Chapter 261 Crossbowmen Show Their Power

"Not yet." Valerius responded.

"Please rest assured! When the battle begins, I will stand behind the team here. Once the enemy rushes close, I will let the soldiers rush up in time to block them and never let the enemy kill your soldiers!" Toleruge made a solemn promise.

"Thank you, Commander!" Valerius hit his left chest with his right fist and saluted to show his gratitude.

Toleruge said seriously: "You're welcome. Although we have trained together on the training ground, it is another matter on the battlefield. We need you and I to work closely together to better complete the task and defeat the enemy."

"You are right." Valerius nodded again in response. ,

When Toleruge turned and left, he couldn't help but take another look at the crossbows that the soldiers were pulling the strings. He suppressed the urge to take it and fiddle with it. He knew very well that even if he was the commander of the legion, these crossbowmen would not give him the crossbows in their hands, because before the war began, the Ministry of War issued an order: the crossbowmen must keep every crossbow well, even if it is destroyed, it must not fall into the hands of the enemy!

Watching Toleruge's departing back, Valerius breathed a sigh of relief: he had never fought with Toleruge before, but he had heard that he was a generous and brave fighter. He did not expect that he was also very thoughtful and considerate of others. He believed that the two teams could work well together.

While he was thinking, there was a commotion in the formation of the Second Legion in the rear, which immediately made his eyes light up: he saw small groups of sweaty soldiers running out from the gaps between the Centuriae phalanxes, they worked together to carry the wooden frame of the crossbow that was as high as a person, and some of them carefully held the bow slot and spring arm...

The leader was called Fortunius, a Marius veteran who joined the rebels with Frontinus. Because he had served as a crossbowman in the Roman Legion, he was later appointed as the captain of the crossbow by Maximus. Although there were some frictions between the Marius veterans and the Sulla veterans in the rebels, Fortunius was more respectful to Valerius. He saluted first, and then apologized: "Brother, we are late, please forgive us!"

"It's not too late at all, the enemy is still assembling, you came at the right time." Valerius Valerius also politely comforted: "Can you see if the place I chose is suitable for the crossbow?"

Fortunius carefully checked it and came back and said: "Brother, the place you chose is very good. The ground is relatively flat and not too high, which is conducive to the power of the crossbow."

"That's good, quickly arrange your crossbow." Valerius said seriously: "I suggest that your crossbow be placed close to the rear of my troops, and my soldiers will cover you to avoid alerting the enemy. After all, when the enemy besieged our camp last year, they tasted the power of the crossbow... When the enemy starts to attack, I will let the soldiers give you a place. What do you think?"

"Brother, you are still thoughtful, so let's do it." After Fortunius finished speaking, he went to command his men to place the crossbow.

At the beginning, due to the long march and battle, the crossbows in the rebel army were damaged a lot, and only 5 crossbows were successfully modified, which played a significant role in the temporary camp defense battle. After the tribe was established and the iron workshop began to operate normally, the Ministry of War repaired and modified all the crossbows, so this time the crossbow team brought a full 10 crossbows.

After the mounts were set up and the soldiers began to assemble, Fortunius ran to Valerius again: "Brother, have you tested the range of the arm crossbow here?"

"I tested it in the middle of the array before, but not here, for fear of being discovered by the enemy." Valerius had thought about it a long time ago, and he said without hesitation: "This place is more than ten meters lower than the middle. I estimate that the range of the arm crossbow is about 100 to 110 meters."

"One hundred to one hundred and ten..." Fortunius pondered and said: "If this is the case, the accurate range of our crossbows must be over 200..."

"Fortunius." Valerius looked at him and said in a deep voice: I suggest you let the enemy get closer before shooting, so as to prevent them from being frightened by the power of the crossbow and avoiding us early and running to other places! "

"Brother, you are right! We finally have a chance to make merit, so we can't let the enemy run away. "Fortunius agreed with this. He thought for a while and said, "Then let's put it at 180 meters... No, 150 meters. At such a close distance, the power of the crossbow can be maximized. Even if the enemy is frightened, it is not easy for them to escape..."

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The armies of the four major tribes of Pannoni did not have a unified offensive command. They had agreed in advance: whoever formed the battle formation first would launch the attack first.

The Brochi army was originally marching on the east bank of the Corana River. There was no need to move to another place before forming the battle formation, so the speed of forming the battle formation should be the fastest.

