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Chapter 348: Scattered Blood


When later generations of people who study the history of military warfare look back on the most important war history of this era, almost all military historians agree that the most important battle in the Battle of Osgilia during the civil war of the Byzantine Empire was definitely the assault battle of the Rhodrian cavalry regiment into the city.

After restoring the entire process of this extremely tragic assault battle in countless studies and descriptions by later generations, there is hardly anyone who is not shocked by the desperate spirit that erupted from the Rhodria cavalry regiment.

Although in this process, some people occasionally raise some questions about the details, such as the most prominent question is whether it is worth the huge sacrifice brought by letting an army as important as the cornerstone of the imperial army, at the risk of annihilation of the entire army, with less than 10,000 lone troops or even tired soldiers, surprise the enemy army several times or even more than ten times their own just to escort their crown prince into the city to inherit the throne.

Some even think that although the courage of the Rhodría cavalry is admirable, it should be a senseless sacrifice and not worth advocating.

Or, there are a number of military enthusiasts who make assumptions about whether there was a chance to avoid the rebel brigade, or to put it bluntly, the Armenian rebel army, if the Rhodrian cavalry had not been a frontal assault, but had turned around in a roundabout Or, of course, there are many dangers on land, but if you can choose to take the sea route, there are still Lantis' allies on the sea route In short, such a sacrifice is certainly courageous, but it is not a bit foolish and loyal What is unexpected is that among all the questions raised by all the scholars, the first person to stand up for the honor of Rodria is a person that no one expected.

Reinhardt, who later became an important member of the military group under King Char, was later called "Lion's Heart" by later generations because of his outstanding exploits and outstanding military talents.

But when some people questioned the role of the Rhodrian cavalry in that battle, it was this Reinhardt who was the first to stand up for the honor of the Rhodrian cavalry and refute others.

A few years later, when Reinhardt retired as professor of war history at the Imperial Academy, he wrote an essay entitled Memories of the Great Patriotic War I Experienced, Afterglow of Rodria in which he wrote: "Perhaps, after looking through countless maps, consulting countless materials, and then spending countless hours and making countless assumptions, perhaps, in such a situation, many people can devise more and better routes of march, and even many different tactics, in order to avoid the greatest casualties, and use all kinds of clever ways to make the march route as far as possible to avoid the main force of the rebels, but I think these are.

Yes, gentlemen, this is.

Because at that time, knowing that His Majesty Kantos was dying, we had to send the crown prince into the city in the shortest and quickest possible time.

Therefore, the honorable General Ruhr did not have countless time to look through countless maps and consult countless materials, and at that time, he was only left with that short period of less than an hour, and in this hourly time, a decision related to the life and death of the empire had to be made You must understand that at that time we were stationed about thirty miles northwest of Osgilia, and the city of Osgilia was full of rebels, and our troops were weak, and even our scouts had a radius of less than five miles, and we did not have the eye of the sky, so it was impossible for us to know all the details of the entire battlefield like the scholars who studied the history of the war later.

You know all the armies of the rebels, the distribution of the forces in each barracks, and the strength of each line of defense, but at that time, we did not know that And you can come up with all sorts of assumptions.

But at that time, for us we didn't have a choice, we had to succeed once, we couldn't fail Therefore, General Ruhr chose the safest and most sacrificial method: to force the way to push through with force, with the ability of the Rhodrian cavalry to dominate the world, and to rush directly at the shortest marching route in a straight line.

As for the assumption of entering the city from the sea route, such a point of view, I prefer to call it a romantic fantasy.

Gentlemen, please remember that the Rhodría Cavalry Corps, we did not have ships in our logistical equipment, and at that time, the coastal docks outside the city of Osgilia were almost occupied by the rebels, so let's attack a certain dock first to take the ships, which is even more risky As for the statement of contacting the Lantis navy, not to mention whether it could be contacted in an emergency situation at that time, even if it could, for political reasons, it was impossible for us to hand over the crown prince to the Landisians, although we were allies at that time, but in the face of national interests, No covenant can be trusted."

This article written by Reinhardt was included in the documents of the War History Collection of the Imperial Academy.

At that time, the heaviest loss of the Rhodrian cavalry was the second flag regiment, the flag regiment of more than 2,000 cavalry, with great courage and strong combat effectiveness, after crushing an Armenian cavalry regiment, and then forcibly attacking the Armenian main infantry corps, facing the enemy heavy infantry formation ten times their own, but they were able to force the enemy to retreat, on the verge of collapse Although the whole army was finally wiped out, but according to the statistics afterwards, more than 2,000 Rodria cavalry, However, at least 6,000 rebel infantry were killed and wounded, plus the cavalry regiment of the rebel army that had been defeated before, the total number was close to 10,000 The study of the war of the Rhodría cavalry assault is still ongoing, and some people have even studied the route of the Rhodría cavalry march and the distribution of troops at that time: the second flag regiment fought first, the first flag regiment followed, and then the third flag regiment guarded the crown prince, and the fourth flag regiment was broken.

