Tumeng: I am a national advisor in the Golden Family

"Grand Duke, the problem is that the enemy has already arrived! This is no longer a question of whether we want to fight or not!"

"Grand Duke! Even if we don't want to fight, the enemy has come to our door with his army. Do we still have to open the city gate and let the enemy put a knife to our necks?" asked a court minister.

Now it’s not a question of whether they want to offend Mongolia, but that the Mongols sent a large army here for no apparent reason, and it seems that they have ill intentions!

“Nominally, we are still a vassal state of Mongolia. We did not make any mistakes, so he had no reason to deal with us. This time, I was sick, so he sent these people.

If they slaughter me without reason, it will have a huge impact on his reputation, and ordinary Hungarian people will not approve of them." Archduke Kalman clenched his hands tightly and said.

No matter what, they cannot go to war with the Mongols, even if they are strong enough and are confident that they can destroy these 4,000 Mongolian cavalry.

But after winning, can they rest easy?
If the angry Mongolian army comes again, what will they do to resist? By then, the whole Croatia will be a river of blood.

Moreover, this was equivalent to giving the commander of the Mongol army's westward expedition an excuse, an excuse to kill himself and completely exterminate the royal family.

"Grand Duke! Do you mean that we should send people to negotiate with the Mongolian army first? See what they are going to do." An elderly noble seemed to have figured something out and asked.

"That's right, let's negotiate with the Mongolian army first. They won't want my life without reason. They must have a purpose for coming here this time." Grand Duke Kalman said, sitting in his chair.

Mongol army, it would have been great if you had come a year later! If you had come a little later, I would have achieved my goal and completely seized the entire Hungarian region.

In fact, Kálmán did not intend to seize power by violence. Instead, he wanted to poison Queen Maria and his young son, King John's eldest son, and then announce to the public that they died of illness.

After their death, he could naturally ascend to the throne as the only descendant of the royal bloodline. Duke Kalman could even let his adult son succeed to the throne, with himself as his assistant.

But unfortunately, just when he had gained the support of most of the old nobles and was about to successfully implement his plan, the Mongolian army launched a westward expedition.

And they defeated the Golden Horde and the Northern Russia region at lightning speed, and headed towards Hungary, shattering all his fantasies.

"I think the Grand Duke's proposal is good. The Mongolian army has no reason to attack us. No matter what the matter is, if they want to attack, they must find a suitable reason!" A young noble waved his hand and spoke.

"I agree with this statement. Let's send an envoy to negotiate with the Mongolian army first! Without any negotiations, we won't know what the other side wants to do."

"Then it is decided. I will send an envoy to the Mongolian army immediately."

Finally, after some discussion among the passers-by, the Grand Duke of Croatia, Duke Kalman, sent his envoys to the Mongolian army.

Just two days later, the envoy sent by Kalman met with the Mongolian army!
However, the poor messenger did not see the former guards, but was directly grabbed by the Mongolian army and put on horseback. Then several Mongolian cavalrymen were arranged to take him forward.

The advancing speed of the Mongolian cavalry exceeded Kalman's imagination. Not long after we sent out the envoys, the Mongolian army appeared at the gate of Croatia.

The speed of the Mongolian cavalry's advance once again scared everyone. Without any infantry to hold them back, the Mongolian cavalry could advance at full speed, at a speed of hundreds of kilometers a day.

A large mass of Mongolian cavalry arrived at the city, causing serious fright to the residents of Croatia.

All the residents gave up their farm work and hid in their homes, taking their wives and children into the cellars or into the churches in the city.

After receiving the news that the Mongolian army had arrived, Duke Kalman did not dare to delay and immediately went to the top of the city wall.

He looked at the Mongolian army under the city with a serious expression. Aren’t these guys coming too fast?
Moreover, this number and scale do not look like four thousand people!
However, after careful observation, Duke Kalman discovered that they simply carried more horses, and many of the horses did not have cavalry on them.

But even so, this cavalry unit looked very powerful. All the soldiers were wearing heavy black armor, holding scimitars, bows and arrows, and their horses were also extremely strong.

"Open the city gate quickly. We are here to pick up Duke Kalman on the orders of the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition." The leading Mongolian captain shouted loudly.

Then a local businessman began to translate.

"I have no conflict with Mongolia. Why do you bring your army to my land?" Grand Duke Kalman stood on the city wall and shouted loudly.

"Qian Hu, he asked, why did you come here?"

"The one standing on the city wall above the castle is Grand Duke Kalman, right?" The leading Mongolian captain pointed to the top of the city wall and asked the general in silver-white armor.

