Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 784 Battlefield Novice and Romantic Novice

After a brief meeting, the various Ming army units resumed their operations.

By now, the engineers had completed their inspection of the bridges and fords. Because of the hasty operation, the Polish damage to the bridges wasn't too severe and could be repaired quickly. Furthermore, the river wasn't deep; they had found a shallow ford upstream that could be crossed. Allowing the army to pass through would not be a problem.

During the exploration, some Polish-Lithuanian cavalrymen came to the riverbank, shouting and shooting arrows at the engineers from a distance. Others gathered on the opposite side of the bridge, perhaps to prevent them from crossing the river.

Just then, the supply train caught up, so the Ming army brought over a cannon and fired in that direction. Although the aim seemed poor, hitting no one, the allied cavalry immediately scattered and turned to flee. After that, no one from the other side of the bridge came to intercept them.

Around noon, the Ming army began crossing the river. South Bohemian infantry led the way, followed by over a thousand cavalrymen directly under the royal command, led by Tang Sai'er. After them, Tyroleans, Italian mercenaries, knights from southwestern Bohemia and neighboring Germany, and the artillery battalion also crossed the bridge.

Most of the firearms could be carried across the bridge without any problem, except for the two largest cannons, which the engineers worried would collapse the bridge, so they didn't transport them. They salvaged some unburnt timber from the Polish camp, made a makeshift large raft, secured the cannons to it, and then slowly pulled them to the other side using tow ropes. Meanwhile, the others had already begun setting up their positions.

The remaining soldiers, following Jessica's orders, moved upstream to see if they could outflank the enemy through the shallows. The Mongol battalion led the way, followed by a group of soldiers drawn from the Hussites. The others remained on the opposite bank to guard the camp and supplies, and to care for the wounded.

In the afternoon, most of the people crossed the river and set up the central army's "Ming" banner, Zhu Wenkui's "Wu" banner and "Zhu" general's flag on the opposite bank, as well as Jieshika's "Yang" banner as the commander-in-chief.

Since their departure for the campaign, they had fought many battles, but these were either sudden encounters or skirmishes; this was the first time they had deployed such a formidable array. Although most of the soldiers were illiterate, they all recognized the symbols. As the banners passed by, the crowd cheered loudly, and their morale soared.

However, at this moment, a messenger ran over and said that they had encountered enemy resistance upstream. The Poles, having fought many battles with the various Khanates, were very familiar with this strategy of launching a main attack while a surprise force crossed the river from another crossing point to flank them. They had already sent troops to the opposite side to block their path.

Moreover, because the bridge was destroyed, many scattered Allied infantrymen fled in that direction, and were thus largely captured by the enemy, currently crammed into the shallows in considerable numbers. When the vanguard cavalry probed, the enemy immediately went on alert. Although they haven't launched an attack yet, if the army crosses the river directly, the enemy will definitely attack while the troops are halfway across. It would be best to send them some artillery, as before.

They estimated that the Poles fled in haste, leaving behind their heavy weapons, and therefore did not respond to the probing with artillery. In this situation, if they had artillery, they would have a huge advantage in range, and perhaps, like when they were building the bridge, they could force the enemy to retreat.

However, Jessica believed that crossing the river from that side was for surprise; if it were easily defended, then even if they managed to get there, it would be pointless. Transporting the artillery over would not only take time but also further disperse their forces, so she decided against it.

He instructed them to keep an eye on the enemy to prevent them from having similar plans. Other combat tasks could be left to the main force.

After arranging the other routes, the main army briefly reorganized its ranks and continued forward, actively seeking out the enemy. The Polish army, however, retreated slightly, leaving their temporary encampment and stopping only in a vast, open area far from the riverbank, where the land was flatter and more solid. They likely felt this was a better place to operate.

Initially, everyone was quite pleased to see the enemy retreat, feeling that the situation was much more secure this time. Moreover, many Bohemian officers had recently begun listening to the Three Kingdoms stories brought by Zhu Wenkui. Currently, the Polish-Lithuanian allied forces, having lost their main camp and lacking supplies, appear to be in a similar predicament to Yuan Shao after the Battle of Wuchao—clearly on the verge of collapse.

However, they soon discovered that the enemy didn't seem so shaken. Moreover, at their previous temporary camp, they found leftover pottery jars and food, suggesting the attack hadn't affected them at all. Meanwhile, Commander Francis and his men insisted that their camp had been completely destroyed, leaving the enemy little chance to salvage their supplies.

