When Duncan took the initiative to ask for control of the ballista, the Duke of Dingtiger agreed without hesitation.
It was well known that the Roman legion excelled at using ballistae.
Duncan’s appearance clearly showed he was from the regular army, and his request for control of the ballista surely meant he had some confidence.
The Duke of Dingtiger had gathered nearly all the nearby farmers; counting several hundred miscellaneous soldiers, they amassed a force of fifteen to sixteen hundred people.
The Isle of Britain was merely a province of the empire, so the scale of battle would be much smaller, with engagements typically involving regular armies of a thousand. Adding in vassal armies, mercenaries, and farmers occasionally allowed the claim of tens of thousands.
In the early period when the British province was abandoned, a single legion of the empire could suppress the surrounding barbarian races.
Later, when the empire withdrew, the Britons requested the empire’s assistance several times, and the Gaul Province sent troops three or four times to drive back the Irish barbarians. However, at that time, little Germania could not hold on. After the empire’s legion defeated the Picts, they had to withdraw, leaving no alternative but to completely abandon Britannia.
This shows that the empire had, in fact, already done its best at that time.
Unfortunately, the once-mighty empire was now in decline, unable to defend such peripheral provinces. (The background during the Dai Mao King’s era was the Kingdom of Camelot losing the empire’s protection, forcing her to take up the sword and fight.)
In the era of God’s Whip, barbarian invasions, the collapse of the empire, struggles over beliefs, and wars among the pantheon, King Arthur became merely a small figure desperately trying to protect Britain.
The burden on this knight king’s shoulders was something Duncan was not averse to casually taking on together.
The ballista was left from that time.
The early British legion was even trained by Roman officers, with a portion of the Sarmatian hired riders staying in Britain and training the later Lager heavy cavalry, one of the precursors to the Round Table Knights.
The Sarmatian Cavalry had great renown in the current era, being foreign mercenaries that formed the core strength of the empire.
In early legends, their women, though beautiful, often had to kill an enemy as a rite of passage and could not marry without military achievements.
During Trajan’s time, the empire heavily defeated the Sarmatians, forcing them to hand over 8000 cavalry as hostages in a peace negotiation.
These cavalry were sent to serve in the Britannia region, becoming the early Sarmatian legion present there.
Their dragon head banner, kontos lances, and scale armor became standard equipment for the empire’s early armored cavalry.
King Uther’s cavalry unit inherited these Sarmatians’ legacy, including their distinct dragon head banner.
He was nicknamed "Great Dragon Head-Uther."
(This is also how the imperial dragon banner from the Mount and Blade series came about.)
"If I could have a unit of heavy cavalry, it would be better to think of a way to charge and kill than relying on the ballista and waiting."
Duncan was blessed with a God’s-eye view.
If he had a powerful imperial armored cavalry to charge, they could shatter where morale collapsed, directly locking down enemy leaders and possibly winning in a single charge.
Heavy cavalry are battlefield hammers, capable of utterly smashing the enemy’s formation.
As long as the main legion holds, Duncan leading the cavalry would seize any exposed weakness, achieving results akin to Alexander the Great’s victories would not be difficult.
They could cut through from Europe all the way to Mesopotamia!
Of course, only heavy cavalry could fight in the current era; light cavalry charging would be akin to suicide.
The enemy hadn’t attacked yet.
The Saxon barbarians had learned some of the empire’s siege techniques.
Britain essentially had no decent fortifications; so-called castles were essentially early military fortresses, with Camelot being the only one resembling a fortress of the early medieval period, hence it was called the most indestructible place on the Isle of Britain.
The image of Crow Queen-Triss appeared on the city wall and said in a low voice, "The reinforcements requested by the Duke of Dingtiger have not arrived."
"It seems they have sided with King Uther."
The era of the various kings on the Isle of Britain was somewhat akin to a feudal system, with local lords and nobles having great autonomy.
Anya also walked hurriedly over, her expression slightly tense as she said, "Can we hold?"
"If not, we should think of a way to retreat."
She might have seemed quite confident yesterday, but seeing the Saxon army pressing the border today, she immediately became nervous.
After all, she was just a noblewoman with somewhat lofty yet impractical ambitions, panicking when faced with war.
If this place fell, the Duke of Dingtiger would have no choice but to flee to the mountains and fight a guerrilla war. King Uther was also being pushed to the area of Wales by numerous Saxon barbarians now.
Strategically, winning this battle today would make it much easier for Duncan to establish himself on the Isle of Britain.
After pondering for a moment, Duncan said, "There’s still a chance."
This was a siege defense.
If it were a field battle, he would have long since retreated with the witch and others.
Crow Queen-Triss had almost blind trust in Duncan. Seeing Duncan appear somewhat confident, she immediately nodded and replied, "I’ll go make some preparations. If we can’t hold them off, we’ll think of a way to retreat."
She seemed to be preparing some ritual magic.
Duncan thought for a moment and asked, "Do you know the blinding technique?"
Crow Queen-Triss nodded lightly and asked, "What do you have in mind? I can give it a try."
Duncan pointed to the ballista beside him and said in a deep voice, "Try using the blinding technique to help me hide this."
Catching the enemy off guard with a blast.