Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 744 The Man Who Respected Sigismund the Most in All of Europe

"What? All the Prussians are coming to join the army? Hahahaha..."

Lahail and the others burst into laughter upon hearing the intelligence. A relaxed and cheerful atmosphere filled the camp.

“Don’t underestimate them either,” Princess Jeanne cautioned. “The Brandenburg army still has quite a few professional soldiers. According to our intelligence, in addition to these local soldiers who are just there to make up the numbers, there are also his own vassals and mercenaries hired from Norway and Sweden. In total, the number must be around 18,000, which is not small.”

“There aren’t any characters worth paying attention to.” La Hire shook his head. “Well, after running away for so many days, we can finally fight a battle and relax a bit.”

“This isn’t called running away; it’s a strategic maneuver we initiated,” Princess Jeanne explained, only to find that the other woman didn’t seem to be listening. “…Never mind. Anyway, you must follow orders and not run around recklessly, understand?”

"Got it, got it!" everyone responded. "When will our allies arrive? When will the battle begin?"

“They will arrive this evening. The two commanders from Bavaria will join us directly, giving us eight thousand men on the front. In addition, our cavalry will reach their rear tomorrow morning. Once the battle begins here, Louis and Karl will find an opportunity to attack the enemy's rear.” Princess Jeanne replied, “So, we will also set off early tomorrow morning after breakfast.”

"Great!" everyone shouted happily.

"Hey……"

Princess Jeanne sighed, too lazy to bother with them anymore, letting them continue their commotion, and then headed to the next camp. Although she felt these people were a bit too confident, to be honest, La Hire and the others' views were not blindly optimistic or condescending.

These days, it's generally acknowledged that the northern region of Alemanni is poor and weak, and indeed has no notable military achievements. The local core military forces, such as the Teutonic Knights, are not sustained by the local population, but rather by the combined efforts of adventurers from across the empire.

On the contrary, France is now widely recognized as the strongest and most capable nation in the Catholic world. Their knights, in particular, despite their previous setbacks, are renowned for their top-tier combat prowess. It's natural that they look down on these enemies. As long as they are kept in check and prevented from making reckless moves, that should be sufficient.

After inspecting the various camps, Princess Jeanne found everyone to be in good condition. Although they had traveled for a long time, they had decided not to chase after Sigismund to prevent them from falling too far behind, and had actually been keeping a low speed the whole time. This made the journey less tiring. With a little rest today, heading to the battlefield tomorrow would be no problem.

Afterwards, she returned to the camp where the imperial court was located, found Daoyan and Lebeg, and inquired about the current situation of other forces.

“The Wend people of Pomerania have also decided to support us,” Lebeg told her. “However, they probably won’t make it in time. As for the other parties, there have been no changes for the time being.”

“There are still Wende people now.” Princess Jeanne was somewhat surprised: “I thought these infidels had all been wiped out.”

“Not necessarily.” Lebesgue shook his head. “However, these Wend people are certainly not the polytheistic believers who practiced blood sacrifices before.”

“These days, it’s very difficult to exterminate an entire ethnic group. But it’s quite common to see people culturally transformed and converted. However, even after conversion, these people are still not very good at fighting.”

"Their numbers are actually quite large, and their nobles have long wanted to oppose Friedrich and his group, but they haven't made much progress. Their presence here will probably only help them harass us a bit, and won't have much of an effect."

“That’s enough,” Princess Jeanne said. “Making things a little more trouble for the enemy is already a great benefit to us. Besides, we won’t stay here for long. After we defeat these enemies, we’ll need them to get involved. It doesn’t matter if we can’t defeat the Hohenzollern family. As long as we can hold off Friedrich for a while while they’re suffering heavy losses, we’ll have achieved our goal.”

“That should be fine.” Lebesgue thought for a moment and nodded. Then he asked, “Is there anything else we need to be aware of?”

“There shouldn’t be any more.” Princess Jeanne considered for a moment, then cautiously asked, “Is there…any movement in the south?”

Lebesgue did not answer, but turned to look at Daoyan.

“Princess, there is no need to worry. With the great battle at hand, we should focus on the war. I have already mediated the past.” Daoyan nodded and said, “While matters within the Prince’s residence are important, they are still Your Highness’s family affairs. The West is in chaos, with war breaking out everywhere. The Wu Kingdom is in grave danger, and the people are in dire straits. With the world in turmoil, the official matters that need to be handled have surpassed the private matters of the Prince’s residence.”

"Therefore, the Crown Prince also agrees that we should prioritize the overall situation of the nation. Once everything is settled, His Highness the Prince of Wu can preside over the discussion of merits and demerits to bring the matter to a close. Until then, we should all work together to resolve the problem of the barbarian rebellion. Otherwise, if we are constantly fighting amongst ourselves and Wu becomes the first vassal state of our Great Ming to be destroyed by barbarians, we will not only have no face to face our ancestors and the people, but we will also become a laughing stock."

Princess Jeanne nodded quickly.

"It can't be that serious. At first, we were just caught off guard..." Lebesgue tried to smooth things over.

"It's better to be cautious. Some things are better said beforehand, which is beneficial for everyone," Daoyan replied. "Actually, I didn't say this; it was the Crown Prince who brought it up. Since they've said so, Princess, you should cherish this opportunity." "Oh? The Crown Prince is so open-minded?" Lebeg asked, whether he had agreed to agree or genuinely wanted to ask, seemingly unintentionally.

"Yes, the Crown Prince has always been calm and resourceful, able to distinguish between what is important and what is urgent, so everyone in the Prince's Mansion agrees with him and is willing to go through fire and water for him." Daoyan replied, "This is also a good thing for the Wu Kingdom."

"Moreover, the Crown Prince said that before setting off, he also consulted his friend Mr. Guo Kang."