But it was later found out that the military order of General Ruhr at that time was "the second flag regiment to open the way, and in case of setbacks, the two wings can be spread out, and the heavy armored cavalry of the first banner regiment can break the formation." ” However, at that time, when the Second Banner Regiment was defeated in the face of the dense and thick array of the main infantry corps of the Armenian rebels, it did not carry out this order, or rather, the flag officer of the Second Banner Regiment who died in the battle did not carry out this order, but only ordered the troops to move forward.

There is also a lot of debate about this detail.

The most dominant view is that the commander's blind advance is too reckless, and if the flanks are scattered after the setback, and the space is made to attack the Armenian infantry line array with the heavy cavalry of the First Banner Regiment coming later, perhaps the effect will be better, and perhaps, the Second Banner Regiment will not be completely annihilated.

Although with 2,000 light cavalry, more than 20,000 rebel heavy infantry retreated and almost collapsed, such combat effectiveness is indeed amazing, but such losses can be avoided.

In response to this question, it was a general under Hughes, the governor of the Armenian rebels, who later defected to the empire before the fall of the Armenian rebel group, and was later tried by a military tribunal, and was spared death for his defection and exiled to Sicilia for fifteen years, and then pardoned for 15 years in Sicilia after being pardoned by the emperor at the time of his wedding.

After returning home, the rebel general worked as a supernumerary researcher in the history of war at the Military Academy, writing an article entitled The Heavy Rain I Witnessed.

In the article, he wrote: "I felt a deep sense of shame as a commander and general as I watched two thousand light cavalry force my heavy infantry phalanx backwards.

The Second Banner Regiment is the most courageous and courageous army I have ever seen in my life.

One might think that it would be unwise to charge a phalanx of heavy infantry ten times his own with 2,000 light cavalry, and perhaps spread out on both wings to wait for the subsequent heavy cavalry, but at that time, in my opinion, the second banner regiment was the wisest one.

The terrain consisted of a muddy and semi-dry river beach on the left, a hillside on the right, and the road in the middle was only 50 meters wide.

There are more than 20,000 Armenian heavy infantry, all of which are equipped with the world-famous Armenian elite armor weapons.

In a small terrain, 20,000 heavy infantry, once formed into a dense and thick array, was enough to withstand the onslaught of cavalry.

At that time, the impact of the 2nd Banner Regiment of Rodria was able to push the Armenian infantry back and forth, in addition to their courage and combat effectiveness, and more importantly, our infantry had not yet been able to completely form an array When the news of the destruction of the vanguard cavalry regiment was received, the whole army was shaken and the morale of the army was unstable.

In the hurry, although the array was barely formed, it was too heavy It can be said that if the Second Banner Regiment does not attack immediately, it will leave us plenty of time to rectify the phalanx, and once we are given time to complete the array, then even if the heavy cavalry of the First Banner Regiment of Rodria arrives, it may not be able to defeat us head-on, but the losses will be greater The Second Banner Regiment's approach was not unwise, but his own sacrifice in exchange for the most precious fighter plane, I respect the flag officer of the Second Banner Regiment, I think he is an excellent commander, he must have been keenly aware of the fighter, if he had ordered the attack to be postponed and waited for the heavy cavalry to arrive, then it would have given me precious time to reorganize the army, but he did not, he immediately gave the order to charge with almost mortal determination, such an order, I did not have enough time to calmly set up under the continuous onslaught of the cavalry of the Second Banner Regiment, and although it did not really defeat us, it had already made our infantry fearless.

And the arrival of the heavy cavalry of the First Banner Regiment made this battle end quickly Suffice it to say that if the commander of the 2nd Banner Regiment had not given the order to charge immediately, then even if the Rodria cavalry had been able to crush my troops, the losses and costs would have increased by at least fifty percent.

To this day, I still regret it deeply.

Just like the emotion I made on the battlefield at that time: such an iron army, unable to open up territory for the empire, but died in the civil war, it can be said that this is the sin of our people, and it is also the misfortune of our birth. ” This is an assessment from the "enemy general".

Unfortunately, this article, due to the identity of the author, was not included in the war history document of the Imperial Affairs Academy, but was only circulated in private.

