Tang Qi Tan

Three days later, under the city of Toulouse; among the blue-robed army all over the mountains and plains, Jiang Tian, ​​who was dressed in oriental armor, was also silently looking at this gray and white city built of granite and marble; it is also the big crown directly named after the region. lead the capital.

It is said that the kingdom evolved from the Abigail Crusade against the clean sect in the south after the tragic civil war between the north and the south.Headed by the de facto independent Grand Duke of Languedoc, hundreds of nobles, large and small, or two or three generations were defeated and died together, or abolished and plundered after surrendering.

Therefore, the royal family directly cut off one of the two most affluent areas in the south - the most fertile land in the Garonne River basin on the Toulouse Plain, and set up a large crown collar centered on the siege of Toulouse; and a large number of meritorious royal families foreign noble fiefs.

Therefore, the later royal family continued to build and expand the city of Toulouse, which is the central city of the region; it gradually turned the original rammed earth and brick walls into stones; The era of great turmoil during the replacement of dynasties.

Therefore, keeping it intact for a relatively long time also allows the city to develop considerably.Even outside the city, you can see from a distance, the ubiquitous tall buildings and sentry towers in Toulouse, as well as many towers that are obviously higher than the city wall, and the bright tile roofs filled with rose red.

Of course, in addition to being the industrial and commercial center and transportation hub of the Toulouse area for a long time, there is another important role here; it is one of the headquarters of the Inquisition established by the kingdom for a long time; it is responsible for cleaning the possible cleansing remnants in the place. .

Therefore, compared to other similar existences that appeared briefly in history, the ordinary and unique heresy court existed until the establishment of the White Iris Dynasty, which announced the "Aachen Edict" that narrowly pardoned many heresy sects and belief groups in the territory; to be revoked.

But the resulting hatred and solidarity effects continued for a long time.So much so that the city was once spontaneously divided into two small camps, the White Brotherhood and the White Orthodox Faction, and outside the night, with the local small and big nobles and gentry as the background, fighting and fighting were endless.

So, that also gave the new royal family some kind of opportunity.On the grounds of maintaining order, they sent troops to intervene in the local area, and took a step back to take over and expand the small crown collar left by the royal family.It is divided into two small districts of Lower/Upper Toulouse according to the banks of the Garonne River.

Before that, the state affairs rectification movement during the lifetime of "Secretary of Fright" was ushered in.The Zi Council composed of nobles was successively established in the local area, the military governor and financial auditor directly under the royal family were established, a few new schools and royal workshops were established; the functions of the postal and transportation departments were improved...

Therefore, the current city of Toulouse is not controlled by the royalists/royalists, or other forces/factions with no obvious political background; The 77-member committee formed actually manages and controls.

However, although the committee claims to be neutral to all parties, the situation has changed recently.He said that a Holy Kingdom army of the same size came from the Aquitaine region; on the grounds of implementing the supplementary treaty signed by the new dynasty, they quietly entered the pearl in the hinterland of the little crown.

However, that incident caused slight differences and opposition in the Committee of 77.Because, the army of the Holy Kingdom was introduced privately by many people, including the city nobles in the committee, without even being publicly discussed and voted by the committee.

Therefore, after the members of the other factions in the committee have calmly rebounded and moved; those urban aristocrats are above the seemingly neutral acquiescence of the Holy Kingdom Army; It is weaker to attack my faction first.

Therefore, more than half of the city councilors were captured and imprisoned by the whole family, and they did not die unintentionally during the struggle; only a few people escaped from Toulouse, or hid.They could only watch helplessly as the city defense team was also purged.

Along with several royalist armed forces from all over the world, they also retreated before the city of Toulouse.We reorganized the city committees dominated by nobles, and restored the Inquisition that abolished juveniles; in the name of heresy trials to correct beliefs, we liquidated dissidents and enemies in the city.

However, without restraint and restrictions, it quickly spread into the armed forces of various royal parties, extorting and extorting behaviors against special citizens, poor people, and even refugee groups; because there are no rules and order at all, the result is I know how many human tragedy.

Immediately afterwards, our desires became more and more unsatisfactory, and we had to step back to reach our goals; extended to the cannibals and wealthy classes in the city, and even the local church.On that occasion, even the supporters of the neutral faction and the urban aristocratic faction who had been watching could no longer bear it.

However, when the matter developed to that point, it was hard to stop.Although the members of the committee made negotiations and restraints, trying to raise a sum of money to allow those royalist forces to enter and exit the city and recuperate in the suburbs;

Those royalist armed forces from the rural territories, who have seen and enjoyed the prosperity of the city; and before the convenience of dominating all classes under the banner of heresy purge, how could it be easy to let go and make concessions?As a result, several conflicts broke out with the city defense team.

In the end, after the two sides spontaneously turned into internal strife that spread to the whole city, the army of the Holy Kingdom suddenly intervened to mediate; finally a brief provisional agreement was reached; either the royal parties had to retreat to the southwest bank of the Garonne River, and the rich and The big city where the nobles gather is over.

As a result, there has not yet been a reconcilable gap and rift between the local management committee and the Lilai Royalist armed forces.However, the Holy Kingdom Army, which claimed to provide shelter and maintain order, has always been ambiguous and willing to take less measures; it seems that it has no intention of doing so.

