Usurpation of Mongolia: My father-in-law is Genghis Khan

Chapter 316 Europe Kneels: Unequal Treaties!
After the Mongol army achieved a great victory at Magdeburg, it did not continue its advance into the Holy Roman Empire.

Firstly, of course, it was because of the arrow wound on Gyu's body.

Even a specially made precision crossbow fired from a distance of 120 paces would not be powerful enough. Furthermore, given Guyuk's fine armor, the arrow only penetrated an inch into his flesh, hardly fatal.

But this Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights betrayed the knightly code by deliberately poisoning the arrows.

In fact, just as Europa's cavalry collapsed, Guyuk could no longer hold out and withdrew from the battle.

That night, Guiyou fell into a coma.

He was unconscious for a day and a night. When he awoke, the imperial physician subtly reminded him to prepare for his passing. He would be gone in three months to a year.

Because Gyu's body had long been weakened by wine and women, and his constitution was too weak, coupled with this poisoned arrow, even the most skilled doctor was powerless to save him.

Guyuk's authority was too weak, and his illness was quickly learned by Mongol nobles such as Köden, Möngke, Kublai Khan, and Anchitai.

This battle cannot be fought.

The Ögedei line and the Tolui line had a blood feud, and it was only through the mediation of Zhao Shuo and Chagatai that they were able to unite again, and Güyük ascended to the throne.

If Guyuk could live another three to five years, then without a doubt, this conflict would be temporarily suppressed, and the Mongol army would continue to advance westward, using the enemy's wealth and land to alleviate their internal conflicts.

But doesn't this mean that Guyuk won't live much longer and that a new round of struggle for the Khanate will soon begin?

In a war like this, who will lead the vanguard and who will defend? Who will reap the rewards and who will gnaw on the bones?
Which Mongol nobleman wouldn't want to preserve his strength to the greatest extent possible in preparation for the upcoming struggle for the Khanate?

Secondly, the Mongol army suffered heavy losses.

Europa was no pushover; their heavy cavalry was in no way inferior to the Mongol heavy cavalry. While the Europa army of 180,000 suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Magdeburg, almost being wiped out, the Mongols also suffered significant losses.

The Mongol army suffered 17,000 casualties, and even after a period of rest, only about 3,000 of them would be able to return to the battlefield.

In other words, the Mongol army suffered a net loss of 14,000 men in the Battle of Magdeburg alone!
Adding to the 6,000 casualties suffered in the battles to capture Brandenburg and Magdeburg, the Mongol army suffered a net loss of over 20,000 men.

What is this concept?
The pure Mongol army now numbers only 120,000, and has suddenly lost one-sixth of its strength!

It can be said that since Genghis Khan's rise to power, the Mongols have never suffered such heavy losses.

If Mongolia were to achieve a few more such "great victories," it would be out of men.

Twenty days later, news came from Chagatai that he had achieved a great victory on the eastern front; of the Pope's 100,000-strong army, only a little over 10,000 escaped back to the west bank of the Danube.

The Mongol army suffered approximately two thousand casualties.

Two thousand Mongols is not a small number; the total number of Mongol troops is now less than one hundred thousand.

When Guyuk and the other Mongol nobles heard this number, they felt a real pang of heartache.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the blood of the Europeans is incredibly thick.

Originally, Guyu and the others had already learned some information about Europa, but they were not entirely sure.

For example, within Europe, there are numerous feudal lords, whose rulers do not have much authority and are unable to mobilize their full military strength.

For example, Europe is full of stone fortresses, making it very difficult to attack.

Now that they have come here in person, they believe.

For example, the Brandenburg region that Guyuk conquered. Although the Holy Roman Empire had mobilized all its forces, Brandenburg still had enough troops left to defend it, which caused Guyuk and his men a lot of trouble.

Although Frederick II's 150,000-strong Holy Roman Empire army had been largely annihilated by the Mongol army.

However, those princes of the Holy Roman Empire still had troops at their disposal! Moreover, they were all local rulers, and in order to protect everything they owned, they would inevitably fight the Mongol army to the death!

What troubled the Mongols the most were those stone fortresses.

There are two reasons for this.

On the one hand, this was because Europe practiced a standard feudal system of fiefdoms. Power was decentralized through a hierarchical "lord-vassal" contractual relationship. The king granted land to high-ranking nobles, who then granted it to middle-ranking nobles, who in turn granted it to lower-ranking knights.

