open sea

Chapter 1023
The siege of Cahors lasted less than an hour, but the ensuing battle was very difficult for Henry of Bourbon.

In the French court in the past, when the cowardly Charles IX was king, he always called this cousin who didn't think about making progress and only knew how to play "his wild boar". He also experienced the Catholics dominated by the royal family and the Duke of Guise Insane massacre of Huguenots.

The bloody wedding of Henri Bourbon and Marguerite in Navarre was the largest massacre in French history. More than [-] Huguenots who attended the wedding were killed in Paris that night, and the massacre spread to the next two months. Across France, more than [-] people died.

The corpses piled up in the river so that no one dared to eat the fish in the river.

Huguenot leaders were also killed one after another. Henry of Navarre and Prince Henry of Condé were the only ones left. In order to save their lives, they converted to Catholicism in front of the king and Henry of Guise. They were saved from death with the help of Marguerite. .

As Charles IX jokingly said to Navarre when he was alive, the battle was repeated in the city of Cahors. The guard Earl Vezin was killed by the Viscount Turenne of Navarre on the first night, but this aroused the defenders instead. With the courage of the militia.

People repeatedly seesawed at the [-] streets of Cahors. Every day, Huguenot warriors holding a sky blue coat of arms on a white background, hats and helmets with red feathers captured every street, square and street corner; At night, the defenders tried time and time again to retake positions lost during the day.

After the death of the guard Earl Wezan, the garrison was also completely lost in the tragic street fighting. Now the main force of the city guard is the citizens of Cahors.

The defenders, militia and citizens of Cahors are all Catholics. They lost to the army of the Kingdom of Navarre in a frontal battle. Dominance in street fighting.

But the people under religious fanaticism are obviously more frightening. They guard one room after another, firing cold guns, throwing torches, and even demolishing houses to throw stones and logs to stop the invaders.

Under the banner of Navarre's great gold chain painted on one side and the golden lily of the three-pronged rake on the blue coat of arms, the siege army responded with an eye for an eye.

They were willing to fire five or six muskets at every window, and at every door, they were eager to blast a cannonball with a breech-loading cannon known as a Francophone in the Ming Dynasty.

But they only had four field cannons, and the gunpowder they carried was not enough for high-frequency bombardment, so they suffered heavy casualties.

The king was so frightened that his face turned pale, but he insisted on supporting himself, who was about to be dizzy, time and time again. In a few days, he was involved in as many as ten battles alone, and even held the flag himself in repeated battles for the streets. The banner was so rolled up that the helmets were covered up so that they couldn't see anything, and they insisted on standing at the front of the battle line.

His flag was riddled with holes, and if it wasn't for the best quality plate armor on his body, he would have died a long time ago.

During the five days and five nights of street fighting, the Huguenots wanted to retreat more than once, relying almost entirely on the courage of Bourbon Henry and the heroic fighting of the court nobles. Almost all the nobles became knights under horses, and the best horses ten Not one.

The king's humerus was also Sir Henry's teacher Sir Morne, whose head was hit by a large rock thrown from the second floor, and his helmet was shattered and almost died; on the fifth day of the battle, he led an army to help Sir Shop who laid the foundation for victory The breastplate was shattered, extremely dangerous.

The lover of Queen Margot among the nobles of Navarre, the Viscount Turenne had extraordinary courage commensurate with daring to cuckold the monarch in battle. He was shot in the shoulder, but he killed the guard.

The dream of musket bullets shooting at him from all directions awakened King Bourbon Henry of Navarre. He sat up in shock on the cold city wall and floor tiles, and leaned his heavy body on the battlements with his aching arms that were exhausted from swinging an ax .

The night wind got into the gap of the armor, and the back soaked in cold sweat made the king shiver. He looked out of the city, and it was pitch black.

Darkness was the best news for him, which meant that Marshal Billund's counter-insurgency troops hadn't come.

In the city of Cahors, half of the city became dilapidated after five days and nights of repeated sawing, and the burning torches in the streets and alleys reflected the dilapidated walls and ruins with dim light.

When he turned his head, the envoy of the King of France with healthy limbs was standing beside him with a guard of honor representing the King of France just as he had shown in the previous battle.

The teacher, Morne, leaned on the battlements and looked into the distance. The wound on his head was just wiped off with a wet cloth, but the new blood flowed down and scabbed again. In the dark night, he looked like a weirdo with half his face covered by dark birthmarks. ; Sir Thorpe patrolled the city with torches in his battered breastplate.

The voice of Viscount Turenne was heard from below the city. Looking down, the Viscount with one arm hanging unnaturally by his side was leading the guards to supervise the repair of the city gate by the people.

As if he heard the voice beside him, Sir Morne turned his head: "Your Highness, we have obtained the queen's dowry, there is enough food and water in the city, and we still have [-] soldiers who can fight, as long as the city gates are repaired, Even if Marshal Billund comes here now, we can still guard for half a month."

"You once gained the loyalty of the Viscount Turenne with your generosity. This battle also strengthened the believers' belief in Protestantism with your bravery. The soldiers all said that this was God's arrangement, so that you were unscathed in the hail of bullets."

"My heart has been greatly damaged." Bourbon Henry knew that it was not God's arrangement that kept him unscathed, but all because of this expensive armor ordered from Spain, but he also expressed his heart: "I am very scared .”

"I'm not good at swordsmanship, I'm neither brave nor tall, and my heart trembles when I hear the sound of muskets and cannons. It's a miracle that I can survive time and time again."

Henry wiped his face and stood up holding the axe. He was indeed as he said. Not only was he not tall, but he was also a little short. He was terrified: "They are the bravest citizens I have ever seen."

The guard was killed on the first night, but the defenders and citizens guarded the isolated city and fought with them for five days and five nights... Not to mention the citizens, even the expensive mercenaries did not have such fighting power.

"Not only because of bravery, but also because the city is surrounded by rivers on three sides, and only the north side is flat land. When we attacked the city from the north, they had nowhere to run if they wanted to. They could only fight us."

Bourbon Henry blinked, after realizing that it was indeed the case.

He shook his head and said, "Anyway, do we still have horses that can stand up? Now we need to send out scouts to see that Marshal Biron and his army, who vowed to hang all the Huguenots, go away." Where are you?"

"Condé and others in the north did not listen to orders and fought on their own. They will soon be defeated. There is no way to continue this battle. I plan to go back to Montauban to gather troops and try to fight against Billund in the west as close to the coast as possible. The Field Marshal fought to keep Cahors...them."

King Navarra paused for a moment, then looked towards the endless darkness outside the city: "Those troops from the Ming Empire, I ask Margot for help, but will they join us?"

(End of this chapter)