RPAGF #410 - I have a special secret technique that can predict the weather
#410 - I have a special secret technique that can predict the weather
Under the gloomy sky, warhorses spat and pawed restlessly at the ground.
Seated on horseback, Horn raised his binoculars, gazing towards the Alman army in the distance.
Beyond the village filled with barns, or rather, to Horn's north, stood clusters of colorful, shifting figures.
Unlike the Salvation Army's uniform attire, these guards, clad in vibrant clothing or even sleepwear beneath their chainmail and armor, resembled a mosaic stained-glass window in a cathedral.
They stood in rows upon rows, steadfastly guarding a stretch of elevated land running east to west.
On either side of the Lecce River, hussars and Kush knights raced alongside the Alman army's men-at-arms.
The iron torrent of warhorses and swords flowed rapidly across the yellowish-green grass, occasionally clashing and sending sparks mingled with blood flying into the air.
The dust and fine sand kicked up by the hooves settled on the surface of the stream, turning the once-smooth water into a frosted texture, unable to reflect the blue sky.
Perhaps it was because the stream could not reflect its brilliant countenance that the sun hid behind the clouds.
During the hour-long standoff between the Salvation Army and the Church Army, the originally clear sky was quickly stained deep blue by white and dark clouds.
When Horn raised his binoculars slightly, it felt as if he were gazing upwards from the seabed.
"Will it rain?" Horn asked Patrick beside him, lowering his binoculars.
Patrick claimed to have developed a special secret art, which, though painful, allowed him to sense whether it would rain.
Hearing Horn's words, Patrick rubbed his knees, closed his eyes, and felt for a moment: "I don't feel much pain in my knees and ankles, so I guess it's just a cloudy day."
Horn sighed with regret, thinking that if it rained, Jeanne would be able to unleash her full combat power.
The Salvation Army's current position was five kilometers away from the Church Army's camp, and eight kilometers away from Rapid City, on the Pitchburg-Rapid City King's Road.
Despite Horn's caution, he failed to achieve the element of surprise he had hoped for.
His original plan was to advance to a town near Rapid City after capturing Pitchburg.
This would both reduce the combat effectiveness of the knights with buildings and fortifications and alleviate the pressure on the Rapid City garrison.
The plan had been proceeding smoothly; he captured Pitchburg on July 21st, leaving only twenty kilometers to Rapid City.
But, unsurprisingly, an accident happened again, unsurprisingly.
Previously, in Tissen Town, Jeanne had killed a minor noble who claimed to be the "Chief Knight of Countess Marika."
She assumed, as was often the case, that the knight was merely throwing out a title to intimidate people.
Initially, no one paid attention to the rambling knight, until dozens of scout riders arrived.
The rude knight was indeed the Chief Knight of Countess Marika's family.
He had been sent by the Countess to Little Pool City to investigate the situation, only temporarily lodging in Tissen Town.
Due to his overly ornate attire and the mocking nature of carrying a coat of arms banner, Jeanne unceremoniously sent him to meet the Holy Lord with a flash of lightning.
When her subordinate failed to report back on time, the Countess sent riders to investigate.
This investigation revealed that an army of tens of thousands had appeared near Pitchburg without anyone noticing.
Then, there was the situation Horn faced now.
While traveling near the Vicintoria Manor, they were blocked on the roadside by an enemy estimated to be twice their size.
Unlike the wheat field terrain of Langsand County, Lower River County and Hotam County were similar in that they consisted of rolling hills four to five meters high, coupled with a network of streams.
But unlike Hotam County, Lower River County had more streams, and after the two sides' scouts encountered each other, Horn took the lead in marching.
The infantry and cavalry of both sides determined their current positions and formations through mutual pulling and reconnaissance.
Horn failed to seize advantageous terrain and could only face the Church Army from afar across a Y-shaped stream.
This time, he still adopted the diamond-shaped modified positional warfare model, with two legions as a group.
The foremost troops on the front line consisted of two groups of four Black Hat Legions, namely the Black Hat First to Fourth Legions, totaling 2,000 men.
The second line of troops consisted of two Black Hat Legions on the left flank and two New Guard Legions on the right flank, separated from the first line by 90 meters, standing on both sides of the first line's two groups of legions.
Further to the right of the second line was a large square formation consisting of two New Black Hat Legions of pure spearmen and all 1,200 troops from Little Pool City.