For lords of every rank, the castle was first and foremost the center and symbol of their ruling power. It served as the lord's residence, court, and administrative center, as well as a military fortress protecting the people and wealth within their territory. Every lord needed his own castle to exercise power and ensure his security.

Therefore, those European nobles frantically built their own fortresses within their territories in order to deal with the king and the neighboring lords.

This move made it increasingly difficult for Europe to unify and centralize power, and it also led to the construction of numerous stone fortresses throughout Europe, to the point that some villages even had two stone fortresses.

On the other hand, there are the wealthy regions of Europe and China. Although both are plains, their geological conditions are different.

The Central and Western European regions that the Mongol army was about to attack had undergone complex geological movements and glacial activity, resulting in widespread exposure of bedrock and abundant high-quality building stones such as limestone, sandstone, and granite.

This means that a lord could easily find quarries within or near his own fiefdom.

The core area of ​​Chinese civilization, the plains of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, are vast alluvial plains formed by river deposits. These areas lack large, easily quarried, high-quality stones on the surface, and have thick, deep soil.

Therefore, although the Europeans' technological level was far behind that of the Chinese in this era, the number and sturdiness of their stone fortresses far exceeded the imagination of Guyuk and others.

The Mongols repeatedly interrogated the European captives and arrived at an approximate number of stone fortresses within the Holy Roman Empire: more than ten thousand!

Ten thousand stone fortresses!
This only accounts for the number of stone fortresses within the Holy Roman Empire.

What about England and France?
What about the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Aragon?
How many Mongol warriors would it take to breach these stone fortresses? Could the wealth accumulated by these Europeans compensate for the Mongols' losses?
Therefore, by now, neither Guyuk nor any other Mongol nobles wanted to continue fighting.

Coincidentally, the Europeans also don't want to fight anymore.

Now, even a stick can't fight a wolf without fearing both sides; the Europeans are even less willing to continue the fight than the Mongols!

Well, in the Hungarian campaign, the Europeans lost nearly 100,000 elite soldiers. In the Battle of Magdeburg, the Europeans lost more than 150,000.

A total of 250,000 troops were lost!

If this happened a few more times, would Europe still exist? The fact that the Mongols did not continue their advance after the Battle of Magdeburg also gave the Europeans an opportunity for peace talks.

Therefore, after discussions between Pope Innocent IV and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, they sent envoys to the Mongols for peace talks.

The golden tent was filled with the aroma of mare's milk wine. Guyuk forced himself to be energetic but his face remained calm. Köden, Möngke, Kublai Khan, and other Mongol nobles stood on either side, their majestic gazes fixed on the European envoy, Jordan.

"Your Majesty the Great Khan of the Mongols, the sword has delivered its verdict, and the blood of countless warriors has soaked the land of Europe. We Europeans acknowledge that on the battlefield, the courage and strategy of you and your soldiers have won the victory."

"Therefore, I have come here at the request of the Pope and all the nobles of Europe. We are willing to pay a heavy price to end this war that has caused two great nations to shed their blood."

Jordan knelt before Guyuk, uttering humble words of peace.

Guiyou nodded slightly and said, "Tell me about it."

Jordan said, "Firstly, we Europeans acknowledge our defeat, and all Europeans, including the Pope, acknowledge your title of 'Emperor of All Mankind.' Moreover, this title will belong to the Great Khan of the Mongols forever."

A translator was appointed to convey his words to Guyuk.

After listening, Guyuk snorted and said, "All talk and no action! If you expect a title to satisfy me, then stop daydreaming! Besides, I am ordained by the Eternal Heaven to rule over all mankind, and those who disobey will die! What does it matter if you Europeans don't acknowledge it?"

Jordan quickly added, "There are three other conditions. Secondly, the Polish region, the area east of the Danube in Hungary, the Brandenburg region, and the area east of the Elbe in Bohemia will all be ceded to Mongolia."

"Thirdly, we are willing to exchange five million florins, five million gold dutcats, and ten million silver deniers for your army's prisoners."

"Fourth, we are willing to offer five million gold dutkat and ten million silver deniers to your army as a reward for the Khan's loyal and brave soldiers."

Guyuk had been fighting in Europe for many years and knew the approximate value of European gold and silver coins.

The Europa exchanged approximately one million taels of gold and one million taels of silver for the prisoners. In addition, they used 500,000 taels of gold and one million taels of silver to reward the Mongol army.

He looked at Möngke and said, "Möngke, what do you say?"

Mongke said, "How can such a small amount of money make up for our army's losses? Here's what we'll do: the Europeans probably can't come up with much gold, but we'll give them another ten million silver deniers. Also, we'll take the money, but we can't release those hundreds of thousands of prisoners and let the Europeans recover their strength."