"Master Guo is a renowned scholar of the Great Qin Kingdom, skilled in divination and able to predict good and bad omens. Many people in the West respect him, calling him a wise man of our time. The Crown Prince asked him, now that the world is in chaos and the Wu King's palace is also deeply embroiled in it, if he wants to salvage the situation, are there any points he should be mindful of? Guo Kang then said, 'The most important issue for the Zhu dynasty is not external enemies, but internal ones. It is absolutely crucial not to disregard the distinction between internal and external, or the difference between the civilized and the barbarian, and instead engage in mutual slaughter. Otherwise, like the Greeks, no matter how vast their wealth, it will not be enough to squander.' The Crown Prince deeply agreed, and therefore specifically told this old monk about this extraordinary event, hoping to inform the people here so that everyone can learn from it."

The other two thought for a moment and then agreed.

“I’ve heard about him when I visited Constantinople. People there say he’s the most suitable Patriarch for the future,” Lebesgue said. “Since he’s so learned, and Your Highness is so familiar with him, did you ask him anything?”

"That's what the Crown Prince thought too. Before leaving the South, he specifically sought out Master Guo, wanting him to divine more important matters so that he could have a reference for the future." Daoyan replied, "Master Guo was also worried that he was going deep into enemy territory alone, and that it might be disadvantageous for him to be in the midst of chaos. So he talked with him at length and wrote down the things he had predicted, wanting to leave them for his reference. It is said that these prophecies were written in three whole books."

"However, after the two of them read it once, they burned the apocryphal text."

"Huh? Why? What a pity." Lebesgue and Princess Jeanne, who were initially quite curious, were both surprised and regretful.

"I think they did the right thing by burning these things. If we cling to these things, we'll be attached to appearances and suffer greatly in the future." Monk Daoyan smiled, indicating his support for their actions: "In the end, they only wrote down a few simple, rough summaries, and they told us to just listen to them. The world is ever-changing, and cause and effect are complex and subtle, so these words may not be accurate and could change or be altered due to some small things. We must not be superstitious about them."

“…You, a high-ranking monk and a patriarch, are here advising people not to be superstitious…” Princess Jeanne couldn’t help but mutter, “So, what kind of omen do they have that they need to tell us?”

“They say this Friedrich is no good at fighting,” the monk Daoyan said cautiously.

Princess Jeanne paused for a moment, then said, "Actually, even if they hadn't prophesied it, I would have known..."

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

Princess Jeanne probably couldn't understand why Guo Kang was taking this matter so seriously for no apparent reason. Of course, Guo Kang probably had his own unspoken grievances.

For him at that time, the labels "Prussian" and "Friedrich of the Hohenzollern family" combined were probably the stereotypical synonym for "a European full of martial spirit," to the point that it was necessary to specifically state that this Friedrich at that time was not the same person as his descendants, the famous father and son.

However, to Princess Jeanne and her French team, this guy was just another face in the road. They wouldn't even give him a second thought unless specifically mentioned.

In reality, Friedrich's abilities, to put it simply, were far inferior to Sigismund's...

In the history Guo Kang knew, Sigismund organized four crusades to fight against the Hussites, but all of them failed. However, the nobles were still unwilling to give up. After these repeated defeats, some nobles even questioned whether Sigismund was a hidden Hussite, deliberately leading everyone to their doom; otherwise, how could they have lost so miserably?
Therefore, some disgruntled nobles turned to support other representatives. Under the leadership of Friedrich of Brandenburg and his nemesis, the Duke of Saxony, the Duke of Bavaria, and other powerful nobles, the local forces, mainly the princes of northern Germany, united and assembled an army of 100,000 men. They marched south to Bohemia, determined to kick out the useless Sigismund and wipe out the Hussites in one fell swoop.

The Crusaders split into three groups, with the main force besieging Domazhlitse, a city in southwestern Bohemia. Prokop, the leader of the Hussites, led 5,000 men to reinforce it. Facing the enemy, Frederick, for reasons unknown, ordered his soldiers to retreat so they could regroup at a location of his choosing to meet the enemy. However, his allies were unaware of his intentions, and the Brandenburg army's retreat caused great panic among the others, especially the neighboring Saxon troops.

After ascertaining the enemy's situation, Prokopf made a bold move, ordering his army to counter-encircle the Crusaders. He then advanced rapidly, seizing positions with unexpected speed, causing some Crusaders to be pushed back. The Duke of Bavaria had also constructed a defensive line using wagon fortifications, but at this moment, these fortifications not only failed to provide support but also hindered the army's movement and disrupted their formation. As a result, the Crusaders began a mass rout, ultimately collapsing completely. Many even ran all the way back to Bavaria before stopping. Thus, the Fifth Crusade ended in a bizarre and devastating defeat.

So, the reason Sigismund repeatedly suffered defeats and ultimately became a classic example of a frustrated character is actually because the other nobles were even less capable. Compared to these dim-witted spoiled brats and arrogant, long-legged generals, Sigismund at least had the ability to rally people and possessed some basic common sense, enabling him to gather them together and command them. The others, however, were even less skilled than him, so in the end, they had to call him out again to give everyone face…

Looking further back, even outside the Holy Roman Empire, Sigismund was actually one of the more reliable generals in Europe at that time. At least, if the French crusaders at Nicoburg had listened to him, they wouldn't have suffered such a crushing defeat.

It can only be said that the military prowess of European hereditary nobles was truly formidable. Perhaps military ability, in many cases, is indeed unrelated to genetics.

Therefore, Guo Kang hoped they wouldn't underestimate Sigismund, nor pay too much attention to other nobles. However, to others, this attitude might seem a bit strange—many even felt he was probably the political figure of this era who respected Sigismund the most…

(End of this chapter)