Act XXXVIII, The end game draws near.
It is now January, a new year has begun, 1474, the war has now entered into its fifth year. Artur's invasion of southern France has taken a heavy toll on the English monarchy, the last year have come at a heavy cost to both sides, but the Bretons have something to show for it, the English have not. The Breton army has been camping and resting for a couple of weeks near Toulouse, however, Artur wants to move his army into Provence now, the final English stronghold in the south, the Breton prince, however, he gets his work cut out for him. Provence is one of the most recent English conquests, they are part of the holy roman empire and despise the English, French and anyone else who have tried to bring them to submission, after 4 years of war taxes they have had enough and all of Provence rises up to retake their land for themselves. Soon the region is occupied by over 12 000 rebels, Artur strikes a bargain with them, he will not move against them, as long as they do not strike the Bretons, the rebels agree to his proposals and the two armies set their sights on a common goal, the destruction of the English.
With Provence besieged by rebels Artur decided instead to journey north and help his allies with the occupation of northern France, Paris was already in Breton hands, but Caux was not, there was also rumors of an English attack to relieve Paris. On a cold January morning Artur orders the army to break camp, before he ordered the men to march he tried to encourage his soldiers by saying: "This winter is not to my liking, let's go northwards and get the feel of a real one." Artur managed to put a smile on his soldiers faces and the men moved north, high in spirits and light at heart.
As the Bretons moved north Artur rode ahead to visit his mother and family in Nantes, he had barely seen his wife and son since the start of the war. As Artur rode through the city the population greeted him with cheers and smiling faces. He finally made his way to the palace and upon seeing his wife he shed numerous tears. Artur was also greeted by his son, Jean, who was named after his great grandfather. Jean had never been interested in military matters, he was a firm believer in diplomacy over warfare. Artur had wanted to bring his son with him on campaign ever since the war started, but up until now Jean had refused, finally Jean agreed to accompany his father on to the battlefield, he too had given up on negotiating with the English. Before Artur departed Nantes he stayed a few hours with his mother, the queen of Brittany was by now 69 years old and she had left most the matters of state to her council and son. The mother and son talked for a long time, finally Artur departed, he promised his mother that he would visit her again quite soon. Artur and Jean rode out of Nantes and met up with the army a few hours later, the men were happy to see their prince again, as well as his son and every soldier cheered him with patriotic cries.
As winter gave way to spring and March turned into April Artur's army entered into eastern Normandie and set their sights on Rouen, the provincial capital of Caux. Artur's men moved swiftly towards the city and it was not long before the long Breton columns were filing in front of the city walls. Artur surveyed the defenses of the city for many hours and he realized that they were not strong enough to hold off a determined assault. The Bretons began the construction of ladders and other equipment, but by now Artur's army also had light bombards, purchased from Ottoman gunsmiths. After having bombarded the city for 37 days Artur ordered an assault. The English garrison respond with everything they had, arrows rained down on the advancing Bretons and many of Artur's men fell in front of the walls. The English defenders did only postpone the inevitable, after a few days of limited breakthroughs a Breton bombard struck the walls on a critical point and a huge hole was torn. Artur ordered a thousand men to storm through the breach, the English tried to plug the hole, but it was a futile effort, within an hour the remaining English surrendered to Artur, the prisoners were not killed, but they were not allowed to return to English lines either, Artur allowed them to journey east and enlist as mercenaries, knowing what was in store for them if they declined the offer the English surrendered their weapons and marched eastwards. After Artur's capture of Rouen the north was secure once more, the remaining English fled across the channel in any small ship they could find. The English army took advantage of the fact that Artur had moved north, now they sent a new army of 13 000 men to retake the south. When Artur learned about the enemy movement he once again put his army on the road and moved south.
The English army under leadership of Andrew Procter, a young promising general landed in Languedoc in the mid of summer, not daring to face the strong rebel force in Provence they instead moved to Toulouse, the wealthiest city in southern France. The Breton force inside the city was strong and well trained, 2000 men are defending the city and they have provisions for a long time, the English realized that they could not take the city by assault, instead they started to besiege operations.
