This is a double-story stable, about six or seven meters high, more than twenty meters wide, over forty meters long, and covers an area of ​​more than one thousand square meters. It is a rare large wooden building in that era.
The elves made good use of the tall yew trees in the area. Many of the still-growing trees are embedded in the outer walls and corners of the stable. When it was first built, a portion of the yew trees in the area were probably cut down, leaving behind large trees that could be used as wall pillars, and then the stable was built using the tree trunks as base pillars.
There are seven or eight treetops on top of the stable, rustling in the night breeze. The treetops are more than fifteen meters high. They are the branches of the big trees that serve as the base.
It’s a fusion of man-made and natural, and it seems to make sense—the trees will still grow, but as they get bigger, they’ll hold the other piles of the exterior wall tighter and more secure.
It is unknown how many years this stable has been here. The outside is covered with vines, making the outer walls tough and tight.
There were probably hundreds of Jatu people who rushed into the stable. They encountered no obstacles before entering, and the door of the stable was also open.
When the Jatu people first started marching, they did not light torches because the moonlight outside was bright and they could actually see.
But there was no light in the stable. It was pitch black and one could not see one's hand in front of one's face.
If there is no light at all, it is actually difficult for both sides to cause any casualties.
But because the door of the stable was open, one could see what was happening at the door very clearly from inside the stable.
After hearing the screams, the Jatu people in the back row probably thought that a fight had already broken out inside, and they continued to rush into the stable.
However, although the door of the stable was not small, it was only five or six meters wide. With so many people crowded together, the Jatu people who had already entered the stable could not retreat at all. All they could hear were continuous screams.
The Jatu people who were unable to get in the back row finally lit torches and threw a torch into the stable door. Only then could they finally see the situation inside the stable clearly.
This tall stable had two floors, with haystacks piled up against the walls. There were at least eighty people standing around the walls, high and low, all holding bows and arrows.
There are humans and there are Noldor elves.
They were divided into three layers: upper, middle and lower, forming an extremely ferocious firepower network, and were constantly drawing bows and shooting arrows.
Dozens of Jatu had fallen in the middle of the stable - while they could not see anything, these archers had already caused a large number of casualties.
But they only saw this for a moment, because several buckets of water were poured down on their heads and all their torches were extinguished.
And continuous arrows were shot out from the treetops.
There were many Noldor elves hiding on the top of the stable door, including Sederen and Lisadiran.
They are the strongest fighters at night and are also the best archers.
Sederen was responsible for inflicting casualties, while Risadilan's main task was to prevent the enemy from starting fires - mainly to prevent the enemy from setting fire to the stables.
Whenever he saw someone making a flint, he would shoot an arrow at him.
In fact, there were many buckets and troughs filled with water on the top and sides of the stable, and some buckets were hung on the horizontal branches of the big trees - this was a way of storing water in this era and also a fire prevention facility.
When it rains, buckets and gutters will naturally be filled up. The buckets are tied with ropes, which can be pulled over at any time to put out fires.
The elves have always paid great attention to forest fire prevention, and the fire prevention facilities in this stable are quite complete.
Bowstrings hummed, screams were heard, and Sederen and several Noldor warriors hiding in the branches and leaves of the treetops on top of the stable also began to shoot arrows at a very fast rate. The densely packed Jatu people made it easy for them to create a lot of corpses.
Since they could not see inside the stables, nor the specific locations of the archers hiding in the huge tree canopy, the Jatu people could only fire a few arrows blindly in retaliation. However, the probability of killing someone with this kind of blind shooting was about the same as winning the lottery - the branches and leaves of the tree canopy could not only conceal people's figures, but also block most of the random arrows.
"Bispa, Bispa!"
Some of the Jatu people had already begun to retreat. They knew they had been ambushed, and they did not dare to light another fire - anyone who created any sparks would fall to the ground and die the next moment.
Then it's best to stay away from the stable or retreat immediately.
In fact, the Jatu people were originally going to do this, but before the people outside withdrew, the Jatu people at the door of the stable were blocked inside and could not withdraw at all.
From the time the Jatu people rushed into the stable, lit the fire, to the time they finally withdrew, all this took only about ten seconds. The Jatu people were actually not slow in reacting.
But within these ten seconds, the Jatu people left behind at least a hundred corpses - most of the Jatu people who rushed into the stable died in the stable, and those who were able to evacuate were also injured, with prickles all over their bodies like hedgehogs.
And Sederen and several Noldor warriors hiding in the branches of the tree on top of the stable also killed at least twenty of them in these few seconds.
After all, both sides are facing a dense crowd of Jatu people at close range. In this case, there is no need to aim or consider the wind direction. On the contrary, it would be more difficult to miss the target, so you just need to pull the bow as quickly as possible.
With the ability of the Twilight Knight, Sederen could actually shoot two arrows in three seconds without aiming. If he hadn't been hiding in a tree and it was inconvenient to take arrows, he would probably have been even faster...
In order to protect themselves from arrows, the Jatu people slowly retreated with their shields raised.
