Eagle Byzantium

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"Who is standing in front!" Gawain stood swayingly under the purple flag, facing the howling wind and smoke, and asked, one hand constantly twisting the hilt of the sword in his hand, as if trying to suppress his emotions.

"Barromio, the commander of the detachment, was also responsible for the formation just now." This was the answer he got, and then Gawain looked around and saw that the entire army was divided into the front and back armies according to the traditional Byzantine defense model. The last elite soldiers under the flag and the red hand detachment formed a reserve team on the high ground in the back row.

At this time, fifty elite Turkic cavalry had spread out like a fan to avoid the arrows shot by the Byzantine army, and the large group of infantry and cavalry behind them all raised their shields to block and followed closely.

"We can't resist the enemy's attack this way. Merge all the second formation into the first formation, and all the servants should raise their weapons!" Gawain shouted, and then Fitias beside him waved the purple and white-edged battle flag, and the drums sounded.

"Gawain, go up at ease, the Red Hand Squadron will guard your rear and serve as a reserve at any time." At this time, Farof, who was lined up at the foot of the mountain behind, stood under the Red Hand flag and cheered Gawain loudly.

The second formation of Byzantine soldiers, who were so encouraged, stood up. They were originally elites from all over the Adriatic Sea. Now seeing the earl commander riding down the cliff alone, they also wanted to fight side by side with them. Their courage and heroic spirit immediately soared into the sky, and they were neatly dressed in armor, with flags flying. Following the direction of Gawain's finger on the right horseback, they raised their spears, swords and sabers, roared repeatedly, and soon intertwined with the light soldiers of the first formation and the Benevento crossbowmen.

"Shoot the pagans' horses!" Franchisco, who was standing in front of the formation, shouted. Then all the crossbowmen lined up in a row, and the crossbow arrows swept across. The dozen or so Turkish eagle riders in the lead immediately fell to the ground. The rest did not know how to retreat, but continued to fly with their horses' hooves flying, regrouped into a sharp arrow formation, and then on the galloping horses, they drew their bows and strings and quickly threw a wave upwards.

The sharp arrows fell down, and many of the Byzantine unarmored light soldiers in front wailed and fell down. "Back off, back off!" Baromio, the commander of the front-line squad, waved the command stick in his hand, but the heavy infantry of the second formation behind had already pressed up closely, and the light soldiers had no way to retreat, so they could only be sandwiched between their gaps, acting as "fillers" to resist the Turkish cavalry.

In an instant, the Turkish eagle riders raised their horses and crossed the horse fence in front of the Byzantine team, then waved their scimitars, and heads and limbs flew everywhere, but the Byzantine Greek soldiers also huddled together one after another, and there were faces everywhere, terrified, numb, injured, hesitant, excited, and weapons in their hands. No one knew whether they had stabbed the enemy, but they just held each other together and pushed forward.

Eagle riders kept falling, and they were greeted by countless boots trampling, and one person was chopped by more than a dozen swords - the dense formation of the Byzantine army, even though the casualties were huge, was still like a towering reef on the seashore, and it did not disintegrate. The Roma soldiers behind saw that the horses under the crotch of the eagle riders kept escaping in front of them, while the Greek front line was still motionless, and many purple and blue flags were still standing, and many people began to feel nervous.

In fact, the courage of the Turks was not much stronger than that of the Greek soldiers, and was even more insignificant compared to the Norman and Frank knights. Therefore, to win on the battlefield, the Turks mainly relied on the courageous actions of the elite, the swift combat raids, and the religious fanaticism that could show magical effects from time to time.

However, once these means did not work, they would be the same as ordinary people, dying, getting injured, and running away in fear.

What is certain is that after ten minutes, almost none of the fifty Roma Sultan's favorite eagle riders who had charged into the battle array survived. Several scarred corpses were lifted up and thrown into the wasteland outside the Byzantine army's position like food residues spit out from the mouth of a giant beast. "The strongest of the strong protects us!" Many soldiers and servants on the front line shouted excitedly.

Over there, Gawain, holding the entire army flag, began to look dazed. The damn Icelandic poison wine took effect. His heart was full of desires to vent and thoughts of killing. He saw the Roman Turkic brigade, who were still hesitating and preparing to use bows and arrows outside the arrow field, and then the horses' hooves were raised. Then Gawain held the army flag high and galloped quickly. He actually rushed out of his own formation and came directly to the battle line of thousands of troops from the two armies.

At this time, the whole battlefield fell silent. Everyone, whether enemy or friend, stared at Gawain carrying the battle flag under the iron helmet, with bows and arrows in their hands ready to be fired. Stephen Gawain, on the other hand, looked like a beard and hair under the excitement of the poison wine. Then he pulled out the phosphorus sword on his belt, "No one can escape the fear of falling on the battlefield. Now the way is to burn your fear, give the enemy greater fear, overwhelm them, we will rush directly to the city of Nicaea!"

Then, under the raised blue sword light, the soldiers of both sides shouted at the same time, and the arrows intertwined and collided wildly above Gawain's head, "Follow Lusel, let's go to Nicaea together!" Many people in the front team, after their companions on the left and right were shot and fell, still rushed towards the Roman army bravely with weapons and flags like a madman.

Then, in the narrow valley, the fronts of the two armies all collided with each other, people against people, war horses against war horses, flags against flags, weapons wrestled and collided with each other-Gawain howled like a wolf in the chaotic crowd, clashing left and right, straightening his ankles, clamping the horse's belly with the stirrups, riding like a Norman knight, wielding the phosphorescent sword, he had completely forgotten Peter's warning, constantly slashing out blue flying flames, and making violent laughter, he was simply invincible.

"What kind of brave warriors or devils are there on the enemy side?" Giliki Arslan, under the Crimson Eagle, stood up in fear and anger, bending the whip in his hand and making a rattling sound.

At this moment, at the other end of the canyon separated by rolling logs and fireballs, the battle situation of Byzantine Rome can be described as miserable, especially in front of the pass. Taitius had no choice but to order the Royal Flag of Constantine to be handed over to the fourth unit behind. Then all the soldiers raised the Greek round shields above their heads, like floating duckweed. Mules and horses, unarmored military servants, and craftsmen fell dead and overlapped, filling the bottom of the valley. The emperor's younger brother Isaac Komnenos hid under these shields sadly and slowly moved out of the pass. The Turkic warriors above did not need to aim at all, and could easily hit the target with bows and arrows and falling rocks. It was like hell here. No matter who they were or what their status was, they were all dead and wounded.