Chapter 479: Ambush In the Middle of the Night
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In the deep darkness of the night, the troops were quickly organized. They were all elites wearing leather armor and holding iron weapons. Most of them were from the Silver Platter Kingdom who became slaves in here. They all harbored deep hatred towards the Dukedom of Leo.
This battle decided their future. If they did not want to die in the fertile fields of the South County, then they needed to unite as one and have a will that was close to death to defeat the enemy. However, the civilians who were held hostage could not do this, only the slaves and serfs who were so lowly could achieve this.
They had nothing to begin with. Even if they fought to the death, they would only die. Compared to the unbearable amount of labor in the fields, fighting to the death and dying gloriously on the battlefield was not necessarily a shortcut.
Dukedom of Leo advocated military force.
Although the Silver Platter Kingdom did not have a tradition of putting military force above everything else, it also encouraged the practice of combat techniques.
Although they had not fight for as long as ten years, many things had increased their hostility. The combat techniques that they used to be familiar with were now even more deadly, this was because they wanted to seek an explanation for their humiliating life as slaves. They were even willing to exchange their lives and use the most brutal methods to kill their enemies.
One had to know that those who were able to survive in this serf life could be considered the most elite. In addition, some of the serfs that were sold here from various countries were also elite warriors that once defeated in the war.
This was also the reason why they were unstoppable in the beginning.
It was truly terrifying!
In the beginning.
The manor owners and village chiefs of the Dukedom of Leo did not care at all.
It was not like the serf rebellion had never happened. There were even a few villages that were occupied together.
But so what?
In the end, they gathered the militia and easily suppressed them!
After summing up their experience, the reason why they were able to rebel was not because of inhuman acts such as bullying, beating, and scolding. It was purely because they looked down on the serfs and allowed them to temporarily obtain freedom. From there, they obtained part of the weapons in the beginning, they had caught the guards of the manor or the militia of the village unprepared, resulting in a collapse.
However, once the militia of other places were organized, together with many private armies belonging to the noble families, they could easily suppress these rebellions. In fact, most of the fight did not last for more than three days.
Although the forces of the Dukedom of Leo were fewer than those of the other kingdoms, they were indeed elites!
Even the militia was the same.
The South County was well-known for its wealth, and even the militia had their own horses.
In other words, their militia was actually equivalent to the light cavalry that only the well-off freemen could arm. In other human countries, they could be used as small troop commanders or cavalry squads.
Compared to the forces of the North County, most of them were mainly infantry, while the South County was mainly cavalry.
It was because they were rich!
They wore iron-scale armor, held a lance and longsword, and had a good horse. They were the militia of the South County.
Their combat strength was strong, and their mobility was strong. They were organized like a light cavalry group, and their combat strength was comparable to the desert bandits. After hard training, perhaps even the desert bandits who were good at scattered guerrilla warfare were not as strong as these militia.
However, it was precisely because of the wealth of the South County that most people valued their lives. Even the militia who were originally in charge of protecting the country lost the initiative in the waves of attacks, and they even fled.
If they did not have a courage to fight, their morale would be completely low!
Hence, these horse militia had not joined the battle yet.
The noble was also very clear.
The combat strength of these militia could only be used to hinder the enemy’s attack speed.
As for the true main force of the battle, they still had to rely on the knight corps. Those true knights, led by the knight attendants, launched a tsunami-like charge, completely crushing the enemy in one wave!
There was also a deeper metaphor.
They could not let the civilians have too much power, which would affect the control of the noble’s power.
...
Just as they were thinking about this, the five knight corps came to the valley of the South County.
They were resting, but they did not know that in the village in the distance, nearly 20,000 infantrymen were gathering, holding long lance and running quickly, ready to launch a direct night attack on them.
For this night attack, the soldiers of the rebellion army did not even use any cavalry.
Everything was for success!
Late at night, the light of the stars and the moon shone on the land of South County.
Groups of infantrymen appeared in the dense forest outside the valley.
In the valley, most of the members of the knight corps were still resting. Only a few dozen people stood at the crucial checkpoint as sentries. However, looking at the weak and exhausted look of them leaning against the tree, one could tell that their minds were not in it.
After traveling for such a long distance, even riding horses was already quite tiring.
Right now, they wished to sleep the most.
However, this was obviously not the case now.
The enemy was in a village not far away. Although based on their experience, they could easily wipe out the rebellion of the serfs. However, these rebellions had swept through so many villages. It had never happened before, and due to the war for the throne being ongoing, they obviously did not dare to let their guard down easily.
However, it did not mean that they would act as sentries with absolute vigilance. After all, they had easily wiped out the small rebel army that they had encountered before. This made them very optimistic, and they even suggested that they take a day off and rest for three days.
Using the reason to quell the rebellion to take a good rest on the second line was undoubtedly the best enjoyment.
At the very least.
The front line still had pressure on the troops of the North County.
After all, although the North County was poor, its people were intrepid. Even if there were fewer cavalries, they could still cause them casualties. If they were to waste their lives there, they might as well temporarily hide in the second line and wait for the final battle!
However, in the middle of the night, not far away from these sentries, in the darkness, many figures appeared.
Bandit elites from the Sarrand Desert went up.
In their hands were not scimitars.
Instead, it was a spearhead that was like a dagger!
Both of their boots were wrapped in a few layers of linen, and they did not make any sound when they walked.
One by one, they slowly went up. Just when these sentries were bored to death and were still dozing off, they suddenly pounced forward and pierced the throats of these sentries with the spearhead. In less than ten minutes, dozens of sentries were all killed. Under the moonlight, there were still hundreds of tents neatly set up in the valley.
These tents represented the number of five knights, close to 5,000 people. However, on both sides of the valley and at the entrances and exits of the valley, there were over 20,000-man rebel army blocking the way.
Furthermore, they were still moving forward step by step, gradually reaching the distance where the infantrymen could charge.