The 32th Festival Battle

Both sides left enough records for the final battle of the Mist Grassland so that future generations could carefully understand the battle that determined the fate of Paro. Of course, from an objective perspective, the decisive posture of the Paro people was extremely unwise. The real key to this war lies in the defensive battle of Derek. When Thomas won the final victory in the battle of defending the city, the direction of the war was actually determined, and the eight pursuit battles that annihilated the main forces of the Paro people were sentenced to the death penalty. Paro's dream of annexing Cassillos was shattered, and the outcome of the Mist Grassland Battle could not change any ending.

But without mentioning the strategic situation, in terms of specific battles, there are still many remarkable points in this final battle. Not only Thomas, but also Paro people.

The commander of the Paro people was Prince Nicholas. According to the detailed records passed down, the prince set up a central assault formation. In order to strengthen the assault power of the central government, the prince placed the elite half-griffon cavalry in the front line of the center, hoping to use the smell of the half-griffon to scare the enemy's war horses and destroy the coalition forces. After the half-griffon cavalry, he was a musket knight who could shoot ten bullets in an instant. The musket knights were followed by the powerful elite knights of the Paro people. After the knights, there were a considerable number of infantry. All these troops were victorious troops from the Wolfkou Castle, with high morale and well-equipped. It can be said that Prince Nicholas concentrated all the elite troops in the center, intending to "cut through" the coalition forces from the front.

The prince arranged the remaining troops with inferior combat effectiveness on both wings. Although there were quite a lot of numbers, most of the troops on both wings were defeated from various places and were formed after reorganization in a short period of time. Whether in terms of morale or equipment, they were a little worse than the central government, and their combat effectiveness was weaker. In addition to musketeers and crossbowers, almost all were mixed teams of swords, shields and halberd soldiers. In addition, since both sides were lightly advanced to fight, and the roads were muddy, neither the artillery nor the catapults joined the battle.

If we put aside the prejudice against Prince Nicholas, just from the formation itself, this formation is not a whim, but a product of careful consideration. First, the Paro army has a certain number advantage, but its strength advantage is still large enough to encircle the enemy from both wings, so the central assault becomes the most reasonable choice. Secondly, the Paro people have elite semi-griffin cavalry, whose smell can scare the war horses, and it is likely to have unexpected effects. In addition, the battlefield is a plain grassland with a wide battlefield, which is very suitable for large army development. Any deceitful strategies such as ambush and detour that require terrain coordination cannot be implemented. Both sides can only rely on the arrangement of troops to fight head-on.

It should be said that Nicholas did not make any mistakes, and everything was thorough and reasonable. If he changed his opponent, the prince might be able to win this victory. Unfortunately, his opponent was Thomas, the famous general among the famous generals, and the undisputed greatest general of the contemporary era.

Thomas's formation in this battle was recognized as a genius by later generations. He did not set up a half-moon formation specifically against the Yanxing Formation. Instead, he placed all the elite knights on both wings, archers and militias - those who are usually considered cannon fodder and flesh shields - in the center. In the front line arrangement, the two wings protrude, and the weird formation retracted in the center - was exactly the opposite of the Yanxing Formation. This completely violated the normal principle of military use. Strengthening the two wings is to encircle the enemy, but the problem is that Thomas, who is at a disadvantage in the army, has no capital to encircle.

In order to prevent the militia from storming the enemy, Thomas ordered some knights to dismount and mix with the militia (many relevant records describe in detail how much resistance this measure would face. The knights were reluctant to do so. No one was willing to fight with those lowly militias, but under the strict order of the commander, they were still forced to obey).

In addition, as a habitual measure, the archers inserted wooden stakes on the front line as usual (this is a traditional and effective practice in the Stichia region. The archers carried iron-pointed wooden stakes and inserted them in front of them during battles. This practice can protect the archers from retreating when they encounter cavalry charges. Paro gave up this practice because he accepted the military tradition of the seven central countries). However, under the cover of the flags and military lines, Thomas secretly ordered the second row of horses to be inserted behind the army.

The formation of both sides was completed almost at the same time. Then, according to convention, the commanders of the two armies rode their horses back and forth in front of their own troops, delivered speeches to boost morale and remind the soldiers to fight for their lives, for honor, for the motherland, and for hatred...

——Excerpt from "History of the Stigia War"

"...You see these Paro people, they invaded your homeland! They burned your city, your dwellings, robbed your property, and killed your wives and children! Now they are in front of you! Knights, hold your weapons tightly and drive your war horses! Today, we will wash away all shame! As long as we rely on courage to recover the land that the enemy has taken from us and take back the property of our ancestors, we will receive enough compensation. Today, the anger of revenge is burning in our hearts, and all I see are all warriors with strong fighting spirit and full spirit. We will rush towards the enemy, and we will surely win!"

"Because the Paro people before you are a group of enemies who are useless except in number. How can they compare to our heroic knights? They turned against the real gods and worshiped those false gods who were maintained by money and idols! Their knights had long forgotten their courage and dared to take muskets and shoot from safe positions. Their infantry immediately turned around and fled when they saw the charge of the war horses. Their generals would only sneak into some conspiracies and tricks, and would immediately leave their troops and run away alone if the situation was unfavorable!"

"Knights, I hope you will be like thunder, wind and lightning! Now, draw out your sword and raise your spear! With your spear and sword, I will defeat those timid enemies! Clear them out of our land completely!"

