Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 809 Defeating ten times is not as good as annihilating once

Faced with the current situation, Princess Jeanne believes that there is no need to be as passive as when dealing with Paris.

That line of thinking is based on the premise that Paris is truly extremely important. As the political, cultural, and even economic center of France, it holds an unshakeable position. Moreover, Paris's geographical location is excellent, and its defenses are strong enough to make any attack very costly. To forcibly suppress it would result in significant losses while diminishing the gains, making it somewhat counterproductive.

However, Parisians lack the ability to manage themselves. If left unattended, they'll mess things up and eventually collapse. Moreover, while these same people are incompetent in governing society and government, they're very good with words. Even if they're already in a mess, forcibly taking over the city council would only result in criticism. It's better to let them suffer a bit; eventually, they'll beg the King to return.

Previously, when Princess Jeanne was in Dadu (Beijing), she met Tuohuan Taiji and the famous strategist Guo Kang. When they discussed Paris, Guo Kang told her that Paris's cultural influence had always been significant—and would certainly grow even greater with future economic, cultural, and communicative development. He suggested that the royal family should adopt a more conciliatory approach, because following this trend, Parisians would inevitably become increasingly powerful, eventually establishing a republic centered on them and modeled after the city's rules. Rather than confrontation, it was better to coexist gracefully or withdraw.

Princess Jeanne disagreed. She stated bluntly that such a situation was impossible. She argued that if the rulers of France were normal people, they would certainly not allow the country to become a nation controlled by commercial nobles; and if no one—whether king, military nobles, or even peasants—could save the country, then the country was doomed.

Therefore, this "Republican France" was either like Paris during the previous upheavals—a chaotic mess from the start, unable to last long and only able to wait for a strongman to clean up the mess; or it was simply a complete failure, even worse than the era of the kings—of course, the latter also couldn't last long, because Europe wasn't just one country. Such a useless France would either be conquered by the Alemanni or controlled by the English; how could it possibly continue to exist…

She added that when she was pregnant, her husband ran into trouble, forcing her to flee to the countryside. The local villagers were very welcoming, helping her deal with the local lord and resolving various life problems. Therefore, she felt that the morality and strength of ordinary people had been consistently underestimated.

Previously, the "commoners" she had encountered were mostly Parisian guild merchants, people who were bound to lack virtue, which misled everyone and created stereotypes. But after spending some time in the village, she realized that it was better to rely on these people than on Parisians.

Finally, she bluntly told Guo Kang that the newborn girl in the village of Domrémy had a much greater chance of saving France than those boastful guilds and merchants in Paris. She simply didn't believe Parisians could do anything good…

Even Guo Kang couldn't refute this. Princess Jeanne also maintained this view.

Of course, despite the low rating, Paris is still at the pinnacle of European cities. Other cities are even less capable... Using the same approach to deal with Paris to deal with these people is overkill.

Using her previous connections, she sent people to Cologne and Mainz to spread propaganda, impersonating rival cities and spreading evidence of their connections with the Ming army and the Hussites, threatening to report them to the Papacy. Soon, more cities joined in, attacking each other daily. It was unclear whether her people were behind it or if these cities were already trying to destroy each other.

The church was furious and immediately ordered them to stop arguing. But now, with rumors swirling and the situation in chaos, no one knew whether the church and Sigismund would turn against them. So, cities flocked to her, expressing their loyalty and hoping she would lead them to victory over the enemy.

Having secured the support, or at least the tacit approval, of these cities, Princess Jeanne was no longer worried about supplies. She ordered her troops to disperse, with some heading north into the mountains and hiding on the hilltops. Others concealed themselves in the hills in the central region, in the heart of the Teutoburg Forest.

There are several different approaches to this deployment. Some commanders believe that they can launch a surprise attack and reach the ferry crossing next to Minden.

