Tumeng: I am a national advisor in the Golden Family

In Western Europe and Northern Europe, the news of the Mongol army's renewed invasion was spread throughout the world through ships and merchants.

All the monarchs in Europe knew the news and immediately sent envoys to the Pope. Some monarchs even went to Rome in person to discuss how to deal with the Mongol army.

Zhang Dingguan, who was far away on the war front, had just led his men into the land of Novgorod when he received some news that left him speechless.

"My father was excommunicated, and what about me? Are you kidding me? What does this mean? Have I ever joined this church?" Zhang Dingguan said speechlessly.

I had rested in the Principality of Liangzan for a while, then attacked the Principality of Vladimir, and now I had just arrived in Novgorod when I received the news.

The Kingdom of Poland, Prussia, the Teutonic Knights, the Order of the Sword, the Duchy of Lithuania, and the Kingdom of Sweden actually sent about 60,000 reinforcements to the Principality of Novgorod to help Novgorod resist their invasion.

Originally, they had an absolute advantage in military strength, because the total military strength of Novgorod was similar to that of Southern Russia, or even slightly weaker than that of Southern Russia.

But to be honest, Zhang Dingguan did not take these Western troops seriously, and there was no need for the Southern Russian army to even take action.

As long as these troops dared to go out of the city for a field battle, the tens of thousands of Mongolian cavalry under his command, in cooperation with the musket army, could annihilate them all.

Even if they hide in the city, I can let them see the power of the newly developed field artillery and heavy artillery in the East. It will not be too difficult to annihilate them in the city.

But the problem is, the reason why these guys came here is very strange!

Moreover, according to the current situation, more Western troops may attack in the future, which is something Zhang Dingguan cannot accept.

Because of the previous trade exchanges between the East and the West, the relationship between the two sides was quite good, and even his father had always been called King John by them. But for some reason, this title was suddenly changed, and he was excommunicated.

Even in the near future, the expedition led by his younger brother might be affected. These Western Catholic forces are very united and are about to launch an expedition into the Arab land.

According to the agreement, the Crusader states would provide assistance to their brothers. It would be terrible if this assistance was lost because of their own reasons!
"Grand Prince, according to what they mean, we have defeated the Russian countries, and now they are going to send troops to support us and block us from entering the country.

They even want to summon more reinforcements to deal with us, but we have no intention of fighting westward at all!" said a Mongolian captain.

Although they were good at fighting, the Mongolian troops that came this time only consisted of 50,000, 50,000 Han troops, and 50,000 troops from the Ogedei family.

The army of the Ogedei family had suffered some losses before and also had to take care of the Mongolian grasslands, so there were not many people who could actually fight.

Even with the Southern Russian army, there are only about 100,000 people. These 100,000 people are a bit too much to face the pressure from the whole of Europe.

Most importantly, this is a misunderstanding!

"I guess it was that Alexander Nevsky who made some misleading remarks to these people, which resulted in these Western monarchs thinking that we are going to launch another westward expedition," said Zhang Dingguan.

His father had also said that the power of the West should not be underestimated. The reason why they were able to win so easily last time was partly due to the surprise attack, and partly because of the civil strife in European countries, the conflict between the Pope and the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, which led to the division of power and the inability of cities to form a coalition.

But now, the situation is different. These European countries have faced a Mongol invasion before. Now it will not be so easy to defeat them according to the original plan!
Although their Western Expedition army had an absolute advantage in weapons and equipment, they could not withstand the enemy's larger numbers and were not fighting on their home soil. As for military rations, it would be unrealistic to rely entirely on the Cuman and Rus regions for supplies.

"Crown Prince! Why don't we also send envoys to inform these western countries to stop supporting the Russian region. After we destroy the Russian region, we will naturally withdraw our troops and will not invade their territory." A Mongolian captain said.

"I don't think this method will work. In order to deal with these Western countries, Batu once sent envoys to intimidate these Western countries and told them not to support the Mongol army during its expedition.

Otherwise, we will attack their country. If we use this trick again, even if we tell the truth, they will not believe us. " said a Mongolian captain.

There is no way. This is a hidden danger left over from the second Western Expedition, and it was Batu who caused this. The Golden Horde has been domineering in this land in recent years.

It ruled the Polish region for a long time, until the Golden Horde declined a few years ago, and Poland and Northern Russia broke away from the rule of the Golden Horde.

And to put it bluntly, in the eyes of Poland and other Western countries, they were no different from the Golden Horde; they were both invading nations from the steppes.

