Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 526 Eight Hundred Thousand Slavic Coaches

"Is there any problem?" Seeing that they were still hesitant, Guo Kang also asked.

"There's nothing wrong with the whole idea, it's just... I think it's enough to let them do the logistics." Pronsky said: "It's probably not appropriate to go to the front line."

"Why do you say that?" Guo Kang continued to ask.

"The advantage of these people is not that they have high combat effectiveness, but that they can be replenished easily because of the large number of people. Even if we lose the battle, as long as the soldiers are not lost, there is no need to be afraid." Pronsky replied: "On the land of Russia, these people Just like weeds, they are everywhere. Whether you catch them or hire them, there will be no shortage of people."

"But you are on an expedition this time." He reminded: "The reason Oleg and the others were able to take tens of thousands of people to Constantinople was because even at that time, the inland river longships used by the Russians could directly Row all the way along the Black Sea coast. However, to go to Egypt, you need to cross the Mediterranean Sea, which is a much longer voyage. I’m afraid it’s hard to say whether we can bring so many people.”

"I think we still need to plan carefully and discuss with the Ministry of War." He suggested: "If the transportation capacity is not enough, we can't bring so many people. But there are not many people, so there is no point. And I think this kind of In a war, there shouldn’t be so many infantry filling the front lines, right?”

"I don't intend to use them as cannon fodder." Guo Kang explained: "I think that as long as they are properly trained, everyone can act as the main force. Moreover, the role of infantry is not that low. The upper limit of this unit is very high. I feel like it’s a waste to use these people as cannon fodder.”

"Besides, training also requires skills. Some training methods have the effect of getting twice the result with half the effort." He said seriously: "Back then, during the last Crusade, the frontline troops were insufficient. My great-uncle Li Degong urgently sent troops from Henan Province. , mobilize a group of reserve soldiers and take them to the front line. His reserve soldiers are actually new recruits who have not had time to complete all legion training, and most of them have only been trained for a year and a half."

"At the time, many people expressed doubts, but he said that these new recruits were all trained by him under his own watch, and the coach who led them to train was his nephew. These young people can be counted as his My son, so I feel relieved. This should be the last time he goes to the battlefield in person, so he will definitely get a good result."

"So in the end, Li Degong led more than 3,000 people and crossed the Danube River to the north. He said that he would take the initiative to attack the enemy and buy time for the main force. They had very few cavalry, and some people thought it was too dangerous, but Li Degong still said it didn't matter. . They advanced all the way to the current location of the Third Province, and indeed encountered a large number of Hungarian cavalry."

"Can we catch up like this?" Plonsky asked.

"These people were originally going to join the Crusaders. When they noticed their army appeared, they immediately called on their friends to catch up. There were four to five thousand people in front and behind them. The Hungarian light cavalry thought they were easy to bully, so they charged first When they came up, Duke Lide ordered the soldiers to maintain their marching formation, put on their half-body armor, and slowly advance towards the commanding heights next to them."

"Basil III decided to encircle the point for reinforcements, and the team responsible for destroying the reinforcements included these three thousand men. My cousin volunteered to be the vanguard. The Poles were very anxious and launched the charge first, and our infantry also repeated the previous Performance, go up to the attack."

"Hundreds of cavalry rushed over from behind. My cousin, who was a member of the rear team at the time, shouted and led his men to rush out and collided with the leading Hungarian knight. One member of their team was killed in one fell swoop. Halfway through, my cousin was also hit unconscious by lances, but these enemies were overwhelmed by the unexpected counterattack and fled the battlefield. Taking this opportunity, the vanguard also rushed towards the assembled enemies and quickly killed them. , cut down the flag of the enemy general. The enemy immediately fled in all directions, and many people were driven into the woods in panic, where they were overtaken and killed. The remaining people fled quickly and never dared to come again."

"I really didn't know much about this case before." Pronsky admitted: "I didn't expect it to be like this..."

