Vol 7 Chapter 320: The Fortified Battle of Gahel (Part 2)

A group of officers stood in front of Gonzalo with a gloomy face. Some of them had dirty armor and some were wounded. When they attacked the city of Gail, these Castilians fought fiercely with the Sicilian army. .
The Sicilians’ textbook style of warfare in the Roman town deeply stimulated the Castilian officers. They felt that they were threatened. Although this threat did not come from the battlefield, it was more a damage to dignity. .
They believe that it is necessary to show the strength of the Castilian army in front of the Sicilians in order to save face. After all, they were defeated by this army before. Although the two sides are now an alliance, this does not mean everything is right. It's in the past.
But what annoys them is that the Aragonese don’t want them to achieve this goal easily. The seemingly precarious city of Gail has not only damaged the Castilian army, but also lost it in front of the Sicilians because of its unusually balanced defense. face.
"260 people," a clerk whispered to Gonzalo, "this is a soldier who died in the battle, and after being seriously injured, he can no longer continue fighting..."
Gonzalo raised his hand to stop the clerk's continued report. He looked at the officers: "I know you are all tired and you have just suffered a setback, but I want you to go back now and organize your troops to launch an offensive."
"My lord, that city wall is much stronger than we thought," an officer defended. "Maybe we should wait a little longer. If we can bring in heavy artillery, we can avoid too many losses."
Gonzalo shook his head and directly rejected the officer’s suggestion:
We must take Gail as soon as possible. This is the regent, and I mean it. This is of great significance, so you must be true to it. Excuting an order."
The officers looked at each other helplessly, and then saluted and left. Gonzalo exhaled slightly as they walked together and whispered about their backs.
Alexander walked out of a small door behind him, watching Gonzalo's increasingly gloomy face, he picked up the casualty report left by the clerk on the side and looked at it, frowning slightly.
"Ferdinand is much more difficult to deal with than we thought," he glanced at his general. "We need to resolve the siege of Gahell as soon as possible."
"His Royal Highness, I must say that as a soldier I still agree with their views," Gonzalo tilted his head and gestured to the outside. "If there are more powerful siege guns, we can completely avoid this unnecessary loss, even if we attack After getting off Gahel, it is difficult for us to catch Ferdinand here alive, so once he returns to Zaragoza, he will organize a new and stronger defense, so we have some losses here..."
"Stupid?" Alexander asked, seeing Gonzalo shrug but did not deny it. He couldn't help but think to himself that this is indeed the style of arrogant Gonzalo, and he has no scruples in the face of the monarch. "General, I choose to be here. The decisive battle with Ferdinand was not a whim, what you see is the battlefield, and what I see is more, so I believe that everything will have a result soon."
The coalition's attack on the city of Ghaal was unexpectedly fierce, and even shortly after taking away the casualties from the city, before the Aragonese could catch their breath, a new attack had begun again.
The Aragonese soldiers must not go into battle once. They relied on the strong defense of the city wall to resist desperately, but their courage had been consumed a lot in the previous battles, and they began to feel tired and feared.
They knew that with such fierce resistance, once the city broke, they would be violently retaliated against by the enemy, which made the people in the city worried.
Ferdinand took advantage of this. He took to the streets and did not hesitate to condescend to persuade the locals to tell them what terrible prospects he faced, and at the same time promised them that if he helped him hold Gail, he would exempt it. 10 years of taxation in this city.
This is a very generous promise, and the Gael people are instantly moved.
More importantly, Ferdinand promised that this situation will not take long, because Zaragoza’s reinforcements will arrive in a few days, and the situation will change completely by then.
Perhaps because it was not a lie, Ferdinand’s tone was sincere and firm, which deeply infected and moved the Gael people.
Someone finally stood up and responded to the king's expectation. They began to follow the army to the top of the city to guard the city wall. For a time, the soldiers and citizens of Gage were united and morale was greatly boosted.
Ferdinand was very satisfied with the situation, but after returning to his residence, he immediately ordered his men to go to Zaragoza to urge reinforcements.
Although the situation is reversed, the defense is offensive, and even the idea of ​​completely annihilating the enemy in Aragon, and then taking the opportunity to return to Castile is indeed very good, but Ferdinand is not entirely so greedy.
