Unknown Knight

This trip to Kugit has been going smoothly so far. Although they suffered a great loss in Adakrum, the merits outweighed the disadvantages. The situation that Aix had imagined before, where they were chased by overwhelming cavalry and had nowhere to escape, did not occur.

The biggest problem at the moment is how to cross the snow-capped mountains that are covered with snow all year round. In order to demonstrate team spirit, Aix requires that except for the combat personnel, all young and strong people must adopt an old or weak person as a person to help, so that they can take care of each other on the road. If there are casualties due to negligence in care, they will be severely punished.

There were dozens of people left who had not yet claimed the old, weak and young and strong, so Axe asked them to carry the wounded, take care of the horses carrying supplies and other miscellaneous tasks.

With such measures, the elderly and weak were prevented from falling behind. Aix also asked several people to lead the way and set up tents on a flat and leeward place. A bonfire was lit in the tent in advance and hot water was boiled to provide a rest and warmth for the elderly, weak and wounded who were exhausted.

Just like that when they were almost at the top of the mountain, the brother who was seriously injured and on the verge of death still didn't make it. At the same time, a reckless young man slipped and fell to his death. Two frail old men fainted from lack of oxygen. After James checked, he found that the two old men were breathing in less than exhaling, and they probably wouldn't live long.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, everyone finally climbed over the ridge. Standing on a huge rock, Aix saw a group of ant-like cavalrymen appear at the mouth of the valley below the mountain. There were about a hundred of them. It seemed that the enemy was coming faster than expected.

Fortunately, walking on the mountain is different from walking at the foot of the mountain. There is no difference between cavalry and infantry. Aix estimated that it would take at least two days for them to catch up, so he notified everyone to speed up and try to reach the foot of the mountain before dark.

The downhill side was not as steep as the Kugit side, and everyone finally got down the mountain before dark. Apart from the four people who died on the road, there were no other casualties. Aix was very relieved about this, as it seemed that the preparations made on the road were not in vain.

In the makeshift camp, Aix organized a small meeting. The purpose was not to provoke the backbone members to keep working hard. He informed everyone to rest in the first half of the night and travel in the second half. Once they reached Hanen Village, which was under the jurisdiction of Lelag Fort ahead, everything would be fine.

At this time, Cress, who had never spoken, expressed her opinion. It turned out that she was familiar with this place. Her home was in the nearby village of Shules. She had known the lord of Lelag Castle, Nergboye, before. He had been on the border between the two countries for so long without falling. In fact, he was betting on both sides of the fence.

He had long been connected with Toju Nayan of Aichemor City. If that ruthless guy had not escaped last night, they should have no problem staying in Lelag Castle to rest. But now if they go there again, they might fall into the pocket of the Kugits. Nergboye will not stop the Kugits from entering and exiting his castle.

Therefore, the safest and most reliable way at the moment is to bypass here and go to Asloum Village, then take a short rest there and reach Kudan City along the Kudan River. Only when you get there can you say that everything is fine.

After hearing what Cress said, Axel secretly felt lucky that he had held this meeting. In order to keep it confidential and not affect morale, he had not made the marching plan public. Even Ran Hu and Fatis only knew a rough idea.

Originally, he wanted to use this meeting to tell everyone that they were about to escape and to encourage everyone. Fortunately, this meeting was held, otherwise if he had waited until they were almost at Fort Lerag to tell everyone, they might have really fallen into the Kugit people's trap.

So Aix decided to adopt Kress's plan and let everyone rest until the second half of the night before setting off to Aslum Village.

In the second half of the night, the sentry woke up the tired people, and they had to cheer up and mount their horses to move forward. Before setting off, Aix looked at the mountain and found that there were already sporadic torches faintly appearing on the top of the mountain. It seemed that the Kugits were chasing them very urgently and had no intention of letting them go.

From the foot of the mountain to Aslum Village is an uninhabited wilderness and the journey is long. Everyone hurried and finally arrived at the village before dark. Aix had planned to rest in the village in the first half of the night and then continue on the journey in the second half of the night, just after dinner and before he could rest, Zhang Ping, who was on guard, came to report that the Kugit people were chasing them.

Zhang Ping was on guard duty on a big tree on a high ground next to the village. From the tree he saw the Kugits coming towards them with torches, and they would arrive in half an hour at most. The panicked crowd hurriedly left Aslum village.

Riding on his horse, Aix thought that the Kugits should arrive at Aslum Village tomorrow morning. It seemed that what Kress said was right. This should be another group of Kugits. They should be near Lerag Castle. He secretly thanked his luck several times.

The Kugits are known as a people on horseback, and are particularly good at long-distance marches on horseback. However, there are many old, weak, sick and disabled people on Aix's side, and they have not had enough rest after marching long distances in recent days. After a night of pursuit, by the early morning, the more than one hundred Kugit cavalrymen behind them were about to catch up.

Aix was extremely anxious. He even wondered whether he should use the sixty or so capable men in his hands to delay them for a while and cover the others to escape to Kudan City.

