Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 731 War is also a matter of human relationships
Two hours passed after this small-scale skirmish, and it was already dark when any movement came from the woods.

At first, another group of cavalry arrived at the crossroads. However, this time they were much more cautious, observing from a distance before turning back.

Earlier, after moving the wood, Tang Sai'er had a sudden idea: to carve messages on the tree trunks, imitating ancient stories. However, Captain Martin and Gutenberg said it was completely unnecessary, since probably very few people on the other side could read...

Li Li and others also believed that even if they were to carve characters, they wouldn't know which type to carve. Sun Bin's carving of characters for Pang Juan to see was contingent on Pang Juan and Sun Bin using the same script, or at least the difference not being too great.

The current situation is like Sun Bin carving a string of Bohemian script, but Pang Juan is an Italian mercenary general who most likely wouldn't recognize the characters. Even Latin, considered a common script, doesn't have a large learning curve, so what can be done? You can't possibly carve Latin, Bohemian, German, and Italian all at once, can you?

If they really set up a multilingual message board, regardless of the battle itself, this alone would probably make them famous in the Central Plains...

Moreover, the enemy doesn't need to be literate. As long as they encounter the defeated vanguard running back and see such obvious obstacles on the road, anyone would know what's going on.

Sure enough, not long after, a large contingent of infantry, lined up in formation, marched over in a mighty procession. From afar, one could see their lit torches, hear the clamor of voices, and hear the clanging of metal. Tang Sai'er quickly alerted everyone to prepare for battle.

Before long, the enemy appeared in sight, emerging from behind a path through the woods. The front ranks appeared to be well-equipped, their helmets and breastplates gleaming in the torchlight. They advanced, spreading out their armor as they went, quickly filling the not-so-wide flat area. After stopping, another group of soldiers immediately carried huge shields and placed them at the front of the formation.

Although Tang Sai'er and her group had been fighting for most of the day in theory, this was the first time they had seen a large-scale, orderly enemy force.

Last time, although we knew the enemy outnumbered us, they were completely unprepared, and the camp was a chaotic mess, like a marketplace, so no one was particularly afraid. But now, with enemies boasting impressive equipment and flags, marching in with imposing formations, the pressure is, frankly, quite significant.

However, before she could figure out how to boost morale, a rider holding a white flag stepped out from the crowd and ran over shouting.

"What does this mean?" Tang Sai'er asked, puzzled. "Why are they carrying a white cloth? Are they French too?"

“That’s a habit of Italian mercenaries. A white flag means they want to negotiate,” Captain Martin told her.

"With such a large troop advantage, why would they want to negotiate first? I thought they would just overwhelm us," Tang Sai'er asked in surprise. "What are they thinking?"

“That’s just how Italians are,” Captain Martin explained. “Why don’t you go ask them yourself?”

"Alright," Tang Sai'er said, "then let him come over."

Upon receiving a response, the rider quickly trotted over. He glanced at the group, removed his iron gloves, shook hands with Captain Martin, and then, in somewhat broken Bohemian, got straight to the point: "My name is Roberto, and I'm a manager. We're a bit short on time right now, so the commander has authorized me as his representative to reach an agreement with you. Who's in charge here? Is it that gentleman from the East?"

As he spoke, he pointed to Li Li beside him.

“Unfortunately, you guessed wrong, it’s not him.” Captain Martin laughed. “But why did you ask if it was him first? Look at his disheveled appearance, he doesn’t seem like a leader.”

"We've heard that your leader is from the East." The envoy glanced at Gu Liu and his group again, then at Li Li. "As for the East... although this gentleman doesn't look as tall and strong as the others beside him, and he's even injured, I always feel that he looks more like the important figures I've met before. As for why... it's just a feeling. After all, I often represent mercenary groups and negotiate with various nobles and leaders, so I have some experience in judging people."

"However, this is just a feeling, and it's not necessarily very accurate." He also said with a smile, "So who is your real leader?"

“Her.” Captain Martin pointed to Tang Sai’er.

"what?"

Manager Roberto seemed quite surprised, but being a seasoned negotiator, he quickly recovered and asked, "Is she your employer's daughter or wife?"

