Temple Sword

Chapter 97 Preparations for the Decisive Battle

1312, Month of Pentecost (May)
Saros (now Sarospatak), Hungary
-

A knight with blood on his neck strode toward his tent, two leather bags in hand, his boots clattering against the soggy dirt that had been trampled on with each step.The heavy rain for several days continued to wear down the spirit of the besieging army. Their tents and siege engines sank several feet, their movement became difficult due to the mud, and their clothes, tools and equipment became smelly. And dirty.

"Holy Mary and the world of shit!" someone cursed near a campfire at dusk. "The meat is overgrown!"

"Perfect with moldy bread!" the knight echoed to him, and continued on to the tent.However, the next step was to curse himself, as his nose told him that this time he was not stepping on mud, but human feces. "Who the hell is shitting in here?" He sighed, thinking that this string of misfortunes would never end.

It all started last fall when Charles Anjou set off from Timisoara, vowing to punish Mate Chak and bring the Trencin oligarch to its knees once and for all.

But in the end things did not develop as the king imagined, and he suffered a crushing defeat and retreated step by step to his stronghold in Transylvania.Depressed to the core, Charlie and his battered army spend Christmas in their newly built castle in Timisoara, Anjou's fleur-de-lis banners dwindle and Mate Chak is like the plague spread.By the end of the year, he had expanded his power into the territory of the Abba family, and nothing seemed to be able to stop him.

The most frightening thing is that Mattei has no idea of ​​seizing the throne at all. He just wants to be the richest and most powerful person in the kingdom, a lord whom neither the king nor the pope dare to challenge.

The first few months of the New Year passed in relative tranquility, during which time Charles, who had never given up hope in his life, raised a new army, still, of course, on the money of the King of Naples.At the same time, most of the Hungarian nobles had realized that they had to choose sides in the increasingly bloody conflict, and surprisingly, more and more families sided with the king.

The Balogs, the Kais, the Kaplons, and the Nekcseys and Ripers of the Abba clan branch who disagreed with the policies of Ahmad Abba's sons Qijia (Lipóci).

Not long after the second month of Lent (March), news came that the Abbas had broken their oath and attacked Sarosh, where Petanje's son Peter, who supported the king, fought valiantly against them.At this moment, the servants of the sons of Abba's family attacked Peter's estate in Zempelen, burned it together with the church, razed it to the ground, and killed one of Peter's relatives.The main army of Abba's sons was driven back to Sharosh Castle by angry Peter soon after, and hid within the city walls.

After hearing the news, Charlie had to take action. He gathered all the soldiers he could mobilize and marched into Saros Fort, trying to drive the sons of Abba's family out with iron and fire.

The besieging army arrived under the castle at the beginning of the month of Pentecost (May), and before the battle began, Charles organized a meeting and sentenced two local dignitaries to confiscate their property to show that he was now the king of the whole kingdom Master, even in the core area of ​​Abba's family, his power is unquestionable.Immediately after the verdict was pronounced and the meeting concluded, he ordered the attack.

The siege went on for weeks without progress.During the protracted siege, the situation became worse and worse, and the army was greeted with torrential rain for several days. When the rain finally stopped, the surrounding area of ​​Saros Fort had become an uninhabitable, sea ​​of ​​mud.

"This will never end," the bloodied knight walked into the spacious tent, "We will all die here, trapped in this endless mud!"

"Antal!" His adoptive father frowned, "Why do you smell so bad?"

"Because there's a bastard who doesn't go to the bushes, but shits in the middle of the road!" Antal explained with a rude gesture, "If it wasn't for my fear that it would rain again soon, I would have left my boots outside of."

"Great," grumbled William, "at least we'll be more conscious of the smell..."

Since Pope Clement V disbanded the Knights Templar in the month of St. George (April), the old lion of the East has not taken off his white coat with the red cross, but put on a A black cloak, like a mourning dress.Of course, in the mud, his white robe and black cloak were covered with mud and blood, and the original color and pattern of the clothes could hardly be seen.

"I found some wine," said Antal, tossing the wine bag onto the middle table, and sitting down on the straw-strewn wet ground, between his uncle and squire. "At least that's good news."

"Why are you covered in blood?" Laszlo asked, his eyes drooping with fatigue. "Alcohol isn't so important that you'd kill for it..."

"I didn't kill anyone," Lily Knight waved his hand. For some reason, he was not in the mood to joke. "Bessie asked me and the others to help him hold Kelder, he's going to saw off the man's leg. I've never heard a cry like that, poor guy... I was in the worst possible position, Right next to his leg."

"So the blood on your body..." The only knight who came from the south with William, Andronica with a scar on his face, pointed to his clothes and said, "Is it Kelder's?"

"That's right," that memory flashed in Antar's mind again, and he shook his head, "For God's sake, let's have a drink!"

"Wait until Umberto comes back!" William snapped. "Everyone's share must be equal, whether they have blood on them or not."

As soon as he had finished speaking, the Italian singer entered the tent, covered in mud like the others, and carrying in his hand a ball of rags that looked miraculously clean.

"Smoked sausage and red onions!" he announced triumphantly. "Let's start the winner's feast!"

"Where did you see the victor?" Antal asked, as he and his companions got up from the straw pile and took out a meat cleaver. "All I can see is a bunch of weary people who will wallow in this filth forever..."

"Don't be so pessimistic, Antal!" said Umberto, "think about your wife's big belly!"

"You guy..." The knight smiled and took a big bite of the sausage, began to chew the smoky and spicy food with relish, and then took a long sip of the wine. "You rode into a siege camp as if you were walking into a peaceful village, and with a single sentence you could make homesick people feel sore."

