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

"Besides, you didn't fight a single battle, and you still got the spoils. We are merciful enough!"

"Anxious."

"You goddamn..."

"Okay, today I'm here to discuss Saxon matters." Seeing that the discussion was getting crooked, Dragovit couldn't bear to bring the discussion back to the main thread:

"If you want to deal with even one of them alone, our Villetti warriors are not afraid at all, but they are attacking from three sides.

There are Eupolites in the north, Danes in the northwest, Saxons in the west, and Thuringians in the south.

If we really want to fight, we will definitely not have as many troops as they go out of the city in a single direction, but if we concentrate our troops in one direction, they will break through the rest of the direction. "

"And what about our Sorb allies?" Mateusz asked.

"I sent envoys to ask, and they said they would light precious candles to pray for us." Dragovit said helplessly, "They ride horses like the wind, and they are backed by Moravia. Without Magdeburg, they will go to Prague to trade. Naturally, there is no reason to help us."

"Then let's concentrate our forces and fight all the way first. Those who have fought at the scene know that if they are surrounded and beaten, don't we just fight all the way first and then slowly take care of the rest?" said a Vileti headman standing aside.

"Your tribe is on the other side of the Elbe River. Of course you said that, but what about after winning the battle? What about the wounded and plundered population in the other two lanes?"

"Yeah, by then, we won't be able to recover for 20 years, but they only need to recover for five or six years before they can make a comeback, but they just changed their main attack direction." The crowd immediately voiced their opposition.

"They won't always be so united." The headman shouted towards the crowd, still speaking stubbornly.

"But they all have a master named Charlie." Miroslav flapped his dark hooked nose, "You hurt Saxony, what if the Duke of Saxony asks the surrounding nobles, and even Charlie himself to help?

Don't forget, once the Saxons were more than twice as strong as ours, but they were still defeated by Charlie's army. "

"This is also what worries me." Dragovit said in a condensed voice, "Charlie's population and land are more than ten times that of ours, unless everyone is Svyatogor (Slavic mythological giant warrior), who can deal with a hundred enemies alone."

"Then what should we do?" Mateusch's voice was not loud, but it made the whole hall quiet.

"Perhaps we could ask the tribes of Pomerania to help us?"

"They just have a trade relationship with us. Besides, they have a lot of friction with us on the border."

"Then ask the Prussians for help?"

"Looking for allies, no way." Kovalov made a final decision.

Forming an alliance is not a simple matter. The surrounding tribes are separated from Saxons, and there is basically no conflict with those Franks or Saxons.

Even because of the North Sea trade, they all have ties with Saxony, and it's not bad that they didn't help Saxony attack them.

The hall fell into silence again, with grinding teeth, sighing, and even snoring.

At this time, a voice with a strong Frankish accent sounded in the crowd: "King Dragovit, Charlie is now in Italy, and he will not come to support Anthony, Duke of Saxony, for at least two years."

"Who?" Mateusch asked, standing up.

A tall, fat man in a Frankish felt hat squeezed out from the crowd: "Excuse my rudeness, Lord Dragovit, and allow me to introduce myself.

I am a landless knight from Frank, and I have always loathed Antony, Duke of Saxony, so I hope I can offer you some help in taking revenge on that dreadful and brutal lord. "

"Frank?" Mateusz turned his head and shouted to Dragovitt, "He must be an undercover spy sent by the Duke of Saxony, come here, get out!"

"Wait a minute, Mateusz." He stopped several strong leaders who were about to attack, and Dragovit looked at the landless knight in front of him, pretending not to know him, "Why did you become enmity with the Duke of Saxony, can you tell me?"

"You may not know that the Duke of Saxony is a devil from the east. He bewitched the wise King Charles, turned him into a tyrant, and treated his loyal subjects cruelly."

