191 Charge (1/2)
”This is going way too well. What are they planning?” Ever since the start of the battle, Corco had been confused by Rupilo's movements, or lack thereof. Their first engagement still had made some sense. The enemy commander had false or incomplete information about the southern army's weapons and tactics, and the attack of the archers was only a probe meant to rectify those deficiencies.
Now however, the elite warriors of the proud northern lords just stood there and let Corco's line infantry attack them with no reply. He had expected them to try and disturb his deployment, or at least charge after a volley or two, but somehow they had failed to act at all. As a result, all his preparations to overcome a desperate struggle were out of the window, and the king was left confused.
”King Corco, I have already doubled the number of scouts in the surroundings, yet they are still unable to find any suspicious movements,” Tamaya said as her worried smile appeared before the king's brooding face. ”Although the enemy's left flank just sent out a sizable contingent to outflank us, our own warriors will be more than enough to entangle them for the rest of the battle. By now, the flanks should have already engaged a good distance away, too far to get involved.”
”Since everything else is normal, how do you explain this nonsense?” Corco gestured to the right flank of the enemy formation, which already had more holes than a swiss cheese. That reminded him that there was much Medala needed to improve on in terms of dairy products. How was he expected to eat pasta without any proper Parmesan?
”I am not an expert in tactics.” Tama's awkward reply returned Corco back to reality.
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”But you could still do better than this, couldn't you?” Like he had done countless times since the start of the battle, the king put the telescope up to his eyes and checked the banners atop the hill for any unusual action. ”Just tell your ghosts to be wary of any tricks. Something weird is happening on their side and I don't want any surprises.”
”They have begun to move.” Tama's hand lightly tapped his shoulder to alert him, before he could feel a gentle force swing his telescope over to Rupilo's right flank again.
Again, he could hear the sound of drums, the harbingers of glory and terror so familiar to all Medalan nobles. For now the battle wasn't in full swing yet, so they could still communicate in such a way. This would soon change though. If Corco's entire line were to fire, the drums would disappear in all the noise. Now that firearms were about to take over the battlefields, another holdover from olden times was bound to disappear.
As he idly thought about the future, the warriors of the past charged towards his present front line without fear. Corco thought there was no reason to worry. He had placed his most experienced commoner infantry together with his battle-hardened wolf mercenaries at the front of his slanted line. Like machines, they fired volley after volley to gun down the warriors in droves. Now in their rhythm, Corco's muskets would fire and then slowly retreat to reload behind their comrades and cover the retreat of the next line.
As his slanted line evened out in the process, more and more troops on the front line came into firing distance of the charging warriors. Since only one flank had attacked them so far, the fire of Corco's entire line was concentrated on them alone. Even better, since the charge was too disorganized and loose, the warriors failed to use their shields properly and thus couldn't reduce the impact of the lead bullets. If nothing happened, they could scatter before they ever reached Corco's front line.
Confused, the king looked back up the hill, where the rest of Rupilo's troops finally began to move into action. Although they followed the charge of their allies, the few seconds they had wasted were enough to give them a critical disadvantage.
”No wonder I can't figure them out. They have no idea what they're doing either,” Corco mumbled, his voice now drowned out by the constant gunfire. At last, the warriors on the flank had finally pushed through the hail of bullets. As they collided with the pike formation in front of the muskets, they disappeared behind Corco's men. At first his banner high atop the formation seemed to buckle; it swayed back and forth and was even forced back a few steps. Soon however, the halberdiers stabilized their line and the battle at the front turned into a drawn-out, exhausting tug-of-war.
At the same time, the charging core infantry of Rupilo's center had reached the foot of the hill. Still, there was quite a distance left before they reached Corco's de-slanted front line. Although they had to fight through the dense snow and were no longer pushed forward by gravity, it shouldn't be enough to eat their entire momentum. Even the musket fire which was now focused on them wouldn't be enough to break their charge.
As someone who had learned the art of war in Medala, Corco was well aware how scary a frontal warrior charge could be. Right before him, thousands of mounds of muscle, covered in steel, charged their line at the speed of racehorses. The sight really could put the fear of god into a man. This was the reason Corco had been so careful and uncertain all this time: Even with all of his cleverness, even with all of his advanced weapons and tactics, Corco still wasn't sure his new recruits could withstand a full-frontal bullcharge from proper warriors. Although his new methods were well-tested against knights all throughout history, no pike and shot formation had ever been up against an army of cultivators. Their struggle on the left flank only confirmed his worry.
Over on the left, the enemy had placed their shock infantry, those warriors armed with heavy -axes and cultivated for speed and power. Not only were they not as heavily armored as the core troops, they had already been thinned out and demoralized by repeated musket volleys, long before they ever got close to his line. Even then, the formation had still buckled, and Corco had no clear view of how his troops over there were doing. Since the battle in the center was about to heat up as well, all he could do was to trust Paec, the young commander put in charge of the left. Meanwhile, Corco had no time to care about his flank, since the wall of steel enlarged in his view and thousands of battle cries fought for hegemony against the fire of muskets.