At the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was a feudal town, but in Western Europe

"Your Excellency, it's been a long time." The attendant on the side took Bolenus's cloak, and Bolenus strode up to Feng Sen, "I wanted to wait for you in Hamburg, but I heard that you got sick from the rain, so I rushed here without stopping."

"My illness is basically cured, and I'm still recuperating." Rubbing his shoulders, Feng Sen sat up from the bed, still covering his thighs with a blanket, "How is it, from Hamburg to here, was the journey smooth?"

"Very well, Your Excellency." Bolenus said with a smile, "To tell you the truth, I have also explored the north bank of the Elbe before, and I have to say that the road here is much easier."

During this period of time, with the help of a large number of slave laborers, Villetti's road network was advancing crazily at a speed of one mile per day. If there was no interference from rain, the speed could even rise to two or even three miles per day.

This is not the kind of dirt road that you can walk on before, but a real road. First, you need to dig a calf-deep long hole, drive fir stakes, and then pave with crushed stones, broken bricks, river sand and clay.

In the spring, when it is a little dry, the top layer has to be dug up and the soil re-tamped.

Under the rain and cold, even those Villetti slave laborers who adapted to the climate here fell ill a lot, and an average of three slave laborers were consumed for every five miles advanced.

But after all, these prisoners of war are considered to be re-reformed through labor. When the road is completed, they will still be returned to the Hundred Households in the Villetti Banner as a coat.

At present, the population of a thousand households in the Vileti Banner has almost been saved, but there are still many villages that have not joined Feng Sen's Eight Banners, but have only accepted Feng Sen's canonization of various school lieutenants.

It's not that Feng Sen doesn't want to include them in the Eight Banners, but that he doesn't plan to spend too much money on Villetti for the time being. It's a money-losing business, and he only wants Villetti's manpower and soldiers.

Then send the Eight Banners as a nail, and just ask these Vileti tribes for warriors and youths before the battle.

If these Veleti people rely on surrender to become the Eight Banners, those Yi Cong, Bao Yi, and Banners will have opinions.

"How? What talents did you find for me this time?"

Bolenus smiled and said: "Your Highness, this time, I brought a group of scholars, including one mathematician, three grammarians, six theologians, and one philosopher. There are craftsmen, including two construction engineers, four alchemists, and some blacksmiths."

"Oh?" Feng Sen's eyes lit up instantly, and even the itching and pain on his body disappeared. "This time you gave me a big surprise. Didn't you say that scholars are unwilling to leave Junbao? Why are there so many this time?"

Bolenus smiled helplessly and said: "Your Excellency, although I have brought a large number of scholars this time, their identities are somewhat special. They are all icons of the iconoclasm or scholars implicated in the iconoclasm movement."

Feng Sen immediately understood that this was a bad thing about Byzantium.

In the teachings of various sects of the Heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit of the Heavenly Father is incorporeal, like Hong Tianwang's statement that God is an old man with a white beard, which is pure heresy in this era.

But only when the teachings of the Heavenly Father spread in the Greek area, I didn’t know what went wrong. The Greeks believed that the icon was a tool for education and communication, not the idol worship in the Ten Commandments, so they began to build icons (including statues) , murals, paintings, etc.).

The intention of the Greeks was good, and the execution of the people below was bad.

Those priests and bishops, and even some lay believers, called on believers to donate money in the name of statues of the Father and the Virgin, and wantonly seized land in the name of worshiping holy images.

However, under the military oppression of the Saracens, the Byzantine Emperor Leo IV had to carry out the reform of the military district system. The reform of the military district system required a large amount of land. Where did these state-owned land and initial funds come from?

Can't it just be pulled from the hands of the priests?

And this struggle has gradually changed from a purely religious struggle to a de facto political struggle for religious power and royal power. Some unlucky people, such as Bolenus himself, have been implicated in this damn political struggle.

"After carrying out the movement to restore icons, Queen Irina purged a group of iconoclasm officials and scholars. They lost their land in the East, lost their public offices, and were ostracized."

Bolenus sighed, "I invited them before, but at that time they still had hope, but now, with the iconoclasts taking power, they are already desperate, so they promised to come to Hamburg and continue conduct their research."

"These people held public office in the Eastern Empire before?"

