Chapter 1220: Chapter 32 Great Alliance Moves Forward (17)

What is heavy cavalry shock troops?

The best armor, the best warhorses, and the best warriors.

However, these three things are too expensive, so whether in the warring Empire or the Alliance enjoying thirty years of peace, heavy cavalry shock troops are seen as relics of a bygone era.

With the introduction of Swift Horse, half armor, and sabers into the army, in the Various Republics, only Paratu retained a small force of heavy cavalry shock troops due to tradition — Major Kris Vare knew this.

But the Major also knew another thing — the heavy cavalry shock troops of the Paratu First Republic had long been exhausted in the Battle of the Great Wilderness and the civil war.

Walei, Sanel, Chloe… None of the Alliance commanders could have predicted that the “rebels” would deploy such a cavalry at this time, at this place, unprecedentedly.

Thunder reverberated across the battlefield, and in Major Vare’s vision, a cavalry officer with shining armor suddenly charged out of the smoke on the South Bank, riding his horse onto the charred remnants of a broken bridge, leaping at the end of the bridge.

As the warhorse’s hind legs left the ground, the last structure of the wooden bridge left on the West Bank finally gave way and crashed down. The cavalry officer’s warhorse stretched its legs as far as it could and landed firmly on the East Bank.

The allied infantry, who witnessed this scene, erupted in cheers that echoed through the clouds, while the arrival of the cavalry officer was just the beginning. Hundreds of similarly armored cavalrymen, holding long spears, followed him out of the smoke in single file.

They guided their agile, fiery horses down the low cliffs of the West Bank, charging up the riverbank on the East Bank with remaining momentum.

Cavalrymen continuously fell from their horses during this upward and downward rush, their life or death unknown, but the following cavalrymen had no hesitation leaping down the low cliffs.

Glimpsing those cavalrymen’s incredibly long spears, Major Kris Vare almost ground his teeth to dust.

Even though those unfamiliar cavalrymen were not mounted on heavy horses, and although they were only equipped with half and three-quarter armor, they were unquestionably a heavy cavalry shock force that fought with devastating impact, a force believed to have a decisive strike capability, specifically against infantry square formations!

“Turn the cannons!” Major Vare waved his arms, attempting a last resistance, “Turn the cannons!”

In fact, the Major didn’t need to give the order; the old artillery sergeant Sutter had immediately shouted for the gunners to turn the cannon muzzles upon discovering the “rebel” heavy cavalry.

However, the eight old-style cannons of the Alliance had no mechanism for turning, and to “turn around” they could only pry the gun carriage inch by inch using long wooden stakes.

The gunners, pressing their shoulders against the stakes, faces flushed crimson, exerted all their strength, yet only moved the cannons millimeter by millimeter.

During the first four charges of the “rebels,” all cannons on the artillery position had been turned to the north — the direction from which the enemy cavalry attacked. Along with them, all musketeers and most halberdiers were concentrated in the Big Square Formation to the north.

When the “rebels” finally revealed their trump card, the southern square formation, which would bear the brunt, didn’t have a single gun or cannon capable of facing the enemy.

Near the broken bridge, the musketeers of the Alliance army, having just retreated from the West Bank, scattered in all directions. The officers of Thunder Group County’s Second Infantry Battalion, recently admonished by Colonel Bod, upon seeing their county’s cavalry attack, also led their men to jump into the river, shouting as they followed the cavalry to assault the East Bank.

And the “rebel” cavalry, who forcefully crossed the riverbend, completely ignored the fleeing musketeers of the Alliance army. The first squad to cross the river sliced through the gap between the Alliance’s left flank and center like a scalpel, lunging towards the artillery position on the earthen mound with ease.

“It’s over.” Major Vare’s rationality mercilessly delivered the verdict.

“It’s broken!” Colonel Sanel’s expression changed, with no trace of his previous composure, he sternly ordered, “Sound the bugle! Get the cavalry mounted!”

And on the rooftop of the church bell tower, Colonel Bod clutched the window frame tightly, eyes unblinking as he stared at the earthen mound across the river.

The piercing bugle calls, flying lead shots, bursts of gunfire, soldiers’ faces twisted in terror… The myriad battle scenes condensed into a tableau, as if a long time had passed, yet it seemed to be just a blink.

When time flowed once more, the Thunder Group County cavalry carrying long spears and donning plate armor crashed into the south side of the artillery position’s square formation.

And at the base of the mound, by the riverbank, the Thunder Group County heavy cavalry, having crossed the river as reinforcements, had already formed a charging formation. Under Captain Luosong’s leadership, they launched the sixth wave of assault on the “pseudo-government army’s” artillery position.

The Alliance army also noticed the fatal gap between their right flank and central forces. The southernmost square formation of the right flank and the central formation supporting the right flank strained to link up with each other, desperately trying to prevent the “rebel” cavalry from piercing through their line a second time.

“Close formation! Push through!” Captain Luosong led the charge, single-handedly guiding the entire charge echelon.

The charge echelon of over one hundred and sixty cavalry, commanded personally by the Captain, tightened their formation while galloping, managing to break through the enemy line again through a gap of less than twenty meters between the two square formations before the enemy could close in.

