Chapter 1011 - 234: Victory Within Reach

Chapter 1011: Chapter 234: Victory Within Reach

"Stay alert!"

The disciplined cavalry of the Undead Army pulled down their chain armor face masks, picked up lances over three meters long, as attendants handed them wolf fang clubs, armor-piercing spikes, and long-handled axes as secondary weapons, which they hung on their saddles.

The Franks were well-armored; traditional Saracen straight swords and Turkic scimitars could hardly inflict damage on them. Against them, armor-piercing weapons were essential.

The Undead Army of the Sassanid Dynasty inherited the title from the previous Achaemenid Dynasty, but unlike its predecessor, it transformed from elite infantry to cavalry.

The so-called "undead" is so because of its vast reserve, allowing immediate replenishment whenever the main force suffers losses.

This is also why, even after the Undead Army suffered significant defeats in Khwarezm, Persia, and Rahab, Bahram was still able to allocate a detachment of two thousand Undead Army soldiers to Ali.

However, unlike the heavy cavalry of the Sassan, whose members can be supplemented by wealthy citizens, the Undead Army consists entirely of noble offspring, making every large-scale loss a threat to the foundation of the Sassanid Dynasty.

"Is the enemy sending someone for negotiations?"

This was Ali’s first reaction.

It’s not that he’s foolish, but rather that he overly trusts the falcons above.

With so many eyes watching from the sky, if the Franks in the city were planning a large-scale action, dispatching hundreds or thousands of cavalry for a surprise attack, the falcons should have at least caught a hint of it, right?

It wasn’t until more and more Frankish cavalry poured out of the city gates that Ali realized the Franks had somehow evaded the falcon’s surveillance.

"These useless creatures!"

"Relay my orders: have ’Vashti’ and the Undead Army meet the enemy according to the tactics I previously laid out!"

"Commanders of the Ikta Lords, prepare for combat. Now that the enemy is outnumbered, the holy flame will bless us with a great victory!"

Vashti is the elite mounted archers unit in the Sassan army, consisting of about three thousand soldiers, all recruited from nomadic tribes allied with the Sassanid Dynasty.

Using mounted archers to lure enemy heavy cavalry out, then striking once the enemy formation is scattered and their horses exhausted is the so-called Parthian tactic.

In fact, as the Eastern Empire declined and most surrounding enemies turned into light cavalry of nomadic tribes rather than heavy infantry of the Empire’s legions, the Sassanid people no longer frequently used this ancient tactic.

But recently, when General Ali studied the two major defeats in Persia and Khwarezm, he was surprised to discover that these Tatars from the East defeated them using the Parthian tactics long abandoned by the Sassanid.

Thus, he specifically requested command of this unit from Bahram.

Ali quickly abandoned his warhorse and mounted his command elephant, where his view instantly widened.

At this time, the chaotic camp was hardly ready to face the enemy, whereas the Franks pouring out the city gate seemed like an overwhelming force, impossible to count.

"Do not panic, follow the planned deployment!"

Ali shouted loudly; any army is most vulnerable when setting up camp because the marching combat formation is broken, and the defensive fortifications are yet to be established.

But he had already prepared in advance; regardless of whether the Franks held firm or launched a surprise attack while they were unsettled, he feared them not.

He did possess some command talent, as soon enough, the various troops had entered combat status according to his prior plans.

The skilful and swift-as-the-wind lightly armored archers of Vashti approached the Frankish cavalry exiting the city in a loose formation, raising compound bows to rain arrows down on the Frankish cavalry’s armor.

But the Frankish cavalry charging out of the gate, like a silent iron tower, bathed in this torrential arrow rain, with the dense popping sounds in their ears, the compound bows capable of penetrating chain armor failed to inflict any damage on these plate armor cavalry.

Occasionally, an unlucky rider’s steed would be hit, causing a slight ripple in this silent formation.

The Franks did not favor equipping horse armor because the Kingdom of Jerusalem lacked depth, iron resources were scarce, and in the vast desert, armored horses easily succumbed to heat exhaustion—a habit they developed over many years.

But not all the cavalry under Losa were unarmored shock troops.

They spread out to the flanks, revealing behind them a mass of armored archers, clad head to toe in cold iron.

These armored archers consisted of the Qesem Army, heavy armored archers, and iron pagoda, forming a wall before the Vashti mounted archers, preventing them from daring to approach and harass with arrows.

Their archery skills were equally as proficient, if not slightly superior to the Vashti light cavalry, after all, the armored archers under Losa would often have to halt to shoot, whereas the Vashti light cavalry could shoot while galloping at full speed!

But no matter how proficient their archery was, they simply had no capacity to engage in a shootout with the armored archers.

"Damn, these Franks are equipped with Empire-style heavy armored archers!"

It was Ali’s first formal engagement with the Franks, and in his mind, Frankish cavalry rarely included mounted archers, let alone such Empire-style armored heavy cavalry—in fact, even the Eastern Empire, former nemesis of the Sassanid, scarcely deployed armored cavalry anymore.

The formation of armored archers, sounding so contrasting, was initially built largely to counter these swift nomadic light cavalry.

Unless the heavy armored archers rashly detached from their main force to pursue, depleting their horse strength, there was no way these light mounted archers could face off against them.

As more and more Frankish cavalry surged from the gates of Hades, they started with the heavy armored archers as the vanguard, maintaining a dense formation, progressing with a slow yet particularly imposing charge.

From afar, they resembled a moving steel barricade, with all focus set on the enemy ahead, side attacks by the few mounted archers barely attracting any attention.

"These Franks, how are they so well-trained?"

Ali sat in the elephant tower, visibly shaken.

Were the Franks not supposed to be a bunch of barbaric brutes, recklessly charging in combat relying on personal bravery? This cavalry appears to enforce orders even more than his most elite Undead cavalry!

"Elephant Corps, have the Elephant Corps charge, if these Franks want to form up and charge, let them face my war elephants!"

With Ali’s command, the drivers fed these armored war elephants a mixture of black powdered magic potion, causing the colossal beasts to roar with blood-red eyes, brandishing ivory like steel blades to begin their charge.

Using war elephants as the vanguard and followed by the cavalry of the Undead Army, this was the Sassan’s frontline force to confront the Franks.

On the flanks, more and more Sassan heavy cavalry began to concentrate. Under Ali’s command, there were as many as eight thousand of these heavy cavalry, primarily composed of military nobility, with the intent to encircle the Frankish cavalry, who left the city for battle, pinning them all under the city to annihilate them!

In the rear, five thousand mountain infantrymen recruited from Azerbaijan and Armenia wielded axes, wolf fang clubs, war scythes, and flails—these fierce mountain men were traditionally the most elite infantry in the Sassan army.

Their task was to slaughter the enemy cavalry with heavy weapons once they became tangled with their cavalry, losing their momentum!

Behind these mountain infantry were reluctantly formed improvised phalanxes of recruited militia urged by officers—though these lightly armored infantry were of limited use, they could certainly participate in the winning side of a battle.

No matter how formidable the cavalry, once deprived of momentum and surrounded by infantry, their fate was sealed.

"With such arrangements, I would like to see how you plan to break this!"

Seeing his army operating by his will, continuously advancing, Ali felt that victory was almost within reach.