Old World, Ostermark, East of Fortendorf, Ferry.
Fifty thousand White Guard soldiers were gathered here.
Fortendorf was an important town in the north of Ostermark. Even after Zainaik's Tzeentch and Festus's Nurgle were defeated, there were still thousands of Empire troops stationed here.
The White Weijun's highest command also had the same idea when they chose to build the ferry not far from Fortdorf. That was, they could rely on the imperial army.
Now, the army had set up camp on a bank upstream of Fortendorf and built two logistics bases. On the night of the 20th of April, the White Guard began to cut down the nearby Black Forest under Katarina's orders to build pontoon bridges and rafts in preparation to cross the Upper Tarabek River.
On the other side of the river was the former southern town of Kislöw, Rachhof. It was occupied by the Army of Chaos and was facing the White Guard across the river.
The camp was chaotic and there was no order to speak of. Whether it was Katarina or the newly promoted White Guard officers, they were still not proficient in commanding. Tsar had roughly divided the White Army into ten parts. Other than the Romanov Guards that she personally led, the rest of the White Army participated in cutting down trees, transporting wood, and building pontoon bridges. Due to the lack of coordination, the construction of pontoon bridges and rafts was very slow, and they often quarreled because of the repetitive work.
This was actually a very low-level mistake. If Laing was in command, Knight King would have the soldiers work in an assembly line. Who was responsible for cutting down trees, transporting wood, and building the pontoon bridges would be clearly divided. Moreover, Laing often stipulated that the fastest part would be rewarded with food and food, so the Brittany army was faster in military work.
Katarina obviously did not have the talent in this area. She could only send supervisors to rush them while waiting impatiently in the tent for the pontoon bridges to be completed.
The camp was a mess, and Katarina's heart was also in a mess. According to the scouts, Zainaik's army was gathering on the other side of the river. The Chosen Champion's army was not that big, at most ten to twenty thousand people.
However, Katarina had learned her lesson after a series of battles. She knew that the White Guard lacked training, nutrition, and discipline, so they could only fight battles with the wind. Therefore, she still hoped that the sooner the pontoon bridges were built, and crossed the river, and caught the Army of Chaos off guard, and relied on their numbers to advantage.
This was the battle plan of the White Army's highest command.
A few minutes later, Grand Marshal Dunnikin came in. "Your Majesty, why don't you rest for a while? We will take care of the outside matters.
"How's the progress?" Katarina's mind was not on sleeping. She urged, "It has to be fast. We can't let the Chaos bastards gather their army quickly."
"It is estimated that three pontoon bridges will be completed by tomorrow morning." Dunnykin looked at Katarina and said, "The original plan was to build five pontoons, but with the current progress, it will be difficult to complete."
"Tomorrow morning?" Katarina pondered for a while and said, "Tomorrow morning, I will personally lead the Old Guard to cross the river and ambush Zainaik and his army!"
"This …" Grand Marshal Dunnykin wanted to dissuade Katarina, but he quickly understood the reason. He thought for a while and gave up.
"I heard from Cheka that Laing's Old Guard looked down on the world. When the Tricolor Flag and the Bearskin Hat appeared on the battlefield, the Orcs, Green Dwarfs, and Chaos armies would be shaken and retreat in fear." Katarina noticed Dunnykin's hesitation and said unwillingly, "Even if he is Laing's Old Guard, didn't he fight many battles? I also have an Old Guard. My Old Guard will be led by me to show the might of the Old World! "
"Yes! I, Dunnykin, will cross the river with His Majesty tomorrow and witness the first victory of His Majesty's Old Guard! "
"Very good! Tomorrow morning, when the sun rises, the entire army will cross the river! "
"Yes!"
The arrangements were made.
The next morning, Katarina led the Romanov Guards to cross the river.
The temporary pontoon bridge was shaky and not very stable. However, the combat effectiveness of the Chaos army was indeed very poor. A small number of Chaos soldiers on the other side tried to launch several attacks on the pontoon bridge, but they were all defeated by Mrs. Kisler's arrows and a few cannons.
In the afternoon, the vanguard of the White Army successfully crossed the Upper Tarabek River using the pontoon bridge and reached the opposite bank.
The other side of the river was in a mess. This place had been ravaged by the army of Chaos many times. The town had been reduced to ruins and debris. Tents, ruins, and spoils of war could be seen everywhere.
There were Barbarian tents gathered around Rachhof. There were many of them, but they were also very messy. The standard of the Barbarian army was really bad. They watched as Mrs. Kiesler built the bridge across the river. Most of them really just watched! They did nothing. After Mrs. Kiesler rushed over, the motley crowd of less than a thousand people quickly became chaotic. Most of the Barbarians did not even wear armor. Many of them only had a sword, an axe, or a knife in their hands! They had already begun to waver!
