Chapter 95: Snapping the Scourge

“The Scourge of God is here!”

“It’s the blood twin-headed eagle!”

A furious storm was brewing in Milan.

Commanders roared at the top of their lungs as they kicked their soldiers to get in place.

Clergymen walked among the soldiers to spray holy water and pray for them.

Fanatics shouted ‘We shall ascend to heaven’ as they donned their armor, looking as if they couldn’t wait to charge into the battlefield to pit their lives against their enemies.

Panicked mercenaries kissed their charms and drew a cross in front of them, praying to the Lord to protect them.

The Church had announced that this was the ultimate battle to decide the world’s fate, the final test the Lord was giving to all his believers.

While the troops were preparing for war, the Duke of Milan crouched on the city wall, staring at the approaching army in disbelief. He struggled to come to terms with the situation.

“How did the Scourge of God get here?! Venezia-Giulia is right in front of us, but I didn’t hear news of them being taken down! The direction which the Scourge of God is attacking from isn’t correct either,” he murmured.

“Could he have crossed the Alps?” someone beside him suggested.

The Duke of Milan looked over and saw a familiar face. He greeted with a bow, “Regent.”

It was England’s regent.

England’s king had been having psychotic episodes, which stoked the regent’s ambitions to take his place, but he faced vehement oppositions from the nobles and the officials. Thus, he thought of voluntarily participating in the Holy War to raise his prestige.

However, England’s regent was vehemently opposed to fighting alongside the French due to their ‘friendly ties’, so he brought his army to Milan instead.

“Given the direction he’s coming from, the Scourge of God likely traveled across the Alps,” England’s regent said with a nod.

“In this season?” The Duke of Milan’s head was ringing. “Isn’t he afraid of him and his men dying in the snowstorm?!”

Mountainous paths were uncrossable during snowstorms. There had been a famous Carthaginian general named Hannibal who tried to cross a mountain during a snowstorm. He lost half of his troops and all of his horses and war elephants.

Cavalrymen were feared for their mobility and charging prowess, and all of that was built on them being mounted. Should they lose their steeds...

Didn’t the previous Scourge of God, Attila, lose because of that?

The Duke of Milan suddenly began trembling in excitement.

Does this mean that we have a chance?

“Duke.” England’s regent saw through the Duke of Milan’s thoughts and nodded with a smile.

“Prepare for battle! There’s no way our army of 60,000 will lose to the Scourge of God!”

Granted quite a portion of these 60,000 soldiers were extras to pad the number, it was still a formidable force. Should they win this battle, it would become something for them to brag about for the rest of their life.

It didn’t take long for them to mobilize the army.

The soldiers roared chants like ‘Glory to our Lord’, ‘Our Lord will protect us’ as they got into formation under their commanders’ instructions.

They weren’t fools.

Having heard about the terrors of the Scourge of God, they constructed fences and ditches to halt the cavalrymen’s charge. Behind the ditches was a formation comprising elite Milanese footsoldiers and heavy infantrymen, followed by thousands of archers and crossbowmen.

To deal with Shu Yichao, they even prepared a huge number of ballistae and cannons.

The heavy cavalrymen were not positioned in the flanks but at the back of the formation. They were the aces who would only strike when the Scourge of God displayed signs of defeat.

The earth shook. The soldiers watched nervously as the enemies approached amidst a massive cloud of dust. What they saw bewildered them.

“What’s that?!” the Duke of Milan exclaimed.

The cavalrymen were completely covered in metal, not just the rider but even the steed too!

“Is it the Cataphracts?”

Even when it was at its peak, the Eastern Romain Empire had only been able to maintain an army of five hundred Cataphracts. Yet, with a rough glance, they could spot at least 2000 heavy cavalrymen before them here!

“You don’t need to aim precisely!” England’s regent roared with bloodshot eyes. “Just the rough area is enough!”

“But regent,” the cannoneer leader widened his eyes in disbelief, “those are all our people...”

“I’m telling you to fire!” England’s regent glared at him like a ravenous wolf who hadn’t eaten for days. “Are you questioning my orders now?”

The cannoneer leader gritted his teeth. “Prepare to fire!”

The cannons and ballistae were turned to aim at Shu Yichao’s general direction.

“Fire!”

They had no other choice. Allowing that monster to barge into their military formation was as good as letting a tiger sneak into a field of sheeps; who knew how many people would die with each passing second?

Bam!

The cannons were simultaneously fired.

The earth shook. Smoke burst forth. Wails of misery ensued. Countless soldiers died under the orders of their commander.

However, England’s regent wasn’t bothered by that. He was only concerned about one thing.

He stared at the smoke-shrouded battlefield with a bated breath...

Is the Scourge of God... dead?

Wait, why do I have to care whether he’s dead or not?

While awaiting the result of the bombardment, an idea suddenly popped into his head.

As long as I declare the Scourge of God dead, who will care whether he’s really dead or not? They can’t see him anyway!

Thus, he anxiously turned to the cannoneer leader and shouted, “Quick, declare that the Scourge of God is dead!

“Ah?” The cannoneer leader failed to catch his drift. “But we haven’t confirmed it yet, right?”

“Do as I say!” England’s regent ordered.

Thus, the soldiers started roaring, “The Scourge of God is dead! The Scourge of God is dead!”

Those words were echoed by those who heard them, allowing the news to swiftly spread across the battlefield.

Some of the soldiers were baffled. Some found it hard to believe. Some cheered with sheer joy. Some were so moved that they kneeled down and kissed their charms.

“We have won!”

“My Lord, we have cleared your trial!”

The Crusade celebrated their victory.

Good!

England’s regent clenched his fist.

The news that their commander is dead will send the Khitan soldiers into disarray. They can’t see the blood twin-headed eagle flag due to the lingering smoke. We can exploit this chaos to chase the Khitan soldiers away.

And without the support of his troops, the Scourge of God is as good as dead!

—

Starve’s Trivia:

Scourge historically refers to a whip, which is why there’s all the saying about ‘snapping the scourge’.

England’s king was Henry VI at that time. Shortly after the last battle of the Hundred Years War (the Battle of Castillon), he suffered a mental breakdown and became completely unresponsive for a year.

The regent mentioned here is the Duke of York.

There was quite a lot of political intrigue during this period of time.