Kaiserslautern, located in the gap between the two mountains, was covered with battle clouds, and 40,000 troops suddenly gathered in the small plain outside the mountain pass to the south of the city.

On one side is the Eastern Kingdom noble coalition led by Ludwig, Duke of Great Bavaria. They are located in the north of the battlefield, stationed in Maoxi Village and Shixi Village. The total strength is close to 30,000.

One side, led by Earl Adalbert of Metz, gathered a group of troops directly under the "Roman Emperor", the remnants of Baron Sargau's army, and the remnants of Baron Bristol's army. They were part of the army of the Middle Kingdom. The town of hats, namely Schtzerhausen. The total force is barely 10,000.

Time gradually arrived in the afternoon, the sun gradually turned yellow, and the temperature continued to rise.

Ludwig squinted his eyes and looked at the constantly gathering troops not far away. He had no idea in his mind, so he ordered his troops to assemble and put on a defensive posture.

Now, the Saxon army, carrying a large number of spears like a moving forest, finally appeared on the battlefield.

In any case, the Saxons had just won a battle, and the fighters from Bavaria who had despised this group of "underdogs" at the beginning had to salute them at this moment.

How should the battle be carried out? The Franks learned war by war in passing time, and it seemed that cavalry was the best tool for solving combat problems. Even though Ludwig suffered a big defeat, he still had superstitions about cavalry. Now the battlefield is completely open and flat terrain, which is most suitable for cavalry to launch attacks flexibly, whether it is "peeling onions" or simply charging, let the commander play.

As for the larger number of infantry, the tactic seems to be that the soldiers scream and rush forward to fight the enemy. The formation is meaningless, and the battle eventually turns into a chaotic gang fight. The number of soldiers and the physical strength of the soldiers are almost the only two factors for victory. .

So Ludwig's huge direct army, when the infantry from Bavaria was in formation, could still gather together in the form of a flag team, ranging from 400 to 800 people around a flag. The most elite heavy infantry died in the Elbe River in 840 because of his reckless military, and today's military is new. Even though many of them are dressed as heavy infantry, their strength cannot be compared with that of the deceased veterans.

There is only one thing that can be seen - all the soldiers of a flag team cannot be neatly arranged in a rectangular square.

Being able to get together in the form of a flag team is already considered excellent. With the same large number of armed militias, just requiring them to gather under one flag to maintain the framework of a flag team is an excellent job.

Armed militiamen mostly use short spears as weapons, and usually have several handle axes pinned to their waists. They generally have iron helmets and a small wooden shield, and almost none of them have armored stomachs. Let's look at the militiamen with a strength of up to 10,000, it seems that everything has returned to four hundred years ago, when the barbarian Franks were in that era, and the Frankish soldiers at that time were like this.

However, although the tribal soldiers of the ancestors were severely lacking in armor, they were known for their bravery. Hundreds of years later, these militiamen still have the same bravery as they did back then?

In complete contrast, the army of Duke Ludoff of Saxony.

His son-in-law Regalaf, after all, this boy is the de facto eldest son of Rurik himself, and some of his personal soldiers have service experience in the Ross Army.

A stomach is important, but it is not the only magic weapon for victory. The guard soldiers loyal to Reglaf were easily won over by the Duke of Saxony. These people ate well and drank well. In exchange, they taught the Duke some of the Russ' military thinking, even if it was just a few superficial.

Now the Saxon warriors wearing plate armor and iron helmets stand on the right flank of their own army as a whole. Each graf noble was in charge of his own warriors, and the troops that had lost a lot in the previous battles were temporarily combined, and finally there were six spear phalanxes on the battlefield.

A row of ten people is divided into five rows, and the number of people in different squares is different, which does not affect the orderliness of the ranks at all.

Three thousand spearmen! This is the infantry corps that Liudov threw into the assault for this battle. He must leave behind a small number of warriors to guard the looted wealth in the city and take care of the wounded.

Lyudov was on horseback with his limited cavalry at the front of the formation. He first looked at the infantry phalanx on the front, and then at the Bavarian army on the right. Just in terms of texture, although the Bavarians have more troops, his own army is more powerful.

He was full of confidence, so he brought all three hundred cavalry, and a Saxon flag he made was flying with the army.

He stopped beside Ludwig on horseback, and the arrogance on his face did not fade in the slightest.

Ludwig, who was holding the rein tightly, pursed his lips slightly, or because of restlessness and anxiety, the mount kept shaking in place, forcing him to constantly adjust his position.

"How many people did you bring? Are all the Saxons dispatched?" he asked.

"Are you telling the truth?"

"Be sure to tell the truth! There must be a big battle today, and this is our fate."

