From a temporary lookout built on a wagon, Aegor was able to get a full view of the tightly arranged Western Expeditionary Army positions without needing a bird warg to report from above.
The grapeshot's effect against the first wave of Reach Cavalry fully met expectations, but Garlan Tyrell's tactical command of dividing the cavalry into several units for staggered charges, coupled with charging from southwest to northeast, was a stroke of accidental genius. It became an excellent countermeasure. Although the cannons and grapeshot's first real combat appearance had undoubtedly achieved overwhelming superiority, the results were considerably less than anticipated.
Dividing the cavalry into three waves was originally intended for easier command and to prevent overcrowding and trampling, but in actual combat, the gaps between the charging formations effectively prevented the panic caused by artillery fire from spreading and amplifying indefinitely. The clever oblique approach also allowed men and horses to smoothly retreat from the other side of the battlefield with just a turn when unexpectedly frustrated, without affecting the attack pace of friendly forces behind them...
Aegor could only shrug and sigh inwardly at the enemy's unexpectedly good performance.
Using aerial reconnaissance, he had actually already discovered that the Reach Cavalry was divided into three parts, but the tricky part was this: he could not determine that "the second wave of cavalry was the elite and the main force" based solely on the aerial reconnaissance results relayed by a bird warg. Even if he knew, it would be difficult for him to take any effective countermeasures within a few minutes.
The loading speed of cannons was limited. Facing three waves of attacks arriving one after another, the Western Expeditionary Army's options were simple and brutal. Either bombard the first and third waves of cavalry and tough out the second wave in between, or hold fire and wait specifically to hit the second wave. However, in the latter case, the first wave of cavalry would turn from a feint into a real attack, and the infantry would have to tough out two waves, or even two and a half waves, of cavalry charges without artillery cover.
With the detailed information unclear, Aegor prudently chose the former plan, and he now had to witness his infantry bear the logical consequences of this choice. Amidst the dull rumble that made the ground subtly tremble, the second wave of cavalry crashed like a silver-green shimmering tide onto the gold-and-red infantry line mainly composed of Dornish and Westerlands infantry.
Against the grand backdrop of shouts and roars, the first sound to erupt was a series of explosions, sharper but slightly smaller than cannon fire. Unlike artillery that needed time to load, reposition, and aim, grenadiers only needed to light and throw. Explosive charges formed Daenerys's army infantry's last thermal weapon line before the cavalry charge. A few seconds later, the dull thuds of warhorses colliding with shields, weapons clashing with weapons, and even armor or bones breaking erupted, and the wave of flesh and steel finally crashed onto another embankment made of flesh and steel.
...
After organizing quite a threatening attack, the second thing that made Aegor frown in surprise happened. For some reason, the effect of the explosive charges was worse than expected.
The Riverlands Army had conducted emergency desensitization training to the sound of explosions at the allied forces' assembly point outside Highgarden, which greatly reduced the impact on men and horses when facing the shockwaves. Although they had not yet achieved the ideal goal of the entire army being "unfazed by thunder, undisturbed by cannons" in their haste, just one wave of explosive charges could only disrupt, not completely halt, the mass charge of the Reach heavy cavalry.
Amidst all kinds of sounds, some harsh and some unnerving, this elite cavalry, personally led by their commander, charged with determined resolve, ignoring all obstacles, and slammed into the upper edge of the southeastern corner of the trapezoidal formation.
Emotionally speaking, Aegor naturally hoped his soldiers could stand like reefs, mercilessly shattering the incoming waves and driving them back. The Unsullied might be able to do this, but he was leading a mixed army of varying quality, not thirty thousand Unsullied. To facilitate command and control, and to avoid creating weak points in the trapezoidal formation's layout, Aegor had been continuously making rationalized minor reorganizations and deployments of the infantry all the way from King's Landing to this point. While ensuring his command system was basically integrated into the entire army, he did his best to ensure that the personnel quality and equipment level, that is, the overall combat strength, of all parts of the army, mainly among the nine major infantry squares, were basically evenly distributed.
On the premise of ensuring the reliability of the army's basic core, he would then pull out the Unsullied, the Gift Army, and the cavalry as reserves and backup for unexpected needs.
What about the other side?
The Rivermen squeezed out nearly eighty percent of their cavalry for young generals like Garlan to form cavalry units. Those with horses inherently had an average combat strength that completely crushed peasant soldiers, and Garlan further divided the cavalry into three parts based on strength. In the strongest second wave, he allocated the most elite part, with fully armored men and horses and the most complete defenses, to the front as the cutting edge. This series of operations allowed him to briefly achieve a localized "superior horses against average horses" in the infantry-cavalry confrontation at this moment, successfully using his slight advantage in combat strength to negate Daenerys's army's well-prepared defensive advantage.
When other miscellaneous advantages and disadvantages canceled each other out, the head-on collision between cavalry and infantry, driven by the former's greater kinetic energy and resulting impact force, had to obey objective laws rather than subjective will.
The Reach Cavalry achieved a fleeting moment of glory in this desperate defense!
Daenerys's army's infantry formation struggled to maintain its integrity without being completely pierced, but under the iron law of physics, it was inevitably twisted and deformed, severely indented in the direction of the enemy's charge. The weak points at the connection between the two formations were even more precarious, as if they would disintegrate and collapse at any moment.
The scene was a bit ugly, and Daenerys's army was indeed at a disadvantage, but Aegor showed no panic. As long as his side did not collapse when the momentum of the cavalry charge ran out, the men and horses who stopped after their speed dropped to zero would be like stakes waiting to be slaughtered, and he still had pieces to play.
"Mobilize the Unsullied, fill the gap, replace the South Two Square!"
The compact trapezoidal formation had many advantages, including ease of grasping the battlefield situation and artillery range covering the entire field, but its disadvantages were equally prominent. There was no room for maneuver, and once the outer defense line was breached, there was not even enough space inside the trapezoid to build a second defense line and organize a counterattack. Replacing frontline units would cause brief confusion and a defensive vacuum. If the enemy's third wave of cavalry could exploit his side's weakness under the grapeshot strike, the situation would become extremely dangerous.
Facing a dangerous situation with low tolerance for error, Aegor did not hesitate to use his reserves.
He could have mobilized the Two-Two Square located in the center of the trapezoid, but with the enemy's momentum, impact, and even equipment and banners all shouting "We are the ace," sending another unit with similar combat strength to support would be a grave underestimation of the enemy. Although the Gift Army was also battle-hardened and high-spirited, being primarily composed of Free Folk, they had no experience dealing with cavalry. In this situation, Aegor was left with only one option.
The Unsullied.
These soldiers, who were truly castrated biologically, were undoubtedly pure men on the battlefield. With them committed to the line, there was no need to worry about anything going wrong before they were all dead.
...
Amidst the horn calls and conspicuous black flag signals piercing through the chaotic battlefield noise, the black-armored unit that struck fear into countless nobles and slave masters on both sides of the Narrow Sea moved out, surging like a black current along the gaps between the squares toward the southeastern corner of the battlefield, instantly filling the route with unparalleled security.
Just as Aegor was about to admire the excellent performance of this legendary infantry against cavalry, the western side of the battlefield, the contact line between the two sides' infantry, unexpectedly reported an emergency.
(To be continued.)