The pouring rain continued, as if it had leaked, and a dense curtain of rain poured down from the sky, mixed with the thick and inky black clouds, and the lightning that flowed from time to time.

The killing of this night seems to have turned the rain crimson.

What a rain of blood Hughes's whole body was already soaked, and the raindrops hit his armor with a crackling sound.

The Governor of Armenia, his face was full of exhaustion and panic, his expression was like that of a frightened beast, the rain had washed away the blood from his armor, but his hair was still sticking to his forehead, tufted and drooping on his eyelids.

Hughes's hand was pressed on his waist, but unfortunately there was only a scabbard hanging from his waist, and the original sharp long sword was no longer lost.

The leather boots under his feet were stained with red mud yes, mud, red The rain seemed to hit Hughes so that he couldn't even straighten his waist, and he bent his waist like a frail old man, and there was no trace of vitality in his sackcloth eyes.

"Adult, front, front" A voice came from the side, and then a barely steady hand held Hughes, and pointed to the front of the rain curtain, and beside the path, there was a small patch of dilapidated houses.

The embarrassed soldiers around him had already run over, and someone kicked open the door and rushed in.

Some of these soldiers also had horses, and some could only run on two legs.

Only at this moment, it seemed that everyone had forgotten the difference between dignity and inferiority, and it seemed that everyone was fleeing for their lives in a hurry, and no one paid attention to the honorable Governor Hughes anymore.

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Hughes was surrounded by only a few of his guards, and a general wearing hill armor.

When everyone helped Hughes into the house, the defeated rebels around him only looked at him with numb eyes, but the general suddenly puffed up his breath and shouted: "Lord Governor is here, are you all blind to make two people angry?"

As he walked over and scolded a few times, these numb soldiers, their eyes showed some vitality again, and gradually gathered together, and under the assignment of this general, they scattered to work.

The fire soon lit up, and there was finally a little more heat in the damp and cold room.

This may be a small abandoned inn that was originally located on various roads outside the city of Osgilia, and there are not many such inns.

However, after the outbreak of the war, most of the residents fled the area, leaving only empty and dilapidated houses.

One of the soldiers took off his helmet, picked up some rain outside, and set it on fire.

Hughes sat at the fire, as if he hadn't come to his senses.

The general beside him sensed the Governor's body, as if he was shivering, not cold, but fear, despair, which did not seem to have dissipated The general sighed softly, slapped Hughes hard, blocked him with his body, and whispered in Hughes's ear: "Lord Governor, please cheer up the soldiers, they are all watching you" This sentence was said twice in a row, and Hughes's eyes finally regained a little vitality, he raised his head, looked at the general beside him, and suddenly grinned at the corner of his mouth, revealing a miserable smile: "Soldiers, where are my soldiers, my tens of thousands of male soldiers are gone, no."

No, no, no Nope Less than an hour ago, Hughes seemed to have just experienced the worst nightmare of his life The forward cavalry regiment was routed, and more than 2,000 Rodria light cavalry almost chased after the butt and killed.

His more than 20,000 armored infantry hastily set up a formation and stopped in the middle of the road, and a tragic battle was fought.

The 2,000 Rodria light cavalry fought his two foreign heavy infantry and retreated, and was on the verge of collapse for a time But in the end, relying on the overwhelming superiority of his own troops, the two thousand Rodria cavalry, at the end of the crossbow, finally failed to cut through his own infantry thick formation.

However, the courage and sworn momentum of these Rhodrian cavalry have already made their entire army fearless Immediately, when another wave of Rhodría's cavalry arrived, the situation took on a one-sided situation.

Originally, his array defense line was already crumbling, but what came immediately was the heavy cavalry regiment with the strongest combat effectiveness among the Rhodrian cavalry The first wave of impact, directly tore out a huge hole in their own defense line, as the gap that was broken through became bigger and bigger, he even filled in the warlord's team, but he couldn't fill the gap, once defeated, the whole army collapsed, and the impact of the heavy cavalry smashed several defense lines in an instant His own infantry finally collapsed completely, and countless people lost their weapons like crazy and scattered backwards, while the Rhodría heavy cavalry drove straight into it and couldn't stop it, and couldn't stop it at all At the most dangerous time, the Rhodrian cavalry had almost rushed under Hughes's nose, but fortunately, the hundred and ten iron guards around him swore to block it, and the rest of the people had already set up the completely collapsed Hughes and ran all the way.

Hughes and his guards all had war horses, and once they ran, they naturally ran faster than the defeated infantry under them.

And Rhoderia's heavy cavalry wanted to rush and kill the rout, and the speed of the heavy cavalry was not too fast, which gave Hughes a chance to escape.

