113 A show of skill III
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Robert seemed to have been urging lord Hohenzollern to participate in the joust for quite some time, as even the patient Prussian lord seemed to be reaching his limit.
"Ah, Jon, what happened, you're never late for anything?" said Robert when he noticed my presence.
''I'm sorry Robert there was an opportunity I couldn't leave'' I said as I looked at lord Hohenzollern.
''I hope Roon wasn't too unpleasant, he doesn't like strangers in his camp, they break his concentration and it's something he really can't stand, as he loses the order of his itinerary'' said lord Hohenzollern, relaxing a bit.
''Well I must say he is better than the nobles of the capital who seek favors, at no time did he try to flatter although he never hid his dislike for me'' I replied to the Prussian lord.
''Were you at the Prussian camp?'' asked Robert.
''That's right, observe the training of the Prussian soldiers... and what were you talking about during my absence?'' I said to both of them.
''I was convincing lord Hohenzollern that there is still time for him to participate in the jousts since it is not necessary for him to participate in the first rounds due to his lineage'' answered Robert looking at lord Hohenzollern.
''And I answered that I really don't have much experience fighting on horseback, the jousting in Europe died a century ago due to the enormous risks involved, many kings and nobles died for having a moment of fun in the joust and although I am a good rider, most of my men and I have not practiced the joust, as it was forbidden since the ascension of my grandfather to the throne of the Prussians since he observed that hundreds of knights died every year for the practice'' answered lord Hohenzollern with a worried tone.
''So no Prussians will participate?'' i asked lord Hohenzollern.
''Charles, some of his men and some Prussian nobles but it won't be as massive as other tournaments since it was banned nobody practiced it'' answered lord Hohenzollern.
''Come on Wilhelm it is not so difficult you just have to aim your spear at the idiot in front of you and tighten your legs so you don't get thrown when the spears collide, at least give me the pleasure of seeing you participate in the tournament since...Arryn won't let me participate since he says it is too dangerous, besides in the fencing tournament you show an exceptional skill with your saber'' said Robert to Lord Hohenzollern making a little mockery of me when he took up the subject that I prohibited him from participating in the joust.
''Fine, fine, I'll think about it, for now let's concentrate on what's in front of us, this is the last day of the tournaments and let's hope there won't be too many problems with these events'' said lord Hohenzollern concentrating on how men-at-arms from the respective great houses slowly arrived.
Finally, for this specific tournament three hundred men were allowed from the respective regions that make up the seven kingdoms and there were enough North men, but not enough iron born, so an army from the crown lands was assembled to make exactly eight armies participating in this combat and make the contest easy.
There was more harmony in this, as the numbers of soldiers participating were so limited that it could be guaranteed that all the men-at-arms would be equipped with the best armor that the lords of their area could provide for the fight.
Everything was randomized to prevent the lords from complaining that the Prussians were fixing the tournaments to win.
The first to fight would be North men against the forces of the lords of the crown lands, the River lands against the Vale, the Wester lands against the Stormlands, and the Reach against Dorne.
The first two fights were as expected to happen, two lines of shield walls advanced against each other and where the lords' men-at-arms pushed and tried to hurt the opponents although all the spectators were happy watching the fights I still had that bitter taste in my mouth.
I could not forget what I had observed of the Prussians and although I know my men-at-arms are well-trained they could never do what the Prussians are capable of.
Although the battle had started out quite organized on both sides, the battle finally ended like the melee tournament as a chaos where the soldiers ended up fighting individually when one of the formations gave way.
During the whole time that the early fighting was going on there were several Prussian officers who were taking notes on the battle in their hand books, with pieces of charcoal, as they watched the movements of the soldiers.
The combats did not last long, the crown lands were the winners in the first combat, as well as my men in the second combat.
in the second round only those who were fit enough to participate could take part and it was important to keep control of their wounded.
The next battle was one of the most eagerly awaited as all indications were that lord Tywin had begun to adopt Prussian pike tactics and all his men presented themselves with pikes, spears and halberds for battle.
They had formed a square and the Lannister men lowered their pikes and slowly began to advance against the men of the Stormlands.
The men of the storm lands did not charge as they usually would as only a sharp point awaited them on the other side and they had to advance slowly against the lannister formation.
Where the range of the pikes began to show their effectiveness, as the Baratheon vanguard struggled to dodge three to five pikes that tried to prevent them from entering the formation, although the Lannister formation had problems on the flanks, in the center they were pushing back with great force, pushing the Baratheons back quickly while the wounded on the Storm Lords' side increased dramatically.
The battle was longer than the previous ones but Lannister won fairly easily with some wounded from the fighting on the flanks as they had trouble holding their ground, but otherwise the battle seems to favor lord Tywin.
Much celebration can be heard in the area where the nobles from the western lands were
Looking at the Prussian officers, I could see how they were laughing and sometimes shaking their heads
When it was the turn of the Prussians we were surprised that they did not carry so many pikes and these seemed to be shorter than the Lannister pikes only the first two lines of men carried their pikes while the rest carried halberds and other short range weapons.
