Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 728 The effects of military reform have their limits. I'm no longer a feudal lord, King Gigi!

Judging from the current battlefield situation, while the Ming army was indeed unprepared and hastily engaged the enemy, the enemy was not in much better shape. The place where they were fighting was quite a distance from their camp, which clearly indicated that they had accidentally discovered their target and then hastily transferred all the men they could to the location.

As for whether such actions might create serious hidden dangers, they probably didn't care. Or perhaps, in the eyes of the opposing commander, these risks were acceptable compared to the enormous gains from the battle.

After all, in both the East and the West, the battlefield rarely gives commanders much time. Situations requiring hasty decisions are likely the most common. Prior preparation and careful planning can only serve a supporting role. On-the-spot judgments made instantly, even those with a touch of intuition, can directly influence the course of the battle.

This time, the situation was the same. Moreover, it wasn't just the Prague army; when Tang Sai'er and the others first learned the location of the enemy camp, they didn't have time to think too much either, and after a brief discussion, they rushed over.

After the first battle was over, they gradually obtained more complete intelligence on the enemy. Through scout reports and observations in the camp, they estimated the enemy's condition. Only during their journey did they have the time to consider the current situation and its causes, analyze the enemy's current mentality, and carefully plan the route and formation for the counterattack.

Based on this information, the Prague army, or rather the "Church faction" as Captain Žižka described it, was actually in a rather conflicted state. This conflict wasn't limited to politics; it also manifested in contradictions and indecisiveness in its military organization and strategic thinking.

According to Captain Jessica, at least during his time at the Bohemian court, there were indeed people researching this problem. Local military nobles and mercenary commanders brought in from Italy were all involved, searching for solutions. In the process, some new theories even emerged.

This is all understandable, or rather, it's normal for someone to do these things. Europeans are, after all, human beings, and they can think. Faced with the urgent needs brought about by high-intensity warfare, there will always be people who begin to try to think about and study the laws of war.

The reason they were discovered and surrounded so quickly this time was because, at that time, in Europe, especially on the Eastern Front, main forces were accustomed to sending out multiple mobile squads, which were larger and more powerful. When they encountered the enemy, they would report back while simultaneously summoning surrounding units to surround them.

This approach demonstrates that the enemy army was not entirely a makeshift force; at least some members were quite "skilled." Furthermore, if there weren't enough experienced mid- to low-ranking officers, or if they lacked the necessary capabilities, this tactic of multiple coordinated squads wouldn't be feasible.

This habit originated from the scientification of logistics. People realized then that logistical support was just as important to war as battlefield performance; and as a major part of logistical work, plundering was a discipline that required serious study.

While it may sound mindless, robbery does require skill. Especially when you're trying to support an army through robbery. Because when the number of people is large enough, where to rob, how to organize the robbery, and how to distribute the loot... all require careful consideration and strict regulations.

Therefore, a commander who can figure out how to loot is already considered a master here. Because an army that is not disciplined enough is also bad at looting.

In fact, whether from the experience of the past few decades or from more "modern" war examples, there have always been numerous instances where looting ended up resulting in the commander's own demise or the collapse of their army. Therefore, good commanders always carefully consider how to arrange looting to maximize efficiency.

However, to achieve efficiency, the dispersal of the army is unavoidable. Civilian supplies are often scattered, and supporting an army of tens of thousands through looting is not something that can be solved by everyone crowding into one or two villages or towns. Soldiers must be deployed to a relatively wide area to collect sufficient supplies.

And that's the problem.

On the Anglo-French battlefield, the local population was largely ignored. This wasn't due to negligence or the inherent arrogance of the nobility, but rather because their impact was truly negligible. While there are records of organized resistance from local villagers against British raiding parties, and in some areas even guerrilla groups formed by locals whose homes had been burned, these groups were extremely weak and ineffective in significantly impacting the looting efforts. Therefore, neither side generally took them seriously.

However, the villages within the territory controlled by the Purple Horde proved extremely difficult to conquer. The commanders quickly discovered that the peasants there were incredibly fierce, seemingly unlike any other species as the French peasants… In short, they could not be ignored.

Based on the experience of the British and French, a raiding party only needs twenty or thirty cavalrymen. Seventy or eighty regular cavalrymen can form the main vanguard in one direction to deal with the armies of local minor nobles. But here, seventy or eighty men often can't even take down a village. Small teams of twenty or thirty men often disappear in the countryside. This makes the opportunity to make a fortune through raiding a horror story; people dare not go out if they don't have enough men.

This meant they had to increase the size of their raiding squads, but this increased size severely reduced the number of squads and their raiding efficiency. The main cavalry force was forced to engage in raiding, constantly fighting against villagers, which severely weakened the army, making them extremely passive when facing the main force that arrived later.

Later, they learned that the "villages" of the Purple Horde were almost all specially organized and built to provide a hundred-man squad, and each had its own fortifications. Because of their mobility, raiding parties could not easily carry siege weapons and heavy equipment. Therefore, even with the reinforcement of knights and professional soldiers, a cavalry squad could only manage a 50/50 fight against the villagers who relied on their defenses.

