Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 747 The culinary skills of the Ming Dynasty are unparalleled!
Amidst the commotion, Princess Jeanne looked up and saw Lahail leading a few men out from the other side of the enemy ranks, with a large banner trailing behind their horses.

They circled half of the camp, seemingly trying to find a gate to rush in. Finding themselves unable to enter, Lahail threw down the flag, turned around, and charged back the way they came.

The flagpole rolled down the slope, unfurling the flag, which was none other than the Duke of Brandenburg's own banner. Keen-eyed soldiers spotted it and immediately cheered. Soon, excited shouts echoed throughout the entire front.

Lai Youbing reacted the fastest, charging forward before orders were even given, driving away the enemy behind the trenches and palisades. Other armies also began their attacks from other directions. The enemy infantry, however, visibly wavered.

The Brandenburg Knights gradually retreated under the French attack, but they were not defeated. Instead, they relied on the obstacles and support at the camp entrance to continue fighting. However, by doing so, they blocked the road.

Those who came out to provide support could only squeeze out; those in the fortifications outside, after being defeated, also tried to escape back to their own people's controlled area in this direction, but they were also blocked here.

Outside the main camp, the enemy infantry lines were also broken through by the Brazilian soldiers, cut into two parts, one large and one small. The Pomeranians outside the road, finding themselves cut off from the main force and facing the attack of the Bavarian Left Guard, hesitated for a moment before turning and fleeing. A portion of the Brandenburg infantry, in the center of the battlefield, were separated by the Fuzhou Right Guard. Finding themselves surrounded, some began to run away, while others laid down their weapons and surrendered.

The remaining enemy, unable to communicate with each other, began to retreat. But the road on the other side had already been captured, and the camp and extended fortifications behind them blocked the way. The retreat quickly turned into a rout, with large groups of people crammed together, scrambling to squeeze through the narrow, undefended area. Some even jumped into the trenches, climbed back up, and rushed towards the camp. Soon, even this side of the road was blocked.

Princess Jeanne's cavalry, which she had previously dispatched to the flank, also joined the battle at this time. They bypassed the unguarded trenches and arrived behind the enemy camp. The Norse mercenaries who had been there were now at a loss, unsure whether to engage in battle or try to retreat into their camp like the others, so they just stood there staring blankly, without taking any further action.

Princess Jeanne immediately issued a command, summoning the second line of infantry to advance and begin pressing the enemy. As for the first line of infantry, in the current chaotic situation, even with flags, precise and timely command was impossible. They could only be left alone, allowing each commander to decide their own course of action.

Not long after the general offensive began here, the sounds of battle also came from behind the enemy. The cavalry that Princess Jeanne had arranged in advance to circle around to the enemy's rear also arrived at the battlefield.

The battle was unfolding much faster than anyone had anticipated. Therefore, they had arrived somewhat late. However, there was no time for regret; they immediately plunged into the fighting. The Brandenburg troops outside the camp were even more panicked. Those on the outer edges began fleeing towards the forest, while many more followed the main force, turning back towards the camp.

Princess Jeanne probably understood that Friedrich and his courtiers initially planned to use this camp as a stronghold; if they won, they could pursue the enemy; if they suffered losses, they could use it as a base. The commanders of the various units must have received similar orders.

However, perhaps it had been too long since a proper camp had been built; or perhaps the arrangements were inadequate; or perhaps the mercenary captains were not as obedient as they had thought. In any case, the soldiers from each squad did not stop outside the camp to begin their defenses, but instead all tried to rush inside.

However, the camp gates have limited capacity. Reinforcements coming out and troops outside entering both require time. The more urgent the situation, the more congested everyone becomes. Neither mobility nor command can function properly.

Although commanding the Ming army was also difficult, Princess Jeanne still ran back and forth as much as possible, distributing orders to the units she could reach and striving to get the commanders on the second line into the most suitable positions. Currently, apart from the guards of the royal palace, everyone else had already entered the battlefield, and there was little she could do in the remaining time.

