open sea

Chapter 1177 Revenge
The Ming army was so hungry that even Marshal Biron of the King of France could feel it.

The news of being attacked everywhere came from all directions, until Billon drew a passage fifty miles wide and two hundred miles long north of the Dordogne River on a crude map, cutting off the defense line deployed by Marshal Matteon with a large army In conclusion, all French troops that touched this line were defeated, whether they were stationed or passed by.

"It's easy to know where they are, and surround them."

On the banks of the Loire River, not far from the city of Tours, Lavalette, the French army camp, wore a pig-faced helmet with its mask lifted up. In the white military tent, he looked at the map of Billon and laughed, saying: "They don't know how to fight at all. .”

The Duke of Joyez, whose whole body was hidden in the plate armor, walked out directly with the sword hilt at his waist, ordering the decree knights belonging to the royal family to prepare for assembly.

But Billon, who was squatting on the ground, neither agreed nor refused, but just stared at the map with a frown - he couldn't figure out what the Ming army was doing.

He already knew that he had changed his opponent, and he was quite sure that Chen Jiujing's reinforcements had felt that this Ming army was not only very different from the Ming army that occupied Bordeaux in terms of equipment, combat effectiveness and style, but even the commanders were different.

Billon played against Chen Jiujing, and he felt cautious, accurate, and powerful. The same evaluation also appeared in the mouth of Mattion, who took over the defense line after Billon left.

During several attacks by the Bordeaux Ming army aimed at plundering towns, the Ming army moved quickly. The total force they used for defense clearly exceeded Chen Jiujing's army, but every army that was intercepted and defeated would report their encounters to Matheon. Multiple troops ambushed.

Billon clearly remembered that Mattion had handed over such a battle report to Paris when he took over the defense line. The [-] Ming infantry subordinate to Chen Jiujing attacked the castle in the early morning of March [-]th. The fighting power was not even as good as that of the Spanish Legion. During the siege, they were repelled by the [-] defenders guarding the castle and began to besiege the city.

But on the second day, when Mattion's three troops arrived at the castle from different directions to support them, they could only see an empty camp full of military tents and luggage.

At first people thought that the Ming army was afraid and ran away.

The soldiers full of joy scrambled for the meat and fine-woven cotton left by the Ming army to make the military tents that were rumored to be able to really shelter from the wind and rain. The wooden box was left in the camp, and the soldiers fought for hundreds of silver coins. Finally, they moved the wooden box and opened the mechanism below.

Immediately after the afternoon, I received the traces of this army. The peasants who were robbed of their rations said that they were 110 miles away. On the third day, they neither caught up nor heard from them. The manor in the grain land of ninety miles; in the following four days, the Ming army marched more than eighty miles a day, appearing in various places, which made Matheon exhausted, and finally gave up the pursuit because the army lost its combat effectiveness during the march.

Contrary to the comments of Lavalette and the Duke of Joyez, both Billon and Matheon believed that Chen Jiujing was good at fighting, but at this time their judgment seemed to be correct.

The Ming army became extremely threatening after the emergence of this more professional force, but the command level also declined sharply.

No one marches like this, no matter what their purpose is, almost leaving the ready-made road after crossing the Dordogne River, advancing in a straight line for more than 200 miles, destroying everything encountered on the way.

That is to say, their starting point should not be [-] miles easterly, otherwise they would hit the mountain to see if they could turn the corner.

Anyway, according to the latest information so far, the Ming army still hasn't turned the corner, but the speed of advancement has slowed down, and I don't know what they are doing.

There is no strategic purpose at all, it seems to be marching for the sake of marching.

Billund did have such worries, because on his crude map drawn with feathers and ink, if the route of the Ming army was extended to the north and east by a five-hundred-mile extension line, the destination It will be Paris.

He only kept this guess in his heart, and he didn't tell anyone, because it was too crazy.

If you want to reach Paris from this road, you will pass through the city of Tours, which is not far from Billund at this moment. It used to be the capital of France and the most important traffic artery. Not only is the city of Tours an unparalleled strong city, There are also countless defensive fortresses built in the Loire Valley... This route is indeed the shortest way to Paris, but it is also the most difficult way to attack.

Compared with this implicit worry, the more obvious but also more comical purpose of the Ming army can be easily seen, that is, they are very hungry.

This more professional Ming army was not so professional when they fought. They attacked like fire, they gathered and dispersed, and they had no purpose, as if the biggest purpose besides marching was to execute the nobles.

According to the news sent back by Marshal Matteon, in three of the twelve battles, the Ming army had obvious pursuit in the initial engagement, two of which were very effective, and in the remaining nine battles, the Ming army used muskets in a horizontal formation. After winning, there was no intention of chasing after them. They just let people spread some meaningless nonsense, and then waited for the scattered soldiers to gather and retreat in the distance again.

Those words are nothing special, such as 'the battle is over, your lord is dead, the Ming army will not kill innocent people indiscriminately, put down your weapons and go home', what's the use of such words?
Seeing the weather getting colder and colder, Billund knew that he couldn't stop the two cronies of the king who were going to the south to make contributions. The Duke of Joyèze had an attack report stuck in his throat.

"The Marshal will sit in the city of Tours. The Ming army will always arrive here if it continues to advance. Lavalette and I will lead the army from east to west and march south. We will join Marshal Matteon's army and completely surround the Ming army... Wait for them To Descartes or Rockwell, we avenge poor Antoine, Barre, Shire, and all the lords who fell."

The young Duke of Joyez pulled down his pig-mouth helmet, and he wore a bright blue burqa over airtight plate armor, with a blue ribbon knight's Grand Cross on his chest, a saber and a strangely shaped sword on his waist. The short knife and dagger, which was a gift from the king.

This rare work of art comes from Florence. In the center of the dagger is an exquisitely constructed spring wheel. There are two barrels in the wide and strong double blade. At this time, it is obviously loaded with gunpowder and can fire two small copper bullets successively at a short distance. .

The attendant behind him had just brought the horse, and before the Duke of Joyèze had time to get on the horse, he saw a knight galloping towards him, whispering something in his ear, and the messenger on foot walked up to Billon after a while , to give him the news from the front.

Nothing special, another defeat at the front.

The Duke got on his horse, raised his chin and said, "Okay, and Pierre and Sir René will be added."

"We will avenge them."

(End of this chapter)