The fierce coalition offensive made him a little more realistic, so he felt that as long as he could repel the enemy in front of him, it was a victory. So this time he asked his men to tell the Archbishop of Zaragoza that the strength of the reinforcements only needed to help him relieve Gael. The key is to dispatch troops as soon as possible without further delay.
Then the king returned to his temporary residence to pray to the Virgin again.
Ferdinand can be said to be a devout believer. He believes that God is just and Christ is benevolent. However, he believes that his crown is the choice of the Trinity, so he likes to pray for it whenever he encounters difficulties. Enlightenment.
Ferdinand is still very confident in the defense of the city of Gail, but he also knows that this will not last too long. After all, Gail is not a balanced military fortress but just an ordinary town, so the coalition forces did not take advantage of it before. Gahel was not ready to attack quickly, and Ferdinand regarded him as favoritism of God, so now he is thanking God for this gift.
Alexander was walking on the slightly muddy road wrapped in a thick cloak. It rained the night before, which was not big but troublesome.
The power of the Musketeers was greatly reduced, the artillery was temporarily unusable, and even the bows and crossbows were affected by the humidity, so the originally extremely fierce second siege had to be temporarily stopped.
Passing through a forest of thorns, Alexander saw a group of Sicilian soldiers sitting around the campfire to keep warm. Because the wood was damp, the flames of the campfire were not big but there was thick smoke, and the soldiers coughed unceasingly.
Alexander walked over. The slightly dirty cloaks on him and Schell made them look indistinguishable from ordinary soldiers, so when they were asked to walk over and sit by the campfire, there was a kind person who easily put a wine in his hands. Pass him the tin cup.
"Take a sip, this weather, this ghost place," the Sicilian soldier cursed while pouring wine into his mouth. "I should be basking in Karsani at this time, not rolling in this mud."
"Sicilian?" Alexander asked.
"Yes, a native Sicilian, aren't you?" the soldier asked back.
"Forget it," Alexander pondered and thought he was half Sicilian. "But most of the time I'm outside, Naples, Rome, and other places."
"Oh, you are the Segaia from the Queen's Army?" The Sicilian soldier immediately showed a surprised look. He said to the others in a slightly exaggerated tone, "Look, there is a Segaia here!"
The soldiers immediately showed curiosity and looked at Alexander, and someone stood up and looked away.
Hearing this phrase with a clear Naples meaning, Alexander couldn't help laughing. He knew that the veterans who followed Ruosha were called Segaia in the Sicilian army, which meant followers.
The main feature of these soldiers is that almost all of them participated in the Battle of Bucharest, and several famous battles that followed. Some of these soldiers have been assigned by Rusha to serve as low-level officers in various units, and some are still in her army without leadership. Those in service became the elite of the Sicilian army.
However, regardless of whether it has been promoted or an ordinary soldier, Segaia has a high status in the Sicilian army. In the eyes of ordinary soldiers, these people who have fought with the Countess Queen from the beginning are almost synonymous with legend.
"Let's have a toast to see a Segaia," someone suggested, and there was a clinking of glasses, but then someone said, "It would be better if there weren't those Castilian guys. We are trapped here. It's bad."
This person's words immediately resonated, and many Sicilian soldiers began to complain, and some people wondered why the queen wanted to ally with her former defeated general.
Alexander listened quietly. He knew that such doubts existed, even some Sicilian officers did not understand it.
In the eyes of the Sicilians, they are the most powerful army in Europe or perhaps the whole world. After all, they have defeated the French, Aragonese, and Castilians one after another, but now they are blocked. Going up to the wall that will collapse at any time is difficult to move, and the opponent is still the defeated opponent.
So they put the blame on the Castilians, thinking that they were dragging their feet.
Alexander listened quietly to those complaints, and from time to time he followed suit. It was not until the soldiers’ emotions finally eased that he said casually,
I heard that the queen insisted on forming an alliance with Castile, except for the fact that it was with Rome. The Duke of Thesia is not only a brother and sister, but also because of her child."
Speaking of this, the soldiers' eyes lit up immediately.
They showed the unique faces of Qiu Bamen one after another, and they gathered around to listen to the "authority gossip" of Segaia about the queen.
"Speaking of this child of the queen, one cannot but talk about their mother, the Countess of Cosenza..."
Schell kept looking at Alexander walking slowly in front with weird eyes, and saw him stopping in front of a mud puddle as if looking for a way, so he walked over and prepared to help the master.
