Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 760 The Price of Not Paying the Price
Previously, Zhu Wenkui had always had a question. He knew that Wu Fan's current position was largely due to the organization of local people and the construction of various infrastructure projects. The problem was that organizing villagers to help each other or building irrigation systems were local matters, and in the political climate of Europe, they were unlikely to attract much attention. But roads involved many different places and stakeholders. How could such a large-scale undertaking have been ignored by the local powerful lords?

Later, when he was gathering his soldiers, he heard from others about the previous incidents and realized that ignoring these roads was not because the great lords were too stupid or careless, but because they had no choice but to ignore them even if they didn't want to.

Guo Kang once told Zhu Wenkui an example: When the Purple Horde was at war with the lords of Eastern Europe, they had a similar experience. Many lords were incompetent and short-sighted, lacked cooperation, and constantly undermined each other. As a result, even the Purple Horde's haphazard organization in its early years gave them a huge advantage.

A closer analysis reveals that while most lords were indeed uneducated and the local organization was not highly developed, it's unlikely they would behave in such an exaggerated manner. Confucius said, "Even in a village of ten households, there will be someone loyal and trustworthy." Even in a barbarian land, it's impossible for there to be no capable person at all.

Moreover, in retrospect, at least some nobles clearly understood the reasons for their defeat. Many of the defeated nobles who fled later lived as recluses in places like Vienna or Krakow. Many of them wrote books, recording their lessons and reflections. Others were even hired directly as advisors to other high-ranking nobles on the front lines, using their experience to help them fight against the Romans.

Guo Kang told him that not all nobles were ignorant and tyrannical; besides, many were simply bad, not stupid. In fact, some nobles were quite well-educated, their personal morality wasn't bad, and they were relatively well-mannered. Some were even highly cultured, and their books were quite popular in the Purple Horde, to the point that they eventually went to Constantinople to lecture. However, even so, many problems would continue to arise, and they just couldn't be changed…

When Zhu Wenku re-examined the Tyrol region and the series of disputes surrounding the roads, he found that the situation seemed to be the same.

He had always wondered why Bernhard seemed to have gone mad, constantly making stubborn and self-willed decisions that offended everyone. Later, he realized that this man actually had no choice at all.

Bernhard's biggest crisis was not even a rebellion by his subjects, but rather his poor management and the ever-increasing debt that followed.

His status was neither as high as that of kings and grand dukes, who could declare bankruptcy and default on their accounts, nor as low as that of impoverished knights, who could simply lose their territory, declare themselves "free," and then go on a wandering spree.

If he hadn't invested in Hungary, perhaps none of this would have happened. However, expanding eastward was a common choice for many German lords of that era, and quite a few succeeded. Having money and not making it is more painful than not having money at all.

After accumulating debt, he had no choice but to intensify his extortion efforts. He did indeed put a lot of thought into his methods of extortion, creating conflicts between different groups to hinder and hate each other, so that he could stay away from the vortex of conflict and reap the benefits later.

However, in the end, his method failed and instead led to even more serious consequences.

The people involved at the Wu Prince's Palace weren't too surprised by this. In his subsequent report, Luca summarized that such looting wasn't simply "gaining profits at zero cost," but also came at a price.

Even if he uses various means to frame someone, the cost won't disappear; it will only be temporarily delayed. Moreover, this cost, like a debt he owes, accrues interest—this interest is the cost of temporarily waiving the cost.

It will be recorded together with the principal in the Father's ledger forever, accumulating more and more. The more successful the delaying tactic and the longer it lasts, the higher the interest will be, until finally, it will all be forcibly paid out.

This statement didn't sound like something a banker would say; it sounded more like the mystical pronouncements of a priest, even resembling the maxims Guo Kang recited daily. Yet, this time, the result was exactly as predicted, leaving everyone speechless.

If the Earl had simply and brutally exploited the miners, he would have only offended that one group, and could have suppressed the uprising with the help of relatives, merchants, and even citizens and farmers, just like in many other places. However, his eagerness for money and the excessive cruelty of his exploitation offended too many people. Before long, he could no longer mobilize more resources locally.

However, external forces also come at a price for him. His current situation is similar to that of the Wu Wangfu team when they first started planning the project. The primary need is to convince everyone that they can accomplish the task and deliver results for the participants.