When the Jatu people began to retreat, thirty infantrymen holding giant fan-shaped shields came out from behind the stable, rushed out from the side of the stable with shields raised, rushed to the west side of the Jatu people, formed a row and began to approach the Jatu people.
The huge fan-shaped shield was able to completely block the arrows of the Jatu people and attracted a large amount of firepower.
The Noldor warriors in the stable also took the opportunity to come out. They quickly formed a formation with swords and shields in hand and began to approach the Jatu people. The armored archers also left the stable and stood behind the Noldor.
At the same time, a troop appeared in the forest to the east and was charging rapidly behind the Jatu people.
Those were not the troops that the lord had led to the south before, but part of the troops that had headed east from the beginning.
What the Lord actually took southward were the wounded...
He initially led the troops eastward, but actually did not bring back all of them. Half of them had been hiding in the forest in the east.
This ambush did not use any complicated methods to kill the enemy, no fire was used, and no pits were dug.
Of course, it's not that they don't want to use it, but they can't - using fire in the forest has serious consequences, and the slightest carelessness may cause a forest fire. The Noldor will not take the risk of being exterminated.
As for digging the pit, the ground near the stables was trampled by horses all year round, and it was compacted so hard that even grass didn't grow much...
In fact, the Noldor elves have much stronger combat power than humans at night, and the lord’s manpower is not much less than that of the Jatu, so the key to the problem is not the ambush process.
An ambush does not necessarily require the use of fire, water and falling rocks. Relatively conventional sudden flank attacks and encirclement can both force the enemy to retreat. The Enoldo's familiarity with the forest will naturally allow them to destroy the enemy in pursuit.
The key is how to make the Jatu people see the "opportunity" and launch an attack at the time they set.
In order to lure the enemy to attack, the lord used a lot of tricks.
Just as Leon said, this horse farm is a relatively spacious place and the target is obvious, so the Jatu people will of course continue to observe.
During the day, Leon deliberately led a large army eastward, arranged for the ponies in the stable to take a stroll, and asked the Noldor warriors to patrol. This was actually to make the Jatu people think that he was "setting an ambush" during the day.
So the Jatu people did not move.
By the evening, the troops that Leon had led to the east were brought back by him - in the eyes of the Jatu people, this meant that the ambush failed, so they withdrew.
But in fact, Leon only brought back half of the troops in the evening, and the other half was left in the forest in the east.
Then he carried the great banner and led the wounded Noldor and the children to the forest in the south - this was to make the Jatu people believe that he had really gone far, because this time he really went very far south, and the flying birds were enough to prove it.
After settling the wounded in a forest several miles away, Leon went around to the east alone and joined the army that remained in the east.
At this time, the Jatu people were not sure whether Leon was really going south, so they would not send anyone to the south.
Then it was getting dark, and the foals were taken back to the stable - this was the bait, and it was indeed left in the stable. In fact, these foals were still tied in the corner of the stable and bleating.
But there were already more than a hundred men lying in ambush in the stable, and another hundred lying in ambush in the forest to the east.
Then, at night, Leon's "large army went to the south and never came back" - the Jatu people had seen the battle during the day, and according to their judgment, there should be only the Noldor elves left in the stable, and most of them were wounded, and there should be only about thirty combat-capable ones.
——This is the best opportunity. The Jatu people will naturally launch an attack when Leon’s troops are not here. Who knows if there will be reinforcements from the Noldor tomorrow?
In this situation, nearly four hundred Jatu people would certainly attack at night - this is what the lord said, giving the enemy a chance.
If they don't attack when they get such a good opportunity, then what's the point of them hiding in the forest?
Then the Jatu people entered the horse farm at night. At the beginning, they were very cautious and advanced slowly, and they also left scouts outside the horse farm.
But Leon's infantry came out to pretend to defend at this time, and then retreated quickly as soon as the enemy entered the range - this was of course intended to build confidence in the Jatu people.
If there was an ambush here, they would not run away when the enemy was already more than a hundred meters away. In this case, running away seemed more like the Noldor were unwilling to stand on the bare ground and shoot at each other when they were outnumbered.
This strengthened the confidence of the Jatu people. They believed that Leon's troops were indeed not here, and the fleeing 'Noldor defenders' ran to the back of the stable, so there should not be much combat power in the stable.
So the Jatu people began to charge, ready to fight a quick battle.
But after hearing the "Hasa", the lord took the troops remaining in the eastern forest and started to act, killing the scouts left by the Jatu people outside the horse farm.
Then the Jatu people rushed to the door of the stable, but hundreds of them were killed by fierce firepower within ten seconds, and then they began to retreat.
But the dozens of infantrymen who had originally "escaped" came back at this time, formed a shield formation on the west side of the Jatu people, and began to squeeze the Jatu people's space.
Li Ang's troops from the east also charged forward, with spears forming an array and approaching quickly.
At this time, the Noldor warriors and armored archers in the stables also rushed out.
The Jatu were attacked from three sides.
These Jatu people had been gathered at the door of the stable, crowded quite closely. Now they were pressed closely by the infantry and Noldor warriors holding swords and shields, and as a result they gathered even more closely, almost standing in a ball.
