Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 673: Pope: If you work half as hard as the Hussites, would I be like this?
Despite this, Da Lama Wang still insisted that Guo Kang needed to exercise more now.

"I am not very talented, so I can only perform some tricks to join in the fun. Compared to my master, I am far behind, and compared to my great master, I am even more unattainable." He insisted, "It is up to your generation to revive the faith of Rome. Now, you have to familiarize yourself with various affairs."

"Then wait until things here are over." Tuo Huan spread his hands: "The battle here is not over yet."

"Military affairs and church management are not contradictory." Da Lama Wang shook his head and defended, "I think the best way is to take both sides into consideration. Look, we have so many forces on both sides in this expedition. Who has the best organization and who is the best fighter besides Rome?"

"There are many capable fighters. The Mamluks and the knight orders all have many capable fighters." Tuohuan thought for a moment and said, "However, considering the entire force, it's hard to say - in the Mamluk army, only a small number of elite soldiers are of decent quality. In the knight orders, only the knights and permanent mercenaries can guarantee quality. So, overall, it's the Bohemians who are the best fighters."

"Yes." Da Lama Wang nodded. "Many people in the Knights are military nobles, so it's no surprise that they can fight well. Although the Mamluks are nominally called slaves, they are actually professional soldiers trained from childhood. But such people are a minority in any society and cannot represent the general level. On the contrary, many of the people under Captain Yang are latecomers. They have obviously got some tricks to be able to train to this level."

"Yes, I talked to him. Before coming to our side, he had summarized some experiences." Zhu Wenkui said: "Among so many armies in Europe, they are the few who know to divide into front and rear teams for marching. In addition, there are special engineers responsible for building roads and bridges. When setting up camp, everyone will take turns to stand guard, and there are people who are responsible for managing passwords and distinguishing between enemies and friends. Few other armies can do this."

"I heard from my father Khan that in the past, when the Alemanni camped at night, the nobles would just set up tents at random, and the soldiers would just lie down without any rules. Later, they were beaten by us so many times that they have learned to dig trenches and set up sentries." Tuohuan said, "What he did is not new."

"One or two things are not new, but together they become new." Zhu Wenkui said: "His advantage is that he learns things very quickly, and he has been all over Europe, so he can quickly learn from other people's experiences. Others may not be able to master them in this way."

"I think the military aspect is just a superficial phenomenon. The essence is the difference in organization." Da Lama Wang introduced his observations. "Moreover, this difference may be related to the Hussite armed habits. Because they have been suppressed by the Catholic Church for many years, these people are essentially a military order. They attach great importance to both military training and ideological education, and especially emphasize the purity and unity of faith. Therefore, their organizational level is definitely higher than that of the enemy."

"Someone has mentioned this before." Tuo Huan nodded: "But have you ever observed why they have these characteristics that are different from other Europeans?"

"Well... it's not that they are completely different. The Alemanni region has a habit of forming military orders. It has played a big role in their combat and development. Therefore, many experiences and skills have probably been practiced." Da Lama Wang thought for a while and said.

"Besides, this place is not like France and Italy. They were developed relatively late, and most people are very poor. The grassroots knights and priests have special status in name, but many of them are just big farmers, and some wealthy self-employed farmers may not even live well. Therefore, these people are generally very down-to-earth and can mix with farmers. As a result, the civilians there have some organizational habits."

"Among the peasants in various parts of Europe, the Alemanni are the best fighters. Their rebellions against their lords are the most frequent that we know of, and the related battles are also the most famous. I guess it has something to do with this habit of banding together."

"Bohemia is also special." Zhu Wenkui continued, "I asked Lao Yang, they were developed later. It was probably in the 12th or 13th century of the Tianxiong era that they became popular because of mineral resources. But there are a lot of mineral deposits discovered there, which led to the rapid development of the local area even though the cultural foundation is not as good as that of the Alemanni. However, various problems began to emerge during the development process."

"In Bohemia, the people are Slavs, but there are many Alemanni nobles among the rulers. The Slavs' culture is relatively backward. It was not until the ninth century that they established a stable country called Moravia. The Roman missionary Cyril was invited here and designed an alphabet for the Slavs."

"But soon, the Magyars from the steppes invaded the heart of Europe, and Moravia disintegrated. The Pseudomes family, which had always been inclined towards independence, took this opportunity to establish a country and switched to the East Frankish Kingdom. Later, the East Franks also called themselves Rome, and called the area they ruled Bohemia according to the name in the Roman era. After that, they broke away from the Orthodox world and the Slavic cultural circle and joined the Germanic system, and their status became higher and higher."

"At the same time, the Bohemians often clashed with Poland. In the early 14th century, King Wenceslas tried to annex Poland through marriage. But the Poles didn't like them either, and they sent assassins to assassinate him."

"In European castles, toilets are hung outside. So, while Wenceslas was squatting on the toilet, the Polish assassin climbed up the castle with a spear and stabbed him from below. Wenceslas died on the spot, and the Pseudostylus dynasty came to an end. The nobles elected the Alemanni Luxembourg family to inherit the throne, and they are the current group. In this way, the king also became an Alemanni."

"At this time, many precious metal deposits were discovered in Bohemia. The Alemanni had a higher level of technology than the locals, so in order to develop the minerals, the king and the nobles introduced a large population."

"Now, the most developed mining city is Kutna Hora, east of Prague. It is one of the largest silver mines in Europe, and it is said that it can produce 100,000 marks of silver a year. The miners here are almost all Alemanni. Even the name of this place is generally not the Slavic 'Kutna Hora', but the Germanic pronunciation, 'Kuttenberg'. Some other large towns are in a similar situation."

"However, not all industries are completely controlled by them. For example, in the Luzhnice River basin, there are gold mines. The local miners are mainly Bohemian natives."