"The one in charge of the Thousand Households is Duke Kalman, the Grand Duke of Croatia. He has been the Grand Duke here for more than 20 years."

"Haha! This guy is really deceiving the crown prince. Look, after we arrived, he ran to the city wall and put on his armor. He doesn't look sick at all." A Mongolian captain said with a sneer.

Why are you pretending to be sick? Do you think we don't know what you are hiding?

"This old guy is very dishonest. No matter what, we have to open the city gate first."

Several thousand households nodded to each other.

"The commander of our Western Expedition Army, the Grand Prince of the Daqian Empire, His Royal Highness Zhang Dingguan, heard that the Grand Duke of Croatia is seriously ill.

So he sent us to visit him and instructed us to escort Duke Kalman to the city of Buda, where there were the best doctors and medicines brought from the East by our army on the Western Expedition.

Please open the city gate quickly, get ready, take all your family members with you, and leave with us. When we reach the Hungarian Royal City, our doctors will treat you." A Mongolian captain said loudly.

The European businessman nearby immediately translated these words to Grand Duke Kalman.

Hearing this, Archduke Kalman frowned deeply and came to pick him up. Then you only need to send a cavalry unit of a hundred people, right?

There was no need to send so many cavalrymen, and they also brought spare horses. It was obvious that they were here to take me away by force.

The momentum of the Mongolian army outside the city scared the defenders inside the city. In this situation, if a conflict occurred, they would be doomed and there would be no chance of survival.

"Grand Duke Kalman, what should we do now? Mongols, Mongols, are they going to forcibly take you to Hungary?" asked a Croatian nobleman.

The nobles on the city wall are now very nervous. The nobles who were still talking about fighting to the death with the Mongolian army a few days ago have now become soft and dare not say the same things they said before.

Are you kidding? In this situation, only a fool would fight these people head-on!
"Our Croatian capital is very small. I'm afraid the city cannot accommodate so many soldiers and horses. Please wait outside the city for a few days. I will pack my luggage and leave with you." Kalman said openly.

He now wanted to know what the attitude of the Mongolian army was. Why did they suddenly come with bad intentions? He should not have shown any ill will towards the eldest prince Zhang Dingguan before, right?
Could it be that something happened in the Hungarian royal city? Was that bitch Queen Maria planning to use the power of the Mongols to kill him?
Kalman suddenly thought of a terrible fact. If he were Queen Maria, he would also decisively choose to use the power of the Mongol army to eliminate his enemies.

Thinking of this, Archduke Kalman's hands and feet turned cold.

"We have to wait for half a day at most. It is noon now. Grand Duke Kalman must appear before me tonight.

Otherwise, we can only open the city gate ourselves and go in. "The leading Mongolian captain snorted coldly and spoke.

We won't wait for you that long. We'll give you half a day to consider. If you are unwilling, then we will start attacking the city.

Duke Kalman on the tower was so frightened when he heard this. Was he mistaken? Was he going to attack the city by force? If he didn't go out, he would attack the city by force. These damn barbarians had no noble spirit or etiquette at all, but he didn't have any of them. His strength was ridiculous.

"I understand. I will pack up my things immediately and leave with you." Kalman said openly.

"Grand Duke! You can't go out. If you go out, what if the Mongols betray you?"

"Yes! Grand Duke, if you go out and the Mongols want to harm you, we won't be able to do anything about it. And if we open the city gates, we might let these demons into the city."

A large group of Croatian nobles surrounded Grand Duke Kalman and started talking at once, all of them opposing him leaving the city.

"If I don't go out, the Mongolian army will attack. Who can resist then? And even if you can resist, there will be more troops coming.

I will go to Hungary in person and explain the situation to Zhang Yong’s son, Zhang Dingguan.” Archduke Kalman took a deep breath and said.

They should have no evidence of their rebellion. I have been staying in Croatia. Now I can only pray that I can convince the Mongolian commander after I go there!

“We only brought ten days’ worth of dry food with us this time, and we’ve already eaten seven days’ worth of it.

We will need to wait here for a while, as we still need to consume one day's worth of dry food, and the journey back will take 7 to 8 days, so please ask Duke Kalman to prepare ten days' worth of food for us." A Mongolian captain said.

Now that we have invited the person, let’s talk about another thing!

They are running low on food and need to replenish it locally. I'm sorry to trouble you.
Upon hearing this, the nobles on the city wall were immediately furious. Are they kidding me? More than 4,000 people came here and asked them for food.

"I'm sorry, my lords, our Croatia is not very big and has a small population, so we don't have much food to provide you." said a noble on the city wall.

Hearing this, the four Mongolian commanders sneered and then burst into laughter.

