I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 682 The Prelude to the Counterattack

Nowy Südtsch, a city on the northeastern border of Austria.

Nearly a thousand citizens gathered in the square of the cathedral in the city center, looking with pious eyes at Archbishop Mallu, Mr. Mesmer, who was standing on the stone steps of the church.

"A new Crusade has begun!" Mesmer exuded a holy light and raised his hand, saying, "All Christians should respond to the call of His Holiness the Pope and head east to the sacred battlefield!

"The evil heretics will be judged there, and you will also be able to atone for all your sins!"

Although the onlookers were not as enthusiastic as the Poles, they also followed suit, making the sign of the cross and shouting:
"Judge heretics!"

"Respond to the holy war!"

Bishop Borowski of the Nowy Songchi Diocese, who was standing behind Archbishop Mallu, had a pale face - the papal envoy had only said that he would convey the Pope's instructions, but he did not expect the content to be so intense.

He wanted to step forward to stop it, but he didn't know how to end it under the watchful eyes of the public.

Mesmer continued: "If the Russian heretics defeat Poland, they will surely cross the Carpathians and take this place for themselves!
"And you, will be forced to pray with three funny fingers. Your children will be baptized in a vat of water. There will be no chance to escape the torment of purgatory!

"Are you willing to do this?"

As a professional liar, he naturally knows the importance of exaggeration.

The prayer gestures in the Orthodox Church are not mandatory. Baptism is just the immersion of the child in holy water, not a water tank. As for purgatory, there is no such thing in the Orthodox Church, and no atonement is required to avoid purgatory.

But the crowd in the square had already erupted into a roar like a tsunami:

"No, never!"

"Don't even think about coming here!"

"Holy war! Holy war!"

Mesmer nodded with satisfaction: "Then, use your piety to support the warriors fighting against heresy!"

Bishop Borowski nearly fainted. He rubbed his forehead desperately, wondering how to eliminate the influence caused by the special envoy after he left.

Suddenly, his eyes narrowed.

No, for such a big thing as calling for a holy war, why didn’t the Vatican issue instructions in advance, but instead sent a special envoy directly?
Just at this moment, Mesmer finished his speech and walked towards him.

Bishop Borowski looked gloomy, and hurriedly pulled him into the church, saying:
"What do you want to do? This is not the Pope's teaching!"

Mesmer was not nervous at all.

He was prepared to be exposed before he came, and the other party didn't even doubt his identity, but only his behavior. This was much easier to solve than the previous times.

He said calmly: "It's not yet, but it will be soon."

Bishop Borowski said angrily: "How is this possible? I will expose you to the Vatican!"

"That's your right," Mesmer said with a smile. "By the way, you should have heard that Russia has issued an ultimatum to Poland and war will soon begin."

"so what?"

"European countries will soon learn that the Pope is going to launch a holy war. If the war in Poland does not go well, the Pope will definitely not deny the existence of the holy war, because that will make the world think that the Vatican is afraid of Orthodoxy.

"And if the Poles defeat Russia, the Pope's prestige will increase greatly because he 'leads' this holy war. In that case, His Holiness the Pope will even come to Nowy Sącz in person and call on the Crusaders to go to the East."

Borowski was startled. It seemed to be true. Everything the papal envoy did was to expand the influence of the Vatican.

Mesmer continued, "If you can spread the word about the holy war in the diocese, I will definitely commend you to the Holy See."

The reason why he was so calm was that even if something unexpected happened, the intelligence agency would rescue him immediately. Oh, and the Polish Freedom and Security Committee also assisted him.

That afternoon, Mesmer, escorted by Bishop Borowski, left Nowy Sącz and headed for Belz, Austria, to continue his holy war speeches.

Soon, pamphlets about the pope's call for holy war began to appear in large numbers in Nowy Sącz. Citizens were talking about it everywhere. Then, religious fanatics actually went to Poland to join the crusade.

Although the number of people was small, only about a hundred, they basically provided their own weapons and did not need to be paid. Mesmer passed through several cities on the Austrian border and added 700 to 800 soldiers to Poland.

Of course, more important than the military strength was that the news quickly reached Vienna, and people throughout Austria knew that the Poles were the "Spear of God" and were waging a crusade against the Russians.

As Austria is a Catholic country, people naturally think that it should stand on the side of Poland.

……

Town of Marecce.

Yannick wiped the flintlock with a rag, calculated silently in his mind, and said to himself:
"It's been three days."

This is the seventh day since he came here.

In other words, the Russian army was blocked outside the town for a week.

Although news of danger on the defense line came every day and the casualties of the soldiers were very serious - the casualties in his company were close to one-third - the defense line was never broken by the enemy.

A little boy came over with a bucket and started cleaning the rag on the floor.

Yannick looked at him and said:
"Kachi, there will be a carriage carrying the wounded returning to Warsaw tomorrow. You can go with them."

The little boy was stunned for a moment and shook his head.

Yannick said:

"Be obedient, it's dangerous here."

Kachi still shook his head.

"You want to avenge your sister?"

Kachi nodded.

Yannick reached out and rubbed his head, causing the wound to ache:
"Hiss—I know, but you're not even as tall as a flintlock."

"I can fire a cannon!" The little boy seldom spoke, but he said these few words with great force.

Yannick smiled and said, "Then you have to go back to Warsaw to study mathematics, and then you can become a qualified artilleryman. The enemy will not always come to the muzzle of the gun on their own."

He has decided to adopt the child, even though he is only 19 years old.

However, he was officially promoted to sergeant three days ago, and his allowance was almost enough for Kachi to finish ordinary school, and military school was said to be free.

Kachi looked at him again, thought for a moment, and nodded seriously:
"Okay then. I'll be back soon!"

Yannick subconsciously wanted to rub his head, but suddenly remembered the wound, so he quickly withdrew his hand and pointed at his feet:
“I will hold this place until you learn how to fire the cannon.

"Like Mr. Drasovitz and his people did."

The sound of military drums behind him interrupted his words.

He turned his head and saw a Polish army appearing on the road in the distance.

The soldiers lined up in a very neat formation and marched southward to the beat of drums. There were so many of them that they stretched to the end of the sight.

Kachi gave him a questioning look.

Yannick shook his head: "Maybe he's here to help defend the town. I don't know."

Just then, the second lieutenant of the company came to check the condition of the guns. Hearing this, he looked up and pointed to the military flag at the front of the queue:
"That's the King's Third Infantry Division, and the one behind it seems to be the King's Second Cavalry Battalion."

(End of this chapter)