Marin jumped up happily after using the binoculars to see the battle in front of him on the high platform behind. Of course, there is still some discomfort in my heart.
You know, these 1,000 knights are basically from knight families. Most of those with official titles are actually the same as Marin before, they are wandering knights, and they went to the wealthy Duke of Saxony when they couldn't survive. Therefore, facing them being killed by his own men, Marin actually felt sad in his heart. Moreover, after this battle, Marin can be sure that he will offend many knight families. Because, their son was either dead or disabled in the hands of Marin...
However, Marin has no regrets. Who told these guys to mix with their own rival, the Duke of Saxony? If you follow the wrong master, you will have the consciousness of death.
On the opposite side of the Saxon army, the Duke of Saxony, who was also standing on the temporary wooden tower, was furious:
"Bastard, bastard! Marin, this bastard, actually slaughtered my knights!" Although he was far away, the Duke of Saxony could still vaguely see that the knights who fell in front of the battle were hit by Marin's men with hammers or with hammers. A musket shoots at close range. On the battlefield, there were bursts of screams from those once noble knights...
In the blink of an eye, all of Saxon's elite 1,000 plate armored heavy cavalry were destroyed. Although there are still many wounded in the middle of the battlefield who survived, but with the medical conditions of this era, most of the knights lying in the middle will still die. However, in order to avoid making his subordinates feel sad, the Duke of Saxony still sent a small number of light cavalry to rescue people in the middle of the battlefield.
Probably "out of demeanor", Marin did not order to shoot the Saxon auxiliary light cavalry who came to save people. In fact, Marin was not out of demeanor, he just wanted to use the wailing of these wounded after returning to damage the morale of the Saxons...
The Duke of Saxony was terribly angry. He had originally imagined that the battle would be easy to capture, but he did not expect to lose thousands of knights at the beginning, which had already hurt him. Because, the knights and trainee knights under him only add up to 3,000 people. Today, nearly one-third of them were lost in one charge. Such a loss, even if the Principality of Saxony is rich and powerful, it is unbearable. After all, these knights are not those lowly conscripts who don't feel bad when they die.
You know, these heavy cavalry wearing plate armor all come from various knight families in Germany. Even the lowest level of heavy cavalry comes from the families of those formal knights, usually the non-eldest sons of those knight families. Now, with thousands of casualties, the Duke of Saxony doesn't know how to explain to these families. After all, the Principality of Saxony is still a vassal state of the enfeoffment system. Even the Duke of Saxony is just a noble at the top of the enfeoffment system, and he also needs the support and support of the nobles at the bottom. Because, in this era, local official positions are basically controlled by these low-level knight families and jazz families. Without their support and support, the Duke of Saxony's rule would be unstable...
Sure enough, those knights who were knocked off their horses by muskets in the middle, after being taken back, wailed mournfully, which made their colleagues sympathize with each other. Then, looking at Marin's battle formation, there was also fear.
What Marin did this time was really ruthless. Usually, after those knights were dismounted, they were usually tied up by their opponents and asked for a ransom from their opponents. However, Marin is not short of money, and he is also worried that after these knights are redeemed, they will continue to serve the Duke of Saxony and continue to embarrass themselves. Moreover, Marin also wanted to play big and ruthless, so that those nobles would not dare to provoke him easily. As a result, the knights who charged in the first wave were all in bad luck. After landing, many knights were still waiting for their opponents to capture them. Children, they were thinking about whether they should hold back for a while, or surrender directly... Unexpectedly, they were greeted with bloody warhammers and evil bullets, which did not give them any thought Chance…
After the anger passed, the Duke of Saxony knew that a frontal breakthrough was not realistic. From the rescued wounded knight, he learned that in front of the Marin battle formation, there were two tunnels filled with vicious wooden pickets, making it difficult for heavy cavalry to break through. Not only that, even if the heavy cavalry crossed the two pits, there was a row of wooden pickets slanting forward, which was still very deadly. In such a situation, a brute force breakthrough is very risky. What's more, there are many musketeers on the other side, and their lethality is astonishing.
So, the calm Duke of Saxony thought about it and decided to look for opportunities from the flanks:
"Mavis, take 500 cavalry to scout the enemy's flanks and see if there are any traps on their flanks!"
Just in time, the Duke of Saxony saw Mavis, who had returned from the horse exchange, and asked him to take 500 people to observe Marin's war from the side and look for the opponent's weaknesses. The frontal attack was difficult, and the Duke of Saxony turned his mind in another direction.