That was also Jiangpan, which led the army to the south, all the way through the provinces of Aveyron, Tarn, and Haute-Garon along the road; when they ran into the city of Toulouse, they fled from the city of Toulouse. The few city representatives who all want to ask for help have a brief overview of the situation.

However, what shocked and surprised us even more was that the Puritan believers along the way took the initiative to stand up as the leading party; it was composed of 77 cavalry companies, [-] mounted infantry companies, and [-] auxiliary/supply companies. The astonishing retreat of the Slow Corps.

In some kind of miraculous morale boost, we retreated almost without a break for eight days and two nights, easily captured and captured four small cities and eight forts along the southward valley road.Like a rushing storm, the plain of Toulouse is washed away.But that was just the beginning.

The defenders in the red and white striped robes at the top of the city were also running in a panic; then they stared dumbfounded at the mighty small army directly urging them down.Even before the siege camp was set up, they were eager to launch it first, which didn't seem like a ridiculous offensive.

In the sound of drums and trumpets that made people's liver and gallbladder split, many siege equipment appeared one after another in the cavalry array.There is neither a small wheeled artillery cart with a thick barrel, a short and wide-mouthed stone mortar, nor a long ladder that gradually stretches out under the carriage.

Even when the leading cavalry is about to arrive and within the range of the crossbow arrows on the city wall; even the siege and crash vehicles covered with iron sheets and equipped with cast iron heavy hammers, with a series of baffles and small shields with wheels; Among the neat formations of the vanguard cavalry;

Just as the alarmed few guards at the top of the city lowered the strings of their crossbows and military crossbows one after another; the vanguard cavalry rushed to the city at high speed; In the sound, they threw the firewood bundles and soil bags carried on the saddle one after another.

In a blink of an eye, the moat, which was only covered with shallow silt due to the dry season, was already filled up by those brave and fearful cavalry for several short sections.Immediately after the leisure were these infantrymen who were slowly pushing back behind the baffle; we quickly leveled the ground and opened several narrow lanes.

And along the rough ground that has been cleared out, in the rain of increasingly sparse arrows, siege vehicles and long ladders are coming one after another; they are about to approach the city gate and wall, and are hit by falling objects At the moment of the blow, there was a burst of thunder in front of him.

Along with the small-wheeled artillery vehicle that has not retreated into the shooting circle, and the aiming unit is planned, and the short-barreled mortar that continues to push back; The burning iron balls also scrambled to hit the bottom of the city wall.

Suddenly, inside the city wall, there were dull crashing sounds and splashing of rocks; although most of the balls hit the inner side of the city wall, or penetrated/shattered the gap in the city wall; Chaos continued for a short time, ignoring the welcoming defenders.

In particular, some wooden sentry towers and arrow towers hit by shells, almost along the gap entered by the bombardment, dripped small pieces of blood, or collapsed with some stumps and broken bodies amidst the screams all day long; An archery tower without an archery tower simply collapsed among the defenders.

And such a delay and a moment's rush are enough for the long ladders that these carriages descended to successfully build down the stone wall amidst the tooth-piercing sound of friction; Also driven by the internal soldiers, he slammed back into the inner side of the city gate.

Although, the defenders, who didn't have a sharp knife, hurriedly slashed and hit the long ladders and hooks that set up the wall;Because those special long ladders have not yet been made of fine steel castings, and some important structures and parts have been weakened.

And the falling stones and quicklime we poured up from the hole below the city gate in a hurry hardly caused any decent damage or threat to the siege engines in the doorway; The top bounced back and slid down with a bang.

There was also a chilling dull impact sound from above; therefore, none of the defenders hastily leaned out, trying to shoot with longbows and weak crossbows, these armored engineers who stood beside the siege vehicles to provide cover and assist in the operation; It fell on the musket fire of the front array.

At the last moment, we were concerned about the siege vehicles in the doorway; because, at the other end of the long ladder of the vehicle, groups of low-level enemy soldiers in heavy armor with masks, like iron men; The sharp-edged arrows pushed aside the pointed spears and spears and smashed into the defenders.

And a short time ago, the siege vehicles inside the city gate also suddenly stopped bombarding, and then turned into scattered figures on the vehicles dodging; the last moment, there was a loud bang; out, even the siege vehicles were reversed and rushed back out...

Amidst the cheers and roars that shook the sky, the soldiers of the Free Army gathered on the wall and were shooting at the top of the city, and rushed into the city gate that had been blasted into a small gap; ; And on top of the haste of the incident, there were not even many obstacles and defenders inside the gate.

I vaguely saw that scene in front of me, the representatives of the city who came out to ask for help, their hands and feet were cold and their legs were trembling; if we saw it with our own eyes, we would have no doubt that the guards were sufficient, the city was low and the walls were thick. A small, prosperous city was destroyed in just one encounter.

In the various rumors after Lenovo Road, the Free Army is also known as an army full of miracles; the royalist/royalty/old aristocracy, the most terrible enemy; the protector of the peasants and industrialists and businessmen.Suddenly it seems to understand something...