Chapter 52: Divine Weapons

Stirrups, saddles, horseshoes.

During the process of forming his new army, Bruno was pleasantly surprised to discover that among the three great inventions of cavalry from his previous life, only the saddle had already appeared in this world.

As for horseshoes and stirrups, or any similar substitutes, no one had invented them yet.

The cavalry of the Norman Empire was still in a rather primitive stage of development, only just beginning to take steps toward standardization and uniformity.

Most of them wore chainmail armor and large shoulder guards, with sturdy helmets on their heads.

However, their primary weapons remained short swords. Some cavalrymen also carried lances and bows, using lances for thrusting or throwing and bows for mounted archery while on the move.

But this kind of cavalry had one fatal flaw—they merely laid a blanket over their horses' backs and tied on a leather saddle, without stirrups.

This meant that during combat, they had to grip the horse's belly tightly with their legs to maintain balance. As a result, when engaging in close combat, the impact force could easily knock them off their horses.

Moreover, even without direct combat, simply galloping or jumping on horseback often required grabbing the horse's mane tightly, or they could be thrown off if they weren't careful.

Upon realizing this problem, Bruno immediately ordered the blacksmiths to forge dozens of pairs of stirrups, equipping them first to his elite cavalry guards.

Stirrups were extremely simple to manufacture—with just a basic description, even the worst blacksmith could forge them.

With stirrups, the Idar cavalry could completely free their upper bodies, enabling them to shoot while riding, slash left and right, and brace against the impact of melee combat, allowing them to fully unleash the power of man and horse as one.

As for horseshoes, while they didn't have an immediate effect in battle, their long-term significance was immense.

Without horseshoes, horses' hooves could crack or break after long-distance rides, rendering cavalry useless for prolonged warfare.

Horseshoes allowed cavalry to charge freely, without worrying about hoof wear, making raids and charges much more reliable.

Thus, once the Idar cavalry was equipped with these three revolutionary inventions, their victory in a direct confrontation against Soren's cavalry was practically guaranteed.

Herman Buckley, covered in dust and dirt, wasn't dead.

He had simply been thrown off his horse by Sam, feeling so humiliated that he refused to get up.

The fifty knights of Soren's cavalry had been scattered in disarray, and the surviving Soren foot soldiers surrendered without resistance.

In fact, the moment Herman Buckley was thrown to the ground, the Soren conscripts had immediately raised their hands in surrender.

This battle was no longer winnable.

Forced into war, the Soren commoners had no real fighting spirit, so they willingly laid down their weapons and even tied themselves up to cooperate.

In total, over 300 Soren soldiers and knights were captured, with more than 100 casualties.

Meanwhile, Idar's losses were minimal—only three soldiers killed, and a dozen lightly wounded from the standing army. The elite cavalry guards remained completely unharmed.

This victory was unprecedented in Norman Empire's military history.

Such a one-sided victory was due to two main reasons:

1. The intense training and advanced weaponry of Idar's army.

2. The utter weakness of Soren's troops, particularly the unmotivated peasant conscripts.

At this point, Soren's forces had been utterly defeated, and their plan to seize the Grand Highlands had completely collapsed.

After the battle ended, Bruno finally arrived with his attendants.

Seeing his army victorious, Bruno felt completely refreshed, his mood instantly improving.

"So, you're the eldest son of Earl Soren Herman Buckley?"

Bruno looked up and down at the tightly bound Herman Buckley and curiously asked.

Herman turned his head away and said, "That's right! Now untie me at once!"

"You're my prisoner. Since when do you get to make demands?"

With that, Bruno kicked him hard.

"You dare insult me?! I'm a noble! I am the rightful heir to Earl Soren!" Herman shouted in disbelief.

"Damn, this guy's got a loud voice..." Bruno covered his ears and said, "Sam, gag him for me!"

Sam Layton looked around, picked up a stale black loaf of bread discarded by Soren's soldiers, and shoved it into Herman's mouth.

"Mmmph! Mmmph!" Herman struggled, but couldn't say another word.

Ignoring Herman's muffled protests, Bruno turned to Sam and asked:

"Any survivors?"

"None! Every single invading soldier is accounted for. I've stationed scouts around the area—no one escaped!"

Sam Layton was thrilled—after all, this was a battle won under his command. It had been a long time since Idar had achieved such a glorious victory.

Of course, the biggest credit still belonged to Bruno—from forming the new army to inventing stirrups and horseshoes, every success was his doing.

Although Sam could only claim second place in credit, he still felt immensely satisfied.

"In that case… it's time to launch a counterattack!"

"C-counterattack? Right now?" Sam asked in surprise.

"Of course! We discussed this before, didn't we?" Bruno replied matter-of-factly. "They attacked us first it's only right to strike back. Besides, their entire army was just wiped out!"

"Hell yeah!" Sam instantly agreed.

After all, with Soren's defenses now nonexistent, Idar's forces could march straight to Soren Castle without resistance.

"But… how far should we push this counterattack?" Sam asked cautiously.

The Norman Empire turned a blind eye to conflicts between nobles, and even allowed disputes over land, but it absolutely forbade one noble from wiping out another—that was the bottom line.

This was why Earl Soren's grand scheme had only targeted the Grand Highlands—he couldn't risk taking more.

"Since Soren loves land so much… let's take his land instead."

Bruno picked up a quill and drew a bold line on the map:

"I won't just take the Grand Highlands… I want everything south of this line!"