At this time, the three warships led by Captain Kidd just arrived at the battlefield, and crashed several pontoon bridges of the Saxons, and at the same time began to fire the wooden boats on the Leda River...
The Duke of Saxony was shocked when he learned about it, but there was nothing he could do. Because his soldiers couldn't fight the East Frisian sailors on board, they could only watch Captain Kidd and his men wreak havoc on the river...
Even more unlucky is yet to come. After completely destroying the Saxon pontoon bridge and ferry, Captain Kidd began to order the bombardment of the Saxon battle formation from the rear...
You know, there are several 12-pound guns on the warship, and their range can reach as far as 1,500 meters...
Sure enough, soon, the artillery on the ship began to show its power...
The artillery on the ship, in addition to a few 12-pound guns, there are also many old breech-mounted bronze guns—no way, these three ships are small boats, and the number of 12-pound guns that can be loaded is the limit. Others, We can only continue to use the old "Fran cannon" with low power.
After the shelling began, the formation of the Saxon army was in chaos, which also caused the morale of the Saxon army to plummet. You know, the feeling of being pinched from front to back is very bad. Moreover, those soldiers at the end are basically conscripts, and they are very easy to collapse...
Fortunately, the Duke of Saxony sent knights to suppress them in time, so that the last 5,000 conscripts did not collapse. However, one shell happened to break the balance of the battlefield...
Because of the shaking of the hull caused by the recoil when firing the gun, the hit rate of the ship-borne artillery is very low. However, some luck cannot be ruled out...
For example, this time, a 12-pound artillery shell happened to fly over the heads of the Saxon army, and just hit the wooden platform where the Duke of Saxony was standing in the middle of the crowd...
Of course, the Duke of Saxony was not killed. However, he was almost scared to death. Because the high platform collapsed, the Duke of Saxony, with the support of Doenitz, fled in fright and walked forward.
However, because the high platform collapsed, the banner of the Weiting family, which the Duke of Saxony planted on the high platform as the handsome flag, also fell down...
Coincidentally, Marin saw this scene through a telescope...
It's not that he didn't see that the Duke of Saxony survived, but he felt that he should do something...
So, he thought of Zhu Xu in "Battle of Feishui"...
Then, he decisively picked up the soil horn and shouted:
"The Duke of Saxony was shot and killed! The Saxony battle flag was smashed!"
The soldiers of Marin's first phalanx are all his confidants, and they are used to shouting slogans after Marin. So, reflexively, the soldiers of the first phalanx shouted in unison:
"The Duke of Saxony was shot and killed! The Saxony battle flag was smashed!"
"The Duke of Saxony was shot and killed! The Saxony battle flag was smashed!"
…
The Saxon soldiers who were confronting the Marin army were taken aback and looked back one after another...
Those tall Saxon soldiers saw in horror—the high platform on which their lord the duke stood had collapsed, and the handsome flag was no longer visible...
Then the confidence of the Saxons crumbled...
Albrecht, the Duke of Saxony, also heard the shouts of Marin's first phalanx. His face changed drastically, knowing the power of the other party's words. So he began to shout at the top of his voice:
"I'm still alive, the Duke is still alive!"
However, this is useless. The soldiers around him naturally knew the truth. However, those Saxon soldiers who were far ahead were terrified, thinking that the Duke of Saxony had been shot and died. Moreover, at this time there was no second wooden platform for the Duke of Saxony to climb on. Because, crossing the river this time, they only brought a wooden high platform for observing the battle situation.
As a result, many Saxon regular infantry who were still hurting each other with Marin's soldiers turned around and ran away...
From their point of view, the duke was killed in battle, so why is there a P in this battle
Then the Saxons just fell apart...
Standing on the high platform, Marin also saw that the Saxon army did not seem to collapse behind. Still, that's not a problem...
Marin quickly ordered:
"Pikemen across the trenches, attacking forward, pursuing the enemy!"
"Musketeer, run to the sides, keep up, and cover the spearmen with fire from the side!"
At this time, the two trenches were just filled in by the Saxon infantry, which saved Marin. Moreover, jumping from behind the inclined wooden picket to the front is much easier than jumping from the front to the back. One is reverse, the other is straight... It's just that it's hard to climb back after jumping out, so Marin's infantry didn't dare to jump out casually. But now that they've got the upper hand, it's okay to jump out...
As a result, the spearmen under Marin climbed over the inclined wooden stakes and crossed two ditches, and began to chase and kill the collapsed Saxon infantry...
Under the pursuit of the whole army of the Marin army, the panicked Saxon infantry began to attack the main formation...
Originally, the reason why Marin rushed to order the charge was to drive away the collapsed Saxon front army and attack their main formation...
You know, the Saxons still have a lot of knights as the main combat force. If you use infantry to charge like this, it is easy to attract the charge of the opponent's knights.
However, if thousands of enemy troops fled back by themselves, it would be different. Enemy knights will struggle, not knowing what to do...
The Duke of Saxony also regained control of the situation behind him at this time. When he saw his former army fled back, he was taken aback. As a veteran, he is very aware of the dangers of a crushing attack. So he stood on the high platform and shouted:
"I'm still alive, I'm still alive! Go back and stop the enemy!"
However, it was too late...
Although many Saxon infantry turned their heads and wanted to resist. However, the others were still running backwards, breaking up their temporary positions. So, these people were coerced by other people, and continued to rush towards the main formation...
At this time, the black-shirted knights attacked again, constantly driving away those Saxon infantry who wanted to run to the side, and prevented those routs from running to the side to bypass the main formation...
