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Chapter 1428 The Battle Begins

"In the letter from the English parliamentarian to us, it is said that the king invited an officer from the East to serve as a military adviser. That person once commanded the Allied Forces of the Six Nations to expedition to Egypt and easily defeated the Mamluk cavalry and the soldiers in the Balkan Peninsula. I don't know if that person is Among the king's army on the other side?"

Scottish Covenant Commander Leslie receives a seemingly innocuous tip.

"The army in the east didn't participate in the king's army on the opposite side?" Leslie asked.

"No, the members of Parliament in England have confirmed that the Eastern Army is stationed in Portsmouth Harbor as before, and they will not participate in the war unless their interests are involved or when it is very necessary."

"Then there is nothing to be afraid of. A reliable officer is very important, but it is the soldiers who actually fight. No matter how good the tactical deployment is, it will not help if there is no excellent executor. Then start destroying the king's army on the opposite side."

Leslie squinted and looked at the king's army on the other side. The king's fortress and artillery positions had all been exposed to the artillery of the covenant army, and a unit of the covenant army had crossed the river upstream, preparing to capture two civil fortresses.

The battle at Newcastle began in the morning of the same day. The main force of the Scottish Covenant Army crossed the river and appeared on the west side of the south bank, forming a pincer attack trend with the artillery positions on the north bank to attack the king's army.

The first wave of Scottish cavalry tentatively attacked the two forts.

King Charles, Sun Chuanting and several noble officers commanded the battle from a high place.

For Charles I, this was a defenseless battle, and the battle at Newcastle would affect his authority as king.

If he wins, his reputation will be unprecedented, and he may make the Scots succumb, and then take advantage of the victory to formally recruit militia gathered from all over the country to form the Royal Army.

If he loses, his reputation will be greatly damaged, and the Scottish Covenant Army will despise him even more, and the calls for the reopening of Parliament in London will also be louder.

"Be sure to resist..."

King Charles used to send troops overseas with a swipe of a pen when wars broke out before. This is the first time he personally and so closely commanded a large-scale battle that would determine England and Scotland!
The heavy and uncertain consequences made his whole body tremble with tension.

In contrast, Sun Chuanting was much calmer.He can't help but be calm, because the outcome of this battle is not important to him at all!

It doesn't matter whether the English lose or the Scots lose, as long as the interests of the Western Company, the Far West Expedition, and the Fourth Fleet are not harmed.

He was watching the action of the Scottish cavalry through a telescope.

The king's army had eight light artillery deployed in the fort, and artillery positions in trench positions.These guns opened fire violently as the Scottish cavalry approached.

White gunpowder smoke curled up from the position. From Sun Chuanting's perspective, the real deployment position of the King's Army artillery could be judged from the place where the gunpowder smoke gathered.

The Scotch cavalry were quickly repulsed by the artillery of the king's army.

"Our artillery is really brave. They used cannons to repel the Scottish cavalry!" The Earl of Stratford and several British nobles rejoiced beside King Charles.

"The Covenant Army is testing! They are testing the deployment position of the artillery!" Sun Chuanting and several noble officers who returned from the battlefield in the Netherlands secretly shouted that something was wrong.

"As expected of a veteran who serves as the Swedish Field Marshal, he is estimated to use artillery to deal with artillery soon." Wilmot, who was in charge of commanding the cavalry, showed a worried expression.

The tactics formulated by Sun Chuanting and a group of experienced British military officers have great flaws in unfavorable situations, and they themselves know it well, but they have no better way.

They cannot retreat to cause popular unrest, and must fight the Scots here, and their problem lies in whether the English militia has the combat effectiveness and willingness to fight—in other words, can the militia lack combat experience and combat motivation be able to fight against the artillery? Hold your ground in front of you.

Sure enough, after using the cavalry to test out the artillery deployment of the King's Army, the artillery brought by the Covenant Army began to duel with the artillery positions of the King's Army. The artillery on the north bank violently bombarded the temporary fortress and exposed artillery positions of the King's Army.

The booming sound continued, and the positions of both sides were filled with gunpowder smoke, making Charles I, who was commanding from a distance and his life was not in danger, couldn't help turning pale.

Talking about war on paper is indeed exciting, but the actual battle is very cruel. Charlie can't imagine if he will turn around and run away if he is within the range covered by the artillery.The feeling of being on the verge of being killed at any moment or seeing your companions being shot down by artillery is not pleasant at all.

"The guard of the two forts is Colonel Lunsford, who served in the French army. I believe he will be able to hold on to the forts and will never let the Scots occupy the forts." Charles I vowed.

"The opponent's artillery seems to be more accurate, condescending and has an excellent field of vision and shooting angle."

Although the artillery of the King's Army and the Covenant Army bombarded each other across the river, and the sound was similar, Sun Chuanting could tell that the Covenant Army had more artillery, and the artillerymen were skilled in operation, which was not comparable to that of the King's Army.

"Their commander was Leslie. He must have brought back a group of elite mercenaries from Sweden, especially the artillery officers and experts who served under the command of King Gustav II of Sweden. They were better at using artillery and With experience, compared to us, there are only a few artillerymen who have returned from the battlefield in the Netherlands, who can barely compare." Wilmot said.

The shelling from both sides is still going on, and the temporary civil fortress is not strong. Under the condescending shelling of the other side, the musketeers in more than a dozen fortresses were killed by shells, and the psychological endurance of the English militia stationed in the civil fortress gradually reached its limit.

"Everyone, calm down! Their artillery has limited damage to us. We only need to hold out for three days before we can retreat to a safer position! All those who escaped from the fortress without authorization will be killed after the war. To be hanged!"

Inside the fort, Colonel Lunsford himself calmed the restless English militia.

"Colonel, why are we at war with the Scots?"

"If the king clearly agrees that the Scots have their own beliefs, the problem will be solved. Why did he send us to die!"

Some English militiamen whined and complained because of the shelling from the other side, and in the end Colonel Slumford could not control his impromptu infantry regiment.

"It's really bad, the infantry regiment actually started to take the initiative to flee..." Sun Chuanting saw the front line's rout through the binoculars, and the deployment he made seemed to be of no use. In less than three hours, the English militia at both forts abandoned the forts.

(End of this chapter)