Of course, by now there have appeared many large manors and landlords within the empire, owning vast lands and tenant farmers, transitioning towards the direction of medieval feudal nobility. However, the empire’s tax collectors dare not ask them for money, thus making the common people suffer even more.
The common people here are treated equally, Roman free citizens are becoming fewer, and the Barbarian Race is oppressed to the point of uprising.
The empire’s equal treatment of all lower-class citizens is unsustainable, fishing exhaustively and squeezing them dry.
"Expand the battle map!"
Duncan doesn’t need to consider much when acting alone; if he can win, he fights, if not, he escapes, hoping to shoot some cavalry with unexpected arrows or find some horses on the battlefield from fallen riders.
The empire took his mount, so he certainly wants to settle this score.
The composition of armies engaged in battle on the plains ahead is quite complex, Duncan, through a bird’s eye view, sees many soldiers from different factions.
——Empire Field Army (1 Star).
——Empire Border Defense Army.
——Frankish Foreign Mercenaries (1 Star).
——Western Goth Kingdom Riders.
——Germanic Foreign Mercenaries.
This side belongs to the empire’s camp, seemingly reassembled after being scattered, where the Western Goth Kingdom has currently allied with the empire to jointly fight against the Huns empire. On the battlefield, a cavalry unit of roughly a hundred is in combat.
The opposing camp’s army composition is equally complicated.
——East Goth Vassal Riders.
——Frankish Mercenaries (1 Star).
——Huns Elite Riders (1 Star).
——Germanic Barbarian Vassal Army.
There are not many Huns troops on the battlefield, mostly armies of other barbarian tribes conquered and enslaved by the Huns, among which the Frankish mercenaries undoubtedly fight the hardest. Their equipment is mostly similar, all extremely brave on the battlefield.
After the Huns invaded the empire, they accepted the surrendered Lippea Frank, Attila—God’s Whip—eagerly wants to swallow the pro-Rome Franks.
"Hardly any Romans on the battlefield."
The Franks are Barbarians, the Western Goth Kingdom is a nation established by Barbarians, the Germanic foreign legion is entirely composed of Barbarians fighting for the empire, the Border Defense Army is mostly composed of border Barbarians, and the most effective fighting empire’s Field Army has over fifty percent Barbarian origins.
The Empire’s Field Army is famous for its high military expenses, its pay is two to three times that of the Border Defense Army. Later, due to the empire bankruptcy it disbanded, it’s only in recent years a small part has been re-recruited.
But the situation on the battlefield is not optimistic.
Those most well-equipped Empire Field Army, entirely in scale armor and shields, wielding short swords, carrying javelins, armed from head to toe, could be considered standard Heavy Infantry Empire Field Army, were surprisingly overwhelmed on the direct battlefield by a group of Barbarian Vassal Army, with signs of collapse already appearing on the right flank.
"Their morale is really poor, isn’t it?"
Duncan observed through a bird’s eye view to find these army units have additional markings, among which the Empire Field Army bears a conspicuous ’Low Morale’ mark.
In contrast, the adjacent Frankish Foreign Mercenaries are ’High Morale’, the Germanic foreign legion has average morale but believes the enemy can be fought; the Western Goth Kingdom is always battle-savvy, their king charged and died on the field, needless to say, morale is decent.
The whole battlefield shows the Empire’s Field Army and Border Defense Army obviously lacking morale.
"Looks like bird’s-eye view also has strategic functions."
Duncan focuses on the troops, and soon additional tips emerge; the Empire Field Army has a ’Wage Arrears’ mark, the Border Defense Army has ’Reorganization Chaos’, the highest morale Frankish Mercenaries bear a positive status of ’Fighting to Protect Home’.
This region already belongs to the area of future France, the Franks established their kingdom at the end of the empire.
"This morale does not even compare to the Youth Army of ancient Rome!"
Duncan bypassed from the right rear of the battlefield; the best-equipped Empire Field Army was timid and dared not move forward, the frontal battlefield relies almost entirely on the Frankish foreign legion to fend off enemy assaults, the Western Goth Kingdom cavalry engaged in fighting with the Huns, recently collided and suffered significant casualties; Huns elite riders indeed fighting fiercely.
"Back in the Great Han Dynasty’s battle against the Xiongnu, it also led to severe depletion of vitality."
Ancient nomads learned horse riding before learning to walk. When cavalry clashes directly, Huns’ riders are revealed to be very skilled, whether in mounted archery or riding warfare, Huns hold a markedly evident advantage.
Of course, some exceptions exist.
For instance, on the battlefield, a unit marked as ’Western Goth Noble Knight’, one star silver-gray mark, instantly charged and knocked off the mounted Huns riders.
This was transformed from the former Barbarian Chieftain’s guard, the warrior class of Barbarians became the new nobility of the Western Goth Kingdom.
Duncan placed his thumb and index finger into his mouth.
Soon on the battlefield’s periphery, a warhorse that had lost its rider and wandered around the battlefield raised its head. It trotted towards Duncan’s direction, then Duncan leaped up smoothly onto the horse, acting as agile as an elite rider of the nomadic tribes.
——Calling the Warhorse [Riding Skill Branch]: You can summon nearby riderless warhorses through a whistle, with a certain chance of the warhorse approaching you, the higher the riding skill, the greater the success chance. (Druid system abilities can additionally enhance this skill.)