After saying all this, Ashu Rufate rode back to his command position. He didn't know what kind of speech Thomas would give. He thought secretly. The main force of the army is the Casilos. If you want to increase your morale, you must repeatedly stimulate the Casilos Knights' revenge mentality.

Now, the commanders returned to their positions. This land destined to be a bloody slaughterhouse is already filled with bloodthirsty passion. Even the wind seemed to feel this. A whirlwind blew across the grassland, rolling up a small amount of fragments and hovering above the two armies.

The magic wind began to flow, and Ashu Rufate knew that this was the enemy's mage ready to cast spells. This was also an additional advantage for the Paro people. In order to heal the wounded, Feier could not play. However, Ashu Rufate had been prepared for a long time. He picked up the magic-breaking scroll that had been prepared long ago without hesitation and released the power of the scroll directly.

These scrolls are the previous spoils, and in fact they are all high-quality products given to the Paro people by the True God Church. The Demon-Destroying Scroll immediately played a role, and the magic wind suddenly became sparse here. Regardless of the magicians in the Paro army wanted to use before, they have now become in vain because they cannot guide energy from the thinning magic wind. At least they can't do anything before the Demon-Destroying Scroll's effect disappears.

The war drums sounded, the horns sounded, and the battle began. A total of nearly 60,000 troops on both sides began to advance to each other. The sun was hidden at some point, and the spear and sword blades were shining with a dull cold light. Due to the dew in the morning, the horns sounded particularly low and desperate. The heaven and earth were filled with a solemn atmosphere that criticized people's muscles and bones.

While the half-griffon cavalry of Paro's army began to advance from the center, the two-wing knights of the coalition forces also began to accelerate their war horses. Ashurufate placed all the elites on both wings, especially on the left wing. The brave knights instigated their loyal mounts to move forward and rushed through the fields to destroy the enemy they gave them. The flying horse hooves smashed the remaining snow, and the loud sound of the horse hooves seemed to roar from the sky.

The knights arranged into a cavalry formation, which would be the most powerful knight charge that this land has ever witnessed. The knights braved the bullets and bows and arrows all over the sky and rushed straight to the enemy formation with an unrivalled momentum. They rushed into the long-range Paro army troops who wanted to retreat but had no time to retreat. In an instant, countless human bodies were hit by war horses, and they fell backwards, and then trampled by the ruthless horse hooves. More people didn't even have the chance to shout, and were directly pierced by the cavalry and died.

This terrible round of attack shocked the Paro infantry who had not yet entered the battle in the rear. They did not even take advantage of the opportunity of the horses stopping to rush up to fight. By the time their officers came to their senses and wanted to make up for this mistake, it was too late. The long-range troops had collapsed under this fierce attack. The remaining musketeers and crossbowmen threw down their weapons and fled backwards, and behind them, the knights had begun to re-form.

Paro's officer made the right choice at this time. He did not order the formation to allow the defeated his own troops to pass, but ordered the soldiers to cut down and kill all those who dared to rush to the position. This action temporarily saved the right wing of the Paro people, so that they did not immediately collapse due to the impact of the defeated soldiers. However, the knights had an overwhelming advantage in tactics, technology and equipment. Although the Paro people tried their best to resist, under the storm of attacks of the knights, their front line was in danger.

On the right wing, similar things happened. Under the charge of the coalition knights with red eyes, the long-range troops were quickly defeated. However, the number of knights here is not as large as the left wing, and the knights and Paro's infantry were entangled, killing them hard to distinguish.

However, in the center, the situation was completely reversed. In the face of the terrifying charge of the half-griff cavalry, although there were pedestrian knights to supervise the battle, the archers still shot only two rounds of arrows and retreated in a hurry. If it weren't for the refusal to temporarily block the half-griff, the archers would have to repeat the mistakes of the enemy's long-range troops. The half-griff was forced to stop and remove the wooden stakes, which allowed the archers to retreat smoothly from the middle of the militia queue and to the rear of the entire position.

Now, it is the militia's turn to face the main force of Paro's army.

Although the half-griff cavalry did not achieve the goal of frightening the enemy's war horses, these cavalry themselves still have strong combat power. The half-griff's life is far greater than that of the war horses. Each of them is covered with arrows but still does not fall. Instead, they continue to roar and rush towards the militia formation.

Usually, such a terrifying scene was enough to make the low-spirited militia flee without fighting. But this time, they did not collapse because their commander stood on the front line, holding a giant sword in his hand, and standing side by side with them.

"Raise the spear!" Ash Rufate shouted loudly, all the militia held the spear tightly, leaned against the ground in the back section, and stepped on it with their feet, aiming the tip of the gun at the half-griff that was pounced on.

In the distant enemy position, a young general wearing gorgeous armor and purple robe was looking at the battle situation in the distance. He was the commander of the Paro army and the prince of Paro. But when he watched his half-griffon cavalry rush into the enemy formation and show his might, he couldn't help but smile. But his smile did not last long. After all, the number of half-griffons was too small, and the enemy did not flee because of horror. In such a continuous melee, the advantage in quantity was decisive. No matter how brave and tenacious the half-griffon cavalry was, he still defeated one by one under the attack of spears and swords from all directions.

It's long to say, in fact, there is no time between the first half griffin falling down to the last half griffin being killed.

Without even a breath of time, Paro's musket cavalry had already rushed to the front of the militia formation and picked up the continuous muskets in his hand.
Chapter completed!