Badge in Azure Chapter 696 - The sixth camp (Part 2)

Chapter 696: The sixth camp (Part 2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The second wave of cavalrymen only had about one-thousand people. Phoenix could not organize too many cavalrymen and Cexing City was not an important town. Most of these soldiers had only undergone basic cavalry training.
The equipment used by the sixth camp was clearly superior to that of the enemy. Once the large heavy crossbows were installed, the soldiers observed the approaching enemy calmly. Once the enemy was five-hundred yards away, the soldiers charged towards the flanks.
The soldiers guarding the chariot formation became increasingly composed. The quality of the enemy’s cavalrymen was fair. Since they could not do a frontal assault, they could only use bows to attack from the sides. It was the best idea to deploy light cavalrymen who traveled slightly faster. The cavalrymen, who were clad in heavy armor and shot from the sides, were moving at a much lower speed.
A warhorse could only charge at full speed for an hour at most. If the horse was of an inferior bloodline, it could not even sustain its power for ten minutes. If the charge by the cavalrymen could not destroy the enemy’s formation, then the assault would be a total failure.
The formation of the sixth camp was very holistic. The chariots formed the façade, while the shields blocked the sides, and Holy Rock City’s envoy group stood at the rear.
The envoy group from Holy Rock City retreated to the rear. They wanted to evaluate the quality of the soldiers from Metatrin City. If the soldiers could not make it, the envoy group could still utilize their powerful charging power to salvage the situation. Unexpectedly, the enemy’s offensive did not even waver the sixth camp’s formation. The defense put up by the sixth camp was impenetrable. The soldiers in the middle formed up neatly. They sat atop racks which were hastily constructed as they stood ready to act and rush out of the defensive formation anytime.
“This is Saleen’s best forces, right?” Barde mumbled to himself, as he surveilled the battle calmly. Two sorcerers were beside him, but Barde would not bother them with a question. If they ignored him, he would be very embarrassed.
Clearly, Tiffany was not so cold, she said, “They are pretty good, similar to Qin’s main army. In terms of equipment, they are slightly better.”
Tiffany was obviously referring to the three-hundred alchemical crossbows which had a range of more than five-hundred yards. In Qin, these items were banned.
“It isn’t the same. Great Mage, let’s not talk about the camp commander first, even Saleen’s emblem group commander has no respect for Viscount Piac.” Duke Barde observed carefully. He had cultivated swordsmanship before, so his vision was great.
“It is a habit from the fourth dynasty. The armies belonging to royalty or the direct descendant of royalty, are placed above a noble,” Tiffany remarked. The “Metatrin” surname really existed in the fourth dynasty. She did not dwell much on it, so she naturally regarded Saleen as the offspring of royalty from the fourth dynasty.
“That is the scariest thing. Saleen only needs to develop his main army, while the remaining armies will be taken care of by the nobles. The nobles don’t dare to rebel, so Saleen will be able to enhance the army’s equipment indefinitely. Using these elites to control the nobles and fight for him, Metatrin City can easily rear one-hundred-thousand troops,” Barde reminded.
“His Majesty has his own plans. Barde, you are overstepping your boundaries,” Tiffany replied frostily.
The cavalrymen from the sixth camp advanced unhindered, ruthlessly crashing into the front of the cavalrymen from Phoenix. The difference in weapons used by both parties was immediately observed. Across short distances, the cavalry crossbows used by the sixth camp would be fired the moment the path forward became clear, they were invincible within a range of ten yards.
The twenty soldiers who rode on skeletal warhorses wielded gigantic machetes, while the remaining cavalrymen used cross spears.
When a cavalryman was charging, a lance was clearly more advantageous. Once a lance stabbed into the enemy’s heavy armor, it could not be pulled out easily. The moment such a thing happened to the cavalrymen from the sixth camp, the soldiers immediately abandoned the cross spears. They then would wield the longswords which were stored behind the saddle. On the other hand, the Phoenix cavalry would wield heavy swords once they threw away their lances.
In the clash between the blades, both parties were clad in heavy armor. Coupled with the impact brought about by the warhorses, weapons were sent flying. Only powerful swordmasters managed to hold onto their weapons.
Most of Phoenix’s cavalrymen were shot off their horses. On average, two or more Phoenix’s cavalrymen were needed to match with one cavalryman from the sixth camp. Their numbers were already smaller than the sixth camp from the start. After the vigorous clash, only about two-hundred people from the sixth camp fell off their warhorses. There were some unlucky ones who died, but most only sustained minor injuries.
The Phoenix cavalry lost about five-hundred men. After this event, less than one-thousand troops remained. They were all heavy cavalrymen, but so were the soldiers from the sixth camp.
The lead commander from Phoenix blew a shrill metal whistle and lead the cavalrymen south as he tried to shake off the cavalrymen from the sixth camp. The speeds of both parties had been lowered. Even though their warhorses were inferior to that of the sixth camp, they could still shake off the sixth camp.
The sixth camp’s cavalry did not give chase because one-thousand cavalrymen had appeared at their rear. These people turned out to be from the imperial swordsman’s camp. Tiffany gave an order, then she immediately cast two group-enhancing spells with Stephanie. Under the radiance of magic, these one-thousand cavalrymen emitted enormous runes as they charged forward at twice the speed of a normal cavalryman.
Such a group spell would not last long, but the distance between both parties was less than two miles. Traveling at double the original speed, the imperial cavalrymen drew closer to the enemy swiftly. They then raised the quivers in their hands.
This type of crossbow which was operated by springs had inadequate power. Be that as it may, the arrows used by the imperial swordsman’s camp were all alchemical in nature, the sharpness of these arrows could compensate for all the inadequacies.
