"Sir Earl, the king secretly led the main force away from Shrewsbury three days ago. Now Shrewsbury is all old, weak and disabled soldiers, and we have been deceived!"

"What!? Get the map!"

The Earl of Essex was shocked to hear that the king had left the camp three days ago.

The generals of the parliamentary army gathered in front of the map. After they judged where the disappearing king and the main force of the king would be after the king led the main force to leave the camp!

Cromwell was appointed as a core member of the parliament because he personally directed the arrest of Count Straffor and was appointed as a cavalry major because he formed a 60-man cavalry team to participate in the parliamentary army. After joining the parliamentary army, Count Essex assigned two more cavalry squadrons to command Cromwell. He can now command three cavalry squadrons, with nearly 200 cavalry, and is qualified to participate in the combat deployment of the parliamentary army.

"The king's men have capable people. They asked the king to leave Shrewsbury secretly. The goal must be to rush to the city of London. We need to chase it immediately! We cannot let the king approach the city of London, as that may cause morale to fluctuate! Their marching route is likely to be the capture of Oxford through Warwickshire, and then use Oxford as a camp to surround the city of London." Cromwell pointed out a marching route that was extremely likely to be the King's Army on the map.

"It is indeed very likely that this is the marching route, and the army will be pursued immediately!" The Earl of Essex, who had been deceived for three days, realized that something was wrong, and he had to respond to the king's surprise attack on the city of London as soon as possible.

The Earl of Essex, who came to his senses, immediately asked 12,000 infantry and 2,850 cavalry to march and chase first. In addition, 3 infantry regiments, 11 cavalry squadrons and several artillery pieces to take the lead in the pursuit.

At this time, the king's army had not long since left their base. They had already seized the opportunity and could march at a normal speed, waiting for the effort.

"According to time, the parliamentary army should have discovered our intentions. I believe they should only leave some of the troops to transport the baggage. The main force will bring several days of dry food to pursue us. They pursued us tiredly, and we waited for it. We only need to hold a battle to defeat them." Astley sat on the horse and said to Sun Chuanting.

However, Sun Chuanting did not show a very satisfied expression. The reason was very simple. He proposed a plan to attack the city of London, but their marching speed is too slow now!

Three days passed, and they didn’t go far. Is this a surprise attack or a travel?!

There were a large number of peasants in the King's Army, and there was a lack of preparation of sufficient transportation tools in advance, especially the transportation of artillery was very slow. Without artillery, it was impossible to conquer the important city, which led to the extremely slow advance of the royal army.

"Is our marching speed too slow?" Sun Chuanting complained.

"The war broke out too hastily, neither the parliamentary army nor our king's army raised enough horses... Although our movement speed was not fast enough, the parliamentary army was also similar to ours. If they found out that we left our original garrison at this time, it would take at least 7 days to catch up with us through a rushing march." Astley said slowly.

Sun Chuanting had no choice but to Astley's answer. The speed of their march really made Sun Chuanting crazy. Let's put it this way, it would take half a month to march for about 200 kilometers.

If this were the Far West Expeditionary Army led by him, it would never have taken more than half a month to conduct a surprise attack, as it would not have reflected the combat concept of speed.

Faced with the king's army, mainly peasants and urban militias, Sun Chuanting was also in a hurry.

It’s not that King Charles, Astley, generals of the parliamentary army and others did not want to speed up the marching speed. On the one hand, the artillery was bulky and not transported. On the other hand, the peasants who were temporarily recruited had no experience in fighting. They required their soldiers to be fast. A high-intensity marching that lasted for a few days could cause the morale of the army to collapse. At that time, there was no need to mention the war. A large number of peasants and militias would flee in the middle.

Both sides try to carry out a slow pursuit while maintaining morale and replenishing.

After the parliamentary army noticed the king's marching route, they began to deploy defenders on the road to London City to resist the offensive of the king's army as much as possible.

The King's Army encountered the towns that supported the parliament on the road to resist, and their march was slower, and they had to surrender the local council troops along the way through a series of small and medium-sized battles.

Prince Rupert, who served as the general under King Charles, was in the Netherlands. Germany had the experience of joining the army since childhood and participating in combat. He led the cavalry to win a series of battles, which made King Charles I pay more attention to Rupert and appointed him as the deputy commander of the King's Army to inspire morale.

Sun Chuanting didn't say much about the position of deputy commander of the twenty-year-old Rupert. This prince, who is half German and half British, has a brave fighting style, and Sun Chuanting didn't know whether it was a good or a bad thing to let him serve as deputy commander of the King's Army. After all, since ancient times, heroes have been young, Xiang Yu was in his twenties and burned his boats, and Huo Qubing was the 21-year-old.

The King's Army sang and played the songs all the way, and the cavalry of the King's Army led by Prince Rupert was unstoppable, which greatly inspired the morale of the King's Army, but the speed of the King's Army's advance was finally delayed.

Just like Astley's judgment, seven days later, the vanguard of the parliamentary army led by Essex caught up with the King's army near Mount Edge in Warwickshire.

The King's Army waited for his leisure to work, took the lead in choosing the battlefield and occupied favorable terrain.

The parliamentary army that came from afar was somewhat exhausted because of the marching. However, the Earl of Essex, as the commander-in-chief, had to bite the bullet and come to the plains at the foot of Edge to set up defenses. He had to stop the King's army here and prevent the King's army from continuing to advance towards the city of London.

The situation is not beneficial to the parliamentary army. They originally had more than 20,000 troops, but now only 15,000 people from the vanguard have caught up with the King's Army, there are 3 infantry regiments, 11 cavalry squadrons and some artillery, and the baggage is still on the way.

However, the King's Army obviously did not want to give the parliamentary army a chance to breathe. On the day the two sides met, they began to arrange troops on Mount Edge to prepare for the next day's battle.

The commander-in-chief of the King's Army is Count Lindsay and the deputy commander is Prince Rupert. The King's Army has 11,000 infantry and 2,700 cavalry.

The commander-in-chief of the parliamentary army is the Earl of Essex, which has 12,000 infantry and 2,850 cavalry.

The King's Army was almost equal to the parliamentary army in terms of number and was not at a disadvantage.

However, when the situation was good, the commander-in-chief and deputy commander of the King's Army, the old Earl Lindsay, and the young and energetic Prince Rupert had a dispute over the choice of combat formation.
Chapter completed!