Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 569 Majiazhuang’s confidence
Majiazhuang is located more than ten miles south of Xianggong Temple. There used to be a small river there and the land was very fertile. On both sides of the creek, there is a small village, each belonging to a different lord.

One of the lords hired Greek engineers to build a water-powered mill on the river and charged fees to the villagers who needed to grind flour. In his territory, the villagers had no choice but to use the water-powered mill. Even their own hand-cranked stone mill was smashed by the lord, and half of the wheat they brought with him had to be deducted. Therefore, although this place is very suitable for farming, the villagers still don't have a good life. Their daily life can only depend on the wheat secretly hidden and cooked.

Moreover, after discovering that the mill was making money, the lord on the other side immediately became jealous and claimed that the river also belonged to him, so the other party's private construction of the mill had harmed his interests. The profit from the mill cannot belong to him alone; half of it must be given to him.

The lord who ran the mill was naturally not happy, so the two sides soon started fighting. In addition to calling various relatives, they also hired a mercenary team from Hungary. These foreign nobles and mercenaries were even more unkind to their subjects. Not only did they rob things every day, but they also killed people and set fires for fun.

The village quickly withered, and the surviving villagers fled one after another. They all ran to the hill to the west of Xianggongmiao Village and the branch of the Danube River north of the mountain. They relied on fishing and collecting wild vegetables, shrimps and crabs on the river beach to make a living. Don't dare to come out.

Later, Guo Gai led his army south and crossed the river to this place. Without much effort, he eliminated the nobles entrenched on both sides of the river and the bandits and mercenaries who were looting in all directions. He also sent people to the mountains to recruit villagers back. The fields had been deserted for some time, but under the leadership of Guo Gai and others, everyone quickly resumed production.

Because the terrain here is good, more and more people will come back to seek refuge after the situation stabilizes. Many people who didn't know where they came from and were taking refuge nearby also rushed over, hoping to be taken in. As a result, everyone built water conservancy facilities on both sides of the river, dug irrigation canals, and reclaimed large areas of wasteland far away from the river. The mill by the river was originally damaged during the infighting among the nobles, but it was also repaired and expanded using this opportunity.

At that time, just as Yang Laobaihu introduced, Hedong and Hexi were actually two villages, each managed by one hundred households. But then something unexpected happened.

In the chaos that followed the fall of Queen Mother Helena, a series of noble rebellions and barbarian invasions broke out. When Basil III succeeded to the throne, the Kingdom of Poland-Hungary, which was still a communist country at the time, united Lithuania and several Alemannic princes, renewed the banner of the Crusade, and called on nobles and knights from all over Europe to join in the attack on the Purple Kingdom. The Horde claimed to capture Constantinople again to demonstrate the glory of the Father and the prestige of the Crusaders.

The enemy was so powerful that even the nobles of England and France came to participate. At this critical juncture, the local nobles who had been won over through various diplomatic means during the reign of Queen Mother Helena turned against each other one after another.

There are people in the East Village who migrated from the Balkan Mountains in the south and still have relatives in their hometown. Ma Baoluo and others gathered together more than 20 children in two villages who could not hold weapons and prepared to transfer them. He also singled out a few young people who had gone to the church and had studied for two years, gave them all the valuable soft things in the village, and asked them to take their children with them. The remaining people, regardless of gender, old or young, all set out to find the barbarian to fight for his life.

In the end, everyone decided that in this case, everyone should go for it.

Ma Baoluo made some calculations and said that the people in the village had survived by hiding in the hills to the north, but there couldn't be many people hiding there and they couldn't feed everyone, so in the end, most of the people in the village had to die. If you go to the battlefield now, the worst you can do is get chopped down; if you don't go, you'll either be tortured to death or starve to death.

The scholar in the town told him what happened back then. Every once in a while, a group of madmen would emerge from the West, and in the name of their false gods, they would launch a brutal and dark expedition against the Roman Empire. Back then, the Greeks in the south were beaten by them.

