Eagle Byzantium

At the second hour in the morning, on the edge of the distant grassland, about two thousand Turkic infantry and cavalry appeared in formation. They were the vanguard of Kudb's military reconnaissance, while Atabeg and Firouz led the remaining five thousand soldiers, spreading their wings and extending the battle line about six guli behind the front army. This was also a common strategy used by the Turks to deceive and intimidate the enemy: to shock the enemy with their "large number".

If the Turks arranged their formation into a "huge flying shears", then the "Mello Task Force" on the defensive side in the Ashrun village was in a "hard walnut" situation: Melo divided the entire team into five parts: the vanguard, left wing, right wing, center army and rear guard, and tightly surrounded the village as the core position. This is also the most normal "Byzantine village defense war" mode. However, Melo reduced the number of people in the vanguard. He only sent out two squads of Armenian logistics soldiers, all on horseback, and deployed them in the first line of the vanguard. Behind them was another battle line consisting of 120 Jinat cavalry. On the right wing, Melo also placed two squads of logistics departments, and also had 120 Jinat cavalrymen in the second line as "guardians", because this wing was close to the mountains, so it could rely on natural barriers to save manpower; on the earthen embankment and streams on the left wing, Melo placed a full 400 Red Hand cavalrymen, who dismounted to defend in secret, and inserted dog-foot wood on the earthen embankment; in the village, Melo split an infantry detachment of the Guardian Brigade into three parts, each with 200 people, each with a flame-tongue flag as a contact signal, guarding the stables in the north of the village, the residential warehouses in the south, and the front entrance to the east of the village. Surrounding the three independent garrison areas, there were staggered horse-proof trenches and wooden fences, as well as connected earthen walls as fortifications. In the most core place, there was another earthen wall, surrounding Melo's "Christ Fish" flag, five cannons, and baggage; at the end of the village, there were 200 Red Hand cavalrymen as the reserve front.

The Turkic front army was unwilling to hesitate too much. Most of them were herdsmen and horse bandits hired from the Turkmen tribe. After the horns and drums sounded, they quickly rolled towards the village without any discipline like a dark cloud pouring down heavy rain. The sound of horse hooves shook the lime of the old church at the entrance of the village. Milutin Monkilo, a small country gentleman from Bulgaria, is now the flag officer of the Guardian Brigade. He is in charge of 200 soldiers at the east entrance, forming a ring-shaped closed front. Milutin divided everyone into two lines. The 140 people in the front line all held sharp spears and axes, half-knelt behind the earth wall and the erected back cart frame, only showing their eyes to look at the enemy cavalry, with all the blades of their weapons extended out. The 60 soldiers in the back line, half of them were lightly dressed and holding swords and axes, and the other half were kneeling in front and back, and the latter put side crossbows on the shoulders of the former, and arranged them in a staggered manner.

"Swish, swish, swish." Seeing that the left and right wings of the task force each occupied important positions, the Turkic cavalry boldly rushed forward and exchanged short fire with Melo's vanguard cavalry using bows and arrows. The rest of the cavalry also ran back and forth, shooting arrows continuously, slowly forcing Melo's vanguard cavalry.

"Flag officer, our vanguard cavalry seems to be in turmoil." Behind the earthen wall at the entrance, a soldier leaned out and took a few glances. The entire wilderness in front was covered with dust and the sound of killing was loud. Then several arrows flew over and hit the earthen wall and the frame of the back cart. The soldier hurriedly raised his arm and squatted down, saying to Milutin.

"Everyone, don't relax. The enemy's cavalry will soon break in." Milutin's voice fell. When the Turkic cavalry saw that they were only 200 feet away from the vanguard of the Melo Task Force, they suddenly gathered together. This was the natural specialty of their nomadic people. They shot the most dense arrows at the front, and then all drew their sabers and rushed to kill.

The vanguard cavalry line was quickly "torn apart". Whether it was the Armenians or the Jinat cavalry, after a group of people were shot down, they automatically divided the team into two waves and fled in the direction of their own wings.

"Woo woo woo woo woo", all the Turks and Turkmen on horseback raised their arms, raised their shining sabers, held their long spears diagonally, and the straps on their headbands and helmets fluttered in the wind, and they cried like a pack of wolves. They did not make detours or outflanking, but formed a sharp column, stirred up billowing smoke and dust, and rushed directly to the entrance of the village. They wanted to directly penetrate and destroy the core position of the task force and knock off the back of the entire task force!

"Don't move in the front row!" Milutin shouted, and was the first to stand up from behind the earthen wall, waving his arms in the face of flying arrows, "Ah ah ah ah" All the front-line soldiers responded in a low voice, the thunderous sound of horse hooves shook everyone, bringing fear, and they kept shouting like this to suppress the anxiety in their hearts.

At this time, the Turkmen cavalrymen who galloped to the edge of the horse-determination ditch like lightning hid in the stirrups very flexibly, threw the bundles of grass in their hands into the ditch, then turned over, and stepped on the edge of the ditch and the bundles of grass with the bridles in hand. Amid the neighing of horses, the soldiers of the "Milutin" squad at the forefront instantly crouched lower. They felt huge shadows flying over their heads - most of the front-row cavalry flew directly over the earthen wall, and some unlucky ones hit the tall frame of the Glamorgan cart. The flying wooden strips carried the horses and men and rolled backwards into the horse-determination ditch.

Instantly, the soldiers of Milutin's squad in the rear line, when the flag bearer put down the red flame flag, all the crossbow shooters shouted, and fifteen powerful arrows shot out from the crossbow machine, sweeping across the Turkmen cavalry formation that jumped in. Many arrows pierced through the horse's head and the body, and blood spurted out. Some cavalrymen were directly on the saddle, and were carried back several feet by the arrows and killed.

This kind of projectile weapon with power between the pedal crossbow and the porcupine arrow is equipped in small quantities in the Guardian Brigade. It requires two people to operate, one person pedals to string and aim, and one person kneels in front to lift the rack to aim and adjust the shooting angle. It is a standard killer for static defense. "Damn it, kill you dwarf devils on horseback!" As soon as the crossbow was fired, the remaining thirty squad soldiers shouted, waving horse-slashing swords and axes and rushing towards the Turkmen who were in a mess, pulling them off their horses one by one and killing them. "Thrust!" Following this command, all the soldiers on the front line raised their bodies and thrust their spears and lances forward along the rows. The horses of the Turkmen cavalrymen who followed in the rear row had their blood, flesh and intestines stabbed out, and they slid down the earthen wall with cries, and rolled into the trench, where they died. After the blood splashed on the armor and weapons of the soldiers on the front line, they quickly and effectively became excited. They lined up with the soldiers on the rear line, stood up straight, leaned against the earthen wall and the frame, put their long-handled weapons on their shoulders, and thrust downward desperately. The dead or injured enemy cavalry soon filled the entire trench, and horses' hooves and legs were rolling everywhere. Milutin's troops and the scattered soldiers on the earthen wall shouted and threw a few fire pots, and the flames burst into flames in the following cavalry formations, and some emitted bursts of black smoke (in this era, it was normal for fire to fail). Soon, the east entrance of the village came out, and the cavalry and horsemen clashed and fought across the bloody trenches, and the black and red smoke columns were floating around. (To be continued ~^~)