Therefore, as time went on, the size of mobile units in various armies grew larger and larger. This was obviously a huge waste of manpower, but there was no other way. Even if they advanced step by step, the logistics of each country's armies could not be sustained in the long run; they would still have to plunder, otherwise they would starve to death. As for whether the problem of perpetually inadequate rear supply could be directly solved... that was not a military matter.

On the other hand, they also neglected the farmers on their own side.

To prevent the rapid movement of the Purple Horde, local nobles once organized a scorched-earth policy, collecting all resources and storing them in fortified castles. They then burned villages and blocked wells, preventing invaders from accessing resources, greatly increasing their logistical burden and slowing their advance. Initially, this tactic was quite effective. Upon discovering these measures, the enemy generally wouldn't charge headlong, but would instead take a portion of their people and retreat. This achieved the planned objective.

As for what would happen to the villagers after they lost their homes and food supplies, and what became of those who were taken away, most nobles didn't care much. Even if they starved to death or were abducted, that was the farmers' own problem. Next year, new subjects would emerge. This was how everyone had lived for hundreds of years.

It took them a long time to realize that the Purple Horde Khanate had always considered itself to have vast territory and a sparse population, and that their real concern was not having enough people. Therefore, in this situation, taking people away directly was more in line with their needs. The displaced villagers were happy to go with them in order to survive.

Several years passed before anyone discovered the problem. Some knights on the border encountered enemies familiar with the local terrain and who spoke the local language during battles. After a heated exchange, they discovered that some of those who had left with the Purple Horde had completed their training and returned as soldiers.

However, unlike other discoveries, this situation did not receive the same prompt attention from the military leadership, nor did it lead to corresponding reforms. The reason was the same: it had transcended the military realm and touched upon fundamental issues of national interest distribution…

In the eyes of high-ranking officials in various countries, which army ordinary villagers were willing to join was not a matter worth considering. When these people were truly needed to join the army, the lords would not care whether they were willing or not.

However, as time went on, the lesser nobles closer to the front lines began to resist.

The high-ranking officials in the rear often spoke lightly, but as the Purple Horde's army gradually became more formalized, the frequency of their attacks also increased. To counter their invasions and delay the enemy as much as possible, the kingdom had to pay a price: after each battle, regardless of victory or defeat, the territory would be completely emptied. For the frontline nobles, especially the smaller, lower-ranking nobles, the pressure was immense.

However, these costs were all paid by the lords at the front. Their colleagues at the rear, by not taking advantage of their weakness to seize their territory, were already showing them respect.

When the king was more powerful, he could use his royal authority to control the nobles in the rear and compensate the front lines. But after Lajos' death, not a single capable monarch could be found in the entire southeast. The nobles in Eastern Europe, who were already quite disorganized, took this opportunity to attack each other, making the situation even more chaotic.

Therefore, even when officers and generals who had actually participated in combat seriously raised this issue with the court, they rarely received any valuable responses. When some lords brought up the matter, others assumed they were just trying to extort money. Thus, these situations remained merely topics of conversation among frontline personnel for a long time.

When Sigismund first came to power, the knight Hunyati Wojc, along with other lower-ranking nobles, brought the matter to the forefront. The Hunyati family had always been Sigismund's confidants, and even their name came from a castle gifted to them by Sigismund. Therefore, it was widely believed that this was Sigismund's retaliation against the upper-ranking nobles.

However, Sigismund was also a novice at weakening the powerful nobles. Like other attempts to counter the great nobles, this effort also ended in failure.

The Hunyati family, having long enjoyed the king's favor, could still choose to remain loyal to him. Even later, when their status as lords of Hunyati Castle rose to nominal authority over it, and Wojc and his son János continued to serve in Sigismund's court, many minor lords were clearly beginning to consider whether siding with Rome would offer them greater benefits.

This long-standing internal conflict was one of the reasons for the collapse of the Kingdom of Hungary after Basil III launched a full-scale attack. Afterwards, everyone reflected deeply on the tragedy, especially the noble officers who fled to Poland and Bohemia, who conducted extensive research and wrote numerous works, profoundly influencing European military thought.

However, there haven't been any far-reaching, immediate impacts yet. Because analysis is one thing, but when it comes to what should be done…

Captain Jessica had told them that anyone who thrives in the court is no fool—not even in Sigismund's court. And they all surely knew what the best solution was.

Therefore, as soon as they are defeated and forced into exile, losing their territories, the nobles immediately realize the reasons behind this and warn their colleagues. Those who haven't lost their territories, however, tend to ignore it until they themselves find themselves in the same predicament. This has happened countless times in recent decades…

Jessica remarked that after losing his court official position, commanding troops was actually much more comfortable than before. Even though he was always in charge of defense, from Dadu to Egypt, and was constantly being attacked, he felt it was alright. This was because many restrictions that were known to be wrong but couldn't be reformed no longer existed.

However, the commanders of the Grail faction were clearly not in such a good position.

Throughout the battle, they likely had virtually no choice; they couldn't even interfere with camp arrangements or personnel selection. This resulted in the stark difference between aspects that were highly professional and those that seemed like a joke.

If they had been able to wipe out Zhu Wenkui's convoy in one fell swoop, things might have been fine. But now they're stuck there, which is very awkward. The anxiety of the opposing commanders is predictable. What route they will choose and what tactics they will employ are also very easy to predict. What follows is a process of responding to each move as it comes.

(End of this chapter)