However, this idea did not stand up to scrutiny, so he gave it up soon. Among the more than sixty people, only the thirty or so he brought could barely fight, and the other thirty or so were temporarily organized pastoral slaves. They had very little combat effectiveness and it would be enough if they did not hold back.

At this moment, the scout in front reported that a convoy appeared in front. Aix went forward to take a look and was delighted. Who else could it be but Bandak? He quickly asked someone to go and inform Bandak to quickly form a formation.

When Aix and his party arrived at the chariot formation, Bandak's chariot formation had already been almost formed. Aix ordered Manid to lead less than 200 elderly, weak, women and children to ride horses to Kudan City for shelter, while he led more than 60 cavalrymen and more than 50 archers in the chariot formation to resist the Kugits.

Looking at the crossbowmen in the chariot formation with their bows strung and drawn, and then looking at his own cavalry of more than sixty people, Aix suddenly remembered the battle with Rodelaboye outside the city of Kulau.

Last time, Rodelaboye relied on his superior cavalry to pursue a dozen cavalrymen led by Fatis, but Fatis led his troops to run around the chariot formation, allowing the archers in the chariot formation to attack without him engaging the enemy. In the end, Rodelaboye was forced to not dare to attack. So can he follow the plan this time?

First he called Fatis from a distance and said to him:

"Remember that time in Kulau City?"

Fatis suddenly realized and said hurriedly:

"Remember, remember."

Aix continued:

“Can it still be implemented this time?”

"Of course you can. Last time, our riding skills were not good enough to turn around and shoot. But now our riding skills have improved, so there will be no problem. Besides, the cavalry formed by Ran Hu, Na Ke'er and the herdsmen are naturally good at turning around and shooting. Together with the crossbowmen in the chariot formation, the enemy will be attacked from both sides. As long as they dare to get close to the chariot formation, they will be defeated without a doubt."

Fatis blurted out without thinking.

"Okay, go and explain this to Zhang Ping, Ran Hu, Liu Tang and the others, and we'll act accordingly."

Aix said. Then he drove his horse to the chariot formation and explained it to Bandak.

After the explanation, Aix pondered this tactic carefully in his mind. He felt that the whole tactic was very much like a weapon, a chain hammer with considerable lethality. The chariot formation was a wooden handle, and the cavalry was the chain hammer tied to the wooden handle. The two things were powerful in themselves, and when they were combined and rotated together, the power was doubled, making them invincible.

After about a few minutes, the Kugits arrived in front of the formation. The leader, Nayan, saw that the opponent had only more than sixty cavalrymen and about forty or fifty archers, and a sneer of contempt appeared on his face. He just took a short rest, slowed down the horse's horsepower, and then rushed towards the cavalry.

They simply didn't care about the archers in the chariot formation. As long as they eliminated the cavalry, those dozens of two-legged sheep would be easy to deal with.

But they were wrong. It was the two-legged sheep in the convoy that took their lives. The square convoy consisting of 4*5 trucks was like a solid fortress and was not afraid of their attack at all.

When Aix saw the Kugit cavalry attacking, he did not engage in a fight but turned his horse's head and began to circle around the chariot formation, shooting backwards as he ran. At first, it was not noticeable because they were far away from the chariot formation, but as soon as the Kugits got close, the cavalry on Aix's side would move towards the chariot formation, only to be greeted by a dense burst of bows and crossbows.

After repeating this several times and losing twenty or thirty cavalrymen, the Kugits were not stupid and dared not chase anymore, let alone approach the chariot formation.

But they did not chase Aix's cavalry, but the cavalry harassed them instead. Aix used yew wood bows and military crossbows specially made for the territory, which generally had a longer range than the nomadic bows used by the Kugits. After a while of shooting, five or six Kugit cavalrymen were shot down.

The leader Nayan was so angry that he screamed and had to retreat his troops. As a result, a strange sight appeared: a cavalry team of more than 60 people chased a cavalry team of more than 100 people. As long as the Kugits got angry and turned around to attack, Aix would run towards the chariot formation.

This tug of war went on for several times, and the Kugits lost more than a dozen cavalrymen, while the losses on Aix's side were insignificant in comparison. Only three or four people fell off their horses, and were pulled off their horses by other comrades and sent to the chariot formation to rest.

As a last resort, Nayan, the leader of the Kugit, had to retreat his troops 200 meters away and stare at Aix from afar.

Aix knew that they were planning to wait for the arrival of another group of cavalry, and then attack with their absolute superior force to deal a fatal blow to their side.

How could Aix let them do as they wished? Since they were now on flat terrain, he asked Bandak to straighten the front of the truck, and then several vehicles moved forward slowly side by side.

Nayan, the leader of the Kugit, was furious and led his cavalry to charge forward. However, when they were still more than fifty meters away, Bandak had already adjusted the front of the chariot and re-formed the chariot formation. They were greeted with another rain of arrows. The tug-of-war with the Aix cavalry caused them to lose fifteen or sixteen cavalrymen.

The leader, Nayan, was so angry that he drew the saber from his waist, slashed and shouted at the air, acting helpless and furious, and dared not bring his troops within 200 meters of the convoy.