"Moreover, even if they do run away, it's a good thing. On a battlefield of this scale, if the military flag suddenly disappears or retreats quickly, it is easy to cause panic. Even if the enemy is well-trained, he will be overtaken sooner or later. That time, the enemy We managed to hold on for a while, but Li Degong and his men were in hot pursuit. The enemy had no choice but to turn back and attack."

"My father asked again why he dared to move forward when there were a large number of enemy cavalry on his flanks and rear. My uncle told him that in our hometown of the Guo family, everyone has already experienced this kind of thing. In fact, as long as The infantry is determined enough that even if Emperor Taizong comes in person, they will not be able to defeat them."

"Generally yes." Guo Kang said: "After so many years of war with us, the nobles of Hungary and Poland no longer bring a large number of servants, food or even circuses to fight like other Europeans. But the whole In the command organization, there must still be a large number of other personnel, as well as flags and drums for command, ceremonial guards, etc. Therefore, even if the commander-in-chief himself rides a horse, the entire command headquarters cannot run that fast."

"Later, my father asked my uncle how he dared to insist on biting and commanding the enemy. My uncle said that this was because, according to his experience, most of the enemy's horses would be completely unable to run after chasing for most of a day, and his His men can march quickly for three days without any problem. So he is sure that he can chase these people to death before more enemies arrive. "

"This is indeed a rule. Judging from the subsequent results, this experience is also very reliable." Guo Kang said: "During the siege of Visegrad, the Poles finally realized the truth of the cold. Their parliament was uncharacteristically and began to Support Hungary, which was also an old enemy. A large number of Polish cavalry came to support, trying to cooperate with outsiders inside the city to drive us back."

"As for his soldiers, although they are not that outrageous, these Mazar Tatars still think too much about defeating them."

"It took them some time to get there through the woods. Sure enough, they found the enemy's command post in the ruins of the church on the top of the hill, and began to attack. The enemy's command began to retreat, and they rushed down the mountain to pursue it. Other enemies followed. Rescue came from all directions, and it was exactly what they hoped for.”

"It is said that at that time, there were five to six thousand people in the forward team, charging in a dense formation. The momentum was so huge that the well-trained horses of the Polish knights were frightened and stopped halfway. Their charge was completely unsuccessful. Shake the formation of the forward. Our second line of cavalry immediately advanced, passed through the infantry line, attacked forward, and defeated the enemy in one fell swoop. They chased the fleeing enemy cavalry and even penetrated the Polish second cavalry line all the way. The others immediately followed suit, simply and brutally crushing the enemy."

"After this battle, the last stronghold of the Hungarian royalists was also captured. After discovering that these people had no use value, the Alemanni people immediately turned their backs - even after we contracted, they did not choose to support another The King of Hungary instead directly sent troops and annexed most of western Hungary.”

"After this head-on confrontation failed, no one could organize a crusade. The Poles also reacted to their fanatical religious sentiments, and on the pretext of coming to help, they also sent troops to occupy central and northern Hungary, which they had previously disputed. A large area. In this way, together with us, the land of the former Kingdom of Hungary was divided up." "There are still some influences that continue to this day." Guo Kang thought for a while and said, "For example, the Crusades several times before and after , and captured a large number of nobles, large and small. Especially this time, because Basil III led the army and marched quickly along the newly built road. Before the Crusaders could react, he quickly defeated them with superior force and therefore captured them. There are especially many people.”

"Many of those Crusader knights paid money afterwards and were released. After they returned home, they liked to repeatedly promote the power of Rome to prove that they were not captured alive because they were too weak. This This method had a very good publicity effect and turned our reputation around quickly."

"There are also some people who really have no money, so they serve as soldiers for us in exchange for pay as usual. Many French knights and Italian mercenaries later participated in a series of battles against the Ottomans, and some even defended the city with my father." Guo Kang recalled it and said: "After these few wars, they have got a lot of subjects to brag about."

"After that, they invited friends and invited more colleagues who wanted to gain a future. There are still many French people in the Roman Khanate. Many of them claimed to have come to escape or take risks. , but in fact they were all introduced in this way. You can still see quite a few of them now."

