Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 805 Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

The elite Ming troops had been rapidly maneuvering eastward along the road for the past two days. The remaining troops, according to Princess Jeanne's plan, would not officially set out until two days later.

Moreover, in order to mislead the enemy, they decided to make the performance more elaborate.

Previously, the Wu king's court and main army had never been separated. Even after being defeated twice by Sigismund, the Wu king managed to recall many troops and then continued his "personal campaigns." Therefore, the enemy command, including Sigismund, knew that the Wu king particularly liked to personally command his troops and was definitely with the main army.

Later, Princess Jeanne took command and defeated the Hohenzollern army. However, King Wu remained in the army throughout this period. Furthermore, the Ming army consistently maintained in its propaganda that the battle was led by King Wu, and that he would remain with the army, fighting alongside them until final victory. Therefore, nominally, he was still the commander-in-chief.

This actually aligns with European custom. Generally speaking, the army personally led by the king or a high-ranking nobleman is the main force.

Therefore, they specially allowed the King of Wu to stay in the main camp this time, and even the monk Daoyan was there to accompany him in handling various affairs.

After the Ming army's momentum grew again, the attitude of the nobles reversed once more. They no longer followed the archbishop in condemning the King of Wu as a "heretic," but instead flocked back, hoping to restore diplomatic channels. Some nobles even stated that, having heard that the Ming army had gone to fight the Poles, this was a just act of protecting everyone from invasion, and they would naturally contribute money and effort to support them.

However, the Wu King's court did not have a high opinion of these people's intentions. Many generals and officials felt that these people were too opportunistic, lacking morality and integrity, and there was no need to treat them well. But the monk Daoyan said that seeking advantage and avoiding harm is human nature. Moreover, the political acumen of nobles in this era was quite worrying; being able to know what was beneficial and where the harm lay already surpassed many others.

In fact, if a nobleman can consistently "adapt to changing circumstances" and always follow the path of greatest benefit, then that person is actually the best collaborator. Their behavior and motives are predictable, unlike many nobles today who inexplicably engage in strange activities. Therefore, cooperating with those who jump on the bandwagon immediately can be beneficial, setting an example for others and causing more people who initially supported the Church and Sigismund to waver.

The others thought this made a lot of sense, so they all agreed and started doing things according to his plan.

During this period, the Wu Prince's diplomatic affairs had been handled personally by the monk Daoyan, so everyone recognized him. These past few days, he and the Wu Prince had been receiving envoys from various places. Many people were coming and going in the camp, and the Ming army did not hide, conducting their daily drills in front of numerous outsiders.

Even more remarkably, the monk Daoyan arranged for everyone to visit the temporary drill ground next to the camp. He also summoned Qi Tai, who had been holding a temporary post in the Ministry of War, back to guide the guests and provide explanations.

The training ground was indeed bustling with activity. Every day, different teams gathered here for large-scale drills, ranging from two or three thousand to four or five thousand. They carried different flags and, under the command of their commanders, formed different formations. When the flag at the command post changed, or when instruments such as gongs and drums sounded, the various smaller formations would also change accordingly.

A group of officers surrounded the area, supervising and noting down anyone who fell behind. After each session, the leader of that group was summoned for questioning to determine the cause of the disorder. Some were reprimanded, while others were even publicly stripped of their shirts and whipped. The names of all punished officers and their assigned ranks were written on a large sign at the entrance to the drill ground. These officers then went back to reprimand and punish the soldiers who had caused the problems. Once everyone was held accountable, the next session of the drill began.

Three days later, the sign was completely covered with writing. Nearly a hundred officers were punished, ranging from commanders of thousands and hundreds to flag bearers and sergeants. Thousands of soldiers were required to retrain, and if they failed, they would be barred from large-scale combat and from receiving field allowances. There were even more than a dozen people who were executed for serious violations of military discipline, their heads displayed at the gate.

Qi Tai explained to the guests with a helpless expression that the Ming army was usually scattered in various places, and this time the incident happened suddenly, so they were suddenly assembled and had not yet worked together. Therefore, they needed to take advantage of this time to conduct intensive training in order to restore their combat effectiveness as soon as possible.

