On the morning of November 23rd, 67th year of the Imperial Calendar, Leon's camp was bustling with activity.
Unlike before the expedition, the camp was now filled with high morale, and everyone was working enthusiastically. Everyone was thinking about a great victory today; optimism and a fighting spirit permeated the entire camp.
Meanwhile, scouts were dispatched in all directions, constantly bringing back news of Belvedere's army. They were also busily arranging their formations and pressing towards them from west to east.
Meanwhile, Kurman's army also formed a battle formation and was pressing towards Belvedo's army from the north to the south.
Leon looked at the intelligence report in his hand, somewhat surprised. He glanced at the rising sun outside, then at the soldiers still busy preparing in the camp, and suddenly realized that only his own troops hadn't yet assembled and formed ranks. Thinking of this, the sunlight that had just been so comforting suddenly felt less warm.
"Stop packing up the camp! All soldiers, get out and form ranks to meet the enemy! We don't have much time left!" Leon's order was absolutely correct. Later historians believe it was one of the few correct orders Leon gave in this war.
From Leon's perspective at the time, the camp was actually unimportant, because if they lost, whether or not they had a camp wouldn't really matter. Without the burden of a camp, they might even be able to run more easily.
The soldiers began to form ranks haphazardly. According to the latest intelligence from the scouts, Belvedere's forces were less than ten kilometers to their due west. Scouts from both sides had already begun exchanging fire, a common practice before war. At this distance, if the enemy knew their current formation, they would probably close in and attack immediately.
Leon snapped to his senses at this thought. He immediately urged his men to form ranks. Finally, just as the faint sound of horses' hooves could be heard, the formation was barely in place.
On the distant plains, a thick black line appeared. The line grew thicker and thicker until it finally revealed its full form: rows of soldiers in black armor.
Belvedere's Black Armor Infantry are very famous heavy infantry.
In addition, there were the cavalrymen with blue cloaks on either side of the black-armored infantry. Their black cloth armor paired with sky-blue velvet cloaks made them a very recognizable unit.
Leon's side, however, was in a rather awkward position. Their troops clearly didn't have such a flashy and intimidating appearance.
Because half of the front line consisted of mixed mercenaries and newly recruited stragglers.
Leon's strategy remained the same: placing his main force in the south of the army. The primary reason was to preserve his strength and continue fighting should the situation turn against him. However, Leon also deployed a portion of his elite cavalry to the south to break through the enemy's formation and facilitate Kurman's attack. The only problem was that he hadn't yet received a single clear message from Kurman.
As they drew closer, they finally stopped.
The sun had just risen above the treetops, casting a soft yellow light. The two sides stood facing each other, about five hundred meters apart.
Leon didn't want to attack first. His plan was to wait for Belvaldo to attack, then use his longbowmen to give the enemy a slight technological shock, before sending in his cavalry to harass and break through their lines. Finally, he would launch a beautiful defensive counterattack. If, while the enemy was in disarray, Kurman could then join the battle at the opportune moment, it would be even more brilliant.
The key point is that Leon believes the opponent will definitely launch an attack, because if he put himself in their shoes, he would not let go of this opportunity to demonstrate his military prowess.
Sure enough, the deep sound of horns rang out in Belvaldo's camp. After three horn blasts, the enemy infantry began to march in orderly steps, slowly advancing towards León's army.
Seeing this, Leon was overjoyed. He gave Humphrey, the vice-captain of the Golden Horseshoe Mercenary Corps, a rather serious look. Since the last night raid, although Humphrey's troops had suffered heavy losses, they had won the trust and favor of the royal family. In particular, his longbowmen had become a standard-issue branch of the empire. And Humphrey, who was accompanying the army this time, was not only the vice-captain of the Golden Horseshoe Mercenary Corps, but also the direct general of the entire longbow corps. His thousand longbowmen were his entire fortune. This was also the source of Leon's confidence and strength.
More than a thousand longbowmen stood in three rows amidst a dense array of shield-wielding soldiers. Humphrey approached them, drew a longbow, and began directing his troops in the attack.
Several arrows shot out from behind Belvado's black-clad infantry, but only landed a hundred meters in front of Leon's formation. Clearly, the enemy was probing the distance, but they seemed rather impatient.
However, this distance was already within range for the longbowmen to launch an attack.
"Ready! Fire!!" Humphrey commanded, and the first rank of longbowmen released their arrows. The arrows drew a graceful arc through the air and struck Belvaldo's infantry formation.
This caused a commotion among the Belvedo soldiers. The attacked phalanx paused briefly before continuing its advance, but it created a slight gap between itself and the phalanxes on either side.
"Ready! Fire!!" Humphrey and the second longbowman released their arrows together, and the square that was hit wavered and paused again, further widening the gap between the squares.
Belvaldo's black square fired arrows in retaliation, but they still couldn't even scratch the surface of León's army.
This caused an excited cheer to erupt from Leon's army.
Round after round of arrows rained down, all of them converging on one square formation, finally causing it to collapse completely.
Although the formation hadn't stopped, it was clear that, apart from the outermost black-armored infantry, the entire formation was almost empty. If it weren't for maintaining formation with the formations on either side, this formation would probably have already collapsed and fled.
Meanwhile, the archers in Belvedere's phalanx were finally able to reach Leon's army, but by then their attack had lost its meaning, or rather, it was more like an awkward performance.
Seeing this, Leon brandished his longsword, and all the troops except for the longbowmen and the phalanx protecting them charged forward.
The longbowmen's performance greatly boosted the morale of Leon's troops, nearly shattering the enemy's heavy armor phalanx. Therefore, in the first engagement, Leon's forces clearly achieved a resounding victory. This not only filled Leon's troops with confidence but also instilled in Leon himself a strong belief in victory in the war.
"What heavy infantry? They're nothing special," Leon thought to himself, realizing for the first time that he might have been too conservative in the past. With this longbow unit at his disposal, what was there to worry about?
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