As the Thunder Group County cavalry brushed past the enemy formations, the long spears in the hands of the “pseudo-government army” soldiers almost scraped their feathers and horse tails.

Shouts to give orders rose one after another, and a plume of smoke billowed from the squares of the Alliance army as musketeers aimed and fired at the “rebel” cavalry speeding through.

The sides were so close that aiming wasn’t necessary. With every shot, a Thunder Group County cavalryman fell from his horse.

All the Thunder Group County cavalrymen leaned low over the horse necks to dodge, which infuriated Captain Luosong.

“Straighten your chests!” Luosong roared like thunder: “Those are bullets! Not dung! Straighten up for me!”

The distance between the riverbank and the dirt mound was less than a mile, arriving in an instant. Having shaken off the interception from the Council army infantry square formation, nothing could obstruct the charge of the Thunder Group County heavy cavalry.

The light cavalry that initiated the charge first already bore the brunt of the enemy’s fiercest fire, and the heavy cavalry units from the previous assault had cleared the battlefield for them.

When they were within less than 150 meters of the enemy’s artillery positions, Luosong leveled his lance.

The signal for the charge was blown immediately, and the Thunder Group County heavy cavalry no longer controlled their pace but mercilessly spurred the warhorses, leveled their lances, and roared as they rushed towards the trembling enemy.

Outside the artillery positions, the ground was littered with fallen warhorses and mutilated corpses, intestines and bones entangled together like snares made of flesh and blood.

Luosong, while trying his best to hold the lance steady, controlled his warhorse with his knees to leap over the corpses.

According to Alliance army standards, the super-long spears distributed to the spearmen in the square formations were five meters long.

But the custom lance in Luosong’s hand was one meter longer than the super-long spears given to infantry.

This meant the lance in his hand was extremely difficult to wield, and Luosong’s legs had to clamp tightly against the horse’s belly just to barely maintain balance;

It also meant his lance would strike the opponent’s chest before their spear tips could pierce his warhorse.

The square formation on the south side of the artillery positions had been ravaged by the Thunder Group County cavalry’s previous charge to the point of near collapse. The originally parallelogram-shaped “hollow square” was being compressed into a triangle amidst continuous retreat.

A cannon at the southwest corner of the positions lay exposed outside the formation, where a blood-covered Council army junior officer was struggling to regroup the soldiers who still held weapons.

Luosong galloped over the cannon and wheels, hesitated for a moment before charging towards that blood-covered junior officer.

Everything happened too quickly, the junior officer had no time to dodge, screamed as he was skewered into the air. Accompanying a crisp snap, Luosong’s lance broke into two.

Meanwhile, other Thunder Group County heavy cavalry reached the enemy.

A Thunder Group County cavalryman impaled an enemy to the ground with his custom lance one moment, and the next, his own warhorse was pierced through by dense spear tips, its body crashing into a group of brown-uniformed soldiers and toppling several spearmen.

Luosong unhesitatingly abandoned the broken lance, drew his saber and charged into the gap in the enemy’s formation. He stepped over two fallen foes, cleaving half of a halberd-bearing soldier’s head with one strike, then leaned forward to pierce another enemy’s chest.

With a “clang,” Luosong’s back received a heavy blow from a hammer. The armor dispersed the force, yet the pain still made Luosong’s breath pause, the huge impact almost knocking him off his saddle.

Luosong’s eyes blazed with fury, swinging his arm round to slash backwards, severing the arm wielding a musket aimed at him.

At that moment, another lead bullet struck Luosong’s faceguard, creating a huge dent in the steel faceguard, a flying shard of metal penetrating Luosong’s left eye.

His vision plunged into darkness, the pain and blood rendered his unharmed right eye unable to see.

He couldn’t locate the enemy or his subordinates, roaring like a beast trapped in a snare, he swung his saber wildly in all directions.

With a piercing sound of metal, Luosong’s saber struck heavily against an iron plate. Without hesitation, he immediately took back his blade to slash again.

He heard a breathless voice from where the saber had fallen: “Senior! It’s me!”

Luosong recognized the voice, forcing himself to open his right eye despite the pain, seeing familiar eyes shrouded beneath a helmet. Turning his head, he saw three Thunder Group County cavalrymen hacking furiously, holding the enemy at bay outside.

Other officers who had charged into the enemy also noticed their captain wounded, desperately closing in on him.

A short melody sounded outside the formation–it’s the retreat signal!

The next wave of attack was about to begin, the Thunder Group County cavalry engaged must quickly yield the battlefield to the next assault units.

With brute strength, Luosong tore the buckle free, wrenched off the helmet already soaked in blood and sweat, covering his left eye, scanning with his right, he pointed his saber towards the enemy’s weak southeastern corner.

“Go!” Luosong shouted through gritted teeth.

At this moment, an invisible string holding a thousand pounds quietly snapped.

The Council army soldiers had reached their limit too; a brown-uniformed soldier dropped his weapon and ran down the mound.

Like a fort constructed from sand ravaged by a storm, the big square formation guarding the southern side of the Grand Council army artillery position collapsed with a roar.