By June 30, 1495, Marin finally led his troops and rushed to the vicinity of Parma. However, Marin did not lead the team to the Italian coalition station to join the Italians, but hid in the hilly mountains on the west bank of the Tarot River, a tributary of the Po River (the largest river in Italy). Then, he sent people to nearby towns and urgently ordered 500 engineering shovels...
The reason for ordering 500 engineering shovels is that they are used to dig trenches. Marin intends to encircle the 8,000 French knights who escaped from the French army. If the French are on a flat ground and are not afraid of rushing hard, Marin's phalanx has so few people that it is not enough for the enemy to attack. Moreover, there are many French people, and they can also choose to surround and attack.
Therefore, it is very important not to let the French cavalry charge up. To prevent the French cavalry from charging, trenches, horse traps, tripping ropes and pickets are good choices.
The heavy cavalry charge is different from the infantry charge. The heavy cavalry really makes him charge, as long as there are enough people. Even "spears like a forest" are hard to resist.
However, in front of the "Long Spears Like a Forest", arranging enough trenches, horse traps, tripping ropes and pickets can achieve miraculous results.
In the face of these traps, any cavalry would be forced to slow down. When the speed of the cavalry slows down, then the impact force will be gone. At this time, if you want to climb over the trench and attack the spear formation, you will definitely die.
Not to mention ditches and pickets, these are the means used in Europe. It's just that Marin's second trench is more insignificant than the first trench popular in Europe now. The horse trap and the tripping rope have more oriental characteristics.
The horse trap is actually a hunter's trap. A hole is dug on the ground and covered with grass. This kind of simple trap is easy for infantry to see. But the cavalry is different. They rush from afar and don't have time to observe the ground at all. Even if the traps are simple, the enemy cavalry who come back quickly from a distance have no time to distinguish them. When it was identified, the war horse couldn't stop the car at all, and could only watch as it stepped into the trap. Then, people turned on their backs.
As for the tripping rope, let alone, everyone in Huaxia knew that Guan Erye was overshadowed by the tripping rope. There are generally two types of trip ropes - dead trip ropes and live trip ropes.
The so-called deadly stumbling horse rope is to set up two wooden stakes on the ground, and the wooden stakes are connected with ropes. If the horse rushes forward, if the hoof is caught by the rope, then the person will fall on his back. However, the enemy can also see this kind of deadly stumbling. If the riding skills are good and the horse is obedient, it is possible to avoid deadly stumbling horse ropes.
The live tripping rope is controlled by soldiers. When the enemy cavalry rushed over, the soldiers on both sides suddenly pulled up the tripping rope and lifted it up. Neither the horse nor the knight had time to react, and they were overwhelmed...
It stands to reason that it is better to live on the rope. However, live tripping ropes also have their own shortcomings-if the soldiers ambush in the wrong direction, it will be troublesome. The soldiers in ambush may themselves be exposed to the enemy's butcher's knife.
Marin had few people and couldn't afford the loss of personnel, so he decided to use a deadly rope. After all, dead tripping horse rope technology is simple, the cost is very low. Although, a single dead horse rope is easy to be avoided by the enemy, and even a war horse can jump directly over it.
However, Marin uses a combination of multiple traps. Just in front of the dead horse rope, there is a horse trap. Often, even if you drive the horse to jump over the horse rope, it will just fall into the horse trap... Besides, Marin plans to ambush the French cavalry in the middle of the night. Even if the horse rope is dead, the French cavalry will find it difficult...
In the next few days, Marin sent Sauer to inquire about the news while inspecting the terrain. After all, there is more than one road from Fornovo to the northwest, and Marin is not sure which way Charles VIII will take. Because, first of all, he didn't know where the French army's camp was located.
When Charles VIII escaped, he must start from the French camp and take the most convenient road, and he had to avoid the direction of the coalition forces to avoid being intercepted.
Therefore, if you want to judge the direction of the French army's retreat, you must first know where the French army is stationed, and then you must also know where the coalition forces are stationed. Finally, based on these circumstances, the escape route of the French army can be judged.
However, even knowing the French camp, Marin didn't dare to set up an ambush directly. Because, before escaping, the French will definitely find the way first. The French have a lot of cavalry, so sending scouts is completely stress-free. Therefore, if you want to set up an ambush for the French, you must avoid the detection of the French cavalry. However, it is necessary to ensure that the ambush is in the right place. If the French ran from another way, their own small phalanx would not be able to catch up. Because, the opponent is using cavalry, and our own is infantry.
So, in the past few days, Marin ordered all members to practice digging trenches and horse traps, while taking Sauer and a few horses out to explore the terrain and roads.
In the end, Marin determined that there were two main roads in the northwest direction of Fornovo. One is a smooth road on the plain. However, after crossing the Tarot River, this road must first turn to the north-east direction. The French take this road, and it is not a shortcut. Moreover, there is a possibility of being caught up by the coalition forces. Because, the coalition forces seem to be by the river, as long as they go north, they can guard this road.
The other road crosses the hilly area and heads northwest. After passing through the hilly country, you can reach the banks of the Po River. Then, along the Po River, you can go to Asti, an important town in the Piedmont region under the Duchy of Savoy. And Asti is also the most forward military fortress and assembly point after the French army entered Italy. As long as they reach Asti, the French army is basically safe. Moreover, Charles VIII will not stick to Asti. As long as he, the king, leaves, it doesn't make much sense for the coalition forces to attack Asti.
The road in this hilly area has many dirt slopes and low hills on both sides of the road. In Marin's view, this road is the most suitable for setting up an ambush halfway.
Moreover, if the French army marched during the day, it might be more difficult to set up an ambush. After all, Charles VIII is not an incompetent person, and he will definitely send scout cavalry to explore the way.
However, after the Battle of Fornovo, Charles VIII ran away overnight. Marching in the middle of the night, as long as Marin's men don't light the torches and make no noise, it is difficult for the French scouts to find the ambush in the middle of the night.
But the problem is, how to let the French army take this mountain road instead of the flat road...
For this reason, Marin was very troubled...
"Master, what are you thinking?" Kohler came over graciously and delivered a pizza to Marin.
"Oh, it's nothing, I'm just worried, how to make the enemy go one of the ways as I imagined, but not the other." Marin took the pizza and said while biting the pie.
"That's it... Young Master, didn't you just destroy another road? The road is not easy to walk, so the enemy can only take the road you want them to take?" Kohler said with his head tilted.
"Destroying the road?"
"Oh, it's indeed a solution!" Marin slapped his head.
Then, Marin began to gather people, planning to dig the flat road. It just so happened that Marin had 500 engineering shovels in his hand. Two people take turns using each shovel, and can dig continuously.
However, Sauer told Marin that the coalition forces might reach Fornovo by this road. If Marin dug this road, the coalition forces may not be able to reach Fornovo as Marin expected.
After thinking about it, Marin decided to give up destroying the road for the time being. Because, he didn't want to affect the progress of the Battle of Fornovo just because he ruined the road.
However, he decided that in the daytime after the war between the two sides, he would quietly come to this road with his men and horses, dig the road, and introduce the river water to block the advance of the French army.
Then, go to the ambush site on the other road and wait for the French army to come at night...