The lancers had been sulking for the whole day, especially when they were pulling the chariot in the afternoon. As the most elite troops under Count Corbili, they had never done such hard work before. Moreover, the terrain of the military camp was higher than that of the outside. When they were tug-of-war with the chariot, they were going downhill. As a result, when they pulled with all their might, the chariot suddenly flew towards them. The last thirty to forty Lancers did not have time to react at all, and they were turned into a bloody mess together with their horses. This unexpected loss was enough to drive the Lancers crazy.
Now that the gates of the barracks had been opened, the Lancers who were filled with the desire to kill had already started to charge. There was a platoon and a squad, a total of more than 600 Lancers. They would charge into the barracks and kill anyone they saw to vent their anger. No matter what was in front of them, nothing would be able to stop them from advancing.
After passing through the gate, the lancers were ready to charge. Five Silver-tier lancers consciously lined up at the front. They all knew that there were dozens of knights who had awakened their combat energy in the camp. The next step should be a clash between the two sides.
But after charging for a long time, there was still nothing in front of them. There were no knights in front of them, not even a shadow of a person. There was only a ten-meter wide tunnel leading to the depths of the camp. Why did it feel like something was wrong? The lancers in the lead were getting slower and slower. In the end, their charge turned into a slow jog. They could not stop. There were still six hundred riders behind them. They could only control their speed. The lancers behind them caught up and ran side by side with them. They gradually formed a sturdy group of lancers behind them.
It was indeed not right. In the imagination of the Lancers, they should see a familiar scene after entering the military camp. There were tents everywhere, and they would chase and kill their enemies. They would use their blood to wash away the shame of being occupied by the enemy. But the scene in front of them was too unfamiliar. On both sides of the tunnel, there was a three-meter tall wall covered with a thin layer of snow. The lancers could only follow the tunnel and move forward.
The sky was dark, and it was snowing heavily. The sight in front of them was not clear.
"Go and see what's going on with these walls." Someone gave the order.
A few lancers at the side used their spears to poke at the walls on both sides of the tunnel. "It's a wooden wall. These are all wooden walls."
"Strange, where did the barracks get so much wood?" One of the Lancers was puzzled.
"Let's continue forward. I don't believe they have much wood to build a wall."
Of course, the cavalrymen did not expect that Fatty Shi had unloaded more than seven hundred four-wheeled carriages and erected them vertically. The bottom of the carriages was connected to the outside, forming a partition on both sides of the passage. Although there were small gaps that could only allow one person to pass through from time to time, it was not something that a mounted Lancer could pass through.
A few Lancers tried to push down the wooden wall, but they gave up after much effort. If it was just a wooden wall, it might have shaken a few times from the push, but these were carriages. To be precise, they were like long boxes that were very sturdy when connected. After pushing for a long time, the Lancers found that the wooden wall did not even shake a little.
It seemed like they were about to reach the end of the tunnel. The first row of Lancers saw a wooden platform in front of the tunnel. Then, there was a huge fire. Countless torches lit up on the wooden platform, illuminating the surroundings.
After seeing the scene in front of them clearly, the faces of the Lancers in the front row instantly paled and turned pale.
Finally, someone shouted in a trembling voice, "It's … a trap! This … this is a trap! Quick, retreat …"
In front of the wooden platform stood a black square formation of heavily armored soldiers, black shields and black spears. Everyone knew what would happen if the leather-armored cavalrymen lost their momentum against these heavy canned carriages. But this was not the problem. Rather, it was the two layers of large ballistae that were arranged on the wooden platform. Under the illumination of the torches, the twelve arrows that were as long as javelins that were pointed at the cavalrymen were flashing with a cold light that was as bright as the stars …
The Lancers were in an uproar. The ones at the front wanted to run, but they were blocked by the ones at the back. The Lancers at the back wanted to see what was going on and kept pushing forward. Behind the Lancers were more than two thousand soldiers …
At this moment, Dorcas was in high spirits. It was finally time for his ballistae to show their might. Seeing the disorderly Lancers below him, he waved his hand and loudly ordered, "Fire!"
First, the six ballistae on the second layer released an ear-splitting boom. Like lightning, six ballista bolts shot into the group of Lancers, creating a rain of blood. Next, the six ballistae on the lower layer also released their ballista bolts, and then the six ballistae on the upper layer reloaded their ballista bolts and continued to fire, and then the six ballistae on the lower layer …
It went on and on, without end …
The twelve ballistae had fired a total of twenty volleys and could no longer fire. The ballistae's bowstrings were about to break, and the last volley of ballista bolts had lost much of their strength and accuracy.
Standing on the wooden platform, Dorcas was so shocked by the results of the ballistae that he was rendered speechless …
The thick stench of blood assailed his nostrils. The passage in front of him was littered with the corpses of Lancers and their mounts. The two hundred and forty ballista bolts had swept through the group of spear-wielding cavalry that had gathered in the corridor. The bolts that had been fired at the start were so powerful that they could pierce through five or six of the spear-wielding cavalry or their horses. Now, only a few dozen spear-wielding cavalry were left standing in a daze amongst the pile of corpses.
"Bleurgh!" Some of the soldiers in the square formation couldn't stand the sight of the scene and began to vomit.
"Heavy soldiers, advance!" Bofinger ordered. After experiencing the baptism of blood and mountains of corpses, this scene was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Bleurgh! Bleurgh!" More and more soldiers began to vomit.
"Heavy soldiers, run forward!" Bofinger barked. He suddenly remembered that the heavy soldiers under his command were not the same as the ones in the White Lion Legion that had experienced many battles. They were new soldiers that had just been put together. If they were any slower, more soldiers might lose the ability to fight from vomiting.
The heavy soldiers ran forward, leaving behind a few dozen soldiers who were gasping for breath from vomiting.
