In the Crescent Continent, which has enjoyed a long period of peace so far, in addition to the swordsmanship that was originally used to kill enemies in battle, it has gradually degenerated into a sports skill that pursues victory in combat. Another skill is also related to this and has suffered more serious losses due to neglect. .
It is the "Art of War" related to large-scale troop transport.
This is very natural.
Because personal martial arts can still be used in the arena, and the warriors who come out on top in the competition will become famous throughout the world, they will inevitably become more and more inclined to personal martial arts.
As for the large-scale use of troops, firstly, there is no room for display; secondly, it is difficult to win applause, cheers and honors for oneself, so naturally he is looked down upon by today's martial arts disciples.
True, they can still recite the Art of War. Even people from the academy like Mr. Qing who are present can speak clearly about a certain battle on paper, as if everything is under control and the victory can be won at will.
No matter how eloquent one is, the lack of basic training alone is enough to break any perfect battle planned on paper.
——The sage taught them this through his own actions.
The warriors on horseback formed a tight formation like a military parade.
Although the war horses of Crescent Continent are smaller than Rigal's, they still have to start with a weight of 200 kilograms, which is much larger than a mortal.
Twenty of these horses huddled together is indeed quite spectacular visually, but at the same time.
When they faced a sudden attack, the sage, who was tall and mighty but swift and concealed like a ghost, rushed in alone waving a wooden stick. These warriors were blocked from each other's vision and could not see where he was for a while.
"Spread out, spread out, adults, spread out!" Qing shouted loudly, trying to use his own excellent commanding ability, but no one heard or cared.
"Where are you running!" "Don't block my sight!" "Draw your sword, draw your sword!" "It's hard to use a sword, use a short sword!" "You touched me!" The warriors who were in a mess shouted loudly. , each had their own will and did not obey other people's opinions. Henry was like a fish in water. He grabbed a warrior's calf and ran under the horse. He didn't even launch any attack on the person, just used He patted the horse's butt with his hand, making it think it was whipped by the whip and drive it forward.
Just like the operation of some kind of precise mechanism, Henry just glanced at the position of the warrior array, and then patted the horses in several directions to make them panic and enter the running state, and the warrior array became a mess.
He then picked up the fainting Lord Naomi and threw him aside to avoid being trampled by the horses. At this time, several followers dared to lean over and pinch him and use ointment to try to wake Naoshi up. Then when a warrior finally broke away from the chaotic horse formation and shouted loudly and raised his sword to stab him, he raised the board with one hand and pointed it directly at the opponent's charging trajectory.
"Bang——!" With a sound, the warrior hit one end of the board. His breastplate was slightly dented and he fell off the saddle and fell to the ground.
Henry could bear such great force without moving his arms.
The knife that flew out of his hand made a "snap, swish, swish" sound and flew towards Lord Qing, who was defenseless and roared to exhaustion. The sage caught the knife with a "snap", and then inserted it in front of his face. on the ground.
"Ah!" Mr. Qing collapsed on the ground after being frightened for a while.
The two were knocked down, and the warrior who fell from his horse was lying on the ground, but the other followers did not dare to approach because the horses nearby were going crazy. The warriors yelled and cursed loudly, asking the horses to calm down and obey their instructions, but they obviously had not been trained to cooperate with other riders. At the beginning, it seemed that it was a miracle that the formation, which was as tight as a military parade in the beginning, could be maintained now. .
The horses collided, but neither gave in to the other. The various frictions and contradictions between them made the samurai who were originally equal in status become furious. They cursed and retold old scores and said that "the samurai of such and such a family are really vulgar people". Throw it out. Henry did not attack the people, but just patted the horses to let them focus on 'controlling the situation at hand' and ignored the existence of him as the 'initiator'. The arrogant Kazuto samurai couldn't even control his horse in front of so many people. In addition, the old and new hatreds among his colleagues exploded in the friction, and their hatred quickly turned towards each other.
He cursed loudly, threatened with a knife, and swung the whip harder and harder, but the pain only stimulated the horse to become even more disobedient.
The problem can be solved by just separating the war horses, but everyone is clamoring for others to make way for them.
Qing started fighting again and loudly shouted out his detailed and complicated solution. He even remembered the name of each warrior, but even if he shouted out the other person's name and asked Master XX to go in such and such direction, they were indifferent. The quarrel continued.
In a society with strict classes and thousands of years of feudal customs, what can make them stop is never 'truth' or 'correctness'.
But 'authority'.
Therefore, they pretended not to hear Sir Qing’s shouts below, including his initial request for the warriors to disperse their formations.
The lord may trust this scholar as some kind of great advisor, but they only listen to the lord's orders and do not need to listen to him.
Not to mention the relationship between the samurai - they're not actually some kind of legion with strong ties to each other.
This is a problem that often occurs in Rigar, especially in places like the West Coast Kingdom where the nobility's personal consciousness is stronger.
The problem with noble knights and noble warriors is.
Each of them is noble.
