Chapter 593 First Contact
"Oh my God, oh my God!"
Hans was walking at the forefront of the army. He could even guess what he might encounter. Every step he took in the snow was heavy. He didn't know what other unknown things there were in the woods besides the wolves.
The advancing army formed long rows and advanced forward. The intricate roads and densely grown trees made it difficult for them to maintain their current dense formation.
They dispersed their troops and marched forward with difficulty in the vast woods. Everyone was shivering in the biting cold wind. Compared to such severe cold, the sheepskin coats they wore were indeed too thin.
"This damn cold wind is so cold that it almost froze me. This thing is more terrifying than the barbarian's bloody and flesh-stained battle axe, because it can let you die without any wounds on your body!"
"Enough, Roca, you are so annoying when you keep chattering!" Catus turned around and shouted at the officer named Roca behind him: "We are so cold, so these barbarians are not much better. Maybe they are huddled in their tents and shivering, waiting for us to chop off their heads!"
"I hope so, Your Excellency the Duke!" Roca had already backed down in his heart, and was not at all impressed by Catus's encouraging words, even though he was trembling with cold.
“Sizzle!”
At this moment, there was a sudden vibration sound coming from the front, which frightened everyone present. Everyone immediately raised their spears and shields and aimed at the endless woods in front of them.
All they could see in the white was a strong stag, which jumped over a snow-covered bush and appeared in front of the Roman army. At this time, it turned its head to look at all the frightened Romans present, with a playful look in its eyes, then turned its head and jumped up, jumped over a high slope, and disappeared from the sight of the Romans.
“I was scared to death!”
Looking at the stag going away with the shaking woods, the soldier finally let down his guard and stood up, wiped the beads of sweat under his helmet, and let out a long breath that formed a white mist in the air.
"Keep going! Keep going!"
Catus raised his right hand and called to the soldiers behind him. The soldiers let down their guard and tried to pull their legs out from the snow.
The moment they put down their shields, Hans breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that nothing was dangerous.
But in the blink of an eye, Hans opened his somewhat cloudy eyes and saw a black shadow flash past in front of him. The wind brought by the black shadow passed by in front of him like a blade. This feeling was so real.
"laugh!"
His eyes followed the black shadow until they passed behind him, and a dull snort was heard from the chest of a centurion behind Hans.
Looking up, they saw a barbarian wearing a thick cowhide coat standing behind a bush without snow and holding a bow, facing them.
"Sure enough, the barbarians! The barbarians are coming!"
Hans stood there motionless as if petrified. He watched more and more barbarians appear in front of him, as if they had emerged from the snow for no reason.
Each of them held a bow and arrow and aimed at the chaotic Roman army formation in front of them. Arrows were shot one after another, passing by Hans' left and right sides and falling into the gradually gathering Roman soldiers.
"Defense! Defense!"
Seeing the sudden situation, the calm officers immediately called on the soldiers to form a defense line. They were mainly defending against the Frankish archers in front of them, but they did not realize that more and more bushes were surging around them.
"Form a dense array and move forward!" Catus roared loudly, "Now the barbarians have just discovered us and they are starting to panic. Don't be afraid, keep advancing until we get in front of them, let them see the powerful strength of us Romans, and crush them!"
"Hoo-ha! Hoo-ha! Hoo-ha!"
The soldiers roared together, forming a shield wall to block the oncoming arrows, and advanced forward step by step following the slogans of Duke Catus.
The Franks did not want to fight. When they found that their bows and arrows could no longer target the enemies in front of them, they organized themselves to retreat.
Everything was in order, but Catus didn't think so. He still firmly followed the orders and led the soldiers forward.
At this moment, it is not known whether they had passed the line drawn by the Franks in advance or some other mark, but when the vanguard troops approached the end of the woods, they saw the Frankish camp located next to a group of tree stumps.
"There it is! There it is!"
Catus was extremely excited when he saw the camp. Even though he was panting, he struggled hard to pull his feet out of the thick snow and continued to move forward.
Old Hans was extremely reluctant at this moment but he had no choice. Even if he wanted to run, he was held forward by a strong centurion. Seeing that the battle was imminent but with a strong desire to survive, he had no choice but to watch his team move away from the barbarian camp at the end of the woods.
At this time, the Frankish infantry was ready outside the camp. They formed a shield wall at the end of a field of tree stumps and waited for the oncoming Roman soldiers.
"Attack! Attack!"
Catus couldn't wait to defeat the barbarians in front of him, so he repeatedly urged his men to speed up the attack.
At this time, the Frank soldiers who were ambushing in the snow suddenly emerged from the snow when the vanguard of Catus' troops rushed out of the woods. They were holding javelins and throwing axes, and they rushed towards the unprepared Roman follow-up troops.
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The falling snowflakes provided cover for the flying javelins and axes. The Roman soldiers, who were caught off guard, fell down in large numbers. Only then did the Romans realize that they had been ambushed.
"Defense! Defense!"
The commander of the field regiment in the follow-up team called on the soldiers to hold up their shields and defend on both sides. At this time, the archers in the center of the army drew their bows and arrows to counterattack the Franks who kept throwing javelins.
The thickly dressed soldiers were like round, hairy balls, crashing into the shield wall formed by the Franks at a not very fast speed.
The white land was filled with various black shadows swaying back and forth. They were fighting each other. The iron sword was no longer the weapon of choice. On the contrary, the lethality of the pistol in such a fierce fight was very amazing.
Although the Franks used a large number of Roman weapons, their shield wall was not as strong as the Romans'. The temporary defense was quickly broken by the Romans, who had an absolute numerical advantage, and the confrontation turned into a melee.
"Keep going! Keep going!"
The fighting aroused Catus's desire to fight. He raised his iron sword high and shouted loudly, ordering the soldiers behind him to advance in the direction he wanted to go and defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.
"Your Excellency the Duke! Your Excellency the Duke!"
An officer of the field regiment came running to him and said: "The follow-up troops were attacked, and there were Franks ambushing!"
"Don't worry about it!" Catus looked very angry at this time, "Now, we just need to disperse them completely and uproot this camp. These despicable people hiding in the woods will be scared and lose the courage to resist!"
At this time, he heard a roar behind him. When Catus turned around, he saw a Frank soldier rushing towards him with a raised axe.
Catus immediately raised his shield, and the axe blade that fell from mid-air was completely stuck in the shield and could not be pulled out for a while. The Frank gritted his teeth and his face turned red.
Catus obviously would not give him a second chance to attack. He immediately swung his sword and smashed the Frank's head with the iron block on the hilt, then took advantage of the Frank's momentary confusion due to the impact on his head and stabbed his neck with the sword.
The gushing blood dyed the snow beneath his feet red, and the heavy corpse slowly fell down.
"What are you waiting for?" Catus threw down his shield and shouted to the soldiers behind him, "Take this place, and all the loot will be yours!"
(End of this chapter)