vstars Chapter 149 Defeat
Chapter 149 Defeat
It was already afternoon when the natives regrouped. The fiery red sunset shone on these people who had just experienced defeat, as if foreshadowing their final outcome.
Most of the natives are still confused. They don’t understand why the imperial army, which was once invincible, was defeated in such a short time. They also don’t know what will happen to themselves, their loved ones, and their ethnic groups in the future.
On the way back to the base camp, the only sounds among the crowd besides the wailing of the wounded were the sounds of footsteps and horse hooves.
Inside the base camp, a group of chiefs started quarreling in front of the Son of God. Just because of a defeat, the originally united indigenous army immediately fell apart.
"I've said it before, the army of those lords is different from the army directly under Midland. If we want to break into Wendam, we can't just fight hard, we have to use our wits!"
In the big tent, a chief shouted to the chiefs around him, trying to make everyone believe his words.
"The most important thing is that we haven't even found the opposite camp yet. How are we going to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy? These Midlanders used cannons to beat our legion back. It is impossible for weapons and equipment and fighting will to make up for it." Another chief expressed his concerns.
"I suggest that the entire legion be divided into two parts. One part will feint an attack on the Midland army, and the other part will take a detour and attack Wendam directly."
"No, we just lost a battle and lost some soldiers. If we split them up, wouldn't we have even fewer people?"
"It's better than waiting here for the Midlanders to surround us."
While everyone was arguing, the high priest who was sitting next to the Son of God stood up. Under everyone's gaze, he coughed a few times and then said:
"Everyone, there is no point in you arguing here. Why don't you listen to what the Son of God says first?"
When everyone's eyes turned to the Son of God, the child said with lifeless eyes but a high-pitched voice:
"The Empire's army must defeat the alien army on the front battlefield. Otherwise, even if we capture Wendam, these aliens will not submit to the Empire's rule."
"But the situation now is that we can't defeat Midlan's army head-on, let alone capture Windam." One of the chiefs worriedly said. In the previous battle, his tribe lost a lot of soldiers, which made him waver in his support for the Son of God. Even if he captured Windam later, he would not be able to get his ideal land due to his greatly reduced strength.
"Don't worry, the Mitlan people will eventually have to pay the price." The Son of God first comforted the chief and then analyzed:
"The reason why the Midlanders were able to defeat our army was not only because they underestimated the enemy, but also because of the cannons they relied on. To solve this problem, we just need to prevent the cannons from hitting our army."
This statement immediately caused a heated discussion among the chiefs. Most of the chiefs remained skeptical about this, and a few were angry about the remarks. They felt that they were being teased by a child. No matter how strong you are, you can't change the direction of the cannonball.
"Excuse me, Son of God, how are you going to prevent the shells from hitting our army?" A chief stood up and asked in confusion.
"Don't worry, I have my own way." After the Son of God said this, he raised his left hand and pointed outside the tent. Following the direction of his finger, everyone saw a huge monster appear outside the tent.
A day later, when Charlie woke up, he saw the indigenous army coming back from the opposite side, and the dozens of tall shield vehicles in front of them.
Not only are these shield carts several meters taller than regular shield carts, they also have various tree barks remaining on them. What's even more bizarre is that the frames of the shield carts are not nailed together, but are formed by a tall and thick tree bent in a strange way. From a distance, it looks like the natives are pushing big trees towards here.
"Sir, our artillery shells are blocked by the shield vehicles and cannot hit the natives behind." The artillery commander reported to Charlie after observing with a telescope.
"Then concentrate your artillery fire on one of the shield vehicles and make sure to create a gap." Charlie gave the order while observing the native army on the opposite side with a telescope. At present, the front line of the entire native army was hiding behind those huge shield vehicles, which withstood all the shells. Except for a few shells that passed through the gap between two shield vehicles and caused some casualties, the entire native army was advancing forward almost without any damage.
"Tell the cavalry to take some kerosene for Greek fire and pour it in front of the battle line."
After hearing Charlie's order, the mercenaries didn't understand what their leader wanted to do, but they still rode on their horses and poured kerosene along the battlefield with kettles. During this period, although some natives noticed what the Mitlan cavalry were doing, they were ignorant and knew nothing about it. They probably thought that the Mitlan people were holding some pre-war ceremony.
"Hey!"
An indigenous man slipped on the oil on the ground while walking, which caused the indigenous people around him to burst into laughter.
"What are you laughing at! You've never fallen down, have you?" The native stood up cursing and found that his hands were covered with oil. He shook it off for a long time but failed, so he could only smear the oil on his armor.
