When the French returned along the main road to the mountain road, when they passed near Fornovo, they slowed down specifically, trying not to make loud noises, and avoiding the Italians in the Italian coalition camp on the river.
At the same time, Charles VIII regrouped with several French knights who had been in the vicinity of the coalition camp:
"What is the movement of the Italians?" asked Charles VIII.
"Answering his Majesty, there is no movement." Several French knights have been near the Italian camp and found nothing unusual.
Peace of mind, Charles VIII, with confidence, took his men and embarked on the slope of the mountain road. The mountain road is wide enough to make walk 10 French knights side by side. The slope problem is not a big deal for the horses. The French knights, in order not to disturb the Italians, sealed the mouth and hoof of each horse with a cloth strip to prevent them from making noises. Then, everyone walked silently on the mountain road and rushed northwest. However, because there is no ignited torch, visibility is limited and their speed is not fast. They arrived at Marin's ambush point around midnight.
When they got here, the French began to relax. Because there are already more than ten kilometers from the coalition camp, they don't have to guard against the Italians. As a result, the French knights began to talk and laugh. Even Charles VIII, together with several nobles, discussed how to arrange the country after returning to Paris.
In general, if not for the syphilis, France had still made a very profitable gain this time. After all, the big kingdom of Naples was taken down. You know, Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples, in this era, are the most developed regions in Europe.
Volcanic ash is an important natural fertilizer in Italy. Europeans do not know how to use manure, but in the Roman era, Italians knew how to use volcanic ash as fertilizer. Therefore, the southern part of Italy, in the Middle Ages, has always been a rich region of Europe. Especially in Sicily, it is called "Golden Basin" by Europeans. Of course, Sicily was robbed by the Spaniards, and the French grabbed Naples, which is a little worse than Sicily. It is also very good.
However, just as they relaxed, they did not know that they had entered the ambush circle.
The 10 French knights who took the lead did not notice that there were many traps on this low valley avenue. So, they were all overwhelmed by the dead horse trap. For a time, the French people turned their horses, and the knights behind the front row, some of them couldn't stop the car for a while, and the seven or eight rows of knights all slammed together. Many horses and knights fell to the ground.
Aware that the Frenchman in front of the French army was already trapped, Marin no longer hesitated and shouted:
"attack!"
The voice just fell, and the rows of stones on both sides of the mountain began to fall down.
"what..."
"Hey..."
For a time, many horses were caught and the horse were crushed by stones. Some of the French knights on horseback have also been slammed by the stone.
At the same time, the 100 archers under Marin's knees also fired. For a time, the arrows were raining.
"what..."
"Hey..."
It is also a lot of French knights and horses, but in general, the most unfortunate were those horses. Because there is no armor on the horse, it is impossible to be protected from the arrows.
For a time, the French were in chaos.
"Enemy! Enemy!" French officers began to yell and demanded that the Knight defend.
But how to defend? Because the blows are all falling from the sky...
And Charles VIII, also surrounded by a lot of knights, looked horrified:
"What happened? What happened?" The Frenchman fled, but the preparations were made, and the Italians did not move. The whole process was monitored by French scouts and they should not appear here.
"Is it Germans?" a guard guessed.
"I think so too, it seems that 15,000 people in the Germans did not participate in the previous battle..." Another French aristocratic interface. The French also know that Count Alfred led the 15,000 army behind and did not participate in the battle.
It is precisely because of this that Charles VIII was anxious to flee. If he was trapped by the 35,000 army, he wanted to escape late. The Germans are not the Italians, the Germans are well armed, and the folks have many excellent mercenaries. If it is entangled by the German army, and with the help of the Italian, the French are already few, and certainly can't afford it. Therefore, Charles VIII was very ruthless to choose to run, just did not want to entangle with the Italians, and be wasting time.
Unexpectedly, they just left the military camp and planned to run, but here they were blocked. In the middle of the night, everyone can't see clearly, I don't know how many enemies there are. Thus, 8000 French knights, under the attack of more than 1,000 German mercenaries, were scared. Moreover, the other side is on both sides of the high ground, the French knights simply could not go.
Charles VIII first panicked for a while, but quickly calmed down. Because, panic is not useful at all, it will only make you die. He calmly commanded the French to take defensive formation and leaned together to put the horses that were killed and bruised on the outermost side to block the stones that fell on the hillsides.
"Count, you bring people to the left side of the hill!" Charles VIII ordered.
"Your Majesty, our horses can't go up!" the Count of Toulouse, was bitter.
"Stupid, who let you ride a mountain? You take 1,000 people, you have to climb a mountain, you must occupy a commanding height, at least, let's throw stones on the hillside near our army!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Flair quickly took the lead, carrying a 1000-plate knight, wearing a full set of armor, carrying a two-handed sword, began to climb the left side of the slope. Coincidentally, he chose the location of the storm, which is the place where Marin ambushed.
"This bunch of idiots, let them climb!"
"Adult, what if they climb up?"
"First slow down the stone, leave some stones, and the archer continues to shoot the French."
"Also, pick me up!"
"Yes!"
Soon, the hillsides on both sides rang out "Surrender and live (French)!" and "Charle VIII is dead (French)!"
The Earl, who was leading the mountaineering, was shocked. He quickly stopped climbing, rode the horse, and returned to the battlefield to see the situation of Charles VIII.
"You stupid, why are you coming back?" Charles VIII was furious.
"This vassal is worried about the safety of His Majesty!" the Earl was loyal.
"Stupid, that is what the enemy is doing!"
"Oh..." the Count pulled his head and went back to organize the climb.
But after such a trouble, Flair's desperate momentum was gone. Even the French army, because it is too long. This part of the people close to Charles VIII naturally knows that the King is okay. People who can fall behind, I don't know. So, in the second half of the French army, many people began to panic.
The Earl, who was responsible for climbing the commanding heights, just took someone to climb the top part, but saw Marin's wretched smile.
"Oh, now, you climb short, it's not enough to pick it up..." (Artim's note: I don't understand what he is meaning to say)
Under a command, the stone that had been built up for a long time was smashed to the head of the Frenchman who was on the slope.
The French knights themselves wore thick plate armor, and when the stone fell down, where can they withstand it? Therefore, they have fallen down and followed the dumplings.
However, this hillside is tens of meters high, which is equivalent to a dozen floors. Is it good to fall? Therefore, most of the French knights in the middle of the game, fell down, ether dead or wounded .
As for the Earl, his luck is good.Because, when he fell, there was a fat knight below playing the meat pad. Then, when he fell down, he was blocked by a few unlucky ones in the middle, slowing down the speed of falling. So, when he finally fell to the ground, he magically did not fall, just broke his left leg.
"Oh, it hurts Lord..."
Soon, the unfortunate Count was carried to the face of Charles VIII.
"It's a waste!" Charles VIII snorted angrily.
However, he could not do anything about the shameless stone throwing behavior of the mountain people. So he turned his head and told the Earl of Tours:
"Mathieu, you take someone to explore and see how many German troops there are." In Charles VIII's view, since the other side is set, the army blocked in front is certainly quite a lot.
But soon, Mathieu, who led the team to explore the road, reported:
"Your Majesty, there seems to be no enemy in front, but there are a lot of traps, a lot of pits, and it is impossible to ride through with horses."
"It turned out to be like this. I thought that many people stopped the road..." Charles VIII was also a bit stunned.