"Three thousand infantry, three hundred cavalry." Liudov glanced at the enemy's army formation in the south, and the smile on his face disappeared: "I don't think the enemy's soldiers are too many and strong. I think my men can press them up before sunset." Settle the fight. What do you think?"

"Do you want to have honor again?" Ludwig asked harshly.

"If you want, I can."

"You'd better back down. This time I'm the main attacker! And you! You must cooperate with me."

At this time, Ludwig was already gathering his cavalry, and they kept a little distance from the infantry formation. As for what might happen next, Liudoff had already guessed.

"Like the one on the Elbe?" Liudov asked with obvious sarcasm.

This moment caused the shameful and embarrassing past, Ludwig shook his head hastily, and then suddenly poked his bearded head and shouted angrily: "Shut up!" He then directed Fang Fang with a big hand: "They don't deserve to die!" Russ! This time my cavalry will crush them!"

Liudov pretended not to be angry: "So... what can I do for you?"

Ludwig hurriedly took another look. He could see that Liudov had been a duke for a year and a half, and he didn't have the financial resources to rebuild a heavy cavalry unit. You must know that this guy could afford five hundred heavy cavalry when he was the Earl of Westphalia.

However, even light cavalry still has an advantage over ordinary infantry.

"You only have three hundred cavalry?"

"Exactly."

"Enough. I will lead the charge! Duke of Saxony, you must fulfill your obligations. I want you to take your cavalry to fight with me."

"I expected you to do so. But...is this really appropriate? Didn't you say that all the credit goes to you?"

"That's right! You have to bring your cavalry to join, and so must the Marquis of Thuringia. All of you, don't try to stand on the sidelines."

From Liudov's standpoint, he used to think that cavalry charges were invincible, but now the Saxon army may be best at restraining cavalry. His heart was shaking, and he looked carefully at Ludwig's face. Dove's mind was very simple: "You guy is crazy again."

He was too embarrassed to refuse, and it happened that Takulf, Queen of Thuringia, brought his men to the battlefield deliberately staggering. When this guy who intended to fish and paddle heard that his cavalry with only one hundred riders was about to go into battle, he wanted to charge with the army.

Takulf resisted instinctively, and his complexion was as ugly as constipation for seven days.

"Who dares to back down? Are you going to sit and watch me charge ahead? Adding all of your cavalry, we should have 2,500 cavalry. As long as I lead you to charge once, the battle will be resolved immediately."

Ludwig also took out words such as victory glory and noble honor to tell his vassals that they must take a gamble.

What?

Together, the two great nobles gathered 400 cavalrymen. Due to the needs of face and reality, they reluctantly announced that they would personally take the cavalrymen to gamble their lives with Ludwig.

The real target is Strasbourg! It has been a long time since the enemy appeared, and Ludwig could see that the enemy might have invested the troops in front of him. He originally estimated that today's battle might decide the end of the civil war, but obviously he was facing the side division under the command of his elder brother.

Kaiserslautern, my brother's army is already littered with corpses, and now there are another group of guys who are desperate to die, and today they just happen to send them to hell.

The situation tempted Ludwig to gamble. The so-called as long as the main force of the Metz army in front of him is destroyed, the meaning of the Kaiserslautern military stronghold will collapse. Well, the gates of Strasbourg are open!

How many soldiers does the eldest brother Lothair still have to guard the city? I'm afraid there are only a group of old, weak, sick and disabled left.

Ludwig kept convincing himself that he even developed self-paralysis, indulging in an illusion and believing it to be true-as long as he defeated the enemy in front of him, it would be easy to break through Strasbourg.

Of course, he didn't really plan to do the same as the previous failed battle. Perhaps it was too risky to rely on the mass collision, break the formation with one blow and evolve into a cavalry legion that ravaged the infantry.

Then adopt the onion-peeling tactic!

Even if he could see with the naked eye that the enemy army had cavalry, it seemed that there were not many troops.

As long as the cavalry team is assembled, the attack can be launched. After explaining his self-proclaimed very clever tactics with the two vassals, he sent messengers to summon the banner captains of the cavalry in the headquarters and gave them more specific tasks.

Therefore, first of all, the two thousand cavalry of Ludwig's army took turns charging in the form of a flag team. The cavalry does not require breaking the formation, but constantly wears down the enemy's strength.

When there was a slack in the enemy's formation, the flag teams turned to the front to attack, and at the same time, the Saxon and Thuringian cavalry, who were deliberately stationed to watch the battle and were actually tactical reserves, immediately went into battle. It was also at this time that Ludwig himself led the charge.

Is it really the king who takes the lead? This is absolutely impossible.

