Chapter 21: Charging into the Fray

  "Boom, boom, boom..." Just as Lain and Yulia were about to return to the military camp, a sudden urgent war drum sound was heard, followed by hurried footsteps and the shouting of officers...

  "Caesar's army has besieged the city..."

  "Emergency assembly!"

  "Hurry up..."

  “……”

  At this time, Laine quickened his pace and ran quickly into the military camp, with Julia following closely behind him in a flustered manner.

  In the military camp, soldiers rushed out of their tents and quickly gathered in the drill ground, forming a large phalanx formation with archers, crossbowmen, spearmen, shieldmen, cavalrymen, heavy infantrymen, etc.

  General Robert stood majestically on the commander's platform, holding a long sword, with a red cloak and shining copper armor, his expression calm and composed, worthy of being a great general of the empire.

  There were two flag officers at the edge of the stage, commanding different types of troops in the formation on the field. Is this formation preparing for a head-on confrontation with the enemy?

  Although Rui En had doubts in her heart, she couldn't know the answer at this moment and could only wait for the general to issue an order.

  The soldiers of the Kastor Empire were well-trained, and in a very short period of time, more than 4,000 officers and men were neatly lined up in formation, while other officers along the border had already returned to their respective military camps.

  "Men, the combined forces of Caesar's army and other allied troops are once again attacking our defensive position at the Strait of Messina. This time we will engage them in a frontal assault, let them witness our strength, and send them back to their homes. Do you have confidence?" General Robert shouted loudly, his voice booming, holding high his long sword, majestic and awe-inspiring.

  The men responded loudly, the echoes continuing like a mighty wave, lingering for a long time.

  Ran, still with the identity of a 'cannon fodder' soldier, led his troops to follow the main army out of the city, while more than a thousand soldiers holding reinforced crossbows rushed towards the city wall guarded by the border guards.

  The city gate of Bianyang, the guardian of the mountain pass and the sea pass, slowly opened, and the army of over 3,000 people marched forward in five columns.

  On the flat ground between the moat and the city wall, their troops quickly dispersed and formed arrays to wait. The left wing was a heavy cavalry phalanx of over 400 people, the right wing was a shield-bearing infantry, light infantry, archer, etc. composite phalanx of over 500 people, the middle position was the heavy infantry with long spears and long guns defending the city, and to both wings were light infantry, cavalry, etc.

  Among them, the warriors led by Raine belonged to the middle heavy infantry phalanx. They wore bright armor and emitted a faint golden light in the twilight. They held long spears, guns, and pikes that were over five meters long, with short swords at their waists, and were equipped with exquisite crossbows. Each of them was spirited and heroic, with high morale.

  Soldiers on the city wall held reinforced crossbows, long bows, and large catapults were also in place, waiting to heavily damage Caesar's army. Another task was to protect the generals outside the city within 200 paces.

  The city gate of the castle on the seaside is wide open, and from time to time, there are hurried footsteps, horseshoes, and a cloud of dust rising in the distance, as if thousands of troops are rushing towards this place.

  Caesar's army formed up three miles outside the fortress of the border, with six combined phalanxes in front. Each column had three rows of soldiers holding thick reinforced shields at the front, followed by heavy infantrymen holding long spears of uniform length, then light infantrymen, archers and so on. The majority of the troops on both wings were heavily armored cavalrymen, holding short spears of uniform length, with long swords hanging from their waists, and wearing thick armor on their high horses, which also had four-meter-long lances attached to their backs. Although the formation looked somewhat sparse, there were a large number of soldiers.

  Each formation of the enemy army consisted of a column of fifty men, with each column having more than a hundred people. In this way, each formation had more than five thousand people, and six formations had more than thirty thousand people.

  Behind the six phalanxes were mobile arrow towers, improved catapults, siege engines, and behind them was a vast array of hundreds of neat rows of various troops.

  This time, the army of the Caesar Empire had nearly 150,000 people, including many brave and warlike Drusian mercenaries who were good at attacking cities, just in the front six legions of the Caesar's great army.

  The Caesar Empire's army came with a fierce momentum, not only uniting the Druid mercenaries but also allying with Montdan and Lusitania, their determination to break through the Strait of Gibraltar was evident.

  However, the Caesar Empire's army, although staking everything on this one move and pouring all their troops out, had not yet begun to lay siege to the city. Instead, they were facing off against the soldiers of the Castel Empire, as if waiting for an opportunity.

  The border town of Kaisar's Empire, the Hailan Pass, opened its city gate wide, and more than 3,000 soldiers lined up at the gate, with high morale.

  General Robert, the commander-in-chief of the border garrison, personally sat in the city gate tower, holding a long sword, fully armed, wearing a red war cloak, majestic and awe-inspiring, without diminishing the heroic spirit of his heyday.