Except for a gap in the northwest, there were troops on three sides, and the Jatu people, who had suffered heavy losses, no longer had the advantage in numbers. In addition, the Jatu people were not riding horses, so they could not rely on mobility to avoid encirclement.
Once this three-sided attack is formed, most troops will not be able to fight, because after encountering enemies on several sides, the soldiers will definitely think about how to escape...
In fact, ordinary troops would be easily defeated if they were attacked from the side.
But the Jatu people are different; they are truly brave and fearless.
No Jatu escaped, and they split into two groups and began hand-to-hand combat, intending to break into the shield formation and force the battle into a large melee.
But the infantrymen and Noldor warriors armed with swords and shields had formed a relatively tight array, leaving them no chance for a melee, while Leon and his troops had also arrived and formed a long spear array that was difficult to cross.
The pocket surrounded on three sides has closed into a U shape, leaving only an opening on the north side.
The Jatu people were rarely surrounded. They were very flexible and maneuverable on the grasslands, and most of the time they were surrounding others...
But at this time, they were surrounded by the lord with equal forces - after half of them died, the number of the Jatu people was almost the same as that of the coalition forces of Leon and Sederen.
"Raise your shield and move forward!"
After the lord arrived with his soldiers, the first order he issued was to continue squeezing the space of the Jatu people.
When the crowd is too dense and there is little space, no one can fight normally.
The Jatu people surrounded in the middle had no space left and could no longer rush out - they were squeezed so tightly that there were people everywhere around them, and they were hindered by each other and could neither run up nor make big movements. Even exerting force was difficult.
In the game, when people are too crowded, the knife will get stuck - in order not to hurt friendly forces, the knife cannot be chopped out, and even if it is chopped out, the force will be reduced.
In fact, it is the same in reality... When people are crowded, stabbing with a dagger or dagger, or using a short axe or military hoe, are much more effective than using a knife.
Because the chopping action requires the most space.
The weapons of the Jatu people are scimitars, round shields, and bows and arrows.
Except for the round shield which is still somewhat useful at this time, other weapons are basically useless. The Jatu scimitar is not suitable for stabbing. This single-edged weapon with a larger arc is more suitable as a saber.
But now they were squeezed in the middle and couldn't do anything. Facing the shield wall and dense crowd around them, the scimitars in their hands could not play much practical role except causing accidental injuries.
Li Ang's troops did not have this problem. His soldiers either used swords or spears, and it was much more convenient for them to stay on the periphery.
The soldiers in the front row kept charging forward with their shields , while the spearmen in the back row could even put their spears on the belt buckles on the waists of the front row soldiers and then stab them randomly.
He stabbed while moving forward with the shieldmen in the front row, leaving no space for the enemy.
The infantrymen quite like this situation - in this situation, one stab will hit the target accurately...
The shield, as a weapon that has been used from ancient times to the present day, actually has many more uses than people imagine.
In addition to its main function of blocking, it can also be used for identification, paddling, rappelling on grass or snow, and even frying eggs...
Can also be used to squeeze out enemy space.
Even in the 21st century, riot shields are still used to isolate crowds or crush rioters, and they are still used in conjunction with shields and riot poles - just like what Leon is doing now with his spearmen.
The Jatu people, who were in the inner circle and had never been surrounded by a shield formation, were obviously not used to this way of fighting. The shield formation was actually very weak, but they could not break through it for a while, and people were constantly stabbed to death.
Soon, as the soldiers pressed forward step by step, the encirclement became smaller and smaller, and the Jatu people began to fall to the ground in large numbers.
"Hasa! Gatu!"
The Jatu people seemed to explode in desperation. They completely ignored the sword attacks from the sides and back and began to charge towards the only gap in the north without caring about any damage.
But having lost their space, it was difficult for them to even run - if they moved even a little, the shield formation surrounding them would continue tighten.
The first few people who forced their way out were easily shot down by the archers on the periphery.
But their concerted charge did work. After more than half of them were killed or injured, seventy or eighty Jatu people finally broke out of the encirclement and began to flee into the forest to the north.
But that gap was originally left by Li Ang for them to escape - encirclement without a gap would lead to the enemy fighting to the death, which would bring great losses. Encircling three and leaving one is a common sense in the Celestial Empire's military tactics...
The Noldor elves put away their swords and shields and took down the bows behind their backs again.
At night, under the moonlight, in the forest, pursuit battle - such an environment is when the Noldor can best exert their combat effectiveness.
Sederen led the thirty Noldor in pursuit, and Risadiran followed.
But the lord's work has been completed and the battlefield can be cleaned up.
The losses in this battle were quite small, with less than ten casualties, and all of them occurred after close combat.
But Li Ang was not satisfied - the dead and wounded were all new recruits, and the combat effectiveness of these new recruits who had just graduated from the training ground was far inferior to the first batch he trained personally.
This shows that after the Mettenheim people, Sarah and himself stopped participating in the training, the new recruits probably didn't suffer too much.
Sir Roland is an excellent warrior with respectable character and beliefs, but he is not a good coach. He is too kind and the recruits probably don't fear him.
It takes rough men like Frederick and Klose to train soldiers well... The lord began to miss the strong men of Mettenheim.