Therefore, Jessica and others analyzed that these supplies should have been hastily looted by the allied soldiers before the Ming army crossed the river—their camps didn't have much food stored up, they just grabbed what they needed, so they wouldn't have encountered the kind of situation in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms where burning down granaries caused a huge blow to the army...

Of course, this kind of thing isn't inherently surprising. Most of the officers here have military experience, and they know how the army usually obtains supplies. But the key question is, how did the Poles manage to loot so much so quickly, given how short time has passed since the last battle? That's incredibly efficient; how did they do it?
Despite their confusion, there was no time for further investigation. As they moved forward, they began to formulate a plan, preparing to deploy their ranks and enter the battlefield.

Jessica and Don Sailor disagreed on how to arrange the formation.

Jessica believed that since most of their chariots were now destroyed, they would have to face the enemy's main cavalry force directly on open plains. Therefore, it would be best to concentrate their infantry and use the cavalry as reserves to prevent them from being unable to stop the enemy from charging over.

Moreover, both sides had been fighting all night, and their physical strength and energy were declining. The enemy was even more affected and more afraid of further attrition. Therefore, the best strategy was to stall them for a while longer, then seize the opportunity to deliver the decisive blow.

However, Tang Sai'er believed that their numbers and quality now surpassed the enemy's, so there was no need to be so conservative. Moreover, taking the initiative to attack would actually result in fewer casualties. She could lead a group to fight ahead, find an opening in the enemy's defenses, and then everyone else could follow up.

In a normal army, there would usually be a commander-in-chief to make the decision. However, Zhu Wenkui, the nominal commander-in-chief, had never commanded a large army before, and when faced with disputes, he often hesitated and didn't know what to do. This time, he was even more embarrassed and didn't know how to decide.

At this moment, Lady Jeanne stepped forward again. However, instead of saying whose plan was better, she called Tang Sai'er over and said she wanted to speak with her alone.

Tang Sai'er glared at her, clearly displeased, but Jeanne insisted it was official business and forcefully pulled her out of the crowd. The other officers were momentarily taken aback by the sudden interruption, but Jessica calmed them down, telling them not to rush and to wait for the artillery to catch up. Everyone then quieted down.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere between Jeanne and Don Sailor was somewhat delicate.

Tang Sai'er still looked unwilling, but after these two meetings, she realized that she seemed to be letting personal feelings affect important military matters, so she couldn't help feeling a little guilty. However, the young girl was still very competitive and wouldn't allow herself to show weakness, so she could only force herself to appear tough and uncompromising. As a result, they were stuck there, making everyone quite awkward. She kept staring at Jeanne, and when the other girl wanted to speak, she immediately "humphed" and turned her head away, making it clear that she didn't want to talk to her.

However, for Jeanne, this "tough" attitude not only failed to intimidate her, but also made her seem like she was trying to coax a child because of her childish way of displaying her posture.

It's worth noting that in the social circles of Dadu, Jeanne had long been perceived as a "female hooligan."

Many of the "Anda" (traditional relatives and friends) that Zhu Wenkui frequently interacted with, and their relatives and friends, were not, in the traditional sense, spoiled brats for various reasons. For example, Tuohuan, because it was during the most intense period of warfare in recent years, had his parents too busy and was actually raised by his grandmother and several uncles. Guo Kang had a church to attend, while he and Li Xuanying, among others, were either "studying" at their grandmother's convent or visiting the residences of the Guo family and others, listening to retired generals recount their battlefield exploits.

As a result, Tuohuan was a minor martial arts fanatic at that time, whose mind was always on fighting. Moreover, because Guo Kang encouraged him to practice "gender equality," he would beat up women as well. Since he was still the crown prince, no one could control him, which caused many people in the palace to suffer.

According to Guo Kang, Li Xuanying and his group had a bad relationship with Tuohuan's mother because they beat people up in the palace every day. They noticed that the noble ladies invited by the Empress were always gossiping and assumed that these people, who discussed such sordid matters, must be bad people, so they resorted to heavy beatings. As a result, almost every Greek noblewoman in the palace had been harassed by them.