This was indeed the case, but Brix delayed issuing the attack order, fearing that his army would advance alone and be attacked by the enemy. It was not until the sound of the horn came from the middle that he asked the buglers to blow the horns.

"Woo!!! ..."Accompanied by the heavy and long sound of the horn, the Brochi warriors began to advance. Their marching speed was not fast, because although the two armies were only one mile apart, the terrain was undulating and there was no need to consume physical strength too early.

The enemy was standing on a high ground in front. The soldiers clearly remembered what the leaders said before the formation: "...Our life was peaceful and peaceful originally, but after these evil enemies came, they invaded our territory and burned our territory. Home, killing our brothers and sisters, inciting slaves to revolt... Some of the tribes west of Broch are close to extinction, so we must do our best to defeat them today! Our families will be safe, and our tribe will be safe! Restoring peace! ..."

The warriors suppressed the hatred in their hearts, tightened the shields and spears in their hands, and accumulated strength as they advanced. However, they obviously forgot that the origin of this war was the Pannoni's invasion of the Ardei people. Caused.

Closer...closer...so close that the Broch warriors could look up and see clearly the enemy's face covered by the cheek-guard helmet, and could clearly see the enemy's shining breastplate exposed on the cover of the large shield...

Although the enemy was well-armed, the Broch warriors believed that their bravery and the numbers of their companions would be enough to overwhelm and overwhelm the enemy.

The soldiers closest to the river bank were a little surprised, because they saw that the enemies at the forefront were rarely wearing armor, holding large shields, and seemed not to even have weapons. What were these enemies doing?

While I was wondering, I saw these enemies starting to move left and right, revealing gaps. Behind the gaps stood an instrument that looked like it was made of wood...

What are these things for? ...Most of the soldiers were confused.

Only a handful of people who participated in last year's attack on the Knicks temporary camp saw this scene, and their painful memories were suddenly brought back. Their faces changed drastically, and they shouted one after another: "Everyone, be careful!... That thing will shoot terrible arrows, Avoid it! Avoid it!…"

At this moment, the leaders of the Brochi tribe began to shout in the team: "Revenge!"

Immediately triggered the response of countless soldiers, the voice of "revenge" resounded throughout the entire left wing, everyone's hatred was ignited, and their fighting spirit was instantly high. They held shields in their left hands, raised spears in their right hands, took big steps, and began to accelerate forward.

In this surging crowd, the warning voice of a handful of people is like a small wave, fleeting.

"Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!..." Arrows in the shape of short spears carried the sound of the wind and flew at extremely fast speeds. They instantly penetrated the body of a Brocchi warrior, and then penetrated closely behind him. One of the warriors, and then plunged into the chest of the third warrior. The powerful momentum also brought down several warriors behind...

Ten narrow passages were plowed out by the surging crowd in an instant, but they were quickly filled with warriors rushing up from behind.

The soldiers who saw this shocking tragedy turned pale with fright, but amid the deafening roars and the pushing of their companions behind them, they had no choice but to continue moving forward.

"Crossbow ready!" Fortunius shouted, raising the colorful flag in his hand.

The crossbowmen turned the winch vigorously, pulled the bowstring to the end of the chute and fixed it, then inserted the thick arrows...

"Fire!" Fortunius waved the colorful flag vigorously, and the 10 crossbows fired again.

The whistling arrows plunged into the swarming enemies, once again causing shocking damage.

However, the screams and exclamations were completely covered up by the shouts of thousands of soldiers. Not only did they not frighten them, but they accelerated their advance.

"Crossbows are ready!" When Fortunius raised the flag again, Valerius's voice sounded from the side: "Crossbowmen, prepare!"

When the crossbowmen heard the sound, they all turned to look at the leader of the team on the left, and saw a red flag being raised. So the crossbowmen in the back row quickly handed the crossbows that had been strung and loaded with arrows to the teammates in the front row. Then he picked up another crossbow placed beside him, pulled the string and loaded the arrow.

The crossbowmen in the front row took the crossbow and, as they had done countless times in training before, held the crossbow arm with their left hand, hooked the trigger with their right hand, stared at the sight, and pointed forward...

In fact, there is no need to aim carefully at all, because there are densely packed enemies everywhere under the mountain...

Valerius deliberately waited for the crossbow to be fired before waving the flag and shouting: "Shoot forward, let go!"

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!..." 300 crossbow arrows were shot out in unison, like a giant sickle being swung out. Countless screams rang out, and all the Brocchi warriors running at the front fell to the ground.

This immediately slowed down the forward momentum of Broch's warriors.