"Schel, do you think I am a bit stupid to slander myself?"
"How come, Lord, you must have plans," Schell quickly explained when Alexander asked, but then he still whispered, "But isn't it strange, sir, you know the queen's child... I mean That young master, maybe a young lady, if the queen in the future knows that you revealed their life experience, she might be very annoyed."
"Xieer, tell me, some things can be avoided if they don't want to happen, just like Ruosha's child, you should be very clear about what kind of rumors are there?"
Xieer hesitated a little, then shrugged helplessly.
There have been too many speculations about who the father of Ruosha's child is. Among them, there are people who are almost infinitely close to the truth. Perhaps the father of the child is someone close to Ruosha.
It is almost self-evident who this person is.
Such a guess would of course not easily reach Alexander's ears, but that doesn't mean he can't guess.
"It's just that it will damage your reputation." Xieer said quietly.
"My reputation is so good, it's time to be corrupted."
Alexander said something inexplicable for Schell, then walked around the puddle in front of him and walked away.
After a short break, the coalition forces once again launched a fierce attack on the city of Gail.
Although there was no artillery support, Gonzalo organized several teams of warriors who climbed the city. These fierce soldiers, mostly from Catalonia, rushed toward the gap desperately, even with the stones and arrows coming down. They may be killed at any time, but with generous rewards, the Catalans rushed forward with the courage to surprise the Aragonese army.
News from the other side of the city wall quickly spread to Ferdinand, which made his calmness from the beginning and finally a little nervous.
""Ferdinand is very aware of the fierceness and bravery of the Catalans, and there are some mercenaries in his army who don't care about anything except bounty.
In fact, when deciding to fight Alexander, Ferdinand considered recruiting a group of Catalans.
But this is not so easy. He already knows that there is a businessman who has a close relationship with the Catalans who controls the source of a large number of mercenaries, and even the defeat of Seville has a lot to do with this person.
However, the rapid changes in the war had left him with little time to consider how to choose a group of reliable mercenaries.
"Relocate the Catalans." Ferdinand made a decision after hesitating. There are not many Catalans under his hand, but these people should be able to withstand the seemingly rushing at any time. Enemies on the walls.
Next, Ferdinand began to anxiously look forward to news from Zaragoza.
The battle was going on fiercely, and from time to time someone screamed and rolled down the of the gap. The gap was almost blocked by the pile of corpses, and every step forward had to climb over the corpses like a mountain.
The dead corpses lay on a scarlet muddy soaked in blood. The mutilated corpses and the short moans and screams that came from them from time to time made this place like a terrible hell.
The Catalans under the city wall were facing each other, their eyes flashed with bloodthirsty cruelty. The two sides did not soften their hearts because they were from the same country. Instead, they tried to prove that they were Catalonia in a more brutal way. people.
"At least these Catalans are much more reliable than the Swiss," Alexander said to Gonzalo next to him looking at the scene under the city wall. "Otherwise we will be as troubled as Daring Charlie."
Gonzalo nodded in agreement. He had previously worried that the mercenary might refuse to fight against his fellow villagers, but Alexander assured him.
It now seems that the Regent really knows these Catalans very well.
"For these people, the clan is more important than the hometown most of the time," Alexander explained to Gonzalo. Although the Castilian general and the Catalans are half of the hometown, but for them But still not enough to understand "how are we preparing?"
Hearing Alexander's question, an officer standing behind quickly stepped up. He looked at the regent a little nervously. After confirming that the regent's face was not the same, the officer somewhat relieved his heart and began to report.
Listening to the cautious report from the artillery officer who had not satisfied him with his answer about the artillery, Alexander nodded slightly.
He knows that there will be a delicate relationship with these Castilian military aristocrats for a long time, and because of this delicate relationship, he has begun to gradually change Castile and even Spain will already exist in the future. Centuries-long military system.
Military aristocracy, a product of the Middle Ages, is bound to die out. This is not a person's will, but an inevitable trend that emerges as the war situation changes.
Future wars will be larger in scale and more destructive. Simple traditional military aristocracy is no longer enough to control such wars. Just like what happened in Rome Thesia, future wars will be truly national wars.
Faint cheers came from the direction of the city wall, Ferdinand looked back towards the door, and soon an attendant ran to him excitedly to report that another large-scale attack by the coalition forces had been repelled, and this time the enemy’s loss would be Bigger than before, even their Catalan Warriors dropped a lot of corpses in embarrassment.
