Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 700: The king’s army was defeated!

On a road on the border of Bohemia, a team was marching hurriedly.

The two leading men were both wearing worn-out mail armor. One of the sturdy men was wearing a large closed helmet that looked shiny. The other, a slightly thinner man, was wearing a crude disc-shaped helmet, two shoulder armors of different shapes, and two armor plates tied to his left leg. I don't know where these messy equipment came from.

Behind them, there were two flag bearers. One of them was wearing only a leather coat and a dirty cloth hat, but he had a well-decorated long sword on his waist. In his hand, he held a long pole made of wooden sticks tied together, on which hung the big flag of "Brazil Thousand Households". The other wore a brand new coat, a gorgeous big hat on his small helmet, and on the flagpole in his hand hung the sun and moon flag.

There were still nearly 200 people and more than 10 large and small carriages, all following the flag. Their clothes were almost all different: some wore leather armor and carried knives; some wore only rags, held a flail, and carried a wooden shield. However, the team was quite orderly. Although the pace was not fast, the gap between the carriages was always stable. There were also a few people on horseback, standing in the distance.

At this moment, two whistles suddenly sounded from the front, and a rider rode back and waved at them. The team stopped immediately, and the people around rushed towards the carts.

The strong man in the lead picked up a breastplate and put it on, then grabbed a lamellar vest and helped the flag bearer next to him put it on. Others also put on armor and picked up weapons such as axes, halberds, spears, and iron forks from the cart. Some people pushed the cart to the side of the road and formed a formation behind the cart.

Another leader wearing a helmet jumped on the horse next to him, said a few words to the rider, and galloped forward. Not long after, the two of them came back, waving their hands and saying, "We are one family, one family!"

Still, the others did not remove their armor. Some threw their long weapons back onto the carts and harnessed their animals again, while others waited, whispering to each other.

"Everyone keep moving forward." ordered the burly man in the breastplate.

The crowd didn't complain, they just grumbled for a while and returned to the team, looking like they were used to it. They walked for a while and came to a fork in the road ahead. Sure enough, they saw people gathered here, with a few pots set up and cooking. It looked like a temporary camp. The people here obviously knew about their news, and they all stood up and looked over here.

The leading strong man was also a little surprised. He looked carefully and found that most of the people in the camp were also wearing ragged clothes. Seeing them approaching, many people subconsciously put their hands on their weapons, although they did not take any direct action. In addition, there were a few people in the camp who were obviously not in a good state. They were still sitting next to a big pot and looked lost. The atmosphere here made him instinctively feel that it was a bit strange.

However, before he could ask, a middle-aged man came up to him.

"I'm Simon, the captain of the Right Guard." He took the initiative to introduce himself. "Our scout told me about your situation."

"I am Philip, the captain of the Left Guard." The leader took off his mail gloves and shook hands with him politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you, everyone from the Right Guard."

After saying that, he took out a wooden sign from his waist as proof.

"I rarely see you guys before." Simon, the captain of the camp, also took off his badge and compared it with him, saying, "Where are you from this time?"

"We are from Bavaria." Captain Philip pointed to the flag and said, "It's written over there."

"Uh..." Simon was a little embarrassed: "I don't really understand official language or official characters. Luckily, when I was an apprentice, I learned some German from my master. Otherwise, it would be difficult for me to talk to you."

"It's all right. I don't know a few words. The priest made me learn this." Philip shook his head and said:

"He told me that we always lose to the nobles because they have their own common language. If you beat one of them, they will immediately call all relatives, friends, and superiors to beat you together. From France to Poland, they are all learning Latin and can communicate with each other. But we, when we leave our hometown, can't understand what others say, and we may even be hired to fight brothers from other places. How can we fight against others? Therefore, it is necessary to learn the official language."

"Oh, when it comes to using it, I feel so uneducated." He said helplessly: "Actually, I brought the military order documents, but there were too many characters and no one could recognize them. We distinguished our own people along the way by comparing the waist badges and gesturing all the way."

"It's okay. I saw those nobles were also comparing pictures." Simon comforted him quickly: "They were comparing coats of arms to identify each other's titles and families; we were comparing the patterns on the waist badges to identify the organization and official position. You see, everyone is the same."

"It's true." Philip agreed deeply: "I said it, I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks the word 'official' is actually a painting..."

"Right, I think so too." Simon nodded. "My subordinates asked me why your majesty wrote the family name on the flag, and I said that it is not only a text, but also a coat of arms. In fact, it is just painting the family crest on the flag. For official characters, is it the same thing?"

As he spoke, he put away his badge again and said politely, "It must have been difficult to come all the way here. Thank you for coming to support us. Would you like to eat something first?"

"It's not that far actually. When we were mercenaries, we went to places farther away." Philip said with a smile, "And we were all specially selected to carry out the mission. Unlike many people who can't travel too far from home. We were already prepared before we set out."