At this time, most of the indigenous troops had entered the battlefield covered with kerosene. Many indigenous soldiers were tripped by the oil, causing chaos in the entire team.
"Don't panic! This is just a little trick of the Midlanders. We have already blocked the artillery, and now this oil can't stop our attack at all!" Seeing this situation, the native officers could only continue to encourage their soldiers while walking carefully on the ground covered with kerosene.
"What are you doing?"
After the legion commander saw the Black Watch cavalry dumping a pile of unknown objects on the battlefield, he rode to Charlie's camp to inquire.
After hearing the commander's intention, Charlie told the truth:
"Oh, I just asked the cavalry to pour oil on the battlefield."
"Pour oil?" The legion commander thought for a while and thought that Charlie was trying to make the natives slip to delay time, so he advised:
"Captain Charlie, this won't work. Although it can stop them for a while, they will still rush over in the end."
Charlie didn't understand what he was talking about, so he said, "We'll know when the time comes," and led his men to the front line.
After arriving at the front line, Charlie looked at the Greek artillery vehicles that were ready and said to the artillery commander next to him:
"Is the gun carriage ready?"
"Everything is ready, just waiting for your order." The artillery commander began to feel scared as he looked at the indigenous shield vehicles getting closer and closer in the distance.
As the sound of wheels became clearer and clearer, the native legion pushed the shield carts and rushed towards the hill in a mighty manner. During this time, the legion commander thought of many ways to stop these natives, such as using catapults to hit them or sending cavalry to harass them, but all of them were ineffective.
At this time, the native officers were overjoyed. In their opinion, as long as the two armies clashed, the imperial army blessed by the Son of God would definitely be able to defeat these Midlanders. Then the entire army would be able to easily capture Windam.
When the shield vehicle was pushed to a certain distance from the hillside, a native officer held up his weapon and shouted to the soldiers around him:
"Soldiers, now is the time to charge and kill those Midlanders."
Upon hearing this, the natives, who had been impatient for a long time, immediately rushed towards the Midland army like a pack of wolves, howling and screaming like crazy, determined to avenge their previous defeat.
"The natives are charging towards us, look, sir..." the artillery commander said while pointing at the natives rushing towards him.
"Wait a moment..." Charlie said as he observed the natives through a telescope:
"It's still a bit far."
One hundred steps, ninety steps, eighty steps. As a commander, Charlie knew when was the best time to attack, and it was obviously not the right time to attack now.
Finally, when the natives were within fifty steps of the position, Charlie shouted:
"All artillery, fire!"
Upon hearing the order, the artillerymen lit the fuse, and along with a series of fire snakes, they rushed towards the position. The blazing flames directly pounced on the natives who were charging forward.
"Ah! It's on fire!"
In an instant, the natives in the front row turned into firemen. They shouted and ran to the rear, disrupting the natives' charge formation.
"There's fire here too!"
Not only the front row, but the natives in the back also discovered that flames appeared along the route where the firemen had walked. The fire gradually spread and affected the shield carts in the back. These wooden shield carts gradually turned into torches under the burning flames. Not only did they lose their function, but they also became an obstacle to the natives' retreat.
"My hand! My hand!" A native was pounced on by the fire man, and then flames appeared on his body, and no matter how he shook it off, he couldn't put it out.
"Damn, it's the oil." Some smart natives knew the reason. Looking at the greasy armor on their bodies, the natives took a lot of effort to take off the armor that they once regarded as treasures and fled to both sides of the battlefield.
"Damn, cavalry, follow me! Take out those Midlan artillery pieces!" After seeing this, the native officer commanding the cavalry immediately led the cavalry behind him to rush towards the Midlan position from both wings.
But things did not go as planned. The native cavalry on the right wing were ambushed by cavalry lying in ambush in the woods, led by the mercenary leader named Manudino.
"Brothers, work harder, otherwise the Black Watch will take all the bounty." Manudino said as he hit a native cavalryman in the neck with a crossbow arrow. His cavalrymen also fought with the natives. For a while, the sound of weapons colliding and shouting was endless.
On the left wing, the native cavalry encountered no resistance and went around the hill.
Listening to the roar of the artillery above, the native officer in charge of commanding the left wing cavalry shouted:
"Brothers, as long as we rush up and get rid of those Mitlan people, the army at the foot of the hill will be able to rush up the hill and defeat these foreigners. By then, everyone of us will be a hero of the empire."
After saying this, the native officers took out their blessed wooden swords and shouted to the soldiers:
"For the revival of the empire, charge forward, warriors!"
Just as this group of cavalrymen were charging towards the hill on horseback, the army above also started to move. Teams of Black Watch mercenaries were seen standing on the hillside holding Mushket heavy muskets, mounting the muskets on tripods and aiming them at the natives below.
