"fire!"

In the Yan army's position, hundreds of artillery vehicles standing in a staggered manner fired heavy artillery shells one after another without stopping. On the opposite side, the Goltish army seemed to have gone crazy. In addition to the artillery bombardment on the front line, troops from the rear came in large numbers, but were repeatedly damaged in the continuous artillery bombardment.

Although the artillery units at the forefront were already bearing down on the shells fired by the Yan Army and bombarding them fiercely, they were now struggling to hold on and were unable to provide any cover for the infantry. Their artillery was being quickly destroyed. In this high-intensity bombardment, the Goltish artillerymen were fully aware that the gap between their own weapons and those of the enemy was too great.

Whether it is the accuracy, range, or destructive power of the artillery, they are simply not on the same level. Therefore, even if one is well prepared, one cannot gain an advantage on the current battlefield. The continuous head-on confrontations will only result in a rapid increase in casualties.

The artillery vehicles were destroyed one after another. Although companions soon came with artillery vehicles from the rear to provide support, they could not hold out for a few rounds before being destroyed again. Under the enemy's intensive long-range bombing, not to mention opening a gap, they could not even advance their positions forward.

The flank cavalry, which was highly expected, was also charging desperately, but the Yan army also arranged cavalry on the flank to counterattack. However, since they were all cavalry, the casualties suffered by their side were obviously much greater.

At this moment, Phili, who was commanding the cavalry, felt even more deeply. He hoped to bypass the enemy's main formation on the flank and attack the weak points or the connection points between the enemy formations. If he could successfully break through the enemy, he could create chaos, weaken the offensive of the main formation and provide an advantage for his own main attack force.

But what came into view was the enemy's seemingly sparse but extremely tight horizontal line of the enemy. In such a formation, our cavalry units could not cut into the enemy's flank at all. Not only that, at this moment the enemy was even actively closing the distance to launch an attack.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Bursts of dense gunfire rang out one after another, followed by groups of our own cavalry falling off their horses. Even when fighting on horseback, the enemy had a very high shooting accuracy. In fact, this was Philly's first encounter with the Yan Kingdom cavalry, but it was this cavalry battle that was going on at the moment that made him feel a strong sense of powerlessness in his heart shortly after the battle started.

Although every light cavalryman of the empire was equipped with a musket as standard, in fact the musket was not the cavalry's main means of killing the enemy. Standing still on the ground and shooting required extremely high concentration, and shooting on a moving horse would greatly reduce the hit rate due to the deviation of the bullet.

Therefore, when fighting, cavalrymen relied more on their horses to quickly close the distance and could only use muskets to shoot within a range of several dozen meters. Even so, effective casualties could not be achieved unless the shooting was intensive.

They can shoot while charging, and the original formation can easily become chaotic, unlike the infantry who can immediately stand still, aim and shoot on the ground.

Therefore, under the constraints of multiple conditions, the soldiers in the current cavalry units rely more on the traditional sprint. After closing the distance, they rely more on the bayonets mounted on their muskets to engage in close combat with the enemy, or use the sabers and long swords worn on the saddles to chop, fighting like traditional cavalry.

It is precisely this awkward way of fighting that has caused the cavalry in today's imperial army to lose its former glory. To some extent, they have even fallen behind the infantry with a mature musket combat system, and have degenerated from the main force to today's battlefield auxiliary.

But now, the fighting style presented by the enemy cavalry made Phili see a completely different fighting appearance. Compared with the imperial cavalry, they seemed to have stronger discipline. Everyone seemed to be a born battle maniac. They could ensure the integrity of the formation by firing while galloping on horseback. In addition, they were obviously more familiar with muskets. They did not look like traditional cavalry at all, but cavalry who had been handling guns on war horses for decades.

What is even more worrying is that even if they do not form a column and just fight on their own as scattered soldiers, they can still cause considerable damage to their own side.

The huge gap was reflected in all aspects, so at this moment, when Phili saw that his cavalry was suffering heavy casualties, he could not muster a strong determination to fight back. Instead, his heart was filled with a strong sense of powerlessness.

"If this goes on, no matter how many people there are, they will all be killed..." Finally, Fili murmured this with a pale face.

The next moment, he gritted his teeth and called a subordinate, saying, "Go find General Saski immediately. We can't make a breakthrough on the flank. We... need to retreat."

As soon as these words came out, the cavalry lieutenant whose name was called was terrified. Fear was written all over his face. He stammered:

"Sir, this...this won't do. General Saski has repeatedly ordered us to win tonight regardless of casualties."

"Withdrawal....there is no way he will agree to it."

Hearing this, Fili was furious and shouted, "Are you blind?! Can't you see what's going on right now?"

"The combat effectiveness of the Yan Kingdom cavalry is far superior to ours. If we continue to fight, we will only lose everyone here!"

In fact, Lieutenant Hanno knew without Fili's reminder that the chances of winning were extremely low if they continued fighting like this, but the fear brought about by requesting withdrawal was no less than the life threat posed by the Yan people.

"What are you still standing there for? Go now!" Fili raised his voice and shouted angrily.

"Yes, sir." Lieutenant Hanno was helpless and frightened, so he had to anxiously take a few signalmen back to report the news.

On the flank battlefield, the intensity of the firefight did not diminish with the passage of time, but became more intense.

The Yan Army initially had a total of 40,000 cavalry on the north and south wings, which gradually increased to 60,000 cavalry. These newly joined cavalry rushed out from the front of Pariston, and then split into two routes and merged into the battlefield on both wings. The initial cavalry units, after establishing an initial advantage, pushed back the Gothic cavalry line.

The Gothic cavalry could only be forced to fight and retreat, and in such a situation, seeing that the light cavalry's quick attack had been completely interrupted by the enemy, Fili could only order the light cavalry to vacate the terrain and let the heavy cavalry take over.

When issuing this order, Phili was already regretting it. If he could have foreseen from the beginning that the enemy had deployed a large number of cavalry on the flanks, he should have let the heavy cavalry be the vanguard. However, it was precisely because he did not expect that they had so many cavalry on the flanks that he mistakenly launched a light cavalry quick attack. Not only did he fail to establish an advantage, but he also suffered heavy casualties.

As for now, he could only hope to use the heavy cavalry to form a cavalry wall to block the offensive of the Yan State cavalry before Saski sent new orders.