He was also someone who suffered from hunger back then, and he also saw with his own eyes mercenaries locking villagers in a small church and then setting people on fire in all directions. Death is the same for both sides, and it would be more comfortable to die in battle. It is better to go to the battlefield and have a good time.

When news of Guo Shuai's defeat and death came, Basil III immediately returned from Greece and went to Henan. He ordered that Henan and Hebei areas be exempted from taxation for three years. All males over the age of fifteen immediately gathered to join him; because the soldiers The number of transfers was too large, and a temporary order was issued. All adult women over fifteen years old and with haircut hair should go to the prefecture and county yamen to accept the task of transporting supplies. Those who delivered food and ordnance to the standard would be awarded the same title as men.

The village chief of East Village had died in the battle, and Ma Paulo was lame. They didn't take him with them at the time, so he survived. He told everyone that the boundary between these two villages was originally uninhabited. Now with so many people, it's an exception.

The two sides fought north of the Danube River. Guo Shuai's troops were unsuccessful in the first battle and retreated to the hills to defend. The Crusaders mobilized in full force to besiege the camp, and captured the camp four days later. Guo Shuai was unwilling to escape and died in the battle with his two nephews. More than 5,000 of his men were killed. The Crusaders took no prisoners and killed all the wounded and captured support personnel. The entire legion was basically wiped out.

They took away all the grain stored in the village, temporarily prepared all the iron tools, and sharpened the sickles and pitchforks. In the village, everyone from old men and women in their early fifties to half-grown children in their twelfth or thirteen years old, the weak ones carrying grain, and the strong young men and women carrying food. Ma Paulo set off on his donkey, wearing a broken helmet and a spear for hunting wild boar.

At that time, there were more than 200 households in the east and west villages each. However, because they were close and there were many people coming out, hundreds of men were lost in this battle. After the successive bombshell news came, both villages fell into sadness and panic. However, the village chief of West Village, Ma Paulo, immediately invited nearby villagers to gather for discussion.

After these people defeated the Greek army, they divided up the territory there and could not move away, considering themselves as the new lords. They were even more ferocious than the previous local lords. Under the united efforts of the local lords, this place is no longer suitable for human habitation. If it were these people, there would definitely be no way for everyone to survive.

The pro-Polish Galic nobles and Moldovan nobles launched a rebellion, resulting in the line from the Dniester River to the city of Lviv being controlled by various rebels, cutting off the routes of the frontline troops. The Crusaders took the opportunity to move south from here, into Bessarabia, and then broke through along the Black Sea coast, trying to penetrate into the hinterland of the Purple Horde and destroy their core area.

Guo Kang's grandfather, Guo Shuai, was serving in Dadu at the time. After the situation changed, he quickly went north and urgently summoned soldiers. At that time, of all the armies, he was the only one who was closest, so he had no time to prepare. He could only lead some dissatisfied battle groups who rushed over and militiamen from nearby places to intercept the Crusaders.

At that time, there were no elderly people with limited mobility in the village - they killed the lord and settled down, which lasted only twenty years. Under the rule of the lords, there are almost no older residents here. By the age of thirty-five, they have surpassed most people. After that, due to the decline in physical strength, they are basically eliminated by the lords.

Then, they moved eastward along the river and saw more and more people. The scheduled assembly point was a ferry downstream, where they saw the banner of Basil III and numerous barracks. The military officials who came to register took away more than twenty young men who had fought in the war, and asked Ma Paulo to take the remaining people and continue to move southeast to help the army dig fortifications.