“Uh…it’s a bit complicated. Just think of her as our employer’s fiancée.” Captain Martin scratched his head. “But she’s a battle-hardened leader herself, so don’t take her for a fool. Go talk to her.”

The mercenary manager nodded with a knowing look on his face and then went over to Tang Sai'er.

"Our commander, Sir Francis, requested that I inform you that we have no grudges against you, nor any prejudice against your army. We are merely serving our employer, earning our living by exchanging our weapons for gold. Our core objectives do not conflict." Through Gutenberg, he told Donsel, "Therefore, we can compromise and reach an agreement without violating our principles, thus achieving our goals for this operation at minimal cost."

"Uh, this guy doesn't seem to be here to fight, he seems more like he's here to haggle..." Tang Sai'er muttered to herself.

“That’s true, isn’t it?” Gutenberg chimed in, then continued translating.

“Your army is also a new face here, so we speculate that, apart from the captain we just met, and the veterans here, you may not know our identities.” Manager Roberto continued, “Our ‘Blue’ mercenary group originated from the famous St. George mercenary group. Back when the St. George group was fighting in Italy, our leader, Sir Francis, was a captain under the Barbiano family.”

"I have no need to boast about my strength, but with five thousand men in our ranks, our strength is not to be underestimated. Of course, we are also aware of your army's achievements. We are already familiar with your operations in the camp. Our commander greatly admires your strategic vision and ability to accurately grasp the battle situation, and has asked me to pay my respects to your army and convey his greetings to the commander of the operation—regardless of whether he is of Asian descent or one of our own, male or female."

"However, precisely because of this, if a battle breaks out and causes casualties, I believe it would not be good for any of us. Therefore, it would be best if we could resolve our minor differences here with words rather than swords."

"This guy is so good with words, I'm almost embarrassed," Tang Sai'er quickly said. "But who exactly is this former employer he's talking about? Is he famous?"

“You mean the Saint George Mercenary Group?” Captain Martin said. “They are indeed quite famous.” “This mercenary group is the oldest large-scale mercenary organization in Italy, with a long history. It is said that a series of large-scale mercenary groups later on were modeled after them. This mercenary group has disbanded and reorganized several times. The most recent time they became famous was when their general, Alberto da Barbiano, accepted a job from Milan to help Milan conquer Bologna; then he accepted a job from Naples to wage a series of wars against the Pope.”

"However, after the occupation of Rome, the surrounding great powers began to suspect that King Rastilau of Naples had the intention of unifying Italy, and thus began to exert pressure, forcing Rastilau to abandon his goal. Under the mediation of the great powers, Rastilau accepted a ransom of 75,000 florins from the Pope and returned the city of Rome. The Saint George mercenary group, which was the main force of his northward march, was also disbanded."

"Their leader accepted the title from the Kingdom of Castile and went to Iberia. The other mercenaries went their separate ways; some returned home with their money, while others formed new mercenary groups. This one they have now is probably formed by some people who regrouped after the original group disbanded and resumed their old ways."

"It's so complicated." Tang Sai'er still seemed to have a hard time understanding mercenary groups. "Forget it, let him just tell us what he wants to do."

Gutenberg nodded and informed Manager Roberto. Roberto bowed slightly and said, "Our employer this time is the Prague City Council. However, their requirements differ somewhat from our assessment of the situation."

"When the mayor heard that chaos had broken out at the camp, he ordered us to return immediately to provide assistance. However, from a military perspective, the regimental commander believed that such an action would be too reckless and would clearly fall into your trap. But the mayor, as the representative of the employer, strongly insisted that we act according to his decision, so we had no choice but to withdraw."

"Aren't you going to take care of the convoy over there?" Tang Sai'er asked hurriedly.

“We don’t even know who the defenders of the convoy are or what their purpose is,” Manager Roberto said, spreading his hands. “Logically, this is intelligence that should have been gathered before the battle. Any commander who has studied basic common sense should know this. However, these Prague people seem to have no concept of this at all.”

“We have questioned them many times, but they insist that you are just some rioting villagers—that is definitely not true. Because through our observation this afternoon, we can easily see that those we besieged were orderly and calm. Even if they were really a group of rioting farmers, there must be a lot of veterans among them. Otherwise, they would not behave like this.”