As Artur moved south he stopped for a couple of months to reform his army, in a very serious manner. He had always been a patriot for the Breton culture and traditional way of fighting and he decided that the Men-at-arms were not the way for the Bretons, he reequipped his army with traditional Celtic weaponry, the two-handed axe, the claymore and with dirks, the heavy armor was sacrificed for lighter mails in order to move faster on the field of battle. Artur called his new infantry "Galloglaigh infantry", he would soon have a chance to try them on the field of battle.
(Templates for the new infantry.)
Even though Artur's army was moving as fast as they could they still did not reach southern France before December 1475, the English was aware that the Bretons were closing in on them and after so many battles and so many victories Artur was starting to become a bit too confident and he did not put out scouts ahead of the army, this played into the hand of the English and he soon discovered it to his horror. As the Breton columns headed up a steep hill a line becomes visible on the top and a barrage of arrows hail down upon Artur's men, Bretons fell left right and center to the English volleys. The Galloglaigh infantry had no real protection against this hail of arrows and they took terrible losses. As Artur realized what was happening he gots in front of his men, several arrows came close to hitting him, but he did not waver, he picks up a banner and guides the men forward in an unrelenting charge. The English are shocked that the Bretons defy their arrows and they find to their horror that they can't stop the charge. After hours of intense fighting the English retreat from the field, their morale is shaken by the fact that they could not make the Bretons waver. For Artur the battle is costly, as he wanders the field of battle he is personally shaken by the losses, it is understandable, the Bretons lost 4152 men that day. Even though the English only lost 1556 men, under half the Breton total, they were still driven from the field.
(An English archer, men like this inflicted heavy losses on the Bretons.)
After the battle the Breton nobles advise Artur to give the army a chance to rest and get reinforcements, they had suffered heavy losses and the English were retreating into Roussillon, a part of the kingdom of Aragon and the Bretons did not have permission to walk on his land. Artur, however, sends an emissary to the king of Aragon and gets access to his lands, the Breton army is now in hot pursuit of the English who are not yet aware of the fact. Over the next weeks the two sides clash throughout Roussillon, the English continue their retreat into Girona, where on the 28. of January 1476 Andrew Procter, the promising young general who left England a year ago with high hopes for himself surrenders to the Bretons, his army of 13 000 men are lost. Artur's new infantry have been tested in a very harsh manner, they have risen to the task and passed.
By now the English had suffered major defeats, they had just lost another army in the Pyrenees and their coffers were being emptied by the need to constantly field more and more troops, however, they decided to once again go for an invasion of Brittany, with Artur stuck in the south it seemed like a good plan. An English army of 8000 men landed on the beaches of Morbihan, and they headed for the Breton city of Rohan, a city that had always been a prime target for any invader, the English chose to land in January, they hoped that the winter would hinder Artur from marching north before they could get more men ashore, they were wrong. When the Breton prince heard about the English invasion he immediately set out with the main portion of his army, his soldiers once again marched north along snowy roads, but their morale was high.
Artur's Breton army did not arrive in Brittany before April, as the men marched towards Rohan they saw the destruction the English army had inflicted on the populace, dead civilians lay unburied along the roads and most of the farms in the area was burned to the ground. As Artur's army arrives outside of Rohan he orders an immediate attack on the English, his men drive forward and hack down everything that come in their way, the English are terrified by the Breton charge and they find to their horror that the Bretons can move faster than them, the English retreat soon turns into a rout as they flee from the field they leave their weapons, armor and hope of victory behind. The fields in front of Rohan are littered with over 2600 English corpses, about 2800 Bretons also died in the battle. Artur pursues the English army northwards into the region of Finisterre and he finally catches up with them outside of the city of Brest, the Bretons show no mercy this time and they cut down about 4400 English soldiers in less than an hour.
(Breton light infantry after yet another victory over the invader.)
This last Breton victory was just another sign that the English were losing the war, but they would still not give up, Artur was already receiving reports that another 14 000 English had been landed in southern France, once again he would have to move south.