Sigismund's "Crusaders" were now exhausted. The Ming army had been maintaining contact with them and found that even with the sponsorship of the Church and the support of some parishes and lords along the way, their movements were becoming increasingly slow and their soldiers were becoming more and more uncontrollable.

After arriving in Saxony, nearly half of Sigismund's original mercenaries had deserted, and he was only able to replenish his ranks thanks to the local Saxon nobles. Thus, he continued to flee and replenish his forces, maintaining the size of his army like a leaky boat.

Along the way, some nobles hoped to join him, thus increasing the number of elite knights under Sigismund's command. However, the situation in Saxony was very chaotic, and most nobles were wary of their rivals, making it difficult for them to provide him with many vassals.

This place was an important starting point during the Great Migration of the Germanic peoples. Later, Charlemagne came here and pacified a large number of tribal nobles. After the Carolingian dynasty split, Saxony was one of the four major tribal duchies that could rival the East Frankish king. Therefore, the local nobles were deeply rooted, with a large number of "old monster" families, and they were not afraid of outsiders like Sigismund.

However, the situation here is also very chaotic, with each of the major families refusing to submit to the others and fighting each other every day.

Previously, the title of Duke was held by the Ascany family, descendants of Albrecht the Bear. During the reign of Sigismund's father, Charles, the head of the family died young, leaving behind a young child, so his mother acted as regent. However, her regency was short-lived; this "Empress Dowager" remarried the King of Denmark, abandoning her eight-year-old son, the Duke, and went to Denmark to become Queen.

The regent "Empress Dowager's" abrupt departure caused chaos in the court. Order was restored only through Charles's mediation. Therefore, the relationship between their two families was relatively good, and the other side was willing to help Sigismund.

However, there were simply too many noble families in this region. Families like the Welf and Wettin were no less powerful than Sigismund and his cronies. Moreover, the region had already experienced more than one instance of civil war leading to the partitioning of the duchy. The various branches of these powerful families were constantly embroiled in internal strife, and most were unreliable, even openly or covertly urging him to leave his territory—because Sigismund was like a bear that had just climbed out of a mud pit, stumbling and falling along the way. The mercenaries he had "fallen" into along the way had already caused significant losses to the local lords.

Therefore, Sigismund himself was under immense pressure, exhausted by the endless power struggles with the local tyrants along the way. He could only maintain this state, hoping to catch up quickly and end the war. Even the Ming army was fully aware of this situation. Therefore, some officers believed that now was the best time to strike him. His army's discipline and organization had severely declined; crossing the river would inevitably lead to chaos, slowing their progress, even with a bridge. At this moment, a surprise attack would achieve the effect of striking while they were crossing, delivering a decisive blow.

However, Princess Jeanne felt that this was not the best option.

This isn't some "wild" ferry crossing; there's a small town right next to it. Although the guilds in the town make grand pronouncements, they'll definitely waver when Sigismund's army arrives, and might even "temporarily" join the other side.

Crossing the river would certainly be a good opportunity, but the logic is too simple and the location too fixed, so the enemy would definitely know it too. Moreover, there are too many people here, and the available attack positions are relatively open, making it difficult to set up an ambush.

Even if they break through their defenses and defeat the enemy, including Sigismund himself, the enemy forces would likely retreat to Minden and use the city as a base for resistance. Occupying the city prematurely would inevitably alert Sigismund, essentially telling him that someone was waiting to ambush him at the ferry crossing. Moreover, the Ming army is currently lightly armed, so it's best to avoid a siege. Otherwise, things will become much more complicated.

Because right now, the biggest consideration is that Princess Jeanne hopes to eliminate as many enemies as possible and reverse the strategic situation in one fell swoop.

Although the Ming army is growing larger, the overall strategy is still that of the Holy Roman Empire besieging and pursuing them. However, if they could severely damage or even annihilate the enemy's main force, the situation would immediately change.