Ultimately, the support from other nobles and the financial loans offered by merchants in Augsburg and Munich all required him to provide some form of "collateral." Ironically, by this time, he was already heavily indebted, trapped in a cycle where the more he worked, the higher his debts rose, just like the artisans he had managed to exploit. Conventional collateral was no longer sufficient to convince them.

What's more embarrassing is that now everyone knows he's facing difficulties, and therefore, they're increasingly worried about his ability to repay. Coupled with the previous misfortunes of his investors, many are hesitant to invest in him. His territory's agricultural output was already poor, and he's already exhausted the mining industry. Unless they can offer anything new to other major nobles and merchant guilds, they can only offer him verbal and moral support.

Thus, even knowing that seizing road ownership would provoke opposition from all participants, he had no choice but to do it. Because currently, only these suddenly appearing roads possessed sufficient value to serve as leverage in his promises to other nobles and wealthy merchants. He simply couldn't offer anything else of value…

Of course, this is currently just a hollow promise, since the road isn't actually in his hands. However, as long as others have faith, support can still be obtained.

Whether this would succeed depended on whether the enemy they offended was stronger, or whether the reinforcements they summoned were stronger. After weighing the options, Bernhard and his advisors still believed that the Tyroleans were not, after all, Swiss. Historically, Holy Roman emperors had always passed through this region on their way south to invade Italy. And for centuries, the locals had not shown any particular prowess in warfare; otherwise, they would have been discovered long ago.

A prevailing view in Europe is the concept of "martial virtue," which holds that some groups are naturally adept at fighting, while others are weak and cowardly, unsuitable for conscription as soldiers. For example, it's generally accepted that the French are more skilled fighters, while the Germans are generally considered less so.

Although upon closer examination, this claim has many flaws and seems rather flimsy, it likely resonated with the thinking of many Europeans, and thus became widely circulated. According to Guo Kang's view, it probably would have become even more popular, perhaps even evolving into a seemingly legitimate "scientific theory" and becoming a fundamental principle guiding military policy. In short, it was extremely popular.

Bernhard and his group were clearly influenced by this line of thinking. In their view, while there were risks, the locals weren't particularly difficult to deal with. This wasn't the first time the nobles had suppressed a rebellion; with so many people mobilized, there was still hope of victory. At the very least, it was worth a try.

Therefore, they ultimately decided to take the initiative and asked the valiant Hungarians to lead the charge, advancing south along the ancient Roman road.

They anticipated that the mountain people's advantage lay in guerrilla warfare in the mountains. Even the Swiss, in their initial battles against the Habsburgs, relied primarily on terrain. Using their familiarity with the local terrain, they could ambush the enemy; or leverage the speed of movement through the mountains to create numerical superiority in a particular area, defeating the noble armies forced to disperse due to insufficient supplies. It wasn't until later, as the Swiss gained more reputation and began to accept mercenaries in an organized manner, that their numbers, equipment, and discipline improved significantly, allowing them to confront the Habsburg army with a more conventional, forceful strategy. Currently, the mountain people here likely cannot do that.

The terrain around the main road isn't particularly treacherous, so there's no need to worry about ambushes every day; they can pass through directly. If the enemy stays put in the mountains, they'll advance south, completely destroy Merano, intimidate the local citizens, force them to withdraw from the war, isolate the mountain inhabitants, and seize their war objective—those roads.

At this point, Count Bernhard would have fulfilled part of his promise and would be able to obtain further assistance.

However, this time, they were harassed by the enemy as soon as they began their march. Some Mongol-Kipchak people kept appearing at the front and back of the column, attacking their vanguard.

On a mountainside, there is a village of locals.

The villagers had long since fled in fright, but they still left many things behind. Some houses were even still smoking. At the village entrance, a lot of construction tools, some turned-up soil, and cleared trees were piled up all the way to the main road at the foot of the mountain. It seemed that, as mentioned before, they were busy building a path for their village to connect to the main road.

However, their construction method was quite strange. Although they called it paving a road, they were actually digging into the dirt road. Most of the soldiers had never seen this kind of work before and couldn't understand why roads were being built in this way.

Some of the nobles commanding the army began to suspect that the intelligence had been wrong, and that they were actually working on some other project, such as drainage ditches. Others thought it was some kind of defensive fortification, but the mountain people, lacking military knowledge, had dug haphazardly and ended up like this.