However, in the current situation, the command of each team is sufficient. Although the development of the battlefield situation differs from the various scenarios previously anticipated, the commands present and the responses of the commanders are generally appropriate.

As the soldiers on the periphery fled one after another, a large number of Brandenburg troops were compressed to the outskirts of the camp and surrounded by the Ming army. Princess Jeanne estimated that there were about 10,000 men, surrounded on the hilltop by their 5,000-plus men.

Although the enemy had a large number of troops and the terrain was advantageous, they were too disorganized and many of them had retreated in defeat. They only felt that the Ming army was powerful and dared not go forward to fight. After a few exchanges, they retreated again.

The Brandenburg nobles and knights at the camp gate finally realized what was happening, and some of them began shouting that if they couldn't break out, they would be doomed, and they tried to organize everyone to break out.

Some men mustered their courage and began to advance down the road. Meanwhile, the French knights and right-wing soldiers blocking the way were desperately charging uphill. The fighting on both sides quickly turned into pushing and shoving; many knights fell from their horses, and others slipped on the slope, soon resulting in a serious stampede.

Princess Jeanne herself did not understand the local dialect, so she ran back to the royal guards and called over Sir Lebesgue and Sir Hans, asking them to speak to the mercenaries and persuade them to surrender.

Many, seeing no other choice, began to waver. However, few in Brandenburg had witnessed the activities of King Wu's men, so they didn't know if their claims were true. Sir Hans, however, said that their lords came from the Eastern Kingdom of John the Elder and were completely different from the locals.

This reason sounded very noble, so many mercenaries were persuaded and began to surrender en masse. As the army crumbled, the nobles also stopped fighting, tied a white cloak to their spears, and raised the banner of negotiation.

The battle was over in less than half a day.

Princess Jeanne resumed organizing the cleanup of the battlefield, assigning men to gather and guard the prisoners, and then searching for important figures. At the same time, she also had to hurry to collect the spoils of war, determining which were worth taking and which should be left behind. This work was extremely busy, and some officers lacked experience in this area, so she had to lead a team to oversee it.

Furthermore, Master Daoyan was very interested in the situation of the prisoners and came specifically to see her, hoping to conduct some statistics and investigations. Princess Jeanne said that she had already entrusted Sir Hans to negotiate with the nobles to identify and count the prisoners. However, the "Archbishop" said that he needed more information, including the situation of the ordinary soldiers.

Although she didn't quite understand, Princess Jeanne still assigned a group of people to help him with these tasks. Since the camp had been almost entirely surrendered, they found quite a few valuables inside, including the Duke of Brandenburg's personal regalia, a magnificent tent, and even captured a court jester and a female band bought from Italy. It's unclear what they were going to do with all that…

Unfortunately, they failed to capture the Duke himself this time. According to the clown, when the French knights charged at him, the Duke was so frightened that he hid back in his camp, thus only losing his banner and not his life. Soon after, realizing that his flanks and front seemed to be falling, he took his personal guards and fled from the rear. Even the cavalry flanking him from the rear failed to spot him and had no idea where he had gone.

However, aside from that, there wasn't much loot worth taking. In the Duke's own tent, not much gold or silver was found; only some small ornaments were laid out on the table. While not worthless, compared to the Duke's lavish lifestyle, these items added up to very little.

Everyone suspected that he hadn't brought any money, or that he had fled quickly and taken all the valuables with him. But the clown told them that the Duke actually had no money at all—before, in order to secure his newly acquired position, he had been using Sigismund's reputation to intimidate the lords, both large and small, while also spending money to appease and win over those who hadn't yet clearly expressed their support.

This place wasn't exactly wealthy to begin with. The money Sigismund had advanced to win him over for votes was quickly spent. This time, the Duke had to borrow more money through relatives in Nuremberg to get the army together. In reality, he had no savings whatsoever; he was completely in debt.