"The Germans traveling with us thought that the convoy over there might be bait, and that the main force should be waiting elsewhere. But our commander thought that was also contrary to common sense. It is indeed a common tactic to lure the enemy to besiege your position and then send people to attack from the outside, but this time it should not be. Because if it were that kind of arrangement, we could just wait for our attacks to fail a few times, and for them to start to get suspicious and tired, and then we could take action. But this time, the wait has been too long."

"This kind of decoy work cannot be effectively carried out by cannon fodder troops, because they collapse too quickly. Not only will they fail to effectively tire out the enemy and attract their attention, but they will also cause losses to their own side, damage morale, and even make soldiers start to question the commander's ability. But if elite troops are used to do this, they must be prepared to bear the risk of losses. Even if they are not defeated, those who are besieged will suffer greater losses than usual. This situation is recorded in military books."

"Therefore, the commander judged that those people were the main force themselves. The people of Prague had been saying that your side had received sponsorship from the Roman Khanate. If that were true, then these people were likely guards sent to your side by the Khanate. Even if they were not elite Roman soldiers, they had certainly been trained by them and were definitely not farmers who had hastily picked up pitchforks."

"On the contrary, you peripheral personnel do not constitute the majority of the army's strength. Although I don't know why we split up the forces, to be honest, our camp would probably be easy to take down. The employers are so scared that they've forgotten that the threshold for this matter isn't that high."

"Then why didn't you tell them?" Tang Sai'er asked curiously.

“Even if I tell them, they have to be able to listen,” Manager Roberto sneered. “I’ve told them so many times that this is the 15th century, and they’re still using these management methods from hundreds of years ago, but they just don’t believe me.”

"So, you don't need to worry. We're not determined to wipe out the convoy, nor do we want to fight you to the death—it wouldn't benefit us at all, so why would we do it? Our goal is simply to return to the camp, complete the mission, and report back to our employer. As for the point of going back now, or what we'll do after we get back, that's their problem to solve; we don't care."

"So what do we do?" Captain Martin asked her in a low voice, "Should we accept this... and try to negotiate?"

"Do you think what they're saying is true?" Tang Sai'er asked.

“I think so.” Captain Martin nodded. “You can doubt their credit or moral standards, but don’t doubt these Italians’ cost-benefit analysis skills. If they feel they’re losing out, then they really don’t want to fight.”

Tang Sai'er frowned and thought hard for a moment.

"No, we still can't let them pass."

"Huh?" Gutenberg hesitated. He looked at Captain Martin, then at the other leaders, trying to confirm with them.

"This person's words sound too good to be true, but I'm not entirely sure I believe them, at least not entirely. Back when the government offered us amnesty, they said a lot of similar nice things too." Tang Sai'er shook her head.

"I don't trust their promises. They may indeed be good at cost control, but their current loss estimates are just guesses about our strength. If I were the general on the other side, I wouldn't trust those numbers too much myself. So, even if we want to talk, we can't agree now. We have to fight for a while first, let them really confirm their expected losses and strengthen their resolve, and then we can talk."

“You tell him,” she instructed Gutenberg.

Gutenberg nodded and repeated it. Manager Roberto was initially surprised, but calmed down after he finished speaking. He glanced at Don Sai'er again and bowed slightly once more.

"That's all then. May God bless us poor souls." He didn't continue his rambling, and simply took his leave.

Tang Sai'er told everyone to continue preparing. Once this person returned and reported the news, the fighting would probably begin.

Sure enough, after a while, the soldiers lined up on the other side set up their shields, mounted their crossbows, and began firing in their direction.

Their firepower was intense, and they had large shields for cover. This setup clearly indicated specialized training. Tang Sai'er's side, lacking strong ranged firepower and relying only on their bows and arrows, was at a disadvantage in the exchange of fire and was quickly suppressed, forced to take cover behind obstacles.

However, the Italian mercenaries did not take advantage of the situation to charge; instead, they broke formation. A group of mercenaries waving random flags rushed in from behind, shouting and launching an attack.

Tang Sai'er and the others began firing arrows, felling some enemies. However, the enemy outnumbered them and quickly swarmed forward, rushing to the wooden planks blocking their path and engaging the guards behind them. Soon, almost every direction was embroiled in close combat.

(End of this chapter)