With the cover of thousands of Saxon infantry in front, Marin's spearmen approached the Saxon army, and started hand-to-hand combat with those Saxon knights...
However, the East Frisian spearmen who had been instructed in advance did not poke the knight himself at all. Instead, they squatted down and stabbed the belly of the knight's war horse with their spears...
There is no armor on the belly of a war horse, and every stab is accurate...
Then, the Saxon knights fell down one after another and became infantry. However, the fallen knight is also very difficult to deal with. Because they have high armor and cannot be stabbed with spears...
But this did not bother the soldiers of East Frisia, a group of warriors carrying long-handled warhammers appeared...
Those spearmen first used many spears to clamp the weapons of those knights, and then, the warriors with warhammers went in through the gap and hit their heads with a sledgehammer...
After some melee, the resistance organized by the Saxon knights was suppressed by the high morale of the East Frisian army...
In desperation, the Duke of Saxony knew that the situation was over, so he had to start running away...
However, the pontoon bridge on the Leda River behind has been destroyed, and many ships have been burned. In desperation, the Duke of Saxony led a group of the most loyal knights and fled eastward on horseback...
As for the last 5,000 Saxon conscripts, seeing that the knights couldn’t stand it anymore, they immediately collapsed. Many people simply surrendered, and some fled eastward...
Marin took it easy, first sent people to watch over the surrendered people, and then led the army to chase eastward. Because he knows that there is a newly dug wider river to the east, which can stop the steps of those heavily armored knights...
So, after leaving 2,000 people to guard the captives, Marin led the rest of the army, under the cover of the black-shirted knights, and pursued eastward in a calm manner...
However, Marin underestimated the wisdom of the Saxons. The small river he dug was three kilometers long and five meters wide, and several Saxon knights who explored the road were trapped in it, unable to extricate themselves. However, the Duke of Saxony is also a decisive and old man. When he saw that the Marin army was about to catch up, he immediately ordered:
"Take off the horse armor and lay it on the bottom of the river!"
The accompanying Saxon knights were taken aback for a moment, but they all carried out...
The river is not deep, only 1.5 meters deep. If the mud at the bottom of the river is not too soft, it is easy for war horses and people to sink into it, but it is actually nothing. When the bottom of the river was covered with horse armor made of metal, the horses and people no longer fell into the mud.
Then, the Duke of Saxony led his accompanying knights, waded across the river, and escaped...
When Marin came up with his men and horses, the Duke of Saxony and his hundreds of knights had already run away. Even, for the convenience of running, the resolute Duke of Saxony ordered the knights to take off their plate armor, and each of them only carried a knight light sword, so that they could escape lightly...
Marin sighed. He didn't expect the Duke of Saxony to be so decisive that he would abandon even the important horse armor and plate armor. This is very rare in the middle ages where poverty was common. You know, many poor nobles, sometimes, can bet on a duel with someone for a set of plate armor...
However, Marin also underestimated the Duke of Saxony. The old man was always cunning. Moreover, there are also very rich existences among the nobles. Although these horse armor and plate armor are valuable, they are not in the eyes of the Duke of Saxony. It would be bad luck if he was caught by Marin.
If a person falls into the hands of others, why don't you open your mouth like a lion? You know, when King Richard I of England was on his way back home, he was unfortunately captured by the Shenluo Empire. Then, Emperor Shenluo Henry VI not only forced him to kneel down for allegiance, but also extorted a huge ransom of 150,000 marks...
You know, that was 1194, and the gold and silver coins at that time were still very valuable. Unlike the current coins, adulteration is so serious. Richard I's ransom of 150,000 marks is equivalent to 100,000 British pounds of pure silver...
If he was captured by Marin, the Duke of Saxony bet that his ransom must be very high. Maybe, Marin will also ask to cede West Frisia...
After weighing the pros and cons, the Duke of Saxony felt that he had to escape to avoid being severely blackmailed by Marin...
…
On Marin's side, after the Duke of Saxony fled lightly, he stopped chasing, but turned around and cleaned up the Saxon knights who were still fleeing. Because, after the Duke of Saxony and his knights went into battle lightly, the black-shirted knights under Marin would not have any advantage in mobility, and they would not be able to catch up if they chased them...
At this time, these fleeing Saxon knights scurry around the battlefield like headless flies, but they just can't escape. Because the ships crossing the river were destroyed, Marin's army was on the east, the Ems River was on the west, and Lyle City was on the north...
After half a day of cleaning up, nearly 2,000 Saxon knights surrendered to Marin on the battlefield, but what made Marin depressed was that many Saxon knights decisively took off their plate armor and abandoned their horses in order not to be captured, regardless of the coldness of the river. , relying on his good health, swam across the river and ran...
This time, Marin did not send someone to hammer and kill the knights who surrendered. After all, he will be in the aristocratic world in the future. Killing the opponent's knight in battle, even if condemned, will not be too great. But if he kills the prisoners, he still kills the knight prisoners, then he doesn't have to hang out in Europe...
After clearing the battlefield, Marin also found that there were 15,000 Saxon peasants on the other side of the Leda River, and they also started to flee...
For these people, Marin is also very interested. 15,000 middle-aged men, even if they have no combat effectiveness, they can still be used as coolies. You know, Marin is planning to dig ditches to drain the water from the swampy areas in the territory, which requires a lot of labor.
So he ordered to rebuild the pontoon bridge, sent troops across the river, and chased those peasants...
However, as soon as Marin gave the order, he received a report-Emden was surrounded...
In desperation, Marin had no choice but to send some soldiers across the river to arrest those civilian husbands, and the other part to guard the prisoners of war. The rest followed him back to Emden...