Of course, this is the norm for many nobles today, so it didn't affect the Duke's mood—if he lost this time, he would go bankrupt, and there would be no point in urging him to repay the money; if he won, the creditors would be even less likely to collect the debt. So, he probably never intended to repay it anyway.

The failure to find any gold coins was quite disappointing. As for the other items in the camp, they were equally uninteresting.

Inside the camp, there were two whole roasted pigs, presumably prepared for the Duke and his entourage for lunch. In the past, they would have been snatched up by the soldiers, but now, everyone had been eating "Mao Zedong's roasted chicken" all the way here. The French knights and the right-hand men who first stormed into the camp received the highest standard of food.

Therefore, to be honest, people looked down on the Duke's poorly prepared food.

When King Wu and Daoyan arrived at the camp, some people were still there, criticizing and analyzing the cooking. They said the pig hadn't even had its hair cleaned properly and was just roasted directly on a rack, resulting in a low yield and poor taste. Their ingredients were also of poor quality, not even castrated. The seasonings used were very cheap, lacking even salt. It seemed the Duke had terrible taste; how could someone of such high status like to eat such shoddy food?

The chefs and clowns nearby were barely able to contain themselves. Of course, King Wu was still very pleased, and even went so far as to boast that the Ming Dynasty's culinary skills were unparalleled and that people shouldn't bother with others.

However, there really weren't any noteworthy spoils left, not even anything worth distributing. After some deliberation, King Wu and his men decided to follow the example of Huo Qubing's story at Jiuquan and cut off the Duke of Brandenburg's tent.

According to the clown, the most valuable thing in the camp was the Duke's tent. All the fittings were made of gold, and the fabric was top-quality Oriental silk specially purchased from merchants in Constantinople.

However, after taking them apart, everyone discovered something was amiss. King Wu, pampered since childhood, even after years of hardship, still recognized these basic luxuries. This gold jewelry felt off to the touch. A scratch revealed it was simply copper plated with a layer of metal.

As for the silk, let alone comparing it to the top-grade silks of the palace back then, even the ordinary silks that Yuan merchants transported to Dadu and sold openly weren't this rough. A closer look at the warp and weft threads revealed that it was mixed with quite a few other materials. It's likely that the duke lacked knowledge and didn't know much about quality, buying a inferior product that a Syrian or Greek had unraveled and respun.

The duke schemed and plotted for money, even defaulting on his creditors' payments, but in the end, he was still swindled by a Greek merchant. It's hard to know what to say…

Of course, even locally, this was considered a very high-grade fabric, and it held significant commemorative value. So, they took this huge piece of fabric, cut it into thousands of strips, and issued one to each soldier who participated in the attack. It was a kind of medal.

Next, Master Daoyan also inquired specifically about the prisoners.

According to statistics, over half of the prisoners were mercenaries from the north. These men had little loyalty to their employers and were quite obedient after surrendering. Since the contract had already ended, it seemed unlikely that the employers would pay them...

Many others were subjects brought by local feudal lords. Among these people, quite a few persisted to the end, but it's hard to say how much resistance they actually harbored.

In most of this area, the lands belonged to noblemen who owned serf estates. The serfs were used to following their masters' every whim. Their refusal to surrender was simply because their masters hadn't surrendered yet. Even if they surrendered first, they might face retaliation upon returning. But they couldn't win a fight, so they didn't know what else to do and could only silently stand their ground, huddled together for self-preservation.

Similarly, the fall of the Duke's banner had a significant impact on the mercenaries. Many turned tail and fled at that moment. However, it had little effect on the conscription of serfs. This was because these serfs only recognized the village lord and had no idea what the Duke's banner looked like…

Princess Jeanne, Sir Hans, and others were used to these situations. However, Master Daoyan, the most knowledgeable and strategist of the royal court, was quite surprised and took a closer look before he realized what was going on.

After some consideration, he began to arrange other follow-up matters.

(End of this chapter)