King of German Mercenaries

When the French returned along the original road, when they passed near Fornovo, they deliberately slowed down and tried not to make a loud noise to avoid disturbing the Italians in the Italian coalition camp by the river.

At the same time, Charles VIII recovered several French knights who had been scouting near the coalition camp before:

What's the matter with the Italians? asked Charles VIII.

Go back to Your Majesty, nothing happened. Several French knights had been near the Italian camp and found nothing unusual.

Charles VIII, who was at ease, took his men with confidence and embarked on the mountain road with a steep slope. The mountain road is wide enough to walk 10 French knights side by side. The problem of slope, for horses, is not a big deal.

The French knights, in order not to disturb the Italians, covered the mouths of each horse with strips of cloth to prevent them from neighing. Then, everyone silently walked up the mountain road and rushed to the northwest.

However, because there were no torches lit, visibility was limited and they were not fast. They didn't arrive at Marin's ambush point until around 12 midnight.

Here, the French began to relax a little. Because it is more than ten kilometers away from the coalition camp, everyone no longer needs to beware of the Italians. So, the French knights began to talk and laugh. Even Charles VIII discussed with several nobles what to do after returning to Paris.

In general, if not for the syphilis epidemic, France would have made a lot of money this time. After all, the big kingdom of Naples has been taken down. You know, Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples, in this era, were the most developed areas of agriculture in Europe.

Italy is volcanic, and volcanic ash is an important natural fertilizer. Europeans do not know how to use manure, but Italians know how to use volcanic ash as fertilizer in Roman times. Therefore, the southern part of Italy, in the Middle Ages, has always been a wealthy area in Europe. Sicily, in particular, is called the Golden Basin by Europeans. Of course, Sicily was snatched by the Spaniards, and the French snatched Naples, which is slightly worse than Sicily, which is also very good.

However, when they were slack, they didn't know that they had entered an ambush...

The 10 French knights at the head didn't even notice that many traps were laid on this low valley road. As a result, they were all tripped over by the very low-level dead tripping horses...

For a time, everyone in France overturned their horses, and the knights in the front row were also unable to stop the car for a while. Seven or eight rows of knights collided together, and many horses and knights fell to the ground.

Noticing that the French knight at the front had been attacked, Marin no longer hesitated and shouted:

attack!

As soon as the voice fell, the rows of stones on the hills on both sides began to smash down...

what……

咴咴...

For a time, many horses were hit, and their hooves were injured and broken by stones. The French knights on horseback were also thrown off their war horses and drawn horses.

At the same time, the 100 archers under Marin's command also set up their arrows to open their bows. For a while, the arrows rained like rain...

what……

咴咴...

Again, there were quite a few French knights and horses, but in general, it was the draught horses that had the worst luck. Because a drawn horse has no horse armor, it is simply unbearable to be hit by a bow and arrow.

For a time, the French were in chaos...

Enemy attack! Enemy attack! the French officer began to shout, demanding the knights to defend.

But how is this defended? Because all blows come from the sky...

And Charles VIII, surrounded by many knights, looked terrified:

What's going on? What's going on? This time the French escaped, but they were well prepared, and the Italians didn't move. They were monitored by French scouts throughout the process, so they shouldn't be here...

Is it a German? an earl next to him guessed.

I think so too,

It seems that there are 15,000 Germans who didn't participate in the previous battle... Another French noble said. The French also knew that Count Alfred led an army of 15,000 people behind and did not participate in the battle.

It is precisely because of this that Charles VIII was in a hurry to leave. If he was trapped by the opponent's army of 35,000 people, it would be too late for him to escape. The Germans are not this group of Italians. The Germans are martial, and there are many wandering knights with high martial arts among the people. If they were entangled by the German army, and with the assistance of the Italians, the French would have been too small to bear. Therefore, Charles VIII chose to run away very spinelessly, just not wanting to entangle with the Italians and waste time.

Unexpectedly, they just left the barracks and planned to run away, but here they were blocked...

In the middle of the night, everyone couldn't see clearly and didn't know how many enemies there were. As a result, 8,000 French knights were devastated by the attack of more than 1,000 German mercenaries. Moreover, the other party was on the high ground on both sides, and the French knights could not go up at all.

Charles VIII panicked for a while, but quickly calmed down. Because it's useless to panic, it will only kill yourself. He calmly instructed the French army to shrink the defense, leaned together, and put the killed and injured horses on the outermost periphery to block the stones that fell on the hillsides on both sides.

Fryer, you lead someone to the left hillside! Charles VIII ordered.

Your Majesty, our horses can't rush up! Flair, Count of Toulouse, had a bitter expression on his face.

Idiot, who made you climb the mountain on horseback? You take 1,000 people and dismount to climb the mountain. You must occupy a commanding height. At least, let's stop throwing stones on the slopes near our army!

Yes, Your Majesty! Flair quickly led the order, with 1,000 plate armor knights, wearing a full set of plate armor, carrying a two-handed sword, and began to climb the hill on the left. Coincidentally, the location he chose to attack was exactly where Marin was ambush...

These idiots, let them climb!

Sir, what if they climb up?

Slow down and smash the stones, leave some stones, and the archers continue to shoot the French main formation.

Also, yell at me!

Yes!

Soon, strange cries of surrender without killing (French)! and Charles VIII is dead (French)! resounded on both sides of the hillside.

Count Flair, who was leading the mountaineering, was taken aback and stopped the mountain quickly, mounted his horse, and returned to the main formation to see the situation of Charles VIII...

You idiot, why are you coming back? Charles VIII was furious.

I'm worried about Your Majesty's safety! Flair was loyal.

Idiot, that's the enemy's rumor!

Oh... Flair drooped his head and went back to organize the climb again...

But after such a fuss, the desperate momentum of Flair's thousand men disappeared immediately. Even the French army's main formation was stretched too long. Those who were close to Charles VIII naturally knew that His Majesty the King was fine. But those who fall behind don't know. So, in the second half of the French army, many people began to panic...

And Earl Flair, who was in charge of climbing the hill and grabbing the commanding heights, just brought someone up to the top, but saw Marin's wretched smiling face...

Hey, right now, you're too short to smash it up...

With an order, the stone that had been built up a long time ago smashed the Frenchman who was lying on the Banpo head in the face...

For a time, the seven or eight hundred French knights lying on the Banpo were hit and fell down...

The French knights themselves are wearing thick plate armor, and how can they withstand the falling of stones? So, they fell down one after another, like dumplings...

However, this hillside is dozens of meters high, which is equivalent to the height of a dozen-story building. Is it better to fall? Therefore, most of the French knights who were recruited fell and died or were disabled...

As for Earl Flair, it was good luck. Because, when he fell, there was a fat knight below who acted as a pad. Then, when he fell down, he was blocked by a few unlucky people in the middle, which slowed down the falling speed. So, when he finally fell to the ground, he miraculously didn't fall to his death, he just broke his left leg...

Ouch, it hurts me to death...

Soon, the unfortunate Earl of Flair was carried to the livid-faced Charles VIII...

What a waste! Charles VIII cursed angrily.

However, he couldn't do anything about the shameless stone-throwing behavior of the people on the mountain. So, he turned his head and instructed Count Tour:

Matthews, take someone to explore and see how many German troops are ahead. In Charles VIII's view, since the other side had set up an ambush, there must be a lot of troops in front of him.

But soon, Matthews, who led the team to explore the road, reported:

Your Majesty, there doesn't seem to be any enemy troops ahead, but there are many traps and pits, and it is impossible to pass through on horseback...

It turned out to be so, I thought there were a lot of people blocking the way... Charles VIII was also a little stunned...

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