"Hahaha! If you Croatia don't give us food, then we can only borrow it from the people in some surrounding villages. And in your royal city, we should be able to find enough food for us to eat." A Mongolian captain said.

The European businessman standing nearby and responsible for translation also sighed helplessly and looked at the Croatian with a pitiful look.

"Grand Duke Kalman, the Mongolian general asked me to tell you that if you are unwilling to provide them with food and fodder, they will go to the local people to get it.

Or you can go directly into your royal city and look for the food you want. For the sake of your people, I think it would be better for you to gather some food together. "The European businessman in charge of translation said.

"What barbaric and unreasonable fellows! How could they say that? They actually, actually wanted to rob our people."

"I help the damned barbarians. That's their nature. That's how they act. That's how they've always been."

"We can't give them the food. This is an army of more than 4,000 people. If we give it to them, all the food in our treasury won't be enough."

The nobles on the city wall started talking at once.

Duke Kalman's face was terribly gloomy at this moment. In order to overthrow Queen Maria's comrades over the years, he had indeed secretly stockpiled food and fodder in his private warehouse.

I didn’t expect these Mongolian cavalry would be so rude after they came over. It seems that I’m in great danger this time!
“Tell the Mongolian generals that we will provide them with food and fodder, and ask them to stay outside the city and not to harass the local people.” After saying this, Grand Duke Oman returned to the center of the city with other nobles.

The Mongolian army set up camp outside the Croatian royal city and dismounted to rest.

That night, dozens of carts of food and fodder were transported out and handed over to the Mongolian cavalry.

"This Croatian Grand Duke is quite obedient. He actually gave us food and fodder, leaving us no chance to take any action." A Mongolian captain who was in charge of receiving the food and fodder spoke up after doing so.

Isn't it? They came here to cause trouble this time, but they didn't expect that they would be accepted by the other party after they took the initiative to cause trouble.

“It’s okay, we’re just appetizers!

When we escort him to the royal city, the eldest prince will greet him personally. All of you hurry up and follow me into the city to invite the Grand Duke." A captain waved his hand.

Suddenly, thousands of Mongolian cavalrymen rushed into the city together, and even the defenders in the city didn't have time to react.

"Wait! You can't enter the city, you might as well go in." The guard in front of the city gate wanted to stop them, but a scimitar was placed on his neck.

"Don't talk. As long as you behave yourself, no one will die and no one will get hurt."

Grand Duke Kalman was packing his luggage when he suddenly received a report from his servants that a team of a thousand Mongolian cavalry suddenly rushed into the city and headed straight for his residence.

Damn these Mongolian cavalrymen, what on earth do they want to do? What on earth do they want to do? The Croatian Grand Duke clenched his fists tightly.

Soon, the gate of the Omiya Castle was pushed open, and the Mongolian captain leading the group rushed in with a large number of Mongolian cavalry, and then surrounded the place.

Some European knights who were responsible for guarding the castle drew their swords and looked at the Mongolian cavalry rushing in with vigilance.

"What are you doing? I have agreed to all your conditions. I promised to leave with you and I promised to provide you with food and fodder. What else do you want now?" Kalman asked openly.

“Don’t get me wrong, Grand Duke Kalman, we are very satisfied with what you have provided. Don’t worry, we are not here to kill people, but to pick you up.

And take all your family members, including your wife and children, and leave together." The leading Mongolian captain smiled and said.

"Do you mean to take my wife, children, and all my family members to the Royal City of Hungary?" At this time, Archduke Kalman was even a little bit intolerable.

"That's right, this is the order of the eldest prince! You and your family will go to the Hungarian royal city to accept the reward from the eldest prince." The Mongolian commander sneered and said.

When the Grand Duchess heard this, she immediately took a step back in fear. Why? Why did he target her?
The two sons of Grand Duke Kalman also huddled tightly behind their father, with expressions of fear on their faces.

"Have I done anything wrong? Why are you treating me like this?" Archduke Kalman asked, gritting his teeth.
"The eldest prince will tell you about this matter. Let's go now. Do you want to go by yourself, or do we ask you to go?"

"I'll do it myself!" said Archduke Kalmann, taking a deep breath.

Hearing this, the Mongolian captain smiled with great satisfaction and made a gesture of invitation.

Then he ordered his cavalry to load all of the Grand Duke's family members onto the carriage.

Then, a large group of Mongolian cavalry escorted the Croatian Grand Duke and all his family members towards the Hungarian royal city.

During this period, no soldier in the Croatian region dared to resist, because everyone knew what the outcome of resistance would be.

In the end, no bloody conflict occurred, and the four thousand Mongolian cavalry left the Croatian royal city in the early morning of the same day.

(End of this chapter)