Chapter 21：Battle on Open Plains (Part II)

"Loose formation! Order everyone into Loose formation!"

Theodore's first course of action was to minimise his loses. The best way to do this was order the men to space out amongst the battlefield in loose formation.

Although the cannon's reload speed was a lot slower than a musket, it makes up for it with its raw strength and long range. However, this didn't do much for the cannon's terrible accuracy.

Periodically, around every four minutes or so a volley of cannonballs would be fired onto the coalition's formations.

This didn't do much to deter the Drussian's moral.

Thanks to taking loose formation, not many men were hit by the cannons, if there were any hit at all. As cannon balls continued to rain down around them, the army continued to march forward calmly while the Panish vanguard held their ground.

Soon enough the coalition army reached optimal charging distance while only taking light casualties.

Now is when the real battle begins.

"Order the light cavalry to return to tight formation! Then order them to charge forward! Everyone else will stay on their current course!"

"Yes my lord."

Theodore's knights immediately followed through on his orders and soon the sound of the horn signalled the Guiltfort cavalrymen to charge.

After a few short moments, the 2400 cavalrymen divided themselves into their respective battalions of 800 each. Each battalion formed up into the wedge formation while the rhythmic galloping of horses gradually began to speed up.

The reason why the wedge was chosen was obvious, even if the charge failed to properly rout the enemy it will still give Theodore the tactical advantage.

This was because the wedge was a lot more manoeuvrable than its line formation counterpart. The charge of a cavalry unit in wedge formation can quickly leave the enemy lines just as quickly as it entered it.

However, the wedge formation's greatest strength was its physiological impact on the soldiers where the charge is focused. More specifically how it often frightens even the most steadfast soldier. This makes the enemy much more liable to lose their nerve and route long before the charge actually hits them.

Even if the enemy soldiers were able to hold it together the threat posed by the horsemen would force them to continue holding their positions.

That makes them perfect for harassing the Panish centre. This formation would effectively keep the Panish centre pre-occupied while the other two families handled their objectives.

This entire pre-conceived battle-plan was the brainchild of Theodore himself.

This is how he takes advantage of the contrasting natures of the other two families by giving the Guzzlows a promising opportunity for glorious battle while ensuring that the odds are in the Orburn's favour.

This would ensure that both the Guzzlows and Orburns would commit to their flanking attacks. The only real problem with this was that the Guiltfort's would sustain heavy casualties...

But one must remember that this is war.

And in war, one must be prepared to make sacrifices.

Soon horns began blaring among all edges of the battlefield as the other two families ordered their light cavalries to charge forward in sync with the Guiltfort's light cavalry. Except for the knights themselves, the entire cavalry force of the Drussian coalition was now on a collision course with the Panish army.

As the combined cavalry charge closed in on the Paniard's position, Theodore saw small pockets of smoke erupt from the other side as Panish musketeers and arquebusiers shot prematurely. Soon enough the sounds of musket fire overpowered the sounds of cannon fire.

The sound of men screaming in pain as they were thrown of their horses found their way back to Theodore's ears the closer the cavalry charge got to the Paniards.

Within a few short moments the combined light cavalry clashed with the Panish forces. The more expendable cavalry units either broke the will of their target allowing them to cut their way through the Panish lines or retreated to prepare for another charge due to the Panish pikemen holding their ground.

Whatever it was, both sides still took heavy casualties as the massive blobs of red, orange and silver mixed together to form the chaotic battlefield.

While this was happening the elite forces positioned on the outmost flanks soon out manoeuvred and flanked the preoccupied Panish cavalries on both sides of the Panish flanks. Soon enough the elites crashed into the rear of the unaware and unprepared Paniards.

Soon another horn rang out on the left flank as the Guzzlows ordered their reserves to attack, pretty much committing the entirety of their forces to the battle. As men both on horse and on foot rushed to join their comrades, even the Guzzlow family head, Rasmond Guzzlow himself joined his men in battle atop his mighty steed.

On the other hand, the remaining 1000 heavy cavalry reserves from the Orburn family remained true to their reputation and remained unmoved, instead choosing to hold their position.

Seeing no reason not to commit his footmen into the battlefield, Theodore gave the order for the men-at-arms to march into battle and reinforce the middle. If Theodore's prediction was correct then around 800 of his 2400 strong cavalry should already be dead while the remaining 1600 would continue to harass the Panish middle until the men-at-arms arrive.

