Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 759 Come out and fight the lord together
Faced with this situation, Luca had no contingency plan. So, he improvised, discussed it with Louis, and then took out a portion of the funds to repay the Medici family's bank in a grand manner.

At the same time, he also hired people to spread the word that the cash flow was very healthy and that the initial estimate was wrong. He had not expected investors to be so enthusiastic, so he accidentally lent too much.

Since such a large upfront investment is no longer needed, and to save on interest, we negotiated with the bank to prepay a portion of the loan. Going forward, we won't be so casual about it, readily signing agreements to borrow money from anyone who offers a loan.

After discovering that this was true, merchants began rushing over to inquire about the loan terms they would be willing to accept. The mission's residence was suddenly bustling with activity, even surprising Louis and his entourage.

Luca truly stuck to his principles, accepting only a portion of the loan with a very low interest rate and signing a contract with the merchant. Afterwards, he didn't linger, thanking his benefactor before returning to Tyrol.

The most developed city here is actually Bolzano, located south of the mountains, which has a more convenient terrain and transportation. Furthermore, the former capital was Merano, also nearby, not Innsbruck.

However, several decades ago, the main branch of the Gorizia family died out, leaving only one daughter. With the support of local nobles, she declared herself a countess and insisted on choosing her own husband to maintain her territory. Seeing this, the Habsburg family sent troops south, intending to bully the widow and her orphan.

However, the Countess led her troops in a steadfast defense of the castle, preventing the Habsburg army from breaching it. This battle earned her the title of "She-Wolf" throughout Europe. The Habsburgs, having exhausted all other options, resorted to spreading scandalous rumors, portraying the Countess as a wicked and promiscuous woman. Furthermore, the Countess was renowned for her beauty, so much so that contemporary historians specifically mentioned her. In response, the Habsburgs commissioned artists to create some unflattering portraits of her, claiming she was ugly.

Of course, these methods can't weaken the opponent's fighting ability...

Unable to achieve victory, the frustrated Habsburg army vented their anger elsewhere, burning down the two cities below the mountain. Bolzano and Merano subsequently declined, and their economic centers moved to Innsbruck.

Therefore, the local citizens, and even some nobles and merchants, had no goodwill towards the Habsburg family. When they heard that someone was going to organize an alliance to bypass the lords and build roads on their own, they were quite interested. And when they discovered that this Wu King regime had already gained the approval of Italian merchants, led by Venice, and had raised an astronomical sum of money, they felt even more at ease.

In everyone's mind, these merchants from the south are the most rational and shrewd at making money. They might engage in unethical business, but they would certainly not touch a business that loses money. The fact that so many big businessmen are willing to invest now indicates that there is definitely not much risk involved.

Therefore, they actively joined in and even took the initiative to help, connecting with the people around them. Many mountain leaders who were initially hesitant were persuaded by them and decided to try their luck and see if they could really improve their situation.

Their biggest worry was whether they could survive if things escalated and attracted the wrath of the powerful lords, and whether their investments in the road would be wasted. However, Luca was confident about the outcome.

He told Louis and others that the most crucial element in banking is faith. Whoever people believe has money, that person truly has money.

Similarly, he believed that the power of organizations like nations and armies also stemmed from faith. But these beliefs were not the same as the words of the corrupt church leaders in Rome who deceived people into buying indulgences, which betrayed the teachings of the Brother God. Instead, they were practical and effective ideas that had a huge impact on reality—people were willing to believe that whoever had power was the king; that whoever could win could assemble a powerful army.

Therefore, from his accounting perspective, the responsibilities of a lord and the obligations of a vassal should be described as follows: the lord should provide sufficient evidence to convince his vassals and subjects of his authority; and the vassals and subjects should provide corresponding services based on this authority.

This authority is essentially the confidence that a lord provides to his subordinates—the ability to defeat enemies, the ability to provide a stable living environment, and so on. If he can gain everyone's trust and maintain it, then his title and lineage are merely byproducts.

In the past, people trusted the great nobles because they believed their noble lineage meant superior abilities to better protect their vassals and subjects. But now, they are clearly no longer capable of doing so, so others naturally seek new replacements.

At this point, what Wu Wang's team needs to do is to provide everyone with proof.

He believed that, based on past experience, the locals were capable of resisting the lord. Therefore, now, all they needed to do was convince them that they could do it.

Therefore, the team began to claim that they were able to obtain authorization and secure so much investment so easily because they had the support of Constantinople; and that the Romans were so attentive because they had received direct notification from the East.

Over the years, stories of adventurers have circulated in Italy. Among them were those who traveled thousands of miles to Seres in the East, bringing back direct intelligence from there. In their accounts, it was a great, wealthy, and seemingly perfect magical land. Even the legendary Kingdom of Presbyterian Church was merely a vassal state of theirs, which happened to be recorded by the people here.

It wasn't the mythical world of legend, where honey and milk flowed freely; it was a real place—because the people who created that legend during the Crusades were too shallow and narrow-minded. The Seres didn't even like milk—wherever they lived, trees laden with silk grew everywhere, and every household had iron pots and porcelain tableware that dukes could only afford at exorbitant prices. Who would want your lousy milk?

Now, a king of Seres has left his court and come to Europe. This is a rare opportunity for everyone, for Seres, as the greatest nation, is also the closest to the Father. His arrival here is a task and a test given to him by the holy monarch of Seres. It is said that if he succeeds, he will return home in great glory, and therefore he is very willing to help everyone. As long as everyone obeys his commands and works diligently, they will naturally have the power of Seres supporting them, and their actions in accordance with the Father's will will please Him and receive the blessings of the Father and the Brother. What enemies are there to fear?