Ferdinand secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He once again dispelled the idea of ​​retreating to the other side of the Ebro River. At the same time, he gave the order to put all the troops on the wall to defend firmly.
"Two days, just leave two more days for Zaragoza's reinforcements to arrive, so now is the time for everyone to do their best to defend the city."
Ferdinand exhilarated his men. They knew that the king was not comforting them, but facts.
The unobstructed road between Zaragoza and Gael ensures that the reinforcements can indeed arrive within 2 days, which makes the Aragonese believe that the king's words are completely achievable.
The last force of the Aragonese army has also been put into the defense of the city wall. They must ensure that the city of Gage is strong before the reinforcements arrive, so that after the reinforcements arrive, they can counterattack the enemy together with the reinforcements.
As the sun gradually set, night quickly enveloped the earth, heralding the end of the battle on the second day of the Siege of Gail.
Piles of bonfires were lit on the walls, and the unbridled laughter of the Aragonese soldiers spread far to the coalition camp.
Due to the weather, the artillery was unusable and the threat was much smaller. The Aragonese simply didn't even stop busy closing the gap.
They have used it as a decoy to attract coalition soldiers to death, and the results of the battle have proved that they did it well.
In the early morning of October 22, 1502, the dew was still dripping on the falling leaves, and suddenly the ground shook the branches.
The drops of dew fell on the ground, and then they were stepped on with powerful feet and mixed with the dirt.
The heavy carriage moved forward vigorously, as a group of soldiers pushed a behemoth closer to the city wall.
"The flood season of the Ebro River is really troublesome," a man complained and looked at the big guy proudly. "It took us a lot of effort to bring it from the river."
Alexander ignored the man, he looked at the huge artillery that was gradually pushed to the gun position with satisfaction.
He knew that this man was recommended by Tiego. It is said that he was a French artillery that Tiego met on the way to Seville to form Catalan mercenaries, but it is a little bit about whether he can be qualified for Alexander. doubt.
When deciding to invade Aragon, the first consideration was not to let the already prepared army quickly cross the border, but to prepare the most powerful battlefield protector for his army.
Only because of the flood season, the ships carrying artillery from the upper reaches of the Ebro River had to dock many times, and even carried the artillery ashore to avoid the flood.
There was no time to see the shadows of these artillery pieces in the battle of Roman Town.
The movement of the coalition forces alarmed the Aragonese soldiers in the city of Ghaell. They looked at the busy enemies below through the mist, and for a while did not know what tricks they were playing.
Until someone with good eyesight spotted the strangeness in the distance.
"Cannon!" the soldier yelled. He pushed and shoved through the crowd and ran to his captain, pointing to the outside of the city and shouting, "It's a cannon!"
The captain shoves the soldier impatiently. Although the power of the coalition artillery is not small, it has not been able to cause any threats in the previous two days. This has made the tension of the Aragonese relaxed. Now the soldier shouts so loudly. The call naturally caused dissatisfaction among the officers.
"What happened to the artillery?" The officer said impatiently as he jumped up to the top of the city and looked outside. At this distance, he didn't have to worry that someone would shoot him coldly, but gradually the officer's face became difficult to look at, and then he suddenly jumped The lower city wall ran toward the city lifelessly, while shouting "Cannon! It's cannon!"
The shouting of this man caused a panic, UU reading www.uukanshu. It wasn't until he ran outside Ferdinand's residence that he was dragged by the king's attendants to stop him.
When Ferdinand came out, the officer had almost calmed down. He also knew to salute the king, but then he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the Castilians have brought a large artillery!"
Ferdinand's heart jumped. The previous allied forces were repeatedly frustrated, which made Ferdinand more confident. Now suddenly he heard that the enemy had an artillery that might threaten the fortifications of Gahel. Ferdinand couldn't help but become nervous!
He immediately ordered the attendant next to the city wall to look at the situation of the artillery, but just as the attendant had just turned around and walked out a few steps, a loud noise suddenly came from outside the city!
Then, many people saw a dark shadow flying across the sky, and then falling into the city in an arc.
In an instant, people near that place felt that the ground had been severely stepped on by a giant, and an obvious vibration came immediately!
Outside of Gahel, watching a cloud of smoke rising in the city, Schell, in a daze, heard Alexander whisper to himself: "It's over..."