Their loyalty was each to his lord individually, not to each other. They don't have the concept of a group. The so-called "knights" of small kingdoms on the west coast are actually often temporary and parodyed imitations of the Knights of the Padrosi Empire. They lack collective training and are more like a loose association of enthusiasts. Then they gathered together, but when they started fighting, they got together into a group, but they fought independently.
In fact, Rigal's famous mercenary groups are often more well-trained than the Knights on a large-scale military level. Because the common people lacked the funds, territory, fine horses, armor and weapons of the nobles, but they had a large population willing to obey.
Famous war mercenary groups often perform better when their numbers and equipment are similar, precisely because knights are too 'noble'.
——The warriors of the Kingdom of the Moon are no different in this regard.
Subordinate to authority, but it is not a closely united group and each has independent status and consciousness.
So there will naturally be conflicts and frictions.
This is a common problem that noble cavalry cannot avoid. Whether it is Rigar or Crescent Island, any military class with such a system will inevitably have such problems.
Mr. Qing is still helpless and in pain. He cannot see this problem. He is just a young man who is arrogant because of his knowledge. He didn't know why those people didn't listen to him, because he didn't understand that he had no power or influence, even if he had correct knowledge, it would be useless. People like Aya and the Grand Miko, who were born as women and had a deeper understanding of the authoritative society of Crescent Continent, were far more calm and rational than him in this regard. Therefore, when they watched this scene, they quickly understood the Sage's Action plan.
It is like an empire organized by an emperor with strong personal ability.
When this excellent, visionary and capable emperor reigns, the country will usher in unprecedented prosperity, and everything will seem to flourish forever.
But the moment the emperor falls, his generals and civil servants will surely compete for this huge power vacancy.
And internal fighting began.
Regardless of whether it is an army or a country that is coordinated by a single person, once the leader temporarily falls or is assassinated for some reason, the people under his command will inevitably fall into chaos.
Although Naomi was not technically killed by Henry, he was temporarily unable to command, as well.
It is another fact that must be mentioned that he is far from being a visionary and has extraordinary abilities.
"Get away!"
"Bring me my naginata!"
"Enough!" Zhushi finally regained his consciousness and got up. He first pushed away the attendant who was nursing him, then asked for weapons, and then roared at the chaos of the warriors.
His hair was a mess, and the anger on his face was so clear that it seemed to clearly read 'a great shame and a great humiliation'.
But at least he is still calm in terms of personal combat.
He did not use the waist sword, but asked someone else to take the naginata. Because Henry was taller and longer than him, and the paving plank in his hand was longer than an ordinary tachi.
With a naginata equal to his height, he had a chance to fight.
No matter how much they despised and discriminated against this man, when he took out his naginata and struck a pose, the Aoda family and our Luoan girl all confirmed that this man was indeed good at martial arts.
Even though he was wearing armor weighing more than ten kilograms, his movements were still smooth and his steps were steady as if he was rooted. With one hand in front and the other behind, bring the tip of the naginata close to the ground at a low angle, with the back of the blade downward and the blade upward, making an upward diagonal starting motion.
He took the most stable lower position with his center of gravity lowered, because from the action of being slapped away just now, he already understood that the man in front of him not only looked tall, but also had amazing strength.
Therefore, he does not have the confidence to adopt a more aggressive starting move such as the upper section, and is very likely to lose to the opponent in terms of strength, and will be blocked and unable to break through the defense.
Naomi held the naginata with both hands wide and pointed the long-handled sword forward, but his arms were close to his body and the arms were bent instead of straightened.
He set up a stable stance, used a weapon with a longer attack range, and prepared with a defensive lower-hand stance without fully extending the weapon. As long as he stretched his arm forward or stepped forward, he could go further. Extend attack range.
Today's Kazuto samurai dislike attacks from the bottom up. Because the diagonal attack of the lower section lacks the power of the top-down slashing attack of the upper section - but this is only if they use bamboo sticks and wooden knives.
The naginata is polished so sharp that it can be shaved. When faced with an opponent who is not wearing armor and is only wearing light cloth, even a slanting attack can cause immediate damage.
He is indeed a veteran. Veterans who truly understand the difference between sharp weapons and trained swords. This kind of fanatics are quite marginalized in the current environment of Crescent Continent, but they still exist.
The combination of training with other people and the experience of killing mobs and citizens allowed him to know how to control distance on the one hand and how to use sharp weapons on the other. This obviously gave him considerable confidence.
but.
Still no one felt Henry was in danger.
Although he only held a piece of wood in his hand and wore only cloth clothes. The opponent was holding a sharp naginata and wearing armor.
The sage took a step forward casually. He held the wooden board with one hand and loosened his fingers. He flicked forward and let the wooden board slide out and held the end. Then he turned sideways and fully extended the attack distance. The movement was high-speed and suddenly extended. The attack distance made Naomi's posture useless - Henry's wooden board hit his exposed face, and his lower defensive posture was to prevent Henry himself from stepping into his attack range.
"Little trick!" He scolded Zhishi, but had to step back in a very inelegant manner, because Henry's attack seemed casual but was actually fast and cruel. He could only pull away again almost using his hands and feet. distance.
