Shumliya (Kur Shumliya), a city surrounded by mountains.

After fifteen days of siege, the Phoenix Legion waited for the Holy See Guard to meet. The defenders put up a desperate resistance until the fall of Hamidi, and the Serbian rebels eventually set fire to the weapons depot and granary inside the fort and were buried along with the city's four towering defensive towers. After the gates were destroyed by a belated artillery blast, the Empire lost less than a hundred prisoners.

The city was littered with burning embers and charred corpses. There are hardly any resources worth utilizing. The use of such an insignificant mountain fortress consumed the empire's time for nearly a month. At this time, it is less than two months before the onset of winter, and if winter comes, the pace of counterinsurgency will slow down again.

"Is there any news from Albania and Hungary?" After setting up the camp, Angelo hurried to the headquarters of the Phoenix Legion. It seems that Hamidi Fort has indeed caused him a lot of trouble, and his mental state looks much haggard, "We don't have much time, I'm afraid that before winter, even if we can't take Smederevo, we must cut off all the retreats of the rebels." ”

"At the moment, it should be difficult, and Gerti Skanderbe, after taking Ulcinny, has been blocked on the southwestern shore of Lake Shkodra and unable to advance. Hunyadi was also blocked by the rebels. Ambushes and harassments between the mountains dealt a considerable blow to the Hungarian army...... To tell the truth, before we came to Shumlia, we were also blocked once, and after the new Roman phalanx opened fire, they were forced back, if calculated according to the battle loss ratio, it was not them who suffered......" Vasika held his head and said with a headache, "In the past few days, the dark post has drawn a map of the city defense of the city of Shumlia, the defense here almost does not rely on the city walls, purely depends on the surrounding terrain, and the only road that can enter the city is the road in front of us, if you want to go around to the side, you must not only pass through a whole Samokov forest, And they should always be threatened by ambushes. Not an inch of land here is completely safe, and they can use our terrain to attack us at any time and at any time. ”

"Moreover, if the Hungarian army does not go well, it is likely that we will have to rely on our own soldiers for the attack on Schumlia. We can only settle for the next best thing, hoping to make peace with Hungary in Prokuprie. Giovanni turned his cane in one hand and followed the line on the improvised map with the other, "The terrain of Prokuple is more favorable for us, and it is one of the few plain towns in Serbia with only one side of the mountain. The siege will put more pressure on the city defenders. Of course, our ultimate goal is to take Niš Fort before the end of the year. Only in this way can the siege of the core of Serbia be officially completed......"

"General Giovanni, Her Royal Highness the Princess's reply has arrived!"

Giovanni was still briefing Angelo on the situation, and Yustina suddenly walked into the camp under the strange gaze of everyone. Although the Phoenix Legion and the Holy See Guard do not have such strict rules, if it weren't for the relationship between Justina and the princess, they might have been cut down outside the tent.

"You...... How did you personally deliver the letter and let the messenger ...... Wouldn't it be better? Giovanni took the letter and habitually handed out a few gold ducats.

Angelo was also waiting for a reply from Eustina, who had met Eustina several times in the Slou Gardens and was impressed by the maid. What he remembered most vividly was the muscular curves of this girl, which convinced him that Yustina was definitely not as simple as an ordinary maid.

"The situation is special, Pedro is arranging another task for the princess these days, and His Royal Highness asked me to come in person. The contents of this letter, so far, cannot be made public. ”

"Giovanni. What did you write in your letter to the princess? Angelo asked.

"Ah...... I forgot to mention that the commander of the army that ambushed us in the forest the other day was Tolinka Yenivo, Duke of Pristina of Serbia. His estates are currently under our control. It was nothing, but there was a message in his words...... It is highly likely that the Serbs will gain the support of large foreign powers in the rebellion. Otherwise, they would never have been able to achieve such a scale in a very short period of time, with seemingly inexhaustible manpower. I applied for Her Royal Highness the Princess to arrange for her to intervene in the investigation. ”

"Isn't there a special intelligence officer in charge of this?" Angelo had apparently rested too much in his Toco estate to know much about the intrigues in the deepest parts of the empire.

"General Angelo, believe me, for some things, our princess is much more reliable than the so-called intelligence chief." Giovanni smiled awkwardly, "There are some things that you will understand later. Well, Miss Justina, it's quite safe here, and you can tell us what the princess has investigated. ”

Yustina smiled kindly behind her, and the sensible guards immediately withdrew outside the tent.

"Von Habsburg, Austria. and several royalist nobles in the current German Empire. They are in step with each other and have the same purpose. It was to use the Serbian rebellion to fight against the Balkan powers, especially Hungary, with which they had a direct conflict of interest. In the previous captivity of László V under the tutelage of Pope Eugene IV, Hungary and the von Habsburgs were already on the same page. The proximity of Hungary to us strengthened the determination of the Austrians against Hungary. In this rebellion, under the secret signal of Austria, many Germanic nobles gave Serbia materials, equipment, grain and grass and even military support, and some nobles directly sold elite mercenaries to Serbia at extremely low prices. Their goal was to support Serbia in regaining its independence as much as possible in order to weaken the Triple Alliance's gains in the Balkans after its victory over the Ottomans, and even if Serbia did not become independent, a prolonged rebellion would cause irreversible damage to the national strength of the three countries. ”

The discrimination of "neither sacred, nor Roman, nor imperial" within the empire could be said to have existed for a long time, and the Eastern Empire would not recognize the authority of the Germanic Caesar when it huddled in the corners of Constantinople and trembled, constantly asking the Holy Roman Empire for help. If Constantine XI wants to do the most at present, in addition to recovering Asia Minor, I am afraid that it is to kick the crown on the head of the Holy Roman Emperor with his own hands.

"In this way, the pressure is not ordinary...... But in this case, it is even more impossible to follow his von Habsburg's wishes! ”