While they were busy, the Crusaders were looting. After confirming that they had defeated the enemy's regular army, the Crusaders immediately rejoiced and began trying to collect more loot. The princes believed that this was a rare great victory in history, indicating that the Purple Horde Khanate, like the Saracens and Greeks back then, had lost its ability to resist. Therefore, they also began to quarrel with each other all day long, competing for the right to distribute the spoils, hoping to gain greater benefits than their colleagues. Basil withdrew various local armies north of the Danube River and evacuated local villages, hoping to wait for the Crusaders to take the initiative to cross the river. However, the Crusaders moved more and more slowly. It took more than ten days to reach the north bank of the Danube River, and then stopped again. Unsure of their intentions, Basil sent people with a large amount of treasure to the leaders of the Crusaders, claiming that he hoped to make peace with them. At the same time, he urged the general Maimetinikus who was still in Crimea to immediately lead the Beiya soldiers across the sea to the south to block the enemy's retreat; he also recalled the Golden Horn fleet and asked them to go north to standby.

After receiving the treasure and the letter asking for peace, the Crusaders accelerated their pace. After going south into the Roman region, their own supplies were quickly exhausted, and they had been relying on the fleets of the rebel nobles in the north, which continued to transport supplies from the Galic and Moldova regions south along the Black Sea, so there was actually no shortage of ships. A few days later, more than 50,000 crusaders were sent to the other side of the river.

At this time, 120,000 people had gathered in the three provinces of Hebei, and 100,000 people had gathered in Henan. The Khan's court temporarily recruited 30,000 people from Thrace. Basil selected the best from them and got 50,000 soldiers. The others were scattered to various fortresses and fortified cities along the way to strengthen defenses and gradually block the crusaders' activity space.

A few days later, Memetnicus led more than 20,000 cavalry and came to join him. Basil immediately ordered the ministries to start taking action. The Golden Horn fleet joined the Crimean fleet, went north along the coast, came to the mouth of the Danube, and fought with the Crusader fleet staying here. At the critical moment, the Italian galleys hired by the Crusaders suddenly declared that they would remain neutral and quickly fled the battlefield, turning the naval battle into a massacre of cargo ships and fishing boats. The fleet waiting for transportation locally and the Crusaders who stayed behind were all wiped out. The number of dead was uncountable, and the water in the river mouth was dyed red.

The residents who stayed in Hebei also began to take action, blocking the ferry and hunting down the mercenary bandits who had strayed from the group, as well as the armed caravans following the Crusaders. Some people were eager to kill and chased the enemy all the way north. They didn't react until they reached the Polish border. The Crusaders' retreat and supplies also collapsed.

However, they did not realize that the situation had changed at this time. The main force of the Crusaders came to Varna, a large port in Bulgaria, trying to conquer this port city to obtain supplies and supplies more conveniently. They did not even know that their fleet was completely destroyed.

Under Basil's order, Memetnicus took over the entire army, gathered 80,000 men, and built two camps behind the Crusaders overnight. During the day of the next day, the Crusaders realized something was wrong and quickly gave up the siege. They wanted to turn around and attack the camp behind them. They spent a whole day without making any progress.

At night, Maimetinicus personally led the soldiers and went out to attack. The Crusaders were forced to continue fighting. The two sides fought from night to day on the third day. At noon, the Crusaders were finally exhausted and collapsed. More than 10,000 soldiers were killed in the formation, and the remaining people were forced to the seaside, where they fell into the water and died in countless numbers. Some people fled the battlefield, but the passages in all directions were blocked, and they could not return to the north of the Danube. In the end, the 20,000 surviving Crusaders could only declare their surrender.

Basil hoped to accept their surrender in exchange for a large ransom for the nobles among them, but the soldiers were unwilling. At night, there was a commotion in the Hebei camp. Soldiers whose hometowns had been plundered came out of the camp with weapons in hand and went to where the prisoners were held, banging their shields and making loud noises. Soldiers from other departments came out to watch the fun, and the military officials could not stop it.

After getting the news, Mametinicus told his staff and generals that the situation was urgent and there was no time to notify the Khan, so he could handle it himself. Immediately afterwards, personal soldiers were sent out to execute more than a hundred nobles, large and small, who had been gathered together and held in solitary confinement. He also ordered other armies to come on guard and asked the militiamen to dig several large pits and kill all 20,000 Crusaders overnight.