He almost died in despair on the banks of the Elbe River, Ludwig has lost his previous arrogance, at least he has become cunning.

But all of this, the Metz army in the south of the battlefield was busy maintaining a passable formation with weak troops, and the Earl of Metz himself was unwilling, let alone retreating. Xu has completed the necessary precautions.

It was only at this time that the earl's emissary left the army holding a cross banner. He also specially arranged for a little priest gathered from refugees to accompany the messenger on horseback as a priest.

What the Earl didn't know was that the army arrayed in the north of the battlefield was about to change its defensive posture, and the cavalry attack was in full swing.

It was the presence of the emissary sent that was too conspicuous, forcing Ludwig to temporarily suspend the plan.

"Ridiculous! It took you so long to talk to me? I thought you were going to break the rules and refuse all conversations." Ludwig was a little disappointed. Since the other party sent an envoy, he was embarrassed to attack directly without distinction. .

Two arrogant envoys of Ludwig's army rushed over on horseback, and one of them carried a three-lion flag to show the noble status of the army.

Even if there is still a priest among the envoys from the south, but this priest is mobilized by fear and his eyes are full of panic. His existence is meaningless, which is even more irritating to the arrogance of Ludwig's envoy.

"Who are you? Dare to set foot here is clearly a dead end!"

But the envoy of Metz asked sharply: "Whose soldiers are you? How can you carry the noble banner of Charlemagne yourself!"

"You are a lowly and dirty maggot! How dare you question us! The Duke of Bavaria is here, the army is attacking, all of you will die! Who are you?"

Really the Duke of Bavaria? Now it makes sense for them to carry the Three Lions flag.

Count Metz was taken aback for a moment, the arrogance just now was gone.

After all, the envoys were Earl Adalbert's personal soldiers. They were well aware of their own strength, and they also knew that their own serious losses in the Second Battle of Kaiserslautern that broke out last year were caused by Ludwig's army.

The Earl of Metz came to gamble with military force, even though the fiefdom had been reduced to a state of declining agriculture and a large loss of population.

"Are you surprised? Then be surprised!" Ludwig's messenger asked again: "Could it be that Lothair is here?"

"The real Roman emperor is not here." The Metz envoy said, hiding the pressure.

"You say what you want! My king already knows that you Metz people want to get Kaiserslautern again. My king ordered that if your Count Adalbert comes in person, if you can kneel down and swear allegiance to the great Duke of Great Bavaria, And immediately oppose Lothair, today's battle can be avoided."

It seemed that this was the best way to resolve a **** dispute, but the little messenger was just a messenger, and the messenger couldn't make any reply. But the envoys themselves are also really tall, and they have their own ideas. Based on his understanding of the earl's master, his lord would never accept such a humiliating submission.

After all, if Metz were to side with Ludwig, he would have done so as early as 840.

Now Metz's envoy finally explained his request on behalf of his master: "No matter who you are. Your Excellency is ordered by the king to guard Kaiserslautern. The Earl wants you to withdraw immediately."

In this way, there was no need for the two parties to continue the conversation, and the envoys returned to their own military formations to report the important news they had learned to their respective masters.

One side is to learn that Lothair himself really didn't come, and what is in front of him is the headquarters of the Metz Army and the "bad fish" gathered from various places.

One side is to learn that Ludwig actually did not follow the routine during the wheat harvest period and launched a full-scale southward movement, and made unreasonable demands.

In a brief thought, Adalbert, who was pinching his beard, thought of two powerful nobles who were actually brains like dogs. They were both grandsons of Charlemagne, and vassals and nobles could follow anyone.

It's just that the Adalbert family has a complicated relationship with the nobles of the imperial faction, but has no intersection with Ludwig's "Oriental faction".

If you really surrender to that guy, today's war can be avoided? Who knows.

Adalbert boasted that if the army in his hand fought recklessly, it would be a disaster, so he decided to talk to Ludwig himself, if the mighty eastern monarch of the empire was really willing to receive him as the messenger said.

However, Ludwig obtained important information from his emissary. Since the identity of the enemy is very clear, and the strength of the troops is also very clear, this plain battlefield is Ludwig's original intention to fight more and be sure of victory. I don't want to talk about it at all.

But considering future operations, he urgently needs to complete an annihilation. Even if they couldn't kill the opponent's corpses all over the field, they had to kill them so that they could no longer organize the army. This required that Adalbert himself be killed in this battle.

What he should consider is that the guy sees the situation is not going well and runs away. Unless there are some tricks that can force it to fight crazily to the end.

So the famous captive finally came in handy.

