Tumeng: I am a national advisor in the Golden Family

Two women, his brother's wife and his own wife were protected in the center. The two women were holding their children and running for their lives.

When they rushed out, there were more than 200 people in this team, but after two rounds of attacks by the Mongolian cavalry, there are only a few dozen people left, and behind them, large numbers of Mongolian troops are chasing them.

But the Mongolian cavalry chasing them seemed to want to capture them alive, so even though they were very close and within the shooting range of Mongolian bows and arrows, they did not launch an attack.

Instead, he followed behind slowly, as if he and others were sure of his victory. After all, he had followed the Golden Horde for ten years, and Ivrevich understood this very well.

This was a Mongolian tactic to tire out the enemy. The war horses raised by the Russians came from Northern Europe. They were tall, purebred horses with good cold resistance and running ability. They had a very strong charge speed and powerful impact force.

When running in a short period of time, their speed is faster than that of Mongolian horses, but their endurance is indeed much worse than that of Mongolian horses.

The Mongolian horses followed behind them at a leisurely pace, which could have exhausted their horses to death. The only good news now was that the monsters flying in the sky before were no longer chasing them.

"Grand Duke! We are in the forest, and it is not easy to hide unless we avoid the sight of the Mongols." A guard quickly ran to Yaroslavich and said. (I just realized that the name of this guy was written wrong in the previous chapters. He should be called Yaroslavich, not Ivrevich.)
If you want to avoid the Mongols' pursuit, it is not as simple as just running into the woods. These people are chasing you, and you will not be able to escape unless you get rid of them.

"Then do you have any better idea, my knight?" Yaroslavich turned his head and asked.

He also knew that if they didn't find a way to get rid of these Mongols, they wouldn't be able to run far, and when their horses were exhausted, they would be captured.

But there is no chance at all if you run on the plains, but if you go into the woods, you might still have a chance of survival.

"Don't worry, Grand Prince Yaroslav, I know there is a swamp ahead, a swamp in the woods, I will lead you to a safe route.

In the past, when the Mongols caught up with us, they would get stuck in the swamp, and then we could escape. ”A Novgorod knight rode up to the Grand Duke and said.

As local tyrants, they at least have some terrain advantages. The nearby forests are where they have played since they were young.

They are extremely familiar with every inch of land here, and naturally know where is dangerous, where is not dangerous, and where there are natural traps.

Hearing this, Yaroslavovich's eyes suddenly lit up. This gave him a life-saving straw. If they could drag the Mongolian cavalry into the swamp, then they would have enough time to escape.

They did not seek to kill the Mongols, as long as they could escape their pursuit and enter the vast forests and snow-capped mountains, they could escape.

As for where to go next! That is something to be considered later. They can go to Poland by land.

Then you can go from Poland to the Holy Roman Empire or France, or even take a boat directly to the Kingdom of England or even the Kingdom of Sweden or the Kingdom of Finland.

"Come on, my knights, you lead the way. Lead us into the forest, then find the swamp you mentioned and lure the Mongolian army over there." Yaroslavich said immediately.

With a main target in place, the team's pace began to stabilize.

When the Mongolian cavalry captain who was in charge of the pursuit in the rear saw this scene, he raised the corners of his mouth and sneered.

"Tell the scouts to come over and get a detailed map of this forest." said the captain in charge of the pursuit.

All of them were divided into units of centurions and were chasing after these Western knights.

They didn't know who they were chasing, they just knew that anyone who ran out of the city, especially those on horseback, must not be spared.

This army was very well-equipped, with every knight wearing thick iron armor, and they could vaguely see that there were probably women and children among their escort.

Therefore, the Mongolian army was very sure that this team was not simple and must be escorting important people.

So he assigned three centurions to lead three cavalrymen to pursue, while he was the one responsible for implementing the matching tactics and closely following the enemy, and the remaining two centurions followed with their troops.

A Mongolian cavalryman nodded, rode away, and soon brought a scout. At this time, the army had already entered the forest.

"Master Centurion! The forest ahead is huge, and there are often elks, wild boars, or brown bears. There are also some wild wolves. The danger is still quite large, but as long as we gather together, generally no wild beast dares to attack us.

About seven or eight days ago, we made a rough exploration of the forest and found some swamps, muddy areas,

I guess the Ross army wants to lead us into a swamp or mud, so that we can't pursue them." The scout said as he looked at the escape route of the Ross army in front.

As soon as the army arrived here, scouts were sent out to draw detailed maps of the plains, mountainous areas and even snow-capped mountains.

