Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 774 The employer gave more money!
The camp is now brightly lit.

After Gray's unexpected encounter with the enemy, the team that was supposed to be there to meet him also sent back a message. Upon receiving the messenger's report, the officer on duty at the gate sent someone to summon Prokop and also dispatched several messengers on horseback to various parts of the camp to urgently report the situation to the commanders.

The camp had two central locations. In the very center, there was a slightly larger open space where large trucks carrying flags and drums were parked. Several tents nearby served as the army's command center and also as offices for the staff. People were on duty there at night as well.

In the center of the camp, the officer on night duty immediately had the alarm bells rung, then rushed into the commanders' tent area and woke everyone else up.

However, upon hearing the alarm, Jessica jumped up on her own. Without even grabbing her coat, she dashed out of her sleeping tent, leaving the guards standing watch at the entrance, and rushed towards the staff's duty station.

After all, he had fought so many battles over the years—and often on the less-than-ideal side. So, at the slightest disturbance, even if he was sound asleep, he would react immediately; it had become an instinct.

Moreover, everyone knew that Gray was preparing to act that night. Although Zhu Wenkui and the others said that they had arranged enough backup forces and that someone was in charge of command, and that the others just needed to rest well. Otherwise, they would tire themselves out before even harassing the enemy. But Jessica was still a little worried, and even when she lay down, she remained vigilant.

He arrived at the entrance of the main tent, where someone had already come out to greet him and explain the current situation. Jessica listened as he strode through the door.

His guards chased after him from outside, bringing him an overcoat, belt, and sword. The clerk in the tent brought a porcelain pot and poured him a cup of coffee. Jessica took several large gulps, put down the cup, and seemed to understand the situation. Now, his first thought wasn't of the large camp organizing the defenses, but of the Italians beside him.

Previously, due to Zhu Wenkui and others' caution, they did not allow the Italians to live directly with them. Now, however, this has become an advantage.

The enemy hadn't anticipated such a sudden encounter, so their attention was entirely focused on the main camp. The Italian camp was diagonally behind them. Nighttime significantly reduced visibility and mobility, so the Polish-Lithuanian army didn't dare to advance further. Therefore, no fighting broke out there.

“Don’t worry about the camp; everyone’s doing a great job. Let Father Prokop continue to command, and have all the units preparing to leave the camp follow his orders. I won’t interfere remotely anymore, so as not to disturb him.” He instructed everyone, “Let’s go find the Crown Prince. I hope to get the Italians involved as well, but we may need to get some approval from him first.”

As he spoke, he hurriedly put on his armor and turned to leave the tent.

The Ming army here also adopted a common camp layout. For ease of communication and action, the command center was located near the center. However, because Zhu Wenkui and a group of officials and entourage were also here, there was a second central command located to the southeast of the main command post.

At everyone's urging, Zhu Wenkui is now focusing his main efforts on diplomacy. Because of their unexpected victory and subsequent overwhelming succession, even with battles raging at any moment, envoys are constantly arriving, bringing probes and intentions from various powers. Therefore, Zhu Wenkui has specifically set up a camp to receive and meet with these envoys.

Just then, Minister of Rites Lebeg came here on official business, so Zhu Wenku insisted on keeping him here as well, asking him to help out for a few days and share some of his workload.

In addition, as Zhu Wenkui took over the administrative system that had been leaderless due to the war and carried out wartime management in various places along the way, the number of civilian personnel in his team gradually increased.

Because this area is relatively safe and has convenient transportation, they currently work in the tents along the main road when they need to handle various administrative matters. For convenience, the civil officials also set up tents nearby and live there, making this the temporary administrative center of the Prince's residence. Even the two young Jeannes and others live here.

Jeanne, the female warrior, claimed to be in an office job, which is why she was always seen there. Upon learning this, Tang Sai'er also requested to be stationed there.