In all the previous battles there was something in common that there were many taunts and insults between sides, the Prussian soldiers maintained a sepulchral silence at no time emitted noises, you could only hear how the Prussian officers who were in the field were giving orders to his men.
The Prussians moved into battle position and advanced against the Dornish.
The Dornish did the same as the storm men and advanced slowly against the Prussians while maintaining as much order as they could.
As they were about to come into contact, the Prussian soldiers shouted out
''GOT MIT UNS''
With the pikes they charged at the Dornish trying to thrust their spear between the visor and quickly switching to other weapons like daggers and axe they had in their belts.
This unexpected event took the Dornish by surprise and caused their battle line to almost collapse in the first seconds of combat as the Prussians charged fiercely, pushing the Dornish into the ground.
Where the Prussians kept up their thrust, seeking to split the Dornish lines into small groups in which they were cornered and became easy prey for the Prussians who were abysmally better in hand-to-hand combat.
although their numbers were equal, at no time was there an even fight the Prussians always fought with more men in their small fights, splitting up and joining other groups to make the fighting easier
The battle barely lasted a few minutes, until finally the Prussians had forced the surrender of the last of the Dornish men who still could not assimilate that they had been overrun.
This was strange, i thought they would fight defensively but they just attacked and broke the Dornish.
I looked at lord Hohenzollern in disbelief.
''What? you thought that the pike can only be used defensively? as long as the pike is longer than the spear of your opponent it is an excellent shock weapon for the range it provides, a tactic that is used a lot in battles in the east when the terrain does not facilitate the use of pikes'' said lord Hohenzollern as he watched his men withdraw from the arena.
'Well, this is new, but the Prussians have been fighting with pikes for more than two centuries, it is normal that they have experimented with other ways of using the pike'.
There was a rotation of groups so the vale men had to fight the men from the western lands while the Prussians had to fight the men from the crown lands.
to my men's misfortune, we had lost several in the previous battle and were at a numerical disadvantage, while the Lannisters remained at near full strength.
The battle was hard but we were defeated, the pikes presented a lot of problems for the infantry, and several men at a time were looking for places to hit.
The next battle was the same only the Prussians fought more defensively than the previous time, although when they broke the cohesion of their opponents' formation they charged and did the same as the Dornish forcing them to fight in small groups that were quickly eliminated.
While lord Tywin's men celebrated, the Prussians remained calm.
finally it came to the final where there would be a fight of similar tactics and everyone was interested in how this battle turned out as in all the rounds there was a betting on who would win and they were pretty evenly matched.
I think I even saw lord roon betting a lot of gold that his side would win with a blind certainty.
Both groups entered and prepared for battle.
Both formations began to advance on each other, the Prussians had a couple more soldiers than the Lannisters which would probably give them more of an advantage.
Everyone was excited about this battle to begin, as it was going to be the toughest of all the previous battles.
When the pikes of both sides were about to make contact something unexpected happened, the first Prussian line threw their pikes to the ground and quickly crawled out of the way dodging the Lannister pikes and moving towards their users.
While the second Prussian line advanced quickly to keep the Lannisters engaged.
All was chaos for the Lannisters the crawling Prussians began grabbing the feet of the enemy pike men and throwing them to the ground, while those trying to stop them with shorter weapons caused disorder in the pike formation.
Soon the soldiers with large swords began to cut the Lannister pikes and slowly entered the formation that was slowly disintegrating.
Disaster, was what could be seen happening, soldiers stumbling and bumping into each other as they tried to avoid the Prussians who were trying to stab their legs and at the same time having to face the Prussian pike men.
it was only a matter of time before the pike formation broke and the Prussians broke the formation to charge the disorganized Lannisters.
The Prussian officers led their men as always, seeking to have numerical superiority in their battles, until finally the Lannisters were defeated.
In the end, the Prussian experience won the day, but it does not detract from the merit of the Lannisters for trying to imitate the complex system of the Prussian tercios.
There was a smile of satisfaction on lord Hohenzollern's face as he watched the prizes being distributed among his soldiers.
There was much more happiness among some of the Prussians as they collected the profits from their bets.
After this tournament, there was a lunch break where Robert again tried to convince lord Hohenzollern to participate in the joust, but the Prussian lord was adamant in his decision not to participate.
Usually Jaime and Barristan are the winners of the jousts, but this time they met the Teutons, although they don't have much experience in friendly jousts, they did very well for their first time.
Charles defeated Barristan by breaking five spears, while Jaime was defeated by breaking seven spears leaving the Teutonic knight as the champion of the jousting tournament,and crown her lord's betrothed as the queen of love and beauty.
By the end of the day I received another wave of complaints from nobles as all the prizes went to the Prussians but it has become a skill to ignore their complaints and say we'll see what we can do.
I thought lord Hohenzollern wanted to leave as soon as possible to continue ruling his territories as it is something he likes to do, but apparently he was waiting for one of his men to return from the north so he could give him what he deserves.
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Well guys, this is the end of this arc, for the moment I will leave the story on hiatus, because at the end of January I have the most important exam of my law degree, and I must concentrate on studying.
So I hope you understand, but come out victorious or defeated of that exam we will return to normality in february.