She didn't expect to defeat the enemy in one battle, because even Sigismund was ultimately just a mouthpiece for the church and anti-Hussite nobles. The chaotic situation in Alemanni made it difficult to unite all forces, and also resulted in a large and diverse armed force that was hard to completely eliminate; even if he failed, others would take his place. In this situation, deterring the enemy was paramount.

She also said that she felt the same way when she read the history of Seres. Two thousand years ago, in the time of Confucius, Seres was also a country with many warlords and a chaotic political situation. Later, it was able to gradually unify, not through a long war of attrition, but because, with military advancements, the Seres began to understand how to annihilate large numbers of enemy troops in decisive battles.

In her view, this was the key to achieving unification later on, because eliminating rival lords wasn't about how many people were killed, but about destroying their organization. From this perspective, concentrating on annihilating the enemy's main force and destroying their military organizational foundation was paramount. Defeating the enemy ten times felt less effective than annihilating them once.

However, after the collapse of ancient Rome, almost no one knew how to use this tactic anymore. Even the great Charlemagne could only rely on constant massacres and forced conversions to compel rival tribes to join him, which was not only inefficient and destructive to society but also failed to maintain stability. In contrast, the sudden annexation of Hungary by the Purple Horde relied on two decisive battles to almost completely eliminate the armed forces of the opposing nobles and the interventionist troops sent by the German princes, thus achieving its strategic objective in one fell swoop.

This campaign, with its extensive preparations, was all for the sake of securing the perfect opportunity to annihilate the enemy. Attacking at the ferry crossing would inevitably result in some fleeing. Even attacking before they had all crossed the river and before order was restored would still cause a large number of enemies to panic and rout, using the city and river routes to escape, making the situation much harder to control.

After careful consideration, she determined that the best battlefield was on the road leading from the northern mountains to the central mountains.

The road curves around the central hillock, forming an arc. To the east lies the foot of the hill, and to the west, plains and forests. The road itself is in good condition, as trade routes from the Rhine region to Saxony and even several major cities of the Hanseatic League pass through here, making it suitable for large armies.

The surrounding environment wasn't as desolate as it had been when the Romans were ambushed, consisting only of forests. Over the years, the local residents had cultivated a considerable amount of flat land, and several small market towns had sprung up along the roadside to serve traveling merchants. In short, it seemed to have some life on its side, not too isolated or treacherous, and certainly not enough to scare Sigismund away outright.

Of course, to make Sigismund's side willing to infiltrate, she also discussed with Monk Daoyan and others and carried out a feint. At the same time as they took their positions, the "main force" consisting of King Wu and Daoyan also started to move in a big way and began to march in this direction.

Jeanne estimated that Sigismund would speed up his march. The envoys in the camp would surely inform the lord of the Ming army's size, and also inform Sigismund and his men. Currently, the Crusaders still held a significant advantage in size, but from the ferry crossing to the southern mountains, the region lacked many plains; what remained were either small, muddy riverbank flats or narrow strips of open land along the roadside and scattered farmland belonging to the locals.

In previous battles against the King of Wu, Sigismund's infantry had performed poorly. Even against the Ming infantry, which was also composed of peasants and impoverished mercenaries, they struggled to gain an advantage due to their inferior morale and organizational structure. Those victories were achieved by concentrating the use of cavalry to launch surprise attacks on the Ming army's weaknesses. Princess Jeanne noticed this and believed that Sigismund himself was certainly aware of it.

Therefore, he would most likely want to avoid these areas and find a plain more suitable for his cavalry to exert their power for a decisive battle. If this is his plan, then his best option is to quickly head south, through the Teutoburg Mountains and forests, to the open ground south of the mountains.

Although Sigismund's army had slowed considerably, Princess Jeanne estimated that with the city's assistance, they could cross the river in two days at most. After that, another two or three days would be needed to traverse the Teutoburg Forest and emerge from the mountain pass. Giving him a week should be more than enough.

Therefore, under Daoyan's coordination, the King of Wu also made preparations and "performances" according to this timetable.

(End of this chapter)