Jessica reminded Tang Sai'er that she was actually one of the highest-ranking commanders in the Wu Kingdom and should stay in the central command tent to be ready to participate in command at any time. However, Tang Sai'er replied that she had recently led the cavalry into battle, which had greatly depleted her physical and mental strength. She and her soldiers needed to rest quickly in preparation for the final battle.

Therefore, for the next few days, the command of the army will be handed over to Jessica. She's going to stay at the better-equipped civilian camp for a few days to recover her energy; I hope no one will object.

Jessica and the others didn't know what to say, so they just ignored her. That afternoon, Tang Sai'er made a big fuss and moved behind Zhu Wenkui's tent.

That evening, Jessica sent his lieutenant general, Captain Martin, to his son's place to deliver the procurement orders for the past few days for his review and signature. Captain Martin returned shortly after, without signing anything, saying there was a good show going on and that anyone free should come and watch.

Everyone rushed over and found that Lady Jeanne and Miss Tang were arguing. For some reason, Miss Tang jumped onto Zhu Wenkui's back and wouldn't get down. Lady Jeanne tried to pull her off, but couldn't budge her. Civil and military officials working nearby all came out with lanterns and candles to watch, making it look like a scene from a folktale of a lovers' quarrel. Some even made bets on who would win this time; it seemed like this wasn't their first argument…

Jessica was speechless. The surrounding officials even joked that it turned out Miss Tang was restoring her energy by riding the prince. However, even the highest-ranking military officer in the camp, Jessica, and the civil official, Lebeg, couldn't interfere with this matter. They could only disperse the idlers and let them do as they pleased.

In the following days, only Jessica was working overtime in the central command headquarters.

After get off work during the day, unless it was a particularly urgent military matter, he would try not to go to Zhu Wenkui's place, for fear of seeing something even more... intense, which would make everyone feel awkward.

But this time, it happened to be an exception. So, he didn't worry about it too much and went straight to Zhu Wenkui's tent.

However, just as he stepped outside, he encountered the heroine Jeanne, who had rushed over.

"What happened?" the other person asked as soon as they came up.

"The Poles are also preparing a night attack on us. Their numbers are increasing, and they've already driven back the Glei tribe. The Mongol camp has also withdrawn. Currently, they're besieging Father Prokop's chariot over there." Jessica raised her riding whip and pointed. "I'm going to find the Crown Prince and have him mobilize the Italians."

“You can mobilize them yourself,” Jeanne pointed out.

“Theoretically, it’s possible, but they certainly won’t be too enthusiastic.” Jessica shrugged. “Just look at the location of that camp, and you can tell what their self-positioning and understanding are. However, it is precisely because of this positioning that they are the ‘surprise force’ on this battlefield.”

"You need to pay more, right?" Lady Jeanne understood immediately.

Jessica nodded.

“Then you can go and tell them—say that if we win, the spoils from the Polish camp can be divided among them first,” Jeanne suggested. “They’ll definitely be very enthusiastic.” “That’s what I was thinking too. However, I can’t make this decision on my own,” Jessica pointed out. “The right to distribute the spoils belongs to the Crown Prince; I’m just the battlefield commander. Besides, the Italians’ share of the money is with him. I need to ask him for his approval.”

“Just send someone to talk to the Italians directly, don’t waste any more time.” Jeanne replied, “When I came, I tried to wake him, but I couldn’t—he’s sleeping like Nurhaci right now. By the time he wakes up and we go through that process, the war will be over.”

“If there are any problems, I’ll take responsibility afterwards.” Seeing that Jessica still had some doubts, she patted a long package behind her and added, “Just say that I asked you to do it, and that you vouched for it in front of his great-grandfather. Is that alright?”

"You carry this with you every day?" Jessica was quite surprised when she realized what was in her bag.

"Is that what the lady ordered?" Jeanne shrugged.

However, Jessica didn't press the matter further. Although he didn't know if Lady Jeanne could decide on the distribution of spoils for Zhu Wenkui, the battlefield situation was constantly changing. Since someone was willing to vouch for him, it would indeed save time. He immediately instructed his accompanying clerk to write the transfer order and affix his seal.