The cavalrymen were not hired mercenaries or crazed commoners like those of the Orburn and Guzzlow families but talented men, hand picked by Guiltfort nobles to be cultivated into the highly effective shock troopers they are today.

While Theodore lamented the loses of such highly valuable assets he knew that such sacrifices was necessary if he wanted to win this battle and therefore this war. Soon only the 1600 Guiltfort knights accompanied Theodore as he continued to monitor the battlefield.

As time dragged on, Theodore discovered that the sound of cannon-fire stopped entirely. Whether it was because the cannon positions were overrun by the flanking cavalry or because the Panish commander ordered them to cease firing in order to avoid friendly fire, Theodore did not know.

And frankly he did not care.

He just cared about how the entire battle has now tilted even more into his favour. With the cannons gone, the Paniards lost their only advantage in the battle.

Although the Panish positions continued to hold firm it was obvious that their destruction was imminent.

It was just a matter of what will break first.

Their will?

Or their body?

Even when the outer left and right most tercios were able to reposition themselves against the flanking berserker riders and knight's guards of the Guzzlow and Orburn families, they still found themselves becoming overrun as the elite cavalries continued to cut swaths of Panish soldiers.

The Paniards have lost their flanks while the middle was only delaying the inevitable.

As the battle continued to progress, a large geniune smile etched itself onto Theodore's face.

Drussian victory was imminent.

After 40 years of bloody conflict, where great noble houses rose and fell in the name of Drussian independence. Theodore was about to achieve what not even his predecessors could.

He was about to defeat the Panish once and for all.

Once the vanguard force was defeated, the following siege at Elgon city should completely eliminate the Panish presence in this region.

Theodore could smell it.

Victory was right in front of him.

However, he was mistaken.

Soon a loud horn erupted across the plains as orange banners bearing the insignia of a white shield with a red 'x' symbol engraved onto it were seen appearing out of the horizon. Surrounding the banners were mostly men on horses donning silver armour.

There was only one answered to who these new arrivals were.

They were Paniards.

Panish reinforcements have arrived.

[6000?.. no 7000?! wait no! 8000?! 9000?!] Theodore's mind raced as he quickly tried to count the ever increasing Panish reinforcements. [That's impossible! There were only 7000 men garrisoned at Elgon how could they have over 9000 reinforcements!]

However, Theodore felt his heart drop when he figured out the reason why.

He could not stop his sombre words from leaking out of his mouth.

"Could it be?.. Did we attack too late? Did the Paniards ferry over more men?"

Soon Theodore and all the remaining reserves lay witness to the Panish relief forces mounting their counter attack.

A large contingent of cavalrymen, numbering around 6000 strong soon formed a thick long line before sweeping down to rescue their Panish comrades. They did not choose to take the wedge formation because they had one objective and one objective only.

And that was to kill as many Drussians as possible.

The elite cavalry of the coalition that was supposed to be attacking the enemies rear now found that instead they were the ones getting attacked at the rear.

However, the problems didn't stop there. After squinting his eyes, Theodore saw small glimmers of dark red charge recklessly at the Panish reinforcements. There was no doubt that they were Guzzlows whose battle adrenaline has already gotten to their head.

If Theodore's eyes didn't deceive him, he was sure that he also saw the massive figure of Rasmond among them. Theodore bitterly clicked his tongue as knew that there was nothing he could do to stop them.

Soon the sound of hooves trotting in the direction away from the battle could be heard. It was obvious who was making this noise. Glancing at his right, Theodore saw the remaining Orburn reserves already mounting a retreat and when Theodore glanced back at the battle he saw small pockets of Orburn light cavalrymen returning to join their masters.

Within a few short moments the wave of Panish reinforcements found their way into the chaotic battlefield as the battered Panish vanguard army soon found themselves saved by the Panish relief forces.

It was over.

All the meticulous planning, all the scheming, all the plotting. All of these ultimately did not matter in the face of an unstoppable empire with vast amounts of manpower to spare.

Soon the news of the deaths of the Guzzlow's elite and the retreat of the Orburns spread amongst all those in the battlefield. This shocking news combined with the arrival of Panish reinforcements completely destroyed whatever little moral the Drussians had left. With their wills broken the remaining Drussian soldiers began to rout en masse.

It was well and truly over.

There was nothing that Theodore could do now to rally the remaining men against such an overwhelming foe.

Theodore looked around his position and saw the downcast faces of his knights and kaiser knights who either fortunately or unfortunately missed the chance to participate in battle.

With a heavy heart, Theodore gave his next sombre command.

"Signal the retreat... The battle is lost."