Umberto didn't answer, just smiled sarcastically.

"Shouldn't we wake him up?" Laszlo looked at Saipan Poka who was sleeping soundly in the corner, and William shook his head.

"He said, don't wake him up for a bad dinner, let him go to sleep!"

"So, when?" Andronika asked Antar happily, "I mean... when will your baby be born?"

"Yes, my child, you must be honest!" William pushed him, "When can I hold my grandson?"

But Lily Knight looked clouded and didn't look too happy.He put down the knife abruptly, swallowed the last bite of food left in his mouth, and suddenly lost his appetite.

"What's wrong with you?" William frowned. "Do you have any troubles?"

"This is my trouble," Antar pointed to the surroundings, "if this continues, we will all die here, and I will never see my son..."

"Nonsense!" A drowsy hoarse voice came from the corner, "We will not die here!"

Everyone turned to look at Saipan, who yawned, stood up from his stiff lying position, and stretched, all the bones in his body crackling.

"I don't think that's your real worry, my boy," he said, walking over to the table to start eating his dinner. "Stop holding it, and tell him what's worrying him."

A blush of shame appeared on Antal's face, and I tried to turn away so that no one else would notice, but everyone saw his reaction.

"Please, tell me," Andronica urged. "I won't let you rest until then."

"The kid is a hero, and a hero can say pretty things." Umberto and the others laughed together. "Who knows what he said to his lover?"

"He promised to hold her hand when the baby was born," revealed Laszlo, who witnessed Agnes and Antal's farewell in Timisoara, "but if the siege drags on for weeks , he's about to miss production."

"Laszlo!" the knight glared at his friend angrily.

"Why?" the attendant muttered, "They're curious..."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Saipan said with a sly smile under his moustache, "Sometimes delivering babies is indeed more important than fighting..."

Laughter erupted around the table, and Antar, sulking and unable to think of a better way, stuffed another piece of sausage into his mouth.

"Okay, okay," William was also amused by the old nobleman, but he still defended his adopted son, "The birth of a child is a big event!"

"That's right!" Lily Knight patted the table, "I forbid you to laugh at my wife!"

"We didn't laugh at your wife," Andronika chuckled, "We laughed at you, you little lover, more romantic than a bard!"

Having said that, laughter came from the tent again, and Antar's stern face couldn't hold back anymore.

"You bastards," he smiled shyly, "bring the wine, damn it!"

"Be careful," Umberto handed him the wine bag, "don't drink too much, women's noses are good at this!"

This was their first happy night of the month. Although their bodies were covered in dirt and wine, and their situation hadn't improved at all, they all slept soundly after eating and drinking enough, and even their faces ached from laughing.They thought things couldn't get any worse, they just had to wait patiently, and when the sons of the Aba family ran out of food and grass, they would starve to death sooner or later, or be forced to crawl out of their snake dens to fight them...

Then, at dawn, the camp sounded with horns and shouts: Mate Chuck sent seventeen hundred soldiers and hundreds of heavy cavalry to relieve the siege, and would soon be under the castle.

Charles had no choice but to fight an energetic army was a foolish choice, and he had to order a retreat, leaving his siege engines stuck in the mud.The king's army, which was invincible four years ago, has now fled Sarosh Castle with its tail between its legs.

-

They had left Debrecen a few days later, and the only thing that could cheer up the tired and humiliated army was that they were at least going home soon.But the king made a decision that made them despair, and in the evening, after the army had encamped, the king summoned his court knights and all his commanders to his tent, and told them in an excited voice, letting go of his shame.

"I have decided not to go back for the time being."

A short silence followed, and no one dared to look at the king and tell him that the soldiers did not want to fight any more, they were tired of constant humiliation, marching and retreating.In this way, they have remained silent, waiting for a bold person to speak.

"Then what shall we do, Sire?" Thomas Semsey broke the silence.

"Let's turn around..."

Hearing this sentence, the silence just now was replaced by a deafening roar of indignation.

"Turn around and go back?" William asked, "We just escaped a catastrophe, now go back to die?"

"No," said the king, holding up his hands, calling for silence, "we're not going back to fight them, at least not yet. We're going to Cepes, not Sarosh, and let the Saxons and the lancers ③Join us. If the rumors are true, the sons of Ahmad Abba and Matei Chak have allied, and their army will be stronger than ever. But if the nobles of Sepes are on our side, no If we support us only with words but with actions, then we can also form an army of Lily Flower Banner, an army that even two provincial lords cannot stop!"

Both the commander and the knights fell silent. Although Charlie's idea was bold and only a hypothesis, it was at least a plan with a clear goal. It was much better than no plan or a cowardly retreat.

"If all goes well, if the Saxons of Sepes and the Lancers are on our side," asked Thomas Semsey, "what shall we do after that?"

"What should we do?" The king smiled, "We will no longer negotiate, no more mercy, and end all this with iron and blood."

【footnote】

① Peter, the son of Petanje, after the demise of the Arpad dynasty in 1301, the war of succession broke out. Amad Abba supported Charles of Anjou to inherit the Hungarian throne, and Peter also joined his camp.When Ahmad's sons rebelled against the king and allied themselves with the powerful oligarch Mate Chak, Peter decided to leave the allegiance of Abbas and swear allegiance to Charles.

②In the north of Hungary, there are many Saxons who immigrated from Silesia.

③ Lándzsásnemesek of Sepes, originally called gmrrk, is the descendant of free people who worked in castles and manors during Arpad’s period. Notify Governor and King), enjoying considerable autonomy.

(End of this chapter)