From behind the shield formation, around five-hundred infantrymen from the sixth camp took the chance to charge out and rescue the wounded cavalrymen. Another five-hundred soldiers emerged from the shield formation, approaching the injured Phoenix soldiers. Wielding triangular swords, they stabbed at the weak areas of the enemy’s armor.
Qin armor protected the whole body, while the armor of a heavy cavalryman had no crevices. To ensure the flexibility of a cavalryman during battle, it was necessary for some areas to be weaker though. These weak spots were made by clamping magic beast skin between two metal pieces. The triangular swords were made to break armor, so they could easily kill the wounded enemies who had no resistance.
Originally, among Phoenix’s cavalryman, only one-hundred had died on the spot. The remaining four hundred over were injured after falling off their horses. If they were rescued, they would not die since they would receive treatment by the mages’ medicine.
The commander of the sixth camp planted himself in the main body, observing the events in an indifferent manner. The enemy’s infantrymen were only one mile away, they had disembarked from the horses and were organizing their equipment and preparing to attack soon. At this point in time, the sixth camp could not possibly capture any prisoners.
In the previous invasion by Qin, the Phoenix army did not run into such a situation, most of their casualties were salvaged. This time around, Saleen’s army had killed all the wounded people on the spot.
While doing this, the soldiers from the sixth camp actually did not experience any psychological pressure. The first enemy they ran into could not be fully killed, their first enemy would continue battling. In the Holy See’s expeditionary army, as long as the soldier’s finger could still move, there was a chance that the soldier could trigger a crossbow. Even on the brink of death, the soldiers still wanted to kill one more enemy.
Barde was not surprised that the counter charge had defeated Phoenix’s cavalrymen. In his eyes, soldiers from the sixth camp were of pretty good quality and their weapons were superior. If they could not defeat the Phoenix people, then they should not even exist.
This uniform massacre sent chills down his spine.
“If all of Saleen’s armies behaved this way, the future wars would be extremely gruesome!”
Within Holy Rock City’s envoy group, two thousand out of the three thousand troops joined in the battle. The remaining one thousand soldiers protected Barde. The sorcerers did not take any action though. The enemy was not present in high numbers, so there was no need for them to appear. A mage of such grade would basically cast auxiliary spells on the battlefield. Unless the enemy went to target a sorcerer directly, a sorcerer would never slaughter the normal soldiers.
This was due to a safety reason. Due to the popularity of alchemical equipment, a sorcerer in the midst of an army could possibly be killed in the face of fearsome weapons. In the main body, a sorcerer would be protected by soldiers, they would be very safe.
The chariot formation at the front frustrated the Phoenix people. There was no other way. The infantrymen who advanced forward spread out towards the two sides, thus the manpower was distributed. All the chariots from the sixth camp could totally form a circle to protect all the soldiers. That would only take place in the presence of a tough enemy though.
Currently, the enemy forces were not special. The chariot formation separated the enemy forces in anticipation of a fight with the enemy’s infantrymen.
The strategy employed by Phoenix was a tad naïve. They wanted to use the heavy cavalrymen to disrupt the sixth camp’s formation before using the infantrymen for a direct assault. Phoenix’s cavalrymen had been defeated. In order for their infantrymen to triumph, the infantrymen could only go head-on with the sixth camp, there would be no more war tactics in play.
The commander of the sixth camp did not wish to use any war tactics as the terrain there was flat. He could not really manipulate the terrain to his advantage. The enemy was well-prepared, no plot would be better than a direct confrontation.
When Lex trained these soldiers, she did not demand them to receive in-depth swordsmanship training, she had focused on discipline. At that point in time, the commanders were confused, but they were now very glad.
The sixth camp’s command did not have any flaws because the soldiers had gone through ruthless discipline training. They were simply using their instincts to react to the events unfolding before them.
The highest ranking commander of an emblem group only needed to give a simple order and the entire army would work in tandem. No matter how anxious the soldiers were, their execution of movements was perfect. On such a battlefield, the power of an individual was minified, but the power of a group was magnified.
“Advance!’
A thunderous bellow sounded, followed by the urgent striking of drums. An emblem group of infantrymen leaped over the shield formation and charged towards the second wave of cavalrymen who were coming from the sides. These one-thousand cavalrymen did not split up, but they tried to annoy the imperial swordsman’s camp which was chasing the fleeing cavalrymen. No one expected an emblem group of infantrymen to launch an offensive against the cavalrymen from a distance of two-hundred yards.
The legs of the one-thousand heavy infantrymen gave off a magical brilliance, this emblem group of infantrymen charged out at high speed. A two-hundred yard distance was very long for infantrymen, but under the effect of magic equipment, these heavy infantrymen released a horrifying charging power in that instant.
They could only sprint for a mere five-hundred yards, but that was sufficient. One emblem group, one-thousand people, was split into five brigades. Each brigade contained two-hundred troops. The front row of soldiers were strongmen who wielded poleaxes.
These heavy and sharp poleaxes had destroyed the hopes of Phoenix’s cavalrymen. Before the cavalry lances could be tossed the cavalrymen were hacked off their horses by the heavy infantrymen.
Everyone knew that a cavalryman would have to be cautious near a heavy infantryman, it would be best to use their speed advantage for attack. Nevertheless, no one expected the infantrymen from the sixth camp to use the stance of cavalrymen to attack the enemy. The cavalrymen’s retaliation was a little useless. After getting attacked from the side, the cavalrymen wielded longswords and slashed at the armor of the heavy infantrymen. Without the advantage brought about by speed, the longswords could not break the armor at all.
A second infantry emblem group rushed out, these infantrymen did not wear heavy armor, so their speed was not as fast. They specialized in killing the wounded enemies, using their short lances to poke the fallen enemies.
It was a very cruel battle as the enemies were extirpated.