And what happened next made Hughes almost unable to cry.

He fled with his men all the way, and ran halfway through, where he met two reserve cavalry regiments under his command that had arrived belatedly, because the order to march tonight was too hasty, and these two cavalry needed to be reorganized before they could advance, but instead fell behind the rear of the large army.

After joining up with the cavalry, Hughes regained a little courage, but at this time, Hughes had completely lost his mind, he went crazy, and made a huge mistake, just like a gambler who had lost his red eye, in a hurry to turn the tables, he had completely lost his reason He went crazy and ordered, and the thousands of cavalry around him immediately went forward to counterattack Hughes In his crazy consciousness, he thought that the Rhodria cavalry could crush his infantry corps, which was already the end of the crossbow, and now he had two new cavalry in his hands, and if he fought back, he could turn defeat into victory.

As a result, he did not listen to the dissuasion of the people around him, and after forcibly ordering a counterattack, he suffered an even more severe rout When the cavalry rushed forward, they did not immediately encounter the heavy cavalry of Rodria, but they were confronted with a large number of their own defeated infantry The defeated infantry had lost all their fear, abandoned their armor and fled like madness, and in the distance there was the call of Rhodría's charge.

All of them have lost their minds at this moment, and the only thought in everyone's heart is: escape As a result, these frenzied routs swooped down on them, but instead scattered the Armenian cavalry array The ranks were scattered by their own men, and at first the cavalry tried to shout for rectification, but later it was found that the routs did not listen to the orders at all, and then after the charge of Rhodria in the distance came, the Armenian cavalry commander had no choice but to make one decision: he ordered his cavalry to wield butcher knives and clear the road When the cavalry, in desperation, raised their sabers towards their own rout, the scene fell into even more chaos.

The Rhodrian cavalry immediately slew up, but the Armenian cavalry fell into the chaos of their own troops, and was completely collapsed by a charge of Rhodría's cavalry Hughes completely collapsed, he had gambled on the last cavalry, but he didn't expect it to rout so quickly.

Fortunately, the generals and subordinates around him saw the opportunity quickly, and forcibly surrounded Hughes, who had gone crazy, and fled quickly.

And there are many smart people among these subordinates around him, seeing that Rhoderia's cavalry is galloping along the main road all the way, he quickly wrapped Hughes, left the main road, and fled towards the path in the wilderness Sure enough, the Rhodrian cavalry did not seem to have the intention of dividing their troops to pursue at all, but the brigade went all the way along the road in the direction of Osgilia.

At this moment, sitting in the abandoned house by the side of the path, Hughes was already wrapped in a blanket that his guards had turned out of the house, this blanket was already a little moldy, and there was an indescribable stench, but Hughes was wrapped in it, sitting by the fire and shivering.

Finally, the water in the helmet on fire boiled, and one of the guards held Hughes in front of him: "My lord, drink some hot water."

Hughes raised his head blankly, took it blankly, drank two sips in a daze, he didn't seem to feel hot anymore, and after swallowing two mouthfuls of hot water in a row, the rebel governor suddenly stiffened his neck burst When he opened his mouth, a mouthful of bright red liquid squirted out directly, and the speckled blood stains on the helmet in his hand were sprinkled on the water in the helmet, and gradually dispersed.

Hughes vomited blood, as if to dispel the depressed breath in his heart a little, and finally there was some brilliance in his eyes, and he suddenly loosened his hand, and his helmet fell to the ground.

The "noble governor" cried loudly: "My army, my army" Tonight, in order to seize the opportunity, Hughes rushed to advance the army, a cavalry flag regiment was the first to rout, and then an infantry regiment of 20,000 troops was completely defeated head-on, and then the two cavalry banner regiments that came after were also destroyed, just in this way, his loss was close to 30,000 horses And the troops that came later, without their own command, plus those defeated armies all the way, they were afraid that they would also be coerced and defeated, and the Rodrians did not even need to wield their weapons, as long as they rode all the way to drive them, just like driving a flock of sheep Under his own painstaking consideration, the Armenian family that he managed, tens of thousands of soldiers, were equipped with the best weapons and armor, and most of them were lost in such a sudden Let Hughes how not to vomit blood "Adult, Adult" The general beside him pressed Hughes hard, and said loudly: "The army is gone, we can recruit again, the weapons are gone, we can build Armenia again, as long as we still have territory, mines, and population, we won't be able to pull an army, but if you fall, sir, let's go where will we go?"

After shaking it a few times in a row, Hughes gradually stopped crying He was originally a masterpiece of a generation, but he suddenly encountered such a miserable whiteness, and it was inevitable that he would be in turmoil, and after gradually calming down, he finally regained his sanity little by little.