"Yes, most of them have. These scholars often serve as advisors to various officials, advising them."

So right, so right!

"Okay!" Feng Sen was overjoyed and applauded lightly, "You have brought me a big surprise this time. I promised you the shares of the West Britain Company. You can go to Hamburg to claim them later."

"Thank you for your gift, Your Excellency the generous Duke." Bolenus replied happily, not only these scholars, but Bolenus himself was also the same when he said that he was desperate for his official career in Byzantium.

For all its grandeur, Constantinople was not the future of Bolenus.

"How many people did you bring this time?"

"In addition to these scholars and craftsmen, their families, hired guards, and a group of Byzantine soldiers who lost their land, there are more than 1000 people in total."

"Why are there so many people this time?"

"This must be your credit." Bolenus said with emotion, "It turns out that whether we walk through the Volga River or through Pannonia, it is very dangerous.

But this year when I walked from the Danube, I was guarded by your tooth soldiers and the Khan tribe along the way. When I arrived in Bohemia, I was helped by the Jews. Except for escaping the thrilling Bulgars at the beginning, I basically encountered no danger. "

Feng Sen nodded slightly, tapped his fingers on his knees for a while before asking, "How is the situation with Lao Fang?"

"I heard from the people of the Mohan tribe that they first attacked several nearby Slavic villages at night and forced them to pay tribute.

Then there was a big battle with the hostile tribe of the Paohan tribe, and annexed the troublesome tribe. Nomads, the strong are always respected.

With the help of Fang Xiaowei, the current Paohan tribe has basically got rid of the previous predicament. Although they are still excluded, at least they are not in danger as before.

I heard that they later built a version of the city, and Fang Xiaowei recently learned your method and is carrying out the Eight Banners of Baohan, but there is a lack of supplies..."

"It turned out that you came to me to cry for poverty." Feng Sen laughed loudly, "Well, this time, when you go back, bring them a hundred pairs of iron armor and two hundred pairs of leather armor, and some weapons and agricultural tools as well. superior.

Do you have enough boats?If it is not enough, I have a lot of ships here, and I will send a Han Chinese caravan to follow you to Vienna. Later, when the Bulgars are pacified, I will build a trading post in Vienna and conduct mutual transactions there. "

3 Chapter Fifty: The cricket has three times as many troops and wants to defeat me?

The clouds roll and the rain breaks, and the wind is strong.

A pennant with a black dragon printed on it fluctuated up and down in the gust of wind, like a real dragon roaring.

The flag officer holding the flag held up the flag in his hand, heaving his body up and down following the sitting down of the short, shabby horse. Beside him, a tall, fat gray horse snorted disdainfully.

Behind the banner officer are the government soldiers.

They did not have the treatment of one soldier with two horses or even three horses, but each of them led a donkey or a small horse to move forward slowly. On the small horses were hung the weapons, grain bags, water bags, helmets, arm armor, etc. of the soldiers.

The army soldiers basically only wear half armor when marching, and they occasionally march forward on horseback.

But it is a pity that it has been raining for days and the ground is soft and wet. If you ride a horse and carry baggage, it is easy to fall into the mud, break the horse's legs or damage the horsepower, so you can only lead the horse forward.

Banners have no horses.

Most of them were holding donkey carts, and heavy objects were placed on the donkey carts. These flagmen were actually wearing full armor. After all, leather armor or chain mail were not as heavy as armor.

"Where is there?" Feng Sen stood on a small hill and looked towards the distant city wall located on the plain. The green mountains and black forests in the distance were faintly visible in the mist.

The guide of Villeti Banner immediately replied: "That's Tingen, which directly belongs to the Brenner tribe. After passing Tingen and going east, it is the city of Dragovit."

Feng Sen turned his head and asked North Qingqi on the other side: "Is Dragovit's camp here?"

"Yes." Nanos Qingqi replied a little excitedly, "I'm sorry, handsome, we found nine brothers before we can confirm their location, number of people and the terrain of this place."

"Hmm..." Feng Sen looked at the plain in front of him and chuckled, "Say it again."

"Here." Nuo Si Qingqi cleared his throat, his eyes moved upward to the left, he memorized this long and difficult Chinese sentence all night yesterday, in order to prevent them from being watched by Si Qiying next door. Flattened.

