Chapter 290 - 224: A Well-Trained Doctor

After returning to Piacenza, Eric waited for two more days. The following day, Terraldo—the Lord of Parma and a border official of the Tuscan Duchy whom Eric had contacted—arrived in Piacenza with his Knights.

His domain of Parma was practically adjacent to Piacenza, so Eric planned to have him help defend the city.

Eric also contacted the inhabitants of the villages near Piacenza.

The villagers had already united, so it was easy to seek their help.

The negotiations went smoothly.

The villagers were trying to fight back against the harassment and plundering by the city-dwellers, so they shared a common goal with Eric and agreed to his request to hire them.

They had no reason to disagree, as Eric had already made it clear that the villagers joining his army wouldn’t have to fight. They only needed to swell the ranks and make a show of force.

Eric also told them not to worry about him breaking his promise, explaining that his reasoning was perfectly sound back in the north. There, combat was the exclusive privilege of Knights. To let cultivators charge at the front was an insult to the knightly spirit. No Norman Knight would be willing to see a villager rush into battle before them—it would be an immense disgrace.

Eric had no intention of deceiving them. He genuinely only needed the villagers to bolster his army’s numbers; he needed to create the illusion of a massive force.

The power of the cities in Northern Italy was formidable. Just as Knights and Lords built castles to protect their subjects, citizens built city walls to safeguard the rights they had wrested from the lords.

The resourceful and wealthy Northern Italian cities were all dedicated to constructing and maintaining their city walls.

Ever since the time of Emperor Otto, nearly every northern Emperor who deemed himself powerful would seek to glorify his authority with the blood of Northern Italy.

Since the armies of Northern Italy could not contend with the Emperor’s forces, the citizens and nobility were driven under his iron heel to devote most of their energy to constructing city defenses.

In this era, however, the design and fortitude of city walls were far from the point where they were unshakable even by catapults.

In the north, wooden walls and fortresses still predominated. This was especially true in England, where before the Norman invasion, there were only one or two decent castles, and those had been built during the reign of Edward the Confessor by the Norman Knights he had brought over from Normandy.

Although nine years had passed since the Norman invasion and the Normans had been diligently spreading castle construction across England, stone castles remained a rarity.

Northern Italy was unlike the north; stone walls had largely replaced wooden ones. Even with an adequate number of catapults, breaking through would waste a great deal of time.

Therefore, he decided to use the pressure of a massive army to intimidate the cities from Piacenza to Milan into surrendering.

If what Sforza said was true—that the Patrin Sect Monks had already effectively lost control of Milan, and the Patulin Sect’s territories within the Marquisate were now controlled by a mercenary leader—then his rule must currently be weak.

Since the citizens of Milan City had tacitly allowed a mercenary leader to rule them temporarily, they must have grown weary of the Patulin-style revolts. They were attempting to restore order, be it the old order or a completely new one.

At such a time, a powerful Norman Army could easily crush them.

Eric divided his forces into three columns, advancing north toward Milan City along every road, path, and patch of grass that allowed passage. But an hour or two after dawn, the warriors acting as marshals began to halt the various detachments. Sweat-drenched Knights hurried through the teeming crowds, shouting for them to form a rough line.

Along the way, Belem had been wrestling with his new mount, a stubborn mare. The horse had once belonged to Sforza, the Knight from the Black Rose Corps, but was now Belem’s.

Under orders, the entire army was arranged into a massive crescent.

As they neared a city, Eric would deliberately pick out a few small, rolling highland slopes. Then, he would sound the horns. At the signal, the entire crescent-shaped army would advance onto the slopes. This way, what the defenders would see was not a few scouts trickling out from the woods, but an overwhelming military force.

Furthermore, to make the army appear twice its actual size, Eric had his Knights shove the camp followers into the crescent formation.

Cooks, clerks, women, masons, farriers, carpenters, servants—anyone who could walk, crawl, ride, or stand was forced into the crescent-shaped line. Countless bright banners fluttered above this confused crowd.

Summers in Northern Italy were hot, and even the morning air felt sweltering. The leather and chain armor made both man and horse drip with sweat, and dust kicked up into the wind.

The Earl of Shrewsbury, Belem, rode his stubborn mare back and forth along the crescent line. His face was often flushed, and he cursed until his mouth was dry, but at last, the slow and unwieldy formation finally met his satisfaction.

Eric’s strategy proved effective. The sudden appearance of this dauntingly massive army threw the small and mid-sized cities between Piacenza and Milan City into a severe panic.

Smaller cities like Stradella and Broni surrendered without a fight. In exchange for being spared from plunder, they paid Eric a hefty ransom.