Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 780 Jessica's Backup Plan
Bohemia is currently in a state of great upheaval. And this environment brings more than just new political developments.

Unlike the militaries of other major powers, whose military strategies are relatively "organized," here, various immature tactics have also been hastily put into practice.

Previously, it was generally believed that military thought evolved more rapidly in places of intense conflict, such as Rome and Poland, Hungary, and England and France. However, it now seems that the armies of major powers were far too conservative…

The reason for this is probably that the situation in regular countries is more complex. Even if there is a need for military reform, various political issues must be considered first, making it difficult to choose the most effective means to improve military strength and directly implement changes.

In Bohemia, things were much better – after the death of King Charles, the rival kings, Wenceslaus and Sigismund, were largely indifferent to the affairs of state, while Sigismund tried to intervene but failed. As a result, the local ecosystem was very "laissez-faire."

Especially after the conflict over the Hussites broke out, contradictions in various places erupted almost instantly.

There were already conflicts between German immigrants and locals, as well as between the Hussites and the Roman Catholics, in this area. These two sides had been at odds for quite some time. According to Henry, in his hometown, the fighting with the Germans had likely lasted for over a generation.

At this juncture, Zhu Yunwen further fueled the flames, leading to an outbreak of conflict between the local Hussites, both at the upper and lower levels. This created a vibrant and chaotic scene: people who disliked each other due to various conflicts would spontaneously engage in combat without the king's or bishops' orders; even those who didn't want to fight had to quickly gather their armed forces, as others might also come to attack them…

Even in a very fragmented Poland, there was a parliament that provided a platform for the nobles to coordinate. Moreover, only the interests of the nobles needed to be considered. But here, it was a situation where anyone with a weapon could become a warlord.

Perhaps because the sudden military demand far exceeded everyone's expectations, people who were not originally considered professional military personnel were also forced into the role.

Most of these people were not professionals. Frankly, few of the tactics they devised were reliable. Therefore, most tactical ideas, along with their inventors, were quickly rendered obsolete in the frequent conflicts after the start of the war.

However, a few people were lucky enough to survive and actually brought some new ideas.

Prokopf was one of those people who were temporarily added to the team.

Within the Taborite faction, he was initially known as a "debate expert," primarily relying on verbal sparring to fight the enemy, and became famous for refuting "foreign experts" specially invited by the church from Paris. At first, he probably never imagined that he would be promoted to a position of military command.

There have always been some people in the church who follow a purely academic path. Even within the Holy Roman Empire, there are relatively stable places to live. These people fit the stereotypical image of an old scholar, spending their lives in universities and monasteries interpreting scriptures, studying scholastic philosophy, and engaging in theological and literary creation. They lead a life of "ignoring everything else and focusing solely on studying the holy books."

Bohemia, being a relatively wealthy region, was able to maintain a certain academic atmosphere. In Prague, the late King Charles founded a large university, which was said to rival the University of Paris and was the largest Catholic research center in Central and Eastern Europe. The Church also established several monasteries, attracting many people to live in the city.

These places are actually independent territories, relatively orderly internally, and can be protected by others. They won't be inexplicably wiped out by bandits or knights one day. Therefore, there is still room for in-depth research.

Father Hus was a scholar-type clergyman. Although he came from a peasant background, he was such a "study whiz" that he went to university at a very young age, became a professor in his twenties, and soon after became the rector of Prague University.

He initially preached in city churches. By the time he ventured into the countryside, he had gained considerable prestige and had a group of followers protecting him, so he no longer needed to personally fight against the bandits…

However, even universities cannot escape the influence of various external changes. In fact, the impact here came even earlier than the external ones. It's just that the various forces within the university, while radical, were relatively weak, so the impact was often not as significant. Prague University also experienced a split due to ethnic conflicts, which eventually led to a conflict with the church, forcing Hus and others to leave.

Although the Hussites had a tradition of electing priests to lead their troops, they certainly trusted priests who had years of experience fighting on the ground and had real military experience more than these academics. However, as the conflict escalated, the Taborites offended many churches and secular lords and were frequently forced to engage in battles with others.

Many priests, whether they had some military experience or were complete novices, failed in this process. They were either martyred or dismissed from their command positions. But Prokopf, a man with little prior record of combat or victory, persevered.

This story sounds heartbreaking. But war is such an irrational thing. If you had to put it bluntly, he was actually "appointed" by Sigismund and his men…

Perhaps due to this background, Prokop's overall command approach is quite different from that of Jessica himself.

Although Jessica achieved seemingly unbelievable victories, he placed greater emphasis on troop training and discipline. On the battlefield, he consistently adhered to fundamental principles of warfare, methodically employing defensive counter-attacks. While his grasp of timing and frontline tactics was far beyond the reach of ordinary people, understanding his war philosophy was not difficult and could serve as a reference for others—this was why Guo Kang valued him highly, and why Zhu Wenku insisted on having him oversee troop training. They both felt that such talent was more suitable as a model.

On the other hand, a group of priests, represented by Prokopf, did the opposite. Lacking much experience and theoretical training, their playing style was very casual, even somewhat haphazard.

Looking back from the future, this style of warfare did indeed allow him to achieve numerous victories, even producing a more exaggerated casualty ratio than JSKA. The Hussites' strategy, ironically, became even more aggressive after JSKA's death, as the overall strategic environment deteriorated.