"According to our records of their earthen stoves, cooking smoke, number of people collecting water, tents, excrement, direct observation and other information, Xu Kongmu speculates that there are about 1 to [-] people in Villetti." Nanos Qingqi got stuck halfway Seconds, he continued, "According to Xu Kongmu's guess, all the old, weak, women and children in Tingen Walled City have been moved to the rear, and all of them are young and strong, but the number of real soldiers is unknown.

The terrain here is mountains in the northeast, lakes and woods in the southeast, just right on the way to Dragovit, but if you detour from the north, it is not impossible, but it will take a lot of time.

If you want to attack the city or fight in the field, you must pay attention to the terrain here.

This place is located at the mouth of a river, with swamps, low slopes, and swamps. In addition to the heavy rain in the past few days, the ground is soft and muddy. It is okay to ride lightly, but if you ride heavily, you may get your hooves stuck. "

Feng Sen nodded, and patted him on the shoulder with a smile: "Well, good job, go and receive the reward."

"This Dragovit found a good place to fight us." Zhang Shicheng looked at the water flowing in front of the wall with displeasure, "No wonder the first few walls were full of empty cities, old and weak, women and children, so they all gathered here. "

"The forest here separates the people. Most of the tribes are densely populated near a city. It is much more convenient to mobilize and recruit troops than other places. At least there is no need to send them down." What Han Shizhong considered was the number of people on the other side.

Feng Sen glanced at Xiao Agui who was at the side. This Xiao Agui was different from Fang Xinru and others. He was not an orphan adopted by the Feng family since he was a child (promotion is a priority), and he was quite talented if he could stand out among the relatives.

"Captain Xiao."

"The end is here."

Feng Sen took out his horsewhip and pointed to the walled city in front of him: "If you were Dragovit, how would you fight?"

Xiao Agui thought for more than a minute before bowing and said: "If you are the last general, [-]% of the Veleti elites consider that the best strategy is to abandon the city and flee, disperse the tribes in the forest and small tribes, and harass them day and night. The medium strategy is to stick to the city and rely on the favorable location to seek the right time. The worst strategy is to go out of the city and face our army with only three times as many troops.”

"Good boy, what do you think Dragovit will do?"

"It should be the middle policy."

Just as Feng Sen was about to speak, Zhang Shicheng on the side hurriedly said: "Poke! Poke! Look at them, Jieshuai, they are going out of the city to fight!"

When Feng Sen heard this, he turned around and looked over there, while Zhang Shicheng glanced at Xiao Agui with disdain, and snorted coldly.

Zhang Shicheng belongs to the servant faction, so he naturally looks down on this kind of "lucky progress" who relies on wooing the deputy envoy of Zhenhui. Damn, those little boys I trained are not yet in their prime, so you will seize the opportunity and grab a seat.

Feng Sen was aware of this situation, but he didn't stop it. There is no party outside the party, the emperor thinks, and there is no faction in the party. There are all kinds of strange things. As long as it is not a vicious struggle, he never stops it, and sometimes even deliberately induces it.

At this time, the gate of Tingen's walled city was opened, and a group of messy young Villetti squeezed out from the gate. They were loud and swaying, buzzing from the gate like a group of headless flies. drilled out.

Even if the leaders at all levels shouted loudly, they still couldn't stop the chaos. In the state of battle, the nervousness still made these Vileti people restless.

Some warriors forgot to bring their spears after going into battle, some had diarrhea halfway through the battle, some were squeezed into the water and were washed away, and some followed the wrong team and could not find their leader.

There was even a tall little leader who managed to squeeze out with people. Looking back, there were people he didn't know behind him, and there were more people than he brought out...

It's a pity that because of the terrain, Feng Sen can only attack with infantry, even light cavalry are prone to accidents due to swamps or puddles.

If it weren't for the soft ground here, at this time, Feng Sen sent light and heavy cavalry to shoot first and then lead, and finally the heavy cavalry charged, which would be enough to defeat most of them.

In terms of numbers, as those Qingqi said, Dragovit dispatched a total of 1000 people.

Dragovit had emptied his family and used up all his favors. He withdrew the young and strong from several front-line fortresses to Tingen, forcibly conscripted all the small tribes he could control, and even recruited people from the Radari, Torrens and Five thousand reinforcements were borrowed from Chelsea Pania.