  The five-mile stretch of the Xiong Hai Guan border defense line is flat and open, while the rest of the terrain is extremely treacherous. The entire military defense line stretches over 100 miles, with a total of four border fortresses, including the Xiong Hai Guan. The other three border fortresses are either high mountains, deep gorges, or raging waterfalls, making them more difficult to attack compared to the relatively easier-to-defend Xiong Hai Guan.

  The soldiers defending the Strait of Gibraltar had possessed a new type of reinforced crossbow, with a long range and great penetrating power. The might was extraordinary, and the army of the Caesar Empire was defeated, fleeing in disarray. If they hadn't killed more than 10,000 surrendered prisoners, enraging the Caesar Empire, they wouldn't have come back again to attack the city.

  "Knock knock knock knock..."

  The drums of Caesar's army have sounded, the siege troops are in position, and the six combined phalanxes in front of the army begin their attack.

  "Rumble, rumble, rumble..." The soldiers marched in unison, slowly advancing forward. The shield-bearing warriors wore thick armor, with only their eyes visible through the helmets, holding high their shields to form a powerful defensive line.

  The earth was shaking, the rivers were trembling, and the soldiers in front of the city felt an invisible pressure coming, with a suffocating breath that made it hard to breathe.

  Two miles away, one mile away, Caesar's army is getting closer and closer to the border city.

  Code...

  At this time, a rain of arrows came pouring down from the sky, and the soldiers in front of the city quickly formed six rows, with the square formation changing so rapidly that each soldier held a crossbow.

  The front row fired, the back row continued to fire, and so on. When all the soldiers in front of the Caesar Empire were within the range of the sixth row, they started continuous shooting again.

  "Ah...!" The screams of the attacking soldiers continued, but they still maintained their formation. The soldiers in front fell down with arrows, and the next soldier in each column replaced his position and continued to advance.

  The bowmen and crossbowmen guarding the border were not idle either, holding longbows and crossbows that occasionally fired, especially the longbows had a range that was actually farther than the reinforced crossbows, with great speed and penetration power, they could penetrate the horses of heavily armored knights.

  The so-called longbow is a strengthened attack weapon after the ordinary bow has been improved, which is one size larger than the general bow and arrow used by archers, and the arrows are also one size larger. The soldiers using the longbow are all strong and powerful, with more than 50 people, shooting in an orderly manner.

  The advantage of the Dru people's mercenary army was these heavily armored heavy cavalry, and now the longbowmen defending the city only shot at the horses, with almost no deviation, and a pretty high accuracy rate. At this point, they began to lose their footing.

  The soldiers defending the city were in high spirits and morale was greatly boosted. The ruthless arrow rain once again poured down on the enemy army like a deluge from heaven.

  The neighing of horses, the wailing of soldiers, and the whistling of arrows merged into one, as if they had suffered the most brutal massacre in the history of war.

  The shields of the front row of Caesar's army were densely packed with crossbow arrows, some of which had even penetrated three inches into the shield; horses in full armor were wounded by longbow arrows and fell to the ground whinnying, heavily armored cavalrymen were thrown to the ground, some of whom were also injured by the spare lances on their own horseback, and others...

  The arrow shower of the Caesarian Empire's archers caused no harm to the defenders outside the city, and after several rounds of failed attacks, the soldiers in front began to shrink back, trembling with fear, afraid of being hit by crossbow arrows, and the entire formation became chaotic.

  "Wooo..."

  The clarion call of the Caesar's Empire has sounded.

  "Knock knock knock..."

  The war drums of the Galactic Empire have also begun to sound.

  "Kill!"

  "Charge!"

  “……”

  The soldiers of the Imperial Caesar began to charge, three thousand soldiers quickly formed an array, became the original formation, and the pontoon bridge on the moat provided a convenient condition for their attack.

  Tens of thousands of crossbow arrows have consumed nearly 10,000 soldiers of the Kaisar Empire, including more than 100 heavy cavalrymen. The proud cavalry corps of the Dru people's mercenary army was severely damaged. They were good at attacking cities, but facing the attack of more than 3,000 soldiers defending the city, they felt a little fear.

  The power of the crossbow was simply too great, after such a long siege, not one soldier of the Kaisar Empire was injured, they had instead lost nearly a third of their troops.

  Rein, in the middle road, took the lead, charging forward with a long spear, yelling wildly and rushing forward. The soldiers behind him were also like wolves, yelling wildly and following closely.

  Rennes is the only officer-level character who charges into the battlefield, responsible for leading the vanguard of over 400 people. His charge has boosted the morale of his soldiers, and the soldiers of other phalanxes also charged forward bravely under his leadership.

  The enemy's six phalanxes, with over 30,000 men, after being subjected to the "baptism" of crossbow arrows, had their formation scattered and disheveled, with the remaining more than 20,000 soldiers starting to panic and become restless under the impact of the Caesart Empire's soldiers, some even beginning to flee wildly.