The main reason was that the Romanov Guards at the front were wearing the same bearskin hat as Laing's Old Guard and the same standard equipment from the Nur. This caused the Barbarians to misunderstand. After all, it was really difficult for the Barbarians to distinguish the small differences.
Some of them held two axes and charged towards the White Army. "For Chaos!"
Some grabbed their loot and ran. "The South is here! Run! "
Some threw down their bowls and ran for their lives. "I don't want to fight anymore. I want to go home!"
The motley crowd was in chaos. Nearly half of them fled at the sight of the Barbarians, while the other half picked up their weapons and charged towards the White Army in groups of three to five!
"Get into formation!" The commander of the Romanov Guards, Semyonov, shouted. "Get ready to meet the enemy!"
When the White Army saw the ferocious appearance of the Barbarians, they were a little shaken. The formation also began to scatter. Out of the original 5,000 people, 3,000 of them immediately retreated. Less than 2,000 people were in formation to meet the enemy.
What about the rest of the White Army?
These soldiers were very brave and worked very hard. However, the moment the two sides clashed, these exhausted soldiers who used inferior weapons and spent an entire night repairing the pontoon bridge were almost completely defeated in just a few minutes. All of the soldiers subconsciously ran towards the pontoon bridge! The entire battlefield instantly turned into a mess!
The 20,000 White Army almost instantly showed signs of defeat! They were being chased by hundreds of Barbarian soldiers!
"Reload! Reload! " Katarina rode on a white horse and cursed angrily. She waved her horse whip and shouted at her White Army. "Brave Romanov Warriors, My Old Guard! Are your spears broken? Are the blades of your swords curled? And are your guns just for show? "
After that, Katarina drew her rune sword — Soul of Soica. "Descendants of Queen Miska, inheritors of Kislöw's ice, my Old Guard, in the name of Tsar of the Romanov Family, I call on you to attack! Expel these Barbarians from our land, our home! "
Tsar's speech before the battle greatly boosted the morale of the army, especially the Romanov Guards. When they heard Katarina's voice, the Romanov Guards' morale recovered slightly. They no longer wavered, and the White Army soldiers who were still in their positions began to reload and regroup.
Katarina sighed in relief when she saw this. Tsar couldn't help but feel a little proud.
She copied this move from Laing. According to the large amount of information she received about Laing after arriving in Becafen, the Knight Kid … ahem, the Knight King would personally appear in front of the soldiers in every battle to boost their morale and give a speech. His invincible Old Guard would erupt with the greatest loyalty and fighting strength, sweeping away all the strong enemies like a storm! Never be defeated! Crush everything!
Got it, just copy it. Only Laing can give a speech and boost morale, and I, Katarina, can't do it?
Old Guard, kill them for me!
It had to be said that Katarina had learned some lessons from the Ice Palace Guards. After the Romanov Guards were formed, Katarina had put in some effort and personally trained them many times. At the same time, she had them undergo a certain amount of live ammunition training.
The musketeers took out small cloth bags from their small bags and somewhat rudely tore open the opening with their teeth. They poured some gunpowder into the gunpowder pool at the back of the musket, and then stuffed the remaining gunpowder and bullets into the muzzle of the musket. After stuffing all the way to the bottom, they raised the musket, aimed at the enemy, and pulled the trigger.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Nur's standard equipment was the best in the Old World's human countries. It was the same for the muskets. After a round of firing, more than a hundred Barbarians were killed on the spot. The remaining Barbarians engaged the White Army in close combat.
At first, the Romanov Guards were beaten back by the Barbarians who were only wearing pants and wielding weapons. However, everyone soon discovered that the Barbarians' inferior weapons couldn't cut through their shields, breastplates, and arm guards! All they could do was leave a mark on them! And the Nur's weapons could easily tear through the flesh of these stragglers!
Got it! Let's fight the Barbarians now!
The Romanov Guards managed to hold off the first wave. Katarina desperately shouted for the soldiers to return and regroup. When the White Army saw that the Barbarians had been defeated, they finally regrouped after fleeing to the pontoon bridge. The entire battlefield was a mess. The White Army probably spent more than two hours regrouping.
Then, what was Zainaik doing at this moment?
"Go up! Go up! All of you, go up! Ahhh! " Tzeentch's Chosen Champion also roared at the top of his lungs, urging the Barbarians to scatter and flee in all directions. The enemy was regrouping, so this was the best opportunity!
However, Tzeentch's Chosen Champion's words were useless. His painful defeat at Becafen had made the Barbarians no longer believe in him. Most of the elite troops had either been wiped out at Becafen or had retreated to the wastelands in the north. The remaining Barbarian soldiers were mostly small fries or opportunists. No matter how hard Zainaik tried, the tide of defeat could not be stopped. The defeated Barbarians carried the defeated Barbarians with them. Of the 9,000 Barbarians he had painstakingly gathered, more than 3,000 had fled, and the rest were on the verge of collapse.
