eastern european eagle

Chapter 554: Bohemian Uprising
Peter also heard what these noble ladies said, and he didn't expect that he would be so old-fashioned in their mouths. Do you have to have many lovers to be charming?
"What is your Majesty thinking?"

Peter heard a voice behind him and when he turned around, he saw it was Sofia.

"It's nothing, but it's time to give Alexander and his family a younger brother or sister." After saying that, he carried Sophia to the bedroom.

The steward behind them thought that since the emperor and the empress had such a good relationship, there shouldn’t be anyone else joining in, right?
Time flies, Zheng He's fleet has been here for a month. The goods they brought were basically exchanged for local specialties and currency, and the emperor also sent them five imperial cannons. The triumphal scene at that time has been deeply engraved in the hearts of Chen Cheng and Zheng He, and they can't wait to tell Zhu Di about this grand occasion.

Because of the good and bad news that came one after another in this month, Vytautas's treatment was sometimes good and sometimes bad. Because Władysław still did not raise money to redeem him, he had to live in the prison in Constantinople.

There were prisoners being tortured here every day, and the tragic screams made the Grand Duke of Lithuania feel that he would end up like this at any time. He had been thinking about getting away from here, but now, apart from the emperor's mercy, he could only wait for Władysław to raise money to redeem the prisoners. But the King of Poland had more important things to do at this time.

After paying such a huge price, Władysław was scolded by the nobles, who accused him of wasting money to fight against the two countries and losing a large amount of land.

After the Northern Berlin Alliance gained the Western Pomeranian region, the Bartland family surrounded him from all sides. It seemed that he had no way out, but he still tried hard to find a way out.

He placed himself in the Warsaw Castle and thought of a solution, with only two thousand of his own troops guarding him. But after thinking for a long time, he found no solution. He was like an isolated island, watching the Catholic brothers on the other side from afar, but he could not go there.

However, at this time, the news from Bohemia affected the whole of Central Europe. The Hussites and the Orthodox coalition forces began to capture cities and territories in Bohemia. The Hussites in Prague also launched an uprising under the leadership of the monk Tchaikovsky and the 30-year-old knight Jan Česka. They besieged Prague City Hall, City Council and Catholic Church, and attacked Prague Castle in an attempt to take out the king. But in the end, they were outnumbered and forced to flee. They decided to go to Brno to meet with Hus.

The Bohemian uprising was unbelievable to the princes in the Holy Roman Empire. They did not expect these untouchables to dare to rebel. But now is not the time to be surprised, so they quickly sent troops to suppress it.

As the future heir of Bohemia, Sigismund naturally encouraged others to enter Prague. Ostensibly, it was to protect the king's safety, but in fact it was to control Wenzel so that nothing else would happen.

The powerful nobles in Bohemia followed the teachings of the Catholic Church and eliminated heretics directly. At this time, the army in the south had expanded its influence to several towns around Brno. They began to experiment and tried to govern the towns in the way of the Hussites. Although they had temporarily escaped from the predicament, they still had to find a way to fight against the heretics.

Although the Orthodox Church was quite powerful in the local area, considering that Huss had greater appeal, it elected Huss as the leader of the uprising.

Hus also knew the strength of the Orthodox Church, so he recognized each other and began to send distress messages to Hungary and Brandenburg, but he had no bargaining chips in his hands, so he needed to continue to expand his control area.

However, Hus's uprising directly led to the mood of the whole Bohemia, and part of the Silesia uprising army led the army to attack southwards, easily taking the unprepared Vinsk, which was less than a day's journey from the important town of Bautzen.

The Elector of Saxony was the first to learn of the situation and hurriedly organized his army to enter Bohemia. When Jandzeka set out to the east and captured the city of Wojtica, he encountered his first large-scale enemy force, a total of 2000 cavalry and several thousand infantry, while he only had more than 2200 untrained civilians. However, at this time, he still had his own secret weapon - the chariot.

For more than a century before this, European armies had been using horse-drawn carriages for support and field fortifications. But Jershka’s chariots were purpose-built, built from a common template, with a sturdy structure and side slits to accommodate soldiers and a variety of weapons, including field guns, hand cannons, crossbows, and polearms. Essentially mobile military fortresses manned by about 20 soldiers, these chariots provided the Hussites with a formidable firepower and defensive capabilities that made them nearly invincible on the battlefield.

When the battle came, the Hussites would link their chariots together to form a square or circular fortress, providing safe cover for their warriors and enabling them to operate their weapons effectively. This formation also enabled them to concentrate their firepower, resulting in a more concentrated and fierce attack on the battlefield. The high baffles not only blocked the attacks of enemy infantry and cavalry, but also effectively intercepted the arrows and light firearms of enemy ranged forces. In addition, the baffles had small shooting holes, allowing the Hussite soldiers in the chariot camp to shoot, or to extend their spears and halberds to block the charge of enemy cavalry.

After the battle began, the attacking knights, wearing heavy armor, could only move forward with difficulty under the dense projectile fire of Jan Jessica. Even worse were the knights responsible for the flank attack. Many of them fell into the inconspicuous swamp, were shot into sieves, or drowned. But no matter what, relying on the advantage of numbers, the knights finally rushed to the front of the chariots after paying a heavy price and prepared to engage in their best hand-to-hand combat.

It stands to reason that the rebels would never be able to fight against the plate-armored knights in hand-to-hand combat, but the chariots played an important role here. The halberd soldiers and flail bearers stood on the chariots and smashed and chopped the cans with long pole weapons. The knights were not to be outdone. They climbed onto the chariots with pain. The Hussite infantry raised their shields and pulled out their maces and swords to fight back desperately. When a chariot was in danger, the chariots next to it would immediately provide fire support. At such a close distance, crossbows and matchlocks could penetrate armor with one shot. The two sides fought from day to dusk, and the knights launched several attacks but were repelled.

At night, the enemy regrouped and prepared to launch the strongest offensive under the cover of darkness and thick fog. But when they rushed over, they found that Jessica had already retreated under the cover of the night fog.

(End of this chapter)