Chapter Thirty-Four: The Elegy of the Morris Empire (Part Four)

"Musketmen, step forward. Ready—fire!" The commander of the third line must have been a ruthless man, for as soon as the entire formation entered musket range, he ordered a volley without distinguishing friend from foe.

At the officers’ command, the first rank of soldiers pulled their triggers in unison. White smoke rose across the broad formation, and the soldiers who had fired stood their ground to reload. The second rank marched forward a few steps, halted, aimed, and fired.

Then came the third rank, the fourth... The commander of the third line, seeking maximum firepower, deployed all musketmen in several columns and, for the first time, employed the tactic of gradual advance shooting. Each loaded rank, guided by the drumbeat of the military band, marched a few paces ahead and unleashed a volley into the melee, felling swathes of combatants from both sides. Whether members of the Sacred Knights or the crumbling Morris soldiers, all were treated equally—struck down without mercy.

Some fierce Sacred Knights, witnessing the efficient slaughter wrought by the musketmen, drew their blades and spurred their horses forward with battle cries, only to collapse riddled with bullets.

At this moment, the Chief Paladin’s aura was nearly depleted—he could no longer sustain his protective energy for even a single round. He dared not lead hundreds of cavalrymen to charge against thousands of musketmen in formation; that would be suicide.

Under the relentless suppressive fire from the third line of Morris Imperial troops, the cavalry of the Sacred Knights and the routed soldiers of the second line dwindled rapidly. The musketmen of the third line, their eyes cold and unwavering, paid no heed to the pleas for mercy from the routed second line, calmly reloading, advancing, and killing.

The Sacred Knights’ cavalry, impeded by the retreating soldiers, could not break away. The routed soldiers of the second line, seeing no hope for themselves, would not let the Sacred Knights escape either.

Entangled together, both sides fell in wave after wave of musket volleys. In the end, the Chief Paladin emerged with barely a hundred surviving Sacred Knights, while the routed soldiers of the second line—save those who had long since fled—numbered less than three thousand, gathered by the third line’s division commander and placed in the rear. These soldiers, having endured slaughter at the hands of both the Sacred Knights and their own comrades, were clearly no longer fit to fight.

The commander of the third line now saw hope of gaining control over the last elite force of the Morris Empire. The Fifth Division Commander, Paris—the commander of the third line—knew the first two lines were essentially finished, but the army still had more than twenty thousand men. If he could defeat the remaining several thousand Sacred Knights, he would, by virtue of this victory, rightfully take command of the remnants of the Morris Empire’s elite. With these tens of thousands of battle-hardened soldiers, whether he established his own power or joined another, his prospects would be boundless.

With his mind clear, the Fifth Division Commander Paris—perhaps tomorrow to be addressed as Commander of the First Legion of the Morris Empire—felt the weight of destiny. Previously, the First Legion Commander was always the Emperor himself, the supreme commander of these fifty thousand elite troops.

Paris, spirited as ever, commanded his troops to maintain the column formation, musketmen in front, long spearmen behind, marching to the beat of the military drums toward the first line. He discovered that arranging musketmen in columns multiplied their firepower; ordinary enemies would collapse after just a few volleys. If only their melee capabilities weren’t so weak—since the people of Europa hadn’t invented bayonets yet—he could have abandoned the long spearmen entirely and let musketmen dominate the battlefield.

It must be said, after fighting a campaign, Paris fully realized what the most advanced tactics of this era were! The battlefield truly was the best teacher. This great battle had broadened Paris’s horizons and brought about a genuine transformation.

The battered survivors of the first line first saw reinforcements, then watched those reinforcements collapse, and finally witnessed their allies slaughter them indiscriminately. They had truly gained an education. Fearing they would suffer the same fate as the soldiers of the second line, the first line’s troops finally broke. The massacre by the Sacred Knights, combined with volleys from their own allies, snapped the last thread of resolve in these seasoned veterans.

Paris, seeing the collapse of the first line, was unconcerned. He simply pressed his troops forward. The Chief Paladin, returning to the first line, had no time to pursue the remaining enemy, urgently gathering more than three thousand cavalry. But with the vast numbers and chaotic spread of Morris Empire troops, many cavalrymen had fled beyond sight, while others, caught up in the slaughter, pursued the routed enemy off the battlefield—whether they would return was unknown.

At this moment, the lack of rigorous training among the Sacred Knights showed its flaw. Dominating by faith and strength, the Sacred Knights, even with absolute advantage in the melee, struggled to regroup most of their scattered cavalry.

Watching Paris’s forces draw ever closer, the Chief Paladin knew that if he did not charge now, he would lose the distance needed for a proper assault.

With a shrill cry, more than three thousand cavalrymen followed the Chief Paladin in a swarm toward Paris’s troops. Exhausted from hours of intense combat, the cavalrymen had no energy left to form any proper formation.

Their charge was noticeably slower than before; the Sacred Knights, their strength depleted, pressed forward only by the courage of victory and faith, rushing at the formation of more than ten thousand disciplined infantry. Even though their limbs were weak from slaughter, under the protection of the God of Light, they believed victory would be theirs.

Thus, the Chief Paladin, leading over three thousand weary yet spirited warriors, charged toward Paris’s ranks.

Seeing the Sacred Knights muster several thousand in a cohesive unit and charge his position, Paris quickly ordered his entire force to halt their advance. Having tasted the benefits of the new formation, Paris boldly placed all the long spearmen in the rear, the entire front line composed of musketmen in three columns facing the charging cavalry. With the superior numbers and minimal depth of formation—just three columns—Paris could deploy a battlefield frontage far wider than the Sacred Knights.

He aligned the surplus musketmen on both wings at an oblique angle, so that when the enemy entered range, they could strike from the sides. The elite Morris Empire soldiers quickly formed a simple column formation, creating a battlefield that resembled an inverted ladder, perfectly semi-encircling the charging Sacred Knights.

The Chief Paladin, oblivious to the formidable nature of this early version of the famed oblique formation, led more than three thousand fervent cavalry straight into the heart of this inverted ladder.