Ludwig suddenly began to put on a big show, and beside him were Duke Ludoff of Saxony and Houthakulf of Thuringia on horseback.

There were only 200 heavy cavalry accompanying the three great nobles in a guard of honor, and there was only one unlucky man who had been tortured in only single clothes, his hands were tied, and a horse was pulling a rope and staggered on the flat grass.

Ludwig put on his golden crown in a particularly high-profile manner, and the purple robe was directly draped over his armor.

He held the reins and let the horse take the reins, and his slightly tilted head showed a kind of leisure derived from self-confidence.

Adalbert, who witnessed this scene, was in a very complicated mood. He had seen Ludwig himself at the funeral of the late king many years ago, and remembered that face. He never thought that meeting again would be a life-and-death battle.

With the hope of a truce, he went to pay a visit with a small number of horse guards.

Adalbert would never kneel down to Ludwig in allegiance, this was his ground line. As for taking back the ownership of Kaiserslautern by verbal conversation, does it make sense? Don't know, at least try it.

Besides, King Lothair's marching plan has been confirmed. Even if the northern army does not go south, the southern army will take the initiative to go north. Perhaps this fact served as a reason to force Ludwig to withdraw.

Unexpectedly, when Adalbert had already seen the familiar face of the noble Ludwig in the gold crown and purple robe, he was stopped by the other party.

The two sides kept a safe distance, the so-called even if Ludwig wanted to assassinate that guy now, he still had to consider being attacked by the other party.

"Is it Count Adalbert of Metz?!" It was none other than Ludwig himself who called out loudly.

The horse stopped. "It's me! I am Adalbert! I am Count Metz! Your Excellency Duke of Bavaria, we should talk..."

He still wanted to talk, but Ludwig interrupted vulgarly.

"It's really you? Then, this is where you will be buried. First, let's take a look at a gift this king gave you."

It seemed that there was no need to talk about it anymore. Adalbert didn't know what to do for a moment, his aging eyes widened, and he suddenly saw a thinly dressed prisoner being pushed to the front of the formation.

The prisoner was none other than Freibach, the first heir to the title of Metz, the eldest son of Adalbert.

The father easily recognized his son, but the worst thing happened.

"Damn it, you're actually captured! I'd rather you die in battle." Gritting his teeth and whispering in anger, Adalbert couldn't show his resentment directly. Looking at Ludwig, who was aloof, he didn't know what the other party was going to do. trick.

"Do you know him? He's your eldest son!"

"I know it!" Adalbert yelled bravely: "What? Could it be that the noble duke wants to kidnap my son? Take Frebach's life and threaten me to surrender? Are you so despicable?!"

"Shut up, stupid people! This king doesn't bother to use this defeated person as a threat. I will return your son to you now!"

After Ludwig said that, he really ordered his subordinates to untie all the comforts of Freibach, and then pushed the beaten hapless loser back to his father's camp.

Freibach staggered around, no one knew what he was thinking at the moment.

Suddenly, a cavalryman burst out from Ludwig's army, and a short cavalry spear directly pierced Freibach's chest from the back in a flash, and the powerful force directly brought him down. The poor defeated man was still trying to get up, but just as he reacted, he lay down completely motionless.

"No! Despicable and shameless! You killed my son! What kind of nobleman are you!" Adalbert covered his head and watched his son being murdered in front of his own eyes.

Ludwig still had a serious face, and it is fair to say that his actions were indeed a bit despicable.

But it was purely an accident that this man lived so far. This man has already been sentenced to death. When and how he will be executed depends entirely on Ludwig's attitude.

"Your son has been returned to you! Return it to you as a corpse!" Ludwig continued to roar: "Adalbert! Get ready to fight! Today, this is where you will be buried."

He had no intention of continuing the conversation~www.mtlnovel.com~ Then he withdrew to the army formation with a guard of honor.

He blatantly killed the captured son of the enemy commander in front of the battle, and the reputation of Ludwig's camp was greatly shaken.

The Metz Army, which is at a disadvantage in all aspects, may also arouse the grief and indignation of the soldiers, and then cause the soldiers to fight like mad dogs.

However, this move is fundamentally a setback to the Metz Army. A large number of rout troops gathered on the way were all led by Freibach in the final analysis. Many soldiers were killed in battle, but the leader was actually captured.

Now he was humiliated and killed like a sacrifice, what a useless death.

Negotiations were a failure from the very beginning, and a war was inevitable.

It's good now, Adalbert, who was caught in a rage, had swollen veins on his face, and his face was as red as if he had drunk a large barrel of ale.

When he returned to the army, he only said angrily: "The whole army is ready to fight, we will fight the despicable Bavarians to the end!"