Since the autumn of the fifth year of Chongzhen, the main army led by Xiao Xuan has tried every means to avoid the leakage of rumors as much as possible and achieve a war of annihilation in the shortest possible time, but it is still difficult to completely conceal the news of such a major battle as the successive annihilation of the main forces of the Russian army and the Polish army.

At this time, Gustav's powerful Eastern Expeditionary Force, which was fighting in Central Europe, could no longer sit still after winning a decisive victory over the Russians and Poles almost in a very short time. Russia and Poland at this time were not outside the European system. On the contrary, because the vast expanse of Eastern Europe did not have dense castles or even the various fortresses that were built later, Polish, Swedish, Ottoman, Cossack and even mercenaries from Central Europe often carried out field operations in this area.

Although a few years ago, the elite of the Swedish army led by Gustav defeated the hussars who had brought annihilating blows to the Swedish army in ten minutes in a defense relying on the terrain in a confrontation with the Polish army. But at this time, Gustav also knew very well that Poland's overall strength and national strength were not inferior, and in terms of elite strength and overall military strength, perhaps Sweden would be in a significant position of weakness in the confrontation with the enemy army on the vast plains today. The fact that a single power could inflict a heavy blow on Russia in such a short period of time and force the Poles to fight a decisive battle in the capital meant that it was likely to be a major crisis of the Yellow Peril for all of Europe.

The corps led by Wallenstein also felt a great crisis. Although the previous Nuremberg battle ended in the victory of the Catholic League, there is no doubt that the Swedish army is also a strong enemy that should not be underestimated. The powerful enemy of the East, which can make the Swedes famous, is definitely the common enemy of the whole of Christendom.

Therefore, under the request of the Poles, although there were many disputes within the Swedish and Catholic League, the decision was finally made to dispatch heavy troops to Warsaw as quickly as possible to prevent the Yellow Peril. ，

Of course, the impact of the profound European contradictions at this time cannot be ignored. Because Sweden and the European continent are separated at least by many geographically harsh terrain in eastern Northern Europe, and on the other side by a sea that is not too vast and by no means negligible, the Swedish army does not want to invest too much in the rescue of the Poles. In the end, Gustav only sent about 10,000 cavalry-based forces to reinforce Warsaw City first, and less than half of these cavalry were considered to be Gustav's core main force, even if they were lost, they would not be too big a blow to their own strength.

The pressure felt by the Catholic Union as a whole is by no means comparable to that of the Protestant Union. To a certain extent, the Catholic Church was deployed in the Far East much earlier, and all the European powers were able to learn about the changes in the East relatively earlier. In some news from the Far East last year, the Catholic League was of course able to confirm that the attitude of the Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming court towards Catholicism had already undergone a radical change, and a radical and frightening change had begun in the entire East. Therefore, Wallenstein's main force, about 40,000 or 50,000 troops, still chose to go all out to rescue the Poles.

Under these circumstances, in almost a short period of time, the number of troops gathered in and around Warsaw reached about 80,000 or 90,000 men, forming a strategic group of considerable strength.

The time when the volunteer troops led by Xiao Xuan approached the city of Warsaw was still slightly two days later than the reinforcements in the direction of Western Europe, which was also something that Xiao Xuan did not expect before. Without much hesitation, in the face of the heavy army group where the enemy army began to gradually gather. Xiao Xuan's choice was to temporarily let the troops re-enter a state of defense-oriented, waiting for the convergence of the main forces of the three armies of the revolutionary army led by Zhou Dayong.

Of course, this is not because Xiao Xuan is not sure that the volunteer troops will defeat the other party. Through a series of previous operations, Xiao Xuan also gradually understood the weakness of the European army in this era, that is, because the development of firearms caused the army to attach too much importance to mobile warfare in some aspects, and the level of field protection was inferior even compared to the main force of Jianzhou, which was actually the best opportunity to use the advantages he had now to severely damage the enemy army, of course, he could not wait for the transformation of European forces to bring more trouble to himself. Under such circumstances, it is of course the most important thing to effectively ensure that the war of annihilation can be achieved in a step-by-step manner.

After the volunteer troops led by Xiao Xuan launched a defense, the army with the Catholic Alliance as the absolute main body that had just come to the battlefield and settled down was a little big at first, and the pressure of the battle was relaxed a lot. Because it is clear that this behavior of a strong enemy is a choice made when you are not confident in your own strength.

After a lot of reconnaissance on the battlefield, Wallenstein, who was in charge of commanding the army, finally determined that these strong enemies from the east were indeed a strategic force with a lot of troops. But it is clear that they made a fatal mistake, that is, in order to covet the progress of a short period of time, the original expeditionary army of about 100,000 was divided into two strategic groups. If the remaining enemy forces in the direction of Moscow come up with reinforcements, resulting in an exchange of similar forces, then the chances of victory will obviously be very slim.

The many confrontations in the firearms era also allowed the European military aristocracy of this era to have a more in-depth study of the laws of war itself, and they were very aware of the great significance of the side with the superiority in military strength when both sides relied on projected firepower as the main combat support. Therefore, after a brief discussion at the Provisional Military Council, Wallenstein finally decided to unite the forces of the Swedes and the Poles and launch a tentative attack with a main force of about 60,000 troops against the temporary camp of the enemy in the east of more than 30,000 men outside Warsaw. If the enemy's combat power is not as strong as expected, then break up the enemy with a decisive offensive.

In this way, tens of thousands of European coalition forces, mainly the Catholic League, quickly began to move, first with artillery to carry out demoralizing tentative artillery fire at a relatively distant distance, and then the whole army began to move gradually, preparing to first rely on the superiority of forces to launch a strong attack on the opponent who had not gained a firm foothold in three directions. Even if you can't decisively solve the opponent, you must kill and injure the horses with the most people, and create the conditions for the final elimination of these powerful enemies in the east.

(End of chapter)