So, Mavis took 500 cavalry to the left side of the Marin battle formation...
Coincidentally, Marin arranged all the musketeers to the front, and there were no musketeers on the side. Therefore, when Mavis led people to observe the flanks of the Marin battle formation, he was not shot by muskets. So, they can stay and observe very leisurely.
As a seasoned knight, Mavis is also very measured. He just knew what happened before, and he also knew what the Duke meant, so he found a few knights and ordered:
"You guys, go forward, stop when you reach the enemy, and see if there are any traps!"
The unlucky ones who were named were about to cry:
"My lord, if there are traps, we will die!" They all know that the traps Marin set up are very vicious. The two trenches are full of upward-facing wooden pickets. Can kill a horse. Moreover, with the fierceness of Marin's men against the first batch of charging knights, even if they were not killed by the pickets, they would be killed by the opponent's soldiers.
"Well, it makes sense. You guys, go pick up a few stones, rush to the front and back of the formation, throw stones to see if there are any traps. I see that the land on their flanks doesn't seem normal... "
After a while, those knights really picked up a few small stones, rode forward, and when they were close to the flanks of the Marin battle formation, they threw them out, just hitting the branches and dead grass that covered the traps. Then, the trenches were discovered...
"Sure enough, there are traps. This Marin is really vicious. He has dug so many traps on the flanks... Well, there are also wooden pickets..."
Mavis turned to the right and tried it with a stone, but there was still a trap...
Marin took a look—this is not bad, this grandson is looking for a trap, and he is so leisurely... Can't let him be so arrogant. So he called Steindorf, the leader of the black knights:
"It's your turn, take your black shirt knights, and go to destroy these Saxon knights!"
"Yes, my lord!" Steindorf had already been waiting impatiently behind the army. Moreover, he was also eager to make a contribution. After receiving Marin's order, they turned out from the rear, each holding a carbine, and rushed towards the 500 knights led by Mavis...
"A musketeer on horseback?" Mavis was taken aback when he saw it, and then laughed:
"Brothers, the enemy is here to deliver food. Follow me and kill all the hundreds of enemy cavalry in black! Those with muskets will be slaughtered if they get close!" Musketeers became infantry musketeers.
As a result, Mavis's 500 knights lined up one after another, jerked their spears, and prepared to attack Steindorf's "Knights in Black Shirts", and then slaughtered them in close quarters.
However, what surprised Mavis and the others was that the black shirt knights led by Steindorf did not come directly to them. At a distance of 100 meters, the black-shirted knights turned and ran towards the front of the formation, perpendicular to the direction of Mavis and others.
However, the route they ran was a bit weird. It looked south, but in fact it was south by west, getting closer and closer to Mavis's 500 Saxon knights...
When the distance between them reached within 50 meters, the "black shirt knights" opened fire one after another...
"Pa-pa-pa-" After a burst of gunfire, more than thirty Saxon knights fell off their horses...
That is to say, the level of riding and shooting of these black-shirted knights is still very average. After all, riding and shooting is too difficult to practice. Moreover, Mavis's subordinates are arranged in a square formation, which is not very wide. At the same time, the musketeers fired to the right, which was awkward and inconvenient to aim. Otherwise, there will definitely not be more than 30 people who fall this round, but more...
When Mavis led his men to speed up and chase after the black-shirted knight, Steindorf led his men to deflect and started running south by east, keeping a distance from Mavis and the others. Another round of shooting...
Then, another twenty or so Saxon knights fell...
Mavis wanted to chase again, but found that he was getting closer to Marin's battle formation. If you don't stop, you may fall directly into the pit. So, he had to let his men slow down.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, those knights in black shirts turned around again and fired one after another, and they stopped and turned around to fire...
"Pa-pa-pa-pa-" This time the hit rate of the black-shirted knights was much higher, and sixty or seventy people were knocked off their horses...
Mavis didn't dare to stay any longer, he figured it out, the knights under him couldn't catch up with this group of light cavalry in black. The other party doesn't pay attention to glory at all, and is very shameless. Therefore, he simply led people to flee to the main formation.
But on the way to retreat, he was chased by 800 black-shirted knights, and shot two rounds of black guns behind them. As a result, hundreds of Saxon knights fell off their horses...
But it is a pity that the black shirt knights only brought 5 carbines and had no ammunition. Because it is inconvenient to load ammunition on horseback, and it is easy to be attacked by the enemy, so they returned to the rear of the main formation to reload the ammunition...