On the city wall.
When Duncan took the initiative to ask for control of the ballista, the Duke of Dingtiger agreed without hesitation.
It was well known that the Roman legion excelled at using ballistae.
Duncan’s appearance clearly showed he was from the regular army, and his request for control of the ballista surely ant he had so confidence.
The Duke of Dingtiger had gathered nearly all the nearby farrs; counting several hundred miscellaneous soldiers, they amassed a force of fifteen to sixteen hundred people.
The Isle of Britain was rely a province of the empire, so the scale of battle would be much smaller, with engagents typically involving regular armies of a thousand. Adding in vassal armies, rcenaries, and farrs occasionally allowed the claim of tens of thousands.
In the early period when the British province was abandoned, a single legion of the empire could suppress the surrounding barbarian races.
Later, when the empire withdrew, the Britons requested the empire’s assistance several tis, and the Gaul Province sent troops three or four tis to drive back the Irish barbarians. However, at that ti, little Germania could not hold on. After the empire’s legion defeated the Picts, they had to withdraw, leaving no alternative but to completely abandon Britannia.
This shows that the empire had, in fact, already done its best at that ti.
Unfortunately, the once-mighty empire was now in decline, unable to defend such peripheral provinces. (The background during the Dai Mao King’s era was the Kingdom of Calot losing the empire’s protection, forcing her to take up the sword and fight.)
In the era of God’s Whip, barbarian invasions, the collapse of the empire, struggles over beliefs, and wars among the pantheon, King Arthur beca rely a small figure desperately trying to protect Britain.
The burden on this knight king’s shoulders was sothing Duncan was not averse to casually taking on together.
The ballista was left from that ti.
The early British legion was even trained by Roman officers, with a portion of the Sarmatian hired riders staying in Britain and training the later Lager heavy cavalry, one of the precursors to the Round Table Knights.
The Sarmatian Cavalry had great renown in the current era, being foreign rcenaries that ford the core strength of the empire.
In early legends, their won, though beautiful, often had to kill an enemy as a rite of passage and could not marry without military achievents.
During Trajan’s ti, the empire heavily defeated the Sarmatians, forcing them to hand over 8000 cavalry as hostages in a peace negotiation.
These cavalry were sent to serve in the Britannia region, becoming the early Sarmatian legion present there.
Their dragon head banner, kontos lances, and scale armor beca standard equipnt for the empire’s early armored cavalry.
King Uther’s cavalry unit inherited these Sarmatians’ legacy, including their distinct dragon head banner.
He was nicknad "Great Dragon Head-Uther."
(This is also how the imperial dragon banner from the Mount and Blade series ca about.)
"If I could have a unit of heavy cavalry, it would be better to think of a way to charge and kill than relying on the ballista and waiting."
Duncan was blessed with a God’s-eye view.
If he had a powerful imperial armored cavalry to charge, they could shatter where morale collapsed, directly locking down enemy leaders and possibly winning in a single charge.
Heavy cavalry are battlefield hamrs, capable of utterly smashing the enemy’s formation.
As long as the main legion holds, Duncan leading the cavalry would seize any exposed weakness, achieving results akin to Alexander the Great’s victories would not be difficult.
They could cut through from Europe all the way to sopotamia!
Of course, only heavy cavalry could fight like this in the current era; light cavalry charging would be akin to suicide.
Good news.
The enemy hadn’t attacked yet.
Bad news.
The Saxon barbarians had learned so of the empire’s siege techniques.
Britain essentially had no decent fortifications; so-called castles were essentially early military fortresses, with Calot being the only one resembling a fortress of the early dieval period, hence it was called the most indestructible place on the Isle of Britain.
The image of Crow Queen-Triss appeared on the city wall and said in a low voice, "The reinforcents requested by the Duke of Dingtiger have not arrived."
"It seems they have sided with King Uther."
The era of the various kings on the Isle of Britain was sowhat akin to a feudal system, with local lords and nobles having great autonomy.
Anya also walked hurriedly over, her expression slightly tense as she said, "Can we hold?"
"If not, we should think of a way to retreat."
She might have seed quite confident yesterday, but seeing the Saxon army pressing the border today, she imdiately beca nervous.
After all, she was just a noblewoman with sowhat lofty yet impractical ambitions, panicking when faced with war.
If this place fell, the Duke of Dingtiger would have no choice but to flee to the mountains and fight a guerrilla war. King Uther was also being pushed to the area of Wales by nurous Saxon barbarians now.
Strategically, winning this battle today would make it much easier for Duncan to establish himself on the Isle of Britain.
After pondering for a mont, Duncan said, "There’s still a chance."
This was a siege defense.
If it were a field battle, he would have long since retreated with the witch and others.
Crow Queen-Triss had almost blind trust in Duncan. Seeing Duncan appear sowhat confident, she imdiately nodded and replied, "I’ll go make so preparations. If we can’t hold them off, we’ll think of a way to retreat."
She seed to be preparing so ritual magic.
Duncan thought for a mont and asked, "Do you know the blinding technique?"
Crow Queen-Triss nodded lightly and asked, "What do you have in mind? I can give it a try."
Duncan pointed to the ballista beside him and said in a deep voice, "Try using the blinding technique to help hide this."
Catching the enemy off guard with a blast.
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