"Ahhh!" Zainaik, who looked extremely angry, finally used an extreme method to maintain the battle line. He summoned a wall of fire that stretched for hundreds of meters! All the Barbarians who tried to retreat were stopped. Any Barbarian soldiers who tried to touch the wall of fire would be burned to ashes by Tzeentch's five-colored flames. The number of Barbarians who died in the flames was more than the number of Barbarians killed by the White Army!
Through this method, Zainaik was finally able to maintain the battle line. However, almost two hours had passed. The White Army had finally regrouped under the command of Katarina and the other generals. They got into formation and pressed down on Rachhof!
Both sides were in a state of unstable morale. The White Army forced themselves to move forward under the whips of the supervisors and Tsar's scolding. Zainaik's army had to rely on his continuous casting of spells to block the Barbarians' retreat. They were barely able to maintain the battle line!
Both sides faced each other again. The battle on Rachhof's ruins seemed to be very intense. However, in reality, only the one or two thousand Barbarians who were charging at the front were fighting. The Barbarians, who were in disarray, were at a loss when faced with the advancing White Army.
Zainaik looked at this scene and sighed in his heart. He thought to himself, 'Let's just stick to the plan.'
"Blizzard!" Katarina released a blizzard. Tsar continued to cast spells under the protection of the Frost Guards. She waved her staff and said, "Ice Elementals!"
Dozens of Ice Elementals appeared in the Upper Tarabek River. They took the shape of a human and rushed up the river bank towards the Barbarian army.
"Ice Ring!" The Tsar released a second spell, and a ring froze hundreds of barbarian warriors on the ground. Many of them were frozen into pieces on the spot.
"Demon Invasion!" Zainaik was not to be outdone. He immediately summoned a small army of Tzeentch's demons to fight against the Ice Elementals summoned by Katarina. He stretched out his two hands and wrote rapidly in the Tzeentch's Great Book. Soon, the Ice Ring was broken by Zainaik. The spell disappeared and the trapped Barbarians were rescued.
The morale of the White Guard was shaken. The invincible Ice Magic had lost its effect!
However, Zainaik's summoning of Chaos Demons and breaking the Ice Magic seemed to have distracted him. Just as he was casting spells, the Fire Wall used to forcibly stop the Barbarian army from escaping suddenly disappeared.
"The Fire Wall is gone! The Fire Wall is gone! "Someone among the Barbarians shouted," The Fire Wall is gone! "
"Retreat! There are too many enemies! "
"We have failed!"
The Barbarian army's morale collapsed again. Zainaik's army was defeated. They fled in all directions and were chased out of the Rachhof towards the north. Zainaik himself seemed to have no choice but to retreat with the White Army.
Finally, Katarina's White Guard successfully occupied the Rachhof. The soldiers cheered for victory but at the same time, they lost their discipline. Facing the camp and large amounts of spoils left behind by the Barbarians, they forgot about their victory and began to desperately search for possible spoils. The entire ruins were scattered with White Army soldiers. The 20,000 White Army was now as disorderly as fine sand on the coast.
At the same time, east of the Rachhof, in the middle of a small coniferous forest.
Kurgan Khagan, Subutai Ashwolf, had more than a thousand cavalry hidden here. The Khagan carefully observed the situation and could not help but nod. "Zainaik's stragglers are only of this much use. Very good."
"There are many Rossi soldiers. If we were to attack head-on, one of our sabers would have to deal with ten of the enemy's swords. We would have to fight to the death to win." Subutai then said to the Kurgan champions nearby. "But now, we only need to focus on attacking the enemy's central army. One of our sabers only needs to deal with two of the enemy's weapons!"
Just as the Kurgan Cavalry finished their preparations, seven or eight barges loaded with heavy items and explosive barrels suddenly appeared upstream of the Upper Tarabek River. The bows of each of these barges were fitted with iron plates. They flowed down the river at an extremely fast speed toward the pontoon bridge that Mrs. Kiesler had built with great difficulty.
Bagramyan General, who was in charge of guarding the rear, was shocked when he saw this scene. However, these barges could not be stopped.
Boom! The barges destroyed three pontoon bridges in an instant. With the sound of explosions, the White Guard's escape route was cut off.
Kurgan Khagan saw this scene and nodded slowly. His silver-topped white tasseled helmet flashed with his movements.
"Today, I, Subutai Ashwolf, will either die in the far west and let my descendants avenge me, or I will slaughter this group of Rossi soldiers and let the people here remember my name forever!" Subutai drew his golden saber. "Let us stab the enemy's heart like a steel saber!"
"Ashwolf! Ashwolf! Ashwolf! "There was no need to hide. The Kurgan Cavalry rushed out of the forest in a single file.
"Descendants of Emperor Kurgan! Sons and daughters of the grasslands! The blessings of Tengri will accompany you forever! " It's time for you to show your glory! "Su Butai pointed his sword at the White Army that was in a state of disarray." Charge! "
"Kill!"
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