After dealing with it, he went to Basil and said that he had acted without permission and wanted to resign and accept investigation. Basil didn't say anything. He just let the matter pass on the grounds that there were still many wars in front of him and it was too late to deal with it.

This battle resulted in heavy losses for all parties to the Crusaders. The Lithuanian nobles who fought the main battle were all lost, and the country was completely in decline. From then on, it became a small and unpopular country. After losing a lot, the Poles became angry and soon found an opportunity to turn around and swallow up Lithuania's blood.

The biggest loss was in Hungary. The core of the United Kingdom of Poland and Hungary was the court of King Lajos of Hungary. The core of this operation is also Hungarian. After the defeat, a large number of nobles who supported the king were killed, and the remaining powerful nobles, as before, began to question the king's ability and then conspired to challenge his authority. A year later, Lajos died of anxiety, and the Kingdom of Hungary fell into long-term chaos until it was finally divided among Poland, the HRE and the Purple Horde.

The remains of the battlefield back then have now become some somewhat famous attractions. For example, the place where the Crusaders were executed and buried was called "Manzi Tomb"; the small soil slope where the battlefield heads were buried after the inspection was now called "Mantou Bao". Guo Kang visited these places when he was a child.

But at that time, the local villagers still paid a lot for it. The second group of people who set out in East Village and West Village also suffered a lot. The more than thirty people who were taken away as regular troops did not have the opportunity to disarm and return to their fields until the end of the entire Magyar War. Although they basically won every battle since then, only half of them were left or had gone home.

The village chief of Ma Baoluo led the villagers to fight with the enemy. After the decisive battle, his superiors told him that they could all go back, but he only sent the old, young and women home. He took the strong men of the village and followed the army everywhere to eliminate scattered rebels and bandits.

After the war in the hinterland came to an end, Basil and others turned to the west and continued to deal with the enemies there. The troops remaining in the area were organized into two legions under the orders of the Khan, and began to regain lost territory and purge the rebellious nobles.

In the northwest and northern areas of the Black Sea, the legion captured more than 20 towns, completely recovered the Galic area, and captured more than a thousand nobles, powerful chiefs and their die-hard loyalists. Some nobles cursed that they were all low-blooded bastards, but now they wanted to turn the world upside down and use human power to fight against the rules of the Father. Sooner or later they would go to hell.

The newly recruited soldiers were generally illiterate and didn't know how to refute, so they set up crosses and nailed these people to it, so that everyone could see whether these people were really as noble as our Heavenly Father and Brothers. The Purple Horde Khanate's habit of crucifying barbarian nobles began here. The supporting theoretical explanation currently proposed by the official actually comes first, and then the church supplements and explains it.

The village chief of Mapaolo and others also participated in these actions. During the battle to attack the city of Lviv, the last group of rebel nobles held on to the city and fought desperately, hoping that the Poles would come to rescue them again. Ma Baoluo knew some carpenter skills, so he volunteered to lead people to make engineering equipment, and took the risk to set up under the city. In the end, he was killed in the repeated battles between the two sides around the city wall. When the battle was over, the legion commander told them not to fight and forcibly sent everyone home. Then they ended their journey.

After returning, there were only about a hundred adult males in the two villages combined. Counting the half-grown children, there are not as many people as there are in a small or medium-sized village. In order to maintain normal operations, the two villages chose to merge, which is the origin of the current Majiazhuang.

And their names are said to come from this small river - the old people in the village can't remember the full name of the river in Bulgarian dialect. They only know that most residents, including the village chief, have surnames for the first time. , which is directly borrowed from the first pronunciation of this river. The elders once considered whether to change the name to something more formal, but the old gentleman who invited them said that naming the boundary after the river and using it as a surname were in line with ancient etiquette and there was no need to change it. So, I have been using it until now.

Of course, their terrain is very good, so the population recovered very quickly. In a generation and a half, it has recovered to its previous size and is even more prosperous than before. With this history and a large population, it is not surprising that Majiazhuang wants a higher status.

(End of this chapter)