King of The Wall

2021-10-15

Chapter 672 Highgarden Defense (1)

The color of the east sky is from purple to gold to blue , as Sun rose from the horizon into the sky, the last few bright stars adorned with the dark sky overhead were completely hidden. Facing the translucent light, Earl Mathis Rowan rode on the highest small dirt slope nearby, restrained the high war horse under his crotch, raised the Myr lens to observe the West Expedition Force slowly approaching towards oneself in the distance.

The Reach people want to gather the three advantages of the weather, location, and people to fight this decisive battle.

The location is favorable, and home games can be played at any time; people and people are also forced out under the front of the enemy; only the last day is beyond human control. The last perfect time for a decisive battle was actually a few days ago, next to Mander North Roseroad, several dozen li to the northeast. There was light rain all day, but their imaginary enemy, Igor, seemed like a prophet. After taking New Barrel, a Divine Dragon Swing tail turned to the south to cross the river first, hit everyone with a completely unprepared, and dodged by accident.

In a panic, the army was relocated back to Mander South. Maester once again predicted that there would be rain today, and the headquarters decided to start the operation immediately after a short rest... The prediction is correct, it does rain today, but The rain came too early and did not last until dawn. The humidity in the air was quite thick when the sky was bright earlier, but it became thinner and lighter as the sun rose. It was a good day after the rain, but it was by no means a good day to fight the West Expedition Force. , but the enemy is just a stone's throw away from Highgarden, and they can't wait for the next rain.

Right now, the only thing Earl Rowan can pray for is that the early morning rain dampened Night's Watch with enough gunpowder to more or less weaken their long-range battle strength.

Back to the battlefield.

He is carrying out a arduous mission today: commanding the former pao fenghui.

What King Aegon told him was not a clear order, but a whole set of adaptable plans: when approaching the enemy, the first thing he had to do was to go to the flanks (because of the river bank, now it became One wing) spread out the battle line as normal, widening the formation slightly beyond the opposite. Next, according to the countermeasures Igor took, the next step is decided.

If Igor remains unmoved, but he will form a normal formation step by step while guarding against flanking and flanking, then he will command 10,000 infantry cannon fodder and 3,000 flanking cavalry, and pull out to confront Igor head-on. In order to keep the enemy's attention away from the main cavalry forces that are flanking behind, if possible, play a realistic feint, and try to lure the opponent into the encirclement of the main infantry force.

If Igor falls into a trap and starts to also widen the formation and start a "battle width race" with oneself, then oneself will command the troops to continue to widen the formation, while sending letters to the rear infantry troops and surrounding areas. The main force of the cavalry in the rear did not play any tricks to lure the enemy into the depths, and directly attacked the entire army, taking away the West Expedition Force, which had stretched its front and became vulnerable!
There are only two situations, it sounds simple, but it's cumbersome to execute: Earl Rowan is a veteran, but he has never commanded an army of 10,000 people, let alone that this army is not yet. The elite of his own Goldengrove who knows the insides or at least has been trained by him. He shouted loudly, repeated instructions frequently and quickly, squeezed the physical strength of all the messengers and horses to the limit, and tried his best to keep the ten thousand cannon fodder infantrymen from falling apart or falling into chaos in the process of advancing eastward. When he finally got close to the enemy and came within sight distance, he ordered the formation of the team and carefully observed the opposite side, preparing to decide his own specific formation according to the enemy's state, only to find that the opponent did not play cards according to common sense.

The West Expedition Force in the field of vision is marching in groups along the river. Even after oneself ordered the whole army to raise a flag to show its presence, it simply slowed down the marching speed and stopped steadily, without any sign of it. Going to the south means fighting against oneself, because there is no high enough terrain to overlook the enemy in the plain, Earl Rowan certainly can't immediately know that Igor is posing in a trapezoidal formation by the river, but this does not affect his position in the area. At the top of the gentle slope, at least several square matrices that make up this trapezoid can be clearly seen, especially the trapezoidal hypotenuse that is stepped towards oneself.

He has never seen this formation, but he can see at least two things: 1. This is by no means the normal marching formation of an army with a number of 30,000; 2. This is the same It's not the stance you should have when preparing for a battle.

If oneself commanded the right wing forward, wouldn't it easily surround the entire West Expedition Force on the river bank?

Does the opposing commander not lead troops to fight?
Suspicion floated in Earl Rowan's heart for a moment, and was immediately squashed by reason - in countless possibilities, this is the first one that can be ruled out. Well... he raised the lens again and looked at the West Expedition Force formation again.

Under the bright sunlight in the early morning, everything within the field of vision of the lens was completely shown: several square formations of about 2,000 people/each, the soldiers in the square formations shining swords, guns and armors And the red and black flags held high, the gap passages between the squares that are close to the width of the squares, the messengers running back and forth in the passages... and the sound of neat footsteps faintly transmitted through the ground.

The steady beating heart in his chest suddenly began to pound, and cold sweat was also pouring out of his back on this cool and comfortable spring sunny day, Earl Rowan suddenly felt oneself... Slightly saw West Expedition Force The doorway of this formation.

To form a tight group is to cover the entire army within the fire protection range of the weapon called a "cannon";

The army is divided into several smaller groups The phalanx is to facilitate the rapid change of direction and smooth engagement in the event of a surprise attack from any direction - commanding 30,000 people to turn around and face the side or the back is obviously not easy and quick to command 2,000 people, not to mention that one's own plan Siege from multiple directions;

The staggered but limited-width stepped slash towards oneself prevents the coalition forces from immediately exerting their superiority in force on the frontal battlefield and forcing a push- It can even be reasonably imagined that the east side of the other side behind the formation, which cannot be seen by oneself, is most likely to be a similar slash;

The overlapping horizontal depth of the three north and south columns makes it possible for the "use of cavalry to attack". The difficulty of severing the connection between the front and rear of its troops has also increased to the extreme;

And the gaps and passages left between the square formations are obviously reserved for the rapid reinforcement of cavalry and reserves!

This formation is obviously more focused on defense than offense, and has the innate shortcomings that cannot be improved. Mathis Rowan can blurt out two things when he turns his head on the battle: for example, if the group is too tight, when the enemy retreats or when the It is impossible to effectively organize the pursuit during a rout; for example, the marching speed of the three-column phalanx must be kept at a high degree and the direction is accurate so as not to fall apart and deform during the movement, which requires the training of soldiers and generals to reach a very high level. Can't get up fast...

But what you lose is what you gain is that its advantages are as prominent as its disadvantages: marching in this formation, you can fight when you stop on the spot when you meet the enemy, and you don't need to work hard Expand the battle formation - which means not afraid of sneak attack; in addition, no matter which direction you attack from the east, west or south, you will suffer from close-intensity defense and counterattack, and there is no weak point to follow...

The thought that made him the most terrified finally came up: one of the shortcomings of this formation, when he wanted to feign defeat and lure the enemy, turned out to be the biggest advantage. If you are seduced by a feigned defeat and attack recklessly, how should you deal with it?

All in all, it's a formation that sacrifices tactical flexibility to serve a big strategic goal: the enemy commander, the damned Night's Watch, coldly and soberly realizes that he doesn't need either. Impossible to annihilate the Reach coalition, as long as you can push through the resistance to the Highgarden city, you will be victorious!

Compared with the enemy's calculations, a more realistic problem was placed in front of Earl Rowan: since the enemy did not respond within the expected range of the command, how should oneself command the cannon fodder now?

Igor didn't let him struggle for long, and hesitantly, the artillery in the West Expedition Force position opened fire.

With the rumbling of spring thunder, the defense of Highgarden begins.

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(end of this chapter)