"We must fight in Northern Russia. Now there is only Novgorod left. They have concentrated all their troops here, which saves me from looking for them everywhere. I can annihilate them all at once.

After we annihilate them, we will negotiate with these Western countries. "Zhang Dingguan said.

In the current situation, even if I explain things clearly to the other party, these people will not withdraw.

Because the two sides are too close, if you say I won't fight you, they will be surprised if they believe you. The best option is to keep your enemies out of the country.

If I were in their shoes, I would also send reinforcements as soon as possible. The right thing to do is to keep the enemy out of the country.

"Crown Prince, what you mean is that we should first annihilate these Western troops that came to support us." A Mongolian captain asked.

"Well, the Western countries are not a monolithic group with me. After we destroy Novgorod and they know our plan, I will write a letter to Queen Maria of Hungary asking for help." Zhang Dingguan said.

Calculating the time, his cheap brother from the West should be twelve years old now! Before the Western Expedition Army set out, his father told him about his relationship with Queen Maria.

Queen Maria contributed a lot to their establishment of a complete East-West trade route. Zhang Dingguan planned to write a letter to Queen Maria to express his current situation.

Then let the other party persuade these Western countries not to meddle in other people's affairs, and that they would at most take care of the Northern Russia region and then withdraw their troops, and would never attack them.

But before that, I have to hurt them first, so that these Westerners know that it is not so easy to meddle in other people's business.

Zhang Dingguan sent an envoy to Hungary, bringing his own handwritten letter and his father's letter to meet Queen Maria.

A few days later, Zhang Dingguan's army crossed the extremely difficult border of Novgorod.

Zhang Dingguan now finally understood why Batu chose to accept Novgorod's attack instead of coming here.

The roads here are really difficult to travel on, and it's winter now, when some swamps and lakes are frozen. If spring, summer, and autumn pass, you can imagine what the terrain here will be like after several seasons.

Fortunately, they chose to launch the attack in winter. If it had been spring, the surrounding swamps would have made it impossible for the westward expedition army to move forward.

A few days later, Zhang Dingguan's army arrived at the city of Novgorod, near Vladimir.

The city looks even more majestic, built entirely of huge white stones, and is only slightly smaller than Kiev.

After arriving in Novgorod City, Zhang Dingguan did not hesitate at all and directly ordered his men to set up the cannons.

Then they began to bombard the entire city indiscriminately, with no intention of sending envoys to negotiate or engage in verbal attacks.

The Western coalition forces in the city were also confused by this situation. If you Mongols had not come, you should have sent an envoy to persuade us to surrender first, and then we would have killed the envoy.

Throw his head away, are you here to boost morale before fighting again? Why is there such a fierce artillery attack right after you arrive?
Boom! Boom! Boom!

Countless artillery shells fell into the city of Novgorod, and the defenders did not even dare to hide on the city walls, because the first batch of soldiers who stood on the walls to show off their might had been blown into the sky.

"Oh my God, oh my God! These are the devils from the East, they crawled out of hell." said a Polish soldier who came to support.

Why did they come to a foreign land to fight? The enemy hadn't invaded their country, so why would they fight for others? I really don't know what the king was thinking. And those nobles.

According to normal procedures, you nobles should not resolutely resist the king's order and then make a lot of empty talk. You delayed for more than half a year, or even did not send troops at all? Why did we come to this land to fight? And you sent troops so quickly?
"I heard that the weapons they carry include evil dragons that can fly in the sky and spit flames from the sky to attack us." A Ross soldier huddled in the corner said.

"This war is not our war at all. We are helping you fight." said a Prussian German militiaman.

I was just a miner, but I was dragged to the battlefield for no apparent reason. I was filled with rage.

The most important thing is that the military salary promised to them was only paid once when they arrived, and there has been no second payment until now.

"More than a decade ago, we resisted the invasion of the Eastern Army here. You laughed at us and even invaded us, but we defeated you in the end.

Then the Mongols did not let you go and launched an invasion war against your country.

If you don’t help us now, then when we are defeated, they will destroy you next.” A Novgorod general said.

Although the monarchs of these countries all sent reinforcements, among these reinforcements, only the Teutonic Knights and the Order of the Sword had relatively high morale.

And there are those Viking mercenaries, everyone else is listless and doesn't even want to fight.

While they were talking, another huge shell exploded nearby, and several unlucky soldiers were blown into the sky.

"Oh! Oh! My hand, my hand."

"God, God, save me, save me! Save your people!"