Two tears came out of the landless knight's eyes, "Oh, I have to abandon my loyalty. I was originally a fief knight under the Duke of Saxony, but he used inexplicable reasons to take away my land. He also called it a country replacement, and replaced my fertile land with a swamp in the forest!"

"That's really unfair. It's really regrettable what happened to you. You really have a reason for wanting revenge. So, you want to take revenge by helping us?" Dragovit squinted his eyes and asked.

The landless knight nodded: "If possible, I also hope to obtain a small piece of land in Villetti and pledge my allegiance to you. I will tell you everything I know about Anthony, Duke of Saxony, and King Charles of the Franks."

"But how do you prove it?" Mateusch asked.

"I will stay in Dragovite City and accept your house arrest, and I will provide a strategy to deal with Anthony. If it is useful, please give me land and glory. If it is not useful, then hang me!" The landless knight said loudly to all the leaders present.

"Then, tell me about your plan."

"As King Dragovit said, we must not be able to attack. They have a large number of people. If they go out to fight in the city, they will definitely lose one side and lose the other side. But, I have an idea, we can pretend to surrender!"

"Pretending?" Kovalov asked sharply.

"Yes, pretend." The Landless Knight nodded, "You know, the coalition forces of these three parties cannot last long. They set out in winter and fight for five months at most. Next spring, they will go back to sow seeds.

Then we randomly grabbed a few chiefs from other tribes, forced them to be the previous murderers, and then gave some worthless furs, declaring that we had lost to the Duke of Saxony.

In this way, although the Duke of Saxony lost his army and failed to achieve anything, he must cover up his failure in order to maintain his reputation. He must be willing to accept our conditions, and Charles will not trouble us.

The best way to deal with the three parties and two armies is to defend the city.

Our forts are dense and strong, and the ground is muddy and difficult to walk in winter. We still fight at home, and they will definitely not be able to eat a few walled cities! "

"Just let them fight like this, it's too suffocating!" The chiefs of the crowd shouted dissatisfied.

The landless knight said calmly: "Of course not, until February and March next year, they attacked the city for four months in the muddy and wet winter, with low morale and lack of supplies.

And we live in a warm and comfortable walled city, and after a whole winter, our morale is high, then we will fight back in the field!

However, it must be noted that the counterattack is only to drive them away, not to really kill them, otherwise the Saxons will be impatient, and it is not impossible to call Charlie directly to help the battle. "

"Then we just surrender?"

"No, no, no, they are so united now because Charlie is on top of them. When Charlie dies on that day, his sons will divide up the kingdom. At that time, we will take revenge."

The hall fell silent, and all the chiefs and heads thought about this matter.

"Everyone, what do you say?" Dragovit glanced at both sides, "Who is in favor and who is against?"

"I agree!"

"I object!"

"Yes!"

During the fierce voting by the crowd, the chiefs looked at each other in blank dismay, and as Dragovit expected, most of them voted for it, because although no one contributed to this method, everyone managed their own affairs and there was no loss.

Although it is nominally lost, as long as it comes back in 30, it will not be considered a loss.

"In that case, then I will arrange it like this. The Kissini tribe is responsible for defending the Oppolits, the Chelsea Pania tribe is responsible for defending the Oppolits and the Danes, and the Brenner tribe is responsible for defending the army led by the Duke of Saxony." Dragovite locked his eyes on several chiefs. "You two, do you have any comments?"

"No."

"Okay, then the Torrance tribe and the Radar tribe are located in the rear. If these coalition forces can't attack for a while, you will be responsible for logistics, transporting food and hunting production, and serving as reinforcements when necessary, how about it?"

The chiefs of the Torrance tribe and the Radar tribe replied in unison: "I agree."

"Okay, let's do it like this!"

Chapter 342 My Knight Commander, My Knight Order

The steel-colored black forest, the clear river, and the flowing clouds in the blue sky are mellow, leaving blank everywhere. In this post-autumn season, there is a rare sunny day, but the clear sunshine has a hint of coldness.