"We just ate a lot this morning, so we won't take advantage of your food. The task given by the higher-ups is to report to the court as soon as possible, but we haven't found anyone yet. If you can point us the way, it will be a great help to us." "Is that so." Simon hesitated: "But to be honest, I still suggest that you don't rush to chase. The situation may not be right now."

"What's going on?" Philip asked quickly.

"We actually didn't find the imperial court either." Simon thought for a moment and told him the truth: "And when we chased here, we encountered some stragglers. According to them, the front line seemed to have suffered a defeat, and they ran back from the north."

"Ah? What's going on?" Philip immediately became serious: "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I don't know the situation myself." Simon replied, "The superiors asked me to pull out all the soldiers, saying that time is urgent and the sooner the better. The chief officer of our mansion discussed with me and decided that I should take these dozens of people to set off first, and he would stay to gather more people and come to support us. However, when I arrived, the battle here was already over."

"The vanguard troops have already occupied this town. The main force led by His Majesty crossed over and headed north." He pointed at the road and said, "But as I said just now, we still haven't found the court or the officials left behind to organize the troops."

"I always feel that the situation is a bit strange. So if you ask me, I actually feel a little guilty." He admitted: "I think it's better for us to gather together first. This situation may be a bit unsafe."

"It's true that it's chaotic. I haven't encountered a team with more than 500 people along the way, but I haven't seen a large group of enemies either. This time, it's all our people running around." Philip hesitated: "But I don't believe that the enemy can defeat Your Majesty."

"I don't believe it either," Simon said, "but everyone I met along the way said that our brothers in Bohemia were preparing to besiege the city and were in urgent need of heavy weapons. His Majesty sent a group of people who knew how to use gunpowder and weapons, and asked Lord Qi to lead them to help them."

"Later, there was news that in the northeast, local nobles who supported Sigismund gathered an army and approached Kutná Hora, preparing to join forces with supporters in the city. Now there is a severe shortage of manpower over there and they are in urgent need of support. Your Majesty believes that the city is a center of minerals and metal smelting and is very important, so he asked Father Tomas, who is familiar with the situation, to lead people to support and make sure to capture it. The two most capable centurions of our guard, brothers Henry and Jan, also went there to support."

"At this time, there was intelligence that Sigismund returned from the west overnight and summoned all his confidants along the way, intending to attack us. Your Majesty and Lord Huang quickly led the team to intercept him. However, there was no definite news after that, only the various statements brought by those who escaped back."

"Your Majesty is the grandson of the World Restorer and has always been wise and brave. I have also met Lord Huang several times. Although he has a bad temper, he is very knowledgeable and well-versed in the mysterious military tactics of the East." Philip shook his head and said, "Even if we are a little passive due to the division of troops, we can't lose."

"When I was a mercenary, I also knew Sigismund's 'reputation'. This man has never won a few battles, and he only knows how to live off his ancestors' wealth every day. With the combined efforts of Your Majesty and Lord Huang, I don't think there will be any problems. Can their military level be worse than Sigismund's?"

"Did those people tell you the news?" He said, and quietly pointed at the few people who were sitting alone with rather decadent expressions.

"Yes." Simon nodded and whispered, "I know what you mean. I also suspect that they are deserters and deliberately made up an excuse. To be on the safe side, I have asked reliable brothers to keep an eye on them. But the situation is indeed not right now. This kind of news can't be hidden from everyone..."

"Let's contact the surrounding teams first." Philip thought for a moment and suggested, "What you said makes sense. No matter how the situation develops, we can't keep on being in such a mess. I guess there are many people who are waiting like you and me, without getting orders from their superiors and not knowing how to complete the mission. We have to gather everyone together and think of a solution."

"That's good. I'm worried about that, too." Simon said, "I know there's a team of several hundred people in the southwest. The leader is Sir Frank, a master with divine grace and powerful martial arts. Now that he has completed the task assigned by the court, he should have nothing to do. Let's go find him. That should be safer."

"Also, do you have any cavalry here?" he added.

"There is a team of ten people." Philip said, "They are all good fighters. They are my old brothers from when I was a mercenary."

"Ah, there are just too few people. There are only a few people on my side who are familiar with riding horses." Simon shook his head helplessly: "What about other weapons? Are there guns and cannons?"

“We do have guns, but we don’t have big guns like cannons and crossbows.” Philip said, “The higher-ups said we’ll have to walk a long way, so we don’t need to bring any. Your Majesty has more weapons, and the military officials will definitely provide me with more weapons when the time comes—although we haven’t seen them yet.”

"I don't even have a gun." Simon spread his hands. "Sir Frank has a military craftsman. I remember he has a cannon and a simple catapult. I'll have to borrow this thing from him..."

"Well, that's how war works. When it happens, it won't go according to plan. I just didn't expect that we would have to gather together to find equipment." Philip sighed, "Forget it, let's hurry up. I hope it's just other people talking nonsense and His Majesty doesn't encounter any problems."

After a brief discussion, the two of them left quickly and went to gather their men.

(End of this chapter)