Two of them were not dead, but their limbs were blown off. However, everyone understood that the soldiers whose limbs were blown off would suffer a more miserable fate.

These days, they have witnessed the destructive power of the Mongols' firearms!

As long as the soldiers were injured or had their limbs blown off, they would arrive at the rear.

The military doctors had no effective treatment at all and could only use knives and saws to remove some rotten flesh and then simply bandage it with some cloth.

Many soldiers died after lying in bed for a few days. Even if they were lucky enough to survive, they would be disabled for life.

"This must be God's punishment for us."

"We must have made some terrible mistake, so God sent these people to punish us."

After several days of continuous bombardment, the morale of the coalition forces in Novgorod city dropped to the lowest point.

At this time in the city of Novgorod, all the officers were holding a meeting together.

"Sir Alexander, we can't go on like this. We must think of other ways. The morale of the soldiers has been severely affected, and even their faith in the Lord is not firm." A master of the Teutonic Knights looked at Alexander Nevsky and said.

More than ten years ago, he was still a knight's apprentice and had followed his teacher to participate in the decisive battle with the Mongols. In that war, he lost many brothers and also his mentor.

More than ten years later, the Mongolian army unexpectedly invaded again. This time, he had become a knight master, with several knights and knight apprentices under his command.

This war seemed to have changed nothing, and they were still at a disadvantage.

"Master, do you mean that we should send troops out of the city to fight the Mongols in the field?" asked a knight of the Order of the Sword.

"That's right! Being trapped in the city like this is not the style of a noble knight. We should fight our way out of the city and let the enemy know how powerful we are."

“All the knights and knight apprentices of our two knight orders together only have more than 1 people. If we add some cavalry from other countries, our total number will not exceed , at most more than .

But the Mongols outside the city, except for the Russians, are all cavalry. We will be dead if we rush out." The Grand Master of the Sword Knights said.

The Knights Templar were well-equipped, and all the knights wore armor. If they charged head-on, they would not be afraid of any opponent, but the Mongolian cavalry was different.

They were actually quite good at dealing with these European armored knights. After many encounters, these European knights also discovered the fighting style of the Mongolian soldiers.

In most cases, they would not engage in head-on combat, but instead rely on the flexibility and speed of their horses to restrain them from a distance, and then use bows and arrows to injure their horses.

The heavily armored soldiers wearing thick armor cannot outrun these light cavalry, but the Mongols will not fight them in this siege.

"The Mongolian army is a bit strange this time. They used to be mainly cavalry. Although they also used firearms, they are definitely not comparable to the firearms of today!" said a veteran who had participated in the war more than ten years ago.

Last time, the Mongols brought catapults and fired some into the city. They couldn't put out the flames with gasoline or burning boulders, and only occasionally used something that would explode to hit them.

But now the catapults in the Mongolian army are no longer visible. They have been replaced by all black cannons. They have fully experienced the power of these cannons in the past few days.

Some knights were fine, as they were well-trained after all, but the morale of ordinary militiamen and miners had collapsed due to the explosion.

“We Viking warriors had very good warships, and we could launch raids from the rivers and get behind the enemy.

Then we can launch a surprise attack on them. Our army has recently discovered the Mongolian baggage camp, and we can raid it." said the commander of the Viking mercenaries.

The fighting these days was so frustrating. They were completely blocked in the city by the enemy and could not show the bravery of the Viking warriors at all.

These days, their mercenary group discovered the Mongolian baggage train. As long as they cut off their logistical supplies, the war could be won.

Alexander Nevsky thought for a moment and said, "How about this, we lead a large number of cavalry troops out of the city and go to fight them.

But we are just feinting, tell all the knights that we are just pretending to attack, to give the Viking army a chance to raid their rear baggage camp."

In a head-on battle, they had no chance at all. They had been dragging their feet for so many days just to find a favorable opportunity for a fight, and now that chance had come.

As long as you destroy their baggage and cut off their food supplies, no matter how advanced your weapons are, you will not be able to attack.

"This strategy is feasible, but we have to hold the Mongols back on the battlefield."

"this is a good idea!"

"Please, these Viking warriors." A master knight of the Sword Knights said with a wry smile.

"For the great Odin! All the Vikings who fought bravely and died on the battlefield will have their souls returned to Valhalla." The Viking mercenary commander shouted excitedly.

Humph! You are a bunch of damned barbarians, a bunch of pagans. The heretical gods you worship will be judged by us sooner or later.

Now you are just of some use to me. After all, the Orthodox Church believes in God just like them.

But what about you? What Odin do you believe in? (End of this chapter)