After learning of these things, the Empress tried to restrain Tuohuan while also complaining to Li Xuanying's parents, asking them to discipline their child. The Li couple were quite direct; upon hearing that he had caused trouble, they immediately used the kind of rattan cane a centurion used to whip new recruits, beating him every time he misbehaved. However, this method of discipline did not change Li Xuanying and the others; instead, they became even more unruly, and even began to run away from home as a group to cause trouble.

The parents, at their wits' end, even temporarily hired Mr. Huang, hoping he could teach their children to be more cultured. However, Mr. Huang wasn't good with children either, so he didn't really supervise them and actually got along quite well with them. His only reprimand was that their martial arts skills were too rudimentary, and he insisted on teaching them a few moves and making them practice more diligently.

Eventually, he even taught the children to drink, play music, and appreciate poetry and songs… Finally, when he tried to take his “little friends” to a less respectable theater to listen to music, Mrs. Huang discovered this in time. The art appreciation course was hastily canceled before it could even get on track.

As for Tuohuan and his gang, they only calmed down later when Tuohuan went to pick a fight and ended up hitting Shi Huizhen, getting beaten up in return. Li Xuanying, for some unknown reason, also became much more restrained and less impulsive. With these two key figures gone, the others also quieted down. The elders, feeling that they had perhaps grown up a bit and matured, breathed a sigh of relief.

Facing this group of older men, and with a wealth of knowledge gained from childhood exposure to the aristocratic circles of France and the Islamic world, Jeanne, the heroine, had a significant advantage. During that time, she spent her days teasing these "younger brothers," even harassing Guo Kang and Tuo Huan…

As for Tang Sai'er, it did indeed cause her some panic at the time. Because Tang Sai'er and Zhu Wenkui were together, while Jeanne herself, due to various restrictions, couldn't be with Zhu Wenkui. Upon discovering their escalating relationship, Jeanne, lacking firsthand experience, was momentarily taken aback and even became anxious. After all, she had always been the one dominating, and the sudden signs of things getting out of control caught her completely off guard.

However, later, Princess Ma comforted her, telling her to focus on assisting Zhu Wenkui and not to worry so much. Her other friends also advised her, saying that she was already a twenty-three or twenty-four-year-old spinster and did need to hurry up, but she shouldn't be afraid of a young girl, and besides, it wasn't a big deal for her husband to have a fling with someone else. Therefore, she calmed herself down, became even more determined in her goal, and began to take initiative.

With this mindset, Tang Sai'er's performance became less worrisome. She tried a few times and found that although Tang Sai'er seemed mature, she lacked the sensitivity of a seasoned professional in matters of the heart. Her attempts to probe were completely unsuccessful.

Considering that this child even considered himself his "love rival," it's almost laughable now.

However, there were some things she really needed to clarify with Tang Sai'er. Therefore, she ignored the other party's deliberately presented attitude and went straight to the point.

"We're about to go to war, and time is too tight, so let's not talk about anything else." She immediately brought up the important matter to shut Tang Sai'er up. Sure enough, upon hearing about the war, Tang Sai'er seemed to instinctively calm down immediately, and her expression became serious.

"This woman really can't act. Can a woman in love be this innocent? How did she manage to attract him with this level of acting?" Jeanne thought to herself.

“Right now, we can’t make a decision, not for military reasons, but because of the Crown Prince’s personal issues.” She shook off these thoughts and continued, “For example, many people will doubt whether he can remain impartial enough—for example, whether he will simply adopt your opinion to please you. That would be a bit unfair.”

“I won’t make that demand,” Tang Sai’er said immediately. “It’s either yes or no. Is there any room for bluffing when it comes to war?”

“That’s just your idea.” Lady Jeanne shrugged. “Everyone has to agree with it and be willing to work hard to complete the mission.”

“Then let’s analyze it and follow the most suitable method.” Tang Sai’er insisted: “Wen Kui is indeed not very good at fighting. Sometimes it’s hard to explain things to him. But that’s because he’s not very good at it. However, for the army, there are still ways to judge which method is more suitable.”

She thought for a moment, then sighed and added, "Sigh, his father isn't much better. They're both from the Zhu family, I don't know why he's like this. I'm afraid he can't beat his great-grandfather at all."

“I know that too, no need to say it—we don’t need to focus on that right now,” Jeanne quickly stopped her.

She increasingly suspected that she might also be a novice in love, but had been away from her hometown's social circles for so long that she hadn't had the chance to test herself or understand her true abilities. Otherwise, how could she possibly be entangled with such an opponent...?

(End of this chapter)