Subsequently, Godfrey's infantry regimental line, in the Brotherhood of the Brocade, which had arrived to reinforce them, resisted Alexios' continuous attack from the city gates. Meanwhile, Gawain and Baldwin gathered their men and horses, and after resting for a while, they mixed up their horses, abandoned the bridges and the river's positions, and hurried towards Godfrey's position.

"Gurgle!" The spikes of Billel's iron spear intersected with the spear of the Byzantine standard-bearer, and then both sides gritted their teeth and swung the hilt of their spears at each other, both trying to pull the tip of the other's spear away, and then deliver the fatal blow. Eventually, the sturdy and powerful Biller gained the upper hand, and after his spearhead was suppressed, he swung his iron hammer and struck the standard-bearer's helmet, and the man's neck swung violently, and then blood splattered out, but he still refused to abandon his weapon, and a Lombard company soldier next to him held out his thorn spear and plunged into the flag-bearer's abdomen, and the heroic man fell to his knees, curled up on the ground, and died.

Then the Byzantine infantry in front of Birel showed signs of weakness in the fighting power of the spears fighting each other—the Greek soldier companies on the left and right sides of the Lombard company also performed well, biting the offensive of Diognis and preventing it from getting out.

The expression on the face of the Imperial Catcher, who was riding a horse and shouting hoarse in order to encourage the battle, became more and more uneasy: the signs of collapse in the queue, he could already clearly feel it, in this kind of fierce spear battle between infantry teams, once there was a gap on one side and the formation wavered, it would fall apart, and he looked at the faint light in the snow, and behind the opposing infantry, there were also well-organized cavalry teams, as well as Italian veteran companies on both wings. All foreshadowing. It is difficult for him to remove the team: the replacement will inevitably loosen the formation; Loosening is bound to collapse; The collapse will inevitably be pursued by Birrell's troops. That's the end of the corpses.

In the end, it was Tetisius' reserves that pressed up. The infantry and cavalry that had saved the field of the guards and captured the entire valley of the Imperial Tomb attacked densely with shouts.

Exhausted, Biller also raised his iron gun: the trumpet and horn sounded, the Italian veterans on both flanks entered the battle at the same time, and Giovanni also led a half-full company of Saint-Cyril cavalry, raising the flag, and slowly pressed up. The scale of the battle between the two sides is growing, and the chips are being staked. It is also increasing, and if either side loses, it will suffer fatal losses.

The shouts rang out again, and the spears of the two armies in a horizontal array stabbed fiercely again, and under the tips of the spears that came and went, there were bloody corpses.

"The soldiers are very tired, and many of them are wounded, and now I am afraid that I will not be able to resist the instructions of the Grand Duke, what should I do?" Birrell thought of this. He was brave and good at fighting, but he was so anxious that he almost cried, and his snot flowed out and froze, beside him. The Lombard militia were gasping for white breath, and the gloves on which they held the hilts of their guns had condensed with bloody frost. But he is still holding on to his fighting position, and this is an out-and-out hard battle. Anyone who takes half a step back and wavers will be pushed into a hell from which there will be no return.

Greek infantry on both sides. Regardless of fatigue and casualties, he also threw himself into a fierce fight.

"Surrender! I am Diognis, and we have fought side by side in Italy before, and you have no chance of victory, and you have angered His Majesty the Great Emperor. Theognes rode his horse and galloped back and forth in front of the formation, shouting.

"Never!" The soldiers of the Red Hand Company on the opposite side shouted in unison, "You are now just an enemy we despise. ”

One or two thousand spears of the enemy, behind which condensed the fighting spirit and courage of the life, along the thousands of feet of snow, stabbed and chopped each other, fiercely pinned each other down, stirred up a storm more terrible than the winter snow, swept the land in front of the imperial mausoleum: on the tall hills, the huge rusty bronze statue of Emperor St. Basil, staring at the majestic "eyes", overlooking all this.

Tetisius, who was in the command position, rode on his horse and looked at the entire battlefield, "It is also very rare for Gawain to do this, but this detachment of mine will live up to the prestige of the empire and be the first to make a decisive breakthrough on the enemy's front." I hope that with this meritorious service, I can renew the life of His Excellency Caesar. ”

But soon, a cavalryman hurried in and reported to General Goubi, "In the direction of the left flank of our army, a large number of men and horses have suddenly appeared. ”

"What." Tetisius's heart sank, and then he followed the direction pointed by the cavalry, on the left side of the hill, and sure enough, a large number of armed troops with banners came.

This happened to be the mobilization of Gottschalk from the pilgrim camp, originally Gawain gave him the quota of 3,000 people to take charge of logistics chores, but Gottschalk pulled out four or five thousand people, this group of civilian pilgrims did not receive any formation and tactical training, but at least they could still hold weapons, under the fanatical speech and encouragement of Gottschalke, with the courage of blood and spirit, they slammed and rushed so suddenly.

At the very least, in the eyes of Tetisius, these thousands of men are "combatants" with banners and weapons, and once they arrive at the place of engagement, they will make the most dangerous "flank" attack on their own formation, which is in a state of stalemate, unless their commander is an idiot and mentally retarded.

"Retreat." Tetisius gritted his teeth and made up his mind, and ordered the trumpeter beside him to blow the signal.

The captor Diognis could scarcely believe his ears, and when he looked back at the waving of the flag on the hill, he officially confirmed Tetisius' order

But the retreat before the battle, for the ancient army, can almost be equated with "rout", first the military horses that came from the rear hurriedly retreated, and then the soldiers on the front line began to collapse and flee, and the guards were also mixed in the crowd, never daring to turn back, running for about half a thousand miles, before stopping.

Then he looked back and saw that half a mile of territory was covered with the corpses of his own soldiers, most of whom had been killed on the way to escape. Theognes mourned, and the Byzantine soldiers began to march around the tomb, while the commander angrily drove his horse to the banner and asked Tetisius, "Why did you blow the horn of the retreat?" ”

"Because the enemy has dangerous reinforcements over there." Tetisius replied, pointing to the arriving column of pilgrims.

Theognes looked down carefully, "What kind of regular army is it?" It was all civilians with weapons, and with a little more time, we could have completely crushed Gawain's infantry company and turned the tide of the battle once and for all, and the group that had arrived improvised was sent by Gawain to intimidate and deceive you and me - but tragically, you were fooled. ”

"Please calm down and guard the officer." Tetisius was not angry, "You have been supervising the battle in front of the battle just now, and I have observed the whole battle, and I believe that even if Your Majesty is here, he will approve of my actions." (To be continued.) )