The sage did not pursue him and waited for the opponent to regain his posture again. Mira rolled her eyes at him, but because the situation was tense and everyone around her was silent, she didn't verbally say that he was a bad adult.
Naomi adjusted his posture again, this time he held it in the middle, and pointed the tip of the naginata at Henry to prevent him from getting close.
He was still guarding against the sage's attack, but this time his attitude had become much more reckless.
Obviously, for such a person who loves success and relies on force, patience is probably a trait that cannot coexist.
Henry raised his eyebrows, and then thrust the board forward again, only this time slower and on a straighter track.
"Hmph! It's no big deal if you see through it!" It was as if the Kazuto samurai had this bad habit of shouting loudly before launching an attack in a duel. Naomi shouted and slashed the naginata in his hand horizontally towards the wooden board that Henry stretched out, aiming. Weapons or arms that are extended when attacking are a good strategy, because the opponent is in a state of thrusting forward, and it is often too late to pull back suddenly, and it will become an easy target for interception and slashing.
A common technique used by sword and shield warriors from Rigal Cobain is to extend the shield at the same time to protect the exposed arm.
But Henry was not holding a shield.
But this still made it clear that it was a fake move to lure the enemy.
He didn't recover it, because even if it was a piece of wood, the target was still not too big to avoid.
Ignorant novices who attack with polearms and are intercepted by swords will always try to pull them back in a panic, but the length of the polearms is destined to be much slower than the opponent's attack when recovering, so they always fail.
The practice field is fine, but those who do this in actual combat may never have a chance to correct their mistakes.
but.
The slashing of a sharp weapon is a linear attack, and its trajectory is a line.
As long as you stay away from this line, you can avoid your opponent's chops.
The naginata seems longer than an ordinary sword, but because it is a long-handled sword, its truly threatening edge is actually about the same as a short-waisted sword.
If it's too late to pull back straight away, just make a circle, move the board to the side, then circle back from above his naginata and point it at his chest.
"Huh-huh-" Kazuto's naginata attack, which was accustomed to being powerful and heavy, failed, and Henry seized this opportunity to circle around and hit Naomi's face with the wooden board. The lord's nosebleed flowed and he closed his eyes subconsciously. The sage then moved forward further, crossed the board and dug into his opponent's arm to twist it hard.
"Ahhhh!!" The pain caused Hua Zu to let go of the naginata in his hand. Henry stepped on the handle and broke the handle. Then Naomi still wanted to pull out the short sword from his waist to fight, and Henry punched it. On the wrist where he held the knife.
The huge force caused him to lose all feeling in his wrists. His paralyzed hands were uncontrollable and he could not even hold the knife.
"Crack-" Then the sage grabbed the collar of Naomi's armor with one hand and lifted him up.
The sun was blazing in the sky, and everyone, including the samurai, ashigaru, and residents who secretly peeked from the windows, stared at this scene with their mouths open.
Despite the height difference of more than 20 centimeters, a samurai of this weight even with his body armor was lifted up like a chicken with one hand.
The warriors who stopped fighting among themselves also held their breath, and many of them whispered "Oni (ghost)".
But the one who was most shocked was obviously Naomi himself. After he came back to his senses and realized what happened, he began to flutter his hands and feet, but he could not touch the ground.
"So, can we go?" Henry said in his usual smooth voice. The other party was a bully, and he didn't dare to embarrass the miko and his party while the ghost clan was still awake.
The logic doesn't make sense, and there is no higher authority here than him, so the only option is to use force.
"Hiss--you, you, Nanman." Zhishi still wanted to be harsh, but Henry grabbed him and shook him hard several times. The armor on his body collided with each other and made a rattling sound, and his mind, which had been hit one after another, became more and more... confused.
"Stop! Stop! It can be done, it can be done, you go! You go!" The lord, whose internal organs were about to turn out, shouted loudly with a green face. Henry let go of his hand and let him fall to the ground with a "snap" on the ground.
"You are so hateful——"
"Oh, by the way." The sage picked up the naginata that he had trampled off before.
"In case you have any other ideas." Then he threw it lightly to another samurai who had just woken up.
"Take——!!" Half of the naginata was accurately nailed to the front of his crotch. If it were a little longer, the samurai might not be able to enjoy the happiness of flower wine.
Drenched in cold sweat, Zhi Shi swallowed back his curse words.
"Just a reminder, for example, if you did something, when you were sleeping or alone at night."
"Do you think you can stop me?" He smiled at the warriors, but despite the scorching sun, everyone just felt like they were falling into an ice cellar.
"I've been watching you." He patted Naomi's face, and then walked back to his formation.
"Hiss-but." The lord gritted his teeth. In the end, he could only vent his anger on his followers. He slapped Mr. Qing hard twice. The latter's face was blank and he didn't know what happened, and he asked blankly. He said: "Sir, why?"
"The Roadless Race was not your idea!"
"Let's go!" The arrogant lord fled back with his tail between his legs.
The great witch looked at Henry who didn't even shed a drop of sweat.
"What a great villain."
He said this with a slightly wry smile.
