Twenty miles south of Santia, a Lombard team collecting military supplies was walking slowly among the low gentle hills.

The team consisted of nearly two hundred pack horses, mules and donkeys and more than a hundred ox carts and carriages. There were more than three hundred laborers in front and behind, followed by seventy or eighty light cavalry and hundreds of infantry in light armor holding spears, axes, swords and hammers. Just look at it.

The cautious marching formation with a distance of a hundred steps, sentry cavalry in front, and protection on the sides shows that it is a team with good combat capability.

There are more than 180 infantry and cavalry soldiers. As a baggage team, there are quite a lot of cavalry and infantry accompanying them. There are no important items in the baggage team, just the most urgently needed food, tents and carpentry tools in the front.

.

The Lombard baggage train has been badly beaten lately.

The patchwork mercenaries outside the city of Santia were eager to go north, so the food and baggage did not accompany them. They thought that when they arrived in the north, they could collect them from the recovered territory, but they never thought that their opponents would not forget it during the emergency evacuation.

"Strong walls and clear fields", wherever there were no Wells Legion garrison within dozens of miles around Santia, all civilians were moved away, all the food and supplies that could be carried were taken away, and those that could not be taken away were burned.

The only completed city in the north was Lavati, but Lavati, which had been "recovered" at this moment, actually sternly refused to allow the Lombard mercenaries to enter the city, and also refused to provide food and supplies to the Lombard army.

The Lombard court was constrained by Lavati's special autonomous city status. In order to prevent the city from decaying, it strictly prohibited mercenaries from entering the city.

At that time, a mercenary army of more than 200 people rushed to attack Lavati, but was beaten back by the newly reorganized citizen armed forces.

Enjoying the treatment of enemy territory within the country, the Lombard mercenaries could only look at the armed citizens of Lavati and curse.

Unable to rely on battlefield supplies, thousands of Lombard mercenaries could only transport baggage northward from the southern controlled area. However, since the siege of Santia, six out of ten baggage convoys heading north from the southern Lombardy controlled area were unable to reach the mercenary camp.

of.

This situation comes from a Welsh army that is elusive around Santia. The commander of this army is Baron Angus, the deputy commander of the Welsh Army.

When the Lombard mercenaries went north to besiege the city of Santia, Angus personally led the cavalry to cover the infantry while fighting and retreating. After the infantry retreated to the fortified city, Angus did not deploy the cavalry into the city. Instead, he led two hundred

Many cavalry sneaked into the surrounding areas of Santia, sometimes breaking into pieces, with thirty or fifty cavalry as a team, and sneak attacks on the food collection teams who left the brigade to search for food supplies. Sometimes the entire army gathered to attack the mercenaries outside the city.

The flanking camp made it impossible for the mercenary who came from afar to camp safely.

Two days ago, the task force sent to lurk in the south sent back the news that a huge baggage team would arrive on the frontline battlefield with food and supplies for thousands of people and more than a month, so Angus gathered the cavalry team again and planned to attack.

Those baggage items.

Among the gentle hills, a hillside is no more than a hundred feet tall, but it is indeed the highest point as far as the eye can see.

There are no tall trees on the hillside, but a few low miscellaneous trees have lush foliage, completely hiding the figures of Angus and the others who are sitting firmly on the saddle.

Next to Angus, Lusignan, the commander of the Welsh Legion Cavalry in a light chainmail, raised his hand to the direction of the slowly approaching baggage train, and said to Angus in a low voice: "My lord,

Just now, the secret sentry came back to report that the escort of the baggage train was extremely cautious. Before entering Xuqiu, they sent three cavalry squads to scout out. They wished they could search every rock and grass in the entire Xuqiu."

Angus held a branch in his mouth, chewed it from time to time, chewed his teeth and chuckled: "The Lombards are frightened by us, and now they will cower like a bird at the slightest disturbance."

"The Lombards thought we would set up an ambush in the hills, but we decided not to set up an ambush here." Lusignan gently turned his horse's head and looked at the plain north of the hills.

There is no cover on all sides of the plain. There are no crops in the farmland now, so it is almost impossible to encounter an enemy ambush. But in this plain, there is a wide river embedded in it. This is a river that originates from the Wells Valley.

When it reaches Lombardy it is called the Po River.

The Po River flows north-south as a whole, but this place has a partial northeast-south configuration. The river is hundreds of feet wide and the water flow is gentle. A wooden bridge spans here, connecting the endless plains on the north and south banks.

At this moment, under the wooden bridge, a group of people from the Weapons Research Laboratory of the Wells Corps in civilian clothes were placing explosives under several important bridge piers. Long leads of black gunpowder wrapped in straw paper were led to a hidden place at the end of the bridge.

In the grass, a pit was dug in the grass. The same weeds as the surrounding ones were piled next to the pit. It should be used for cover. A short soldier was squatting here guarding the fire. He was holding the gun in his hand.

Root bundle leader.

A total of five explosive charges were placed on the wooden bridge less than a hundred feet away, and at the other end of the wooden bridge there was also a soldier squatting in a pit under the pier.

Several people from the weapons research laboratory finished the installation task with sweating profusely, and signaled to Reid, who was instructing the soldiers to perform the detonation task, that it was completed.

Red is a veteran of the Wells Legion, and is now the deputy captain of the Wells Legion Cavalry Company. He is at the same level as Jafar. However, because of his inferior combat power, he has not been well-known. This time he was able to obtain the title of "Command Officer for the ambush operation".

Reid attached great importance to the most important link. He once again ran along the thin bundle of explosive fuses, and once again ordered the soldier hiding in the grass under the bridge, "You remember, when you hear two thunder blasts,

Just light the fuse in your hand, and you can rest assured that the bridge will not kill you when it collapses, and after the bridge collapses, the place will be covered up, so the enemy will not find your traces easily."

The soldier was obviously a little nervous, and his complexion became sallower.

"Man, Master Angus said that after completing this bridge bombing mission, you will be directly promoted to the cavalry squad leader, with a monthly salary of eighty-five pfennigs." Red used military promotion to appease the soldiers' emotions.

"Remember, light the fire only after two blasts of thunder. Don't light it too early."

The soldiers in the pit nodded solemnly, and Red immediately called on a few of his men to put a wooden board on the pit and cover it carefully with a fresh piece of weed skin.

There are no traces of artificial loosening here.

On the other side of the wooden bridge, several Welsh Legion soldiers who were doing the same thing also completed their mission and signaled their retreat in sign language.

On the gentle hillside, Angus and the others saw the guard sentries of the Lombard baggage train from the south walking slowly towards the hillside where they were staying.

"Lord Angus, the flag was just raised on the other side of the bridge. Chief Red and others have set up a trap. We can retreat." Lusignan reported to Angus.

"Withdraw." Angus turned the horse's head first.

"Captain, the enemy is coming here on horseback. Do you want to clean up the traces?" An accompanying cavalryman asked Lusignan for instructions.
Chapter completed!