gladly adopted this correct suggestion and ordered the whole army to act according to the plan-if this order was truly implemented, then just a pile of heads would kill the British .

——Although the French knights are proud and conservative, they are not down-and-out military households who are worse than beggars like in the late Ming Dynasty, but combat masters who have honed their killing skills since childhood. They claim to be able to poke a hole in the city wall!On the battlefield in the era of cold weapons, these heavy cavalry who rushed forward with long spears were almost invincible. Even the tortoise formation of the ancient Roman legion could not stop their charge in the wilderness!

During the first Crusade, thousands of French knights led more than 1 infantry and servants from Constantinople to the holy land of Jerusalem, annihilating hundreds of thousands of soldiers along the way. ** The army has left behind a illustrious military service that shocked the entire western world!
The problem is that King Philip VI of France had at best commanded small battles of thousands of people before, and seriously underestimated the difficulty of commanding a large army of tens of thousands of people, not to mention that this seemingly huge French army was composed of hundreds of nobles from all over the world. The lords led their own troops to piece together, without a clear affiliation with each other, and no one obeyed the other-in fact, the French army at this time had already fallen into a state of command failure.

Therefore, French historians recorded the scene of rushing to the street on the eve of the battle in their works like this: "... (after receiving the decree from the King of France) the people in front stopped, but the people behind said that they must advance to the front row. Stop at a parallel position; since the rear is advancing, the front row cannot stop, and neither the king nor the marshals can stop them. So although they did not receive orders, they continued to advance until they saw the enemy, as if they were the most face-to-face. As soon as the corps saw the English banners, they fell into disorder and fell back, which again frightened the troops behind, thinking that a battle had taken place. So the road to Crecy was crowded everywhere, although Three "leagues" (approximately three miles) from the enemy, and they drew their swords and shouted like crazy. It is difficult to imagine the chaos unless one was present."

It can be seen that on the real battlefield, the more troops the better, even if the logistics can support it, the command alone will make people crazy-fortunately, during this period, the British army stayed on the ground , did not take the opportunity to rush to attack, otherwise the Western version of "Battle of Feishui" would really be staged.

In the end, it lasted until six o'clock in the evening, when the sun was about to set (the days are long and the nights are short in midsummer, and the dark time is relatively late), the French army finally managed to form a combat formation.What's more terrible is that on the eve of the battle between the two sides, the sky suddenly turned dark, and a heavy rain came down. Although the heavy rain came and went quickly, the sun came out again after a few minutes, but it had already let the people in the field The French army was drenched to the skin.

Regardless, fighting broke out.According to the usual practice, the outpost battle is shooting with bows and arrows, and this happens to be the strength of the British - since the "Norman Conquest" in the eleventh century, the British have used archery as their "national skill". Standing bows and arrows (this is why the image of Robin Hood is an archer - the British country militia are all archers), and its Welsh longbowmen are even more famous.However, the French, relying on the experience of the Crusades, worshiped heavy knights and did not pay attention to long-range attacks, so they had to hire Genoese from Italy as crossbowmen, whose shooting level was far inferior to that of the British.Not to mention that they were standing in the depression, while the British army was on the high ground, and they would suffer a lot in terms of range...

(So ​​far, I can’t understand why the city of Genoa has become a banned word on the entire Internet. What enmity does that place have with my party and our country?)
So, as soon as the battle started, these Italian mercenaries gave full play to their cute nature, turned around and fled backwards, and even disrupted the French cavalry who were preparing to attack. The King of France roared angrily: "...kill me! Get rid of those hooligans, because they block our attack line..."

As a result, under the double impact of the British army's arrow rain and the Italian rout, the order of the first batch of French knights who attacked was in chaos. Coupled with the fact that the sky became dark and the flags could not be seen clearly, they all collapsed or died soon. or flee without even seeing the enemy who killed them.

But no matter what, the French aristocrats are still worthy of their reputation as the strongest knights in Europe. They still bravely withstand the rain of arrows and continue to attack the British positions. kill.They fought from dusk to midnight, and launched a total of fifteen assaults. Even though there were piles of corpses on the battlefield, they still fought to the death—that is to say, the Battle of Crecy was actually a rare night battle in history. Being able to organize a cavalry group to charge in the dark is enough to prove how brave and high-quality the French knights are.

However, blindly bravery cannot bring victory. Since the British were attacking the high places from the lowlands, and the battlefield was very muddy due to heavy rain, the impact speed of the French cavalry was greatly reduced by the terrain, so that they could not break through. British defenses.The chaos of fighting in the dark at night made it even more difficult for the knights to cooperate with each other.What's more terrible is that during the entire Battle of Crecy, the French army did not have a specific battle plan at all. Even the King of France gave up his command after the battle began and led the charge himself. The French knights have only one concept in their minds, which is to approach the enemy and kill the enemy, so they have been in chaos from beginning to end.There is no question of a tactical breakthrough at all.However, King Edward III of England has always firmly controlled his troops, and he calmly fought and stood ready all night, repelling the French attacks again and again.

——In the history books of later generations, Philip VI is recognized as "a good knight, but a bad king".Not only did he fail to make the necessary pre-war preparations, he even crashed into the British defense line without even dispatching reconnaissance troops.In the subsequent battles, Philip VI just blindly used his strength to continuously attack the front of the British army.While it looked rather chivalrous, it led to fatal consequences.

In the end, after fifteen consecutive charge failures, almost all the aristocratic lords who participated in the French army died or fled, causing the French army to be completely paralyzed. King Philip VI of France was injured by an arrow in the head and was forced to leave the army and flee the battlefield. Run all the way to Amiens.As for the remaining cavalry under his command, they completely lost their command after the defeat, broke up on the spot, and fled to their homeland by instinct, running everywhere for a while.

At dawn the next day, heavy rain fell again on the Crecy battlefield. The British army left the position and launched an attack on the French infantry who had lost their commander (the knights were all wiped out) and were in a mess. They easily defeated these guys , thus achieving an overall victory in the entire battle.

During this battle, because the captain had broken the void and returned to the real world, the soft-spoken Lord Li Wei didn't have as much face as him, and he couldn't speak in front of the King of France at all, and his pine cannons were also regarded by the French as siege weapons , no one thought of using it in field battles.

Therefore, during the battle, Lord Levi could only stay in the temporary camp behind the battle line, watching batch after batch of passionate French knights go forward bravely and die in the boundless night by the Welsh longbow. Sharp arrows, or trampled by one's own people.Finally, when all the arrogant knights were gone, the British army began to fight back. Li Wei was gearing up to let the British have a taste of cannonballs, but a heavy rain extinguished his possibility of using firearms—— His pine cannon was not yet advanced enough to be used in heavy rain.

And the rout of our own soldiers who were screaming and running around, as well as the helmets of the French nobles on the spears of the British army, further reduced the morale of the defenders.

In the end, in front of the flood of British troops, the small troop of the Knights Hospitaller led by Li Wei was overwhelmed by fear, abandoned the camp in chaos, surrounded by several officers, and turned their backs to the British bows and arrows , Fleeing southward in chaos—fortunately, the noble knights who fell all over the ground and their abandoned camps provided the British army with too many spoils to loot.And the British army, who had been fighting fiercely all night, actually didn't have much energy left to continue chasing... In short, Lord Li Wei escaped from the battlefield without any more embarrassing bad luck.

——The initial battle of the traversers, who were full of confidence, ended anticlimactically before they even had time to fire a cannon.

The ingenuity and strength of a few people, on the huge chessboard of the game between the country and the nation, turned out to be so pale and powerless.

At the same time, with the retreat of the last French army, King Edward III also ordered the troops to disband to collect the belongings of the dead and the tents left by the French army.Until then, the British army was surprised to find that among the killed French nobles, there were the King of Bohemia, the Duke of Lorraine, ten earls, and more than 500 noble knights who came to help the battle. , The number of French soldiers who died in battle was as high as 1 or more.In contrast, the loss of the British army was very slight. There were only two knights, one squire, more than 40 infantry and dozens of Welsh longbowmen in total.

——The brilliant victory of the Battle of Crecy had the greatest impact in European history, which was to turn Britain from a remote island country into a military power.Since then, England's national prestige has risen to a height sufficient to compete for European hegemony, and England's prestige has also resounded throughout Europe.

In the past, the victories of the Kingdom of England over the Welsh and Scots in the Isle of Great Britain were little noticed on the Continent.However, the invasion of France launched by the British kings in the previous dynasties, whether they were won or lost, failed to give England enough shocking honor.

But the Battle of Crecy was an epochal turning point, not only for the French, but also for the British.France was stunned by it, but England was drunk by it—France was bloody torn off the painted skin of a great power, broke the backbone of the Western European hegemon, and sank for a century in disaster and destruction; England, however, saw the glorious dawn of acquiring France, overwhelming Germany, inheriting the mantle of the ancient Roman Empire, and dominating the European continent... Just like the ugly duckling in a fairy tale transforming into a white swan, a remote island country located on the edge of the European continent and far from the center of civilization has finally No longer belittle yourself, but start to have your own dream of a great country!
Thus, just like the Japanese militarism that conquered the Korean Peninsula and Northeast China in the future, England of the Plantagenet Dynasty began a crazier mainland strategy. Driven by the spirit of the great goal, the war of the Hundred Years War between Britain and France intensified.

However, for Lord Levi who just escaped from the Crecy battlefield, all the follow-up effects of this have nothing to do with him.

The war belonging to the knights of Levi has come to an end before it really started.

Now, his only goal is to return to the port of Marseilles - the only place in this world that he can call "home".

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

One month later, in the south of France, outside Marseille
By the time the weary travelers made their way through the dense forest and reached the coastal plain, the western sky was blood red.The sun is walking down the horizon little by little in an extremely unwilling silence, slowly closing the golden-red curtains he has arranged on the clouds and the ground.

On the other side of the sky, faint starlight is climbing into the sky.Led by the pale crescent moon, they closely follow the pace of the sun, which is still occupying most of the sky, but is about to exit after all, eagerly announcing the approaching night.

The sound of the sea comes in waves from afar, and the sea breeze with a salty smell hits the face, and it seems that you can hear the cries of seagulls... At the end of the woods, wheat fields and pastures, somewhere southwards into the Mediterranean Sea. On the peninsula, a dusty fortress, or manor house surrounded by high walls, stood proudly in the twilight.A flag with an octagonal white cross on a red background representing the Knights Hospitaller is fluttering in the wind on the roof of the attic.

Seeing this familiar scene, Lord Li Wei couldn't help reining in the reins, stopped his horse and stood there, letting out a long sigh.

"...Are you home yet, dear?"

Zhao Na, who was drowsy along the way, seemed to feel the breath of the sea breeze, and raised her head from Li Wei's arms--due to the lack of horses along the way, the two of them always shared a ride, and their relationship was also very different. Getting closer.

However, Li Wei did not answer the words of his girlfriend in his arms, but just looked back at his team—there were 35 people left in total. Compared with before the expedition, their team had shrunk to one-fifth of its original size. The cannon was also lost without a single one left.

What is even more sad and lamentable is that after the six veterans left suddenly on the eve of the Battle of Crecy and returned to the real world, the remaining two companions from the modern world also returned to heaven one after another. His girlfriend Zhao Na is still struggling in this strange western world:
When the bald-headed man rode his horse to escape from the Crecy battlefield, he accidentally fell off his horse, and was trampled into flesh by several galloping knights. Li Wei and the others didn't even have time to rescue them.

The young man with the hedgehog head managed to escape all the way to Paris, but because of the heavy rain on the way to escape, the long journey, and his weak body, he had a high fever and fell ill as soon as he entered the city.In the modern world such ailments would not matter at all.But in this tragic age, life and death are already at stake—as the capital of France, of course there will be no shortage of doctors in Paris, and Li Wei must be able to afford the consultation fees.But the problem is that the doctors in medieval Europe are really unreliable, except for bloodletting, they can only ****. In the end, he died, and he didn't even make his dying prayers.

After burying his partner in the cemetery of a church in Paris, Lord Levi embarked on the journey south again to return to the port of Marseilles. The day ignores political affairs.The soldiers and horses who retreated from all walks of life returned to their hometowns one after another without the order of the royal family and no place to receive supplies, and Li Wei was of course no exception.

But the way home is not safe. The broken soldiers, the knights who felt ashamed to face their lord after losing the battle, and the Italian hired archers who were paid off by the King of France are all in despair. Then he turned into a bandit and plundered everywhere, causing a mess of smoke along the way.

Therefore, the Knights of Levy did not encounter the swords of the British on the battlefield of Crecy. Instead, on the way back to Marseilles, they encountered several kinds of French robber knights. Some of their opponents were not long ago under the French flag Colleagues who fought side by side... those pine guns did not bombard the British, but fired a few times at the French, and the reinforcements of the Knights Hospitaller led by him further shrank to more than 30 people.

But, one way or another, after all the tragedy, the farce, and the tragedy, they got home at last.

"...Yes, we are home, at last!"

After a long silence, Li Wei finally opened his mouth slowly and said to Zhao Na in his arms.

——Although he may never be able to return to his home in another world, at least here, there is still a piece of his own home.

Thinking of this, a relieved smile appeared on the corner of Li Wei's mouth, bent over, kissed the face of the beauty in his arms, and at the same time pointed to the manor in front, "...Look, dear, Uncle Diderot Bring someone out to meet us!"