They did not have time to train in the Galar oblique formation, and since they were only spearmen, they were arranged in the most familiar Dungar square formation.
This pure spear Black Hat Legion was newly expanded half a month ago, with the ratio of veterans to recruits being about one to four, with only the senior officers being replaced.
These recruits were mostly former guards, who had only undergone simple political education and discipline training, and after inserting some veterans, they were directly sent to the battlefield.
Horn had only one expectation for them, which was to become a group of qualified line-filling babies, stabilizing the line was enough, and he did not expect them to make any counterattacks.
Moreover, they really couldn't make any counterattacks. If heavy and light equipment were distinguished by whether they wore armor.
Then the Black Hat Army probably had half heavy-armored spearmen and one-third heavy-armored Holy Gunners, while the Guards achieved full heavy armor for spearmen and half heavy armor for Holy Gunners.
Of the more than a thousand people assigned to the two new Black Hat Legions, only about a hundred sets of armor were available, and it was estimated that only the soldiers in the front row could wear them.
How to develop more Holy Gunners is really a problem.
The third line was directly behind the two groups of legions on the first line, led by Horn with two Guard Legions.
They were located about 120 meters behind, with 80 wizards led by Mormon and 20 Fireball Crossbows in between.
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As for the remaining cavalry units, the Holy Gun Cavalry was located on the left flank of the first line, the Kush Knights were on the right flank of the second line, and the Norse Knights were beside Horn in the 'Three Treasures of the Northeast' formation, responsible for the rear guard and serving as a reserve team.
The 2,000 Protectorate soldiers guarded the supplies and wagons on the right flank of the third line, and the 120 Little Pool City conscripted cavalrymen were with the Protectorate soldiers, responsible for guarding these supplies.
Both sides currently had no movements. The Church Army occasionally sent light cavalry to harass, while Horn only made fine adjustments at the brigade level.
Both sides seemed to be waiting for something.
"Your Majesty, the scouts we sent to Rapid City have returned."
Sisi's androgynous voice rang out from behind Horn. Horn pulled on the reins and turned around, only to see Sisi, dressed in light plain clothes, jogging over.
Sisi was always dressed in men's clothing on the battlefield. He pulled open the collar a little, and from Horn's height, he could just see the glistening sweat dripping from his fair collarbone.
Horn asked helplessly, "What did Rapid City say?"
According to the principle of kinship avoidance, Sisi, as part of the decision-making level, should not have been involved in the front line.
Horn originally intended to leave Sisi in the rear of Pitchburg, and let Sisi come over after they reached Rapid City and stabilized.
Sisi, although working under Horn in the form of a secondment, was still on Catherine's organizational chart, and was concerned about his family.
Knowing that Rapid City was besieged, he was much more anxious than Horn.
After discovering that the Church Army had come out in full force, Horn came to a simple conclusion: after failing to capture the city, the enemy decided to solve the reinforcements first.
After all, with the Little Pool City Allied Forces as a lesson, if Horn were in their shoes, he would have made a similar decision.
Then the Church Army coming out in full force = weak rear forces + absence of main generals = inability to capture Rapid City.
But Sisi was still worried and personally took the scouts to Rapid City, insisting on confirming the situation himself.
"Lord Catherine said." Sisi wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, "Said that the enemy's offensive has been weak these two days, let us take our time, don't be too anxious and don't divide our troops, be careful of being ambushed by them."
"See, it's about what I said, are you relieved now?" Horn spread his hands and said with a smile.
A few embarrassed blushes appeared on Sisi's face: "I was too nervous."
"It's okay, it's good to have a safety net." Horn picked up the binoculars again to observe, "The scouts you left there can still come over to report if anything unexpected happens."
After confirming that Rapid City had not been captured, Horn's time became ample, because when it comes to ample time, it enters Horn's familiar positional warfare rhythm.
The Battle of Pavia, the Battle of Black Mountain Fortress, were all like this.
Originally, there was not much terrain advantage today, and it was impossible to force the opponent to attack by using terrain like Pavia and Black Mountain.
In the end, neither side dared to move rashly and could only sit here quietly for an hour.
But after defeating Nidersal and rescuing Little Pool City, the situation was different.
"Let Mormon push the Fireball Crossbows out." Horn gave the order to Hakuto, "Please let the Church Army eat 20 fireballs and 10 Red Dragon Breath fireballs first, to see if they are still sitting still."