For this reason, Dragovit offended a group of large and small Villetti tribes, but he had no choice. Feng Sen attacked the city too fast. If he continued to slow down, Feng Sen would arrive at his door immediately. up.

In fact, Feng Sen's current position is basically equal to his doorstep.

On the other side of the muddy plain, Feng Sen's army was also in formation, the sound of trumpet drums and golden gongs continued to sound, and the flagmen quickly formed a circle with donkey carts and carriages as a temporary camp.

The peasants immediately picked up the horses from the carts, placed them around, and picked up the wooden spears at the same time.

The government soldiers and tooth soldiers quickly put on their pockets and arm armor. Under the supervision of the Kongmu officer and the military judge, the team leaders quickly gave orders to their subordinate fire chiefs, which were transformed into banners one by one, at a speed visible to the naked eye. , forming an army formation.

The old bannermen on the other side brandished big sticks, roaring and beating the new bannermen in formation. Some new bannermen were even beaten up and started fighting with the old bannermen, but they were quickly dealt with by the military judge.

As for the Saxon warriors, they are naturally not much better than the Vileti people, but at least they are all in teams of ten according to the fire chief, without the restrictions of tribes and personal soldiers, plus the command of the dental officer assigned by Feng Sen, the speed of formation is comparable to that of North followers.

On the other hand, the Norse followers were beyond Feng Sen's expectations. They had been tempered after fighting the siege for such a long time, and with the Norse culture and hunting traditions, the formations listed were quite decent.

Soon three formations appeared, still the classic left, center and right armies, plus the reserve team led by Feng Sen.

After all, there are only 4000 people, and Feng Sen can't create a complex formation with tens of thousands of people, but the oblique attack tactics are enough to fight these Vileti people.

What Feng Sen has to consider is not whether to win or not, but how much to win.

This is not Feng Sen's arrogance, but the fact that it is so. War is not about pride and fighting on the battlefield, but meticulous planning, sufficient salary, harsh training, and cumbersome calculations.

Even if you don't rely on an oblique attack, just stand up, the Veleti is no match, but Feng Senfang will suffer more casualties.

Even if the right time and place are not on Feng Sen's side, at most he will retreat temporarily, and there will never be a big defeat or a rout.

Before riding the flying mane to the silent army formation, Feng Sen did not make any speeches. He turned sideways and pointed his whip forward. His voice was calm, but everyone could hear: "The enemy is there!"

"kill!"

"kill!!"

"kill!!!"

Chapter 351 Six Ding Liujia, Protecting Our Army

A cold wind blows, with a little rain.

Some disheveled Viletino soldiers were even shivering. They held the spears in their arms and huddled together, not so much for arraying, as for keeping warm.

In front of the walled city, the Villetti began to line up. According to the old tradition, the elite warriors in the first and second rows held shields and hatchets, while the warriors in the third row held short spears and long axes.

Among the enemies in the third and fourth rows, a new type of troops appeared, that is, the javelin soldiers. They were all the best hunters in their respective tribes, and each of them carried six to eight javelins on their backs.

The gust of wind crushed the people's heads, and the horns and battle flags roared and fluttered together.

In this solemn atmosphere, an ancient and boundless call came from behind the army formation.

A group of Slavic warlocks recited ancient spells and blessings, while shaking the various sacrificial props on their bodies, they walked quickly towards Feng Sen's army.

The warlocks gathered on a pre-built wide earthen platform, which happened to be seen by all the Veleti people, and a group of blue flames burst out, which immediately made the crowd exclaim.

A Slavic warlock in robes, shuttled in the light of the bonfire.

Their robes are crimson, dark blue and even lavender, embellished with symbols and patterns of gold filigree, and their heads wear crowns with feathers and animal horns, symbolizing their connection to nature and the spirit world .

With the beating of drums, the warlocks began to dance.

Their dance moves are graceful and mysterious, with their bodies twisting and spinning to the rhythm.Their arms are raised high and stretched towards the sky, as if talking to the gods.The footsteps beat vigorously, and every time they landed, there was an echo of sound.

As the dance progresses, the warlocks continue to chant ancient spells and blessings.