When they set out, they would bring some local Luosi guides with them, or capture some local residents and ask them to tell them the dangerous and safe places in these areas.

They have been here for more than twenty days, almost a month, and the surrounding topographic map has been almost drawn. Within a radius of four or five hundred miles, the Western Expedition Army has a very complete map.

So even if these Russians wanted to run away, they couldn't, because they had no way to retreat.

"Really? Then do you know the distribution of those muddy areas and swamps?" asked the captain in charge of the pursuit.

"Please rest assured. We have made detailed markings on the four mud areas and five swamps around Guardian Bai. We have even marked two lakes." The waiter nodded and took out a map from his arms.

"Why are we looking at a map at this time? Just lead us. You are the living map here." Chief Protector Bai waved his hand and spoke.

They were riding horses, chasing the enemy, how could they look at the map? If they stopped for a while, the enemy might run away. These Russians were running for their lives.

The scout nodded, immediately rode ahead and started leading them forward. Soon the group rushed into the woods and ran for an hour.

The Russian army led them through many twists and turns and finally arrived at a swamp. Led by the local tyrant, the Russian army ran through a very narrow path, and the Mongolian army behind them also followed.

But strangely, the Mongolian army did not rush into the swamp collectively and get trapped as the Russian army thought!

The Mongolian army actually knew the secret path, and they followed the only safe passage, formed a vertical column, and passed through the swamp safely.

"How could this happen? It's impossible. We should be the only ones who know about this safe passage!" The leading Lovegorod knight said in shock.

He was originally full of confidence that he could lead the Grand Duke and everyone out of trouble, but he didn't expect that reality would slap him in the face.

The safe path that I had picked out with so much difficulty was actually useless. The enemy discovered it so quickly! Was this a mistake?
"Hurry! Go faster!" Yaroslavich's face was extremely gloomy. He turned his horse's head again and started galloping.

He can't stay here, they can't stay here, his brother has already sacrificed his life, if they die here again, then the bloodline of the Grand Duke of Kievan Rus will be cut off.

God, answer the prayers of your people, answer your people!
Please, save us! Let a miracle happen!

At this time, Yaroslavich and other Russian soldiers began to pray for a miracle.

But unfortunately, God seemed to be asleep and he did not respond to his people because the Mongolian army was already chasing them.

This time, the Mongolian cavalry seemed to have lost the intention of playing around. They started to shoot at them with bows and arrows, constantly consuming the knights in the back row. Moreover, the Mongolian cavalry's shooting angles were very tricky. They did not shoot at the knights wearing heavy armor on horseback, but only at their mounts.

"Ah! Ah!" From time to time, there were screams coming from behind. From time to time, a Russian knight would fall over with his horse, and then the saber of the Mongolian who was rushing over would slash the knight's neck.

At dusk that day, Yaroslavich's horse suddenly fell to the ground, panting heavily and unable to get up again. The horses of others were not much better.

At this time, there were only a few knights following him. A team of hundreds of people rushed out, but now there are less than ten people left with him.

Moreover, he didn't know when his wife, his eldest brother's wife, one of his sons, and his eldest brother's two sons all disappeared. No one knew where they went. Even Yaroslavich didn't know when they disappeared.

Soon a team of more than fifty Mongolian cavalrymen surrounded the few people. Yaroslavich closed his eyes in despair. He failed to fulfill his mission as a brother.

"Let's go, Grand Duke Yarosvich. I didn't expect that I would catch such a big fish, the Grand Duke of Vladimir Principality." The leading centurion sneered and said.

This guy just kept running forward and didn't even notice that his wife and children were captured. There were several Russians following him in the team, and these Russians immediately recognized who the captives were.

At dawn the next day, the fighting in the entire city was over. All the troops in the city who resisted were wiped out, and those who surrendered were properly settled.

A large number of prisoners were also captured, whether they had rushed out of the city or not.

By noon that day, the Mongolian army took over the city and began to distribute the spoils.

First, all the people were driven out of the city, and then the Mongolian army began to plunder. After all, the city resisted.

Out of respect for the Grand Duke of Russia, Zhang Dingguan did not order a massacre, but looting was inevitable.

According to the agreement, the Mongolian army will plunder the city for three days. After three days, the local residents can return to their homes and live again.

However, it was unclear what would be left in the house by then. Zhang Dingguan only gave an order that the soldiers could loot things but were absolutely not allowed to set fire.

“Commander! This time, we captured more than 70,000 prisoners, including 40,000 from Novgorod and Vladimir’s troops.

The remaining 30,000-odd people were the coalition forces of some Western European countries.

