Kanker Mountain

On the third day, both sides were making secret preparations for a night raid.

During the day, Adolf personally commanded the artillery to set up sixty light cannons and bombard the Hussite rebels' camp, while Gunter led the Independent Army to provide cover.

Such dense artillery fire finally caused some damage to the rebels' Wagenburg; several war wagons were hit and destroyed by cannonballs, and some unlucky individuals were struck by cannonballs and lost their lives. However, such results were clearly insignificant compared to the large amount of gunpowder consumed.

After half an hour of continuous bombardment, Adolf withdrew the artillery, as the remaining gunpowder needed to be saved for the attack on Prague and could not be wasted further.

Laszlo was quite displeased with this outcome; the current level of artillery was still too weak, and artillery would not truly demonstrate its power until more than half a century later.

Laszlo was not clear on how to improve artillery. He proposed the concept of the matchlock gun because he had indeed learned about it, but how exactly should artillery be improved? Should the barrel be lengthened? Or the caliber enlarged? Is it an upgrade in iron smelting and forging technology? Or a revolution in gunpowder bringing greater power?

It was truly difficult to expect him to figure these things out.

However, this did not mean that artillery was useless in this era; at least in siege warfare, the role of artillery was revolutionary.

Moreover, Laszlo had already entrusted artisans to begin researching ways to strengthen artillery, but it was unknown when they would be able to produce results.

As night fell, Gunter led his Independent Army silently to the foot of the hill, accompanied by a small contingent of artillery. He intended to repeat his previous tactic, but today they would launch a true surprise attack.

Following the Independent Army closely was Karl von Jerin's Austro-Hungarian Army. These two units would serve as the main attackers, while the Saxon Army was stationed near the forest to cover the flanks of the troops.

The remaining Hungarian cavalry were kept at the rear as reserves, ready at any moment to support the fighting on the hillside and in the forest, as it was not cost-effective to have cavalry lead the charge in mountain warfare.

Rosenberg's Bohemia had completely surrounded Kuttenberg, and the already small number of Hussite defenders inside the city were unable to sally forth to assist the rebels.

Laszlo and Adolf remained near the camp, protected by their guard cavalry, with scouts constantly reporting on the battlefield situation.

On the other side, Laszlo Hunyadi dispatched two thousand cavalry to bypass and attack the flank of the rebel Wagenburg, while he himself led his army to guard the road leading to Prague, awaiting the enemy's arrival.

Meanwhile, the main force of the Hussite rebels, who had chosen the forest as their main attack direction, had already quietly descended from the side closest to the forest under the command of Ottokar and Iri, approaching the Imperial Army's main camp.

"General Ottokar, according to the plan, I will tie down the enemy stationed near the forest, and you will lead your troops to bypass them and launch a surprise attack on the enemy's main camp. You must act quickly and retreat immediately after succeeding. Is that clear?"

Iri confirmed the battle plan with Ottokar again, and the latter nodded with a determined expression.

Under Iri's watchful eye, the mercenaries of the Bohemian Brotherhood plunged into the forest, bypassing the Saxon Army's defenses on the edge of the forest via forest paths, heading straight for the Imperial Army's main camp.

Subsequently, Iri led the night raid troops to continue advancing along the hillside towards the Saxon Army's camp.

And on the side of the hill closer to Kuttenberg, both the Independent Army and the Austro-Hungarian Army had made preparations to attack the flank of the rebel Wagenburg.

Outside the Imperial Army camp, Laszlo and Adolf, protected by cavalry, gazed at the seemingly silent but actually murderous hill in front of them.

"Adolf, what is the name of this mountain?" Laszlo suddenly asked.

"Kank Mountain, Your Majesty. I have climbed this hill many times before."

Adolf showed a nostalgic expression. As a local noble of Kuttenberg, he knew everything about Kuttenberg, once the second-largest city in Bohemia, and its surroundings.

It had the largest silver mine in all of Bohemia and was once immensely wealthy. However, with Sigismund's invasion and the outbreak of the Hussite Wars, Kuttenberg suffered countless damages and is now in decline.

The silver mine was repeatedly looted, leading to its destruction, and the silver coin mint that produced the Prague groschen had long been abandoned and not yet rebuilt.

Those who believed in Huss were massacred by the Crusade, and those who believed in Catholic were massacred by the Hussite, leading to a significant population decrease.

More than thirty years ago, right here on Kank Mountain, he followed Jan Žižka and, with ten thousand troops, broke through Sigismund's thirty thousand Crusade encirclement, preserving a large number of core elites for the Tábor faction. However, Kuttenberg was not spared; after the Crusade broke through the city, they plundered, burned, and killed for several days, almost destroying this prosperous city.

If they could win this time, he hoped the Emperor would allow his hometown to suffer less, as Kuttenberg still held greater value.

"This mountain... it's actually hard to call it a mountain, just a higher mound, which is convenient for us to launch an attack. Do you think Iri will see through our plan?"

"Your Majesty, even if he can discover it, it will be very difficult for him to react in time. The best way to attack a Wagenburg is to concentrate the attack on one point, open a breach, hold it, and then have subsequent troops pour in through the breach. After that, your warriors will teach those Bohemian peasants what war truly looks like."

Adolf had thoroughly understood the Wagenburg; he knew very well how to use it and how to counter it.

Hearing this, Laszlo nodded reassuringly. They were indeed deploying their army according to this idea, concentrating the Independent Army and the Austro-Hungarian Army to launch a surprise attack on the enemy from the most unexpected direction.

"Bang!"

The first round of cannon fire came from afar. Laszlo and Adolf exchanged glances; the battle was about to begin.

After the cannon fire, Gunter and Karl remained still. They would wait until after several rounds of bombardment, when the enemy truly relaxed their vigilance, before launching a fatal blow.

Near the forest, the Saxon Army maintained a state of alert. Although they were only responsible for covering the flank in this battle, a slight oversight could lead to an accident.

Werner von Kressen, the mercenary leader from Brunswick, was wiping his long sword. He smelled something unusual.

Before long, the hidden sentry positioned in the forest rushed to him, looking as if he had tumbled and crawled, utterly disheveled. He was relatively lucky; several sentries who were with him were not so fortunate and remained forever in the eerie, terrifying forest.

"What exactly happened?"

Werner's brow furrowed. His serious face and powerful aura scared the survivor sentry so much that he couldn't speak coherently.

"General, enemies! So many enemies in the forest! They went east, and each person was carrying something on their back, I couldn't see what it was."

"Damn it, they want to bypass us and do something!"

Werner immediately guessed part of the rebels' intention. The rear was currently vulnerable, and if they truly managed to reach the main camp and threaten His Majesty, his head would be forfeit.

At the same time, he also felt some doubt. Logically, tonight's night raid should have been kept secret, so why did the enemy dare to directly send troops to raid the main camp?

Just as he was about to send troops to intercept, another scout reported: "General, a large number of enemy troops have appeared on the hillside to our flank, suspected to be the main rebel force. They are preparing to launch an assault."

Werner's face turned ashen. He had not expected that the first punch of this campaign would land on his face. This was truly terrible luck.

What to do? He now faced a difficult choice. Not to mention dividing his troops to encircle the enemy in the forest, if he didn't quickly adjust his forces now, the rebels coming from the flank might completely rout the Saxon Army.

And the only support he could receive was the Hungarian cavalry unit not far behind him.

But what about the enemy troops who had bypassed them?

There was no time to hesitate; he had to make a decision immediately.