After all, it was already the end of November. If it was still as cool as before, Feng Sen would have wondered if the place he was in was Villetti.

This is a clearing in the vast forest of Villetti. Hundreds of years ago, this clearing was just a muddy swamp, but now, there is not only a tall city, but also fertile fields surrounding the city and exquisite wooden huts.

At this moment, all the fields outside the walled city had been harvested, leaving only crops of short hard wheat seedlings and some livestock that would not be able to enter the walled city in the future, grazing leisurely on the grass.

This is the closest village to Magdeburg. There were three or five villages nearby. However, upon hearing the news of the arrival of Feng Sen's army, they either hid in the jungle or entered the village.

The perimeter of this walled city is about one mile, and the whole body is made of fir and pine trees around it. It is not like the previous Harendan castle, which was built on the mound, but directly on the flat ground, surrounded by wooden houses and fields.

The difference from before is that a moat was dug around the fortification on the periphery of the city, about two meters deep, and outside the moat was a circle of slanted wooden piles, which seemed to be newly built fortifications.

Corresponding to the Walled City, a camp is being built at a speed visible to the naked eye three miles away from the Walled City. Similarly, before arriving at the Walled City, Feng Sen has already dispatched light cavalry in advance to capture the nearby Few villagers came to build camps.

The wooden houses and buildings on the outskirts of the walled city were pulled down by soldiers and slave laborers and turned into building materials for the camp. Bannermen wielded their pickaxes to dig out the scattered stones in the soil. The building materials from the wooden houses turned into walls, enclosing the camp.

From the appearance point of view, this camp doesn't even feel inferior to the Walled City.

These dismantled building materials were transported to the special construction square behind the camp. They came from the master craftsman who will be the guard, and directed the civilian husbands and slave labor to continue to build the five-point cannon.

On the construction square, about [-] five-pointed cannons have appeared in front of everyone, and there are still about twenty five-pointed cannons covered under the oilcloth beside them.

In the middle of the square, more than a dozen five-pointed cannons were still under construction. The slave laborers and peasants held hammers and vigorously struck iron nails to fix the bronze parts on the surface of the cannon shaft.

As for the counterweight trebuchet, it is too advanced to be displayed.

On the side of the construction square, it connects the road to the Elbe River. Folks and merchants are unloading large blocks of stones from the vehicles. After all, collecting stones on site is really troublesome, and the amount is not necessarily large.

On the forest path from the Elbe to the walled city, slave laborers wielded axes, and trees fell to the sound of trumpets, widening the original road.

On both sides of the road, slave laborers and flagmen brandished pickaxes and shovels, extending the two drainage channels forward, and the water in the dirt road was squeezed by the wooden planks, obediently draining along the drainage channels.

With the drainage channel, the road that used to be stepped on a puddle has now been paved with dead branches, dry bark, river sand and gravel, and it will no longer sink your feet when you step on it.

In this way, the road can be used for horse and donkey carts in a short time.

At this moment, the originally quiet road was extremely lively. Merchants and civilian husbands in various costumes and languages ​​were driving horse-drawn carriages and transporting military supplies.

"Sorry!"

"Mmm! Mmmm!"

"The axle is broken again, that damned Jewish profiteer!"

"Snapped!"

The sound of the whip hurt the hearts of every cow and horse present, but they were either unable to speak or did not dare to speak.

Grain, planks, bricks, quilts, herbs, and tools flowed from the beach of the Elbe River into Feng Sen's camp in a river channel called carriage, donkey cart, wooden cart, and wheelbarrow.

At this time, in the big tent in the middle of the camp.

The charcoal in the brazier gave off a faint red light. Feng Sen raised his hand to stir the brazier with the tongs, and then looked up at the middle-aged priest in front of him.

The name of this middle-aged deacon of the Holy See is Matthews, and his hometown is even more noble Rome. If he knows the gold content of a deacon of the Holy See, he is so much higher than the bishop of the rural parish.