As a matter of fact, the heavily-armored soldiers were not of much use against the lancers. The remaining few dozen lancers had long since lost their will to fight back, and after the heavily-armored soldiers easily killed a dozen of them, Boddfinger lost interest. He ordered the remaining forty to fifty lancers to be disarmed and escorted away, before leading the heavily-armored soldiers towards the direction where the battle cries were coming from.
The Lancers who had been massacred by the ballistae weren't any better off than the Lancers. First, they were shot at by a group of four hundred crossbowmen. The longbowmen who could fight back were at their wits' end because they couldn't find the enemy. The crossbowmen hid behind the walls on both sides of the road, digging out small holes at the bottom of the carriages. They aimed steadily and fired. Almost all of the longbowmen were killed.
The remaining soldiers could only rely on the shields of the sword-and-shield soldiers to cover themselves, but they were still hit by the ballista bolts …
The ground of the passage was covered with the corpses of the soldiers. The snowflakes falling from the dark sky landed on the blood flowing on the ground, quickly forming a thin layer of blood ice.
The garrison troops were at a dead end. The garrison troops who retreated earlier reported that the lancers had been completely annihilated. The walls on both sides of the road kept firing arrows at them. The commander of the garrison troops, the Gold-tier bastard son of Count Corbili, sensed that something was amiss and quickly ordered a retreat. However, the wooden wall on the left of the camp's main gate suddenly collapsed. This was a real wooden partition, not a combination of carriages. Terman led a group of knights and charged out, blocking the path of retreat to the camp's main gate. Behind him, hundreds of pikemen came out with their barricades and formed a simple defensive formation around the camp's main gate, ready for battle.
At this moment, Ross was facing off against the Gold ranked commander, and the two were locked in a fierce battle. On the other hand, Terman led the knights through the passage, and no one was a match for his spear.
From time to time, there would be small openings in the wooden walls that allowed one person to pass through. However, the soldiers who went in quickly screamed in pain. Even the Silver-ranked bastard son of Count Corbili who rushed in suffered the same fate. They did not know that there were more than ten pikemen and one or two Silver-ranked students of Dawn Academy guarding behind each opening. How could the soldiers who entered have an easy time?
When Bodefinger's formation of heavily-armored soldiers appeared in the tunnel, the guards who had already collapsed finally lost all hope. Some dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground, stretching their necks as they died, while others struggled on their deathbed and charged towards the formation of heavily-armored soldiers. They were either cut down by a sword, stabbed to death by a spear, or shot to death by the crossbow bolts flying from both sides.
Laurist ordered Redi and Padt, "Spread the word. Throw away your weapons and kneel. Those who surrender will live, and those who resist will die."
Soon, the passage was filled with soldiers who threw away their weapons and surrendered. The battle was over. Ross took a sword to his shoulder and cut off the head of the Gold-ranked bastard son. He laughed happily as he held the head. Bodefinger, on the other hand, was depressed. Wasn't there still a Gold-ranked? Where did he go?
What Bodefinger did not know was that the Gold-ranked bastard son was squeezed among the pikemen, unable to advance or retreat. A ballista bolt pierced through his abdomen, and he died an unjust death.
Three fires were ignited on the defensive wall of the military camp. Very soon, the sound of fighting and flames erupted from the main camp of the mopping-up troops. It was the light cavalry scouting squad led by Yuri, who had been lying in ambush outside, launching an attack. Soon, Yuri sent someone to report that the enemy's camp had been occupied. They had also discovered more than two thousand prisoners who lacked food and clothing. What should they do?
How did they get more than two thousand prisoners? Laurist found a few surrendered soldiers and found out that the two thousand prisoners in the camp were captured by the troops after they broke through the mountain camps in the western mountains. They were going to bring them back to be slaves and laborers.
What should they do? Laurist shook his head with a bitter smile. He could only bring them back first. There were no clothes or food in the camp, and more than half of them might starve or freeze to death the next morning. He sent Redi and Padt to find Terman and Fatty Shi respectively to inform them of this news. Terman brought the knights and a platoon of pikemen to the opposite camp to fetch the prisoners. Don't forget to gather all the wooden rafts along the way. They would be perfect firewood on such a snowy night.
He asked Fatty Shi to clear up an open space in the northwest area of the military camp, set up tents, set up a bonfire, and cook some porridge for the 2,000 young men who were captured to warm up. He also collected some clothes and blankets for them. They could stay or leave as they pleased the next day.
The northwest area of the camp was originally meant for the four hundred youths rescued from the camp and the group of people who had been coerced from Meister Castle, as well as the hundreds of refugees who had followed behind the caravan to beg for food to survive. It was a suitable place for the two thousand rescued captives from the enemy's camp to stay.
The noisy crowd of over two thousand young men quickly arrived at the entrance of the barracks. However, after entering the barracks, they slowly quietened down. No one dared to make a ruckus, and they didn't even dare to breathe loudly. That was because they were standing on a dark red bloody path. Corpses were piled up on both sides of the road. The surrendered soldiers were cleaning up the corpses, stripping them of their leather armor and clothes. They then placed the naked corpses on the side of the road to form a corpse wall …
The group of more than two thousand people passed through the blood-stained road in complete silence. They only regained some liveliness when they were led to the northwest area of the camp. Laurist was very satisfied with this shocking effect. He was most worried that the rescued youths would not obey him and cause a ruckus in the camp, disturbing the families of the soldiers.
Snowflakes continued to fall, covering the ground with a new layer of snow.
In the barracks, the bonfire was burning brightly, and the flames were bright. Laurist stood in front of the large tent and sighed deeply as he watched the falling snowflakes. The night of slaughter had passed, but he did not know how many more battles like this would occur on the road ahead …
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