He didn't shy away from past defeats, stating frankly that it was due to insufficient preparation. Because the Wu clan had established themselves here relatively early, they enjoyed the longest period of peace. A few years prior, near Basel, Switzerland, they had defeated an attack organized by the Duke of Bavaria, and since then, there had been no major wars.

Although a few years of peace may seem short, it's considered a rare period of tranquility in the Shinra region. Therefore, from the imperial court to the various prefectures, everyone has begun to adapt to the peaceful state. Even government assessments have started to focus more on the economy and population than on the fundamental issues of protecting the borders and ensuring the safety of the people. The quarterly centralized military exercises, which were supposed to be held every quarter, have been repeatedly postponed by local governments. Only the standing armies of the various garrisons are in relatively good condition; the other soldiers haven't practiced proper battle formations in a long time.

Therefore, many people were caught off guard when the war suddenly broke out, leading to various absurd mistakes. Now, their priority is to address these issues.

This is why there are so many people on the "list" this time. And those who committed serious crimes are even more outrageous than the last. Some escalated their actions to armed assault due to insubordination; others assaulted soldiers after being rejected while courting them; the biggest group of criminals, during the Wu King's grand review, not only failed to participate in the parade as ordered, but also saw it as a good opportunity to leave the camp while everyone else was busy, and went to a nearby town to rob local residents…

Previously, the King of Wu had made a request to them, saying that Europe lacked civility and the people were rather wild, so punishments shouldn't be too harsh, otherwise everyone would be in jail. Even so, some behaviors were simply unbearable—he couldn't even conceive of such bizarre methods of crime. Therefore, they had to be dealt with seriously and quickly, and everyone must forgive their amusement.

Of course, that's what he said, but others wouldn't dare to actually laugh at them for it.

In recent years, the Shinra nobles have gradually begun to interact with the Wu Kingdom's forces. From the perspective of the nobles who understand the Wu Kingdom, their military households are essentially knights who have completed their reorganization and are directly under the central court. The small flags and general flags are the square flag knights who command different sizes of "cavalry corps." It is quite remarkable that the Wu Kingdom's government was able to gather so many people together for training, enforce discipline uniformly, and punish knights who disobeyed orders.

Furthermore, Qi Tai was also very knowledgeable in military strategy, explaining military formations, discipline, and even the overall strategic planning of the Wu Kingdom with great clarity and expertise. Everyone felt that if a nobleman who didn't directly command troops was so knowledgeable, then the King of Wu and his entourage must be even more formidable. Therefore, for the past few days, the envoys followed him almost daily, trying their best to gather more information. Various reports about the Wu Kingdom's army were also sent out by them, quickly spreading among their lords. The nobles who received the news believed that the King of Wu was preparing for a decisive battle with Sigismund.

Currently, the biggest problem in assessing the true strength and strategic deployment of this "Kingdom of Wu" is actually not knowing who their headquarters is or what they are doing. For a long time after the outbreak of this turmoil, the Holy Roman Empire nobles did not know the location of the King of Wu and the main Ming army. This was not because Zhu Yunwen was good at hiding, but because there were simply too many peasant armies claiming to be under the King of Wu's banner.

When Zhu Wenkui's troops appeared in Bohemia, Prague, in an effort to gather as many allies as possible to fight against them, sent letters of appeal to several imperial nobles. They pointed out that while there were conflicts and even life-or-death battles between the Bohemian and German nobles, the relationship was generally governed by rules and could be controlled. However, if these peasants were to turn the tide, according to the intimidation tactic of this "peasant king," everyone would be stripped of their fiefdoms and titles. In that case, there would be no winners on either side.

Therefore, they hoped that the German nobles could put aside their past grievances and, for the sake of the Empire, lend a hand to their brother.

However, most of the imperial nobles didn't even bother with them. On one hand, the situation was still unstable; the Wu King's declaration of war was so outrageous that many nobles believed it was a deliberate fabrication by Sigismund and the people of Prague to recruit more people. The level of clumsiness was so extreme that even in Germany, it seemed unlikely to be something a normal monarch and court would produce, let alone the Wu King's forces, who were generally perceived as having a good reputation for governance. It was almost too convincingly fake.

On the other hand, at this time, far too many "sons of the King of Wu" emerged—naturally, the vast majority of them were proven false after the suppression; as for the remaining small number, everyone was confident that they would soon be proven false as well. Even if this Bohemian peasant army truly existed, it was probably just a bandwagon effect. Clearly, their rhetoric was nice, but the suppression of peasants was a pretense; their real intention was to make others work for them. "We're all nobles, are you treating us like serfs?"

It wasn't until later, when this army actually defeated the Prague people and breached several fortresses along the way, that the imperial nobles realized that this really was the Crown Prince's army.

After some analysis, they concluded that it must have been the crown prince, who had been active in Dadu (Beijing), who persuaded the Romans to support him at this crucial moment. In Europe, it was indeed customary to grant the crown prince administrative power, allowing him to remain in charge, and even to give him early command of the army for training. Therefore, they now felt it was understandable.

It seems that the power structure and governing practices of the Wu Kingdom were not too different from those of Europeans. By understanding their troop deployment and distribution, it would be possible to discern their true strategic intentions.

The intelligence gathered by these people, and the judgments they made based on it, would naturally spread widely and be known to Sigismund, who commanded the army, and his staff.

However, while the troops were being trained in a lively manner, Princess Jeanne had already led tens of thousands of people away from the camp without the others noticing. They split into five or six groups, each heading northeast along the road.

This region has a highly developed network of waterways. From where they started, a river called the Ruhr flows from east to west, eventually joining the Rhine River. Therefore, this area is also known as the "Ruhr region."

This area includes several cities, with Cologne at the head. The Archbishop of Cologne sided with his colleague, the Archbishop of Mainz, repeating the Church's official pronouncements daily, condemning heresy and infidels. However, the city councils continued to provide loans and supplies to the King of Wu's army, and the archbishop's followers maintained an eerie silence, as if they hadn't seen anything at all... Clearly, they didn't want to offend either side.

The soldiers from each unit didn't cause them any trouble. They bypassed several major cities in the area, following familiar "paths" through the hills to the Ames River basin. Thanks to long-term management, these so-called rural roads were actually much more passable than the main roads controlled by the imperial nobles. Therefore, they were able to move quickly and soon turned north.

At the end of the Emes River lies a funnel-shaped terrain formed by a small mountain range. Locals collectively refer to these mountains as the "Osnin Mountains."

The mountain range is divided into three parts, with the North Osnin Mountains and South Osnin Mountains forming a triangular area. The Central Osnin Mountains are much shorter, positioned in the middle of this funnel-shaped opening, effectively blocking it. This also divides the forest enclosed by the two mountains into northern and southern sections. The northern forest covers approximately two-thirds of the area, while the southern forest is smaller, covering only one-third.

The source of the Ames River lies within these mountains. Beyond the mountains lies the Weser River basin. Therefore, this mountain range also serves as a watershed, dividing the plains into two parts along with the dense forests within it.

To reach the Rhine River basin from Saxony, one must traverse these rivers, woodlands, and hills. Currently, one ancient road from Hanover to Essen is the best-preserved. It crosses the Weser River at a bend in the riverbank, runs northeast to southwest, through the North Osning Forest, just around the Middle Osning Mountains, and crosses the region via a forest plain. Since other roads must traverse all three mountain ranges, making them much more difficult, this is the only route Sigismund will take.

Of course, the name Osnin isn't actually that long. Local oral traditions seem to only cover more recent events, to the point that even the most famous incidents are no longer mentioned.

In places like Dadu and Rome, in those ancient records still preserved in libraries, this place, which seems to have nothing special except for its impact on traffic, actually has a more resounding name.

—Teutoburg Forest.

(End of this chapter)