Looking up at the general beside him, Hughes took a breath.

He was silent for a while, and then replied in a calm voice: "Send out all my guards, everyone has flags, and along the surrounding wilderness paths to collect the rout, and how many cavalry do we have?"

"There are less than a hundred around."

The general smiled wryly.

"I'll leave it all to you" Hughes gritted his teeth: "These cavalry are for you, you take them, go along the main road, I think the Rhodrians have already gone towards Osgilia, you go now, you shouldn't meet them, you go along the main road to collect our defeated army, and then, bring them all here to gather." ” Seeing that the Governor finally had a little cheer up, the people around him finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The general hesitated: "My lord's men have all been sent to me to take away, you are here, you must leave some people to protect" "Protection" Hughes suddenly smiled miserably: "I've reached such a point now, what else is there to protect, if you can't gather our men and horses back, Lao Tzu is a dead end even if he is alive, there is an army, we have a way to live, remember, go quickly" After all his men were ordered, there were less than twenty wounded soldiers in the dilapidated house, but Hughes had already gotten up and stood at the door, and the door opened, and the wind outside poured in one after another.

Between heaven and earth, the thick rain curtain has been a little thinner, as if after more than an hour of pouring, this heavy rain has finally slowed down, but as far as the eye can see, it is all muddy, and many places, even turned into swamps Hughes suddenly his eyes lit up and looked into the distance In the distance, in the direction of Osgilia, I saw that in the distance of the horizon, a piece of fire rushed to the sky, although it was far away from here, and it was too clear to see, but that piece of fire, in this dark night, was very eye-catching Hughes slammed his fist on the door panel and sighed: "Those Rhodrian cavalry are already attacking our coalition camp, alas, I am careless, since I can learn of the death of the old emperor, those Rhodrian cavalry seem to know it, they are so desperate to rush to Osgilia, I think it is to protect the crown prince into the city to inherit the throne, I miscalculated one step, just one step" Indeed, if Hughes did not urge the army to attack the Rhodrian cavalry tonight, but calmly arranged the army on the road leading to Osgilia, ambushed and ambushed, Hughes smiled miserably, but suddenly looked at the sky, the thick dark clouds gradually stopped with the heavy rain, and began to disperse a little, but in the distance, there was a faint rumbling thunder.

"God" Hughes sighed, and leaned on the door panel dejectedly: "Could it be that you are still protecting this ancient empire, and you are still protecting Byzantium."

The firelight in the distance reflected half of the night sky, although it was far away, and there was no sound of fighting, but thinking of the fierce battle tonight, it was completely possible to imagine what a tragic battle was being experienced at this moment in the rebel joint defense line outside the city of Osgilia Those Rhodría madmen will not stop attacking the rebels' joint defense line, they will not stop, even if only the last person is dead, they will not stop.

No That night, the Rhodrian cavalry with less than 8,000 remnants, in the face of more than 200,000 rebel joint battalions launched a sworn attack, the rebels were caught off guard, hastily arranged the defensive line, the Rhodrian cavalry swore to kill, charged 11 times in a row, in the fierce battle of the rebel army, killed 14 senior generals below the governor of the Carthaginian military region of the rebel group, 33 intermediate generals below the flag regiment level, and killed and wounded nearly 30,000 rebels.

The whole army of the 13th Corps of the Empire was fearless to death, and the rebels were finally terrified and had to break through.

Rodria entered the city with the whole army, and the corps general Ruhr was seriously wounded in seven places, and all the generals under his command were killed, and there were less than 600 cavalry left in the whole army, most of whom were seriously wounded.

On the same night, the Imperial Kantos the Great died of illness, and the crown prince Garcia was crowned and succeeded to the throne, and ordered Ruhr to be appointed as the Imperial Vice-Chancellor, but Ruhl refused on the grounds of serious injury, and at the coronation ceremony, the Imperial General cried after the ceremony: "The loyalty of Rodria and the Empire has been revealed with blood today, and Your Majesty must not forget this day."

With that, the general vomited blood and fell unconscious in the main hall of the coronation.

Unlike the coronation ceremony in the city, which was dyed with thick blood but known to the whole world, thirty miles northwest of the city, at the same time that night, a partial division, with a total number of less than 4,000 troops, and all the horses were weak horses, stood still in the rain until the dawn of the day.

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The four thousand soldiers took off the Rhoderia uniform, which symbolized glory, and looked north under the leadership of a young officer.

"After this day, there will be no more Rodria." ` To be continued 〗Hanyu Pinyin "" is simple and easy to remember: