Vol 7 Chapter 103: Battle Siena

Louis de Bourbon rode the horseman and dragged the reins forward without stopping.
The soldiers next to each other were extremely exhausted. Some people were dragged by their companions because of injuries. Some were not so lucky to be abandoned on the side of the road. They could only pray to the people passing by not to leave them.
The whole team looked procrastinating, the banner was crooked and the formation was scattered, and there was no such majestic shadow before.
Louis de Bourbon, turned his head tiredly and looked over his back. The squadrons that I could see before were no longer in the shadows, as well as those powerful artillery. I want to come this time, those important supplies and firearms are all Has fallen into the hands of the Roman Thesias.
The Duke of Bourbon looked far away in the distance, and he did not expect that he would suffer such a fiasco under Florence.
The accident came so suddenly that people had no time to respond.
The Duke of Bourbon had no time to order the destruction of the two closest large-caliber artillery pieces, and then he and his men were rushed into chaos by the panic-stricken troops who were suddenly attacked.
The sudden emergence of the Roman Thesia army attacked the French army from both sides.
Cunningly, before the attack was launched, the enemy attacked the French artillery positions with sudden artillery fire.
The French artillery suffered a heavy blow instantly under the kind of attack without warning,
The artillery positions that were originally equipped with powerful artillery were instantly blown into smoke, and the broken limbs and the blown materials could not fly in the air. The frightened pack horse ran and ran furiously with the remaining half of the artillery car bombed. The sharp edges of the broken wooden beams of the gun car rolled over the bodies of the fugitives, tearing apart pieces of flesh and blood and visceral spraying.
The original powerful artillery of the French army suffered a near-destructive blow before they could use their power. The brutality and terrification of the main Roman Artesian artillery commanded by Gompati was deeply branded at this moment. In the heart of the Duke of Bourbon.
At the same time as the artillery of Rome Thesia launched their attack, as well as their long-range musketeers. This musket unit named the shooting army under the suggestion of Gompati began to spread to the French army from a long distance away. Shooting.
When he was on the expedition to the Balkans, although it turned out that 100 unorganized sharpshooters might not be able to win 100 well-trained ordinary musketeers, the excellent shooting skills of the Ottoman musketeers impressed Gompati.
So after returning to Italy, Gompati devoted a large part of his energy to the training of a musket unit dedicated to long-range shooting.
The best shooter, the most sophisticated musket, and the best instructor, so the result of such a hefty investment is that the Northern Army has born a musket unit dedicated to long-range shooting in combat.
According to Gompati's vision, this unit named the shooting army is mainly used to suppress the opponent's leading troops on the battlefield, especially when facing the enemy's crossbow troops, this more powerful long-range shooting unit , Enough to cause a major blow to the enemy ’s forward.
This is Comparti ’s vision. At the beginning, he tried to find Alexander to discuss whether this idea was feasible, and Alexander gave him the answer: "Everything is done before you know right or wrong."
This answer changed the courage to persevere. Now looking at the French soldiers who fell in the distance with bursts of gunfire, Gompati finally let out a long breath.
The attack of the army of Roma Thesia began when the French approached the 6th regiment of Bologna.
When he discovered that he was surrounded by enemies, the Duke of Bourbon first thought of immediately getting rid of the critical situation in front of him, especially after the artillery position encountered a fierce shooting, the Duke of Bourbon not far away even nearly lost his decentness due to panic .
But this time his reaction was very quick. After seeing the artillery position being attacked, the Duke immediately ordered the French to stop the attack.
'S idea is very simple, hoping to get the troops back to the original front as soon as possible, and then start a direct confrontation with the suddenly appearing enemy.
But the Duke forgot one thing. On the battlefield, it is not the enemy ’s attack but his own timidity that often leads to defeat.
Although the sudden attack of the Roman Thesias panicked the French army, many commanders tried their best to restrain their troops, but when they heard the retreat horn, the officers showed a desperate look, they knew the battle Maybe you have to lose.
Louis de Bourbon realized that he had made an extremely wrong decision shortly after seeing his troops retreating back.
The retreat on the battlefield should not only be cautious, but also avoid making orderly plans into disorderly collapse, and the troops he commanded are now facing such a situation.
The French army that was attacking the 6th Regiment of Bologna immediately became a target to attack on three sides. The only way to retreat and allow them to be retreated became their hope of survival. A team of French troops began to retreat to the rear side and side Counterattack, but when Gunpatti ’s artillery fired a series of debris bullets that could explode towards the French front with a dense formation, the huge casualties caused the French army to stick to it for only ten minutes. Finally, as someone turned around and fled, they began to retreat like an avalanche.
"What have I done ..."
Even after a long time when the guards were desperately pulling and fleeing the battlefield, Louis de Bourbon was still asking himself like this, he did n’t know how he would make such a decision, and vaguely remembered that someone did desperately. Stop him, but at that time, he might have been frightened by the rain of the Roman Thesias' shells, and he gave orders to retreat in battle with the enemy, regardless of the persuasion of others.
The French army also dropped all the weight and artillery to withdraw outside the battlefield. The front soldiers even took the lead and withdrew in the direction of Florence.
Now the French are still retreating, but instead of rebuilding a front as the Duke Bourbon imagined, they are completely panic and trying to escape further. They are now closer and closer to Florence, but they are farther away from victory. Farther and farther, until the troops in front were unexpectedly blocked.
The Duke of Bourbon never thought he would one day change direction in order to avoid the Florentines. Although the sudden emergence of the Florentine army is really not a concern, but now the Duke of Bourbon is afraid to entangle with the enemies in front of him.
After angrily swearing in the direction of Florence in southern French, he ordered the army to retreat southwest, because he still remembered that there was a channel between the French main force and the Pisa army. The Duke believed that at least that The direction is safe.
The current Duke of Bourbon was anxious to report his situation to Louis XII. At the same time, he finally realized that the situation may be more severe than he or his king imagined. The Roman Thesia army was not just trying to protect Florence, nor was it just to Expel the French army out of the Principality's territory, but want to defeat or even annihilate the French army!
If this idea was told by others not long ago, the Duke of Bourbon would think that this is the most boring joke in the world, but now he is more convinced than anyone else of this sudden judgment, the Roman Thesias, to destroy the French army!
The Duke feels that he has discovered the enemy ’s greatest conspiracy, and now his mission has changed from occupying Florence to reporting the discovery to his king as soon as possible.
"It's really bold, they actually wanted to offend the monarch who was given the crown by God," Duke Bourbon walked and muttered in his mouth, he was even a little nervous, when he found that soldiers stopped because of fatigue When he came down, he beat the soldier's face with the whip in his hand. "Don't stop, you stupid pigs, want to be a captive of the Roman Thesias, hurry up. We must meet the king as soon as possible."
"Sir, let us take a break. We have been running for too long," a soldier begged. "I am a cavalry, but my horse is already tired on the road. We ran for escape, but the Romans Like us, they should not be as desperate as we are. "
"Did you think that?" The Duke again waved his whip and swayed in the air. "We are not trying to escape for ourselves. We must meet with the king and tell him what happened here and be prepared, so I want you to follow me Hurry up, if anyone stops, I will let him know the taste of the whip. "
The soldiers looked at each other, although failure was nothing new to them, but the Duke's fierce performance surprised them.
But it seems to be really to prove the concerns of the Duke of Bourbon. Just as the French army marched slightly, a chaotic noise quickly spread from behind.
A scout sweating desperately pushed the warhorse across the crowded road. When the Duke of Bourbon was seen, the cavalry roared hard: "Roman Thesia! Roman Thesia!"
Despite not asking, Duke Bourbon seemed to know what was happening. He immediately ordered loudly to the soldiers who were walking slowly ahead: "Hurry up and leave here, and run if you don't want to die on the road!"
The threat of death made the French soldiers have a greater potential than ever before. Even if they were filled with loot, they still started to run hard.
Like the French who became excited after drinking hard liquor, the French kept running on the road, and some people left behind from time to time, but no one had time to help others at this time, and the wounded soldiers were violently thrown to the roadside. They Most of his money was robbed, leaving them with only clothes and a cross.
"Don't take it away, do good deeds, at least give me some life-saving money, or the Roman Thesia will hang me." The wounded soldiers kept begging, but this did not win any sympathy.
"Even if they leave you with some money, they won't let you go, at most you will be taken away from your corpse after being killed," a soldier grabbed two gold coins from the original companion and put it in his pocket. I muttered, "My friend who will pray for you, then it's your luck."
The Duke Bourbon looked dull at the farce in the scene before him, and then he beat his mount hard and ran forward. He knew that if he continued to watch, he might order those who robbed others because of his anger.
But this is no longer important. The distance behind the road can already vaguely see the figure of the Roman Thesia cavalry, and the persistent pursuit of the enemy makes the Duke firmly believe his previous judgment.
Retreat non-stop, escape to escape, until the sky slowly darkens, the French soldiers finally stopped the tired footsteps.
The Duke of Bourbon did not know where he was. He ordered the scouts to closely monitor the movement of the Roman Thesia chasing soldiers, while making people search around.
The advent of the night made the Duke finally relieved. Any army's actions at night would become cautious. Even the winners would not take risky actions in such a dark night. At this time, the Duke finally took a breath.
It was only after calming down that a more terrifying thought enveloped his mind.
How many troops did the Roman Tesias have?
Not long ago, including Louis XII themselves, they estimated that the strength of Roma Thesia was between 0 and even 20,000. This figure for Louis XII was considered to have overestimated this opponent.
The French would think so because when Louis XII first expeditioned to Italy in the battle of Lombardy, even if he faced a huge crisis, the strength of Roma Thesia was only maintained at around 8,000, even in Genoa because of the face The French attacked head-on, and the Roman Thesia army had to withdraw from Lombardy for a time.
This gave Louis XII the impression that the enemy was underpowered.
Even with the participation of the Naples army, Louis XII still believed that if he and the Roman Thesia army were involved before the Venice and the Austrians entered the war, then they could completely defeat this opponent by virtue of their overwhelming strength, and if they succeeded, they could force Roma Thesia and Naples withdrew from the anti-French alliance.
The French optimism made the French believe that the invasion of Rome Thesia was not a difficult task, so Louis XII made plans to attack the key cities of this emerging principality separately.
As long as they captured those cities, or even just one of them, they could force Roman Thesia to demand a truce. This was the strategy that Louis XII had formulated from the beginning, and the final destination of all this was Florence.
The plan was very thorough and proceeded smoothly, but now the Duke of Bourbon does not know whether the plan is correct.
In the early morning of July 15th, the retreating French Duke Bourbon troops hurried on the road before dawn. According to the report of the scout, the Roman Thesias were camping less than 1 far away from them, although the French guards Several simple fortifications have been erected on the road, but when recalling the enemy's two-wheeled artillery car that seems to be much more flexible than his own, the Duke of Bourbon believes that these fortifications cannot guarantee that they can block the chaser behind. .
The Duke ’s judgment was very correct this time. Not long after the French army left the camp, the rumbling artillery sounds behind them made the retreating French army secretly startled, and soon afterwards the scout brought the enemy to the defense. Bad news.
"They first blew up our offensive with artillery, then the musketeers fired incessantly in the distance, and finally the spearmen slaughtered the poor people who had not yet died." The scout reported to the Duke the horror he saw. A scene "They don't seem to want to leave a captive, all the people alive are killed."
The report of the scout surprised the Duke Bourbon secretly, but the next news caught his attention.
"Adults, they seem to be carrying the artillery, that is, the cannons we dropped. I heard their people shouting to collect all the pack horses to pull the cannons to the front."
"You heard correctly?" The Duke asked anxiously, grabbing the scout's collar. After receiving a positive answer, Louis de Bourbon hesitated for a while, and finally decided to say to his deputy: "Instead of I command the troops, the main force of Roma Thesia is trying to surround the king ’s army, I must report this to the king personally, otherwise the king will not believe it. "
The deputy opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted violently by waving the hand of the Duke who was already calling the guards, watching Louis de Bourbon put a shabby cloak on his body to cover his gorgeous clothing, and then ordered the flag bearer to remain Staying in the team, the deputy could only helplessly bow to the Duke who was about to leave the troops quietly.
"Don't be so frustrated," the Duke said to his deputy in a low voice. "Today may be my personal shame day, but it is a lucky day in France. The French army will be saved because of me, and you will be rewarded for sticking to your duties."
As the Duke turned his horse with the help of his servant, and once again glanced at his seemingly embarrassed force, Louis de Bourbon's legs firmly clamped the belly of the horse, and the horse screamed and ran forward. go with.
The sun above her head is like a huge fireball. Every step forward takes a lot of effort. The clothes are completely glued to the body and it is extremely uncomfortable. The shoes under the feet are making a sweating sweat.
Gompatti knew his soldiers were too tired to walk.
From Montina to Florence, when he arrived on the battlefield, he almost went into battle without any rest. This is incredible for any army at the moment.
His northern army did it, even they were still chasing the enemy, and even left Florence far behind.
But Compati knows that the soldiers are about to reach their limit. If they continue, do n’t say the next battle, maybe they will collapse on the way.
But Gumpati also knew that the critical moment of this war had arrived. From the moment when the strategy was centered on Florence, a strategic decisive battle with the French army on the land of Rome Theseia, they considered all kinds of possibilities and difficulties. .
Among them is the impact of long-distance raids on the morale and combat effectiveness of the army, especially in this era, no army has been able to complete such a move.
This reminded me openly of the words that Alexander said when formulating this strategic counterattack plan based on defense: "A battle, a battle or even the victory of a war often depends on who can stick to the last minute. . "
"Don't stop and move on," Gompati shouted to his soldiers with a hoarse voice. "Soldiers, you can get rewards, loot women and fine wine, but these things will eventually leave you. The only thing that can accompany you all your life is honor. Remember that you are creating miracles. If you want to be bragging to your children and grandchildren one day and say that you have participated in the greatest battle of the Principality of Rome, then move on, Because all this can only be achieved by going to the front! "
In Siena, Skop looked at the letter of the Dharma King in front of him and tapped the table gently with rhythm.
Next to him, Kurash was playing with a dagger, and a sharp short blade flew up and down between his fingers, making people wonder that his fingers might be cut in the next moment.
Finally, Skop stopped and he glanced at Kurash, then pushed the letter of the Dharma King before him.
"Then what do you decide to do?" Kurash said lazily.
"I'm curious, what benefit did the Duke give you?" Skop asked.
"It's actually not me," Kurash shrugged and put the tip of his dagger down on the tip of his index finger. "The Duke promised my brother a good future. You haven't seen him ~ EbookFREE.me ~ He is the best in our family Being smart is also the most learned, so you adults, what made you make this choice? "
Skop smiled and did not answer, but he remembered the conversation with Nomelo.
Skop stood up. He walked to the door and looked at the soldiers coming and going in the yard. They were very experienced veterans. Even now, he can hardly imagine the despair that Caesar found when he was betrayed. What is your mood.
"If I said I was forced to do nothing, can you believe it?" Skop looked back at Kurash. "Fortunately, all this will soon pass."
After finishing speaking, Skop whistled between his lips with a finger and called a waiter to hand him a letter.
"Send it to the French," Skop said afterwards and then told the attendant, "If you want to come back alive, it's best to be smart, I think maybe after reading this letter, Louis' temper will not be very good."
The attendant nodded whitishly, and shortly after he left, the city of Siena sounded the horn of the assembly.
On July 15, 1501, the Pope declared war on the French army.
On the same day, the French army launched a fierce battle with Naples and the Pope's coalition outside Siena!
At the same time, the French Louis de Bourbon forces, along with the Northern Army of the Roman Thesia Army and the 6th Regiment of Bologna, moved closer to the battlefield.
The French army totaled 24000!
Allied forces total 15,000!
The third Siena battle in the Romagna War begins ~