Chapter 457 - The Internal Strife of Mecenaries
Chapter 457: The Internal Strife of Mecenaries
Rolf led his horse and left. The rumbling sounds continued to echo across the plains.
This was a pleasant surprise attack. An ambush was the best tactic for a light cavalry troop to carry out. To be able to wipe out a portion of the unprepared enemies was the value of this tactic.
Now, the noble alliance army could not sleep well!
There was no other way.
They did not expect that there was such an army of light cavalry on the plains outside the Stone Pass. They were like a pack of wolves lurking in the dark. They could pounce on them at any time and give them a heavy blow!
If it was just a simple offensive and defensive battle, it would be fine.
The noble alliance army that lacked light cavalry would not really engage in a field battle.
Although the total number of knight attendants of the noble families was close to 5000, these knights and knight attendants were the family assets of the noble families. How could they be wasted in this battle?
This was what they could rely on. If they lost their military power, then their final benefits would be reduced!
After all, they were only the vanguard.
They were the ones who stood out.
The real time to divide the spoils was yet to come.
Similarly, it was the top-tier noble who took the biggest share and divided the spoils among their wounds.
These nobles understood the logic behind this, especially when there were close to 20,000 mercenaries surrounding them. Their own knight attendants and conscripted infantrymen were the only things they could rely on to protect themselves!
How could a lowly mercenary compare to the conscripted soldiers that they had painstakingly nurtured?
Thus, they did not act rashly.
There were even fewer knight attendants chasing after them.
Occasionally, there would be some exasperated cavalry chasing after them. They were also the light cavalries among the mercenaries.
They were all light cavalries formed by a group of horse bandits and bandits. For the reward of the noble families, they were willing to stake their futures, or they wanted to avenge their friends who had just died in the ambush.
But the result was the same.
They did not chase too far before they were killed by the elite desert bandits who had returned to intercept them.
The heavy short pilums that were thrown towards them were extremely powerful. After the tip of the pilums pierced through the leather armor, it could still cause fatal damage to the body. If it was to these mercenaries, it would be equivalent to a fatal injury, because there was not suitable environment for recuperation. They did not have much medicine either. The mortality rate and sequelae after being injured were even more serious than the noble’s!
Close to 200 mercenaries chased after them for a short distance. As more than 80 cavalrymen were killed, they all stopped chasing after them, reined in their warhorse, and cursed a few times before returning.
The village was filled with chaotic sounds.
Footsteps.
Curses.
And the wails of the dying.
Close to 3,000 of the mercenaries had injuries of varying severity.
There were even quite a number of people whose injuries were caused by their own comrades. They wanted to run faster when they escaped, or to be more precise, someone blocked their path, so they brazenly brandished their blades to kill.
In fact, many of the 800 + corpses were caused by killing each other.
Rolf and his light cavalries did not use killing as their tactical goal.
Instead, they started a riot.
This was the night before the general attack. Their tactical objective was to strike down the mercenaries’ morale.
As long as the riot happened, the mercenaries who did not sleep well for the entire night. They had lost their originally strong morale. They would continue to attack the Stone Pass. This way, they would attract pressure for Firentis on the side battlefield.
This was also a tactic agreed upon by both sides. It was an excellent tactic that complemented each other.
Now, the advantage of this strategy was also displayed.
In the mercenary’s tent, the riot had begun.
In the previous surprise attack, the act of drawing a sword on an ally in order to escape had finally attracted attention.
As more and more victims began to talk to their friends, more and more mercenaries began to quarrel, fight, and even draw their swords to start a duel. It even caused internal strife among several mercenary groups!
Although mercenaries loved money like their lives, they also liked to form groups, especially in normal times.
This was the strength of a team.
Therefore, this commotion quickly turned into a riot.
More and more mercenaries began to draw their swords and confront each other. Some even died in duels.
Grudges and hatred also became more and more. Those who usually did not like each other also took this opportunity to deliberately find trouble. They even began to fight with their swords, gnashing their teeth as they cursed and fought.
The chaos quickly turned into internal strife, engulfing the entire mercenary camp.
Even the village was affected.
The noble’s infantrymen firmly guarded the street entrance and did not allow anyone to enter.
The well-dressed noble also put on their heavy armor and commanded the knight attendants to carefully defend against the attacks of some furious mercenaries.
The entire village was in chaos. Everyone seemed to have forgotten why they were here.
The hatred had already enveloped everyone’s heart.
No one stayed out of it.
The sounds of fighting continued.
On the other hand, the mercenaries who were about 1,000 people and were planning to get close to the Stone Pass were not implicated.
After walking for a short distance, they saw the sounds of fighting coming from the camp behind them. It seemed that there were cavalry raiding the village. They were so scared that they quickly joined the battle, using the dense formation to give themselves a sense of security.
However, they did not receive any impact. Instead, at the camp behind them, after the sounds of fighting weakened, they appeared even more fiercely.
There was even someone setting a fire!
The fire quickly swept through the tent community outside the village.
The raging flames were in the hands of some flustered and exasperated mercenaries, completely becoming the fuse that ignited this area.
The flames soared into the sky, but no one put out the fire. More and more mercenaries started to attack each other. Even the mercenary groups that did not like each other chose to brazenly start a war, frenziedly fighting and killing.
The fire grew stronger, and the mercenaries outside were dumbfounded.
In fact, many of the mercenaries inside were the same.
Those shrewd ones were collecting treasures and quickly fled toward the plains outside with their heads lowered.
Those cowards were the same. They quickly followed behind and left. They were as messy as lambs. They didn’t dare to stay here. If they escaped, they had a chance to survive this madness.
The team had already fallen into internal strife. How could they have a chance to attack the Stone Pass?
Those nobles did the same as well.
They panicked and led their troops to withdraw from the village.
Even the mercenaries in front of them, who were fighting, had their knights choose to kill them.
The fire had spread from the tents to the village. Not to mention the noble knights, even the civilians who had been driven to the corner began to flee. The fire had completely ignited the tent area with the help of the linen tents, the thatched house and wooden house in the village were burning.