Around 140,000 European prisoners were captured on both the eastern and western fronts.

Gu Yu nodded slightly and said, "Okay. In addition, we need to add one more condition: we want the whole of Bohemia, not just the Bohemian region west of the Elbe. Also, we want the Lusatia region between Bohemia and Brandenburg. We want Brandenburg and Bohemia to be united as one."

Jordan's expression changed drastically after hearing the interpreter's translation. He said, "No, Great Khan...you've gone too far! We in Europe still have hundreds of thousands of troops and countless castles to rely on. You haven't even conquered Bohemia west of the Elbe River yet, let alone Lusatia! Besides, not only are you not returning the prisoners, but you're also demanding so much money from us. This...this...do you really think we in Europe are powerless to resist?"

Guiyou did not answer directly, but looked at Zhao Yan and said, "Brother Zhao Yan, what do you say?"

Zhao Yan is Zhao Shuo's tenth son, and he is just nineteen years old this year.

Zhao Shuo understood that although the Mongol army was powerful, it was unlikely that the Europeans, with their 60 million people and countless fortified cities, could be easily defeated.

Therefore, the navy was ordered to send one hundred cannons and five thousand muskets to Guyuk.

Zhao Yan had just come of age and had no specific mission. Zhao Shuo, however, wanted to strengthen the relationship between his children and the descendants of Genghis Khan, so he ordered Zhao Yan to come here with the Plain Red Banner of the Navy.

Of course, these firearms only had tactical value and could not change the balance of power between the two sides.

Therefore, Zhao Yan brought Zhao Shuo's suggestion: after using these firearms to open up the situation, negotiate with the Europeans, obtain certain benefits, and then withdraw the army.

The Mongols attacked the Jin Dynasty three times, so why must they destroy Europe in one go and try to get rich quick?
This is one of the reasons why the Mongols were willing to negotiate with the Europeans.

However, Zhao Shuo was not a god and could not have foreseen the specific situation of the European war. These firearms did not arrive in time for those two decisive battles.

But it doesn't matter, these firearms can now be used to intimidate Europeans.

Zhao Yan smiled slightly and said, "If the Europeans are unwilling to agree to our conditions, then let's continue fighting! Anyway, we haven't captured Prague, the capital of Bohemia, yet. It's a good opportunity to test the new weapons that Father sent us."

"very good."

Guyuk smiled slightly, looked at Jordan, and asked, "Do you know who this person is?"

"Please enlighten me, Great Khan."

"You've heard of Uncle Zhao Shuo, haven't you? In Europe, some call him the Plague of God. He is the tenth son of the Plague of God. The mysterious weapon we used to break through your Sudetenland defenses was sent by Uncle Zhao Shuo. This time, Uncle Zhao Shuo has sent another mysterious weapon. Why don't you see the power of Uncle Zhao Shuo's mysterious weapon before you go back and report?"
An extremely ominous premonition welled up in Jordan's heart, and he said, "Then...then...as the Great Khan wishes."

The reality was far more terrifying than Jordan had imagined.

Prague, the capital of Bohemia, is a sturdy stone castle with walls three meters high, along which are numerous semi-circular towers, and surrounded by a moat.

Leaving aside the five thousand bronze muskets that Zhao Shuo sent, those one hundred cannons were simply too powerful.

They had reached the level of the later Ming Dynasty's breech-loading cannons, weighing two hundred catties and capable of firing three-catty stone projectiles.

It sounds like this is less powerful than a trebuchet.

However, the magazine and barrel of this thing are separate, and it fires five stone projectiles per minute!

One hundred cannons can fire five hundred stone projectiles in one minute!

Although these stone projectiles were still no match for the stone walls, they were very effective against the semi-circular towers.

A single salvo destroyed three towers!

Above them, hot air balloons were bombarding them with thunderous roars; ahead, artillery was firing stone projectiles. The garrison of Prague had never seen anything like this before.

Their morale plummeted!
In less than a month, Prague had fallen!

"Agree to the Mongols' conditions! You must agree to the Mongols' conditions!"

Upon returning, Jordan cried out, "The Scourge of God has unleashed a multitude of mysterious weapons, and Prague fell in just twenty-seven days! Who knows if the Scourge of God has any other weapons? Who knows if the Scourge of God will mobilize his main force to attack Europe? Now, we have no choice but to agree to the Mongols' conditions!"

(End of this chapter)