Eagle Byzantium

"Desius's raid worked!" Gawain on the gate tower raised his arms and shouted.

Then Giovanni took the opportunity to put up the flags one by one. Between the city gate and the sub-wall, the infantry of the other brigade heard the signal and fought bravely out to fight.

In the brief but fierce battle between men and horses, Gawain's infantry had the upper hand. Because Mosul's cavalry did not develop the mounted charge tactics similar to the Normans or Franks, they still used bows and arrows at distance and javelins or sabers at close range. As a result, in Gaowen's brigade, the sword and shield men in the front row came close to cut the horses' feet, and the soldiers in the rear row used long hooks to restrain the horses. Then they wielded big sticks or axes and spears, cutting off the cavalry from above, and decapitating the horses from below. They were killed and the horses fell to death. Countless cavalrymen in the rear were frightened, turned around, and fled in the direction of Ata City.

Half an hour later, the infantry actually drove the Turkic cavalry thousands of feet away. Decius held a bloody sword, stepped on the body of a hacked horse with one foot, and looked at the dead bodies lying around. . The subordinates and comrades in front of him were shouting, carrying the captured Turkic armor, horse gear, shooting tools and tooth flags on their backs, and leading more than ten good horses that had been captured. Amidst the thundering cheers, Lu One after another, they made triumphant returns towards the camp.

"Retreat, retreat." After finishing speaking, Decius and all the swordsmen rearranged their lines, but this time they turned their backs to the camp and retreated step by step.

In the direction of Atta City, the furious Mosul General Amasa rode his steed, his black beard waving violently, and the tip of his nose reddened angrily. He rushed in front of the retreating cavalry with a flag and raised his flag. Raise your hands like driving sheep Like, "Shameful people, could it be that you did nothing to be frightened by the enemy's infantry and came here, and actually let the highest commander see your frightened faces instead of your dashing through the enemy's formations and camps?" Back view!"

The Mosul cavalry, who felt sincerely ashamed of this, shouted to their companions in twos and threes, vowed to each other to fight to the death before God, reorganized their front, and rushed towards the Orontes camp again.

However, Amasa's encouragement and scolding did not play a big role in the battle: in front of the defensive line of the rear camp, Gawain's infantry continued to maintain their original tactics and fought with the Mosul cavalry for more than ten rounds at the risk of their lives. , but still killed the sudden cavalry until they could not move forward.

At the same time, Lord Godfrey of the West Fort and Raymond of the Bayou Fortress, seeing Gawain fighting in front of the fortress, each sent more than a hundred elite cavalry out of the fortress, facing the two wings of the Turks, and held them fiercely. Riding a spear and charging forward - being attacked from three sides, Amasa was defeated miserably and could only retreat again and again. , and waited until the support of the subsequent infantry of the brigade before he could stand firm. "Put up wooden fences, set up barracks, and let the Persians build stone-shooting machines and siege vehicles. Tomorrow our infantry and cavalry will jointly advance, and wait until we stand firm." After the heel, move the camp forward so that you can concentrate your equipment to attack the city! "

In the evening, Aleppo King Khidwan and his palace minister Galahad Daura, commanded tens of thousands of soldiers as agreed, came to reinforce Amasa's troops.

In this way, Amasa, who was regaining his momentum, followed the established policy and began to surround the entire city of Atta, the Akutar Valley, the Blood Valley, Rose Ridge, and the Orontes River, facing Gawain's fortress, and also The earth was dug and fences were erected, and the forts were built like mountains facing each other. After nightfall, bonfires covered the ground like mats, and the sound of ballads and dances could be heard endlessly.

About the third hour of the night, suddenly a camp burst out with red fire - the surprise cavalry sent by Gawain, under the guidance of Bramson, determined the target camp for the attack by throwing dice. , set off from the secret door of his own camp, rushed there quickly, killed the opponent's patrol sentry, went straight to the opponent's wooden fence and ditch, lit the torch, threw it wildly inside, and shot arrows like rain.

The garrison soldiers in this camp were running around, and warning calls and drums sounded. The soldiers in the neighboring camp were disturbed and came to the rescue one after another. They brought weapons and fire-extinguishing buckets, opened the gates, and walked along the Following the path established during the day, he ran towards the attacked camp with fireworks rising.

At this time, on the right side of the road, a group of cloaked cavalry approached quickly. The leading officers, who were wearing faceplates and pointed Persian helmets, stopped about sixty feet away and spoke fluently. Turkic shouted to them, "Where is the enemy? What are you running around? Where is your Bey commander?"

"I'm here, there's an enemy attack over there!" Bey, who was leading the reinforcements, subconsciously pointed at the burning camp ahead and shouted.

As soon as he finished speaking, the masked "Turkic officer" on the opposite side followed the voice and flew an arrow at the answering Bey like lightning. The Bey was caught off guard and was shot through the face immediately and fell to death. The soldiers screamed in surprise, and then scattered like birds and beasts.

"Forgive me Allah!" After saying this, Muzaffy-Addin, who was wearing a mask and pretending to be a Turkic officer, inserted the bow into the hanging bag, then took out the saber, loosened the reins and let go of the mount. The blade reflected in the night, It guided him to the target very well - the blade light passed by, and an enemy soldier who was running away was hit in the back by him. He groaned, his legs were weak and he knelt down, and his body fell under his horse's hooves. The red-hand or Jinat cavalry behind him all carried the Turkic dog-tooth flag captured during the day, and had white scapuldrons tied on their shoulders. Ribbon, also shouting the slogan "Allah Akbar", broke into the chaotic ranks of the opponent's reinforcements, sabers blazing and heads billowing.

The rescuers from other camps saw the chaotic scene, but they could not distinguish the enemy from the flags and slogans. They took up their weapons in fear and began to kill each other. The noise and shouts resounded throughout the Orontes River.

It turned out that this was also Gawain's strategy: defend the fortress during the day to consume the enemy's morale and energy; at night, he sent out 300 elite cavalry, 100 of which were given to Bramson to command, and seized the gap between the Mosul and Aleppo armies that were still unfamiliar with each other, and first randomly attacked a pagan camp. Muzafi Adin led 200 people to ambush on the road side of the camp, and took the opportunity to fight the enemy who came to rescue.

The camps of Amasa and Ridwan fought a whole night. The next morning, Amasa patrolled the camps with a sullen face and looked at the "all-night results" of his soldiers: nearly a thousand dead and wounded, dozens of prisoners, and six camps burned to ashes (five of which were his own)...

In front of the Orontes camp, the prisoners who were brought back by the cavalry were stopped by Gawain and his guards in front of the "breaste wall" being built, and they didn't even see the appearance of the city gate.

"Don't take them inside, so as to avoid leaking the inside story of the fortress." The Grand Duke on horseback said, and then turned to the guards holding axes and shouted, "Cut off the right hands of all these prisoners and send them back!" (To be continued ~^~)