Eagle Byzantium

Monomachus Skoleru was born into a traditional military family. Although his grasp of military strategy has some traces of the old times, the core essence will never expire.

This is the best way to quickly attack the enemy: first annihilate the enemy's main force outside the city, or force it back into an isolated stronghold, allowing us to fully grasp the initiative and calmly deploy our troops to attack.

So Gawain agreed with General Genat's plan: "The entire army array starts from the Malacoupies Mountain and drives directly to the enemy's North Fort along the diagonal axis. The advance guard consists of the Pyrothrowers and eight border infantry centuries. Composed, responsible for fighting and forcing the North Fort, and the commander-in-chief is for the benefit of General Otius; the center army was commanded by Generals Branas, Orson and Dorus, with two main brigades under its command, arranged into a large column facing the northern castle; the rear army was commanded by General Monomachus , under the jurisdiction of four border cavalry centuries and ten border infantry centuries. The other two brigades of attached engineers were under the command of General Monomachus - I, General Bramson, General Walter, Commander Gotti, Sigma, commanding the Ogus Cavalry Regiment, St. Cyrillic Cavalry, Neobaptized Cavalry and Kay There are four cavalry regiments in total, serving as additional troops, lurking in the valleys and woods on the left side of Mount Malacoupies; as for the camp on the mountain, it is left to the guard of the Count Merlot - the entire army and the generals There should be a gap of five kilometers between camps."

Naturally, this gap was induced by Warchief Merrick.

If he crossed this gap from Melitene to attack the main camp, Gawain's four cavalry regiments would come out of the ambush sideways and completely defeat him.

If Merrick took advantage of this gap to attack the troops in the direction of the North Fort in a roundabout way, Branas would coordinate all the brigades and armies to turn around and fight Merrick decisively.

The first two are quick decisions, but there is another situation, that is, Merrick adopts a cautious attitude and stays behind closed doors. Then Gawain orders the entire army to concentrate fire to capture the North Castle, and then cut off the inner and outer perimeter of Melite. All defensive barriers will completely trap Melitane to death, and then the attack will be carried out.

Now intelligence from all parties shows that countless Turkic and Turkmen tribes from Erzurum and the Armenian Plateau, and even the Kingdom of Shirvan (Azerbaijan), are gathering and heading to the Sivas Pass, preparing to launch Jihad (or not so... For pious Turks , it was a large-scale migration and looting) jihad to reinforce the city of Melitene. They all claimed to have received instructions from the Great Seljuq Palace in Isfahan to annihilate the Christian army that dared to invade the sacred land. Vin's army happened to be called the "Tartsus Guards". Therefore, Gawain's army has now become a thorn in the side of the Crescent Christians throughout Asia and Great Khorasan. Almost all the imams of the Khorasan Madrasah and mosques are cursing this brown-haired "unbeliever" "Devil" and called for a concentrated attack on him.

Therefore, the "quick decision" strategy is now more suitable for Gawain.

At the second hour of the morning, at the foot of the mountain at the North Fort, there were figures of fire-throwers swinging their umbrellas and feathers everywhere. They were mixed with the archer and fire-thrower auxiliaries of the two brigades. Formed into several lines, covering the wilderness to the west of the North Castle, "Lord, help me to press forward." "!" The war song shook the earth. Wearing half-length light chain armor, they held blazing guns in their hands and took turns firing arrows toward the gate of the North Fort. With the piercing light of the fire, the gate tower of the North Fort exploded into a brilliant and thick smoke.

Soon after the thick smoke, the Danishmend cavalry bravely stood out on horseback with their faces covered, trying to drive away the fire throwers. However, the array of fire throwers was filled with archers from the Border Army. When the fire throwers began to reload their cartridges and arrows, they stepped forward with shouts, raised their birch bows, and stood close together. , carrying out arrow cluster strikes against the Turkic cavalry.

Firearms and arrows cooperated closely with each other to ensure that the firing frequency of the Pyro Throwers and the Border Army was uninterrupted. The Danishmund Cavalry, which was originally good at galloping and cavalry, clashed several times in a row, but could not defeat the Pyro Throwers and the Border Guards. The array of archers formed by the borderers could only fail. They raised warning fireworks at the North Fort and asked the troops from other fortresses and the inner city of Melite to come to the rescue.

The beacon fire was flying, and in an instant, one barrier after another reached the city of Melitene. In the palace, Merrick was dressed in military uniform, holding a saber, and was surrounded by beys. His expression was uncertain, and he was also hesitating. . Merrick was not a fool. Of course he understood that all twenty companies of Gawain's Pyrothrowers appeared at the North Castle, with two main brigades behind him, just to lure him out of the city for a decisive battle. At the same time, the scout cavalry I also came to report that between Gawain's baggage camp and the North Fort, there was a gap of several kilometers in the formation of the Guards Army. "Do you want to go through it and capture the enemy's camp in a surprise attack?"

"Will there be an enemy ambush near the camp?" Merrick was worried about this question.

General Qudb beside him said, "Thousands of warriors will come from Great Khorasan soon, and the governor of Mosul, Kobuha, has also promised to send an army to help us defend ourselves. We should be cautious now." , stick to Melitene and wait until all the troops gather before launching a counterattack. "

Hearing this plan, Merrick nodded and agreed in his heart, because the previous disastrous defeat at Fort Germanico had left him with a psychological shadow on Gawain's fire-throwing team, and he really did not dare to make peace easily. Enemy duel.

"Tell the other forts to support the North Fort and pin Gawain's troops there. As long as they hold out for a few more days, I will wait for an opportunity to launch a major counterattack." In the end, the disheartened Merrick could only issue this cruel order, which was equivalent to leaving the 3,000 Turkic and Turkmen defenders of the North Fort to fend for themselves.

The North Fort, which received the beacon signal, did not dare to fight against the Gawain vanguard team of only more than 3,000 people, and closed the door to defend. The other forts began to send small groups of troops, crossing hills and roads, desperately reinforcing the North Fort, and fighting fiercely with the outposts of the Gawain Brigade in various places.

After a fierce battle at the front for half a day, the area around Mount Maracupies was extremely peaceful. Sitting on the saddle in the valley next to it, Gawain touched Sabina's ear and listened to the birds singing around him. "Is Merrick still not fooled? Then we will follow the third plan."

In the evening, when Gawain's herald rode to Monomachus's rear guard, General Ginat did not hesitate at all. He led all the border troops and the attached engineering craftsmen of the brigade, and suddenly quickened his pace, carrying a hundred wheeled carts, and quickly crossed the front line of the central army, interspersed to the eastern passage of the North Fort, and began to build a temporary fortification overnight. This camping site just cut off the North Fort from the rest of the Danishmond fortress!

It is obvious that Gawain now has to concentrate all his efforts on capturing the North Fort first. (To be continued ~^~)