In response to the Crusades, the Prokop brothers spearheaded a shift from the moderate attitude towards other faiths and sects previously held by Hussein himself and Žižka. They began actively "exporting their faith," dispatching multiple armies to Poland, Hungary, and the Holy Roman Empire, emulating the British practice of "riding raids," to spread Hussite doctrine. If the locals did not accept it, they plundered and destroyed their territories, hoping to undermine the Catholic world's war potential. The Hussite armies were highly mobile, making these operations tactically successful. However, this behavior also drew considerable discontent, and the Hussites' strategic situation did not improve. Instead, they offended the Polish and Hungarian nobles who had initially hoped for a mutually destructive conflict between Hussites and Sigismund. Ultimately, Prokop rashly ordered a full-scale pursuit during the battle, resulting in betrayal by his own allies at a crucial moment and his defeat. In the end, he lost because he relied too heavily on his instincts.

Zhu Wenkui was actually not very comfortable with these commanders, but Jessica had known them for a long time and found it easy to cooperate with them.

Jessica judged that at this point, the main attention of the Polish-Lithuanian allied forces had been drawn to the struggle for the area in front of the camp. Whether they were temporarily at a disadvantage or managed to counterattack and repel these forces, it wouldn't have a significant impact on the overall course of the battle.

Because if they couldn't hold the fortifications at the gate, the Poles would definitely continue their attack and bring all their troops over; and according to his estimation, the enemy here was only a portion. Even if they defeated the enemy in front of them, given the Poles' tendency to become overconfident, they would only keep coming. In short, either outcome would create opportunities for the Italians.

Moreover, he quickly devised countermeasures for both situations.

Currently, order has been largely restored in the camp. Previously, most of the cavalry, those who had accompanied Tang Sai'er on the attack, were resting and awaiting orders as arranged. Therefore, they only organized themselves after the emergency alarm was sounded. However, now that things have progressed, they are ready to enter the fray at any time. Therefore, if Prokop succeeds in annihilating a group of Poles, Žižka will send these men out to replace the "Mongol Battalion" cavalry previously responsible for guard duty, pursue the enemy, and then cooperate with the Italians to counterattack the enemy's main camp.

Conversely, if Prokopf's wagons overturn and he fails to hold the fortifications, hold off and eliminate the enemy, then let them in. He arranged for Lili to lead a group of elite troops to provide support, and if things went wrong, bring them back. The artillery battalion's deployment was slow tonight, but it's almost complete now. When the time comes, the Poles will definitely rush in, so we'll use artillery as the main source of firepower to trap them in the camp and fight them—Jeska and others had participated in the battle of Dadu and were very experienced in this, knowing how to do it most effectively.

So now, let Prokopf do whatever he wants.

However, Prokop's ambitions were actually greater than Jessica's. When the enemy attacked, his first thought was to take this opportunity to kill and annihilate as many enemy cavalry as possible.

The Polish cavalry was renowned and had been identified as a key target at the pre-battle meeting. Because the attack was sudden, their main cavalry force was directly deployed for the main assault. The infantry, the cannon fodder, were probably still in their camps and hadn't had time to arrive.

Therefore, Prokop concluded that this was actually a good opportunity to severely damage the enemy, because they hadn't used cannon fodder to wear them down as in previous cases. All the enemies eliminated here were the backbone of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Therefore, even knowing that his own troops would suffer heavy losses, he would still find opportunities to plunge the enemy into close-quarters combat. He didn't even care if he himself was in danger, because as long as he could exchange enough cavalry, the daytime battle would be essentially a foregone conclusion.

Judging from the counter-offensive, the enemy has indeed lost a significant amount of mobility due to the previous fierce fighting. Therefore, we should now send our soldiers out to attack and annihilate the enemy.

At the camp gate, a fierce battle had broken out, and neither side could advance for the time being. So, the others simply began to dismantle the camp's perimeter wall.

The wall was made of bundled logs. The soldiers dug up the base and laid it down, just enough to cross the trench and reach the outer perimeter. More soldiers poured out from here, engaging the enemy in hand-to-hand combat along the lines previously cleared by the veteran squads.

However, the enemy was indeed very tenacious, to the point that neither side could employ any tactical maneuvering in the battle. The Ming army was unable to encircle the enemy for the time being, but the enemy was also unable to make a breakthrough. The two sides continued to fight fiercely in the vicinity of the walls and moats.

Prokopf ordered the rocket to fire again from Dalian. This time, they chose the direction of the road.

The rockets' coverage area is too large and too scattered to be used directly against enemies in active engagement. However, there's only one main road here, and more enemies are constantly arriving from there. Therefore, covering that area should still be effective.

The only downside was that, having lost the element of surprise, both sides were fighting piecemeal. Prokop tried to gather cavalry to flank them, but the Polish-Lithuanian cavalry outnumbered him, and each attempt to outflank was met with direct resistance from the enemy.

Given the current situation, it is still difficult to encircle or divide the enemy. The effect of the rockets is only to temporarily disrupt the enemy's rhythm, relieve pressure on the front lines, and coordinate with the offensive, but they are not enough to eliminate the enemy in one fell swoop.

After more than an hour of fighting, the exhausted Lithuanians, perhaps abandoning their plan to attack the camp, began to gradually withdraw from the battle. Soon after, the Polish cavalry also began to retreat.

Prokop certainly didn't want to let the enemy escape. However, he also underestimated the resilience and organization of the Polish-Lithuanian army, mistaking them for the local nobles who had previously invaded the Tabor Mountains.

Meanwhile, a commotion broke out at the camp gate. Prokop was somewhat surprised, but soon, a disgruntled Tang Sai'er appeared with her entourage beside the ruins of the wagon fortress—Jeska's contingency plan was beginning to take effect.

"What's wrong, young lady?" Prokop had been confessing before and was quite experienced in this area, so he sensed that something was off about her.

"I'm going to chase after the Poles." Tang Sai'er frowned, shook her head, flicked her whip, and quickly left.

(End of this chapter)