Chapter 500: Preparation Before the Final Battle
The 15,000 heavy cavalry soldiers of the South County n.o.ble alliance army spent an hour to arrive at the center of the battlefield.
In the center of the battlefield, the 30,000-man infantry troop of the North County n.o.ble alliance army had set up camp.
At the border of the South County and the North County, the two armies could be seen from ten miles away. Hence, when the three heavy cavalry legions of the South County alliance army appeared one kilometer away, the North County n.o.ble alliance army were ready to welcome the charge attack of the cavalry.
The outermost ten rows of tents were completely put away. All the infantrymen retreated into the tents and even into the tents to form a tight square formation.
Facing the charging cavalry, the scattered infantrymen were simply courting death. Only by forming a tight square formation could they withstand the charge of the cavalry.
The tents in the square formation did not even close up. They only rolled up half of the tents on all four sides. They were like parasols with half of the curtains hanging down.
The use of setting up tents like this allowed the soldiers in the tents to gain a view of the surroundings. However, they could not see too far and would be blocked by other tents.
Even if the army formation at the front was destroyed by the charging cavalries, their morale would not be affected as long as they could not see. They could still maintain a tight formation and resist the enemy’s heavy cavalries.
On the battlefield of tens of thousands of people, the battle cries shook the sky. At any moment, there would be people who were injured or died, and they would let out miserable cries. As long as they could not see the collapse of the formation at the front, the miserable cries of the defeated soldiers would not affect the morale of the troops at the back.
As for the tight formation, it did not leave any s.p.a.ce for the troops at the front to retreat to the back. If they dared to retreat, there would be strict military rules waiting for them to be killed. Hence, even if the formation at the front really collapsed, it would not have much of an effect.
An infantry formation could not collapse when facing the cavalry troops charging at them. If the formation was collapsed, it was no different from waiting for death.
At the same time, such a tent could block the cavalry’s vision, causing the cavalry to feel isolated and cut off. This was the situation that the heavy cavalry formation most afraid of.
The cavalry that had fallen into the middle of the vast infantry formation would end up in an extremely miserable state.
Outside each tent, there were some pallets that contained military rations. There were even some that were made of wood that was tied up with sharpened logs. These things were placed in the aisle between the tents, making it seem a little narrow.
The use of these things would make it difficult for the cavalry that charged into the formation to move even a single step.
Between the tent and the tent, there were dense infantry. Each infantry had a spear that was at least three meters long standing beside them.
It was easy to use it to stab the cavalry on the horseback!
Such an army formation was simply a nightmare for the cavalry that charged into the formation.
The design of the camp of Firentis had fully utilize the infantry fighting against the charging cavalries to the extreme.
There were only two words.
To stay unmoving and restrict enemy’s movement!
They had to think of ways to make their own infantry “stay still”. No matter how the cavalry charged, they only needed to stay where they were and stab with their spear.
They had to do everything they could to restrict the “movement” of the cavalry. As long as the cavalries could not run, they would become dead men and horses when they trapped in the infantry formation.
Although such a camp seemed to have a huge flaw, such as vulnerable to fire attack, it could still be said to be completely ineffective against the heavy cavalry legion of South County.
Moreover, even if the enemy really used fire attacks, Firentis still had a corresponding countermeasure. The war plan would not allow such a serious omission to exist.
Needless to say, the heavy cavalry legions of South County would face a tragic end if they charged into this infantry formation.
That was because they might not be able to charge into this infantry formation.
Just as the 15,000 heavy cavalries of the three combined forces of the n.o.ble families of South County were about to enter the charging distance.
“Pa.s.s the order: Swadian Sergeant! Set up the s.h.i.+eld!” Firentis gave the order.
Firentis stood on a high platform in the middle of the infantry camp to gain a good view.
From there, he could timely issue the corresponding orders according to the changes in the battle situation.
There were ten Swadian Royal Knights beside Firentis. The ten Swadian Royal Knights activated their extraordinary powers and repeated Firentis’ orders together. Their voices spread throughout the entire infantry formation.
“Order: Swadian Sergeant! Set up the s.h.i.+eld!”
“Order: Swadian Sergeant! Set up the s.h.i.+eld!”
“Order: Swadian Sergeant! Set up the s.h.i.+eld!”
…
As the voice of the Swadian Royal Knights echoed throughout the entire infantry formation, the Swadian Sergeants at the outermost perimeter of the infantry formation raised the tower s.h.i.+eld in their hands up high and stabbed it heavily into the ground in front of them.
“Boom!”
The synchronized movements and sounds merged together, forming a deafening sound.
The ground shook a little.
Under the tremendous strength of the Swadian Sergeants from level 5 troop cla.s.s, the dense tower s.h.i.+eld’s lower half body’s s.h.i.+eld body pierced into the ground by at least 20 centimeters.
The Swdian Sergeants only needed to use a portion of their strength to be able to withstand 30 percent of the impact.
Moreover, Swadian Sergeant’s tower s.h.i.+eld was extremely wide, and it could completely cover their entire bodies.
Therefore, Swadian Sergeant was completely able to use the “s.h.i.+eld stacking” method.
The name “stacking s.h.i.+eld” method itself fully explained the tactic. Each s.h.i.+eld was stacked by two s.h.i.+elds at behind.
The s.h.i.+elds in the first row were supported by two s.h.i.+elds at the second row. The impact force of each s.h.i.+eld in the first row could be divided into the two s.h.i.+elds on the second row, and the impact force of the two s.h.i.+elds in the second row could be divided into the four s.h.i.+elds on third row.
Swadian Sergeants’ hands were curved (take a piece of paper and roll it in a circle, then released it, it would be in a curve shape), and they could perfectly execute the “stacking s.h.i.+eld” method.
However, the number Swadian Sergeants was limited, with only 1,200 people, so they could only make two rows of “stacking s.h.i.+elds”
However, it was not only Swadian Sergeant who had a powerful tower s.h.i.+eld.
The level 4 troop cla.s.s of Swadian Footmen also had tower s.h.i.+elds. From the size of the tower s.h.i.+elds they had, there was no difference. The real difference was only the thickness and material of the tower s.h.i.+elds.
The strength of the Swadian Sergeants was stronger than the Swadian Footmen. Therefore, the tower s.h.i.+elds of the Swadian Sergeants were thicker, much higher than the tower s.h.i.+eld than the tower s.h.i.+elds of the Swadian Footmen, its defensive ability was level 4 Swadian Footmen.
However, no matter what, the level four troop cla.s.s Swadian Footmen was able to perfectly coordinate with the Swadian Sergeants.
The 800 Swadian Footmen had perfectly increased the two layers of the Swadian Sergeant’s “stacked s.h.i.+eld” to three layers.
If a single attack landed on the first row of the s.h.i.+elds, then the number of infantries that shared the attack power would increase from three to seven.