"I rushed to Hamburg on a fast horse and sea boat. I wanted to meet you before the expedition, but you had already set off. Your Excellency moved too fast." Matthews put on a blanket, took a sip of warming wine, and smacked his mouth.

Feng Sen took a sip of the heated rice wine and asked with a smile, "But you still risked being attacked by the Vileti people and found me. What kind of affairs can make you work so hard?"

"Because this is not only a mission entrusted to me by the Pope, but also a mission entrusted to me by the Heavenly Father." Matthews coughed, "We believe that beer is the new wine given to us by the Heavenly Father. It can make water clean and will not arouse human desires. To tell you the truth, I think this beer has a lot to do with our church..."

Feng Sen continued to sip the rice wine with a smile, and said softly: "Actually, I also think that this is the wine given by the heavenly father. This wine must foretell. I think it should foretell my war against the Villetti heretics."

Eyeballs swept left and right in the eye sockets covertly, Matthews stood up, walked up to Feng Sen, raised the wine glass in his hand, and made a toast.

However, at the moment when the two approached, Matthews quickly asked in a low voice: "Whatever you want, Your Excellency the Duke, just say it, otherwise you don't need to entrust Bishop Fields to write a letter to inform the Holy See."

"What I want is very simple." Feng Sen lowered his voice, "I need to turn the Villetti War into a jihad, a jihad against the heretics, to show my piety and honor, so I need the support of the Holy See."

"Can you tell me exactly what kind of support it is?" Matthews whispered to Feng Sen in a low voice.

"First, I want a church title, Grand Master of the Northern Crusade Knights, headquartered in Magdeburg.

Second, I want the church to grant me the right to wage holy war against the infidels in the north, and to declare my Villetti War, a northern crusader's holy war, to capture the Jerusalem-Pomeranian region in the north.

This was done to spread the Gospel of the Father to the heathen, not for worldly success. "Feng Sen stated his conditions slowly.

Deacon Matthews leaned back slightly: "You pay too little and want too much."

"Isn't the Northern Crusade more able to highlight the power of the Holy See?" Feng Sen leaned forward, "This is cooperation, a win-win situation."

"But if you fail, the authority of the church will be hit."

"But you also got the recipe for beer!"

"Armed preaching has always been opposed by some bishops within the Holy See. They believe that the spread of the gospel should not rely on swords, but on asceticism, missionary work, and suffering." Deacon Matthews whispered, "This may cause turmoil within the Holy See."

"Don't worry, these Villetti are too weak, they won't be my opponent."

"How can you be sure?" Deacon Matthews' tone gradually increased, "If you can't even defeat the Villetti, then what's the use of the Pope's support for you?

In this way, we can appoint you as the head of the Knights of St. Melchizedek, but do not grant you the power of jihad, how?Otherwise, if you start a holy war and fail again and again, it will deal a serious blow to the Holy See.

There has always been a rift between our eastern churches, and they may use this to make trouble. Besides, please allow me to be rude, you are a secular lord, and you are not qualified to decide who is the enemy of God. "

His eyebrows tightened. Feng Sen was about to speak, but a thunderous "bang" interrupted his words, and Matthews' attention was also diverted.

"Can it thunder on a sunny day?" Matthews looked outside suspiciously, but he shook off his distraction and looked at Feng Sen in front of him, "Your Excellency, what do you say?"

At this tense moment, Feng Sen suddenly laughed: "Let's take a look at the siege in the distance."

After all, he couldn't help saying, took the deacon's hand, ignored the objection of Deacon Matthews, and walked all the way outside.

The loud noises and trumpets in the clear sky became more and more frequent. Matthews was both surprised and suspicious. His eyes locked on Feng Sen for a while, and then looked at the sky for a while.

"Deacon Matthews, can you ride a horse?" Feng Sen asked with a smile after leading a horse for Matthews.

"I can."