"Over the years, Bohemia's mining industry has become very developed. The investors, managers, operators, and sellers of mineral resources are now all in charge of specialized people, and it has become very professional. Miners are no longer like in the past, where local nobles drove their subjects to dig. Instead, they are hired by mine owners and foremen, and are generally full-time professionals. Therefore, their organizational skills have also improved a lot."

"This is a normal development." Tuohuan nodded. "We have always been concerned about the movements of the Alemanni people and have conducted many secret investigations. In addition, some of the Alemanni refugees we recruited before were miners who gave up their contracts and ran away because they couldn't continue working. Although there are a lot of minerals, the miners have a hard time."

"It's the same everywhere. Old Yang and the others said the same thing." Zhu Wenkui agreed, "Also, although they all do hard work, miners of different identities not only fail to sympathize with each other, but often have conflicts."

"Alemanni miners generally support the Catholic Church, while local indigenous miners, on the contrary, generally support the reformers headed by Father Huss. The two sides would fight from time to time. A religious conference will be held this year, so the two sides are even more tense. Lao Yang said that now Bohemians have to be careful when going to Kuttenberg. Those Alemanni miners are obviously outsiders, but they are particularly unfriendly to them. If you are not careful, you will probably be besieged." "That place is their lair after all." Tuohuan was not surprised.

"Yes. But the Bohemians are not stupid, they also have their own base." Zhu Wenkui told him: "Didn't we just talk about the Luzhnice River? There is a mountain beside the river, which the locals call Mount Tabor. Bohemian miners often gather there, and there are already many of them. When Lao Yang started out, many of his men, in addition to his old comrades he met when he was a mercenary, were miners along the river. I feel that their organization and discipline are better, and this may be the reason."

"The miners who often participated in the Hakka-Punti fights had a gathering point in the mountains and their own innovative doctrines." Guo Kang nodded and concluded, "They look familiar... so it's not surprising that they are strong in combat."

"Why does this guy look familiar?" Zhu Wenkui was a little surprised, but he was used to Guo Kang's state and didn't ask further: "So do you think these people have a future?"

"They can fight, but they probably need to focus on their internal problems. It doesn't matter that they are being suppressed by the Alemanni now. But once they win a few battles and the environment improves, I'm afraid they will split up and even kill each other." Guo Kang shook his head: "In the end, I'm afraid the Alemanni king will take advantage of them. Everyone has to pack up and go home to continue to do hard labor."

"How did you determine that?" Tuo Huan asked curiously, "Did Brother Tian tell you that?"

"Uh... Brother Tian is also considered a related person."

"what?"

"These are not the most important things at the moment." Guo Kang waved his hands repeatedly: "Besides the miners, there are other factors as well."

"Then you tell me." Tuohuan continued.

"The situation in Bohemia's agriculture is also different. Because the economy is developing very fast and there is plenty of gold and silver, the situation of the farmers here has changed very quickly." Guo Kang said: "In the past few decades, the main farmers in Bohemia have become self-employed farmers and tenant farmers, instead of serfs as in many other places in Europe. From our experience, these people are always much more capable than serfs."

"At the same time, the knights there declined even more severely. Small lords were squeezed by foreigners, the church, and the big lords, and bankruptcy was very common. Many people lost their territories, so they chose to join the army or become bandits - of course, the difference between the two is not much. Influenced by them, some children of self-cultivating farmers also chose to prepare their own weapons and join the mercenary team. This allowed them to gain more military experience."

"In addition, the Hussites also have a characteristic, which is that they attach great importance to education. The Hussite priests, especially the Taborite priests, are very keen on imparting knowledge."

"The Taborites had a strange custom: on the one hand, their ideas were more fundamentalist, and they believed that books other than the Bible, as well as churches and icons, were harmful. Books written by doctors, professors, and philosophers should not be read. Delving into the humanities should also be prohibited. But on the other hand, they were not opposed to practical technology. On the contrary, they were particularly enthusiastic about firearms and other things, and they accepted them quickly. They were also very concerned about popular education. One of the main tasks of the priests on weekdays was to teach children. This was the first time such a situation had occurred in Europe."

"Due to the high level of education, ordinary believers in Hussite settlements have enough cultural literacy to participate in discussions. Over time, this has become a habit. On Mount Tabor, believers even take turns speaking, refuting the enemy and accusing them of their evil rule. Therefore, the people here are more united and more motivated to fight."

"That's not surprising. Those who are good at education usually have strong fighting ability." Zhu Wenkui nodded.

"That's right." Guo Kang said, "These are all great principles. It depends on who can do it."

Europeans themselves actually understood this situation very well. The Holy Roman Empire and the Church were not fools. Later, Pope Pius II, during his visit to Bohemia, recorded that "the only advantage of those cunning guys was their love for education."

The Pope also made a special comparison, saying that Italian priests should be ashamed because no one among them has ever read the New Testament, but among the Taborites, even most of the women can understand the contents of the Old and New Testaments. How can this be compared with others?

Obviously, it was because the church was so unprogressive that the Hussites were able to gain power. If the priests had worked half as hard as they did, they wouldn't have been beaten like this...

This tradition did not disappear until the defeat of the Hussite War. The surviving Hussites formed the "Bohemian Brotherhood" to continue their activities, and Comenius, the founder of modern pedagogy, was the bishop of this organization.

Therefore, education is not a "martial arts secret" to improve combat effectiveness - because everyone actually knows this trick, it is not a secret at all.

However, just like the barbarians could never learn the complete Roman citizen militia system, there are some things that are beyond one’s ability even if one is willing; even if one knows the benefits and has the money and manpower, there are still places where one cannot properly carry out education. As a result, one can only be like the Pope, helpless and furious.

(End of this chapter)