Even realistically speaking, they could receive support from the Purple Horde and direct assistance from the Venetians. Even the Habsburg family wouldn't dare oppose them alone, let alone the lesser nobles.

All everyone needs to do is organize themselves, listen carefully to instructions, obey discipline, and complete the construction work. At most, they'll take up arms, receive some basic training, and perform patrol and security duties. After all, they can't just call on the Roman army for help whenever some bandits come along; that would make them look cowardly and useless.

Under their persuasion and provocation, many mountain people accepted this approach. However, they soon encountered their first test. Several pro-Habsburg minor nobles rejected their plan, reporting the issue to their superiors while organizing soldiers to defend the castle and refuse passage to all. Following their lead, other nobles and chieftains began to hesitate.

Louis immediately summoned the engineering teams that had been exploring the area and asked them to find a way to solve one of the castles as soon as possible so that everyone could see it.

This construction team wasn't really good at fighting, because most of them were stonemasons, blacksmiths, and so on from both sides of the Rhine River. They were only transferred here because they knew how to do construction.

The only others who could join the fight were the Mongols and the local miners. Because they were in the worst situation, they were the most determined to resist the nobles.

As for the others, Louis was somewhat worried that they might waver in their attitude, and he dared not send them to the most crucial battlefield.

However, after discussing it, Adil and the others felt that this was enough. After all, the transformation of the engineering team into a siege force wasn't unfamiliar to them. Soon, they assembled a force of three thousand men and surrounded one of the castles.

The castles in the mountains were situated in very rugged terrain, which rendered the Habsburg army helpless. But the problem is, times have changed. And some castles are actually too rugged.

The craftsmen built some simple defensive structures, and the miners, once they reached their attack positions, began digging frantically. These minor noble castles were actually quite small, but one side was a cliff, and the other a steep hillside. They started digging upwards from the dirt road at the foot of the hill, and even sent brave men to climb the cliff to find suitable locations, drill holes, and install the gunpowder they had just purchased from the Venetians.

After the explosion, the already steep cliff collapsed as they had predicted. Most of the castle, along with the shattered rock face, fell into the deep ravine. Thanks to the castle's long history of disrepair and its poorly chosen location, they achieved a good result without using too much gunpowder.

Immediately after the battle, Louis and Luca gathered a group of local nobles to observe the situation. The collapsed cliffs and the completely destroyed castle greatly shocked them. Soon after, several other nobles also hastily surrendered, and many contributed money and laborers to join the road-building project.

However, this also caused another negative impact. Upon learning that the other side had publicly announced the intervention of the Purple Horde and that explosive siege techniques with a distinct Purple Horde style had appeared on the battlefield, the Habsburg family became somewhat uneasy.

Duke Albrecht finally agreed to Count Bernhard's request, but this time he was more cautious. Instead of sending troops directly, he contacted his long-term partner—the Fugger Bank of Augsburg.

The Habsburg family was not truly united internally. In particular, several generations ago, a succession dispute led to John of Swabia killing his uncle, who was then the head of the family, causing a split in the family that has never been fully reunited.

As someone who grew up in such a treacherous environment, Albrecht knew he wasn't good at war, and might even be less adept at governance than this suddenly appearing peasant king. But he was all too familiar with the various intrigues and conspiracies within the court.

He was also very good at learning various schemes and quickly figured out what the other party was doing. He then began to do the opposite, first by asking the Fugger family to provide large loans to Count Bernhard and others.

In his view, someone wanted to establish a real road kingdom, and had already put it into practice. He felt a pang of regret for not discovering it sooner, but then he came to terms with it—given the current circumstances, even if he had discovered it earlier, he would have had a host of more troublesome matters to deal with. He probably wouldn't have been able to spare enough resources to confront these people. Moreover, given the mountain forces' wariness of his direct intervention, if he acted prematurely, it might actually help the enemy build a consensus.

In the current environment, a direct attack would not only be extremely risky but also likely to provoke the other side and cause things to become "Swiss-like." However, if they don't attack, these people will gradually become arrogant, and they cannot completely ignore the requests of Bernhard and others; otherwise, other counts and barons might begin to question their own abilities.

So, after thinking for a long time, he decided to give Bernhard and several other nearby nobles more support and let them go first—because Bernhard had no other choice.

As he had anticipated, Bernhard acted swiftly, organizing an army of over ten thousand men in just two months. Furthermore, Duke Albrecht contacted the Hungarians stationed in his territory, informing them of a lucrative business opportunity. If they followed Bernhard in attacking the rebels, Bernhard would provide substantial commissions, and he would gladly offer additional funding as payment for their service as the vanguard.

At the same time, he told Bernhard that this was all he could do to help. What he had lost, he would have to get back himself.

The Hungarians readily agreed and accepted his deposit. These exiles gathered from several encampments near Vienna and soon arrived in Bernhard's territory, where they joined others and soon set off south to fight the enemy.

Meanwhile, Bernhard was pleasantly surprised to find that these rebels were moving quite quickly. In many places, trails had already begun to be built. Near the cities with the richest resources and the most manpower, they were even almost finished. In other words, if they attacked, they could even pick up a ready-made one.

He immediately declared that all contracts and agreements concerning the roads had been signed without the lord's approval and were therefore illegitimate. All the land here belonged to him; and all the roads on these lands, whether completed or under construction, regardless of who currently operated them or held any shares or usage rights, were to be reclaimed by the lord.

The effect of this statement was more significant than he had anticipated. Within days, large groups of mountain people began to pour out from the valleys and hillsides.

(End of this chapter)