"First row, light the fire!"
As the matchlock was lit, the soldiers aimed at the natives below and pulled the trigger. In an instant, a row of white smoke rose from the muzzle accompanied by a crisp gunshot, and the heavy lead bullets shot straight into the native cavalry. The natives were surprised to find that their blessed armor seemed to be useless at this moment. The lead bullets penetrated these invulnerable armors and hit their bodies. The pain directly caused some natives to fall off their horses, and some natives were hit in the head, heart and other important parts, and they were silent for a short time. The worst were those natives whose horses were hit by bullets. They were thrown to the ground by the horses and trampled to death by the cavalry behind them.
The gunshots also frightened the horses under the natives. Some horses lost control and ran backwards and to the left and right, making it impossible for the natives to form an effective charge.
As the natives were in panic, with the second gunshot, the second row of muskets opened fire collectively. With the continued casualties of the natives, the entire native cavalry unit fell into chaos.
"Withdraw! Withdraw!"
Seeing that they could no longer form a charge, the native cavalry immediately retreated down the hillside. The originally empty hillside was left with only piles of native and horse corpses, as well as the remaining horses and wailing natives.
On the front battlefield, there were flames, thick smoke, and panicked natives everywhere. The originally vibrant grassland turned directly into a hell of fire and blood, with charred corpses and various limbs and arms everywhere. Countless natives were surrounded by flames and swallowed by the flames while screaming. The black and white smoke intertwined together, making it impossible to see the situation inside.
The Black Watch's artillery had not stopped from the beginning. Each shot was accompanied by more screams from the natives. More and more natives were hit by the shells and turned into a pile of charred charcoal in the flames. Some firemen also rushed to the Midlanders' position and wanted to die with this group of foreigners, but they could not get close to them at all due to the cooperation of the crossbowmen and spearmen among the mercenaries.
"Mad, how could it be like this?"
Looking at the thick smoke in the distance and the fire men rushing out of the smoke, the chiefs felt heartbroken and some even fainted. These were their people, and so many of them died in an instant. Anyone would be heartbroken.
However, no matter how anxious and distressed they are, the war situation will eventually turn in favor of the Midlanders. Most of the main forces of the natives have been killed or wounded in this war. At least now they will definitely not be able to attack Windam.
"Retreat, we can't win." Looking at the tragic scene in the distance, a chief cried and suggested to the Son of God. His words were recognized by most chiefs. No one expected that the previously invincible imperial army would become like a lost dog in just this one battle. The defeat quickly turned into fear for Mitlan. Many chiefs regained their sanity in fear and realized that if they continued to fight, the end result would be the massacre of their entire tribe.
The momentum of the spy could not be suppressed. Before the Son of God could make a move, the high priest next to him spoke first:
"The aliens have become much stronger this time. Since we have no way to defeat them head-on, we should continue with the method of our ancestors and fight against them in the deep mountains. Now, while the smoke is still thick and the Midlan people dare not take the initiative to attack, all tribes should quickly order their people to withdraw to Vaz Territory and prepare for a long-term battle."
The fire burned for about half a day. The original grassland turned into a dry land, with various body parts and charcoal everywhere, proving that a fierce battle had taken place here.
When the fog cleared, the Midlan people found that the natives on the opposite side had evacuated at some point, and the mercenaries cheered loudly, celebrating that they had won the war, even though some mercenaries had done nothing in this battle.
"Reporting to the lord, the natives are running back, probably to their old nest." A scout reported to the legion commander based on the footprints on the ground.
"Okay! All mercenaries, pay attention. The natives are now fleeing to their lair. We must pursue them and try to wipe them out before they escape back to their lair. Killing one will give you one silver coin, and capturing one alive will give you two silver coins. Charge for the glory of Midland!" Seeing that the atmosphere was right, the legion commander took the opportunity to shout loudly, which immediately aroused the enthusiasm of the mercenaries. Almost at the moment he finished speaking, Manudino and his cavalry rushed over, and other mercenary groups also marched towards the direction of Lord Vaz one after another, for fear that they would be late and miss the bounty.
"Captain Charlie, aren't you going?" The legion commander said to Charlie beside him as he looked at the Black Watch mercenaries gathering and marching towards the rear.
"No, we're not going. We've already taken the bulk of the money. It will be troublesome if we get into conflict with other mercenaries just for the little money left." Charlie said disapprovingly, as if in his eyes it was unwise to cause trouble for the extra bounty.
At another sunset, the Black Watch mercenaries packed their bags and marched in neat steps back to their base to recuperate and wait for Charlie's next order.