Via the sea route, the Duke of Saxony learned the news that the Duke of Burgundy had defeated the Thracian field army earlier than Berengar. The Duke of Saxony, who was harassing the Peloponnese region according to Giovanni and Impolita's plan, immediately dropped the beef in his hand, put on his armor and climbed onto his horse.
"The situation has changed. We can no longer rob villages with nothing to do. It is no different from robbers!" The Duke of Saxony shouted to the soldiers who were having lunch. "After eating, we will go south along the land route and capture a few cities. Play!"
As he went south, he gathered the scattered troops of various lords. When he came to Ioannina, the number of the Alemannic coalition under his command had reached 13,000, and new lords were constantly arriving with troops.
Come and try it quickly. 】
Before being completely surrounded, the city of Ioannina also sent messengers to the south to ask for help. Unfortunately, these messengers were intercepted by the Alemanni lords heading north. So much so that Imperita, who was in Delphi, learned the news earlier than Berengar, who was closer to Ioannina.
Giovanni looked at Yinpolita with some gloating: "They don't seem to act according to your plan."
"These barbarians!" Yin Polita couldn't help scolding, "Doing this will attract the headquarters of the Guards. Send a messenger quickly to remind him that before the plan succeeds, he must avoid fighting with the Guards!"
"Is this necessary?" Giovanni laughed, "Look, the Duke of Burgundy has already defeated the Thracian field army, and the army of the Seven Hills Empire is not worth mentioning in front of the Alemanni coalition... "
"Only the Praetorian Guards are special! Giovanni, if you don't want the coalition to suffer a disastrous defeat, send a messenger immediately to stop the Duke of Saxony!"
"Rather than caring about others, you'd better think about how to capture Delphi. Otherwise, I won't be able to report to the governor..."
Imperita glared at Giovanni. As she walked past Giovanni, she suddenly grabbed Giovanni's hand and pinched the back of his hand hard with her fingernails.
Giovanni quickly took back his hand, and when he saw that the back of his hand had been pinched by Yinpolita, there was a line of blood. He couldn't help but yelled angrily: "What do you want to do?"
"Nothing has been done. If you are dissatisfied, just go back and report to the Governor."
That night, Giovanni fell seriously ill and fell unconscious. The command of this unit naturally fell into the hands of Yin Bolita, the deputy general.
Yinpolita's messenger arrived in time. However, he was kicked out by the Duke of Saxony without saying a few words - the Duke of Saxony and the Duke of Burgundy were both important nobles in the Alemannic Federation, and there was a lot of competition between them. If the Duke of Burgundy captures Constantiniya, but he fails to capture even a small city, then in the future he will be inferior to the Duke of Burgundy in the Alemannic Federation.
Because of this, the small town of Ioannina was fiercely besieged by the Alemannic coalition commanded by the Duke of Saxony.
So the Praetorian Guards came.
The Duke of Saxony learned in advance that the Imperial Army of Seven Hills was approaching. He mobilized 15,000 soldiers and set up a formation on a hillside. He did not set up any defenses on the hillside because he believed that he was the one who should take the initiative to attack. The Duke of Burgundy defeated the Thracian Field Army, so the Duke of Saxony had to do the same thing.
As a test, Berengar sent light archers to assist the heavy cavalry from a long distance to harass the enemy's flanks. As a counterattack, the Duke of Saxony lined up archers and crossbowmen in front of the formation and fired at the cavalry.
Berengar waved his hand silently, and immediately a group of soldiers took out the cotton armor from the baggage vehicles accompanying the army and handed it to the soldiers of the Iron Armored Holy Cavalry. This is also the equipment of the armored paladin, but because it is too bulky to wear, it is mostly transported on baggage vehicles.
Therefore, on top of the inner layer of mail armor and the outer layer of zha armor, the armored paladin put on an additional piece of cotton armor. There were three layers of armor, which really covered them like iron buckets. The eyes of the Guards infantry also became sharp - Berengar asked the armored holy cavalry to wear cotton armor, which was to prepare the Guards to fight with all their strength!
The fully prepared Praetorian Guards began to approach the Duke of Saxony's position. Berengar placed the infantry in front of the formation and the cavalry behind the left wing. Among them, the infantry is divided into three fronts, each of which is composed of several square formations separated by a certain distance. The first and second rows of soldiers are all sword and shield infantry. The first row is the main force and the second row is the reserve team. The third row of lines is a tight phalanx composed of spears, used for anti-cavalry operations in emergencies.
Only the most well-trained and highly motivated troops can adopt such a formation. There are gaps between the square formations, which not only makes it easier to put the reserve team into the battlefield, but also leaves more room for the soldiers to escape. If morale is low, the battle line will soon collapse; and the switch between the reserve team and the main force will , which requires strict military discipline. Perhaps many other generals had realized the role of reserves on the battlefield, but the quality of their armies prevented them from putting this idea into practice!
After entering the range of the crossbows, under Berengar's order, the infantry of the Praetorian Guards moved quickly to protect the front, back, left, right, and upper directions of the formation with large square shields, moving each square formation Shrunk into tortoise shell formations. These unified square shields are connected end to end and fit together perfectly, blocking almost all the crossbows of the Alemannic Federation!
Even if they maintained this tortoise-shell formation, the progress of the Guards was not disrupted at all. Although they occupied high and low positions, the soldiers of the Alemannic coalition felt a huge sense of oppression descending from the sky!
A piercing sound of horns once again alarmed the soldiers of the Alemannic coalition. At the sound of the horn, the heavily armed armored holy cavalry launched an assault towards their crossbowmen's position!
The first thing that started was the crossbow shooting. The armored paladin used the strong bow in his hand to eliminate the crossbowmen of the Alemannic Federation one after another. The arrows of the Alemannic Federation were missed one after another and were bounced away by the armor of the armored paladin. The crossbow technology of the Alemannic Federation was stolen from the Republic of Liguria, and the crossbow machine of the Republic of Liguria is less powerful. A crossbow machine made with this kind of engineering technology cannot penetrate the thick armor of the armored paladin!
——Even the vest cannot penetrate.
The armored cavalry in human and horse gear completely ignored the crossbows of the Alemannic Federation. After two rounds of shooting, they replaced their spears and giant hammers, and rushed towards the Alemanni Federation's crossbowmen position.
The Duke of Saxony gasped. Only then did he realize the importance of Yin Bolita's warning. Facing such a force, even if they win, it will be a tragic victory. Regardless of winning or losing, they will lose the ability to continue attacking the Qiqiu Empire!
But at this point, he was no longer allowed to look back. He gathered all the lords and knights together, plus the accompanying knights on horseback, forming a heavy cavalry team that was as numerous as the armored holy cavalry.
"You are all nobles and have received military training since childhood!" The Duke of Saxony mobilized on horseback. "Don't be afraid of those civilian cavalry! Go up and defeat them!"
After saying that, the Duke of Saxony took the lance handed over by the retinue and rushed towards the armored paladin.