"Wait a minute, stamp this one too." Lady Jeanne took out a mark and stamped it directly in front of Jessica's Commander's Seal.

"You even have the seal of the Prince's mansion?" Jessica exclaimed in surprise. "My God. That's going to be tough for the other side."

"What do you mean, 'opposite side'?" Jeanne asked casually.

"I'm talking about the Polish."

Although she sensed that once she got serious, even Tang would have a hard time, aside from the Polish people, Jessica quickly changed the subject and went off to issue instructions.

Soon, Jessica's messenger sped off and arrived at the Italian camp.

Meanwhile, the Italian mercenary group was also assembling urgently. Large numbers of soldiers hurriedly put on their breastplates, not even having time to attach other accessories, and quickly ran out of the barracks to line up and prepare for camp.

Commander Francis had also gotten up and was putting on his armor with the help of two attendants. At that moment, Manager Roberto, who was also disheveled, rushed into his tent.

"Don't worry, don't worry, it'll be alright soon." Francis said quickly, "What's the matter? Why are you in such a panic? -- The scout just said that the Lithuanians went to the Ming army's side and haven't come looking for us."

"Forget about all that." Roberto slammed a piece of paper on the table. "The orders! Let's get to work!"

“What order?” Francis reached for the kettle.

“Marshal Jessica ordered us to set off immediately, taking all the able-bodied men with us, to attack the Polish camp,” Roberto said. “He planned a route for us—we needed to take a detour, avoiding the route the Poles were coming from, and go straight through the edge of the forest to raid their camp before they realized the danger.”

“You want us to go through the woods in the middle of the night?” Francis shook his head. “While we should obey orders, this goes against the basic principles of military strategy. The risk is too great. We can refuse.”

“They increased the price,” Roberto said briefly.

“That won’t work either. First, we can’t all set off; we need to leave some people at the camp. Second, his objective is contradictory.” Francis put on his armor and took the cloak handed to him by a servant:

"To avoid being discovered, we can't take shortcuts or overly flat routes; but taking such routes certainly won't be fast. Even if we risk crossing the woods, it will take a long time, and many people will fall behind. Under these circumstances, it will be difficult to achieve tactical surprise, and our forces will have little chance of shaking the camp and achieving our operational objectives. Of course, since they're paying, we can try our best, but I think..."

"Take a look at their offer first." Roberto had no choice but to pick up the paper again and stuff it into his hand: "He said we don't need to worry about the camp. If we are attacked by the enemy and lose property, it doesn't matter, because the goods in the camp currently belong to the Wu Prince's Mansion. Even if there is a loss, they will pay us at the price we agreed on beforehand, through a bank in Florence."

"what?"

"Also, if we capture the camp, we'll get to choose the spoils first," Roberto urged before he could ask. "Hurry up, what if we miss our chance?"

"Alright, alright, I'll be off right away." Francis quickly held up the order, but upon seeing the official seal of the Wu Prince's Mansion on it, he shoved it back into Roberto's hand: "Keep it safe, let's go!"

After saying that, he grabbed his helmet and ran out in a flash.

Before long, all the Italians in the camp quietly lined up and left.

They didn't even light torches. Each mercenary group carried only an oil lamp with a special shade—a thick shade and translucent red paper that confined the light directly downwards, illuminating only a small section of the road ahead without making them easily visible to those further away. It was a common tool used by assassins from various families in the city-state for nighttime assassinations.

Of course, in the open field, this thing was still a bit inadequate, but they didn't give up. The infantrymen, like caterpillars, supported each other, following in the footsteps of the pathfinders, moving forward as quickly as possible. The cavalrymen all dismounted, reined in their horses, and led their mounts, following behind the pathfinders.

And so they plunged into the nearby woods. More Polish-Lithuanian soldiers rushed to the front lines, but their attention was focused on the main battlefield, where shouts of battle filled the air. To get reinforcements as quickly as possible, no one chose the circuitous and difficult forest paths.

Meanwhile, on the main battlefield, the next phase of operations also began.

(End of this chapter)