"So that's it..." Pronsky said unexpectedly: "But it always loses people like this, wouldn't the French side be unhappy?"

"No, the French royal family has always been satisfied with this." Guo Kang explained: "The effect of reducing the vassal state is much better than the efforts of King Wu at that time."

"what……"

Pronsky was surprised for a moment and then said: "That's indeed different. It seems that in different places, even if there are people in similar positions, the actual differences are quite big due to various reasons."

“In our hometown, the prince’s soldiers are somewhat similar to knights.” He introduced: “According to tradition, the families of these soldiers have served for generations, and they must start practicing horseback riding skills when they are 4 years old; At the age of 10, you have to practice riding a horse without a saddle to familiarize yourself with the various Kung Fu on the horse. You also have to practice stone throwing to exercise your strength and skills. From the age of 12, you have to practice archery. The requirement to reach the standard is to shoot five arrows in a row. arrows, and hit the target at the same time. Some of the rules, I think are a bit too exaggerated."

"Moreover, these soldiers are more hard-working than their European counterparts. According to customary requirements, they not only cannot pursue pleasure during marching and fighting, but also endure hardship. In order to facilitate the march, the soldiers do not carry any pots and kitchen utensils. When they were hungry, they would cut horse meat and beef into thin slices and roast them over the fire before eating. They did not bring camping equipment such as tents, but only a felt. Even on cold nights, they only spread out felts. Just sleep with your head on the saddle.”

"These are all to reduce the load. It can be said that the pursuit of lightness and speed has been brought to the extreme. "Although Europeans have always looked down on us, I feel that our professional warriors there are not inferior to their counterparts there at all, and are even more suitable for war. He couldn't help but shook his head, obviously dissatisfied with the Europeans: "It's just that we are in the east and have to block the more powerful Eastern nomads for those pretentious sissies, so we have no time to beat them up." "

"Of course, the bigger problem is probably that we have never achieved unification there." He thought for a while and admitted: "The number of such personal soldiers is too small. The average prince can probably gather them around him. A hundred or so. Stronger ones can bring out hundreds. It is said that the Grand Duke of Kiev in his prosperous period could bring out three to five thousand personal soldiers, but I think that is too exaggerated. I am afraid Yaroslav the Wise can do it. Not quite."

"And the reason why there is no unification is, to put it bluntly, political factors, not human incompetence." He looked at the others and said bluntly: "Everyone actually knows that the culture and society there are too primitive, and the political system is far inferior to that of the Greeks. Perfect, let alone now.”

"So, I decided to support you. Because I feel that if you just fumble around on your own, God knows what messy results you will get. It is better to follow Rome and work seriously. Otherwise, I may have to suffer a lot in the future."

"This is all the truth." Guo Kang nodded in agreement: "But what you just meant seems to be that these people you recruited are probably not good at training. Isn't this contradictory?"

"No, it was not the same thing at that time." Pronsky explained: "If you want to recruit Russians, we will definitely support it. But what you are recruiting now are actually Slavs."

"Although in a broad sense, all the Russians are Russians, in fact, the Russians are generally just the name of the Rurik family and their followers. In terms of military matters, generally speaking, the soldiers are the Russians. Right; in the end, only the municipal militia recruited in the city can be considered this kind."

"Of course, it doesn't matter." He waved his hand: "You can fight so well with the Slavs. If they are Russians who have been trained, they will definitely be more stable."

"How you arrange the specific arrangements depends on your own wishes. But I always feel..." He hesitated again and suggested: "Some people are born not suitable for fighting. I don't know how to describe it. However, spend your energy here. I always feel like it’s a bit of a waste when it comes to planting people…”

"Don't worry, it doesn't matter." Guo Kang was determined and said directly: "In our long-term plan, we even recruit Egyptians. These things will have to be done sooner or later."

"Ah?" At this time, even Wang Da Lama was dumbfounded.

(End of this chapter)