Some of them are from Prussia, some are from the Kingdom of Sweden, some are from the Duchy of Lithuania, and some are from Poland." Cha Tohua walked into the tent and said.

"Thank you for your hard work, Uncle Cha Tohua. You can just let your subordinates do this small matter. Why bother you to go and inquire about it in person?" Zhang Dingguan immediately stepped forward and said.

He didn't expect that the person who went to count the spoils and prisoners of war this time was Chatuohua's own deputy general of the Western Expedition.

"I'm worried that those guys might have missed something, so it's better for me to handle it myself. Besides, the soldiers also looted, so logically, they should hand over a portion of it."

"There's no need to hand it over. Whoever grabs it owns it. Who among our hundred-households, thousand-households, and tens of thousands-households doesn't have military pay? Why don't we need these?" Zhang Dingguan said.

These Russians were not necessarily very rich, and were even considered relatively poor among Europeans. They could not loot much from their cities, not even as much as the military pay of their Western Expedition army!
"Hahaha! You're right, but at least we have captured a batch of food and fodder, enough for our entire army to eat for several months.

It seems that the Grand Duke of Novgorod, Alexander Nevsky, wanted to fight a war of attrition with us and a protracted war with us here." Cha Tohua said.

Finding food and fodder is a good thing. With the food and fodder stored up by the Western Expedition Army now, there will be no problem for the entire army to eat them back to the East, and they don't even need to engage in nomadic migration along the way.

"This is a good thing. This man named Alexander Nevsky was also a warrior. He did not run away but died gloriously in battle. I ordered his funeral to be properly done and his body should not be humiliated." Zhang Dingguan said.

"That's right. We should respect the warrior, and he is indeed a talent. It's just that the gap in strength between the enemy and us is too big. Even if he has extraordinary talent, he is powerless to turn the tide." A Han recorder next to him said.

This time, according to the order of his father, he also brought a number of Han recorders with him to record the detailed battle reports of this war and include them in textbooks for future generals to study.

"Crown Prince! What are you going to do with these more than 70,000 prisoners?" Cha Tuohua asked while sitting in the military tent.

"Uncle Chatohua! This is what my nephew thinks. First of all, we will hand over these 40,000 Russian prisoners to these grand dukes for disposal. They have made great contributions in this war.

We will only keep these captives as slaves, so we might as well sell them to the Russians as a favor. Besides, we don’t have to support them, there will be people who will support them naturally.” Zhang Dingguan said.

“Grand Prince, you can support a small lord among the locals, and then divide the Principality of Vladimir, the Principality of Novgorod, and some other small principalities.

Many of the Russian generals who followed the war performed well this time, so you can divide the land among them." Cha Tuohua said.

This was what Zhang Yong did back then. At that time, many Mongolian generals and even some Russian nobles believed that the ultimate successor to the throne must be based on bloodline.

They would definitely choose the bloodline of the first Duke of Kievan Rus, even if it was some side branch, but Zhang Yong's action in the end shocked everyone.

Because Zhang Yong directly chose to support a group of Russian generals who had made military achievements and made them the new grand dukes of the Southern Russian region.

This made the Southern Ross region stronger and became an absolute help in their westward expedition.

“Uncle Chatohua! What you said makes sense, but these dukes of Southern Ross followed me all the way here to fight, so I can’t help but give them some rewards.

How about this, divide up Novgorod's land, and all the principalities that have contact with Northern Russia and border it can get a part of the land.

As for the remaining land, I will select five generals who have made great military achievements, and then appoint them as new grand dukes to manage the Northern Ross region.

As for those dukes who do not border the Northern Rus region, I will give some European horses.

We will also mobilize a batch of cattle and sheep from the Golden Horde as rewards for them." Zhang Dingguan said.

"Let's do it! This is the best way. In this way, all the dozen grand dukes in the entire land of Russia will be conferred by you and your father." Cha Tohua nodded and said.

"Uncle Cha Tuohua, as long as you think I am doing the right thing, I plan to release all the nobles and some officers from Western Europe.

As for the remaining soldiers, they will be temporarily detained and used as laborers to build cities in the Ross region and to cultivate land and open up wasteland. "Zhang Dingguan said.

"Are you planning to extort a ransom? According to their European rules, this is indeed possible. These noble children can be redeemed by asking their families to pay the ransom." Cha Tuohua nodded.

These Western countries do have this tradition.

"No, no, no! Uncle Cha Tohua, I don't intend to ask for a ransom.

I just asked them to go back and tell their respective monarchs how strong my army is. "Zhang Dingguan said. (End of this chapter)