After all, it sounds unbelievable that ordinary people would suddenly and spontaneously start building roads, and even a road network. Some people even began to suspect that the whole story about road construction rights might have been fabricated by Bernhard to get people to do the work for him for free and eliminate his enemies.

While they were still hesitating, the Hungarians in front had already rushed into the village.

According to European regulations, this allows them priority access to supplies. Others also tacitly avoid competing with them, as their status is special and it's best to avoid provoking them.

These Hungarians were not hired by Bernhard himself, but rather by his superior, Duke Albrecht. In terms of affiliation, they were not even subordinates of the German King, but rather more like a mercenary group operating in this area.

Furthermore, the proportion of nobles among these exiles was very high, and they were quite well-trained and equipped. Therefore, although they were exiles who had been defeated by the Purple Horde and forced to flee, these people always went their own way and indeed had enough strength to disregard the local nobles.

This time, Bernhard's "headquarters" was merely a hastily assembled ragtag army. Their fighting strength naturally far surpassed that of Bernhard and his forces. Therefore, they looked down on them even more.

Bernhard thought for a long time before reminding the Hungarian representative in the central army to be careful of the surrounding environment, as the mountain people would definitely ambush or intercept them. However, the Hungarians said that given the nature of these mountain people, an ambush would actually be a good thing. It would allow them to gather together, preventing them from scattering and becoming harder to find or eradicate.

They left the long line behind them and rushed towards the village. The only road there had been dug up by the villagers, making it difficult to travel.

At the end of the road, dozens of Mongols stood guard at the village entrance, shooting arrows at them from afar. However, the arrows did not fly far; most of them landed softly in front of them, and the few that did manage to hit them only left a scratch on their armor.

The Hungarian military system was heavily influenced by the "East," and they also had a tradition of archery. Anyone with expertise could tell from a glance that the arrows were crudely made and of poor quality. Clearly, Bernhard's intelligence was accurate this time. These men were just a rabble, and their weapons were probably hastily assembled.

They were all busy climbing the mountain and didn't have time to think about anything else. But now that the enemy had appeared, they had to fight back. So, some of them took out their bows and fired arrows at the Mongols. The Mongols immediately panicked and quickly hid behind the earthen wall at the village entrance, disappearing from sight.

They climbed the slope and rushed into the village, finding that there were indeed still quite a few supplies left. In some houses, earthenware pots for cooking porridge were still burning. The Hungarians immediately scattered, rushing into houses and courtyards, searching everywhere for any valuables that hadn't been taken, and capturing the free-roaming poultry. The junior officer leading the group shouted for them to be vigilant, saying it might be an enemy trap, but no one paid him any attention.

Just then, a whistling arrow streaked across the sky, and more Mongols appeared from the other side of the village, beginning their attack. It seemed to be a deliberately laid ambush. Outside the village, some armed villagers also appeared, carrying weapons such as pitchforks and wooden sticks, moving towards the village entrance under the command of a Mongol, seemingly to cut off their retreat.

However, these Hungarians were very experienced in combat and knew how to deal with surprise attacks during raids. They immediately tightened their formation and began to engage the enemy.

These men weren't particularly strong fighters. They advanced with weapons, but the villagers opposite them not only didn't come to their aid, but instead retreated. The Mongol officers' shouts were useless. At this point, the follow-up group, having climbed halfway up, began shouting in response, saying they were coming soon. Seeing this, the armed villagers scattered, disappearing into the woods on the hillside. The Mongols on the other side, seeing this, also abandoned their fighting and quickly withdrew.

The outcome of the battle validated their earlier suspicions. However, the performance of their allies was indeed lackluster. After regrouping, the noble commander at the rear of the column angrily explained that while everyone was rushing to rescue the vanguard, numerous enemies attacked his side, burning some supplies and scattering several squads of soldiers who hadn't yet regrouped.

So next time, we can't just rush in wherever there's an enemy. What if it's part of their strategy? We were lucky this time because the enemy was relatively weak. If we had encountered a strong one, we would have been finished.

The Hungarians, however, were unimpressed, believing it simply reflected their own weakness. Thus, the meeting ended in an unpleasant atmosphere.

(End of this chapter)